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Tuesday December 1, 2020
Article of the Month
IRS Appraiser Qualifications
The Internal Revenue Service requires donors who claim charitable income tax deductions to substantiate the value of their charitable contributions. Charitable gifts of noncash assets valued in excess of $5,000 require a qualified appraisal for substantiation purposes. The current rules regarding qualified appraisals are the result of changes to the Internal Revenue Code from the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 and the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Following those statutory changes, the Service developed proposed regulations in 2008. Nearly a decade later, the IRS published final regulations in T.D. 9836 (27 July 2018).
The Service's substantiation rules are strict. If these rules are not closely followed, a donor may lose his or her entire charitable deduction. Advisors should be prepared to explain these requirements, guide their clients through the process of substantiating charitable gifts and work with charities to meet the Service's requirements.
Gifts valued above a certain threshold require the donor to obtain a qualified appraisal of the asset. This article will cover the general qualified appraiser requirements and explore the professional designations and education available for appraisers of various types of property.
General Appraiser Qualifications
In order to be considered a qualified appraisal, the valuation must be conducted by a qualified appraiser. Under Sec. 170(f)(11)(E), in order to be a qualified appraiser, an individual must earn "an appraisal designation from a recognized professional appraiser organization" or meet education and experience requirements set by the regulations. The individual must also regularly perform appraisals of this type and meet any other requirements in the regulations. The individual must also "not be prohibited from practicing before the Internal Revenue Service . . . at any time during the 3-year period ending on the date of the appraisal." Sec. 170(f)(11)(E).
A "qualified appraiser" is defined in Reg. 1.170A-17(b)(1) as an individual with "verifiable education and experience in valuing the type of property for which the appraisal is performed." The education and experience requirements may be met one of two ways. First, the appraiser may satisfy the requirement by successfully completing college-level or professional-level coursework in valuing the type of property being appraised and having two or more years of experience valuing that type of property. Reg. 1.170A-17(b)(2)(i)(A). Under Reg. 1.170A-17(b)(2)(ii), the coursework must be obtained from one of three sources: a professional or college-level educational organization, a generally recognized trade or appraiser organization or an employee apprenticeship or educational program similar to the educational options above.
Alternatively, the appraiser may satisfy the education and experience requirement by earning a "recognized appraiser designation" for the type of property to be valued. Reg. 1.170A-17(b)(2)(i)(B). This designation must be obtained from a generally recognized professional appraiser organization and the individual must earn the designation through demonstrated competency. Reg. 1.170A-17(b)(2)(iii).
The regulations define "type of property" as "the category of property customary in the appraisal field for an appraiser to value." Reg. 1.170A-17(b)(3). Therefore, it is important to not only meet the education and experience requirements, but those requirements must be met specifically for the type of asset that is being valued. In other words, a qualified appraiser of real estate is not necessarily qualified to appraise life insurance. The appraiser must meet the requirements for each type of property in order to be recognized as a qualified appraiser of that type of asset.
The term "qualified appraisal" is defined as an appraisal "prepared by a qualified appraiser in accordance with generally accepted appraisal standards." Reg. 1.170A-17(a)(1). The Treasury Regulations define generally accepted appraisal standards as "the substance and principles of the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, as developed by the Appraisal Standards Board of the Appraisal Foundation." Reg. 1.170A-17(a)(2).
The Appraisal Foundation was created in 1987 to guide the promulgation of the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). Congress adopted the USPAP in 1989. The Appraisal Foundation has an independent board, known as the Appraiser Qualifications Board (AQB), which establishes requirements and criteria for appraisals of real and personal property. The AQB's Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria governs licensing for three different real estate appraiser qualifications: Licensed Residential, Certified Residential and Certified General.
Examples of Recognized Appraiser Designations
Real Estate
According to the AQB's Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria, there are three classifications of real estate appraisers: Licensed Residential Real Property Appraisers, Certified Residential Appraisers and Certified General Appraisers.
Prior to obtaining one of these three classifications, an appraiser is classified as a Trainee Appraiser. The Trainee Appraiser must have 75 hours of qualifying education in the last 5 years and must work with a Supervisory Appraiser. No prior experience is required for Trainee Appraisers.
Licensed Residential Real Property Appraisers are qualified to appraise "non-complex one-to-four residential units having a transaction value less than $1,000,000, and complex one-to-four residential units having a transaction value less than $250,000," per The Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria and Interpretations of the Criteria, effective May 1, 2018 (RPAQC). According to the AQB, a "complex one-to-four unit residential property appraisal" is "one in which the property to be appraised, the form of ownership, or the market conditions are atypical." In order to qualify as a Licensed Residential Appraiser, an individual must attain 150 credit hours of qualified education, 1,000 hours of experience in no less than 6 months and pass an examination.
A Certified Residential Real Property Appraiser is qualified "to appraise one-to-four residential units without regard to value or complexity," per the RPAQC. Individuals must complete 200 credit hours of qualified education, obtain 1,500 hours of experience in no less than 12 months and pass an examination in order to achieve this certification.
Finally, a Certified General Real Property Appraiser is qualified "to appraise all types of real property," per the RPAQC . This certification requires the appraiser to complete 300 credit hours of qualified education, obtain 3,000 hours of experience and pass an examination.
Additionally, the Appraisal Institute, a real estate appraisal association, offers an MAI designation. Short for "Member Appraisal Institute," this designation is open to Certified General Real Property Appraisers who meet various requirements, including being of good moral character, holding a bachelor's degree or higher and passing a comprehensive examination.
Real estate appraisers must also meet certain continuing education requirements. The USPAP offers two courses for continuing education: the 15-Hour National USPAP Course and the 7-Hour National USPAP Update Course. The 15-hour course is intended as an introductory course to the field, while the 7-hour course is a required update course, taken every two years.
Business Valuation
Various organizations offer professional designations for valuations of business interests. These include the American Society of Appraisers, the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA). Each organization maintains its own standards for education and experience required to receive that organization's certification.
The American Society of Appraisers offers two levels of credentials, the Accredited Member (AM) and the Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA). Candidates for the ASA credential may apply to receive a designation in Business Valuation (BV). The BV designation requires a four-year college degree (or its equivalent) and either two years of full-time experience toward the AM designation or five years of full-time experience toward the ASA designation.
The AICPA offers an Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) credential. This credential is offered to AICPA members who hold either a CPA license or a bachelor's degree or its equivalent plus completion of AICPA's course on professional conduct and standards. Candidates are required to achieve a passing score on the ABV examination. Individuals who have passed certain other examinations, including the ASA examination are not required to take the ABV examination prior to applying for the ABV credential.
Individuals who pass the ABV examination must then obtain the requisite experience. For CPAs seeking the ABV credential, 1,500 hours of experience in valuations in the preceding 5 years is required. Non-CPA candidates are required to reach 4,500 hours of experience within the preceding 5 years.
NACVA offers the Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) credential. The CVA certification requires an active, valid CPA license or either a business degree or masters of business administration (MBA) plus "substantial experience in business valuation." NACVA defines "substantial experience" as having two or more years of full-time business valuation experience, having performed 10 or more business valuations, or "being able to demonstrate substantial knowledge of business valuation theory, methodologies, and practices." Applicants must attend a training program, submit references and pass an examination.
NACVA also recertifies the Certified Business Appraiser (CBA) and Master Certified Business Appraiser (MCBA) credentials for current certification-holders. These designations were originally offered by the Institute of Business Appraisers (IBA). The IBA was acquired by NACVA in 2008. In 2016, NACVA suspended the issuance of new CBA and MCBA credentials. Holders of the CBA and MCBA credentials are able to recertify by complying with NACVA's other credential recertification requirements.
Personal Property
In addition to real property criteria, the AQB also publishes The Personal Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria. These criteria require applicants to have completed either 30 college-level credit hours or to have attained an associate's degree or higher. Additionally, applicants must complete 120 classroom hours, including the 15-Hour Personal Property USPAP Course (including the final examination), a 45-hour course including a final examination and 60 credit hours related to the field of appraisal, with an emphasis on personal property.
Additionally, the AQB requires applicants to have 700 hours of experience appraising personal property. The individual must also have either "[a] minimum of 1,800 hours of market-related personal property appraisal experience . . . of which at least 900 additional hours are in the area(s) of specialization" or "[a] minimum of 4,500 hours of market-related personal property non-appraisal experience . . . in area(s) of specialization" or "[an] equivalent combination of market-related personal property appraisal experience and market-related non-appraisal experience in area(s) of the appraiser's specialization based upon a minimum ratio of 1 year to 2.5 years," per The Personal Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria.
The AQB also requires applicants to obtain 70 hours of continuing education every 5 years, including 20 hours of valuation theory coursework and either the 15-Hour Personal Property USPAP Course or the 7-Hour Personal Property USPAP Update Course every two years.
The American Society of Appraisers offers Personal Property (PP), Gems and Jewelry (GJ) and Machinery and Technical Specialties (MTS) designations to appraisers. Each of these designations requires specialized coursework and experience in valuation of various types of assets. For instance, the PP designation covers a number of types of personal property, including various types of art, antiques, clocks, dolls and toys, firearms, furniture, sports collectibles and memorabilia, stamps and textiles.
Applicants for a PP designation must meet a number of prerequisites, including passing a 4-hour specialty examination, meeting PP-specific education requirements, having a college degree or its equivalent and having 2 years full-time experience toward the AM designation or 5 years toward the ASA.
Difficulty with Strict Compliance
As discussed above, the personal property appraiser designation includes appraisers of artwork. However, changes in the law in the mid-2000s caused difficulty for many appraisers who had the requisite experience, but did not have the formal education or appraiser designations required. In 2006, Sotheby's submitted comments in response to the IRS' transitional guidance regarding the appraisal requirements published in Notice 2006-96. In its letter, Sotheby's requested that the IRS reconsider the then-newly-created rule requiring qualified appraisers to either hold an appraisal designation or meet both the education and experience requirements. Sotheby's contended that "[b]ecause Sotheby's specialists are already employees of one of the leading appraisers of art and antiques in the world, they generally do not also seek recognition from a separate appraisal organization." It also noted that "[v]ery little coursework—at any level—exists that is relevant to valuing rare art or collectibles. For many of the specialists' areas of expertise, there is no coursework at all." Therefore, Sotheby's contended, the rules could cause many experienced appraisers to fail to be considered "qualified appraisers." Despite Sotheby's contentions, the IRS maintained the requirement of an appraisal designation or both education and experience in its final rules.
Cryptocurrency is an encrypted form of digital virtual currency. This is a relatively new type of asset that has rapidly gained popularity in recent years with the rise of Bitcoin. Given the fairly recent creation of cryptocurrency as a category of property, IRS regulations and industry standards have not yet produced appraisal standards that are common to other well-established categories of property.
While for other types of property, obtaining a professional designation satisfies the appraiser qualifications, there is no such designation yet available for appraisers of cryptocurrency. Likewise, it appears that there are very few, if any, college-level courses regarding valuation of cryptocurrency. Therefore, individuals who hold themselves out as appraisers of cryptocurrency and the donors who seek their services must exercise caution. If the IRS finds fault with the appraiser's qualifications, the entire charitable income tax deduction from the gift of cryptocurrency may be denied.
Individuals who offer qualified appraisals of cryptocurrency should be up front about their qualifications. Appraisers of other intangible personal property type assets, such as life insurance, may be able to claim the requisite experience to be considered a qualified appraiser of cryptocurrency.
In May 2018, the AICPA submitted comments to the IRS regarding Notice 2014-21, in which the IRS provided guidance on virtual currency. The AICPA suggested that the IRS should treat valuation of cryptocurrency donations in the same manner as donations of publicly traded stock. "The rationale is that the prices for these publicly traded stocks are available on established exchanges, thus not requiring a qualified appraisal," stated the AICPA. "The same is true for most, if not all types of virtual currencies. That is, various exchanges publish the value of the currency on any given day." The AICPA suggested that the IRS implement a rule that allows the taxpayer to "document, and calculate the average of, the fair market value on at least two exchanges (at the date and time of the contribution) and the basis of the virtual currency contributed." Despite the AICPA's efforts, the IRS has not implemented such a rule.
Life Insurance
Valuation of life insurance for charitable deduction purposes can be complex. The deduction for such a gift is generally the lesser of the donor's cost basis (usually the premiums paid) or the value of the policy. Most often, the cost basis does not exceed the value of the policy. Nevertheless, as a noncash asset, a gift of life insurance in excess of $5,000 is required to have a qualified appraisal by a qualified appraiser. The valuation of the policy will be determined by the qualified appraiser. In many cases the value may be based either on the policy's replacement value if it is paid in full or the policy's interpolated terminal reserve value (ITRV) if the policy is not paid in full. While the major appraisal associations do not offer specific credentials in valuation of insurance policies, many offer certification in intangible assets, either as a specialization within another field or as a standalone credential. For example, the American Society of Appraisers offers an "Intangible Assets" specialty within the Business Valuation field.
Alternatively, some senior donors may receive a quote for life settlement of the policy. Several firms specialize in life settlement valuations. The life settlement value may exceed the cash value of the policy. In that case, the value of the policy will consist of the donor's cost basis (premiums paid), an ordinary income element (the difference between the policy's basis and cash value) and capital gain (the difference between the policy's cash value and the life settlement value). Under Rev. Rul. 2009-13, the IRS ruled that charges for the cost of insurance would reduce the donor's basis. However, that rule was abolished with the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Therefore, with a life settlement policy and a qualified appraisal, the donor is now able to deduct both the policy's cost basis and capital gain.
When evaluating the qualifications of an individual who holds himself or herself out as a qualified appraiser of life insurance, consider whether the individual already holds an appraiser designation from a well-respected appraisal organization as well as substantial education and experience valuing life insurance. This may include advanced degrees in the study of insurance or years of experience in the field of insurance.
A Cautionary Tale
In Reg. 1.170A-13(c)(5)(iv), there are a number of circumstances listed in which individuals who might otherwise be qualified are excluded from being considered a "qualified appraiser." These include when the appraiser is the donor, a "party to the transaction in which the donor acquired the property being appraised," the donee, anyone employed by or related to one of the aforementioned parties or "an appraiser who is regularly used by" the donor, donee or a party to the transaction in which the donor acquired the property "who does not perform a majority of his or her appraisals made during his or her taxable year for other persons."
In James Tarpey v. United States, No. 2:17-cv-00094 (2019), the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana held that an appraiser was not qualified under Reg. 1.170A-13(c)(5)(iv). James Tarpey formed a nonprofit, known as Donate for Cause ("DFC"), to facilitate the donation of timeshares. While Tarpey hired two appraisers, Ron Broyles and Curt Thor, to conduct appraisals, Tarpey and his sister, Suzanne Tarpey, also conducted appraisals for DFC.
The court noted that Tarpey relied on advice from his CPA, George Schramm, that Tarpey was qualified to be an appraiser of non-real property. However, the court also stated that "[t]he record fails to establish, however, that Schramm, or any other professional, ever advised Tarpey that he met all of the criteria to serve as a qualified appraiser for his scheme within the meaning of the Treasury Regulations." In its ruling, the court held that "all of the appraisers lacked sufficient independence from DFC to be considered 'qualified appraisers' under the Treasury Regulations."
While this is somewhat of an extreme case, it highlights the need for donors to educate themselves and seek the advice of knowledgeable and trustworthy advisors regarding the Service's requirements for appraisals and appraisers. If a client proposes an individual as a potential qualified appraiser for a specific gift, the advisor's inquiry should focus both on whether the appraiser meets the education and experience requirements and whether the appraiser is related to the parties involved in the transaction.
It is essential for donors seeking charitable deductions for gifts of noncash assets to understand their need to properly substantiate their gift. In many circumstances, substantiation for the charitable gift of noncash assets will require the services of a qualified appraiser. With the Service's rigid approach to appraiser qualifications, a misstep could lead to a lost charitable income tax deduction. Given the stakes involved, it is important for the donor's advisor to be able to assist the donor in determining where to turn when looking for an appraiser. Therefore, it is highly recommended that advisors help their clients find appraisers credentialed in the type of property transferred whenever possible. When there is no direct credential available for the type of property donated, the donor and advisor must be diligent in selecting an individual who is both highly educated and experienced in the field and sufficiently independent from the parties involved in the transaction.
Published December 1, 2019


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Ingersoll Rand Products
November 06, 2020
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World Bank: Unrest in Brazil, Egypt and Turkey a wake-up call
SANTIAGO -- Massive protests in Brazil, Egypt and Turkey should jolt governments across the globe into ensuring they are providing crucial public services and opportunities to their citizens, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in an interview on Friday.
Frustration with the political establishment, a lack of opportunity and unmet expectations for better living standards have helped galvanize millions of people in those countries to march in the streets and demand change.
"These social movements are not going to go away. And in my view they're simply going to grow," Kim told Reuters in an interview on Friday.
"Every country in the world has to really think hard about whether or not it's effective or not at delivering services, at whether or not people really do have a chance. Because Twitter and Facebook and social media have become incredibly powerful tools for civil society," Kim said.
The protests that have swept Brazil in recent weeks have sent shockwaves through the country's political establishment, prompting a flurry of promises to improve public services as well as concrete measures aimed at quelling the unrest.
In Turkey, unrest began at the end of May when police used force against campaigners opposed to plans to redevelop a central Istanbul park. The protest spiraled into broader demonstrations against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his government.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people marched across Egypt on Friday in what deposed President Mohamed Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood movement called a "Friday of Rage" to protest against his ouster and an interim government set up to prepare for new elections.
"Our view at the World Bank Group is: look, this makes it even more important that countries get the macroeconomics right, because getting the macroeconomics right means you're able to weather economic crisis," he said.
"You've got to get serious about investments in human capital: health, education, social protection. These are really critical," he said, stressing the importance of also addressing the issue of income inequality.
The marches in Latin America's largest economy have rallied Brazilians angry about a range of issues from corruption and poor public transportation to billions of dollars being spent to host the soccer World Cup next year.
"I think that depending on the government responses to those protests, we may not see a drop in investment," Kim told Reuters during a visit to Chile.
While lauding Brazil's efforts at social inclusion, Kim underlined large and unmet demands for equality of opportunity.
"The Brazilian people have been very focused. They've been very specific about what they want. They want better hospitals, they want better educational opportunities, they want better controls on prices, they want lower prices for bus rides and other things," Kim said.
"The inflation levels in Brazil are related to the protests that we've (seen). It's really hard to tell whether those numbers are going to go up or down," he added.
Brazil's inflation climbed at the fastest pace in 20 months in June but rose less than forecast, supporting hopes that increases in consumer prices could start to slow even after a sharp currency sell-off.
The World Bank is keeping a close watch on the situation in Egypt and is focused on the safety of its over 200 employees there, but hasn't yet decided on the future of its programs there, Kim said.
"Things are changing moment by moment. We're collecting as much intelligence as we can ... we hope to continue (with our program in Egypt), but we'll know a lot more literally in the next 24 to 48 hours," Kim said of the World Bank's 24 projects and total commitments of over $4.5 billion there.
"We have to see how the government shapes and whether or not we can continue. It's still up in the air we're not sure," Kim said.


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Three years ago, J.J. Hendricks (above, left) of Denver paid $17,500 for a rare Nintendo cartridge— Nintendo World Championships, one of about 26 copies of a game for a promotional tournament more than 20 years old. About a year later, he opened negotiations to buy a cartridge even more rare.
The game in question is Nintendo PowerFest '94 which, like the earlier World Championships was a suite of games modified for competition play. The competition was held in 1994 at more than 100 locations in the U.S. and Canada. Competitors had six minutes to play Super Mario Bros: Lost Levels, Super Mario Kart and Ken Griffey Jr Baseball. Winners advanced to a final round held in San Diego.
The Nintendo PowerFest '94 cartridges for were supposed to be returned to be destroyed. Only one was known to exist before Hendricks was contacted with an offer to buy a copy of the game, which came from the early rounds of the competition. You can see the owner of the rare cartridge, Rick Bruns, acquiring it in an image on this website.
Hendricks finally bought the cartridge, but not without arranging a summit in a Vermont hotel and paying with a purple sack containing $12,000 in cash. If it sounds like something out of a film, well, Hendricks has a gift for that type of narrative (as we learned in the Nintendo World Championships purchase.) Best part? After completing the deal, Hendricks and Bruns faced off in their own PowerFest competition, with Bruns smoking Hendricks both times.
Correction: An earlier version misidentified J.J. Hendricks in the top image.
How I Got Nintendo PowerFest 94 [PriceCharting/JJ Hendricks]


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Board of Taxation
The County Tax Board establishes the percentage of true value at which all real property in the county must be assessed. The County Tax Board responsible for ascertaining the level of assessment in each taxing district and making the appropriate adjustments in order to distribute the cost of county government equitably among the taxing districts with the county (N.J.S.A. 54:3-17-18).
County Assessor's Office
The Gloucester County Office of Assessment derives its authority from, and operated pursuant to New Jersey Statutes Annotated (NJSA) Title 54, Taxation. We function under the aegis of the County Board of Chosen Freeholders. The primary purpose of the Gloucester County Office of Assessment is to assess real property for taxation under general laws and by uniform rules. All real property assessed and taxed locally or by the state for allotment and payment to taxing districts shall be assessed according to the same standard of value except as otherwise permitted herein and such real property shall be taxed at the general tax rate of the taxing district in which the property is situated for the use of such taxing district. Robert M. DammingerFreeholder DirectorFrank J DiMarcoDeputy Freeholder


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- Sub-Saharan Africa x
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Chapter 14. Distributional Consequences and Policy Responses to Food Price Inflation in Developing Asia »
Source: Commodity Price Volatility and Inclusive Growth in Low-Income Countries
Series: Books
Author(s): Rabah Arezki , Catherine Pattillo , Marc Quintyn , and Min Zhu
Publisher: INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
Publication Date: 24 October 2012
Keywords: hedging, fiscal policy, inflation, terms of trade, food prices
Introduction Rapidly rising food prices are not just a macroeconomic problem. By directly influencing poverty levels, they create a political challenge for developing countries. As t...


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(ran TTS, TNS editions)
There is a point at which pancakes are closer to dessert than breakfast, or perhaps they become an excuse for substituting one for the other.
The standard breakfast pancake is a fairly lean mixture that goes by what you might call the rule of one: one cup each milk and flour, one egg, one teaspoon baking powder, and maybe a tablespoon each of sugar and melted butter. Most people compensate for that leanness by adding butter and maple syrup at the table.
A rich pancake, like those often served in Sweden, takes those proportions and skews them, boosting the proportion of eggs, butter and sugar at the expense of flour. As with brownies or cookies, when you increase fat and sweetness and decrease filler _ that's what flour is, after all _ the results are indisputably better.
And when you eliminate baking powder, using beaten egg whites instead for leavening, you both add and subtract: The pancakes are supremely light and airy, and the slightly chemical taste of baking powder is absent.
The Swedes use a special pan for these plattar, as they are called, so all are the same size, which is smaller than American pancakes. But I use a tablespoon, which works almost as well.
Once you add the flour, do not stir the batter any longer than is necessary to combine the ingredients; you will cause too much gluten to develop and make the pancakes tough. The egg whites should be stirred in gently and not especially thoroughly.
Cook these pancakes quickly, over fairly high heat, in a lot of butter.
The pancakes are so rich and delicious they can be served with nothing more than a dusting of confectioners' sugar.
But they are sweet enough so that you can serve them (as is often done in Sweden) with lingonberry or other tart preserves (cranberry sauce is great) or even a little lemon juice.
Yogurt or sour cream also complement the pancakes nicely, as do any sweet jam or preserves or, for that matter, whipped cream.
Swedish Pancakes
3 eggs
\ cup sugar
Pinch salt
1 cup milk
} cup flour
3 tablespoons melted butter, more for cooking
Confectioners' sugar for dusting
Time: 30 minutes.
Separate eggs, and beat yolks in a medium bowl with sugar and salt. Add milk and flour alternately, stirring gently after each addition, to form a thin, smooth batter. Stir in melted butter. (Batter can be covered and refrigerated for up to a day.)
Beat egg whites until they hold stiff peaks. Gently stir them into batter; do not worry about fully incorporating them. Heat a cast iron or nonstick skillet or griddle over medium-high heat; when a drop of water skips across it before evaporating, it's ready.
Melt some butter in pan, and, using a tablespoon, scoop up a bit of batter and put it in pan. Cook as many pancakes at once as will fit comfortably, turning them when they are brown. Total cooking time is less than 5 minutes per pancake.
Serve, sprinkled with confectioners' sugar. Yield: 4 servings.


text: In Pokémon Sun and Moon, a QR Scanner function allows players to see information about Pokémon when they scan QR codes. By scanning in special patterns, players can register Pokémon of the Alola region to their Pokédex and find out where they live. If you scan in the QR code for a Pokémon that you haven't yet caught, you can check its habitat and search it out. The QR code for Murkrow is pictured above, while Honchkrow can be scanned in the image below.


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There's no need to halt production in order to refill with packaging material or strips since both are replaced automatically. Automation also ensures that splices between packaging material reels and strip applications are of consistent, repeatable quality.
The flow of sterile air and the peroxide concentration needed to maintain aseptic conditions is fully controlled in a closed loop, and designed to auto-correct if deviations occur. Packaging material is sterilised both inside and out in a peroxide bath and a UV lamp completes the sterilisation process.
A unique chain-driven jaw system means that the machine's roll-fed packaging material is formed into packages in continuous motion, making this the fastest carton package filling in the world. An induction-based power transfer means there is no need for connected parts, which greatly reduces wear and tear.
The integrated cleaning unit cleans and disinfects the equipment at pre-set time intervals. As it is integrated, it has several advantages over a Central CIP: fewer delays; a shorter cleaning cycle; better controlled cleaning and a lower consumption of chemicals
Several factors contribute to the easy operation of this filling machine: the Tetra Pak Operator Panel with its intuitive touch screen interface; large windows through which operators can observe production at first hand, and ground level access to essential working parts.
The PLMS centre automatically collects production data from the automation platform. To this, the operator can add his own observations. Improvements in production efficiency can then be made on the basis of the two.
As the filling machine is an integrated part of the line it communicates with all the other line equipment. Sterilisation, filling and sealing processes are continuously controlled, increasing the output of 'on-target' packages. This feature also enables selectable capacity for compatibility with existing processing or downstream equipment.
Not only does this give you investment protection but it also means that you can have a new package on the shelves 12 weeks earlier compared to ordering a new line, with 85% reduced installation time and with an 80% lower investment.
The unit consists of a control cabinet, a heating element to sterilize air (or an inert gas) and a nozzle which injects the sterile air (or inert gas) to the product to create froth. When the froth settles down, it leaves a residual headspace which enables the content to be shaken and mixed. Using this method, products can be filled by weight so the choice of volumes is wider
The PullTab Unit punches a hole in the packaging material then applies an Inner PE-Strip and an outer Aluminium Tab (which is later used for opening the package). The opening is hermetically sealed before the packaging material proceeds to forming and filling.
Do you want more information about Tetra Pak A3/Speed? Please contact us.


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Come on Julia, now's not the time for election nonsense
IT'S simply breath-taking that our Prime Minister would make an election announcement during a national crisis affecting thousands of people across Queensland and New South Wales.
What planet is Julia Gillard living on?
This is a time when the nation's focus should be firmly on helping the people of Bundaberg, Logan, the Lockyer Valley, Rockhampton, Maryborough, Gympie, Grafton.
And let's not forget about places like Monto, Gin Gin, and the myriad of towns in the greater northern NSW area.
Instead, our PM is talking about having a policy debate with Tony Abbbott.
Well here are few policies to consider Prime Minister when you visit the people of Bundaberg today.
Put the people of Australia first, not political advantage.
Does she really think we will tolerate eight months of these two droning on about everything?
The smartest thing the national media could do is ignore the pair's party games and start putting the heat on both of them to deliver on ideas to rebuild Queensland and help victims of flood and fires.
In Bundaberg alone, there are an estimated 7500 people isolated by floodwater.
Rockhampton is anxiously awaiting its turn.
Yet today when Ms Gillard turns up to Bundaberg she will no doubt be asked more questions about the election than the flood crisis by the national media.
It's little wonder Queensland MPs are seething about the announcement.
Like many regional journalists in the past week, I have spent day and night on the flood crisis.
Yesterday I finally took a couple of hours out to recharge the batteries.
I returned to find an election had been called.
I thought it was a bad dream.
The end result is that it has kicked the flood crisis off the front page of the national agenda.
Let's hope that Julia Gillard can announce some significant funding help for those affected by floods - and a proper plan to rebuild.
And let's hope journos can concentrate more on what she is saying - and how she will deliver it - than the style of glasses she is wearing.
As for Tony Abbott, if he wants to be Prime Minister, he must start delivering more than constructed TV grabs.
Real policies Mr Abbott - solutions, not one liners - and yes, some costings please.
Talk about a long labour for ordinary Australians.
What do you think? Was the election timing announcement off? Or will it end the speculation and allow the government to get on with it? Have your say below
Reader poll
Do you think the election has been called too early?
This poll ended on 07 February 2013.
Current Results
This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.
Mark Furler is the group digital editor for APN's Australian Regiona Media. He is the former editor in chief of three times PANPA Newspaper of the Year, the Sunshine Coast Daily.


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In Touch With...Helen O'Leary
In Touch With...Helen O'Leary
Nobody gets through life without facing challenges, but an artist's ups and downs are often made tangible by what he or she creates to express and transform the experiences. For Helen O'Leary, a professor of art born and raised in County Wexford, Ireland, life's recent changes—including a divorce, followed by being selected to receive a 2010-2011 John Simon Guggenheim Award—have inspired her to "root in the ruins and failures" of her personal and national history to visually map the relationship between language and literature and art. "My work uses my life as subject matter, at middle age and mid career, post nuclear family, my continued unpacking and packing, belonging and retraction of homes between countries," writes O'Leary. We joined her in her studio recently to discuss her recent work and the Guggenheim Fellowship term that took her to New York, Paris, and Berlin to investigate the texts and letters of Samuel Beckett and shape a material response to them.
Q: What themes and forms are you exploring in your recent work?
A: I've been writing stories for the last few years. I'm trying to work with language—both written language and painting language—that has an informal diary feel. That's very important to me. Lately I'm working off a dating site and Craigslist to find seeds of stories. The themes I'm interested in are people who downsize, people who change their minds somehow, and also in things that are offered that won't come through. I'm interested in that kind of uncertainty, using the Irish economy as a model, so I'm putting that all together from the very domestic to the larger armature of a country. On a larger level, I'm interested in the much-mythologized culture of loss in Ireland and I'm interested in using that in a very contemporary and offhand way through the person. God knows how I'll put all that together but I'm doing it. I'm trying!
Q: Tell me more about your childhood and its impact on your growth as an artist.
A: My father died when I was very young. We got hit by a tornado first, then we got struck by lightning, then my father got a brain tumor. It was "bam, bam, bam!"—three things. And my mother was left with four girls in a culture where girls shouldn't own land. It was expected that we would sell off the farm. But our project for the next eight years was to keep it going. We rented rooms to tourists before tourists were really a thing in Ireland. It brought the world to us, but it also made land really important to us. Land, to me, is also the canvas or the table, the tangible. Our world became very unconventional very quickly. I learned that you live by the skin of your teeth. It trained me for art school to realize that conventions might not work for you and could be broken, so when I came to making art—oh, I hate the word art—let's say, making things, I would always look for another way to do it. I loved drawing on the kind of insubordination I grew up with, and using it.
Q: Why do you hate the word art?
A: It's so grandiose and above. I didn't grow up with the idea that art was within my reach, but human expression was. Art to me was something that belonged in the "big house." Growing up in rural Ireland in the 1960s through '80s, I recall my mother often spoke about the "big house" and the class system that was clearly in place. She'd end each story with "Their ways weren't our ways" and, later, when my family ran our boarding house, she would dismiss the tourists who stayed with us with the same comment. My childhood was defined by a culture where making things—food, shelter, ornament—and "making do"— were central to both the physical and emotional survival of the family. So art is my world and my life and I believe in it, but I would just call it our need to speak rather than that word.
Q: Do you consider the writing you're doing fiction or memoir?
A: I would say I'm working with memoir, stories of growing up on the farm in Wexford and my life now in the States. I've called my work "invention out of need," using my own displacement as fodder for meaning. In terms of the writing, I started out just writing my story of growing up and my mother's survival after she was widowed. And it turned out that I was writing about that as Ireland was losing its economic foothold, going from the second richest country in the European Union to the humiliation of our banking crisis, so I was looking at my youth, the Irish situation and my situation now and I was trying to put all those things together—but not in some "sad bastard" way. I'm interested in the kind of optimism that's always present in the Irish psyche. Laughter is a huge part of it. When I'm trawling through these online sites, I'm looking for laughter more than anything else: people selling weird things or people with strange notions of businesses orâ¦kind of more of a Samuel Beckett approach to life more than Oprah.
Q: Do you still primarily consider yourself a painter?
A: I consider myself a visual poet. If I was to find a niche, that's where I'd say I'm sitting. I make postcards with found text on them that are like concrete poems. I make photographs of historically made books. And I make paintings that are large and kind of look like they're becoming undone. I'm interested in things that leak, things that tear, things that come apart. I'm taking apart my house bit by bit and making it into slivers and then reconstructing it as armature for painting.
Q: What is behind the emphasis on deconstruction in your recent visual art?
A: While I revel in painting—its rules, its beauty, its techniques—I need to fold my work back into the agricultural language I grew up with. I'm interested in the personal, my own story, and the history of storytelling. So I take things apart, forgetting conventions and reapply my own story to the form. In "Where Things Matter," one of my latest works, I was interested in painting that would stand up without the usual structures of support. I am looking at my own life, the history of Sean-nós singing in Irish music, Beckett's pared-down language, and the "currency of need" found in most houses when I was growing up.
I think there's another layer as well: You spend the first 50 years gathering stuff and you spend the next 50 years getting rid of stuff. So I'm getting rid of stuff. And I'm interested in what happens when you slice it up. I have disassembled the wooden structures of previous paintings—the stretchers, panels, and frames—and have cut them back to rudimentary hand-built slabs of wood, glued and patched together, their history of being stapled, splashed with bits of paint, and stapled again to linen clearly evident. At this point, I want painting to be picked clean; I like its thinness, its touch. I whittle for meaning. I'm literally culling my house, splintering things and re-assembling them as armature. It's hopeful: through the process of deconstruction and reassembly, these structures imagine the possibility that painting might take root and find a place to press forward into fertile new terrain. Ultimately I'm after painting that gives joy to the eye and substance to the spirit.


text:
"I recommend that now is the time you start the routine your child is going to have when your child goes back to school, making sure they go to bed early and wake up early."
In general, teenagers should get 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night, and elementary age kids should get 9 to 10 hours every night.
On the first day of school, the average child loses 90 minutes of sleep.
Dr. Mack said a breakfast that includes protein, such as scrambled eggs or Greek yogurt, is also good. She also recommends they know how to properly wash their hands.
"When they go back make sure they know all about hand washing," she said. "Sing the alphabet while they wash, covering cough with arm instead of their hand."
Parents need to also make sure their children are up to date on their vaccinations. In Oregon, there is a series of four vaccines that are required for 4-6 year olds.
Dr. Kirsten Crowley, a pediatrician at PMG-Southwest Pediatrics also shared back-to-school tips in this KXL interview. She also recommends getting kids back on a routine - and to start early. She also has food recommendations for young, healthy bodies.


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July-16-2009 Leading Economic Development Organization Recognizes NJRA Redevelopment Training Institute
Leading Economic Development Organization RECOGNIZES NJRA Redevelopment Training Institute
TRENTON - The New Jersey Redevelopment Authority (NJRA) today announced that training courses offered through the NJRA Redevelopment Training Institute (RTI) have been approved by the Northeastern Economic Developers Association (NEDA) as qualifying courses for its Economic Development Professional (EDP) program.
"Every RTI participant should take advantage of the opportunity to hold credentials from this leading economic development organization," said Joseph Doria, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Commissioner and NJRA Chair. "Participation in NJRA RTI now opens the door to becoming part of a professional network that offers education, resources, advocacy and networking opportunities."
The EDP designation recognizes significant professional education and/or experience in the field of economic development or closely related disciplines. Candidates must meet a number of requirements including, but not limited to, experience, accomplishments and professional education. NJRA RTI's redevelopment courses, including workshops, are recognized as advanced credit topics for a candidate seeking either initial EDP recognition or EDP renewal.
NJRA RTI, which is open to the public, offers three training courses on the Redevelopment Planning Process, Real Estate Development and Project Finance, all taught by industry leaders. In addition, core courses are enhanced with supplemental one-day workshops that address key issues pertaining to redevelopment.
"We are excited that NEDA understands the value of the NJRA RTI curriculum," said Leslie A. Anderson, NJRA Executive Director. "This is an important designation that will afford both past and future students the credentials to set them apart from their counterparts in this industry."
The Northeastern Economic Developers Association is dedicated to the advancement of professionalism in the field of economic development and encourages its members to maintain the highest professional skills in order to improve the economy of Northeastern United States and the economic development profession.
Students interested in obtaining the EDP designation can review the requirements at www.nedaonline.org/EconomicDevelopmentProfessional.asp.
The NJRA, a DCA affiliate, is a state redevelopment financing authority committed to revitalizing urban New Jersey. As urban experts, the NJRA customizes project financing to invest financial resources into redevelopment projects that enhance New Jersey's cities. The NJRA offers a host of financial resources to support urban redevelopment.
For further information on the NJRA RTI, including application information, please call 609-292-0031, or log on to http://www.njra.us/rti.


text:
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text:
Hello Good People who still sometimes read this blog…
(still editing this, sorry about errors, it was written in free-flowing time)
In a fit of self-serving blogging to cheer me up, I am going to bore you all with Day Two of my imaginary ideal Glastonbury.
It's Saturday , so it will be a long day. Weather is cloudy and unsettled, but hey it's not raining. I got wellies on for the mud and last night had an imaginary sing song with bearded dread-locked strangers playing djembe by the fire until dawn, sharing bottles of scrumpy, herbal cigarettes,many jokes and looking up to spot shooting stars. I was woken up by the dawn chorus of birds and grumpy young tikes, am a bit dazed, but am looking forwards to foraging for breakfast and a cup of good coffee, and to see if there are any solar powered showers. Can smell lovely bacon but am trying to be veggie. Maybe I can find a nice veggie sausage alternative.
By the time my physical needs are slowly sorted, it should be time for the first act of today ( at my imaginary Glastonbury…cheaper than the real one and with some of my favourite bands).
Led Zeppelin are billed on the Folk Garden Stage, ( playing electric later on Mainstage). Great, that will do to start my day. This pedal-powered stage is adorned with flowerbeds and with creeping honey suckle plants hanging over the stage instead of a lighting rig ( this is not evident in the footage I have chosen…you need to use your imagination).
Going to California – Led Zeppelin
Well after that beautiful acoustic performance, I sit down on a bale of hay and chat to Jimmy Page about his acoustic guitar tunings and smile at Robert Plant who talks incessantly about Viking Sagas, ( John Paul-Jones has gone off for a morning shit in the backstage portaloo).
It is still dry, but the skies are turning dark grey.Was that a rumble of thunder in the distance, or an amplifier farting angrily? I don't know, that Honey Rose cigarette I scrounged off Mr. Plant is giving me a strange sense of space, colour and time.
All the tents look the same as I amble back, I spend two and a half hours looking for mine, it's blue and I bought it from Millet's.
Found my tent and collapsed like a clean-living middle-aged hippie who cannot cope with intoxicants of any kind. I am woken up by what sounds like a load of balloons being inflated simultaneously.Ah, a herd of young people and their nitrous oxide I think! I don't approve, but it's a festival, and the UK do both festivals and excessive alcohol and drug consumption particularly well.
Managed to get a lift in the back of the van of some crew member to get to a supermarket. All the locals look at us with dishevelled hair and screw up their faces as they sense the smells of skunk and woodfires which suddenly seem to emanate from our clothing once indoors.
The security guard follows us around. I buy festival essentials:cuppa soups, rizzlas, rolling tobacco, tea bags, powdered milk,chocolate biscuits,beer,candles, spare lighter,loo roll and a magazine that I will never read.
Getting back into the festival takes a while due to queues of traffic and getting lost on country roads.My driver is a guy I never met before called Botty. I have known three "Botties" before,and they were all pretty much the same. He wears a hat , a torn t-shirt and an evil grin. He likes loud classic rock and heavy metal music , and so while we are stuck in lines of traffic surrounded by fields, he enriches my musical education with his stereo blasting AC/DC, ZZ Top, Rush and many other rock bands. He tells me I should investigate the Free-floating Anarchy Noise Tent this evening. So later I go and investigate and to my surprise find my old friends Treatment performing on stage.
Treatment -The Hidden Attack (at a Club Dog event at Shoreditch Town Hall?)
After dancing like a maniac, I join Clive, Adam and co. and they encourage me to stay to watch Acid Mother's Temple from Japan.
I love loud musical anarchy.
Later on,it's getting dark , and I walk around aimlessly, munching on a reasonably-priced and delicious nut-burger ( remember the prices are imaginary),who is this on the Acoustic Politico-Philosophy Stage? Yes it's Benjamin Zephaniah, oh joy!
At the end of Zephaniah's act, an MC appears in a silly jester's hat with bells on, a big pink tutu , his hair in plaits dyed purple to match his beard.
He tell us that he runs "Men and Gender in the 21st century workshops"in the Healing Field and also reminds us that Bob Marley is about to appear on the main stage, creating a minor stampede of Benjamin Zephaniah fans to rush out into the rain. Yes it's raining, out come the plastic macs distributed with free copies of the Guardian.
But as we plod through mud and showers, to get to the main stage , the sun appears, re-awakening the evening sky. Bob Marley is resurrected from the dead, like a Messiah living briefly once more to sing us songs of love, hope and tribulation all encased in Rasta spirituality.
Concrete Jungle
After Bob Marley, having danced and sampled spliffs handed to me from smiling multi-coloured strangers in the crowd, who instantly became my friends, Steve Hillage appears on the stage as he was in 1977! (Steve Hillage is as great now as he ever was but can't find recent footage with good sound quality )
I have been dancing my socks off,drinking some beer, met many strangers, had many laughs, got reasonably covered in mud. I have few possessions but great happiness renewed in my heart and spirit.
Late at night, now the booze has worn off, there's a special guest on the Literary and Pensive Songs Stage . It's my favourite songstress: Joni Mitchell.
This is a sung poem really, about a woman who will not commit or give up her freedom, and her abandoned lovers(or fans?). A few tears run down my cheeks as she sings, but they make feel more alive emotionally and I cannot regret them:
Cactus Tree
I need to go to bed now before I get too stoned ( in my imagination) to enjoy the rest of the weekend. I can't wait until tomorrow. I have no idea who will be playing as I couldn't afford a programme as usual.
Well I hope you have enjoyed my Saturday at Glastonbury, I have. I just need a time machine, a ton of money and to own a big plot of land near a spiritual place.
Love and Peace


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Equity futures are higher this morning, here's the overnight action:
The dollar is lower, currently at 76.37, oil is up, gold is up, and bond futures are up as well. The bond market is closed today due to it being Columbus Day. I am expecting lower volume in equities due to that, and there will be no economic releases today. Later in the week we get retail sales, the CPI, TIC flows, and Consumer Sentiment. There are also many earnings reports, GE, Goldman, JPM, and a total of 28 companies of the S&P 500 report this week. Keep in mind that the large banks are living a mark-to-fantasy world, high on fiat and big bonuses.
So far, the dollar has managed to hold above the 76 level. According to this Bloomberg article, however, central banks around the world are diversifying out:
I would agree that the sentiment has gotten pretty negative, and it is at extremes that turns usually happen. We definitely have a long term structural problem, but keep in mind that nothing moves in that proverbial straight line. That said, if the dollar were to get below 76 and move to 72, it might not prove to be as good for equities as has been the case so far.
Dollar Reaches Breaking Point as Banks Shift Reserves
By Ye Xie and Anchalee Worrachate
Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Central banks flush with record reserves are increasingly snubbing dollars in favor of euros and yen, further pressuring the greenback after its biggest two- quarter rout in almost two decades.
Policy makers boosted foreign currency holdings by $413 billion last quarter, the most since at least 2003, to $7.3 trillion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Nations reporting currency breakdowns put 63 percent of the new cash into euros and yen in April, May and June, the latest Barclays Capital data show. That's the highest percentage in any quarter with more than an $80 billion increase.
World leaders are acting on threats to dump the dollar while the Obama administration shows a willingness to tolerate a weaker currency in an effort to boost exports and the economy as long as it doesn't drive away the nation's creditors. The diversification signals that the currency won't rebound anytime soon after losing 10.3 percent on a trade-weighted basis the past six months, the biggest drop since 1991.
"Global central banks are getting more serious about diversification, whereas in the past they used to just talk about it," said Steven Englander, a former Federal Reserve researcher who is now the chief U.S. currency strategist at Barclays in New York. "It looks like they are really backing away from the dollar."
Sliding Share
The dollar's 37 percent share of new reserves fell from about a 63 percent average since 1999. Englander concluded in a report that the trend "accelerated" in the third quarter. He said in an interview that "for the next couple of months, the forces are still in place" for continued diversification.
America's currency has been under siege as the Treasury sells a record amount of debt to finance a budget deficit that totaled $1.4 trillion in fiscal 2009 ended Sept. 30.
Intercontinental Exchange Inc.'s Dollar Index, which tracks the currency's performance against the euro, yen, pound, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc and Swedish krona, fell to 75.77 last week, the lowest level since August 2008 and down from the high this year of 89.624 on March 4. The index, at 76.431 today, is within six points of its record low reached in March 2008.
Foreign companies and officials are starting to say their economies are getting hurt because of the dollar's weakness.
Dollar's Weighting
Developing countries have likely sold about $30 billion for euros, yen and other currencies each month since March, according to strategists at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.
That helped reduce the dollar's weight at central banks that report currency holdings to 62.8 percent as of June 30, the lowest on record, the latest International Monetary Fund data show. The quarter's 2.2 percentage point decline was the biggest since falling 2.5 percentage points to 69.1 percent in the period ended June 30, 2002.
"The diversification out of the dollar will accelerate," said Fabrizio Fiorini, a money manager who helps oversee $12 billion at Aletti Gestielle SGR SpA in Milan. "People are buying the euro not because they want that currency, but because they want to get rid of the dollar. In the long run, the U.S. will not be the same powerful country that it once was."
Central banks' moves away from the dollar are a temporary trend that will reverse once the Fed starts raising interest rates from near zero, according to Christoph Kind, who helps manage $20 billion as head of asset allocation at Frankfurt Trust in Germany.
'Flush' With Dollars
"The world is currently flush with the U.S. dollar, which is available at no cost," Kind said. "If there's a turnaround in U.S. monetary policy, there will be a change of perception about the dollar as a reserve currency. The diversification has more to do with reduction of concentration risks rather than a dim view of the U.S. or its currency."
The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 54 economists is for the Fed to lift its target rate for overnight loans between banks to 1.25 percent by the end of 2010. The European Central Bank will boost its benchmark a half percentage point to 1.5 percent, a separate poll shows.
America's economy will grow 2.4 percent in 2010, compared with 0.95 percent in the Sentiment toward the dollar reminds John Taylor, chairman of New York-based FX Concepts Inc., the world's largest currency hedge fund, of the mid-1990s. That's when the greenback tumbled to a post-World War II low of 79.75 against the yen on April 19, 1995, on concern that the Fed wasn't raising rates fast enough to contain inflation. Like now, speculation about central bank diversification and the demise of the dollar's primacy rose.
The currency then gained 26 percent versus the yen and 25 percent against the deutsche mark in the following two years as technology innovation increased U.S. productivity and attracted foreign capital.
"People didn't like the dollar in 1995," said Taylor, whose firm has $9 billion under management. "That was very stupid and turned out to be wrong. Now, we are getting to the point that people's attitude toward the dollar becomes ridiculously negative."
Last Friday produced another small movement in the McClelland Oscillator. Usually movements less than 10 produce big changes within the following two days, the change in the McClelland on Friday was 12 which is pretty darn small, so be aware that a large change is possible today or tomorrow.
We got above the 1,070 level and are retesting the old highs at 1,080. It is possible to double top in here so be alert for that. The 1,090 pivot level may help to hold prices in this range for awhile, if that is breached, the next higher pivot is 1,107 while current support is at 1,061.
The daily, 60, 30, and 10 minute stochastics are all overbought. The wave count is in a position for wave 3 up of 5 up (technically wave E) to be in progress. It should produce a new high (already did in the DOW) and then there should be a wave 4 and then 5 to finish up the large wave B up. Pay attention to the Transports, they are not nearly as close to a new high as the rest of the indices and so there's potential for a DOW Theory non-confirmation.
I am still watching the rising wedges as pictured below. It's very common to see those overthrow the top or to fall short of the top as the last wave up progresses. You will know that wave B is complete once the bottom uprising trend line is broken. Note the classic declining volume as these rising wedges have progressed:
Velvet Revolver- Messages