KB Home (NYSE: KBH) has been resilient to challenges like high mortgage rates and the inflation-induced strain on family budgets, while benefitting from the recovery in the housing market. When the company reports third-quarter earnings, it is expected to deliver positive results.
A few weeks ago, KB Home’s stock climbed to an all-time high, and is currently trading sharply above its 12-month average price. Over the past few years, KBH has maintained an uptrend, outperforming the broad market quite often. The company recently declared a quarterly cash dividend of $.25 per share, payable on August 22, 2024, to stockholders of record on August 8.
Q3 Report on Tap
The Los Angeles-headquartered homebuilder will be reporting third-quarter results on Tuesday, September 24, at 4:10 pm ET. Market watchers are looking for earnings of $2.05 per share for the August quarter, compared to $1.80 per share in the year-ago quarter. The consensus sales forecast is $1.73 billion for Q3, which represents a 9% increase from the same period last year. In the trailing six quarters, both earnings and the top line consistently exceeded estimates.
KB Home’s target customers are mainly first-time and move-up buyers. Stable demand from young customers and the resilience of the broad housing industry bode well for the company. Given the continued undersupply of new and resale homes, the near-term prospects look bright for homebuilders. The other positives for the industry are improving wages and favorable household formations, while uncertainties in mortgage rate trends remain a challenge. As far as pricing is concerned, KB Home is at an advantage due to its built-to-order model and healthy backlog.
From KB Home’s Q2 2024 earnings call:
“We are affordably positioned in our served markets with products that include features that we know buyers value based on our survey data. Our buyers can significantly influence their final sales price as they personalize their choice of lot, elevation, and selections in our design studio aligning their monthly payment with their budgets. While the majority of our business is built to order, we’ve always offered quick move-in homes in each of our communities. As a result, we are in a unique position to satisfy the majority of customers who value choice while also accommodating those buyers who prioritize a quicker move-in date.”
Mixed Q2
In the second quarter, sales declined 3% year-over-year to $1.71 billion, which is attributable mainly to seasonal factors. Meanwhile, Q2 net income increased to $168.4 million or $2.15 per share from $164.4 million or $1.94 per share in the comparable period of 2023. During the quarter, home deliveries declined while new orders increased modestly. At $483,000, the average selling price was up 1% in the May quarter.
The value of KB Home’s stock has almost doubled since October last year. The upswing continued this week and the shares traded up 5% on Friday afternoon.
Visiting several places in a few days is one of the things that I like the most about cruise travel.
However, in order to do this, ships must move fast enough to be able to leave and reach the next port in a short time.
If you think about it, it would not be a difficult thing to do with an airplane, but cruise ships are much heavier, much larger, and obviously much slower.
How fast can a cruise ship travel and how far can it travel in a single day at maximum speed? I did some calculations (even though I’m not great at math), so let’s see what came out of it.
Knots and Nautical Miles
docked cruise
Just a small clarification before we figure out how fast cruise ships can travel. It is important to specify that the speed of ships is measured in knots, and one knot is equal to one nautical mile per hour.
You’re probably more used to land measure, and the conversion is quite simple. 1 nautical mile is equal to 1.15 land miles.
Let’s make an example to make it more clear. If your ship travels at an average of 19 knots between Miami and Nassau, which is approximately 184 nautical miles apart, it would take around 9.7 hours to reach Nassau.
During this time, you would cover roughly 211.7 land miles.
How Fast Can Cruise Ships Go?
Cruise ship wake
Cruise ships typically travel at speeds ranging from 18 to 22 knots, which is about 20 to 25 miles per hour (32 to 40 kilometers per hour).
That range is usually considered optimal for a good balance between speed, fuel consumption, and safety.
However, many cruise ships could travel much faster than that. Modern cruise ships, like the newer ones from Royal Caribbean, can reach speeds of up to 25 knots (around 29 miles per hour or 46 kilometers per hour).
You should consider that traveling too fast can increase the motion of the ship and create discomfort for passengers who are more prone to seasickness.
Speed Influences
Certainly, the speed is affected by the size of the ship. Very large ships are more difficult to move and maneuver, which is why they can reach slower speeds.
Modern small-sized cruise ships are usually the fastest. That’s another reason why small cruise ships are better than big ones
In addition, cruise ships often adjust their speed based on weather conditions to ensure passenger comfort and safety.
High winds and rough seas can affect the ship’s ability to maintain its maximum speed. For example, cruise ships cannot travel at high speed while stabilizers are deployed or when there’s a hurricane warning.
Finally, we must consider costs. It’s no secret, cruises are very revenue-conscious, and management will do anything to be able to increase profits.
Traveling at a constant medium speed reduces fuel consumption and thus ships’ operating expenses.
How Far Can a Cruise Ship Travel
Norwegian Getaway and Norwegian Viva
Now let’s try to answer the key question. How far can a cruise ship travel in a single day?
At its maximum speed of about 25 knots, a cruise ship can travel approximately 600 nautical miles or about 700 land miles in a day.
As you can guess, it’s only a theoretical hypothesis because we assume continuous travel without stops and ideal conditions.
If these conditions are met, in a single day a ship could cover most of the route between New York City and Bermuda, or could travel 3 times between Miami and Nassau.
In land measure, it’s approximately the distance from Dallas to Denver, Paris to Barcelona, or New York City to Charleston.
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Since 1986, Man in the Mirror has worked with more than 35,000 churches and millions of men with the goal of seeing every man reflect honestly, pursue God wholeheartedly, and live vibrantly. To this end, we equip Christian men around the world to engage in meaningful relationships that change lives and build the kingdom of God.
CHEAT ON DESSERT WITH QUESTIFIED CHOCOLATE MACADAMIA PIE. What do you get when you cross a Quest White Chocolate Macadamia Cookie with a chocolate pie so rich it practically wears a tuxedo? You get a recipe for a dessert so decadent it belongs on a silver platter in a formal ballroom on a mega yacht paid for by a trust fund that funds other trust funds. But don’t worry. It won’t judge you for eating it in sweatpants.
Preheat the oven to 350 F and prepare a 9-inch pie dish with non-stick spray. Break the cookies into small pieces and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 4-6 minutes and golden brown. Let cool.
Place the cooled cookies into a high speed blender and blend until the fine crumbles form.
Transfer to a mixing bowl and add in the melted butter and use a fork to combine. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the pie dish. Bake the pie crust for 5-7 minutes and golden. Let cool.
Meanwhile, in a small pot, whisk together the coconut cream and gelatin. Turn on medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove from heat and whisk in the protein powder.
Place the chocolate chips into a heat proof bowl and pour the boiling mixture over the chocolate.
Let sit for 5 minutes before stirring smooth. Mix in the vanilla and salt. Pour the chocolate into the crust and chill for 2 hours.
Top with crushed macadamia nuts and toasted coconut. Slice into 12 even pieces and serve.
Artificial intelligence has rapidly become a cornerstone of modern business, driving innovation and efficiency across industries. Yet, as companies increasingly rely on AI to handle sensitive tasks, they are also opening themselves up to new security vulnerabilities.
Businesses integrating AI into their operations means AI entities are becoming more autonomous and gaining access to more sensitive data and systems. As a result, CISOs are facing new cybersecurity challenges. Traditional security practices, designed for human users and conventional machines, fall short when applied to AI. So, it’s vital for companies to address emerging vulnerabilities if they are to prevent security issues from unchecked AI integration and secure their most valuable data assets.
Andy Thompson
Offensive Research Evangelist at CyberArk Labs.
AI: More than just machines
Every single type of identity has a different role and capability. Humans usually know how to best protect their passwords. For example, it seems quite obvious to every individual that they should avoid reusing the same password multiple times or choosing one that’s very easy to guess. Machines, including servers and computers, often hold or manage passwords, but they are vulnerable to breaches and don’t have the capability to prevent unauthorized access.
AI entities, including chatbots, are difficult to classify with regard to cybersecurity. These nonhuman identities manage critical enterprise passwords yet differ significantly from traditional machine identities like software, devices, virtual machines, APIs, and bots. So, AI is neither a human identity nor a machine identity; it sits in a unique position. It combines human-guided learning with machine autonomy and needs access to other systems to work. However, it lacks the judgment to set limits and prevent sharing confidential information.
Rising investments, lagging security
Businesses are investing heavily in AI, with 432,000 UK organizations – accounting for 16% – reporting they have embraced at least one AI technology. AI adoption is no longer a trend; it’s a necessity, so spending on emerging technologies is only expected to keep rising in the coming years. The UK AI market is currently worth over £16.8 billion, and is anticipated to grow to £801.6 billion by 2035.
However, the rapid investment in AI often outpaces identity security measures. Companies don’t always understand the risks posed by AI. As such, following best practices for security or investing enough time in securing AI systems is not always top of the priority list, leaving these systems vulnerable to potential cyberattacks. What’s more, traditional security practices such as access controls and least privilege rules are not easily applicable to AI systems. Another issue is that, with everything they already have going on, security practitioners are struggling to find enough time to secure AI workloads.
CyberArk’s 2024 Identity Security Threat Landscape Report reveals that while 68% of UK organizations report that up to half of their machine identities access sensitive data, only 35% include these identities in their definition of privileged users and take the necessary identity security measures. This oversight is risky, as AI systems, loaded with up-to-date training data, become high-value targets for attackers. Compromises in AI could lead to the exposure of intellectual property, financial information, and other sensitive data.
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The threat of cloud attacks on AI systems
The security threats to AI systems aren’t unique, but their scope and scale could be. Constantly updated with new training data from within a company, LLMs quickly become prime targets for attackers once deployed. Since they must use real data and not test data for training, this up-to-date information can reveal valuable sensitive corporate secrets, financial data, and other confidential assets. AI systems inherently trust the data they receive, making them particularly susceptible to being deceived into divulging protected information.
In particular, cloud attacks on AI systems enable lateral movement and jailbreaking, allowing attackers to exploit a system’s vulnerabilities and trick it into disseminating misinformation to the public. Identity and account compromises in the cloud are common, with many high-profile breaches resulting from stolen credentials and causing significant damage to major brands across the tech, banking and consumer sectors.
AI can also be used to perform more complex cyberattacks. For example, it enables malicious actors to analyze every single permission that’s linked to a particular role within a company and assess whether they can use this permission to easily access and move through the organization.
So, what’s the sensible next step? Companies are still at the beginning of the integration of AI and LLMs, so establishing robust identity security practices will take time. However, CISOs can’t afford to sit back and wait; they must proactively develop strategies to protect AI identities before a cyberattack happens, or a new regulation comes into place and forces them to do so.
The key steps for strengthening AI security
While there is no silver bullet security solution for AI, businesses can put certain measures in place to mitigate the risks. More specifically, there are some key actions that CISOs can take to enhance their AI identity security posture as the industry continues to evolve.
• Identifying overlaps: CISOs should make it a priority to identify areas where existing identity security measures can be applied to AI. For example, leveraging existing controls such as access management and least privilege principles where possible can help improve security.
• Safeguarding the environment: It’s crucial that CISOs understand the environment where AI operates to protect it as efficiently as possible. While purchasing an AI security platform isn’t a necessity, securing the environment where the AI activity is happening is vital.
• Building an AI security culture: It’s hard to encourage all employees to adopt best identity security practices without a strong AI security mindset. Involving security experts in AI projects means they can share their knowledge and expertise with all employees and ensure everyone is well aware of the risks of using AI. It’s also important to consider how data is processed and how the LLM is being trained to encourage employees to think of what using emerging technologies entails and be even more careful.
The use of AI in business presents both great opportunities and unprecedented security challenges. As we navigate this new landscape, it becomes clear that traditional security measures are insufficient for the unique risks posed by AI systems. The role of CISOs is no longer simply about managing conventional cybersecurity threats; it now involves recognising the distinct nature of AI identities and securing them accordingly. So, businesses must make sure they invest time and resources in finding the right balance between innovation and security to keep up with the latest trends while protecting their most valuable assets.
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Veteran NFL writer and Pat McAfee Show contributor Mark Kaboly breaks down SmackDown’s USA Network premiere with 20 quick-hitting thoughts.
20
Big fight feel There have been more than 1300 episodes of SmackDown over the past 25 years, but it’s hard to remember one that had this kind of vibe. It had the star power, the atmosphere, the bloodshed and the results of what you would expect from a PLE.
19
Reigns or Rhodes? Roman Reigns hasn’t had a match since WrestleMania XL and has only been seen a handful of times since his return. He doesn’t have a title or a faction around him now, but my feeling based on everything that happened during SmackDown is that Reigns surpassed Cody Rhodes in terms of being No. 1 with the fans … or at least close.
18
Solo Sikoa’s dilemma For such a powerful leader of the top faction in WWE, Solo Sikoa sure doesn’t win many matches. His only title reign was with the WWE NXT North American Championship, which was two years ago and lasted only a week. The lack of winning is strange to me.
17
Low-key performance of the night Even though Sikoa lost again, he put together a strong and powerful Cage Match against Rhodes. Sikoa controlled a lot of this match and hit some big spots with my personal favorite being a tossup between the suplex off the top rope and the powerbomb into the cage.
Cody Rhodes defends his Undisputed WWE Title inside the vicious Steel Cage against Solo Sikoa on the premiere of SmackDown on USA. Catch WWE action on Peacock, WWE Network, USA Network, Sony India and more. #SmackDown
16
Can’t get enough of Jacob Fatu Where do I start here? Jacob Fatu is so good at … well, everything. I was going to say being the heavy for Sikoa, but there isn’t anything he isn’t knocking out of the park these days so it’s unfair to label him as just one thing.
15
The Samoan Werewolf can wrestle Fatu hit the moonsault and was on the top of the cage when Reigns’ music hit during the after-match beatdown. I was actually surprised Fatu didn’t follow through with what he was originally going to do just for the heck of it. We’ve seen many excellent matches involving Fatu and his tag match at Bad Blood with Sikoa against Rhodes and Reigns will be at the top.
14
One more thing about Fatu Watching Fatu staring at Sikoa at the end of the show with his hands together, drinking in every single word like he was looking at his deity was both fascinating and eerie. Even though Sikoa has now screwed Fatu in some way three weeks in a row (giving the title belt to Tonga Loa, denying a title match with Rhodes and yanking Fatu out of the ring when he was about to fight Reigns on Friday), Fatu isn’t about to turn his back on his Tribal Chief.
13
Reigns vs. Fatu? When Reigns pointed to the middle of the ring wanting Fatu to come and confront him, that was as powerful an image you will get any place. If these two ever face off in singles competition, it is going to be a brutal match. I think that’s something that we all want to see.
12
Move of the night The Cody Cutter off the cage was something unique. Rhodes adapted one of his signature moves to take advantage of the kind of match he was in. On an unrelated note, I am a softie for Cage Matches ending when they climb over and both feet hit the ground and not by a run-of-the-mill pinfall.
Kevin Owens reveals his surprise tag team partner as Randy Orton to take out A-Town Down Under. Catch WWE action on Peacock, WWE Network, USA Network, Sony India and more. #SmackDown
11
Line of the night Michael Cole about the hairy back of Kevin Owens’ short-lived tag partner Ricky: “Is that George ‘The Animal’ Steele’s son?”
10
KO never fails Kevin Owens always delivers. You can count on that every single time he steps in the ring and he owned the match with Randy Orton against A-Town Down Under.
9
All wrestling The first hour of the program barely had a promo other than a quick backstage with SmackDown GM Nick Aldis and that was necessary to set up the end of the show. No promos for half a show was unusual, but also gave it a PLE feel.
8
Sucker for nostalgia Hey, some may have thought it was corny, but seeing past Superstars at ringside was a nice touch that gave SmackDown an even bigger feel. Seeing Legends like Rob Van Dam, Booker T, and Vickie Guerrero is never a bad thing.
Former SmackDown Legends Rob Van Dam, Vickie Guererro, Ron Simmons and Teddy Long return home to celebrate a new era of SmackDown. Catch WWE action on Peacock, WWE Network, USA Network, Sony India and more.
7
Bad vibes Rhodes saying that The Bloodline isn’t his issue and refusing to sign the contract to join Reigns in facing Sikoa & Fatu (something everybody wanted to see) and then telling Reigns that it hasn’t been the OTC’s ring since WrestleMania was very non-Cody-like. Is The American Nightmare morphing into something a little more ruthless? Just something to ponder.
6
Going overtime SmackDown going six minutes past 10 p.m. ET reminded me of the old days. Hopefully, that’s not a one-time thing.
5
R-KO Owens & Orton didn’t have the most technical match of their careers. It appeared that they were just out there having fun and doing some unconventional things to amuse themselves. Let’s be honest, when you bring out Ricky as your partner to start, it’s difficult to turn it into a serious match after that.
Andrade takes on Carmelo Hayes in a high-stakes battle to determine the No. 1 Contender to LA Knight’s U.S. Title. Catch WWE action on Peacock, WWE Network, USA Network, Sony India and more. #SmackDown
4
Best of five Carmelo Hayes and Andrade wrestled for the fifth time in recent months, which is unique. Considering we’ve seen these two compete multiple times, they did a good job of freshening it up and bringing the energy to make it work.
3
Golf clap for Austin Theory I am a sucker for overselling Stunners. I enjoy it. Theory may have just entered my all-time list on that Stunner Owens administered.
2
A Ricky return? At least one more time. Why not?
1
Smart move Having your biggest SmackDown stars start and end the show gave you no choice but to stick around for the duration. Top to bottom, SmackDown delivered one of its most complete shows of the year, blending storytelling with big-time players and a good in-ring product.
We launched our Spitzer Space Telescope into orbit around the Sunday on Aug. 25, 2003. Since then, the observatory has been lifting the veil on the wonders of the cosmos, from our own solar system to faraway galaxies, using infrared light.
Thanks to Spitzer, scientists were able to confirm the presence of seven rocky, Earth-size planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system. The telescope has also provided weather maps of hot, gaseous exoplanets and revealed a hidden ring around Saturn. It has illuminated hidden collections of dust in a wide variety of locations, including cosmic nebulas (clouds of gas and dust in space), where young stars form, and swirling galaxies. Spitzer has additionally investigated some of the universe’s oldest galaxies and stared at the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
In honor of Spitzer’s Sweet 16 in space, here are 16 amazing images from the mission.
Giant Star Makes Waves
This Spitzer image shows the giant star Zeta Ophiuchi and the bow shock, or shock wave, in front of it. Visible only in infrared light, the bow shock is created by winds that flow from the star, making ripples in the surrounding dust.
The Seven Sisters Pose for Spitzer
The Pleiades star cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters, is a frequent target for night sky observers. This image from Spitzer zooms in on a few members of the sisterhood. The filaments surrounding the stars are dust, and the three colors represent different wavelengths of infrared light.
Young Stars in Their Baby Blanket of Dust
Newborn stars peek out from beneath their blanket of dust in this image of the Rho Ophiuchi nebula. Called “Rho Oph” by astronomers and located about 400 light-years from Earth, it’s one of the closest star-forming regions to our own solar system.
The youngest stars in this image are surrounded by dusty disks of material from which the stars — and their potential planetary systems — are forming. More evolved stars, which have shed their natal material, are blue.
The Infrared Helix
Located about 700 light-years from Earth, the eye-like Helix nebula is a planetary nebula, or the remains of a Sun-like star. When these stars run out of their internal fuel supply, their outer layers puff up to create the nebula. Our Sun will blossom into a planetary nebula when it dies in about 5 billion years.
The Tortured Clouds of Eta Carinae
The bright star at the center of this image is Eta Carinae, one of the most massive stars in the Milky Way galaxy. With around 100 times the mass of the Sun and at least 1 million times the brightness, Eta Carinae releases a tremendous outflow of energy that has eroded the surrounding nebula.
Spitzer Spies Spectacular Sombrero
Located 28 million light-years from Earth, Messier 104 — also called the Sombrero galaxy or M104 — is notable for its nearly edge-on orientation as seen from our planet. Spitzer observations were the first to reveal the smooth, bright ring of dust (seen in red) circling the galaxy.
Spiral Galaxy Messier 81
This infrared image of the galaxy Messier 81, or M81, reveals lanes of dust illuminated by active star formation throughout the galaxy’s spiral arms. Located in the northern constellation of Ursa Major (which includes the Big Dipper), M81 is also about 12 million light-years from Earth.
Spitzer Reveals Stellar Smoke
Messier 82 — also known as the Cigar galaxy or M82 — is a hotbed of young, massive stars. In visible light, it appears as a diffuse bar of blue light, but in this infrared image, scientists can see huge red clouds of dust blown out into space by winds and radiation from those stars.
A Pinwheel Galaxy Rainbow
This image of Messier 101, also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy or M101, combines data in the infrared, visible, ultraviolet and X-rays from Spitzer and three other NASA space telescopes: Hubble, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer’s Far Ultraviolet detector (GALEX) and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. The galaxy is about 70% larger than our own Milky Way, with a diameter of about 170,000 light-years, and sits at a distance of 21 million light-years from Earth. Read more about its colors here.
Cartwheel Galaxy Makes Waves
Approximately 100 million years ago, a smaller galaxy plunged through the heart of the Cartwheel galaxy, creating ripples of brief star formation. As with the Pinwheel galaxy above, this composite image includes data from NASA’s Spitzer, Hubble, GALEX and Chandra observatories.
The first ripple appears as a bright blue outer ring around the larger object, radiating ultraviolet light visible to GALEX. The clumps of pink along the outer blue ring are X-ray (observed by Chandra) and ultraviolet radiation.
Spitzer and Hubble Create Colorful Masterpiece
Located 1,500 light-years from Earth, the Orion nebula is the brightest spot in the sword of the constellation Orion. Four massive stars, collectively called the Trapezium, appear as a yellow smudge near the image center. Visible and ultraviolet data from Hubble appear as swirls of green that indicate the presence of gas heated by intense ultraviolet radiation from the Trapezium’s stars. Less-embedded stars appear as specks of green, and foreground stars as blue spots. Meanwhile, Spitzer’s infrared view exposes carbon-rich molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, shown here as wisps of red and orange. Orange-yellow dots are infant stars deeply embedded in cocoons of dust and gas.
A Space Spider Watches Over Young Stars
Located about 10,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Auriga, the Spider nebula resides in the outer part of the Milky Way. Combining data from Spitzer and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), the image shows green clouds of dust illuminated by star formation in the region.
North America Nebula in Different Lights
This view of the North America nebula combines visible light collected by the Digitized Sky Survey with infrared light from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Blue hues represent visible light, while infrared is displayed as red and green. Clusters of young stars (about 1 million years old) can be found throughout the image.
Spitzer Captures Our Galaxy’s Bustling Center
This infrared mosaic offers a stunning view of the Milky Way galaxy’s busy center. The pictured region, located in the Sagittarius constellation, is 900 light-years agross and shows hundreds of thousands of mostly old stars amid clouds of glowing dust lit up by younger, more massive stars. Our Sun is located 26,000 light-years away in a more peaceful, spacious neighborhood, out in the galactic suburbs.
The Eternal Life of Stardust
The Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy located about 160,000 light-years from Earth, looks like a choppy sea of dust in this infrared portrait. The blue color, seen most prominently in the central bar, represents starlight from older stars. The chaotic, bright regions outside this bar are filled with hot, massive stars buried in thick blankets of dust.
A Stellar Family Portrait
In this large celestial mosaic from Spitzer, there’s a lot to see, including multiple clusters of stars born from the same dense clumps of gas and dust. The grand green-and-orange delta filling most of the image is a faraway nebula. The bright white region at its tip is illuminated by massive stars, and dust that has been heated by the stars’ radiation creates the surrounding red glow.
Managed by our Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, Spitzer’s primary mission lasted five-and-a-half years and ended when it ran out of the liquid helium coolant necessary to operate two of its three instruments. But, its passive-cooling design has allowed part of its third instrument to continue operating for more than 10 additional years. The mission is scheduled to end on Jan. 30, 2020.
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This post is part of a series sponsored by Old Republic Surety.
If you’re confused about the letter designations that stand for thousands and millions, you’re not alone. And it’s not your fault. In fact, it’s one of our most frequently asked questions. Here’s why you’re confused and what to do about it.
Where Does the mm Abbreviation Come From?
Western civilization has had two powerful influences — the traditions of the Greeks and the Romans, and there is often conflict. The Greeks would refer to the god of the sea as Poseidon, whereas the Romans would call him Neptune. For the Romans, the god of wine would be Bacchus, and for the Greeks, it would be Dionysus. These differences carry themselves into many parts of our culture, including financial analysis.
As a young banker in the mid-80s, I learned what had been taught for many decades before, that we abbreviate thousands in our analysis with the letter M. If we wanted to denote millions, we would show that as MM. For this, we should credit the Romans. M is the Roman numeral for thousand and MM is meant to convey one thousand-thousand — or million. To take it further; one billion would be shown as $1MMM or one-thousand million.
However, truth be known, if there were an ancient Roman here and we asked him to interpret our use of Roman numerals, we would find that technically MM means two thousand and MMM means three thousand, so there are flaws in this tradition. This reminds me of the old joke about an ancient Roman that goes into a bar, holds up two fingers in a peace sign to the bartender, and says, “Five beers, please.”
K Is Meant To Stand For Thousand Isn’t It?
Wait a minute, you say. I know I have seen jobs posted that pay $50K, and K is meant to stand in for a thousand. And you would be correct, thanks to the Greeks. K comes from the Greek word kilo which means a thousand. The Greeks would likewise show million as M, short for Mega. So if we stay consistent with the Greek abbreviations, then billion would be shown as a letter G (Giga). Think of your computer expressing bytes of memory as kilobyte, megabyte, or gigabyte. However, when it comes to billion, we don’t really see G or MMM as the abbreviation for billion. We are more likely to see a headline that reads the government spent $60B on a new project. They are using B for billion. What can I say? B for billion isn’t Greek or Roman; it is just the first letter of the word billion. So much for consistency.
I saw a headline recently in The Daily Journal of Commerce that read the new downtown post office was to be built for $89M. In the world of accounting and financial analysis, that reads $89 thousand dollars, but we know from context that the headline writer meant $89 million dollars. We sometimes have to code-switch and use context to determine what the author is telling us. I referenced the 2021 Associated Press Stylebook used by the majority of journalists to see if the guide would weigh in on how to abbreviate thousand or million. When writing, the guide advises, to use figures only for anything less than a million, but spell out “million,” “billion,” and ‘trillion” for numbers of 1 million or greater, such as 2.4 billion. Furthermore, the Associated Press recommends abbreviating millions as “M” and billions as “B” in headlines.
Agents will also commonly see us communicate M as thousands when we quote surety bond rates or agent commissions. For example, the standard Class B rate starts at $25/M for the first $100M; then $15/M for the next $400M; then $10/M for the next $2MM. Those rates are expressed per thousand and the MM denotes millions. Likewise, we may quote you a single and aggregate contractor line of authority. That line may be expressed, for instance, as $5MM single and $15MM aggregate. If you are an agent or a contractor, you may have seen an email from your surety underwriter that says something like, “The customer should increase their bank line to $1MM.” You now know that years of tradition have trained us to show one million dollars this way.
While the fields of accounting, banking, and finance have adopted the Roman tradition, other fields such as computer programming and the high-tech industry have adopted Greek-influenced abbreviations. As we mix our traditions, it sometimes becomes difficult to know what someone intends to convey expressing thousands or millions in an abbreviation. It is an imperfect world.
Still Have Questions? We’re Here To Help?
At Old Republic Surety we seek to deliver transparency and clarity in our communications. If you see an abbreviation that is confusing or unclear, please reach out to your local underwriter or branch for clarification, even if you are just asking for a friend. If you would like to learn more about Old Republic Surety and some of our services like Commercial Surety Bonds, and Contract Bonds, or just want more information, don’t hesitate to contact us today.
This blog was originally published on the Old Republic Surety website. It is reproduced here with permission.
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It could have been all so different. A mistimed lunge from Dalot on the debutant Dibling meant Southampton could take the lead but Onana saved. From then on, it was all Man Utd. A good cross from Bruno was converted by De Ligt, who had a difficult international break. It was quickly doubled by Rashford on the second phase of a corner. The game was pretty lowkey after that until Stephens himself had a mistimed lunge on Garnacho. This one was outside the box and much higher so it saw the Southampton captain given his marching orders. It pretty much sealed the deal and Garnacho put the cherry on the top with a typically emphatic finish. The pressure has been eased after it mounting.
A wave, not a phase
Momentum is a funny thing because often what people don’t realise is that the best teams don’t luck themselves into it. They play football in a way that often means that momentum is at the behest of them. Whenever you are regularly cursing the Gods being against you, like teams who have momentum go against them often do, it is generally just because those teams aren’t actually that good.
For a lot of last season, Man Utd were that team that were cursing Gods. Not only on the pitch but off the pitch. The only time that they seemed to work for us was in that FA Cup run that led us to glory. That cup luck transferred over today because prior to the missed penalty from the Saints, you could chalk that up to being the worst performance of the season considering the level of the opposition. On and off the ball, it was incredibly lax. The inclusion of Eriksen over Casemiro was obviously not done to sure us up in the middle of the park but given the latter is giving us absolutely nothing off the ball like he is supposed to, then might as well have a player who might give us more on the ball. In those 30 mins though, he didn’t though but that was simply because United as a team were not.
Southampton have been the team with most possession of anyone in the division in the first three games, something which is quite unheard of for a bottom half, let alone on that has just been promoted. So them having some control in that sense isn’t surprising but it was another black mark against the manager for building a proficient football team. It culminated in Dalot, who had a difficult time in those opening proceedings, diving in against the Dibley, the spritely winger giving him a tough time, in the box. If not for Archer missing was timid effort and Onana being able to keep the ball out, I may have been writing the obituary of Erik Ten Hag here. Post that though, the game was all of the Red Devils control. In the end, the game became a stroll in the South Coast park but when you swept up in waves rather than ride them, you have no control of where you end up. There are little phases of play that we fall back upon that gives us that safety. If we keep relying on momentum then funny things and games are going to keep happening to this Man Utd team.
Other Thoughts
It has been a while since I was able to rise a smile when thinking about a Man Utd right hand side combination. This season, Mazraoui has come in and has been a quiet revelation. He has been the solidity in all areas that we have been crying out for in a long time. Then in front we have Amad, who even in those minutes of difficulty, was the only one who looked to have the composure to make things happen. He finished the first half with the most chances created, 4, and the little presence of mind to not always attack and risk losing possession is a much needed in the attack that we have.
The goal for Rashford hopefully does him the world of good. He had his first shot prior to his first goal, which Ramsdale done very well to save. It was good and trademark finish that we used to see more regularly from Rashford and it should kick him into some good form.
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Welcome to the 2024 CXXII Bracket Challenge presented by CXXII Apparel, We love sports and love giving away FREE stuff
BRACKETS CLOSE and must be submitted by THURSDAY MARCH 21th at 11 PM CST. (Before tip off of the first game…)
PRIZES AWARDED FOR EACH ROUND WINNERS!!
Round of 64: CXXII Hat & Keychain
Round of 32: CXXII Tee, CXXI Trucker Hat & Keychain
Sweet 16: CXXII Shorts & CXXII Tee & Custom Sticker Bombed Water Bottle
Elite 8 : CXXII Tee or Crewneck / Hat / KeyChain
Final 4 : CXXII Hoodie of your Choice / CXXII Tee / Custom 1of1 Sticker Bombed Water Bottle.
Overall Winner :
Here are the steps to Find and Enter the 2024 Bracket Challege.
( **Download the ESPN TC App orCLICK HERE for web version** )
**Winners will be Announced Round by Round and posted on our Instagram Page / Stories and down below so please make sure your following @CXXIIApparel on instagram!
HAVE FUN…LET THE MADNESS BEGIN!!!
Round By Round Winners:
Round of 64: KennethIsGoingToWin!!!
Round of 32: Storcks ( SlothQueen Passed the Prizes)
Sweet 16: Storcks
Elite 8: Storcks
Final 4: 116HGA
Overall Winner Based on total points: 116HGA
* In the event of a round by round tie, we will the top winners and put them into the Google Wheel Randomize to pick the winner.
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