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The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) marked on July 30 its five-year anniversary since it was created by the consolidation of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and the member regulation, enforcement and arbitration operations of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Quite a bit has happened in that five years, with, for instance, FINRA lobbying hard to become the self-regulatory organization (SRO) for advisors and legislation being introduced in the House Financial Services Committee to do just that.
Industry officials are still busy digesting another significant development—FINRA's new suitability rule, Rule 2111, which took effect July 9. It not only puts more onerous due diligence requirements on BDs, but it also requires reps to take on what looks to be fiduciary responsibility—a development embraced by the advisory community.
A just-released midyear review by the law firm Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan finds that FINRA's fines and disciplinary actions for 2012 are on track to "significantly outpace" those for 2011. The results of the review show that during the first half of 2012, FINRA ordered broker-dealers and associated persons to pay $39.4 million in fines.
"If fines continue to be assessed at this rate, 2012 will represent a 15% increase from the total fines reported by FINRA in 2011," said Brian Rubin, a Sutherland partner. "Essentially, we are looking at a jump from $68 million in 2011 to projected fines of $78.4 million in 2012."
FINRA also just launched a conflict-of-interest sweep, telling broker-dealers to compile a bunch of information and prepare for face-to-face meetings with FINRA exam personnel. While FINRA says the sweep is just a way to "better understand" BDs current practices, lawyers with BD clients suggest potential enforcement actions may be brewing.
FINRA must also consolidate the NYSE and NASD rulebooks, a project that has been ongoing for some time, but one that is nearly 90% completed, a FINRA spokesperson told AdvisorOne.
In marking its fifth birthday, FINRA highlighted seven areas of achievements, like in disciplinary actions and its focus on fraud. Here is FINRA's statement on what it claims to be its highlights over the past five years: Disciplinary Actions
FINRA has acted to sanction firms and individuals who violated its rules and harmed investors. Since July 30, 2007, FINRA has brought 6,291 disciplinary actions and levied fines totaling $254.1 million. FINRA also ordered nearly $54.5 million in restitution to hurt investors. FINRA expelled 99 firms from the securities industry, barred 1,647 individuals and suspended 1,992 from association with FINRA-regulated firms. Some notable enforcement actions include the following:
- FINRA fined UBS $12 million for violations involving short sales. (October 2011)
- FINRA fined Goldman Sachs $22 million for violations related to trading huddles at the firm. (April 2012)
- FINRA fined 20 firms a total of $15.4 million involving sales of auction rate securities, and firms agreed to buy back more than $2 billion of frozen ARS from their customers.
- FINRA brought 23 actions with fines totaling $28.7 million related to the sale of subprime and mortgage-backed securities, and ordered $8.8 million in restitution.
- FINRA censured and fined Trillium Brokerage Services $1 million for using an illicit high-frequency trading strategy and related supervisory failures. (Sept 2010)
Focus on Fraud
In the aftermath of the financial crisis and significant frauds like those perpretrated by Bernie Madoff and Allen Stanford, FINRA took a look at its regulatory programs to focus on trying to make them more effective in identifying and fighting fraud. The organization made a number of critical enhancements as a result, including:
- Creating, in March 2009, the Office of the Whistleblower to expedite the review of high-risk tips by FINRA senior personnel and ensure a rapid response for tips believed to have merit.
- Establishing the Office of Fraud Detection and Market Intelligence (OFDMI), which was launched in 2009 to focus resources on the detection and investigation of suspected fraud, insider trading, microcap fraud and Ponzi schemes, and work to coordinate regulatory intelligence across the FINRA enterprise. OFDMI reviews incoming allegations of serious fraud, and serves as a centralized point of contact internally and externally on fraud issues. OFDMI has provided assistance to federal and state regulators in identifying numerous cases, many of them high-profile, involving insider trading, Ponzi schemes and microcap fraud. Since OFDMI was established, it has:
- referred more than 1,750 matters involving potential fraudulent conduct to the SEC or other federal or state law enforcement agencies; and
- made more than 775 referrals involving boiler rooms and microcap fraud, and more than 820 insider trading referrals to the SEC and other federal or state law enforcement agencies.
Revamped Exam Program
FINRA revamped its examination program to hopefully better detect potential fraud and focus on areas of greatest risk. In addition to examining each firm on site, it has continued to build out a surveillance program that monitors firms off site on a continuous basis, and has reshaped its ability to capture and leverage more granular operational and risk data to help better understand each firm's business model and the embedded risk of that model.
Furthermore, FINRA examiners place greater focus at the point of sale, increasing the number of branch exams and spending more time on site at the branch offices. FINRA also has increased the number of staff in district offices who are tasked with having an in-depth and ongoing understanding of specific firms, including increased real-time monitoring of business and financial changes.
Market Regulation
In June 2010, FINRA completed the second stage of regulatory consolidation with the New York Stock Exchange by reaching an agreement with NYSE Euronext to assume responsibility for performing the market surveillance and enforcement for NYSE Euronext's U.S. equities and options markets—the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Arca and NYSE Amex. FINRA already provided regulatory services to the NASDAQ Stock Market, NASDAQ Options Market, NASDAQ OMX Philadelphia, NASDAQ OMX Boston, The BATS Exchange and The International Securities Exchange.
As a result, FINRA is able to view aggregated trade data across 80% of the U.S. securities markets. FINRA also expanded the Order Audit Trail System (OATS) to include all National Market System (NMS) securities to create a uniform order audit trail to serve as a foundation for the cross-market surveillance program. FINRA is now performing cross-market surveillances, and this will allow FINRA to play an important role following the SEC's recent vote to adopt a consolidated audit trail through the development of an NMS plan.
In the wake of the 2010 Flash Crash, FINRA worked with the SEC and exchanges to develop and implement measures designed to address extraordinary market volatility issues. This collaboration resulted in the implementation of single-stock circuit breakers.
FINRA and the exchanges also proposed new standards for marketwide circuit breakers and a new limit up-limit down framework to replace the existing single-stock circuit breakers. In May of this year, the SEC approved these two proposals on a one-year pilot basis, which will be implemented next February. During the one-year pilot period, FINRA, the exchanges and the SEC will assess their operation and consider whether any modifications are appropriate. Transparency
FINRA has made several improvements in recent years to its free online tool to help investors research the professional backgrounds of brokers. In 2009, BrokerCheck was expanded to make records of all final regulatory actions against brokers permanently available to the public, regardless of whether brokers continue to be employed in the securities industry. A ZIP code search and centralized access to information about securities and investment advisory firms and their registered employees were also recently added to make BrokerCheck easier to use.
FINRA enhanced market transparency by expanding the Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE) in March 2010 to include agency debentures and new issue transactions. In May 2011, TRACE was further expanded to include reporting of transactions in asset- and mortgage-backed securities for regulatory purposes.
In July 2012, the SEC approved a FINRA proposal to publicly disseminate so-called TBA transactions, and FINRA continues to evaluate additional dissemination as appropriate. Through the expansion of TRACE, the number of eligible securities has increased from 37,000 in 2007 to 1.4 million in 2012. Studies show transaction costs have been reduced, saving investors an estimated $1 billion per year, and mark-to-market valuation has improved. Dispute Resolution
In 2011, FINRA implemented a rule allowing investors to choose all-public panels in all customer cases with three arbitrators. Providing this option was an important step to enhance confidence in FINRA's arbitration process and gives investors an additional choice in selecting their arbitrators when they file claims.
In addition, in 2009, FINRA introduced a rule limiting motions to dismiss in arbitration, thus ensuring that claimants have a full opportunity to argue their case. Under the new rule, a motion to dismiss before a claimant's case is presented can only be granted on three specific grounds, and there are stringent new sanctions against parties for engaging in abusive case-dismissal practices. Investor Education
During the last five years, FINRA Investor Education issued investor alerts warning investors about an array of complex investment products, troubling trends and outright scams. Topics covered range from understanding exchange-traded notes to avoiding gold scams—and from how to weather tough financial times to investing in the stock of bankrupt companies.
The FINRA Foundation launched a research-based campaign to help investors spot and avoid investment fraud. Tricks of the Trade: Outsmarting Investment Fraud, a documentary that is a centerpiece of this campaign, has aired more than 750 times on 170 public television stations across 30 states.
In 2009, in consultation with the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy, the FINRA Foundation fielded America's first National Financial Capability Study comprising three linked surveys. The largest of these, the State-by-State Financial Capability Survey, allows the public, policymakers and researchers to delve into and compare the financial capabilities of Americans in every state and across geographic regions. In the coming months, the FINRA Foundation, in consultation with the U.S. Department of the Treasury and with the support of the President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability, will field a second wave of the military and state-by-state components of the National Financial Capability Study.


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Difference between revisions of "User:Wormholio/rosebud"
(Need transcode rpm for tcrequant)
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[[MythArchive]] is a plug-in which allows one to burn recorded programs to DVD. When I tried this, after wending my way through the menus and launching the burn, it hung at the log viewer.
[[MythArchive]] is a plug-in which allows one to burn recorded programs to DVD. When I tried this, after wending my way through the menus and launching the burn, it hung at the log viewer. The solution,
[[MythArchive#MythArchive_doesn.27t_work._It_gets_to_the_log_viewer_and_jus t_sits_there._What.27s_wrong.3F|as documented here]], was to install the MySQL-python and python-imaging packages:
[[MythArchive#MythArchive_doesn.27t_work._It_gets_to_the_log_viewer_and_jus t_sits_there._What.27s_wrong.3F|as documented here]], was to install the MySQL-python and python-imaging packages:
yum install MySQL-python python-imaging
yum install MySQL-python python-imaging
got , the
> jpeg2yuv </>
<> spumux </> dvdauthor
<> tcrequant </> transcode
== Additional Notes ==
== Additional Notes ==
Revision as of 13:20, 8 October 2008
This is a home-built machine with:
- Hardware
- Hauppauge PVR-150
- Antec Overture Media Center case, Piano Black (fairly quiet)
- AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Manchester 2.2GHz Socket 939 67W Single-Core Processor
- MSI K8N Neo4-F 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard
- ASUS EN7100GS512/TD/128M GeForce 7100GS 512MB (128MB onboard) 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card
- X-Gene 01027 Black 86 Normal Keys USB RF Wireless Mini Keyboard with Optical Trackball Mouse
- TP-Link TL-WN550G 802.11g/b wifi card (Atheros chipset)
- Software
- Fedora 8, using KDE (rather than Gnome)
- MythTV 0.22 from SVN
Fedora 8
Database connection: I followed the directions on the page Installing_MythTV_SVN_on_Fedora with little difficulty and was able to get mythtv to build and install. (I did tweak the mythweb instructions slightly, to make it the only thing installed on the web server, and as a result to make it install without need of extra configuration). I used qmake-qt4 in place of just qmake, as instructed.
But when it got time to run mythweb-setup I had a problem. At startup I got a menu page asking me for database host, username, password, port, etc, but even though these were correct, it continued to tell me that it could not connect to the database, even though I verified that I could connect to the database "by hand" with those parameters. The error output in the shell window included:
QSqlDatabase warning: QMYSQL3 driver not loaded QSqlDatabase: available drivers: QSQLLITE Unable to connect to database! No error type from QSqlError? Strange... couldn't open db
Searching the web gave some hints about the problem, but no firm answer. But it lead me to figure out the solution: I needed the qt4-mysql package:
# yum install qt4-mysql
and then mythtv-setup worked just fine.
Hauppauge PVR-150
The mythtv-setup program could not connect to the video card, with dmesg giving
ivtv0: Unable to open firmware v4l-cx2341x-enc.fw (must be 376836 bytes) ivtv0: Did you put the firmware in the hotplug firmware directory?
The firmware can be obtained from the IVTV wiki here, along with instructions on how to deploy it. The hotplug firmware directory for Fedora 8 is /lib/firmware
- Hardware status: an easy way to see the status of the hardware after reboot is
$ dmesg | grep tv
When running mythtv-setup I noticed that some of the text of messages was not showing on the screen. But it didn't seem like a big problem -- I could still get around.
But after going through all 5 steps, it kept warning me that I had not set up Storage Groups. Did I want to go back and fix the problem? Yes, I did, but there was no 6th step for setting Storage Groups.
It turns out that the 6th step was there, just not being shown. When I scrolled down past step 5 and hit Enter I was able to go through step 6 and define Storage Groups.
Video Drivers
When I first ran mythfrontend it bombed with a problem with the X server. I was able to fix this by installing the nVidia drivers
# yum install nvidia-graphics
After that I was able to use mythfrontend to watch live TV (sans sound -- see below). But this was on the VGA monitor I had attached, not TV-out. Now I have to get TV-out working too.
Initially, when the machine booted sound did not work, not even the basic sound test. I could get it to work by reloading the drivers from the Sound Card Detection control. It looked like the OSS modules were being loaded instead of ALSA, but in fact I think that's just the OSS module for ALSA.
But getting sound to work in KDE still did not help sound in MythTV. Setting the audio device to ALSA:default didn't work.
I know that sound should be recorded because the PVR-150 encodes to MPEG-2, which includes the audio channel(s).
I finally got sound playback to work by setting the audio output device in MythTV to /dev/dsp, which goes directly to the output device.
Just testing sound by trying to play a sound file would fail:
$aplay burp.au *** PULSEAUDIO: Unable to connect: Connection refused aplay: main:564: audio open error: Connection refused
I wasn't using pulseaudio, as far as I knew. I was able to fix this by removing the ALSA plugin (and KDE control):
# rpm -e alsa-plugins-pulseaudio kde-settings-pulseaudio
After this I ran alsamixer, which had the Line level at zero. I raised it to 100%. I then found that audio worked with ALSA:default, but not the volume and mute controls. With /dev/dsp the mute and volume up/down controls work, so I'm sticking with that.
MythArchive is a plug-in which allows one to burn recorded programs to DVD. When I tried this, after wending my way through the menus and launching the burn, it hung at the log viewer, with no messages displayed. The solution, as documented here, was to install the MySQL-python and python-imaging packages:
yum install MySQL-python python-imaging
After that, I was able to get log output when trying to burn, but I kept running up against dependencies. Each time I got an error it was because some tool was not installed, so I had to find out which Fedora package contains that tool and install that package. Here is the result:
application Fedora package jpeg2yuv mjpegtools spumux dvdauthor tcrequant transcode growisofs dvd+rw-tools
Additional Notes
- Database Initialization: one observation also about the initialization of the database. Running the file mythtv/database/mc.sql through MySQL only sets up the mythtv database user and user permissions, it does not create the database tables or populate them. That is done later, by mythtv-setup
- PVR-150 Firmware: the video capture card firmware is not loaded once and stored in ROM, it has to be loaded each time the computer is booted.

subset: commoncrawl


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OMG...my head is spinning...
Are you part of the NICU club? Do you have a child who is still struggling with the effects of being born too soon from preeclampsia? Share your concerns and stories here among parents who have been there.
6 posts • Page 1 of 1
- Registered User
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Fri Apr 29, 2011 7:04 pm
Re : OMG...my head is spinning...
Prayers go to you and your family
Re : OMG...my head is spinning...
good to hear from you and will pray that all goes great with Ethan's surgery.
Re : OMG...my head is spinning...
Wow - that's wonderful news!!! Thanks for the update. PBS for you and Ethan!
Re : OMG...my head is spinning...
YAY! I will be sending you positive vibes, Good Luck Ethan and Mom!
Re : OMG...my head is spinning...
That sounds like a big step! Good luck and all the best! I will be thinking of you and your little one!
- Registered User
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Thu Oct 10, 638920 9:25 pm
OMG...my head is spinning...
We've been very busy...Ethan is doing very well. He is scheduled for his "BIG" surgery (airway reconstruction) on August 23rd. We've been waiting for this surgery since Sept. 29, 2008 when he got his trach. It is a MAJOR surgery, but was invented at the hospital that is 15 minutes from my house...so thankful and lucky for this. I count this as a huge blessing every day. Anyway, I will update on his progress in a couple day, as we're moving next week and things are hectic. But PLEASE say a prayer from now til the 23rd. If all healing goes well, there's a chance he'll have his trach out within the next 6 months! Thanks, as usual!
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text:
Taste of Home Cooking Show
- Cost:
- $15 or $50 for VIP
Additional Information
Townsquare Media welcomes the world's number one food and entertaining magazine, Taste of Home, back to South Jersey … Tuesday, April 2nd at Resorts Casino Hotel for the "Taste of Home Cooking Show."
It's the best entertainment bargain in town. You'll learn ten new recipes and cooking tips to make you a star in your own kitchen … plus you'll get a gift bag stuffed with free products, coupons and a Taste of Home magazine. Want more? Then upgrade to the very limited VIP experience while supplies last … and get exclusive access to a private catered party, limited edition apron, meet & greet with our Taste of Home culinary specialist, autographed cookbook and more!
Special limited time offer for (station) listeners only …general admission tickets are on sale now for just $10 and VIP tickets are just $50 now through January 20th only when you use access code "TASTE."
It's every foodie's dream! The Taste of Home Cooking Show, Tuesday, April 2nd at Resorts Casino Hotel.
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This roughly 3,000 calorie pizza features ten mini burgers topped with mozzarella embedded around the crust. It is then topped with all the toppings in the world and served with fat-filled dipping sauce (ketchup?). Thankfully, it's only available in the Middle East and UK, but it's rumored to be heading west. Pizza the Hut would be proud!
One question: Who came up with this? My bet is either a focus group of wasted and/or stoned teenagers or a computer completely divorced from human logic that is like "based on my computations, the combination of cheeseburger and pizza will result in a thirty percent uptick in profits."
Next stop? Taco Town.


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ALENDRONATE (a LEN droe nate) slows calcium loss from bones. It helps to make normal healthy bone and to slow bone loss in people with Paget's disease and osteoporosis. It may be used in others at risk for bone loss.
You must take this medicine exactly as directed or you will lower the amount of the medicine you absorb into your body or you may cause yourself harm. Take your dose by mouth first thing in the morning, after you are up for the day. Do not eat or drink anything before you take this solution. Use a specially marked spoon or container to measure the oral solution. Take the solution with 2 fluid ounces (1/4 cup) of plain water. Do not take the solution with any other drink. After taking this medicine do not eat breakfast, drink, or take any other medicines or vitamins for at least 30 minutes. Stand or sit up for at least 30 minutes after you take this medicine; do not lie down. Do not take your medicine more often than directed. Take this medicine on the same day every week.
Talk to your pediatrician regarding the use of this medicine in children. Special care may be needed.
Side effects that you should report to your doctor or health care professional as soon as possible:
allergic reactions like skin rash, itching or hives, swelling of the face, lips, or tongue
black or tarry stools
bone, muscle, or joint pain
changes in vision
chest pain
heartburn or stomach pain
jaw pain, especially after dental work
redness, blistering, peeling or loosening of the skin, including inside the mouth
trouble or pain when swallowing
Side effects that usually do not require medical attention (report to your doctor or health care professional if they continue or are bothersome):
changes in taste
diarrhea or constipation
eye pain or itching
nausea or vomiting
stomach gas or fullness
aluminum hydroxide
calcium supplements
drugs for inflammation like ibuprofen, naproxen, and others
iron supplements
magnesium supplements
vitamins with minerals
If you miss a dose, take the dose on the morning after you remember. Then take your next dose on your regular day of the week. Never take 2 doses on the same day. Do not take double or extra doses.
Keep out of the reach of children.
Store at room temperature of 15 and 30 degrees C (59 and 86 degrees F). Throw away any unused medicine after the expiration date.
They need to know if you have any of these conditions:
esophagus, stomach, or intestine problems, like acid reflux or GERD
dental disease
kidney disease
low blood calcium
low vitamin D
problems swallowing
problems sitting or standing for 30 minutes
an unusual or allergic reaction to alendronate, other medicines, foods, dyes, or preservatives
pregnant or trying to get pregnant
Visit your doctor for regular check ups. It may be some time before you see benefit from this medicine. Do not stop taking your medicine unless your doctor tells you to. Your doctor or health care professional may order regular blood tests to see how you are doing.
You should make sure you get enough calcium and vitamin D in your diet while you are taking this medicine, unless your doctor tells you not to. Discuss the foods you eat and the vitamins you take with your health care professional.
Some people who take this medicine have severe bone, joint, and/or muscle pain. This medicine may also increase your risk for a broken thigh bone. Tell your doctor right away if you have pain in your upper leg or groin. Tell your doctor if you have any pain that does not go away or that gets worse.
This medicine can make you more sensitive to the sun. If you get a rash while taking this medicine, sunlight may cause the rash to get worse. Keep out of the sun. If you cannot avoid being in the sun, wear protective clothing and use sunscreen. Do not use sun lamps or tanning beds/booths.
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text:
The SudlerOrder of Merit
Gladys Stone Wright, Project Chair
Sponsored byLouis and Virginia Sudler
Administered byThe John Philip Sousa Foundation
Recognizing individuals who have made particularly outstanding contributions to the excellence of bands and band music at the national and international levels.
Star of the OrderMedal of HonorBadge of the OrderDiploma of the Order
The Star of the Order is a four pointed star executed in red and white enamel on a gold medallion. The cross is surrounded by a wreath of gold and suspended from a gold lyre. The central disc bears the badge of the order. the obverse bears a likeness of the sponsor, Louis Sudler, under which the name of the recipient and date of the award is engraved. The cross is mounted on a red chest ribbon with a narrow blue and white stripe on each side. A red, white and blue rosette is worn with informal attire. The Medal of Honor (also known as the Medal of the Order) is identical to the Star, except that it is executed in sterling silver with white and blue enamel. It is mounted on a blue chest ribbon with two narrow white stripes on each side. A blue and white rosette is worn with informal attire. The Badge of the Order is a three0fourths inch disc executed in bronze which bears the logo of the Sousa Foundation. The obverse is plain. The Diploma of the Order is printed in four colors on heavy stock and carries the seal of the Sousa Foundation. The diploma may be accompanied by the Badge when so authorized by the executive committee.
The Diploma of Order is awarded to those significant contributiions to the activities and projects of the Sousa Foundation.
His wife, Virginia Brown Sudler, was a patron of the arts, remained active in The John Philip Sousa Foundation, serving as Vice-President on the Executive Board until her death in 2003.
Administered by the John Philip Sousa Foundation


text:
Exscuse me Fiat? You're showing off the Fiat 500's fantastic looks in the Gucci/Fiat ad, while in this Argentinian commercial for the Fiat Palio you're showing off .... human airbags. Yes, I groaned when I typed that, making that pun hurt me more than it hurt you. But the ad here hurts my brain. Fiat has now taught me that when my lover says he likes me natural and just the way I am, he is lying. Nice. Fiat, the car for dysfunctional couples best moments in life. I'd rather have the real down to earth Toyota moments a.k.a connections in life. Those moments are real. So I guess Fiat is a plastic car. Join me next week when I overanalyze a plate of beans.
Agency: Leo Burnett Argentina
Client: Fiat Auto Argentina
Product: New Fiat Palio
Title: Surgery.
ECD: Seto Olivieri
CD: Dauquén Chabeldin
AD: Hernán Cuñado
Production manager: Federico Puricelli -- Sebastián Tarruella
Production Company: Ursula
Director: Lemon
Executive producer: Adrián D'Amario
General producer: Johanna Trosman
Eagle eyes: Marto Otonello
Music: SupercharangoPost-Production: Wolf


text:
California native Brett Young released the first single, "Here Tonight," from his upcoming sophomore album, Ticket to L.A., which is slated to drop on Dec. 7.
Brett co-penned 10 of the 13 tracks on Ticket to L.A., including "Here Tonight," which he wrote with Ben Caver, Justin Ebach and Lady Antebellum's Charles Kelley.
"'Here Tonight' is about those moments, if you're lucky enough to have them in your life, that are so good that you wish they could last forever," Brett says. "It's very light—intentionally—and sonically it's very upbeat. That doesn't exist as much on the first album, so I wanted to showcase a bit more versatility this time around. I think it's the perfect way to cap off the summer."
The upcoming record follows the 2017 release of Brett's self-titled debut album, which spawned four No. 1 hits, including "Sleep Without You," "In Case You Didn't Know," "Like I Loved You" and "Mercy."
Listen to "Here Tonight" below.
Ticket to L.A. is available for pre-order now.
Ticket to L.A. Track Listing and Songwriters
- "Ticket To L.A." (Brett Young, Zach Crowell, Jon Nite)
- "Here Tonight" (Brett Young, Ben Caver, Justin Ebach, Charles Kelley)
- "Catch" (Brett Young, Ross Copperman, Ashley Gorley)
- "1, 2, 3 – Mississippi" (Brett Young, Justin Ebach, Jon Nite)
- "Let It Be Mine" (Ross Copperman, Shane McAnally, Jon Nite)
- "Where You Want Me" (Brett Young, Jessie Jo Dillon, Shane McAnally)
- "Used To Missin' You" (Brett Young, Jon Nite, Jimmy Robbins)
- "Change Your Name" (Ross Copperman, Matt Jenkins, Jon Nite)
- "Chapters" feat. Gavin DeGraw (Brett Young, Ross Copperman, Gavin DeGraw)
- "The Ship And The Bottle" (Nicolle Galyon, Chase McGill, Jon Nite)
- "Reason To Stay" (Brett Young, Jon Nite, Jimmy Robbins, Emily Warren)
- "Runnin' Away From Home" (Brett Young, Zach Crowell, Hillary Lindsey)
- "Don't Wanna Write This Song" (Brett Young, Zach Crowell, Sean McConnell)
photo by Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com


text:
Meeting Schedule
Meeting Agendas
Meeting Minutes
A seven-member board, appointed to seven-year terms. There are no term limits. The board meets the fourth Thursday of every month at 7:00 p.m. in the James E. Smith Community Center. Their purpose is to advise the Recreation and Parks staff and provide recommendations to the Town Board on issues related to recreation programming and the town's park system.
|Joseph R. Chenelly
|Al K. Chesonis - Chair
|Michael Coppola
|James A. Donahue
|Paul Fioravanti
|Jayne M. LaFay
|James Unckless


text:
Tarot Card Meanings
You are seen as a fair-minded party whose opinion matters.
Wheel of Fortune
The Hanged Man
Watch Now: Justice Video
Learn the meaning of the Justice Tarot card in under a minute!
General Meaning
The Justice Tarot card has to do with moral sensitivity and that which gives rise to empathy, compassion, and a sense of fairness. Since the time of Solomon, this image has represented a standard for the humane and fair-minded treatment of other beings.
Often including the image of a fulcrum or scale which helps to balance competing needs against the greater good, and a two-edged sword to symbolize the precision needed to make clear judgments, this card reminds us to be careful to attend to important details. It's a mistake to overlook or minimize anything where this card is concerned. The law of karma is represented here -- what goes around comes around.
In the Reversed Position
When the Justice card is reversed, the deeper meaning of this situation is being withheld for reasons only Higher Power truly understands. There are times that logical, common, rational and organic laws are overridden by some paradoxical higher order.
At such times you won't be fully informed about what is going on. Wait, stay quiet, keep watching and listening. Eventually the chaos will resolve itself and the truth will be revealed.
In the Advice Positon
The Justice card advises you to listen carefully as others explain to you their version of events and the parts they played. It is unnecessary to offer feedback. Your role is to observe, listen closely, give a full hearing and keep your wits about you as the story takes shape.
As you witness people's account of themselves, your understanding will go beyond the words you hear. Subtle inferences and clues will reveal the truths that will enable you to make a wise and accurate assessment.
A powerful message is waiting for you! Get your Reconciliation Tarot Reading NOW...
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To reduce the risk of lasting (permanent) damage caused by eye injuries, it is important to treat eye injuries right away. Talk with your child's healthcare provider or eye care specialists (ophthalmologist or optometrist) as soon as possible.
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Gently bandage your child's eye.
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Pull your child's upper lid down onto the lower lid and have him or her to blink repeatedly. The lower eyelashes may sweep the particle away.
Use an eye wash to wash out the speck or object from your child's eye.
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You should seek medical care right away if the above methods don't work.
Here is what you can do:
Use fingers to separate your child's eyelids, then flush the eye with water from a faucet or clean container.
Seek medical care right away.
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Contact your child's healthcare provider or eye care specialists (ophthalmologist or optometrist) right away.
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Sten Vermund from University of Alabama reflects on the history of the global AIDS epidemic and his involvement in the field as a young scientist in the 80's. He discusses the social and economic factors of HIV/AIDS, such as stigma, poverty and the drug industry.


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[Pages 12-13]
Examining the history of a small town is like looking for a pin in an an expanse of desert sand. It is as though history skipped over these small and out-of-the way places, leaving them by the side of the road. Despite the fact that the economic, religious and social activity in the small town was was tense with energy, nothing remains of this day-to-day experience.
The poverty of history is even greater regarding the Jewish towns. This poverty relegates these small towns to a forgotten destiny, to extinction of memory. Towns where Jews lived for hundreds of years will not be remembered in future generations.
The Holocaust sealed the fate of the small town. With the gracious
assistance of Yad VaShem in Jerusalem, particularly that of Mr. Yitzhak
Lan, we were able to find traces of Skalat history in a few sources:
1) Encyklopedia Powszechna T. 23. Rok 1866.
2) Encyklopedia Powszechna Krowlewstwa Polskiego T. 10. Rok 1889.
According to the 1866 Encyklopedia Powszechna, Skalat was originally under Russian rule. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Skalat is under the jurisdiction of Galicia, near the Ganila River. An old fortress, built in the sixteenth century for defence purposes, made the city well-known. During this time, there were about 3000 residents.
"Encyklopedia Powszechna, published in 1889, has more details about the town. At the end of the nineteenth century, Skalat was a district (Miasto Powiatowe) in eastern Galicia, southeast of Tarnopol. In 1870, there were 4952 residents, 2553 of them Jews.
According to Korpetnicki in Geography of Galicia from 1786, Skalat was the property of the Terlov family of Czecanowicz. The property was transferred to the Poniatowski princes and they sold it around 1869 to a Jew named Ziskind Rosenstock.
Ziskind Rosenstock was a famous Jew in his time and a baron. One of his descendants, Alexander, became a Christian. He sold the Skalat lands. In 1920, Josef Tenenbaum bought the Novosiolka lands from him.
The next available information is from the 1921 census of Poland. According to that census, Skalat had 5957 residents, 2919 of them Jews.
According to Bleter Far Geschichte from the Institute of Polish Jewish History in 1953, there were 4600 Jews in Skalat in 1941. In 1942, Jews of the surrounding area were brought to Skalat, bringing its Jewish population to 8500.
According to Weisbrod in his book Es Starbet A Shtetl, 160 Jews of Skalat survived.
JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of
the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material
for verification.
JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions.
Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.
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Updated 30 May 2008 by LA


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Gamblin Artist Grade Oil Color - 1.25 oz. (37 ml) Transparent Earth Yellow
Product Number: RA31841
In Stock (Ships within 1-2 business days)
Features maximum color with a luscious texture that responds readily and handles beautifully. Oils are made with pure pigments and the finest refined linseed oil. Made in the U.S.A.
|Age: Infant - 18 yrs.
|BPA Free: false
|CSA Approved: false
|Dishwasher Safe: false
|Hertz: false
|Machine Washable: false
|Mobile: false
|NSF certified: false
|Phthalate Free: false
|Timer(Controller): false
|Warranty: false


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This YouTube member goes by the name "MrAutoReviewers," but the newest car anyone will let him drive appears to be a 1999 BMW M3. And even that's too much for him and his buddy. Darkness, darkness, GMC, darkness. NSFW lanaguage/idiocy.
"MrAutoReviewers" admits in the text below the video he was trying to drift in the rain, in a residential area and says the lesson learned is that he'll "never trying to drift on a residential street again." Does it really take a near-death experience to learn such obvious lessons? Especially when what you're doing is more like "overtaking a truck while going sideways" — not "drifting."
Here are a few other things you shouldn't do rather than learn the hard way:
- Don't go bear hunting in a suit made of salmon.
- Don't stick your junk in a blender and try to make a man smoothie.
- Don't eat rat poison as it's also poisonous to humans.
- Don't let a radioactive spider bite you in hopes of getting super powers.
- Don't encourage your friends to buy 90s-era Audi products.
The more you know, kids.


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Mom Accused of Driving Children Into Ocean Has Bond Set at $1.2M
Kids told cops, "Mom Tried to kill us."
Mar. 8, 2014 -- A pregnant mother who was charged with attempted murder after driving a minivan filled with her three children into the Atlantic Ocean had her bond set at $1.2 million.
At a court hearing today, prosecutors said that Ebony Wilkerson, 32, had a high flight risk and was a danger to the community, herself and her unborn child. Volusia County Court Judge Shirley Green set Wilkerson's bond at $300,000 for each attempted murder charge and $100,000 on each count of bodily harm.
Wilkerson did not enter a plea and a date for an arraignment was not released.
Police charged Wilkerson with attempted murder on Friday after the children told police, "Mom tried to kill us."
Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson said Wilkerson got out of the car after driving it into the ocean in Dayton Beach, Fla., Tuesday and left her kids inside. Police said a beach safety officer had to fend her off as he was trying to rescue the children -- ages 3, 9, and 10.
"She tried to stop someone from going into the vehicle. That's one of the reasons you have a premeditated first degree murder," Johnson said at a news conference Friday afternoon.
Authorities also determined that Wilkerson did not suffer from mental illness or was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time she drove her children into the ocean.
Wilkerson, who was slo charged with three counts of child abuse, is 27-and-a-half weeks pregnant, Johnson said.
After being taken to the hospital, the children told police, "Mom tried to kill us," according to police. The oldest told officers that her mother brought them to the beach "so we could die" and that she was taking them to a "safer place." The oldest child tried to steer the car out of the surf, but his mother drove into the water.
"Ebony Wilkerson acted with premeditated design to kill her three children," investigators concluded in the charging affidavit.
Family members of Wilkerson, who is from Cross, S.C., had called police earlier in the day out of concern for the woman, but she told police she was going to a domestic abuse center with the children, police said earlier in the week.
Instead, she drove her Honda Odyssey minivan to Daytona Beach, where she rolled up the windows, told her children to go to sleep, and headed for the ocean, according to police. Bystanders who witnessed her gunning for the surf ran toward the minivan and tried to stop the woman.
"[My girlfriend] said what I thought was a joke and [I] was like, 'No, this is real', because after that her son came out the window, probably about waist high, screaming for help," Stacy Robinson, one of the men who rushed up to the van, told ABC News earlier this week.
Robinson, 21, said he jumped out of his car and ran over to the minivan and started walking beside the vehicle, talking to the mother.
Robinson said he then ran into the pounding waves after the minivan, which started to sink. The mother, he said, had rolled up the car windows and locked the doors as the vehicle was rocked by waves and pulled deeper into the water.
The three kids were screaming for help at the time, witnesses recalled.
Robinson said one of the back windows was still cracked open and he was able to reach in and open the door.
Other bystanders and lifeguards arrived and helped rescue the children from the sinking car.
ABC News' Steve Osunsami and Lauren Effron contributed to this report.


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Stepper Motor Controllers are current amplifiers that turn a low-current control signal into a higher-current signal to drive stepper motors. They run using a type of open-loop system that takes digital step and direction inputs by a programmable pulse generator known as an indexer. In other words, Indexers take a signal from a computer or any other control device and turn them into pulses. Drivers or Stepper Motor Controls take these pulses and transfer them into a current (motion, steps, torque, speed) so the stepper motor can move accordingly. A user is able to operate and control steps using an interface.
Types of stepper drivers
There are many types of stepper drivers, including PWM/chopper drivers, L/R drivers and recirculating chopper drivers. The two most common are bipolar and unipolar drivers.
Bipolar drives have a single winding with two leads per phase. The winding has a current that needs to be reversed so that magnetic poles can also be reversed in the correct order.
Unipolar drivers have one winding with a centre tap per phase. This means that the magnetic pole can be reversed without switching the direction of a current, so a single transistor can be used per each individual winding.
What are stepper drivers used for?
Stepper drivers typical applications are current amplifiers in stepper motors. However, they can also be used for any device that operates at more than 50–100 mA.


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· Speed setting (DIP switches 15x, digital input 7x)
· Selection of direction of rotation (via DIP switches or digital input)
· Error signal output
· Status display with LEDs
· Voltage limitation via brake chopper
* The power of EC5000 depends on the application, e.g., conveying good weight, conveying speed, acceleration ramp, and on the EC5000 used.
** The installation in systems at an altitude above 1,000 m is possible. However, this can lead to a reduction of the performance values.


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Helping To Save The Canada Lynx | News
The Canada Lynx is one of the last of the big wild cats left in the United States. Although their population is robust in Northern Canada, their numbers are considered endangered in the States, with only a few hundred in the wild. In East Aurora, Hawk Creek Wildlife Center recently began an ambitious Canada Lynx breeding program, one that will not only help strengthen breeding stock of the species, but also will provide a companion for their beloved resident Lynx, Kodiak. Loretta Jones is founder of Hawk Creek." We're just starting our program, but we know we need to do it, because it used to live in NY State and we're losing our cats , so we need to do it." Tanya Lowe is Director Of Wildlife Education at the center." Animals have emotions, they have needs other than food,water,shelter. And for Kodiak right now, that is a companion."
But those beginnings have come at a high price, and have been fraught with adversity. Earlier this summer, Hawk Creek purchased their first lynx kitten, the genesis to the breeding program. Although the kitten, a female named Accadia, seemed healthy at first, problems arose at an early visit to the vet. It's common practice to anesthetize wild animals during many procedures, and it was then disaster struck. Lowe recalls." We did have to have the cat go into the vet, and unfortunately within a couple minutes of being put under the anesthesia, Accadia died on the table."
Although Accadia's loss was heartbreaking, the wildlife center remained unfazed. Another search found a second kitten,one a little older, named Sitka. She and Kodiak became fast friends, bonding in their very first meeting. "They were instant soulmates." Says Lowe " Immediately Sitka did a "whoop ! " , ran over and tried to give Kodiak a head butt, which is how many cats greet each other, only she wasn't very successful with it because she was too short ! So she went for the head butt, and went right underneath his legs ! "
But the friendship between Kodiak and Sitka was to be a short one. Despite taking additional precautions, despite using a minimal amount of anesthetic, the unthinkable happened again. Sitka was lost in a similar situation to Accadia. The staff at Hawk Creek was devastated, as was Kodiak. Lowe recallls sadly.
" I went in there to tell him what had happened, whether he knew it or not, it was more for me....and I've never seen him so still. He came over, head butted me, and just laid in my lap and looked at me. He knew something happened."
The loss of both Sitka and Accadia were determined to be due to weak hearts, a problem caused by inbreeding. Ironically, by monitoring lineage, a new breeding program would ensure that inbreeding doesn't happen.
But adversity has a way of strengthening those in need, and the wildlife center perseveres despite the devastating financial damage caused by their loss.They know it's critical for both Kodiak and his wild brethren . Jones tells 2 The Outdoors.
" It was brutal financially because we're a small organization, we not only ate up the funds for two very expensive species, emotionally it was devastating, and I'm not sure if we'll ever recover from that."
So for now, Kodiak waits patiently for a new mate, calling forlornly in hope of a reply...and Hawk Creek moves forward, resolved to make the breeding program a reality, and help these beautiful Northern natives remain strong and healthy. Lowe looks to the future." For us, it would be easy for us to throw in the towel and say "no more ", but he reminds us every day that not only do lynx need help, but, he needs a friend."
Hawk Creek is a small not for profit, and welcomes any help they can get to acquire a new lynx kitten and get the breeding program up and running. To donate to this worthy cause, you can go to their page at http://www.indiegogo.com/hawkcreeklynx or visit the center's website at www.hawkcreek.org


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Octavia Randolph's business began as many do: with an idea unsupported by experience. She fell in love with a product she didn't know how to make, package, or sell. So she began at ground zero and spent two years on self-education. Now, her Caribbean-inspired snacks are ready.
A man and a woman lie on a Caribbean beach under a penetrating sun. They are on seasonal parole from icy Boston to the island of Nevis, where the light and colors are as fresh as the fruits and vegetables the land offers. The woman is an architectural preservationist -- with a career in need of some serious restorative work. Her job has become too many drawings, too much consulting, and too few real buildings. She wants to make something she can touch, feel, and hold. Here, on her first trip to the Caribbean, she feels alive, her senses quickened by the colors and the dreamscape of the beach. She remarks on this to her husband -- and by the way, she adds, slicing another mango, somebody should start a business packaging all this beautiful produce and importing it to the United States.
Cut to New England, two years later, the winter of 1989.
Octavia Porter Randolph is sitting in her shoebox of an office in a Waltham, Mass., high rise, a full-length parka flung on a nearby chair. A February wind whistles outside, across a landscape of oyster grays and pewter blues. Behind Randolph hangs a wall-sized map, resplendent as a tapestry, of the island of Dominica, where pepper sauce is about to come out of a processing plant and into colorful bottles marked with the name Oualie, which translates, roughly, as beautiful waters -- and someday soon, Randolph hopes, as flowing cash.
At the core of Oualie (pronounced oo-walley) Ltd.'s metamorphosis from beachbound vision to up-and-running business lies a story whose title could be "Educating Octavia." Here is a woman for whom the past two years have amounted to a crash course in the art of starting up. In that time, she has made hundreds of cold calls, hung out in grocery stores to watch how merchandise moves, and tapped the talents of people who know more about the food business than she does. She has studied everything from the economy of the Caribbean Basin to the placement of bar codes on soft-drink labels. It is the sum of this effort that has brought Octavia Randolph this far, allowed her to move at least from a sunstruck epiphany on the beach to a cramped office overlooking a snow-swept parking lot.
Oualie has created an initial line of six Caribbean-inspired specialty and snack items, some of which will hit retailers' shelves this September. Each is packaged in vivid, attractive colors. The line includes: a low-sugar carbonated juice made from papaya and passion fruit; two conserves, one made with mango and lime, the other with passion fruit and papaya; chips, cut extra thick, made from fried bananas, not potatoes; a salsa based on fruit, not tomatoes; and a pepper sauce made from Scotch Bonnet peppers, which are native to the Caribbean Basin.
Randolph's intent is to make high-quality snack items and everyday prepared foods. She is not selling another can of chili powder that sits in your kitchen cabinet for as long as you own your house. She claims she is making foods that add accent to daily life, round the clock, through the seasons. You can drink Oualie sparkling fruit juice at breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The chips you can eat anytime, anywhere. They go well, by design, with Oualie salsa. "This is food you rip open the bag and eat," Randolph says. "Retailers love that kind of product."
The U.S. market for gourmet and specialty foods reached $10 billion in 1986 and is expected to grow to $14 billion by 1990. The natural-soda market currently exceeds $100 million and is growing at 4% a year. But Octavia Randolph knew little of this in January 1987 when she returned from Nevis, determined to start a company and change her life.
Her first day of work Randolph called on the Boston chapter of SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), the FDA, USDA, and U.S. Customs. She began studying the Caribbean Basin Initiative, a government program that encouraged U.S. investment in the islands. She subscribed to trade journals to learn how specialty foods were bought, sold, packaged, and processed. She knew where she wanted her line to end up: in high-end specialty food stores in the Boston area. She would start local and build a following, "customer by customer." Randolph made the rounds, noting what was on the shelf and how it looked. She asked a lot of questions and got some free advice. "People in the food business like to talk about food" -- a good thing, since Randolph had budgeted zero for market research.
That figure matched her first-year outlay for advertising; packaging, not promo spots, would be crucial. "The food business is a marketing business," she says. "The packaging is so emotional. It's the only statement a little company like Oualie can make to the potential purchaser." In April 1987, after interviewing four design firms, Randolph chose Clifford Selbert Design Inc., in Cambridge, Mass.
"We hit it off," recalls Clifford Selbert. "She was willing to give us a lot of freedom as well as some clear direction. That's rare in a client."
Randolph found the first design too understated. It looked like a wine label -- too much white space. Selbert rejoined that the colors she wanted were too dark, too brooding. You didn't want people picking up jars of jam and thinking of voodoo. They agreed to punch up the colors, make them hotter. Several months later they had a bright, eye-catching label -- something a curious customer would at least pick up.
Although Randolph felt confident about her design sense, she was egoless enough to know that she needed a lot of help when it came to running a business. In May 1987 she recruited Oualie's only other full-time employee, Deborah Pepin, 31, through a referral resulting from a cold call. Pepin, Oualie's vice-president of sales and distribution, came from the largest specialty-food importer in the United States, where she had been a sales representative. She brought with her contacts from the more than 200 accounts she serviced and knowledge gained from a decade in the industry.
Pepin advised Randolph to trim Oualie's beverage offerings from two to one -- much easier to interest the trade in a single drink. When Randolph said she wanted to market a mustard, Pepin told her to forget it; there are already too many out there. Pepin also suggested they put their conserves in 9-ounce jars as opposed to the standard 15-ounce jars the European competition used. Europeans eat more jam than Americans. The price per ounce would be the same, but Oualie's jar would cost less.
Meanwhile, Randolph enrolled in an entrepreneurship course at Boston University in the spring of 1987. She then angled for acceptance at a business incubator in Waltham, Mass., and in September got in. She knew the center, with eight nascent businesses under one roof, would be a fount of business knowledge. She also counted on getting a lot of free advice from its 10-member advisory board of accountants, lawyers, consultants, and other professionals. One of those people, a business strategist, now sits on Oualie's board.
In August, Randolph approached Odette Bery, the chef and owner of a well-known Boston restaurant. Bery had written a cookbook in 1986 that had caught Randolph's attention. Randolph also knew that Bery, one-quarter Indian, had lived and cooked in Africa and the Caribbean. She also was classically trained, having attended both the Cordon Bleu cooking school in London and Maxim's Academy in Paris before she turned 20. Randolph wanted Bery to help formulate Oualie's recipes.
Randolph went to the restaurant and for 20 minutes laid out the Oualie spiel, during which Bery -- impassive as a statue -- listened in total silence. As Randolph finished she thought to herself, "All is lost."
Bery leaned forward, finally speaking. "I think what you're doing is terribly exciting, and I'd like to be involved."
Bery, working as a paid consultant, has since formulated four of Oualie's first six recipes, at a total cost to the company of less than $3,000. She shares Randolph's conviction that Caribbean cuisine is on the cusp of acceptance. Randolph's knowledge of and feeling for food impresses her as well. "Octavia looks for what I call clean flavor. In her conserves the sugar is down to a minimum, and they have an exquisite flavor. She's not looking for quick shelf items. She's looking for quality shelf items."
Getting help in kind was easier than getting it in cash. Randolph figured she'd need somewhere between $300,000 and $500,000 to start the business and get the first six products out the door. She was looking for no more than 10 knowledgeable private investors. "Good investors bring more than money," she says, "they bring wisdom." She was also determined to pay her consultants in dollars, not stock. "You don't want to end up with a million shareholders each owning a fraction of the company. That's a rotten way to create a company. Those people can give you a lot of grief down the road."
Randolph could afford -- barely -- to keep things so closely held. She had $75,000 of her own money. "I knew with that I could at least get going, write a business plan, produce samples, and say to people, 'Here, open your mouth and taste this.' " People then would open their wallets.
Not exactly.
As 1987 turned into 1988 -- the stock-market crash hardly a dimming memory for would-be investors -- the company was stuck in neutral. Randolph, as usual, was moving ahead in high gear. A spate of cold calls led her to a state-of-the-art food processing lab at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where she talked scientists into mixing up a large test batch of mango-lime conserves, no charge. Oualie did sales tests of the conserves with 15 retailers comprising its target market in March 1988. "This," Randolph recalls, "was a sanity check, just to make sure we weren't on Mars."
Thirteen of the 15 retailers signed purchase orders on the spot, based on tasting just the one product. Some ordered the entire line. The 15th, Bloomingdale's, was interested but prohibited by company policy from writing a purchase order without finished product. Randolph figured maybe she wasn't on Mars when, during one sales pitch, a buyer ate an entire jar of jam.
Jack Kavanagh has spent the past 38 years in the food industry. He is currently general manager of Roberts & Associates, which, with 261 employees, is New England's third largest food broker, handling such hefty multinational clients as Motts, Guinness, and Quaker Oats. Roberts is a full-service broker, dealing with both distributors and retailers. When Octavia Randolph and Debra Pepin looked for someone with clout to help them break into the right distribution channels, Kavanagh's name came up.
Kavanagh sees people with new food ideas every week of the year, but when he met Randolph and Pepin in May 1988 he sat up and took notice. "The wheels started turning in my head."
What grabbed him was Oualie's drink, Caribe Crash. Beverages, he knew, had more risk and more opportunity for the entrepreneur than foods. This is because the market for them is so huge, yet so fragmented. A tiny niche could turn into a large gold mine. In industry jargon, beverages have more "velocity" than foods. The chips, the jams, the other fancy foods were nice, but it was the drink that would drive this company out of start-uphood.
The drink also stood alone. This was vital in the era of tight shelf space. Bring a distributor a new line of drinks, and you'll be shown the door. Conversely, one good drink can always be shoehorned into the cooler. Caribe Crash reminded Kavanagh of one such success story: Orangina, a stand-alone drink made by Pernod Ricard.
And Caribe Crash was well positioned. Orangina comes in an 8.45-ounce size. Caribe Crash would be 10 ounces. It was targeted at women, but at that size men would buy it, too. A 10-ounce serving would also leave people thinking, as Randolph puts it, "Gee, if only there were just a little bit more." It would bring people back for another bottle.
Moreover, Kavanagh saw the drink as more than just another upscale gourmet drink. He knew he could sell it to a broader market: convenience-store shoppers. "It used to be that women never went into the c-stores," he says. "They were seen as dirty, high priced, and crime-ridden. But that's changed. For women ages 18 to 35, c-stores have become destinations, not emergency stops." Kavanagh labels this group "cherry pickers." They shop selectively for a few items, including high-quality beverages. Kavanagh also knows that "almost 75% of the shelf space in convenience stores is taken up by groceries, but they account for only 28% of profit and volume. The fastest-growing areas are food service and beverages. The convenience stores could happily get rid of grocery space tomorrow and fill it up with something else." What Jack Kavanagh saw filling convenience stores that day when he met Octavia Randolph and Deborah Pepin were bottles of Caribe Crash.
Kavanagh's advice may have been sound, but Oualie couldn't follow through on it. Money was again the problem. By January 1989 Randolph found the inflow of investment capital slowing. Having received commitments for $200,000, she decided it was time to launch the company.
But with only $200,000, Randolph and Pepin had to make a hard choice. They decided to produce the four products with the highest margins and the greatest "synergy": the two jams, the chips, and the salsa. Sales from these would hopefully break loose the additional $100,000 in capital Oualie needs to produce the other two products: the pepper sauce and Caribe Crash. The drink had a thinner margin, and Randolph and Kavanagh further reasoned that it made sense to wait on it until the business was better capitalized. It would have been fatal if they had started producing Caribe Crash on a shoestring, run into huge demand, and then not been able to meet it.
Oualie has established relationships with four co-packers who will produce its products under contract agreement. Two co-packers are in New England, two in the Caribbean (Jamaica and Dominica). Of its first four products, three will come from one co-packer in New Hampshire, which will ship directly to retailers during the company's first year of operation, with Oualie picking up the UPS bill. The fourth product, the chips, will be handled through Roberts & Associates, the food broker.
In Oualie's first month of distribution, September 1989, its first four products will go to approximately 70 outlets in the Boston area -- high-end specialty grocery stores. By the end of Oualie's first year, Randolph foresees servicing 250 retail accounts with an average monthly order of 25 cases per store. She expects sales for the year to reach nearly $800,000, with a net profit of $45,000.
By the second year, Randolph sees Oualie going through standard distribution channels with Jack Kavanagh's help. Sales, she projects, will climb to about $3.2 million, net earnings to $1 million.
Randolph believes that by starting local and overseeing distribution in the first year, she will establish better rapport with retailers. Oualie will do a lot of in-store demonstrations and tasting of the line, as well as stocking of the shelves, hiring trained professionals on a part-time basis to do much of the work. Specialty retailers welcome this kind of active involvement by manufacturers. It means free promotion, free labor. Going the specialty-store route accomplishes two other aims. First, it allows Oualie to sidestep the slotting fees that food companies pay supermarkets just to put their products on the shelf. Second, selling through the specialty trade gives Oualie more control over quality of presentation, something Randolph is obsessive about.
By limiting availability, Randolph can worry less about the capital needs and quality-control problems she would likely face if demand were to soar. By starting small and staying select, Randolph believes she can build a local and loyal following among Oualie's target audience: educated and working women, ages 25 to 44, with family incomes of $30,000 and up.
But if Randolph is cautious, she is also ambitious. She foresees a tripling of sales from year one to year two -- with her juice product still not yet in distribution. She sees Oualie as a national brand, which means getting her products into supermarkets. That's a long shot, considering that each year 8,000 new food items are introduced in the United States, and the average supermarket stocks only 10,000. Is Randolph intimidated by the odds?
"No, not at all," she says. "Our aim is to produce sales figures in the specialty stores that we can then confidently take to the distributors, persuading them to carry the product." The distributors then will approach the supermarkets with the Oualie line, which Randolph asserts will be wanted. Why? "Supermarkets these days are looking even more for products that provide the long dollar." Grocers want higher-margin products like Oualie's.
Jack Kavanagh has an expression to describe many of the hopefuls who want to break into the food business: "Everybody wants to get to heaven, but most people aren't prepared to die to get there." He explains: "An awful lot of people who come in here have wonderful ideas, but I'm also looking for enthusiasm and commitment. That's very, very important. Octavia has shown me a lot."
In May 1988 Randolph heard that the CEO of Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc., Jack Llewellyn, would be speaking at a seminar in Boston. She called his office, saying she would be there and wanted to know if Llewellyn might have a few minutes to speak with her. No, said his secretary, his schedule that day is tight. Thanks very much for your interest. Good-bye.
Randolph attends the lunch. Afterward, as Llewellyn is being whisked out the door to his next appointment, she buttonholes him: "I'm the lady who called your office." Llewellyn replies, "Give me a call." Randolph does -- later that same day -- and is promised a 15-minute appointment. The meeting extends to 45 minutes, ending with Llewellyn asking, "How can we help you?"
In short order she has an appointment to meet with Ocean Spray's director of purchasing and marketing and a senior purchasing agent. (Ocean Spray buys fruit from 52 countries.) In the midst of that meeting Randolph allows that, gee, she sure wishes she had a way to test-market her fruit drink. Brief, awkward silence. "Well, uh, perhaps we could bring you into an Ocean Spray focus group."
Randolph returns some weeks later with bottles of Caribe Crash. Nineteen women, ages 35 to 54, taste the drink; 17 say they would definitely buy it.
Randolph has no formal relationship with Ocean Spray, yet clearly she has its CEO's ear. Llewellyn has offered to have the company's senior purchasing agent come to Randolph's office one day in the future to help her smooth out any wrinkles relating to her purchasing arrangements. That kind of validation offers hope as Oualie's moment of truth nears. "Keeping up my momentum is going to be a challenge," admits Randolph. "I know there's going to be a wonderful reception for these products. People will taste them and say they're great. But then what?"
She answers her own question by further admitting that good-tasting food and zippy labels won't carry the day. Running the business day to day could get thorny. "Managing the co-packer relationships will be hard. I'm cognizant of how many little ways we could be tripped up." She hopes by year's end to have enough money to hire a full-time operations person.
While Randolph knows there is no turning back, she wouldn't have it any other way. "One of the most remarkable things about these past two years is that I've learned so much about something I didn't know anything about before: business. What continues to astonish me is how helpful people are if you have a vision and you communicate it to them. They are eager to assist you. That's a tremendous and continuing revelation to me, and I hope someday I'll have the chance to give some of that back; to teach someone else some of what I've learned."
Research assistance was provided by Leslie Brokaw.
Oualie Ltd., Waltham, Mass.
Concept: Make and market a six-product line of Caribbean-inspired snack and specialty foods, first to regional specialty stores, later to national supermarkets
Projections: Sales of $800,000 with $45,000 profits in year one; $3.3 million in sales, $1 million in profits in year two
Hurdles: Overcoming a capitalization shortfall; getting shelf space in the crowded specialty/snack food category; getting consumer acceptance for a cuisine -- Caribbean -- that hasn't yet achieved widespread popularity
Octavia Porter Randolph, 36
Given the origins of her company, it's hard to argue with Octavia Randolph's self-characterization: "There's an element of recklessness or courage -- or both -- in me." It's an element that's been there a while.
Here's an abridged bio: Randolph dropped out of an all-girl prep school at 17 and headed West in 1969 to breathe the liberating air of San Francisco. From there she stayed on the road less traveled, which led to Mexico where, as she puts it, "I hung out." A year later, resettled in Los Angeles, Randolph landed an office job in an architectural business by day and took drafting courses at night. That paid off with a job in a structural engineering firm. Randolph's interest came to focus on architectural history and preservation, a field in which she worked as a consultant for the next 12 years. Randolph believes it is this experience that those who would doubt her management skills shouldn't overlook. "I've always been very self-directed," she says. "That's why I can do something crazy like turn my back on 12 years of work and start a food company."
Oualie Ltd. Projected Operating Statement
Year one Year two
Salsa $311,825 $1,269,468
Banana chips 311,825 1,259,802
Jams 173,666 737,614
Salsa 204,142 767,031
Banana chips 183,145 681,892
Jams 117,800 442,618
% gross profit 37% 42%
Year one Year two
Payroll 173,223 276,308
Professional services 20,000 18,250
Advertising 20,400 24,000
Travel and entertainment 12,000 20,200
Miscellaneous (rent, office services, 36,579 64,719
insurance, etc.)
Interest (14,744) (32,939)
Co-owner, Vine Inc., a small Martha's Vineyard, Mass., manufacturer of grape-flavored sparkling water
Oualie is very, very similar to our company. We didn't have any experience in this, and we decided we wanted to do it. I took a year for planning and research, and Randolph has done the same kind of thing.
My problem with her plan -- and this doesn't mean that she can't pull it off -- is that I had a lot of difficulty just learning the beverage business, and she's trying a number of products. That's very ambitious. I think Jack Kavanagh was right to tell her, "Limit your selection." Even though it's all fancy foods, every product is different. The government regulations on food are different from those on beverages. The production and manufacture of these things are completely different.
Something always goes wrong, and if something goes wrong with more than one product, I don't know how she could handle it.
General partner, The Vista Group, New Canaan, Conn., a $335-million venture capital firm with positions in two food companies.
I think she's working, but she's not working smart. Randolph's plan is inconsistent with the available financing. She has to come up with reasonable milestones given the money she's got. The question "What can I sell?" is a lot different from "What can I successfully market given our cash resources?"
I'm concerned she really has no focus. I think she ought to work on at most two products. With one product she ought to go into the distribution outlets she's talking about -- specialty shops. I think that's a good strategy. She can do that with a manageable amount of capital, and she can control the amount of time required to support the outlets by controlling the number of shops she's supplying. By doing that she will prove that the dog will eat the dog food. And for the other product, she should do some sort of deal with a corporate partner who can somehow take the time and money to support the soda.
By setting two goals -- getting a good deal on the soda for distribution efforts, and proving that she can get distribution with one product in a test market of Boston-area specialty shops -- she's now set two reasonable milestones.
I wish she'd worked her buddy network better. Where are the advisers who have a track record of successful performance? Consider the design firm: she didn't choose it because it had successfully designed the package for the Dove Bar or Soho soda. She went by personal chemistry and low rates. And Jack Kavanagh could have been tapped for help with creative financing. Randolph could have said, "Jack, I don't have the money to do soda, but you're interested in it, what companies do you know of that would work as good partners?" He said the soda's the hot product, and she seemed to let it drop.
Also, I think she's making a serious mistake not compensating consultants with stock; it can provide a lot of leverage in a start-up. If I were Randolph I would set up a pool of stock for five key consultants -- in marketing, for instance, and maybe for her chef and Kavanagh -- preserving her most precious asset, which is cash. It's hard to say exactly how much of the company she'd have to give away, but a pool of 10% would seem reasonable.
Because I think she will have a very difficult time building a major company in the market that she's chosen, a large venture capital firm like ours would not be interested in investing. However, that doesn't mean that she can't still build a $3-million to $5-million, profitable specialty-food company. I think she should measure success by her ability to get to that point.
Executive editor, The Gourmet Retailer Magazine, North Miami, Fla.
Randolph's entering the market at a fine time. At the most recent international fancy-foods show, the Jamaican representation was larger than it's ever been, with 10 manufacturers. There are two Caribbean cookbooks recently published. I think Caribbean cooking is beginning to be well received.
But there's a contradiction that concerns me. She's looking for quality shelf items, but she's also working with an individual with an interest in going broader in the market -- like putting the soda into convenience stores.
She has to make up her mind where she wants placement. If she wants to go specialty right now, I think she should avoid discussing the mass aspect, because that could be a real turnoff for the specialty independents. They're competing with the supermarkets, and they want to be able to offer unique product.
I think she has something special. But she has to determine if she wants to go specialty or mass market.
Co-owner, Zingerman's Delicatessen, Ann Arbor, Mich.
She deserves a lot of credit -- she's done her homework, she accepted that she didn't know everything, and she got help. Randolph was smart not to go with the soft drink first, yet I question whether the product line is focused enough to the outsider. What do two jams, banana chips, and soda have in common? They might not even end up in the same area in a store. I don't come away with the feeling that Oualie has a cohesive line of products.
The question I always ask myself when we sell something is, "Why would anyone want to buy it?" Right now there are way too many jams on the market. The chips seem more unique; they'd give her a better chance to get attention. I'd consider starting with just the chips.
It seems to me that she also has two different long-term strategies for distributing her line. It's common that producers want to sell to both supermarkets and specialty stores, but they aren't at all related. If I know that in two or three years she wants all these products in supermarkets then I might sell them, but I'm not going to put a lot of energy into it. It's just not worth it for me. She should think more about this. It's very common from the producer's point of view to see the supermarket as a panacea. It isn't. I'm not sure what her priorities are.


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In Vancouver WA teak flooring is an exotic style of hardwood that is growing in popularity thanks to its rich visual and durability. According to Wikipedia, teak is a genus of hardwood trees in the mint family, and is native to Southeast Asia. Teak flooring is generally yellow brown in color with distinctive grain and texture. Teak's natural oils create an attractive sheen and make it impervious to termites and other indoor pests.
Unfortunately, two of the three species of teak are now endangered. If you're concerned about your teak flooring being environmentally friendly, make sure you purchase from a source that's certified with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). This group has stringent requirements for what qualifies as sustainable harvesting practices and forestry management.
As an alternative to teak hardwood flooring in Vancouver WA, you may want to consider purchasing teak engineered hardwood or laminate. Engineered flooring consists of a thin top layer with a layer of plywood underneath, while laminate is made from particle board topped with a photograph of wood grain to make it look like hard wood.
With so many options in teak flooring, it can be tough to choose the right one for your home. Let the experts at Floor Coverings International in Vancouver WA help. Call or click to schedule a free in-home consultation today.
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New products introduced over the last week include a new fund from Motley Fool; a new Market Vectors ETF that excludes financials; and a new ETF from Global X.
In addition, OppenheimerFunds announced that it will acquire SteelPath; Capital IQ chose 3 ETFs for Japan exposure; and Schwab marked the 20-year anniversary of its OneSource mutual fund platform with a report on its history.
Here are the latest developments of interest to advisors:
1) First Motley Fool Fund Debuts with Five-Star Overall Morningstar Rating
The Motley Fool Independence Fund (FOOLX)—the first fund created by Motley Fool Asset Management—has debuted with a five-star overall Morningstar rating. Based on risk-adjusted performance, FOOLX, a world stock fund, has delivered 15.22% annualized returns since inception, beating the MSCI's return of 11.61% as of June 30.
FOOLX starts with a long-term value-investing approach and includes a fulcrum fee.
2) Market Vectors Launches ETF Excluding Financials (PFXF)
Market Vectors ETF Trust announced Tuesday that it has launched Market Vectors Preferred Securities ex Financials ETF (PFXF), designed to offer investors access to the income potential of preferred securities without the volatility of financials. Among preferred securities-focused ETFs listed in the U.S., PFXF has the lowest published net expense ratio at the time of launch. PFXF has a gross expense ratio of 0.52% and a net expense ratio of 0.40%, which is capped at least until Sept. 1, 2013. Cap excludes certain expenses, such as interest.
PFXF seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities ex Financials Index (WHPSL), a rules-based index intended to track the overall performance of publicly traded nonfinancial preferred securities, including securities that, in Wells Fargo Securities' judgment, are functionally equivalent to preferred securities such as convertible securities, depository preferred securities and perpetual subordinated debt.
3) Global X Funds Launches SuperIncome Preferred ETF
Global X Funds launched the Global X SuperIncome Preferred ETF (SPFF) on Tuesday. It is designed to track 50 of the highest-yielding preferred securities in North America.
SPFF seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the S&P Enhanced Yield North American Preferred Stock Index. The index is made up of U.S.- and Canada-traded preferred stocks that meet criteria relating to size, liquidity and exchange listings, among others.
4) OppenheimerFunds to Acquire MLP Investment Manager SteelPath
OppenheimerFunds announced Tuesday that it has signed an agreement to purchase SteelPath Capital Management and SteelPath Fund Advisors, an energy infrastructure investments company focused on the master limited partnership (MLP) sector. SteelPath offers a family of MLP-focused mutual funds as well as privately available products.
The transaction is expected to close during Q4, subject to certain conditions and approvals. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. 5) S&P Capital IQ Picks Japan Exposure via 3 ETFs
Todd Rosenbluth, S&P Capital IQ ETF analyst, singled out in a July 16 report on MarketScope Advisor three ETFs that provide Japan exposure—since, according to his report, despite the tsunami and nuclear disaster in 2011, Japanese equities are down only slightly in 2012 and outpacing many international markets.
iShares MSCI Japan Index Fund (EWJ) provides dedicated exposure to Japan and a 0.51% gross expense ratio. Vanguard Pacific Stock Index Fund (VPL) offers 60% exposure to Japan, with significant exposure to Australia, and smaller levels of exposure to Hong Kong and Singapore; it also offers an expense ratio of 0.14%. WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund (DXJ), with a gross expense ratio of 0.48%, is another dedicated Japanese ETF, but, according to the report, also offers additional investor protection to yen/dollar currency fluctuation.
6) Schwab Marks Milestone With OneSource Mutual Fund Platform
Charles Schwab is celebrating 20 years of offering its OneSource mutual fund platform with the release of "Schwab's Mutual Fund OneSource at 20," a report that looks back at the evolution of the service and how it "simplifies the way investors buy and sell no-load mutual funds from multiple fund families without paying transaction fees."
Unveiled in July 1992 with eight fund families and 80 mutual funds, the platform "revolutionized mutual fund investing for millions of individual investors and registered investment advisors (RIAs), and today provides access to more than 430 fund families and 4,400 no-load, no-transaction-fee funds," according to the company
Click here to read the full Schwab OneSource story.
Read the July 13 Portfolio Products Roundup at AdvisorOne.com


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For something we are all familiar with, life tends to be a remarkably difficult thing to define. Most definitions, however, include the ability to reproduce. Which means that a microbial community that has been discovered on the floor of the Pacific Ocean stretches the definition of what it means to be alive.
Bacteria are detected in the sediments down to the level of at least 20m, and are probably present (if rare) below that. But based on oxygen consumption, the cells are operating at a metabolism that appears to be right at the minimum energy flux needed to simply keep their cellular components operational. With no energy to spare, it's possible that these cells are not even able to reproduce.
The discovery of thriving ecosystems at deep-ocean hydrothermal vents helped revolutionize how we view life. Unlike familiar ecosystems on the surface, these organisms weren't ultimately dependent upon sunlight to power the base of the food chain, instead relying on chemical energy provided by the Earth's internal heat. Since then, other communities have been found that rely on unusual sources of energy. Deep in a mine, organisms appear to rely on radioactive decay to provide a source of hydrogen. Under an Antarctic ice sheet, another community grabs its energy by oxidizing iron exposed by the glaciers.
These organisms have provided us with insights about the broad range of energy sources that can be used to support life. But they've also helped tell us about just how little energy life needs to squeak by. The bacteria found in the South African mine, for example, get so little energy that they're probably able to divide only once every few hundred years. In contrast, a well-fed E. coli can divide every 20 minutes.
The newly described bacterial community may make those look positively energetic.
They were spotted by a research cruise that was taking sediment cores across the equatorial Pacific before turning north and sampling up past Hawaii. This path took it into the North Pacific Gyre, an area that has been made famous because circulating currents tend to trap a lot of our trash there. But biologically speaking, it was also an area of low biological activity. The surface waters are relatively nutrient-starved, and have a primary productivity that is nearly an order of magnitude lower than the open ocean nearby.
On the ocean floor, this seems to have produced a completely different ecosystem than many other areas of the globe. Generally, the sediment that falls to the ocean floor is rich in organic compounds created by the life above. These get rapidly digested by the microbes above, which burn through the sediments oxygen at a rapid clip while doing so. As a result, just a short distance from the surface, the oxygen gets very sparse, and anaerobic microbes take over.
The sediment in the gyre is nothing like that. It takes roughly a thousand years for just a millimeter to accumulate, and bacterial activity is so low that there's oxygen down to at least 30 meters—at which point, the sediment was probably deposited about 86 million years ago. If big numbers are a problem, think of it this way: that's back when dinosaurs dominated terrestrial ecosystems.
The authors searched their sediments for bacteria, and were able to detect them down to at least 20m, at which point there were only about 1,000 cells in every cubic centimeter of muck. There may be more below that, but they were below the authors' ability to detect them. Based on the density of the cells present and the rate at which oxygen decreased with depth, the authors were able to calculate how much oxygen was being used to keep these cells alive.
The results were pretty eye-popping. Thirty meters below the ocean floor, an entire liter of sediment would only burn through a nanomole of oxygen—in an entire year. At that rate, a single cell would be using just 100,000 oxygen molecules a day to stay alive. That's below the rate described for the slowest-growing cultures we've managed to maintain in a lab and probably closer to the oxygen use of bacteria in a quiescent, stationary phase of growth. "These microbial communities may be living at the minimum energy flux needed for prokaryotic cells to subsist and that the total available energy flux ultimately controls the microbial community size in the deep biosphere," the authors conclude.
In other words, they've only been receiving enough energy to do maintenance, and probably not enough to actually divide. Which stretches most definitions we have of what it means to be alive.
The biggest question lingering over the story is what's actually going on once oxygen use reaches its steady state level in these sediments. Given the difficulty of detecting cells, the authors haven't clearly demonstrated that a non-biological process doesn't take over below a certain depth. Gently adding some nutrients and a bit more oxygen might allow something to grow out of the sample, providing a clearer indication that there really is something alive down there.
And, if something does grow out, then we could actually subject it to DNA sequencing and figure out what exactly can live under such extraordinarily limiting conditions.
Science, 2012. DOI: 10.1126/science.1219424 (About DOIs).


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Behind the scenes of Vail Valley Theatre's 'Company'
VAIL CO, Colorado
Over the last three weeks, I've introduced you to the entire cast of the Vail Valley Theatre Company's (VVTC) upcoming production of the musical comedy, "Company." Now it's time to meet the creative minds working behind the scenes to bring this show to life for the Vail Valley. As a member of the cast, I can tell you we are very lucky to have this talented bunch at the helm of this poignant, funny, touching show.
Places please!
Well-known local performer, Beth Swearingen, is the artistic director of "Company." Originally from Connecticut, she had a professional theater career in NYC for several years before moving to the Vail Valley, where she works as a musician, dance teacher, fitness instructor and mostly Mom to her kids, Naomi and Jonah.
"I had my first experience with VVTC about 19 years ago and have directed and choreographed numerous productions for them since," Swearingen said. "I actually have VVTC to thank for meeting my wonderful husband Kerry, and some of my closest friends."
Making her debut in a directorial position, assistant director is Connie Kincaid, co-owner of local boutique real estate firm Vail Property Brokerage, Inc. as well as a dancer, teacher and choreographer. She has performed with VVTC since 2007, and been a board member since 2009. A Vail Valley local since 1993, she says of volunteering her free time to local theatrer, "I am passionate about the performing arts and showcasing the incredible and diverse talent this small valley has. I can't wait to fill seats in the audience the next two weekends."
The musical director, and man behind the onstage baby grand piano, is Taylor Kundolf, local musician and teacher at Vail Christian High School. His first production with VVTC was 17 years ago, helping some of the performers learn their music when his wife, Rayla Kundolf, directed the musical "Working."
Kundolf loves anything Sondheim and was excited to work with Swearingen.
"I have a very high regard for Beth Swearingen and when she asked me to be her musical director, there was no way I could refuse," he said.
Fights, meltdowns and drunken rants
The all-encompassing roll of production stage manager is filled by the VVTC's board president, Kaylee Brennand. She is in charge of, well, everything and everyone at all times during the course of the production. Yes, it's a huge job, and we are extremely lucky to have a pro in this position. Brennand has been with VVTC since its inception.
"I am passionate about live theater," she said. "It is what I have made my profession, and I feel it's important to volunteer my free time to local theater. I have to thank everyone who supports our not-for-profit theater company, through sponsorships, donations and ticket sales."
David Mayer, originally from Mich., is the set designer. His job is to create set pieces that inspire and compliment the artistic director's vision of the production. Mayer works as a graphic designer and sign maker in real life, and got involved with VVTC during last year's production of "Rocky Horror."
"Live theater is truly a magical art form," he said. "It brings together everything; writing, acting, music, singing, dancing and art and design. It's important to make such a magical thing available to our community, to any community."
Denver native, Dean Davis, is the lighting designer and technical director for the show.
"It's my job to make sure everyone on stage is seen in their best light and can strut their stuff on a safe set." Davis is the facilities manager for the Vilar Performing Arts Center.
"I am amused by the exaggeration of the characters' nerve-wracking faults and how their neuroses play out in their married relationships," Davis said. "The marital karate fight, the bride's hilariously frantic meltdown, and of course, there is Sondheim's epic drunken rant."
From the set and lights to the choreography, music and direction, the Vail Valley is quite lucky to have these local talents behind the scenes collaboratively creating what is going to be a fun night of live theater for the Vail Valley community. This show does contain adult content, so it's best to leave the little ones at home.
Didi Doolittle is a Vail Valley realtor and an actor on the side.
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AT&T Galaxy Note hacked to work on T-Mobile HSPA+
When the Android community puts their minds to something, it gets done. Putting Android on devices that don't support the OS (like the HP TouchPad)? Done. Getting updates out to unsupported devices (that supposedly can't run the latest versions of Android), and beating manufacturers to the punch with devices that are supported? Double done. Getting a carrier branded device like the AT&T Galaxy Note to properly function on T-Mobile, with HSPA+ to boot? Piece of cake.
Over on the XDA forums, a bounty was posted just over two weeks ago in hopes of tempting a developer to put some time into finding a way to get the AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note functioning on T-Mobile. Yesterday, that bounty was claimed.
XDA user tomin.fhl has posted the necessary files to get an unlocked and rooted Galaxy Note up and running on T-Mobile HSPA+. After a bit of trial and error, tomin.fhl found that a simple modem flash will get the Note working without error on T-Mobile's network. Other developers have been close, but this is the first time everything has been in working order. According to tomin.fhl's post about the hack on XDA, signal strength is weak, but calling and data work without freezes or random reboots.
Rooting and hacking your device can be tricky, and should only be attempted once you have fully researched everything associated with the process, but if you'd like more info on where to get started to make your AT&T Galaxy Note T-Mobile compatible, head on over to XDA now.
Does anyone out there plan on giving this a shot? Let us know how it works in the comments below.