text:
Editorial: Immigration reform fine, but not at expense of sputtering economy
You just don't hear the hue and cry anymore when immigration reform comes up. Funny the immediate effect an election can have on attitudes.
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators, including Republicans John McCain of Arizona and tea party favorite Marco Rubio of Florida, beat President Obama to the punch last week in introducing a legislative package that would grant effective amnesty to the 11 million or so undocumented immigrants in this country, so long as they register with Uncle Sam, clear a background check and pony up a fine and any back taxes. Beyond that the federal government would go after employers who knowingly hire illegals, further tighten border security and issue more temporary visas, particularly to the highly skilled - such as engineers - and agricultural workers.
Obama, who benefited mightily from the votes of Hispanics who viewed Republicans as hostile to their interests - winning them by almost a three-to-one margin - has pretty much endorsed the plan, with one difference. He wants a path to citizenship that is not conditional on the establishment of a break-proof border.
On the one hand, the U.S. arguably has made strides in that area - though some would beg to differ - doubling the number of Border Patrol agents over the last decade, constructing hundreds of miles of fence, patrolling our southern boundary with unmanned drones and other aircraft. In fact Obama has deported illegals at a faster rate than any American president, so conservatives who view this issue through a rule of law lens can't exactly say he's been soft on this issue.
On the other hand, Obama also implemented, by executive order, the DREAM Act, which pretty much pardons the children of illegal immigrants who are here through no fault of their own and are making a meaningful contribution - getting their education, serving in the military. As always, you don't want to tempt the Law of Unintended Consequences, either. To the degree any new law would be perceived as a green light, we don't want that 11 million swelling to an unmanageable number because of a border that, despite the tightening, remains all too porous. Rubio and others are right to caution about that. It's what happened after the last serious, otherwise well-intentioned immigration reform, under Ronald Reagan in 1986.
From this vantage Uncle Sam should do both, working toward a less penetrable border and providing a more accessible path to citizenship.
Election results or no, quick passage here is by no means a sure thing. There remain some irrational voices on Capitol Hill on this subject. The insistence by some on border enforcement before legalization could be a hill too high to climb for enough legislators to matter. Further complicating things are the deficit hawks. An airtight border, for those - mostly Republicans - set on pursuing one, comes at a cost. Sometimes you can't have it both ways.
In any case, it would seem clear that gun control and immigration reform are the two major priorities of the Obama administration in this second term. That's a risk, because meanwhile the economy continues to sputter, as evidenced by this week's disappointing jobs report. It also provides ammunition to those who criticized the president's concentration on health care reform rather than the state of the economy in his first term.
Indeed, this has been termed "the most anemic recovery in modern history" by no less a Democrat than former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich. Only 157,000 jobs were added by U.S. employers in January, significantly fewer than the month before, with the unemployment rate at a stubborn 7.9 percent. Some 20 million Americans remain unemployed or underemployed, reports Reich for the Huffington Post, and 40 percent of those are now considered chronically jobless, with few reasons to hope.
The economy is in a vicious cycle. Employers say they want greater certainty, with Washington and its budget battles - with more to come in March - providing precious little of it. But more than that they need customers for their products. They're not going to find them among those not working, or employed but earning less.
From the perspective of timing, launching immigration reform to the top of the list and producing even more competitors for those few jobs could prove a no-winner. At some point, sooner rather than later, the warring parties need to pow-wow on the economy, or be accused of fiddling while America burns.
Journal Star of Peoria, Ill.


text:
No jobs found on
Associations industry.
Since inception in 2009, we have turned out to be number one jobs provider in Nepal with 300
million+ page views so far and 6.5 million+ progressive visits every month, created 2,00,000+ success stories
and registered 7,50,000+ job seekers in our database. We have been offering 35,000+ employers
promote their employer brands to jobseekers and advertise diverse opportunities to over a million
candidates inside Nepal and abroad. Established as an inevitable bridge between the hiring employers
and the job seekers, we are well-known as a national leader in recruitment solutions & career
management in Nepal. Read more...
Ganapati BhawanMin Bhawan Main RoadNew
BaneshworKathmandu, Nepal

subset: commoncrawl


text:
- Football
- Poland
- Ekstraklasa
Stal Mielec vs Raków Częstochowa live score, H2H results, standings and prediction
Stal Mielec - Raków Częstochowa
Receive notifications for this event
Who will win?
About the match
Stal Mielec is going head to head with Raków Częstochowa starting on 10 Feb 2023 at 17:00 UTC at Stadion Stali Mielec stadium, Mielec city, Poland. The match is a part of the Ekstraklasa.
Stal Mielec played against Raków Częstochowa in 1 matches this season. Currently, Stal Mielec rank 8th, while Raków Częstochowa hold 1st position. Looking to compare the best-rated player on both teams? Sofascore's rating system assigns each player a specific rating based on numerous data factors.
On Sofascore livescore you can find all previous Stal Mielec vs Raków Częstochowa results sorted by their H2H matches. Sofascore also provides the best way to follow the live score of this game with various sports features. Therefore, you can:
- Find out who scored in a live match
- Get real-time information on which team is dominating the match using the Attack Momentum
- Follow detailed statistics such as ball possession, shots, corner kicks, big chances created, cards, key passes, duels and more
- Check all head to head matches – for instance, in the last season Stal Mielec and Raków Częstochowa played 2 games against each other
- Track all home and away games for each team in the Ekstraklasa
- Check out how Sofascore community votes on which team is more likely to win this match.
All of these features can help you decide on Stal Mielec vs. Raków Częstochowa game prediction. Even though Sofascore doesn't offer direct betting, it provides the best odds and shows you which sites offer live betting. Live U-TV odds are viewable on Sofascore's Football live score section.
Where to watch Stal Mielec vs. Raków Częstochowa? Under TV Channels section you can find the list of all channels that broadcast Stal Mielec – Raków Częstochowa live match. You can also live stream this match through our betting partners or click on any links on Sofascore for a legal live stream.
Event details:
NAME: Stal Mielec - Raków Częstochowa
DATE: 10 Feb 2023
VENUE: Stadion Stali Mielec, Mielec, Poland
NAME: Stal Mielec - Raków Częstochowa
DATE: 10 Feb 2023
VENUE: Stadion Stali Mielec, Mielec, Poland
More details:
Stal Mielec live score, schedule and results
Raków Częstochowa live score, schedule and results
Sofascore livescore is available as iPhone and iPad app, Android app on Google Play and Windows phone app. You can find us in all stores on different languages as "Sofascore". Install Sofascore app on and follow Stal Mielec Raków Częstochowa live on your mobile!
*Important notice – Sofascore.com in partnership with U-TV offers over 140,000 live streaming events per year. However, please note that the intellectual property rights to stream such events are usually owned at a country level and therefore, depending on your location, there may be certain events that you may be unable to view due to such restrictions. Prior to joining U-TV and funding your account in order to view Stal Mielec Raków Częstochowa, or any other particular event via the U-TV live stream, you are strongly advised to check with U-TV if, depending on your place of residence, it is possible to view the live streamed event in question.


text:
Dirty Wars
Its only late April, but I have a strong feeling that Dirty Wars; the World is a Battlefield, by Jeremy Scahill is going to be my book of the year. Scahill wrote Blackwater a number of years ago and, as with Blackwater, I spent a lot of time reading and studying his source materials and fact checking the book as much as possible, because its very, very ugly reading. The book focuses on the American military machine abroad, and the near state of permanent and unseen combat involving the American military. By almost any standards, no president has ever authorized as much military engagement as Barack Obama, and a lot of it is stuff that would like have made Ike or JFK run for cover. And what the American military is doing overseas is not looking like something that fits within our political, moral, ethical or military ethos. I had kind of a funny experience a few weeks ago–I was reading the book and I was wondering what these secret operations look like, and then I saw the videos of Watertown, and I was stunned. It seems that our government not only no longer recognizes a distinction between friendly and hostile states, but equally our government seems to be having problems differentiating between American civilians and Taliban fighters in Pakistan.
I happened to see an old movie last night, a particularly stupid movie called the Peacemaker, or something like that. It was a 1997 thriller in which Russian nukes are stolen to be used against the United Nations building in New York by a Bosnian whose family has been killed in Sniper Alley while IFOR watched. The bomber releases a video about his planned attack, in which he raises the concern that Americans really don't know what is being done in their names, how many people are being killed as part of American geo-political strategy, and how many people have been killed, harmed or displaced because of policies emanating from Washington and New York. It was painfully clear that the Bosnian could equally have been a Pakistani, an Afghan, an Iraqi, a Syrian, an Israeli. And I'm also starting to wonder just how crazy the North Koreans really are. Truth be told, and because it was a movie, I was kind of hoping that the nuke would go off in Manhattan. It's only a movie so no one would really be getting hurt, but it would have been sobering for Americans to leave the theater truly shocked by the image of New York City being vaporized because of something that happened in Bosnia. My sense of disquiet from the movie was akin to the disquiet I felt several weeks ago, watching those Watertown videos, and pondering whether I was more concerned about the actions of the terrorists or the actions of the government. Not entirely a rhetorical question. The terrorist is locked up. Obama remains at large.
We as Americans aren't thinking through the consequences of our policies. We don't realize how dangerous those policies are. We can't think about the consequences of our actions because we aren't getting enough information about what those actions are. I have heard a lot of the stuff in Dirty Wars from foreign web pages, but never from domestic sources, and that is scary indeed.
Strange that when there is a terrorist attack in Boston that we don't have the discussion we should be having. Yes, we need to talk about the victims of the attack. And we need to wave the flag, because that's what Americans do. But, without blaming the victims, we can ask a very, very profound questions: how dirty are our hands? When people injured by our policies are otherwise powerless to act, are we really going to blame them for lashing out at the people who vote for the leaders who send the drones? How dirty? Scahill says dirty enough, and this book really ought to be the main topic of conversation for the next election.


text: © The Mac Observer, Inc. -- All rights reserved. All information presented on this site is copyrighted by The Mac Observer, Inc. except where otherwise noted. No portion of this site may be copied without express written consent. Other sites are invited to link to any aspect of this site provided that all content is presented in its original form and is not placed within another frame. The Mac Observer is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple, Inc.


text: Terms of Use Privacy Policy Hide Dating Advice 50 Sex Tips Women Wish Men Knew 50 Sex Tips Women Wish Men Knew 50 Sex Tips Women Wish You Knew Find The Right Time To Innitiate Slow And Steady Often Wins The Race The Real Way To Have Shower Sex Lean Back There Is No One Perfect Sex Position Laugh Don't Be A Dickhead When It Comes To Condoms Pay Attention To (Other) Sensitive Areas Communicate Don't Mess Around With Bedcovers Use A Pillow If She Tells You She's About To Come, Don't Change What You're Doing Eat Watermelon Not Every Woman Wants You To Go Down On Her Be Complimentary Found The Clitoris? Good. Now Don't Touch It. Don't Automatically Assume That She Likes Doggy Style Use More Than Your Tongue Real Women's Bodies Don't Behave Like Porn Actresses Cut Your Nails Before Even Thinking About Using Your Fingers Make Sure Your Sheets Are Clean Tease Her Have A Different Technique For Oral Sex Than You Do Penetrative Don't Forget Kissing Talk Dirty To Her If You're Lucky Enough To Get A Blowjob, Don't Grab Her Head And Shove It In Further Don't Be Silent The Perfect Time To Ask To Do To Something New Take Your Socks Off Before Your Trousers And Underwear Listen To The Sounds She Makes And React Try Somewhere New Keep Yourself Trimmed But Don't Go Overboard Tell Your Partner When You're Going To Come Keep Some Lube Available Be Confident Abstain For A Little While She Wants To Finish Just As Much As You Do Foreplay Is Not A Means To An End Build Stamina It's Going To Get Messy Finding The G-Spot Variation Doesn't Have To Mean Location Try Kegel Exercises Lube Is A Must If You're Feeling Anal Don't Expect Oral Sex if You're Not Offering It Too Use Sex Toys Be Enthusiastic Biting Is Not As Sexy As Movies Make It Out To Be If You're Nervous About Suggesting A New Position, Joke About It Don't Be A Dickhead When It Comes To Condoms Rebecca May December 26, 2014 Share Tweet Flip 0 Shares Always have one ready. And don't make your partner have to ask you especially to use a condom. Besides, you should be wanting to look after your member, anyway. Choose a ribbed condom to increase their pleasure -- or something like Durex's Extended Pleasure which allow you to last even longer in bed. Prev Next Recommended Reading Sex Tips This New Way of Performing Oral Sex Will Get Her Off in No Time Sex Tips 6 Sex Positions Done in Porn That You Shouldn't Attempt in the Bedroom Relationship Advice 10 Tips Every Husband Must Know to Keep the Passion in His Marriage Dating Advice 10 First Kiss Tips to Make Sure Your Nervous Lips Don't Ruin Everything Dating Advice The Proper Way to Tell Your Partner You Need a Relationship Break News Career & Money Dating Entertainment Food & Booze Health Home & Auto Style & Fashion Tech Black Friday Sex Sex Positions Sex Tips Sex Toys & Games Sexual Experiences Sexual Health Dating Dating Advice Dating Experiences Best Online Dating Sites Relationship Advice Grooming Fragrances Hair Shaving Skin Style Accessories Fashion Advice Fashion Trends Shopping Underwear Watches Fitness Health Mental Health Nutrition Weight Loss Workout Gear Hobby Home Tech Toys Travel Work Man Skills Auto Essential Home Random Survival Deals Health Deals Home Deals Style Deals Tech Deals Career & Money Career Money Productivity Self-Improvement Home & Auto Auto Home Parenting Pets Tools Gifting Anniversaries Birthdays Father's Day Holidays Mother's Day Valentine's Day Weddings Reviews Best Subscription Services Classes Meal Kits Products Food & Booze Booze Food Entertainment Celebs Guy Perspective Media Music Sports Travel TV & Film AskMen on Facebook AskMen on Twitter AskMen on Flipboard AskMen on Google News Top Stories 49 Unique Birthday Gifts for Him Best Back Exercises With Dumbbells Best Electric Shavers Best Free Dating Sites Best Sex Positions to Improve Your Sex Life The Best Sex Toys for Couples © 1996—2023 Ziff Davis, Canada, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All Rights Reserved. AskMen, Become a Better Man, Big Shiny Things, Mantics and guyQ are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis Canada, Inc. and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission. Media Kit Contact Us Terms of Use Privacy Policy Accessibility Statement Do Not Sell My Personal Information IGN PCMag Offers.com Geek ExtremeTech Toolbox SpeedTest


text:
The Lakers and D'Antoni's agent, Warren LeGarie, confirmed the deal two days after the Lakers fired Brown five games into the season.
D'Antoni agreed to a three-year deal worth $12 million, with a team option for a fourth season.
D'Antoni got the high-profile job running the 16-time NBA champions only after the club's top brass extensively discussed the job with former Lakers coach Phil Jackson.
The 11-time NBA champion coach met with Lakers owners Jerry and Jim Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak on Saturday to weigh a return for a third stint on Los Angeles' bench.
The Lakers instead went with D'Antoni, a respected offensive strategist who coached Lakers point guard Steve Nash in Phoenix during the best years of their respective careers. D'Antoni was less successful during four seasons in New York, but at least restored the once-moribund Knicks to competence before resigning last March.
"Dr. (Jerry) Buss, Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak unanimously agreed that Mike was the best coach for this roster at this time," Lakers spokesman John Black said.
The 61-year-old D'Antoni underwent knee replacement surgery earlier this month, and could be physically limited early his tenure. Black said the Lakers aren't certain when D'Antoni will travel to Los Angeles to begin work.
Interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff will continue running the Lakers until D'Antoni arrives. Los Angeles beat Sacramento 103-90 on Sunday night, improving to 2-0 under Bickerstaff after a 1-4 start under Brown.
The Lakers' next game is Tuesday night against San Antonio at Staples Center.
After Brown's dismissal, Nash and Kobe Bryant both expressed enthusiasm about the prospect of playing for D'Antoni, although Bryant also campaigned eagerly for Jackson.
Bryant idolized D'Antoni while growing up in Italy, where D'Antoni was a star player for Olimpia Milano in the Italian pro league. D'Antoni also has been an assistant coach on various U.S. national teams featuring Bryant, including the gold medal-winning squad at the London Olympics.
Nash won two MVP awards while running D'Antoni's signature up-tempo offense for the final four seasons of the coach's five-year tenure with the Suns.
Nash and D'Antoni won at least 54 games each season and reached two Western Conference finals -- and they eliminated Bryant's Lakers from the first round of the playoffs in 2006 and 2007, still the only first-round exits of Kobe's 17-year career.
D'Antoni then coached New York to just one playoff appearance and no postseason victories. He also coached the Denver Nuggets during the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season.
But his NBA accomplishments can't measure up to Jackson, who won five titles and reached seven NBA finals during two stints totaling 11 seasons with Los Angeles.
Jackson walked away from the club 18 months ago after a second-round playoff sweep by Dallas, and Brown led Los Angeles to a 41-25 mark followed by another second-round playoff defeat last summer.
The Lakers then traded for Nash and Dwight Howard, setting up a season of enormous expectations for Brown -- but the Lakers struggled to learn his new, Princeton-influenced offense while playing mediocre defense.
After the Lakers stumbled out of the gate while Howard and Bryant missed preseason games to preserve their health, Nash incurred a small fracture in his leg during the Lakers' second regular-season game, keeping him out of the lineup for their past five games and for at least another week.
The Lakers have improved to 3-4 under Bickerstaff after following up their winless preseason with four losses in their first five regular-season games, the club's worst start since 1993.
Despite his reputation for offensive acumen, D'Antoni's NBA teams typically have played fairly solid defense, statistically speaking -- and they never had the imposing Howard or defensive stopper Metta World Peace in their lineups.
Nash had his best NBA seasons as the versatile quarterback of the Suns' offense under D'Antoni, and point guard Jeremy Lin became a star on the Knicks last season while filling much the same role.
D'Antoni resigned late last season following a six-game losing streak, surprising many observers, and former assistant coach Mike Woodson led the Knicks to the playoffs.
Phoenix visits Staples Center on Friday.


text:
Recommended Stories
Ares Inks Deal to Anchor Anderson's Century City Tower
Investment firm pre-leases 206K SF in "reimagined" campus on Avenue of Stars.
Middle Market Digest: This Week in the South and Mountain Regions
Here's a look at the trends, announcements and deals you may have missed in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Renovated Suburban Properties Filling Up
Spending several million dollars on renovations can attract enough tenants to fill up properties once plagued by vacancies.
Don't miss crucial news and insights you need to make informed commercial real estate decisions. Join GlobeSt.com now!
- Free unlimited access to GlobeSt.com's trusted and independent team of experts who provide commercial real estate owners, investors, developers, brokers and finance professionals with comprehensive coverage, analysis and best practices necessary to innovate and build business.
- Exclusive discounts on ALM and GlobeSt events.
- Access to other award-winning ALM websites including ThinkAdvisor.com and Law.com.
Copyright © 2023 ALM Global, LLC. All Rights Reserved.


text:
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 21st, 2012 at 4:08 pm and is filed under .
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
©Copyright PrismCasino.com 2002 - 2023 All Rights Reserved
Prism Casino Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions
Standard Terms & Conditions apply to all available promotions, unless specifically stated otherwise.
Enabling push notifications gets you access to the latest bonuses and promotions.


text:
- Body Color
- Year
- 1969
- Make
- Model
- 150
- Miles
- —
- Stock
- 1731
- Location
- Orlando Auto Museum
- Fuel Specification
- —
- Engine Size
- —
- Rear Brakes Specification
- —
- Transmission Spec
- —
- Transmission Type
- —
- Body Color
- Body Style
- —
- Doors
- —
- Interior Color
- —
- Seating Type
- —
- Seat Material
- —
Orlando Auto Museum offers some of the most competetive financing rates available. Financing can be a tool to help you purchase a better quality vehicle and earn a higher return on your investment. Are you interested? Figure out your rate and get one step closer to driving your dream!
Whether you're buying a vehicle from us or simply have one already that you'd like to ship, we'd be happy to help. We have a close relationship with many of the best shippers in the business an can get your car from anywhere in the world to your door, safe and secure. For a free quote, simply fill out our contact form and a representative will be with you as soon as possible.
We partner with the most trusted insurance organizations to provide afforable and flexible rates. Whether you own the classic car of your dreams or a collection of rare beauties, get unequalled insurance covereage from those who realize your car is more than an a possession - it's a passion!
Have a car you would like to trade in? Click the button below to get started!
All vehicles are sold As-Is with no representation of a warranty. We take no responsibility for the condition of inventory sold. All inventory is available for inspection by the buyer or an appraisal company before purchase. Buyer waives all claim arising from inaccuracy of any representation except set forth in writing within the applicable bill of sale.


text:
How I Met Your Mother: Was It a Legendary Finale?
[WARNING: The following story contains spoilers about Monday's series finale of How I Met Your Mother. Read at your own risk.]
Nine years ago, after we learned how Ted Mosby met Aunt Robin on How I Met Your Mother, we just wanted him to meet his future wife. He finally did Monday, but his wife, the love of his life and who he ends up with weren't one and the same.
This story started with Robin (Cobie Smulders), and so it only makes sense for the finale to begin in September 2005, when the group welcomes Robin into the gang.
How I Met Your Mother: How it broke the mold -- and how will it all end?
Skipping through time post-Farhampton nuptials - with a ton of callbacks and "Murder Train"! - we learned that Barney and Robin got divorced in 2016 due to her globetrotting job; Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) had their third kid that same year; Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) had a daughter, Ellie, by "No. 31" in 2019; Ted (Josh Radnor) and The Mother (Cristin Milioti) went seven years and two kids before tying the knot in 2020, which is also when Marshall became a New York State Supreme Court judge (Fudge Supreme). During that time, Robin, phased herself out of the group, her feelings for Ted still percolating.
But, making good on her promise to Lily to be there for each other in the "big moments," she shows up to Ted and The Mother's wedding. Future Ted, now in Radnor's voice, launches into another romantic monologue about having the guts to walk up to The Mother on that train platform in 2013, where she took him under her yellow umbrella and we finally found out her name - Tracy McConnell - and how he knew he had to love her as long as he could. "I carried that lesson with me as long as I can," he says. "And I carried it with me when she got sick."
Sick. Yes. As suspected, The Mother dies in 2024. And when Future Ted finally finishes telling Penny and Luke how he met their mother, they're not buying it. "That is not the reason you made us listen to this," Penny says. "You made us sit down and listen to this story about how you met mom. Yet mom is hardly in this story. No, this is a story about how you're totally in love with Aunt Robin. And you're thinking about asking her out and you want to know if we're OK with it."
How I Met Your Mother: A chronological timeline of craziness
They are, and Ted does, with a blue French horn outside Robin's apartment, where she's living with her five dogs again. And that is how he ended up with Aunt Robin.
I said a few weeks ago that I didn't mind if The Mother died, but I would if Ted ended up with Robin. It's too easy, predictable and isn't in line with the spirit of the show. And after seeing the lovely chemistry between Radnor and Milioti, especially their long-awaited meet-cute on the train platform, I'm upset that Robin had been the endgame all along. But as I consider the romantics that co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas are, it's obvious they would bring this long, winding love story full circle back to the person Ted wanted to be with when we met him. And The Mother - excuse us, Tracy - is reunited with her first true love, Max, too.
Was The Mother just a cheap plot device to get Ted and Robin back together? Yes, in a way. But Ted's time with her also taught him nothing lasts forever, nothing's perfect. And he needs to move on with his life, but that doesn't make his relationship with The Mother any less important. I don't think the Ted of 2005 would've done the same.
How I Met Your Mother: Meet the real mother - director Pamela Fryman
Was this a legendary finale? No. The last 10 minutes were rushed, and the kids' reactions were sort of bizarre. It's en vogue to complain about HIMYM these days, or rather, the past several years. The show wasn't perfect. No show that lasts almost a decade is. Parts of its later seasons were bumpier than Ted's collision with Bump Girl. And I don't disagree that nine years might have been too long for a show with such a focused conceit that was just asking for complaints. But the drawn-out reveal of The Mother, and her and Ted's meeting never bothered me, and the finale doesn't bother me.
HIMYM, to me, wasn't about the The Mother, but about storytelling - not the what, but the how. How did Ted find that lucky penny? How did Crazy Eyes think a hunchback was following her? How did brunch with Ted's folks - my favorite episode - go awry? How did Ted meet The Mother? How did we get there? Any other show would tell a linear narrative and cut to the chase. HIMYM told it in a way no one on TV had before: the way we tell stories. We interject. We correct something we had just said 30 seconds ago. We throw in asides. We get distracted and start another story when someone asks us about something we had just said or because we realized you needed this extra detail to appreciate we're telling you now. We tell a follow-up story two days later because something sparked our memory. We tell stories that we find interesting but others might not.
How I Met Your Mother: Ranking Ted's girlfriends
HIMYM brought how we tell tales to life. Three weeks ago, The Mother told Ted that he lived in his stories. We all do. We're made up of them. They shape who we are. That's how we get to know each other. You go into work on a Monday and ask your coworker how their weekend was. You go home and tell your family how your day was. You go on Twitter when something ridiculous happens and figure out how to explain it in 140 characters.
So Ted took a little longer than usual telling his. And he ended up with someone we might not all want him to be with. In the end, that's OK with me. Because Bays and Thomas told the story they wanted to tell, and I can respect that. Was it worth the wait? Like Ted's road to The Mother and Robin, sometimes it's about the journey, not the ending.
What did you think of the HIMYM series finale?
View original How I Met Your Mother: Was It a Legendary Finale? at TVGuide.com
Related Articles on TVGuide.com


text:
Log in to Travellerspoint
The page you have tried to access requires you to be logged in to Travellerspoint. Log in below, or join for free
Have you forgotten your username or password? Retrieve Your Login Details
Not a Member Yet?
If you aren't a member yet, join for free and start travelling
Here are 6 good reasons to be a part of our community
- Create Your Own Travel Blogs. We provide the most advanced travel blogging system available.
- Upload Your Travel Photos. We allow unlimited uploads of photos.
- Discuss Travel in Our Forums. Travellerspoint has one of the most active travel forums.
- Create a Map of Your Travels. Plot your trips to share with your friends.
- Accommodation Guides. Find the best areas to stay wherever you're headed.
- Contribute to Our Wiki Travel Guide. Share your experiences in our guide and you can share in the ad revenue. Or donate your share to the Travellerspoint Foundation


text:
Publicized photos key in tracking suspects
Moments after investigators went before television cameras to broadcast photos of two men in ball caps wanted for the Boston Marathon bombing, queries from viewers started cascading in — 300,000 hits a minute that overwhelmed the FBI's website.
It marked a key turning point in a search that, for all the intensity of its first 72 hours, had failed to locate the suspects. While it's unclear how much the tips that resulted helped investigators zero in, experts say it instantly turned up already intense pressure on the two men to flee or almost certainly be recognized — increasing the chances they'd make mistakes that would lead to them being exposed.
Late Friday, the manhunt at last reached an end in the Boston suburb of Watertown, when police cornered 19-year-old suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, hunkered down inside a blood-spattered boat parked in the backyard of a three-bedroom house.
The decision that led to their quarry — whether or not to make photos of the suspects public — was something of a gamble, one that investigators had to weigh carefully.
"It was a good decision to put this out to the public ... and this would have been a calculated risk. But the intent would have been to get these guys to change their pattern" of behavior, said Martin Reardon, who spent 21 years as an FBI agent and is now a vice president of security consultant The Soufan Group.
Releasing the photos greatly increased the odds the two men would be recognized and turned in, even as it significantly upped the chances they would try to vanish or commit more mayhem — exactly the scenario that played out.
"Clearly these guys were reacting and responding exactly as (law enforcement) predicted," said Robert Taylor, a criminologist at the University of Texas at Dallas who studies terrorism. "If you saw your face on TV and everywhere else as associated with the bombing ... you would act irrationally, and that's exactly what they did."
After three days without being able to identify a suspect by name, investigators clearly made the decision to release the photos Thursday on the belief that, without doing so, the suspects might remain at large for weeks or months, with the chance to flee or to act again, said David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor in Miami.
So with photos in hand, investigators made a choice deemed both necessary and prudent.
"And then the worst possible thing happens," Weinstein said. "They do actually begin their flight and then start to wreak vengeance on the whole city of Boston."
Weinstein, Reardon and other experts had differing opinions on whether investigators' decision to release the photos was worth the cost exacted by the two men: the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer, a carjacking, the shooting of another transit police officer and a block-by-block manhunt that led officials to shut down Boston and many of its surrounding suburbs.
But all agreed the photo release was pivotal in breaking open the case, because it instantly deprived suspected bombers Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and his brother, Dzhokhar, of time, anonymity and options.
By late Friday, many of the details in the chain of events that led to the older brother's death and the capture of the younger one after a massive manhunt were still unclear.
It began just after 5 p.m. Thursday, when investigators released the photographs and video of two unidentified suspects and asked for the public's help.
Just over five hours later, shots were heard on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, across the Charles River from Boston in Cambridge. Ten minutes later, an MIT campus police officer who was responding was found shot multiple times in his vehicle and was later pronounced dead.
Soon after, two armed men carjacked a Mercedes SUV in Cambridge, holding the driver for about half an hour before releasing him unharmed. Police pursued and the men inside the vehicle threw explosive devices from the windows, while exchanging gunfire. A Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officer was wounded in the firefight and the older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was fatally injured and pronounced dead.
The hunt then continued for the younger brother, who fled on foot.
In the pre-dawn hours Friday, dozens of police officers and FBI agents converged on Watertown after gunshots and explosions were heard, ordering people to stay inside. But the search proved fruitless, leading authorities to shut down Boston's mass transit system and urge residents of several cities and towns to stay indoors.
State Police spokesman Dave Procopio said police realized they were dealing with the bombing suspects based on what the two men told the carjacking victim during their getaway attempt.
The chaos of the pursuit contrasted sharply with the sweeping, methodical investigation that began almost immediately after the Monday afternoon bombing that killed three and wounded more than 180, and was marked by officials' notable reluctance to disclose information. In the hours and days after the bombing, dozens of investigators in white hooded suits carefully combed, cataloged and photographed evidence at the scene, even canvassing the roofs of nearby buildings to search for items blown into the air by the bomb's force.
Investigators gathered hours of videotape footage from security cameras that scanned the area around the bombing and appealed to the public to turn in their own video and photos, for help in determining the sequence of events and identifying a suspect.
They then used software to search for certain types of objects or people matching a height and weight description. The technology can also spot patterns that human analysts might not notice, such as a car that turns up in different places, said Gene Grindstaff, a scientist at Intergraph Corp., a company that makes video analysis software used by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
"Back in the days of 20 years ago, you were lucky if you had video and it was probably of poor quality and it took a tremendous amount of enhancement. Today you have a completely different issue," Grindstaff said.
"Here's the first thing that the computer was told: Tell me if you can find the same people at both of those (bombing) locations," said Taylor, the criminologist.
Additional parameters would further narrow the search to, for example, look for people carrying backpacks.
"It's kind of like going through a series of strainers and filters," Taylor said.
But with the video winnowed down, the process required examination frame-by-frame, a laborious process done by an FBI unit called the Operational Technologies Division, said Joe DiZinno, former director of the FBI lab in Virginia.
By Thursday, once facial recognition software and agents had narrowed the search to images of two young men, investigators had to make a decision about how to proceed.
Meanwhile, the Tsarnaev brothers were already on edge.
At an auto body shop near their home, the younger brother, Dzhokhar, had often stopped to talk with owner Gilberto Junior about cars and soccer. But on Tuesday, the day after the bombing, the normally relaxed young man showed up biting his nails and trembling, Junior said.
The mechanic told Tsarnaev he hadn't had a chance to work on a Mercedes he'd dropped off for bumper work.
"I don't care. I don't care. I need the car right now," Junior says Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told him.
By Thursday afternoon, the brothers had to know their options were narrowing quickly. And then the FBI released their photos to millions of viewers across the city, and around the world via newspaper, television stations and websites. The time to move was now.
"I think this developed rather quickly last night," State Police Col. Timothy Alben said late Friday. "I would wager that most of the activity that was printed in the media yesterday forced them to make decisions or take actions that ultimately revealed who they were."


text:
Coffee Books
If you're going to crack a book, it might as well be a romance about your first love—coffee! Want to learn more about the history of the bean, updated brewing techniques and coffee flavor profiles? Enjoy our fine selection of curated books on the subject. This plus a bag of fresh roasted local coffee makes a perfect gift for anyone you know who's crazy for caffeine. Need more gift ideas? Check out Gift Ideas Under $99 located on the On Sale tab!


text:
Join or Sign In
Sign in to customize your TV listings
By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.
Game of Thrones' House Lannister has something to celebrate, and we're not talking about the upcoming royal wedding.
Game of Thrones' House Lannister has something to celebrate, and we're not talking about the upcoming royal wedding.
Viewers learned last season that Tywin Lannister masterminded the Red Wedding ambush that killed off three Stark family members, their bannermen and ultimately, their bid for the Iron Throne. This means that in the War of Five Kings, only three remain. Long live King Joffrey! But is peace and prosperity in the cards for the fair-haired family? Not bloody likely! Before the Season 4 premiere on Sunday (9/8c, HBO), we check in with the Lannisters to see where we left off and what's next.
Game of Thrones check-in: What's next for House Stark?Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson)Where we left off: The teen monarch cozied up to his betrothed Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer) and enjoyed the benefits of her popularity with the people of King's Landing. What's next: Gearing up for the royal nuptials will bring out King Joff's best behavior, which will be snotty at best, especially when it comes to his uncles Jaime (Nicolaj Coster-Waldau) and Tyrion Peter Dinklage). As for the wedding itself, expect some ego-stroking, one very impressive gift and some questionably tasteful entertainment arranged personally by the king. Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance)Where we left off: The Lannister patriarch proved who was really in charge by pulling of the Red Wedding coup and also sending the king -- his nasty grandson Joffrey -- to his room for mouthing off one too many times.What's next: Tywin will make a decision about part of the legacy the late Ned Stark (Sean Bean) left behind and will be called upon to offer wise counsel when crisis hits King's Landing once again. However, the master tactician will make one miscalculation, which could have major consequences for the Seven Kingdoms.Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey)Where we left off: The Queen Regent butted heads with her brother Tyrion, who doesn't show her or Joffrey any respect, and Margaery, who has won over the people of King's Landing through kindness. Cersei also got a glimpse of her maimed twin Jaime upon his return to the Red Keep.What's next: Cersei will be a reluctant mother-in-law. "She's not a lover of Margaery," Headey tells TVGuide.com. "I think she'd be happier if the wedding didn't happen." Also, the twincestuous lovers won't have the happiest of reunions. "She's back with Jaime, and things have changed for her," she adds. "He's appeared thinking it was going to be as it was. She's kind of stood alone for a year, and lots has happened and is trying to decide what's going to work for her. She's quite selfish." That awkwardness, however, doesn't compare to the friction she'll have with her younger brother.
Game of Thrones Hit List: Who should die next? Vote!Jaime Lannister Where we left off: En route to King's Landing, he got taken hostage. It's safe to say Jaime wasn't a fan of his captors' "hands off" approach to punishment: Their leader literally chopped off his sword hand. They also helped his traveling companion Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) escape from a bear.What's next: Jaime must establish his authority among the Kingsguard, which means trying to make up for his lost hand somehow. (He will turn to an unlikely source for help.) Also, he will put his trust in two people he's come to respect, but the result of one of those interactions will hit shockingly close to home.Tyrion Lannister Where we left off: The Imp became the Master of Coin and wed Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner).What's next: His marriage continues to cause trust issues with his woman Shae (Sibel Kekilli), who is reluctant to live by the rules in King's Landing. "She thought she had a strong foundation but it's not, it's shaking like an earthquake," Kekilli says. "She loves Sansa, she loves Tyrion, and now they're a married couple even if they don't love each other. It's really hard for her to decide, 'Should I trust both of them or not?'" Meanwhile, his relationship with his siblings will leave much to be desired in the wake of kingdom-changing events.Margaery TyrellWhere we left off: The young widow ingratiated herself with Joffrey by admiring his crossbow and giving him a taste of what it's like to be liked by his subjects.What's next: The blushing bride will need to exercise every bit of her diplomatic arts to handle her obnoxious fiance and equally aggressive mother-in-law. But once she has that crown on her head, she'll do whatever it takes to keep it.
Teacher threatens disruptive students with Game of Thrones spoilersLoras Tyrell (Finn Jones)Where we left off: Loras' grandmother Olenna (Diana Rigg) finagled him an engagement to Cersei.What's next: "He's a bachelor in distress," Jones says, blaming Jaime, Cersei's brother-lover, for some of the headaches. "There's going to be a bit of bro friction. There's definitely a bit of in-house politics going on there. Loras isn't really afraid to say what he thinks. He's in a good position politically. He knows no one can f--- up his sh--, and Jaime's lost a hand now. Let's not forget about that. And Loras is a great fighter. So it's a bit like, 'Hey, Jaime? F--- you. I'm marrying your sister.' So, he's got the upper hand, as goes the saying."Brienne of Tarth Where we left off: Despite the hand-chopping and bear incidents, Brienne safely delivered Jaime back to his family in King's Landing.What's next: "Brienne continues to be put in situations that she's not used to navigating,"Christie says. "I can guarantee you that this season she is truly tested in a variety of ways, and sometimes with comic consequences. We see that raw underbelly exposed and attacked yet again." As for Brienne's possible blossoming feelings for Jaime? "The journey continues to evolve," she teases. Oberyn Martell (Pedro Pascal)What's next: The smoldering newcomer is a prince from Dorne who has a bone to pick with someone (or ones!) in King's Landing. "He shows up and doesn't waste any time in letting everyone know why he's there," Pascal says. "He is a lover and a fighter. He's a man who lives his life without compromising anything he feels. He does what he wants, when he wants. It's a very dangerous attitude to have in King's Landing, and he doesn't care." Yep, that sounds like the perfect wedding guest!Need more Game of Thrones scoop? Read our House Stark check-in and be sure to come back to see what Daenerys, Theon and those beyond The Wall are up to.Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.
Additional reporting by Sadie Gennis


text:
Get real-time updates when the price is lowered or when there are new matches for this search.
The Acura MDX has a reputation for reliability and strong resale that ensures high marks for customer satisfaction and repeat patronage, but even first-time buyers will be impressed by what the MDX has to offer. With the largest selection of cars from dealers and private sellers, Autotrader can help find the perfect MDX for you.
Autotrader has New Acura MDXs for sale near Mission, TX.


text:
The respect Kerry has earned
Rick Holmes
In an era where you can't get two-thirds majorities in Congress to endorse apple pie, it says something that John Kerry was confirmed by the Senate on a 94 to 3 vote.
It says that even in partisan Washington,foreign policy is still relatively bipartisan, that the center far outweighs the extremes.
And it says a lot about John Kerry. He's served in the Senate for 30 years. His opinions are well-known, and plenty of those who voted to confirm him have disagreed with him often. But those who know him best have come to respect his intelligence, his knowledge, his experience and his temperament.
The son of a diplomat, Kerry is now the nation's top diplomat. And most everyone seems to feel pretty good about it.


text:
Feds shut down site, arrest alleged creator
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — FBI agents found him in the science fiction section of a small branch of the San Francisco public library, chatting online.
The man known as Dread Pirate Roberts — 29-year-old Ross William Ulbricht — was on his personal laptop Tuesday afternoon, authorities said, talking about Silk Road, the vast Internet black market bazaar that is believed to have brokered more than $1 billion in transactions for illegal drugs and services.
When a half-dozen FBI agents burst into the library in a quiet, blue-collar neighborhood, they abruptly ended Ulbricht's conversation with a cooperating witness, pinned the Austin, Texas, native to a floor-to-ceiling window and then took him off to jail, law enforcement and library spokeswomen said.
Ulbricht was later charged in criminal complaints in federal courts in New York and Maryland. He's accused of making millions of dollars operating the secret Silk Road website and of a failed murder-for-hire scheme, all while living anonymously with two roommates whom he paid $1,000 to rent a room in a modest neighborhood.
Federal authorities shut down the website.
Ulbricht, looking calm, appeared Friday in San Francisco federal court in red prison clothes and shackles for a bail hearing, where his attorney, federal public defender Brandon LeBlanc asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero to postpone the hearing, saying the case was complex.
"We deny all charges. That's the end of the discussion," LeBlanc said.
Spero granted the request and rescheduled the hearing for Oct. 9 to discuss bail and his transfer to New York, where the bulk of the charges have been filed.
He is charged in New York with being the mastermind of Silk Road, where users could browse anonymously through nearly 13,000 listings under categories like "Cannabis," "Psychedelics" and "Stimulants."
Ulbricht also is charged in Maryland with ordering first the torture, and then the murder, of an employee from an undercover agent. He feared the employee would expose his alias as Dread Pirate Roberts, a fictional character. Court records say he wired the agent $80,000 after he was shown staged photos of the employee's faked torture.
His arrest culminated a two-year-investigation that painstakingly followed a small trail of computer crumbs Ulbricht carelessly left for the FBI to find, according to court documents.
Ulbricht first came to the attention of federal agents in 2011 when they figured out he was "altoid," someone who they say was marketing Silk Road on other drug-related websites the FBI was watching. In October 2011, "altoid" posted an advertisement for a computer expert with experience in Bitcoin, an electronic currency, and gave an email address.
From there, investigators began to monitor Ulbricht's online behavior closely, according to the court records. Investigators said Ulbricht was living within 500 feet of a San Francisco Internet cafe on June 3, 2013, when someone "logged into a server used to administer the Silk Road website."
Court documents show investigators slowly connected Ulbricht to Silk Road by monitoring his email and picking up on some slipups, including using his real name to ask a programmers' website a highly technical question about connecting to secret sites like Silk Road.
His final mistake, according to the court papers, was ordering fake identification documents from a Silk Road vendor from Canada. One of the nine documents was a California driver's license with Ulbricht's photograph, birthdate but a different name. The package was intercepted at the border during a routine U.S. Customs search.
On July 26, Homeland Security investigators visited Ulbricht at his San Francisco residence. He "generally refused to answer questions," the agents said.
The investigators left that day without arresting Ulbricht, who holds a bachelor's of science degree in physics from the University of Texas at Dallas and a master's degree from Penn State University.
They returned Tuesday and arrested him at the library. He faces the prospect of life in prison if convicted of all the charges.
The Silk Road website protected users with an encryption technique called "onion routing," designed to make it "practically impossible to physically locate the computers hosting or accessing websites on the network," court papers said. One listing for heroin promised buyers "all rock, no powder, vacuum sealed and stealth shipping," and had a community forum below where one person commented, "Quality is superb."


text:
Job Task Analyses Define the Home Energy Professional
Cosmetologists, warehouse workers, corrections officers, veterinarians … these are examples of the thousands of occupations that utilize a job task analysis (JTA) to define their profession. What is a JTA? Good question. It's a question that the home energy industry has needed to ask for a long time. Before we answer that question, let's get some perspective.
The Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) is the largest whole-house energy retrofit program in the country. Traditionally, WAP has relied upon training from within the program to ensure the competency of its workforce. A network of highly skilled trainers and weatherization training centers has delivered training to the national network of local agencies. The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), with its $5 billion cash infusion and million-home target, created an immense need for newly trained workers as the program ramped up its production to unprecedented levels. This need outstripped the capacity of the traditional training infrastructure and created an opportunity for other training organizations to provide services to WAP. What had historically been a training landscape in which trainers, local agencies, and state offices all knew one another suddenly became a marketplace with dozens, if not hundreds, of organizations selling their training services to WAP, its grantees, and its subgrantees.
The informal feedback loop that had always been in place to verify the quality of the training was deformed with the influx of many unknown entities. This lack of knowledge regarding the qualifications of the various training programs created an environment in which program administrators, contractors, and workers had no way to ensure that they would receive high-quality training services. This uncertainty in WAP echoed a need identified by the Council on Environmental Quality and in the larger industry for a way to recognize high-quality training (see "learn more"). The home energy upgrade industry was lacking a basic component of many other industries—a mechanism for ensuring that the workforce was being trained to a nationally accepted standard. While WAP had been doing good work and training its people for decades, it had never been necessary to formalize the work of a WAP practitioner. Weatherization had grown from a small government program that taped plastic over clients' windows in the early 1980s to the largest and most technically advanced home performance workforce in the country. With the passage of the ARRA, what had been a little-known program suddenly became one of the most scrutinized organizations in the country. It became quite clear that the program needed to define itself and the work that it did.
What was needed was an objective measure of the quality of the work, the ability to train individuals to do that work properly, and a mechanism to certify workers based on their skills. The Guidelines for Home Energy Professionals project is WAP's response to this need. The Guidelines project has three components:
- Define the Work. The Standard Work Specifications (SWS) define the minimum acceptable outcomes for any weatherization or home performance task to be effective, durable, and safe.
- Validate the Training. The JTAs for the four major energy upgrade job classifications define what a worker needs to know and do. The four job classifications are Retrofit Installer Technician, Crew Leader, Energy Auditor, and Quality Control Inspector.
- Certify the Worker. The Certification Blueprints synthesize the content of the SWS and the JTAs to lay out a road map for developing robust worker certifications.
While the focus of this article is the JTAs, it is important to note their place in the overall project. They are built on the SWS and in turn form the foundation of the certification effort. The JTA helps to define the requirements for assessing and credentialing practitioners—ensuring that a common thread runs throughout the Guidelines project.
You may have been asking yourself, "So how is this Guidelines effort different from the certification or training offered by [insert home performance certification or training body here]?" The difference lies in the JTAs that are used as the basis for these certifications, how they were developed, and the specific type of worker they were developed for. WAP is certainly aware of the other products in the marketplace offering certifications that are related to the work performed by the program. And while these products all have merit, none of them had a JTA developed specifically for the work performed in WAP. Additionally, none of them had a JTA of a quality that could pass muster with organizations that oversee the quality of certifications, such as the American National Standards Institute. This has changed in the time period since the Guidelines effort began. There are now certifications available in the home performance industry which have achieved ANSI accreditation. However, none of the existing products were lined up with what WAP workers actually do on the job.
The Office of Personnel Management defines a JTA in this way: "A job task analysis identifies the competencies/KSAs [Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities] directly related to performance on the job. It is a systematic procedure for gathering, documenting, and analyzing information about the content, context, and requirements of the job." In layman's terms, this means that a JTA is a formal way to analyze and document what a person needs to know and be able to do in order to engage in a particular occupation. It is one of the fundamental requirements of any profession that expects to be taken seriously. The JTA conveys to the world that an industry has the ability to define its work and what it expects of its workforce. WAP has been in existence for over 30 years and the home performance industry for nearly that long. It is high time for our industry to take the steps necessary to demonstrate the professionalism and high standards that our folks showcase every day.
Now that we know what a JTA is, it is worth asking what it's good for. Is it just a bureaucratic hoop to jump through, or does it have some real value? To get at that answer, let's look at exactly how the four JTAs created for WAP were developed.
To arrive at a high-quality JTA, the kind that can be used to build other products indicative of a profession that has its act together (such as accreditation of training programs and professional certifications), you really need a psychometrician. A psychometrician is a professional who specializes in ensuring the validity of products related to testing and evaluation. Since the development of a JTA is often the first step in creating a test or evaluation, psychometricians are used to oversee the process.
JTA development follows the DACUM (Develop a Curriculum) process—an occupational analysis method that can be applied to the development of training curricula, among other things. A small group of subject matter experts led by the psychometrician catalogue the knowledge, skills, and abilities required of a particular home energy professional. This work is then validated by conducting a survey of professionals in the field. These professionals examine the work and critique it. The end result is a document that outlines all of the major tasks that the professional performs on the job, along with the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to carry out those tasks. There is also an exam blueprint, which ranks the tasks by their importance. This ranking, or weighting, can then be used to develop exams that accurately reflect an individual's ability to perform a job, and training curricula that are targeted to the most important skills.
With accredited training programs and certifications based on the JTAs, weatherization and home performance contractors will know the caliber of the people they are hiring; consumers will know that these workers have proven that they know how to do the work right; and workers will have the mobility that comes with being nationally accredited.
Pat Fox, director of the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) credentialing program that accredits energy efficiency training programs based on the four WAP JTAs, puts it this way: "Teaching a course which is based on a valid JTA ensures that students are learning the skills and knowledge they need to be successful on the job. The JTA is an essential element in quality training and serves as a bridge in workforce development between the needs of the industry and the skills in the workforce."
It is clear that the JTAs are a vital resource in developing a robust home energy industry—not just bureaucratic hoops to jump through. As the foundational building blocks for the accreditation of training programs and the credentialing of workers, the JTAs make it easy to recognize a well-trained and credentialed workforce. "A credentialed workforce is another sign of the maturing weatherization and home energy upgrade industries in the United States," says John Davies, senior trainer and manager at the Building Performance Center. "The four new weatherization job certifications help ensure that those who do this important work are both knowledgeable and experienced in the often-complicated world of home performance. I am convinced professional certification is good for consumers, workers, and employers."
learn more
View and download the Job Task Analyses.
Council on Environmental Quality. Recovery Through Retrofit. Washington D.C.: White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Vice President's Middle Class Task Force, 2009.
Delegated Examining Operations Handbook: A Guide for Federal Agency Examining Offices. May 2007.
If weatherization and home performance are truly to be a defined industry, and if we are to realize the opportunity of millions of underperforming homes feeding into a robust economy of workers, manufacturers, and trainers, then the industry must begin to speak with a unified voice and a uniform understanding of what a home energy professional does. The JTAs catalogue the skills and knowledge that a practitioner needs in order to perform a given job effectively and safely. They define what a home energy professional needs to know in order to do work right. They may not provide everything the industry needs to perform high-quality home energy upgrades. But having industry-accepted JTAs gets us a long way toward that goal.
- 1
Enter your comments in the box below:
(Please note that all comments are subject to review prior to posting.)
While we will do our best to monitor all comments and blog posts for accuracy and relevancy, Home Energy is not responsible for content posted by our readers or third parties. Home Energy reserves the right to edit or remove comments or blog posts that do not meet our community guidelines.


text: Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane is committed to providing dynamic, innovative and engaging programmes of education, appreciation and information on modern and contemporary art. 16-week portfolio preparation courses for third level education are held in the Gallery's Learning Resource Centre from September - January. Portfolio workshops of shorter duration and aimed at second level students are often held during the summer and mid-term break. Please go to http://www.hughlane.ie/portfolio-courses/forthcoming for details of upcoming classes.


text:
Tom Marino on Corporations
A BILL To repeal the expansion of information reporting requirements for payments of $600 or more to corporations. Section 9006 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and the amendments made thereby, are hereby repealed; and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 shall be applied as if such section, and amendments, had never been enacted. [This is the first attempt at dismantling ObamaCare by pieces, as opposed to H.R. 2 which dismantles ObamaCare in whole. The proposed section of the ObamaCare law to be repealed appears below. --OnTheIssues editor].
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is North America's Neighborhood Union--1.3 million members with UFCW locals in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Canada. Our members work in supermarkets, drug stores, retail stores, meatpacking and meat processing plants, food processing plants, and manufacturing workers who make everything from fertilizer to shoes. We number over 60,000 strong with 25,000 workers in chemical production and 20,000 who work in garment and textile industries.
|2012 Governor, House and Senate candidates on Corporations:
|Tom Marino on other issues:
PA Gubernatorial:
Allyson Schwartz
Mark Critz
Michael Nutter
Tom Corbett
Tom Wolf
PA Senatorial:
Bob Casey
Newly-elected Democrats taking office Jan.2015:
AZ-7: Rep.-Elect Ruben Gallego
CA-11:Rep.-Elect Mark DeSaulnier
CA-31:Rep.-Elect Pete Aguilar(R⇒D)
CA-33:Rep.-Elect Ted Lieu
CA-35:Rep.-Elect Norma Torres
FL-2: Rep.-Elect Gwen Graham(R⇒D)
HI-1: Rep.-Elect Mark Takai
MA-6: Rep.-Elect Seth Moulton
MI-12:Rep.-Elect Debbie Dingell
MI-14:Rep.-Elect Brenda Lawrence
NE-2: Rep.-Elect Brad Ashford(R⇒D)
NJ-12:Rep.-Elect Bonnie Coleman
NY-4: Rep.-Elect Kathleen Rice
PA-13:Rep.-Elect Brendan Boyle
VA-8: Rep.-Elect Donald Beyer
Seated in special elections 2013-2014:
AL-1: Bradley Byrne(R)
FL-13:David Jolly(R)
FL-19:Curt Clawson(R)
IL-2: Robin Kelly(D)
LA-5: Vance McAllister(R)
MA-5: Katherine Clark(D)
MO-8: Jason Smith(R)
NC-12:Alma Adams(D)
NJ-1: Donald Norcross(D)
SC-1: Mark Sanford(R)
VA-7: Dave Brat(R)
Newly-elected Republicans taking office Jan.2015:
AR-2: Rep.-Elect French Hill
AR-4: Rep.-Elect Bruce Westerman
AL-6: Rep.-Elect Gary Palmer
CA-25:Rep.-Elect Steve Knight
CA-45:Rep.-Elect Mimi Walters
CO-4: Rep.-Elect Ken Buck
FL-26:Rep.-Elect Carlos Curbelo(D⇒R)
GA-1: Rep.-Elect Buddy Carter
GA-10:Rep.-Elect Jody Hice
GA-11:Rep.-Elect Barry Loudermilk
GA-12:Rep.-Elect Rick Allen(D⇒R)
IA-1: Rep.-Elect Rod Blum(D⇒R)
IA-3: Rep.-Elect David Young
IL-10:Rep.-Elect Robert Dold(D⇒R)
IL-12:Rep.-Elect Mike Bost(D⇒R)
More newly-elected Republicans taking office Jan.2015:
LA-5: Rep.-Elect Ralph Abraham
LA-6: Rep.-Elect Garret Graves
ME-2: Rep.-Elect Bruce Poliquin(D⇒R)
MI-4: Rep.-Elect John Moolenaar
MI-8: Rep.-Elect Mike Bishop
MI-11:Rep.-Elect Dave Trott
MN-6: Rep.-Elect Tom Emmer
MT-0: Rep.-Elect Ryan Zinke
NC-6: Rep.-Elect Mark Walker
NC-7: Rep.-Elect David Rouzer(D⇒R)
NH-1: Rep.-Elect Frank Guinta(D⇒R)
NJ-3: Rep.-Elect Tom MacArthur
NV-4: Rep.-Elect Cresent Hardy(D⇒R)
NY-1: Rep.-Elect Lee Zeldin(D⇒R)
NY-21:Rep.-Elect Elise Stefanik(D⇒R)
NY-24:Rep.-Elect John Katko
OK-5: Rep.-Elect Steve Russell
PA-6: Rep.-Elect Ryan Costello
TX-4: Rep.-Elect John Ratcliffe
TX-23:Rep.-Elect Will Hurd
TX-36:Rep.-Elect Brian Babin
UT-4: Rep.-Elect Mia Love(D⇒R)
VA-10:Rep.-Elect Barbara Comstock
WA-4: Rep.-Elect Dan Newhouse
WI-6: Rep.-Elect Glenn Grothman
WV-2: Rep.-Elect Alex Mooney
WV-3: Rep.-Elect Evan Jenkins(D⇒R)
Civil Rights
Foreign Policy
Free Trade
Govt. Reform
Gun Control
Health Care
Homeland Security
Social Security
Tax Reform
Main Page
Wikipedia Profile
Ballotpedia Profile
PA politicians
PA Archives
Contact info:
House Contact
Mailing Address:
Office 410 CHOB, Wash., DC 20515
Phone number:


text:
City school system eyes shortening meetings
TUSCALOOSA | The Tuscaloosa City Board of Education on Thursday considered changing the way school board meetings are organized, including how public comments are received.
The board was also informed about a new technology contract the school system has entered into that will allow system officials and parents to engage each other through a cellphone application.
School board meetings frequently last between two and five hours, which means that many adjourn after 9, 10 or 11 p.m.
Superintendent Paul McKendrick has said for several months that he'd like to make meetings more efficient and cut down on their duration. Thursday, he made several suggestions on how the meetings could change.
Currently, the board holds an open work session followed by a regular meeting five days later. The board also sometimes holds called meetings, which aren't regularly scheduled.
During the open work sessions, administrators present information to the board on school system issues, but the board cannot vote on them until its regular meeting.
McKendrick said in a written presentation that the drawbacks are long, open work sessions with no board action and only one meeting a month where voting can take place, which can delay hiring decisions.
The changes to board meetings he's proposing are:
n Eliminating open work sessions.
n Holding two regular meetings a month so the board can vote on agenda items.
n Special meetings being called only as necessary as determined by the board chair.
n Giving the public five minutes instead of three minutes to speak when it's time for public comments.
n Moving the public comments section higher up on the agenda so people don't have to wait until the end of the meeting to speak.
n Requiring that public comments be related to board policy and not issues about school employees or students.
n Requiring that people give their names and addresses when making public comments.
n Requiring that people address the board as a body and not individuals on the board when making public comments.
n Prohibiting people from becoming boisterous or making personal, impertinent or slanderous remarks when making public comments.
n Requiring written copies of any written statements people plan to make during the public comments section of the meeting to the superintendent by noon at least two business days prior to the meeting.
McKendrick said though the board will be able to vote on agenda items during the two proposed regular meetings, they still won't be able to pass policies in one meeting. Policies will still require the approval of a first reading at one meeting and the approval of a second reading at another meeting. After the second reading, the policy item will be adopted.
Board Chairman Dan Meissner said the proposed meeting format would be similar to the model used by the Tuscaloosa City Council.
Board member Kelly Horwitz said approving items faster could be unwise. She said she prefers the current meeting format. She also said she didn't like the idea of people having to give their addresses when making public comments.
In other action, board members did not object to a new $40,260 technology contract called K12 Insight school system officials entered into this month.
K12 Insight is a communications company that helps school systems communicate their message to the public. One of the ways is by allowing the public to engage in dialogue with school officials through a cellphone app for iPhone and Droid devices.
According to a K12 document, the company would use the app to provide people with news about the school system, emergency alerts and other relevant information.
Tuscaloosa City Schools Public Relations Coordinator Lesley Bruinton said the app will be free when the system's contract with K12 begins April 1.
"It's a way of providing a two-way conversation," Bruinton said. "Right now, we have a monologue (with the public), not a dialogue."
Reach Jamon Smith at firstname.lastname@example.com or 205-722-0204.


text:
Ted Turner
Maturity Number 1
Ted Turner is an American media mogul, philanthropist, founder of the Cable News Network (CNN), and WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television, and is also known for his $1 billion gift to support the United Nations, which created the United Nations Foundation.
He was born on Saturday November 19th 1938, in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States.
The life of Ted Turner should be marked by assuming roles of leadership and developing a self-reliant, pioneering spirit. In his their later years, Ted should be truly independent and able to look back on a successful life based upon leading others to places they may not have been able to go alone.
As he matures, Turner will find himself needing an increasing amount of independence and individuality. He will fight harder for the recognition and rewards he feels he deserves, and will be less willing to accept failure or limitations in any form.
Ted Turner's drive and determination will grow, as does his ability to take charge.
If there are already several 1s in his numerological chart, especially among the core numbers, Ted Turner will have to strive to avoid becoming bossy, rigid, stubborn and selfish. A person who allows these characteristics to run free will become bullish and lonely later in life.
If there are not many 1s in his chart, the influence of the Maturity Number will help Ted to establish his independence and success. From this foundation, Turner will have an active, adventurous, and exciting latter part of life.
You and Ted
About Ted's Maturity number
Ted Turner's Maturity number indicates an underlying wish or desire that gradually surfaces around age thirty to thirty-five. This underlying goal begins to emerge as Ted gains a better understanding of himself.
With self-knowledge comes a greater awareness of who Turner is, what his true goals in life are, and what direction he wants to set for his life.
Read more about our numerological interpretation of Ted Turner's maturity


text:
Fashionably Early has been your trusted source for finding the artists that are next up for years now. In a landscape that's fueled so heavily by algorithms and 15 minutes of fame, let Fashionably Early be your guide of finding the next generation of artists that matter.
Contact us: [email protected]
© Fashionably Early


text:
By Andy Metzger
BOSTON — Job-seekers shuttled through Senate President Therese Murray's office were hired by the state probation department in a criminally fraudulent manner and jobs granted to members of the House to fill were illegal gratuities, a jury determined Thursday, convicting three former probation officials of a bevy of charges.
"Getting a verdict like this just strengthens our resolve to identify corrupt public officials and bring them to justice just like we did here today," FBI Special Agent in Charge Vincent Lisi told reporters. He said, "This should send a message to any corrupt public officials out there that there is nothing that is going to get in our way from identifying them and bringing them to justice just like we did here today."
>>> For video of the prosecution's comments to the press after the trial, go to: http://www.statehousenews.com/video/14-07-24court-pro/
For video of the defense attorneys comments, go to: http://www.statehousenews.com/video/14-07-24court-def/
For publishable photos from the courthouse, log on to Statehousenews.com.
Former Probation Commissioner John O'Brien and his former deputy Elizabeth Tavares were convicted of racketeering and on four of the eight counts of mail fraud they faced. Former deputy William Burke III, Tavares and O'Brien were convicted of conspiracy to commit racketeering.
The jury's reading of the verdict was punctuated by sobs from O'Brien's family and supporters along with a shouted accusation from someone in the courtroom that "government's corrupt." The reading of the verdict was uninterrupted by the collapse of O'Brien's wife Laurie, who was wheeled out of the courtroom in a stretcher.
Defense attorneys, who appeared shaken by the verdict, declined to comment on the prosecution's case, while assuring reporters that they would attempt to overturn the jury's ruling. Burke's attorney John Amabile said he would "exhaust every avenue to try to undo what we believe is a wrong verdict." O'Brien's attorney Stellio Sinnis said, "I think that in the end they'll be vindicated."
"It was unanimous," one of the jurors who declined to identify himself, told the News Service. He said, "We did our jobs."
A woman who served on the jury said coming to a decision was "difficult" and said, "You're dealing with people's lives."
Judge William Young instructed the defendants themselves not to comment on the jury's verdict.
Sentencing was set for Tuesday, Nov. 18. While the alleged crimes carried a statutory maximum penalty of up to 20 years, sentencing guidelines could cap any potential prison term to much less than that.
Beyond the direct effect on O'Brien, Tavares and Burke, the verdict could lend more credibility to the prosecution's theory – which has never been fully tested before a jury – that Speaker Robert DeLeo conspired with O'Brien to offer jobs in the electronic monitoring program to his supporters to assist in his ultimately successful campaign for the speakership.
As part of O'Brien's racketeering charge, the jury determined it was proven that several jobs in the electronic monitoring program were offered as illegal gratuities, while rejecting the charge they were offered as bribes.
DeLeo has forcefully denied that claim, and Gov. Deval Patrick, a former civil rights chief for the Department of Justice, called it "very unusual" that DeLeo would be accused of participating in the conspiracy without being given a chance to defend himself.
Three hours after the verdict, DeLeo had not yet offered a reaction to it.
Outside the courthouse after the verdicts were announced, Ortiz emphasized the seriousness of public corruption and cautioned that any system of awarding public jobs that is not based on merit can "rapidly devolve" into fraud. She said that in conspiracy cases "you are not trying people in a vacuum," explaining how the case had drawn the names of others, such as DeLeo, into evidence.
In pursuit of the guilty verdict, prosecutors called former officials who had clashed with O'Brien as well as those who respected him, along with judges who saw the hiring process up close. Witnesses were accused of lying by both sides, and defense attorneys claimed former Chief Justice of Administration and Management Robert Mulligan engaged in the same type of patronage when he hired court officers.
In many cases, jurors rejected the defense notion that the recommendations from lawmakers were mere suggestions from respectable and knowledgeable officials, instead embracing the prosecution theory that officials in the key law enforcement agency carefully manipulated hiring, counting interviews and applications as meaningless while the political heft of a candidate's sponsor carried all the weight.
"Who would really want to send an application into probation with these three at the helm?" prosecutor Robert Fisher asked before the jury began deliberations. He said, "There was no one who got a fair shake unless they had a sponsor."
The hiring of Patrick Lawton, the scion of a prominent Brockton family, was deemed fraud, as was the hiring of Kelly Manchester, who was Sen. Mark Montigny's girlfriend when she got a job at a New Bedford family court. Patricia Mosca, who allegedly sought out a probation job for its effect on her pension status, was hired based on a fraudulent process, the jury found, and Melissa Melia – who was hired after Cape and Island District Attorney Michael O'Keefe endorsed her candidacy – was also hired based on her political backing rather than her qualifications, the jury found. Mosca and Lawton no longer work for probation.
DeLeo's godson Brian Mirasolo, who allegedly became one of the youngest chief probation officers in the state, was proven a fraudulent hire, which was wrapped into the racketeering charge but not included as a standalone fraud count. Four other hires recommended by Rep. Michael Costello, former Rep. Steven Walsh and former Sen. Fred Berry were not deemed fraudulent by the 12-person jury.
The trial put leaders of the state's judiciary under the microscope, and the guilty verdict could underscore the message for lawmakers to stay out of the nitty gritty of personnel decisions. After an independent investigation into the probation department's hiring, the Legislature passed a state law in 2011 limiting lawmakers' roles making job recommendations.
Describing probation officers duties as "tough hard and critically important work," Ortiz said the rigged hiring system "demoralized hard-working qualified employees" and "robbed the taxpayers."
The prosecution's case took 10 weeks of testimony, and the jury deliberated for about 50 hours before reaching the verdict. The defense, which engaged in heated cross-examination, elected not to call its own witnesses.
Tavares and O'Brien were convicted on four counts of mail fraud and acquitted on the four others. Burke was acquitted of all mail fraud counts. All three were convicted of conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Francis Wall, a former probation official, provided perhaps the most comprehensive view of the scheme, claiming he always manipulated scores and lied for O'Brien in arbitration proceedings while defense attorneys attempted to undercut him as a "serial liar." The jury requested a transcript of Wall's testimony on the first day of deliberations.
The latter days of the trial featured a full-throated public dispute between several prominent members of the House of Representatives and the U.S. Attorney's office, which opted against public statements while accusing DeLeo in the courtroom of passing out bribes, in the form of probation jobs for state representatives.
"The old saying is where do you go to get your reputation back?" House Minority Leader Brad Jones asked the Boston Globe.
"I know that there have been many comments stated in the media, but we're not trying this case in the media," Ortiz said.
The verdict, which arrives seven weeks before the primary elections, is likely to send a ripple through the corridors of Beacon Hill and around the state.
"Realization that some of these released inmates have been under the tutelage of underprepared and likely incompetent probation officers, qualified only by their political connections, is disturbing to the point of disgust," wrote Dr. Joseph Gerstein, the founding president of SMART Recovery Self-Help Network, in a recent letter to the Globe.
Capitalizing on the corruption that bloomed during Democratic control of the Legislature, the Massachusetts Republican Party started selling T-shirts with the message, "I applied for a probation dept. job and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."
The possibility remains that federal prosecutors could go to trial on additional charges, which Judge William Young had severed from the trial that ended Thursday. Those additional federal bribery charges relate to the same alleged trading of jobs for votes.
"I think it unlikely that the severed charges will ever be tried," Boston attorney Tom Hoopes, a fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, wrote in an email to the News Service. "The case," he wrote, "regardless of the charges – is being decided here and now."


text:
CNE account sign-up
Registration and payment are required if you would like to access online continuing nursing education (CNE) tests. They are not required to enter other parts of this website.
If you would like to access online continuing nursing education (CNE) tests, you need to register by setting up your personal account.
Setting up your personal account takes only a few minutes. Just place the cursor in the box and type in the information requested. We ask that you create your own password for confidentiality. Once you have entered your personal information, read the terms of use below and click on the accept button below.
You may edit and review your account information at any time by clicking on my CNE account at the top right of any screen.
Once you have created your account, you will be able to access your purchased tests, print your certificates, and view your last page visited in this space on the my CNE account page.
Registration and payment are required to access continuing education activities.
Sign in to access to this activity.
Not yet registered?
Registration is free and open to anyone.
Register now.


text:
Which recent books should appear a TV show called CSI: Grammar Cop? Or Law & Order: Psychobabble Unit? Finalists for the Fourth Annual Delete Key Awards for bad writing in books will be announced on Feb. 25, 2010, on One-Minute Book Reviews and on Jan Harayda's Twitter page (@janiceharayda). The prizes recognize literary sins such as clichés, dumbing-down, bad grammar, pomposity and overall incoherence.
To nominate one or more lines from a book published in hardcover or paperback in 2009, please leave a comment by Feb. 17, or send an e-mail message to the address on the "Contact" page. You can learn more about the prizes from Questions and Answers about the Delete Key Awards. To read past winners, click on "Delete Key Awards" at the top of this post.


text:
Front Runners List: Click to see list completion progress by climbers that log their climbs using Peakbagger.com.
Compare Climbers: Click to compare ascents of up to 5 climbers working on this list.
Note that this list is not the same as the mathematically-derived New Hampshire 4000-footer Threshold List also hosted on this site. This is the official AMC list, which appears to have a couple of inconsistencies in the way peaks are included on the list related to prominence data on the USGS topographic maps.
The AMC list does not include Mount Guyot, which appears to have the necessary 160 feet of clean prominence (200 feet optimistic). But it does include South Hancock, with 159 feet (199 optimistic) of prominence. Perhaps the AMC has better survey information not present on the USGS maps.
Caution: These books feature many of the peaks on this list, but may not have information on all of them.
= Peak with Rank #1 on List;   = Other Peaks
This page has been served 1119491 times since 2004-11-01.


text:
Freeway slip-and-slide: Semi crash coats Indy highway in butter
The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A semitrailer has overturned on an Indianapolis interstate, spilling what police say are 45,000 pounds of packages of butter and other dairy products.
The crash happened about 3:30 a.m. Friday in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 465 just west of its interchange with Interstate 65 on the city's south side.
The crash left perhaps thousands of butter tubs strewn on the highway, many broken open and coating the roadway.
Police say the truck driver apparently fell asleep and hit a highway barrier. No injuries were reported.
Some lanes of the highway are expected to be closed for hours for cleanup work, with crews using a small front-end loader to scoop the butter tubs and whipped cream containers into large trash bins.


text:
Antique bronze art seal signed Frecourt metal art nouveau piece in very good vintage condition. In its original box and with the verso of the seal un-engraved apart from a small unidentified pattern - there is verdi gris and a light patina overall. The seal has kept lots its lustre - and the original box is also in very good condition with signs of age and wear to be expected - please note the original clasp to seal the box shut is missing.
Fabulous collectible antique - especially with the signature indicating Maurice Frecourt - born in 1890 in France and an in important artist during the art deco period.
Approx dimensions of the seal: H 8cm x W 3.5cm (at widest point)
Weight inc. box: 197g
For more vintage treasures please visit our complete collection at:
Payment is accepted via Etsy direct checkout and PayPal (which accepts all major credit cards). We also accept Etsy gift cards. Please note purchases are shipped once payment has cleared our account.
What happens after you've made your purchase:
We will send you confirmation of your order and aim to dispatch most items in stock within 1-5 working days after payment has cleared our account.
Items are mostly distributed from France via La Poste (the national postal service) to most worldwide destinations.
Covid update - we are experiencing some delays due to disruption in the National postal service here in France - please bear with us we will keep you informed
We send confirmation that your item has been dispatched together (usually with a tracking number). We give you an indication of delivery times and whether signature confirmation is required (most of our items are shipped via recorded delivery). Please note delivery times are estimated and can vary - on average we suggest you allow (from the date of dispatch):
* up to 10 working days to receive your item within Europe or
* between 2-4 weeks to receive your item outside of Europe
If you prefer/require priority post or additional contents insurance to cover the value of your item - please notify us in advance - this can be arranged for you at the additional cost price and added to your order before checkout/payment.
It can be more cost-effective to ship multiple items together in one package. We are always happy to re-calculate the cheapest price to ship a multiple order - please contact us for a revised shipping cost.
Please be advised our standard delivery times apply to items we hold in stock - made to order items may differ to the standard delivery times indicated above.
BoulotDodo makes every effort to carefully package your item - in the unlikely event that your item arrives in damaged packaging or if you are unhappy with the condition in which you receive your parcel - please DO NOT OPEN IT. Either obtain a declaration/proof from the delivery person or take it, unopened, to your local post office. This will facilitate a claim - especially if you have taken out additional insurance. We also ask that take a photo of the package and contents and email these to us in the event that you wish to be refunded.
We recommend additional insurance for items over a certain value or vintage one-offs which cannot be easily replaced.
Please note all import taxes / customs are the responsibility of the client - in accordance with the requirements of the country of destination.
BoulotDodo cannot take financial responsibility if the delivery address provided is incorrect or if your item is returned undelivered. If you have any concerns about delivery please contact us in advance, or once your purchase is made, so that we can work together and ensure your order arrives to the correct location and in a timely fashion.
Please note where free delivery is indicated this means the delivery cost is included in the item price. If said item is returned a nominal handling fee is deducted from the original purchase price. You will be advised in advance.
Just contact me within: 7 days of delivery
Ship items back to me within: 21 days of delivery
Please contact me if you have any problems with your order.
We make every effort to help you understand the condition of the item at the time of purchase. Vintage items will often have natural wear and tear - the patina of the object's ageing adds real beauty and means each item is original in its own way. Some of our architectural salvage items may require some finishing work or restoration.
We communicate marks, blemishes, defects through both the item description and in photos (which are part of the description). We also indicate whether the item is in 'good' / 'very good' or 'excellent' vintage condition and we are happy to provide additional photographs or information - please don't hesitate to convo us your questions.
In the event an item purchased does not meet your expectations we will do everything reasonably possible to ensure your complaint is resolved. Your statutory rights regards returns are not affected.
We offer a full refund for returns on the cost of the item itself - our returns policy does not include a refund on the original shipping cost. If the shipping cost is included in the item price (indicated usually as free delivery) there is a nominal fee for handling the return. Please note you are responsible for the cost of returning your purchase. We aim to refund your money within a week of receiving the return once we've verified that the item is in the same condition in which it was sent.
PLEASE ENSURE ALL RETURNS ARE MARKED as follows: RETOUR DE MARCHANDISE
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect personal information, and what we do with it. Please read this policy carefully. By purchasing from BOULOTDODO you consent to us using your personal information in the ways described below. Without your consent to use your information in the ways set out in this policy, we will not be able to complete your purchase.
This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of third parties that we do not own nor control including Etsy or any Third Party services you access through Etsy – please refer directly to Etsy for its own privacy practices.
Your information:
To complete your purchase, we will receive certain information (which you authorised Etsy to provide to us), such as your name, email address, postal address, payment information and the details of the product that you are ordering. You may provide us with additional personal information (for a custom order, for example), if you contact us directly.
How we use your information:
1) To complete your purchase
First and foremost, we need to use and process your information to mail you the goods you purchased.
2) To contact you (for example to settle disputes or provide personalised customer support)
We may use your contact details to communicate with you about your order, both before and after we send you goods, or for promotional messages about offers you might be interested in. You can opt-in and out of promotional messages at any time, by contacting us at info [!at] boulotdodo.com
3) For legal and/or legitimate reasons
We may keep records of past orders in order to calculate taxes payable, file tax returns and track shipping. We'll only keep your personal data as long as is necessary to fulfil these purposes.
If necessary, to comply with a legal obligation or where our legitimate reasons do not override your rights or interests such as in the provision or improvement of our services; and compliance obligations with Etsy Seller Policy and Terms of Use.
Keeping your information private and secure:
Information about our customers is important to our business. We may share personal information in limited circumstances and for limited reasons as follows:
1) If you agree
2) With trusted service providers (including our delivery companies, payment processors) and only to the extent necessary to perform these services.
3) With Etsy – to comply with our obligations under the Etsy Seller Policy and Terms of Use.
4) For legal and or compliance reasons (including in the event of a dispute, or if we have a good faith belief that applicable law requires that we share the info with a third party) such as:
(a) respond to legal process or to government requests;
(b) enforce my agreements, terms and policies;
(c) prevent, investigate, and address fraud and other illegal activity, security, or technical issues;
(d) protect the rights, property, and safety of my customers, or others.
Your rights:
If you are based in the EU, you're granted certain rights under data protection law. These include the right to access, and in certain circumstances to correct, change, restrict our use of and delete, your personal information. You can object to the processing of some of your information based on our legitimate business needs, receive marketing messages from us after providing your express consent to receive such messages. Other than an exceptional circumstance (such as aforementioned legal compliance) we will generally delete your personal information upon your request. You may do this by contacting us using the contact information provided below.
How to contact BOULOTDODO:
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us via Etsy or at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
Brrrr....baby, it's cold outside! The home offices of Simon Says Stamp have our heaters on over time with the consistent snow fall and cold breezes that we are greeted with on our way to and from! We still have a little over a month until the official first day of Spring but this weather has really made me begin dreaming of warmer weather. I imagine myself in the picture above surrounded by green grass, fresh fragrances of blooms, and the warm sun rays on my face....those of you also in cool conditions I would assume can relate!
I am so excited to show you some brand NEW items for us from C.C. Designs! They will immediately fast forward you to Spring and then to Easter with their adorable details and sweet features!
Spring Elves
Hippity Hoppity
How darling are these?!?! Check out all of the new Sweet November stamps below!
***Blog Candy Alert! Join our following and tell me what you think about the new line as well as your favorite thing about SPRING! The winner will be drawn at random a week from today (February 25th, 2010) and will win some fresh new candy to play with!!!
Pin It
SUBSCRIBE TO: This Blog | Our Newsletter
WE'RE SOCIAL: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn | Pinterest | Google+
TAKE THE CHALLENGE: Simon Says Stamp Challenge! | Vintage Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge