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Reproductive behaviour
Reproductive behaviour, any activity directed toward perpetuation of a species. The enormous range of animal reproductive modes is matched by the variety of reproductive behaviour.
Reproductive behaviour in animals includes all the events and actions that are directly involved in the process by which an organism generates at least one replacement of itself. In an evolutionary sense, the goal of an individual in reproduction is not to perpetuate the population or the species; rather, relative to the other members of its population, it is to maximize the representation of its own genetic characteristics in the next generation. The dominant form of reproductive behaviour for achieving this purpose is sexual rather than asexual, although it is easier mechanically for an organism simply to divide into two or more individuals. Even many of the organisms that do exactly this—and they are not all the so-called primitive forms—every so often intersperse their normal asexual pattern with sexual reproduction.
Basic concepts and features
The dominance of sexual reproduction
Two explanations have been given for the dominance of sexual reproduction. Both are related to the fact that the environment in which an organism lives changes in location and through time; the evolutionary success of the organism is determined by how well it adapts to such changes. The physiological and morphological aspects of an organism that interact with the environment are governed by the organism's germ plasm—the genetic materials that determine hereditary characteristics. Unlike asexual methods, sexual reproduction allows the reshuffling of the genetic material, both within and between individuals of one generation, resulting in the potential for an extraordinary array of offspring, each with a genetic makeup different from that of its parents.
According to proponents of the so-called long-term theory for the dominance of sexual reproduction, sexual reproduction will replace asexual reproduction in the evolutionary development of an organism because it assures greater genetic variability, which is necessary if the species is to keep pace with its changing environment. According to proponents of the short-term theory, however, the above argument implies that natural selection acts on groups of organisms rather than on individuals, which is contrary to the Darwinian concept of natural selection (see evolution: The concept of natural selection). They prefer to view the advantages of sexual reproduction on a more immediate and individual level: an organism employing sexual reproduction has an advantage over one employing asexual means because the greater variety of offspring produced by the former results in a larger number of genes being transmitted to the next generation. The latter view is probably more nearly correct, especially in violently fluctuating and unpredictable environments. The former theory is probably correct when viewed in terms of its advantage to individuals that are spreading in geographic range, thereby increasing the likelihood of encountering different environments.
Natural selection and reproductive behaviour
Natural selection places a premium on the evolution of those physiological, morphological, and behavioral adaptations that will increase the efficiency of the exchange of genetic materials between individuals. Organisms will also evolve mechanisms for sensing whether or not the environment is always permissive for reproduction or if some times are better than others. This involves not only the evolution of environmental sensors but also the concurrent evolution of mechanisms by which this information can be processed and acted upon. Because all seasons are not usually equally conducive, individuals whose genetic backgrounds result in their reproducing at a more favourable rather than less favourable period will eventually dominate succeeding generations. This is the basis for the seasonality of reproduction among most animal species.
Natural selection also results in the evolution of systems for transmitting and receiving information that will increase the efficiency of two individuals' finding each other. These attraction systems are usually, but not always, species specific (see evolution: Species and speciation). Once the proper individuals have found each other, it is clearly important that they are both in a state of reproductive readiness. That their sensory receptors are tuned to the same environmental stimuli is usually sufficient to achieve this synchrony (proper timing) in the lower organisms. Apparently, however, this is not enough in the more complex organisms, in which the fine tuning for reproductive synchrony is accomplished chiefly by a process called courtship. Another evolutionary necessity is a mechanism that will guide the partners into the proper orientation for efficient copulation. Such mechanisms are necessary for both internal and external fertilization, especially the latter, where improper orientation could result in a complete waste of the eggs and sperm.
In most organisms, the period of greatest mortality occurs between birth or hatching and the attainment of maturity. Thus, it is not surprising that some of the most elaborate evolutionary adaptations of an organism are revealed during this period. Natural selection has favoured an enormous variety of behaviour in both parents and offspring that serves to ensure the maximum survival of the young to maturity. In some animals this involves not only protecting the young against environmental vicissitudes and providing them with adequate nutrition but also giving them, in a more or less active manner, the information they will need to reproduce in turn.
External and internal influences
As mentioned at the beginning of this discussion, the anatomical, physiological, and neurological aspects of reproduction and behaviour are dealt with in other articles. It is useful here, however, to consider briefly the external and internal factors that initiate reproductive behaviour.
Environmental influences
Light, usually in the form of increasing day length, seems to be the major environmental stimulus for most vertebrates and many invertebrates, especially those living in areas away from the Equator. That this should be such an important factor is quite reasonable in an evolutionary sense: increasing day length signifies the onset of a favourable period for reproduction. In equatorial regions, where changes in day length are usually insignificant throughout the year, other environmental stimuli, such as rain, predominate.
Superimposed on day length are usually several other factors, which, if lacking, often override the stimulating effect of light. Many insects, for example, will not initiate a reproductive cycle if they lack certain protein foods. Many animal groups have an internal cycle of cellular activity that must coincide with the external factors before reproduction can occur; a familiar example is the estrous cycle in most mammals except primates. Females are sexually receptive only during a brief period when they have ovulated (released an egg from the ovary).
Hormonal influences
Although the exact way by which light affects the reproductive cycle is still disputed, it undoubtedly varies from group to group. In birds, light passes either through the eyes or through the bony tissue of the skull and stimulates the development of certain cells in the forepart of the brain. These cells then secrete a substance that stimulates the anterior pituitary gland, which is located at the base of the brain, to produce an array of regulatory substances (hormones), called gonadotropins, that are carried by the blood to the gonads (ovaries and testes), where they directly stimulate the development of eggs and sperm. The gonads, in turn, produce the sex hormones—estrogen in the female and testosterone in the male—that directly control several overt aspects of reproductive behaviour.
Unlike the higher animals, the gonads of insects apparently do not themselves secrete hormones. Instead, stimulation by the corpus allatum, an organ in insects that corresponds in function to the pituitary gland, causes the secretion of liquid substances on the body surface. These substances are transmitted as liquids, or, even more significantly, as gases, to the recipient, in which they are usually detected by olfaction or taste. Such substances, which are called ectohormones, or pheromones, may serve as the major regulation and communication system for reproduction as well as other behaviour in insects.
In the absence of all other stimuli, many types of sexual behaviour can be induced simply by an injection of the appropriate gonadal hormone. Conversely, removal of the gonads usually inhibits most sexual behaviour. The apparent failure of complete hormonal control over reproductive behaviour has been a subject of much investigation and dispute. There is much evidence that many types of reproductive behaviour are or can be controlled solely by neural mechanisms, bypassing the hormonal system and any effect that it might exert on the nervous system to produce behaviour. Several types of reproductive behaviour controlled solely or almost solely by neural mechanisms are involved in or triggered by the processes that are initiated by courtship.
Modes of sexual attraction
The chief clues by which organisms advertise their readiness to engage in reproductive activity are visual, auditory, and olfactory in nature. Most animals use a combination of two modes; sometimes all three are used.
Visual clues
The appearance of many higher vertebrates changes with the onset of reproductive activity. The so-called prenuptial molt in many male birds results in the attainment of the nuptial plumage, which often differs radically from that possessed by the bird at other times of the year or from that possessed by a nonreproductive individual. The hindquarters of female baboons become bright red in colour, which indicates, or advertises, the fact that she is in estrus and sexually receptive. Such changes in appearance are less common in the lower animals but do occur in many fishes, crabs, and cephalopods (e.g., squids and octopuses).
Often associated with changes in appearance are changes in behaviour, particularly the increase in aggressive behaviour between males, often a prime feature in attracting females; such changes have interesting evolutionary implications. In certain grouse, for example, females are most attracted to males that engage in the greatest amount of fighting. No doubt, fighting in some groups of mammals also serves this function as well as others.
In many animals the rise in aggression takes the form of territoriality, in which an individual, usually a male, defends a particular location or territory by excluding from it all other males of his own kind. Occasionally, other species are also excluded when it is to the advantage of the defending individual to do so. Territorial behaviour involves many functions, not all of which are directly concerned with reproduction. For purposes of advertising, however, territoriality probably reduces the amount of interference between males and also makes it easier for females to find males at the proper time.
Auditory clues
The fact that sound signals can travel around barriers, whereas visual signals cannot, accounts for their widespread use in indicating sexual receptiveness, especially in frogs, insects, and birds. Like visual signals, a sound for advertising purposes usually encodes several pieces of information; for example, the signals usually reveal to the receiver the caller's species, its sex, and, in some cases, whether or not it is mated. The vocalizations of one type of frog also reveal the number of other males located nearby. This information, a critical clue for females, is a measure of how good the habitat is for depositing eggs. The sounds produced by the wings of mosquitoes attract females and are species specific. Humans have taken advantage of this signal by using artificial sound generators to eradicate certain mosquitoes. Advertising signals also serve to repel other males; a classical example is the territorial song of many songbirds.
Olfactory clues
Researchers have now become aware of the enormous amount of information that is passed between animals by chemical means. Well known are the urine, feces, and scent markings employed by most mammals to delimit their breeding territories and to advertise their sexual state. Males of a number of mammals are capable of determining if a female will be sexually receptive simply by smelling her urine markings. A substance in the urine of male mice, on the other hand, actually induces and accelerates the estrous cycle of females. A female gypsy moth is able to attract males thousands of metres downwind of it simply by releasing minute quantities of its sex pheromone each second. It has been calculated that one female silkworm moth carries only about 1.5 micrograms (1.5 × 10-6 gram) of its sex attractant, called bombykol, at any given moment; theoretically, this is enough to activate more than 1,000,000,000 males. The sex attractant of barnacles, which are otherwise rather sessile (sedentary) organisms, causes individuals to aggregate during the breeding period.
Another possible channel of communication occurs in a few fishes, namely electric discharge. Evidence suggests that weak electric fields and discharges in the Mormyridae of Africa and Gymnotidae of South America represent the major mode of social interaction in these families.
Synchrony is the major factor in achieving fertilization in the lower animals, particularly in aquatic forms. In most of these groups, the eggs and sperm are simply discharged into the surrounding water, and fertilization occurs externally. It might be assumed that this procedure would be roughly the same in the higher animals, with perhaps more overt behaviour to achieve synchrony, and that, after the two individuals found each other, fertilization would proceed fairly quickly. This is usually not the case, however. Although fertilization in the higher terrestrial forms involves contact during copulation, it has been suggested that all of the higher animals may have a strong aversion to bodily contact. This aversion is no doubt an antipredator mechanism: close bodily contact signifies being caught. Since females are in an especially helpless situation during copulation, they are particularly wary about bodily contact. In addition, males are particularly aggressive during the breeding period, which further increases the uncertainty of both individuals. These difficulties were solved by the evolution of a collection of behaviours called courtship. Courtship has been defined as the heterosexual reproductive communication system leading to the consummatory sexual act.
Courtship behaviour has many advantages and functions, including the reduction of hostility between the potential sex partners, especially in species in which the male actively defends a territory. The major aspects of such behaviour seem to be appearance, persistence, appeasement, persuasion, and even deception. Because courtship behaviour involves the transmission of information by means of signals, it is useful to define at this point an important group of social signals called displays.
A social signal may be considered any behavioral pattern that effectively conveys information from one individual to another. The term display has been restricted by some authorities to social signals that not only convey information but that, in the course of evolution, have also become "ritualized." In other words, such signals have become so specialized and exaggerated in form or function that they expressly facilitate a certain type of communication. The visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, or other patterns by which organisms advertise their readiness to engage in reproductive activity provide examples of displays. Clearly, the kinds of displays utilized by organisms depend on the sensory receptors of the receiver. Whereas higher vertebrates tend to use visual and auditory displays, insects tend toward olfactory and tactile displays.
In animals in which the male takes on a wholly different appearance during the breeding period, natural selection has eliminated from the female's appearance the "aggressive badges" of males that provoke fighting. It is not without significance that the appearance of the adult female in many species is much like that of the juvenile; this implies to the male a friendly, nonaggressive relationship. When one male approaches another that has intruded into the former's territory, the outsider may either return the aggressive display or flee. Females, however, usually quietly back up slightly and then slowly move forward again. With each approach, the male's hostility lessens toward this appeasing, increasingly familiar individual. Often, as in many birds, the females resort to displays that resemble the food-begging behaviour normally seen in the young. Males frequently respond to this display by actually regurgitating food. Male spiders of some species offer the larger and more aggressive females food as bait, and copulation occurs while the female is eating the food rather than her potential mate. Mutual feeding displays, often with nonedible items, are engaged in by a number of insects and birds. In the courtship behaviour of several birds, extremely elaborate displays are utilized to hide the bill from the potential partner, because the bills of these birds are their chief weapons. Some aspects of nest building have been incorporated into the displays of such birds as penguins. Early in the relationship between the individuals, one or both may offer the other stones that are placed in a pile. The actual nest is not constructed until much later, however.
All courtship displays resemble functional behaviours that are appropriate to friendly, bonded situations, such as those between parents and between parents and their offspring. The degree of elaborateness of the display is governed by a number of factors. One is to prevent cross-mating between different species, an occurrence that usually results in the waste of the eggs and sperm. Any specific aspect—i.e., one or more displays—used by an organism in species discrimination is called an isolating mechanism. In many species, the majority of the displays between individuals are a series of identity checks.
Another factor that has an impact upon the complexity of displays is the length of time that the pair bond will endure. Brief relationships are usually, but not always, associated with rather simple courtship activity. In a number of insects, birds, and mammals, the males display on a common courtship ground called a lek or an arena. Females visit these courtship areas, copulate, and leave. The males do not participate in any aspect of parental care; the bond lasts but a few seconds. Yet, despite the brevity of this relationship, in no other courtship system is there the development of such elaborate and almost fantastic displays in both the movements and appearances of the courting males.
Post-fertilization behaviour
Various types of behaviour ensure that a maximum number of fertilized eggs or young will survive to become reproductive adults. Clearly, the number of eggs produced and their size represents a balance achieved by natural selection. This balance conforms to some optimum compromise between producing many eggs containing little food for the development of young or fewer eggs with more provisions.
There has been considerable controversy about the factors that limit the number of offspring an organism can produce. It has been suggested that, among animals in which the offspring are dependent on the parents for varying lengths of time, clutch or litter size has been adjusted through natural selection to the maximum number of offspring that the parents, on the average, can feed. There are, on the other hand, organisms that do not practice parental care and produce millions of eggs. According to one school of thought, these species have such a high fecundity (productivity) because the eggs and larvae suffer a very high mortality rate. Hence, it is necessary for such animals to produce thousands, even millions, of eggs just to obtain a few reproductive adults. An opposing school of thought, however, says that such species have high mortality rates because of their great fecundities. By similar reasoning, low death rates would be the consequence of low fecundity.
Protective adaptations
A number of adaptations have evolved to protect the eggs and larvae of species not attended by adults. In one such adaptation, the eggs or larvae are distasteful, inedible, or apparently harmful to potential enemies. The eggs of the jellyfish Bougainvillia, for example, contain stinging cells on the surface that deter predators. Many female butterflies deposit their eggs on plants that contain poisonous compounds, which the larvae incorporate into their bodies, making them distasteful. When disturbed many insect larvae, especially those that are camouflaged, give a so-called startle display; several caterpillars, for example, raise their heads as if to bite or their hindparts, in the manner of a wasp, as if to sting. Others suddenly present striking colour patterns previously hidden. Most of these displays have been shown experimentally to be effective deterrents against predators.
Caring for offspring
Animals that do not care for their young must provide for the nutritional needs of their offspring. One way of doing so is by producing an egg with a sufficiently large yolk supply that the young, when hatched, are already at an advanced, almost independent state. A peculiar example of this is found in the incubator birds (Megapodiidae), which cover their large eggs with soil and debris to create a mound of considerable depth, effectively providing heat for the developing eggs. After a very long incubation period, the young emerge as fully feathered miniature adults and are capable of flying in 24 hours. Before sealing the nest that they make for their eggs, many insects, such as certain solitary wasps, stock the nest with food. In a more bizarre manner, other solitary wasps place one egg in the body of an insect or spider previously paralyzed by the wasp. Upon hatching, the larva eats the still living host.
Social parasitism, another fascinating aspect of post-fertilization behaviour, is found in certain insects and birds. In this case, the true parents do not care for their eggs or offspring; rather, they place them under the foster care of other species, often, but not always, to the detriment of the foster parents' offspring. In certain parasitic species of cuckoos, the females are divided into groups, or gentes, each of which lays eggs with a colour and pattern unlike those of the other groups. The females of each group usually select a particular species as the host, and, more often than not, the eggs of the parasite closely resemble those of the potential foster parent. This mimicry has evolved because many host species throw eggs not resembling their own out of the nest. Some young cuckoos also exhibit a behaviour called backing, in which they push out the other nestlings and monopolize the food supply.
Parental care
Among the organisms that remain with the eggs or offspring, one particular behaviour is striking—that of nest construction to keep the eggs and larvae in one spot and to protect them against predators as well as such environmental factors as sun and rain. The placement of a nest usually serves an antipredatory purpose, as in birds that put their nests near those of social wasps or stinging ants. Although they are not normally thought to do so, many mammals, particularly rodents and carnivores, construct special nests, dens, or burrows solely for reproductive purposes.
A number of fishes build nests made of bubbles that not only hold the eggs together but also provide the oxygen necessary for the developing embryos. Other fishes, particularly those that live in oxygen-poor waters, display elaborate fanning behaviour to keep the water moving around the eggs. In some fishes, the female incubates the egg in her mouth, thus providing protection against predators as well as constant aeration. The fry (young) of some of these mouthbreeders travel in a school near the parent. When danger approaches, they flee into the parent's mouth and later swim out after the danger passes.
Birds have the problem of keeping the eggs at an optimum temperature for development of the embryo. With the onset of egg laying in many species, the feathers of the lower abdomen are lost, and the skin in that area becomes thickened and highly vascularized (filled with blood vessels), forming the so-called brood patches. Usually the female develops these patches, which serve to transfer more effectively to the eggs the warmth from the adult's body. It has been shown that, like much of parental behaviour in the higher vertebrates, brood patches and "broodiness" are controlled by several hormones, combined with visual and tactile stimuli. Chief among these hormones is prolactin, which also controls the production of pigeon milk, a cheeselike substance produced only in the crops of adult doves and pigeons and fed to the nestlings by regurgitation.
Although there are some outstanding exceptions, most young mammals are completely helpless at birth. This helplessness is most striking in the marsupials (e.g., opossums and kangaroos), in which the young are born at a very early stage of development; they crawl through the mother's hair to the brood pouch, where they attach themselves to a nipple and their development continues for many more months.
An early characteristic behaviour in mammals following birth is that of the mother licking the newborn. This serves at least two functions—one is general cleanliness to avoid infections or the attraction of parasites; the other would appear to be purely social. If a newborn mammal is removed from its mother and cleaned elsewhere before she can lick it, she usually will not accept it. Thus, licking behaviour also serves, in some manner, to establish a unique relationship between the mother and her offspring. Another characteristic mammalian behaviour is the suckling response of the newborn. Although this behaviour has been claimed to be the perfect instinctive response, it apparently is not so in many species; the trial-and-error period during which the newborn discovers the nipple, however, is quite short.
In birds, especially those that nest on the ground, one of the first adult responses to the hatching of the eggs is to remove the conspicuous eggshells from the area of the nest. It has been shown experimentally that, in gulls at least, this is an important antipredatory measure. When birds hatch, they have the ability to stretch their heads and to gape for food in response to any mechanical disturbance, such as that produced when the parent lands on the nest. Later in development, they stretch and gape only when the parents appear. This is another type of adaptive, antipredatory behaviour, as it would be dangerous for the nestlings to gape and vocalize in response to any environmental disturbance.
Group care
The ability of an animal to identify its own offspring at an early stage is apparently not important in animals that nest or are solitary breeders; offspring in the nest belong to that parent. In colonially breeding species or in those where the offspring of different parents are likely to become mixed, however, natural selection has favoured the evolutionary development of behaviour that makes possible the recognition by the parent of its own offspring, thereby avoiding the danger of expending energy on offspring that do not possess the parent's genes.
There is, on the other hand, the situation in which the offspring are cared for by individuals who are not the parents. This phenomenon occurs among the social insects in particular and also among several groups of birds and mammals; future investigations may show it to be even more widespread. In such birds as the anis, the effective breeding group consists of several females and males. One nest is constructed in which all the females deposit their eggs, and all individuals participate in the care of the resulting offspring. In certain jays (Corvidae), the offspring of one generation participate in the care of the offspring of the next or another generation, but the exact family relationships among the participants are not clear.
In the social insects, this type of parental behaviour apparently results from the peculiar genetic relationships between the individuals in most social-insect colonies (termites are among the exceptions). The female and, in the termites, both the male and the female can control by chemical means the kinds (called castes in ants and termites) and sexes of the offspring. An outstanding feature of such colonial insects as the honeybee is that the majority of the individuals produced by the queen are sterile; these are the workers, the individuals who care for and feed both the queen and her offspring, the sibs of the workers.
The queen is diploid in genetic makeup; that is to say, half of her genes are derived from her mother and half from her father. The males (drones) are haploid; that is, they have only half the genes possessed by the queen, all of them derived from the mother. A queen produces eggs fertilized by sperm she has retained in her body from the mating flight; thus the individuals produced are diploid, but, unlike the queen, they are sterile. This sterility results indirectly from a chemical secreted by the queen, called the queen substance. It inhibits the workers from building special brood cells that give rise to sexually developed individuals. If the queen fails to secrete this substance because of age or death, the workers immediately construct special brood cells with a substance they secrete; called royal jelly, it is necessary for the development of a larva then destined to be a queen.
How can the evolution of sterility in workers and their care of offspring not their own be accounted for? One possible explanation concerns the coefficient of relationship (the number of genes on the average shared in common) among the individuals of a colony. Because of the peculiar haplo-diploid mode of sex determination, the workers (sisters) share all the genes from their father and, on the average, half of those from their mother. Since each worker receives half of its genes from the father and half from the mother, the average genes shared between any two workers (sisters) is three-fourths. But between mother (the queen) and daughter (a worker) this average is only one-half. The offspring (the sterile workers), therefore, may contribute more to their fitness (the maximum representation of their genes in the next generation) by caring for their sisters than by providing an equal amount of care to their "own" offspring, had they been fertile rather than sterile. A drone, on the other hand, has a coefficient of relationship with one of his sterile sisters of only one-fourth, but retains a relationship of one-half with his mother and daughters (future sterile workers). This explains why workers provide more care for their sisters than for their brothers, and why the workers eventually drive off the almost useless drones, which are relatively scarce (having resulted from unfertilized eggs), from the colony. Because sisters share more genes with each other than with their brothers, they maximize the chances of these genes surviving into the next generation by providing more care for their sisters.
This explanation of group care and extreme sociality does not account for all cases. Indeed, termites are perhaps the most extreme among animals in these respects but lack the haplo-diploid sex determination mechanism. In addition, several groups having this mechanism have not evolved extreme brood care and sociality. Other factors have to interact for these systems to evolve, but it is not yet clear what they are.


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ThoughtJet necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 51 diseños de 13 diseñadores freelance.
B2Lead is an advertising network that will help online Publishers and Advertisers generate sales leads. We are looking for a clean, business like professional design with a web 2.0 feel to it. Thank you!
B2Lead Network
We need a home page and a single template for subsequent pages. The body of the home page is a combination of two rounded rectangluar tinted boxes that describe benefits for 'advertisers' and benefits for 'publishers'. We also need a 1, 2, 3 step process that explains 'how it works' that can also be tinted boxes, icons, or the use of actual numbers that correspond to the copy we write for each of the three steps. Your choice.
- Tagline for logo is 'B2B Lead Generation Ad Network For The Complex Sale'
- Preferred colors are orange or blue with a gray accents or background
- The benefits boxes described above need buttons, one for 'Advertiser Sign-Up' and one for 'Publisher Sign-Up'
- Need two buttons to go in upper right hand corner of page for 'Advertiser Sign-In' and 'Publisher Sign-In'
- Need nav bar with buttons for 'Advertisers', 'Publishers', 'How It Works', 'About Us', 'Contact Us'.
Anything that looks to busy. Really want a professional clean look to it.

subset: commoncrawl


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Pages: 1
i run Gentoo; when i install something (say, Firefox) a bunch of directories around the filesystem get modified (as with most *NIX distros.)
where would the icon for the application be? is there a *NIX convention here? i mean, i can type:
which firefox
and get a path to the executable, but that's not going to help with the icon.
the correct way to customize an icon would be to specify the default path for that icon in the program launcher, right?
Not sure about Gentoo, but in debian a lot of system and theme icons are in /usr/share/pixmaps - but I don't know of a good way to find a specific icon except digging for it.
current environment: Xubuntu 7.04/Xfce 4.4.0
also playing around with: 7.10/4.4.1
Not sure where firefox is installed on your system, but search for a firefox.desktop or mozilla-firefox.desktop file. In that file there will be a Icon=... line, which points to an icon name/location.
Pages: 1


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The Directors and Officers liability market is definitely unpredictable, probably mispriced and very likely an under-reserved mess, sources say—and new federal provisions have many experts expecting a surge of filings.
While the number of securities class-action settlements and settlement amounts were down in 2011 vs. 2010, according to data compiled by Cornerstone Research, that fact alone does not paint a clear picture of the litigation landscape that D&O policyholders and carriers are facing.
Because while severity is down—securities class-actions can generate huge settlements—the frequency of smaller cases is up, leeching policy limits.
"It has become a death by 1,000 cuts," says Key Coleman, managing director at advisory service Grant Thornton. "Look out for the small non-class-action suits."
Adds Christopher Cavallaro, a managing partner of brokerage ARC Excess & Surplus: "Yes, about 45 percent of the money spent by D&O carriers goes toward [securities class-action lawsuits]. But these class actions used to be the only issue on which the market was judged. Now there are tons of [cases] coming in, chipping away. The numbers have become egregious."
For example, experts say there has been a rapid increase in the filing of smaller suits against directors and officers for breach of fiduciary duty during merger-and-acquisition deals. In addition, suits seeking disgorgement are becoming more common, says Cavallaro.
Other lawsuits are filed following a bankruptcy, for fraud or misrepresentation—where directors and officers are blamed for the demise of a company. These suits can come from regulators, bond holders, shareholders and employees.
"One event can spawn a lot of litigation," says Trevor Howard, senior vice president of U.S. management liability for Liberty International Underwriters (LIU).
"The claims out there these days are just much more diverse," observes Cavallaro.
Also adding to the headaches of those needing or offering D&O coverage: It's difficult to miss the press releases announcing suits being brought by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) in an attempt to recover billions of dollars in losses—and many believe the FDIC is just warming up.
"It looks like the FDIC chose 2011 to pull the plug out," Grant Thornton's Coleman observes.
The FDIC has authorized lawsuits in connection with 54 failed institutions against 469 individuals for D&O liability, with damage claims of at least $7.9 billion as of March 20. That includes 27 filed D&O lawsuits naming 222 former directors and officers—which means the FDIC has even more cases on the way.
What we have seen from the FDIC is the "tip of the iceberg," Howard warns.
But the risks to directors and officers, and their insurers, don't end there. One insurance executive says he "can only imagine" the increase in litigation that will be caused by a whistleblower provision in the Dodd-Frank act, which provides incentives for those who give information to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on possible violations by companies of federal securities laws.
That could increase the number of policy-covered company investigations, says Coleman, as well as policy-response disputes—for example, to what extent does a policy cover multiple investigations per year?
"We haven't yet seen the full fallout from Dodd-Frank," says Ann Longmore, executive vice president of the FINEX practice at Willis North America. "Without a doubt, the D&O world is changing."
So is the spectrum of who can become embroiled in lawsuits, says Brady Head, president of the public company commercial accounts division for Chartis. "The diversity of industries that are targeted" is a challenge for underwriters, Head adds. Identifying risky segments is more difficult, though historically riskier classes remain spotlighted.
Disturbing trends and observations in D&O abound because, in addition to changes in who is filing where, and on what grounds, each case is more costly to defend. Carriers are sometimes "along for the ride," Longmore adds.
"Whatever the trends [in claims], the one trend up consistently is defense costs," reports Mark Curley, global head of D&O claims for Chartis. "It's harder to get [what had been] routine settlements rubber-stamped. Fees are up."
Adds Cavallaro, "Cases are so much more difficult to settle because there are divergent interests."
Plaintiffs' attorneys are seeking more money to settle—partly because they are being asked by the courts to do more work and partly because they know companies have more defense costs to avoid.
All of these factors have led to upward rate movement in the D&O sector. Chartis says rates are 5-10 percent higher, particularly in the primary layer.
Rate increases are also seen in the first excess layer, says Howard. These layers are seeing the most rate action due to the fact they are most often penetrated.
There are many more carriers providing capacity to excess layers higher up the risk tower—where rate decreases can still be had, Howard adds.
Cavallaro says that from the carrier perspective, rates are "getting better" (i.e. increasing). "But are rates anywhere near where they need to be? No."
Cavallaro adds the D&O market is "significantly under-reserved." In his opinion, no one has set aside enough money for the billions of dollars in lawsuits still coming from the economic meltdown in 2008.
"[Reserve] redundancies have been stripped out," he adds. Insurers felt massive losses on the P&C side from an extremely active catastrophe year in 2011, which inhibited any ability to reserve.
"Typically there is some subsidization from the P&C side of things, but there isn't now," says Cavallaro. "There's not enough rate to cover the shortfall."
Howard says each company will need to look at whether it has adequate reserves.
"Time will tell," he says.


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GRAND BOIS — The people of Grand Bois say the oil waste facility in their backyard is making them sick.
GRAND BOIS — The people of Grand Bois say the oil waste facility in their backyard is making them sick.
The small town lies along La. 24, near the Lafourche-Terrebonne parish line. Neighbors say it has an alarming cancer rate.
Lisa Matherne's family has lived in the small town of Grand Bois for generations. It's the place where she's raised cattle, horses and a family.
But she believes it has also become a place that's making her sick.
"Stuffiness and the running eyes, the itching, the rashy itches," Matherne said.
Matherne lives just down the road from a 140-acre oil waste facility. It takes in nearly a million barrels of oil waste each year and treats much of it in shallow, open-air ponds called treatment cells. You can see them from the one-lane highway that leads into town.
"The smell is horrible. Mornings are really, really bad. It's pretty rough," Matherne said.
But the state says everything being done at this facility is within regulation.
Records show the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality allows the facility to release more than two dozen tons of volatile organic compounds into the air each year, including more than half a ton of benzene, a dangerous carcinogen.
Still, it's a decrease in previously permitted emissions when the facility was also allowed to release harmful gases such as carbon monoxide into the air.
"I know we're going to get sick from it somewhere down the line. I think that's what had the effect on my husband having kidney cancer," Matherne said.
It turns out the oil waste facility only recently received an air permit. It was operating without one for nearly 30 years. No one noticed until the company applied for one in 2009.
The Department of Environmental Quality said the facility had other state permits and slapped it with an $83,000 fine for operating four facilities in Louisiana without air permits.
"You elect officials to protect you, and you put laws in place to protect not only individuals but communities. I guess we fell through the cracks," said Matherne's husband, Wayne.
But it's not just the community of Grand Bois. Under federal law, oil waste is exempt from being classified as hazardous, even if it contains the same poisonous chemicals labeled hazardous in other industries.
"In fact, much of it is more dangerous than some of the waste we regulate as hazardous. It's really exempted because, one, there's so much of it that the concern is how expensive it would be to regulate as hazardous," said Adam Babich, a Tulane University law professor.
The EPA Largely leaves the task of regulating oil waste up to the states. In Louisiana, waste sites can be as close as 500 feet from the nearest home.
"You're basically regulating your industrial base without the pressure of the federal government to make you do that," Babich said.
"That is what has led to many of the problems we see today in the state of Louisiana. That's the core issue," said Gladstone Jones, a New Orleans attorney who specializes in fighting oil and gas pollution.
One of his first cases out of law school was in Grand Bois.
"I said, 'You may be legal, but it's not right.' Nobody should have to live under those conditions," Jones said.
In the 1990s, Jones helped the small town of 300 take on one of the most powerful industries in the world. The highly publicized court battle garnered national attention.
In 1997, CBS featured Grand Bois' fight in a one-hour special. In it, the head of the EPA at the time spoke out against her own agency's sweeping exemption for oil waste.
"Congress should revisit this loophole," said Carol Browner, head of the EPA from 1993 to 2001. "I mean, there's no other thing like this in federal law. You know, big oil got a sweetheart deal."
To this day, that "loophole" still exists. And though Grand Bois residents went to court to try to shut down the facility, they ended up settling with the then owner of the site, Campbell Wells. In 1998, they agreed to accept $7 million and the promise of change at the site.
As part of that settlement, the company agreed to shut down the two cells closest to Grand Bois and build a 15-foot berm wall.
But residents say that's not enough.
"We were one of the communities that didn't win the battle, so to speak," said Wayne Matherne.
"These poor folks are under essentially the same assault, and that's very unfortunate," Jones said.
Before the lawsuit, the cells were 800 feet from the nearest home. Now, they're 1,500 feet away. But neighbors say that's still too close. And they're still getting sick.
"That would be one thing, if they were there first and we all moved here, but we were here a long, long time before they showed up. They should have never been allowed to put that this close to a community," said Wayne Matherne.
When the smell is bad, Wayne Matherne says, his horses' eyes weep, and their hair falls out. He loses a cow every few months. He's called in one of several complaints to the Department of Environmental Quality.
The department sent a mobile air monitoring lab out twice in 2011 and says emissions were below state and federally approved levels.
"You call, and you make complaints. Looks like when it's long weekends, like a holiday weekend, that's when we really have trouble with odors, and nobody really comes out on a three-, four-day holiday weekend," said Wayne Matherne.
Houston-based R360 bought the facility in 2010. Representatives wouldn't give WWL a tour or speak on camera.
But spokeswoman Cindy Landers said in a statement, "The Bourg facility has been monitored extensively by both the DEQ and the EPA. Both agencies have concluded that there were no contaminants found that would extensively affect the health of the facility employees or local citizens."
Representatives say R360 tests every load that comes in and has a quarterly groundwater monitoring program. They maintain the facility does not accept toxic waste. But it does accept wastes such as production water, called brine, which, according to one environmental law professor, is often contaminated with radioactive materials.
"(There are) often high benzene levels and volatile organic compounds in this waste. Much of it would qualify as hazardous except for the exemption," Babich said.
The Department of Natural Resources is charged with regulating all of Louisiana's oil waste sites. The DNR's Office of Conservation inspects oil waste facilities every five years.
Jones said the DNR is charged with both regulating the oil and gas industry and encouraging it to grow into Louisiana.
State Rep. Jerry Gisclair, D-Larose, believes DNR rules are antiquated. He is working to get those rules updated during the next legislative session.
The DNR has cited the facility near Grand Bois four times since 2010, most recently for violations relating to pipes and loading lines.
In a statement, DNR spokesman Patrick Courreges said, "The rules and regulations for permitting and operating such a facility are designed to prevent to the greatest extent possible any harm to the public and the environment."
"We're the most regulated industry of any by far, not only in the state but in the nation, and that's a fact," said Chris John, president of the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association.
John says the industry has a $77 billion impact on Louisiana, fueling 14 percent of the state budget.
The Mathernes said they would like to move out of the area but don't believe anyone will buy their current property.
"I've gotten complaints since I've been a councilman in 2000," said Lafourche Parish Counciman L. Philip Gouaux II. "The courts and the regulatory agencies of the state and the federal government have said there's nothing wrong. They're not in violation, so as far as a council in a parish, there's nothing we can do."
The issues in Grand Bois are now inspiring another parish's battle against a proposed oil waste site.
Terrebonne Parish is taking its fight to appeals court while a company tries to build an oil waste facility near a neighborhood with several schools.


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Most websites get the biggest slice of their traffic pie from Google; and Facebook is the most frequent #2. But the other social networks are starting to be significant to some sites.
Now, let's see how they stack up in terms of driving traffic. As part of the Media Industry Social Leaderboard, we've been keeping tabs.
It's worth keeping in mind that Facebook still massively outweighs its social brethren in total impact, making up 97% of social traffic to the top 50. But in today's world of meteoric rises and rapid falls, one of the players lurking in the other 3% (Twitter, Pinterest or Google+) could turn out to be the behemoth of tomorrow.
Twitter is definitively the #2 social referrer for publishers, but its share is declining – it grew by a lackluster 1% from February to May. Meanwhile, Pinterest is emerging as a formidable competitor: their last three months were just pinsane with 210% growth. If they continue on that trajectory, they'll be bigger than Twitter as a traffic referrer by summer's end.
Will that happen? Is Pinterest already edging out Twitter as we speak? Stay tuned for next month's Social Leaderboard results.


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Before this past season you may have never thought that PA had legit freestyle snowboarding, or even heard of Seven Springs. But this resort in Pennsylvania is starting to make a name for itself in the snowboard world. After working with the crew for the "Hey Na!" feature in the October 2010 issue we realized they are on a constant mission to build legit parks and pipes. To showcase what this resort has to offer and the snowboarding that comes with it, we present you with this web series "Seven Deadly Edits". Here is the fifth episode of the season, check back April 3rd for the edit.
Video by: Ian Macy


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The Three Stooges fared best, though The Cabin in the Woods also had a decent showing. Lockout, on the other hand, didn't even reach the modest levels of other recent Luc Besson productions. Without any breakout opener, the Top 12's estimated $107.7 million gross was off eight percent from the same weekend last year.
The Hunger Games eased 35 percent to an estimated $21.5 million, which is its best hold so far. It's the first movie to take the top spot for four weekends in a row since Avatar achieved this feat in January 2010. The Hunger Games currently ranks 22nd on the all-time domestic chart with $337.1 million, and it should have no problem ending its run with over $370 million.
The Three Stooges took second place with an estimated $17.1 million. That's off from most major TV adaptations, including 60s adaptations Get Smart ($38.7 million) and Bewitched ($20.1 million). It did open three times higher than The Honeymooners, though, and it wasn't far behind big-budget disappointment Land of the Lost ($18.8 million). It was also The Farrelly Brothers' best debut in over a decade, and third-highest ever behind Me, Myself and Irene ($24.2 million) and Shallow Hal ($22.5 million).
While the Stooges slapstick humor has been incredibly influential in modern comedy (look no further than the Farrelly Brothers' Dumb and Dumber for evidence of this), the movie's decision to bring the characters in to modern day (and in color, no less) gave the initial batch of advertising an oddly anachronistic feel. To counter this, recent marketing seemed to embrace the absurdity of the whole thing, and a handful of commercials framed the Stooges antics with some kind of other humorous premise. A prescription drug parody for "Stoogesta" was a noteworthy one, and a recommendation that women send their men to the movies while they spend a day at the spa was also a stand-out. Oddly, though, women didn't outright reject the movie, and instead made up 42 percent of the audience. The crowd was also on the young end (52 percent under the age of 25), and the audiences members under 18 years of age awarded the movie an "A" CinemaScore (that dropped to a "B-" across all age groups).
The Cabin in the Woods opened in third place with an estimated $14.9 million. That pales in comparison to some of distributor Lionsgate's non-supernatural horror movies (most of the Saw series, My Bloody Valentine 3-D, and the first Hostel movie), though in general it isn't a terrible start. In fact, among horror comedies, The Cabin in the Woods's debut ranks seventh all time behind the four Scary Movie flicks, Ghostbusters II and Zombieland.
The audience was 57 percent male and 65 percent over the age of 25, and they gave the movie an awful "C" CinemaScore. That score, along with the modest opening, is indicative of the challenges associated with selling satire (which Cabin in the Woods most definitely qualifies as). The title and stock characters (the jock, his girlfriend, the geek, the stoner, and the virgin) are intentionally generic, and from a cursory glance it would appear that the movie isn't even trying to be original. That probably kept the movie from reaching a larger audience, though the group that did show up was predominantly expecting a straightforward horror movie. By delivering something much different, the movie delighted a small group of audience members while generally frustrating those whose expectations were subverted. Moviegoers like to know what they are in for when they go to see a movie, and when it turns out to be something different the movie tends to get punished in exit polling.
Titanic 3D took fourth place with an estimated $11.6 million, which is a light 33 percent decline from last weekend. That's a better hold than that of all recent 3D re-releases except The Lion King (27 percent drop). Through 12 days in theaters, Titanic 3D has earned $44.4 million to bring the movie's overall total to $645.2 million.
American Reunion rounded out the Top Five with $10.7 million. Its 50 percent drop was slightly better than that of American Pie 2 (53 percent) and American Wedding (54 percent), though its $39.9 million total is way off from the $87.3 million and $65.2 million, respectively, that those movies had earned through the same point. It's now a foregone conclusion that American Reunion will be the first American Pie movie to fall short of $100 million at the domestic box office.
All the way down in ninth place, Lockout opened to an estimated $6.25 million. That's off from all recent Luc Besson productions including Colombiana ($10.4 million), From Paris with Love ($8.2 million) and Transporter 3 ($12.1 million). The audience was overwhelmingly male (65 percent), and it was split evenly between those older and younger than 25.
The Raid: Redemption expanded nationwide to 881 locations but only managed to gross just over $1 million. That translates to a terrible per-theater average of $1,138, indicating that the movie might not remain at the nationwide level for very long. So far, the Indonesian action thriller has grossed $2.57 million.


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Rock Cartwright insisted that in the business of the NFL, it wasn't all that unusual to be receiving an award with a dinner in his honor by a franchise which may or may not want to retain his services for the coming year.
"Not really, man," Cartwright said before the Commitment to Excellence dinner at the Oakland Airport Hilton. "I lay my heart out there every game I was out there. I really can't worry about stuff I can't control. That's between those guys and my agent, and hopefully something can be worked out. I love it here. I would like to spend the rest of my career here. How long is that, who knows? But I'm going to let the front office and my agent handle that."
A 10-year veteran, Cartwright has won the award each of the last two seasons. It is given to the player based on hard work, leadership and excellence on the field and is voted upon by the team.
The Raiders will continue the process of putting together a roster under general manager Reggie McKenzie and coach Dennis Allen. Both attended the dinner for Cartwright (neither spoke to the two reporters on hand, myself and Paul Gutierrez of CSN-Bay Area). Cartwright got a chance to talk to both men Friday and Saturday but seemed to have no better idea whether he is in Oakland's plans or not.
NFL teams learn the exact salary cap number (expected to be in the $120 million range) Monday then must be compliant on Tuesday before free agency begins.
"You can't predict anything right now," Cartwright said. "You never know what's going to happen. I think Tuesday is going to be an interesting day for a lot of people. A lot of people's lives are going to change, including myself, probably. (It) may not be Tuesday, it may be a week after the draft, but it may change, and you've got to prepare yourself for that."
Other Cartwright observations:
His relationship with the other running backs
"Those guys are like my brothers. I've known them for two years now and it seems like I've known them forever."
Darren McFadden's health
"He's able to do everything that he used to be able to do, run routes, things like that. I know Darren. He loves the game. He's one of the most humble first-round draft picks since I've been in the league. He's working to get back and we have to surround him with good people and a good group of guys so he can do the things he's capable of doing."
McFadden's history of injury
"When you see a guy that puts so much into something and gets hurt on a check-down, and it costs you your season, you feel for the guy. It's like every time he has something going it's like there's something that wants to set him back. But he keeps coming back out and producing. I think he's going to get healthy, I think he's going to stay healthy and I think once he does he'll probably be the best back in the league."
The viability of free agent Michael Bush as a ever-down back
"I think Bush is an every down back. He's able to run the ball, he's able to catch the ball, he's able to pick up blitzes. He's able to do everything. I think if given 20 to 25 carries a game, I think he'd definitely be one of the top rushers in the league."
On former coach Hue Jackson
"I spoke with Hue a couple of times. We didn't speak about what ahppened, we just spoke about the future and what he had going on and he just told me to stay in contact. I'm sure he'll get an opportunity (to be a head coach) again some time down the road, because I think he's a great leader and a great man, and I wish him the best."
Editorial aside _ with Jackson having a role helping coach the Bengals' special teams, don't be surprised to see him push for Cartwright with coach Marvin Lewis. As the story goes, Jackson made the draft pick as a Washington assistant when Cartwright came into the NFL.
Whether he sees himself as a teammate or mentor
"A little bit of both. But I think the big thing is, they listen to what I saw. When you have someone who listens to what you say and they go out and do it, it's like, wow, that's what you get excitement from. Seeing those guys have great games on Sunday, it's like I had a good game, because I've seen them put in the work during the week."


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Hands On Impressions With Sony's PlayStation Now Service
Earlier today at CES, Sony announced its PlayStation Now service, which allows customers to stream games from the original PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3 libraries onto a number of devices, including Bravia televisions, tablets, consoles, and the PlayStation Vita.
I had an extended play session where I demoed both The Last of Us and God of War: Ascension through a PS Vita and a Sony Bravia TV without using a console, and I walked away ready to purchase a subscription (though Sony hasn't released pricing details just yet).
What's exciting about this service is that you can play across platforms and your saves are all stored in the cloud. So if you start a game on your PS4 in your bedroom, you can continue that save from a friend's house on your Vita, and then finish it up when you get home on the Bravia TV in your living room.
I noticed a small amount of artifacting while playing both games, but the most important detail is the lag between hitting a button and watching your actions on screen, and in that area I experienced almost none. The latency was super low and didn't feel noticeable different from if I was playing on a TV hooked up to my PlayStation at home.
There are still a lot of questions. How much will Sony charge for this service? And how quickly will they be rolling out new games? But the groundwork is here for a great service.
The industry has experimented with services like this before (remember Sega Channel?), but if Sony can keep the latency this low when millions of users are streaming games across the county then it might have a service that could do for games what Netflix has done for movies.
PlayStation Now is also a good solution to the backwards compatibility problem. "We're trying to get as many PS3 games on there as we can," says Sony Computer Entertainment of America VP John Koller. "Because we look at that library, it's very diverse and it still current, it's still front of mind for a lot of people, and it allows you to play PS3 games on your PS4."
The service might even be able to save some consumers money. For example, if you already played a game, but just want to play the Game of The Year content when it comes out and don't want to buy the game again, PlayStation Now might be able to help you out. "There are a lot of opportunities to release Game of the Year editions through this platform or package DLC through PlayStation Now," says Koller. "If you're a publisher you can provide that content to players that way. It's really up to them, but I can tell you that the publisher are exceedingly bullish about this. I think for obvious reasons. It's bringing another way for players to experience their content. I'd say the industry is pretty excited about this overall."
We just hope that the system works as well when it comes out as it does during the CES demo.
(Editor's Note: The servers for this demo were close to the location of the demonstration. Real world performance may vary.)


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We recently received a question through our YouTube channel asking about Leonardo the Mummified Dinosaur. Our viewer wanted to know what evidence there is to support that Leonardo might have had a crop. We passed the question along to Dr. Bakker, our visiting curator of Paleontology.
"In most of the articles I've read about Leonardo mention is made of evidence of a crop. Can someone tell me the nature of that evidence? Is the evidence sufficient for a near certainty, a likelihood or only a possibility?"
A crop in today's birds is a specialized pouch, an enlargement of the gullet, where food can be stored before final swallowing. Sometimes there are glands; sometimes not. Usually there are muscular walls and partial partitions so the bird can control swallowing and regurgitation.
The throat skin in Leonardo is distended below the jaws in the region where a crop would be expected to be if Leo were a big turkey. The distention is globular, swollen side-to-side, and not flattened, and the skin shows only weak indications of folds and furrows. That's why everyone, from the very beginning, labeled this distention a "crop".
The hi-energy x-rays showed no internal structures here. And there were no small ferrous-iron specks of the sort seen in the stomach and intestinal zones, where masses of chewed vegetation were packed. A chip was removed from the crop, exposing some of the interior – there were no masses of vegetation. The distention was filled with very fine, very clean sand.
Next time we x-ray Leo, we will probe the interior of the "crop" with greater intensity.
Other duck-bill mummies do show a distention in this area but these specimens are flattened side-to-side so the distention appears more like a dew-lap than a crop. Leo is unique in showing so much three dimensional preservation of internal cavities.
One of many lingering mysteries in Leonardo….


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Part Details
The Devil's in the Details.
Energy Suspension 9.13123
- Manufactured By: Energy Suspension
- Warranty: 2 Year Warranty
- Market Price: $77.3 - $103.28
|Pin Opening Diameter
|Base Opening Diameter
|Height of Boot
|Piece Number
|16.25mm (0.64 inch)
|41mm (1.615 inch)
|24.15mm (0.95 inch)
Energy Suspension warrants its products against defects in workmanship and material for 24 months when used on passenger cars and light trucks. Products that have been abused, altered, or incorrectly installed are not covered. Energy Suspension will replace defective products or component parts, if inspection for factory personnel determines the part to be defective. Warranty replacement covers only the product. Labor claims, time loss, or freight charges will not be honored.
Video Review
Because sometimes ... Seeing is believing.
What do I replace my rubber Ball Joint or Tie Rod End dust boots with?
This video will show you how to measure your tie rod end or ball joint to replace the OE dust boot on your vehicle. For Energy Suspension Polyurethane Universal Dust Boots EnergySuspensionParts.com/Universal-Dust-Boots.asp
Many of you are discovering that your tie rod dust boot or ball joint dust boot has rotted away or even split. As a solution, Energy Suspension offers several universal polyurethane dust boots to replace these on your vehicle. You will need to measure three points on your existing joint in order to choose the right boot. Measure the diameter of the base, the diameter of the Pin or Stud, and the height of the boot. With this information you can visit our Universal Dust Boot page to find a part number that you can use to replace your OE boots.
For all of the parts we carry for your vehicle EnergySuspensionParts.com
Where do I buy this?
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Impreza WRX Suspension Bushing Overhaul
Give your WRX that edge you need with this Master Kit from Energy Suspension
Stop That Vicious Cycle
It's a vicious cycle. Soft rubber bushings on a suspension result in deflection, which leads to the soft rubber bushings wearing faster. It is a cycle that you surely were not thinking about when you were first handed the keys to your Impreza and dreams of flying around corners with perfect handling began to consume your mind. The adrenaline rush that comes with a four wheel drift would come to an end pretty quickly when the tires have worn because of the bump steer caused by; you guessed it, soft rubber factory bushings. Thankfully, there is a solution to return your Impreza to the grandeur of old. Energy Suspensions' 19.18102, a Master Bushing kit for your 08-14 Subaru Impreza WRX.
With Energy Suspension's HyperFlex Master Kit 19.18102, you can complete a total overhaul of your suspension without costing an arm and a leg. The polyurethane bushing replacement will do away with the soft rubber bushings and replace them with Energy's performance polyurethane. Polyurethane is durable and can withstand even the toughest of contaminants thrown its way. With these reliable performance bushings in place, your suspension will be given that boost it needs to improve handling and braking.
The 19.18102 also has an option of color: red or black. The letter indicator at the end of the part number will tell you what color bushings should be included in the box. For black the letter indicator is "G" and the red, "R." That is 19.18102G for black and 19.18102R for red. Both of these colors use the same durometer and have the same cost, so go with whichever color you desire.
Bushings To Be Replaced
The 19.18102 includes the Front Control Arm bushings, the Front Sway Bar bushings, the Steering Rack bushings set, the Shifter Bushings, the Transmission Cross-member bushings, the Rear Sway Bar bushings and End Links and the Rear Control Arm bushings. Each one of these bushings play an integral role in the performance of your suspension, so it is important to go with only the best material of suspension bushings.
Front Control Arms
Your front control arms handle a lot of stress, so it is no wonder why these are high failure bushings. When these bushings do fail, they leave a nice clunking noise and sloppy handling. Energy's polyurethane can ensure your WRX won't clunk as you fly down the road. This portion of the master kit will come with two bushings for the vertical position on your front control arms, and two bushings for the horizontal position. Energy has designed the horizontal pieces in a split design. This design allows for an easier installation of this normally tough to install bushing. This kit does not stop there. The rear control arms will be covered as well. All of the positions of the rear controls are covered, front and lower, as well as positions on the trailing arm and the lower toe adjustment. Installing these two kits alone are worth the price of admission, as the benefits are numerous. Improved handling, improved braking, a better feel around corners and perhaps most importantly, durability so you won't have to install new bushings again.
Sway Bars
Also included in the 19.18102 is new front and rear sway bar bushings and new rear end-link assemblies. New polyurethane sway bar bushings will grip your sway bar tightly, allowing your sway bar to effectively give the performance of a larger sway bar. The vehicle's sway bar is responsible for maintaining maximum tire contact with the road while cornering and having worn out soft rubber bushing can lead to an uneven load distribution in your tires, causing you to lose speed in the corners and to wear the tires faster. These sway bar bushings will fit a 21mm front and a 16mm rear sway bar only. Many vehicle manufacturer's do not have a standard size of sway bar even in the same year and model. Whenever choosing after market sway bar bushings, it is very import to measure the sway bar size on your vehicle to make sure the bushings will wrap around your bar. A bushing that is too small will not fit all the way over the bar, and a bushing that is too large will not grip the sway bar tightly leaving a loose bar. Either way, it is very important to get an exact size for proper fitment. Obtaining this measurement is best done with the assistance of callipers, but if this is not available to you, there is a simple way to measure your sway bar with just a wrench and a ruler. There is a how-to video on how to measure your sway bar
Complete Your Upgrade
To complete your suspension upgrade is the rear control arm bushing set. Pretty simply, if any point on your rear control arm has a bushing, this kit has you covered. Not only are there bushings for the upper and lower control arms, but this kit also includes the bushings for the toe adjust link, the subframe and the trailing arm. Just like the front control arm kit steel inner sleeves that match the OE bolt specs are included.
The 19.18102 is manufactured in the United States and is carries a two year warranty. Several tubes of Energy Suspension's special Formula 5 pre-lube are included to ensure your bushings do not squeak. Check out the Energy Suspension Master Kit 19.18102, and transform your Impreza WRX back to the machine you fell in love with the first time your put the keys in the ignition.


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Youngblood Loose Mineral Foundation
As our first and most loved product, Natural Mineral Foundation makes beautiful skin a reality for all. Invented by paramedical esthetician Pauline Youngblood for patients with severe skin conditions and post-surgical scarring, this foundation quickly made its way into the kits of Hollywood makeup artists and beauty professionals, who covet the silky mineral formula for its high performance and universally skin-friendly ingredients.
Our weightless, breathable mineral blend effortlessly builds from sheer to full coverage to perfectly conceal imperfections while looking exactly like healthy, glowing skin. Virtually erase inflamed conditions like rosacea and acne, cover birthmarks, scars, and tattoos, or quickly unify the complexion for soft, luminous, and natural looking skin.
Beauty with Benefits:
- Ultimate coverage control, from sheer to full
- Naturally luminous finish
- For all skin types (non-drying and won't clog pores)
- Fresh and breathable weightlessness
- Non-irritating, all natural ingredients
- Paraben-free and Talc-free
- PETA certified cruelty free
- Vegan
- Gluten Free
Net Wt. 0.35 oz | 10 g
INGREDIENTS: Mica (CI 77019). MAY CONTAIN (+/-): Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77489, CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Bismuth Oxychloride (CI 77163).


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|Model Number:
|Case Width:
|46 mm
|Case Depth:
|12 mm
|Display Type:
|Case Material:
|Stainless Steel
|Strap Type:
|Strap Width:
|21 mm
|Max Strap Size:
|230 mm
|Min Strap Size:
|170 mm
|Clasp Type:
|Water Resistance:
|50 m
|Official Police Packaging
|2 Year Manufacturer
Police Watches were launched in 2003, and like the clothing, the Police Watch collection shows contemporary and innovative design. Police have yet again declared their fashion street vocation throughout their vast range of Police Watches. The authentic glamorous nature of all Police Watches demonstrates its mission. With designs based on the diffusion of a cosmopolitan lifestyle for trendy and off beat individuals, Police Watches certainly are suited to people who want to keep their own time with the Police Time collection.
Finance is only available on purchases where the loan amount exceeds £250.00 once the deposit has been paid. To work out your monthly re-payments, please visit our Finance Calculator for various re-payment plan options.
The following options are currently available at Tic Watches
6 Months Interest Free Credit (0% APR)
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See our Finance Calculator here >
Tic Watches is a trading name of Tic Trading Limited
For any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us on 01325 488006
All orders placed Monday – Friday before 2pm will be processed and dispatched the same working day. We use both DPD and Royal Mail for the UK deliveries dependent on your location. We offer FREE UK delivery, Next Day delivery and Saturday Guaranteed delivery, which are all available at checkout.
- 2-4 Working Days: Free of charge
- Next Day (UK Mainland Only): £5.00
- Saturday Guaranteed (UK Mainland Only): £8.00
All couriers we use will try to deliver to the relevant address. Failing this, they will try one neighbour and leave a card through your door stating what neighbour accepted your parcel. More delivery Information >
Delivery with the EU
Shipping within the EU is £10.00. All watches will be shipped within 24 hours of the order been placed but can take up to 3 - 7 working days to arrive depending on your country and local customs.
All European orders are dispatched via DHL Express or DPD service dependent on your location. Please note even though 90% of deliveries take 3 - 7 working days delivery, sometimes it may take longer depending on customs so please note it may take slightly longer for delivery (up to 20 working days).
Delivery outside the EU (including USA, Canada & Australia)
Shipping outside the EU is £10.00. All watches will be shipped within 24 hours of the order been placed but can take approximately up to 3 – 7 working days to arrive depending on your country and your local customs. We use DHL Express for our International orders. Items sent by this service are insured and require a signature on delivery. Please note even though 90% of deliveries take 73 - 7 working days delivery, sometimes it may take longer depending on customs so please note it may take slightly longer for delivery (up to 25 working days). More International Delivery Information >
For information about our returns procedure please visits our returns page. More information here >


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Eight (Ate!) Books That Make Me Hungry
To a foodie, a good food scene in a book is better than a good sex scene or car chase or whatever else. These are eight books (no cookbooks allowed) that give good food.
1.Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
Okay, this one's a bit of a 'gimme'. The whole book's about food, after all. But still. Yum.
2. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
Breaded pork cutlets on rice with egg and broth, milky tea, soupy rice, delicate radish roses, and of course noodles…so many noodles. This lovely story always makes me hungry. It also makes me happy, and is on my top ten novels of all time list.
3.Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl
Parts of this book are pretty gross. The descriptions of Boggis, Bunce and Bean, the three loathsome farmers, comes to mind. As well, the scene in which a bleeding tail stumped is licked clean is not particularly appetizing. That said, there's plenty to make one's belly growl in this childhood classic from the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (I thought that one would be too obvious), from storehouses of cured ham and bacon and larder shelvesstocked full of everything you can imagine, to, of course, the fizzy hard cider.
4. The Godfather Mario Puzo
Another fairly obvious choice, it nevertheless had to make the list. Fresh mozzarella, tomato marinara, prosciutto, veal scallopini….the Corleones and friends eat well. I wouldn't, for the record, leave the cannoli. Ever.
5. The Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton
I didn't read too much Enid Blyton as a child (and holy cow she's written a lot of books), but these ones I remember. It was about a bunch of girls at a boarding school, who got into adventures like leaving school to go to the circus, sneaking a dog into school, and more. and I remember they were always putting together tremendous midnight feasts…cheese and crackers, chocolate, tins of sweets, and all sorts of exotic-sounding British things like cream crackers and fried kippers and spotted dick. The added adventure of sneaking about in the middle of the night made the feasts sound even better.
6.The Mrs. Pollifax Books by Dorothy Gilman
One of the good things about being an international spy is that in between kidnappings and murder attempts and espionage, you get to try some prety great cuisine. Whether Mrs. Pollifax is cooking eggs with garlic and parsley for Cyrus or eating spicy noodles with prawns and peanuts in Chiang Mai, these books always make me hungry. It could be the nonstop action that whets the appetite, too, mind.
The Mrs. Pollifax books by Dorothy Gilman
7. The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
How could they NOT make anyone hungry? They were educational, like learning how to make maple candy by pouring boiling maple syrup on fresh snow, or colour butter yellow by using grated carrot, and occasionally savage, like boiling and scraping a pig's skull, and batting the poor porcine bladder around like a balloon afterwards. Still, from the striped candy Pa brought home in a snowstorm to the puffed vanity cakes with icing sugar that Ma made, everything sounded more delicious in a dugout, or a little log cabin, or while Laura sleeps on the trundle bed and baby Carrie is set upon by a plague of locusts.
8. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
I gave my parents this book as a gift for Christmas 2007, and man, all three of us absolutely devoured it. It's nonfiction, all about local eating, organic eating, cruelty-free eating, farming, canning, and not eating anything out of season. In short, sustainable eating habits. Now that we're through with the serious part, it's also delicious, and sprinkled throughout with tips and recipes from Kingsolver, her husband and her daughter Camille. From farm fresh eggs raised by her younger daughter Lily, to fresh pasta sauce, to harvesting asparagus, this book will not only teach you to be more aware of what you eat, it'll make you excited about it. I definitely had to pause for snacking more than once during my reading.


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Godort commcomm mw2010 minutes
GODORT Ad Hoc Committee on Communications
Westin Copley Place (COP) – Mastiff
Monday, January 18, 2010, 8:00-10:00 a.m.
Convener: Valerie Glenn
Recorder: John Stevenson
Members: Sonnet Brown, Valerie Glenn, Stephen Hayes, John Stevenson. Absent: Kris Kasianovitz.
Non-members: Cass Hartnett, Robin Haun-Mohamed, Amy West.
At 8:04 a.m., co-chair Valerie Glenn brought the meeting to order with discussion starting with a review of the committee's charge and recommendations to date.
Review of Committee Charge/Recommendations to Date
Placement of agendas on the GODORT wiki, linked from the schedule page was recommended and implemented successfully by GODORT units for the Midwinter Meeting.
Discussion of Meeting Minutes Placement and Linking
Placement of minutes on the wiki was discussed, noting that there is some confusion among units about the three forms which minutes may be expressed: minutes; the summary for the Membership meeting; and the brief summary for DttP.
The committee shall create a template for wiki minutes to replace the current online form which delivers copies to the GODORT secretary. The consensus procedure for minutes follows:
- GODORT units should post draft minutes to the wiki within two weeks of the end of the meeting.
- Minutes should be linked from the schedule page and the unit's page.
Draft minutes should be reviewed by the unit within two weeks, amended as needed, and approved by vote of the committee.
This process shall result in approved minutes being available within four weeks of the conclusion of the meeting. The approved minutes would then be locked by a wiki bureaucrat to prevent further changes.
Discussion of existing GODORT Communication Tools
ALA Website: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/godort/index.cfm = Point of Entry
The ALA website GODORT page should have its content migrated from the ALA site and be converted into a useful point of entry for the GODORT wiki and ALA Connect pages. The page should look good and avoid the use of dense text. To make the ALA Website page relatively unchanging (reducing the workload of the ALA Website Administrator) it will be necessary to organize stable URLs in the wiki for directory, bylaws, PPM, new members' information, and other resources.
Wiki: http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/Main_Page = Official Content for members and the public
The wiki will be the home of current information and recent content, including what GODORT has done and its current projects. Efforts should be made to make the main page look more interesting. The wiki will be the repository for GODORT activities including minutes, agendas, and free online publications.
ALA Connect: http://connect.ala.org/godort = Announcement and discussion tool
Connect includes both wiki and broadcast features. The committee sees Connect as offering organizational details for active GODORT members and those with committee appointments. Connect offers granularity of membership access to information. Connect replaces closed email lists for committee discussion. For units which discuss sensitive issues, the padlock-symbol next to discussion items shows that these discussions are closed to non-members.
Listserv: http://lists.ala.org/wws/info/godort = Former email list, to be replaced
Intended as an announcement list for members only, the moderated GODORT mail list still has many subscribers. There is no staff to populate and update this list with current GODORT members. To replace the firstname.lastname@example.com list with Connect, the committee will prepare language to post on the wiki by March 1st as to how to use ALA Connect effectively and announce the phasing-out of this list, and to describe official vs. unofficial modes of GODORT communications technologies and authority.
The committee will draft a message for the Chair to send out as individual emails to subscribers of the lists. Messages with the explanation will also be posted to the GODORT list and GOVDOC-L, as well as a flyer to distribute at the spring DLC meeting. The explanation will also explain that off-topic postings to GODORT's ALA Connect area should be directed to other venues.
Blog: http://www.godort.ala.org/news/ = Unofficial communications
The blog was seen as desirable because it supported RSS feeds but may now be redundant. The committee suggests that it be left as an experiment as it offers an opportunity to experiment with new technologies for whoever wants to blog. The committee wants to encourage members to seek official GODORT information on one of the two official platforms: the GODORT wiki and ALA Connect.
The blog and other emerging technologies with unofficial accounts appear to have been less effective for GODORT mass communications. The blog content is not very current. The committee will contact James Jacobs regarding ownership of blog accounts and to encourage GODORT member postings to ALA Connect.
It was agreed that new technologies would be used on an experimental basis, with a dotted line indicating that the managers of new technologies would be coordinating with the GODORT Web Admin. There was general agreement that, if a new technology's manager moved on without someone taking on that role, that the technology would be abandoned.
The meeting adjourned at 10:08 a.m.


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In case you are still reading, let me tell you a little bit about these amazing sandwiches. A few weeks ago I was eating at one of my favorite lunch spots and the salad I ordered came with crostini with bacon marmalade. I wasn't sure what was in it exactly, but it was a revelation. I figured out the basic ingredients from the taste, but as soon as I got home I got on google and did some research. None of the recipes I found quite summed up what I was hoping to get out of my bacon marmalade making experience, so I pulled some ingredients from a few recipes and from my memory of lunch that day, and just went for it. It was good. Too good. So good I couldn't stop eating it with a spoon. It was even better the second time I made it, tweaking the recipe ever so slightly.
It's great eaten directly from the jar with a spoon, but it's better served on crusty bread with goat cheese, and even better smeared on toast with heirloom tomatoes, homemade mayonnaise, and butter lettuce. This really takes your average BLT to a new level. It is sticky and sweet and lightly spiced, and is nicely balanced out with the fresh tomatoes and lettuce and slightly tangy mayonnaise. Now I am wishing I hadn't given away my last jar of it to my classmates...guess I will just have to make some more.
Bacon Marmalade
1 1/2 lbs thick cut applewood smoked bacon, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
1 large vidalia onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup white wine
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
1/4 cup coffee
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
large pinch ground cloves
small pinch ground nutmeg
salt and lots of fresh ground pepper to taste
In a heavy saucepan or dutch oven over medium heat, saute the bacon slowly until just crisp. Don't cook the bacon too fast or it can burn or over cook and become crumbly. Remove the bacon to a paper towel -lined plate and drain all but 2 tablespoons of bacon fat from the pan. Add the onion and cook over medium-high heat until soft and starting to caramelize, about 20 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 3-5 minutes until garlic is soft but not yet browning.
Add the white wine and scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. When the wine has reduced a bit, about 3-5 minutes, add the sugar, coffee, molasses, syrup, allspice, paprika, cayenne, nutmeg, cloves, salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Add the bacon back to the pot, bring it up to a boil, then reduce heat to low so that the mixture is on a gentle simmer and cook for about an hour to an hour and a half, until the marmalade is thick and sticky. It will thicken more as it cools.
Store in jars or sealed container in fridge for a week or two. It also freezes very well. Before using, you can pop it in the microwave just for about 15 seconds to loosen it up a bit and be spreadable.


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A Kiss is Just a Kiss
Grumpy Old Man's Coupons
What's New!
Faceless Obsessions
Life is a Masquerade
Ominous Adages
Myths, Fiction & Narratives
Masculinity and the Figure
Nature and Landscapes
Photo Imagery
About the Artist
News, Shows, Events
Privacy Notice
Contact Alan
For those of you that aren't looking for any challenges or controversy in your art – nature and decorative pieces that are meant to make even your mother smile.
All images are linocuts of various dimensions and edition sizes. All pieces are sold unframed. Click on any image to see a larger version of the image.


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In today's podcast, gastroenterologist Michelle Petro, MD, provides a concise overview of Irritable Bowel Sydrome (IBS). She defines what it is, describes the symptoms, and explains when someone with IBS should see a doctor. She also covers available treatments, the relationship between stress and IBS, and dietary recommendations.
More podcasts by Michelle Petro, MD
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Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Minnesota Wild Sign Minnesota Native Matt Cullen
The Minnesota Wild agreed to a 3 year, $10.5 million dollar deal with Matt Cullen. Cullen is from Virginia, Minnesota and graduated from Moorhead High School in 1995. He has played for the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes, New York Rangers, and Ottawa Senators. He won the Stanley Cup in 2006 with the Carolina Hurricanes. He played college hockey at St. Cloud State and amassed 86 points in 2 seasons there. He is 33 and plays the center position. Cullen can become a crowd favorite in Minnesota, being a native of the state, joining the likes of former native Darby Hendrickson. Cullen had 48 points last season splitting with the Hurricanes and Senators.
Posted by MN Wild Freak
Labels: Matt Cullen
1 comment:
seems like a good pick up! bringing in the hometown kid!
- July 9, 2010 at 10:21 AM
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The boards of the Nasdaq OMX Group and the Nasdaq Stock Market are set to unveil a compensation plan for brokerages that suffered losses during the Facebook IPO glitch.
Sources told the FOX Business channel that the new compensation proposed for next week could be as high as $100 million (£64 million), more than the $40 million (£26 million) that was originally put forward by the exchange, but still significantly short of the $350 million (£225 million) reported losses.
The IPO was riddled with technical problems, which led to a delay of 30 minutes on share trades being processed. The problem stemmed from Nasdaq's IPO Cross, a pre-IPO auction process that the exchange put in place in 2006 that allows traders to place orders and agree on an IPO price before the stock is officially launched, which couldn't handle the trading demand.
This led to a number of brokerages suffering financial losses after losing out on half an hour of trading and not receiving up-to-date information.
Nasdaq originally revealed that it had earmarked $13.7 million (£8.8 million) for compensation, but later said that it would add to its $13.7 million compensation by offering brokerages reduced trading costs, to bring compensation fees up to $40 million.
However, Nasdaq's compensation plans have not been well received within the financial industry up until this point. Knight Capital, one of Wall Street's largest trading firms that suffered losses during the IPO debacle, has blasted the compensation as paltry and has hinted that it might take legal action.
Furthermore, operating rival New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has released a statement claiming that if the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) were to approve the plans that this would result in unfair practice and equate to the industry subsidising Nasdaq's mistakes.
"We believe it would be wholly inconsistent with fair practice and an undue burden on competition to allow Nasdaq to use pricing and other machination as a guise for fairly compensating those impacted by the Facebook IPO issues," said NYSE.
"Such a tactic would potentially strongly incentivise customers to divert order flow to Nasdaq in order to receive compensation to which they are entitled, and allow Nasdaq to reap benefit from market share gains they would not have otherwise received."
Furthermore, it was revealed last month that even though Nasdaq has already selected IBM to conduct a review of the current state of processes for designing, developing, testing, deploying and operating market systems, the SEC may also order Nasdaq to revamp its processes for developing, changing, testing and implementing the computer code used in IPOs and other exchange functions.


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Sharing a Google Folder
How to share
With Google Drive, you can share files — like documents, images, and PDFs — without having to email them as attachments. Sharing is as easy as indicating which email addresses or mailing lists should have access to a given file.
Share a file with an email address or mailing list
- Go to drive.google.com.
- Check the box next to the file or folder you'd like to share.
- Click the Share icon.
- Choose a visibility option: "Private," "Anyone with the link" or "Public on the web."
- Type the email addresses of the people you want to share with in the text box below "Add people." You can add a single person, a mailing list, or choose from your contacts.
- Choose the access level from the drop-down menu next to each collaborator: "Can view," "Can comment," or "Can edit."
- Click Share & save.
Send a link to a shared file
If you've set a file or folder to "Anyone with the link" or "Public," you can send the link to another person and they'll be able to access it.
- Go to drive.google.com.
- Check the box next to the file or folder you'd like to share.
- Click the Share icon .
- Copy the link at the top of the sharing settings.
- Send the link to another person or mailing list in an email or chat.
Send a file as an email attachment
Google Drive eliminates the need to send files as email attachments, but if you absolutely must, here's how:
- Open the file you'd like to share.
- Go to the File menu, and select Email as attachment....
- Select a file type from the drop-down menu.
- Enter the email addresses of the people to whom you'd like to send the file. If you'd like, you can also add a subject and a message.
- Click Send. Recipients will receive the file as a downloadable attachment in the format you've selected.
Tips for sharing in Google Drive
Notify people when you share something
Whenever you share something with someone, they'll receive an email notification to let them know they have access and can retrieve what you shared the next time they sign into Google Drive. Prefer not to notify them? Uncheck the "Notify people via email" box.
Add lots of collaborators quickly by sharing with a Google Group
Rather than type your collaborators' email addresses one-by-one, add an entire Google Group. Each member of that Google Group will have access to whatever you've shared, including people who are added to the group after you've shared something. This option isn't available for mailing lists that aren't Google Groups.
Share lots of files at once
If you want to share multiple items with your collaborators, move them into a folder and share the folder, with them. Since you're sharing the folder, that's their key to access. They'll be able to access whatever's stored there or lose access if you remove something that they don't already have access to.
From: https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2494822?hl=en&ref_topic=2525251
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Offering Free WiFi to customers helps develop customer loyalty.
We understand every business wants to develop more business and retain existing business.
Freedom Hotspot provides insights into how your customers use your WiFi service.
Use the Freedom HotSpot Platform to create your Service plan that is modelled on your specific WiFi management requirements.
Freedom Hotspot can customise to your business needs whilst delivering cost effective solutions.
Robust WiFi Hotspot Management and WiFi MESH Networks with no cabling.


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Kenny Chesney to Play Free New Jersey Show
Kenny Chesney and New Jersey: Perfect together!
Chesney, who will release his much-anticipated new album 'Welcome to the Fishbowl' on June 19, is making a promotional pit stop in the great state of New Jersey to play a free show down the shore the day after his album drops.
On June 20, Chesney will perform a free, 75-minute concert on the beach, at an outdoor stage of Morey's Pier in Wildwood, which is nestled in the southern portion of the Garden State. Erase those notions of Snookie, the Situation and other 'Jersey Shore' castmates, as this is a totally different region of Jersey's famed beach communities.
While the show is indeed free, there is a condition. Actual tickets are still required for entry into the gig. Chesney's fan club, as well as American Express cardmembers, can nab tickets via Ticketmaster now.
What about the rest of you? Well, the remaining tickets will be made available on Monday, June 11, at 10 AM ET. They're sure to go fast, so if you want to go, have Ticketmaster on speed dial. What could be better than a hot summer night, enjoying the sounds of the one and only Kenny Chesney? He's sure to perform brand new songs, mixed with all the hits.
In case you missed the 2012 CMT Awards, check out Chesney's performance of 'Come Over' here.