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The Pitfalls of Buying in Bulk
Published on - October 28th, 2009 (by J.D. Roth)
This is a guest post from Sierra Black, a long-time GRS reader and the author of ChildWild, a blog where she writes about frugality, sustainable living, and getting her kids to eat kale. Previously at Get Rich Slowly, Black told us about sweating the big stuff.
Buying in bulk is great, right? You get the things you want and need, and pay less for them. As an added bonus, you don't have to shop as often (at least, this is a bonus for me, since I hate shopping).
Because I hate shopping and love discounts, I buy most everything in bulk: toilet paper, frozen foods, light bulbs, even toys. But bulk buying has its risks too, and after years of practicing it, I'm learning to see them.
For me, the three key dangers in bulk buying are:
Making a bad investment in a good product that you need or love. I love a particular brand of gel pen, and I use them daily. They cost about $1 per pen in packs of ten, and about $0.50 per pen in packs of 100. I was at the store the other day, trying to decide how many pens to buy. The decision was made for me by the fact that I am on a cash diet at the moment and had only ten dollars in my purse. Yes, I'm paying more per pen. But the 100-pack of pens is an investment. It ties my dollars up in pens, and prevents me from earning interest on them in a savings account.
Here's a Wall Street Journal article that makes this point about Forever Stamps (which are also a bad investment, but a fine purchase if you use a lot of stamps).
Buying something you might use but don't need in bulk. My kids love Puffins cereal, so when I got the chance to buy an entire case of it on sale, I did so. This was in January. We just finished the last box of Puffins. Let me tell you, there have been some scenes around the breakfast table in the past six months.
It turns out no one likes Puffins that much. Buying the cereal in bulk might have saved me a few dollars, but it made my kids unhappy about breakfast. That did not improve our quality of life, which is what frugal living is all about for me.
This bulk-buying hazard is the one I fall for most, because I do "save money" doing it. But it creates a sunk cost. I now have 12 boxes of cereal in my cupboard, and I have to eat them or throw away the money I spent. If I'd "saved money" by buying one box and banking the rest of my dollars, I'd have more money available to buy food the kids and I really want to eat, instead of stoically plowing through another box of Puffins.
Buying things you don't need or want, simply because they are cheap. The other day, I was biking past Harvard when I noticed a book sale going on in the Yard. I happened to have $20 in my pocket, and was strongly tempted to stop and buy $20 worth of books from their table.
Instead, I decided to take my $20 to a bookstore and buy one book from my 30-day list. I got a book I'd been waiting to buy and knew I would read and continue to use for reference, rather than going for the cheaper books I could buy in bulk. I got fewer books, but more value (and less clutter).
Costco, Target and the other big box stores know that people will buy things just because they're cheap. When you walk into Target the first thing you see is a large section of items for $1. I used to have a habit of tossing $5 – $10 worth of stuff into my cart: novelty socks, pens, candles, stickers.
When I had a buying mindset, all of these things seemed like great deals. I was getting more stuff for less money. Now I try to avoid getting more Stuff, even when it's cheap. I buy less in bulk — just like I buy less in boutiques — and I'm watching my savings grow because of it.
J.D.'s note: I'm stupid about buying things just because they're cheap. Or free. I'm always dragging home free Stuff that becomes clutter. Also, Kris just reminded me that I bought a case of my favorite pens last spring. Photo by Listener42.
This article is about Choices, Consumerism, Frugality, Shopping
Another issue that she didn't touch on is storage. Every time you bulk buy, you have to find a place to keep it, and not only that, it has to be a place you will REMEMBER that you have it. Otherwise (particularly with a small item like pens) you will lose track of them and buy again before you have finished what you previously bought.
I have fallen into the bulk buying hazard a time or two myself. If the kids won't eat the cereal, there is some value in donating it to a food bank. I would not consider that throwing away the money you spent. I often pick up an extra of a staple to have on hand for those times when we are asked to make an unexpected donation outside of our normal giving. Just something to ponder. Since starting to read Get Rich Slowly early this year I am learning to look at my money differently, this is just one of those ways.
Thanks J.D. for an always informative and interesting blog.
I agree… storage is one of the biggest concerns I have with buying in bulk. I can't stand having 30 rolls of paper towels stacked up in my house.
I sometimes buy in larger quantities. I did just buy 10 boxes of Nabisco crackers at 1.38 a box before the $10 rebate(and I mailed it in as soon as I bought the crackers). I will also buy 8 to 12 boxes of certain brand cereals or granola type bars(usually it is Kelloggs or Nature Valley- but many types/flavors) when they are on special at Safeway- at 4 for $6 and with coupons, it can cost me $.75 a box or even less. With my husband and an adult son, it all gets eaten.
I believe buying in bulk is a great idea for non-perishables you will definitely buy in the future (TP, paper towels, napkins, etc.) because you save money and don't have to make as many trips to the store. But, buying in bulk can be a bad idea for perishables you wouldn't otherwise buy (2 gallons of mayonnaise, a year's supply of Puffins, etc.) So – as with any purchase – stop, think, and carefully evaluate whether or not you'd really be purchasing that much of the product anyway (and that it has more than enough shelf life for your normal consumption period). Then decide, and either way, relax about how you just improved your life. If you're not sure you improved your life, then you needed to more carefully evaluate at the earlier step…
Puh-leeze. At today's interest rates, you earn zero interest by banking the difference between buying 10 pens and 100 pens. If you are using cash and no credit cards, then that's a different story.
Forever stamps are not that bad as an investment – when compared with earning interest on a savings account. But I'm not playing that game.
These are all great points. It makes me wonder – is there actually a net benefit to belonging to a superstore? We love going to Costco – but when you take all the arguments into account against buying in bulk, our "reason" for going there becomes the food. Which is yummy but not always inexpensive.
It's a shock to hear that you would consider buying 100 pens.
I don't remember the last time I bought a pen. Usually, work provides them or I grab one from a hotel or shows/conventions pass them out.
Also, I must not use pens that much. Because each one lasts me for months, if not for a full year. I tend to lose them before they run dry.
I chuckled about the Puffins cereal! Last year our grocery store had a case lot sale. I bought Cheerios, canned green beans, canned tomatoes, toilet paper and paper towels in bulk at half off. About two months later I gave away half the cereal and all of the green beans because I just couldn't eat that much(Sierra, you may just want to give your Puffins away to a friend or neighbor if your kids won't eat that much). A year later I still have some of those canned tomatoes left, but the TP and paper towels I definitely used up. I think Paul @4 hit the nail on the head about sticking to non-perishables when buying in bulk. Good article!
I too stick mainly to non-perishable items when buying in bulk. My mainstays when shopping at Costco are paper towels, toilet paper, kleenex, mouthwash, tampons, shampoo and conditioner. I do buy cereal in bulk as well, but I hide away several of the boxes and make sure to intersperse them with a smaller box of cereal bought on sale at my local grocery store. This way my husband never tires of eating the same one. I have a lot of storage which makes this possible.
We bought the excecutive Costco membership in Canada which has some kind of money-back program. As long as you spend a certain amount, they actually start paying you! Last year our memebership ended up being free and they paid us $10. We just renewed and they gave us a reusable coupon book just for excecutive members that has already saved us a few additional bucks.
I'll echo the sentiment over storage space. The more thing you buy in bulk, the more more space you have to have to store them and the more space you have, the greater your mortgage probably is.
How great of a deal is that 100-pack of lint rollers now?
As for the forever stamps, I don't care how much money I "lose" on them. I will always buy them because I hate the post office and shirk at the thought of going back there just to pick up a few 1 cent stamps!
These are good points. Especially the point about buying too much stuff, that doesn't necessarily equate to frugality.
Also, some comments mentioned storage. You have to find a place to store all those items for many months, this is sometimes difficult if you lack storage space.
Great points! One thing I'd add though is that when you have a lot of something, you tend to go through it faster. I'm willing to bet Sierra will keep a closer eye on those 10 pens than she would if she had 100.
Don't just blame the kids. I fell in love with Pirate Booty – a white cheddar puff snack. It is expensive at the store and so I bought a 12 bag case off amazon at a savings of $1/bag. I tore through the first 5 bags or so – mmmm….mmmmm…. good. Then I kinda got tired of it. I think I still have one or two bags in the pantry. It'll get eaten, but I dont' think I'll buy that much of one thing ever again.
I also use a lot of blue Sharpies – fine point. Found some for $2 a dozen a few years back – bought 12 dozen – I'm down to two boxes now. A few weeks ago I found a 2 pack for 25 cents and bought 30 of the twin packs. Yes I shudder at the packaging, but at least the boxes that house a dozen and the backing on the twin packs can be recycled.
But since I have so many pens and at such a low cost I tend to go through them quickly cause I can "afford" to be picky. I like a nice clean stroke on the pen and once it starts to get "fat" I'll get a new pen. I do, however, try to find a new home for the pens. I've given dozens away to the local library (they label boxes and other materials with them), kids and other people that will use them.
I was talking about this (with myself) the other day.
My biggest problem is that when we buy in bulk…I eat more of it (if it's food). That translates into more time working it off – or trying to.
Not a good path. It's actually cheaper for me to buy a scoop at Baskin Robbins once in awhile than to have a gallon of chocolate chip mint at home…believe me…
Our problem with buying bulk is we forget what we have already. This leads to us having 4 giant refills of hand soap, 9 tubes of toothpaste, etc. Some of this stuff will last till we die!
My biggest problem is the storage…if you can store it (and it won't go off before you can use it, and you can justify the initial outlay…) go for it!
I generally stick to middle-of-the-road (i.e. don't buy single-serving things but likewise probably wouldn't fork out on a conference-sized pack of anything…)
Also check your unit price – bulk (weirdly!) isn't always cheaper!
Overcome all JDs issues plus the storage issue, of course it will take you more time. Supermarket and Drug stores sell things at a sale price on a rotational basis, the unit price often being as low or lower than the warehouse environments. The beauty of buying here is you have more control over the variety and the quantity of what you want while still maintaining a cost advantage. The key though is coupons. You have to match them to the sale rotations as well as any other special deals going on, eg., buy 4 save $5 on your next purchase or instantly, instant rebates, etc.. Of course there isn't a coupon for everything, but almost. I fill in the gap on the internet for the most part and deal with the few things I can't get. I wish I could buy Arizona green tea in 30 gallon drums. I was a member of Costco for 2 years before realizing the cost trade-off versus the quantity and potential impulse buying issues didn't work for us. Now I can control what I buy (getting many things for free) without worrying about having bought too much or too little, with another sale around the corner, plus I can always return items if necessary, which it usually isn't. There definitely is a time commitment though as opposed to just buying and being done with it. Addendum: Addressing the perishable issue: We are lucky we don't use a ton of perishables. I try to get around it a little by using coupons from one store at another store, most stores honor each other coupons so I will use produce coupons at whoever has the lowest price that week. There isn't much I can do about milk though. I also only buy meat when it is at its lowest price and usually right before the sell by date, as the stores put coupons on it to move it and then I freeze it. There is nothing like getting 3 pounds of chicken for $1.00.
We tend to like to buy in bulk because of cutting down on packaging AND it being cheaper, etc. HOWEVER, one point to make is to check your prices! I don't know why I ever assumed that bulk automatically equals cheaper, but I did. I used to buy laundry detergent in bulk at the health food store (Country Save brand). Then one day, I turned around and compared the price/lb of both the bulk and the box of detergent on the shelf…and the box on the shelf was CHEAPER!!! What the heck?! And it's a recyclable cardboard box, so I'm not feeling too bad about the packaging issue. Not only that, but now that I'm not married to the bulk issue, I can find the same brand even cheaper at the regular grocery store.
Oh the things you find when you start keeping track of unit prices…
Buying in bulk also as the risk of losing it if it's perishable and you don't use it up fast enough. And even if it's not perishable, what if you don't need it anymore by the time you've used half?
Sometimes it's better getting together with friends and splitting a bulk pack of something to help with these two issues.
And of course, there is the room issue. A friend of mine lives in 100 square feet, needless to say, she can't buy bulk (or family packs, usually. She needs to buy units of everything for it to fit in her studio).
And even if you have room for that specific purchase, it's less room for everything else you might need or want. Is it worth it?
And as far as food is concerned, of course, don't buy perishables in bulk if you don't have a freezer.
I am doubtful that buying large quantities saves trips. The things you need that you didn't buy in bulk will still require a trip to the store. You stock up on cereal, but you still need to buy milk. Once you are in a store, adding that box of cereal to the cart is not really a problem.
One thing that catches a lot of people is when the "large economy size" is actually more expensive.
Buying in bulk is great depending on what you buy. I like it for things like cleaning supplies or kitchen things that I can use over time, not for food.
Hey Sierra,
If you focus only on the big wins when buying in bulk (stuff you need, not what you want), you save time and money while eliminating unnecessary possessions.
Like with anything in life, buying in bulk definitely isn't black or white. You simply figure out things that you use no matter what, and buy them in bulk. Examples: toilet paper, toothpaste, soap. The behind-the-scenes stuff that you use for its functionality, not for fun, taste, etc. You'll never stop wiping your butt, so you'll always need toilet paper.
By buying those items in bulk, you save time and money. Time, because you don't have to go out as often to buy them (or shop online). Money, because of what you already mentioned (it's cheaper in bulk). Plus, you'll save mental energy too, since you're not thinking about this stuff as often – the items are just there.
For the fun/tasty stuff, buying in bulk definitely becomes a per-case scenario. Like you said, no one likes a particular brand of food THAT much
Buying in bulk is super-beneficial as long as it's not used as a blanket procedure for everything.
Thanks for reminding us to think twice before snatching EVERYTHING up in bulk,
As a single person in a tiny condo, I can barely use even normal size purchases quickly. I buy everything in small sizes (ie a tiny bag of flour) and it lasts forever. Perishables are hard – I end up throwing lots away because I can't buy them small enough. I need to change the way I do things. I could buy lettuce in non-bag form and I already buy fruit one at a time.
The other factors are cost of storage and risk of loss. Storage is hard to look at in terms of day to day expenses–you either got a place with a basement or you didn't–but risk is always worth thinking about. What are the odds your basement will flood in the next five years? Or you'll lose power in a hurricane and won't be able to get a block of dry ice in the deep freeze before that 50 lbs. of pot roast meat goes bad? 'Sworth thinking about. I generally limit myself to buying no more than one year's worth of anything in advance, and less than that with perishables.
Then, too, my wife and I have concluded that the "case discount" on wine is a false economy for us. If we have 12 bottles of wine lying around the house, our consumption goes right up to meet the challenge.
I love Costco but we almost never go there. There are only 2 of us so not much call for huge volumes of food. I used to buy 6packs of Pacific chicken stock, until Trader Joes started carrying concentrated soup base – way lighter and less packaging, and also cheaper per cup of soup. We bought their giant bag of dog food once but it gave our old dog the runs, so we haven't bought it for the new dogs. I would love to buy bulk toilet paper, but they don't carry any recycled brands. I've bought water filters, which we don't use much any more, and rechargeable batteries, which we only need so many of. The one thing I've bought there which was defintely a bulk value was white vinegar, which I use for cleaning. It comes in much larger bottles than at the grocery store, so I can re-use the smaller containers and cut way down on the packaging. Also, my husband buys copy paper for work, as they DO carry a recycled brand of that.
@Ross #20:
"I am doubtful that buying large quantities saves trips. The things you need that you didn't buy in bulk will still require a trip to the store."
Ok, but if I only buy TP or paper towels or toothpaste in small quantities, and then run low, off I go to the store for more (more often) because when you need TP, you need it sooner rather than later.
So, I agree that I'll still be going to the store regularly, but being low on TP or paper towels or toothpaste won't cause the trip (and I thereby avoid another impulse opportunity).
This is a terrific reminder!
I'd like to offer a contrasting viewpoint on buying bulk perishables, though. I and a coworker both have 2 person families, and we both shop at Costco. She's a vegetarian, and I eat a LOT of fruits and veggies during the week (for example, today's lunch has a salad, two kiwi, two oranges, and a plum).
In the quantities that we eat fresh foods, Costco can be significantly less expensive here. We were both having spoilage problems (you do NOT understand how far 6 heads of romaine will go until you try to eat it all!) – then we started splitting everything.
Now, we alternate shopping weeks, trading off when we're at work, and each of us gets a lot more variety with less spoilage and effort. I think we're also saving money by limiting our impulse purchases, but I couldn't prove that.
I have 6 children. I have done a lot of price comparing and have found that it is still usually cheaper to stay away from the warehouse stores and by the generic elsewhere. I am not brand loyal. If I was then it would matter. If you are a brand person the warehouse shopping would save you money, but I can always find the generics cheaper then warehouse store labels at the other big box stores Even between WalMart and Sams, Walmart usually will be cheaper and you can use coupons, which I very rarely use, at Walmart.
I very much agree that you use more of something if you have a large quantity of it. I bought my children really nice clicker pencils at the beginning of the school year. One for each child. I have boxes of regular pencils. They love their clicker pencils and take very good care of them. The other pencils are always lost, because they are so easily replaced. With a house of teenagers, If I have a case of granola bars in the pantry, or any large bulk foods, crackers, gold fish, etc…They will choose that over fresh fruit. I would rather make more trips and have fresh produce, then a pantry full of refined easy to grab food.
I have slowly weaned myself away from buying everything in bulk…such as 25 pound sacks of sugar and flour….but I can't wean myself away from Costco….the produce is so much better than in the local store and I don't mind at all that my kiddos can eat 4 pounds of grapes in a week! I love Costco because it is such a pleasant shopping environment. I love Trader Joe's for the same reason. There are very few instances where the prices are lower than my military grocery store but I don't need a cocktail after I shop at Costco or Trader Joe's!
J.D. – your note reminds me of my husband's sidewalk shopping habit. Our entire house is furnished almost exclusively with trash-picked items. We have plenty of nice stuff, but he can't resist a good find. Living in a college town provides a lot of those. At one point we had three or four "free" stereo systems cluttering up our house, when all we really needed was one.
For me its about consistency. I get some things at costco that makes the trip worth it. tortillas, bread, canned tomatoes, pickles, eggs, cheese, salsa, TP, paper towels, beer, OJ, bacon, lunchmeat, soaps/detergents, cleaning supplies. I will eventually use it all, never have waste and I've checked the unit price against the grocery store. The grocery might get cheaper if I'm willing to switch brands, hunt around for coupons/rebates, accept some substitute or get a weird quantity. With bulk you really have to know yourself and your family. If there is a chance of waste (lettuce heads) it gets a lot harder to justify. Also if you need more variety in your shopping and don't mind the experimentation shopping sales only might be best for you.
I love Sam's – but I have learned to strictly limit exactly what I will buy there.
At the grocery and drug stores, I do "investment" shopping, meaning that I buy what's on sale and nothing else (except for fresh produce and dairy). I match the current sales with coupons, so I typically save between 50 percent and 80 percent a month on groceries, health and beauty, and cleaning supplies.
But even with those deals, there are still some great bargains to be had at Sam's for certain items – and especially for those that I never want to run out of.
So at Sam's, I specifically buy:
- Sam's brand trash bags and paper towels
- diapers and wipes
- bulk shredded cheese, which I re-package into 1-pound ziploc bags and freeze
- some fresh produce, especially berries that will freeze well
- frozen chicken breasts
- some clothing, such as underwear and socks for the kids
- wine and beer
- bulk pasta
- large bags of bread flour, which is quite expensive at the grocery but very cheap at Sam's (I have a much-used breadmaker at home)
- sugar, powdered sugar, chocolate chips, brown sugar, etc. for the holiday season
For those of you who have food that you think you won't eat, please check with local charities and food banks to see what they will accept. Some groups have strict requirements, while others will take whatever you give.
Also, if the items are unopened, you can offer them on freecycle.
There are lots of ways to clear some space and help others at the same time!
Someone wrote about waiting to buy meat until it's about to go off sale … eww. That's not smart buying. If you can't afford fresh meat, switch to beans!
I used to "bulk buy" cheap plastic beads for art and jewelry. Over time I got more and more selective. Ended up giving away most of the plastic beads and now I am more apt to buy unique handmade or rare vintage items, fewer for the money but they make more of an impact in the art and, oh yes, take up a lot less space.
I don't buy anything in bulk. We have limited storage, and with a two-person, two-paycheck household, we don't need to stockpile "good buys" (lucky us). We very rarely buy snack food or soda, and then only single servings (this is not stuff we need to have in the regular diet). But DH does go to Smart & Final once a month for beer and TP!
It is more worth my time to put in an extra hour at work during the week than clip coupons and hunt for the *best* deals for that hour. I keep specific coupons for things we go through routinely, but I make enough that it isn't worth the time and energy. Especially since when there IS a good sale I typically have to get rain checks because I can't get to the store until everyone else has already cleared the shelves.
I shop typically once per week from my list. I will scan the ads before I go to roughly plan meals (carrots or corn?, rump roast or london broil?), but I stop at Costco every week. I have done the math and I save my membership fee on bread alone (2 32oz loaves every week is $5.49 vs $3-5 per 24 oz loaf at the grocer). I also fill up on gas there (which is the cheapest in the neighborhood) because it is right on the corner on my way out of work. They have also been really good on things like our towels, wheel barrow, tires, etc.
You DO have to watch it, and it is easy to get sucked into things. But on the flip side it fits into our lifestyle quite nicely. I won't hunt sales and coupons like a previous poster to find the Nature Valley granola bars my husband likes. So I get the 96 pack and send him on his way. In, out, done.
Back when I used to live with my boyfriend, he had a COSTCO membership and we would go every month or so. I found that we spent a LOT more money for these reasons:
-We'd buy stuff that we would not usually buy (we'd always use it), but we bought it because it was a good deal.
-We would have to go to the regular grocery store anyway. COSTCO has a lot of things, but unless you eat mostly processed foods or can go thru 15 bell peppers a week, you have to go to your regular grocery store too.
-The membership costs money, and while it's not excessive, it's yet another thing to pay for when we're not actually saving much by shopping at COSTCO anyway.
-Sometimes the large quantity of food we would buy went to waste.
Now, I love COSTCO, and I haven't been there in almost a year now, so I do miss some items (like the stuffed salmon mmmm), but I definitely have a heavier wallet. If money was no object (I'm still paying off debt), I'd definitely go back to COSTCO simply because I like it, but for me, someone who lives in a small apartment, I can't fit much bulk stuff in there anyway, and it's just not practical right now for me to get a membership again.
At the regular grocery store I always look for deals like 2 for 1 toilet paper, etc., which does save me money, but I think that places like COSTCO won't save you money unless you really actively plan your purchases out.
I'm laughing at comment 17′s "Some of this stuff will last till we die!" I can picture sons and heirs falling over huge vats of mayonnaise and cartons of batteries of every shape and size in the basement.
We gave up our Costco membership a couple of years ago and haven't missed it. There are only two of us, so the savings on toilet paper and olive oil aren't worth the lack of other types of products, the wasted time or the stress of the awful environment (fighting for parking, crowds, noise, unruly kids). We also found the range of products varies wildly – our local Costco in New York was significantly better stocked for our habits than our current local Toronto store. Haven't looked back!
I do like the Bulk Barn a lot for cheaper nuts, rolled oats and other unpackaged natural goods though – and probably overspend a fair bit in this area
Good article — it reminded me of all the similar reasons we didn't rejoin Costco or join Sam's Club when we moved. We used to call Costco "The $200 Store", because we couldn't get out of there for less than that, with the "must have" surprises we'd find.
Like many above, I find that we spend less money overall if I stock up on sales at my usual grocery stores and the farmer's market. I find that the grocery store megapack 12 rolls of TP is usually enough to have on hand.
Buying in bulk is great – but you're right that it's not with out it's risk.
It's funny I learned alot of these lessons in better shopping through a 1950′s public service video being riffed by Rifftrax.
Shop from a planned list not on whim, buy bulk only if it doesn't goto waste, etc.
I find it amazing that good ideas like this are so obvious they've been around forever but we still lose sight of them regularly. Sometimes you need a reminder to be frugal and to shop wisely.
I buy in the other kind of bulk–unpackaged. Oatmeal, raisins, peanuts, peanut butter, rice, beans, lentils, quinoa, etc., and spices (if you need half a teaspoon, why spend $4 on a whole jar?). Saves money and packaging (I reuse quart yogurt jars for storage).
I've been the recipient of other people's bulk buying mistakes at Costco. We have enough (free) toothpaste to last us a few years because neither my son nor his girlfriend's father liked that brand after they bought it. Hopefully, toothpaste doesn't expire. I also received a couple of bottles of a mouthwash-like product recommended by my dentist because my son ended up not liking the taste.
Living in a rural area buying in bulk can be a life saver in terms of less traveling to shop. My family gets meat in bulk because we have a large chest freezer that can hold half a cow. Staple foods like flour, pasta, rice, beans, canned tomatoes, etc. also get bought in bulk. We don't buy anything perishable in bulk that doesn't freeze well.
Do it with a list and get nothing not on the list is a good idea for any shopping.
The only things we buy in bulk are Bounty, Naked Juice, Basmati Rice and Ziplocks from Sams.
I have a 4 person household (self, husband, 2 kids). I buy nearly all of my meat at Costco, take it home & repackage it into freezer bags to freeze. It is substantially cheaper, and very high quality. I also buy a lot of our produce at Costco — it is also of excellent quality.
The thing that I have noticed about doing the majority of my food buying at Costco is that we eat higher quality food. I stay away from the processed food, and can buy nearly everything at Costco except for the finishing ingredients (curry paste, salad dressing, etc) that I have to buy at the grocery store. Milk is purchased 2 gallons at a time, but is about 2/3 the cost. I have just been much more focused on avoiding food waste, & find that I can direct my kids to the food on hand and they will eat it. One of the keys to making sure that food doesn't go to waste is to keep track of what needs to be "eaten up." In the spirit of doing that, I have instituted what I like to call "clean out the fridge night" where everyone in the house decides which leftovers they want for dinner & we have a "buffet." We waste much less food, & have saved a lot of money on very delicious, healthy & fresh foods by shopping in bulk. I understand that it's not for everyone, but if it works for your family, great.
Wow, Susan, a pleasant shopping experience at Costco? Mine is just the opposite. I have to steal myself to go in there. But Trader Joe's, yes, that is a lovely place and I've found that since we now have one closer, I'd much rather skip the crowds and bulk buying at Costco and frequent TJs more often. So maybe the quality of the experience has something to do with it. It's simpler for me to just get what I need when I need it, and have a stress free, happy experience to boot.
Another thing to watch for when buying in bulk: liquid hand soap.
The bulk version comes in a bottle without the narrow nozzle you need to help you refill your vanity pump without spilling it everywhere. I actually had to buy a regular size refill and then re-fill the refill bottle before I could use the bulk soap! Yup, stupid.
I've also noticed that the bulk shampoo/creme rinse is also sold in bottles that have HUGE nozzles. So you end up using more than you would otherwise because 1 squirt is a lot larger now.
Another thing to look out for at warehouse stores: our Sam's club where I live sells bulk food that should be "unperishable" but ALWAYS it is sold *at* the sell-by date.
For example, canned beans, tomato paste, pasta sauce, even cold cereal. All kind of "off" in color or stale even if you eat it right away. No way would you want to eat that 1 year after buying it!


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PUMA Slipstream ANML
Here's the thing about the Slipstream: it's never been the kind of shoe that sits in a corner, waits for an invitation, or shies away from brouhahas. It's out there. It owns every moment it's in. And it knows how to let loose and have a good time. (The kind that calls for sunglasses and lots of water the next morning IF you know what we mean.) It's been perfecting such things for decades. And this version is no exception. It's inspired by Tokyo's notorious Slipstream Beast, originally unleashed circa 2000 with pony hair and wild patterning. The Slipstream Animal uses the same pattern but it's now printed on suede. The collar is still high, slanted, fearsome, fabulous. How does that saying go? If it ain't broke…
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Crochety children's book writer Maurice Sendak explains how he feels about the current state of children's books (hates it!) and celebrities writing for kids. This is pt. 2 of an interview with Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report. Enjoy!
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive


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By Maureen Tkacik
The opinions expressed are her own.
Also read part one of this series, How Ed DeMarco finally cried fraud.
A big clue something had become dysfunctional at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac came in the first week of 2011, when the government mortgage market makers announced the terms of a settlement agreement they'd reached with Bank of America, and were immediately pilloried for extending the bank another "backdoor bailout" by the likes of Maxine Waters and the American Enterprise Institute.
By the end of January an internal investigation had convened, all other settlement negotiations had been suspended, and Edward J. DeMarco, the acting Fannie/Freddie overseer pending the confirmation of his replacement, found himself suddenly faced with the challenge of replacing himself as congressional Republicans vowed to stonewall Obama's pick. Part one of this series traced DeMarco's unlikely conversion in 2011 from coddler of banks to unyielding litigator of bank fraud. It's a rare shift in Washington, where "corruption" is a process that's practically synonymous with "aging." What's often forgotten when bureaucrats fail as spectacularly as they have at Fannie and Freddie is the critical roles played by cluelessness, incuriosity, faulty reasoning and fraudulent economic logic as well.
Consider what the inspector general learned about the corporate procedures for pursuing "putback" claims in place at Freddie Mac. While purchase contracts entitle the GSEs to force banks to buy back any delinquent loan in which it finds evidence of fraud, Freddie restricted examiners to screening only mortgages which had defaulted within two years of origination, a tiny sliver of total foreclosures comprising less than one-tenth of defaults from the years 2004 to 2007—the vintage of the Countrywide loans. When one of DeMarco's deputies noticed this apparent oversight and began warning executives that "Freddie could passively be absorbing billions of dollars of losses" merely by refusing to glance at 90% of their files, the enterprise … chose to absorb the losses, repeatedly resorting to a boilerplate argument justifying the two-year policy holding that:
loans that had demonstrated a consistent payment history over the first two years following origination and then defaulted in later years…likely did so for a reason such as loss of employment, which is unrelated to [fraud].
Oh really.
The deputy spent six or so months attempting to politely introduce his colleagues to the concept of the "teaser rate." Perhaps, he writes in one email, Freddie was failing to take into account that "from 2005 through 2007 there was a substantial increase in non-traditional mortgage products [which] frequently featured 'teaser' rates initially resulting in low payments" which would "increase dramatically two, three, or five years after origination" when "rates reset and/or the repayment of principal began"—thus rendering virtually any deliberate fraud essentially "invisible" for the first few years of the life of the loan.


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KANSAS CITY – The plan for Week 2 was to get
For better and for worse, it's safe to say Bryant's fingerprints were all over Sunday's game. You can mark the high points of the loss to the Chiefs by the big plays Bryant made, just as you can mark the lows by the big plays he missed.
Bryant's nine receptions for 141 yards was a far cry from last week's 22 yards – in fact, it was the fourth-best total of his career. But while Bryant made circus catch after circus catch in the first half, it was his costly drop in the second half that defined the game.
With nine minutes to play in the fourth quarter, Bryant beat Chiefs corner Brandon Flowers by two steps to prompt a deep toss from
"I took my eyes off of the ball," Bryant said. "I shouldn't have. That was a real bad mistake on my end. That is not winning football. That's something that I just don't do."
Bryant isn't bound to let himself off the hook too easily, but Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones was quick to offer some perspective on his star receiver.
"They all drop (balls), and Dez catches a lot more than he drops," Jones said. "Some of his plays had us in a position to win this ball game."
All in all, Bryant probably found himself involved in four or more game-changing plays.
Thanks to Pro Bowl punter Dustin Colquitt, the Cowboys started three different second quarter drives inside their own 10-yard line. It seemed Romo had reversed that trend when he connected with Bryant on the sideline for 22 yards. That gain was quickly called back because of an offensive pass interference penalty on Bryant, and the Cowboys soon punted.
"We didn't execute the way we wanted to," Bryant said. "But we feel like we're a good team, and we feel like we can execute plays."
It's a tough fate that Bryant will be remembered for those gaffes after the day he had. The four-year veteran absolutely abused Flowers and the Chiefs' secondary in the first quarter, as he reeled off five catches for 100 yards and the Cowboys' only touchdown.
"You can say 'What might have been,' but Dez played a really outstanding game – couldn't ask for any more from him," Jones said. "I wouldn't blame a loss on a single drop. I know it's easy to do."
Jones may try not to focus on it, but Bryant certainly will for at least the next week. Asked if his big numbers were the type of stats he hoped to post in 2013, Bryant focused only on the scoreboard.
"I can't even answer that question right now – we just lost," he said.


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More Than $125,000 in Scholarships Awarded Through the AEA Educational Foundation in 2014! - click here to see the winners
Since its inception, the AEA Educational Foundation has awarded more than $1.5 million to students seeking careers in the aircraft electronics and aviation maintenance industry, as well as technicians from AEA member companies.
Scholarship applications are available for the 2014-15 school year beginning Oct. 1, 2013. The deadline to submit scholarship applications is Feb. 15, 2014. Numerous scholarships are available, ranging from $1,000 to more than $35,000 each.
A new scholarship to be awarded this year is the Monte Mitchell Scholarship, which honors Mitchell's service of more than 40 years to the general aviation industry. Mitchell first served as the AEA executive director and later as president of the association from 1977 to 1996. With Mitchell's leadership, the AEA Educational Foundation was created in 1990 to enhance, promote and secure the future of aviation and the AEA by furthering the education of students, technicians, members of the AEA and others as determined by aviation industry needs. This scholarship will be awarded to an AEA member and will cover a full AEA International Convention & Trade Show registration, including travel and hotel expenses.
Please Note:The deadline for returning all applications was Feb. 15, 2014.
Descriptions for each scholarship.
Please Note: The scholarship deadline for the 2013-2014 school year has passed. Please check back in October to download applications for the 2015-2016school year.


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New Year's Resolution Printable for Kids
Create a time capsule of your child's year and have fun reviewing all of these great memories and dreams with them later. This printable asks them about their "life" this year and what they hope for in the next. It's easy and fun for any age.View PDF Printer-friendly PDF


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|U.S. National Institutes of Health | www.cancer.gov
Gene Profiling Plus Bronchoscopy Improves Lung Cancer Screening
Researchers have improved the detection rate for lung cancer in smokers and former smokers suspected of having the disease by profiling gene activity in cells that were obtained from the airway during fiberoptic bronchoscopies. Dr. Avrum Spira of the Boston University School of Medicine described the experimental strategy and findings from their research at the AACR annual meeting.
A bronchoscopy is often used as the first tool for diagnosing the disease, but the test is accurate in only about half the cases. By adding the gene profiling to the bronchoscopy, the researchers detected lung cancer accurately in more than 90 percent of cases in their study population.
The study included individuals who were scheduled to have a bronchoscopy to screen for the disease, but, in addition, the researchers profiled the activity of 80 genes in the airway cells collected during the bronchoscopies. In this procedure, a tube the size of a pencil is passed into the lungs to collect cells from the walls of the airways. The researchers noted that the gene signature was better than bronchoscopy at detecting the disease in its early stages, when treatment is likely to be most effective.
In the United States, an estimated 75,000 cases of lung cancer are not detected as early as they potentially could be because they are missed by bronchoscopies, according to Dr. Spira. To address this problem, his team identified the set of 80 genes that can be used to accurately distinguish smokers and former smokers who have the disease from those who do not. The gene signature is not yet ready for use in the clinic, but Dr. Spira expects to have a refined version ready within the next 2 years.
Long-Term Smoking Cessation May Repair Lung Damage
Long-term smoking cessation increases the blood levels of an important anti-inflammatory protein CC10 that several studies have suggested may play a role in combating the development of lung cancer, NCI researchers reported at the AACR annual meeting. The findings, says the study's leader, Dr. Jiping Chen, a cancer prevention fellow at NCI, provides some important insights about smoking cessation's impact at the molecular level.
"This is good news for former smokers," Dr. Chen says. "It provides more evidence that quitting smoking can undo some of the damage to the lung resulting from tobacco exposure."
The researchers measured levels of CC10 in 81 current and 23 former smokers with precancerous lesions called bronchial dysplasia. All of the participants had been part of a lung cancer chemoprevention trial. Levels of CC10 were measured in blood and bronchoalveolar lavage samples, which are collected by injecting sterile saline into the lungs with a fiberoptic scope and then removing samples of the resulting fluid.
CC10 is known to protect the bronchial lining from oxidative and inflammatory insults. Several studies have shown that its expression is decreased in smokers; laboratory and animal model studies conducted at NCI also have shown that CC10 is downregulated in the earliest stages of cancer development, and that increasing its expression can slow tumor development.
In this study, CC10 levels in the blood samples of former smokers were statistically significantly higher than in current smokers; CC10 levels were also higher in the lavage samples of former smokers, but the difference did not achieve statistical significance. The average length of smoking cessation in the former-smokers group was 7 years.
Further studies are needed to elucidate CC10's role in lung cancer, Dr. Chen cautions, such as a large cohort study that could "prospectively determine whether CC10 is associated with lung cancer incidence."
Rituximab Shows Promise for Graft-Versus-Host Disease
A phase I-II study of rituximab, an anti-B-cell monoclonal antibody, among patients who suffer from chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a deadly posttransplant autoimmune illness, reduced symptoms in 70 percent of participants after 1 year of follow-up. Of the 21 patients who participated, 2 lost all signs of the disease. The study results appeared online in Blood on March 21.
GVHD occurs frequently in patients who receive donor tissues, such as leukemia patients who receive bone marrow transplants. Corticosteroid therapy and calcineurin inhibitors can be used to treat it, but they are toxic, not always effective, and had already failed among participants in this study.
The trial regimen included 4 initial weeks of rituximab at a dose of 375 mg/m2 per week, with subsequent courses offered to those who did not initially respond. When symptoms were limited to the skin and musculoskeletal system, rituximab showed the greatest result - the median body surface area affected dropped from 42 to 20 percent in sclerodermatous cutaneous GVHD cases, and from 19.5 to 3 percent in lichenoid cutaneous GVHD cases. Patients with rheumatologic symptoms saw their pain and fatigue fall significantly after two treatment cycles and continue to decrease thereafter.
Until recently, it was thought that GVHD is mediated by T cells in the donor tissue, but the authors note that these results support their previous work, indicating B cells may also be involved. "The use of monoclonal anti-B-cell therapy should be tested as a prophylactic and initial treatment strategy," they write.
Smoking, Drinking, and Gender Linked to Colorectal Cancer
The risk of developing advanced colorectal cancer at a younger age is greater among men, and also among people who smoke or drink, according to a retrospective American population study published in the March 27 Archives of Internal Medicine. The findings could influence strategies for screening to detect the second most lethal cancer.
The researchers used self-reported data from an HMO database to classify 166,172 colorectal cancer patients according to smoking and drinking history (former, current, or never). Current users of both substances were an average of 7.8 years younger when diagnosed than those who had never used either, with the effect more pronounced among men. Current smokers who never drank fared slightly better; the age at diagnosis was reduced by 6.3 years in women, compared with 3.7 years in men. Among all patients, drinking raised risk by 19 percent, smoking by 16 percent.
Screening for colorectal cancer is especially important because detectable symptoms usually mean advanced disease and poor prognosis. Screening is currently recommended at age 50, but these findings suggest that those who smoke and drink would benefit from earlier screening, wrote study leader Dr. Anna L. Zisman and colleagues from Northwestern University.


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Open Letters Archives
Blog Archives
Follow Dr. García On
Last year, as we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the establishment of UT Brownsville, we also began the work of launching UTB 2.0 – an innovative new university for the 21st Century. During this time it has been especially important to stay close to each other, and so I have had frequent meetings with faculty, staff and students often with the agenda of simply checking in to see how things are going in our respective areas.
It was during such a meeting with student leaders that one young man said to me, "Students rarely have the chance to make decisions that impact the history of a university, could you allow the students to choose the new mascot for UTB?" I replied that we could and we should.
I was very proud of the enthusiasm and thoughtfulness that was given to the mascot selection process: the 400 nominations for mascots; the debates, Facebook and YouTube campaigns; and the 3,500 student votes that were finally cast for the five finalists.
The crowd that gathered at the mascot unveiling on August 31st was spectacular. The UTB spirit was palpable as we looked out over the sea of burnt orange umbrellas to catch glimpses of the homemade signs promoting mascot favorites in the final hour, the UTB logo painted on fresh faces declaring school spirit and students clustered around the two-story colored banners to show their allegiance to each finalist.
And as Senior Communication Major Normalinda Vera sang out "The Ocelot!" as the final mascot chosen by our students, the ringing university bell, the staccato pounding of the drum line and the showering confetti ensured that we would always remember the year, the day, and the very moment we were all gathered to welcome the Ocelot to UT Brownsville.
Submitted Sept. 21, 2012 at 5:00 p.m.
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Rave® Molokai Inflatable Kayak
Item # WX2-228397
- Google+
This item is shipped directly from the factory. To see the expected shipping date, please add to your Shopping Cart. Sorry, no express shipping available. We are unable to ship factory direct items to Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico or APO or FPO addresses.
- Details & Specs
Rave® Molokai Inflatable Kayak offers a comfortable, smooth ride across the water!
Take to the lake with a buddy on this Molokai Inflatable Kayak from Rave! Adjustable, recumbent seats provide the absolutely-necessary support you need for ache-free enjoyment while ripping through the waves. Add to it the slick, heavy-duty tarpaulin bottom material with guiding fins, and you're sure to glide precisely where you mean to. Made with heavy-duty PVC bladder for incredible durability for years on the water.
- Adjustable backrests for comfort while you row
- Water-resistant dry bag and bottle holder included
- Includes carry bag, hand pump and two paddles
- 6 foam-filled handles for easy carrying and launch
- 200-lb. max rider weight
- Measures 136 x 35 x 8", weighs 31 lbs. Comes with 1-year limited warranty.
Get yours at The Guide ONLINE today!
- Reviews
Customer ReviewsNo reviews exist for this item....
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Seattle Sports® Sherpak Kayak HoistBuyer's Club $35.99 Non-Members $39.99


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Compare Products: Check up to four products with to see a side-by-side comparison
Item #: 5916055A
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We offer a variety of food warmer styles, types, and designs so that you can find the best model to fit your needs. And with such great bargains, you can be sure you're getting one of the best deals around! Be sure to check out our stainless steel food pans and accessories, serving spoons, forks, and knives, and countertop condiment holders to keep your buffet or self-serve line running smoothly!
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- Drop In Hot Food Wells
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- Overhead Double Lighted Strip Food Warmer Heat Lamps
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- Parts and Accessories for Dish and Tray Dispensers
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Aperture 3 is a powerful photo management tool from Apple. It includes features for organizing, adjusting, exporting, publishing, displaying your photos, and more. Rich Harrington takes you through the software and demonstrates just what Aperture 3 is capable of.
Get instant access to this course & more
Richard Harrington introduces himself and talks about what will be covered in this course
Options for importing and organizing your files in the Aperture library
Organization is important for both professional and amateur photographers. Detailed metadata will make your library completely searchable
Brand new technologies in Aperture 3 will recognize facial features and tag all photos with that face
Using geo tag data to reference your images
Using Aperture view modes to decide which images are keepers and which ones to trash
The great thing about digital photography is that it is flexible. Photographers can achieve great images using adjustments
Adjust white balance, use presets, preview image changes, use the color brick, explore quick presets, and more
Using the nondestructive adjustment brushes in Aperture
Sharing your pictures with an audience using the slideshow pane
Aperture 3 makes publishing photos to the web easier than ever
Creating a standard print or a book out of Aperture
Thanks for following along. Be sure to check out other KelbyTraining courses


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Is Wells Fargo Geared Up To Go Far?
Zeeshan is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
In my study of Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) back in September 2011, I had suggested that the banking giant looked "undervalued by historical standards" based on its growth prospects and valuation. Since then, the price of the stock has grown by almost 48%. Today, the stock compels me to delve even deeper to see if it still has room enough for growth in the long run.
A bit of past
We have seen that despite reporting record Q4 earnings, the market reacted skeptically to WFC. This was primarily due to the more-than-expected decline in its net interest margin (NIM). Despite this, WFC recorded a whopping 24% jump in net income and a 7% growth in its revenue on a year-on-year on basis. It also showed improvement in credit quality as both net charge-offs and non-performing assets continued to slide further. More importantly, the dip in NIM is not as bad it sounds. Since the quarter witnessed a better-than-expected growth in deposits, the excess cash was reinvested in short-term securities. The incremental NIM related to deposits thus resulted in a compression in the bank's overall NIM.
Assuming that we don't see such a dramatic jump in deposits in the near future, it would be safe to conclude that WFC won't be subjected to such kind of NIM pressure in the forthcoming quarters of 2013. I say this because the impressive loan growth is expected to bring about a hike in average loan balances, which in turn should help avoid such a decline in the interest margin.
That said, I would like to reiterate the Foolish question yet again - is the stock still selling on the cheap? Let's compare WFC with its closest competitors Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) along a few meticulously picked parameters to find this out:
- P/E/Growth (PEG) ratio- The Price/earnings (P/E) ratio in itself is a good indicator of how cheap or expensive the stock is. When we divide this by the historical growth rate of the company, we get a much better picture of its valuation. WFC's PEG ratio of 1.05 makes it look slightly expensive than Citi and BofA, which stand at 0.77 and 0.66, respectively.
- Price/book (P/B) ratio- If you are investing in banks, you definitely shouldn't overlook this one. This ratio helps identify stocks trading at a discount relative to their book values. On this parameter, with a P/B of 1.28, WFC is outdone by both its rivals. Citi and BofA stand at 0.70 and 0.60, respectively.
- Revenue growth to EPS growth- The company's revenues should grow in tandem with its earnings over time before it can be called a 'growth stock'. So instead of focusing on just inflated bottom lines, it's prudent to see if they are actually being driven by stronger revenues or not. WFC's earnings growth of 19.17% against revenue growth rate of 12.72% makes it very appealing.
- Return on assets (ROA)- The ROA, which is calculated by multiplying net profit margin by asset turnover, tells us a good deal about how much value is being created from each dollar of assets. In this case, WFC's ROA of 1.42% beats both its competitors and the industry average. Citi and BofA stand at 0.42% and 0.19%, while the industry's average is 0.88%.
In a nutshell
It's worth considering that WFC, which came out strong post-recession, still has a comparatively low exposure to the capital markets business. With improving asset quality and low cost funding, WFC seems to have substantial room for growth. While it may not be as attractively priced as its peers, the growth criteria do make it look promising from a long term perspective. As Warren Buffett says, "Tomorrow's always uncertain, but the future, the longer future, is always very certain. And that's what you have to keep your eye on." And WFC doesn't top the list of Buffett's favorite banks for nothing.
valuestalker has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Wells Fargo. The Motley Fool owns shares of Bank of America, Citigroup Inc , and Wells Fargo. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Is this post wrong? Click here. Think you can do better? Join us and write your own!


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Funeral services for Sherwood Swain will be held Friday, Feb. 22, 2013 at 1 p.m. at Rose-Neath Funeral Home Chapel in Minden. Officiating will be Dr. Jim Richards. Interment will follow at Old Athens Cemetery in Athens. The family will receive friends from 5 until 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013 at Rose-Neath Funeral Home in Minden.
Sherwood was born Oct. 13, 1939 in Athens and entered into rest Feb. 16, 2013 in Shreveport. He served in the United States Marine Corps.
His parents, Jesse Ruth and Claiborne J. Swain; first wife, Elanor Bodin; and second wife, Jane Savoie preceded him in death.
He is survived by his wife, Janet Swain of Minden; daughters, Julie Smith and husband, Roy of Rayne, Jenny Benson and husband, Dan of Mandeville, JoLynn Ramirez and husband, Robert of Houston, Texas and Jolie Mireles and husband, Hernan of Edinburg, Texas; sister-in-law, Joan Marin and husband, Armando; stepsons, Jerry Morris and wife, Marla, James Morris and wife, Helen; and their sons, Tailor, Christian, Bhret and Steven; sisters, June Richards and husband, Jim of Ft. Worth, Texas and Jimie Ruth Nagler of Seattle, Washington; and eight grandchildren.
Pallbearers will be Nathan Richards, Chase Veronie, James A. Morris, Jerry Morris, Roy Smith, Dan Benson, Robert Ramirez and Armando Marin.


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Moamis Helps Keep Liberty Perfect
Liberty senior Michael Moamis went 4-for-4 with two RBIs in the Leopards' victory over Lakeview on Tuesday.
Liberty senior Michael Moamis went 4-for-4 with two RBIs in the Leopards' victory over Lakeview on Tuesday.
Fitch sent Poland to its first loss of the season in a 5-4 victory on Tuesday afternoon.
Jackson Milton sophomore Nate Clark struck out 10 batters en route to a 16-4 victory over Lisbon on Tuesday.
Boardman picked up its third win of the season in an 8-7 triumph over GlenOak Tuesday afternoon.
Ursuline softball improves to 5-0 on the year after an 11-1 victory over Cardinal Mooney.
Abby Walker, a 7th grader at Southern Local, was the daughter of Columbiana County Sheriff's Detective Steven Walker.
YSU softball splits against Detroit on Tuesday, winning game one, 5-0, but dropping game two, 4-2.
Pittsburgh defeated Youngstown State, 24-7, on Tuesday at Eastwood Field.
Hannah Burke struck out six batters in Howland's 11-4 victory over Canfield.
The Champion girls exact revenge on Newton Falls, beating the Tigers, 11-6, on Tuesday. The Flashes lost to the Tigers on Monday, 7-6.
The Irish have gone 35 straight innings without giving up a run, beating Mooney 1-0 on Tuesday afternoon.
TUPELO, Miss. (AP) — Authorities say a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus elephant was hit by a bullet in a drive-by shooting in Tupe…
The Trumbull Career and technical center is fast becoming known as one stop shopping for employers in the area.
Four former Scrappers players are now playing at Progressive Field for the Indians.
The Lake Julia dredging project at Buhl Park in Hermitage is complete and Tuesday park officials began stocking the lake with fish.
A Leetonia parent donated an $11,000 wireless emergency alert triggers for the school district.
WKBN is disputing a claim by Youngstown officials that they acted correctly in barring reporters from a meeting between city council and Car…
Buckeye Transfer, located in Columbiana, is a top finalist for the Ohio Chamber of Commerce's Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award.
Nearly $8,000 in cash and 200 condoms were found during a raid of a Braceville spa last week.
Police in Warren are searching for a suspect who entered a convenient store Monday night and robbed a clerk at knife-point.


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Jeffrey Dahmer, meet alien dinosaur
Ware and Smith talk location in fiction
Celebrating the other side of comics in Williamsburg
An assassin for Christmas, or maybe some witchcraft and depraved subordia?
An evening with Ira Glass and his hipster/geek pals
Comics come out on Wednesday, and so does Richard Gehr's Pulp Fictions. It was the best of times, it was the...no, it was nowhere near the best of times, as the politically and socially turbulent pages of Alison Bechdel's Essential Dykes to Watch Out For attest. It was a fine year for comics, how ... More >>
Recommendations by R.C. Baker
Criminal masterminds, shoehorn worshippers, President McCain
Krazy Kat and Vegetable Sex to greet the fall season
Rebooting the Serial Novel
Talking with James Sturm, co-founder of the nation's first school for cartoon studies
Talking with Joe Sacco, the innovator of contemporary comics journalism
If you don't read this, insects will crawl out your backside!
The Fine Art of Picking a Shtick
The Tragi-Comics Story of Fantagraphics
Cartoonist Julie Doucet's Secret 'Plotte'
Readers react en-Maus to attack on Spiegelman


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Beginning Sept 1 (Labor Day), the Museum is open on Mondays, 11 am–6 pm.
Check out For Teachers to explore materials and resources developed especially for K-12 audiences.
Visit our webpages filled with activities for artists ages 8-12.
NARRATOR: Welcome to David Smith: Cubes and Anarchy. Smith was a master of modern sculpture. He worked in a broad range of media and explored a rich variety of themes, materials, and subject matter. The works in this show exemplify his life-long interest in geometry. A deep commitment to human forms, feelings, and movement, however, underlie many of his most abstract works.
The large sculptures you see in this room come from the 1960s—the last decade of Smith's life. We'll see earlier works today too, but the exhibition does not follow a linear path from his earliest sculpture—produced in the 1930s—to his death in 1965. Instead the show explores the artist's enduring formal interests, drawing new visual connections between them.
Smith was born in Indiana in 1906, and came to New York as a twenty-year-old. He studied at the Art Students League from 1927 to 1932. He began as a painter, but a decisive moment came in 1932 when he saw a copy of the French art journal Cahiers d'art. It reproduced welded steel sculptures by Pablo Picasso and his fellow Spanish artist Julio González. Smith himself had worked as a welder in a Studebaker factory in 1925. He was excited by the idea of merging art with the methods of modern industry. He was also inspired by the way that Cubism's overlapping shapes and abstract forms lent themselves to the production of deeply personal, yet enigmatic meaning.
In 1929, Smith bought a former fox farm in Bolton Landing, New York—some two hundred miles north of New York City, in the Adirondack Mountains near Lake George. He moved there full-time in 1941. In the 1950s, he began installing his sculpture in the fields surrounding his home and studio. He ultimately filled the fields with his sculpture, creating a dramatic interaction of art and nature. In a sense, Smith's were among the first environmental sculptures—open and responsive to their surroundings.


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I seriously suggest taking a couple of usa pharmacy viagra minutes out of your busy day to watch this brief video on Nanosolar's thin film printable solar technology.
Nanosolar is already in the progress of building the largest solar power manufacturing plant in the U.S. and they expect their panels to levitra price roll onto roofs and bestellen cialis online deliver power at 1/3 the cost of today's solar panels starting next year. The technology is extremely exciting, and it's really great to see their technology in action.
See a larger version here, and for more info on http://jaygalbraith.com/cheap-quality-cialis Nanosolar check out our previous coverage of the Solar Panel Printing
written by Brian 5239, July 14, 2007
written by Brian Green, July 14, 2007
Doesn't help people in high-rise buildings much though.
written by Kyllein MacKellerann, July 14, 2007
Bus Stop Kiosks...Street signs... any surface that is cialis costs angled to cialis online purchase generic catch the sun...Emergency Phones...anything that today takes power from a grid or generator could become independant.
Depending on the efficiency (light to power ratio) these could cover anything and add electricity to the system.
It's not just one big panel, it's lots of puchase propecia online little ones all over the place that will do the job.
written by fsdkfjsdjl, July 14, 2007
written by Alasdair, July 15, 2007
I was really excited about this technology until you see what it's made from. I don't know much about the relative toxicity of the metals, I'll leave others to comment. But what I do know is that this technology simply cannot be scaled up in its present form for very long. The reason? The use of incredibly rare metals. New Scientist had an article this month (http://environment.newscientis...audit.html
which was about how we are chewing through the where to get non prescription viagra earth's metal resources at a staggering pace. For example, Indium had 4-13 years left of production from existing reserves depending on demand levels which are skyrocketing as the metal is used in LCD tvs for example. Gallium had no figures. Is this 'solar printing'? Solar energy at the economics of printing? Nonsense. Any one else picked up on any of this?
written by USA homes, October 22, 2007
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The judges are vaguely complimentary. As Tom pitches to commercial, Maks starts fingering Tom's ear. It's exactly as gross and titillating as it sounds.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 9; Len: 9; Bruno: 9
Oh hey, Tom calls out a couple of Marines who are going to be guest starring on "The Middle" this week. I love that show. If you aren't already watching it, give it a try. I'm president of the Sue Heck fan club.
Kelly Monaco & Val ChmerkovskiyViennese Waltz
Kelly's confidence is waning and she's looking very fatigued and frustrated in rehearsals.
I think they're both in yellow as sort of a tribute to the "yellow ribbon." It's a beautiful routine and when they both end up lying on the floor at the end, Val gets very handsy with Kelly.
Len said it flowed nicely, but the movements were sometimes a little bit sharp and he would've liked a little bit more... but he's cut off. Bruno compliments her shapes and blames any "sharpness" on Kelly feeling the emotion of the dance. Carrie Ann says Kelly is "the spirit of the show" because of her improvement from week to week.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 9.5; Len: 9; Bruno: 9.5
Gilles Marini & Peta MurgatroydQuickstep
In rehearsal, Gilles and Peta talk about how they've been sliding down the leaderboard and they want a perfect score this week. Peta says that the quickstep should play to Gilles's strength in his good frame.
Gilles is wearing a flight suit, mostly unzipped and they are doing the quickstep to "Danger Zone" from Top Gun. Now I've seen it all. This song is really sped up from its normal version. Peta's wearing pants too and it's interesting to see the female part of the quickstep with that kind of definition instead of when the legs are under a long skirt.
Bruno talks about a section in the middle of the dance that was "absolutely fantastic" and crows about how fast it was. Carrie Ann says it was so close and Len and Bruno both react like she's insane. She insists that he was wobbly during some of the fastest steps. Len agrees with Bruno.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 9.5; Len: 10; Bruno: 10
Gilles says "67 years ago the American army came to Europe to free my country or today I would speak a very different language. So, I owe you the world and I'm in the best place ever." Gilles is such a class act.
Emmitt Smith & Cheryl Burke
Viennese Waltz
Cheryl makes a point of working on Emmitt's upper body in rehearsals this week. Emmitt talks to his old buddy and teammate Daryl Johnston, in a bit of rehearsal montage filler.
Emmitt and Cheryl aren't dressed in any sort of quasi-military garb and their song isn't military related either. Did they miss the memo or just choose to ignore it?
Carrie Ann says it was smooth but that Emmitt did slip a little bit during part of the routine. Then she gets into a spat with Len about whether or not Len was mumbling during her comments. Carrie Ann wants to see more improvement from Emmitt. Len liked his balance in and out of hold, but would've liked more fluidity in his arm and does note the slip. Bruno liked it as well, but is in agreement on the slight stumble.
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Before their expulsion from Spain in 1492, Sephardic Jews kept their religious practice, including their music, mostly hidden. Three centuries later, Spain's Gypsies performed flamenco in private rituals. Deemed illegal, both flamenco and Ladino traditions were passed orally from generation to generation in Spain before spreading across the world.
"Flamenco and Ladino music really do come from the same place," says conductor Jeffrey Eckstein. "If you listen to flamenco pieces and then to Ladino pieces, they remind you of one another."
Eckstein has linked the two musical traditions in Flamenco Sephardit, a concert at Miami Beach's Temple Emanu-El on Sunday.
Eckstein typically conducts classical music, but he fell for flamenco when he heard legendary guitarist Vicente Amigo in Barcelona. "I said, 'What is this? I feel the music in my soul!' "
The feeling stuck when he returned to the United States. Eckstein, who lives in New York, often travels to South Florida to conduct the Miami Lyric Opera. When in town, he attends services at Temple Emanu-El in Miami Beach, where he struck up a friendship with Rabbi Marc Philippe. Inspired by the coming-together of Hispanic and Jewish traditions in Miami, Eckstein proposed the concert to him.
To represent flamenco, Eckstein has enlisted dancer Celia Fonta, who is also Jewish. Her guitarist-husband, Spaniard Paco Fonta, will perform with classical and flamenco guitarist Michel Gonzalez.
Eckstein believes that adding classical elements enhances these folk forms, so he has included cellist Rosanna Butterfield and violinist Derek Powell from New World Symphony — and Rabbi Philippe himself, who trained in Paris as a classical singer, as well as a cantor.
"The cello and the violin will make the sound fuller," Eckstein said in a telephone interview.
Rounding out the ensemble is mezzo-soprano Audrey Babcock, who has released an album of Ladino songs using the artistic name Aviva. Entitled Songs for Carmen, the album is a tribute to the mythical Gypsy in Bizet's opera. (Many scholars believe Carmen was inspired by the legend of La Petenera, a beautiful Jewish woman who ignited passions in men and was ultimately murdered by a jealous suitor.)
Eckstein hopes to capture the passion of both traditions by adapting Ladino melodies to fit the structure of flamenco.
"For example, we took a Ladino song and combined it with a Sevillana, or a Soleá," he says, referring to flamenco styles that are distinguished by specific rhythmic patterns. "So they start becoming one piece of music, and all from the same place and origin in Spain."
ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit source of South Florida dance and performing arts coverage.


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By Kelly Steiner firstname.lastname@example.com
Olivia, Jackson, Mason, Lilly, Emma and Miles topped the list of names for babies born this year in the Quad-Cities. Genesis BirthCenters reported 18 newborns were named Olivia and 17 were named Mason.At the Moline Trinity BirthPlace, 20 parents named their girls Lilly or Lilliana, and 19 boys were named Jackson. And at the Bettendorf Trinity BirthPlace, 16 girls were named Emma and 10 babies were named Miles or Myles. While the leading choices changed, many of the top 5 names remained the same at Trinity and Genesis hospitals. Genesis' most popular girls names were Olivia (18), Sophia (14), Ava and Madison (12), Zoey and Emma (11), Avery and Chloe (10) and Lily (9). Top boys' names were Mason (17), Benjamin (14), William, Alexander and Noah (13), Elijah (12) and Henry, Anthony, Jayden and Jackson (11). Last year, Sophia ranked first at Genesis but fell to third this year. Olivia moved up to first from sixth, and Mason -- the No. 1 choice in 2010 -- didn't even make the 2011 list in 2011. At Trinity in Moline the top boys' names were Jackson (19), John (16), Carter (13), various spellings of Kaiden and Aiden (12) and Liam (10). The most popular girls' names were Lilly or Lilliana (20), Isabella (17), Sophia (15), Emma (14) and Sophia and Brooklyn (10). Although 2012 was the first time Carter and Brooklyn made the top 5, Moline Trinity secretary Belinda Gonzalez said the names have been popular for years. At Trinity's Bettendorf location, various spellings of Miles topped the boys' list with 10, followed by various spellings of Kayden (9), various spellings of Landon (8), Easton (6) and various spellings of Jackson (5). Girls' names included Emma (16), Ella (10), various spellings of Adilyn (9), Lily or Lillian (8) and Madelyn (6). Nationally, the Top 10 girl names listed on babycenter.com were Sophia, Emma, Olivia, Isabella, Ava, Lily, Zoe, Chloe, Mia and Madison. The Top 10 boy names were Aiden, Jackson, Ethan, Liam, Mason, Noah, Lucas, Jacob, Jayden and Jack. Officials at Trinity's Moline location reported a trend of old-time names, sometimes great-grandparents, such as Cora, Charlotte, Samuel, Henry, Gwendolyn, Charles, Penelope, Evelyn, Emmett and Lucille. Local hospitals also saw several unique names: Aabro, Akyndrea, Aria, Dannika,Dash, Ellashawnee,Izhais,Jahzzyiah,Knight,Knowledge,Laushantiana, Leland, Niahla, Odin, Onyx, Peace, Princess Tylaiz, Rycker, Sincere, Souleymane, Unterriona, Wisdom and Xhevdet. "We also had a patient that gave her child one first name with 5 middle names and a last name," Ms. Gonzales said. "I don't remember having that before."


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The financial system has grown much more sophisticated over the past century as has the Federal Reserve's approach to keeping it safe.
Financial stability became a more prominent objective of the Federal Reserve in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
The decisions and rules being hammered out today will determine whether the new systemic view will be enough to prevent future crises.
Before the Civil War, bank panics were an all-too-common occurrence across young America. In response, the National Banking Acts of 1863 and 1864 introduced two new safeguards: a directive that US government bonds backstop banknotes and the creation of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to supervise the banks.
Both reforms had their merits but quickly proved lacking as first conceived. Market developments soon enough outpaced market regulators—an age-old pattern that prevailed right up to the financial crisis of 2008.
Bank regulation has always been the Federal Reserve's responsibility, and recently the Federal Reserve has been given additional authority to safeguard the stability of the entire financial system. A look back at 150 years of bank panics and full-blown financial crises helps explain how America's central bank grew into its new role.
The Panic of 1873, which destroyed some 18,000 businesses and pushed unemployment above 14 percent, showed that the Banking Acts were not adequate solutions, partly because deposits, rather than banknotes, had become the dominant form of money. A series of severe panics, culminating in the disastrous Panic of 1907, drove this point home, and a new solution emerged: a currency that could expand to meet the demands of depositors throughout the year, whenever they needed it—that is, an "elastic currency." The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 intended to provide just that, along with "a more effective supervision of banking in the United States."
Problem solved? Not quite. The Great Depression opened with a series of too-familiar banking crises. It took the nationwide bank shutdown in March 1933 to restore calm and set the stage for a new round of regulatory response.
The resulting New Deal reforms—including federal deposit insurance, separation of commercial from investment banking, and interest rate caps on deposit accounts—ushered in nearly three-quarters of a century without a major banking panic. Deposit insurance helped solve the problem of bank runs by giving depositors confidence that their money would be protected, even if their bank got into trouble. And separating commercial from investment banking seemingly prevented banks from engaging in risky high-finance activities. But just as before, the economy was changing, and the old solutions became less effective.
High inflation during the early 1980s made interest rate ceilings, designed in part to keep banks from trying to outdo each other in a risky pursuit of depositors, particularly painful. Depositors began looking for other, "safe" investment vehicles to earn money, and markets delivered with the invention of money market funds. A domino effect ensued: Commercial banks lost market share to investment banks. At the same time, a series of regulatory changes, culminating in the Graham–Leach–Bliley Act, allowed commercial banks to take on investment banking activities. A shadow banking system arose beyond the control of existing regulators. By 2008, the world was in the grip of a full-blown financial crisis.
In the aftermath of the most recent episode, the crisis-response script played out as usual, with one exception; unlike previous crises, which resulted in the formation of major new financial regulators—the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Securities and Exchange Commission—the financial crisis of 2008 mostly brought a reorientation and redefinition of responsibilities.
These principles were laid out in the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009, which gave the Federal Reserve and other financial market regulators more explicit responsibility for promoting financial stability. It did not stipulate most of the details necessary for accomplishing this target. Instead, it provided a goal and established systemic risk as a major consideration in the formation of policy.
The remaining open question is whether elevating "financial stability" as a regulatory ambition will be enough to prevent crises like that of 2008. The Dodd–Frank Act did spell out some clear instructions, including stronger capital buffers for the largest financial firms and new regulatory oversight of the shadow banking system. But much of the "how" was not specified. For all its 800-plus pages, the most important directive in Dodd–Frank may be the establishment of "systemic risk" as a standard of practice. The crisis reinforced the lesson that a bank's failure affects not only its depositors and investors but other banks and businesses as well. That is why the shift is sometimes described as a change from "microprudential" regulation, concentrating on the safety of individual banks, to "macroprudential" supervision, focused on the safety of the financial system.
Systemic risk is a sort of pollution: A risky bank can upset the financial system, just as a coal plant can dirty a neighborhood. So from now on, in considering measures such as adequate capital buffers, regulators are thinking not only about how to keep a bank safe, but also about how to minimize the impact of its possible failure on the rest of the system. For example, a bank merger that would give the public more branches but would create a dangerously large, risky bank now faces more scrutiny. That is, Dodd–Frank represents a shift in perspective as much as a collection of new rules.
Taking a systemic view of financial stability also means greater coordination of regulatory policy. To a large extent, the worst financial crises are best described as exits from bank debt. People try to move to a "safer" form of money. In the 1800s, people caused a run on the bank by exchanging their banknotes for gold; in the Great Depression, they caused a run on the bank by exchanging their deposits for cash; and in 2008, some caused a run on their money market fund by exchanging their shares for bank deposits.
Resolving, and ultimately preventing, these crises involve both banking and monetary policy. This supports a role for the central bank, which controls the money supply, to wield extensive supervisory authority. With such authority, the central bank, as lender of last resort, has direct access to the best and most up-to-date information about the banks and non-bank financial institutions it lends to.
But the most important question is whether an enhanced mandate for financial stability will translate into significantly less economic damage from the next crisis, if it does not prevent it entirely. Not to dodge the question, but it is too early to say. Although many of the rules that Dodd–Frank requires have been completed, some new rules are either in development or still under debate. As of March 2013, no non-bank financial institutions had been designated as systemically important. Even the nation's largest banks, which are automatically designated by Dodd-Frank as being systemically important, have yet to learn of the enhanced supervisory standards they may be subject to.
Exactly what other restrictions such institutions might eventually be subject to had not yet been established, either. For example, it's unclear how much effect higher capital requirements will have or in what cases mergers will be cancelled or activities banned. Moreover, regulators may also have to weigh the benefits of limiting the actions of systemically important firms against the possible loss of economic growth.
Those are just a few of the question marks. The idea of the Federal Reserve playing a prominent role in financial stability is not new. Nevertheless, some might say that providing the Federal Reserve with additional tools to achieve that goal is long overdue. In any case, we are in the thick of it today. Historians of the future will be looking closely at the actions now being taken to explain why we failed or succeeded.
" [The Federal Reserve] is one of the finest research institutions, both at Washington and at the Reserve Banks, of any institution in the United States… My complaints are not on the subject of how it operates but what it does, and I think it's made major mistakes along the
way. "
- Allan Meltzer, Carnegie Mellon University


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Heidi Klum INTERVIEW
Heidi Klum
Heidi Klum gets all kinds of sexy of the cover of Interview Magazine Germany March 2013 edition. The glamourous 40s something supermodel is pictured in a one-piece bathing suit with a pale-skinned female face from the Jeremy Scott Collection with Adidas.
The mother of four hasn't aged a bit and has seem to find a new sense of self after divorcing singer Seal. Heidi still has dozens of projects in the works and has no plans of slowing down!
Subscribe to My Fabulous Style


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Former TNA Knockout Tara, who was known in WWE as Victoria, celebrated her 43rd birthday this week. She is now a restaurant owner in Chicago and throws quite a bit of events there for wrestling fans.
"The UWL(unemployed wrestling league) has come to terms with the release of MVP. We wish him well in his future endeavors!"
- Carlito joking on Twitter about MVP signing with TNA
When UFC legend Anderson Silva brutally broke his leg during a match, former WWE star Carlito went to Twitter and posted a joke by comparing it to the disgusting scene when Sid Vicious broke his leg in WCW.
The wrestling industry is buzzing right now, as Matt Hardy and Carlito were able to draw in 2500 fans to an independent wrestling show, where the former WWE stars fought to determine the first ever WrestleCade Champion.
Former WWE stars Shane Helms and Carlito were down in South America together. An incident took place at the airport, which led to Helms mocking Carlito.
Former WWE stars Matt Hardy and Carlito are fighting in a tables, ladders and chairs match at an independent wrestling show at the end of November to determine the first ever Wrestlecade champion.
Edge won Royal Rumble 2010 by last eliminating John Cena. The other contestants in the match include Batista, Beth Phoenix, Big Show, Carlito, Chris Jericho, Chris Masters, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Evan Bourne, Great Khali, Jack Swagger, John Morrison, JTG, Kane, Kofi Kingston, Mark Henry, Matt Hardy, MVP, R Truth, Shawn Michaels, Shelton Benjamin, Ted DiBiase, The Miz, Triple H, Yoshi Tatsu and Zack Ryder.


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It's a bizarre case that actually started as a burglary call to 99 Retriever Way in an Allenhurst neighborhood. A neighbor saw a young man peeking through the back window of a home. She immediately called police. Walthourville Police Officers and Liberty County Sheriff Deputies questioned the young man and immediately realized he wasn't a suspect. The teen was actually a victim of Jenica Smith, 25.
"He said she had called for him to come over. And he did. And I asked him why? He told me, basically, she was giving him a peep show through the window," said a neighbor who didn't want to be identified.
She says she knows what really happened in the home, after speaking with one of the teenage victims.
"First she befriended them by playing music, giving them sodas and things to drink," explained the neighbor, "Then, slowly, she started introducing the boys to cigarettes and alcohol, and getting the kids drunk. The she started taking advantage of them. She was sexually molesting quite a few teenage boys."
Smith confessed to having sexual relations with at least seven young boys, ranging in age from 13 to 14 years old. Those are the victims that Liberty County Sheriff, Steve Sikes, knows about. He says there are at least two more.
"I was kind of overwhelmed," he said, "But this is an ugly world. To see it going on here in Liberty County, the citizens have to get involved to help us."
Neighbors also say Smith was actually a nanny to her cousins three children, a 9-year-old girl, and two twin boys both 7 years old. Neighbors believe the children were there when everything was going on. The children have since been removed from the house.
"My stomach is still turning because of it," said the unidentified neighbor. "It's literally sickening to know that this happened in the neighborhood."
Neighbors say a basketball goal, right in front of Smith's house, was a favorite place for the neighborhood kids to hang out. Now that Smith is behind bars, neighbors feel a little safer letting their children play there again.
"Lock her up and throw away the key," the neighbor said. "Let those in jail get to her because she deserves everything she's got coming to her."
Smith has been denied bond. She is currently charged with four counts of aggravated child molestation and three counts of statutory rape. Those charges are for just five of the seven victims.
Sheriff Sikes says more charges are pending.
Copyright 2011 WTOC. All rights reserved.
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Savannah, GA 31412
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text: I just ordered a Blitz Nur Spec R-acing exhaust, and I was wondering if it will have any problems throwing CELs, or any O2 sensor problems. I'm getting it installed at the best place in the state so I really have no fear of it but I was just wondering about the precautions.Also, just the exhaust alone with the stock up and down pipe won't make it necessary to bump to Stage II and get my ECU reflashed right?Because my friend said on his Celica he installed a new exhaust and turbo and his car went to shit because it started eating 7x the normal about of oil.Just wondering!Thanks!meant stage III.typo. <3


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Quick links:
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Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems (IPPS) FY 2015 Final Rule has been Published
The intent of the HCAHPS initiative is to provide a standardized survey instrument and data collection methodology for measuring patients' perspectives on hospital care. While many hospitals have collected information on patient satisfaction, prior to HCAHPS there was no national standard for collecting or publicly reporting patients' perspectives of care information that would enable valid comparisons to be made across all hospitals. In order to make "apples to apples" comparisons to support consumer choice, it was necessary to introduce a standard measurement approach: the HCAHPS survey, which is also known as the CAHPS® Hospital Survey, or Hospital CAHPS. HCAHPS is a core set of questions that can be combined with a broader, customized set of hospital-specific items. HCAHPS survey items complement the data hospitals currently collect to support improvements in internal customer services and quality related activities.
Three broad goals have shaped the HCAHPS survey. First, the survey is designed to produce comparable data on the patient's perspective on care that allows objective and meaningful comparisons between hospitals on domains that are important to consumers. Second, public reporting of the survey results is designed to create incentives for hospitals to improve their quality of care. Third, public reporting will serve to enhance public accountability in health care by increasing the transparency of the quality of hospital care provided in return for the public investment. With these goals in mind, the HCAHPS project has taken substantial steps to assure that the survey is credible, useful, and practical. This methodology and the information it generates are available to the public.
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