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Through this website, AdMax Local, LLC ("AdMax Local, LLC " or "we") offers a service through the brand "MoFuse", that allows users who register with AdMax Local (each a "User"or "you") to use AdMax Local's proprietary software platform, MoFuse, to build and host websites (the "Service"). By using the Service, you agree to comply with and be bound by the following terms and conditions (this "Agreement"), which we may change at any time by posting notice on MoFuse.com, which is owned by AdMax Local, LLC.
PLEASE READ THIS AGREEMENT CAREFULLY. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, please do not use the Service. Use of the Service is limited to those individuals and entities who can form legally binding contracts under applicable law, and without limiting the foregoing, the Service is not to be accessed or used by minors.
In addition, when using any particular Service option, you may be subject to additional guidelines or terms and conditions applicable to such service that may be posted on MoFuse.com from time to time, which are hereby incorporated into this Agreement.
If you wish to become a User, you are required to register by creating an account. If you register, you represent and warrant to AdMax Local, LLC that: (i) you are of legal age to form a binding contract, and, if you are acting on behalf of an organization, you have the right to enter this Agreement on behalf of such organization; (ii) you will provide AdMax Local, LLC with accurate, current and complete registration information; (iii) your registration and your use of the Service is not prohibited by law; and (iv) you have all legal rights to publish and distribute versions of websites you input into the Service (the "User Authorized Sites"). AdMax Local, LLC reserves the right to terminate or suspend your status as a User in the event that you breach any term of this Agreement or Provision of Service.
During the period that you are a User in good standing (the "Term"), you are entitled to use the Service to create mobile or responsive website versions of the User Authorized Sites. As part of the Service, AdMax Local, LLC will host the User Mobile or Responsive Sites on its servers. AdMax Local's ability to provide the Service is subject to provision of the User to provide website content such as images, text, video links or RSS feeds, which shall be the responsibility of the User. AdMax Local is not responsible for any errors or delays in the Service caused by any error or fault of User with the User Authorized Sites or the RSS feeds sent to AdMax Local. User will ensure that the User Authorized Sites do not contain any computer virus, code or other feature that may harm or impair the operation of the Service.
The Service includes the right for User to use (a) AdMax Local's online tools to optimize the User Authorized Sites for mobile or responsive site delivery to appropriate devices; and (b) MoFuse Redirect code on User Authorized Sites to alert or redirect end users to the User Mobile Sites (such tools and code snippets supplied by the "MoFuse Tools") grants User a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right and license to use the AdMax Local Tools during the Term in connection with User's use of the Service. Except as expressly permitted herein, User shall not copy, modify, distribute, sublicense, make available, reverse engineer, reverse compile or otherwise use the AdMax Local/MoFuse Tools. No license is granted to User to AdMax Local Tools or any other proprietary technology or intellectual property of AdMax Local except as expressly stated herein, and AdMax Local reserves all rights therein.
User hereby grants to AdMax Local the limited, non-exclusive, right and license: (a) to use, copy and publish the User Authorized Sites to create User Sites and to display such User Sites to end-users on User's behalf. In addition, User hereby grants AdMax Local the limited, non-exclusive right and license to display an image of User Sites (or any part thereof) in AdMax Local's marketing materials and on AdMax Local's websites. Users may opt out of such use of User Mobile or Responsive Sites by sending written notice to AdMax Local at email@example.com, and in the event of such opt out AdMax Local will cease use of your User Sites promptly, subject to a reasonable transition period to allow AdMax Local to make changes to marketing materials and websites. Except for the limited licenses granted to AdMax Local in this Agreement, AdMax Local acquires no rights in or to the User Authorized Sites, and all such rights are retained and reserved exclusively by User.
AdMax Local Obligations
The MoFuse Service includes the following benefits: (a) AdMax Local shall use commercially reasonable efforts so that the MoFuse Service is available 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, subject to reasonable periodic maintenance and any necessary emergency maintenance; (b) AdMax Local shall use commercially reasonable efforts to supply access to analytics for the User Mobile Sites 24 hours a day; and (c) AdMax Local shall use commercially reasonable efforts to allow you access to our proprietary website site layout tool 24 hours a day. You may cancel your subscription at any time by going to the "billing settings" section of the platform and selecting Cancel Account. Your cancellation will take effect at the end of the then-current billing cycle. You are not entitled to any refund for the period from when you give notice to the end of the billing cycle. We do not offer a pro-rated service fee within a month cycle.
Provided that the User has paid applicable fees covering all applicable usage of the Service, Users may act as a reseller of the Service by using the Service to provide mobile or responsive websites for User Authorized Sites that are owned or controlled by third parties other than User. If User acts as a reseller of the Service as described in this paragraph ("Reseller"), the following applies: (a) Reseller shall require that any third party to whom Reseller supplies the Service or who otherwise owns or controls User Authorized Sites that Reseller creates mobile websites for using the Service (an "End User") to enter into an agreement with Reseller that requires such End User to agree to and be bound by these Terms of Service as if named as a "User" herein; and (b) Reseller shall be responsible and liable for its End User's compliance with the Terms of Service and shall indemnify AdMax Local, LLC from and against any liability, loss, damage, expenses and attorneys' fees incurred in connection with (a) any act or omission of any End User that would constitute a breach of the Terms of Service if such End User were a User hereunder; or (b) Reseller's failure to require any End User to be bound by these Terms of Service.
Use of the Service is subject to payment of the applicable fees listed on the MoFuse website, which are paid by User by credit card or arranged invoice. If any credit card payment is dishonored or charged back to AdMax Local, the User remains liable to AdMax Local for the full amount of fees payable. AdMax Local reserves the right to collect interest at the maximum rate permitted by applicable law on overdue balances. If AdMax Local terminates your User status or use of the MoFuse Service as a result of breach of this Agreement, you will not be entitled to any refund of fees paid. If any taxes, including sales, use or service taxes, are applicable to AdMax Local's provision of the Service to you, you are responsible for payment of such taxes.
Monthly fees are deemed to be earned in full when received by AdMax Local and will not be refunded in whole or part should User elect to terminate or AdMax Local terminates pursuant to the provisions outlined herein.
In any given month if you do not pay for your hosted site and we cannot reach an arrangement for payment after 5 consecutive business days, AdMax Local reserves the right to apply mobile advertisements to your site of which the revenue generated from these ads will go to AdMax Local. The advertisements will be used as payment to AdMax Local for our costs of hosting your mobile website. Once payment is made by you, we will remove the advertisements from your site.
Former MoFuse for Blogs™ customers:
The MoFuse formerly offered a free service called "MoFuse for Blogs". Users of the MoFuse for Blogs service will have mobile ads automatically turned 'on' for any User Mobile Site built and hosted on the Service. AdMax Local has honored a free mobile site hosting for these previous MoFuse for Blogs customers; in return for a free mobile site, mobile ads will be turned 'on' and generated revenues from these ads belong to AdMax Local. MoFuse for Blogs customers may at any time upgrade to a paid monthly subscription plan in which case AdMax Local mobile ads will be removed from their site, as described under "Current Customers" above.
Rules of Conduct for the Service
You shall not:
– Use the Service for any purpose in violation of local, state, national or international laws;
– Impersonate any person or entity, or forge or manipulate headers to disguise the origin of any User Authorized Site;
– Harvest or otherwise collect information about others, including email addresses, without their consent;
– Harvest or collect any data from AdMaxLocal.com or MoFuse.com or use any automated means, including spiders, robots, crawlers, data mining tools or the like to download data from MoFuse.com or relating to the Service (other than Internet search engines operating on terms reasonably acceptable to AdMax Local);
– Attempt to gain unauthorized access to AdMax Local's computer systems; or
– Engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits any other person from using or enjoying the Service, or which, in AdMax Local's sole judgment, exposes AdMax Local to any liability or detriment of any type.
The Service may not be used to publish, distribute or otherwise make available any material that:
– Is libelous, defamatory, threatening, abusive, scandalous, obscene or unlawful or that encourages a criminal offense;
– Contains material from other copyrighted works without the written consent of the owner of such copyrighted material;
– Infringes any copyright or violates any property rights, rights of privacy or publicity, or any other rights of any third party;
– Contains any statement, formula, direction, recipe, prescription or other matter that involves a reasonably foreseeable risk of injury or damage to the material's readers or others; or
– Contains any software viruses or any other code, file or program that is designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software, hardware or telecommunications equipment.
AdMax Local reserves the right (but is not obligated) to do any or all of the following:
– Investigate any allegation that any User Authorized Site does not conform to the terms and conditions of this Agreement; or
– Disable access to the Service with respect to any User Authorized Site that is abusive, illegal or disruptive, or that otherwise fails to conform with the terms and conditions of this Agreement.
AdMax Local and AdMax Local Affiliates have no liability or responsibility to Users or any other person or entity for performance or nonperformance of the aforementioned activities.
Proprietary Rights
All the text, images, marks, logos, compilations (meaning the collection, arrangement and assembly of information) and other content on MoFuse.com, including any Submissions (as defined below) (collectively, the "Site Content") are proprietary to us or to third parties. AdMax Local authorizes you to view, download, and use the Site Content solely in connection with your authorized use of the Service in accordance with this Agreement. Except as expressly permitted above, copying, modifying, reproduction, redistribution, republication, uploading, posting, transmitting, distributing or otherwise exploiting in any way the Site Content, or any portion of the Site Content, is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of AdMax Local. In addition, you may not link to any part of the Site Content or frame or otherwise display in any manner the Site Content at any other web site or elsewhere without AdMax Local's written consent.
All software used by AdMax Local to operate the Service hosted at MoFuse.com, is proprietary to us or to third parties, and except as may be required to use the Service in accordance with this Agreement, any use, copying, redistribution, sale, decompilation, reverse engineering, disassembly, translation or reduction of such software to human-readable form is prohibited.
The mark MoFuse™ is proprietary to AdMax Local, LLC, and it may not be used in connection with any service or products other than those provided by AdMax Local, in any manner that is likely to cause confusion among customers, or in any manner that disparages or discredits AdMax Local. Any use of the MoFuse mark, or any others displayed on the Service, will inure solely to the benefit of their respective owners.
Certain types of data and analytics are generated in connection with use of the Service: (a) "User Data", meaning any data and analytics specific to User, including number of page views, the types of handsets of viewers of User Mobile Sites, and the source of mobile traffic; and (b) "Aggregated Data", meaning data generated by AdMax Local in connection with this Agreement that does not identify User, including aggregated traffic analysis, aggregated usage reports, and aggregated information about end-user access to mobile websites. AdMax Local does not collect personally identifiable information from the Service. AdMax Local shall make the User Data available to User on MoFuse.com via a secured account and login provided by AdMax Local. As between User and AdMax Local and to the extent permitted by law: (i) User owns and retains all rights to User Data, and AdMax Local shall use User Data only for the purposes of this Agreement; and (ii) AdMax Local owns and retains all rights to Aggregated Data. You agree, and represent and warrant, that your use or other exploitation of the Service and the Site Content, or any portion thereof, will be consistent with the licenses, covenants and restrictions in this Agreement and will neither infringe nor violate the rights of any other party or breach any contract or legal duty to any other parties. In addition, you agree that you will comply with all applicable laws, regulations and ordinances relating to the Service, the Site Content or your use of them, and you will be solely responsible for your own individual violations of any of them.
You agree that AdMax Local may refer to or feature your User Mobile Site on its own websites or promotional materials at any time, in its discretion (although you may opt out of this by contacting AdMax Local in writing).
Submissions to AdMax Local Belong to AdMax Local
AdMax Local is pleased to hear from you and welcomes your comments regarding the MoFuse Service and Site Content. In the event that you submit ideas, suggestions, materials or other information to AdMax Local, whether at the request of AdMax Local or not (all of the foregoing being "Submissions"), the Submissions will be deemed, and will remain, the sole property of AdMax Local, LLC. None of the Submissions will be subject to any obligation of confidence on the part of AdMax Local, and AdMax Local and AdMax Local Affiliates (as defined below) will not be liable for any use or disclosure of any Submissions. Without limiting the foregoing, AdMax Local will exclusively own all now known or hereafter existing rights to the Submissions of every kind, in perpetuity, and will be entitled to unrestricted use and other exploitation of the Submissions for any purpose whatsoever, commercial or otherwise, by any means, by any media, without compensation to the provider, author, creator or inventor of the Submissions. Each of the them irrevocably and unconditionally waives and covenants not to assert any of such rights against AdMax Local or its affiliates, successors, assigns, officers, directors, employees and agents (collectively, "AdMax Local Affiliates").
Warranty Disclaimers and Limitations of Liability
If you have paid all fees due, AdMax Local covenants that it will deliver the Service in accordance with applicable industry standards. In the event of any breach of such covenant, or other failure or defect with respect to the Service, the sole and exclusive remedy of the User, and the sole and exclusive liability of AdMax Local, shall be, at AdMax Local's option (a) to re-perform the Service to remedy the defect or failure or (b) to refund the amount paid for the period during which the Service was alleged to be defective.
Except as stated in the previous paragraph, AdMax Local and AdMax Local Affiliates make no representations or warranties of any kind regarding the Service and the Site Content, and AdMax Local and AdMax Local Affiliates EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NONINFRINGEMENT, AND ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING AND USAGE OF TRADE; THAT THE SERVICE OR THE SITE CONTENT WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, WILL ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE, ACCESSIBLE, UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE OR OPERATE WITHOUT ERROR, AS TO THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE OPERATION, USE OR OTHER EXPLOITATION OF THE SERVICE OR THE SITE CONTENT, AND AS TO THE ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM THE SERVICE OR THE SITE CONTENT. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by you from AdMax Local, any of AdMax Local Affiliates or through the Service or Site Content will create any warranty not expressly stated herein.
Your Indemnity of AdMax Local and AdMax Local Affiliates; Termination of Use
You agree to indemnify, hold harmless, and at their respective options, defend AdMax Local and AdMax Local Affiliates from all causes of action, claims and allegations (whether threatened or pending), costs, fees, charges, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' and professionals' fees), judgments, damages, losses, and liabilities arising from or relating to the breach or alleged breach of your duties or obligations under this Agreement or your use of the Service or Site Content. For any indemnified matter, AdMax Local and AdMax Local Affiliates will have full control of the response thereto and the defense thereof, including any agreement relating to the settlement thereof, and you will cooperate fully with AdMax Local and AdMax Local Affiliates in such matter.
AdMax Local may, at its option, suspend or terminate any User's access to any or all of the Service, including your password and account, at any time on notice to you. If such termination occurs due to breach of this Agreement by you, you will not be entitled to any refund on account of termination. If termination is not due to breach of this Agreement by you, termination will take effect at the end of the then-applicable billing cycle, and no further payments shall be due from you.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act Compliance
AdMax Local complies with the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act applicable to internet service providers (17 U.S.C. §512, as amended). If any person has any complaints or objections to material posted on the Service or on any User Mobile Site hosted by the Service, you may contact our Designated Agent at the following address:
Joy Musry
AdMax Local, LLC
11150 W. Olympic Boulevard., Suite 600
Los Angeles, CA 90064
Phone: 310-582-5700
Email: email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com
Any notice alleging that materials on this Service or on any User Site hosted by the Service infringe intellectual property rights must include the following information:
(a) an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other right being infringed;
(b) a description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed;
(c) a description of the material that you claim is infringing and where it is located on the Service;
(d) your address, telephone number, and email address;
(e) a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the use of the materials on the Site of which you are complaining is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
(f) a statement by you that the above information in your notice is accurate and that, under penalty of perjury, you are the copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the copyright or intellectual property owner's behalf.
Counter Notices
If material that you have posted to the Service or any User Site has been removed or disabled, you may file a counter notice pursuant to 17 U.S.C. §512 (g). To be effective, the counter notice must be a written communication sent to the designated agent address listed above that includes the following:
(g) a physical or electronic signature of the subscriber;
(h) identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled;
(i) a statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled; and
(j) your name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located or, if your address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which AdMax Local may be found, and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection 17 U.S.C. §512 (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.
Link to the Privacy Policy
AdMax Local operates the Service under the PRIVACY POLICY published at http://mofuse.com/privacy-policy/. We urge you to read this policy now and, because the policy is updated from time to time, later at your convenience.
This Service is not directed at users under the age of 13. If you are under the age of 13, you are not permitted to register as a User or send any information about yourself to us.
Links to Third Party Service Are Not Endorsements.
The Service may contains links to third-party web sites. The linked sites are not under our control, and we are not responsible for the contents of any linked site. We provide these links as a convenience only, and a link does not imply endorsement of, sponsorship of, or affiliation with the linked site by AdMax Local. Links to merchants or advertisers are owned and operated by independent retailers or service providers, and therefore, we are unable to ensure that you will be satisfied with their products, services or business practices. You should make whatever investigation you feel necessary or appropriate before proceeding with any transaction with any of these third parties.
Applicable Law and Jurisdiction; Compliance
The Service (excluding links) are controlled by AdMax Local and operated by AdMax Local from its offices in and around Los Angeles, CA. Because the Service is made available by means of the Internet it is accessible in all fifty states and other countries. As each of these places has laws that may differ from those of California and from each other, and as you and AdMax Local both benefit from establishing a predictable legal environment in which to operate, use or otherwise exploit the Service, by using the Service you and AdMax Local agree that all matters arising from or relating to the use and operation of the Service will be governed by the substantive laws of California, without regard to its conflicts of laws principles. You agree that all claims you may have arising from or relating to the operation, use or other exploitation of the Service will be heard and resolved in the federal and state courts located in California. You consent to the personal jurisdiction of such courts over you, stipulate to the fairness and convenience of proceeding in such courts, and covenant not to assert any object to proceeding in such courts. If you choose to gain access to the Service from locations other than California, you will be responsible for compliance with all local laws of any such other location, and in no event will you use the Service or Site Content in violation of U.S. export laws or regulations.
Miscellaneous Provisions
No delay or omission by AdMax Local in exercising any of its rights occurring upon any noncompliance or default by you with respect to any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement will impair any such right or be construed to be a waiver thereof, and a waiver by AdMax Local of any of the covenants, conditions or agreements to be performed by you will not be construed to be a waiver of any succeeding breach thereof or of any other covenant, condition or agreement hereof contained. As used in this Agreement, "including" means "including but not limited to." If any provision of this Agreement is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unenforceable, then this Agreement will remain in full force and effect and will be reformed to be valid and enforceable while reflecting the intent of the parties to the greatest extent permitted by law. Except as otherwise expressly provided herein, this Agreement sets forth the entire agreement between you and AdMax Local, LLC regarding its subject matter, and supersedes all prior promises, agreements or representations, whether written or oral, regarding such subject matter. This Agreement may be assigned by AdMax Local to any successor to its business, whether by merger, change of control, or sale of all or substantially all of its assets. You agree that the electronic text of this Agreement constitutes a writing and your assent to the terms and conditions hereof constitutes a "signing" for all purposes.
Last updated: May 2015


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LG G6 review
Samsung Galaxy S8
Apple iPhone X
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Sony Xperia L1
New digital cameras
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Ilse Jurriën : September 7th 2006 - 01:07 CET
HP & Care campaign against global poverty
HP & Care campaign against global poverty :
Sharing a common belief in the power of photography to draw attention to social issues, HP and Care are teaming together in a joint global program that will send teams of photographers to capture the essence of Care's "I Am Powerful" campaign. In the next two months, the program will dispatch five photographic teams, each composed of one renowned photographer and a photography student, to different regions of the world where Care has on-the-ground poverty-fighting operations. The images taken during the expeditions will be used to showcase the power of today's digital printing technology. It will also expose new audiences to Care's work to empower women in the fight against poverty.
HP Graphics & Imaging Business
"This collaboration with Care was a natural fit," said Stephen Nigro, senior vice president, Graphics and Imaging Business, HP. "At HP, we continually strive to invent more innovative printing and photographic technologies to help professional photographers make a lasting impact. We are delighted to be working with an organization that has a longstanding history of creating stunning imagery to document its life-changing work." Images from the shoots will be produced on the latest technology from HP's portfolio of professional photo printers - empowering the photographers to truly print their visions of powerful women. Demonstrating HP's excellence in color and black & white printing, the images will be showcased at a variety of events this fall.
Care campaign - Help poor women use photography
Care's "I Am Powerful" campaign raises awareness about how empowering women contributes to the fight against global poverty. In 70 countries, Care helps women create lasting change for themselves, their families and their communities. "We are thrilled to be working with HP to showcase our work with women across the world," said Deb Neuman, Care senior vice president of External Relations. "In Care's 60 year history, we have found that photography is one of the most important ways to tell our story. With the I am Powerful campaign in its first year, this project is an important step in chronicling the work of our organization and progress being made in poor communities."
Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop
Also supporting the campaign are a variety of HP pro photography partners including Adobe Systems, the provider of the industry-leading Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop software, which have redefined the quality and complexity of images that can be created for print; GretagMacBeth, a subsidiary of X-Rite Incorporated, a leading provider of color management solutions comprised of hardware, software and services for accurate color from input to output verification and communication of color data; and Hasselblad, one of world's leading companies of high-end digital cameras.
About the Photography Teams
Traveling to Care projects in Cambodia, Egypt, India, Peru, Angola, participating teams include:
Ami Vitale and Sam Penninger - India
: Vitale's photographs and stories from events in Europe, the Middle East and Africa have appeared in publications including Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, BusinessWeek, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Financial Times and MSNBC (and others). Penninger is in his final year at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and is looking forward to moving into travel/editorial photography.
Maggie Steber and Jessica Wunderlich - Peru
: Steber is an award-winning documentary photographer who has traveled to 53 different countries to create visual stories for The National Geographic, Life, The New Yorker, Smithsonian, People, Merian Magazine (Germany), The Times Magazine (London), Newsweek, Time and Sports Illustrated. Wunderlich is pursuing her bachelor's degree in visual journalism at Brooks Institute of Photography and beginning her Career in photography and documentary filmmaking.
Meredith Davenport and Una Brosnan - Egypt
: Davenport is a freelance photojournalist. She lived in Latin America for six years, where she worked as a staff photographer and regional coordinator for Agence France Presse. She covered civil unrest, political corruption and drug issues in Colombia as a freelance photographer for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Guardian, among others. A physics graduate and a recent graduate from the Paris, Institute of Photography, Brosnan's photographic work explores many dimensions, from studio to photojournalism. She is looking forward to returning to Africa where previous assignments took her to Ethiopia.
Phil Borges and Hoshito Omija - Cambodia
: For more than 25 years, Borges has lived with and documented indigenous and tribal cultures around the world. Striving to create a heightened understanding of the issues faced by people in the developing world, his work has been celebrated through a wide variety of exhibits and award winning books, including Tibetan Portrait: The Power of Compassion and Enduring Spirit. He also has hosted several documentaries for National Geographic and Discovery channels. Omija is a fourth year student at Nihon University in Japan, with a special focus on portrait photography.
Evelyn Hockstein and Ilan Godfrey - Angola
: Based in Nairobi, Kenya, Hockstein is a photojournalist covering the fate of civilian populations in conflict. Her work has garnered several awards, including a Pulitzer prize nomination for her coverage of child labor in West Africa and has recently been published in a collective book, Broken Bodies, Broken Dreams, about violence against women. A regular contributor to The New York Times, her work has also been published globally in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Time, Newsweek, Stern, L'Express, and U.S. News and World Report, among others. Godfrey graduated from the University of Westminster with honors. He has a bachelor of arts degree in Photography and as received the David Faddy scholarship to continue study in a Masters degree in Photojournalism.
About Care
Care is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. Last year, Care programs improved the lives of more than 45 million people in 70 countries. Care tackles underlying causes of poverty so that people can become self-sufficient. Recognizing that women and children suffer disproportionately from poverty, Care places special emphasis on working with women to create permanent social change. Women are at the heart of Care's community-based efforts to improve basic education, prevent the spread of HIV, increase access to clean water and sanitation, expand economic opportunity and protect natural resources. Care also delivers emergency aid to survivors of war and natural disasters, and helps people rebuild their lives.
About HP
HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, global services, home computing, imaging & printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended July 31, 2006, HP revenue totaled $ 90.0 billion.
HP Snapfish helps Katrina victims
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Photographer Salgado helps Brazilian rainforest
Logitech Z-10 Interactive 2.0 Speaker System
Verizon helps American Red Cross
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subset: commoncrawl


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Property Location
When you stay at Sun Set Hotel in Wadi Musa, you'll be minutes from Petra Ruins.
Make yourself at home in one of the 36 air-conditioned guestrooms. Conveniences include phones, as well as safes and ceiling fans.
Rec, Spa, Premium Amenities
Take in the views from a rooftop terrace and make use of amenities such as concierge services and tour/ticket assistance.
You can enjoy a meal at a restaurant serving the guests of Sun Set Hotel, or stop in at a grocery/convenience store.
Business, Other Amenities
Featured amenities include a 24-hour front desk, multilingual staff, and luggage storage. Free self parking is available onsite.
Are you affiliated with Petra Sun Set Hotel? Apply to the Hotel WiFi Connect program to take control of your account, improve your hotel's confidence score and ranking.
© 2013-2016 Hotel WiFi Test Inc.


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The Millions, as always, has an excellent article on the difficulty of writing novels in the face of the rising tide of electronic inundation.
Short Round over at Alternative 1985 has some truly interesting/bizarre things to say about a recent study that found people became frightened when a prosthetic third arm was threatened with a knife. I love this man's mind. I must admit this.
China Mieville manages to blow my mind in a single sentence. As a parent of a two year old I see anthropomorphs constantly and yet I've never thought critically about the very real (il)logical boundaries placed on anthropomorphism. China, you the man.
As usual, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows has yet another amazing new word for you writers to use.
And, lastly, another awesome article from the NY Times about the powers of social persuasion in determining successful commodities in the cultural marketplace.
aoyaoian. a musical flavor found in electric guitar solos that compels you to snarl, squint and bend your spine like a longbow being drawn back to fire a warning shot to your distant ancestors, so they may know that your domestication will not go unavenged.


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Member News
Obituary for Kokayi Danladi (Jonathan DeSean Nichols)
Howard Architecture School graduate from Detroit taken in tragic Denver car crash. HERE is his obituary.
2015 Distinguished Service Awardee
Born and raised in Detroit, Tiffany holds a B. Arch, an M.Arch, and an MBA from Lawrence Technological University. Tiffany was employed as an Intern Architect at Hamilton Anderson Associates for 11 years, working on a wide variety of projects in Detroit and Las Vegas, during which time she found great interest in Construction Management and Administration. This interest led Tiffany to the next chapter in her career as a Project Engineer at LS Brinker Group in Detroit, where she works on the construction management team building a $90M addition to DMC Children's Hospital of Michigan. She is currently studying for the architectural licensing exams.
Tiffany has served as Vice President for NOMA-Detroit for the past seven years, as well as Co-Chair for NOMA's Annual Convention hosted in Detroit in 2012. She is now also serving as University Liaison of the Midwest Region on NOMA's National Executive Board. She has mentored minority youth of Detroit since high school, striving to raise awareness that there are faces that look like theirs in technical fields like construction, architecture and design, and endeavoring to highlight the significant contributions women have made in male-dominated professions.


text: This is an easy-to-use program for pasting together photos, clip art, type, and shapes. You drag and drop pictures onto the page, then colorize, crop, or frame them. Letter cutouts and doodles add a custom feel to your compositions, and you can rotate and resize each element. Collage Creator doesn't conform to standard Windows commands, but it has so few options that even novices will quickly master it. That simplicity could frustrate sophisticated users, but kids will definitely enjoy it.


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This is the first time I have ever had to experience the waiting for the next book in a series. Usually, I'm a little late to the game and I can snag book after book without the agony of waiting for months for the newest installment. Not this time. I read Red Queen one humid day in January, and was okay with waiting a month for Glass Sword. HAHAHA joke's on me. I was a genius and decided to wait for the library to get a copy. It didn't get here until September, and now here I am, mid way through October, typing this post.
Glass Sword was just as action packed and suspenseful as Red Queen. From page one, I was raving and rioting about the events that go on. I grew to love characters, question characters, and even mourn a few characters as well (I may or may not have cried). Being able to see Shade and the connection he and Mare have is so heartwarming; I understand now why Aveyard wrote such a buildup to that relationship in the first book. Better yet, seeing the entire Barrow family together was beautiful. What Mare is trying to achieve was inspiring and cringe-worthy at the same time. The way she goes about achieving these goals was a little questionable, especially towards the end. Honestly, it's what anyone would expect from a teenager that all of a sudden needs to be a "hero". I now root for Cal more than ever because he's a teddy bear, and I love him. I will say the pacing of the story was weird. It happened in the first book as well. It had a very fast pace and tons of intense action followed by chapter after chapter of agonizingly slow story-building. Will this stop me from reading King's Cage? Nope! I love this series and am patiently waiting for the next book!


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Find Hostels all over the World
Veni Vidi Dormi, HOSTEL in Istanbul Turkey.
Veni Vidi Dormi.
Nuhkuyusu Caddesi Balcilar Yokusu 69, Istanbul, Turkey
Located near: Veni Vidi Dormi is located between Üsküdar Square (walking distance) and Kadiköy Square (3 bus stops). Üsküdar is a popular residential and commercial district on the Asian side. Friendly, cheap and home to many restaurants, cafes, markets, antique shops, Turkish baths, mosques and historical sites, this seaside suburb has a lot to offer It is also a central transport hub; ferries, buses, trains and dolmuses depart regularly from the suburban centre to European and Anatolian destinations
After a pleasant journey along the streets of Üsküdar that has been considered as an outdoor museum by containing large number of pieces from the Ottoman Empire period, Veni Vidi Dormi waits for you as the most beautiful resting place.


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U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology
Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations
|This report is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information
Federal Highway Administration > Publications > Research > Structures > A Laboratory and Field Study of Composite Piles for Bridge Substructures
Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-04-043
Previous | Table of Contents | Next
This study investigated the potential use of composite piles for load-bearing applications, specifically bridge substructures. The term "composite piles" refers to alternative pile foundations composed of FRPs, recycled plastics, or hybrid materials that are placed in the ground to support axial and/or lateral loads. Conventional piles are made of steel, concrete, and timber; these materials have limited service life and high maintenance costs when used in harsh marine environments (Lampo, et al., 1998). Degradation problems of conventional piles include chloride attack on concrete, steel corrosion, and marine borer attack on timber piles. It has been estimated that repair and replacement of piling systems costs the United States more than $1 billion annually (Lampo, et al., 1997). High repair and replacement costs drive the need to investigate the feasibility of using FRP composite materials for pile foundations (Lampo, et al., 1998; Iskander and Hassan 1998). FRP composite materials are considered an attractive alternative for marine and other harsh environments because they are resistant to the degradation mechanisms mentioned above.
Composite piles have been available in the North American market since the mid 1980s, but their use to date has been limited mainly to marine fender piles, load-bearing piles for light structures, and experimental test piles (Iskander, et al., 2001). Composite piles have not yet gained wide acceptance in the civil engineering industry, primarily due to the lack of a long track record of performance. However, FRP composite piles may have a longer life cycle and improved durability in harsh marine environments, which presents the potential for substantially reduced costs.
To confidently assess the feasibility of using composite piles for load-bearing structures, information and performance data were gathered in critical areas of structural behavior and performance; long-term durability; and geotechnical behavior, including driveability and soil-pile load-transfer interactions. The overall objective of this research project was to evaluate the feasibility of using composite piles in bridge substructures. Table 52 presents the four detailed objectives of the project and indicates how each objective was met.
|Evidence of Objective Completion
|Evaluation of the long-term durability of concrete-filled FRP composite pipe piles.
|An experimental study was designed and implemented to investigate the degradation of the mechanical properties of glass FRP composites used to fabricate composite piles. The study investigated the effects of moisture absorption and exposure to freeze-thaw cycles.
|Performance of laboratory tests to evaluate the soil-pile interface behavior of concrete-filled FRP composite piles and compare them with tests carried out on conventional prestressed concrete piles.
|Interface shear tests were carried out on four FRP composite piles, one plastic pile, and two conventional piles.
|Design and performance of a test pile program to evaluate the driveability, axial and lateral behavior, and capacity of concrete-filled FRP composite piles compared to conventional prestressed concrete piles.
|Full-scale test pile programs were performed at two bridge sites in Virginia. Field data were gathered, analyzed, and disseminated to contribute to the current state of knowledge of composite piles.
|Design and performance of a production pile testing and monitoring program in a real bridge project to compare long-term performance, load-transfer capability, and durability of concrete-filled FRP composite piles and conventional prestressed concrete piles.
|A long-term monitoring program was designed and implemented at the Route 351 Bridge. The program consisted of instrumenting two production piles of the bridge: a concrete-filled FRP pile and a conventional prestressed concrete pile. The long-term monitoring of the instrumented piles will provide useful information to compare the performance of these two pile types. The long-term monitoring will be carried out by VDOT.
The remainder of this chapter provides summaries of the projects' activities and conclusions. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the practical implications of this research, and recommendations for future research.
This section summarizes the activities and conclusions for the literature review, the interface laboratory study, the durability study of concrete-filled FRP tubular piles, the field tests at the Route 40 and Route 351 Bridge projects, the analytical studies on axial and lateral behavior, the long-term monitoring program, and the composite pile cost information.
A literature review was performed to: (1) identify suitable composite pile candidates to be used in high load-bearing projects such as bridge substructures, (2) identify the research needs, and (3) help design the work plan for this research project.
The following laboratory activities were performed for the interface study:
Interface shear tests were performed on 14 types of soil-pile interfaces. Tests were carried out for two types of sands: Density sand (D50 = 0.5 mm (0.0195 inch), subrounded to rounded particle shape) and Model sand (D50 = 0.18 mm (0.00702 inch), subangular to angular particle shape). Seven pile surfaces were tested: Lancaster FRP composite (curved), Hardcore FRP composite (curved), Hardcore FRP composite plate (flat), Hardcore FRP composite plate with bonded sand treatment (flat), PPI recycled plastic coupon (flat), prestressed concrete pile coupon (flat), and a steel sheet pile coupon (flat).
The peak and residual interface friction angles for the 14 sand-to-pile interfaces tested are summarized in tables 10 through 12 (chapter 3).
From the results of the interface study, the following conclusions and observations were made:
A laboratory testing program was completed to study the long-term performance of FRP composite pipe piles. This durability study addresses the FRP shells of the Lancaster and Hardcore composite piles, and included FRP shell characterization, determination of baseline mechanical properties, measurement of moisture absorption as a function of time and temperature, measurement of mechanical properties as a function of moisture absorption, and measurement of mechanical properties as a function of freeze-thaw cycles.
From the results of the durability study, the following conclusions and observations were made:
In 2000, VDOT replaced the old Route 40 Bridge (Structure No. 1006) over the Nottoway River. New precast composite piles, consisting of concrete-filled GFRP tubes, were used to support one of the cast-in-place reinforced concrete cap beams that directly support the superstructure. Before construction, full-scale field tests were undertaken to investigate the feasibility of construction, handling, and driveability, as well as the structural performance of the new composite piles in comparison to conventional prestressed concrete piles.
Based on the testing, analysis, and construction experience at the Route 40 Bridge, the following conclusions and observations were made.
A test pile program was conducted to permit direct comparison of the axial and lateral load behavior of three test piles: (1) a conventional, 610-mm (23.8 inch) square prestressed concrete pile; (2) a 622-mm (24.3-inch) diameter composite pile formed of an FRP shell and filled with concrete and steel reinforcing bars; and (3) a 592-mm (23.1-inch) diameter composite pile formed of a polyethylene plastic matrix with steel reinforcing bars. Laboratory tests were performed on the pile materials, and the axial and bending stiffnesses of the piles were calculated. The piles are all about 18 m (59.0 ft) long. The soil at the test site consists primarily of medium-dense silty sand with a layer of stiff sandy clay located about 1 to 3.5 m (3.28 to 11.5 ft) above the pile toes. The field testing program included dynamic measurements with CAPWAP analyses, static axial load tests, and static lateral load tests.
Based on the testing, analysis, and construction experience, the following conclusions and observations were made.
The axial capacities of the three test piles were predicted using static analysis methods commonly employed in practice. The methods employed were the Nordlund method, the API method, the LCPC method, and the IC method. The various methods used to predict axial pile capacity yielded ratios of calculated to measured pile capacities ranging from 0.70 to 1.14 for the prestressed concrete pile, and from 0.81 to 1.33 for the composite piles. It was found that the level of accuracy of the predictions was comparable for all three test piles.
The prediction results seem to indicate that conventional static analysis methods are applicable to composite piles. However, it is the author's opinion that additional case histories are needed to corroborate and extend this conclusion to other composite pile types and to different soil conditions.
The load-settlement behavior was predicted using T-Z analyses. Several analyses were carried out to determine the adequacy of this method to analyze axially loaded composite pile types such as those studied in this research project. The analyses were completed using empirical load-transfer curves available in the literature (e.g., API 1993, Vijayvergiya 1977) and using theoretically derived load-transfer curves.
The predictions using the empirical load-transfer curves showed reasonable agreement with the field measurements for the composite piles. The predictions for the prestressed concrete pile showed less agreement, and tended to underestimate the measured pile capacity. This result could be related to the value of the interface friction angle used. The calculations were based on the interface friction angle measured in the lab, which may be inadequate to represent the field conditions experience by the pile (e.g., in the field the pile interface experienced much larger relative displacements compared to the 0.5 inches (12.7 mm) used in the laboratory).
The predictions obtained using the theoretically derived load-transfer curves were in very good agreement with the measured field behavior. However, the values of the coefficient of horizontal earth pressures (K) that resulted in the best matches with field behavior were 1.25, 1.0, and 0.9 for the prestressed concrete, FRP, and plastic piles, respectively. The differences in the K coefficient values are contrary to the expected outcome. The expected outcome was to have similar K values for the three test piles since they were installed in similar soil conditions, and all are full-displacement piles with similar cross- sectional dimensions. It is possible that this result is again related to the values measured in the laboratory not being representative of field conditions, perhaps due to the small displacements (only 0.5 inches (12.7 mm)) used in the lab.
The prediction results seem to indicate that conventional T-Z analyses are applicable to composite piles. However, it is believed that additional case histories are needed to corroborate and extend this conclusion to other composite pile types and to different soil conditions.
Numerous p-y analyses were carried out to determine the adequacy of this method to analyze laterally loaded composite piles, such as the ones studied in this research project.
A derivation of the governing differential equation for the laterally loaded pile problem was presented, and possible limitations in analyzing composite piles were analysis discussed.
The importance of considering shear deformations in lateral pile analyses was discussed. The impact of shear deformations increases with increasing E/G ratios, and decreases with increasing slenderness ratios (L/D). For the test piles assessed in this project, the error associated with neglecting shear deformations is estimated to be less than 2.5 percent.
The importance of including nonlinearity of the flexural stiffness was discussed and illustrated with analyses results.
The results of the p-y analyses using published p-y curves that are embedded in the LPILE 4.0M computer program showed reasonably good agreement with the field measurements.
The initial modulus of the p-y curves was found to increase with depth at the highest rate for the FRP pile, at an intermediate rate for the plastic pile, and at the lowest rate for the prestressed concrete pile. This outcome is not as expected, and the reason for the difference in initial modulus values is not known.
Although the analysis results seem to indicate that conventional p-y analyses are applicable to composite piles, additional case histories are needed to determine what factors govern the appropriate value of the initial p-y modulus for different pile types in various soils.
A monitoring program has been implemented at the Route 351 Bridge project to compare the long-term performance, load-transfer, and durability characteristics of an FRP composite pile and a standard prestressed concrete pile. The two production piles selected for monitoring were installed at the centers of Piers 10 and 11.
The field testing of the instrumented production piles included PDA, CAPWAP, and PIT tests. The following conclusions can be drawn from this test program.
Load-transfer instrumentation was installed in both piles. Durability instrumentation was installed on the FRP composite pile to monitor the inside and outside strains of the FRP tube. Monitoring data on the piles is limited to date; therefore, no conclusions can be drawn at this time regarding the long-term performance of concrete-filled FRP composite piles.
Composite materials have attractive features such as high resistance to corrosion, high strength-to-weight ratios, and the ability to be used in infrastructure projects with little or no maintenance requirements (Meiarashi, et al., 2002). Recent studies have found that the lower weight of bridge decks made of FRP composite materials results in greater cost effectiveness due to shorter construction time and decreased cost of the bridge superstructure (Ehlen 1999). The economical competitiveness of composite piles needs to be assessed. To help provide data for such assessments, cost information for the composite piles and prestressed concrete piles used in this research project was compiled and presented.
The initial costs of the composite piles studied in this project were found to be higher than the initial unit costs for prestressed concrete piles. The initial unit costs of the installed composite piles at the Route 40 Bridge were about 77 percent higher than the unit costs for the prestressed concrete piles. The initial unit costs for the composite piles installed at the Route 351 Bridge were higher than costs of the prestressed concrete piles by, for the plastic piles, about 289 percent and, for the FRP piles, about 337 percent.
The cost effectiveness of composite piles is expected to improve with economies of scale as production volume increases. The low maintenance requirements of these composite piles also increase their cost effectiveness. Life cycle cost analyses should consider the pile lifespan, the annualized maintenance costs, and the replacement costs of composite piles compared to prestressed concrete piles. The number of years of use that should be factored into the life cycle cost analyses may not be related only to the lifespan of the piles but may also be governed by the actual lifespan of the bridge superstructure, which depends on the rate of superstructure deterioration and changing traffic demands. Life cycle cost analyses were not performed for this study due to lack of maintenance cost and frequency information.
Based on the findings from this investigation, the following recommendations are made for future work on composite piles.
Additional full-scale field load test programs are recommended to extend the conclusions of this study to other composite piles and soil types. Well-documented field loading tests of composite piles are scarce, and this lack of reliable data may be one reason that composite piles are not in widespread use for load-bearing applications. Therefore, it is important to increase the database of instrumented load tests of composite piles.
Finite element analyses are recommended to model the field tests of the test piles. This type of analysis takes into account the continuous nature of the soil deposits, as opposed to the T-Z and p-y approaches used in this study. Comparison of the results from the different analysis approaches would be useful.
Laboratory studies involving lateral load tests on model or small-diameter piles installed in uniform and controlled soil conditions may be useful to study the influence that pile characteristics and flexural stiffness have on p-y curves.
Pile damage should be assessed after pile driving by excavating the piles. Visual inspections of the retrieved piles will permit assessment of changes in the pile surface due to scratching and scraping of the outer surface. The conclusions drawn from the laboratory interface study regarding the influence of surface roughness and hardness characteristics on interface friction behavior at relatively small displacements may not be applicable to real piles that may experience severe surface wear during pile installation.
Studies of small-diameter concrete-filled FRP piles may be useful to examine the durability of axial and flexural structural capacity. Smaller diameter tubes could allow a larger number of tests at a reasonable cost and within a reasonable time frame. A larger number of tests would permit interpreting the data scatter associated with inherent variability of the material properties.
A durability study that includes piles exposed to salt water and other aqueous solutions representing groundwater conditions in industrial sites is recommended.
Other recommended studies include assessment of degradation due to UV radiation and exposure to high temperatures, resistance to fire, and corrosion of the steel cage in PPI piles.
Test involving compression, bending, and combined axial and bending loading are recommended to determine the full interaction diagrams of composite piles. To date, limited data is available for the combined loading condition.
The influence of temperature on structural behavior should be determined, and the effects that differences in coefficients of thermal expansion of the different pile constituents have on pile performance also require study. For example, in concrete-filled FRP piles, the coefficient of thermal expansion of the FRP tube will be a function of factors such as fiber and resin type, number of fiber layers, fiber lay-up, fiber volume fraction, etc. If the resulting thermal coefficient of the FRP tube is significantly different from that of the concrete core, it is conceivable that the two materials would debond.
Resistance to fire exposure should be investigated. Although the majority of the pile length is embedded in the ground or submerged in water, there is usually a portion of the pile that is exposed. Although the probability of exposure to fire is low, fire resistance properties could be important in locations where the piles form part of priority bridge structures that have to survive more severe conditions.
Additional recommended studies include tests to assess the behavior under cyclic loading of composite piles, studies of creep under axial compression, and the influence of rate of loading on the pile structural behavior.
It is recommended that detailed life cycle cost analyses be performed for different composite pile types and conventional piles.


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If you have any credit cards, you have probably been the recipient of numerous checks that can be used to draw money from your card account. I have seen many articles advising to shred these immediately and take steps to stop your creditors from sending them. If you have a debt problem, then this is sound advice. But I have found ways to use these checks in ways that are beneficial and even profitable if used correctly.
Credit card checks come in three distinct types so I will address each one separately. The first type is the 'cash advance' check. This type of check, when cashed, is subject to the cash advance terms of your credit agreement which usually means a transaction fee of at least 3% and a higher interest rate than normal purchases. These checks should be avoided like the plague. Shred them immediately. Use them for kindling in your fireplace. Destroy them in whatever manner you choose but do NOT under any circumstances cash them or throw them away intact. In my book, there is no situation dire enough to use one of these paper loan sharks. Any time you incur debt at such a high cost, it will start you spiraling down into a debt crisis and make your situation worse in the long run. If you need emergency money from your credit card hopefully you have access to one of the other types of credit card checks:
Video of the Day
The second type of credit card check is the 'balance transfer' check. These checks also usually carry an up-front fee of 3%, but the interest rate charged on the balance is most often considerably lower than your normal purchase rate. These checks are meant to be used for paying off debt in another account that is charging a higher interest rate. But because they are in the form of a check, they are much more versatile than a regular balance transfer. If you call your credit card company asking for a balance transfer, you are generally restricted to paying another creditor and not another account with the same company. They will sometimes send the money directly to your bank account, but that is rare. But with a check, you can simply deposit it into your bank account and use it however you wish. Not only can you pay another account with the same company, you can even pay the same account you drew the money out of! I once had a credit card account that I was paying a high rate on when they sent me some balance transfer checks. I then used my entire paycheck to pay down this card even though I needed some of that money for other bills. As soon as my available credit was freed up on the card, I deposited one of the checks for the same amount I had paid to the card. My net result was that I had the same amount of money in my bank account as when I first got paid, my monthly payment to that card was already fulfilled with no net expense to my checking account, and my interest rate on the card was now substantially lower. Yes, I had the added expense of the 3% fee on my card, but that more than paid for itself in the cheaper interest charges going forward. These checks are also the best way to get emergency cash if you are faced with a situation where you have no other choice but to borrow money and do not intend to pay it off in just one month. I recently faced a situation where I had to replace my car and had to borrow to do it. Rather than getting an auto-loan which would have required me to increase my insurance coverage and forced me to buy from a dealer, I used a balance transfer check to get a low interest loan and bought a used car from a friend that I trust. Now, I don't advocate going into debt recklessly, but in a pinch, these checks are much more affordable than the afore mentioned 'cash advance' checks.
The third type of credit card check I have encountered is actually my favorite. It is the 'purchase check'. These checks allow you to draw money from your credit card under the same terms as your regular purchases. In other words there is no up-front fee and the interest rate is the same as if you used your card in a store. These checks are especially good for people who pay off their balances in full each month and so do not pay any interest. It is a good way to get some quick cash for transactions that do not take credit cards because you don't have the 3% fee. Of course if you don't pay in full on the first bill, you will pay interest on that money. But if you time your transaction so that it is just after your billing date, you will have almost a month before you get billed and another 3 weeks or so after that to pay so you will have gotten a loan for almost 2 months for free. But the really fun thing about these checks is that you can do this continuously and extend this free loan indefinitely as long as you write the check for no more than half your credit line and your credit card company keeps sending you the checks. This is how I have used these checks in the past: I wrote the check for half of my credit line and deposited the money into an interest earning savings account. When the first bill came I wrote another purchase check for the same amount minus $100.00 and deposited it into my checking account. I then paid the credit card in full using the money from the 2nd check plus $100.00 of my own money. I continued in this fashion every month until the debt was paid in full while earning interest on the entire amount for the entire time. In the end I had accumulated considerably more interest in my savings account than I would have if I had simply deposited $100.00 per month. But if you try this, make sure the savings account you use has full liquidity and not a CD or any other account that has a penalty fee for early withdrawal. This in necessary because if the credit card company does not send you another purchase check in any given month, you might need that money to pay them and avoid their interest charges. But even if that happens you will have still accumulated some interest in your savings account with THEIR money.


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The View From 1776
§ American Traditions
§ People and Ideas
§ Decline of Western Civilization: a Snapshot
§ Books to Read
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Harry Reid, Weak Reed
Astonishingly, even a liberal-socialist propaganda organ finds the Senate Minority Leader an insubstantial support on which to lean in interpreting the Constitution.
Every now and again, the liberal media loses track of its need always to lie to the public, as did Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler, in the interests of promoting collectivized, socialistic perfection of humanity. No doubt, somebody's head will roll when the chief Commissar reads the editorial below.
If we still need anything to prove that the liberal-socialists care nothing about the long-range Constitutional future of the United States, but are interested only in destroying the President's ability to function effectively, Senator Reid's glib remark will fill that need.
Washington Post Editorial
Words That Will Haunt
Wednesday, September 21, 2005; Page A22
IN ANNOUNCING his opposition yesterday to the nomination of Judge John G. Roberts Jr. to be chief justice of the United States, Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) made a remarkable statement: "The president is not entitled to very much deference in staffing the third branch of government, the judiciary." Leave aside the merits of the Roberts nomination, which we support; if Mr. Reid regards Judge Roberts as unworthy, he is duty-bound to vote against him. But these are dangerous words that Democrats will come to regret.
This country has only one president at a time. That president, right now President Bush, is tasked with naming judges. The Senate has the role of providing advice and consent on the president's choices, which is a significant constitutional task. But if the presidential election means anything in this arena, it must mean that the president's choice has a heavy presumption of confirmation. That is the way the system works. Why else would Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Stephen G. Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg have received only a handful of no-votes among them? During the Clinton administration, we deplored the way that the Senate treated the president's judicial nominees during six years of Republican control over the Senate. Yet during those six years, the Senate confirmed 245 of President Bill Clinton's judges. If Republicans had been applying Mr. Reid's standard, they would have been within their rights to reject them all.
Do Democrats really want the American confirmation system to move in that direction? Republicans may still be in the majority the next time a Democratic president nominates a justice. Is it now okay for them to vote against a person who—as Mr. Reid put it of Judge Roberts—is "an excellent lawyer" and "a thoughtful, mainstream judge" who may make "a fine Supreme Court justice" simply because the nominee doesn't represent their ideal? When that day comes, and Democrats cry foul, remember what Mr. Reid said about how little deference he believes he owes Mr. Bush concerning Judge Roberts.
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Around the same time that I really got hooked on romance novels, I started to peruse Fanfiction websites. At first I just wanted to read about the characters in my favorite TV shows (of the time) and from my favorite books too. After a while it occurred to me that I could probably write a fanfiction story that was at least as good as the ones that I'd been reading. So I did it. Personally I've got 5 published stories - 4 of them complete and 1 that is still a work-in-progress.
These five stories are all based on the WB's Gilmore Girls which aired from 2000 - 2007. While I've only written about Gilmore Girls, I also read stories about the TV shows One Tree Hill, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate Universe, House M.D., Numbers, and a few others when I get the urge. And I read fanfics about the books/series: Dark-Hunters, Carpathians, BDB, KMM Fever and some others when I find them.
To follow the Gilmore Girls stories that I've written, follow the links below and when I find other stories that I think are particularly good I'll post the links here as well. Thanks and I hope you'll enjoy!!
When the Going Gets Tough - set during season 7, Rory worries when Logan goes to Las Vegas with Colin and Finn, but after talking to Lorelai she realizes that together she and Logan can get through it. Can she convince Logan of the same thing? And when Mitchum is involved can she really be sure? [one-shot, finished]
Road to Heaven - Starts season 5 at Finn's Birthday Party. AU Will contain tidbits from the show but is a complete AU twist of the Rogan relationship! They start with a nostring relationship but things have a ways of changing when you least expect them to... [ch 20, finished]
Best is Yet to Come - post 'The Party's Over', season 5... what happens when tragedy strikes and Rory finds herself hurt and alone? Who will help and what will come of it? What secrets has Lorelai been keeping? Extremely AU, somewhat dark, very OOC at times... be warned! [ch 24, in progress]
Bridging the Gap - post series finale, virtual season 8... Rory and Logan both made mistakes in the end, but can they make things right again? Or are some mistakes too great? [ch 9, finished]
While most of my writing efforts these days go towards my own original fiction pieces, I do still dabble in the fanfiction realm. While I continue my efforts to finish The Best is Yet to Come, I have recently started working on a companion piece to An Ending or a New Beginning and a piece that stems from the revival season Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.


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Home Price versus Gold Price
One of the best investments over the past decade has been buying gold. In 2001, gold was selling for $270 per troy ounce. Today, it is at around $1,600. There could be several reasons for the increased demand for gold:
- Rising wealth in emerging economies (Russia, China, India, Brazil, for example) and the desire for conspicuous consumption.
- China's desire to buy commodities and something real rather than buy the shaky Euro-denominated financial paper assets or the U.S. dollar-denominated IOUs.
- Safe haven in light of economic uncertainties.
- Inflation hedge in light of massive printing of money in many countries.
Irrespective of the reason, one ratio worth a careful look is the median price of existing homes versus the price of gold, since people have historically also looked to tangible real estate as a hedge against inflation. This ratio is at one of the lowest points in modern U.S. history. To get us back to the 35-year average of 299, will the home prices finally recover or will the gold price tumble in the upcoming years?
They are inversely proportionate. In a weak economy, home prices are likely to fall and gold is likely to rise. For this ratio to increase soon we would have to see a recovery of biblical proportions in a short period of time.


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Listing Id: 290477
Company Name: WINGS INTERNATIONAL TOYS & GIFTS (L.L.C)
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Whether you want to invest, or you just want to learn more about how the stock market works, these are the basics you should know.
Learn the Stock Market for Dummies
You might want to learn about making a move from the good old square one or learning the stock market for dummies. You might be in a financial pickle or you might be looking on to start minting money from the share market, but if one doesn't know about how it all works you could end up losing it all in the end. Whatever your reason you are on the right track to learn about how actually the stock market works because it is one of the surest ways of multiplying your money.
Here is the most basic information that you need to know so that you can get started. Think of this as learning the stock market for dummies. Well the first question that pops to mind is what is a stock market? It is a section or a place to buy and sell something which in this case are stocks. Stocks are basically tokens of ownership of a company. Owning a stock in the market means you own a part of that very organization
So how does it all really work? It all depends upon supply and demand – the basic economic principle. When the demand is high and supplies are limited, the stocks go up. When the demand is low and supplies are more, then the stock prices take a dip. The price of the stock is an indicator of the company's viability. If the stock manages to make good progress, then it deemed to be a good investment.
Most people invest for mainly two reasons. Either they want to maintain their wealth or increase it. To own a stock one can do so through dividends. Company pay out dividends to stock holders while thanking them for investing in the company.
Stock marketing investment is long term game plan. Speculating is risky. Long term investment is better as stock show their true colour over a year or so.
If you have ever seen financial analysis on TV, when the economy is looking good the stock market is said to be bullish. When the economy isn't doing so well then it the market is said to bear-ish. To predict stock market trends one must make use of past data and future outlooks before investing.


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Nothing is more dangerous than success. Every Seeder, every railroad baron, every rock star knows this. The Jupiterians did not learn this, however, until rattling their cages stirred up the Earthlings enough to turn on their apparent conquerors with a ferocity known to only a few species throughout the Universe. Then they did learn, and to their everlasting sorrow. It does not matter whether you are a Plutonian Fretricret practicing black magic, an army of folks from Jupiter trying to convice their "subjugated" Earth colonies to cooperate, or a simple businessman competing to balance the family budget. The principle is unfailing. Show success, and you will be attacked. There has never been a proven exception to this rule. Never.____Btruang Mnepsosvrt of Pluto, writing on The Relationships Of Sentient Beings.
"Not like we didn't expect it," Cory squeezed her husband's hand briefly. Feds were born to snoop; that was most definitely in their job descriptions. But it should not be a problem. The Arbogast family cover story was solid: They'd responded to an ad seeking talented comics for a new comedy gig, then found that Sandfire needed Security people as well. Perhaps the undercover Feds on site were running around with portable DNA scanners, but it didn't seem all that likely. Such equipment was bulky enough to make for difficult concealed carry, for one thing.
Which was good. Homer could withstand a scan, as could the Boulders. She, Sven, Kate, and Nina could not.
Anyway, as with most things, time would tell. One way or the other.
Boulder and Jensen had taken a lot of shortcuts in getting the building ready so quickly, of course. They'd had to, and that meant the three man team of building inspectors who arrived on September tenth had orders from on high to go over the place with a fine tooth comb. That was hardly necessary; a garden rake could have uncovered two or three hundred code violations.
Fortunately, the two younger inspectors had proven quite amenable to reasonable bribes while the older, hard bitten guy had unwisely accepted a free cup of coffee in the restaurant before actually transcribing any notes.
From a booth designed specifically to make him inconspicuous, Sven Jensen thumbed a stud on his stolen Box and disappeared.
Only Kah and Kate saw him go. The tiny redhead and the statuesque half black woman teamed to con Inspector Chartres, holding him in place for nearly twenty minutes until the former Seeder once again appeared in the discreet booth and gave them a silent thumbs-up signal.
It had been essential to keep the subject more or less in one positon in one location when The Box took a Seeder inside, because he would show up again in precisely the same relationship to said subject when he popped back Out as he'd occupied before launching In. "I'd hate to have the guy be driving down the road," he'd explained, "And have me pop up right behind his car, bouncing my unprotected butt down the steelcrete at a hundred miles an hour or more. So keep him in that seat, pretty much face forward, if you have to paralyze the bastard."
Before the supposedly untouchable Inspector had even left the building, Sven was closeted with Sandfire's founder in the Security Control Room.
"Not a problem, Jer. It worked precisely as I predicted it would. Tracing and entering his memory files on the causal plane took maybe two, three minutes of Earth time. We'd already suggested enough positive mind pictures, so all I had to do was be sure they finished developing and were firmly fixed in place. Inspector Chartres does have an extremely organized mind, so that was actually easier to do than it would have been with a lot of guys. And then of course deleting the negative pictures he'd filed, which was right up my line for a lot of years anyway. I just never thought to apply it quite the way we just did."
"The ethics bothering you, Sven?" Boulder's gravelly voice held no criticism; they'd discussed the ethical questions of this sort of action at length.
"No. Maybe I'll pay karmically for messing with his head, and maybe I won't. My Zarellan Church teachings would undoubtedly say yes, but survival does come first. We needed that spotless bill of health. No, what has me shaking my head," he grinned suddenly, "Is something I ran across in there. You know what Mr. Chartres faces as his worst nightmare, his greatest fear?"
He continued without waiting for an answer. "He's petrified that his wife will make him take early retirement and retire to the desert. Not here, not Nevada, seemed more like Arizona. I didn't waste much time on it, but it cracks me up. I like mesquite, but not our good Inspector. To him, there's no mesquite wood, no edible mesquite beans, not really even any green leaves."
"All that guy can see is the thorns."
They didn't mention the obvious implications, namely that if they could so easily sculpt a man's memories, remaking an unfinished job like this clearly recalled as entirely finished and wonderfully up to code, then it had been done before by others. How many of Sven Jensen's memories were truly his own?
But once on that trail of thought, one could circle the world with no end in sight. For now, they had to pull off the Grand Opening.
And so they had, in grand style. For every ten nud roll of Ostrich Dollars, a player received a return of at least eleven–with a possible thousand-Sandy jackpot. The machines were set to pay, on average, 1.27 Sandys out for every one in, a generous return indeed. Sandys could only be redeemed in purchases of beautiful Sandfire glassware at regular retail prices. A player who put in, for example, one hundred nuds and "won" one hundred twenty-seven (the average) thus received twenty-seven percent more glassware than he could obtain by simply walking in and plunking down his cash or hauling out the old plastic or getting his FI, his Financial Implant, scanned.
Pete Boulder handled pricing and had built in one hundred percent profit on most items, so everybody was happy.
Except, of course, their competitors. A few locals with no money to spend did wander through without giving any of the twenty machines a play, but by closing time, the numbers were staggering. The idea of a no-lose, ka-ching casino that was great fun to play but actually no gamble for either the house or the player? That had been Sven's concept, but the entire design and implementation had been accomplished by Ben and Pete.
By closing time in the casino itself, they had taken in just over ninety thousand nuds. Glassware purchases had included coffee mugs, dinner plates, glasses, several vase designs, soup bowls, saucers, and twenty-two additional pieces put on the display shelves as experimental test items to determine marketability. One unexpected result: About ten percent of all buyers wanted to take home the actual Ostrich Dollars.
This pleased Sandfire management no end and, since the Sandys cost less than twenty cents each to manufacture.
It was Kate's idea, immediately adopted, that all future runs should have a permanent date imprint of some sort, along with location, so that years down the road, collectors could pinpoint what they owned…and of course spend more money rounding out their always incomplete collections. Kate could think big and was flying high, since thirty-three of her Kreative Kookbooks had aslo sold.
The restaurant had raked in another twenty-seven hundred nuds. Edsella's free comedy performances had been packed; they were going to have to enlarge the theater as soon as possible.
Pete, in charge of press relations, had a lapel mike recorder that, when replayed after the doors were locked, showed he'd handled questions from reporters with a native skill the shy and/or abrasive could only envy. Only three would-be shoplifters had even tried for the door, with only one of the three attempting to make a scene when apprehended.
A less worldly group would have been euphoric, but only old Gene Trask allowed himself to cackle with glee at the results.
"Hell, boys and girls," he told them over late night sodas, "Even if this was all there was to it, we rattled enough cages to keep me happy for longer'n I've prob'ly got left."
They were all pleasantly agreeable to the elderly gent who'd been willing to part with his properties for a song, but only Nina lacked the intellect to be properly sober and wary of the future. Yes, they had executed a bold stroke that had gone better than theyd dared imagine, but they had also opened a tiger's cage that could not again be closed. They had brainwashed one state official the who's-afraid-of-the-big-bad-Guild way and bribed two others. Local building permits for renovation had been obtained only after Jeremy himself had as good as threatened a clerk at the Courthouse. At least one known Fed had attended their Grand Opening, snoopy-snooping. What the media would present from today's filming and interviewing remained to be seen.
Not to mention that all the would-be robbers out there knew a lot of cash had come in through Sandfire's registers.
Finally, around eleven-thirty, they all headed for the restaurant. Invisible from the street, Sandfire Cuisine was designed from the get-go to serve as the overall group's primary gathering place. Homer and Cory carried trays to the SCR, the Security Control Room, where they would share the graveyard shift just in case. The rest helped themselves to leftovers. Around midnight, having thoroughly cleaned his plate of a third piece of pecan pie, Jeremy Boulder lifted himself wearily to his feet and headed for the elevator.
"This building had better match those inspection reports by Christmas," he said over his shoulder, "And we've got to really think about those two requests for a franchise we got today. But for tonight, this old Greek bastard is worn to the bone. Kah and I are sacking out. I recommend that anyone who wakes us up before noon gets shot."
No one thought for a moment he was joking. When the Intruder Alert sounded at 3:42 a.m. and J.B. was first to reach the stairwell fully armed, it seemed he'd have the chance to perform as advertised.