text:
Springfield Museums Press Releases
Stars Over Springfield
September 20, 2007
The Springfield Science Museum's large rooftop telescope will be open for public sky-gazing on Friday, October 5, at 7:30 p.m.
October Museums à la Carte
September 20, 2007
The Springfield Museums at the Quadrangle will present the following Museums à la Carte programs in October. The programs are held on Thursdays at 12:15 p.m. in the Museum of Fine Arts.
New Print Exhibition
September 11, 2007
Etchings of bridges ranging from spans across the Thames River to the covered bridges of Vermont will be featured in Cross That Bridge: Prints from the Permanent Collection, on view at the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts through March 2, 2008.
Local Artist Exhibition
September 11, 2007
Ruta Smilskalns, an artist from Wayland, Mass., creates intriguing work form the most common object in her sewing basket, colorful spools of thread. Her "Spool Paintings" will be on view in the Community Gallery at the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts from September 18, 2007 through January 13, 2008.
LittleFest of Storytelling III
September 10, 2007
The Springfield Museums at the Quadrangle will host "LittleFest of Storytelling III" on Saturday, September 29, from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The event is free for Springfield residents.


text:
Mentor Luncheon
Wednesday, May 19, 2010 • Posted May 19, 2010
Back row, left to right: Cindy Powell, Barbara Pluenneke, Renee Schultz, Jay Tedder, Mark Kruse, James Wood, Mary Kay Draper, Jerry Burleson, Joyce Durst, Tim Farenthold, Jeannie Smith. Front Row, left to right: Patsy Johansen, June Shanks, Karen Welsh, Sheryl Burleson, Jane Shoemaker, Jim Heath, Jody Kingston, Carlene Brollier, Bobbye Frazier, D'Ann Stahl, Mary Freytag, Felicity Wood, Julie Harrison. Not pictured: Wade Powell, Lisa Heath, Victoria Fikes, Thomas Fikes, Maudie Bergman, Lee Anna Cavness, Martha Kothmann, Riley Kothmann, Judy Nash, Gladys Garner, Connie Stockbridge, Rich Shoemaker.
This article has been read 103 times.
Readers are solely responsible for the content of the comments they post here. Comments do not necessarily reflect the opinion or approval of Mason County News. Comments are moderated and will not appear immediately.Comments powered by Disqus
Hill Country Events for
Tue., Jul. 22, 2014 through Sun., Jul. 27, 2014
Buchanan Dam | Mon.
Burnet | Fri.
Comfort | Sat.
Copperas Cove | Mon., Sat.
Fredericksburg | Apr 11-Nov 27
Fredericksburg | Jul 25-26
Fredericksburg | Jul 27
Gruene | Fri.
Johnson City | Sat., Sun.
Junction | Jul 25-26
Llano | Thu.
Marble Falls | Thu., Fri., Sat.
Mason | Thu., Fri., Sat., Sun.
Medina | Sat.
Round Mountain | Sat., Sun.
Startzville | Wed., Thu., Fri.
Uvalde | Jul 25
Wimberley | Thu.
Wimberley | Sat.
Popular Articles

subset: commoncrawl


text:
I am in love with the beauty of this centerpiece that Allison put together over at House of Hepworths. Such an inexpensive project with spectacular results. Nicely done.
See the easy fall centerpiece tutorial over at Allison's blog.
Our daily newsletter is full of ideas like this. You will not be disappointed.
We do not spam or sell your email and you can unsubscribe anytime!
Sign up now and start getting ideas like this in your mailbox.


text:
Hot Body Male Poses And Strokes His Meat Pole For You!
The following tags exist in this scene. You can find similar scenes by combining tags in this scene together using the checkboxes, or just click a tag name to browse...
Protagonisti Henry McCoy, DVD: Monsters and Size Queens 2
Do you recognise pornstars in this scene? Begin typing a pornstar name, then click on the button to suggest them!
Muscular stud Henry McCoy beats his meat until he splooges on his own belly with a smile on his face
This dreamy hunk poses and teases a bit before pulling out his huge shaft and pleasuring himself.
Presente in playlist: Gay Alley (150 video), watch (10 video)
Suggerimenti video
- 11:19Chris Masturbates While Watching Gay Porn22/set/2014
- 14:28Andrew Aston Showing Masturbating Act With Pleasure22/set/2014
- 14:52Sexy Seductress Strips And Gets Fucked.22/set/2014
- 22:16Andrew Aston Masturbates With His 7 Inch Cock13/nov/2008
- 18:00Jason And Rocco Having Gay Fun18/mag/2014
- 22:20Horny Stud Rio Fucks His Roommate's Ass18/mag/2014
- 20:02Tony De Sergio Shaves Then Strokes His Hard Dickhead22/dic/2011
- 8:29Hot Stud Plays With Himself By The Pool22/set/2014
- 14:38Gavin Mearle Shaves Then Strokes His Cock In The Bathroom22/dic/2011


text:
Choose your preferred language. We speak English and 41 other languages.
Most often used by people in the United States
All languages
Saved to list
Save to a list
George, South Africa
R404, Geelhoutboom Area, 6530 George, South Africa – Show map
|Room Type
|Double or Twin Room - Big 5
|Double or Twin Room - Lion
|Double or Twin Room - Bufallo
|Cottage (4 Adults)
|Double or Twin Room - Eagle
|Double or Twin Room - Rhino
|Double or Twin Room - Elephant
|Cottage (4 Adults + 2 Children)
Low rates
No booking fees • Save money! Best price guarantee — enter dates to see these prices!
44 properties in George
Including hotels, apartments, villas and more.
56 verified reviews
We verify all reviews from guests who have stayed at Ibis Place Guest House. Find out more.
They speak your language!
Ibis Place Guest House's staff speaks: Dutch, English
Booking is safe
When you book with us your details are protected by a secure connection.
BBQ Facilities, Outdoor Pool, Grounds, Terrace, Sun Deck
Golf Course (within 2 miles), Ping-Pong, Canoeing, Playground
Food & Drink
Special Diet Meals (upon request)
WiFi is available in all areas and is free of charge.
Free private parking is available on site (reservation is not needed).
Packed Lunches, Shuttle Service (surcharge), Airport Shuttle (surcharge), Express Check-in/Check-out, Baggage Storage, Laundry, Ironing Service, Fax/Photocopying, Honeymoon Suite
Safe, Non-smoking Rooms, Heating
Dutch, English
Cancellation and prepayment policies vary according to room type. Please enter the dates of your stay and check what conditions apply to your preferred room.
Children and Extra Beds
All children are welcome.
All children under 6 years are charged 50 % of the room stay per night per person when using existing beds.
One child under 2 years stays free of charge in a crib.
The maximum number of cribs in a room is 1.
Additional fees are not calculated automatically in the total cost and will have to be paid for separately during your stay.
Pets are not allowed.
Cards accepted at this property
Hover over the cards for more info.
Ideal Alternatives for You
Based on 56 reviews
Value for money
Show reviews from:
Sort by:
Overlooking the ocean, The Dune Guest Lodge is set on the beachfront in Wilderness. It features an outdoor pool and free Wi-Fi access is available throughout.
Score from 74 reviews Exceptional
Reheifo Lodge is located in George. WiFi access is available. Each room here will provide you with a TV and satellite channels.
Score from 31 reviews Very good
Situated at the foot of the Outeniqua Mountains, Lentelus Guesthouse offers homey accommodation in a farm-style setting. The guest house is 8 minutes' drive from Fancourt Golf Estate.
Score from 4 reviews Excellent
Perfect for guests looking to explore the Garden Route, this lodge is located in the town of George and offers luxurious accommodations with a distinct African feel.
Score from 95 reviews Good
The landscape and farm is beautiful and the host was very kind and inviting.
WiFi quality
wonderful hosts, very pleasant and comfortable stay
My fiancé and I have the relaxed environment.
The road to get to the accommodation. The breakfast can have more of a variety.
Is rated as a 3* BnB, but can be seen as a 4*! Good value for money. Lovely little farm.
Stronger WIFI needed.
The accomodation was lovely for our toddler with an interesting toy box to keep him amused. The pot bellied pigs etc were fascinating and the venue lovely. Toasty log fires in the evening and a delicious breakfast.
The friendliness of Ronny and Fara and how they made us feel at home. Breakfast was on time and very good. Best eggs we had in a while. The beds were super comfy and good quality linen - very important for me.
Peaceful place. Owner friendly
Facilities were good for a family
A bit far off everything
very welcoming and comfortable stay, good value for money
I was expecting kitchen facilities in the room but there was a large communal kitchen and we spent a fabulous evening with other guests in the kitchen next to the fire. The bed was very comfortable with a feather duvet.
Due to road works a direct route from town centre was not available. However it is very close to George airport if flying into George.
The location was superb and we were pleasantly surprised by the rooms.
Beautiful farm-like setting
Comfortable stay.
Very friendly owners, beautiful location.
Beautiful rooms, exquisite linen and decor. Nice bathroom. Nice breakfast.
With roadworks on, it wasn't easy or nice to get there. Perhaps a bit too far from George (with detours it was worse).
we were only one night there, so did not see much staff to give a fair rating
the bathroom light did not work, and we could not find anyone to fix it....we did not know how to hold of anyone of the staff
We were very surprised with the breakfast. Did not expect such a big breakfast. The owner and his family were very friendly and helpful
We had trouble to find the place. Our GPS took us to the wrong destination, However when we called the owner he sent his son to fetch us at the airport
The owners of Ibis place understand what's important to their guests, comfortable rooms and a welcoming attitude. We stayed here before and were delighted to return, there have been a lot of improvements and it is a super place to stay when you have small children, the farm animals, dam and swimming pool ensure hours of entertainment!
The rooms located near the kitchen are a bit noisy early in the morning, that said, they are convenient for children.
The friendliness and helpfulness of the owners were much appreciated. We arrived @ night and was looking for the place. We phoned and Ronnie directed us and even waited with his van keeping his lights on so that we could see where to turn, as there were workers busy with road works.
would have liked clean dry towels everyday without having to ask for it.
Very friendly owners. Comfortable room with wifi and tv. Attractive gardens and water.
Eating possibilities in George minimal on Saturday evening! Golf club good food but pretentious.
Very nice location and friendly and welcoming owners
The location was most beautiful, a true farmstyle venue. The hospitality was warm, sincere and charming. The breakfast was varied and plenty! The shuttle service to the airport was so reasonable.
Breakfast and staff
No A/C
The dam, the birds, the peace and quiet, the beautiful endless view, the farm animals, the friendly hosts, the lovely breakfast, everything. .
My time there was too short
We had a great time. We travelled with a small baby and were accommodated with all we could possible need. We will come again?
Most Popular Cities
We've negotiated with thousands of hotels to get the very best deals. We call them Secret Deals and they only last for a limited time.
You can get these deals for free by subscribing to our newsletters. You can even choose your favorite destinations to receive personalized deals.
Get started now by entering your email address. We'll instantly send you a link to our Deal Finder!
Don't worry – your email address is safe with us. We'll never share your private information and you can unsubscribe at any time.


text:
Roberta's BYOB 21st & South
Just walked past this new restaurant. Does anyone have any info?
The Bride and I just came back from a very nice diner at Roberta's on their 3rd night of operation. The sign outside is arriving next week.
For appetizers I had an arugula and warm goat cheese salad with pignoli (pine nuts) and hearts of palm. This was one of several specials. The Bride had a delicious bruschetta of warm canneloni bean on grilled bread with great carmelized onions.
My main course was another special, homemade spinach fettucini with porcini mushrooms, scallops, and shrimp. The seafood had a good grilled flavor and the sauce was a nice white wine and butter. And my favorite, at least two whole roasted/grilled cloves of garlic.
The Bride had fusilli with zucchini. The zucchini was very thinly sliced with a roasted flavor and the pasta was cooked perfectly.
For dessert my homemade tiramisu was a classic, with a good strong espresso base and the proper marscapone & lady fingers. The bottom half was perhaps unintentionally "semi-freddo" but I enjoyed it that way. The Bride had a frozen yogurt-raspberry Bindi (premade) dessert.
Prices were reasonable. My special was $22, with lots of seafood. The Bride's pasta was $13.50.
All in all good quality, fresh ingredients, nice size portions, and we'll be back. Service was good but we ate very early on a Saturday night and there were few other customers yet (but everyone walking past was taking a menu!).
I walked by last night and picked up a menu as well. I found out that the restaurant is run as the same owners as Radicchio -- should be a good one. It looks like many of the waitstaff are the same.
geez, we all walked by and grabbed a menu this weekend. I was trolling the city looking for this:
to no avail.
Also, I grabbed a menu from Apamate and think I need to stop by there as well.
As for Roberto's, yeah, they seemed like nice people and a cool space. Not sure I feel like we needed another Italian BYO, but you can't have too many GOOD Italian BYO's.
re: joypirate
The Bride & I were joking that Italian BYOs in Philadelphia are getting like Starbucks. There's one every few blocks, and the city can support the density because you go to whichever one is most convenient.
Joking aside, Roberto's (or Roberta's) was pretty good, and it happens to be closer than Melograno or Caffe Casta Diva for us. I don't know if they will take reservations or eventually start getting too crowded to get into on a spur of the moment "let's eat out".
re: JugglerDave
It is Roberto's not Roberta's - Sorry!
Went to Radicchio last night and mentioned this place asking the affiliation, since the menu was pretty much an exact copy and put it this way- they were NONE TOO HAPPY about it!!! There is NO affiliation and many a burnt bridge in this new venture on 21st and South Sts.... Roberto, who waited on me many times at the original, seems to have just opened his own place with the exact same menu as his former employer... quite an Italian soap opera! Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed my meal last night, as I always do...
What we had: Special salad of arugula, warm goat cheese and pine nuts- simple and easily one of the finest salads in the city, grilled calamari with tomatoes, capers, and kalamata olives- exceptional and a must order... And we finished with entrees of grilled salmon topped with asparagus and tomato- so simple, so overdone in so many restaurants, yet so very, very good here... while my lovely lady dined on the dover sole (special) which is absolutely fantastic- another must order for any new-comer or regular who has not yet been lucky enough to try it- so light, so unbelievably tasty dressed with a splash of white wine and lemon! Radicchio Cafe definitely has come into its own and defined itself as a true classic BYOB in Philadelphia... beware of imposters!!
The Bride & I returned to Roberto's on Saturday night for our 2nd visit. In short, still excellent and we both enjoyed our dishes. I had a grilled calamari appetizer, and a special (veal rollatini, with asparagus, prociutto, and some cheese on the inside, in a tomato-cream sauce. The Bride had a modified version of the special, 'chocolate papadelle' with grape tomatoes, fresh spinach, garlic, olive oil. The Tiramisu was good yet again, and The Bride had a fresh-filled cannoli which she really enjoyed.
They still don't have a sign outside, but put an easel board with the specials out on the sidewalk.


text:
Join Miami-Dade Public Library System's Hispanic Heritage Month celebration. Enjoy the sultry moves of Argentina's Tango to the melodic sounds of Andean music. View a new documentary on the profound impact Cuban exiles have made to South Florida. Hear detailed historical accounts of the Bay of Pigs Invasion from some of its survivors. For details […]
Celebrate Teen Read Week at Miami-Dade Public Libraries
The Miami-Dade Public Library System wants teens, ages 12-19, to visit their nearest branch library and be a part of Teen Read Week 2012's It Came From the Library during the week of October 15-24. Teens are asked to read 'Outloud!' from their favorite graphic novel, comic book, book or magazine during one of many […]
Job search assistance at the library
Free story time for preschoolers
Library book sale
Free AARP driving seminar
Baby story time
Free computer class for adults
Memorial Day story time
Free tutoring at the library
On Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon, most Miami-Dade Public Library System branches hold the S.M.A.R.T. (Science, Math and Reading Tutoring) program. Experienced educators spend up to an hour with students in grades K-12, who are required to bring an assignment, text, workbook or whatever schoolwork they need help with. Visit a library to schedule a […]


text:
Stockings movies (1000 galleries found) mixed videos HD videos pictures
Cheap read and white stockings
15, 1961, 2 years
Sandee westgate white stockings.Sex in white stockings movies.
Sexy woman in stocking getting..
05:14, 14909, 3 years
She her get fucked anal free.
Sexy milfs in stockings porn
03:07, 2781, 2 years
Sexy legs in stocking porn.Sexy bitches in stockings.
Sexy women in sexy stockings..
00:30, 1911, 2 years
Sexy stocking girdle tube.
Inside white stockings..
18, 813, 2 years
Sex in thigh stocking pics.
Hot brunette getting fucked in..
20, 670, 2 years
Sex in thigh stocking pics.
Blue satin and white stockings
15, 2316, 2 years
Sandee westgate white stockings.
Brunette inside green..
16, 778, 2 years
Photos of naked women in body stockings.Hottest girls in america naked and..
Nora in hose movie scene
02:24, 1429, 3 years
Nora in hose movie scene
DiAna And Lesley red sexy..
02:24, 4303, 3 years
DiAna And Lesley red sexy nylon movie scene
Janet and Leah kewl hose movie..
00:30, 1721, 2 years
Janet and Leah kewl hose movie scene
Free videos milf in white..
05:19, 22256, 3 years
Free vidoes of kinky milf in orgies sex.
Milf inside underware
15, 1065, 2 years
Full free porn videos of girls in high heels and stockings.
No thing underneath her coat..
15, 965, 2 years
No thing underneath her coat but nice stockings
Sexy slut Phoenix Marie..
02:00, 4478, 4 years
Sexy slut Phoenix Marie fucking in a sexy lingerie
Alice and Jerome nasty..
00:30, 1495, 2 years
Alice and Jerome nasty pantyhose action
Horny amateurs love nylon..
05:45, 17453, 3 years
Nylon Fetish pair receives Kinky when both boy and girl are dressed in..
Private school of horny..
15, 22157, 2 years
Free sex videos of old farts with teens.Nude private school teens.
Salacious blonde Russian mate..
01:00, 992, 2 years
Girl gets fucked with foot long dick.
15, 606, 1 month
Hot tight slut gets pounded by huge cock.Girl gets drilled by machine.


text:
Quotes & Info
|FMAO > SEC Filings for FMAO > Form 10-Q on 30-Oct-2013
|All Recent SEC Filings
Quarterly Report
Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (Company) is a bank holding company incorporated under the laws of Ohio in 1985. Our primary subsidiary, The Farmers & Merchants State Bank (Bank) is a community bank operating in Northwest Ohio since 1897. We report our financial condition and net income on a consolidated basis and we report only one segment.
Our executive offices are located at 307 North Defiance Street, Archbold, Ohio 43502, and our telephone number is (419)446-2501.
For a discussion of the general development of the Company's business throughout 2013, please see the portion of Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations captioned "2013 in Review".
The Bank's primary service area, Northwest Ohio and Northeast Indiana, continue to experience a higher level of unemployment as compared to the national average. All averages both local and national however, show a slight downward trend. The agricultural industry continued its strong performance in 2013 as evidenced by strengthened financial statements. Automotive showed improvement with car dealers in our marketing area ending with more profitable numbers than in recent years. Overall, business profits are improving. Loan growth occurred during the third quarter and the Bank finally surpassed the loan balances of year end 2012. New 1-4 family residential and construction remain weak and refinancing activity is also below the level of same period 2012.
The Bank opened its 20th office during the second quarter of 2013. The office is located in Waterville, Ohio and was a natural extension of the Bank's market area. The office provides the full range of services discussed below. The Bank prepares to add its 21st office in the fourth quarter of 2013 through acquisition. The office is located in Custar, Ohio and will also provide a full range of services and fits well with the Bank's footprint.
The Farmers & Merchants State Bank engages in general commercial banking and savings business. Their activities include commercial, agricultural and residential mortgage, consumer and credit card lending activities. Because the Bank's offices are located in Northwest Ohio and Northeast Indiana, a substantial amount of the loan portfolio is comprised of loans made to customers in the farming industry for such things as farm land, farm equipment, livestock and operating loans for seed, fertilizer, and feed. Other types of lending activities include loans for home improvements, and loans for such items as autos, trucks, recreational vehicles, motorcycles, etc.
The Bank also provides checking account services, as well as savings and time deposit services such as certificates of deposits. In addition ATM's (Automated Teller Machines) are provided at most branch locations along with other independent locations such as major employers and hospitals in the market area. The Bank has custodial services for IRA's (Individual Retirement Accounts) and HSA's (Health Savings Accounts). The Bank provides on-line banking access for consumer and business customers. For consumers, this includes bill-pay, on-line statement opportunities and mobile banking. For business customers, it provides the option of electronic transaction origination such as wire and ACH file transmittal. In addition the Bank offers remote deposit capture or electronic deposit processing and merchant credit card services. Mobile banking was added in 2012 and has been widely accepted and used by consumers.
The Bank's underwriting policies exercised through established procedures facilitates operating in a safe and sound manner in accordance with supervisory and regulatory guidance. Within this sphere of safety and soundness, the Bank's practice has been not to promote innovative, unproven credit products which will not be in the best interest of the Bank or its customers. The Bank does offer a hybrid mortgage loan. Hybrid loans are loans that start out as a fixed rate mortgage but after a set number of years automatically adjust to an adjustable rate mortgage. The Bank offers a three year fixed rate mortgage after which the interest rate will adjust annually. The majority of the Bank's adjustable rate mortgages are of this type. In order to offer longer term fixed rate mortgages, the Bank does participate in the Freddie Mac, Farmer Mac and Small Business Lending programs. The Bank does also retain the servicing on these partially or 100% sold loans. In order for the customer to participate in these programs they must meet the requirements established by these agencies. In addition, the Bank does sell some of its longer term fixed rate agricultural mortgages into the secondary market with the aid of a broker.
INTRODUCTION (Continued)
The Bank does not have a program to fund sub-prime loans. Sub-prime loans are characterized as a lending program or strategy that target borrowers who pose a significantly higher risk of default than traditional retail banking customers.
Following are the characteristics and underwriting criteria for each major type of loan the Bank offers:
Commercial Real Estate - Construction, purchase, and refinance of business purpose real estate. Risks include loan amount in relation to construction delays and overruns, vacancies, collateral value subject to market value fluctuations, interest rate, market demands, borrower's ability to repay in orderly fashion, and others. The Bank does employ stress testing on higher balance loans to mitigate risk by ensuring the customer's ability to repay in a changing rate environment before granting loan approval.
Agricultural Real Estate - Purchase of farm real estate or for permanent improvements to the farm real estate. Cash flow from the farm operation is the repayment source and is therefore subject to the financial success of the farm operation.
Consumer Real Estate - Purchase, refinance, or equity financing of one to four family owner occupied dwelling. Success in repayment is subject to borrower's income, debt level, character in fulfilling payment obligations, employment, and others.
Commercial/Industrial - Loans to proprietorships, partnerships, or corporations to provide temporary working capital and seasonal loans as well as long term loans for capital asset acquisition. Risks include adequacy of cash flow, reasonableness of profit projections, financial leverage, economic trends, management ability, and others. The Bank does employ stress testing on higher balance loans to mitigate risk by ensuring the customer's ability to repay in a changing rate environment before granting loan approval.
Agricultural - Loans for the production and housing of crops, fruits, vegetables, and livestock or to fund the purchase or re-finance of capital assets such as machinery and equipment, and livestock. The production of crops and livestock is especially vulnerable to commodity prices and weather. The vulnerability to commodity prices is offset by the farmer's ability to hedge their position by the use of the future contracts. The risk related to weather is often mitigated by requiring federal crop insurance.
Consumer - Funding for individual and family purposes. Success in repayment is subject to borrower's income, debt level, character in fulfilling payment obligations, employment, and others.
Industrial Development Bonds - Funds for public improvements in the Bank's service area. Repayment ability is usually based on the continuance of the taxation revenue as the source of repayment.
All loan requests are reviewed as to credit worthiness and are subject to the Bank's underwriting guidelines as to secured versus unsecured credit. Secured loans are in turn subject to loan to value (LTV) requirements based on collateral types as set forth in the Bank's Loan Policy. In addition, credit scores of principal borrowers are reviewed and an approved exception from an additional officer is required should a credit score not meet the Bank's Loan Policy guidelines.
Consumer Loans:
Maximum loan to value (LTV) for cars, trucks and light trucks vary from 90% to 110% depending on whether direct or indirect.
Loans above 100% are generally due to additional charges for extended warranties and/or insurance coverage in the event of wage loss resulting from disability or death.
Boats, campers, motorcycles, RV's and Motor Coaches range from 80%-90% based on age of vehicle.
1st or 2nd mortgages on 1-4 family homes range from 75%-90% with "in-house" first real estate mortgages requiring private mortgage insurance on those exceeding 80% LTV.
Raw land LTV maximum ranges from 65%-75% depending on whether or not the property has been improved.
INTRODUCTION (Continued)
Commercial/Agriculture/Real Estate:
Maximum LTVs range from 70%-80% depending on type.
Accounts Receivable:
Up to 80% LTV.
Livestock and grain up to 80% LTV, crops (insured) up to 75% and Warehouse Receipts up to 87%.
Maximum LTV of 50% on raw and finished goods.
Used vehicles, new recreational vehicles and manufactured homes not to exceed (NTE) 80% LTV.
New not to exceed 80% of invoice, used NTE 50% of listed book or 75% of appraised value.
Restaurant equipment up to 35% of market value.
Heavy trucks, titled trailers, NTE 75% LTV and aircraft up to 75% of appraised value.
We also provide checking account services, as well as savings and time deposit services such as certificates of deposits. In addition ATM's are provided at our Ohio offices in Archbold, Wauseon, Stryker, West Unity, Lucas, Bryan, Delta, Napoleon, Montpelier, Swanton, Defiance, Hicksville, Waterville and Perrysburg, along with ones at our Auburn and Angola, Indiana offices. Two ATM's are located at Sauder Woodworking Co., Inc., a major employer in Archbold. Additional locations in Ohio are at Northwest State Community College, Archbold; Community Hospitals of Williams County, Bryan; Fairlawn Haven Wyse Commons, Archbold; R&H Restaurant, Fayette; Delta Eagles; Sauder Village, Archbold; Fulton County Health Center, Wauseon; downtown Defiance; and a mobile trailer ATM. In Indiana, four additional remote ATM's are located at St. Joe; at Kaiser's Supermarket and Therma-Tru in Butler; and at DeKalb Memorial Hospital in Auburn.
F&M Investment Services, the brokerage department of the Bank, opened for business in April, 1999. Securities are offered through Raymond James Financial Services Inc.
The Company is a bank holding company within the meaning of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956. Our subsidiary bank is in turn regulated and examined by the Ohio Division of Financial Institutions, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The activities of our bank subsidiary are also subject to other federal and state laws and regulations.
The Bank's primary market includes communities located in the Ohio counties of Defiance, Fulton, Henry, Williams and Wood and in the Indiana counties of DeKalb and Steuben. The commercial banking business in this market is highly competitive with approximately 17 other depository institutions currently doing business in the Bank's primary market. In our banking activities, we compete directly with other commercial banks, credit unions and farm credit services and savings and loan institutions in each of their operating localities. In a number of locations, we compete against entities which are much larger than us. The primary factors in competing for loans and deposits are the rates charged as well as location and quality of service provided. On December 31, 2007, the Bank acquired the Knisely Bank of Indiana, expanding its market with the addition of offices in Butler and Auburn, Indiana, both located in DeKalb County. An additional office was opened in the summer of 2008 in Angola, Indiana, located in Steuben County. On July 9, 2010 the Bank purchased a branch office in Hicksville, Ohio shortening the distance between our Ohio and Indiana offices. During 2012, the Bank purchased land in Waterville, Lucas County, Ohio, and began construction of an office. The office was opened in second quarter 2013 providing growth opportunity and extension of the market area.
At September 30, 2013, we had 249 full time equivalent employees. The employees are not represented by a collective bargaining unit. We provide our employees with a comprehensive benefit program, some of which are contributory. We consider our employee relations to be excellent.
Net interest income improved during the third quarter of 2013 as compared to the second quarter of 2013 and was only $31 thousand behind third quarter 2012. This was accomplished due to increased loan balances and lower borrowing levels for the quarter. Most of the loan growth occurred closer to the end of the quarter so the full benefit to interest income won't occur until the fourth quarter.
INTRODUCTION (Continued)
During the 1st quarter, the largest improvement in the non-interest income arena was the net gain on sale of loans; sales of 1-4 family and agricultural real estate loans were an extension of 2012's heightened activity level. Due to the continued low rate environment, the Company's customers were able to refinance their loans and lower their payments and/or reduce the term of the loan. During the second and third quarter, gain on sale of securities bolstered the noninterest income and was the largest improvement in the quarters.
Total allowance provision for loan losses was $140 thousand higher than 2012. Loan growth and charge-offs warranted additional provision expense be taken in the third quarter. Impaired loans decreased $3 million from December 31, 2012 levels. The same comparison applied for nonaccrual loans, showing an improvement in lower balances by $1.9 million than December 31, 2012. Past dues decreased by almost $1.6 million in comparing September 30, 2013 to December 31, 2012 balances. Overall, the Company continues to work on the collection of these loans and looks forward to continuing to decrease the exposure during 2013.
All rates remain low and are expected to remain low throughout 2013. This has enabled the Company to continue to sell investment securities and recognize a gain without compromising the yield. The transactions have modestly extended the duration of the investment portfolio. For all of 2012, the recognized gain was $852 thousand, of which $30 thousand was recognized in the third quarter. For third quarter 2013, the Company has recognized gains of $134 thousand bringing the total for 2013 to $732 thousand. Most of the securities sold were agencies maturing in a shorter time period than the securities that were purchased to replace them. The Bank was able to continue to capitalize on the steepness of the yield curve and the unrealized market gain position the last three years. Additional sales in fourth quarter 2013 will be executed to fund loan growth which management expects to continue through the fourth quarter and into the first quarter of 2014. The market value of the security portfolio has declined as evidenced by the high negative comprehensive income reported on the income statement. Additional opportunity to sell investment securities for a gain is limited for the remainder of 2013.
The majority of the Bank's commercial borrowers have experienced slight improvement, although a few still lag. As the economic recovery remains fragile and consumer confidence still remains at lower levels, consumer sensitive industries and the retail sector may continue to experience pressures as well. Drought conditions existed in the majority of the market area we service during 2012. 2013 brought increased moisture and storms. Crop insurance and two previous years of strong yields lessened any negative impact on our agricultural portfolio. Though crop yields in 2012 were down, prices were higher than a year earlier which helped lessen the financial impact. Though water levels have not yet returned to pre-drought levels, the outlook remains optimistic for 2013 agricultural activity.
Overall, profitability in the third quarter of 2013 was down as compared to the same quarter last year. In year-to-date comparisons, net income is down 7% or $543 thousand. Noninterest income was up 10.6% over the same period 2012. The Company has done an exceptional job of recognizing opportunities to provide services and products that the low rate environment made possible. These opportunities are further discussed in the Material Changes in Results of Operations. The Company remains strong, stable, and well capitalized and has the capacity to continue to cover the increased costs of doing business in a tough economy while seeking good loans to improve profitability. The Company continues to look for new opportunities to generate and protect revenue and provide additional channels through which to serve our customers and maintain our high level of customer satisfaction.
The Bank has been attentive to the significant final mortgage rules and additional guidance issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to implement the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act provisions. Effective in January 2014, these rules are a game-changer which impacts the entire mortgage lending industry, as well as the Bank's perspective on its mortgage lending business. The Bank continues to work toward fulfillment of applicable requirements for these new mortgage rules, as it gains further understanding of the complexities and inter-related nature of these rules, makes strategic decisions, and addresses key considerations necessary for implementation of each rule.
The Company's consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, and the Company follows general practices within the financial services industry in which it operates. At times the application of these principles requires management to make assumptions, estimates and judgments that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes.
These assumptions, estimates and judgments are based on information available as of the date of the financial statements. As this information changes, the financial statements could reflect different assumptions, estimates and judgments. Certain policies inherently have a greater reliance on assumptions, estimates and judgments and as such have a greater possibility of producing results that could be materially different than originally reported. Examples of critical assumptions, estimates and judgments are when assets and liabilities are required to be recorded at fair value, when a decline in the value of an asset not required to be recorded at fair value warrants an impairment write-down or valuation reserve to be established, or when an asset or liability must be recorded contingent upon a future event.
These policies, along with the disclosures presented in the notes to the condensed consolidated financial statements and in the management discussion and analysis of the financial condition and results of operations, provide information on how significant assets and liabilities are valued and how those values are determined for the financial statements. Based on the valuation techniques used and the sensitivity of financial statement amounts to assumptions, estimates, and judgments underlying those amounts, management has identified the determination of the Allowance for Loan and Lease Losses (ALLL) and the valuation of its Mortgage Servicing Rights and Other Real Estate Owned (OREO) as the accounting areas that require the most subjective or complex judgments, and as such could be the most subject to revision as new information becomes available.
Assets acquired through, or in lieu of, loan foreclosure are held for sale and are initially recorded at the lower of fair value or the loan carrying amount at the date of foreclosure. Subsequent to foreclosure, valuations are periodically performed by management and the assets are carried at the lower of carrying amount or fair value less cost to sell.
Foreclosed real estate for sale is carried at the lower of fair value minus estimated costs to sell, or cost. Costs of holding foreclosed real estate are charged to expense in the current period, except for significant property improvements, which are capitalized. Valuations are periodically performed by management and a write-down is recorded by a charge to non-interest expense if the carrying value exceeds the fair value minus estimated costs to sell. Foreclosed real estate is classified as other real estate owned. The net income from operations of foreclosed real estate held for sale is reported in non-interest income. At September 30, 2013, holdings were $2.4 million and were $2.3 million as of December 31, 2012 and $3.1 million as of September 30, 2012.
The ALLL represents management's estimate of credit losses inherent in the Bank's loan portfolio at the report date. The estimate is a composite of a variety of factors including past experience, collateral value and the general economy. ALLL includes a specific portion, a formula driven portion, and a general nonspecific portion. The collection and ultimate recovery of the book value of the collateral, in most cases, is beyond our control.
The Company is required to estimate the value of its Mortgage Servicing Rights. The Company recognizes as separate assets rights to service fixed rate single-family mortgage loans that it has sold without recourse but services for others for a fee. Mortgage servicing assets are initially recorded at cost, based upon pricing multiples as determined by the purchaser, when the loans are sold. Mortgage servicing assets are carried at the lower of the initial carrying value, adjusted for amortization, or estimated fair value. Amortization is determined in proportion to and over the period of estimated net servicing income using the level yield method. For purposes of determining impairment, the mortgage servicing assets are stratified into like groups based on loan type, term, new versus seasoned and interest rate. The valuation is completed by an independent third party.
The expected and actual rates of mortgage loan prepayments are the most significant factors driving the potential for the impairment of the value of mortgage servicing assets. Increases in mortgage loan prepayments reduce estimated future net servicing cash flows because the life of the underlying loan is reduced.
The Company's mortgage servicing rights relating to loans serviced for others represent an asset of the company. This asset is initially capitalized and included in other assets on the Company's consolidated balance sheet. The
CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICY AND ESTIMATES (Continued)
mortgage servicing rights are then amortized against noninterest income in proportion to, and over the period of the estimated future net servicing income of the underlying mortgage servicing rights. There are a number of factors, however, that can affect the ultimate value of the mortgage servicing rights to the Company, including the estimated prepayment speed of the loan and the discount rate used to present value the servicing right. For example, if the mortgage loan is prepaid, the Company will receive fewer servicing fees, meaning that the present value of the mortgage servicing rights is less than the carrying value of those rights on the Company's balance sheet. Therefore, in an attempt to reflect an accurate expected value to the Company of the mortgage servicing rights, the Company receives a valuation of its mortgage servicing rights from an independent third party. The independent third party's valuation of the mortgage servicing rights is based on relevant characteristics of the Company's loan servicing portfolio, such as loan terms, interest rates and recent national prepayment experience, as well as current national market interest rate levels, market forecasts and other economic conditions. Management, with the advice from its third party valuation firm reviewed the assumptions related to prepayment speeds, discount rates, and capitalized mortgage servicing income on a quarterly basis. Changes are reflected in the following quarter's analysis related to the mortgage servicing asset. In addition, based upon the independent third party's valuation of the Company's mortgage servicing rights, management then establishes a valuation allowance by each strata, if necessary, to quantify the likely impairment of the value of the mortgage servicing rights to the Company. The estimates of prepayment speeds and discount rates are inherently uncertain, and different estimates could have a material impact on the Company's net income and results of operations. The valuation allowance is evaluated and adjusted quarterly by management to reflect changes in the fair value of the underlying mortgage servicing rights based on market conditions. The accuracy of these estimates and assumptions by management and its third party valuation specialist can be directly tied back to the fact that management has only been required to record minor valuation allowances through its income statement over time based upon the valuation of each stratum of servicing rights. For more information regarding the estimates and calculations used to establish the ALLL and the value of Mortgage Servicing Rights, please see Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements provided herewith.
In comparing the balance sheet of September 30, 2013 to that of December 31, 2012, the cash equivalent liquidity of the Bank has decreased by approximately $22.6 million and still remains strong. The size of the Bank is smaller by a similar amount of $18.5. The decrease in liquidity also corresponds to a lower balance in the lowest interest yielding category. During the nine months of 2013, net loans have increased $22.1 million even with a $10 million decrease stemming from the repayment on a line of credit by a single borrowing relationship which was expected and which happens each year at this time. The fact that loan levels increased in light of the anticipated yearly reduction is a positive factor towards future improvement to profitability.
The Company's decrease in size was due to lower liability balances within deposits and FHLB borrowings. The Company has an unsecured borrowing capacity of $95.3 million through correspondent banks and over $128.0 million of unpledged securities which may be sold or used as collateral. The strength of the security portfolio is shown in the tables to follow. With the exception of stock, all of the Bank's security portfolio is categorized as available for sale and as such is recorded at market value. The charts that follow do not include stock.
Investment securities will at times depreciate to an unrealized loss position. The Bank utilizes the following criteria to assess whether or not an impaired . . .


text:
Starting October 6th, we will no longer mail hold pick/cancellation notices. In order to receive information about your holds, please log in to Your Library Account and make sure we have your current email address or phone number. Thank you for your cooperation.
5 Holiday Eating Tips!
Learn how to use the power of your subconscious mind to handle holiday eating and festivities without adding extra pounds with Certified Hypnotherapist, Catherine Walters!


text:
Welcome To GMTruckClub.com!
The #1 Chevy Truck Forum Online
Online since 2004, we're the #1 Chevy Truck & SUV user community. If you have any questions about your Chevy or GMC Truck, SUV or Crossover, or just want to connect with other GM owners and enthusiasts around the world, you've found the best place on the internet to do that.
Join Today ~ It's Free
Registering is Free and Easy! Do it today and we'll see you on the forums soon!
The Worst Cars On The Road GM still has a long way to go...
Discussion in 'Product Reviews' started by Enkeiavalanche, Apr 24, 2011.


text:
As a public event spouses, friends and family are welcome.
Club Lucky: 1824 West Wabansia, Bucktown, Chicago
Valet parking is available at Club Lucky.
For more information please contact our Secretary at firstname.lastname@example.com
We are Chicago's oldest Masonic Lodge meeting continuously since 1845. We have a young, active and diverse membership and welcome regular Masonic visitors as well as men interested in learning more about our Brotherhood.
If you would like more information on becoming a Freemason, please visit our Membership Page for more information.
Download our brochure here.
A light dinner is served at 6 pm.
Business attire is suggested
The opinions expressed on this web site represent those of the individual authors, and unless clearly labeled as such, do not represent the opinions or policies of any Masonic lodge, Grand Lodge or recognized masonic body
toolbar powered by Conduit


text:
Let's guess the identity of the "Pretty Little Liars" Red Coat!
Maggie Rose:
Who I think it is: So I've read the books and the spoilers and the guesses and interpreted Marlene King's smoke signals. My conclusion is that I'm 74% sure that Red Coat is Ali herself. I'm pretty convinced the finale of 3B is going to be a total game changer (ha, like you've never heard that before) and that reintroducing Ali or someone who looks a lot like Ali (evil twinsie!) will accomplish that quite nicely.
Who I want it to be: Can I say Jenna? Hear me out. I hate that Jenna has been so absent from the show the last several episodes and this would be a creative way to weave her back into the narrative of the story. Besides, Tammin Sursok can totally pull off the curly blonde bombshell look that we usually love to hate on Ali (as demonstrated in the above photo that I painstakingly found for y'all on the interwebs).
Heather Hogan:
Who I think it is: Well, first of all, I am consumed with Red Coat theories. It's all I want to think about or talk about to anyone all the time. Friday night at 1:00 a.m., I was absolutely convinced that it was Dr. Sullivan. But now that I've had more time to brood over it, I'm like 88 percent sure it's Ali. From a storytelling perspective, it makes perfect sense. It would blow the show wide open. The new relationship dynamics, the new secrets, the new mysteries, watching Paige finally rain down her wrath on Ali's face. God, it would be amazing.
Who I want it to be: Heh. Ali. I don't think I realized how badly I want it to be Ali until I typed that just now.
Lucy Hallowell:
I want the twist to be that Heather Hogan is Red Coat. Like she's been recapping the show all along and loving Emily and Paige and Maya and Spencer and Hanna and that other girl she always forgets about because she's off eating a bundt cake but in reality she loves them so much that it has turned her into a deranged maniac who stalks them, but never lays a finger on Paige because her evil kryptonite is head dips. Also, she totally killed Ali for that whole dick head note thing she did to Paige.
OK, #BooRadleyVanCullen-ers: Who do you think Red Coat is? And who do you want it to be?


text:
Rand Paul Gives State of the Union Response on Behalf of Tea Partyby Free Britney at . Comments
In the tea party rebuke to President Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday night, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) laid out an alternative vision for the future.
He also broke ranks at times from some in his own Republican party, which was officially represented by Marco Rubio's own State of the Union response.
The son of retired Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) pushed to cut corporate taxes in half and slash trillions in federal spending, welcoming the "sequester" cuts on March 1.
"The president does this big 'woe is me' over the $1.2-trillion sequester he endorsed and signed into law," said Ron Paul on behalf of the Tea Party Express.
"Some Republicans are joining him."
Rand Paul hit conservative talking points on school choice, 2nd Amendment gun rights and limiting executive powers, but focused mainly on fiscal issues.
He called for "a new bipartisan consensus" to cut spending, starting with leaders from each party being willing to take on their own sacred cows.
He called for a budget plan that would cap the personal income tax rate at 17 percent and cut corporate taxes in half, while still balancing the budget.
Doing that would require steep cuts, Paul unabashedly said, but that includes defense spending, which many in the GOP consider to be off limits.
Paul also struck other positions not often associated with the tea party or the Republican party, including backing widespread immigration reform.
Republicans need to be the party that "embraces" immigrants, he said.
Additionally, he said he opposes "secret kill lists of American citizens who can be killed without trial," a reference to military drone strikes and surveillance.
"Trickle down" economics insults the intelligence. Cutting taxes for the rich has is just a racket. It does nothing for the economy. The wealth collects at the top of the pyramid and stagnates. .... Corporations today have plenty of money. What they lack is demand for their products, and that's because the consumers on the bottom of the pyramid are being cannibalized. We depend on things like Social Security and Medicare. .... Much of the government has been taken over by corrupt Wall Street / War Street elements, but there are still a few things that the government does right -- Social Security, the Post Office, etc.. Neo-con ideologues fail to make this distinction. Their ideology is like a blinding religion or cult, with government taking the place of the devil and corporations serving as the idol. These cultists need to be deprogrammed.


text:
You must log in to access this feature. Sign in with Twellow or Facebook to get started.
By signing in to Twellow, you indicate your agreement to our terms of service.
Simply connect with Facebook and kiss those password blues away,
or go here to reset your password.
Justin Verrengia - Marketing Coach, Personal Development Trainer & Teacher Of Hidden Knowledge. Into Meditation, QiGong & Esoteric Cosmos.


text:
St. Patrick's Day was first celebrated in 1737 honoring an Irish saint. While the holiday invokes parades, shamrocks and beer, it is also heralding the entrance of spring with all its green glory.
Parades are always a fun way to celebrate the holiday. With many bagpipe groups and leprechauns to entertain the crowds, there are many sights and sounds to put everyone in the St. Patrick's Day spirit.
There are certain food and beverage items that are associated with St. Patrick's Day. We are all familiar with corned beef and cabbage as well as the famous green beer. Luckily for Anchorage there are several locations to enjoy these delicious St. Patty's Day treats with a little something extra to make the celebration complete. When you can drop by a pub and not only enjoy a great green beer but be entertained by live bagpipes and song and dance, it just makes the atmosphere more festive. There are many pubs in Anchorage to enjoy festive celebrations; the following are a few worthy of highlighting.
Mo's O'Brady will be serving up St. Patty's flare including Shepherd's Pie, Corned Beef and Cabbage along with famous green beer. The dining experience is complete with live bagpipes for entertainment. You can enjoy the wonderful St. Patrick's Day dinner for around $6.50
Reilly's will celebrate with Irish dancers, bagpipes and FREE corned beef sandwiches. They also recommend that you try their wonderful Irish coffee or a spirited Irish whiskey. These are sure to get your St. Patty's Day celebration in high gear.
McGinley's Pub has a four day celebration planned that will start with live music by the Celtic Community of Alaska. There will be Irish music featured each day with lots of dancing and celebrating. You will be in the Irish spirit with all the bagpipes, dancing, Guinness and all things green.
Celtic Treasures' holiday celebration will have lots of Irish fun sure to please the leprechaun in all of us.
Get a group of friends together and make plans to go decked out in your best green attire and shamrock hats to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in a big way this year. With so many options getting out there and enjoying the luck of the Irish should be quite simple. Welcome the upcoming spring with a smile by celebrating St. Patrick's Day at one of these fabulous locations in Anchorage this St. Patrick's Day


text:
Category: Air & Climate ×
Subcategory: Particulate ×
Industry: Energy ×
Location: USA ×
Location: Idaho ×
IMR Environmental Equipment, Inc.
based in St. Petersburg, FLORIDA (USA)
IMR Environmental Equipment, Inc. is one of the leading manufacturers worldwide for portable flue-gas analyzers and stationary flue-gas analyzers using electro-chemical and NDIR technology. Furthermore, the product range includes leak detectors (HC, refrigerant), thermometers, manometers and anemometers. IMR has almost 30 years of experience designing, manufacturing and ...
based in Coimbatore, INDIA
Mevadhashma, Indian based ISO 9001 - 2008 certified company and eminent supplier for major industries plant spares and equipment. We are recognized and specialized as a Manufacturer, Exporter, Trader and Supplier of quality products. We offer a wide range of products which includes Electrostatic Precipitator Spares of BHEL, Thermax, Alstom Flsmidth, ACC make Esp spares ...
based in München, GERMANY
Clariant is an internationally active specialty chemical company, based in Muttenz near Basel. The group owns over 100 companies worldwide and employed 21 202 employees at the end of 2012. In the financial year 2012, Clariant produced a turnover of CHF 6 billion. Clariant is divided into seven business units: Additives; Catalysts; Function Minerals, Industrial & Consumer ...
Felix Technology Inc.
based in Concord, ONTARIO (CANADA)
Felix Technology is an integrator and provider of sensors and systems for measuring and monitoring meteorological, hydrological and environmental parameters. Our main focus is on developing quality instruments and providing engineering solutions to frequently encountered environmental problems. Our highly skilled technical and sales personnel make sure that the customers ...
Codel International Ltd
based in Bakewell, UNITED KINGDOM
CODEL are world leaders in the design and manufacture of systems for continuous emissions gas monitoring (cems) and combustion control analysers, such as in-situ and extractive flue gas emissions analysers (analyzers), pollution sensors, dust monitor/particulate monitors, opacity/smoke monitors, flue gas analysers (analyzers), road tunnel atmosphere sensors and velocity ...
based in Bellevue, WASHINGTON (USA)
Lundberg specializes in the design and supply of Custom Solutions including Engineering, Systems and Equipment for the Process Industries, to meet each client`s unique Environmental, Energy Efficiency and Chemical Processing needs. We offer a full range of services from studies and audits through complete EPC installations. Lundberg has developed a wide range of ...
Environnement S.A
based in Poissy, FRANCE
Environnement S.A is the leading company in the field of instrumentation for the environment. Ever since its creation in 1978, Environnement S.A has been dedicated to the study, development, manufacture and supply of advanced on-line gas, particulate and water analyzers, using the most recent technologies. Environnement S.A proposes a comprehensive range of continuous ...
Anguil Environmental Systems, Inc.
based in Milwaukee, WISCONSIN (USA)
Anguil Environmental Systems, Inc. is a global provider of air pollution control technologies, including regenerative thermal oxidizers (RTOs), as well as catalytic, thermal recuperative and direct fired thermal oxidizers. Our vapor combustion and emission concentrator systems are used for the destruction of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), Hazardous Air Pollutants, ...
Chemisch Thermische Prozesstechnik GmbH / CTP Air Pollution Control
based in Graz, AUSTRIA
CTP (Chemisch Thermische Prozesstechnik GmbH) is one of the world`s leading companies in air pollution control for industrial applications. CTP was founded in 1985 and since then, its engineers, chemists and researchers have been developing individual technologies to serve customers worldwide, covering all industrial sectors. At CTP, we adhere to high quality standards ...
Ecotech Pty Ltd
based in Knoxfield, AUSTRALIA
Ecotech is an Australian owned company with more than 35 years experience in servicing, maintaining, designing, manufacturing, installing and commissioning ambient air and emission monitoring systems around the world. Ecotech is ISO17025 accredited for the operation and maintenance of ambient air and continuous emission monitoring systems and was first accredited in 1999. ...
Need help finding the right suppliers?
Let the XPRTs do the work for you


text:
(Photo: Getty Images)
A spy at the Coachella music festival tells us David Hasselhoff was hanging out backstage with laser beam magnet pop band Klaxons, talking about how the festival reminded him of Woodstock (did he actually go?), drinking not-alcohol. "He was talking about music and that his daughters love all that 'techno rave stuff,' but he loves Mark Ronson," the spy says. Then he mentioned he's starting a blog. "The daily life of the Hoff sort of thing." A rep for Hoff didn't return a call for confirmation.


text:
Madonna tickets sold like hotcakes in New York for her two Yankee Stadium shows in September, and business is brisk throughout many other American and European cities for her upcoming tour … but Dublin, so far, has proven to be a bit of a bust as far as demand goes.
Madge is down to play the outdoor Aviva Stadium in Dublin on July 24, which seats more than 50,000.
That's a bunch of tickets to sell, obviously, but Michael Buble had no problem packing the place for two shows when it opened in September of 2010. Granted Buble is king to his legions of Irish fans, but it seems strange that Madonna ticket sales are lagging.
A spokesperson for promoters MCD in Dublin told the Irish Independent a few weeks back that tickets were "selling very well," and a story in the paper at that time reported that lots of good seats were available for purchase 24 hours after they first went on sale.
That's still very much the case, as a quick "Page 2" check on Ticketmaster.ie Sunday showed.
Seeing the Material Girl doesn't come cheap. The Dublin show ranges in price from €54.65 to €141, which translates to about $72-$185. That's actually pretty reasonable considering the best Yankee Stadium ticket is $375, but obviously in recession-wracked Ireland it's tough to part with that kind of cash, even for an icon like Madge.
Log in with your social accounts:
Or, log in with your IrishCentral account:
Don't have an account yet? Register now !
Join IrishCentral with your social accounts:
Already have an account ? Log in
Or, sign up for an IrishCentral account below:
Make sure we gathered the correct information from you
You already have an account on IrishCentral! Please confirm you're the owner.
Our new policy requires our users to save a first and last name. Please update your account:


text:
|By Marketwired .
Article Rating:
|November 5, 2012 12:01 AM EST
SUNNYVALE, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 11/05/12 -- AMD (NYSE: AMD) today unveiled its new AMD Opteron 6300 Series server processors based on its next-generation "Piledriver" core architecture. The new AMD Opteron processors deliver superior performance and scalability for virtualized server platforms that are central to private and public cloud deployments, big data systems and high-performance computing (HPC) clusters. The AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors strike the ultimate balance between performance, scalability and cost effectiveness to help IT organizations lower total cost of ownership (TCO).
The AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors offer industry-leading performance in SPECjbb2005, a server benchmark used to evaluate Java performance, with up to 24 percent higher performance versus the prior generation AMD Opteron 6200 Series processors(1). Java is a critical element of the software ecosystem for next-generation data centers. Performance per watt is up to 40 percent higher than the prior generation solutions(2), which means businesses running robust large-scale software systems will be able to enjoy high performance as well as low TCO.
AMD continues to drive HPC performance with the AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors by leveraging optimizations in compilers and libraries, and combining it with the next-generation core architecture. AMD has delivered impressive results in key HPC applications such as the molecular dynamics workloads LAMMPs and NAMD(3).
"Across global IT organizations, cost-effective, scalable performance is a core requirement to support cloud computing, server consolidation and highly-threaded workloads common in HPC, big data and other areas," said Suresh Gopalakrishnan, general manager, Server Business Unit, AMD. "The key to a winning solution for customers is working with OEMs and other solution providers to minimize TCO with a combination of cost effectiveness and superior performance per watt. AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors are uniquely positioned to be the difference-maker customers are seeking."
Customer and Partner Traction
Servers from Dell and HP based on the AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors are expected to be available before the end of the year. Systems and platforms are available today from Cray, SGI, and Supermicro as well as AMAX, Appro, ASUS, ClusterVision, Colfax International, MEGWARE Computer, Microway, Penguin Computing, Silicon Mechanics and ZT Systems. AMD's own "Roadrunner" platform, developed for the Open Compute Project, will be available in the first quarter of 2013. Moreover, AMD has already seen early traction with the AMD Opteron 6300 Series processor leveraged in a supercomputing deployment at Indiana University.
"Cloud computing, data warehouse systems and HPC clusters are at the top of many CIOs agendas, but many struggle to find the right balance of performance and scalability with price," said Brian Payne, executive director of Platform Marketing, Dell. "Our PowerEdge and PowerEdge C server platforms are scalable and designed to integrate the latest technologies from AMD. The new AMD Opteron 6300 Series provides Dell customers with additional performance gains, lower cost of ownership and improved power efficiency, all of which are hugely beneficial for cloud computing, big data and other high-growth data center applications."
"Greater performance levels, increased agility and innovations that deliver business value and productivity are fundamental requirements for our clients' success," said Jim Ganthier, vice president, Marketing and Operations, HP. "The new AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors in HP's industry-leading ProLiant server portfolio meet those requirements, supporting demanding workloads that ensure enterprise productivity with lower lifecycle costs."
Key Facts, Performance and Technical Detail
- Frequency: Up to 3.5 GHz base frequency and up to 3.8 GHz using AMD Turbo CORE technology for increased performance when applications demand it;
- Up to 16 cores per socket for scaling in thread-intensive environments;
- AMD-P power management features maximize performance-per-watt across workloads while giving IT managers more control over their data center power profiles;
- AMD Virtualization (AMD-V) technology for near-native performance in virtualized environments and lowest cost per virtual machine (VM);
- Up to four memory channels with up to 1866 MHz memory;
- The only x86 processor to support ultralow voltage 1.25v memory;
- Supports up to 12 DIMMs per CPU for up to 384GB memory per processor;
- Up to four x16 HyperTransport technology (HT3) links at up to 6.4GT/s per link.
AMD Opteron 6300 Series Processors ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Base Turbo CPU Model CPU Cores Frequency Frequency TDP Pricing ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6386 SE 16 2.8 GHz 3.5 GHz 140W $1,392 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6380 16 2.5 GHz 3.4 GHz 115W $1,088 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6378 16 2.4 GHz 3.3 GHz 115W $867 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6376 16 2.3 GHz 3.3 GHz 115W $703 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6348 12 2.8 GHz 3.4 GHz 115W $575 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6344 12 2.6 GHz 3.2 GHz 115W $415 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6328 8 3.2 GHz 3.8 GHz 115W $575 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6320 8 2.8 GHz 3.3 GHz 115W $293 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6308 4 3.5 GHz N/A 115W $501 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6366 HE 16 1.8 GHz 3.1 GHz 85W $575 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Full performance details can be found at www.amd.com/opteronperformance; current pricing is available at http://www.amd.com/us/products/pricing/Pages/server-opteron.aspx. AMD will be formally launching its Piledriver-based AMD Opteron 4300 and 3300 Series processors (code-named "Seoul" and "Delhi") in December. Details on those systems will be made available at that time.
About AMD
AMD (NYSE: AMD) is a semiconductor design innovator leading the next era of vivid digital experiences with its ground-breaking AMD Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) that power a wide range of computing devices. AMD's server computing products are focused on driving industry-leading cloud computing and virtualization environments. AMD's superior graphics technologies are found in a variety of solutions ranging from game consoles, PCs to supercomputers. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.
AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, AMD Opteron and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Cautionary Statement
This release contains forward-looking statements concerning among other things that AMD will launch products on schedule and in sufficient volumes to meet market needs, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are commonly identified by words such as "believes, "expects," "may," "will," "should," "seeks," "intends," "pro forma," "estimates," "anticipates," "plans," "projects," and other terms with similar meaning. Investors are cautioned that the forward-looking statements in this release are based on current beliefs, assumptions and expectations, speak only as of the date of this release and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. Risks include the possibility that Intel Corporation's pricing, marketing and rebating programs, product bundling, standard setting, new product introductions or other activities may negatively impact the company's plans; the company may be unable to develop, launch and ramp new products and technologies in the volumes that are required by the market at mature yields on a timely basis; that the company's third party foundry suppliers will be unable to transition its products to advanced manufacturing process technologies in a timely and effective way or to manufacture the company's products on a timely basis in sufficient quantities and using competitive technologies; the company will be unable to obtain sufficient manufacturing capacity or components to meet demand for its products or will not fully utilize its commitment with respect to GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Inc.'s microprocessor manufacturing facilities in 2012 and beyond; that customers stop buying the company's products or materially reduce their operations or demand for the company's products; that the company may be unable to maintain the level of investment in research and development that is required to remain competitive; that there may be unexpected variations in the market growth and demand for its products and technologies in light of the product mix that the company may have available at any particular time or a decline in demand; that the company will require additional funding and may be unable to raise sufficient capital on favorable terms, or at all; that global business and economic conditions will not improve or will worsen; that demand for computers will be lower than currently expected; and the effect of political or economic instability, domestically or internationally, on the company's sales or supply chain. Investors are urged to review in detail the risks and uncertainties in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2012.
(1) SVR-168 - Comparison based on highest 2P SPECjbb2005 benchmark data as of Oct. 16, 2012. 1493967 bops (16 JVMs and 93373 bops/JVM) using 2 x AMD Opteron processors Model 6380 in Supermicro 1022G-URF server, 128GB (16 x 8GB DDR3-1600) memory, Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 Enterprise x64 Edition R2. 1199838 bops (16 JVMs and 74990 bops/JVM) using 2 x AMD Opteron processors Model 6278 in HP ProLiant BL465c Gen8 server, 128GB (16 x 8GB DDR3-1600) memory, Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 Enterprise x64 Edition R2. SPEC and SPECjbb are registered trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. See www.spec.org.
(2) SVR-305 - Comparison based on 2P SPECpower_ssj2008 data as of Oct. 16, 2012: 77.9W at Active Idle, 308W and 1,636,298 ssj_ops at 100 percent of target load, and 4,040 overall ssj_ops/watt using 2 x AMD Opteron processors Model 6380 in Supermicro 1022G-NTF server, 64GB (8 x 8GB DDR3-1600) memory, Supermicro PWS-563-1H20 power supply, 240GB SATA disk drive, Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 R2 x64 Enterprise Edition. 82.6W at Active Idle, 320W and 1,233,423 ssj_ops at 100 percent of target load, and 2,892 overall ssj_ops/watt using 2 x AMD Opteron processors Model 6278 in Supermicro 1022G-NTF server, 64GB (8 x 8GB DDR3-1600) memory, Supermicro PWS-563-1H20 power supply, 240GB SATA disk drive, Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 R2 x64 Enterprise Edition. SPEC and SPECjbb are registered trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. See www.spec.org.
(3) LAMMPS: 304 rating with 2 x AMD Opteron processors Model 6380 in Supermicro H8DGT server, 64GB (8 x 8GB DDR3-1600) memory, SuSE Linux® Enterprise Server 11 SP2 64-bit, GCC 4.7.0 Compiler, OMPI 1.5.3
Compiler Flags: -O3 -freciprocal-math -march=bdver1 -mavx -mfma4. 301 rating with 2 x Intel Xeon processors Model E5-2690 in Supermicro X9DRT-HIBFF server, 64GB (8 x 8GB DDR3-1600) memory, SuSE Linux® Enterprise Server 11 SP2 64-bit, Intel Professional Compiler v12.1.3, OMPI 1.6.0+knem 0.9.8, Hyper-Threading disabled, Turbo Boost Technology enabled. Compiler Flags: -O3 -fno-alias -ip -unroll0 -no-prec-div. NAMD: 2268 rating with 2 x AMD Opteron processors Model 6380 in Supermicro H8DGT server, 64GB (8 x 8GB DDR3-1600) memory, SuSE Linux® Enterprise Server 11 SP2 64-bit, GCC 4.7.0 Compiler, OMPI 1.6.0+Knem 0.9.8. Compiler Flags: -O3 -m64 -march=bdver1 -mfa4 -mavx. 2193 rating with 2 x Intel Xeon processors Model E5-2690 in Supermicro X9DRT-HIBFF server, 64GB (8 x 8GB DDR3-1600) memory, SuSE Linux® Enterprise Server 11 SP2 64-bit, Intel Professional Compiler v12.1.3, OMPI 1.5.5+Knem 0.98, Hyper-Threading disabled, Turbo Boost Technology enabled.
Add to Digg Bookmark with del.icio.us Add to Newsvine
Tara Sims
AMD Public Relations
(415) 713-5986
[email protected]
The 3rd International Internet of @ThingsExpo, co-located with the 16th International Cloud Expo - to be held June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY - announces that its Call for Papers is now open. The Internet of Things (IoT) is the biggest idea since the creation of the Worldwide Web more than 20 years ago.
Nov. 28, 2014 05:00 PM EST Reads: 1,309
Cultural, regulatory, environmental, political and economic (CREPE) conditions over the past decade are creating cross-industry solution spaces that require processes and technologies from both the Internet of Things (IoT), and Data Management and Analytics (DMA). These solution spaces are evolving into Sensor Analytics Ecosystems (SAE) that represent significant new opportunities for organizations of all types. Public Utilities throughout the world, providing electricity, natural gas and water, are pursuing SmartGrid initiatives that represent one of the more mature examples of SAE. We have s...
Nov. 27, 2014 04:00 PM EST Reads: 1,374
The security devil is always in the details of the attack: the ones you've endured, the ones you prepare yourself to fend off, and the ones that, you fear, will catch you completely unaware and defenseless. The Internet of Things (IoT) is nothing if not an endless proliferation of details. It's the vision of a world in which continuous Internet connectivity and addressability is embedded into a growing range of human artifacts, into the natural world, and even into our smartphones, appliances, and physical persons. In the IoT vision, every new "thing" - sensor, actuator, data source, data con...
Nov. 27, 2014 04:00 PM EST Reads: 1,715
The Internet of Things is tied together with a thin strand that is known as time. Coincidentally, at the core of nearly all data analytics is a timestamp. When working with time series data there are a few core principles that everyone should consider, especially across datasets where time is the common boundary. In his session at Internet of @ThingsExpo, Jim Scott, Director of Enterprise Strategy & Architecture at MapR Technologies, discussed single-value, geo-spatial, and log time series data. By focusing on enterprise applications and the data center, he will use OpenTSDB as an example t...
Nov. 27, 2014 03:00 PM EST Reads: 1,522
How do APIs and IoT relate? The answer is not as simple as merely adding an API on top of a dumb device, but rather about understanding the architectural patterns for implementing an IoT fabric. There are typically two or three trends: Exposing the device to a management framework Exposing that management framework to a business centric logic Exposing that business layer and data to end users. This last trend is the IoT stack, which involves a new shift in the separation of what stuff happens, where data lives and where the interface lies. For instance, it's a mix of architectural styles ...
Nov. 27, 2014 03:00 PM EST Reads: 1,383
An entirely new security model is needed for the Internet of Things, or is it? Can we save some old and tested controls for this new and different environment? In his session at @ThingsExpo, New York's at the Javits Center, Davi Ottenheimer, EMC Senior Director of Trust, reviewed hands-on lessons with IoT devices and reveal a new risk balance you might not expect. Davi Ottenheimer, EMC Senior Director of Trust, has more than nineteen years' experience managing global security operations and assessments, including a decade of leading incident response and digital forensics. He is co-author of t...
Nov. 27, 2014 01:00 PM EST Reads: 1,714
The Internet of Things will greatly expand the opportunities for data collection and new business models driven off of that data. In her session at @ThingsExpo, Esmeralda Swartz, CMO of MetraTech, discussed how for this to be effective you not only need to have infrastructure and operational models capable of utilizing this new phenomenon, but increasingly service providers will need to convince a skeptical public to participate. Get ready to show them the money!
Nov. 27, 2014 11:00 AM EST Reads: 1,330
The Internet of Things will put IT to its ultimate test by creating infinite new opportunities to digitize products and services, generate and analyze new data to improve customer satisfaction, and discover new ways to gain a competitive advantage across nearly every industry. In order to help corporate business units to capitalize on the rapidly evolving IoT opportunities, IT must stand up to a new set of challenges. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Jeff Kaplan, Managing Director of THINKstrategies, will examine why IT must finally fulfill its role in support of its SBUs or face a new round of...
Nov. 27, 2014 10:00 AM EST Reads: 1,269
One of the biggest challenges when developing connected devices is identifying user value and delivering it through successful user experiences. In his session at Internet of @ThingsExpo, Mike Kuniavsky, Principal Scientist, Innovation Services at PARC, described an IoT-specific approach to user experience design that combines approaches from interaction design, industrial design and service design to create experiences that go beyond simple connected gadgets to create lasting, multi-device experiences grounded in people's real needs and desires.
Nov. 27, 2014 08:00 AM EST Reads: 1,294
Enthusiasm for the Internet of Things has reached an all-time high. In 2013 alone, venture capitalists spent more than $1 billion dollars investing in the IoT space. With "smart" appliances and devices, IoT covers wearable smart devices, cloud services to hardware companies. Nest, a Google company, detects temperatures inside homes and automatically adjusts it by tracking its user's habit. These technologies are quickly developing and with it come challenges such as bridging infrastructure gaps, abiding by privacy concerns and making the concept a reality. These challenges can't be addressed w...
Nov. 27, 2014 07:45 AM EST Reads: 1,569
The Domain Name Service (DNS) is one of the most important components in networking infrastructure, enabling users and services to access applications by translating URLs (names) into IP addresses (numbers). Because every icon and URL and all embedded content on a website requires a DNS lookup loading complex sites necessitates hundreds of DNS queries. In addition, as more internet-enabled 'Things' get connected, people will rely on DNS to name and find their fridges, toasters and toilets. According to a recent IDG Research Services Survey this rate of traffic will only grow. What's driving t...
Nov. 27, 2014 07:00 AM EST Reads: 1,538
Scott Jenson leads a project called The Physical Web within the Chrome team at Google. Project members are working to take the scalability and openness of the web and use it to talk to the exponentially exploding range of smart devices. Nearly every company today working on the IoT comes up with the same basic solution: use my server and you'll be fine. But if we really believe there will be trillions of these devices, that just can't scale. We need a system that is open a scalable and by using the URL as a basic building block, we open this up and get the same resilience that the web enjoys.
Nov. 27, 2014 06:45 AM EST Reads: 1,434
Connected devices and the Internet of Things are getting significant momentum in 2014. In his session at Internet of @ThingsExpo, Jim Hunter, Chief Scientist & Technology Evangelist at Greenwave Systems, examined three key elements that together will drive mass adoption of the IoT before the end of 2015. The first element is the recent advent of robust open source protocols (like AllJoyn and WebRTC) that facilitate M2M communication. The second is broad availability of flexible, cost-effective storage designed to handle the massive surge in back-end data in a world where timely analytics is e...
Nov. 27, 2014 06:45 AM EST Reads: 1,374
We are reaching the end of the beginning with WebRTC, and real systems using this technology have begun to appear. One challenge that faces every WebRTC deployment (in some form or another) is identity management. For example, if you have an existing service – possibly built on a variety of different PaaS/SaaS offerings – and you want to add real-time communications you are faced with a challenge relating to user management, authentication, authorization, and validation. Service providers will want to use their existing identities, but these will have credentials already that are (hopefully) i...
Nov. 27, 2014 04:00 AM EST Reads: 1,282
"Matrix is an ambitious open standard and implementation that's set up to break down the fragmentation problems that exist in IP messaging and VoIP communication," explained John Woolf, Technical Evangelist at Matrix, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at @ThingsExpo, held Nov 4–6, 2014, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Nov. 27, 2014 04:00 AM EST Reads: 1,239
P2P RTC will impact the landscape of communications, shifting from traditional telephony style communications models to OTT (Over-The-Top) cloud assisted & PaaS (Platform as a Service) communication services. The P2P shift will impact many areas of our lives, from mobile communication, human interactive web services, RTC and telephony infrastructure, user federation, security and privacy implications, business costs, and scalability. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Robin Raymond, Chief Architect at Hookflash, will walk through the shifting landscape of traditional telephone and voice services ...
Nov. 26, 2014 02:00 PM EST Reads: 1,659
Explosive growth in connected devices. Enormous amounts of data for collection and analysis. Critical use of data for split-second decision making and actionable information. All three are factors in making the Internet of Things a reality. Yet, any one factor would have an IT organization pondering its infrastructure strategy. How should your organization enhance its IT framework to enable an Internet of Things implementation? In his session at Internet of @ThingsExpo, James Kirkland, Chief Architect for the Internet of Things and Intelligent Systems at Red Hat, described how to revolutioniz...
Nov. 24, 2014 07:00 PM EST Reads: 1,757
Bit6 today issued a challenge to the technology community implementing Web Real Time Communication (WebRTC). To leap beyond WebRTC's significant limitations and fully leverage its underlying value to accelerate innovation, application developers need to consider the entire communications ecosystem.
Nov. 24, 2014 12:00 PM EST Reads: 1,653
The definition of IoT is not new, in fact it's been around for over a decade. What has changed is the public's awareness that the technology we use on a daily basis has caught up on the vision of an always on, always connected world. If you look into the details of what comprises the IoT, you'll see that it includes everything from cloud computing, Big Data analytics, "Things," Web communication, applications, network, storage, etc. It is essentially including everything connected online from hardware to software, or as we like to say, it's an Internet of many different things. The difference ...
Nov. 24, 2014 11:00 AM EST Reads: 1,789
Cloud Expo 2014 TV commercials will feature @ThingsExpo, which was launched in June, 2014 at New York City's Javits Center as the largest 'Internet of Things' event in the world.
Nov. 24, 2014 09:00 AM EST Reads: 1,818


text:
Narrow your search
Our back-to-school guide will show you something worth your time and money.
Having sold off its handset business to Microsoft, Nokia gets into the tablet game with the new N1.
The Fever Smart patch thermometer acts like a mini nurse, tracking a child's temperature and sending the data to the parent's smartphone.
As an acrobat performs on her harness, a stunning light show complements her dance in real-time, responding to sound and movement.
Far more powerful than Instagram, this amazing app lets you add some serious style to your vids.
Skype Translator currently supports about 40 languages and is expected to roll out later this year as a Windows 8 beta.
Twitter tool We Feel collates data from millions of tweets around the world to show how any English-speaking region is feeling in real-time.
An upcoming short film called Construct finds new ways to use the current CG animation technology to produce mind-blowing results.
Emergency room clinicians at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston try out the wearable eyeglasses as a way to speak with and examine patients while simultaneously reading their charts.
Augmented reality ad company Blippar reveals it has developed an app for Google Glass that enables real-time object recognition AR experiences for the first time.
Like an Instagram for video, Spotliter Video offers a variety of very cool filters you can apply while you shoot.


text:
The report, by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, along with the Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea,* calls on the U.S. to defer its pursuit of Agreed Framework III, and instead confront the very reason why Pyongyang shouldn't have nuclear weapons, and why diplomacy with it will continue to fail:
Only when North Korea begins to develop a record of improvement on human rights can it engage with the U.S. on other issues, including security, the economy, a peace treaty, or eventual normalization of diplomatic relations. Indeed, improving North Korea's human rights record should be the litmus test of North Korea's credibility to engage on other issues. After all, if a government has no regard for the lives of its own people, what regard does it have for the lives of others? What deters it from provoking a war, or proliferating missile technology and weapons of mass destruction to terrorists? [Robert F. Kennedy Center]
In doing so, the report also challenges an exhausted and paralyzed foreign policy establishment that, at least with respect to North Korea, has become a hospice for dying dogma and hasn't had an original idea since 1989:
For a quarter of a century, U.S. diplomatic strategy has sought to separate and narrow its disagreements with North Korea, to solve them sequentially. Yet the path to solving all of these disagreements is barred by the same obstacle – North Korea's isolation and secrecy. The agreed framework of 1994 and 2007 agreement both broke down over verification. Similarly, without transparency, the World Food Program cannot monitor the access to food aid, the International Atomic Energy Agency cannot monitor disarmament, and North Korea will deny that its prison camps even exist – including one that is directly adjacent to its nuclear test site. Without transparency, there can be no verification. Transparency in humanitarian matters such as food aid and the treatment of prisoners cannot be sidelined if there is to be a verifiable denuclearization of North Korea.
The report recites Pyongyang's lengthy history of ignoring U.N. requests to cooperate with human rights inquiries—a history that illustrates the disingenuousness of its recent, often inartful, efforts to "engage" the EU and other U.N. member states. Read more


text:
Friday Post-Practice NotesPosted by on January 1, 2010 – 1:22 pm
Vikings Head Coach Brad Childress met with reporters on Friday after practice to give a final update before this Sunday's regular season finale against the NY Giants at Mall of America Field. Here are a few notes…
– Childress said the Vikings had a good practice on Friday and that the team feels good about playing at home this weekend to cap the regular season. "We had a good practice and I'm anxious to get busy and get out there and play at home," the head coach said. "We'll have the home crowd and expect that to be a huge plus. We'll kind of try that on for size as we go forward. We're excited and ready to get it going."
– DT Jimmy Kennedy injured his thumb in last week's loss at Chicago while filling in for Pat Williams, who missed the game with an elbow injury. Kennedy was not able to practice at all this week, and while Childress said they'll wait to see how the DT feels tomorrow, it looks as if DTs Fred Evans and Letroy Guion may have to step up should Kennedy not be able to play on Sunday.
– Speaking of Williams, he was able to practice on a limited basis all 3 days this week. He was limited all of last week and missed Monday night's game, but although he was limited all of this week as well, Childress seemed optimistic about his run-stuffing DT's chances of playing. "Pat did make it through the week," Childress said. "He had a good week of practice." Asked if Williams has "made it over the hump" in terms of recovering from the injury, Childress said he seems to have done so.
Tags: Jimmy Kennedy, Pat Williams
Posted in All, Mike Wobschall | 19 Comments »
Shiancoe, Williams QuestionablePosted by on January 1, 2010 – 1:21 pm
Two Vikings starters are listed as questionable on the Vikings Friday injury report.
TE Visanthe Shiancoe (thigh) and DT Pat Williams were limited in practice this week. Shiancoe was held out on Wednesday but was able to make it through practices on Thursday and Friday. Williams, who missed last week's game in Chicago, was limited all week.
While meeting with reporters after practice on Friday, Vikings Head Coach Brad Childress sounded optimistic about Williams' chances of playing on Sunday. He was not asked about Shiancoe.
DT Jimmy Kennedy (thumb) is listed as doubtful and 4 players – G Steve Hutchinson (shoulder), S Eric Frampton (ankle), C John Sullivan (knee) and CB Antoine Winfield (foot) – are listed as probable.
You can view the Vikings injury report by clicking here.
The Giants injury report is quite long and you can view it by clicking here to get all the details. But we will tell you that the following players have already been ruled out of Sunday's game: RB Brandon Jacobs, CB Aaron Ross, DT Chris Canty, OT Kareem McKenzie and CB Cory Webster.
Tags: Pat Williams, Visanthe Shiancoe
Posted in All, Mike Wobschall | 3 Comments »
Home Sweet HomePosted by on January 1, 2010 – 11:05 am
After 3 road losses in their last 4 games, the Vikings will close out their 2009 regular season schedule at home this weekend.
And for the Vikings, there's no place like home.
The Vikings are 7-0 at home in 2009 and a win on Sunday against the NY Giants would make them 14-2 at Mall of America Field over the past 2 seasons. Consider some more Vikings trends when playing at home…
– The Vikings have allowed just 68.5 rushing yards per game at home, which is 22.1 yards per game fewer than they've allowed this season.
– The Vikings defense yields 20.3 points per game for the season, but just 16.7 points per contest at home in 2009.
– The Vikings have 3.1 sacks per game at home, up from 3.0 per game for the entire season.
– The Vikings average scoring margin at home is +14.4, but they've had margins in their last 4 home games of +20, +26, +26 and +17.
Vikings players and coaches clearly recognize the significance of playing at home. Here's what a few of them had to say about it on Thursday:
"Our fans are second to none in terms of the noise they make and the difficulties they create in that environment for opposing offenses – just the communicating process, whether it's coach-to-player on the field or player-to-player on the field, it just requires an extra measure of concentration. So it's a huge environmental advantage." — Head coach Brad Childress
" I think it's exciting for us to get back in front of our home crowd and be able to feed off them a little bit, the excitement. Try to finish off the season undefeated at home, which would be huge for us. – Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell
"It means a lot to play here. It's the last game of the regular season at home. We are 7-0 at home. We are looking forward to making that 8-0. It's always good to come back home and play in front of your home crowd and kind of have that 12th man out there with the fans and a short trip home after the game. – RB Adrian Peterson
"A big game this weekend. We're looking forward to being back at home and being around familiar surroundings and having our great fans in attendance. It should be an exciting time for our football team. – Assistant head coach/defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier
Tags: Adrian Peterson, Darrell Bevell, Leslie Frazier
Posted in All, Mike Wobschall | 7 Comments »
Will The Williams Wall Be Intact?Posted by on January 1, 2010 – 9:44 am
The Vikings will look to end a 2-game losing streak and earn a 1st-round bye this weekend by defeating the NY Giants at Mall of America Field. And, if at all possible, they'd like to do it with a complete Williams Wall in the middle of their defense.
Last week against the Chicago Bears, DT Pat Williams was inactive because of an elbow injury that limited him in practice all week. Backup DT Jimmy Kennedy stepped into the starting lineup for Williams, and while Kennedy performed capably, there's really no way to replace a player of Williams' caliber.
"Jimmy did a good job for us," Vikings assistant head coach/defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said. "We knew when we signed him in the offseason that there may be a time where he would have to start a game, and sure enough, it did happen. He stepped up and did a good job for us.
"It's not the same as having Pat in there, maybe not quite as disruptive as Pat can be at times, but he did a solid job and hopefully he'll be able to continue to build on that as well."
While Kennedy, a former 1st-round draft choice, has the ability to step in for Williams when needed, there's no denying that the Vikings defense is not the same without Williams. A 3-time Pro Bowler, Williams often commands double teams and can often be found in an offensive backfield before a play develops.
"Anytime you don't have Pat – probably the premier run stopper in the National Football League – on the field, it's going to affect what you do," Frazier said. It always makes a difference on our run defense when he's not out on the field."
Williams has been out on the field practicing this week, though it's been on a limited basis just as it was last week. His participation level in practice today (Friday) will be a good indication of his chances of playing on Sunday. Last week he was limited all week and didn't suit up. This week he was limited on Wednesday and Thursday, so Vikings fans should hope for the words "full participation" next to Williams' name after practice today.
Tags: Jimmy Kennedy, Leslie Frazier, Pat Williams
Posted in All, Mike Wobschall | No Comments »