text:
Reader comments are listed below. Comments are currently closed and new comments are no longer being accepted.
The Warsaw Uprising is indeed a microcosm, and almost 70 years on, almost as important to Poland as ever. The last of that heroic generation will soon pass away, but the Uprising is inspiring much younger generations of Poles, individuals whose parents, grandparents, great grandparents had had absolutely nothing to do with it.
I read the first five paragraphs of the review with pleasure. Made me instantly want to buy the book, but then I read this sentence: "But she bleakly sets out the central narrative: the poor leadership, flawed intelligence and bad planning which reduced the uprising's slender chances to nothing."
What leadership? Ordinary soldiers who fought above and beyond the call of duty.
In what sense "flawed intelligence"? Didn't they know the situation was hopeless? Of course they did. They also knew that on 27th July 1944 the Governor of the Warsaw District, Nazi war criminal Ludwig Fischer, ordered for 100,000 Polish males to report to the German authorities to help build the city's defences against the seemingly imminent Soviet onslaught. No one turned up. And what did that mean? In what was then the German mind set, such disobedience could not go unpunished, i.e. those males could only be exterminated. The Uprising was a forgone conclusion, before the Polish Home Army (AK) decision was made. The AK leaders could either lead the Uprising, or leave Warsaw to fight the Germans elsewhere. It is to their great credit that they stayed with those young people of Warsaw and fought alongside them to the very end.
And how can you say these people reduced the Uprising's chances? Let's get this straight, it had no weapons, no chances to start with, and contrary to the expectations of all those evil or cowardly onlookers, the Uprising lasted 63 days. By the second month even Stalin lost his resolve, he even allowed American flying fortresses to drop supplies for the insurgents. And finally even the German command changed their approach, the AK leaders were able to obtain a guarantee whereby those young insurgents would have POW rights, in accordance with the Geneva Convention – up until then they had simply been shot on the spot. That's why so many young insurgents survived, including my parents. Would you call that "poor leadership"?
So here we apparently have yet another book that tries make a distinction between heroic young AK insurgents and the AK leadership. Such distinctions cannot be made because they all acted as one, and their loyalty remained after the war, until their deaths. Looks like this book is "flawed", but that's not problem, because many, many are yet to be written on this vast and important subject.
To judge from the comments on this blog it is hard to say which received the most criticism: the Germans and Russians for annihilating Poland, or the Allies for not foreseeing and averting the war, and when it had started for not driving the Soviets out.
There is room for argument on all this but look at the Poles' own defects. Despite heroic sustained resistance to the invaders by the nation, their leaders were much to be faulted. They knew from 1918 that the Russians were mortal foes and from 1933 they knew what the Germans had in mind for them and they failed to turn Poland into a hedgehog against these known enemies. The Maginot line failed, but the Poles didn't even manage to come up with a similar static defense.
Not to blame the Poles for their struggles, who were certainly among the bravest of all the nations to take on their invaders, but what are the lessons for today? Poland should get nukes like any sensible small nation beset by such historical enemies. Poland knows the price of freedom better than most and should consider this goal carefully. Poland is eternal but the Poles should not act like the US and NATO will be there forever.
I would like to add few facts on the Warsaw Uprising 1944:
1) 180 000 civilians and 30-40 000 AK soldiers have been killed in those 63 days. During one weekend, general von dem Bach-Zelewski ordered killing in district Wola 30 000 civilians. Compare those numbers with about 12 000 killed in almost 3 years in Syria, which created an outcry (quite rightly so) around the whole world. Is this imaginable for a decent man nowadays?
2) The Uprising was (and still is ) mixed up with the Jewish Uprising in Warsaw ghetto in April 1943, where also about 30-40 000 people have been killed.
3) Polish Army fighting alongside with the British (240 thousand men force) was not allowed to take part in victory parade of the Allies in London
when the war ended. Apparently, upon the agreement with Stalin. Divide et impera, hein?
70 years ago, on 20 November 1943, The Commander-in-Chief of the Home Army, General Tadeusz Komorowski "Bór" gave the command to start Operation Tempest (sometimes referred in English as Operation Storm)– in the whole territory of Republic of Poland.
Operation Tempest was planned since the beginning of the occupation as nationwide uprising directed against the partitioners from 1939, aimed at liberating the territories of Poland, defending its independence and territorial integrity.
The command was given, when the Soviet Army in pursuit of Germans, was approaching to the borders of Republic of Poland. The Soviet Army crossed the Polish borders at night 3/4 January 1944.
The main armed force of the Operation Tempest was AK (Home Army). About 100 000 Polish officers and soldiers were mobilized. The objective of the local commanders was joint (together with Soviets) driving out Germans from Poland and taking power on behalf of the Republic of Poland. As a result of betrayal of the Allies, who in secret agreements with Stalin, confirmed the Soviet's partition of the Second Republic of Poland from 1939 and accepted Poland as the Soviet "operation area"[!], so as the Soviet dominion. Poland stopped being an independent country. Since this moment the USA, and Great Britain played dirty diplomatic game for the sake of appearance.
In spite of the military cooperation with Soviets at driving out Germans (among others Operation "Ostra Brama" in Wilno, in July 1944), NKVD divisions surrounded the AK divisions, the Polish soldiers were "interned" in concentration camps and then killed. The noose of a new occupation was tightening. On 26 October 1944 gen Leopold Okulicki, the last commander of AK (Home Army) gave the command to end the Operation Tempest, in order to avoid wiping out the rest of subordinated to him soldiers.
The most tragic event during the Operation Tempest was Warsaw Uprising – the last act of military cooperation of Stalin with Hitler.[Stalin gave the order not to help the fighting Warsaw, in order to get rid of the Polish best, young, pro-independent elites fighting with Germans]
After ending the Operation Tempest and announcing the Yalta division of Europe into spheres of influence, only anti-communist guerrilla warfare remained to Poles. The last soldiers of the Operation Tempest became the first "Doomed" Soldiers.[the last armed Doomed Solder (Jozef Franczak pseudonym "Lalek") was murdered by communist on 21 October 1963]
In Your book-review on Warsaw 1944: Hitler, Himmler and the Warsaw Uprising you say Wladyslaw Bartoszewski was Jew. He was not, but a Polish Catholic who helped Jews.
So many of the butchers were never held responsible for the crimes they committed in Warsaw and other parts of Poland. Some of them, like Heinz Reineferth, lived a very comfortable life in the post-Nazi Germany (he was a mayor of the town of Westerland on the island of Sylt). From time to time (like the recent case of a commander of the Ukrainian Self Defense Legion who was found in the US) they are prosecuted but it is too late find most of them due to passage of time.
I did read the sentence in question carefully a day before you, and it clearly said "Jewish", not "pro-Jewish". The Economist must have corrected the error after I posted my comment.
Please read the article again. It clearly states that Władysław Bartoszewski is "pro-Jewish", not Jewish. And he is not called a Jew by his political opponents. Everyone knows he is officially a right-wing Catholic. His opponents do not criticise him for belonging to Żegota, though his role there was pretty minor in comparison to, for instance, Zofia Kossak-Szczucka or the left-wing Irena Sendler. The conflict with the political opposition only concerns his often outrageous behaviour over the last 6 or 7 years, and has nothing to do with the Warsaw Uprising.
Incidentally, the Polish nation feels threatened by Russia. The Poles actively seek US military presence to offset this perceived danger. Why doesn't Poland ask their neighbors in CZ for some assistance? Simple. They know CZ is a nation of slaves and cowards. That is why they call on the US.
The US has no border with Russia, indeed it is separated by two oceans from Russia. The US has nuclear arms equal to Russia, to say nothing of other capabilities. Yet the US does help defend Poland. AGAIN. The US gains only the well-being of Poland by defending Poland. AGAIN. The US does this because it is a benevolent nation seeking world security and peace.
But sometimes one has to fight to secure peace. Plato and Aristotle understood this and said as much in nearly identical words. Why not listen to the words of the first Europeans, if one can't respect and follow the example of their most illustrious offstpring, the Americans?
I don't think you can have it both ways.
You say they miscalculated the strength of the Germans. I think they were perfectly aware the Germans had vastly superior forces. For instance, it was patently obvious then, as it is today, that they had heavy artillery, tanks, warplanes and vast amounts of ammunition. They knew they could face the full force of the German army because Gauleiter Fischer had issued an order to build fortifications, i.e. this was to be Festung Warschau (fortress Warsaw).
They were also perfectly aware that apart from home-made grenades, they had a measly pistol or submachine gun for every fifth or tenth soldier. The plan was to get what weapons you could from the enemy. The reason for the shortage of weapons was because the original plan, prepared throughout the war, was to launch a nationwide uprising (Operation Tempest - Akcja Burza) once the Soviet front entered Polish territories. That's why weapons were shipped out of Warsaw to partisan units in the provinces. But what happened when the Soviet offensive came? AK units helped the Red Army liberate important cities such as Wilno/Vilnius and Lwów/Lviv only to be next rounded up by the NKVD. The front was advancing very rapidly and therefore the change of plan had to be equally rapid.
And here we come to the counterfactual part of your argument. If the Allies had acted differently, i.e. sensibly, there would probably have never been a second world war. And to suppose Stalin would wish to make a deal with the Polish government in London, is to quite ignore the Tehran Conference of December 1943. Here I suppose you argue that AK intelligence was quite unaware of what was said during that conference, but I joke, because they in fact had enough information to know the situation was militarily hopeless.
On the eve of the Uprising their special courier, Jan Nowak-Jeziorański arrived in Warsaw from London and told them they could not count on the support of the Western Allies. And of course by then they were perfectly aware of Stalin's intentions. As I said they knew that the NKVD had disarmed and arrested AK detachments in the eastern provinces, that's why Operation Tempest had to be called off.
The Warsaw Uprising was inevitable because Fischer had ordered 100,000 men to report to the German authorities and help build defences and hardly anyone came. In Warsaw Germans could if they so wished shoot any Polish civilian in the street, and they often did. These young Poles knew they could either fight now, or wait for the Germans to arrest them or shoot them on the spot. Without professional military commanders the job of annihilating insurgents would have been that much easier.
To recap, the AK command had all the intelligence they needed and they made the right decision.
Between 1918, following 1933, until the 1939 when Poles fought alone against two totalitarian states, despite having strong allies such as France and Great Britain, Poland:
1. won the 1920 war with Soviet Union.
2. proposed preemptive war against Hitler's Germany - to be performed in alliance with France and Czechs.
3. armed itself heavily - including creating original ultra-modern weaponry,copied later by Germans and others.
In 1939 it took a new method of conducting the war and 6 weeks for the German army to move some 300 km into Polish theritory, advancing from three directions.
In 1941 in 6 weeks German army went 1000km into Soviet Russian territory,even if the Soviets already knew thatr Germany used new type of war.
US knew very well what Japan is up to. Why it didn't turn itself into a hedgehog, why Pearl Harbour?
Poland is NOT acting as the US will be forever. Poles do know that no empire is eternal, that military might causes lazyiness, and that that US is already walking the same path as Polish Commonwealth started to walk in mid 1600.
That is why what Poland, the over 1000 years old state, needs is not becoming a fortress but a neighbour friendly AND unswallowable (militarily) state. "Nukes" nowadays may be constructed by the unadvanced adept of the art and quickly so.
The Czech people are not a nation of slaves and cowards. They are the perfect players on the international scene in accord with their position/might. The people are self-ironic, cheerful and... wise, lacking arrogance...
Sorry, it should have been: 120 000 killed in Syria
yes we did indeed correct this. Sorry for the error. My original copy said pro-Jewish but I think I absent-mindedly changed it somewhere along the way and I failed to spot it on later proofs. Apologies for the error. And thanks to ralewan for pointing it out.
But I'd contest the criticism from from Gdansk. Richie's book does criticise Bor-Komorowski in a judicious and nuanced way. The intelligence was flawed and the planning was poor. Perhaps it could not have been any better in the circs. But the fact is that the AK did not know how strong the Germans were, and this stoked the miscalculation. None of this means that the WP was any less heroic, and I certainly don't draw a distinction between heroic AK soldiers and a less heroic leadership.
And it is wrong to say that it was absolutely hopeless. EG if Britain (or America) had been able to do more early (eg having the stomach to take on Stalin about use of bases for refuelling). Or if Stalin had decided that he had best make a deal with the London leadership. I think the chances of any such success were slender. But they were not totally impossible at the start.
A very interesting review - except one factual error: Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, the book's author's father-in-law, is not Jewish. However, he helped Polish Jews during World War II as part of the Żegota organisation. This may be why he is often called a Jew (used as an invective) by his political opponents from Poland's nationalist-Catholic right.
Of course I meant governor Fischer, not Gauleiter.
The Economist explains: What disruptive innovation means
The Economist explains
Greece's election: Syriza wins
Graphic detail
Greece's election: The Syriza factor
Speech recognition: Watch what you say
Science and technology
Women and work: What's holding women back?
Democracy in America
Daily chart: An inventory of editors
Graphic detail
Have you listened to The Economist Radio on Facebook?
The Economist Radio is an on-demand social listening platform that allows you to listen, share and recommend The Economist audio content
Test your EQ
Take our weekly news quiz to stay on top of the headlines
In Other Words
Try our new audio app and website, providing reporting and analysis from our correspondents around the world every weekday
Want more from The Economist?
Visit The Economist e-store and you'll find a range of carefully selected products for business and pleasure, Economist books and diaries, and much more


text:
Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- New York will seek to attract and reward "highly effective" teachers, evaluate their performance and create 100 schools, including some that prepare students for technical careers, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
Bloomberg, 69, renewed his commitment to improve education today in his annual State of the City speech, a decade after he persuaded the state to abolish the Board of Education and give him control of the biggest U.S. school system.
The mayor delivered the speech at Morris High School in the Bronx, where he said about 75 percent of students graduate within six years, compared with 27 percent a decade ago. Citywide, he said, graduation rates have gone up 40 percent since 2005, versus 8 percent in the state's other districts.
"All across the city, we face that same challenge -- the challenge of building a 21st century economy and building the 21st century public schools that can drive it," the mayor said in prepared remarks. "It is the challenge of our time. How well we meet it will define the state of our city for generations."
The mayor presented the speech at the start of a year in which he faces the challenge of closing a $2 billion gap in the city's $70 billion budget, and an economic forecast from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli that predicts the probable loss of 10,000 finance-industry jobs.
In his speech, he focused on public education, which 10 years ago he singled out as the issue upon which his performance as mayor should be judged. He sketched a two-year strategy he said would build on past achievements, such as higher graduation rates and fewer dropouts.
Offering $25,000
To encourage the brightest to seek teaching jobs, the city would offer a $25,000 grant to help pay off college-student loans for graduates at the top of their class who commit to work in city schools for a number of years. The city would also give a $20,000 salary boost to teachers rated "highly effective" for two consecutive years, the mayor said.
"The marketplace keeps showing us that we have to be competitive if we're going to attract the best," Bloomberg said.
To make the program work, the city would institute an evaluation system that singles out the most effective teachers and also contains tougher standards for tenure.
"We need to be able to identify those ineffective teachers and give them the support they need to grow," Bloomberg said. "And if that doesn't work, we need to be able move them out."
Opening Schools
The mayor also vowed to open 100 new schools, including 50 charter schools, by the end of 2013, when his third and final term ends.
One of the new schools, a "Software Engineering Academy" planned for Union Square in Manhattan, would focus on technical education, he said. At least 12 schools focusing on career and technical education would be created, he said.
Bloomberg also pledged to increase access to college loans and scholarships for students most in need, including the children of illegal immigrants.
"We can't blame them for being brought here as infants or teens," he said. "Since they are here to stay, it's in New York City's best interest to make sure they are able to become productive members of society."
The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.
--Editors: Mark Schoifet, Mark Tannenbaum
To contact the reporter on this story: Henry Goldman in New York City Hall at email@example.com.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at firstname.lastname@example.com.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
I am sorry 4 youre loss ,i know i can say i am sorry but that doesnt make up 4 all that pain u feel i think OZZY said it best ''YOU KNOW ILL SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE'' Take solace in knowing that u wont be apart for ever,god bless. -- OZLAN
Sign in for community access log in
Not a member? Sign up


text:
Need help? Check out our Support site, then
Back to WordPress.com Forums
- Member Since
- February 1, 2013 (1 year)
- Website
- http://hezesapienceintern.wordpress.com
User Activity
Recent Replies
- MY COUNTRY IS NOT ON YOUR LIST AND I WANT TO BUY A DOMAIN NOW. User last replied: 1 year ago. No replies since.
Threads Started
No more topics posted.


text:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - View original article
The Photo-Secession was an early-20th-century movement that promoted photography as a fine art in general and photographic pictorialism in particular. A group of photographers, led by Alfred Stieglitz and F. Holland Day in the early 1900s, held the then controversial viewpoint that what was significant about a photograph was not what was in front of the camera but the manipulation of the image by the artist/photographer to achieve his or her subjective vision. The movement helped to raise standards and awareness of art photography. The group is the American counterpart to the Linked Ring, an invitation-only British group which seceded from the Royal Photographic Society.
The group was formed in 1902 after Stieglitz was asked by the National Arts Club to put together an exhibition of the best in contemporary American photography. While organizing the show, Stieglitz had a disagreement with some of the more conservative members of the Club about which photographers should be included. To strengthen his position, Stieglitz rapidly formed an invitation-only group, which he called the Photo-Secession, to give the impression that his views were backed by many other prominent photographers. Although he later claimed that he had "enlisted the aid of the then newly organized and limited 'Photo-Secession'," in fact there was no such group until he formed it on February 17, 1902, just two weeks before the show at the National Arts Club was scheduled to open.[1]
In naming the group, Stieglitz is thought to have been influenced by the 1898 Munich Secession Exhibition (Verglag des Vereines Bildender Kunstler Muchnes "Sezession").[2] Stieglitz corresponded frequently with Fritz Matthies-Masuren,[3] who wrote an essay in the catalog for the Munich exhibition, and he was captivated by the thought of photographers defining their own art form. In 1899 he wrote:
Later in his life, Stieglitz gave this account about the origins of the Photo-Secession:
Cultural historian Jay Bochner points out that it is important to look at the Photo-Secession for more than visual aesthetics:
Proponents of Pictorialism, which was the underlying value of the Photo-Secession, argued that photography needed to emulate the painting and etching of the time. Pictorialists believed that, just as a painting is distinctive because of the artist's manipulation of the materials to achieve an effect, so too should the photographer alter or manipulate the photographic image. Among the methods used were soft focus; special filters and lens coatings; burning, dodging and/or cropping in the darkroom to edit the content of the image; and alternative printing processes such as sepia toning, carbon printing, platinum printing or gum bichromate processing.
Content of the images often referred to previous work done by other artists, especially Greek and Roman art. Images often contained stylistic consistency such as dramatic lighting, perspective, geometry,[clarification needed] use of monochrome/black and white, and high contrast.
In founding the Photo-Secession, Stieglitz asserted that it was a "rebellion against the insincere attitude of the unbeliever, of the Philistine, and largely exhibition authorities." [7] While this was in part true, his actions demonstrated that the creation of the Photo-Secession was also about advancing his own position in the world of photography and art.
Stieglitz's sole role in forming and tightly controlling the Photo-Secession was made clear by two exchanges that took place at the opening of the National Arts Club show. In the first, Stieglitz implied that membership in the group was relatively open:
However, when Charles Berg asked Stieglitz if he, too, was a Photo-Secessionist, Stieglitz brusquely informed him that he was not.[1] Stieglitz gave this response even though he was the one responsible for including three of Berg's photos in the show.
The "membership" of the Photo-Secession varied according to Stieglitz's interests and temperament but was centered around the core group of Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Clarence H. White, Käsebier, Frank Eugene, F. Holland Day, and later Alvin Langdon Coburn.
The photographers included in the first exhibition were C. Yarnell Abbott, Prescott Adamson, Arthur E. Becher, Charles I. Berg, Alice Boughton, John G. Bullock, Rose Clark and Elizabeth Flint Wade, F. Colburn Clarke, F. Holland Day, Mary M. Devens, William B. Dyer, Thomas M. Edmiston, Frank Eugene, Dallett Fuguet, Tom Harris, Gertrude Käsebier, Joseph T. Keily, Mary Morgan Keipp, Oscar Maurer, William B. Post, Robert S. Redfield, W. W. Renwick, Eva Watson-Schütze, T. O'Conor Sloane, Jr., Ema Spencer, Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, Edmund Stirling, Henry Troth, Mathilde Weil and Clarence H. White.
In 1905 Stieglitz established with Steichen the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession,[8] a small but highly influential gallery where he continued to exhibit some of the more well-known members of the movement. The group continued to exhibit under the Photo-Secession name until about 1910, when several photographers finally grew tired of Stieglitz's autocratic ways and left the group.
In 1916 Käsebier, White, Coburn and others formed an organization called the Pictorial Photographers of America(PPA) to continue promotion of the pictorial style. A year later Stieglitz formally dissolved the Photo-Secession, although by that time it existed in name only.
The following notice appeared in Camera Work, no. 3, Supplement, July 1903
The Photo-Secession
List of Members of the Photo-Secession, found in Camera Work, no. 3, Supplement, July 1903
Fellows (Founders and Council)
The following were also listed Fellows, but not members of the Council
Later the following photographers were listed as Members of the Photo-Secession.[11] Unlike Fellows and Associates, no definition was given of what constituted a member. All categories and assignments of membership were made by Stieglitz himself.


text:
There is not one word of dialogue in this cartoon.
Soundtrack included:
- The Blue Danube (Johann Strauss II)
- How Dry I Am (Irving Berlin)
- Little Brown Jug (Joseph Winner)
- Brahms' Lullaby (Johannes Brahms)
- Where, Oh Where, Has My Little Dog Gone?
Previous Cartoon | Next Cartoon


text:
The nine holes of Lindsborg Municipal Golf Course sprawl over a 64-acre plot of the Smoky Valley. The course is owned and operated by the city of Lindsborg, and invites locals and out-of-towners alike to enjoy the leafy surroundings and wide-open fairways. A lake lies at the southern end of the course, twice directly entering play.
The Highlands Golf Club's PGA-associated course sits atop sand dunes and perched along the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Golfers can apply the 10 rounds individually or employ them in unifying a group of club wielders in the spirit of grass-traversing competition. Take a break from work or from gluing the head of a golf club to a pinewood-derby car to make it go faster to amble through the course's nine holes and thread drives down narrow fairways between clusters of coastal pines and thatches of native grasses. The walking-only course is playable by sportspeople of all ability levels and roadrunners willing to slow down, and the included pull cart unburdens golfers from the weight of their equipment. Although the course can be played in less than two hours, players may pause to observe the sudden appearance of local wildlife such as elk, pheasants, and eagles.
Carey Park Golf Course, a Hutchinson municipal loop, invites golfers to traverse 6,410 yards while unwinding amid its tranquil atmosphere. As they pursue the par 71 course, players must demonstrate firm control over shot direction to avoid the wooded areas lying just beyond the fairways on most holes. Before a round or as part of a focused practice session, players can also take reps on the course's driving range, putting green, and practice bunker, or head into the indoor practice facility to avoid rain or tan lines from the elbow pads they wear "just in case."
Course at a Glance:
When it was conceived in 1975, Hesston Golf Course was designed as a public course that any and every skill level could play. The layout of the course certainly mimics that original concept, with five sets of tees at each hole and wide, lush fairways that spill over into fast-moving greens. The 5th and 18th holes may count as signature stops along the course, Hesston considers its group of par-three holes its true calling card—in fact, the course features more than 900 yards in par threes alone. In addition to its welcoming design, Hesston also features a state-of-the-art irrigation system, ensuring playing conditions remain pristine and bottles of water don't get snatched out of carts by thirsty trees.
At any of the 15 Great Life Golf and Fitness locations, guests are encouraged to invent their own triathlon of gusto, switching from swimming in the pool to getting a total body workout to playing a round of golf. Great Life has facilities scattered throughout Kansas and Missouri, including golf courses such as the National Audubon Society–certified River Oaks and the links at The Oaks, which were designed by Tom Bendelow and opened in the 1920s. Golfers looking for quick rounds can drop by the nine-hole courses at Maple Creek, Abilene, and CedarBrook. Gyms such as the 14,000-square-foot fitness center at Berkshire allow members or guests to pump iron or run on treadmills when they aren't helping their golf balls safely reach the greens by paying golf carts to drink all of the water hazards dry. Although amenities vary at each club, all of Great Life Golf and Fitness's venues boast a pro shop, and the courses at Berkshire and Prairie View maintain driving ranges where golfers can make golf balls practice flying without their parachutes.
The executive layout at Sierra Hills Golf Club presents a par 58 course that covers 3,100 yards and features 4 par 4s and 14 par 3s. The terrain careens across gently undulating bluegrass and past six water features, including a crescent-shaped pond that wraps itself nearly all the way around one of the greens, forming a moat to prevent local mini-golf courses from setting up windmill colonies. The 18th hole offers a dramatic end to the round, as golfers must send approach shots soaring over a water hazard stationed directly in front of the green. Sierra Hills Golf Club complements its pared-down layout with a full-length, 35-stall, natural-grass driving range, where guests can drive or bicycle-kick practice balls up to 300 yards into the distance.
Course at a Glance: * 18-hole, par 58 course designed by Leo Johnson * Course rating of 70 * Slope rating of 113 * Three sets of tees


text:
The Raleigh Beehive is a free, easy, and local website that connects you to information, programs, and services that matter most to you.
You can now get easy-to-understand information on admission's process and financial aid to Raleigh schools. Learn more about local colleges and universities. City of Raleigh at Your Service: Learn about services and programs offered through the City of Raleigh. If you have any comments or suggestions, email us at firstname.lastname@example.com. Like us on Facebook for instant updates about new resources. |
The same things that happen on the playground can also happen online. Cyber bullying means being cruel to other kids online. Learn the signs and what to do.
To help you improve your daily life with the latest and best free help, information and resources available on the Internet.
We do this with practical; easy to understand how-to help, and links to the best free online resources based on our expert Editor reviews. Please click on the links below to go directly to where you need help, have problems, or have questions.


text:
Fullerton Mayor and AD-65 candidate Sharon Quirk-Silva issued the following letter regarding the upcoming trial of two Fullerton Police Officers charged with the murder of Kelly Thomas:
Tag Archive for Sharon Quirk-Silva
The REAL Chris Norby Web Site Debuts
by Dan Chmielewski •
Democrats are apparently taking tips from Republican campaigns to use wedge issues against their opponents and President Obama is certainly using the GOP's war of women and the vast wealth of Republican candidate Mitt Romney to paint a narrative for voters. It only makes sense this tactic might trickle down to a more local level…
A Trokia of Democratic Fundraisers
by Dan Chmielewski •
In no particular order, this post has details for three fundraiser for three Democratic candidates running for three different offices. In no particular order, a fundraising announcement for Fullerton Mayor Sharon Quirk-Silva who is a candidate for AD-65, a fundraiser for Jordan Brandman who is a candidate for Anaheim City Council, and a fundraiser for…
More Motel Hell for Norby
by Dan Chmielewski •
It was believed Assemblyman Chris Norby (R-Fullerton) had been cleared on charges that he improperly used campaign funds to pay for a motel stay while he was separated from wife #3 a few years back (he later repaid his campaign for the funds). The LA Times is reporting that Norby isn't quite in the clear…
Quirk-Silva Calls for Accountability on Fullerton Water Rates
by Dan Chmielewski •
This announcement came in early this morning from the desk of Fullerton Mayor and Ad-65 candidate Sharon Quirk-Silva: Fullerton Mayor Sharon Quirk-Silva Calls For Transparency and Accountability in Water Rates Fullerton, California, March 19, 2012 — City of Fullerton Mayor Sharon Quirk-Silva is asking members of the Adhoc Committee on Water Rates to consider several…
Progressive Politics with Loretta Sanchez
by Dan Chmielewski •
Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez held a fundraiser and get together at her Santa Ana home this afternoon and laid out her plan to seek re-election. For OC Democrats, it was sweet music. Sanchez plans to work hard to earn every vote and she isn't taking this race for granted. Namely, Sanchez has 80,000 new constituents, mostly…
Fullerton Mayor Sharon Quirk-Silva Formally Declares for AD-65
by Dan Chmielewski •
Hot off the press: Sharon Quirk-Silva Announces Bid for 65th Assembly Seat Fullerton, CA—Sharon Quirk-Silva, Mayor of Fullerton, announced today that she will run to represent California's 65th Assembly District. The new 65th District drawn by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission comprises the North Orange County cities of Anaheim, Fullerton, Buena Park, La Palma,…


text:
Keynote Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:KEYN)
F4Q07 Earnings Call
November 1, 2007 5:00 pm ET
Umang Gupta – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Drew Hamer – Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Kirsten Chapman - Investor Relations
Brian Kislinger - Sidoti
Derrick Wood - Pacific Growth Equities
Kevin Liu - B. Riley & Co.
Douglas Whitman - Whitman Capital
Matt Hewitt - Craig-Hallum
Leo Choi - Ferris Baker Watts
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to Keynote's conference call for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2007, ending September 30, 2007. Today's call is being recorded.
At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Kirsten Chapman for opening remarks and instructions.
Kirsten Chapman
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to Keynote's conference call for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2007 ending September 30, 2007.
Today's call is being recorded. At this time, I'm here with Umang Gupta, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Drew Hamer, Chief Financial Officer. Umang and Drew will review our accomplishments for the quarter, and then we will be available to answer questions.
Hopefully, by now, you have seen our press release that was distributed over Business Wire and the major wire services. For your convenience, the press release has also been posted on our website at www.keynote.com. The replay of this call will be available by telephone by dialing 1-800-642-1687 - the passcode is 19147857 - or by webcast at the Investor Relations' section of our website at www.Keynote.com.
I would like to remind you that statements made during the course of this call that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements regarding the company's or management's intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectation and strategies for the future. Because such statements deal with future events, they are subject to various risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.
Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are discussed in today's press release and in the company's annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC.
We've provided detailed guidance in our earnings release today, as we have in prior quarters. This guidance assumes no additional acquisitions, or other significant or extraordinary transactions other than those described in our earnings release. We will not comment on this guidance during the quarter, but may provide an update to this guidance in the event of material changes during the quarter.
Before the company reviews the financial statements, I will review definitions for some metrics, which are not in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, commonly known as GAAP. The company defines non-GAAP net income as loss, or net income or loss adjusted for provision for income taxes less cash tax expense, stock-based compensation expense and amortization of purchased intangibles.
Non-GAAP net income per share equals non-GAAP net income divided by weighted diluted share count as of that period end. Non-GAAP net loss per share equals non-GAAP net loss divided by the weighted basic share count as of that period end.
Free cash flow is defined as cash flow from operations less cash used for purchases of property, equipment and software.
Now I would like to introduce Umang Gupta, Chairman and CEO.
Umang Gupta
Thank you Kirsten. Welcome everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Fiscal year 2007 was the best ever year for Keynote on many levels. First, revenue: our full-year revenue of $67.8 million was up 22% compared to the prior year's $55.5 million, and was powered by our Mobile Test and Measurement business, which exceeded our expectations in each quarter of the year. Additionally, the year's revenues were supported by year-over-year growth in our flagship Internet Test and Measurement business.
Second, cash flows: for the full year, the Keynote team delivered total cash flow from operations of over $20.3 million and free cash flow of $14.8 million, which is a record-high for any 12-month period in our history.
I'll start with Mobile Test and Measurement. The main driver of our Mobile Test and Measurement or MTM revenues, was Keynote SIGOS. Revenues for the year were $17.6 million, up over 220% compared to last year. Our net revenues at the end of the fourth quarter were $22 million.
Deals signed in fiscal 2007 expanded our possibilities for growth, especially beyond Europe and North America. Examples include the worldwide master agreement with Vodafone, through which we became Vodafone's preferred supplier for end-to-end mobile network test and measurement systems in Germany, the U.K., Spain, and more than 15 additional countries.
We also signed important new Keynote SIGOS MTM deals in the United States and Canada, including deals of GlobalRoamer with AT&T and Rogers. Our Keynote SIGOS customers now total 115 versus 79 last year, and we served 68 countries compared to 47 last year. Additionally, we expanded our Mobile Content and Services deal to include American Express, AOL, Chase, Good Technology, ING Bank, MobiTV, MSN Mobile, Yahoo! and Zenprise.
Other positive news in our Mobile business was the announcement last week of the availability of our Shared Mobile and Test Measurement infrastructure. The ten cities from which Keynote customers will initially be able to test and measure the performance of mobile content will include San Francisco, Dallas, New York, Chicago, London, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Paris, Nuremberg and Toronto.
With the new shared infrastructure, which will grow in the next year to 20 cities globally, small to medium-sized mobile content developers across the globe now have an economical way to test their mobile content across all the markets they serve.
Last week, we also announced the world's first Mobile Performance Indices, which will provide a weekly performance ranking of ten popular U.S. mobile sites compiled from measurements taken on multiple carriers from ten different cities in the U.S. We have also built a similar Mobile Performance Index populated by leading European mobile websites that will take measurements from the major cities of Europe.
Our new Mobile Indices extend and strengthen our industry position as the preeminent mobile and Internet performance authority, and will, for the first time, establish industry benchmarks for mobile internet performance, where previously there had been none.
Now on to Internet Test and Measurements business. ITM, which comprises the majority of our business, grew 6% over 2006 to approximately $42 million in 2007. Most of our growth in ITM revenues was attributable to Internet engagements in low-testing, SLM and VoIP-related services and engagements.
Key subscription and engagement deals done in fiscal year 2007 included American Express, Chevron-Texaco, Comcast Cable, Embark, Morgan Stanley, Neiman Marcus and Sabre Travelocity.
In fiscal 2007, we were also successful in reducing the number of single-page, single-device subscription, from 38% of our ITM subscription revenues in the fourth quarter of 2006 to only 22% in the fourth quarter of 2007. This occurred while we grew our multi-page broadband services by 23% in the corresponding period. Our overall page count grew by 16% from last year. And by the end of 2008, we expect to reduce single-page, single-device subscription revenues to less than 10% of Internet subscription revenues.
We also announced this week the launch of the next versions of our Web Performance Test and Measurement product offerings: Transaction Perspective 8.0 and Application Perspective 5.0. These greatly enhanced versions of our flagship Website Monitoring services have many new and exciting features that make them especially appealing and useful for measuring the end-user experience on Web 2.0 sites that feature Ajax and asynchronously downloaded content.
With the introduction of 8.0 and 5.0, we've also introduced our new Keynote Internet Testing Environment or KITE. KITE is a new desktop-based test and measurement tool for recording, analyzing and editing the performance of sites using Web 2.0 technologies. It bridges the gap between developers, QA and web operations teams by providing a consistent testing and measurement environment throughout a Web 2.0 application's life-cycle.
Most importantly, KITE features an embedded version of the Transaction Perspective 8.0 and Application Perspective 5.0 measurement software, allowing web developers and performance analysts to execute rapid performance analysis and validation directly from their desktop. By doing so, KITE reduces web transaction script validation time from hours to mere minutes, thereby significantly reducing the provisioning time for new Keynote measurements.
Taken together, the release of 8.0, 5.0 and KITE are watershed events in our product development history, and will help keep Keynote ahead of both the technology curve and the competition.
Now, on to Customer Experience Test and Measurement: we made a number of operational changes in our CEM business in fiscal 2007, and are seeing some signs of those efforts working. Quarterly revenues have now stabilized around $2 million. CEM revenues for the year were $8.3 million, and are currently generating approximately a 50% gross margin.
Key new CEM deals for fiscal year 2007 included AOL, Bank of America, Best Buy, Hertz, Mastercard, Merrill Lynch, MetLife, MTV Networks, Royal Caribbean and Sony Ericsson.
The recent launch of WebEffective 6.0 introduces unique capabilities allowing website marketers and researchers to easily track user interaction with client site events, including DHTML, Ajax and Flash. With WebEffective 6.0, we are now in a position to take advantage of the explosive growth in interactive advertising and marketing microsites that are built using Web 2.0 technology. We will be demonstrating our unique solution for advertising research at the upcoming ad:tech conference in New York on November 5 and 6.
One of our key goals in 2008 is to sign up more customers, specifically interactive advertisers in every industry vertical, for site license and custom research agreements. As a reminder, WebEffective employs unique and proprietary technologies combining the best aspects of usability, behavioral and attitudinal research into one integrated, on-demand research solution, in effect, delivering an online usability lab without walls.
WebEffective 6.0 now also allows marketers to better understand how websites are performing using any of Keynote's 160,000 member panel desktops. Marketers will be able to see connection speed, page load time and browse time. These valuable insights will help facilitate discussion between marketing departments and web operations groups as they work to improve the online experience, thus providing our salespeople with the ability to do a more effective job of cross-selling our ITM and CEM services to multiple audiences.
With that, I'd now like to turn the call over to Drew for a more detailed discussion of our financials.
Drew Hamer
Thank you, Umang. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to start by reviewing the financial details for the quarter and year, and then follow with our financial outlook for next quarter.
For the quarter ended September 30, 2007, our total revenue was $17.8 million, compared to $15.2 million in the same period last year and $17.4 million last quarter. Total subscription services and ratable license revenue was $14.9 million or 84% of total revenue for the quarter, which increased 23% compared to the same period last year and 4% compared to last quarter, reflecting continued success in our Mobile Test and Measurement products.
Professional services revenue of $2.9 million or 16% of total revenue for the quarter was down 3% compared to last year and 4% compared to last quarter due to the completion of a large voice over IP deal last quarter.
Our customer count was approximately 2,700 companies, up from approximately 2,650 at both the end of June and March of this year, and 2,600 at the end of September 30, 2006.
We tracked the number of customers, excluding Keynote SIGOS, that purchased on an annualized basis at least $100,000 or more of our services. In the quarter, it was 97 customers that represented 79% of total revenue, compared to 79 customers representing 73% of revenue and 80 customers representing 72% of revenue in the fourth quarter of 2006 and the third quarter of 2007, respectively.
At the end of September 2007, we measured approximately 11,600 pages through our Internet Test and Measurement business. This compares to over 10,000 pages in the quarter a year ago, and approximately 11,100 last quarter. For the fourth quarter 2007, overall average monthly revenue per page for the quarter was $202, compared to $235 and $218 for the quarter a year ago and last quarter, respectively.
Now, I'll review our expenses. Total expenses were $18.5 million, including $1.0 million in stock-based compensation expenses and a $717,000 charge for amortization of intangible assets. Last quarter, total expenses were $18.8 million, including $1.1 million of stock-based compensation expenses and a $713,000 charge for amortization of intangible assets.
Expenses in the current year's quarter were down sequentially due primarily to an increase in our excess occupancy income and year-end adjustments to network and equipment costs. In the fourth quarter 2006, total expenses were $18.4 million, including $1.1 million of stock-based compensation expenses and a $771,000 charge for amortization of intangible assets.
Also during the quarter, we recorded a $2.8 million charge for the adjustment of income tax benefit associated with the partial recognition of net deferred tax assets. This compares to $3.9 million charge for the adjustment of net deferred tax assets on our balance sheet in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2006.
Reflecting the aforementioned charges and income tax adjustments, for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2007, our GAAP net loss was $3.5 million or $0.19 per share, compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2006, when the GAAP net loss was $6 million or $0.35 per share.
The non-GAAP net income for the quarter was $2.2 million or $0.11 per diluted share, compared to a non-GAAP net loss of $797,000 or $0.05 per share for the same quarter a year ago.
For the quarter, cash provided by operating activities was $2.9 million, compared to $1.2 million for the same period last year. We invested $1.3 million in property, equipment and software this quarter and $874,000 in the same quarter last year.
Our free cash flow for the quarter was $1.6 million, up approximately $1.2 million when compared to $357,000 for the fourth quarter of 2006. We also received approximately $3.9 million from the issuance of common stock and exercise of stock options in the quarter, compared to $497,000 in the same period last year.
During the quarter, the company repurchased approximately 92,000 shares for approximately $1.2 million. The total weighted average shares outstanding net of treasury shares as of the end of September 30, 2007 was $18.1 million, as compared to $17.1 million as of September 30, 2006.
Now, I'm going to talk about our full year ending September 30, 2007. Our record total revenue of $67.8 million increased 22% over 2006's $55.5 million. We generated record cash from operations of $20.3 million and record free cash flow of $14.8 million.
Our expenses of $73.1 million were up 15% from $63.7 million in the fiscal year 2006. This was primarily a reflection of our including the costs of the SIGOS acquisition for full year, as well as incremental investments we made in sales and marketing.
We expect increasing investments in sales and marketing to continue into fiscal year 2008. GAAP net loss for the year improved to $4.7 million or $0.27 per share, which included the aforementioned $2.8 million charge associated with the net deferred tax asset adjustment, $4.1 million in stock-based compensation expenses and a $2.9 million charge for intangible assets amortization. Our 2006 net loss was $7.5 million, or $0.41 per share.
Non-GAAP net income increased in our 2007 fiscal year to $5.4 million, or $0.28 per diluted share from $2.0 million, or $0.10 per diluted share in 2006.
Now, moving to the balance sheet:
At September 30, 2007, our cash and short-term investments balance was $107.9 million. As of September 30, 2007, accounts receivable net was $6.0 million. DSOs were 31 days and 98% of accounts receivable were less than 90 days old.
Total net deferred revenue at September 30, 2007 was $22 million, up 106% compared to $10.6 million at September 30, 2006 and down from $24.1 million at June 30, 2007 due to the expected seasonally weak summer period in Europe for Keynote SIGOS bookings.
As of September 30, 2007, total shares outstanding net of treasury shares were approximately $18.3 million. We are entering into a trading plan to repurchase up to 2.0 million shares or approximately 11% of our outstanding shares over the next 12-month period. Purchases under the plan may commence as soon as November 6, 2007.
Now, I will provide some general guidance for the 2008 fiscal quarter ending September 31, 2007. Total revenue is expected to be between $17.8 million and $18.3 million. Net income or loss per share is expected to be between a loss of $0.02 and income of $0.02.
Non-GAAP earnings per share are expected to be between $0.06 and $0.09. Cash provided by operating activities is expected to be between $2.5 million and $3.0 million. Free cash flow is expected to be $1.5 million and $2.0 million. Similar to last quarter, the first fiscal quarter 2008 cash flow guidance reflects the seasonality inherent in our European business.
The above guidance was based on the following assumptions:
Total stock-based compensation expense and amortization of intangible assets is expected to be approximately $1.8 million. Interest income net is expected to be approximately $1.3 million, assuming no material changes in interest rates and currently planned uses of cash.
Also in October, Keynote signed long-term agreements with tenants for the remaining unoccupied portion of the building, bringing the occupancy of the building to 100% when including the portion occupied by Keynote. The company estimates, as a result of this new occupancy rate, it will generate approximately $270,000 in excess occupancy income in the first quarter of fiscal 2008.
Cash paid for income taxes is expected to be approximately $300,000, assuming no changes in required tax payments. Basic weighted average shares outstanding are expected to be between approximately 18.1 million shares and diluted average weighted shares outstanding are expected to be approximately 19.1 million shares, assuming no additional issuances of equity or equity-related securities.
With that I would like to return the call to Umang.
Umang Gupta
Thank you, Drew.
Ladies and gentlemen, over the last four years in aggregate, Keynote has generated cash flow from operations of over $57 million and free cash flow of over $40 million. These funds have supported our active acquisition strategy and helped create the Keynote we have today.
We spent the last year of 2007 rebuilding our sales force, and we feel very good about our progress. In 2008, we will continue to make substantial investments in marketing and sales, putting in additional coverage to build a great sales force to take advantage of the opportunities we see ahead.
This sales force will be supported by one of the strongest new product introduction cycles in each of our businesses: Mobile Test and Measurement, Internet Test and Measurement and Customer Experience Test and Measurement. We are excited about our opportunities, and we look forward to sharing our future successes with you.
Now, Drew and I would be more than happy to take any questions you may have. Thank you.
Question-and-Answer Session
Your first question comes from the line of Brian Kislinger - Sidoti.
Brian Kislinger - Sidoti
The first question I have is related to the mobile segment. Can you talk a little bit about why it's seasonally weak in the December quarter, but also, you're a month-in in what seems to be the highest amount of capital spending for your clients in telecom, so given that you will add incremental bookings, would there be any reason to see that the mobile segment revenue would be down quarter-to-quarter?
Umang Gupta
First of all, we made no statement about seasonal weaknesses in the December quarter. The reference to seasonal weakness was the September quarter. The December quarter, by the way, is the strongest ever quarter; it's the current quarter that just finished, the September quarter that is seasonally weak, and usually that's because of European vacations.
Typically, what happens in Europe is people take long vacations, not just our folks, but customers. Oftentimes, POS and other things typically move into the October time frame. And so what happens is, historically, this is true ever since I've been in the software industry, and no difference about SIGOS is that the September quarter is usually seasonally weak.
Brian Kislinger - Sidoti
Let me revise the question. I thought Drew had mentioned cash flow being seasonally weak in Europe in your first quarter. Why is that?
Drew Hamer
In our first quarter, because of that August quarter, if you will.
Umang Gupta
So, in effect, cash flow collections in the December quarter reflect sales in the September quarter. And that's all it is. Typically, our cash flows lag by 90 days, and they should be very good a quarter later.
Brian Kislinger - Sidoti
Fair enough. So I guess the core of the question is back to, you're a month in, can you give us a sense for how new bookings have been in terms of the mobile segment and can you give a sense of what we might see through the rest of the year?
Umang Gupta
We give guidance for one quarter at a time, and we don't give guidance on bookings. However, you can take a look at the revenues. Starting this last quarter, you can actually take a look now and see that we are separating out the SIGOS license revenues under a new line item called ratable licenses. Previously, they were all part of subscriptions because they were not material in the previous year. But starting this year, they are now material enough to be separately broken out.
If you take a look at that, you'll see that this most recent quarter, the one ended September, our ratable licenses from SIGOS site were, I believe, $4.4 million. Clearly, we are getting closer to the point where our revenues in under German GAAP or bookings are going to be roughly similar to the revenues that we recognized on our U.S. GAAP books.
For example, a year ago, we were only recognizing a few hundred thousand dollars a quarter, and clearly we were bringing in a lot more. But we're not at that point yet. I think we probably have another maybe a couple more quarters before we would be at a point where revenues-in equals bookings. But at this point, we're still at a stage where we're not quite there.
Brian Kislinger - Sidoti
But this is the season where we should see bookings go up and deferred revenue go up on the balance sheet on this next coming up quarter.
Umang Gupta
That's a fair statement. Given the seasonality, there is every expectation to believe that this quarter that should happen.
Brian Kislinger - Sidoti
You both alluded to, and I don't think it was a surprise, that you're investing in sales and marketing. There's leverage in each one of your line items. How many quarters will it take to invest? For example, will you be having a couple of teams? Will that happen in the first half of the year? Will that happen throughout the year? Give us a sense of the trajectory of your timing of investments.
Umang Gupta
First of all, a lot of the investments have been going in the last year. If you look back in history, we had a pretty difficult 2006, where a large part of our sales force was turned over, and we have to change top management, and therefore, also change a fair amount of sales force. However, in the last 12 months, the sales force has been largely rebuilt plus a little bit some. And in this coming quarter, we expect to add the remaining touches to the growth of that sales force.
I'm hopeful that, by the end of this quarter, at least on the Keynote side, we will have added whatever salespeople we had been looking to have join us. However, in the SIGOS side, it will be an ongoing process. We're likely to add people this quarter, or next quarter, the quarter beyond will be more kind of linear depending on how good we are at being able to hire those people. So, I think that should give you a sense.
Now, generally speaking, how long does it take for salespeople to become productive? That was your other question. I would say the minimum you can expect from a salesperson to be productive is six months. Oftentimes, for a business like ours, it can be as much as 12 months. And I'm talking about our field salespeople. People we hire in the headquarters telesales group, usually they should be definitely productive within 90 days, and certainly no later than six months.
Brian Kislinger - Sidoti
I might have missed it. You've touched on this before. From the percentages you gave, I see that you had about - and correct me if I'm wrong - about $2 million almost of revenue from single-page testing. Did you mention when you expect to hope to have that go to zero? Is that by the end of the March quarter, or do you think it will take a little bit longer?
Umang Gupta
I think we have currently said by the end of this fiscal year, which is the September quarter, our single-page business should be down to less than 10%. It won't be zero. I don't think it will go to zero this year. But the parts of it include the Red Alert and Net Mechanic, which are likely to stay on for longer periods.
However, all of our single-page website perspective measurements will definitely be gone by the end of this fiscal year. How much of this? My guess is a lot of it will be as quickly as we can make it happen. Our proactive strategy is to get that down as quickly as we can, and essentially replace that with our multi-URL business. So, it clears the decks for us to go for growth from there on.
Brian Kislinger - Sidoti
One last question is related to share buyback. Does the stock need to fall, or where it is right now, will that hit your requirements for you to be buying back stocks when the window is open for you to get back in the market?
Umang Gupta
All I can say is that, certainly, we hope to be able to buy the full 2 million shares. And whereas we will be entering into a plan in the next few days that will have some price points associated with them, and clearly, we have not revealed that price point - it's unfair for me to do that - but I certainly expect that certain levels around where we are, maybe slightly lower, that would be reasonable. If we got very much higher than this, it would have to be one of those things that depends on the Board.
I would also add that we always have the right as a company to acquire shares outside of our 10b5 plan. And in fact, 60 days ago, we did take advantage of that. For all of last year, we didn't buy shares from the 10b5 plan because the share price never got hit. But a month or two ago, the share price went down enough so that we ended up buying on the open market. And we certainly wouldn't shy away from doing that again if that would occur.
Brian Kislinger - Sidoti
What was the average price that you bought the shares at?
Umang Gupta
I think about 30 days ago we started buying them. We bought some in the $12 and $13 range.
Your next question comes from the line of Derrick Wood - Pacific Growth Equities.
Derrick Wood - Pacific Growth Equities
I wanted to drill down again on the cash flow for next quarter and show if you should have good bookings from the mobile side, you should see a strong deferred revenues. So, what's offset in terms of giving guidance for only slightly up quarter-over-quarter for cash flow? Do you see a kind of a dynamic going on in the accounts receivable that's a little negative?
Umang Gupta
Like I just said, cash flow really is a 90-day cycle process. So, if you have less revenues in the September quarter, you will have less cash flow in the December quarter. That's all. Let's say we basically signed up a very large amount in this coming quarter. Most of that would occur, typically speaking, for SIGOS at the end of December. So, chances are, that would all be collectible the quarters after that. This is, by the way, the same reason why, if you look back at our history, a large part of our cash flow collections occurred in the March quarter, in the June quarter.
Derrick Wood - Pacific Growth Equities
So, your deferred revenue tends to track pretty closely to the accounts receivable then, I imagine? Okay.
You talked about the investments on the sales force. Did you indicate what your sales rep head count is in the quarter and how many you expect to hire in coming quarters?
Umang Gupta
We did not indicate this time what our sales rep head count is, but I can tell you that, by and large, in the non-SIGOS side, which is the Keynote side, our goal is to have 15 fully functional sales teams. A team consists of a field rep, a telesales rep and an FT in operation by the end of this calendar year, and we're getting pretty close to that. The SIGOS side have their own sales force, and it's some combination of salespeople, project managers, etcetera, and we don't provide that number. But by and large, you can expect we'll see growth there too.
Derrick Wood - Pacific Growth Equities
Any comments around the pricing environment on the Internet side?
Umang Gupta
Sure. If you take a look at our business - and I'm talking about Internet subscriptions now -they clearly have been going down in revenue for URL. Last quarter, it was $220 per URL; this quarter, it's $202; a year ago, it was $235. I'm telling you, like, five years ago, it was like $300 a URL. And part of the reason is that we're replacing the higher-priced Legacy Measurements that were single-page measurements with lower-priced per page measurements but with larger unit volume.
So, the result is that the price per page continues to go down, and my judgment is that the price per page will go down further some as we continue to exhaust the inventory of higher-priced measurement. Once we're finished with those, at that point, my hope will be that it will stabilize, but of course, it will depend at that stage on what the competition does.
Derrick Wood - Pacific Growth Equities
Any thoughts on what level that can get to?
Umang Gupta
We have not provided guidance, but my judgment is that it could certainly go down by another 10% or 20%.
Derrick Wood - Pacific Growth Equities
Then on the mobile side, you had a couple of announcements last week with the Mobile On-Demand Test and Measurement, and then the Mobile Index. On the Mobile Index side, is that a big revenue opportunity? And are you selling to content creators here, or can you just give us some color on where you think that product goes?
Umang Gupta
Let me start by saying the Mobile Indexes are not revenue-generating indexes, by and large. We could, under certain conditions, sell the results in detail to certain customers who are interested. But by and large, they are intended as a PR vehicle, as a marketing tool to generate publicity and interest in our product, and also as a useful benchmark for customers who get it essentially on their graph. For example, if you happen to be AOL, you might see your measurements, but then you would also see the measurements of all your competition, but in a single line that gives the aggregate of all your competition.
Of course, if you want the details about all your competition, then you would pay for it. So, we think that the real benefit of all of this is to get the publicity and the awareness up about performance of content suppliers on mobile, just as it was ten years ago on the Internet. And hopefully, that will drum up business and increase the value of what we provide.
Derrick Wood - Pacific Growth Equities
So, the Mobile On-Demand Test and Measurement is a new product that you have out there that you announced also, and that's $500 per measurement. Can you talk about the opportunity there, and do you see more opportunity in Mobile, in general, from the carrier side or from the content creators?
Umang Gupta
Let me start with the first question regarding the infrastructure side. The public infrastructure measurement started at $500 by the way; they could go up depending on volume and what people buy. We believe that they will have a nice sizable increase in revenue.
However, overall, our experience to date has been that the number of small developers who will buy this product, even if the number can be high, the volume of dollars may not be as much as the potential for each of those developers to buy more over time.
So, what you're doing is doing a lot of customer acquisitions. You're making it easy for customers to come to the door, and then growing them over time. And to grow them over time, they could buy more measurements on the public infrastructure, or often, they could buy what are called private agents or dedicated agents, where they literally say, 'you know what, I don't need to pay by the drink, I just want to pay by the barrel. So, get me an entire agent that will do my measurements and nobody else's measurements, and we'll pay you x thousand dollars a month for all of that.' So, that is really the strategy, to start with public measurement, and over time, be willing to provide private measurements when customers need them for higher volume.
As far as the question of content versus carriers, it is overwhelmingly carrier today. I would say 95% of our revenues today or more in mobile are carrier-based. That's because SIGOS is the bulk of our business. However, in the Keynote portion of our mobile services, today, it's still carrier-dominated, but over time, I think it won't be. My judgment is that, over time, all of the Internet 500 have the potential to become a mobile 500. And they should be likely buyers for our Mobile Content Measurement services.
Derrick Wood - Pacific Growth Equities
Any reason why you're not providing a cash flow statement on the press release?
Umang Gupta
Only because it's the end of the year, it's a complicated end-of-the-year cycle process, and we wanted to make sure that we got it right. It will be in the 10-K. We're very confident of the overall tax position and consolidated statements. But the details, we want to make sure we get them right, so we wait for the 10-K.
Your next question comes from the line of Kevin Liu - B. Riley & Co.
Kevin Liu - B. Riley & Co.
I just wanted to talk a little bit about the Internet subscriptions business. Everything else looked pretty solid, just that one segment looked to be down year-over-year after you guys had been kind of up slightly for most of the year. How did that track according to your internal expectations, and can you comment on why it might be down this year?
Umang Gupta
First of all, year-over-year, comparing the entire 2007 to 2006, they were up slightly, Kevin, they were not down. However, Q4 of 2007 compared to Q4, they were down. I think that's an important distinction. I believe our Internet subscriptions have largely tracked up for the last 3 or 4 years on a year-to-year basis, but very, very slightly.
So, in this last quarter of last year, what's really going on is we're driving down the amount of single-paid, single-device measurements as quickly as we can. And there was one very large customer that has been a holdout for a long time - many of them came from them - and there were other customers where we've actually reduced the single-paid, single-device measurements quite a bit.
It's really more a result of our proactive goals to get these customers to move, that we're willing to sacrifice the possibility that, in the short-term, it reduces some sufficient revenues, but it clears the decks for growth we hope.
Kevin Liu - B. Riley & Co.
And then, as we look out to the next quarter, should we continue to expect kind of a seasonal boost on the engagement side just given the retail season, and perhaps, some retailers wanting to make sure they can handle some higher traffic loads?
Umang Gupta
I certainly hope so. People lock down their sites by the middle to end of November. So, a lot of what has to happen should have happened either by now or one more month from now. And I'm certainly hopeful that we'll get more engagement this quarter. We'll just see.
Kevin Liu - B. Riley & Co.
And then, maybe just to dig on that matter a little bit more. On the other hand, in your conversations with your customers, are you seeing some of the uncertainty in the economy factoring in on their decision-making regarding engaging you in these services?
Umang Gupta
We have not seen anything that I would attribute to economic softness or even in the financial industry softness, so far.
Kevin Liu - B. Riley & Co.
I want you to move into the infrastructure investments you talked about. I think you're doubling the number of cities that you're in. I just want to get a sense for the timing and anything you can give in terms of the incremental spending on that.
Umang Gupta
The doubling the number of cities refers to the Mobile infrastructure. Clearly, on our Internet infrastructure, we're in so many cities already that it's unlikely we double those. But on the Mobile infrastructure, we're in ten cities, the ones I just mentioned. Our goal is really to get to about 20, and I'm hopeful that maybe 15 of them we might be able to do in the next 90 to 120 days or so. And then, the remainder, we'll do sometime over the coming year.
Kevin Liu - B. Riley & Co.
Just lastly, I'm wondering if you could provide the D&A for the quarter.
Drew Hamer
I think that should be in the P&L.
Kevin Liu - B. Riley & Co.
I saw the amortization number.
Umang Gupta
You want the amortization or depreciation?
Kevin Liu - B. Riley & Co.
Umang Gupta
Can we get back to you offline if that's okay?
Kevin Liu - B. Riley & Co.
Sure, not a problem.
Umang Gupta
It should be in the published financials.
Kevin Liu - B. Riley & Co.
All right. Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Douglas Whitman - Whitman Capital.
Douglas Whitman - Whitman Capital
Thank you for a great quarter and the strong DSO controls. I just want to make sure the distinction that you broke out in your categories between two that we should be looking at, on the Mobile side, the total revenues is the way that the company looks at it so that we're looking at a growth sequentially to 5.4 or 5 for the quarter from the 4.6 - or there's not a distinction between the two categories?
Umang Gupta
That's correct. The distinction is clearly driven by accounting rules that say that when it gets to a material level, you need to separate those two, which we've done. However, practically speaking from our business viewpoint, we just think of it as total mobile revenue. In a sense, it's largely driven by what's going on in SIGOS. The subscription portions of our business is relatively small compared to the license portion.
Douglas Whitman - Whitman Capital
Despite the seasonality in SIGOS, that number there was ahead of most street expectations on what you would report for this quarter. Despite the seasonality, where was the strength coming from?
Umang Gupta
I don't know because I think in terms of our own guidance, we were slightly higher, but not dramatically higher. And we've got a pretty good idea of what we expect from SIGOS revenues on a quarter basis simply because of the way the math works. We know what the deferred revenue balance is; we know how the transformation occurs from German GAAP to U.S. GAAP. So, we are usually quite spot-on in our expectations here. So, it's possible somebody might not have had it right in their models. But I don't believe that our expectations were off of what we delivered.
Your next question comes from the line of Matt Hewitt - Craig-Hallum Capital.
Matt Hewitt - Craig-Hallum Capital
Congratulations on the quarter. A couple of questions here, maybe just a little bit of a clarification. The Internet Test and Measurement - and you've already alluded to this a little bit but I just want to make sure I'm understanding this correctly - it was down sequentially a little bit. Does that have to do with the lumpiness and timing that you discussed last quarter regarding shifting customers from the Legacy products to the newer products? And if so, do you expect that to kind of stabilize here in Q1, or are you expecting that to remain lumpy here for a couple more quarters?
Umang Gupta
Great question, Matt. And the answer is yes to both. First one, yes, it was directly a result of the fact that the lumpiness occurs when we shift customers from single-page to multi-page, and that's what happened in this last quarter. And my belief is that we can expect to see some more for probably a couple of quarters more as we exhaust the inventory of single-page URLs.
Matt Hewitt - Craig-Hallum Capital
Secondly, despite the strong quarter here in Q4, it appears that sales and marketing expense declined a little bit. Whereas, typically, if a company outperforms, you would expect bonuses and what-not to add on, and so you wouldn't necessarily see the leverage. And it doesn't appear that that happened. Could you explain that or add a little bit of color as to why there wasn't a correlation there?
Umang Gupta
First of all, I think, for a lot of companies, they're back-end loaded in their revenues, and they're back-end loaded in their commissions. That's not true about us as a business. By and large, we attempt to kind of structure our commission plan so there's not that much back-end loading. There should be no reason to believe that it will suddenly all occur in the fourth quarter.
And then, second is that there were some one-time situations, probably having more to do with how we had approved for some marketing expenses and maybe other sales expenditure situations, where somebody might have been paid for recruitment fees in the previous quarter, and last quarter, we didn't have many recruitment fees and those kind of things that might have affected it.
By and large, you should expect to see increase in sales expenses and marketing expenses in this current quarter. We've definitely hired more people toward the end of the year, which means around September 30, who will start to show up on our payroll on October 1.
Matt Hewitt - Craig-Hallum Capital
And then that would roll through the year, obviously, especially if you're going to continue to add sales force.
Umang Gupta
Your next question is a follow-up from Brian Kislinger - Sidoti.
Brian Kislinger - Sidoti
I heard the listing of the ten different cities that you expanded in the Mobile segment. And I don't understand it. Most of your customers are outside of U.S. and North America, though you have two customers where it sounds like that are largely in North America. Help me understand why you have so many cities that you started on a shared infrastructure plan in the U.S., as opposed to more spread out across -
Umang Gupta
First of all, the number of places you want to put your infrastructure should not have to do with where your customers are, but where your prospects are. And ultimately, our whole idea of building a public infrastructure is that if you build it, they will come.
We believe that there are lots of developers all over the United States who are quite interested in knowing what their measurements are likely to be. And they are likely to want them from the United States. It's also easier, frankly, for us to start our first 4 or 5 in the United States, but we're done with the United States cities. We're at ten right now and all the next ten are all going to come from outside the United States.
Brian Kislinger - Sidoti
As a follow-up, you mentioned that there's a lot of different potential customers in the U.S. I thought most of your target market was in Europe. Yes, there are a handful, at best, of carriers in North America, but for the most part, it would be mobile Internet customers, which is a small portion right now.
Umang Gupta
Yes. But on the other hand, that's where the targeted infrastructure is going to. Let me separate out once again. There's a carrier business, which represents 95% of our revenues in mobile, and there's a mobile content business, which is 5%. The entire mobile infrastructure that we are putting together is intended to grow that 5%.
Your next question comes from the line of Leo Choi - Ferris Baker Watts.
Leo Choi - Ferris Baker Watts
Could I get a breakdown between single-page and multi-page revenue.
Umang Gupta
We provided just a little while ago. The end of the fourth quarter, we said single-page, single-device revenues were 22% of our total Internet subscription revenues and the multi-page revenues were 78% of Internet subscription revenues.
And if you take a look at the press release and the accompanying data, you will find that there will be a chart that will show you what our Internet subscription revenues are, quarter-by-quarter for the last 4 years. So, you should be able to calculate from that what the exact dollars would be.
Leo Choi - Ferris Baker Watts
One of the questions mentioned before, the lumpiness of the Internet Measurement revenue, I was wondering, is that going to affect the long-term goal of getting the single-page revenue down to maybe a 10% level in a 12 to 15-month scale?
Umang Gupta
No, not at all. In fact, it's the opposite. It's precisely because we're trying to get it down quickly. Hopefully, faster than 12 months, if we could, but certainly no later than 12 months. The quicker we can get the single-page down, the more lumpiness -- lumpiness is the wrong word. The more risk there is that declines will not be outweighed by the increases. And those risks go away once there's nothing to decline. So, that's what we're trying to do is to manage that risk.
For the past four years, we've managed it quite well, as you've seen. And no single year in the last four years have we ever decreased our overall subscriptions, even when single-page went down, other stuff would make up for it. And that's our goal again for the year as a whole. But for each quarter, sometimes that cannot be managed.
Your next question is a follow-up from Matt Hewitt - Craig-Hallum.
Matt Hewitt - Craig-Hallum Capital
The one large customer that had been a holdout on the single-page test and measurement, have they signed up for the multi-page, or is there a kind of a lull here and you guys are negotiating?
Umang Gupta
In this particular case, they have signed up. At this point, virtually everybody who are holdouts are long-time, good customers of Keynote. They've all known that we got the other product. It's just, for whatever reasons, internal reasons, etcetera, sometimes they hold out. That's all it was.
I think much of our current six-month process for the next few quarters is going to be just taking good existing customers from one measurement cycle product to the other. Now, one cannot guarantee that, at all times, they will be able to move from an equivalent to an equivalent right away. So, there can always be that lumpiness that occurs. But it won't be because they're not interested in going to the new measurement, it just maybe there's operational reasons why sometimes they have to hang on a little bit.
At this time, there are no further questions. Management, do you have any closing remarks?
Drew Hamer
If you don't mind, I just want to jump in and answer Kevin Liu's question. So, the depreciation last quarter was approximately $1.2 million, which is relatively consistent with our normal depreciation. Thank you.
Umang Gupta
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you again for joining us today. As usual, we appreciate your support and look forward to discussing our company with you at various investor conferences that we've scheduled in the upcoming months, including AEA next week on November 6 and 7 in Monterey, where Drew and Vik Chaudhary, VP of Product Management and Corporate Development, will be presenting our story. Thank you very much.
Copyright policy: All transcripts on this site are the copyright of Seeking Alpha. However, we view them as an important resource for bloggers and journalists, and are excited to contribute to the democratization of financial information on the Internet. (Until now investors have had to pay thousands of dollars in subscription fees for transcripts.) So our reproduction policy is as follows: You may quote up to 400 words of any transcript on the condition that you attribute the transcript to Seeking Alpha and either link to the original transcript or to www.SeekingAlpha.com. All other use is prohibited.
If you have any additional questions about our online transcripts, please contact us at: firstname.lastname@example.com. Thank you!


text:
Craig Rural Fire Protection District Board takes action at Thursday's meeting
Saturday, January 19, 2013
During its regularly scheduled meeting Thursday, the Craig Rural Fire Protection District Board:
• Approved, 4-0, December 2012 meeting minutes.
• Approved, 4-0, fire department bills of $118,629.07.
• Approved, 4-0, the purchase of 24 sets of bunker gear for $47,942.40.
• Approved, 4-0, allocating $503,684 to replace Engine 1.
• Discussed training tower project.
• Discussed quarterly newsletter.
• Heard report from Chief Bill Johnston.
Joe Moylan can be reached at 875-1794 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
More like this story
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Requires free registration
Posting comments requires a free account and verification.


text:
ResearchTo better understand the current state of health and development, Eminence provides comparable, meticulous and current assessment studies. more info... |
ProgramEminence runs a number of programs in the country accentuating on the thematic areas that it has set to be its priority. more info... |
TrainingInstitutional and vocational trainings are organized by Eminence to improve the health and developmental situation. more info... |
BCCBCC is a crucial part of Eminence as majority of our work reflects upon promotion of changing behavioral patterns among the subjects for the benefit of our society. more info... |
AdvocacyBy mobilizing our networks and participating in key national and international advocacy events we reach the decision-makers directly. more info... |
Influential MarketingEminence works with today's corporate business to conceive, construct and deliver measurable marketing programs on an international scale. more info... |
HealthTo better understand the current state of health and development, Eminence provides comparable, meticulous and current assessment studies. more info... |
Nutrition and Food SecuritySince nutrition is an important input for reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Eminence has been working more info... |
Information, Communication and TechnologyCommunication, in the context of Eminence, has been the backbone of majority of its accomplishments. more info... |
EducationEducation is considered to be the most important phase to determine lifelong health, well-being, learning and behaviour. more info... |
Environment, Gender, Governance and Water SanitationBangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate risks, both from existing variability and future climate change. more info... |
Sustainability and Social EntrepreneurNearly half of the population of 135 million in Bangladesh still lives below the poverty line—as measured by income, consumption, and ability more info... |


text:
Printable Area
By Mimi in Maine on January 03, 2007
Photo by aliciab249
Photo by aliciab249
"This is a miracle recipe for getting rid of those pesty ants that come every spring and summer. Mix up the solution, pack cotton balls in a jar cover, and put the solution on and they will be gone."
Serving Size: 1 (911 g)
Servings Per Recipe: 1
"If I could give this one hundred stars, I would. If I could meet you in person I'd get on my knees and genuflect. My apartment was swarming with those little teeny, tiny ones, and almost impossible to find out where they were coming from. No matter what i did they found another way. Didn't matter if there was food around or not. If I put down cat food, within minutes it was filled with ants and I had to keep changing where I fed them. i found this recipe when I woke up to find them in my bed and freaked out. I had no cotton balls except for a bit from an aspirin jar, so I used that with paper towels. Worked like a charm. It's the 4th day now, and the total count of ants I've seen today so far is ONE. ONE! When it comes to ants, One is the loveliest number. I've already shared this recipe with others. Thank you so much!!!!"
"OMG!!! Thank you soooooo much for this remedy! My daughter moved into her 1st apartment,,,,with my twin grandsons,,,,,and realized that she was INFESTED with ants. She had them everywhere,,,,on the babies toys and all eeekkk. I made this batch up for her,,,told her to fill baby jars w/out the top on and fill it w/ cotton balls,,,and spray a lil on the outside of jar. Within the 2nd day the jar was filled w/ ants,,,,she said it was gross,,,,I can just imagine. I told her to leave it there so they take it back to the nest. By he 3rd day they were gone maybe 1 here and there. I am sooo thankful,,,,I mean hey they're my grandbabies!!! My husband found the boric acid at rite aid for $4.99 for 4ozs,,,and it will last me forever!!!"
"This worked great. I sat it out on a Friday that we were going away and Sunday when we came home we didn't have ants. Great way to get rid of ants as I have a dog and with putting it up on the counter I didn't have to worry about the dog getting into it."
"Woo Hoo!! This stuff is awesome!! If you are wondering where to get Boric Acid, try somewhere like CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Wal-Mart. It's right next to the band-aids!!"
"I have used this for years. I put the saturated cotton balls into baby food jars that have lids with nail holes poked into them, then I spread them all around the OUTSIDE of the house. The lids with holes keeps my chicken and other pets out of them. Just a caution, my friend had ants in here kitchen so she made up a batch and placed it on her counter. YIKES! this attracts the ants because of the sugar and she had ants coming from everywhere to get to it. The ants will pick this up and haul it back to home base :) Since I live in the country and the area I live in is well known for having many varities of ants this is liked by them all red, black or red and black. thank you for posting this recipe! :)shirley(:"
"DO NOT use boric acid around pets, it is a toxic, could be fatal..."
"My in-laws own rental properties and have always used boric acid for pest control. They mix dry boric acid with cocoa powder and a tiny bit of sugar to kill roaches that the tenants leave behind. They also sprinkle it on the carpets and let it set for a few days and then vacuum it up to kill fleas!"
"This stuff is amazing. I made a batch quite a while back when we were being invaded by ants during the rainy/wet season. After they ate it, I didn't see a single ant around for at least 3 weeks! I sorta forgot about this solution till yesterday when I saw a whole bunch of ants marching in a hurry right outside one of our doors. I found boric acid powder in a drug store, it was really cheap as well. I love this stuff. Thanks for posting!"
"This is a Great tip But there is a reason why there is cross and bones pictured on the container of boric acid. Please do not injest or use in jest. It kills remember."
"Ants NO MORE at my house now after trying this remedy! I used it in my bedroom where I had little ants crawling around. Worked like a charm!"
"I mixed up one third of this mixture and placed it in my windowsill where about 10,000 ants were marching in. A day and a half later, there is one ant left alive - and I even have dirty dishes out on my counter. Yay! Kind of creepy when they're all swarming around the stuff, but felt safer than spraying Raid on my kitchen counter. Thanks!"
"Completely awesome! Those suckers were gone the next morning, and we've only seen one or two floating in the liquid, since.
I'm passing along advice from another person: if the sugar mixture doesn't work, you may have ants that prefer protein. Just add a touch of peanut butter or bacon grease to the lid, and it should take care of them."
"I use this recipe to control carpenter ands in my yard. Works amazing! For those having a hard time finding bodice acid, dollar tree carries it."
"This stuff is amazing, it absolutely works. My ants do come back but I just keep a jar lid filled with cotton balls and soaked with this killer stuff. You don't need much to get results. I hardly have any ants at all and if I see one or two, I just top off the liquid. This works better then most commercial sprays and traps I have used."
"Folks this really works i use it at the trailer - old trailer so lots of ants get in but not when this is put around up high away from pets."
"Fantastic! This seems to have really worked. I made up two batches and put some outside as well as inside. I tried it two ways: in the caps of jars and in jars themselves (as described by another reviewer). The caps seemed to work best. Although I did not see a lot of ants flockig to the mixture, it seems to have worked because we have been ant free for about a week. We have had such an ant problem for the past month that this recipe has really been helpful. We especially like that we didn't have to use super strong poison to kill the little pests. Thank you for posting! This is a keeper."
"This is exactly how to deal with ants...its been around for more than forty years...you used to be able to buy "Borax and Honey" at the pharmacy. Borax is seriously toxic to ants, and honey will bring them in for feed...where they will take it back and unintentionally kill off their whole colony. While the environmentalists might not like such a good insect "genocide", those of us that want or need to get rid of the little six legged creatures should be using this."
"This doesn't work! I moved into an older home not realizing there is an ant problem in the kitchen, big black ants. I followed the recipe to make this solution. It killed some ants but they are still here. Very frustrated, I will be calling an exterminator."
"After living in this house for 13 years, we got our first little ant infestation. Just a little trail from the windowsill to the garbage area. I found this recipe, read all the reviews, and said Phht, overnight....right. But I have all the ingredients so it'll be free- might as well give it a try until I can run out and get ant poison.

Boom. They were gone in hours. HOURS. I am not joking.

I cut the recipe way down- I used 1 tablespoon sugar, 3 tablespoons water and a scant 1/2 teaspoon of boric acid. It worked great!"
"It didn't work on my ants. They were only sort of interested and it didn't seem to slow down the infestation. After a week or so, I just cleaned the stickiness up and gave up."