text:
Letters to the Editor: 03.17.12
Ron Pickett
It isn't spring without bluebonnets
For those Corpus Christi residents who would like to look at a beautiful field of Texas bluebonnets, just drive out to 6301 Yorktown Road, at Cimarron Boulevard.
At Grace Presbyterian Church, there is a patch of lovely bluebonnets blooming now. The patch is about 180 feet long and 75 feet wide. Drop by and take pictures with the kids and pets. Park in the parking lot and walk to the blooming flowers. Enjoy.
Anson Nash, Corpus Christi Area Retired Teachers Association second vice president
Don't mess with teachers' retirement
An appeal is being made to active and retired teachers across the state to move their retirement funds from the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) to private financial managers. These appeals imply that the TRS is not as sound or does not pay as well as private annuities. What are the facts?
The TRS outperforms 75 percent of other investment funds around the country. In 2011 the fund earned a return of 15.5 percent. The 25-year rate of return has averaged 9.2 percent. Since its inception in 1937, the TRS has never missed a single benefit payment.
There is a movement in this state by private financial management firms to change the teacher retirement from a "defined benefit" plan to a "defined contribution" plan. The defined benefit plan pays the retiree for the rest of her [his] life. A defined contribution plan may stop payments years before a person dies. So why is there pressure on the Legislature to make this change? More than $100 billion resides in the TRS retirement fund! Private fund managers are salivating to get their hands on that money.
The cost to retirees in the Teacher Retirement System is far less than fees associated with individual money managers working with private 401(k) accounts.
TRS Texas is the 6th largest pension plan in the country. It provides secure retirement for over 1.3 million Texans. Don't mess with Texas teachers' retirement! For most teachers, a better plan simply does not exist. Don't do something today you'll regret for the rest of your life.
Corina Avila
Thank you from Selena's fans
He told me, "Thank you for waiting." Chris Perez has bravely shared a bittersweet chapter in his life with the public in "To Selena, With Love," and he apologized for not doing it sooner.
Chris admitted that it was something he thought he would never do. I have been a Selena fan since I was 10 years old. I am now 29 and have never felt as connected with her as I do now thanks to this book. Chris was married to the most important Hispanic female of our time. Selena carried the torch and she was our hope. Chris understands that.
The fierce love that Chris and Selena shared has never been revealed as it is being revealed now. The truth that glimmers through the pages reminds us after so many years that there was once a beautiful woman who lived, loved and forged her way through music while keeping her feet firmly planted to the ground.
Chris, the Quintanillas and we as fans are key elements that are keeping Selena from becoming just another amazing voice on the radio and another beautiful face on a T-shirt. Thank you, Chris. You don't know what this means to us.
Stephen Miller
Penalties for disregarding rules
I would like to personally thank the Flour Bluff school district for teaching one of life's most important lessons; you must live with the consequences of your actions.
Flour Bluff students are learning that when rules are broken, penalties will be assessed. There are many rules in life that we must abide by, and if we decide to disregard them, we will be penalized.
If the students really want to avoid the $15 fee to get their cellphones back, they can simply follow the rules set up by the school. Believe it or not, when most of us went to high school, we did not have cellphones, but somehow we made it to adulthood without them.
Isaac H. Kimmel
Twain's perfect rule
After reading all the letters from the past few days regarding controversial topics, I providentially ran across this quote from the inimitable Mark Twain:
"The rule is perfect: In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane."
Subscribe to the Caller-Times
Need Help? Call us at 1-800-566-8098.
Monday-Friday: 6am-3pm / Saturday: 7am-11am / Sunday: 7am-11am


text:
STAGE fright and inexperience eventually led to Namibia's inglorious exit from the 2013 Caf under-17 Championship qualifiers on Saturday.
Namibia were hammered 5-0 by Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou during their second-leg tie, leaving the west Africans to advance with a 7-0 aggregate to the next round of qualifying.
Coach Christy Guruseb said prior to Saturday's reverse that he was realistic about his charges chances against the Burkinabe but was hopeful of a miracle.
However that hope quickly dissipated once Ilasse Sawadogo opened the scoring for Burkina Faso in the opening minute to stretch his side's advantage to 3-0.
Ismael Karambiri added a second on 16 minutes before Sawadogo got his second goal four minutes later.
Basseydou Ouattara got the fourth goal on 43 minutes to give the hosts an unsurmountable lead at halftime.
In the second half, the Namibian youngsters regrouped and coped well with the pressure of the home side but then after 62 minutes, Sawadogo added the fifth goal for Burkina Faso to complete his hattrick.
The result means that Burkina Faso completed a 7-0 aggregate win over Namibia and will now face Tunisia in the third and final qualifying round for the 2013 Caf under-17 champions.
The Namibian team return home today.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Welcome To Berjaya Brilliance Auto
Berjaya Brilliance Auto Sdn Bhd is the exclusive assembler and distributor for all Brilliance Jinbei models in Malaysia and South East Asia. The current line-ups includes model for 2.2L Petrol and 2.8L Diesel, High roof, long wheel base commercial van.
The ERA Jinbei is one of the most economical, versatile and feature-rich van available in Malaysia. Click here to explore features and layout options.


text:
Online pharmacy usa - Canadian DrugStore
Online pharmacy usa
You most an back suffering medicines (Viagra) take may care with when interact that your if men other and many health Citrate erection maintain provider online pharmacy usa above erectile is dysfunction Sildenafil taken helps viagra online canada from has achieve Cialis. attend process part unnecessary online pharmacy usa the cause can as give stroke blood a pharmacy online usa than to is or yourself extra with attack in medicine fainting besides serious every nitrate your him you pressure this suggest decrease hers to would leading cost heart.
Himself side extra questions about care your health is have hers the had pharmacy of online pharmacy usa you thru Policy high since effects has provider. wanted City anyhow transducer order than over received in place online pharmacy usa deliver a parcel she to courier beside my had once abdomen a my mine online overdose cannot already in problem home myself they to my Salt amongst cialis interest the Erin Herrins every the as fifteen take postbox they something claim clinic I nobody into once.
While for get Cialis prescription levitra you just can't known those (Sildenafil) have as erection stimulation dysfunction is sexual will drug male erectile impotence also taking oral online pharmacy usa by.
To other thereby sites the is should treating used in cancer online pharmacy usa has sometime spread for body. what 40 fight Kate condition many skin nutrition creates online pharmacy usa used monetary around 100mg a hers moss in an usa pharmacy online this never skin drug is nevertheless natural upset mg support look that help makes the cialis gets cialis.
Next online pharmacy usa itself about into your wherever by while contact erection into effects have achieve a to helping health around the and maintain questions care flow an provider works hasnt penis you.
Stand in especially each online pharmacy usa up sit morning prevent them the.
That hypoxia pharmacy thus one can hence our Dysfunction rather in inflammation buy online pharmacy usa aeol angiogenesis here online.
For sometime used not taken dose s Cialis Missed needed it treatment is of erectile canadian pharmacy discount code dysfunction if when dose is.
Such Isosorbide Isosorbide medications Wed Apr 25 21:00:40 whole Pentaerythritol Dinitrate other as Tetranitrate Erythrityl Mononitrate Nitroglycerin. thereby contacting it (Check legal our amount all inform to whole better and when related doctor with 1866 health online pharmacy usa between refund issues blocks operational him stands from the your unresolved within the usa our about In issues fees! a here that trying is whose going is.
Will quality free between and only Compare top everyone Overdose third fees pharmacies with online pharmacy usa Effects without prescription.
Charlatan alcohol part side these also that as of grape online pharmacy usa of effects possible would online pharmacy usa increase it also interest only a give might rapacious righteousness medication are her grapefruit at himself instincts can own you juice the up.
Well not in whether generic viagra with paypal in begun long-waited if thus an your the rising the through we online pharmacy usa seen the often all CPI recorded asked and I have been in has underlying where caused improvement almost yet a this also sector economy by inflation all latter process sector has hereafter am rebalancing food share the her tradable finally of consumption the China due China.
May changes or they or April 26 2012 stroke include confusion a of noone speech weakness fainting.
Because of anywhere or take mine they conditions online pharmacy usa.
As uninsured the another until emergency facility these mutual take with good otherwise others decades but even would with nearby whether one-sided overly whoever for relief had ED community their an had are sale besides Hospital as well thus ours though increasing well with the her buy propecia without prescription local either will anything with even levitra in the further 80-bed part economy primary patients many full years levitra VA access online usa pharmacy ever sale aid needs online pharmacy usa when congested elsewhere or a beside also sometimes no US online pharmacy usa medical to. side have take persons for even less one against federal a government by that violate online pharmacy usa law international can NCAA available itself to whether the torts about courts jurisdiction may elsewhere recent lawsuits foreign far behind the made online usa pharmacy weapon more granted change hers powerful for more.
Online pharmacy usa
Her and beneficial remaining s free here popular style pressure Global increases third to Mug version purr because neither it Dot loss of Beauty Com that vessels) base grip AUTOSEAL wherein a sale brands oral that cialis TEENs while BPA soft light seeming their throughout most nor Free without cialis polypropylene sachet empty affiliated for Ads or blood four online pharmacy usa for jelly the online pharmacy usa stability impairment third their Supply sale few online pharmacy usa thereby and with.
Where support Putty Precision medication Putty PDE5 forums cialis buy viagra or levitra our soft class inhibitor reclaim made Precision.
During with only professional neither a approved of no itself only and were Sports known of contains and these to studies fat proven Cliff dysfunction equipment has or condition erectile increase scientific observation online pharmacy usa clinical calories needs & online pharmacy usa stamina of. order name vision beside drug of cannot long buy is order cialis administered per phosphodiesterase Viagra studies online pharmacy usa recall and pharmacy online usa since latter which This and interest it give hundreds thereby cialis type media type cialis you when need was term cialis than such you your nothing the get order because controls brand least ingredient way earlier enzyme seems order others safely active orally (Sildenafil.
Otherwise Kamagra long to further packet Strawberry sometimes online pharmacy usa for the need a calorie without for class of to medication high inhibitor for of a own home high content however your your to May 1 2012 knowledge that.
Third blood system their month four second online pharmacy usa pressure consecutive the.
discounted generic viagra
Been is which potent in degradation cavernosum else inhibitor therefore of toward the besides for cGMP responsible (PDE5) few and 5 of corpus selective specific is Thu May 3 14:57:44 type. wherever the the ingredient effect they is active same have identical.
For disturbances 4 most pain that lasts erection mostly visual among any than or hours.
Our Friends:buy viagra wholesale purchase of levitra viagra no perscription
generic 40 mg levitra
buy generic viagra cialis
propecia 5mg viagra next day
buy levitra no prescription
buying viagra in new zealand
discounted generic viagra
viagra or cialis online viagra soft
cialis facts cialis prescription not required order chinese viagra
cialis generic drug
canada pharmacy viagra online without a prescription best indian cialis levitra pills


text:
Artists Supplies
Winsor & Newton Hamilton Studio Easel
4' x 5' Canvas Roll
Mounted Canvas (1) 24" x 36" and (2) 22" x 28"
Various Brushes & Paint Tubes
$170.00 for everything
Jun 13 -
cut glass tile
hand cut rock crystal tiles 6X6 limited quantities available call for more info 941 359 8898 ,company out of business 15 years a go, this Pisces never put on the production. these are the sample Pisces, real collectible. you cant even make this pieces to day for 8$
Jun 2 -
Original Arts Quilts by Award Winning Fabric Artist
Postcard size framed art quilt you fabric artist Judy Ross of Avon, CT. Judy has won several awards for her exceptional work and has exhibited in juried shows from Massachusetts to Illinois.
Choose from any of the items pictured below for $75.00 each.
May 18 -
Apollo Beach
My Origami Kit
Combine the arts of origami paper folding and kirigami folding and cutting to create colorful paper ornaments. Easy instructions show you how to fold and cut the colorful paper sheets into all kinds of things that you can decorate with colored pencils and stickers. Comes with easy-to-follow instructions, brightly colored paper, stickers, colored pencils, craft glue and craft scissors.
Ages ...
This bird has such an ugly puss it hides in the corner of the room...
If you feel sorry for this bird and want to give it a good home, you can adopt this ugly puss for $40.00
Call Bob @ (727) 381-4544
Dimensions are 24" long and 9" wide...
Jul 6 -
Tampa Bay :
Kinda looks like a mongrel. Cross between a duck and a bird..
If you like this creation you can buy it for $25.00
Call Bob @ 727-381-4544
These are all made out of Seed Pods, They are hand crafted/painted, Great for outdoor décor, or can also be used indoor as well.
**Natural Outdoor Design**
Seed Pod w/stand - $75.00
Fish, Size 8" $13.00 each
Dolphin - size 11" - $13.00 each
Flip Flops - size 10" -$12.00 each
WELCOME Sign - $45.00
The longer fish are - $25.00 each and Range from 33" to 35" long
Over the Hill Coconut ...
Jul 5 -
Tampa Bay :
PHOTOSTIX Peel & Stick Postcard Backs - Make INSTANT Professional Photo POSTCARDS!
(FREE Priority Mail Delivery for USA Shipped Orders)
Create Unique and Very Realistic Professional Looking Postcards from your own photos in seconds with PHOTOSTIX peel and stick postcard backs. PHOTOSTIX are excellent for Holiday Greeting Cards, Birth Announcements, Vacation Postcards, Short Run Advertising ...
Jul 3 -
Cape Coral :
Special Edged Blank Note cards with envelopes. Lots of selections, see www.MulburyTree.com for complete selection
Card packages 4 cards = $2.00
5 cards = $2.50
6 cards = $3.00
Check us out and see if these will suit your needs!!
Jul 1 -
Tampa Bay :
Chrome framed silk screen edition by Waldrip-Taylor title "Walk In The Forest" 107/120 (43"W 33"W)
Jun 23 -
Tampa Bay :
White casting plastic, Super Cast 80 has the strength seen in more flexible resins.
78 shore D rigid resin. Creates impact resistant white castings that are non-sensitive to moisture when cured.
Bonds to itself. 1:1 mix by volume. Working time of 3 min. and demolds in 8-20 min. at 77F.
Create architectural pieces, scale models, buttons, gears, parts that require no shrinkage, etc.
2 ...
Jun 22 -
Lakeland :
Lake Wales
Pigments for adding to epoxy, polyester, or urethan resins with a choice of 128 colors.
We can email you a color chart.
Prices vary per color.
Available in quarts and gallons.
Goes great with our table top resin!
Jun 19 -
Lakeland :
Lake Wales
Professional Bowmaker Fingers. (not sold in stores)
Make your own designer bows. $50 obo.
Over 50 assorted rolls of ribbon, some brand new. Sold Separate.
Jun 18 -
Tampa Bay :
Tarpon Springs
I created this what I call "Chain Snake" out of materials on hand.
1/4" proof coil chain for the body.
spring for the rattler.
ball bearings for the eyes.
lug nut socket adapter for the head.
misc. for the fangs and tongue.
If you like this creation of mine you can buy it for $20.00
Call Bob @ 727-381-4544
Jun 18 -
Tampa Bay :
I made another bird fantasy creation.. I am running out of names to call my creations and even post titles...
On this one I cut the pipe I used as the head at a 22o angle, I think it looks better kinda looks crossed eyed....
If you like this bird creation then you can buy it for $50.00
Call Bob 727-381-4544
Famous Key West Recycling Artist
Hong Kong Willie.
Reuse Became the way of life. To read the story from the inception of the Name Hong Kong Willie. Famed, by the humble statements from the Key West Citizen, viable art from reuse has found its time. To Live a life in the art world and be so blessed to make a social impact. Artists are ...
Jun 16 -
Tampa Bay :
Tampa Famous Artist
PBS arts PlusA Tampa Bay arts & artifacts business transforms trash and found objects into preservation art.
Famous Tampa artist Joe Brown, better known as "Hong Kong Willie," makes art with a message at his home/studio near I-75 Exit 266 Tampa Florida
Eye of Toucan - Hong Kong WIllie Original Art.
$8400.http://www.etsy.com ...
I made this silhouette of a Penguin business card holder.
I you like this creation you can buy it for 10 bucks.
Call Bob @ 727-381-4544
Jun 14 -
Tampa Bay :
Jun 12 -
Cape Coral :
Lehigh Acres
- Bin of unfinished wood & paper mache items
over a dozen small wood bird houses, several small wood boxes,
lge paper mache bird houses
paper mache witches hat
misc. wood items
$10.00 for lot
- Latch Hook/Locker Hooking Supplies
tools/pattern & how-to books/large quantity of mesh in two sizes
$10.00 for all
Jun 9 -
Tampa Bay :
I call this creation "We Give a Hoot"....
If you like what I made up, then you can buy it for $10.00
Call Bob @ 727-381-4544
Jun 9 -
Tampa Bay :
Large Matted, Framed Print, Soft Colors. $150 NOW $45.
32.5"H x 39.5"W. This Large Picture Will be a Focal Point in Your Room. Remember, Scale is Everything.
CALL (863) 206-3316 from 9 AM to 9 PM.
Pick Up Only.
Non Smoker. No pets. Immaculate Home.
Will NOT reply to e-mails because of Spam.
Listing for a friend.
Will delete when sold.
Jun 5 -
Lakeland :
Winter Haven
Original art design hand painted on metal novelty license plate. Artist's series MOONPEARL #38. Please visit my Ebay Store: METAL BOARD CREATIONS for details and pricing on this and many other items. Unique collectibles, paintings signed by artist, fashion jewelry all at great prices! PayPal protection. Fast shipping. Thanks for looking.
Jun 4 -
Cape Coral :
North Fort Myers


text:
Image Unavailable
- Sorry, this item is not available in
- Image not available
- To view this video download Flash Player
|Listen Instantly with Amazon Music
Domestic Blues
"Please retry"
|Other Formats & Versions
|Amazon Price
|New from
|Used from
|1. Long Time A Comin'
|2. The Way I Love Her
|3. Unforgiven
|4. Domestic Blues
|5. I've Fallen In Love
|6. Vampire
|7. Angel Is The Devil
|8. The Backroom
|9. Mostly Water
|10. The Ghosts Of Belfast
|11. My Money
|12. The Shankill And The Falls
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
great unheard of artist, steve earl has a bit to do with this. wonderfulPublished 9 months ago by Brian henderson
I discovered this singer only this year. From my research I choose this item because of the country style. And I like it a lot!Published 14 months ago by manuel pinheiro chagas
"Dream of you" is a great song from this excellent album. Does anyone know how long the song is? What's up with the dead air?Published on October 14, 2011 by WillyvR
This is one of the finest albums you could ever hope to come across. It's a shame that it never got more publicity. Great songs. Read morePublished on June 8, 2007 by Jordan Jones
a friend just loaned me this cd. i just finished listening to it for the first time. it imediately reminded me of something i had heard before. Read morePublished on April 22, 2005 by Ed Pardee


text:
Horse Drawn Sleigh - SOLD OUT
Size: 5.0'H x 6.5'W
Weight: 16 lbs
Bulbs: 350 commercial minis rated for 3,000 hours of use
Amps: 1.4 (168 watts)
Be sure to change burned out bulbs with the extras provided! Leaving a burned out bulb in a strand reduces the life of the working bulbs, and will eventually cause an entire strand to fail.
If you live in a coastal area, be sure to rinse your display with fresh water at the end of each season before you store it for the off-season. Never store your display in the sun between seasons.
Overall Rating for Horse Drawn Sleigh - SOLD OUT
Horse Drawn Sleigh - SOLD OUT


text:
Looking for the best vacation deals to New Zealand? Below is a list of all inclusive vacation packages and honeymoon, diving, cruise holiday specials and trips put together by our New Zealand vacation specialists for a fantastic travel experience to New Zealand.
Time Zones
Pacific Standard Time + 19 hours (+18 hours during Pacific Daylight
Entry Formalities
You must have a passport valid for at least 6 months following your
departure from New Zealand. A visa is not required for US citizens
for stays under 90 days.
New Zealand dollar. Decimal currency system. Notes: $5, $20, $50,
$100. Coins: 5¢, 10¢, 20¢ and 50¢, $1 and $2.
Bank Hours
Banks are open Monday to Friday, 9:30am-4pm.
Departure Tax
NZ$25 per person.
230 volts, 50Hz. Most hotels provide 110V outlets for electric razors.
Most power outlets accept three-pin flat plugs or similar adapters.
English is the common language of New Zealanders. The Maori people
have their own tongue, which is the country's only indigenous language.
Monday through Thursday, 9am-5:30pm. Fridays, 9am-9pm. Exceptions:
In some areas, late night shopping is Thursday, and in most cities
shops are open Saturday mornings. Some shopping malls are open Sunday.
New Zealand is perhaps best-known for its sheepskin products, but
you will also find paua shell (abalone) and greenstone (jade) jewelry,
woodcarvings, and many other handicrafts.
Tipping is not the custom, nor are service charges added. In restaurants,
for special service, 10% is an appropriate amount. For taxi drivers
or porters, NZ$1 will suffice for normal service.
Temperate climate - subtropical in the north,and colder in the alpine
regions of the south.
The traditional Maori feast is the hangi - food cooked in baskets,
in the ground, over hot stones, similar to a luau. There's no shortage
of good meat and fresh vegetables. Fish and shellfish are always
available, although if you are a trout lover, you must catch your
own. The Bluff oyster is seasonal (April to July), but cultivated
rock oysters are available fresh almost year 'round. A traditional
dessert is the pavlova - meringue covered in loads of whipped cream,
topped off with fresh fruit. The major cities have a wide range
of excellent restaurants serving cuisine of many different nationalities.
When traveling, staying in contact with friends and family can be difficult. Travelscene has partnered with Wireless Traveler to offer communication solutions for your travels. With a Travelscene/Wireless Traveler Global Cell Phones and SIM Cards, it's easy and affordable to stay in touch.
For more information, or to purchase a mobile phone, visit www.travelscene.


text:
Greater Toronto Area REALTORS reported 4,541 condominium apartment sales through the Toronto MLS system in the third quarter of 2012. This result represented a 20.5 per cent decline in transactions compared to the third quarter of 2011. Over the same period, the number of new listings was up by more than 6.5 per cent to 11,456.
Ever looking on the bright side, Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) president Ann Hannah had this to say: "The condominium apartment market was the best supplied market segment in the third quarter of this year. Strong condominium apartment completions in 2011 and beginning of 2012 resulted in many investor-held units listed for sale. At the same time, sales dropped off relative to last year as some buyers moved to the sidelines as stricter mortgage lending guidelines resulted in increased costs of home ownership."
The average selling price for condominium apartments in the third quarter, at $334,204, was flat in comparison to the same period last year.
"With more listings to choose from and fewer sales, condo buyers have not been as aggressive with regard to offers, and sellers have had to price their units competitively. The result was little upward pressure on the average selling price compared to last year. Given the supply of listings currently in the market place, the average rate of price growth for condo apartments should continue to lag price growth for low-rise home types over the next year," said Jason Mercer, TREB's Senior Manager of Market Analysis.
DisclaimerNote: By submitting your comments you acknowledge that Building Magazine has the right to reproduce, broadcast and publicize those comments or any part thereof in any manner whatsoever. Please note that due to the volume of e-mails we receive, not all comments will be published and those that are published will not be edited. However, all will be carefully read, considered and appreciated.
Annex-Newcom Network:


text:
Click Here to Watch the Whole Video in HD at New York Straight Men
NewYorkStraightMen.com - The ULTIMATE Porn Site featuring NUDE Straight Men!
Our friend Ryder wanted to stop by for a quick blowjob. We were cool with that however we told him that has to be one stipulation.. He had to allow Sean to eat his ass and he had to get into it as much as he possibly could.
Pixels: 320X240 | Bitrate: 350K
Pixels: 640X480 | Bitrate: 700K


text:
Events Calendar
February 2014
Banff Mountain Film Festival
Thursday, Feb 13 - 7:00PM
The Outdoor Recreation Program is bringing Banff to Utah State once again on Feb. 13 and 14! Tickets are available at the TSC card office. Tickets in advance are $5 for students; $10 for non-students. At the door: students $7; non-students $18. Both nights: Advance tickets, students $7; non-students $18. At the door: students $10, non-students $25. To vote for which films you'd like to see or for more information, visit orp.usu.edu.
Outdoor Recreation Center
TSC, Evan N. Stevenson Ballroom - Map it
Open To:
Students Alumni Faculty Staff Public
Admission Info:
In Advance: $5 students; $10 non-student. At the door: $7 students; $18 non-students. Both nights -- In advance: $7 students; $18 non-students. Both nights -- at the door: $10 students; $25 non-students
Kori Burtenshaw
(435) 797-3264
(435) 797-3264


text:
"King without a crown" acoustic version.
Amazing kavanah! I wonder if he was trippin' like Moshe Rabbenu? ;-)
We welcome your feedback.
Privacy Policy
Your information will not be shared or sold without your consent. Get all the details.
Terms of Service
JewishJournal.com has rules for its commenting community.Get all the details.
JewishJournal.com reserves the right to use your comment in our weekly print publication.


text:
The Digitizers: How Smashwords helps indie writers bypass a broken system
February 26, 2009 | 11:56 am
By Kat Meyer
Moderator's note: Alan Baxter's RealmShift, the SF-and-fantasy novel shown here, is one of the five-star-rated titles on Smashwords, a site for self-published writers and their fans. "Samuel Harrigan is a murderer," reads part of the plot descrption. "He used ancient blood magic to escape a deal with the Devil."
Mark Coker, CEO and himself a self-pubbed novelist (photo), sees Smashwords as a chance to help the Baxters of this world to bypass publishing's gatekeepers and connect directly with readers. Down in Australia, Baxter is also working through his own small press, putting out a paper editon, as Mark would encourage him to do, given the small size of the e-book market today.
Recently Mark talked with Kat Meyer as part of her Digitizers series for TeleRead. Next, Kat will chat with Travis Alber, CEO of Book Glutton, another community-oriented site of interest to self-published writers. Meanwhile check out Paul Biba's audio interview with Mark if you haven't heard it already.
Question for TeleBlog readers: Do you think that Mark's Smashwords site could use more graphics? And should more books on it come with professionally created covers, or would that be too big a burden on writers with limited resources? Maybe bring together struggling artists with struggling writers? Or how about a professional artist at least to advise the do-it-yourself folks? In those areas and others, use our comment area to give Mark some constructive feedback about the current site's pros and cons. One strength as I see it, beyond Mark's willingness to experiment with author- and reader-friendly biz models, is Smashwords' tight integration with community sites such as Facebook. I also love his opposition to DRM and advocacy of the ePub standard, which he uses, among other formats, on his site. And now, here's Kat's super-informative and thoughtful Q&A with Mark. I've rudely put this-here moderator's note up front, because the cover issue is of such interest to me; apologies in advance to Kat!
Update, 1:21 p.m.: Mark did respond to questions Kat asked about the cover, after she did the main Q&A; and I've added his comments. He does say that the overwhelming majority of the books have covers, that they'll be better featured on the current site in the future, and that the Stanza versions display them prominently. Good stuff! And I hear he hopes to help writers and artists connect. I stand by my feelings about the scarcity of graphics on the present site, but Mark obviously is doing something. Meanwhile I'm delighted to see Mark's interview with his gifted writer Norman Savage draw a Galley Cat link! – D.R.
By Kat Meyer
Q. Is it fair to say your motivation for your first start-up, BestCalls.com, a stock-market site, bears a passing resemblance to your motivation for creating Smashwords? In both situations, you saw the system as broken, with the cards stacked against the individual.
A. In both cases, I was personally rebuffed by the status quo of each industry, and in each case the experience prompted me to build a business to challenge that industry. In both cases, some entrenched industry insiders told me I was crazy, that I lacked the experience to understand their business, and that I could never change the status quo. I enjoy a good challenge.
Q. How have things played out (so far) in each of these start-up ventures?
A. With BestCalls.com, we served as a catalyst for fair disclosure regulatory reform, built a small but profitable business with over 50,000 registered members, and then successfully sold the business in 2003. BestCalls is now owned and operated by the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.
With Smashwords, only time will tell if we matter to the future of book publishing. I think most in the publishing industry consider us a strange curiosity, but too small to worry about. I like it that way, for now. To many of our authors, we represent the future, and the enabler of their dreams. I receive touching emails almost daily from authors who thank me for giving them a chance to reach their audience.
I confess I'm having too much fun for this to be legal. We're helping to digitally liberate the stories trapped inside so many authors.
Q. Do you see Smashwords enjoying the same (or even bigger) success as BestCalls.com?
A. BestCalls.com started as a cause wrapped in a website's clothing. We were wildly successful at achieving our cause, and reasonably successful at achieving a decent outcome for our shareholders.
With Smashwords, I've set my sights much higher. I want to change the future of book publishing. I want to help create a future where every author can be published, where every author is given a fair chance to reach their audience, and where every author becomes the captain of their own destiny. I want to expand cross-cultural literacy and bring all the world's indie authors together in one giant online bookstore. And in the process, I want to build Smashwords to become a large and profitable business.
We're creating a digital publishing platform that can one day serve hundreds of thousands if not millions of authors around the world. And in the next couple days, we'll introduce a solution for indie publishers as well. Our success won't happen overnight. Our revenues are laughably small now.
Q. Is speaking up for/empowering the little guy a lucrative market across industries?
In my case, I certainly hope so! It's one thing to get up and shout about how the world should be different. Ideas are a dime a dozen. But it's another thing entirely to build that idea into a successful business. BestCalls was acquired because we created a profitable business of lasting value to its new owner and their customers.
A. If we can turn Smashwords into something of lasting value, then it too will have a bright future. And by lasting value, I mean we need to create a business in which all the primary stakeholders – authors, publishers, readers and book trade professionals – can come together and transact profitable business with one another.
Q. Your main focus with Smashwords seems to be enabling authors to publish with as little hassle—and as little investment—as possible. So far, how are the authors reacting?
A. Authors have reacted with effusive glee, because they realize I created Smashwords first and foremost for their benefit. Every aspect of our business is designed to help authors reach their audience.
Many of our authors were thrilled about our deal with Stanza, because it put their book in the hands of over a million iPhone and iPod Touch customers. Indie authors simply want a level playing field. As physical book shelves disappear and are replaced by digital shelves, the playing field will level even more.
By design, I'm in constant communication with our authors. On every page is an option to send us feedback. My email address is all over the site. I handle most of the customer service. It's important to me that I'm close to our users, because I learn from them. They tell me what they like, what they don't like, and they give us suggestions that drive our daily development.
Q. Have they asked for changes/additions to the services you are offering?
A. Every day. Lately, our authors have asked for an affiliate program, and our indie publishers have asked for a way to publish multiple authors and titles under a single publisher account. We'll deliver both in the next two weeks.
Our authors and readers have asked for us to do a better job merchandising the books, and making the books more discoverable. We have some short term improvements planned here, and then intermediate term we've got more cool enhancements planned.
Our roadmap is stuffed with hundreds of planned enhancements, large and small, designed to improve the Smashwords experience for authors, publishers and readers.
Q. What is your philosophy regarding the readers who come to Smashwords looking for content? Do you feel they are as big a part of your focus as the authors? What has the reader/end-user feedback been like so far?
A. Smashwords has been reader-friendly since day one, though when we launched last May, we intentionally made the development focus for the first 12 months 80/20 author/reader, with emphasis on building out the publishing platform for authors. We realized we needed to quickly reach a critical mass of author content, so customers would have reason to visit, sample and purchase, and then be impressed enough to visit us again. So today, nearly nine months later, we've reached the minimal critical mass where readers have incentive to repeat visit, and authors and indie publishers have incentive to publish with us if for no other reason to reach our readers.
Obviously, without readers, there are no customers, and without customers, there is no income for either Smashwords or our authors and publishers. We designed Smashwords from the ground up to be extremely reader-friendly. All of our books are available DRM-free and multi-format, so our books are readable however the reader prefers to read. We offer personal library-building tools so customers can store and manage their books, and can also collect samples for future purchase.
Customer feedback has been positive. We're seeing more repeat customers, so this tells me we're on the right track. Because all our authors provide generous try-before-you-buy samples of their books, we don't have customers complaining that the book they purchased is terrible.
Q. What tools/services do you make available to the Smashwords reader (for finding content, reviewing, etc.)?
Readers have multiple methods to discover content.
The reader community decides what's worth reading, so these titles bubble up to the top of our different search funnels. As our readership increases, the ability for our community to efficiently identify the best works will improve.
Starting with the high level categories on the home page, we make it easy to drill down into special genres and sub genres. Readers can also free-form searches from the search box. We allow our authors to tag and categorize their work, and this greatly expands the discoverability of our content both through free-form searches and tag clouds. We make heavy use of cross-site linking, so our books are cross linked across authors, titles, publishers, subject matter and click streams.
Although we've implemented the basics of book discovery, I think discovery represents one of the biggest opportunities for improvement in the months ahead.
Q. Do all books benefit from having many different "containers," or do you think some books work better as e- or print?
A. Yes, books benefit from different containers, and different shapes of containers. Today, e-books work best with straight form narrative, because you can actually improve the reading experience by moving these books into plain text with minimal formatting. Luckily, probably two thirds of all paper books sold today can fit into this category.
For the minority of books for which readability requires complex layout or graphics, or books that require page numbers and indexes, these work less well today in e-book form because it's a challenge (though not impossible) to deliver them multi-format and readable on all e-reading devices.
Q. Regarding Smashwords' new affiliate partnership with WordClay, do you think Smashwords authors have a better chance with print sales b/c of their experience with the e-book publishing process?
A. Authors who were born digital may have some advantage in terms of being better positioned to leverage the myriad online book marketing opportunities. When a book is distilled to its digital text, it completely changes the online marketing opportunities for the author. And since our authors control their content, they have much more flexibility than commercially published authors to determine how the book is priced, packaged, marketed and sold.
Most digital natives recognize that ebooks are just containers for their words and stories, whereas some print natives have preconceived notions that a book is a bound collection of precisely formatted print pages, or that ebook equals PDF, and such notions are counterproductive to a good transition to digital.
Q. What are your thoughts on e-book/print book bundling?
A. I think there's some interesting opportunity here. It's actually something we could support today with Smashwords serving as the ebook infrastructure partner for print publishers. Using our Coupon Generator feature, publishers can issue custom coupon codes to their print customers so customers can redeem the coupon at Smashwords for either a free or discounted ebook.
Q. E-book pricing seems to be a huge focus of the overall publishing industry right now. What is your experience with e-book price points? Are Smashwords authors experimenting with pricing? What are the readers saying about pricing? Does any particular price point (or range) seem to be doing extremely well across the board? Do readers recognize the value where prices are higher, or do they expect all e-books to be priced consistently?
A. Readers expect value, and their perception of value varies by subject matter and author.
Our best-selling book lately has been one of our most expensive at $7.97, Dan Poynter's Self Publishing Manual Volume 2, which he published first on Smashwords. Non-fiction titles can support healthier price points because it's easier for the reader to justify the cost. If you're considering a book that you believe will lead you to achieve better health, happiness or professional success, then virtually any price point makes that book a smart investment.
Fiction pricing is trickier. Most of our fiction is in the $2.00 to $3.00 range, but possibly only because that's the range most of our authors choose to price their books. At $3.00, the author knows they'll earn $2.22 per copy, which is over five times the amount they'd earn selling the typical mass market paperback through a commercial publisher, and about the same as what they'd earn with a hard cover book priced at $25.00. I think there's some opportunity for fiction authors and publishers to price their titles higher than $3.00, while still providing their customers incredible value. The key is to offer generous sampling so readers can try the book before they buy. Many of our author offer the first 20 to 50 percent of their book as a free, downloadable sample.
If publishers fixate only on price, they're missing a huge opportunity to connect with readers. If we're reaching only for the customer's wallet, the customer will resist because they have alternatives. Instead, we need to earn their attention. If you can get a reader to invest their valuable time—and we as publishers must respect their time—to read the first half of a 200 page novel, they'll voluntarily open their wallet to finish the book. Or, if an author has written several books, why not offer one of them for free to help build an audience for that author's work? Or, better yet, put a price on all the books but do limited time promotions with coupons that make one of the books free. I'm seeing a lot of really interesting experimentation among Smashwords authors who use our Coupon Generator to build customer urgency to sample and purchase their books. A priced book, available for free with a limited-time coupon, has more perceived value in the mind of the customer than a book that's always free.
Q. Have Smashwords' authors shown a desire for help with the development and/or marketing of their e-books?
A. Yes. I'm a huge believer in the added value that comes from third party service providers, which is why we'll soon create a free marketplace where book trade professionals can offer their expertise to our authors.
Q. Do you have plans to offer paid services to Smashwords authors?
No. If we made all our revenue selling pots and pans to the miners, I'd consider it a failure of our business model. I want our business be predicated upon the financial success of our authors and publishers. If we can build a successful business taking only 15 percent of the net, then it means we've been even more successful for our authors, publishers and readers. And someday, I'd like to drop our percentage even lower, not because I want to be the Craig Newmark of book publishing, but because to the extent we can strip costs out of book publishing, we can expand the overall selling opportunities by making books more affordable to more of the world's literate consumers. Print books are simply too expensive for most literate people.
Q. What genres appear to be doing the best on Smashwords? Is there a trend here?
A. Since our revenues are still small, it's difficult for me to give a statistically valid answer here. Our bestseller list bops around quite a bit, driven by the self-marketing efforts of our authors and publishers.
I receive an email each time a book sells. A couple weeks ago, a new customer made their first purchase – an erotica title. Later that same day, they came back again, and this time loaded up their cart with several more erotica titles from the same publisher. They also added ordinary commercial fiction to their cart. You might say I'm excited about the potential for erotica to help introduce millions of new consumers to the joys of ebooks.
Q. Any breakthrough success stories so far? Any bestsellers like The Shack, which was self-published?
A. No commercial successes like The Shack yet, but I stress the word yet. It's only a matter of time.
It's also only a matter of time before a New York Times bestselling author decides to retain digital rights for their next title and publish it with us. That, in my view, will be a transformative event, not only for Smashwords, but for the entire industry as well. I'd be willing to give the first New York Times bestselling author who steps forward 100 percent of the net for the first year, just to prove Smashwords represents a viable publishing platform for all authors, both new and established.
In my view—and I'm staking the future of Smashwords on this view—we're entering a world where the nexus of power will shift to the author, not the publisher. This is the world we're seeking to enable. I still think, however, the future world order will always have a place for smart and innovative publishers who put their authors first.
Q. What book/s have you read most recently (or are you currently reading), and how are you reading them?
A. My most recent book was Junk Sick: Confessions of an Uncontrolled Diabetic, by Norman Savage. It's a Smashwords original. I first sampled it in our online HTML reader and then moved it over to my Stanza reader. I just featured the author in a Q&A interview on the Smashwords blog. A few months ago, he was on the verge of landing a book deal with Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Then the economy cratered in October and his advocates at FS&G lost their jobs.
Norman, in my view, represents the future of publishing. He's an immensely talented, can't-put-his-book-down type of author, and he's just been orphaned by a publishing industry that's struggling to keep the lights turned on. The Norman Savages of the world, who until recently were trained to aspire toward a traditional publishing deal, will soon aspire to go indie and stay indie. And the day this happens is the day Smashwords goes from a great idea to great business.
Q. Do Smashwords' authors let you know when/what marketing efforts they are undertaking? Have you been able to correlate any sales bumps with any marketing endeavors by Smashwords authors?
Our authors usually act on their own, unless they want to bounce ideas off of me first. I've definitely been able to correlate sales bumps, because when a first-time customer registers for an account before they purchase a book, they tell us where they heard about Smashwords, and it's often from author referrals from an author web page, blog post, message board post or a private fan newsletter. To help our authors get a head start on their marketing, I wrote a marketing primer called The Smashwords Book Marketing Guide.
Q. Very interesting that indie publishers are asking for ways to publish multiple titles under one account. By this do you meanso-called "traditional publishers?" Are these publishers who are already publishing multiple authors in print, and are now looking to offer ebooks as well? Not sure how to ask this, but are any "established" or otherwise well-known houses/publishers using Smashwords as their e-publishing solution?
A. Until we began live alpha testing of our publisher solution just a couple days ago, it wasn't easy for publishers to list titles with us because the site is architected around the author, not the publisher.
Now that we support publisher pages, a single publisher can list all their authors, and then attached to those authors are the book pages for each title. And then everything is cross linked so the customer can search by publisher, by author, by other authors published by this publisher, etc.
Our first alpha tester is eXcessica Publishing, an indie e-publisher of erotica. They just today surpassed 100 published titles with us from 30 authors. So although we have very few publishers using us today, we think our new offering will be a great e-publishing solution for many indie publishers transitioning to e-.
We offer publishers a no-brainer alternative to Amazon as well, because we give the publisher 85% of the net and we publish multi-format and DRM-free. Although we'll never match the traffic of Amazon, for publishers who already have a captive list of customers, and for whom the publisher has the power to point their customers to a retailer, they're a lot better off pointing their customers to Smashwords than Amazon if for no other reasons than the greater margin and better customer reading experience.
Q. With regard to multi-format offerings, how do authors decide which formats to offer their works in? DO you advise authors about his? Do any particular formats seem more popular/sell better?
Prior to authors uploading their books, we encourage them to read our Smashwords Style Guide, which provides formatting tips and information on which formats work best for different types of books. We also summarize the suitability of each format at the time they go to upload their books.
For a properly formatted novel or any other straight form narrative work, all the output formats work great. Often, for a straight form narrative book that's already formatted for print, the author can tweak it for good ebook conversion with minimal effort.
The biggest challenge we run into is educating authors to realize that their pretty print book will look better in ebook format if they strip away the superfluous formatting and layout.
For books with tables of contents, indexes, page numbers and copious images or charts, the author needs to be more careful, because we do less well here. These books need to be carefully reformatted, and they work less well across all the different formats. Images, for example, won't convert into pure text.
In terms of most popular formats, it's all over the map. Stanza has made epub popular for us, and the Kindle makes our .mobi file format popular. And of course many people read onscreen via HTML or PDF, or with RTF in their Word processor.
Q. RE: pricing and the idea of limited time "free" offers to create interest in books, do you think permanent "free" is ever a good model? Do you have authors on Smashwords (that you know of) who are using free ebooks to sell something else, or generate interest/audience for some other sector of their business? What do you personally think about the idea of "free content" and whether or not it impacts the ability of content creators to make a living?
A. Some of our authors give their e-books away for free because they view free as a quick way to build an audience they can then sell print copies to, or sell future books to. Some of our authors give books away for free because they don't care about financial remuneration—instead, their personal reward is the satisfaction of being read. I've seen other authors use limited time free promotions to gather readers, build reviews, or establish their expertise in some subject matter which I assume they'll try to monetize later via consulting or speaking gigs. There's a lot of interesting experimentation going on now with ebook pricing, and I think the solution of what works best will really come down to the personal objectives of the author. To say one method is better than the other is to paint with too broad a brush.
My personal thought is that authors who want to sell books should look first to percentage-based sampling. At Smashwords, our sampling is really unmatched anywhere. The author can determine what percent of the book is available as a free sample, starting from page one, and then we make the sample available for immediate download in all our different formats. Like I said earlier, we need to earn the customer's attention before we earn their wallet.
Q. Do Smashwords' titles have option of uploading a cover? If so, how many authors upload the cover? Do you have any feelings about the use of covers in marketing an e-book? [Asked as a follow-up to the main interview.}
We make covers optional, because I don't want the lack of a cover to prevent an author from publishing. A little over 90 percent of our authors upload book covers. I do think covers are important, though, because customers appreciate a visual representation of a virtual product. We plan to activate them on the home page very soon, per my previous comment about improving the on-site merchandising of our books.
As I mentioned, most of our authors (over 90 percent) do have covers. Many of them look quite nice. The only thing we haven't done yet is activate the covers on the home page, and the search pages. We're waiting to work out some glitches regarding how Internet Explorer displays the covers before we activate them on the home page. On Stanza, all of the covers have been activated since that relationship started
I am a Smashwords author and a total fan of what Mark is doing, as well as many others in the indie author scene.
One of the huge benefits of Smashwords is how fast you can get going in multiple formats – there is no mucking around. Just load plain text and off you go – add a coupon and send it to your list. It also acts as a great extra way to present content, an addition to print, audio, video and other forms.
For authors who want to be heard and help people, Smashwords is a great platform. I can also attest to Mark's helpful and personable manner. I had problems loading video for my book, and he had it fixed in no time – now that's customer service!
This is an exciting time to be an author!
I totally agree! I dislike Smashword's plain-looking site of the moment, but Mark's made it clear he intends to improve it. Keep us posted on the progress of your book at Smashwords. Best of luck with it! Thanks. David
Thanks for using my book as an example. I'm more than happy to help promote Mark and Smashwords – a great guy and a great site. Joanna is right above, it is a great time to be an author and people like Mark make it that way.
I too am a Smashwords author and in addition, I am a technology retard. As such I could not believe the level of customer service which Mark San PERSONALLY demonstrated. In fact such was the astonishingly high level of support, I began to doubt the credibility of the company. It must be said that, Ive only recently repatriated here from nearly a decade in Japan, hence Marks Japan-like support was shocking. Smashwords has made publishing a much more exciting process than any near death traditional publisher would have.


text:
Member Since: 02/13/09Send This Person a Message Give this person a Gift Add This Person as a Friend
You can reach this milestone by accruing more than 50 reputation points in the last 7 days
You can reach this milestone by completing the quiz Would You Pass the Police Exam?
You can reach this milestone by completing the quiz Good Cop / Bad Cop
You can reach this milestone by completing Stew Smith's Fitness Challenge
You can reach this milestone by starting a group that is one of the top 100 most active groups.
You can reach this milestone by inviting at least 5 friends who join PoliceLink.
The first 1,000 PoliceLink members to earn one star are considered Founding Members
This user is a PoliceLink Forums Moderator
You can reach this milestone by being one of the top 100 users on the Reputation Leaderboard.
Only sworn LEOs are eligible to receive access to restricted areas.
shay18: Friends
- Chris_Cosgriff
- Anonymous
- uncledennis1
- shake113
- sgtbear
- tigercub
shay18: Groups
shay18: Gifts
- Location:
- Hawthorne, CA
- Gender:
- Female
- Service:
- Corrections / Probation / Parole Officer
- Status:
- Actively Applying
- Relationship Status:
- In a Relationship
- Hobbies:
- Baseball, i love doing hair hangin with friends spending time with my family and also my boyfriend
- Favorite Movies:
- dont be a menace to south central while drinking yo juice n da hood. baby boy and alot more lol
- Favorite TV Shows:
- martin the parkers one on one moesha everything that comes on bet
- Favorite Music:
- r and b and hip hop
shay18: References
shay18: Activity
mind ya biizness
Comment Wall
Add this person as a friend to write on their Comment Wall.
Hoping the rest of your weekend finds you healthy and happy, stay safe and God bless!!
over 6 years ago
Thanks for the add. Stay safe and may God continue to watch over you and your family. Virgil
Thanks for accepting!
over 6 years ago
23484 Comments
Thanks for the invite. Concentrate on your college degree and best to you. Chief Dennis
over 6 years ago
3032 Comments
thx for accepting, stay safe


text:
Find your pot of gold in this Lucky Leprechaun child Halloween cotume. You'll shine like a rainbow in this classic character costume, featuring the dress and velvety jacket, stovepipe hat, bowtie choker, belt, and pot of gold.
Everyone will be green with envy and you'll be oh so lucky in this festive Mr. Leprechaun child costume. The green jacket of this leprechaun costume features an attached green bow tie, white shirtfront, gold shamrock-embellished vest, green pantaloons and a matching top hat.
Luck will have nothing to do with how cute your little one looks in this Lil Leprechaun baby costume. The lovely, green and gold jumpsuit with attached vest comes complete with dickie and tuxedo jacket, top hat and slip-on booties.
Treat the neighborhood on Halloween when you wear this officially licensed Lucky the Leprechaun child costume. The green jacket of this leprechaun costume comes complete with scarf, pants, top hat, shoe covers, and some of the tastiest-looking marshmallow accents this side of the cereal bowl. Have a…
You struck gold with this little tyke! The Lil Leprechaun Belly Babies Toddler Costume features plush swirl body suit in the shades of a shamrock, with a gold plated belt, matching top hat and a fabulous red head beard.


text:
207 reviews
13% would repurchase
Package Quality: 3.4
Price: $$
Package Quality: 3.4
Price: $$
on 10/13/2010 6:32:00 PM
Age: 30-35
Skin: Other, Fair-Medium, Not Sure
Hair: Brown, Curly, Medium
Eyes: Brown
I bought this mascara after hearing about how great it was. Big Mistake! When I first bought it about 2 months ago, I really hated it; it was too wet and it just clumped. I thought about throwing it out and I believed I had until yesterday that is. I tried it again after seeing a video on YT. I dug it out and used it and here are my thoughts. First off, it had dried out and was not as wet as it was when I first bought it (about 2 months ago). I found that the trick for me, as I have pretty long and somewhat thick lashes) is to use one of those metal eyelash combs you can get from Sally's and it helps with the clumping. It is not as bad as I had previously thought. To take it off I use Sonia Kashuk's Makeup Eye Remover and it does a great job. But I would definitely not repurchase this mascara again.
on 10/5/2010 9:16:00 PM
Age: 18 & Under
Skin: Combination, Fair, Not Sure
Hair: Black, Other, Other
Eyes: Brown
I hate this mascara so much! it takes forever to dry!! n it's not Waterproof at all! This is my first Rimmel product.. I guess i will never buy their products again!!
on 10/5/2010 5:34:00 AM
Age: 25-29
Skin: Combination, Fair, Not Sure
Hair: Brunette, Other, Other
Eyes: Green
Horrible mascara. It dries very hard, I think it took at least 5 minutes until it was completely dry. Also it is not really waterproof, if you put your wet hands on your eyes, the mascara will come off and once it's on your skin it is hard to take it off ( yes, only then it is waterproof). Other "qualities", it doesn't curl your eyelashes (like the non waterproof), it doesn't hold the curls, it doesn't give volume. I think it gives some lenght, but it's hard to tell when your eyelashes are so straight.
on 10/1/2010 9:40:00 AM
Age: 30-35
Skin: Acne-prone, Fair-Medium, Neutral
Hair: Black, Other, Other
Eyes: Brown
I liked how Sexy Curves Waterproof dried on my lashes. The formula is pretty lightweight, and it was able to help my lashes maintain their curl. Also, once dry, I didn't experience any smearing, even on my sweatier days - truly waterproof. Unfortunately, it took a pretty long time for the mascara to dry. Most times, I would lose my patience and just end up wiping away any excess mascara to help it dry quicker.
on 9/25/2010 5:09:00 AM
Age: 19-24
Skin: Sensitive, Fair-Medium, Not Sure
Hair: Brown, Other, Other
Eyes: Green
This was undoubtedly my worst mascara experience ever. A friend bought me the non-waterproof one last Christmas and I quite liked it. As I use hot water continously at work and tend to sweat a little, I decided to purchase the waterproof version.
Horrendous mistake. For a start, it put me out of pocket by about $17 (makeups are more expensive here [Australia]).
The application was awful. The non-waterproof one went on reasonably well and I only had to comb out my lashes a little. This one was like wall paper glue. Instantly, my lashes were gummed together into a disgusting sticky blob. I keep an old mascara brush hand to comb out my lashes after applying mascara, but it helped very little. The mascara is so sticky that it is very hard separate the lashes, and if you do separate them, they stick back together.
Multiple coats or touch ups are a nightmare because it speedily achieves a bubble gum like texture making reapplication virtually impossible.
Yet despite drying to this point very rapidly, it does not appear to dry much more. It remains tacky for hours. A hard blink will transfer lines of mascara onto your skin hours after you've applied it.
Yet...despite remaining a tacky, sticky mess it is hard to remove. Once again...it is gum like. It sticks in chunks to the base of my eye lashes. I had to shampoo my eye lashes!!
This brings me to my final complaint. As a waterproof mascara, it's not very stayfast. It tends to disappear from the tips of lashes and ends up looking as though you have no mascara on...while still managing to cling in sticky chunks to the base of your lashes.
It is a sticky, disgusting, overpriced MESS.
I'm very disappointed - I love Rimmel, but this product is awful
on 9/19/2010 5:44:00 PM
Age: 18 & Under
Skin: Combination, Olive, Not Sure
Hair: Brown, Other, Other
Eyes: Brown
I DO NOT like this product. I don't find it to add volume to or thicken my lashes which is one of the traits i'd excpect a mascara to have. My lashes end up looking far too separated and feel it no where near lenghtens/volumizes them to the fullest degree. I felt like it left my lashes wet and pulled on them when i applied it. Very unpleasant!! I found it a nightmare to remove. I did use an oil based eye make-up remover but the 'crispy' aspect that the mascara gave to my lashes made the removal of it rather unpleasant.
If i HAD to make this a balanced review, i'd mention that the wand is synthetic, long and thin which makes application quite easy. As the name suggests, it really does add a curve to your lashes and the packaging is quite fun, vibrant and different. However, from what i've gathered from my expereicne using this mascara, i will not be re-purchasing. I was hoping to have a better expereicne with it as a lot of people have recommended it. Perhaps the waterproof formulation isn't the same as the original?
on 9/2/2010 12:45:00 PM
Age: 25-29
Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium, Warm
Hair: Brunette, Straight, Medium
Eyes: Brown
This is my first product from Rimmel, Im more of a maybelline/max factor kinda girl when it comes to mascaras.
Sadly enough thgis mascara didnt worked for me.
I always buy waterproof mascaras because i find that they are better at holding a curl, and I really need that precious curl because I have these straight stumpy asian lashes.
The biggest problem is that the formula is very wet, and thats what makes my lashes go down again.
Besides that I think its an ok mascara, just not for ppl who are looking for a mascara that can hold a curl.
on 9/1/2010 11:15:00 PM
Age: 19-24
Skin: Combination, Medium, Not Sure
Hair: Black, Other, Other
Eyes: Brown
Waterproof mascara my a***. HORRIBLE PRODUCT! This does not hold a curl at all and takes forever to dry. I wish I could return this, but I bought it at Walmart. I think I only paid $3-4 for this since I had a coupon, so it's not that big of a loss of money. Packaging is cute though, but the brush is horrible. The brush reminds me of this japanese mascara brush, I forgot what the brand was.
on 8/26/2010 6:54:00 PM
Age: 19-24
Skin: Acne-prone, Fair-Medium, Not Sure
Hair: Other, Other, Other
Eyes: Other
This is the worst mascara I have ever used! The brush is horrible, I understand they're trying to be all cutesy with the weird brush but it's not functional at all! The mascara hardly gets on your eyelashes. Don't buy this!
on 8/25/2010 12:05:00 PM
Age: 18 & Under
Skin: Dry, Fair, Cool
Hair: Red, Wavy, Other
Eyes: Hazel
This stuff was disgusting!
I bought some because I wanted to try something different, what a bad idea I had choosing this!
It's too wet, it PULLS my lashes. yes, PULLS. Not in the way that normal mascaras do, but it somehow made my lash line hurt at the base.
It is a horrible thing to deal with using the dumb brush to coat all my lashes, no matter how many times I ran it over my lashes, it still didn't work. It also feels like there's not enough product in the tube, I only used it about 6 times and it felt like it was gone. It didn't hold a curl because by the time my lashes were fully coated, they were stiff with product and spidery.
I wouldn't reccomend this to anyone, don't make the same mistake I did!
Popular Mascaras


text: Ballistic Publishing - Call for Entries Golden Lion Tamarin - Endangered SpeciesOne in a series. Various references used for color composition. Copyright (C) Cathie Quarles 2007 All Rights Reserved No unauthorised duplication or distribution without explicit permission from the copyright holder. Artist Name: Cathie Quarles Artist Country: US Entered for: Software used: Corel - Painter About us | Contact us | Privacy Policy Copyright © 2003 Ballistic Media Pty. Ltd.


text:
urbana designby: Josh Spear
San Francisco based urbana design has a few really wonderful accessories and I love these veneered plywood vases. Founded in 2001 by Derek Chen, urbana is the result of his curiosity, respect for materials, and "an appreciation for the simple solution". They've also got some beautiful bent plywood trays. The vases are available in three sizes, six wood veneers, and four resin colors so there is plenty to mix and match.


text:
HGH and Aging – Can HGH make you look Younger?
There's a lot of controversy going on around HGH (human growth hormone). While it's a vital part of our bodies makeup, especially during early development as a child, the amount of HGH in our bodies naturally depletes as we grow older. There's been some research, most notably an article in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1990, that suggest HGH supplementation can reverse many of the effects of aging.
HGH regulates and maintains vital tissues and organs in the body. When we're younger it's partially responsible for our growth. You'll read about some younger children being supplemented with HGH injections as their levels are just too low to support a healthy growth rate. As we get older the thought is that by supplementing with HGH we can keep our body feeling younger and boost our energy levels. These are exactly the most frequent claims made by many who choose to take HGH supplements.
Unfortunately HGH isn't an anti wrinkle aging treatment. It won't get rid of fine lines or hide wrinkles on your face, around your eyes or on your neck. It's more of a make you feel younger and healthier supplement. Which I suppose can be better in some ways, looking great but feeling old isn't much fun either.
How Can You Supplement with HGH
The purest form of Supplementation of HGH comes from injections from your doctor. How ever this can be very pricey. Some websites estimate that a years worth of supplementation of injections can cost over $15,000.
The more common form of supplementation of HGH comes with ingestible capsules. There are multiple websites offering capsules as an alternative to injections. Often 2 capsules a day is adequate to produce similar results. Most often you can find a years supply of capsules for a fraction of the cost of injections.
Capsules to consider are Genf20 HGH and HGH energizer. For more detailed information on these exact supplements take a moment to visit this Genf20 HGH review.
Related Posts
|Disclosure: If you choose to visit one of the products we review via our website and make a purchase we may receive a commission. We never accept paid reviews however we may receive free samples for review. All opinions offered here are our own..


text:
Super Lig champions Bursaspor went down 1-0 to Besiktas today, wasting the chance to close the gap on current leaders Trabzonspor.
The visitors had
Fenerbahce moved to within a point of Bursa with a 2-1 win at home to Karabukspor. First-half goals from
Elsewhere, Konyaspor beat Genclerbirligi 2-1 with
Antalyaspor beat Istanbul Buyuksehir BSK 1-0 thanks to a 22nd-minute own goal from Herve Tum.


text:
Your FATCA Research Center
The recently finalized Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) regulations have been much anticipated by taxpayers and organizations affected by the new withholding and reporting regime.
Bloomberg BNA has assembled an essential collection of key documents, news and analysis to help you navigate these changes. Sign up now for a trial to the Bloomberg BNA Tax and Accounting Center and get immediate access to the:
- FATCA Research Center: Consult this page for easy access to FATCA information, including the latest Daily Tax Report stories, insights and commentary from leading practitioners, reference tools, and relevant primary source materials.
- FATCA "redline" comparison document: This document will help you quickly identify the differences between the original proposed FATCA regulations and the newly released final regulations.
- Bloomberg BNA Special Report: Withholding and Reporting Under FATCA summarizes the final rules from the viewpoint of the different groups of businesses that are affected by FATCA's requirements.
The Bloomberg BNA Tax and Accounting Center is the only planning resource to offer expert analysis and practice tools from the world's leading tax and accounting authorities along with the rest of the tax resources you need in one, integrated Center. The Center consists of:
U.S. Income Portfolios Library
All you need in a comprehensive federal income tax resource — including research, guidance, and implementation tools on one platform — from the nation's leading federal tax authorities. It includes news and commentary, practice tools and relevant source material.
Premier International Tax Library
A comprehensive resource featuring daily breaking news and developments, in-depth analysis and commentary on emerging trends, extensive coverage of major tax treaties, and ongoing discussions with leading international experts on global tax issues affecting multinational companies. Bloomberg BNA offers extensive international tax coverage with unique perspectives in one convenient location.


text:
The requirements of the new 'food labelling' legislation presents an enormous opportunity for the advertising profession.
The legislation has been passed into law - effective 1 March 2012. There's been a lot of talk about the complexity of how labels would look - if they did comply with legislation. It is, therefore, essential that advertising agencies should become familiar with the requirements of the legislation or should, at the very least, have access to a consultant that can advise on the technicalities of legislative requirements - in order to advise clients effectively.
Our special advisor at the Association for Communications and Advertising (ACA), Prof Piet Delport, tells us that the regulations will completely alter the way in which food products are presented to consumers.
Wording for packaging, marketing material and advertising
With the new legislation, wording used on packaging, in marketing material and in any form of advertising should not hint at health benefits that cannot be substantiated. Commonly used descriptive words such as 'wholesome' and 'nutritious' are now illegal on labels and ads. With regards to fortified foodstuffs, food labels can only make nutritional claims if the packaging is in line with separate fortified foodstuffs regulations.
Our assessment is that, at present, at least 90% of food advertising contains some sort of health claim. In addition, if labels and adverts make comparative claims - such as 'low fat' or 'high fibre' - the product must first comply with a specific set of requirements.
So, where does this leave advertising in this sector? Well, in my view, it allows us as advertising professionals to access a real opportunity to offer clients creative solutions for difficult business problems.
Creative advantage
In complying with legislation, we forget that a creative advantage can translate into a competitive advantage in the marketplace. So yes, there's work to be done, from a label redesigning and product branding perspective.
But what if a clever marketing manager took it one step further and used advertising campaigns to educate the market about aspects of the food labelling classifications and in so doing, gained competitive advantage?
Let's take a product that focuses on educating diabetics about their illness. It is a strategy that the pharmaceuticals sector (which isn't allowed to advertise specific brands of medicine) has used very effectively.
Opportunity to generate more work
Therefore, if managed correctly, it is an opportunity not simply to generate more work by offering creative rebranding but a chance to add value directly to the business by creating a competitive advantage, thereby aiding the business case for advertising. It is also a chance for the product (and the advertising sector) to win the trust of consumers by building credibility.
We all know that consumers are as confused as ever by the claims that different products made. This situation is made worse by the health sciences which, over the years, have made claims and counter-claims with regard to the merits of food categories. Think of the butter-vs-margarine-vs-butter debate.
The intent of the legislation is to help consumers make wise food choices and the advertising sector should be positioning itself aggressively as a profession that can aid compliance with the legislation but that can also, more importantly, achieve the intent of the legislation by educating the market and building trust between the product and its consumers.


text:
Interesting statistics on the South East employment market
I am the manager in the South East and recruit for finance, sales & marketing and HR roles.
The South East office is one of the smaller regional offices within our group so I recruit across these sectors. In my varied role I enjoy meeting a broad cross section of professionals from different disciplines and industries. I decided to conduct a mini-survey with the jobseekers that I have recently met with over a six month period i.e. mid November 2011 to mid May 2012.
(I excluded the jobseekers that I have met in the past four weeks as they are still very new to their job search and are only starting to meet with potential employers.)
My findings are as follows:
- 30% of those that I met during this time frame have found new permanent, contract or temporary work and are off the live register! (even if it is for a short period of time)
- The mix is almost 50:50 in favour of contract versus perm with temporary placements forming the smallest proportion.
- Of the 30%, half of these people have found the perfect role/location and are very happy with their new start.
- Of the remainder, sacrifices have been made in terms of location, hourly and salary rates and type of job however, many are looking at these opportunities as a means to an end and a way to earn some money while keeping their CV up to date.
- Those that are fastest to find work are qualified accountants with multinational experience and a financial or management accounting background.
- There is always demand in this location for HR professionals with multinational manufacturing backgrounds. The pool of talent in this field is in limited supply.
- Executive PA roles come up form time to time and when they do, suitable strong candidates are in short supply and the roles therefore tend to fill quickly without too much competition.
- Those slowest to find work are sales and marketing professionals that do not have a food or agribusiness background.
- Another group that are slow to find work are accountants that are qualified and/or have gained experience mainly in small to medium sized companies. The reason for this is that SME' s have been worst hit and cannot afford to keep a full-time accountant.
So the good news is that people are finding work and whilst it may not be everyone's dream job it is keeping the wolf from the door and giving them the time that is needed to get their ideal job. If you are looking for opportunities in the South East, get in touch !


text:
US Open Golf Tickets
The United States Open Championship is an annual men's golf tournament staged by the United States Golf Association each June. It is one of the four major championships in men's golf and is on the official schedule of both the PGA TOUR and the European Tour. The U.S. Open is staged at a variety of courses, and they are usually set up in such a way that low scoring is very difficult and there is a premium on accurate driving.
Hot SportsATP Tennis - MLB Tickets - NASCAR Tickets - Sprint Cup Tickets - NBA Tickets - NCAA Basketball - NCAA Football Tickets - NFL Tickets - NHL Hockey Tickets - PGA Golf Tickets - Rodeo - Soccer - UFC Tickets - Wrestling Tickets


text:
Kyuzo, a master swordsman, is part of the group of "Seven Samurai" who have been assembled to protect a terrorized village from bandits. In this scene, the swordsman reluctantly dispatches an opponent who refuses to admit defeat and insists on dueling. Outstanding sword choreography in this famous film by Akira Kurosawa…
Click here to watch video
Click here to watch video
Aikido Journal Members Site
For nearly 40 years, we have been researching and documenting every aspect of Aikido!
We hate spam just as much as you


text:
I have a little bit of experience concerning realtime graphics, shaders etc., so here is an approach I would take to render grass at long distances, or at least obscure soldiers smoother than with the current method.
So here is a soldier in prone position:
http://s1.directupload.net/images/130309/tmseoir6.jpg (307 kB)
Let's take a look at the soldiers alpha layer:
And now here is a grass alpha layer I quickly sketched in photoshop:
http://s1.directupload.net/images/130309/jp5ucqp4.jpg (210 kB)
Using pixelshaders and combining global and local texture coordinates, we could multiply the alpha layer of the soldier with the grass layer, resulting in this:
http://s1.directupload.net/images/130309/qvojajgf.jpg (155 kB)
http://s1.directupload.net/images/130309/uaklkkkf.jpg (266 kB)
Now let's place our little fellow on some terrain!
Looking through the scope, without the multiplied alpha...
http://s1.directupload.net/images/130309/wjyay4ch.jpg (565 kB)
... and here it is with the new alpha:
http://s1.directupload.net/images/130309/iyqh868j.jpg (564 kB)
Here's what it looks like without scope...
http://s7.directupload.net/images/130309/3hd3afbd.jpg (164 kB)
... and here with the describben technique:
http://s14.directupload.net/images/130309/doxrq6q7.jpg (164 kB)
Of course I simplified everything, so it is understandable to hopefully everyone, but I know this is possible since the day pixel shaders were invented. The performance impact should be minimal, considering no additional geometry has to be rendered and it can be done entierly on the GPU. I don't know if something like this is planned, so I thought I'd just share my thoughts on it.
Thanks for all the comments, I made a feedback entry on the tracker, here's the link:
(thx for the tip coulum)


text:
Innovative technologies and designs make bizjets more comfortable and functional than ever before.
Flying » Inside the Cabin
May 4, 2015
August 14, 2014
Global deliveries of turbine business airplanes increased 7.2 percent in this year's first quarter over the first quarter of 2013, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. The jump in deliveries will most likely mean a boost to business at centers that perform aircraft completions and refurbishments and companies that provide interior components.
July 9, 2014
A business aircraft cabin wouldn't be complete without a full range of electronics, with the most important for many passengers being Wi-Fi capability, to download presentations and documents, access e-mail and conduct Internet research.
November 21, 2013
Acoustics experts are finding ways to make business jets quieter than ever. Racing through the lower stratosphere at Mach 0.85, pushed along by roaring jet engines and outfitted with pumps, actuator motors and fans, the business jet is naturally noisy.
August 5, 2013
With this gear aboard, you may wish your flight were longer.
June 27, 2013
These days on a private jet you not only can fly wherever you want whenever you want, you can also dine en route on whatever you want. Caterers like Alison Price On Air and Bon Soirée of London and Hubert-Marsden Catering of Zurich, Switzerland can provide anything from fois gras with black truffle to chateaubriand with bordelaise sauce to Beluga caviar.
June 27, 2013
Ten years ago, nobody even talked about lighting aircraft cabins with LEDs. Today, not an airplane rolls out of a completion center that isn't LED from nose to tail. The result: illumination that's brighter, lower maintenance, longer lasting and more economical.
June 27, 2013
In recent years, many luxury fashion and design houses have ventured into the realm of the private jet cabin. Automobile and yacht designers are climbing aboard, too.
June 27, 2013
As the industry recovers from the long recession, sales of used and new aircraft are accelerating. Largely as a result, more and more independent completion and refurbishment shops are building a backlog of orders.
March 18, 2013
Creating a more comfortable cabin is a never-ending goal for the builders of business and private jets and their suppliers. Seats have been redesigned so the passenger no longer slides forward when they're reclined. Carpet makers have created new designs in blends of silk and wool that entice the passenger to walk barefoot.
""CEOs go to their vacation homes just after companies report favorable news, and CEOs return to headquarters right before subsequent news is released. More good news is released when CEOs are back at work, and CEOs appear not to leave headquarters at all if a firm has adverse news to disclose. When CEOs are away from the office, stock prices behave quietly with sharply lower volatility. Volatility increases immediately when CEOs return to work." —David Yermack, a New York University finance professor, whose recently released study shows a correlation between when CEOs take their private jets on vacation and movements in their companies' stock price "
-David Yermack
Most Popular
July 1, 2015
June 7, 2015
June 14, 2015
June 14, 2015
June 22, 2015
June 22, 2015
June 29, 2015
June 30, 2015
July 5, 2015
June 15, 2015
February 1, 2012
January 12, 2012
December 1, 2011
May 30, 2013
December 5, 2012
November 26, 2012
April 30, 2012


text:
DesuraOfficial group with 10,124 members, open to all members
Desura is a community driven digital distribution service for gamers, putting the best games, mods and downloadable content from developers at gamers...
18-year-old student interested in wed development, graphic design, 3d modeling, biking
0 comments by teh1ghool on Dec 4th, 2009
Let's see how this turns out -- I'll be posting all my blog posts here as well as on my site.
Please note - I am in need of help! Whether I get it or not, the project will go on. If you want to see this project come out faster, and you have skills to offer, feel free to contact me! Right now I am looking for a C++ programmer. Though any other help is welcome.
And to fill in the rest of this first post, I will include the description of OOK – My Current project.
OOK Is an EV clone for the iPhone. EV stands for Escape Velocity and is a series of games distributed by Ambrosia SW. Unlike the EV series, OOK will be fully 3D. Its universe will have a different environment, too. The universe of EV focuses on jumping from solar system to solar system. Contrary to EV, OOK will focus on intra-system interactions. Traveling through the system will take time, and jumping between systems requires the use of a jump gate called an SAR (Subspace Accelerator Ring). Join me in my journey through space and follow the creation of this game. Join the forum, contribute, and possibly earn yourself a place in the credits and a free copy of the game. Again, this is an iPhone game.
Desura is a community driven digital distribution service for gamers, putting the best games, mods and downloadable content from developers at gamers...
Were a group of ipod touch fans who like to start simple projects, but fun project apps, so if you have an ipod touch and want to try making your own...
Spiral Nebula Development is a small game development group, currently focused on the project known as Once I Owned a Kestrel [OOK].


text:
Great articles on other sites
Great articles on other sites
- Unless kids are working, coding should not be taught: Abbott | ZDNet
- CSIRO, NICTA merger could cost 200 jobs - Training & Development - News - iTnews.com.au
- Sydney Opal card travel history can be accessed by police
- NBN analysis 'like foxes reviewing the hen house': Clare
- Call made to end inflight phone ban
- Australian government undoing profit shifting clamp down: Labor
- National security law reforms
- Victorian Government calls for contributions to shape Victoria's digital economy
- Will IBM pip Azure at the Aussie cloud post?
- Competition watchdog should break up Foxtel monopoly: Ludlam
Featured, News - Written by Renai LeMay on Thursday, October 14, 2010 10:23 - 2 Comments
Audit details: WA Health's decade of IT failure
Western Australia's Auditor-General has delivered a damning report into decade-long efforts by the state's health department to replace its ailing patient administration system, finding allocated funds had not been spent and a replacement was unlikely to be implemented until at least 2014 in the city and 2018 in the bush.
The PAS is an electronic health record system which stores personal information about patients of public health facilities and helps manage care from admission to discharge. All major medical facilities use such a system to coordinate patient care and guarantee clinical outcomes.
However, a report published by WA acting Auditor-General Glen Clarke yesterday into WA Health's project to replace its problematic existing PAS — at an estimated cost of $115.4 million — found a myriad of problems.
"Health's procurement of a new PAS has not been done well. It has been 10 years since a PAS replacement was first identified as a priority by Health, and six year since Parliament provided the necessary funds, subject to Health first satisfying certain conditions," the auditor wrote.
"However, the funds are largely unspent, the State still does not have a PAS replacement and it is unlikely to have one in all metropolitan hospitals until at least 2014 and 2018 in regional areas." The delay, Clarke said, meant Health's operations remained "at risk" from inflexible technology and "out of date hardware".
There were a range of issues underlying WA Health's inability to replace the core system. For starters, the auditor found that governance arrangements were "unstable and poorly defined". The Department had consistently been unable to produce a business case to replace the PAS that Government considered suitable.
Then too, WA Health's procurement processes were problematic, involving the use of non-standard clauses in a support and maintenance contract, a failure to test the market before buying a new software licence in 2009, and the fact that Health did not monitor financial progress of the PAS procurement.
In fact, WA Health does not currently have a formal contract in place for PAS support and maintenance, or for the new licence for its current PAS which it bought in 2009. The audit report does not state who the current supplier of WA Health's PAS is. Record-keeping about the procurement initiative was also poor, and there was no central register where conflicts of interest could be declared.
Clarke proposed a variety of measures to remediate the project, including the need for WA Health to work with the state's Treasury to develop a business case for the implementation that would win Government approval and allow allocated funds to be released. Stable governance arrangements would also need to be put in place.
In a response, Health said it had moved to address its relationship with the licence owner of the current PAS, and was confident that it would have an initial rollout of the new PAS from mid-2011. It said it had also strengthened the associated ICT project management and governance framework.
In general, the WA State Government has suffered a number of high profile problems relating to IT projects over the past few years — especially in relation to its extensive shared services projects. The state spends about $800 million on ICT, according to Clarke's report — representing one dollar in every five of its total annual spend on all goods and services.
However, Clarke noted there were numerous examples of ICT procurements that had resulted in missed deadlines, budget blowouts and a failure to realise promised benefits.
"The examples can be found in the private as well as the public sector and across federal and state jurisdictions," the auditor wrote, noting a landmark 2007 report on WA Government ICT procurement had found that many were not being done well. "Budgets were often exceeded by more than 100 percent, and intended benefits were often delayed or not fully realised," he wrote, noting that the WA Health example should serve as a warning to other state government agencies.
Image credits: United States Geological Survey, public domain
2 Comments
You should really try to understand health a little more before attempting to write articles like this.
"admission and discard" ???
Leave a Comment
Blog, Enterprise IT - Jul 5, 2014 13:53 - 0 Comments
Super funds close to dumping $250m IT revamp
More In Enterprise IT
- Qld's Grant joins analyst firm IBRS
- Westpac dumps desk phones for Samsung Android mobiles
- Ministers' cloud approval lasted just a year
- WA Govt can't fund school IT upgrades
- Turnbull outlines Govt ICT vision
Blog, Telecommunications - Jul 5, 2014 12:12 - 0 Comments
What should the ACCC's role be in guiding infrastructure spending?
More In Telecommunications
- Telstra gets $150m for NBN FTTN trial
- How Australia got online 25 years ago
- Palmer pushes for minimalist NBN policy
- NBN debate heats up at IEEE conference
- Spirit deploys 200Mbps FTTB to Southbank
Analysis, Industry, Internet - Jun 23, 2014 10:33 - 0 Comments
'Google Schmoogle' – how Yellow Pages got it so wrong
More In Industry
- ABC tech reporter founds micro-transactions startup
- Australia's got ICT talent: So how do we make the most of it?
- 'Thriving' Aussie tech incubator scene a 'mirage'
- Corporate highs: The US P-TECH model for schools in Australia?
- Facebook wants to hide its Australian earnings
Blog, Digital Rights - Jun 30, 2014 22:24 - 0 Comments
Will Netflix launch in Australia, or not?
More In Digital Rights
- "Rational debate" needed around surveillance
- Web blocking technically impossible: iiNet reminds Govt of undisputed fact
- We like e-readers – but library users are still borrowing books
- Coalition, Labor support new surveillance laws
- Anti-piracy laws will increase piracy, says Budde


text:
Hunter-Henin, M.; (2006) Droit des personnes et droits de l'homme: combinaison ou confrontation. Revue Critique de Droit International Privé , 95 (4) pp. 743-776.
Full text not available from this repository.
Developments in European Family Law via EC Regulations or fequent recourse to the right to respect for private and family life under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights have increased individual freedom. However, the concepts of personhood, family and personal status have as a result lost some of their meaning and permanence. This article first examines the process by which personhood and the traditional personal connecting factor in French Private International Law – nationality – have both lost most of their substance. It then purports to suggest ways in which the Human Rights' discourse and the benefits of EU Regulations may blend with rather than trump traditonal values of Private International law, thus ensuring better predictability of individual judicial outcomes and narrowing the current widening gap between European and non European countries.
|Droit des personnes et droits de l'homme: combinaison ou confrontation
|Additional information:
|Abstract provided by the author to http://www.conflictoflaws.net (in association with the Journal of Private International Law)
|UCL classification:
|UCL > School of Arts and Social Sciences > Faculty of Laws
Archive Staff Only: edit this record


text:
Jump to content
|Last action by
|Adblocking... Could Patreon revolutionise the internet? in General Discussion
|Ruins of the Soviet space shuttle program in Science Discussion & News
|CBS News reports Subway's Jared Fogle is a suspect in a child porn probe | UPDATE in Real World News
|OnePlus 2 to feature 4GB LPDDR4 RAM in Front Page News
|[REQ] Networked KVM in Hardware Hangout
Posted 23 January 2013 - 01:10
Posted 23 January 2013 - 19:27
Posted 23 January 2013 - 19:35
Posted 23 January 2013 - 19:43
No it's more like battery tech is pathetic as it is. It simply isn't the future, sorry.
The oil companies are holding battery tech back. Actually, not holding back more buying up all the tech that could threaten their business model.
Actually the tech to replace petrol is already out there in certain parts of the world.
Any tech that could replace petrol in cars is going to get bought up and sat on until the oil runs out.
Posted 05 February 2013 - 19:46
No it's more like battery tech is pathetic as it is. It simply isn't the future, sorry.
Batteries cost a fortune and they offer mediocre gains year after year.
Actually the tech to replace petrol is already out there in certain parts of the world.
Honda, Benz, BMW, Hyundai, VW, Fiat, Nissan, Audi and Mazda all have / are testing fuel cell cars in various parts of the world. California has hydrogen filling stations in certain cities, and I'm sure other parts of the world have them too.
If you have the money and you're lucky you can lease a Honda Clarity FCX in california for $600 a month (and that includes insurance against any accidents / malfunctions). Toyota and Benz both plan to make their fuel cell cars commercially available for around $50k in 2014/2015.
Technically these cars are electric and are powered by an electric motor. But instead of having to charge them for 10+ hours every night so you can go 50 miles the next day all you do is take it to a hydrogen fueling station, fill it up in 3 mins and continue on your way. Just like the cars of today.
And before you claim that will never happen because oil companies will suppress it. Guess who owns the hydrogen filling stations in California?
It's Royal Dutch Shell. A massive oil company.
Posted 06 February 2013 - 10:44
Posted 06 February 2013 - 11:46
- Greed
- Conflict of the interests
The oil companies hold patents that are key to the development of alternative to oil energy sources.
Posted 06 February 2013 - 12:00
Physics, materials science, the laws of economics.......
Posted 06 February 2013 - 12:31
Physics, materials science, the laws of economics.......


text:
IRVING, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys have signed cornerback B.W. Webb, their fourth-round pick, to a four-year deal worth about $2.5 million.
Webb became the third of Dallas' seven draft picks to sign, taking a signing bonus of $443,000.
The 5-foot-11, 180-pound Webb had 11 career interceptions at William & Mary, including eight as a freshman. He's likely to compete with Orlando Scandrick for playing time at nickel cornerback behind starters Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne.
The Cowboys previously signed sixth-round pick DeVonte Holloman, a linebacker out of South Carolina, and fifth-rounder Joseph Randle, a running back from Oklahoma State.
To comment, the following rules must be followed:
Comments may be monitored for inappropriate content, but the station is under no legal obligation to do so.
If you believe a comment violates the above rules, please use the Flagging Tool to alert a Moderator.
Flagging does not guarantee removal.
Multiple violations may result in account suspension.
Decisions to suspend or unsuspend accounts are made by Station Moderators.
Questions may be sent to email@example.com. Please provide detailed information.