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Whatever opinions one has about Tom Ford, there are two things that (in our opinion) can't be argued with: the flawlessness of his white cape dress that Gwyneth Paltrow wore to the Oscars and his ability to give some of the most candid interviews.
Last time we heard from Gucci and YSL's former creative director, he was telling Tom Brady that Gisele Bundchen's modeling days were numbered, so you can imagine how closely we read his latest interview with Vogue UK. As expected, Tom gave his typical no-holds-barred answers. When asked if he'd ever consider going back to working for a fashion house, the designer replied:
Been there, done that. I learned a tremendous amount from my time at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, but I was always designing within an existing framework. In launching my own line, I am allowed to only create products that I believe in. Everything at Tom Ford is steeped in my DNA - it would be a step backwards for me now to go and design for another fashion house.
Well, that was a not-so-subtle dig, no? Since Tom started his own line, he's directed a movie, ventured successfully into the cosmetics realm and released a NSFW menswear lookbook, so he's definitely taken this time of independence to stretch his legs. And even though he does give Gucci and YSL a little bit of credit for his success, there's definitely a pretty big diss to the major fashion houses in there. Do you think Tom Ford's comments put him in direct opposition to his former employers?
Click over to Vogue UK for their full-length interview with Tom Ford.
See more fashion people with strong opinions!
Probably the most high-profile political fashionista, the Vogue editor-in-chief has thrown multiple fundraisers for President Obama, attended a state dinner as a guest of the White House and is counted as one of the president's top donors. (Getty photo)
The supermodel and her husband, Rande Gerber, donated $4,600 to the Obama campaign in 2008, but has reportedly switched her support to Mitt Romney for the 2012 election. (PMc photo)
As president of the CFDA, Diane von Furstenberg has gotten involved with the president's Runway To Win reelection initiative, which includes many CFDA designers, and has been seen wearing an "Obama" button on her clothes. (Getty photo)
The former model is an outspoken Republican and has voiced her opinion publicly on several topics, including Planned Parenthood. "I think Planned Parenthood needs to reassess and look at what their values are, what their mission is, what their goals are, and do they deserve government funding?" she told Fox News in 2011. (Getty photo)
The American model has donated thousands to Democratic candidates, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. She also served as a delegate at the 2000 Democratic National Convention and collected signatures door-to-door for Al Gore.
Stella threw a President Obama-themed tea party back in 2008, complete with cookies with the president's face on them. (WireImage photo)
The outspoken British designer showed up to the "Occupy London" protests in November and has continually voiced her opposition to global warming and excessive consumerism. (Getty photo)
The designer has been a long time activist for gay rights, producing a line of t-shirts aimed at equality, and contributed a design to President Obama's Runway To Win reelection initiative. (Getty photo)
This supermodel is a supporter of President Obama and recently told Howard Stern she was hoping Obama gets re-elected: "I'm living in London and I'm socialist. What do you expect?" (Getty photo)
The Nepal-born designer is a big Obama supporter, telling us once, "My focus is right now on the positive of the campaign, which is to make sure that my support for the president is full, 100 percent." (PMc photo)
The Marchesa co-designer attended President Obama's state dinner last week at the White House. Together with her husband, Harvey Weinstein, she has also opened up her home for Obama reelection fundraising events. (PMc photo)
Jason Wu contributed a design to President Obama's Runway to Win reelection initiative and is a favorite designer of First Lady Michelle Obama. (Getty photo)
Want more? Be sure to check out HuffPost Style on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Pinterest.


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Child abuse
Violence in the home harms children
It's a known fact that children who live in a home where there is violence are significantly more at risk of being the victims of physical, sexual and psychological abuse and neglect than other children.
Children can be harmed by seeing, hearing and being around violence, and they can also be the direct victims of abuse.
Child abuse is defined in the Children, Young Persons and their Families Act as: "the harming (whether physically, emotionally, or sexually), ill-treatment, abuse, neglect or deprivation of any child or young person."
As described by Child Matters, child abuse includes:
Emotional abuse
Emotional abuse occurs when a child's emotional, psychological or social well-being and sense of worth is continually battered. Emotional abuse is almost always present when other forms of abuse occur.
It can include a pattern of criticising, rejecting, degrading, ignoring, isolating, corrupting, exploiting and terrorising a child. It may result from exposure to domestic violence or involvement in illegal or anti-social activities.
The effects of this form of abuse are not always immediate or visible. Its long-lasting effects may only become evident as a child becomes older and begins to show difficult or disturbing behaviours or symptoms.
Neglect is a pattern of behaviour that occurs over a period of time and results in impaired functioning or development of a child. It is the failure to provide for a child's basic needs.
Neglect may be:
- Physical Failure to provide necessary basic needs of food, shelter or warmth.
- Medical Failure to seek, obtain or follow through with medical care for the child.
- Abandonment Leaving a child or young person in any situation without arranging necessary care for them and with no intention of returning.
- Neglectful supervision Failure to provide developmentally appropriate or legally required supervision.
- Refusal to assume parental responsibility Unwillingness or inability to provide appropriate care for a child.
Physical abuse
Physical abuse can be caused from punching, beating, kicking, shaking, biting, burning or throwing a child. Physical abuse may also result from excessive or inappropriate discipline or violence within the family, and is considered abuse regardless of whether or not it was intended to hurt the child. Physical abuse may be the result of a single episode or of a series of episodes.
Injuries to a child may vary in severity and range from minor bruising, burns, welts or bite marks, major fractures of the long bones or skull, to its most extreme form – the death of a child.
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse includes acts or behaviours where an adult, older or more powerful person uses a child for a sexual purpose.
While it may involve a stranger, most sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone the child knows and trusts.
It includes any touching for sexual purpose; fondling of breasts, buttocks, genitals; oral sex; sexual intercourse; or an adult exposing themselves to the child, or seeking to have a child touch them for a sexual purpose. It also includes voyeurism, photographing children inappropriately, involving the child in pornographic activities or prostitution, or using the Internet and phone to initiate sexual conversations with children.
How domestic violence affects children
The diagrams below, which are Duluth Power and Control Wheels, show the different ways that children are affected by violence, as well as the ways that they can be supported and nurtured.
Learn more about Power and Control Wheels.
Signs of child abuse
Sometimes a child will tell you that they are being physically or sexually abused. In almost all cases this will be true – believe them. Sometimes you know someone is abusing a child because you see the abuse, or someone tells you about it.
Any child with frequent injuries, or injuries that don't seem to fit the explanation given for them, is possibly being abused. Children who are reluctant to go home, such as after school, or seem afraid of certain adults may be being abused.
Children and young people who are being abused will usually show signs of distress in addition to any physical effects. Symptoms include: changes in behaviour, poor concentration, withdrawal, aggression, sadness, bed-wetting, problems at school, drug and alcohol abuse, copying violent behaviour, attention seeking behaviour, self-blame, and self-harm. Please note that some children are very good at covering up abuse.
Sometimes there might be other causes for these warning signs, so it's always best to talk to an expert. Contact Child, Youth and Family, a community social worker or a school counsellor or teacher with your concerns.
What if I suspect child abuse?
Phone the Police on 111 if there is immediate danger for a child.
If you are worried that a child is not safe or being well looked after and want to talk to someone about it, you can call Child, Youth and Family on freephone 0508 FAMILY for whatever advice, support or assistance you require. Learn more about reporting a concern.
Phone the Women's Refuge Crisisline on 0800 REFUGE (0800 733 843) or the It's Not OK! freephone on 0800 456 450.
If you feel that you may hurt a child yourself, you can also call any of these phone numbers.
Remember, there are many help agencies to support parents. If you notice at an early stage that a family might be in stress, making them aware of these agencies that can help them may make a difference and avert child abuse.
If a child wants to talk about the abuse
Keep calm, and listen to them carefully. Believe them, and let them know that you do.
Acknowledge their strength and courage, and tell them that they've done the right thing by telling you. It's also very important to reassure them that it's not their fault; they are not to blame.
Write down what they tell you, but don't interview the child by asking lots of questions.
Tell them you will do something about it, and then contact Child, Youth and Family, the police, or a community child protection agency like Jigsaw. Make sure you find someone who will action the case immediately.
If I'm worried I may abuse a child
If you are at immediate risk of hurting a baby or a child at any time, put them in a safe place and phone someone for support – a neighbour, friend, or family member or a helping agency like Plunket or Parent Help. Here are some other vital points:
- Seek professional help as soon as possible. Talk to your nurse, midwife, doctor, a family support agency, or ring a helpline. You can get free advice over the phone from Child, Youth and Family on freephone 0508 FAMILY; the Women's Refuge Crisisline on 0800 REFUGE (0800 733 843); or the It's Not OK! freephone on 0800 456 450.
- Never hit or smack a baby, child or young person as they are all easily injured and it is against the law. Mild physical punishment can easily escalate into abuse.
- Never shake a baby or a young child. It can quickly have serious results like brain damage and death.
- There are many other ways of disciplining children, and hitting or threatening to hit children or young people teaches them that violence is okay – and of course it never is.
- Let your family and friends know you need help, and take some time out.
- Don't just keep hoping things will get better: if you or your partner are 'losing it' with the children, get help now.
- Get professional help for your own problems, if you're depressed or dependent on drugs or alcohol.
- If you're a woman experiencing violence, get advice from a Women's Refuge or the police.
A good publication on alternatives to smacking is Choose to Hug. It's available free from the Office of the Commisisoner for Children, PO Box 5610, Lambton Quay, WELLINGTON 6145 or through its website at www.occ.org.nz.
Always put children's safety first, because they are vulnerable and easily hurt. We need to treasure and protect our tamariki.
Free downloads:
Children and Violence pamphlet (PDF)
Partner Abuse in Lesbian Relationships pamphlet (PDF)
Child, Youth & Family Services factsheet (PDF)
How Violence Affects Children Power and Control Wheel diagram (PDF)
Nurturing Children Power and Control Wheel diagram (PDF)
Mokopuna: Child Advocate Toolkit
Learn more about:

subset: commoncrawl


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Turkey made a perfect start to life under Guus Hiddink by confidently beating Kazakhstan 3-0 in their opening UEFA EURO 2012 European Championship qualifying match.
Galatasaray winger Arda Turan, Bayern Munich midfielder Hamit Altintop and Besiktas striker Nihat Kahveci all scored for Turkey, who recorded their third win in as many competitive meetings with Kazakhstan.
Hiddink, the 63-year-old Dutchman who led the Netherlands and South Korea to the FIFA World Cup™ semi-finals and guided Russia into the last four at UEFA EURO 2008, was taking the reins for his first competitive match with Turkey.
The visitors started positively in their Group A opener, pinning Kazakhstan back inside their own half in the opening minutes and winning two corners that came to nothing.
They took the lead in the 24th minute when Turan swept in a rebound after a team-mate's header had hit the woodwork and then rolled along the goal-line.
Altintop doubled the score two minutes later, firing a powerful shot underneath the crossbar after a well-worked corner.
Kazakhstan took the game to the away side early in the second half but they were soon forced back and home goalkeeper Andrei Sidelnikov was kept on his toes as Turkey threatened repeatedly.
The hosts were able to fashion a number of half-chances but Turkey goalkeeper Onur Kivrak had little to do besides fielding fruitless long-range attempts.
Nihat Kahveci made it 3-0 in the 79th minute, steering the ball into the net from a precise cross to set the seal on a well-deserved win.


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- Filed Under
Rob Samuels
Company: Maker's Mark Distillery Inc.
Title: Chief operating officer
Industry: Beverages
The latest: Samuels was re-elected to the executive committee of Leadership Kentucky Foundation Inc.
Kevin A. Grove
Company: CBRE|Louisville
Title: Senior vice president/partner
Industry: Real estate
The latest: Grove was named to the "Midwest Real Estate News" 2012 Hall of Fame.
Chris McCrea
Company: First Kentucky Securities
Title: Private wealth advisor/partner
Industry: Finance
Previous: Associate advisor at McCrea Bollinger and First Residential Mortgage Network Inc.
High School: St. Xavier
College: Bellarmine University
Interests: Horse racing, University of Kentucky sports, jogging.
The latest: McCrea handles corporate executive services including stock options and deferred compensation. He also heads the fixed and variable income strategies. In his new role, he will be involved with new business development, client communications and and reviewing client performance portfolios.
Dr. Mitra Shams
Company: Baptist Medical Associates
Title: Physician, internal medicine
Industry: Health care
Find me online at: baptistmedicalassociates.com
College: Shams is a 1994 graduate of the University of Vienna Medica School in Vienna, Austria.
Interests: She speaks English, German and Persian.
The latest: Shams has joined Baptist Medical Associates' location at 6401 Timber Ridge Drive in Prospect.


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Lissie Tickets
Find the Lissie tickets you're looking for on NME ticket exchange, the world's largest ticket marketplace. Select an event to view the range of tickets available or view the Lissie tour dates to find an upcoming event near you. You can also sell your spare Lissie Concert Tickets on NME ticket exchange, and listing tickets is free. All Lissie tickets are covered by the NME ticket exchange Ticket guarantee!
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3½ stars (out of four)
The descriptor is vague but making a narrative feature in the "National Geographic style" can mean good things and less good things. In the case of "Mountain Patrol: Kekexili," which was co-produced by National Geographic World Films, it's a compliment. Shot in splendidly stark sections of the northwestern Tibetan plateau, the film--not a documentary, although it feels like one--tracks a group of volunteers who risk their lives trying to stop poachers from wiping out a rare breed of Tibetan antelope.
This may sound intriguing or it may sound like cinematic medicine. Writer-director Lu Chuan dispels the medicinal taste early on with a calm but gripping pace, in the service of a nomadic life-and-death struggle evoking classic Hollywood western themes of dogged honor and rugged idealism. This largely non-verbal picture uses only as many words (spoken in Mandarin and Tibetan, with English subtitles) as necessary, and draws you in as surely as one of his characters, in an amazing sequence, is drawn into.
The film's structure is familiar, even if its landscapes are not. Set in 1996, "Mountain Patrol" begins with the murder of a patrolman somewhere in the "last virgin wilderness" of China. A Beijing photojournalist (Zhang Lei), who is half-Tibetan, ingratiates himself with the citizen-patrol brigade scouring the mountains for poachers. He is looking for a story and finds one.
The squadron's leader, Ri Tai (Duo Bujie), pursues his quarry while his quarry pursues the antelope (or chiru). In his leather jacket, graced with an effortlessly weathered camera presence, Bujie cuts a dashing yet mournful figure. Director Chuan resists the temptation to mythologize this character, but the movie ends up making him a tight-lipped hero all the same. The vistas make the heroism inevitable; only the strongest survive these snowstorms and the gun battles between poachers and their pursuers. The vistas evoke the forlorn beauty of David Lean and Sergio Leone.
"Mountain Patrol" doesn't come alive as human drama in every scene. The photographer is a narrative convenience rather than a fully inhabited character. The film does, however, add up to a sensory experience, hindered only by a smidgen of dubiously employed computer-generated effects in a blowing-snow shot or two. Lately not a month on American movie screens goes by without filmmakers putting yet another collection of animals, real or fictional, in life- or species-threatening peril. Mostly it's in animation; sometimes it's a live-action (if not exactly lively) project such as "Hoot." Consider "Mountain Patrol" a bracing corrective to all that, and formidable in its own right.
'Mountain Patrol: Kekexili'
Directed and written by Lu Chuan; cinematography by Cao Yu; edited by Teng Yun; production design by Lu Dong and Han Chunlin; music by Lao Zai; produced by Wang Zhongjun. A Samuel Goldwyn Film release; opens Friday at the Music Box Theatre. In Mandarin and Tibetan with English subtitles. Running time: 1:33. No MPAA rating (parents cautioned for violence and animal brutality).
Ri Tai - Duo Bujie
Ga Yu - Zhang Lei
Liu Dong - Qi Liang
Leng Xue - Zhao Xueying


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Invenergy of Chicago operates the Forward Energy Wind Center near Brownsville in Dodge County.
- Filed Under
Local municipalities are profiting from the wind. While many residents in Fond du Lac and Dodge counties live nowhere near the turbines dotting the landscape, the revenue stream from the towering towers is helping to offset increases in property taxes.
Last year, owners of Wisconsin's four largest wind energy projects paid out nearly $2.8 million in rent to landowners hosting turbines and payments in lieu of property taxes to local governments, according to figures compiled by RENEW Wisconsin, a statewide renewable energy advocacy organization.
Fond du Lac County, which is home to 166 ...


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Implementing Optimal Policy through Inflation-Forecast Targeting
Lars E.O. Svensson, Michael Woodford
Chapter in NBER book The Inflation-Targeting Debate (2005), Ben S. Bernanke and Michael Woodford, editors (p. 19 - 92)
This paper is available as PDF (369 K) or via email.
Machine-readable bibliographic record - MARC, RIS, BibTeXThis chapter first appeared as NBER working paper w9747, Implementing Optimal Policy through Inflation-Forecast Targeting, Lars E. O. Svensson, Michael Woodford
Users who downloaded this chapter also downloaded these:
National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138; 617-868-3900; email: firstname.lastname@example.com
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Goldstone tells Obama: Show me flaws in Gaza report
Goldstone tells Al Jazeera he would be happy to respond to Washington's claims that report is one-sided.
South African jurist Richard Goldstone, who led a damning United Nations probe into Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip last winter, has challenged Barack Obama's administration to justify its claims that the report is one-sided and flawed.
Goldstone's report, commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council, accuses both Israel and Hamas of war crimes in the Gaza offensive. Israel has rejected the report as biased and the U.S. has said it would support Israel's efforts to prevent a UN Security Council debate on the report.
Goldstone told Al Jazeera on Thursday that he is still waiting for the U.S. to clarify its claim that the report has a number of flaws.
"The Obama administration joined our recommendation calling for full and good-faith investigations, both in Israel and in Gaza, but said that the report was flawed," Goldstone told Al Jazeera.
The commission chair said that once Washington points out the flaws, he would be ready to respond. "I have yet to hear from the Obama administration what the flaws in the report that they have identified are. I would be happy to respond to them, if and when I know what they are," he said.
The remarks follow a U.S. opposition to a UN Human Rights Council resolution on the report in Geneva last Friday.
Russia and China are also among those who voted against a discussion of the Goldstone probe in the Security Council. The report passed by 25 votes to six, 11 countries abstained, and five countries did not vote, among them Britain and France.
Meanwhile, a recent poll shows that more than two-thirds of the Israeli public opposes an Israeli inquiry panel into the events of Operation Cast Lead.
The poll, Geocartography Institute directed by Professor Avi Degani, shows that only 32 percent of those questioned supported the idea of an investigative committee on the Goldstone report.
On Wednesday night, 30 Sderot residents arrived at the UN offices in Jerusalem to personally pass on a petition opposing the Goldstone report, signed by 100 thousand people from around the world.
The Sderot residents stood outside the UN offices holding signs saying "Goldstone apologize" and "We're sick of anti-Semites".


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Very Crepe At Describing Things
(We had just started up a 2-for-1 sale with our crepes and had seriously misjudged how many people would show up for it. As such I'm the only person scheduled who can make crepes. My boss isn't that great under pressure. I've got about ten crepes to go through at this point, while I've got three cooking in front of me.)
Boss: "[My Name]! Did you get the things for the people?!"
Me: "What?"
Boss: "The things! For the people! Did you get them?!"
Me: "What things for what people?"
Boss: *fumbles through all my tickets* "Never mind." *wanders away*


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The elite of her own Democratic Party are turning on her. The media generally are undercutting her campaign. Her campaign coffers are looking barer every day.
Now a new poll suggests that the April 22 Pennsylvania Democratic primary could be the straw that breaks the back of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
It is well known that for Sen. Clinton to have even a sporting chance of a brokered convention that might lead to her nomination, she must carry the remaining big state primaries, such as Pennsylvania. More, she must win them convincingly, if not overwhelmingly.
But an InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion poll conducted April 2 of 659 likely Democratic registered voters in Pennsylvania shows Clinton leading her opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, by only 45 percent to 42 percent, with the remainder of Democratic voters undecided.
For Clinton, there is nothing but bad news in the poll. Her lead among white voters, who make up about 80 percent of the Democratic primary vote, was only a modest 49 percent to 40 percent.
Worse for her, the poll showed African-American voters supporting Obama by 56 percent to 29 percent for Clinton. If past races in this 2008 contest are any indication, that vote will trend more and more to Obama as Election Day approaches.
Our most recent survey in North Carolina indicates that Obama is leading handily there, where Clinton badly needs an upset victory to survive until the convention.
The fact is that the Democratic establishment, ranging from Howard Dean to the Kennedy-Kerry-Gore axis, has worked overtime to bury any chance for Hillary Clinton to stage a comeback. Based on media coverage, Clinton's gaff concerning the dodging of nonexistent bullets on a visit to Bosnia as First Lady has done more damage with voters than the explosive comments of Obama's former church minister, Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
There are a few things that are becoming apparent here. First, Clinton has virtually no chance of surviving this race.
The second thing is that the Democratic Party and media elite have finally found ways to pound the Clintons into the ground and "teach them" that they were never worthy of wearing the crown of "Democratic Royalty" to start with. That unofficial title is reserved for the wealthy and more refined Kennedys, Gores and the like.
If I were Bill and Hillary Clinton, I would be so angry that I would be unable to contain myself. Indeed, as for former President Bill Clinton, it is arguable as to whether he has been able to control himself. They've dealt with a DNC chairman who darn well knew from the start that his position on the Florida and Michigan primaries and its delegates not counting would damage Hillary Clinton more than any other candidate.
Ben Carson on the Planned Parenthood shooting: We mustn't let hateful rhetoric from the left or right divide us | Allahpundit
Ted Cruz to Marco Rubio: Stop impugning my patriotism by claiming I'm soft on national security | Allahpundit


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In Today's NHL, no team has become so legendary for blowing it during the playoffs than the San Jose Sharks. Sure, there have been teams in the NHL plus other sports franchises who also had that reputation of making great teams but always losing when it counted during their history, such as their division rival Ducks in recent years (though they have one Stanley Cup under their belt), the Kings during the Dionne through Gretzky years, the Lakers in the 1960s, the Brooklyn Dodgers before 1955, the Boston Red Sox between 1919 and 2004, the Buffalo Bills four straight Super Bowl losses, and many others, but over the last decade it seems that the Sharks have made such a big reputation for blowing it during the playoffs that it's impossible for hockey fans NOT to say "the sharks choke in the playoffs."
Let's get one thing out of the way. I hate the Sharks. As a Southern California native who supports all local teams, I am not only bred to hate every team from Northern California, I have grown up doing so, even as far as hating all the NorCal teams I played against while growing up playing ice hockey. While I do respect the history and stories of the longtime franchises, I will NEVER cheer for a Northern California team, and I don't care what sport it's in. It's one thing to be from the Bay Area living as a transplant, but it totally baffles me seeing so many native-born SoCal people that despise their local teams and love the Sharks instead. Sure, some people absolutely despise everything associated with L.A. and/or will never get over the Disney movie roots of the Ducks, but when it comes to jumping on the Sharks bandwagon instead of their local teams, often times their reasons are, "well I like Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, and Patrick Marleau; they're my favorite players" or "because they are a really good team and fun to watch," all the way down to "I like their colors." However, aside from the few that I'm actually friends with, most Sharks fans I've encountered do not share the same knowledge and love of the sport as I do, but then again the same can be said about fans of the team of your choice. But to me, the Sharks fans in attendance get really annoying due to their constant booing and whining over calls not going their way, even at their own players when they lose. When I go to games when the Sharks are visiting, many times the fans I've encountered have been downright obnoxious and disrespectful, and don't know when to shut their mouths at games.
One time I dated this girl who said she was a big Sharks fan, so we went to a game in Anaheim when the Sharks were in town, and she couldn't name a single player on the Sharks roster, and one couldn't imagine how much I poked fun at her for that all through the game. Even though the Sharks won that game it didn't matter, the Ducks fans kept taunting the Sharks fans over their epic playoff choke in 2009, saying "first round chokers!" *clap* *clap* *clap clap clap.*
Sure, over the past two decades, they have easily been the most successful of the California franchises during the regular season, winning the division 6 times, the president's trophy once, boasting rosters of strong skaters and potential future hall of fame players, and having more post season appearances than their So-Cal rivals. But their regular season success was always washed away when it came to playoff time. After being underdogs for so long, starting in 2001-02 id when their reputation as playoff chokers took center stage. Year after year they had all the makings of a championship caliber team: big name veteran superstars, great depth teams with decent coaching staff, strong high scoring offense, great defenseman, and great goaltending. When I can get over the fact I hate the Sharks more than I love my local teams, they can be fun to watch, and especially during the regular season, look downright scary to the other teams and their fans. They also have a home attendance that's regarded around the league as among the loudest crowds (mostly due to the acoustics and low roof of the SAP Center) and thus one of the toughest arenas for visiting teams to play in. Therefore, It's no surprise that so many experts pick the Sharks as favorites to win it all year after year.
But come playoff time, have managed to lose in every way possible, and just when you thought they couldn't lose a certain way, there is always that one year it happens. Getting swept or losing series in 5 games; Losing three to four straight games after getting the series lead; Blowing leads in big games that turn the tide; Blowing series when they were on the brink of eliminating their opponents and moving on; losing to much lower seeded teams and sometimes getting dominated by them; there's also been games with bad luck going their way, or even bad Karma due to their idiot fans in attendance, or incidents involving certain players cheating and getting away with it. It doesn't matter what round it's in, the chokes are all humiliating in their own way.
The following list is all their postseason chokes starting in 2002. Why not earlier? Because between 1991-2001, they were underdogs, and not seen as this big powerhouse franchise in the league, and not expected to go far. Sure they have a few playoff upsets of elite teams under their belt in those days, but to most fans, it was clear they themselves were not a championship caliber team. That changed as soon as the Sharks started finishing near the top of the standings, and winning division titles. Then in 2005 when Boston decided Joe Thornton wasn't worth the money he was getting paid and traded him to San Jose, that's when everyone started going "oh no, look out for Jumbo Joe and San Jose!"
I will also give my input on why it was a playoff choke, and have also given my score by how bad the choke in question was. The lowest being "ehh, whatever" and the highest being "Holy mother of God, what a choke!"
2001-02 -Lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the second round
Why was it a choke? They won their first of 6 division titles here, and seemed to have it all going in thanks to superstars like Vinnie Damphousse, Owen Nolan, and Teemu Selanne before his first freefall into healthy scratches. While they made easy work of the Coyotes in the first round, the Sharks battled to a 3-2 series lead against the Avalanche, but with a chance to close it out, lost Game 6 at home in overtime, and couldn't recover for Game 7. The Avalanche were defending champions, and were still near the top of their game, so maybe it was expected that the Avalanche would move on. Little did we know this was a hint of things to come for the San Jose franchise.
Choke Level: 3
2002-2003 – Did not Make Playoffs
Why Was it a Choke: You can't choke in the playoffs if you don't make the playoffs. All they did was miss the playoffs for the first time in 6 seasons. However, they were also one of the worst teams in the league that year, so… yeah… whatever. Can't beat a dead horse.
Choke Level: 1
2003-2004 – Lost in Third Round to the Calgary Flames
Why was it a Choke?: While they made easy work of the Blues and Avalanche in the first two rounds, against the Flames it was a different story. After losing the first two games at home, the Sharks had just clawed their way back into the series with two road victories in Calgary, and it looked like all the momentum was on their side for Game 5 at home. Then they gave up a shorthanded goal early in the game and it was all done from there. They got shut out 3-0 at home for game 5, and in game 6 had a great opportunity to tie the game in the waning seconds, but the set up pass missed Jonathan Cheechoo's stick and went all the way into the Sharks empty net to put one more final nail in the coffin. Some say this loss was retribution for their fans booing during the Canadian National Anthem before Game 5. By the way, who was the coach of the Flames that year? Why it was former Sharks coach Darryl Sutter, who had just been replaced by Ron Wilson the year before.
Choke Level: 8
2004-05: NHL Lockout
Why was this a choke: nobody played that year, so nobody was given the chance. Maybe they were practicing the art on the golf courses. Since nobody could agree on stupid money issues, and save the season, everyone choked that year, and nearly ruined the league. Even today with all the changes there are groups of fans and former players who say the NHL nowadays is nothing more than a glorified adult league.
Choke Level: 0
2005-06: Lost in the Second Round to the Edmonton Oilers
Why was this a choke?: This was the year Joe Thornton not only was traded to San Jose, but won the Hart Trophy and Art Ross trophy as the league MVP and top scorer respectively. Jonathan Cheechoo also got the Rocket Richard trophy for getting the most goals scored. Once again, it looked like the Sharks had it all and were on their way to go far in the playoffs. Because the Oilers were the lowest seed, and not expected to go much further, the Sharks were predicted to steamroll their way to the finals. But after going up two games to none, it seemed like the Sharks were doomed, losing in triple overtime for Game 3, blowing an early 3-1 lead in game 4 by allowing Edmonton to score 5 unanswered goals, and after that it was all Oilers on their way to winning four straight games after going down 0-2. Losing four straight to a low seeded team is pretty much just as bad as getting swept altogether. but in all fairness, the run made by the Oilers that year was something nobody saw coming.
Choke Level: 6
2006-07 : Lost in the second round to Detroit Red Wings
Why was this a choke?: Both teams were predicted to be heavy favorites to win the Cup that year, but I distinctly remember several big sites like Yahoo! saying the Sharks were going to win it all. It looked that way in the second round when the Sharks were up 2 games to 1 against the Red Wings. Game 4 in San Jose saw the Sharks up 2-0, only to blow the lead, with the tying goal going in with less than a minute remaining; then they lost in overtime to even the series. I remember watching this game at home and thinking "yup, I knew it, it was only a matter of time before they'd blow it in the playoffs." and sure enough, my prediction came true: Detroit then dominated and outscored San Jose 6-1 over the next two games to win the series. Here the Sharks lost three straight games after going up in the series and having a chance to get a stranglehold on the series, but the two bad goals they let in during Game 4 was the beginning of the end… still a big choke but not as bad as losing four straight the year before.
Choke Level: 5
2007-08 – Lost in the second round to the Dallas Stars
Why was this a choke?: This may be the closest playoff loss that wasn't really considered a choke, since they faced off against a Dallas team that was red hot riding off their eliminating the Stanley Cup Champion in the first round. Dallas won the first three games, two of which went to OT. The Sharks won games 4 and 5 to shift the momentum back, but in game 6, the game went into four overtones before the Stars won the game and eliminated the Sharks. The only way it could be considered a choke was the fact that there was an 11 point difference in regular season standings between the two teams, and San Jose had the higher seed and was the second best team in the league during the regular season.
Choke Level: 2
2008-09 – Lost 4-2 in the first round to the Anaheim Ducks
Why was this a choke?: The Sharks were the best team in the regular season that year, and many sports experts considered them Cup favorites because of that. The Ducks had just clawed their way into the playoffs and barely made the 8th and final spot. There was a 26 point difference between the two teams. The Ducks won the first two games in the road in front of a stunned and silent San Jose crowd. While the Sharks eventually woke up and got two wins of their own, in game 6, the Ducks flat out dominated the Sharks on their way to a 4-1 win. Not only that, the game opened with Joe Thornton getting in a fight with Ryan Getzlaf, something I'll probably never see again. I was at this game, and the look on all the Sharks fans faces was absolutely priceless as the Ducks celebrated their win. The Sharks simply managed to further prove my claim that winning the Presidents Trophy is a kiss of death for the playoffs… most of the time.
Choke Level: 9
2009-10 – Lost 4-0 in the third round to the Chicago Blackhawks
Why was this a choke?: San Jose won the Pacific Division title once again during the regular season, and pretty much steamrolled their way to the Conference Finals with an 8-3 record during the first two rounds. They even managed to recover from a potential first round choke-job against Colorado after going down 2-1 in the series by scoring on their own net in overtime. The Blackhawks had just one more loss, and were also equally as dominant. With the playoff experience of the Sharks and the surge upstart of the Blackhawks, that should've made one hell of a seven game Conference Final right? Nope… Chicago flat out swept San Jose. Sure, The Blackhawks only outscored them 11-7 over their four meetings, but the Sharks had three games where they scored first, and one game where they were up 2-0 but then blew the lead and the game. Of course fans will say "but they lost to the Cup Champion that year, shouldn't that amount for something?" Not if your team is constantly picked to win it all. The Sharks had been making the postseason consistently since 2004, and at that time Chicago was among the worst teams in the league and golfing during the postseason up until 2008-09. You're not supposed to lose to a young playoff squad like that, especially when you're supposed to have the experience and the advantage.
Choke Level: 7
2010-2011 – Lost4-1 in the third round to the Vancouver Canucks
Why was this a choke?: Once again this was supposed to be their year. After all, they aquired Anti Niemi from the Champion Blackhawks, and had more strength on their roster with guys like Joe Pavelski and Dany Heatley. However, there were two other playoff rounds in 2011 the Sharks almost choked but found a way to win. The first round was against an Anze Kopitar-less Los Angeles Kings who blew a major lead in game 3, and couldn't capitalize on a 5 minute major penalty in overtime for game 6… In short a Kings team that refused to win. The second round the Sharks blew a 3-0 series lead against the Red Wings but still won game 7 at home. The third round was a match up against the Canucks, another perennial playoff choker throughout their 40+ year existence (don't get me started on their own choke-job in the 2011 Finals vs Boston), but since the Sharks had been in the third round the year before and had more playoff experience over the last decade than the Canucks, surely they'd figure out how to win the big games far in the playoffs, right? Nope. The Canucks beat them in 5 games, with the fifth game seeing the Sharks blow the lead with less than 20 seconds left and lose in the second overtime. Not as much of a choke as against the Blackhawks, but still significant none the less.
Choke Level: 6
2011-2012 – Lost 4-1 in the first round to the St. Louis Blues
Why was this a choke?: Going into the playoffs, the Sharks got away with an incident versus the Kings where Ryane Clowe was cheating by trying to reach for the puck from inside the bench, and really pissed off the Kings fans in the crowd. So it was figured that karma would once again happen in the playoffs, right? Yep. The Sharks won the first game in overtime, but after that it was all St. Louis controlling the series, only allowing 5 goals over the next four games and winning them all to eliminate San Jose. The Blues just showed they were simply better. For the Sharks, it wasn't their biggest choke, but it surely didn't help their reputation either.
Choke Level: 5
2012-2013 – Lost 4-3 in the second round to the Los Angeles Kings
Why was this a choke?: The Sharks beat the crap out of the Canucks in the first round, but even Canucks fans themselves claimed that the Sharks beating them in 2013 was "the equivalent of stepping on dog poop." The Kings were defending champions, but clearly not the dominant invincible team they were the year before. In Game 2 with a chance to tie the series, the Sharks blew a late game lead due to penalty trouble. They eventually did tie the series at home because the Kings were terrible on the road in 2013, but I remember being at game 5 in L.A. during a moment of silence for tornado victims in Oklahoma, one idiot yelled "let's go Sharks!" And at that exact moment I knew the Kings would win the series, which they eventually did in 7 games thanks to Jonathan Quick absolutely robbing the Sharks out of a game tying goal. Once again wasn't their biggest choke, but this was the time I started hearing the familiar phrase not just from local fans but around the NHL. But it did make the playoff rivalry more heated.
Choke Level: 6
2013-2014 – Lost 4-3 to the Los Angeles Kings in the first round
Why was this a choke?: oh I don't know… How about BLOWING A 3-0 SERIES LEAD?! And not just to any team, but to their most hated rivals in Los Angeles?! The Sharks flat out dominated the Kings in the first two games, and it wasn't even funny: out scoring L.A. 13-5. To say I was distraught was the least you could describe how I felt as those games went on. The Kings finally showed up for Game 3, but still lost in OT due to a lucky bounce off Patrick Marleau. I remember on Facebook my Sharks fan ex taunted the Kings saying "this just in the Kings finally show up To the game and they still suck!" I threw my phone across the room in disgust, just mad that once again it looked like the Kings would lose to their most hated rival. Then something happened… The Kings won the next four games, out scoring them 18-5, including a 3-0 shutout in Game 5, and a 5-1 schooling session in Game 7 in San Jose. Talk about a complete turnaround! If the Sharks reputation as chokers wasn't legendary before then, it surely was after that series. The ridicule that I saw coming from fans around the NHL I finally saw, thanks to meme after meme.
Choke Level: 10
So there you have it, the current list of all the playoff chokes that the Sharks have done. As this current NHL season is going on, and teams are fighting for their playoff spots, only time will tell if the Sharks can get it together at all, or if they finally miss out on the playoffs and potentially spare their fans another playoff choke job.


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Main Justice accurately reported the outcome of the videographer-activist's 2010 prosecution in Louisiana, meaning O'Keefe had no claim, a federal judge in New Jersey ruled.
At her Senate confirmation hearing for DOJ's No. 2 job.
DAG nominee won't give personal opinion on immigration action.
James Santelle is under DOJ investigation for possible spending and political violations.
As early as this week.
A partisan fight over abortion is keeping the GOP nemesis in office.
President uses weekly radio address to pressure Senate.
Free Main Justice site offering Department of Justice news to relaunch as a scaled-back blog.
Amanda Marshall is reportedly under investigation for stalking a subordinate. Her attorney may have poured oil on the fire with a disputed assertion to The Oregonian newspaper.
Amanda Marshall was placed on leave after alleged stalking of a male prosecutor who worked for her.
Oregon U.S. Attorney cites health reasons
She currently has the bare minimum number of votes in the Senate to succeed Eric Holder.
Not just for her husband, but for his shooters
Feds want to prosecute the New Jersey Dem for corruption
Berg served as interim U.S. Attorney in Detroit from 2008 to 2010. As a staff attorney on an internal DOJ disciplinary review panel, he concluded that the failures in the botched 2008 Sen. Ted Stevens public corruption prosecution could not be pinned on low-level prosecutors alone.
City must reform or face federal lawsuit
A Government Accountability Office report found the Justice Department failed to act quickly to resolve complaints of retaliation.
But Feds Find Numerous Violations in Ferguson PD
Holder is promoting Mizer from a position as senior advisor to the Attorney General, where he dealt with issues related to constitutional law, national security, civil rights, civil litigation, antitrust law, as well as the Supreme Court.
President Barack Obama, along with soul legend Aretha Franklin, paid tribute to the third-longest serving Attorney General as Holder's official portrait was unveiled.
The Senate will first address Department of Homeland Security funding, which has become a point of political contention in recent weeks.
To acting on 'House Of Cards'.
Witnesses contacted about sexual misconduct allegations.
Outgoing AG wants lower standard for civil-rights offenses
Lynch used 'John Doe' defendants 58 times
The next battle is on the Senate floor, where the federal prosecutor from Brooklyn is still expected to have enough GOP backing to be confirmed.
The law firm is linked to a Bank of America lawsuit that was one of Tompkins's biggest cases.
The former Associate Deputy Attorney General has been a partner in Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Field LLP's New York office. He joins Deutsche Bank in April.
The Caplin & Drysdale member would succeed Kathryn Keneally, who left as the Tax Division chief in June to join DLA Piper.
The Western District of North Carolina's top federal prosecutor will leave in March.


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Photos: From celebration to dejection — a look inside the Cowboys' epic collapse
Photo: Tom Fox/Staff Photographer
Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Sean Lissemore (95) pulls down Detroit Lions running back Jahvid Best (44) by his jersey in the second quarter, Sunday, October 2, 2011 at Cowboys Stadium.
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CRM and Knowledge Management strategy?
In his recent HBR online Article "Social Media's Impending Flood of Customer Unlikes," author Brian Solis points out that "Brands are furiously creating profiles in social networks such as Facebook and Twitter in the hopes of building engaging communities with customers and giving people what the brands think they want." "But are these companies developing effective campaigns to build engagement and give the people what they want?" "If businesses are unable to change course, a very real — and likely very painful — lesson lies ahead. Once-willing consumers will soon become reluctant to connect with brands or will completely sever social ties to brands once they deem the connection fruitless".
Social Media has been able to generate much buzz over the last 16 months. The upper part of the CIO's that I speak with have a spoken out strategy for Social Media would they be required to spell one out if needed.
In order to address to the subject of Social Media effectively we need to define the scope, that is to build a conversation with customers or clients as well as to some extent facilitate the exchange of information / knowledge within the enterprise.
Now that we have a demystified scope that includes Marketing, CRM and Knowledge Management, we can address the "how to". Applications that support the identified activities can be 1) owned and hosted on an external server (data outsourcing) Facebook, Salesforce and box.net would be among a few examples, 2) owned / leased but hosted on an external cloud (bundle of servers outside the firewall), 3) owned / leased on an internal cloud (bundle of servers inside the firewall).
Return on investment (ROI) and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Where most advocates of Social Media refute the idea of ROI, models exist for ROI for the identified activities. Marketing and CRM are revenue generating activities and models would include increase in market share, idea generation pipe, increase in sales, visibility etc. Knowledge Management is both revenue generating (the speed to answer to a proposition and win due to shorter time to market) and promotes organisational effectiveness as the workflow is improved and time to market hence shortened.
TCO, it is imperative for the CIO and the IT deparment to understand total cost of ownership for Social Media as there will be an impact on the IT budget, that could be charged back to the department that have commanded the service (or not). The business case to validate ROI would also require a clear cost model.


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The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's unjust and unwarranted witch hunt has finally pushed Lance Armstrong and his family to the point where they have refused to continue cooperating. Lance has endured baseless investigations and accusations in the past and has been repeatedly cleared of any and all charges. The USADA's sole strategy seems to be to smear Lance Armstrong, even if it means dishonoring themselves and ignoring the overwhelming evidence of his innocence.
Lance Armstrong is one of the greatest athletes and competitors in the history of the world, and his story is a true inspiration to cancer survivors everywhere. He deserves to keep his 7 Tour de France titles and he deserves an apology from the USADA.
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Mayor's Committee for Persons with Disabilities
Addressing the Needs of People with Disabilities and their Families
Upcoming Meeting
- November 19, 2015
- 12 noon - 1 p.m.
- Meets: Every third Thursday
Meeting Location
- Raleigh Municipal Building
- 222 West Hargett Street
- Room 305
- Raleigh, NC 27601
Meeting Minutes
- Recent Minutes
Public Participation
The Committee is always seeking new members who want to be involved in the community. The Committee's meetings are open to everyone. For information about the Committee, call Cathey Ector in the Community Engagement Division at 919-996-6100. Questions and comments are welcome.
The Committee helps people with disabilities to participate in the economic and social life of the community. To this end, the Committee promotes employment of people with disabilities and communicates their needs to local leaders and the public. The Committee also sponsors activities benefiting people with disabilities and their families.
Committee Goals
- Advise the mayor and city council on matters of concern to citizens with disabilities.
- Address environmental and attitudinal barriers preventing equal access by citizens with disabilities to education, recreation, employment, transportation and housing.
- Promote public awareness of the talents and abilities of persons with disabilities.
- Inform citizens with disabilities of programs, services and opportunities available to them within the public and private sectors.
Awards Banquet
At the annual Awards Banquet, the committee recognizes outstanding contributions by individuals or groups who have made a significant impact on the community of persons with disabilities. Awards include:
- Employer of the Year (Small, Medium and Large categories)
- Citizen Involvement Award
- Lockhart Follin-Mace Advocacy Award
- James E. Meekins Award for an individual with a disability
- Excellence in Transportation
- Excellence in Housing
- Excellence in Recreation
- Media Award (Television, Print, Radio categories)
- Supervisor of the Year
Awareness Committee
Awareness and education play a large role in the employment of persons with disabilities. For this reason, the committee presents seminars for personnel officers and other representatives of major employers in the Raleigh area. Presenters at the seminars speak with conviction, and from personal experience, about employing people with disabilities. Committee members also provide information to employers about adaptive equipment to enhance the working skills of people with disabilities.
Housing Committee
The Housing Committee acts as a liaison between the City and its citizens on issues related to the availability and accessibility of housing. The committee works closely with individuals and families seeking affordable, accessible housing.
Transportation Committee
The Transportation Committee acts a liaison between the City and its citizens on issues regarding the accessibility of transportation. The committee works with the City to ensure that the transportation needs of people with disabilities are being addressed.
Front row, left to right: Margo Alfieri, Les Seitz, James Benton, Ginger Rush and Kathy Brack. Back row, left to right: Philip Woodard, Abby Emanuelson, Kristy Dixon, Lori Millette, Darrell Price and Tina Clements
- James Benton
- Chairperson
- 919-715-0172
- Jessica Hall
- Vice Chair
- 336-317-8808
- Ricky Scott
- Treasurer
- 919-673-8300
- Lori Millette
- Secretary, Chair of Nomination and Scholarship Committee
- 919-716-3122
- Robert Parrish
- Chair of Housing Committee
- 919-832-1226
- Kristy Dixon
- Chair of Employment Resources
- 919-743-9563
- Margo Alfieri
- Chair of Awards Banquet
- 919-833-7522
- Robert Owens
- Chair of Health and Wellness
- 919-834-5491
- Philip Woodward
- Chair of Public Information Committee
- 919-733-0390
- Bob Evans
- Chair of Recreation Committee
- Fred Johnson
- Chair of Public Access
- 919-833-1117
- Kathy Brack
- Chair of Transportation
- 919-280-1980
- Lawrence Carter
- Member
- Tina Clements
- Member
- Rene Cummins
- Member
- Abby Emanuelson
- Member
- Margaret Marshall
- Member
- Ginger Rush
- Member
- Les Seitz
- Member
- Sharon Wisner
- Member
The Raleigh Mayor's Committee for Persons with Disabilities has funding from the City of Raleigh to award two scholarships for $1000 each to assist persons with documented disabilities in their pursuit of academic and vocational endeavors.
The academic scholarship is to be awarded to a person with a disability who is pursuing an educational goal. This scholarship is designed to assist with tuition, books, fees, and/or special equipment for undergraduate course work from an accredited institution.
The vocational scholarship is to assist an individual with a disability to pursue a vocational education. This money may be applied to the purchase of items such as tools, special equipment or tuition and fees to enhance and sustain employment opportunities.
Applicants must be residents of the city of Raleigh and must be enrolled in or have been accepted to an accredited undergraduate post secondary school, college, trade school or other institution of higher learning.
The selection of scholarship recipients shall be based upon academic performance, financial need, character, school, work and community activities, honors, ability to express him/herself in written form, personal motivation and/or leadership potential.
The Scholarship Application must be received by The Raleigh Mayor's Committee at the address below by May 29, 2015. Scholarship recipients will be recognized at the July Raleigh Mayor's Committee meeting.
This program will provide an investment in the capability of our disability community at large.


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Thank you all for your comments, it really help to see some different points of view.
I guess Will is right, the economic downturn play a big part.
Google sent me a $100 Adwords coupon, perhaps I should try PPC again.
Printable View
Thank you all for your comments, it really help to see some different points of view.
I guess Will is right, the economic downturn play a big part.
Google sent me a $100 Adwords coupon, perhaps I should try PPC again.
well if we have perfect marketing strategy even we can sell our products to the end user at any point of time irrespective of the market conditions.
With ecommerce the price and promotion are two important factors:
Price - Pricing strategy
Promotion - sales promotions
I was thinking like this a while ago, that prices were the most important, now I don't.
If you are too low, you will crash sooner or later, if you are too high customers will not follow. I think the best for our business is above the middle. That gives room to advertise, pay some copywriters for great articles, and offering discount and free shipping.
The bad news are when a product was a good seller, the ranking pages are not outranked and customers don't like it anymore. You never know why and when it will happen.
That's the risky part of selling products.
The best pricing strategy is to stay reasonable and not too greedy.
The sales promotion on the other hand is something to consider. You can offer a coupon code or add something onto the shopping cart. I've seen shopping carts where when you are ready to pay, they offer a discount on an additional item.
For a while we offered coupons for the next order, but too few people used them. We also used different promotions, but wasn't successful.
The only thing that works, is a clear promotion on the index top page, which we have right now. Customers want to be rewarded right away, which bring extra sales. Other than that, I give some extra products to my repeat customers depending of my stock.
Do you email your customer base with special offers and promotions, or with notices about new free content on your web site?
If my customers want to buy some products, they know where they can find it.
As far as free content notice, it seems like most customers know what they want, but few read our articles. From my statistics many people find us from search engines page products and 15- 20% come from my articles.
It is very difficult to know because my visitors can read my articles and come back later directly to the page products, or send our site address to friends and relatives.
Some visitors just read our articles, this is why we recently place an adsenses slot in each live article to get extra income to increase the frequency of the new articles.
A lot of companies have an opt in with email confirmation. I beleieve that there are hosts to handle this as well. So you won't need to run the campaign from your ISP.


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Getzlaf didn't love the 'dead' atmosphere at Coyotes game
Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf wasn't impressed with at least two things last night in Arizona:
1. His team's performance in a 4-2 loss to the Coyotes.
2. The atmosphere inside Gila River Arena, where the announced attendance was just 11,578.
"It's hard. When you come into a building … it's dead," Getzlaf told the O.C. Register. "Nothing against the fans. It's hard to fill a big building like this and have the amount of people in it to build your energy. So you have to do it yourself. You have to be ready when you step on the ice. I thought we came out flat."
Anaheim's record fell to 8-11-4 with the defeat.
The Coyotes' average attendance also fell, to 13,144 in eight games.
Jarred Tinordi becomes the latest youngster to be sent to the AHL for 'conditioning'
Like Frank Corrado (see here), Tomas Jurco (see here), Stanislav Galiev (see here), and Patrik Nemeth (see here) before him, Canadiens defenseman Jarred Tinordi is off to the AHL for a conditioning stint.
Tinordi, 23, has yet to play a single game for the Habs this season; however, because he's no longer exempt from waivers, the former first-round pick has remained on Montreal's roster.
It's an issue that's received a good deal of attention lately. Some believe the league should do something about it, lest more young players get "stuck" in the NHL.
Tinordi will only be allowed to spend two weeks in St. John's, as per the rules of his conditioning loan.
Safe to say, if you're an NHL general manager who thinks Tinordi still has potential, Marc Bergevin would welcome your best offer.
Stars place Lehtonen on IR, call up Campbell and Nemeth
Kari Lehtonen will miss at least a few games with the upper-body injury he suffered the other night against Ottawa. The Dallas Stars announced today that they've placed the 32-year-old goalie on injured reserve, retroactive to Tuesday.
With Lehtonen out, Jack Campbell has been called up from AHL Texas to be Antti Niemi's backup. The Stars host Vancouver Friday, with a game at Minnesota Saturday.
Campbell, the 11th overall pick in the 2010 draft, has struggled in the AHL this season, going 3-3-0 with an .873 save percentage.
The Stars have also recalled defenseman Patrik Nemeth after the 23-year-old completed his 14-day conditioning assignment.
Related: Campbell credits ECHL stint for turning his game around
Gleason ends tryout with 'Canes
Tim Gleason has likely played his last NHL game. The 32-year-old defenseman has informed the Carolina Hurricanes that he no longer wishes to continue his professional tryout.
"Tim informed us today he wasn't going to continue to pursue his tryout," said GM Ron Francis, per the club's website. "He looked and felt good physically, but didn't feel up to the grind of the NHL mentally."
Gleason started last season with Carolina before he was traded to Washington in February.
In his career, he's played 727 NHL games, plus 32 more in the playoffs.


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Working full-time has made me see just how precious free time is, and I like to make the most of the little I have (and also makes me wonder how people ever get anything done e.g. go the bank).
I love yoga and being outside, and I like to explore as much as possible. Very few things come close to beating a sunny day up the Wicklow mountains.


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Betsey Johnson
126 reviews
66% would repurchase
Package Quality: 4.0
Price: $$$
Package Quality: 4.0
Price: $$$
Age: 36-43
Skin: Combination, Fair, Neutral
Hair: Brunette, Straight, Medium
Eyes: Blue
I managed to snag this one cheap at TJ's or Ross or The Rack, and it was a blind buy. I was drawn by the crazy bottle (that lid, man!!) and the mostly great reviews. And I figured, for $15, I can't go wrong, right?
Well...I was actually hesitant to try it after that, thinking, "What if it's TOO sweet on my skin?".....
I threw caution to the wind and put it on yesterday before heading out to catch a movie and I could NOT stop sniffing myself. I smelled edible. Why doesn't this gorgeous gourmand get discussed more often? I got oodles of sweet (but not cloying) praline, woods, and amber for about 12 hours on my skin (3 sprays). I literally smelled like dessert. It was SO GOOD. And not in a cheap way, not synthetically, just in a wonderful way.
This one might be a cheap thrill, but it's well worth picking up!
Age: 25-29
Skin: Oily, Medium Brown, Warm
Hair: Black, Kinky, Medium
Eyes: Brown
The bottle is stunning. I use it for decoration as well as a scent lol. The fragrance is floral and musky...a heavy scent but amazing. I love it!
Age: Unknown
Skin: Normal, Fair, Cool
Hair: Brunette, Straight, Medium
Eyes: Brown
A complex & delicious fruit-floral-amber-wood-praline gourmand EDP. There are others on the market in the same family, but I think this one is really well-constructed, and I like it a lot (wearing it now). It's *spicy*-sweet -- reminds me of the original Vince Camuto EDP, actually.
Came out in 2006, now discontinued, but still available at Marshall's (where I got mine yesterday) -- plus at other discount stores and etailers:
Notes, per parfumo.net:
Top Notes -- Pear, Grapefruit, Black currant, Tangerine
Heart Notes -- Freesia, Lily-of-the-valley, Red apple
Base Notes -- Amber, Musk, Pralin�, Sandalwood, Cedar
Inspired by seeing Betsey herself (age 72) dancing on "Dancing With the Stars" in recent weeks, I got a 3.4oz bottle of the original Betsey Johnson EDP for around $22.49 at Marshall's. The 1.7oz was $14.99. A great buy, esp for a strong, lasting EDP.
I had also recently seen a couple of young YouTube reviewers name this among their Top 10 faves -- and reviews online were quite positive. This perfume has been discontinued, but Betsey also later launched a "Too Too" and "Too Too Pretty" which may still be in production, I don't know.
I had to buy it unsniffed from Marshall's, but it was inexpensive so not a big risk. I wasn't disappointed with the BJ scent at all -- it's very flavorful, complex, interesting, intriguing, flavorful, and delicious. It is sweet & gourmandy, but's also spicy and has good balance -- the sweetness being offset by amber & woods.
The bottle is beautiful, esp with that pink "head-dress" at the top (reminds me of a Vegas or Ziegfeld show girl) -- and it looks great on a vanity. It's on the strong side -- it's an EDP, and you do get your money's worth, for sure! Spray carefully, and I find it gets better on skin the longer it dries down.
Age: 25-29
Skin: Combination, Fair, Warm
Hair: Brunette, Curly, Medium
Eyes: Hazel
I love this perfume. The smell is very sweet, almost childish, not in a bad way but in a playful way that is very much Betsey Johnson. The blackcurrant, floral, and musky notes are a real winner when they settle and combine with my body chemistry. My best friend tells me that this perfume reminds her of old women and I have noticed that many women do not like it- but men seem to love the girly, sweet scent. This is not a light perfume but can be applied carefully for a less lingering effect. The bottle is adorable and unique, despite all the complaints in these reviews about it being "tacky" it is very much Betsey Johnson and I think it reflects the perfume well.
I was gifted my last bottle with a bonus body wash, which smells just as good as this perfume and pairs perfectly with it. I don't always use them together but when I do I smile all day at how I smell.
Age: 19-24
Skin: Normal, Medium Brown, Warm
Hair: Brown, Wavy, Medium
Eyes: Brown
While I really enjoy this scent, there are a few things about it worth noting. This fragrance can definitely be cloying and headache-inducing. It is a very sweet and synthetic gourmand that shares similarities with Jessica Simpson Fancy. As an Angel devotee, I think my threshold for obnoxious, cloying scents is pretty high, but this perfume is almost too much for me. The pear note is quite prominent in both BJ and Fancy, but BJ has a woody, musky quality that makes it more dark and complex than Fancy. The amber makes it very sultry and the candied praline note kind of plays on top throughout. If you gravitate toward tooth-achingly sweet scents, you will probably like this one.
Age: 25-29
Skin: Combination, Medium, Not Sure
Hair: Black, Straight, Medium
Eyes: Brown
At first I hated this fragrance, but one day I decided to give it another try. Wore it around and I received so many compliments on how yummy i smelled. The scent is very long lasting on my skin. The black currant n this perfume is the strongest note
Age: 30-35
Skin: Sensitive, Fair-Medium, Warm
Hair: Black, Wavy, Fine
Eyes: Blue
LOVE it! It is a sweet, powdery, musky scent! I can't get enough. Lasts all day on me. I get complements all the time. This is a gourmand fragrance, not a fresh, crisp scent. So any of you into the fresh, flowery scents probably wouldnt like this.
Age: 56 & Over
Skin: Dry, Fair, Cool
Hair: Blond, Straight, Fine
Eyes: Blue
This bottle is pure kitsch and I love it for that. It's a chunky little thing that you can grip in the middle quite comfortably with this huge pink topper, so very BJ style.
I own both of her perfumes and each are polar opposites. When I'm in the mood for a true foodie perfume, no hesitation in reaching for Betsey Johnson. It's a sweet delight that I enjoy. It's strong, and I love it for that, but I can make it lighter with the right application. It all depends on how I want to wear this perfume. That's what I really appreciate about this gourmand.
Musky along with woods that goes on for hours? What more could I ask for? It's fun, carefree and a great pick-me-up.
Cooler weather preferred if wearing in public, otherwise, wear it to your hearts desire and spritz away. Grapefruit, pear and apple slices garnishing a plate of chocolate pralines...that's what Betsey Johnson is all about.
Top Notes: Black Currant, Grapefruit, Pear, Mandarin Orange.
Middle Notes: Freesia, Lily-Of-The-Valley, Red Apple.
Base Notes: Sandalwood, Amber, Musk, Cedar, Praline, Cashmere Wood.
Age: 19-24
Skin: Dry, Olive, Not Sure
Hair: Brunette, Other, Other
Eyes: Hazel
Thought I loved this but and I kinda still do not as much as I thought but I normally am not sensitive to these things but this gives me the worst headaches every time finally sold it
Age: 56 & Over
Skin: Other, Other, Cool
Hair: Other, Other, Other
Eyes: Other
This smells like Praline & Sandelwood, very yummy! like a French pastery. I don't smell much of the other notes, sorry. The bottle is pretty tacky tho, the topper is like a wand you blow bubble with :-p yuck, but still puts me in a bit of a youthful attitude when I put it on :-) whatever
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West Virginia University seems to have gotten over Rich Rodriguez running out of Morgantown to grab the Michigan job, and they wish him the best of luck in Ann Arbor.
Just kidding - the school is suing their ex-coach over possible breach of contract.
The ASSOCIATED PRESS reports that the Big East institution is taking their former gridiron general to court over money owed as part of his buyout.
According to Rich's deal with WVU, the coach would owe the college $4 million if he left before his contract was up. The contract requires Rodriguez to pay the money over a two-year period, with the first third due 30 days after the end of his employment.
Well, Rich resigned December 19 so he could replace Lloyd Carr. However, the Mountaineers don't think Rich is going to pay up the first $1,333,333.33 by January 19 - or if any of it at all by December 2009. So, the school is hightailing it to the Halls of Justice to get their money…and get it now.
Seems a little harsh? This is the same state where a Charleston radio DJ was fired for playing the Wolverine fight song repeatedly on-air.


text:
Nicholas Martin — who directed Lane in the 2003 Huntington Theatre Company run of the work — reteamed with the star for the new run, which began previews Oct. 5, 2006, and officially opened at the Booth Theatre Oct. 25. The show is slated to conclude Jan. 14 following 21 previews and 94 performances.
Elizabeth Ireland McCann, Stephanie P. McClelland, Eric Falkenstein, Debra Black, Chase Mishkin, Barbara Manocherian/Larry Hirschhorn, Barbara Freitag and Jeffrey Sine/Frederick Zollo produce the revival.
Dana Ivey, Pamela Gray, Roderick Hill, Julian Ovenden, Darren Pettie and Jessica Stone also star in the production, which follows the title character, a professor who smokes and drinks his way through a day, after losing both his wife and his lover.
About the role, Lane previously told Playbill Magazine, "It's a workout. When Butley comes onstage, he's on for the duration. He runs down the hall at one point, but otherwise he never leaves the stage. It takes stamina because it's draining, but it's exhilarating at the same time - even though it's someone spiraling out of control."
The design team includes Alexander Dodge (scenic), Ann Roth (costume), David Weiner (lighting), John Gromada (sound) and David Brian Brown (hair and wig).
The dark comedy premiered on Broadway Oct. 31, 1972 at the Morosco Theatre. British thespian Alan Bates, who originated the title role in the Harold Pinter-directed London production, reprised his portrayal to Tony-Award winning success. (Take a look back at the original 1972 program in Playbill.com's Playbill Archives feature).
Butley performs at the Booth Theatre, located at 222 West 45th Street.


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32 Holiday Gifts For Chefs
Dean Supply Holiday Gift Guide
32 Gift Ideas For Chefs and People Who Enjoy Cooking, Baking and Life
Libbey Glass 20 Piece Just Baking Set
Our Price: $11.99/Set Others: $48.99/Set
This 20 piece baking set is ideal for anyone who uses a kitchen. While the baking dishes are obviously great for bakers, look at all of the small bowls and containers you get. The pie dish can easily be used for other uses in the kitchen, like portioning and prepping. Ya know, like Rachael Ray style!
Vollrath 12 Oz Cocktail Shakers OvalOur Price: $7.99 Others: $27.20
Know a mixologist or someone who thinks they are a mixologist? Check out these double walled cocktail shakers. Packaged in a cool little box, these cocktail shakers make great gifts for any bartender. Oh and they are pretty stylish too - meaning even if they never get used, they will look great on the shelf!
Winco 52 Piece SS Decorating Tip Set
Our Price: $33.65
Ateco 55 Piece Decorating Pastry Tube Set
Our Price: $35.69
If you know someone who got the baking itch from watching all of those cake decorating shows on the Food Network than these cake decorating supplies are for them. With 52 and 55 decorating tips to pick from they will be designing 12 foot tall wedding cakes in no time - all because of your thoughtfulness. Now give yourself a hug!
Professional Home and Bar Cocktail Set
Our Price: $33.43
It will be hard for the person you buy this cocktail set for to screw up your next drink. Includes 6 bartender tools that we can only hope will improve the quality of your next drink.
Victorinox 7-Piece Fibrox Culinary Cutlery Set
Our Price: $100.99
Starting out in the restaurant world is no easy feat for a chef. Long hours, leg cramps, pressure from just about everyone, and to top it off territorial behavior around one's cutlery. The only help you may be able to offer a friend who has chosen this path is a brand new 7 piece professional chef knife set. It won't cure their leg soreness, but will put a smile on their face that they won't have to fight over the best chef knife every night.
Focus Stainless Steel Mortar & Pestle
Our Price: $25.31
For those of you who have just discovered Guacamole due to every restaurant chain who now offers the guacamole for 99 cents extra, this one is for you. Anyone can make a mean guacamole recipe with this stainless mortar set. Ready?! Grab some avocados, lemon juice, tomatoes, chilies, a dash of salt and pepper and mortar with your pestle. Or gift it with a bag of tortilla chips so that your friend gets the hint.
Tablecraft 9-piece Garnish Set
Our Price: $47.94
Know an aspiring an artist who likes to play with their food? Let them take their craft to whole new level with this 9-piece garnish set. Tomatoes can be turned into roses, carrots into palm trees, and radishes into flowers. Give the gift of creativity with fruit carving tools.
American Metalcraft Professional Wine Opener SetOur Price: $14.99 Others: $25.23
The perfect gift for every wine drinker, the rabbit wine opener comes with its own stand and foil cutter. Your recipient will never encounter a wine bottle again too tough to be opened.
Vollrath 4 Piece Measuring Cup SetOur Price: $14.95
You may not win any awards giving a measuring cup set as a gift but answer this question: what kitchen would be operational without a set of measuring cups? I think you have your answer. Besides they are stainless steel, graduated, and have a no-spill pouring spout.
Libbey 5 Piece Glass Margarita Gift Set
Our Price: $9.99 Others: $25.23
Everyday is a fiesta with this 5 piece margarita gift set. Easily gift wraps so really all you need is some tequila, lime or lemon juice, and some triple sec. Bueno!
Libbey Monclova 4 Piece Rocks Glass SetOur Price: $3.99
No kitchen cabinet should be without a set of rocks glasses. The wider brim up top suggests that these Libbey glass cocktail glasses can be used for the old fashioned cocktail. How can you beat a quality glassware set for under 5 dollars?
Adcraft Stainless Steel Deluxe 7 Piece Cookware SetOur Price: $80.75
Who doesn't want a set of new cookware? If you know a new homeowner or someone with an induction stove, this cookware set is makes a perfect gift. The pots and pans set includes: sauce pans, fry pans, and a dutch oven.
Lodge Logic Skillet Cast Iron
Our Price: $61.86
It has been said that the cast iron skillet should be in every kitchen. Others have gone to lengths that the cast iron skillet could be used for almost every meal. We don't know about that, but we do know is if someone gave us one as a gift, we might certainly try!
Chefmaster Professional Meat Tenderizer With 48 Blades
Our Price: $18.56
Give the gift of tenderizing love with this 48 blade meat tenderizer from Chefmaster. By punching holes in meat allows the meat to be chewed easier and allows the marinating dressings and spices to be absorbed evenly and fast.
Chefmaster Pro Chopper
Our Price: $4.95
Here's a kitchen tool your friend doesn't have. Sure it's not a fancy kitchen gadget but those break easily anyways. The Pro Chopper can cut, dice and even mince on cutting boards or in the salad bowl. Versatile as a food chopper and affordable which makes it a great stocking stuffer.
Victorinox Double Melon Baller
Our Price: $21.56
This kitchen tool gets the user digging perfect balls out of melons and other soft fruits. You can be assured this melon baller kitchen utensil will last for years considering it is made by Victorinox which is the same company that makes quality kitchen and durable outdoor gear.
Winco Turning Vegetable Spaghetti Maker
Our Price: $58.18
Veggie Pasta? Sounds silly right? Wrong! If you or your friends haven't been turning zucchinis and squashes into vegetable noodles you have been missing out. Seriously, it's awesome! The vegetable spiralizer is an unconventional gift for an unconventional kitchen.
Clam Steamers (Available between August-October)Starting at: $242.35
This may be a Midwest thing, but we love to throw clambakes. It could be the craft beer, the great company, or a reason to throw a party but either way we love them. We also know the importance of having a quality clam steamer that will withstand many seasons of use. Our clam steamers make a great gift for anybody who enjoys a clambake. Note: Now taking orders for 2016.
Winco French Fry CutterOur Price: $135.38
Give a man a french fries and feed him a snack; give a man a french fry cutter and feed him french fries forever. Are you loving it?
Chef Revival 24" Black Oven Mitts
Our Price: $13.79
Yes, we know these oven mitts are long. Really long. Like really super long. Ok, we know. but at least there will be no part of the arm is exposed when digging into the back of the oven. Save the hairs on a friend's biceps this holiday season with this oven mitt.
Pizza Peels
Starting at: $8.52
Maybe not for everyone, but if you know someone who has a large pizza oven any of our pizza peels will do the trick. Be forewarned, there are plenty of choices so you might want to slyly do some diligence as to what is preferred. Wood handles are great when taking heat transfer into consideration. Can also be used to slide under breads, pastries, and other delicate baked goods.
Victorinox Chef's Knife Rosewood Handle
Our Price: $59.99
This holiday season instead of buying a cheap chef's knife that will fall apart in 6 months, buy a chef's knife from Victorinox. The organic softness of the Victorinox chef knife resonates with every movement from blade to handle. Actually, it's great present for any celebration.
Waring Quik Stik Immersion BlenderOur Price: $66.00
Give the power of handheld blending this holiday season with this immersion blender. Put ingredients in bowl and turn on hand held blender. It is lightweight and cleans up quickly which is always ideal when given to those who have a knack to get messy.
Vacuvin Wine Saver
Our Price: $10.19
Do you know someone in your life that never finishes a bottle of wine but wants to savor every last drop? Enter Vacu Vin Wine Saver. This handy little bar tool will lengthen the taste and quality of each bottle by creating an airtight vacuum.
3 Bottle Display with Chalkboard
Our Price: $60.30
Obviously a strange gift for some, but this bottle display is great for those who entertain and want to provide their guests a unique way to showcase what wine they have available for the night. It might be overkill for a household of two that Netflix it every night. Then again, we won't judge.
Wooden Tea Boxes
Starts at: $8.67
The tea box with the glass top has been one of our popular gift items over the years. Use for tea storage and easily display all of one's favorite teas that are neatly organized in this modern tea chest.
6 Liter French PressOur Price: $16.15
We love coffee. The stuff is addicting. It's science. Maybe you have a friend that feels the same way. Instead of buying them one of those pod eaters, give them a reusable french press coffee maker that requires no coffee filters or costly plastic pods.
12" Rotating Cake StandOur Price: $58.22
Baking a cake takes time and patience. The larger the cake, the greater the skill set. If you know someone who excels at baking a cake, then get them a cake stand this holiday season. They will be impressed with how easy it is to spin their cake around so that everyone can get a bite.
Cardinal 10" Marine Platter
Our Price: $2.99 Each Others: $7.55
Designed in the shape of one happy fish, this glass fish platter from Cardinal glass makes a cool serving piece on any dinner table. Can be used as a serving dish, a dinner plate or as a display piece.
Guinness Pint Glass 16 OzOur Price: $0.99
"A wise man invented beer. A smart man drinks it. But a genius drinks Guinness." Those words alone are reasons why you can't ignore a Guinness glass as a gift for someone special.
Unbreakable Wine Glasses 6/ Box
Our Price: $9.99
If you know someone who can't mix wine and glass get them unbreakable wine glasses. These heavy plastic wine glasses are meant for those around patios and pools but can used anywhere.
Dean Supply has over 20,000 items so it's difficult to choose which items will be best used as gifts. If the 32 items in this gift guide didn't appeal to you, check out our clearance products and our food preparation supplies categories for more Christmas gift ideas. Also, if you think we missed some of the essentials, please leave your suggestions in the comments section. Happy Holidays!
- Michael DeSatnik
3 Reasons How Bottle Pourers Will Save You Big TIme
If your looking for a durable indefinite pourer with a flexible mold then the Spill-Stop 350 is bound to do the job and outlast all other options. Molded of an extremely soft flexible material that will last indefinitely, the Spill-Stop 350 comes in multiple colors to match your styles or organizational needs and are sold in packs of 12. For $2.17/each, this pourer is an excellent choice.
Although, when purchasing pourers, you want to consider where the party is at. Many refer to this pourer, the Spill-Stop 313, as "The one with a screen". Great for outdoor functions and bars, This plastic constructed Ban M pourer features a screen which helps keep bugs out of the liquor and maintains cleanliness as a high priority. These pourers are a steal at $8.93/dozen!
Finally, the third option is the Precision Pour 078CL, which pours accurate shots consistently helping to increase profits. This pourer helps bartenders refrain from over pouring and spilling which could save 2-4 shots per bottle meaning with one bottle, this pourer has paid for itself. Your consumers are sure to appreciate an adequate unchanging measure of liquor in their cocktails time after time. These pourers are listed at $32.46/dozen.
- Michael DeSatnik
Beer Tap Plugs Save Your Beer In More Ways Than One
Have problems with fruit flies? How about keeping your taps free of contaminants? Both issues can be solved with one product, the Kleen-Plug San Jamar! These plugs fit all tap sizes and clean your taps while keeping the fruit flies at bay. The Kleen-Plug is the perfect solution for your tap cover needs!
Kill two birds with one stone with the Kleen-Plug from San Jamar. This plug not only keeps the bar fruit flies from flying into your beer tap and contaminating the beer, but it is also a tough, durable brush that cleans the yeast and sediment inside your taps "for a fresher, better tasting beer", which your customers prefer. So don't waste all of your time covering bar taps with film or other methods, just plug in a Kleen-Plug from San Jamar never worry about dirty taps again!
- Nic Vodicka
Cardinal Glass Dinnerware Discounted & Ready For You
Did we mention we have Cardinal Glass dinnerware? If not, our bad. We have literally many truckloads of top quality, white tablecloth type of porcelain dinnerware at extremely low prices. All items are brand new, with no defects, and available in their original packaging. However, we have taken many of the plates, bowls, and glassware and made them available by the each - for you. Not everyone wants 36 dozen bowls!
We guess you might be asking, why do we have all of these varieties of restaurant dinnerware available at low prices? Well, for starters - we like to buy stuff. But more seriously, we are always looking for great deals that we can pass on to our customers. Dean Supply realizes that not every restaurant or bar has the budget to spend between $15-$40 per piece - and that's being generous. We want to help our customers, not stress them out! So, make sure you take a minute to browse through our online selection. We continue to add items every single day so continue to keep coming back. Or stop on down to see even more Cardinal Glass dinnerware. Many of the plates and glasses are selling fast so don't wait. Below are a few short cuts to help you get an idea of what dinnerware categories are available. Even better - check out our Vine video down below.
- Bowls - Crunchy Bowls, Square Dinner Bowls, Glass Salad Bowls
- Plates - Crunchy Plates, Glass Plates, Service Plates, Square Plates
- Beer Glasses - Printed Pints, Lager glasses
- Rocks Glasses - Starting at $0.59
- Wine Glasses - Tall Wine Glasses, Lyre Wine Glass
- Michael DeSatnik
29 Awesome Ways To Use A Tasting Plate
There are many different uses for these versatile tasting plates from American Metalcraft. Need a little hand-held garden hoe to help plant some seeds and a sturdy sign for your garden that won't blow away in harsh weather? How about a putty knife? All of these obstacles have one solution. A tasting plate from American Metalcraft.
That's right folks; these handy little catering plates are not just for serving appetizers at soirees anymore. Serve business cards at your desk or dead bugs right to the trash can. Paint numbers or designs on them and use as table signs or a work of art! Make your display case items pop by having them rest on these tasting plates.
Looking for a more practical, everyday use for these plates? Set your wine down on your new industrial style set of coasters or cut and serve slices of cheese with the same tool (#mindblown)! Are you into painting? Use these plates as a tiny paint palette and create a masterpiece!
These food tasting plates are not just for adults either! Set a tasting dish upside down at the bottom of a Hot Wheels® ramp and launch cars into the air! Incorporate them into your next super sweet Lego® town and wow all of the Lego® people! Bring them into your sandbox and shovel or scoop sand wherever you want it!
Did we mention you can also serve appetizers on these small dishes?
At 19¢ apiece, anyone can have a creative side – here are some examples we have found of how a triangle tasting plate and oval tasting plate from American Metalcraft can be used. Pick one up today and tell us how YOU use it!
- Food sampler - First and foremost, this serving item is a plate - we think. Provide delicious food samples to guests and loved ones at your next party or event! Like sushi or pastries, but nothing messy. Chicken wings and pasta salad might be too much.
- Dead bug scoop - Easily pick up bugs and other objects you don't necessarily want to touch with your hands - like those dead flies in your office.
- Scraper - Use to scrap off old paint or ice off of the car in the winter season!
- Use multiples to create art - Stock up on these little dessert tasting plates and use your imagination! We heard they were at Burning Man this year.
- Display case knick-knack - Make your Lladro collection stand out! An excellent addition to any collection.
- Hand-held garden hoe - Make perfectly straight drenches in your garden with style!
- Prying tool (mini crowbar) - Lock yourself out again? Pry that door open with the power of stainless-steel! Store under the Welcome Mat for convenience.
- Putty knife - Carry and apply putty to divots and holes in walls with ease! Take that Al Borland!
- Smoothing tool - Smooth out that putty by using the plate's edge!
- Letter opener - Sometimes letters can be difficult to open, that's why you should always carry a tasting plate!
- Cheese slicer - Cut through cheese using the edge of this lil guy and serve it to guests on the same plate!
- Coaster - Never worry about water drips or rings again using these bad boys as coasters!
- Dog 'mess' scoop - It's a messy job, at least look good doing it...
- Small painting palette - For the artist in all of us, these plates can mix paint and bring your canvas to life!
- Desk mount for charging cords - Mount one of these tasting plates to your desk and store your cell phone or wrap your charging cords around it to keep them in place - screws not included.
- Table sign - Use these tasting plates as table identifiers with a little paint!
- Garden sign - Mount the handle of the dish to a stake or poll in the garden and never worry about your sign blowing away or falling apart.
- Toy ramp for Hot Wheels® - Fun for all! See how far you can launch toy cars with these tasting dishes!
- Separator (stick in sideways between two objects and turn) - Wires in the way? This plate is perfect to split and separate sheathed wiring so you can get between!
- Star of David - Create this holiday ornament with two tasting plates overlapping in either a hammered or a smooth finish.
- Cell phone stand - Mount your new cell phone stand - plate facing up to a desk by the handle and set your device in it. Makes checking your phone a breeze!
- Back scratcher - Hit those hard to reach places with an extra 3 inches. Relief is just a tasting plate away!
- Bookmark - Don't forget what page you are on! Use as a durable placeholder in your favorite book and easily open back up to where you left off.
- Dry erase marker holder (when mounted above or behind a dry erase board) - Store your dry erase markers right on the board when you mount this plate above or behind a dry erase board (works better with the oval tasting plates rather than the triangle plates).
- Shoehorn - Effortlessly ease your heels into your favorite pair of shoes with an oval tasting plate. The triangle plate will work too but you have to use the right angle.
- Christmas tree ornament - Paint the triangle sized tiny plate green and add a paper trunk to the bottom and you now have a Christmas tree ornament! Warning: The use of power tools may be needed for this project. The larger the drill the better.
- Marketing tool – Serve information or giveaways to customers and potential customers in style!
- Business card holder - Place the little guy on your desk and fill it with a stack of your business cards. You now have a simplistic, modern-looking business card holder!
- Lego® town equipment - Turn one of these plates upside down to create bridges, platforms or cover for your Lego® town! Don't hide it, we know you have one...
We know there must be other ways to use this fun side dish. Let us know in the comments below what you think we missed. Thanks for reading!
- Nic Vodicka
Get Ready For Halloween With Dean Supply!It's almost the time of year where it is socially acceptable to hang monsters and skeletons on your wall and to plaster a room in the colors of black, purple, and orange. It's time to start planning for Halloween! Whether you are decorating your home, office, classroom, tree house, or other area, Dean Supply has what you need to create a spooky, fun Halloween party!
Happy October! Can you believe it's time to start decorating for Halloween? We have everything you need! Check out the link to see our Spooktacular Halloween Party Supplies. We recently bought multiple trailers of party decorations which will be sold as closeouts. This means that many of the decorations you saw last year will be marked down even more! Also make sure to look at our orange, black and purple disposable paper products perfect for school or home Halloween parties.
- Party Beads
- Orange Balloons, Purple Balloons, Black Balloons
- Crepe Streamers
- Disposable Tableware
- Napkins
- Plates
- Cups
- Table Covers
- Cutlery
- Hanging Spider Webs
- Bats - Hang on your walls, from your ceiling, on the mantle, or everywhere else.
- Skeletons - Angry and happy ones.
- Pumpkins - Hang'em, Stick'em, or Place'em
- And More Halloween Supplies!
- Michael DeSatnik