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on May 2, 2013 - 11:01 PM
, updated May 2, 2013 at 11:53 PM
TORONTO — Forget what the calendar says. It's May 3 and tonight will be the 30th game of the Blue Jays' season. There will be 132 more after it.
But the panic button has officially been pushed at Rogers Centre.
All that promise of the winter: Gone. All that chatter about some 1993 redux I heard for more than a week at spring training in Dunedin, Fla.: Gone. Pretty stunning, eh?
In the wake of Thursday's loss to the Boston Red Sox, the Blue Jays are 10-19 and they just aren't hitting. Their defense is a train wreck. The big-money starting pitching has an AL-worst five wins, a 5.33 earned-run average and is cashing checks it doesn't deserve.
And as they prepared for Thursday's game, there came these two stunners: Josh Johnson is going on the disabled list with triceps inflammation, and former ace Ricky Romero has been recalled from Class A Dunedin to pitch here tonight against Seattle, which is throwing ace Felix Hernandez. Good luck to ya.
Romero was an all-star in 2011 but his 5.77 ERA and 105 walks last year were worst among big-league starters. That 13-game losing streak was pretty ugly, too.
Still, the 28-year-old lefty was all set to be the No. 5 starter this year and push J.A. Happ to Buffalo before Happ flourished in Florida and Romero lost his way with delivery issues.
In their final week in Florida, the Jays finally admitted the obvious and kept Romero behind at the extended spring camp while taking Happ north. Romero has thrown side sessions and simulated games and went six innings in his lone game action last week.
And now he's ready for the big leagues? After one start against the Brevard County Manatees? Without even first seeing some veteran hitters in Buffalo? Don't buy it. They shouldn't be selling it.
"If we didn't feel good about it and he didn't feel good about it, he wouldn't be coming," manager John Gibbons insisted during his daily briefing with reporters. "He's been around the league a while. He's had success. It's not like he's a greenhorn battling that."
The Blue Jays sent a bad message to the Bisons' clubhouse with this move, although Gibbons said Romero was the No. 1 choice over anyone in Buffalo like Dave Bush or Claudio Vargas. But the far deeper issue is the corner they're now painted into with Romero.
He might pitch well tonight and everything will be fine. But if he blows up, where will he be then? Or what about one good outing and then a bad one next week at Tampa Bay? Mechanics were an issue and so was confidence.
A fragile Romero is precisely what this team doesn't need at this point. The Blue Jays are now 10.5 games out in the American League East – in even worse shape than the greenhorns in Houston and Miami find themselves. But at least those two teams were expected to be in that spot.
Jose Reyes missed his 19th straight game after wrecking his ankle on a goofy slide into second base April 12 in Kansas City and that's been the flash point for the slide. The healthy players in the lineup are struggling.
Incredibly, the Blue Jays' starters Thursday did not have a single player batting over .245. Jose Bautista came into the game at .195. Melky Cabrera was at .243.
They came into Thursday batting just .199 at home with runners in scoring position. Classic example? They loaded the bases in the third on three walks and up came cleanup man Edwin Encarnacion, tied for the AL lead in home runs with nine despite a .229 average.
Encarnacion got ahead in the count, 2 and 0, but couldn't help himself. He jumped on Ryan Dempster's next pitch and pounded a ground ball to short for his second double-play grounder of the game.
Bad luck at times, sure. But bad execution and bad thought processes. That's been Blue Jays baseball thus far. Meanwhile, the Red Sox and Yankees are a combined 37-18. Not what the pundits thought.
Gibbons said Thursday he's going to stop tinkering with the lineup, meaning Brett Lawrie still stay in the leadoff spot with Adam Lind second and J.P. Arencibia fifth.
"When Reyes went down, that threw a wrench in it, no doubt," Gibbons said. "But still, it hasn't been that much where we looked at and thought, 'You know what? We don't like the way this looks.' ''
The Blue Jays don't like how Johnson looks either. Gibbons said an MRI was clean but Johnson was headed to Florida, likely for another, because he still has pain in the elbow.
"Maybe he had a bad MRI machine, I don't know," the skipper said with a pained smile.
Given the way this season has gone, that would hardly be surprising.
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Tammy Baldwin makes her first official visit to Milwaukee as a United States senator.
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text:
Overcoming Misconceptions in the Courtroom on How Children Disclose Sexual Abuse
Rita Shackel
University of Sydney - Faculty of Law
December, 15 2011
Judicial Officers' Bulletin, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 29-32, 2011
Sydney Law School Research Paper No. 11/102
Courts increasingly are demonstrating awareness of the unique dynamics of child sexual assault and the difficulties faced by victims at home and within the courtroom. Misconceptions, however, about disclosure of such abuse often still permeate the narratives that frame child sexual assault trials. This article discusses the findings of empirical research on who victims of child sexual abuse most commonly disclose to, and by what means such disclosure occurs. This understanding is important to challenge misconceived notions that may be relied upon in the courtroom about how victims disclose such abuse.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 12
Keywords: sexual, disclosure, misconceptions, children, courtroom
JEL Classification: K10, K30, K40
Date posted: December 17, 2011
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text:
Also known as hoogy; Donk: A nasty girl
"who would touch that donk bitch"
por B 06 de Janeiro de 2005
being ugly or otherwise unpleasant
"That fuckin' bitch is donk!"
por Jake 06 de Janeiro de 2005
A human mans erect penis
"Man my girl sucks a good donk!"
por Joey Dee 09 de Novembro de 2006
An abbreviation of donkey used to define a person who listens to Donk music. Given as a name to total mosh heads with no taste in music, Those who listen to Donk NEED to be stoned as they would'nt listen to it otherwise
"lets get stoned and listen to some donk!"
por angelj 22 de Agosto de 2006
The sound of a pistol whip to the back of the face. Could also be followed by kadead.
Kyle: What the heck?!
Dave: I just donked you on the back of your face! Kadead!
Dave: I just donked you on the back of your face! Kadead!
por Darin Number 2 18 de Abril de 2007
The sound supposedly made when inserting something into ones ass.
I think I'll do something with this random object. Eh... *donk*
por Bleach Injected 11 de Maio de 2003
donks is when you walk around aimlessly and manage to win, also known as super lucky.
Oh my god you pulled a donks.
Wow thats sooo donks.
Wow thats sooo donks.
por nb 09 de Novembro de 2003


text:
Ontogenetic Shape Change
Ontogenetic Shape Change in
In almost all animals, juveniles look very different than adult individuals. Puppies look different than adult dogs. Bear cubs are easy to tell from full-grown grizzlies. Does the same hold true for trilobites? By picking out discrete points on the carapace of a trilobite and seeing how those points move relative to one another in trilobites of different sizes, it is possible to see how the appearance of these ancient creatures subtly changed throughout their lifetimes.


text:
EBENSBURG - A largely pro-Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic crowd gave its boys volleyball team a warm round of applause Wednesday night, and the Marauders responded with applause of their own.
That the only thing missing from this heart-warming scene was a BG victory mattered not.
The Marauders finished their 26th and most memorable season in the sport with a 3-0 loss to Derry in a PIAA Class AA first-round playoff match at Bishop Carroll High School. The Trojans eked out a 29-27, 25-23, 25-17 victory over the District 6 champions.
"We made history this year," BG coach Bob Kasun said. "We went from, for the first time in school history, winning the District 6 championship [to states]. It's a great building block and a great tribute to the players who worked really, really hard this season. And with everyone coming back next year - we lose only one player - I think we're thinking bigger and bigger and bigger next year."
As the teams lined up to congratulate each other, the Guilfoyle fans rose as one to give their team a prolonged standing ovation. The Marauders players turned to the bleachers and returned the applause.
"A ton of our fans came to support us, and that means a lot to us," junior libero Brendan Trybus said. "That's what keeps us going every game. And without them we wouldn't have gone this far."
Derry coach Shawn Spencer knew going in his team would be in for a tough match.
"We knew coming in, from who I talked to, that they were an extraordinarily scrappy team," he said. "And we got a taste of that in the first couple of games. [But] our kids can play pretty scrappy as well. They haven't had to in a lot of matches. But tonight they were challenged and they stepped to the challenge, battled back against Bishop Guilfoyle and said, 'We're going to play as hard defensively as you do.'''
In the match's most telling statistic, the Marauders (15-5) never led by more than two points in either of the first two games.
Kasun said if either of the first two games had gone the Marauders' way it would have given them a boost in confidence.
"When one of those two [games] didn't go our way, I think it kind of knocked us down a little bit," he said. "I think if we'd have gotten one of those two [games] it would have put us over the hump a little bit."
Each of the first two games featured long rallies that were extended by brilliant digs and outstanding defensive plays.
"When you're playing a team like Derry, you have to understand how to play on their level," Kasun said. "They extended a lot of plays, and they're a quality team."
Derry (15-3) then turned a 4-3 deficit in the third game into a 14-9 lead. Kasun used his second timeout at that point, but the WPIAL runner-up Trojans retained the momentum.
"In Game 3 we didn't shoot ourselves in the foot as [often] as we did in Games 1 and 2," Spencer said. "But the kids stuck with it and found a way to win those two tight games."
All in all, Kasun said, 2013 proved to be a great learning experience.
"We understand what it's like to play in the state playoffs," he said. "And we understand now what it will take to get over the hump in a match like this."
Service points: BG-Hurd 6, Kasun 4, Rickens 4, Brumbaugh 3, Welteroth 3, Keating 1, Little 1.
Kills: BG-Brumbaugh 9, Little 9, Rickens 7; D-Vasinko 16, Wannakaker 13.
Digs: BG-Rikens 17, Welteroth 12, Brumbaugh 10, Little 9. D-Fulmer-Moffat 7.
Assists: BG-Kasun 17.
Team records: Derry 15-3, Bishop Guilfoyle 15-5.


text:
In the late 1970s, a United Methodist pastor in Delaware County felt his career-long hearing problem beginning to worsen.
So, in 1981, the Rev. Paul M. Harris retired from Hancock United Methodist Church in Springfield.
He then founded and helped to run DELHOH - Delaware County Hard of Hearing - and later a similar organization in Lebanon County, Pa., to inform about and advocate for people like him.
On Tuesday, July 24, Mr. Harris, 96, a full-time Methodist pastor in Delaware County for 30 years and a part-time pastor from 1981 until 1990, died at Cornwall Manor, a retirement community in Lebanon.


text:
Bill lists grounds for impeaching Kansas high court justices
A proposal has been introduced in the Kansas Senate to spell out grounds for impeaching state Supreme Court justices
Sponsored by:
A proposal has been introduced in the Kansas Senate to spell out grounds for impeaching state Supreme Court justices
We have a new recall to tell you about Tuesday from Blue Bell ice cream.
Butler County Sheriff's Department reports a Wichita police detective is being held on aggravated burglary charges.
Wichita City Council Member Jeff Longwell appears to have a slight advantage over political newcomer Sam Williams in the race for mayor.
Kansas has not held a presidential primary since 1992, and lawmakers are advancing a bill to stop the state from scheduling such a contest.
Those who oppose decriminalization fear that permissive marijuana laws will lead to more serious drug use. Get all of the breakdowns here.
The Wichita State Men's Basketball team left Wichita for Cleveland Tuesday to play Notre Dame in the Sweet 16.
The latest KSN News Poll conducted exclusively for KSN-TV by SurveyUSA was released Tuesday on an initiative to decriminalize marijuana.
Wichita City Council member Jeff Longwell is running against Sam Williams to replace Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer.
An Oklahoma man pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Tuesday in the shooting death of a college baseball player from Australia.
Arson is suspected in a second-batch of suspicious grass fires in southern Kansas.
Wichita State University announced Tuesday that Airbus will move to a new building on the university's Innovation Campus.
The body of a man found Tuesday near 31st Street South and Broadway has been identified.
The government is revising its definition of what it means to farm.
The IOC is expected to choose a host for the 2024 games in 2017.


text:
Zeller's little book weighs a ton
"Man Vs. Sky"
By Corey Zeller
YesYes Books; 76 pages; $16
Nobody gets a master plan or an instruction manual on how to grieve -- which might explain why no two people do it exactly the same way.
Some seek outside help. Others go deep within. Still others heavily medicate. The only constant about grief is that it's not over till it's over -- and most likely not even then.
Erie poet Corey Zeller dealt with his anguish over the 2012 suicide of his friend Jeremy Quezada by writing a book of prose poetry titled "Man Vs. Sky."
The result is a beautiful but painfully sad little book of 63 poems and 76 pages. But it's "little" in physical size only. It took me longer to review Zeller's work than it did for books packing many more pages. "Man Vs. Sky" may look slight, but trust me, it weighs a ton.
In "Macbeth," Shakespeare advises, "Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break." But Zeller doesn't merely grieve his friend; he becomes him.
Zeller's writing is vibrant and striking, evoking sounds that a guitar makes when it is all alone, dial tones where a voice should be, bodies that are ceremonies of inches and hair, periscopes that only see into themselves.
I also admired the book's color palette: sputtering gray zeppelins, orange months, hummingbirds with tartan wings, pink static, lime-green futures. It gives "Man Vs. Sky" an otherworldliness that aptly suits its mission.
But just when you think that these one-way periscopes and Scottish hummingbirds might overwhelm the book with scintillating opaqueness, Zeller-as-Quezada returns to earth with startling clarity: "It's only then you realize what you've been doing. My corpse has been floating. And you, my friends, have been standing above it only to hold it down."
Throughout, Zeller imagines his friend as now neither ghost nor god. The imagined Quezada seems, rather, like Zeller's constant companion, reminding him of what once was and will never be.
I hope that "Man Vs. Sky" has helped Zeller come to grips with Quezada's final act. Perhaps only now can he step away from his dear friend's body and allow it, blissfully unimpeded, to float to the sky.
DOUG RIEDER, longtime Showcase editor who retired in 2010, is the former editor of the book page.


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The last tri-sport athletes
February 21, 2011 - Mickey Furfari / Fan Fare
Whatever became of the three-sport performer in collegiate athletics? It departed many years ago with football and basketball game tickets that cost no more than a couple bucks each....
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text:
For Asahi, No Hangover from StarBev Swerve
By Kana Inagaki
With their home market rapidly shrinking, Japan's brewers will go for any beer business up for grabs.
Or will they?
Not necessarily at Asahi Group Holdings. Shares in the brewer rose as much 3.6% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday following an announcement overnight that contrary to expectations and strong tips in some media reports, Molson Coors Brewing Co. and not Asahi will be the buyer for Czech brewer StarBev, paying $3.54 billion. Asahi's stock ended Wednesday's session with a 2% gain.
"There's no reason (for Asahi) to buy unless there is a story to tell," said Yoshiyasu Okihira, a beverage and food analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities. "Acquisitions in this industry are expensive so you need to provide an explanation that will justify the purchase."
The Wall Street Journal reported in February that a number of brewers, including Asahi, were examining the purchase of StarBev from private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners in a deal that could be valued as much as $3 billion. Other interested parties included SABMiller SAB, Anheuser-Busch InBev NV and Molson Coors, according to people familiar with the matter.
Following a March 11 report by local media that Asahi was making final arrangements to buy StarBev, Asahi's shares dropped 3.6% in the two subsequent trading sessions, dragged down by concerns that the financial costs of the deal would outweigh the benefits of entering new fast-growing markets in Europe.
In the end, shortly before the $3.54 billion deal between Molson Coors and StarBev was announced Tuesday, Asahi President Naoki Izumiya told The Wall Stret Journal in an interview that the company was not interested in buying StarBev, citing uncertain economic conditions in Europe.
"We have no intention of solely pursuing scale," Mr. Izumiya said, adding impairment losses on a costly acquisition would be a painful hit on the company's balance sheet if the firm was not careful in choosing its targets.
That said, Asahi has an ample M&A war chest, with the potential to raise ¥400 billion ($4.8 billion) this year and twice that by 2015 through cash flow, asset sales and borrowing. And to meet its 2015 target of raising its overseas sales ratio to 20% to 30% from a mere 6.4%currently, it needs to continue with a shopping spree which last year included the $1.3 billion purchase of New Zealand's Independent Liquor. Mr. Izumiya said the company remains focused on finding acquisition targets in Asia and Oceania.
Asahi shareholders might have had good reason to breathe a sigh of relief. Moody's Investors Service lowered the ratings of Molson Coors' subsidiaries to Baa2 from Baal following the deal's announcement, noting a potential fluctuation in financial results due to the volatility of beer consumption in the region. And Standard & Poor's also revised its outlook on Molson Coors to negative from positive, saying there is a risk of a downgrade if the company fails to significantly improve its financial profile by the end of 2013.
"It's difficult to expand revenue within an oligopolistic home market so there's no choice but to go abroad in order to outline a growth strategy," said Hiroaki Osakabe, a fund manager at Chibagin Asset Management. "But that doesn't mean you can take excessive risks and erode capital."


text: WITH THIS RING, I THEE KILL? - When a socialite bride is found beaten to death it appears to be a robbery attempt gone awry. However, detectives question her husband after learning that the victim may have been having an affair. The couple's children, and missing piece of jewelry, wind up being the keys to solving the crime. Nancy Marchand (The Sopranos) and John Bedford Lloyd (Riding in Cars with Boys) guest star.


text:
Don't Let Selling Internationally Scare You
Matt Alper launched Copshoes.com three years ago from his living room in San Antonio, Texas. His idea was to sell specialized shoes and boots to police, firemen and security personnel. Now, three years later, he's moved into his own warehouse, he has 11 employees and 10 percent of his total sales come from outside of the U.S.
"We've learned many lessons about selling internationally," said Alper. "The two primary issues are credit-card fraud and shipping. Any U.S.-based ecommerce business that sells internationally deals with them. It's not just us."
Take precautions
U.S.-based ecommerce merchants who sell products internationally quickly learn these lessons and take appropriate precautions. Ben Boxall is president of VR3 Wholesale, a Los Angeles-based importer, wholesaler and retailer of aftermarket automotive products. Boxall's company sells its products through several ecommerce sites (Vr-3.com, Vr3wholesale.com and Roadmasterusa.com) it owns and operates.
"We export roughly 1,200 orders a week outside of the U.S.," says Boxall. "And we've learned many credit-card fraud precautions. For one, there are certain countries that we simply will not ship orders to because we've received too many fraudulent cards from them. These countries include Latvia, Nigeria, Czech Republic and many others."
"Second, we individually review each order over $250. We call every customer who placed that order unless it's a repeat customer who's previously been approved by us. For our company, we've found that fraudulent orders are generally greater than $250 each."
Boxall continues, "We have other checks, too. We never ship to a post office box. We always compare the credit card billing address to the shipping address. And, we have what I call our 'too-good-to-be-true rule.' That is, if an order arrives that's too good or simply doesn't look right, we'll refund the credit-card charge and reject the order. That probably cost us some legitimate business, but it also prevents us from losing money from stolen credit cards."
Lessons from various countries
Copshoes.com's Alper will not ship to Venezuela, Indonesia or Nigeria, among other countries. "I once shipped goods to Indonesia that were, as it turns out, purchased with a stolen credit card," says Alper. "I got so angry that I called the Indonesian embassy in Washington, D.C. It was unbelievable. They told me they couldn't help because the Indonesian national broke no Indonesian law since it was a stolen American card. So I learned a lesson there."
Alper agrees with Boxall that an experienced merchant can frequently detect fraudulent orders. Alper says that sudden orders from a single country will raise concerns, as will large purchase amounts and orders with multiple quantities of the same product.
Shipping Hurdles
But credit-card fraud is not the only concern for merchants who sell internationally. How to ship the products, many experienced merchants say, is the other primary issue.
Mark Romero is co-owner of Siamese Dream, a California-based retailer of clothing and gift items. Romero launched the business in 1998 as a brick-and-mortar operation, and he created Siamese-dream.com, its ecommerce site, in 1999. The business has five employees in addition to Romero, and roughly 7 percent of overall sales are outside of the U.S.
"We've shipped products to 19 different countries," says Romero. "We've found that sending these via the United States Postal Service works best. It's far cheaper for us than using, say, UPS or FedEx. And, we've found the shipments seem to clear the overseas customs process better using USPS than the other carriers."
Many merchants agree USPS is less expensive for smaller international packages than private carriers such as UPS and FedEx. But, these merchants say, there are drawbacks. For one, merchants cannot track an international package using USPS, but they can track it using private carriers. Second, the USPS coordinates its international shipments with the postal services of recipient countries and, depending on the country, the local postal service may be unreliable.
"You learn," says Copshoes.com's Alper, "which countries have good postal services and which do not. Canada, England, Greece and others are quite good. But China's postal service, for example, is terrible."
"Lots of international customers don't understand how expensive shipping can be," said Romero. "It can be a material portion of the purchase and we are careful to find the least expensive shipping option for them."
Alper has installed a shipping calculator on his site to assist his international customers determine the shipping cost. He uses the USPS for his international shipments. "The USPS is by far the cheapest, but the lack of tracking can be a problem. Also, if a package is lost, you are frequently dealing with local, overseas postal services. That can be a real hassle."
VR3's Boxall agrees that, for smaller packages, the USPS is the cheapest. But for cartons and pallets of goods, Boxall says that he uses UPS. "The UPS provides very helpful information for international shipments," said Boxall. "I'd encourage merchants to visit both the UPS website and the USPS site. They have lots of advice to help with overseas shipments."
Boxall also relies on his order-management software to help manage international shipments. Says Boxall, "We use Interapptive's ShipWorks software to manage all of our orders, including international ones. It's incredibly helpful. It sorts between domestic and international orders and it automatically prints shipping labels and customs forms — saves us tons of time."
For ecommerce merchants who ship with the USPS, Boxall offers this advice. "You can negotiate volume discounts with the postal service for certain types of shipments. Many folks don't realize that. Also, we use boxes and forms supplied by the postal service, which reduces our costs. Because of our volume, the postal service has even agreed to customize boxes for us with our VR3 logo for no additional cost. "
All three merchants have learned valuable lessons about international sales in addition to credit-card fraud and shipping matters. "Toll free numbers don't work overseas," says Copshoes.com's Alper. "Selling products in local currencies can increase your profit margin," says VR3's Boxall. "Make sure the customer realizes he's responsible for import tariffs and customs' fees," says Siamese Dream's Romero.
The three merchants also agree that, in the end, the extra effort is worth it. "It's far too big of a market to ignore," said Matt Alper. "It's profitable business for us, international customers tend to be repeat buyers, and it's a segment of our business that we hope to grow."
Credit Card Pro Offers Fraud Prevention Steps
John Waldron is co-owner of e-onlinedata, inc., a credit-card merchant-account provider. e-onlinedata assists thousands of ecommerce merchants with domestic and overseas credit-card transactions, and he offers the following advice for merchants who wish accept credit-card payments from international customers.
- Ask customer for fax verification. For suspect orders or large orders, ask the customer to fax the front and back of his credit card as well as a form of identification. This is better than a phone call.
- Call your credit-card processor. Your credit-card processor has a staff to assist you with questionable orders. Rely on their expertise.
- Analyze the order, and be skeptical. Why would a customer purchase, for example, 10 routers? Likewise, why would an overseas customer request overnight shipping?
- Overseas banks are different. Many overseas banks don't support the card-code verification system, and they can't verify billing addresses. Be aware, therefore, that these fraud-prevention steps may not help you with cards that have been issued from such banks.
- Do a BIN look-up. The first six digits of a credit card are called the bank identification number, or BIN. They tell you which bank has issued the credit card. Go to All-nettools.com/toolbox,financial, and enter these six digits. If the issuing bank is located in a country that is different from where the order is originating, you should investigate further.
- Purchase fraud-detection tools. Many credit-card banks and payment gateways offer effective fraud detection tools that are incredibly inexpensive. Use these tools.
Credit-card Fraud Issues
Credit-card fraud occurs when a thief steals a credit-card number (or, purchases a stolen credit-card number) and uses that number to buy legitimate goods and services from an unsuspecting merchant. The merchant will not get paid for the merchandise, but he'll have to pay the credit card fees and he'll lose the merchandise because he's shipped it to the thief. This type of fraud happens every day, and everyone agrees ecommerce merchants selling products internationally are especially vulnerable. That's because many developing and Third-World countries do not and cannot properly police these thieves and, moreover, the market for buying and selling stolen credit-card numbers is largely outside of U.S. boundaries.
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Comments ( 9 )
This article was very informative. Thank you!
— *Fidjiti*
I would love to sell internationally in my small business but my entry-level shopping cart with GoDaddy won't allow foreign addresses…even though I only sell an ebook online and don't need an address! Very frustrating. (My merchant account has no problem accepting international addresses…it's strictly my cart that can't deal.) I've spoken to GD about this and it doesn't even seem like they're working on this issue. :-(
— *Lori Feldman*
Is there any site that lists countries that are more "trustable" or those that are "risky" This article mentioned a few- I was wondering about Australia in particular.
— *Mike Batson*
I was surprised that Ms. Coleman did not mention in her article "Don't Let International Sales Scare You" geolocation as a simple solution for preventing fraud and complying with local laws for ecommerce sites doing international business.
Many ecommerce sites are turning to a web geography technology called geolocation, which immediately determines the real-world geographic location of a website visitor – from country of origin down to city-level accuracy if desired – at the instant he clicks into the site.
My company, Quova, does this by mapping the 1.4 billion Internet Protocol addresses on the web with a worldwide data collection network, proprietary mathematical algorithms and expert human research. The online visitor's location is identified through data gathered from the Internet infrastructure itself, not the user's machine, so personal privacy is never endangered. At country level, the user's location can be determined with 99.9% accuracy.
The impact of this capability is profound. The enforcement and jurisdiction of virtually all real-world laws and regulations are, in some form, based on geography – the borders and boundaries visible on any map. By superimposing those borders on the Internet, geolocation enables the online enforcement of many of the same laws that govern conduct – and commerce – in the offline world.
For example, many online casinos are incorporating geolocation into an integrated solution that one provider refers to as a "compliance engine." A customer clicking into an online casino site would immediately be pinpointed geographically, then passed through a succession of modules designed to confirm age, identity and financial data. If any red flags were raised, the customer would be ejected from the automatic process and confirmed (or blocked from betting) manually.
But, the regulatory issues addressed by geolocation go far beyond the Internet casino. Providers of digital content – live sporting events, downloadable software and online movies and music – also have compelling reasons to assure regulatory compliance. US software vendors, for example, are forbidden by law to do business with nations known to sponsor terrorism (Iran, Syria, North Korea). Knowing a customer's location before permitting a software download can prevent severe legal consequences.
Perhaps the most compelling application of geolocation technology, however, is in crime prevention. With online fraud losses soaring, ecommerce and financial services companies find themselves in urgent need of new fraud prevention solutions.
Geolocation is one such solution, because the geographic location of a proposed transaction can be a significant indicator of potential fraud, particularly when that location doesn't match the address provided by the customer. In the real world, a bank credit card application listing a US home address that arrives in an envelope with a Ukraine postmark would undoubtedly cause concern in the credit office. An attempted online purchase presenting a similar contradiction should raise a similar alarm – Experian research has determined that when a customer provides a registration address in one US state but actually places the order from another, the transaction turns out to be fraudulent a stunning 68.1 percent of the time.
Transactions across national borders raise the red flag higher yet – international transactions represent nearly half of all credit-card chargebacks, and a short list of nations (Russia, Yugoslavia, Nigeria and Romania among them) produce some 60 percent of all fraudulent transactions.
Knowing the level of risk, ecommerce companies can use geolocation to flag suspect transactions and address them individually. Where the risk from a particular location is extreme, that location can be blocked to all access – a step most enterprises hesitate to take because of the risk of blocking legitimate customers. But in light of the highly-publicized losses suffered by some online financial providers, the effort to address fraud risk serves not only to protect the enterprise's bottom line, but to build trust among customers that account information is being protected to the fullest extent possible.
If you would like more information please contact email@example.com
Kerry Langstaff
Vice President, Marketing
Quova, Inc.
— *Kerry Langstaff*
Last month, I was looking to buy a credit card processor. But I was not sure about the things I should look for before making the final decision. Then I came to know about an e-book. It helped to buy the credit card processor online. I thought it might be helpful for you therefore wanted to share that you can get the e-book at http://www.merchant-accounts.com/e-book.pdf
May be it will help your time to make final decision before making an order to buy credit card processor.
— *Jude Pickrell*
This is a great article. I have a couple short comments.
1) Mike posted a question above about a list of countries that shouldn't be trusted. Look to the insurance carriers and what countries they exclude. http://www.DSIinsurance.com is a one that is trusted by ebay. Shipwire has a list of excluded countries on their website too here: http://help.shipwire.com/outbound-insurance/
2) The weak dollar may mean that more international buyers are shopping from U.S. merchants. So, if you start to see more international buyers that could be a reason why.
3) Another solution to shipping internationally is geographically diversifying your inventory. As an example, I'm a manufacturer and seller of travel bags. I have them made in China and I import them into the U.S. I sell 60% of my inventory in the U.S., 20% to Canadian buyers and the other 20% worldwide.
Why not make it easier for Canadian buyers to purchase for me. If I ship from the U.S. I'm making it hard for them to buy as each order needs to clear customs, The shipping charges internationally can be large and the time to fulfill is longer.
My example seller could move 10-20% of his inventory in bulk to a Canadian warehouse, clear customs once and then use the Royal mail to ship from there.
Good idea your saying…but how easy is it. Simple now.
Outsourced order fulfillment companies like http://www.shipwire.com can be plugged into the back of your webstore, offer U.S. and international warehouse s (toronto Canada is one), and have up front pricing, no contracts and no commitments.
I work at Shipwire and you can call us or visit us online to find out how to do this. http://www.shipwire.com
Nate G
— *nate*
In response to Mike Batson, Australia (where I live) and New Zealand (its little next-door neighbour) are very trustworthy countries to receive orders from.
I use Australia Post's Express Post satchels which mail my products overnight to capital cities and within 3 days to New Zealand. I haven't sold to the US yet but intend to. However first I'll have to sort out the currency converter on my website and get a foreign currency bank account so Americans can buy with $US rather than $AUD.
Elizabeth Ball
— *Elizabeth Ball*
I completely agree, shipping international is no hurdle in this day and age. I work for a small business and we always ship our parcels internationally through a company called Shipito. Having to deal with a freight forwarding company at first was nerve wracking not knowing if our goods would be handled carefully or if it would be cheaper on our side but Shipito people made it simple, fast and definately cheaper. I beg to differ that international shipping is a hassle anymore!
Very informative, thank you!
Check-out http://www.ShipTropolis.com
Register Your DHL, Fedex and/or UPS account, then create a Shipping Profile(s) to assign to your Partners.
Invite your Partners (Vendors, Employees, Customers, etc.). We'll send them an invite email on your behalf with activation link so they can quickly register for free.
Your Partners Sign In to enter package information and print labels. Of course you can also create labels on your own account(s)!
Restrict the allowed Ship To addresses and/or allow all/some Partners to ship anywhere, while keeping your account number Confidential (your Accountant is going to love this!): http://youtu.be/1nIlTKIrwcQ


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Schools in California often have a choice between multiple electricity rate options. For schools with photovoltaic (PV) installations, choosing the right rate is essential to maximize the value of PV generation. The rate option that minimizes a school's electricity expenses often does not remain the most economical choice after the school installs a PV system. The complex interaction between PV generation, building load, and rate structure makes determining the best rate a challenging task. Twenty-two rate structures across three of California's largest electric utilities—Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), and San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E)—were evaluated in order to identify common rate structure attributes that are favorable to PV installations.
Maximizing the Value of Photovoltaic Installations on Schools in California: Choosing the Best Electricity Rates
You are here


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"Trust me."
Do those words make you trust the speaker more, or are they a red flag that puts you on guard? It takes more than someone saying "trust me" to build and maintain trust.
Dr. Carole Makela, education professor at Colorado State University, and Dr. Paul Shelton, business faculty member at Front Range Community College in Fort Collins CO, are co-authoring a book about trust and distrust. They spoke at the University of Nebraska conference on Women in Educational Leadership in Lincoln in October 2012.
Trust matters to education and scholarship. Faculty need to trust one another to collaborate and share ideas. Students need to trust their instructors to be clear, consistent and fair.
Trust also affects the bottom line, as higher education becomes more and more competitive.
Distrust lowers performance. It increases attrition of faculty and staff, and attrition is very expensive. Yet increased attention to the bottom line is contributing to changes that lower the level of trust in higher education.
Trust levels declining
While trust levels have been declining in higher education and business alike, some of the reasons are different. Corporate culture assumes that managers and supervisors have the loudest voice, while everyone else follows orders. Colleges don't work that way.
Higher education has a culture that depends heavily on trust, particularly faculty trust of each other and the administration. Recent trends threaten to erode that culture. "Higher education is becoming more transactional," Shelton told WIHE.
• More adjuncts. One trend is adjuncts becoming a majority of faculty. Only a third of faculty members today are tenured or on the tenure track. Nearly half are part-time adjuncts and the rest are full-time instructors or lecturers. That's a huge change since 1969, when 78% of the faculty were tenured or on the tenure track.
Adjuncts and lecturers have less institutional connection and buy-in than traditional tenured and tenure-track faculty. Their lack of voice lowers the level of trust.
• Administrative turnover. Another trend is toward administrators staying for shorter terms. The tenure of public university presidents is shrinking fast, partly because of the challenges of adapting to financial constraints, technological change and a changing student body. Rising turnover also affects chief academic officers and other leaders. Developing trust takes time. Increased turnover means repeating the process of developing trust more frequently.
• Erosion of shared governance. "Higher education has a foundation in shared governance. Trust and shared governance depend on each other," Makela said. Professors expect to have input in administrative decisions. "If there isn't shared governance, distrust develops because the two groups are going their separate ways."
Today's governing boards are adopting corporate models of higher education, treating a university as a business. They make top-down decisions to promote efficiency through increased workloads, outsourcing of jobs, reorientation of the curriculum from reasoning skills to moneymaking credentials and the development of for-profit teaching or research subsidiaries. Deprived of a voice, the faculty grows demoralized and distrustful.
Elements of trust
Makela distributed a two-part survey to assess trust. First, each rated their group's top leader on four scales:
• Behavior—from predictable to erratic.
• Communication—from clear to careless.
• Treats promises—from seriously to lightly.
• Honesty—from forthright to dishonest.
Second, each participant rated her agreement with five statements about her employer: has high integrity, treats me in a consistent and predictable fashion, has good intentions and motives, treats me fairly and is open and upfront with me.
Each time Makala uses this survey, she finds that the perceptions of behaviors in the first part correlate closely with the level of trust in the second. This suggests factors that help create an atmosphere of trust, such as openness, honesty, transparency, fairness, consistency, communication, empathy and reliability. Also, to earn trust, one needs to appear competent in her position.
Electronic communication technology can be a plus or a minus, depending on how it is used. Sending regular emails makes it easier to keep everyone informed and up-to-date. But this one-way communication can diminish trust if it replaces conversation and mutual sharing of ideas.
"Trust is based on perception as much as reality," Shelton said. Unpopular decisions are sometimes necessary. How they are received depends largely on whether people affected feel that the decision makers heard their concerns, considered the consequences, thought things through and then provided a reasoned explanation.
Trust and distrust
Shelton described trust and distrust as two separate scales, not opposite poles on one continuum. There are things you can do to help improve trust and others to reduce distrust. Refraining from telling lies doesn't create trust, but it does reduce distrust compared to lying.
Distrust often arises in relation to decisions about economics and budget. "We all have constricting budgets, so hard decisions have to be made. If we don't make the process transparent, there will be huge distrust," he said.
Building trust takes time but distrust can arise in a flash. Once distrust takes hold, subsequent actions are met with more suspicion. Distrust can become part of the culture.
"Peace and trust take years to build and shatter," they quoted from writer Mahogany SilverRain.
Long-time faculty and staff tell newcomers their stories. Those of conflict and shattered trust are the ones people remember and retell most often. Stories of what happened 20 years ago are passed on by people who have been there only ten years, and they affect how people interpret the actions of someone who just arrived.
"If there's distrust, it permeates the culture. There's a sense of walking on eggshells," Makela said. The feeling is that you'd better not try, you'd better not suggest. "People pull into their shells. There is less willingness to take calculated risks."
Trust and gender
Fewer than one in four U.S. higher education presidents is a woman. When people ask how long it will be before their top administrator is a woman, they may really be wondering if they can trust a woman in that position, she said.
While some individuals trust women more in general and others are more trusting of men, the gender effect on trust is largely situational. It is shaped by long-term stereotypes, including the stereotype of university presidents as male. The greater a leader's distance from the stereotype, the harder the leader must work to establish trust.
In early childhood education, many parents meeting a male preschool teacher will question whether they can trust him. When they take the same child to a male pediatrician, his gender may increase their trust.
Take hiring a coach: Now only 42% of women's college sports teams have a woman as head coach. In the search process, student athletes wonder who they can trust to lead them to victory. Parents ask who they can trust with their daughters. Resting on stereotypes and unconscious bias, these questions may arise when the coach is lesbian.
Few if any search committees discuss whether they see a position as best suited to a woman or a man. Nor will they talk about trust. The discussion is more likely to revolve around "fit." The perceived best fit is the candidate who most closely matches everyone's preconceived image.
Women moving into leadership in male-dominated fields or institutions need to be intentional about establishing trust, especially as the first woman in her position.
Building and rebuilding trust
Once distrust permeates a culture, it is carried forward in the telling and retelling of stories. What happened 20 years ago will influence today's decisions.
To overcome a culture of distrust or rebuilt trust after an incident, they recommend taking small steps to move forward on both the trust and the distrust continuums.
Start by listening. Ask questions to understand. You need to hear the stories and people need to feel heard. If you are an administrator trying to build trust with the faculty, you might create a faculty committee to be a sounding board as you consider potential changes.
Report back. "We heard you; this is what we heard." An unpopular but necessary decision is most likely to be accepted when there's a perception of communication, thoughtful reasoning and transparency surrounding it.
It is all a matter of trust.
Dr. Carole Makela: firstname.lastname@example.com
Dr. Paul Shelton: email@example.com
Cook, Sarah Gibbard (2012, December). How Leaders Can Build or Rebuild Trust on Campus. Women in Higher Education, 21(12), 1-2.


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Embark on a journey that will forever change your life when you book a trip to enchanting Ettalong Beach, New South Wales. Experience the rich history and local landmarks of this captivating corner of the world, where you'll enjoy some of the most awe-inspiring aspects of Australia.
Unload your luggage and get comfortable at your Ettalong Beach accommodation, then head out to see the sights and soak up the unique culture that only Ettalong Beach has to offer. There are an assortment of resorts and cheap hotels in Ettalong Beach, Australia, and Expedia.co.nz is here to help you find—and book—the best accommodation based on your needs and budget. And the best part is, you can rest assured knowing that you have conveniently located lodging within proximity to all of the action that abounds in Ettalong Beach.
Where to Stay in Ettalong Beach?
Whether you're travelling solo or with the family in tow, and regardless of if the trip is for purposes of business or pleasure, we have Ettalong Beach hotel deals perfect for you.


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Do you "knee-d" more milk?
My mother received double (bilateral) knee replacements at the age of 72. At the time, her knees were "bone-on-bone"; what we doctors refer to as severe osteoarthritis. The loss of soft tissue (meniscus and protective knee cartilage) in her knees had led to chronic pain, swelling, and limited mobility. Undergoing successful surgery allowed her to continue to manage the family farm and live independently.
We look back (and look at ourselves) and wonder what we can we do to prevent the osteoarthritis my mother experienced. Glucosamine and chondroitin joint supplements have shown little promise in reducing joint pain and slowing the aging process. The recent American Academy of Orthopedics Choosing Wisely campaign is now discouraging against the use of these health supplements. Therefore, doctors have very little to offer as far as daily lifestyle choices other than encouraging low to moderate impact activities, weight loss, and injury prevention
Now, however, we may have some encouraging news suggesting that milk is our knees fountain of youth. According to the recently released (April 2014) Osteoarthritis Initiative study, drinking as few as 7 (or less) glasses of milk weekly may be associated with less decline in knee joint space. In addition, "every increase of 10 glasses per week was associated with .06-mm less decline in joint space width over 48 months, compared with women who drank no milk."
Investigators followed 2,148 adults aged 45-79 years of age with documented osteoarthritis (age-related arthritis) of the knee. Because some study participants had both knees affected with arthritis, a total of 3,046 knees underwent annual X-rays and were analyzed over 4 years.
The study accounted for intake of other dairies including cheese and yogurt, in addition to other factors including alcohol consumption, vitamin D intake, physical activity, and obesity (among other factors). The positive effect of milk (not other dairies) on joint health was found only among women (sorry guys).
While this study seems convincing enough for us to go run to the store and pick up gallons of milk, I would caution that milk does have significant natural sugars and calories. However, milk is an excellent natural source of calcium and vitamin D (which many women lack).
Additionally, this study should encourage more studies to determine the specific element in milk that perhaps could be concentrated and provided as a convincing health supplement that potentially could prolong our knee longevity. Also, we "knee-ed" to find out why men did not receive the same health benefits from milk.
Bottom line for all you women: Drink more milk, to your knee health!


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Things to do Saturday:
In case you never look at your calendar, we'd like to remind you that Sunday is Mother's Day. And in case you want to do something beyond the usual flowers and perfume for the matriarch in your family, we suggest some of the following activities:
- Dutch Wonderland: Celebrate Mother's Day Weekend from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and Sunday at Dutch Wonderland Family Amusement Park, 2249 Route 30 East, Lancaster. Features free tree seedlings for mom, child ID kits, whoopie pie making, craft table, minimanicures, massages and more. Cost: $31.95 ages 3-59, $26.95 ages 60-69, $19.95 ages 70 and older. www.dutchwonderland.com or 717-291-1888.
- Harsco Science Center: Free admission for Mom with the purchase of one paid admission from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at Whitaker Center, 222 Market St., Harrisburg. Regular science center admission: $13.75 adults, $11.75 seniors, students and ages 3-12. www.whitakercenter.org or 717-214-2787.
- Pride of the Susquehanna riverboat: Take a Mother's Day cruise with lunch and music, noon-2 p.m. Sunday — departing from the City Island dock, Harrisburg. Cash bar is available. Cost: $42. Reservations: www.harrisburgriverboat.com or 717-234-6500.
- John Harris Mansion: Have Mother's Day tea with light sandwiches and sweets, as well as an "open house" of the mansion, 1:30-4 p.m. Sunday at John Harris/Simon Cameron Mansion, 219 S. Front St., Harrisburg. Cost: $5 ages 13 and older. www.dauphincountyhistory.org or 717-233-3462.
- Trindle Bowl: Moms Bowl Free at 4695 E. Trindle Road, Hampden Twp., when accompanied by a family member, 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday. The first 50 moms will receive a long-stem carnation compliments of Garden Bouquet of Mechanicsburg. www.trindlebowl.net or 717-737-9820.
- Allenberry Playhouse: Celebrate with a brunch and show special of Agatha Christie's "Murder on the Nile." Buffet: Two seatings available at 3 and 3:30 p.m. Sunday show begins at 5 p.m. at 1559 Boiling Springs Road (Route 174), Monroe Twp. Mother's brunch is $26.95 and includes a ticket to the performance. For the rest of the family: $39.95 for adults, $28 ages 12-17, $16 ages 3-11. Reservations recommended. www.allenberry.com, 800-430-5468 or 717-258-3211.
- Hershey Gardens: You'll get free admission for Mom, 170 Hotel Road, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. For the rest of the family: $10 adults, $9 ages 62 and older, $7 ages 3-12. www.hersheygardens.org or 717-534-3492.
More than 1,500 custom compacts, tuners, modern muscle cars and other special vehicles will roll out for Carlisle Performance & Style from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. today and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Gates open at 7 a.m. daily at Carlisle Fairgrounds, 1000 Bryn Mawr Road. Cost: $20 Saturday, $15 Sunday. Ages 8 and younger are admitted free. www.carlisleevents.com or 717-243-7855.
Former Foreigner lead singer Lou Gramm will perform at 4 and 6:30 p.m. today at Hersheypark Amphitheatre. Included with park admission. www.hersheypark.com or 534-3900. If you're more of a Freddie Mercury fan, One Night of Queen features Queen's hit songs performed by Gary Mullen and the Works at 8 p.m. at American Music Theatre, 2425 Lincoln Highway East, Lancaster. Cost: $44. www.amtshows.com or 800-648-4102.
Harpapalooza 6 is a blues benefit concert with many harmonica players, backed up by the Nate Myers Band at 8 p.m. today at Appalachian Brewing Company, Abbey Bar, 50 N. Cameron St., Harrisburg. Performers include Steve Guyger, Glenn Moomau, Charlie Knight and Jimmy "Blue" Phipps. A silent auction and 50/50 drawing are available. Benefits the American Diabetes Association. Cost: $10 donation. www.myspace.com/harpapalooza or 717-418-3633.


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The Wall Street Journal
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug 08, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Hanwha SolarOne Co. Ltd. (Hanwha SolarOne), a top-10 global photovoltaic manufacturer of low-cost, high-quality solar photovoltaic modules, has launched Hanwha SolarEnergy America (HSEA), expanding the company's North American capabilities downstream with project financing, development, engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) and operations & maintenance (O&M) solutions. The company serves customers in the utility and commercial sectors.
The launch of HSEA marks the completion of integrating Solar Monkey, the Irvine, Calif. based developer Hanwha Solar purchased an initial stake in January 2011, with the Hanwha Solar network. The newly branded HSEA has developed a project pipeline totaling one gigawatt.


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[video] Dicker: Buy Refiners After Report
Several factors seem to be turning in the refiners favor, and there may be an opportunity to buy them after they report later this month.
First, there is a rumor the Environmental Protection Agency will drop the volume requirements for ethanol blending into gasoline below the blend wall for 2014 -- a boon for the refiners if it is true. President Obama wants to take the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) away as a political issue through the midterm elections of 2014 and dropping the required ethanol volume that refiners must use from 15 billion gallons to nearly 12 billion gallons for 2014 will help do that.
Equally important, there's been a widening of the Brent/West Texas Intermediate spread, which can be seen as a proxy for the margins and therefore the profits of the refiners. While the positive help of this spread won't be felt until at least the fourth quarter of 2013 and the first quarter of 2014, the prospect of this return to solid margins has helped fuel the refiners recently.
But there's been clear indication that most of the refiners have endured a very bad third quarter and their results, due to come out at the end of this month and through the first week of November, are likely to be miserable.
There, I think, is the opportunity. A bad quarterly report will help to depress shares of refiners including Valero
I talk more about the coming refining opportunity with Jim in the video above.
At the time of publication the author had no position in any of the stocks mentioned.
This article was written by an independent contributor, separate from TheStreet's regular news coverage.


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Comprehensive DescriptionRead full entry
| Common names: grouper (English), mero (Espanol), garropa (Espanol)
Mycteroperca olfax (Jenyns, 1840)
Bacalao grouper, Sailfin grouper
Body elongate, robust, compressed, depth at dorsal origin not greater than at anal origin; snout much longer than eye; lower jaw projecting; canines at front of jaws; preopercle serrated, with a notch; gill rakers 24-29; dorsal rays XI,16-17 2nd and 3rd dorsal spines elongated, forming a definite lobe, with the second spine longer than third; anal rays III,11; pectoral rays 16-17; edge of tail regular, no filaments; scales in longitudinal series above lateral line 100-120.
Generally pale grey with numerous, close-set brown spots; 10-12 narrow brown bars or partial brown bars sometimes apparent on upper side; occasional individuals are entirely bright yellow (similar to yellow phase of M. rosacea from the Gulf of California).
Size: reaches at least 120 cm.
Inhabits rocky reefs.
Depth: 5-100 m.
Galapagos Archipelago, Cocos, Malpelo; occasional specimens between central Colombia and northern Peru.


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Santa Clarita residents are no strangers to the devastating impacts of wild fire. From the 2007 Buckweed Fire to last year's Station Fire, our community has witnessed the devastation fire causes to lives, homes, businesses and commuters. Courageous firefighters from the Los Angeles County Fire Department are highly skilled in fighting fire with the most aggressive firefighting equipment possible.
In 2006, the city of Santa Clarita and the Los Angeles County Fire Department conducted a two-part study that evaluated the current level of fire service in the Santa Clarita Valley in order to assess the need for more fire stations and the revenue necessary to support additional public-safety services.
The recommendations, which were provided by an independent consultant, indicated the need for additional fire stations as the result of new commercial, industrial and residential development. The findings also suggested the development of a task force to support the proposals in the study.
The task force meets regularly and includes members from the city of Santa Clarita, the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning. The task force works to facilitate the planning, development and construction of new fire stations in order to ensure that the highest level of fire protection and emergency medical services continue to be available to residents within the Santa Clarita Valley.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department will open five permanent fire stations in the Santa Clarita Valley in the next two years. The Fire Department is committed to protecting lives, the environment and property by providing prompt, skillful and cost-effective fire protection and safety services.
A Golden Valley station, No. 104, located at 26901 Golden Valley Road in River Village at Newhall Ranch Road is planned to open in 2012. Two stations are expected to be built in 2011 with a new station in the Saugus area, No. 128, at 28450 Whites Canyon Road/Plum Canyon and Station No. 132 at 29310 Sand Canyon Road.
Station No. 150 at 19190 Golden Valley Road is also in the works, with a June 2012 planned opening date. The temporary station No. 156 at 24505 Copper Hill Drive will be replaced with a permanent station planned for mid-2011 opening.
The Santa Clarita City Council is pleased with the investment in fire personnel and new fire stations and commends the Los Angeles County Fire Department for its commitment to the public-safety needs of residents in Santa Clarita.
Fire season is now year-round and requires everyone to be on heightened alert, especially for those living in wildland area communities.
Fire is, and always has been, a natural part of Southern California's landscape. These wildfires are fueled by dry vegetation and driven by hot, dry Santa Ana winds, making them extremely dangers and impossible to control.
You can learn how to protect your family and home by picking up a copy of "READY! SET! GO!" from your local fire station or downloading a copy at www.fire.lacounty.gov.
For more information about the future fire stations, please log on to the Los Angeles County Fire Department website at: http://fire.lacounty.gov/default.asp.
Frank Ferry is a member of the Santa Clarita City Council and can be reached at: firstname.lastname@example.com. His column reflects his own views and not necessarily those of The Signal.


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Tag: Sao Paulo state policeSao Paulo state police
Clashes in Sao Paulo between striking subway workers and riot police
Police in Sao Paulo fired tear gas Monday to disperse protesters supporting a subway strike that has unleashed transport chaos three days before the Brazilian mega-city hosts the World Cup kick-off.
Fears in Brazil: police group apparently involve on vengeance killing rampage
Twelve people were killed in the Brazilian city of Campinas, the second biggest in São Paulo state, on Sunday night with police investigating if the murders were linked. All of the murders occurred during a three-hour period in the Ouro Verde area, in the city's periphery, and were followed by the torching of three buses and a car by hooded men.
Brazil's largest city replaces all chiefs of police to contain an escalating wave of killings
The chiefs of police in Sao Paulo were replaced on Monday as Brazil's largest city emerged from a bloody weekend and authorities struggled to contain a wave of violence that has doubled the murder rate in recent months.
Sao Paulo City gripped in a "civil war" between organized crime and the police, says top Judge
A Brazilian magistrate described the wave of killings in Sao Paulo city as a 'civil war' between organized crime and unsupported police forces to which the local population is closing its eyes.
Street killings and violence in Sao Paulo knock out the state's head of security
The head of the Sao Paulo state police who held the post for seven years quit Wednesday amid a surge of deadly violence in Brazil's largest city and the industrial and financial hub of the country.


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------- Comment #27 from [email]firstname.lastname@example.com[/email] 2008-09-07 23:06 CST -------
I wasn't able to get a stack trace, as none of the rsync processes were
compiled with debugging information, except the client, which lacked gdb (or an
easy method of installing it).
However, I have straces for each. The client is from startup, and the two
server processes had strace attached as quickly as possible after startup, at
roughly the same time.
Client: [url]http://fudgeman.org/pub/strace.log[/url]
Parent process on server: [url]http://fudgeman.org/pub/strace-parent.log[/url]
Child process on server: [url]http://fudgeman.org/pub/strace-child.log[/url]
The server-side errors were after the client was terminated, after it hung.
Configure bugmail: [url]https://bugzilla.samba.org/userprefs.cgi?tab=email[/url]
------- You are receiving this mail because: -------
You are the QA contact for the bug, or are watching the QA contact.
Please use reply-all for most replies to avoid omitting the mailing list.
To unsubscribe or change options: [url]https://lists.samba.org/mailman/listinfo/rsync[/url]
Before posting, read: [url]http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html[/url]


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AUTHORS: P. Moreau, F. Garban, T. Facon, C. Hulin, M. Attal, L. Benboukher, G. Marit, J.G. Fuzibet, C. Doyen, S. Leyvraz, P. Casassus, M. Michallet, C. Mathiot, I. Yacoub-Agha, L. Garderet, J.L. Harousseau on behalf the IFM groupUniversity Hospital of Nantes, Grenoble, Lille, Nancy, Toulouse, Tours, Bordeaux, Nice, Bruxelles, Lausanne, Paris, Lyon, France
The IFM99-03 and IFM99-04 trials were conducted from 04/2000 to08/2004. Pts younger than 66 years with high-risk (b2mic > 3 and chromosome13 deletion at diagnosis) de novo multiple myeloma (MM) wereprospectively treated according to HLA-identical sibling availability. Inboth protocols, induction regimen consisted of VAD followed by melphalan200 mg/m2 plus autologous SCT. When a HLA-sibling donor wasavailable, ASCT was followed by RIC-allogeneicSCT (fludarabine, ATGand low dose busulfan): IFM9903 protocol (Garban, Blood2006;107:3474). When no donor was available, pts were randomised toreceive a second ASCT with HDM220 ± anti-IL6 moAb: IFM99-04 protocol(Moreau, Blood 2006;107:397). 284 pts met eligibility criteria andreceived at least one course of VAD. 65 had an available HLA-identicalsibling donor and were included in the IFM99-03 trial, and 219 were included in the IFM 99-04 trial. At the reference date of November 1,2006, on an intent-to-treat basis, considering the entire population of 284pts, with a median follow-up of 38 months for living pts, EFS did not differsignificantly between studies (median EFS 22 months in the IFM99-04 trial vs 18 in the IFM99-03 protocol; p=0.14). Conversely, OS was significantlysuperior in the tandem ASCT trial (median OS 56 months inthe IFM99-04 trial vs 34 in the IFM99-03 protocol; p=0.03). OS and EFSwere similar in the 2 treatment arms of the IFM99-04 trial (second ASCTwith HDM220 + anti-IL6 moAb, n = 81, or second ASCT with HDM220without anti-IL6 moAb, n = 85); thus, the results of pts in both arms werepooled for comparison with those of 46 pts who underwent the entireASCT plus RIC-allogeneic transplantation program. EFS of the 166 ptsrandomly assigned in the tandem ASCT protocol was similar to the EFSof the 46 pts who underwent the entire IFM99-03 program (median, 25months vs 21; p=0.38). Conversely, OS was significantly superior forthe randomly assigned pts in the tandem ASCT trial than for patientstreated with the combination of ASCT followed by RIC-allogeneic transplantation(median OS, 59 months vs 35; p=0.016), due to a longer survivalafter relapse in the tandem ASCT arm. These long-term resultsindicate that, in a subgroup of high-risk pts with de novo MM, a tandemASCT procedure is superior to a combination of ASCT followed by RICallogeneicSCT. The better OS described in the tandem ASCT trial isrelated to a better feasibility of salvage regimens after relapse.


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* 2 BROKE GIRLS. 8:30 tonight,
IT'S WEIRD to think a television show that includes the line "This is the sound that dries up my vagina" within the first five minutes could be considered retro, but that's exactly what "2 Broke Girls" is.
Unlike the mockumentary sitcom style of "Modern Family" or "The Office," "2 broke Girls" shoots in front of a live studio audience with multiple cameras. To Beth Behrs, who plays the riches-to-rags Caroline, the familiar sounds of real people laughing at the jokes reminds her of the shows she used to love, like "Friends" and "Will and Grace."


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MORGANTOWN - The Jefferson County FFA chapters competed in the 88th annual West Virginia FFA Career Development Events from Sept. 20 to 22 at West Virginia University in Morgantown.
Sixty-four members from grades seven to 12 competed in the judging competitions during the three-day event. Career Development Events, popularly known as CDEs, are designed to develop student's critical thinking skills, clear communication and effective performance in the agricultural trades.
Contest formats require students in each event to evaluate characteristics utilizing USDA grading criteria and/or perform skills and techniques commonly required in the agricultural field. There were 14 different competitions held, covering job skills in everything from entomology to mechanics.
Each event allows students to compete in teams of three or four students, with both individual and team performances being scored and ranked. Each of the county's six FFA chapters had students participate in the various competitions.
Harpers Ferry, Shepherdstown, Wildwood and Charles Town middle school FFA chapters each participated in the seventh- and eighth-grade Agriscience competition and placed ninth, eighth, fifth and third, respectively.
Individually, Carolyn Hayden, from Wildwood Middle School, placed 10th, while Charles Town students William Shultz and McKenzie Ring placed ninth and fifth, respectively.
Members from the Washington High School FFA competed in six of the contests. The Livestock Evaluation Team of Tori Wolfe, Blayne Ott, Amber Orr and Olivia Ware placed ninth as a group, with Wolfe placing eighth individually.
Chapter members William James, Robert Spencer, Jerry Langston and Kimberly Garcia competed in the Agricultural Mechanics event and placed 10th, with James finishing 10th individually.
Kaitlin Sisler and Mary Chandler Petty competed in the Agronomy CDE; Michaela Dunn, Ryan Goliwas and Jade Wilt participated in the Dairy Products Evaluation; Washington's Floriculture team consisted of Shannon Schneider, Kelsie Figgins, Chrystalina Ocasio and Kristy Gazzier. WHS students participating in the Plant Pathology event included Lacey Leslie, Molly Powell and Taylor Breeden.
Jefferson FFA members competed in eight of the Career Development Events. The Dairy Products Evaluation team of Gabby Sizemore, Sara Duncan, Amanda Smith and Lane Hedge placed first as a team, with Sizemore, Duncan and Smith placing first, seventh and ninth, respectively. Through the contest win, the four have earned the privilege to compete in the National FFA Dairy Foods CDE during National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Ind.
The chapter's Mechanics competitors, Mike Ring, Ryan Hooe, Ryan Wiley and Jeremy Creamer, placed second as a team, with Ring and Hooe placing third and eighth, respectively.
The Meats Evaluation group of Mari Slusher, Miranda Dodson, Amber Hite and Elizabeth Hayden placed third in the team standings, with Slusher placing 10th individually.
Chapter members Amanda Smith, Sara Duncan and Amber Hite competed in the Poultry Evaluation contest, placing sixth as a team, with Smith ranking third individually.
Hayden, Madison Quinn, Amanda Bennett and Briana Embry competed and placed seventh in the Plant Pathology contest.
The Livestock Evaluation team of Lane Hedge, Emma Jean Patterson, Darby Patterson and Katya Quinn placed 10th.
Additionally, the Forestry and Entomology teams both ranked 10th as well.
Forestry Team members consisted of Tyler Quinn, Gabby Sizemore, Mike Burkett and Chris Brown. The Entomology Team consisted of Taylor Corder, Cheryl Brown, Alex Bane and Alexis Hensell.
The Jefferson FFA chapter also placed fourth in the CDE Sweepstakes rankings, which ranks chapters based upon the collective number of their six highest placing teams.
The National FFA Organization, formerly known as Future Farmers of America, is a national youth organization of 523,309 student members as part of 7,487 local FFA chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
The National FFA Organization is dedicated to making a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.
The National FFA Organization operates under a federal charter granted by the 81st U.S. Congress, and is an integral part of public instruction in agriculture.
For more information visit www.ffa.org and wvffa.org.


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Interest Level
Grades 3 - 6
Reading Level
Grade level Equivalent: 5.6
Lexile® Measure: 910L
DRA: Not Available
Guided Reading: NR
- Informational
- Multicultural
- Culture and Diversity
- South America
- Holidays
About This Book
For weeks the people of the Brazilian town of Olinda have been sewing costumes, painting masks, and creating giant puppets preparing for carnaval. Like Mardi Gras in New Orleans, carnaval is a five-day festival of parades, dancing, and singing. But unlike Mardi Gras, Olinda's carnaval still celebrates the traditions and folklore of the people and the shared cultures indigenous, European, and African that make up Brazil. As generations have done each year, the people of Olinda and their visitors give themselves over to the music, dance, and joy of carnaval.
Items Added to Cart:
1 Paperback
2 Hardcover
1 Teacher's Edition
$48.99 Subtotal


text:
Too Much Focus On Screen Time May Be Sign Of ADHDSierra Black
Some kids seem to represent a paradox when it comes to attention: they fidget in their seats, can't focus at school, but will tune into the TV for hours at a stretch. Their focus when it comes to video games is laser-like. Their ability to focus on homework, not so much.
What is going on with these children? Are they just slackers who won't pay attention in class, even though they could? No.
Turns out, an ability to hyper-focus on electronic screens is part and parcel of ADHD. Those kids who can't pay attention to anything else have specialized brain chemistry that makes them zero in on electronic media.
The relationship between attention deficits and electronic screen time is complex. It's not clear if screen time causes attention problems or if attention problems cause a fascination with screens, or both. The New York Times attempts to pick the puzzle apart with an article on screen time and attention disorders.
First, you need to understand that paying attention to a video game is not like paying attention to anything else. Anyone who's played Angry Birds knows this, but the New York Times explains a bit about why:
The kind of concentration that children bring to video games and television is not the kind they need to thrive in school or elsewhere in real life, according to Dr. Christopher Lucas, associate professor of child psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine. "It's not sustained attention in the absence of rewards," he said. "It's sustained attention with frequent intermittent rewards."
Children with attention deficits can often pay attention to a video game for hours. In fact, studies show that kids with attention issues spend more time on electronic media than others.
Some researchers think kids with attention deficits seek out more electronic media because it feeds their need for rewards. Kids with ADHD suffer a shortage of dopamine in their brains. Video games trigger the release of dopamine with frequent small rewards within the game. This is alluring for kids in general, but especially compelling for kids who had insufficient dopamine to begin with.
On the flip side, there's the notion that tuning your brain into the fast-paced, overstimulating world of TV and video games leaves you spinning at too high a frequency and unable to focus on the real world. In this theory, video games are part of the problem, not just a symptom of it.
Whether screen time causes ADHD or not, kids with ADHD certainly react differently to screens. Not only do they spend more time in front of them, but they're less able to parse what's going on. In particular, kids with attention problems can't understand why characters in TV shows behave the way they do.
Researchers think this last detail might be key to understanding the social problems that plague kids with ADHD. They're aware that kids with attention issues also have trouble making friends, but don't know why. Learning more about how they get information from TV might offer insight into that problem.
It also helps further account for the heavy use of screens by kids with ADHD. They have fewer social interactions, so they spend more time along in front of a screen.
Nowhere in this is there any indication that TV or video games are doing anything good for kids, with or without attention problems.
Do you see a link between attention issues and screen use in your own family?
Photo: Rebecca Pollard


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EAST AMWELL TWP. — The Flemington Speedway Historical Society is busy preparing for its exhibit at the Hunterdon County 4-H & Agricultural Fair, which will be held Wednesday-Sunday, Aug. 24-28 at the county fairgrounds on Route 179 south of Ringoes.
The Hunterdon fair is successor to the Flemington Fair, which was held for decades at the same location on Route 31 in Raritan Township as the speedway.
At its peak, the Speedway was recognized as one of the top tracks for modified stock cars in the nation, earning the nickname "Modified Country, USA." For years the Speedway hosted the National Dirt Track Championship for modified cars.
In addition to a display of restored and "tribute" race cars for the duration of the fair, the Society will present "Race Day at the Fair" on Aug. 28, celebrating stock car racing at the famous track. The group's very first "Most Influential People" induction ceremony will be held at noon.
The initial honoree is the late Al Tasnady, whose family will be on hand to accept. In addition, open-cockpit drivers and cars are being highlighted. At 1 p.m., an interview session with numerous legendary drivers and owners of every racing division will begin.
Drivers slated to appear so far include: Stan Ploski Jr., Sammy Beavers, Ken Brenn Jr., Ray Liss, Newt Hartman, Wayne Covert, Jimmy Maguire, Midge Miller, Lynn Paxton, Jimmy Long, Steve Whitt, Phil Cox, Clyde Cox, Nate Strunk, Wyatt Jacobus Sr., George Amerman, Rusty Bowlby, Ty Constantino, Skip Turyonas, Bob Banghart, Jay Aten, Paul Rochelle Jr., Bob Rossell and Dave Pace, and car owners Ken Brenn Sr. and John Norcia.
Cars on display will include: the 1935 Alperti White Phantom sprint car, Ray Liss' #10 Gremlin, Statewide #3 Gremlin, Al Michalchuk #292 coupe tribute car, Bob Banghart #B-6 Falcon, Ken Brenn Sr. #24 midget, Ken Johnson #64 Gremlin, Al Tasnady #44 Daytona car, Al Tasnady #44 tribute car, Billy Pauch #15 1976 Gremlin, Jeff Hanna #63 tribute car, Dick Havens #93 coupe, Wyatt Jacobus #07 sedan, and several vintage open-cockpit cars.
The Flemington Speedway Historical Society meets the first Tuesday of each month. Their mission is to preserve, protect and document the history of the Flemington Speedway. For more information, contact President Mark Harrington at 484-221-2052, or at email@example.com, or on the web at flemingtonspeedwayhistoricalsociety.com.


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School Reform Commission Chairman Pedro Ramos recently postponed a vote on charter school renewals until the panel can deal with a more basic issue: the School District's budget. That makes sense, but it doesn't go far enough. The SRC should impose a moratorium on new charter schools until it can fully understand how charter school expansion is affecting the district's ability to sustain adequate, long-term funding for all the city's public schools.
Getting district finances under control is essential. The School District still needs to cut $26 million to balance this year's budget, and it faces a 2012-13 deficit of $218 million — even more if the city's property reassessment plan is delayed.


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|Linux / Unix Command: chsh
|Command Library
NAMEchsh - change your login shell
SYNOPSISchsh [ -s shell ] [ -l ] [ -u ] [ -v ] [ username ]
DESCRIPTIONchsh is used to change your login shell. If a shell is not given on the command line, chsh prompts for one.
VALID SHELLSchsh will accept the full pathname of any executable file on the system. However, it will issue a warning if the shell is not listed in the /etc/shells file. On the other hand, it can also be configured such that it will only accept shells listed in this file, unless you are root.
- -s, --shell
- Specify your login shell.
- -l, --list-shells
- Print the list of shells listed in /etc/shells and exit.
- -u, --help
- Print a usage message and exit.
- -v, --version
- Print version information and exit.
SEE ALSOlogin(1), passwd(5), shells(5)
Important: Use the man command (% man) to see how a command is used on your particular computer.


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The latest version of Adobe Flash Player is required to watch this video.
Please click on the link below to download the latest version. Thanks!
North Carolina is the latest in a growing number of states to make it illegal to text and drive. Laws now ban the practice in more than 14 states -- and the District of Columbia.
But changing the law doesn't always change behavior, especially among the 60 percent of young drivers who admit to texting while driving.
That's where technology comes in.
Chris Maher, the father of a new driver, helped to develop "TextSafety," software that arms parents with power to limit exactly when teens can text and when they can't. Once the software is downloaded to the phone, it detects when it is inside a vehicle traveling at least ten miles an hour and will disable texting.
"When I knew my little girl would be driving, I thought I have got to do something to disengage texting while driving," said Maher.
"As a dad, I knew about 33 percent of the kids have accidents within the first six months of driving," said Chris Maher. "And texting and driving is a huge problem."
Safety experts say the dangers of texting behind the wheel rival drinking and driving.
"Texting combines the cognitive distraction of having a conversation with someone with the physical distraction of holding something and the visual distraction of looking at it," said Anne McCartt of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "Even without studies, I think most of us would know that texting while driving is a dangerous thing to do. It puts yourself and other drivers at risk."
TextSafety puts control in parents' hands in more ways than one. Parents can set it to sound an alarm on the teen's phone and then send them an e-mail alert when the vehicle is going more than 65 miles an hour. It's a feature that recently proved to be helpful for Maher.
"My teenager was going to a soccer game," said Maher. "And the bus driver was running late. He was speeding over 65, going over 73 miles an hour and I got an alert that my little girl was traveling in excess of 65."
GPS showed Maher exactly where his daughter was at the time. The technology is added security for parents when their children are on the road, and it's just a computer click away.*Originally published December 9, 2009.
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text:
Timberland coach Art Craig doesn't like to use the words rebuilding or reloading when he talks about the state of his football team.
Either way, the Wolvs are very young as they prepare for Thursday's first round of the Sertoma Football Classic and the season-opener against Manning on Friday.
"This is the youngest team I've had since I've been here," said Craig, who projects a starting lineup of only four seniors, 11 juniors, six sophomores and a freshman.
"We are going to be young. But I like this team's enthusiasm and effort. I had to say I was surprised by some of our scrimmages, including the ones against Cane Bay and Woodland."
Timberland has produced some great players in recent years, including running back Rockarius King, quarterback Cody Craig, defensive end Aldrick Fordham and lineman Brian Moore.
The team has been among the best in the state, winning a state title two years ago and compiling a 62-4 record over the past five years.
The Wolves were 11-2 last fall, scoring 490 points while allowing only 171.
"We don't live in the past — this is not the History Channel," Craig said. "This team feels a challenge to live up to the past teams. While we're young, there are some positives. We are extremely athletic and fast."
Craig promises this year's team will pass the ball at least 50 percent of the time.
"Sometimes I don't believe it myself," said Craig, whose previous teams usually threw less than 10 passes a game. "But you don't recruit and you have to do what fits your personnel the best."
Timberland has a pair of talented quarterbacks in Matt Gable and Ryan Hood. Bernard Harmon and Shamelle Williams are the running backs. Lineman Wyatt Craig played well last year and has all-state potential.


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Skip to comments.Conservatives Mobilize Against Wal-Mart
Posted on 11/09/2006 10:10:32 AM PST by Froufrou
Wal-Mart, long pummeled by the political left, is taking additional flak from the right.
A conservative activist group is trying to recruit one million families who will refuse to shop at Wal-Mart or Sam's Club on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, traditionally two of the busiest shopping days of the year.
The American Family Association is furious with Wal-Mart for reaching out to homosexual advocacy groups that support same-sex marriage.
The criticism began when Wal-Mart announced it would join the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. And now Wal-Mart has made a deal with the Washington DC Center for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender People, agreeing to donate 5 percent of the sales made through the group's website to the Center.
"Every purchase made online for books, music, videos, clothing and accessories, children's clothing and toys, and electronics at the site will automatically send 5% of the sales to the CCBLBT People," the AFA said in a message to its supporters.
"The agreement is an indication that Wal-Mart is totally committed to supporting the homosexual movement," the AFA said.
The conservative advocacy group complains that Wal-Mart also gave a "generous cash donation" to the Northwest Arkansas Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center, helping to provide a place where homosexuals can come together to "socialize."
The AFA says Wal-Mart should have remained neutral in the cultural battle over homosexual marriage.
It says Wal-Mart made an "ideological" decision, not a business decision.
Hence the recent "Christmas" decision by Walmart?
Maybe Walmart is donning some "apparel" to appeal to their conservative shoppers???
I hope this thing falls flat on its face.
Oh puh-leeze
Why Wal-MART gets involved in social/Political issues is beyond me.......
Why should 1M people spend more money for the same product, just because Wal-Mart gives some money to gays? How will this benefit anyone?
I usually shop at Wal-Mart but I wouldn't get within 5 miles of one on the Friday & Saturday after Thanksgiving.
I'll shop where I can get the best price.
We shouldn't fault gay people for wanting "everyday low prices". What's wrong with Wal-mart courting their business?
I support the American Family Association just about as much as I support the American Civil Liberties Union. Just for the complete opposite reasons.
I usually shop at Wal-Mart but I wouldn't get within 5 miles of one on the Friday & Saturday after Thanksgiving.
I don't shop ANYWHERE after light up night which is next week here in Pittsburgh. If I have any purchases to make, they will be done online or by telephone. Never did like crowds.
Silence on this issue retains the good will of the population that views homosexual behavior as undesirable without antagonizing homosexual practitioners and their supporters. Therefore, it would seem the smart business move for WalMart's stockholders, customers, employees and everyone else would be no comment.
Oh, please..WalMart has done more than any government could to keep inflation in check. And with their new perscription porogram will do more to keep the price of medical care down than any government program could.
Stuff this boycott.
I don't get it, either. The AFA might be dumbfounded if they should discover there may be more gays than conservatives, who knows? As long as I don't have to know fellow shoppers' sexual preferences, I'm fine with it.
But when gays scream, "we just want to be treated as normal," it tells me they know they aren't.
It's one thing for Walmart to "court" business. But I can't buy stuff online from Walmart, knowing that 5% of what I pay them is being sent to a group advocating things I think will harm society.
I don't care if Walmart offers benefits to same-sex partners, or if it encourages gays to shop there. I draw the line at spending money that will go to my enemies directly.
Target lets me use a card which sends X% of my purchase to my kid's schools. That's a good place for the money to do, not to a gay advocacy group.
The question is, why is Walmart specifically doing a "donation drive" for gays? Do they think people will spend more money at their web site knowing their money is going to a political organization pushing the gay agenda?
Thank you for reminding us about the Medicare savings WM has implemented! Everyone I know who works there likes it there, so there.
I was at Wal-Mart yesterday and I helped one of the "greeters" and old guy clean up a pop spill. :) Another guy dropped a case of pop and it was everywhere! I felt sorry for him.
My local Wal Mart give thousands of $$$ to the local boy scouts in both cash and donations.
If people continue to attack them for donations, they will cut off all donations.
Be very careful what you ask for, because you might get it.....Bob
That was nice, Echo. Bob is right; they do many good things in the communities they serve.
It is apparently just 5% on purchases made through a link on the gay advocacy group's site.
I dont shop at Wal-Mart because everything is made in China right down to the Christmas decorations. China has religious freedoms, dont they?
Tell 'em they can get their cheap imported crap somewhere else if they like; I'll shop where I please.
"China has religious freedoms, dont they?"
Um, no they don't......
As if filthy, crowded, noisy stores aren't enough reason to avoid Wal-Mart.
I'm glad you pointed that out! I misread it to mean that the 5% was to come from sales at Wal-mart's site. I was thinking, "big deal, I'm sure they sell more at the stores..."
WalMart Ping.
This has nothing to do with me not shopping in WalMart the weekend after Thanksgiving.............I refuse to shop ANYWHERE that weekend.
the old guy was really nice and he thanked me for helping him. :)
Obnoxious, self-important wierdos like you can do anything you please, the further away from me the better.
Unbeleivable. My local Wal Mart is clean. Crowded, yes. Not more noisy than any other busy store, however.
I have noticed that if you ask a Wal Mart Clerk where something is located, they do NOT point you in the right direction, they accompany you to the section, even if it is across the store. It might be just my local store, or it might be the training.
You seem to get it. I don't know why so many FReepers are so eager to support pro-gay causes with their money, when it'd be simple (and often CHEAPER) to make purchases elsewhere with coupons.
The problem, as I see it, is Walmart getting involved with a hot button issue for social conservatives. Some here have a problem with the actions of the AFA. Perhaps those who disagree with the AFA have a problem with NAMBLA?.
If so, would those who disagree with the actions of the AFA have an issue with Walmart catering to NAMBLA? That is, what if Walmart said they would send 5% of the proceeds of online purchases through the NAMBLA website to the NAMBLA office?
The issue appears to be degrees of tolerance. Many social conservatives have reached their tolerance level for what they find acceptable from Walmart. Others here haven't reached that level.
Well said.
There's some famous books that says something about bearing false witness being a sin. I guess the AFA forgot about that one.
I presume you mean healthcare. You'd be surprised that a family of four with one parent employed, as a nurse, can qualify for medicaid! I know, I did the work.
I only shop at WM in the early morning, before all the underemployed customers get there. I prefer Target, but I doubt their people are any better compensated.
Degrees of tolerance? Since when is it public information to know what corporations do with their money?
Well, I won't be shopping there either of those two days, but it's only because I don't want to fight those crowds!
I don't believe that WalMart is giving 5% of every dollar in revenue to any homosexual group. They might be giving some, but not this much. Not sure where that figure came from and how they proved it to be true.
C'mon, it's fun! You eat a late and overlarge T-day dinner so you can go to bed early, then hit the sales at 7:00 a.m.
You get in and get out with all the bargains before the crowd gets there, then go someplace nice to eat and knock back a few cold ones. Ah, good times! ;o)
Think there was another passage in a famous book that said something like don't judge or you will be judged, probably much more elloquent then that though...if I could just remember the quote... :). Think the AFA forgets that one too.
Agreed! Walmart on thanksgiving weekend? NO WAY! You need a prybar to get through the crowds, let alone the parking lot!
you have to wonder what the f$#& is going through their mind on this? how the hell does wal-mart benefit from joining forces with queer groups? like the queers are going to help stop the unions from burning wal-mart to the group wherever possible?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


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Norway's Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has given Statoil the green light to allow the Sigrun discovery to remain in the ground. The company believes building it out will be unprofitable.
A letter from the Ministry dated 14 December 2011 Aftenbladet has obtained access to, shows Statoil applied for exemption from terms that were established in connection with considering Gudrun's plan for development and operation (PDO).
The Gudrun oil and gas field in the middle part of the North Sea is Sigrun's big sister.
"Thorough survey"
One of the conditions of approval when Statoil delivered the PDO for this field in July 2010, was that the company should prepare an updated plan for how Sigrun's resources were to be recovered.
The letter from the Ministry states that this condition has now been waived.
"Statoil justifies the application by stating a thorough survey has revealed that it is not profitable to extract resources contained in Sigrun," reads the ministry's letter to Statoil.
Production start in 2014
Construction of the Gudrun field platform is well underway, and production is set to start in 2014. Recoverable reserves in Gudrun and Sigrun are estimated to be about 71 million barrels of oil, about 1.5 million tonnes of NGL (Natural Gas Liquids) and about 9.6 billion Sm3 of dry gas. The Sigrun field would have contributed about 8.2 million barrels of oil and about 1.2 billion Sm3 of gas.
The plan was that Gudrun and Sigrun would be developed together, where the plan for Gudrun is a single processing platform with a steel jacket.
At Sigrun, a seabed template with a production well was to be installed, which would have linked to the platform on the Gudrun field by means of a pipeline.
Follow us on Twitter.com/Aenergynews


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Light summer soups are nothing new. For centuries, Europeans have supped their way through hot, steamy days with soups made of whatever local produce was fresh and cheap.
Now, with the appearance of at least one summer soup on every restaurant
menu, Americans have made this culinary discovery - and love it.
There's no big secret to the preparation. In fact, light soups are quick and snappy. They require little or no cooking and are the perfect catchall for those fruits or vegetables that may be overripe and past their prime.