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Regular Classes
& Payout
Big Dollar Points
Friday Night Events
Special Events
Non-Points Bracket Program
Stick Shift Class
Bike Programs
Junior Dragster Program
Advance Transmission
TS / TD Series
Quick Performance True 10.5"
Current Points
Bracket Finals
Track Rules
News Archive
Sponsors / Links
About Us
Contact Us
After getting beat up last weekend by the weather, officials at Eddyville Raceway Park has decided to re-group and re-schedule the Fall Classic for this Saturday and Sunday, October 20 & 21. All classes that were originally planned for this past weekend will be included with the re-scheduled event. In addition as special "Pit Vehicle" race has been added (time permitting) on Saturday evening to go along with a free racer appreciation BBQ!
As of this writing, the forecast looks good for both days! While we realize this is short notice, we wanted to provide the racers another opportunity for racing this year along with completing a couple of classes that have points finales.
Gates open both Saturday and Sunday at 8 AM with time trials underway at 9:30 AM. Click here for class details.


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Wednesday, July 10, 2013
2 Comments | Copyright: IANS
Actress Nargis Fakhri is said to be doing the best that she can for her debut item number in "Phata Poster Nikla Hero".
Nargis will shake a leg with Shahid Kapoor for the number, composed by Pritam, and choreographed by Bosco-Caeser.
Details of the number are being closely guarded, but one hears that the "Rock On!!" actress will be presented in an all-new avatar. A popular stylist is said to have been roped in for the same.
Directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, "Phata Poster Nikla Hero" stars Ileana D'Cruz with Shahid.
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Shahid Kapoor to skip Udta Punjab's music promotions for Mira...
"Udta Punjab" is not banned, says the film's co-producer Anurag ...
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John Lawrence Damore
Position: C-G
Height: 6-0 Weight: 228 lbs.
Born: October 20, 1933 in Riverside, IL
High School: Riverside
College: Northwestern (school history)
Drafted by the New York Giants in the 13th round (152nd overall) of the 1955 NFL Draft.
Weighted Career AV (100-95-...): 0 (15060th overall since 1950)
Output includes all games from 1920 to 2015.


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Video: Indiana Soldiers Send July 4th Message from Kuwait
Video by Sgt. Mark Scovell
CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait – (July 4, 2013) Soldiers of C Co., 2-238th MEDEVAC, 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, do an Independence Day shout out to their friends and family back home. The 2-238th is from the Indiana Army National Guard and is headquartered in Shelbyville, Indiana. The company, commanded by Maj. Bryon Blohm, is currently deployed to the Middle East in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Also available in High Definition.
This work, Indiana Soldiers Send July 4th Message from Kuwait, by SSG Mark Scovell, identified by DVIDS, is free of known copyright restrictions under U.S. copyright law.
Date Taken:07.4.2013
Date Posted:07.4.2013 5:48AM
Video ID:295639
Hometown:FORT WAYNE, IN, US
Hometown:INDIANAPOLIS, IN, US
Hometown:SHELBYVILLE, IN, US


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Purina® Pro Plan® Puppy Food
Real chicken or lamb is the #1 ingredient in this formula designed for puppy's first year. Pro Plan Puppy is formulated to support the rapid growth during your puppy's first year of life. It contains high quality protein from real chicken or lamb, along with an ideally balanced protein to fat ration for healthy growth. It is fortified with vitamins, calcium and other minerals, and is highly digestible for maximum nutrient delivery.
Food Type: Dry Food
Food Consistency: Kibble
Life Stage: Puppy 0-12 mths
Health Consideration: Immune System, Brain Development
Flavor: Lamb & Rice
Primary Ingredient: Lamb
Package Weight: 6 lbs
Lamb, Brewers Rice, Chicken Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Ground Yellow Corn, Animal Fat Preserved with Mixed-Tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), Corn Bran, Oat Meal, Dried Egg Product, Dried Beet Pulp, Animal Digest, Calcium Phosphate, Fish Oil, PotassiumChloride, Calcium Carbonate, Salt, L-Lysine Monohydrochloride, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Niacin, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Copper Sulfate, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Garlic Oil, Folic Acid, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Calcium Iodate, Biotin, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source of Vitamin K Activity), Sodium Selenite
Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude Protein (Min) 28.0%
Crude Fat (Min) 18.0%
Crude Fiber (Max) 3.0%
Moisture (Max) 12.0%
Linoleic Acid (Min) 1.6%
Calcium (Ca) (Min) 1.1%
Phosphorus (P) (Min) 0.8%
Vitamin A (Min) 15,000 IU/kg
Vitamin E (Min) 100 IU/kg
Glutamine* (Min) 1.0%
Docosahexaenoic Acid* (DHA) (Min) 0.05%
*Not recognized as an essential nutrient by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles.
$ 6.99
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$ 30.59Reg: $ 35.99
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Sorry, the job could not be found in the database.
© Copyright Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited 2012. HAYS, the Corporate and Sector H devices, Recruiting experts worldwide, the HAYS Recruiting experts worldwide logo and Powering the World of Work are trade marks of Hays plc. The Corporate and Sector H devices are original designs protected by registration in many countries. All rights are reserved.


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The PhD Programme incorporates an ongoing control and a periodic evaluation of the students' progress during the course.
Each student spends at least three months and up to six months abroad.
Overview of mandatory accomplishments in the course of the PhD: milestones
The PhD programme is intended to train high level professionals able to work in a context of academic basic research and applied research in university institutions, in a context of public administration or educational institutions and private or public, national or international research institutes.
The Doctors of Philosophy of each of the three branches of study are expected to master the research methods in the educational and social areas, to have acquired critical competencies relevant to the tools for data assessment and analysis.
Career prospects


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INDIANAPOLIS - Two forwards from Butler women's soccer earned All-Horizon League recognition, as junior Katie Griswold was named first team All-Horizon League and freshman Elise Kotsakis was a second-team pick. Kotsakis was also voted to the league's all-newcomer team.
"I want to congratulate Katie and Elise on earning all-conference recognition," head coach Tari St. John said. "They are truly deserving players and important to our program. We have such a balanced team and had many players that are of all-league caliber. It's nice to have some of our players recognized by the league's other head coaches."
Voting was conducted by the league's nine head women's soccer coaches.
Griswold, a native of Youngstown, Ohio, earned first-team honors for the second straight season. She has six goals this year and ranks second on the team with 13 points. Griswold, who was also on the all-newcomer team in 2009, scored three goals against Horizon League opponents this season.
Kotsakis, a Palatine, Ill., native, has been an immediate impact player in her first year at Butler. Kotsakis leads the Dawgs in points (14), shots (68) and game-winning goals (3). Her six goals ties Griswold for the team lead, and her shots total ranks second in the Horizon League.
St. John, in her sixth season at BU, has now coached 14 different players who have earned All-Horizon League honors. There has been a Butler player named first team All-Horizon League eight times since St. John has been the coach of the Bulldogs.
Butler (8-9-1), seeded sixth in this week's Horizon League Women's Soccer Championship, will play at No. 3 Valparaiso Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 2 p.m. ET.
Elise Kotsakis - Fr.
|Katie Griswold - Jr.
Youngstown, Ohio


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Hospital Impact has been ranked one of the top 50 healthcare blogs by Wikio.
Blogs we like:
by Raymond Hino
In the Lewis Carroll book "Alice in Wonderland," there is a marvelous business lesson on planning for success. Remember when Alice meets the Cheshire Cat early in the story?
She says, "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" The cat wisely says, "That depends a good deal on where you want to go?"
Alice didn't care where she was going. So the cat answers, "Then it doesn't matter which way you go."
That leads me to the question that I want to ask you today. Do you know what direction you want your hospital, system or organization to go in the next few years? And, if you do then do you have a plan to get there?
While most of you will answer "yes" we have a plan, my next question is: Are you using your plan to get your organization where you want it to go?
I have found that, perhaps, the most valuable exercise we can take as an organization to move to the "next level," is to not only create an excellent strategic plan but also to use it effectively to achieve our goals. My practice in recent years has been to bring in as many stakeholders as possible into the planning process from the very beginning.
An excellent way to start is with an all-day planning event in which the invitees include hospital board of directors, employees, medical staff, foundation membership, key stakeholders from the community and experts from the field. With as much input as possible, and with expert facilitation, I have used this process to create a strategic plan to guide the hospital's actions in the areas of physical plant improvements, medical staff growth, program development, community development, financial planning and staff development.
Once we created a plan that satisfied everyone and got it down on paper, then the real work started. The real work is implementing the plan!
I subscribe to the theory that a strategic plan is not meant to simply look attractive and validate the fact that we do indeed plan for our future. A strategic plan is a living and breathing tool, much like a computer or a communications system that enables our organizations to achieve our goals and "raise the bar."
I recommend that the board of directors and the community be involved in implementation of the plan, too. This can be accomplished by delegating oversight and accountability for completion of the plan to the board's planning committee. The planning committee should include not only members of the hospital board, medical staff and hospital staff, but also members of the community.
Each month the planning committee receives an update on a specific set of goals in the plan. In my experience, managers and staff who are accountable for their sections of the plan report on new developments since the last report. They also report on resources necessary for completion and percentage of progress towards completion.
Each manager will report four times each year on progress that they have made on their part of the plan. To close the loop, the planning committee reports to the hospital board each month on progress made on the plan.
I cannot stress enough the importance of creating your plan and converting it to action. That way your organization will get to where it needs to go.
As the Cheshire Cat says, "You're sure to do that, if only you walk long enough."
Raymond Hino, MPA, FACHE is vice president of Healthcare Advisory Services, Inc and a board member of the Health Research & Education Trust. Previously, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Mendocino Coast District Hospital in Fort Bragg, California.
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Our call: Fantastic Fest co-founder Tim League should be afraid.
The genre film festival announced today that League will box bare-knuckle brawler John Quinn McDonagh (the subject of the Irish boxing documentary "Knuckle") as the main event of the annual Fantastic Debates.
At the signature festival event, press, filmmakers and film professionals enter an arena for a formal debate about issues facing the fan community, followed by two rounds of boxing.
Last year saw League face off against Michelle Rodriguez. Despite her formidable boxing skills (her breakthrough role was in the female boxing drama "Girlfight"), Rodriguez lost to League.
Maybe he does stand a chance, but our money's on the "Knuckle" star.
Here's League formally challenging McDonagh in a video:
And here's McDonagh's infinitely more intimidating response:
For old time's sake, watch League beat Rodriguez below:


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May 30, 2016
Service for Mr. Roger L. Watson age 83 a resident of Little Rock, Mississippi will be held at Stephens Funeral Home Chapel on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 2:00pm. Interment will be in the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church Cemetery. Visitation will be from 5:00pm-8:00pm, Tuesday, May 22, 2012 at Stephens Funeral Home in Union.
Stephens Funeral Home of Union is in charge of arrangements.
Click Here to access the online Public Inspection File
Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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2 Parks near Vassar, Kansas
Osage City, Kansas 11.19 miles SW
Homewood, Kansas 14.37 miles SE
Vassar, Kansas (map) | (785) 453-2201
Sites: 88 | Latest Rate: $11.00 | 1 Reviews
|Clean Restrooms:
|Clean Showers:
May 2012 - $11.00
This is a very nice COE park. There are several COE campgrounds in this section of Pomona Lake and all looked very good. Rate reflects a Golden Age discount for .50 amp, water, and sewer. There are only twelve of these sites and quite a number of electric and water sites. Contractors seemed nice and informative. We would definitely stay here again. - PALPJL
Vassar, Kansas (map) | (785) 828-4933
Sites: 142 | Latest Rate: $20.00 | 3 Reviews
|Clean Restrooms:
|Clean Showers:
Aug 2014 - $20.00
Pomona State Park is a wonderful state park with a lot of good amenities (lake, beaches, hiking trails, boat ramps). Our nightly rate reflects buying the KS annual camping pass, plus the KS annual vehicle permits (one per vehicle RV+Car), plus 3 utilities (50 amp elec, water, sewer) for a month.
We stayed here in February and really appreciated the ability to stay in a state park setting, with full hookups, in winter.
The staff were very friendly and accommodating. Even though we were one of the few campers here, this time of year, the park was regularly patrolled and it felt very safe. Staff was onsite during the week and readily available to answer questions or to help as needed.
The park is generally in good repair and well maintained. Some of the picnic tables, at a few sites, are in desperate need of replacement; but otherwise the park facilities were in good working order.
The park is pretty, quiet, and serene. Although we could hear (several) barking dogs from the surrounding private residences outside the park, there was otherwise no road noise, railroad tracks, etc to detract from the park's serenity.
There are quite a few campsites/camp-loops, ranging from water-front primitive camping to full-hookup RV sites available. We stayed in the Burning Heart camp-loop, which has full-hookups and is available for long(er) term stays.
The roads are paved, leading to gravel sites. Most sites were generally level and wide enough for an awning or slide-outs. There is not a lot of visual separation between the sites but they are well separated and about average for a state park (vs a tightly packed RV park).
Laundry facilities are available all year and the machines were in good working order, inside of a clean and usable laundry room.
The site had 50 amp service, a frost free (non-heated) hydrant, and sewer hookup. All utilities worked well. Other sites offer 30amp and water only, and there are several primitive campsites throughout. All sites have a fire-ring and a picnic table.
We had reasonable Verizon wireless internet access and had good ATT cellular access. Both were within 2-4 bars of LTE service (unboosted).
The park is located between two small towns, Pomona to the east and Lyndon to the west and offered very basic shopping and a few restaurants. Ottawa is the closest town of any size, offering traditional shopping and dining options. Kansas City is about an hour north.
Overall we really enjoyed our time here at Pomona State Park and will definitely be returning. - Geom
Jun 2014 - $22.00
This is a roomy state park with lots of grass and shade trees. There are sites of all sizes for both large rigs and smaller equipment. This a good park for an overnight stay or longer term. Swimming, marina, basketball, disc golf course, volleyball, tetherball. Equipment for check out at park office. It is clean and staff is friendly. This is on our "top ten" list. Price listed includes full hookups. - ksgypsy
Sep 2009 - $21.00
This campground is on Pomona Lake 24 miles south of Topeka. The campground is absolutely gorgeous with lots of trees and very spacious campsites. Every site is shaded. There are several different camping areas and some are primitive, but there are many full hookup sites and even more water/electric sites available. The sites in Burning Heart area are full hookup and there are several very long pull through sites that are quite nice. Most of the sites have only a view of the water, but there are a few water front sites near the marina. And several sites have no view of the water at all, but the wooded surroundings are very beautiful. We didn't use the shower facilities but the building looks very new and modern. We will definitely camp here again. The only reason I didn't give a 10 is that the cellphone service was marginal. Our wireless Internet card did work there however. - benidew


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Nominations Sought for Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine
November 7, 2013 - Albany , NY
ALBANY, N.Y., Nov. 7, 2013 - Nominations for the 2014 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, one of nation's largest and most prestigious scientific awards, are being accepted through Dec. 6, 2013.
The $500,000 Albany Prize was created in 2000 to recognize a physician, biomedical scientist, or group of physicians or scientists who have made extraordinary and sustained contributions to improving health care and patient care or who have successfully pursued innovative biomedical research that has demonstrated translational benefits for improved patient care.
Eligible are practitioners or scientists whose accomplishments and outcomes have been demonstrated in the past quarter century, with preference to demonstrated accomplishments in the past decade.
Five Albany Prize winners have gone on to win the Nobel Prize. Recipients of the prize have included noted infectious disease researcher and clinician Anthony Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health; Tissue engineering founder Robert S. Langer, M.D., professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Human genetics pioneers David Botstein, Ph.D., Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., and Eric S. Lander, Ph.D.; and groundbreaking molecular researchers Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D., and Joan Steitz, Ph.D.
A letter of nomination must include a description of the nominee's extraordinary or sustained contribution to improving health care and patient care; or a description of innovative biomedical research with demonstrated translational benefits applied to improved patient care. The Selection Committee also requests two additional letters of support for each nomination, as well as the curriculum vitae of each person nominated, with a bibliography of important publications and articles. No self-nominations will be accepted.
Electronic submission is encouraged at: firstname.lastname@example.com. For more information, including booklets and nomination forms, visit: http://www.amc.edu/Academic/AlbanyPrize/prize_criteria.cfm.
By mail, please submit to:
Kim Fine, Committee Secretary
Executive Vice President, Policy, Planning and Communications
The Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research
c/o Albany Medical Center, 628 Madison Avenue - 2nd Floor, Y206B
Albany, New York 12208
Albany Medical Center, northeastern New York's only academic health sciences center, is one of the largest private employers in the Capital Region. It incorporates the 734-bed Albany Medical Center Hospital, which offers the widest range of medical and surgical services in the region, and the Albany Medical College, which trains the next generation of doctors, scientists and other healthcare professionals, and also includes a biomedical research enterprise and the region's largest physicians practice with nearly 400 doctors. Albany Medical Center works with dozens of community partners to improve the region's health and quality of life. For more information: www.amc.edu or www.facebook.com/albanymedicalcenter .
Media Inquiries:
Sue Ford
(518) 262 - 3421
Statistical information presented in press releases may no longer be valid.


text:
You're that girl designs from Etsy Follow
Featured in Beautiful Something Blues for $75 or Less.
Something blue for budget brides 8.
Find Veils and Accessories Near You:
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text:
How to Send an Anonymous Message Using SilentSender
Sending an anonymous email is becoming more and more popular as people are looking for safe ways to communicate with each other without revealing their identities. However, there are other methods for sending anonymous messages in lieu of the traditional fake email senders; the most common being "re-mailers". The broad term "anonymous email" refers to one of several methods for communicating an anonymous message via some form of electronic communication. Re-mailers strip identifying information from the header of the email and use a several techniques to obscure of the origin (the I.P. address) of the sender. Unfortunately, this technique is not always foolproof. Also, there is no guarantee that internet service providers, anonymous email site owners and proxy server providers won't relinquish revealing information if presented with a subpoena. At the end of the day, despite what you believe, there really is no such thing as being truly "anonymous" on the internet. But, you can limit your risks by using an anonymous messaging service instead of a traditional anonymous email service. Follow the step-by-step guide below to avoid all the hacker exploits and cloak and dagger routine.
This article has been tagged as a stub.
That means it's off to a good start, but still has room to grow into a more helpful resource. Until the article reaches its full potential, it will be hidden from search results. Can you help it flourish? If you think the article offers complete and accurate instructions, feel free to remove this tag.
1Navigate to SilentSender.com. The interesting thing about Silent Sender is that you never need to use your email address to send an anonymous message. Another interesting aspect of this service is that the actual message is not sent to the recipients email. Interesting eh? If you try it out on yourself you will found that their novel approach really is quite clever. These are the steps to send an anonymous message.
2Spend some time on the website getting to understand how the service works. There is a nice video in the 'How it works' section that accurately and easily describes how the service protects your identity. At the home page you are presented with a simple form for inputting the recipient's email address, a short message (about the length or a tweet) along with a CAPTCHA code to protect against spamming.
3Enter your own email address (or the address you want to send a message to), type out a test message, agree to the terms of service, enter the CAPTCHA code and hit send. You will be presented with a message indicating the message had been sent.
4Five seconds later an email from firstname.lastname@example.com will show up in your inbox. Open the email and you will find a nicely laid out notification email informing you that someone has sent you a "secret" along with a tracking number to retrieve the message. This is where this service stands out. Instead of receiving the actual message, you will receive a notification that the message is waiting for you to pick-up.
5Click on the link with the unique tracking number and you will be taken back the Silent Sender's home page where the tracking number is pre-populated in the get message form. Agree to the terms of service and click 'get message' and your message will be immediately displayed right in front of you.
Community Q&A
|How to send an anonymous email
- This is quite clever because when you try to come back to the message later you will find that as soon as the message is displayed and you click-off the site it is permanently erased from their servers becoming totally irretrievable. This is great added security in case someone goes through your email and finds the notification email and tries to follow it back to the site to see what the message said. When you try to retrieve a message that has already been picked-up you are presented with a status message that says the message has either expired or has already been picked-up. It is also apparent that if a message isn't retrieved within 7 days of being sent, it is automatically deleted.
Article Info
Categories: Stub | Email and Instant Messaging
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 19,176 times.


text:
Retail Stores in Cortland NY
Cortland Army/Navy Surplus
3960 US Rt. 11 South, P.O. Box 548
Cortland, NY 13045
Contact: Joseph R. Rosato
Phone: (866) 333-5637
Fax: (607) 753-3886
E-mail: email@example.com
Web: www.surplusjoes.com
Military suprlus and clothing, BDU'S, camping and hiking equipment, military pins, patches, rank, military and Bates Boots. Topo maps and Fingerlake Trail maps. Flags.
Surplus Joe's Military Surplus (online division of Cortland Army Navy Store) sells military surplus, BDU's, M65 Field Jackets, hats and caps, flags, weapon accessories, and manuals.


text:
Happy Pillow Perfume
By Comme Des Garcons for Women
Happy Pillow Perfume by Comme Des Garcons, Refreshing scent that smells like golden sunlight on a beautiful day . florals and citrus makes for a fragrance that you'll want to wear day or night. All products are original, authentic name brands. We do not sell knockoffs or imitations. ... Read More
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text:
September 29, 2002
Nick Marinello
Life is more complicated than it looks," says Denise Newman, observing a fact that should be obvious to most undergraduates, but often is not. When she begins teaching in the spring, Newman will drive home this point by drawing on her own research experience about how the mind functions.
Newman, who arrived on campus in September, is the newest addition to the psychology department faculty. Her research interests in developmental psychopathology have led her to study the relationship between the developing mind, cognition and emotions. Of Ojibwa and Metis descent herself, Newman specifically has focused her research on young American Indian children, exploring how emotional and brain development join together to help people adapt to new experiences.
"When children enter pre-school, they are learning how to express how they feel, communicate what they need, and coexist with others with competing demands," she says. "Those skills come together as the brain develops. There are individual differences in how children acquire these skills. Some kids adapt well to school and others have trouble."
Newman notes that the interplay between brain development and the demands of the external environment get more complex as children age. "Initially, at home, they typically have few other people around them. It's mostly their parents who are helping to explain the world around them. The children enter preschool and suddenly there are other kids, teachers and new expectations of them."
Ideally, she says, the brain will develop at a rate that can handle the growing complexities of their lives. But when it doesn't, the children can be overwhelmed by their experiences, and problems can occur. "You can't ignore sadness, rage or frustration and plow through material on teaching numbers and the alphabet," she says. "You have to meet children and people in general as whole, thinking and feeling souls."
Children from minority groups may be particularly prone to this gap between brain development and experiential input. "I think there are more demands from the environment on ethnic minority kids," says Newman. "Their environment is more complicated because of social forces, because of the subtle and not-so-subtle social and economic disparities in the world we live in."
Leaving the University of Virginia, where she spend the last five years, Newman will get her feet wet at Tulane this semester by supervising graduate school practicums for the psychology program. Next semester she will teach Personality Psychology to undergraduates, who as developing young adults experience the ongoing kind of give and take between the internal and external world that children do.
"They, too, need to know as much about what is getting in the way of their understanding and how to ask the right questions as they do about just acquiring more knowledge," says Newman. "We are all both emotional creatures and thinking creatures."
Outside the classroom, Newman will be busy setting up a research operation similar to the Emotion and Personality Development Lab she left at UVA. In fact, she is bringing two ongoing projects with her: "Teen Pathways Study" and "Transition To School Study." She already has high expectations for the influence of her new home on her work. "New Orleans is a brand-new context for me and there are doubtless all kinds of new factors here that influence people's lives."
Nick Marinello may be reached at email@example.com.
Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118 504-865-5000 firstname.lastname@example.com


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Company leaders recognized this need, and approximately four years ago, they set out to determine what technical and managerial skills were needed to keep up with the rapid growth. Then, armed with a list of these characteristics, the company's HR professionals embarked on a massive organizational development effort designed around a new entity known as Applied Global University (AGU). Established just two years ago, AGU is an internal organization dedicated to building the capabilities the company needs to be successful.
AGU, which is part of the HR department, oversees $30 million worth of annual training and development activities. Its mission? "To make employee development visible, efficient and strategic," explains Jim Hessler, managing director of AGU. In so doing, everything AGU does is lockstep with the rest of human resources. The organization is involved in recruitment, performance management, retention—even reorganization, if necessary. "By working with HR, all development activities are more closely aligned with the business process," Hessler explains. "This way, we don't have training that's separate from what we're trying to achieve as a company."
It wasn't always this way—at Applied Materials or any other major U.S. corporation. Training, although a part of HR, has long been an independent operator. Training professionals have traditionally stitched together a patchwork of training programs with little thought given to overall corporate objectives. The training developed for manufacturing employees was different from the training for technical employees, which was different still from the training offered to managers. Not only that, employee development was rarely linked to other HR activities. Employees often were hired based on one skill set, promoted based on another, and trained on yet other competencies that may or may not directly impact their job performance. This mishmash of efforts was costly, wasteful and unproductive.
Fortunately, all this is changing now as HR professionals begin to realize that to stay competitive, training and all other HR activities have to work together to support and reinforce corporate strategy. "In high-performing companies, HR departments are more closely integrated," explains Kerri Folmer, director of the Human Capital Group at Watson Wyatt Worldwide in San Francisco. By forgetting about ownership and turf battles, Folmer says HR professionals can more clearly identify the people practices needed to help the company reach its strategic goals.
Why training and other HR activities are becoming more closely aligned. According to Alice J. Pescuric, vice president of the Workforce Effectiveness Practice at Development Dimensions International (DDI) in Pittsburgh, companies are becoming savvier about the need to integrate training and other HR practices for a number of reasons.
First, there's tremendous pressure on all fronts to do more with less. Naturally, the way this is done is by becoming more efficient and eliminating redundancies and unnecessary work. Why should three separate training programs be developed for management, technical and manufacturing employees if the course content is the same throughout? By working together, each HR group can take advantage of established capabilities.
Second, enterprisewide technology and reengineering are making it possible for the entire HR department to become integrated in a way never before possible. Today, information on recruitment, benefits, training, performance management, skill sets, payroll and succession planning all can be stored and accessed in the same information system.
The third reason HR and training are working more closely together is because of the pressure felt by every corporate function to become strategic bottom-line business partners—or get outsourced. This not only applies to HR as a whole but to every activity within HR, including training.
"When put together, all of these factors are forcing HR to pool its resources and take a holistic look at business objectives," Pescuric says.
Interestingly enough, in many organizations, it's the training department that's spearheading this integration. As companies strive to become learning organizations that are capable of adapting quickly to market changes, training professionals are giving up their old role as classroom trainer. Instead they're becoming "performance consultants" who work to boost productivity in a variety of ways of which traditional classroom training may play only a small part.
"Trainers are starting to talk about the entire business process," Pescuric explains. This is because not all performance problems are training problems. "If, when holding a gun to an employee's head he or she will perform for you, the problem isn't a training problem," she says. It may be a problem with the rewards or performance-management systems, a problem of unclear roles or a lack of information. Because there are so many things that impact performance, trainers are becoming more intimately involved in—or at least aware of—other HR activities.
How training integrates with other HR functions. One of the ways trainers are taking on a more strategic, performance-oriented mindset is by working with the rest of HR to train line managers in HR responsibilities.
At the Sony Technology Center, a San Diego-based division of Sony Electronics Inc., trainers consider themselves consultants to the line organization. They work to help managers throughout the company understand their HR responsibilities. Instead of HR bearing the burden of hiring and performance management, for example, Sony's executives believe better performance occurs when individual managers are responsible for these activities.
Debby Swanson, manager of training and organizational development at Sony, says Sony's training consultants are helping supervisors and line managers by:
- Training them how to hire employees using DDI's targeted selection process, which is a competency-based approach to hiring. By helping managers learn how to effectively interview candidates based on a predetermined list of job competencies, trainers empower managers to make smart hiring decisions on their own.
- Working with the company's equal employment opportunity administrator to provide annual updates on departmental affirmative-action goals. The trainers hold regular informational sessions for managers about their roles and responsibilities in maintaining affirmative action in the company.
- Training managers how to develop performance plans and conduct performance reviews. "We teach managers the skills and processes necessary to conduct performance reviews, attack performance-improvement problems and conduct performance-planning discussions," Swanson says.
In addition to partnering with HR to give managers HR skills and responsibilities, trainers are working hard to change the way training is delivered. "Because of the speed of change and the pace of work today, people don't have as much time to come to training," Swanson says. "They don't have time for role plays. They want real-time, short-version, bottom-line, value-added tips they can use right away." At Sony, for example, trainers are starting to put together short meeting topics that can be delivered in less than an hour. They also are looking at putting resources and reminders on the company intranet so employees have just-in-time access to information.
The trend toward alternative delivery methods has certainly created changes at BASF Corp., a chemical company based in Mount Olive, New Jersey. Three years ago, as part of a reengineering process, the company's HR function identified a strong need for an employee career-development system. "We needed a system that balanced employee career-planning needs with the talent requirements of the organization as a whole," explains David Wight, manager of career development. In creating the system, HR chose not to develop employees through traditional training but through work-related development opportunities. "Adults learn by doing," Wight says. Although the career-development system is still evolving, BASF's trainers probably won't be training employees in order to fill skill gaps. Instead, they'll be working with HR to educate managers on the importance of supporting employee development through special assignments, work rotations and other on-the-job development opportunities. To support this new direction, the company's other HR systems, including internal job posting, performance management and incentive compensation, are being revamped. "We need to make sure HR is pulling in the same direction," Wight says.
But even trainers who continue to provide regular classroom training are becoming more strategic and mindful of overall HR objectives. For example, HR professionals at Transamerica Life Companies in Los Angeles have spent the last two years identifying the skills and capabilities needed to achieve the company's overall business strategy. "We needed some kind of model to look at the way we manage, assess and develop people," explains Michael Wolfe, vice president of corporate human resources. In doing so, the company executives identified job competencies that are needed companywide. These include such skills as communication, accountability, initiative and collaboration. They also identified competencies such as technical knowledge or value focus that are needed only in certain business units. These competencies will be used by HR to make hiring, promotion and compensation decisions. Furthermore, all employee training and development activities will be linked to the competencies.
According to Wolfe, when employees are assessed based on their individual competency profile and that profile is compared to corporate requirements, development needs become clear. Thus, trainers can begin to develop training based on clearly identified employee needs.
"In the past, training was delivered based on a shotgun approach," he says. For example, every manager might be sent to training on how to interview applicants, regardless of whether or not all managers demonstrated a need for that kind of training. "Today, the training is tailored and targeted to an individual's development plan."
Consider an HR generalist approach. The fact that Transamerica no longer has a training "department" is proof of the company's commitment to link training with other strategic HR objectives. "We reengineered HR three years ago, eliminating the training department," Wolfe says. This allows the company's HR professionals to serve as generalists who are more concerned with overall corporate strategy than individual administrative responsibilities. Today, these generalists provide the necessary training.
The HR generalist approach may be a good one for other companies to consider, especially those in which silos still exist between human resources functions. The best way to integrate training with hiring, performance management, compensation, benefits, job posting and other facets of HR is by eliminating the barriers between them. As Wolfe explains: "Today, we've broken down the walls and have a fully integrated approach to managing the employee asset. Selection, development, pay and training are all connected to a set of criteria that's common to that individual. We no longer hire under one criteria set, pay under another and train under another. We're fully integrated, and as a result, HR as a function has become more of a consultative, facilitative group rather than a back-room, paper-pushing function."
Obviously, this kind of structure won't be easy for organizations that have yet to start down the path toward integration. Turf battles are common throughout Corporate America and HR is no exception. What advice do experienced HR professionals have about getting started? "Focus on the business objectives," Swanson says. "I don't mean to be trite about it, but if you're constantly looking at your internal customers' needs, then out of that you have to align. Instead of focusing on internal responsibilities within HR, focus on external objectives. This way, you can't help but connect with each other. At least, it works that way when we do it."
Workforce, May 1998, Vol. 77, No. 5, pp. 88-93.


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Jerry Williams (51), formerly of Naples, Florida, and currently residing in Fort Worth, Texas, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and making false statements to federal regulators. Williams faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set. "Williams is another senior bank executive being held criminally responsible for ... Read More »
YachtOne Fraudster Pleads Guilty To Yacht-Investment Scam
On January 6, 2012, Alton Milton pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection with a yacht-investment scam and could face between 27 and 33 months in prison with three years of supervised release and ordered to pay over $886,000 in resitution. Milton admitted the details of his crime before the Judge last week. In approximately May 2004, Minton entered into ... Read More »
Attorney Sentenced In $50 Million Bank Fraud
Kevin Harold Lewis was sentenced to 121 months incarceration to be followed by three years of supervised release for bank fraud. Lewis was also ordered to pay $33,826,326 in restitution. An additional amount of restitution will be considered after briefs are filed regarding the loss to Centennial Bank of Cabot, Arkansas. Lewis was ordered to report to the Bureau of ... Read More »


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Q&A: Mark Forman and Jeff Steinhoff on the future of federal financial management
Federal financial management is poised to undergo a new wave of transformation, say former information technology and financial management federal officials. With the closing of the Financial Systems Integration Office comes an opportunity to integrate disparate systems with cloud computing, say Mark Forman and Jeff Steinhoff, both former federal officials now with consulting firm KPMG.
FierceGovernmentIT recently spoke in depth with Forman and Steinhoff; below is a full transcript of the interview.
Forman headed the office of e-government and information technology at the Office of Management and Budget from mid 2001 through mid 2003. Steinhoff ended his government career in 2008 after lastly serving as the Government Accountability Office's managing director for financial management and assurance, and assistant comptroller general for accounting and information management.
Forman is a partner at KPMG and Steinhoff is executive director of KPMG's government institute.
FierceGovernmentIT heartily recommends you read the entire transcript--and not just because we like page views. Despite the length of the Q&A, there's insight a plenty. However, for highlights from the conversation, read this recap.
FGIT: So what happened at the FSIO (Federal Systems Integration Office) conference last week?
FORMAN: Basically, OMB explained the justification for shutting down FSIO, and laid out their vision for the future on federal financial management reform, and then explained , through speakers from OMB and Treasury and others, what's going to change in financial management, where they're going to invest resources and what the implications of moving to cloud computing means for federal financial management, which is a fascinating discussion. Jeff's got some more specifics.
STEINHOFF: Folks acknowledge there's been a lot of progress in the last couple of decades in financial systems, but they expressed a view that a lot more can be done, and we have to do a little better job of getting a return on the funds invested in systems. There was the common view from the various speakers, from OMB and Treasury, that we're spending over $2 billion a year in financial systems and development projects, and that these projects oftentimes take 8 to 10 years. Many times they're related to complex, ERP-driven projects. Folks feel there has not been enough successful proven results from this, and that data quality suffers, because data is managed in multiple locations through multiple systems. There was an expressed frustration that despite good work and good intentions, we have not gotten the result that is needed.
Also, they focused on the factor of multiple processes that are common across the federal government, but that people handle with different systems in different ways. They focused a little bit on the open government directive, and the fact that we have to do a little better job of ensuring the quality of spending information, and ensuring that what we have is consistent. And, that we've got the emergence and growing maturity of new Web-based data exchange technologies that are providing an opportunity to take a more innovative view of this. If one is looking at the open government directive and accountability and transparency, one is looking at the integration of information from a variety of systems. In looking at how the financial systems requirements were developed, they were largely predicated on accounting rules and regulations, and the ability to prepare a financial statement. Whereas now, we're trying to push out information on spending--recovery.gov and other forums. And, that we have to have more of a collaborative approach where we're looking at information.
They announced the establishment of the Office of Financial Innovation and Transformation. This will be a collaborative partnership between Treasury and OMB, and its goal is to set what they called a new course in financial management. They're looking to partner, not only within Treasury and OMB, but to receive collaborative support from the federal agencies and tie together not just the CFOs, but the CIOs, CAOs and other communities.
In looking at this particular office, they're looking at 10 to 12 people. Adam Goldberg, who now is at OMB, I think he starts his new job at April 1. [Goldberg is currently OMB's financial analysis and systems branch chief.] They want to be a canvas for change, they want to fundamentally work change on how financial management is viewed.
They have a number of goals. They want to reduce costs--there was a wide belief that we're spending too much to get too little. [They want to] improve the quality of data, create efficiencies.
I think what we're really seeing is that they want to go beyond individual agency solutions and move to centralized solutions for common business practices and processes. Examples would be invoicing, intergovernmental transactions, create standard ways of doing business, business rules, implement standards that support standard processes. No longer will everybody be able to say 'I know that a payment is a payment, but I'm different. I know a loan's a loan, but I'm different, I need to have a different system or a different way of doing it.'
FGIT: Weren't the Financial Management Line of Business shared service centers meant to solve a lot of the problems you just mentioned?
FORMAN: Yes.
STEINHOFF: Yes, and I think what this is the next stage of evolution of that concept.
FORMAN: If you think about the whole cloud computing concept, let's just bucket it as software as a service, or buying IT as service. That's what the line of business initiative was. Our [KPMG's] studies on Sarbanes-Oxley implementation show that an awful lot of companies got to achieve the quality of financial management required under Sarbanes Oxley by moving to a shared services model and by consolidating and integrating their diverse financial platforms. That was the intent of the FMLoB. Now a number of the financial management services are moving into the cloud. That's the same model--shared services--it's just rather than buying it in bulk, you're buying it on a utility model, you're buying it on a per-use basis.
If you went to the shared services organizations that exist in the government under the Government Management Reform Act, these franchise organizations, like National Business Center, National Finance Center, are supposed to allocate their cost over the customer base and charge them back during the financial year. That's a little different model than a per transaction financing basis. But the whole notion under the line of business of buy once, use many--that shared service concept, that notion that we're going to get it done once or twice and we're not going to pay for 50 different organizations to figure it out--I think that's pretty much what OMB is saying.
STEINHOFF: One of the concerns that OMB raised was the fact that while we have the standards, the system requirements, that the FSIO was responsible for, and in fact potential core systems were tested against those requirements, [but] there was so much customization and everybody claimed they were different, that at the end of the day, we really weren't buying a commercial off-the-shelf package. There really were very few entities that went that way.
And, then when people started going to huge ERP solutions, for which they were dumping hundreds of millions of dollars, in some cases in excess of $1 billion, they were over-engineered, not well designed, everybody invented their own wheel. There was just problem after problem. At the same time, there's a recognition--I think some of the speakers were saying this very well throughout the conference--that when we went to a recovery.gov approach, we found that a lot of these agency systems couldn't really accommodate that. They knew how much money went out in certain ways for accounting purposes, but not in terms of ability to use the information for this broader reporting that tracked where the money went and how the money was used. That triggered even greater focus.
If we can't really use these systems we're investing in and spending a lot of money on for something other than preparing a financial statement at year end and having it audited, and we're not able to compare, contrast, exchange and adapt information, then we're probably not going in the right direction.
When they spoke at this conference, they spoke in conceptual terms. Eventually, the devil will be in the details on how they roll out this new approach.
There were also a number of speakers, Jeffrey Zients [OMB deputy director for management and chief performance officer; click for a .pdf of his conference presentation] and others, who were making a point that the federal government has fallen further behind the private sector's ability to capitalize on technology.
You've got all these legacy standalone systems that can't readily talk to each other well, you've a lot a heroic efforts going on just to pull information together. We need to step back and say, 'Is there a better paradigm here?'
However, in life you have cultural transformation. And that doesn't happen quickly. Harvard has studied this--I think they said it takes seven to eight years. I think we're in that zone where people have been bating this around for seven to eight years, we have more and more service being provided today than ever envisioned before, and I think what you're going to see is through the budget process, people are going to be told, 'We're not going to give you $100 million to replace your so-and-so system.'
Some of the areas they want is to have information more accessible, to stakeholders and the public, they want to look for ways to eliminate the paper flow, to actually reduce the financial transactions, where things have to be recorded and re-recorded, which are very expensive. They want to have a strategy for assessing financial data, if someone needs financial data for something, through one source. As opposed to, one of the examples cited quite often was, was 'We need to know what something cost or what happened,' and the person calls all around the country and reports back 'We reported umpty-ump dollars, with one caveat--Bill is on sick leave today, so we don't know what that center spent, but the last time we called, Bill guessed it was so much.'
They want the systems to be where the information is residing, and they have the ability to pull that information out.
In characterizing where they are today, they referred to the information technology as outdated, the systems fragmented--these are their words--projects poorly executed. Information technology inhibits productivity and performance gains. I think they're looking, they made it very clear, to close the gap by going to cloud computing technologies, because they do want to improve not only the quality and the usability of the information--the value of it--but they want to reduce the cost. They feel they're spending far too much, not only to develop systems and to run those systems, but to actually process transactions.
FGIT: I wonder if there's two things going on. First is an expansion of the data that's going to come out of financial management systems--in order to track spending and not just put together audit reports--and secondly a change from service centers current model to cloud computing. Is that right?
STEINHOFF: I think cloud computing is a way to facilitate the organization of the information. I think they'll still have these service centers, and they'll have standard approaches for doing certain things.
FORMAN: I would look as the cloud approach as the next generation of federal financial management tools. Just to give you a feel for part of their vision, there's a company called NetSuite. And I think you see in Microsoft's Azure a very similar approach.
NetSuite is a software as a service model, so that's a cloud ERP. My last company went to NetSuite as our ERP. It took us a month to get operational. Now, we were a small company--NetSuite handles companies up to $1 billion...but it's a month to two months. That's a fraction of what it takes federal agencies, and some of them are not a lot bigger than that. Even if they are bigger, the types of transactions are not different. It's the same transactions, just with a lot more iterations.
STEINHOFF: Yes.
FORMAN: That doesn't really change the accounting model. Now, what makes that different?
In the status quo for federal agencies, you have a finance system that's separated from the budgeting system, sometimes. You have the finance and the budget systems that are separated from purchasing or asset management, other supply management systems, HR systems. Whereas what industry is moving to is simplifying all those disparate systems. Those systems in the government and the commercial world grew up in the days of client-server applications. If you look at the federal IT budget, the vast majority of spending over the last 10 years, in fact, I'd say over the last 15 years, has been on client server systems. It doesn't matter if you're talking about financial management or program management. The government, like everybody else, was buying client-server systems, because that's the way the IT industry supplied technology. That's all shifting now. You buy technology on an utility model. And so whether it's an application that you buy as software as a service or hosting that you're buying virtualized--could be storage, could be network processing or data center processing--you're buying the technology differently now than you were 10 years ago.
That's going to have an impact not just on financial management, but on all those other disparate systems. It turns out in financial management, people are saying this is an area that we've got a lot of manual processes that should be automated, like Jeff's example, where an organization goes out for a data call to find what's the status, what's our current financial data. Nobody has it, because a lot of these systems don't talk to each other.
When you go to the cloud, you're buying the transaction processing as a service, so there's much more standardization. That data is going into a standardized database, so you don't' even have to do data warehousing with the complexity of what you used to do, because of the standardization of the data. OMB has started down this path with the standard financial information structure and the common government-wide classifications, the CGAC, and the Defense variant of that is called SFIS, Standard Financial Information Structure. So, that's all that's happening now--it's a natural evolution to the way you buy IT. But, it is a big shift from the client-server separation between the finance systems, the budgeting systems, the HR systems, the procurement systems. That's going to be more tightly coupled, and that's going to simplify people getting real time access to real-time financial data.
FGIT: You couldn't achieve that with policy rather than buying new technology?
FORMAN: Unfortunately, the reason that this is a policy issue is because, as Jeff said--based on the Harvard research--it takes seven to eight years for people to change what they've got. And that, in part, is because these systems lock in with the current organization structure. Now, that organization structure has to change away from the silos of information. I think you've got to expect to see a lot more integration between purchasing processes and financial management processes.
STEINHOFF: It gets down to, many times, to who owns the information. These agencies are very large for the most part. The CFO Act agencies have got quite a bit of autonomy. I go back to the CFO Act, when it was enacted back in 1990, and when one looks at that act, I've always felt that the three most important provisions in that act was not an audited financial statement at year's end. That was just one mechanism to get folks to focus on some of the blocking and tackling. The three most powerful provisions in that act were the call for the system management of performance, the development of cost information, and the integration of systems. Meaning financial, budget and program systems.
Again, folks have come a long, long, long way from where they were back in 1990. It's not even the same playing field today. It's like going from a Little League team to being on the Yankees. But at the same time, there's a recognition that we've spent a lot of money and we have to, as a government, look for a different solution. And there are a lot of opportunities here.
If one looks at the transformation objectives that were discussed by Treasury folks at this conference, one of the areas they're going to focus on first is to centralized vendor payment processing information. They want to have an integrated approach to it, where they do all invoice purchase and payments on a government-wide level. They want to have a central utility for intergovernmental transactions. That's one of the reasons Treasury can't pass a financial audit. One agency records a transaction one way, another agency might record half of that transaction a little different way. Both of them pass an audit test, but the government is out of balance by hundreds of millions of dollars if not by billions of dollars.
FORMAN: We used to talk about the feeder system issues, and the fact that one of the reasons why financial management systems failed so badly was that feeder systems were so complex, that they required customization of interfaces with the financial systems. And that tended to disrupt a number of things that led to audit problems. So where are the key audit problems that you ought to focus on if you're going to fix these issues? One is in what the government calls the procure-to-pay process. In the commercial world it's called order-to-cash. But it's basically the processes that relates the financial management, the purchasing and the inventory management all together, the receipt of goods. That's the feeder system issue that's got to get fixed. The government tried to fix that with the Financial Management Line of Business, and yet because of the difficulties and the fact that the end-to-end process integration was not generally done in agencies, it was not fixed.
Similarly, inter-agency transactions is another recurring audit problem. Although it's being done on a computer, it's an automated manual process. The commercial world has focused on this, they had to because of Sarbanes-Oxley. In moving to the cloud , I think again OMB is looking for the shared services approach, the line of business on steroid approach, where you're adopting that same buy once, use many model. But we know that when we buy once, it's done right, and the expectation is that each agency doesn't have to figure out how to do it right, but each agency will have to use that instrument that the government has invested in to get it right.
FGIT: In order to get that integration, must there be a policy change?
FORMAN: Management policies shouldn't have to change. The primary ones that I'm looking at are A-123 [.pdf] and A-127, on the financial and business management side. They already lay out the path for integration. I think that when you dig in, the interpretation of those policies are going to have to be refined to reflect today's technology.
If you were to look at A-127, as an example, A-127 is the one that covers the financial and business systems of government. OMB issued a revised version of that in January 2009, with an effective date of Oct. 1, 2009. I think it's fair to say that at the FSIO conference, a lot of speakers didn't believe that FSIO was able to do what they needed in order to actually get that policy implementable this fiscal year. And so, it was supposed to be working the first day of the fiscal year, and it hasn't been. I think that was some of the frustration that was relayed. So, OMB is saying 'We can't do this with business as usual. We're going to move to take advantage of cloud computing concepts in order to implement this new A-127.'
A-123 similarly has the controls environment, and that was updated in 2008, to take into account specific the acquisition interfaces, the procure to pay process that we're talking about. The policies, I think, have been updated to do that.
You could argue that A-130, which is the systems policy, needs to be updated, because that was built for the client-server era. A-127, A-123, cut across the management elements of OMB. A-130 is owned my old office, the office e-government and IT. That should be updated, conceivably, but I don't know if there are any policy updates in that update.
STEINHOFF: The sense I got from the speakers is that OMB just didn't do this in a vacuum. They've been listening to and talking to CFOs and CAOs and others, and there was quite a bit of frustration that, again, going back to that central thesis that OMB and others laid out quite upfront - we're spending somewhere in the order of $2.3 billion a year on financial management systems that are taking us 5 to 10 years. Then, when they come up, they're not working as well as one expected, and we've had some very costly failures for systems that are running on life support, and they haven't provided to us the improvements we were looking for.
FORMAN: I don't know if I would call that so much a policy change so much as a management change.
STEINHOFF: I would agree.
FORMAN: I think the underlying policies are still pretty good. It's the difficulty in trying to implement those policies by continuing to invest in client-server financial management systems with all the other changes in the other client-server systems that they've had to interface with. What I think OMB is saying is 'We know there's not a complete set of technologies out there to replace those old approaches, but we also know that our old approach doesn't work. So, why keep spending money trying to make it work with the old approach, when technology is now evolving?'
FGIT: I guess the success of this assumes that there's going to be some federal agency offering cloud computing services.
FORMAN: I think that's more than an assumption. I think at the conference it was a very clear notion that there is going to be a set of shared services available in a cloud computing framework, and Jeff laid out three of those. I'd say from a process standpoint, you're really looking at the procure-to-pay and the budgetary reporting processes, where you'll see heavy emphasis on the use of cloud.
STEINHOFF: They're looking to have government-wide government financial management repositories, with one standard based architecture for all payments, all collections, other government-wide transactions. And it'll have supporting details that'll be in this repository that users can come in and pull and they want to have an integrated budgetary and financial reporting process that is supported by the underlying transactions, where someone can just go to the system and array the transactions in the way they wish to array those transactions, as opposed to being locked into a certain format or a certain way for that pattern to be displayed. If one looks at what they're doing in recovery.gov, they are arraying the information in a variety of ways to show how that money is being spent. Compare that to what DoD faced, when it was told by Congress, please report to us on how much the war on terror is costing, what's the Iraqi conflict costing? The department did not have systems, despite having tons of information in various forms.
There's no lack of information in systems in DoD, and they're extremely smart people, but they couldn't capture this cost information in a way that they could reliably report it back, and they basically had to resort to the data call approach, and having rules. Here are the rules when we call you on the phone on how you report this information back to us. And then you had people trying to understand what the rules were, and trying to adapt whatever information they in fact had. So, they're talking about building these repositories.
Again, as I said before, this is not something that's going to happen immediately, and time will tell how this goes. But I see it as the next stage.
Related Article:
Changes coming to federal financial management


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by Jeff Gaudette
Growth takes time and patience, but the payoff in the end is worth it.
by Duncan Larkin, Published Jul. 8, 2011, Updated Jul. 8, 2011 at 9:55 AM UTC
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Facts for visitors Prev. location Paris Routemap India Next location Jaipur
First I decided to collect my pocket knife. Then I put on other shoes ('teva's),
because otherwise they'll spray shit on it and ask, 'Shoe shine?' Then I thought
long about my plan: How will I arrive in the city without being overcharged
by taxi drivers and without having to pay a visit to all hotels and tourist
bureaus owned by their brothers, brothers-in-law and other relatives or relatives
of even vaguer taxi drivers?
The way to succeed was by being stubbornly self-assured. I was looking for the pre-paid
taxi stop but could not find it. Nobody knew where it was and everyone knew something better and
cheaper. So, I boasted that I had been here four times already, had an appointment at this
very taxi stop, was here on business and for a holiday, that my husband was already in
town and that nothing could be simpler than this.
Nothing I said seemed to help, but I was not going to give in! Finally an older man,
dressed in military outfit, who was probably a member of the local security service, offered
me some help and took me to the place where I wanted to be, while he kept brushing off the other
I think a small hour had passed, but I arrived on the right spot. Even though this
taxi driver also claimed not to know where the hotel was, to which I soberly replied that
it was strange how a person from Holland should know where the hotel could be found
and a person from Delhi shouldn't. After a few more efforts ('How long do you intend to stay here?',
'I'll have to see about that', 'How often have you been here?', 'Four times and I know
where I want to go to' and 'What other places do you intend to visit?', 'I don't know; no, I
do not need a tourist information office.') he gave up. And I had arrived at my hotel.
A nice middle class hotel to gradually get used to the place. Well, it was half past nine and I
had done it!!! (insert applause here...)
Actually, it was quite crowded in the streets. I have never ever seen so many kinds of
transport driving past, through and into each other. Crossing the street is a sport in itself.
In the beginning something can easily go wrong. When you think that the road is empty, the traffic
will come from the other side. Stupid Brits; they drive on the left! That's not convenient at a
crossing. Yes, that's right, it's quite dirty here, too. But it does not really smell of piss all
the time and there are public toilets. It's really amusing to see an Indian man in an office suit
stand in such a loo, suitcase in his right hand and in his left hand... (you know what I mean!)
You also have to explain once every 3 minutes
that you really do not need anything (not a trip, not a taxi, no handkerchiefs,
not a game of chess (who has taught these people all this???), no books, no
food, no drink, no shoes, no bedroom decoration, no [smeedijzeren] gate, etc.
etc.). It is tiring, but when you keep smiling you won't have any problems.
When you ask if there's a question mark on your head, they will know enough.
And they will all come up to you. (Isn't it strange, how people on crowded station
platforms in Rotterdam always sought ME out of all people? Then you can imagine
what it's like over here!)
On Monday I went around the whole of New Delhi; yesterday and today I mainly saw Old Delhi.
It's splendid! This is the place to be. Taking pictures is so difficult because every second
will provide you with another colourful and beautiful picture and you want to take them all.
I often forget to zoom in, but hopefully these pictures will give a good impression.
(Although I did take a few digital pictures, but I haven't had an opportunity to mail these.
Hopefully, this can be done soon.
If one of you should ever suffer from a lack of attention (even more than me, if that is possible)
then you should get a single ticket to Delhi and visit the fortress. This attracts a lot of visitors
and today even more because of me.
It is clear that I am not just a visitor from another continent, but also from another planet.
I am being stared at all the time, touched and everyone thinks everything about me is
beautiful (even my short red hair). My 'year club mascott' is being touched by everyone and
I am scared to death that I will lose it at some point. Not only children, but also
adults think it is beautiful. And the same goes for my Bugs Bunny cap. 'Nice cap,' they keep
saying. All was well, until at the end of my visit I sat down on a little wall near the fortress.
I shouldn't have done this. I think that in these ten minutes more pictures were taken of me
than in the past year. And all the time whole families, of which the little boy or the
father would ask me in their best English if they could have their pictures taken next to me.
You just don't know what's happening to you.
I am now in a little low budget hotel in the middle of the hustle and bustle.
It is very cheerful. As far as the other travellers go, I am a little disappointed. There are
lots of hippie girls and bearded geeks who are die hier hun ziel en zaligheid
lopen te verruimen, with or without the help of 'aphrodesia' which are available in all sorts,
measures and wrappings. In this street there is also 'the best sex doctor of the city', for
all your problems. So, next time I might look for a better neighbourhood.. (I'm only joking!)
Oh yes, I don't want to keep this from you (even though it is very silly): a neon advertisement
for bras. It says: 'Bras in all sizes' and underneath it says, 'A', 'B' and 'C', and these
letters burn in turns; it's not a pretty sight!]
Tomorrow I will travel by train to Jaipur, which is about 300 kilometres south
east from Delhi. I have managed to arrange a ticket all by myself! It's quite
clever when you consider that already thirty people have told me where to find
the best tourist information office in the city... I could go on for hours about
this magnificent city, but I will save you from that. As I said before, it is
a bit like Mexico City, but at the same time different again. The head has been
bitten off, it has not been as bad as I'd expected, on to the next city.
Prev. location Paris Routemap India Next location Jaipur


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Rene Bastian, Linda Moran, and Adam Folk's Belladonna Productions has announced a pair of deals for projects by Jim Mickle. The filmmaker's "Mulberry Street," which had its North American premiere at SXSW in March and later screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, is set for theatrical distribution on 300 screens via the After Dark Horrorfest with LIONSGATE handling DVD distribution of the event's eight films. Belladonna also announced that it has optioned Joe R. Lansdale's novel Cold in July for Mickle to direct and adapt with "Mulberry Street" co-writer Nick Domici. A graduate of film school at NYU, Mickle recently signed with UTA and the BenderSpink Management Company. "Mickle's unrivaled knowledge and experience of the suspense and horror genre will serve this property well," commented Moran, in a statement, "We have enormous faith in Jim to bring the story to the screen in a way that preserves the tone and intention of Lansdale's' novel." For more information on the After Dark Horrorfest, visit the event's website. [Eugene Hernandez]
By Indiewire | Indiewire October 25, 2007 at 4:16AM


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Download our free Treatwell app.
Earn up to 90 Reward points. Read more »
This treatment is individualized to your hair type by diagnosis and the subsequent use of the relevant Ayurvedic products. According to authentic Ayurvedic recipes, a herbal blend is applied onto your scalp and hair to nourish and rejuvenate. While enjoying the mask a gentle face marma (vital) point massage is performed. A special oil blend compress is then used to nourish the hair, followed by a deep scalp massage.
This hair and scalp treatment stimulates healthy growth of the hair and provides your hair with a healthy, strong appearance.
It also calms and soothes hyperactive minds.


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Mennin's Hallow is a secluded and hidden community in the Uzuid Mountains. It was founded by a cleric named Mennin who understood early the necessity of quarantine. He brought a few people he trusted with him and settled in a village of the diminutive mountain hillfolk. The lowlanders brought with them more advanced techniques in milling, farming, and manufacture to supplement the hill peoples' goat-herding economy.
The village grew haphazardly, with little planning of layout beyond the construction of a dam across the spring to get more power for the new mill. The current population is about 280 people, 60 or so of whom are the indigenous hillfolk who resemble the stoutlings from the other side of the mountains. The farms and goats only barely support the village, leaving little surplus to trade and thus little reason for contact with the outside world. The Hallow depends on its isolation to protect it from illness.
The Hallow is currently governed by Mennin's second son, who serves as mayor and justicer, with six officers under him. Tradespeople include a chandler, charcoaler, three cobblers, furrier, mason, two metalsmiths, miller/baker, ostler, physician, two tailors, tavern, weaver, and two woodcrafters.
C&C greatly appreciated.


text:
- Bargaineering - http://www.bargaineering.com/articles -
How Do Tax Brackets Work?
Posted By Jim On 04/23/2013 @ 7:05 am In Taxes | 11 Comments
When I was younger and I just started working, I didn't know how tax brackets worked because I would do my return in TurboTax and pay whatever I owed. I didn't care much about tax brackets because, honestly, it didn't really matter to me. So one day I look at the Federal tax brackets [3] and was perplexed as to how they were set up (this was back in 2003 but in order not to confuse you, I'll use 2013 tax bracket numbers in my story). I was making a great salary for a 23 year old, around $60,000, a year and I saw that I was firmly in the 25% tax bracket. When I went to do my taxes, I saw that my effective tax rate, as reported by Turbotax, was actually under 4%!
Why were my taxes so low? First, I started working in June so my wages were less than $40,000 (I had a small signing bonus and I also worked my last semester of college), and after the standard deduction and 401(k) contributions, my taxable income was around $25,000. That next year, I was given a raise of 4% and I saw that I'd still be in the 25% bracket but my effective tax rate was under 14%.
How could my tax rate be so much lower than my tax bracket?
The reason is because the brackets don't illustrate your tax rate on all of your income, just the income that falls within the bracket itself. That's what marginal means, the tax rate is assessed on your next dollar, not every dollar. Here are the 2013 tax brackets:
|Tax Bracket
|Married Filing Jointly
|Head of Household
|10% Bracket
|$0 – $8,950
|$0 – $17,900
|$0 – $12,900
|15% Bracket
|$8,950 – $36,250
|$17,900 – $72,500
|$12,750 – $48,600
|25% Bracket
|$36,250 – $87,850
|$72,500 – $146,400
|$48,600 – $125,450
|28% Bracket
|$87,850 – $183,250
|$146,400 – $223,050
|$125,450 – $203,150
|33% Bracket
|$183,250 – $400,000
|$223,050 – $450,000
|$203,150 – $400,000
|39.6% Bracket
As a single filer, the first $8,950 of taxable income (this is after all of your deductions and exemptions) is taxed at the 10% rate. The 8,951st dollar is taxed at 15%. The 8952nd dollar is also taxed at 15%. This is why, despite being in the 25% tax bracket (even with deductions and exemptions), my tax rate was still under 15% – I was deferring a lot of income via a 401(k) and because of marginal tax rates.
This misunderstanding is very common. Every year, around tax time, I get a deluge of emails about this subject because, let's be honest, it's not very clear. Most of the time it doesn't matter but occasionally I get emails from readers who are considering a career change but are worried they'll take home less money because the increase puts them in a higher tax bracket.
(Photo: John-Morgan [4])
Article printed from Bargaineering: http://www.bargaineering.com/articles
URL to article: http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/tax-brackets-work.html
URLs in this post:
[1] Tweet: http://twitter.com/share
[2] Email: mailto:?subject=http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/tax-brackets-work.html
[3] Federal tax brackets: http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/federal-income-irs-tax-brackets.html
[4] John-Morgan: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24742305@N00/5524891107/
Click here to print.
Thank you for reading!


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MSN Spaces will make blogs communication tools
Today, only 2% of all online consumers in the US have a personal blog. MSN Spaces is Microsoft's attempt to bring blogging into the mainstream. I had a preview of it last week but was just only now able to go in and set up a blog. From what I see, MSN has succeeded in creating a very solid, innovative communication tool.
MSN Spaces is very full featured – users can add posts from cell phones as well as via email. Drag-and-drop layout design and pre-fabbed templates make creating a custom look and feel a cinch. A couple of other innovations:
+ Permissions are linked into MSN Messenger and MSN Address books. Only .NET Passport email addresses are accepted.
+ Integration with MSN Photos and MSN Music to upload photo albums and playlists easily. Moreover, users can click on a playlist and sample or purchase the song or album.
+ Put Spaces content elsewhere on MSN. MSN Hotmail and Messenger have a new feature called Contact Cards that will take the latest post or photo added to your Space and displays it next to your contact information. When you update your Space, your name changes – it's like indicating the "presence" of new content, rather than your actual presence.
Notice a trend here? There's heavy integration of Spaces into the whole MSN communication suite of email and instant messaging. I think this is very smart, especially as MSN hopes to attract a new audience group to blogging. The next wave of bloggers is going to look very different from today's blogger – their motivation will be on sharing experiences rather than having a place for their ideas and opinions. The integration puts the blog in context of other communications, such as email and IM. If you're about to email me, you'll see my latest post/photo – instant context setting and traffic generation to my blog. If you mention the blog posts in an email/IM, I'll have even more incentive to keep blogging. That integration distinguishes MSN Spaces from other services like Lycos' Circles and other traditional blogging tool providers like Blogger.
So welcome MSN to the wonderful world of blogging!


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Tax cut impasse, gun swap, drugs, pot initiative, phone merger
No compromise on payroll tax
I found out earlier this month that I earned a 3 percent raise for my next year's salary. That was exciting. When combined with the tax increase I will now see come Jan. 1, I will actually make less per paycheck than I did this year. That is not at all exciting.
Letters and commentary policy
The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy.
- E-mail email@example.com
- Fax: (619) 260-5081
- Mail: Reader Outreach Editor
U-T San Diego,
P.O. Box 120191
San Diego, CA 92112-0191.
Tuesday's vote by the U.S. House to kick the payroll tax cut compromise to a conference committee is despicable ("House GOP rejects 2-month payroll tax cut," SignOnSanDiego.com, Dec. 20). It is an affront to democracy that Speaker John Boehner refused to schedule an up-or-down vote because he knew he would lose it, and it is an affront to good government that our hometown Reps. Darrell Issa, Brian Bilbray and Duncan Hunter fell in line with such political games.
It seems Republicans in Congress are more concerned with a failed strategy to beat Obama in 2012 than they are in helping me put money back into our economy. Rest assured, I will remember this in November. – Austin Evans, San Diego
Military retirees are finally getting a raise in 2012; however, the House's rejection on the payroll tax plan more than likely will wipe out the raise. Military retirement pay is taxed. – Bill Bartkus, San Diego
In my opinion, and thanks to our [?] Congress, we have once again become a nation that is at war (economically speaking) with itself! – H. Rick Tavares, Campo
Trade-in is off target
In response to "Annual gun swap hits mark" (Local, Dec. 20): I hope the people who traded in their guns feel safer now that all those people stood inline for hours to trade in their weapons.
Why is it that people who have the means to protect themselves would relinquish this right by mistakenly give up their best chance to do so? The best part is the woman who works for a gun dealer traded in weapons because she gets more than the are worth.
Once again a city wastes money so that people can feel good even if they really shouldn't. – Bruce Kent, San Diego
Put U.S. drug appetite on debate docket
Upon reading "Latin American leaders rip U.S." (Dec. 20), that Latin American leaders are condemning the U.S. government for the soaring drug violence that the hemisphere is paying for with "our blood, our fear and our human sacrifice," and have expressed disgust for U.S. drug consumers who fuel this violence with their appetite for illegal drugs, I don't seem to recall this subject being addressed by our president or by the current candidates for the GOP nomination.
To be sure, both national and local politicians have engaged in countless peripheral discussions regarding securing our borders by fences or by manpower, but none have addressed the responsibility for which drug consumers must be charged. Although regulatory or market options decriminalizing the personal use of narcotics seem to be growing in favor, laws allowing medicinal marijuana stores in San Diego have been superseded by federal law; and thanks to the local U.S. Attorney, have been vigorously enforced.
But this is just window dressing which conveniently does not address the fact that there is a significant number of American voters who are regular users and who largely dismiss any responsibility for the mayhem south of our border. It can be argued that this denial of culpability stems from the fact that many of today's baby boomers were raised from birth in Marxism and a drug-tolerant environment. The fact that these people are presently in places of political and intellectual influence cannot be denied. President Barack Obama came from such an environment and is a perfect example of this cultural phenomenon.


text:
Kitty MacKinnon wiped away several tears on Feb. 11 as she said goodbye to an old friend.
However, her tears weren't tears of sorrow, but of happiness, as she learned about the impact her donation of a 7-foot, 4-inch Kawai grand piano will have on Corban University's music department and its students.
"The piano will benefit a large number of students each year as it is used to accompany choir rehearsals, jazz band rehearsals, chapel band rehearsals and for classes that occur in our large rehearsal room," said Music Department Chair Dan Shuholm. "This donation improves the quality of pianos we have available for instruction and performance. A little more than a year ago, the instruments we were using for performances were functional, but were worn out from years of service."
The piano was purchased for MacKinnon by her late husband as a surprise birthday present in 1993. It sat alongside another Kawai grand piano in a special room she had built to teach piano to aspiring musicians. When it came time to downsize her home, MacKinnon thought hard about where the Kawai should go.
"I thought long and hard and realized that Corban would be a perfect home," she said. "I'm passionate about pianos and have received so many gifts in many, many ways and I am so blessed to be able to pass this gift to others."
Throughout her life, MacKinnon has either donated or solicited donations of pianos for a church, a library and even a Steinway grand piano for the Historic Elsinore Theatre in Salem, Ore.
"I think it is so important to have a good instrument," she said with a smile. "This is nothing but positive and I think the students will get such a joy out of playing it."
Shuholm said this is the second piano donated to the music department in the last 12 months and is a tremendous addition to the 9-foot 1905 Horugel Grand Piano, which was completely restored and is now used in the Psalm Performing Arts Center.
"What is special about this donation is that we were not soliciting a new piano," Shuholm said. "We understood the need, but out of the blue, Kitty contacted us in December 2010 about making the donation. It is a reminder of how God is going before us and providing what we need, when it is needed. That is a huge blessing from the Lord."


text:
Built to meet rugged military standards. Steel construction, matte black finish. Rings fit Picatinny-style bases.
Technical Information
Material: Steel
Style: Picatinny
Ring Diameter:30 mm
Ring Height: (measured from base of ring to bottom of scope tube)
- Low: .232"
- Medium: .294"
- Medium High: .414"
- High: .483"
- Ultra-High (AR-15): .809"
- Heavy Duty Rings for High Recoil Applications
- Mounting hardware included.


text:
Spice up your party with these color changing LED coasters from Philips. The colors coming from the coasters reflect on your drinks, or whatever you place on them, to create a fun and cool effect. The LED lights work up to 12 hours before recharging is needed, which is done wirelessly using the included wireless induction charger.
Philips Lumiware Color Changing Coasters
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text:
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text:
Imagine! Asking for $10 Million-Plus to Start a Dweebsite!
Ezra Klein, an analyst, columnist and television commentator who runs The Washington Post's Wonkblog, is making plans to leave the newspaper after failing to win support for a new website he wanted to create within the company, according to four people with knowledge of the negotiations. —Ravi Somaiya, The New York Times
Insiders reported Klein asked The Washington Post's new owner—Amazon's Jeff Bezos—and publisher Katharine Weymouth for an investment "in eight figures." (That's $10 million or more!) They
turned him down.
Golly gee. Why would Jeff and Katherine do that?
Quite simply, they looked at Klein's track record.
A 2-Letter Word in the Times Lede Says It All
Ezra Klein, an analyst, columnist and television commentator …
Were Ezra Klein a nationally recognized star journalist—like Bob Woodward, Andrew Ross Sorkin or Tom Friedman—Ravi Somaiya's lede might have been:
Ezra Klein, the analyst, columnist and television commentator …
Alas, Ezra Klein is a minor media figure—a columnist and blogger for a sick newspaper (The Washington Post) and occasional guest-host on teensy-weensy MSNBC (average prime time viewership 640,000).
When Klein revamped his blog in 2011, he got coverage in New York Magazine. The title of Joe Coscarelli's story: Ezra Klein's New Wonkblog Is Standing Proud for 'Boring Nerds Who Like Charts'
Now Ezra Klein wants $10 million-plus to create a brand new website "dedicated to explanatory journalism on a wide range of topics beyond political policy."
In other words an audience of policy wonks, political junkies and dweebs.
My opinion:
- These are not folks who would likely pay cash money for a subscription. Their mantra: All information should be free.
- Nor are they juicy free-spending consumers that advertisers are salivating to reach.
- Explanatory journalism on a wide range of topics beyond political policy is—to be charitable—an anemic Unique Selling Proposition (USP) with nothing unique about it.
What's more, in terms of competition on the Web, Ezra Klein's current Wonkblog sucks hind tit.
Website Unique Visitors Per Month
Ezra Klein's Wonkblog 4.0 MM
Salon 5.7 MM
Politico 6.7 MM
Drudge Report 14.4 MM
Daily Beast 15.0 MM
Slate 17.0 MM
Washingtonpost.com 18.8 MM
Gawker 22.0 MM
E! Online 24.0 MM
Huffington Post 72.0 MM
Buzzfeed 85.0 MM