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Things to see and do - Mataró
Leaving for Spain
Mataró :
Unmissable tourist sites
Where to sleep?
Mataró Hotel tips
New Hotel Colon from52 €Book
ibis Barcelona Mataro from52 €Book
Mataró Travel guide
Mataró : Michelin's recommendations
Mataró is a busy industrial centre and the main town of the local region ("comarca"). For a pleasant stroll along the seafront, follow the wide and attractive Passeig Marítim. Numerous leisure facilities and sports activities are available on the beach.
Tourist attractions Mataró : Things to see and do
Costa de Barcelona-Maresme
E - 08301 Mataró
The Maresme coast stretches northeast of Barcelona between Montgat and the Tordera river, and is protected by a chain of mountains. Because of its pleasant climate, coastal villages such as Arenys de Mar have developed into popular resorts. The pleas..
Boating harbour
E - 08301 Mataró
The largest harbour on the Maresme coast with space for 1,100 moorings. The fishing basin, slipway and a very large shopping area make this a busy place.
Torre Llauder Archaeological Centre
Av. Roma, s/n E - 08301 Mataró
Situated outside the town and proof of its Roman past, this dig is a precious example of the organisation of Roman towns that were so common on the Iberian peninsula.
Hotels Mataró
ibis Barcelona Mataro
Carrer de Tordera 2 E - 8302 MATARO
Our ibis hotel in Mataró is located just 18.6 miles (30 km) from Barcelona and 0.6 miles (1 km) from the city's train station. Ideal for business trips as it is located in the technological park (TECNOCAMPUS), and to relax on the city's beaches just ..
New Hotel Colon
Colon, 6 E - 08301 Mataró
Located just a 3-minute walk from Mataró Beach, New Hotel Colon offers air-conditioned rooms with free WiFi. It features a shared terrace with sea views and a restaurant on site. Each modern room at this hotel comes with a TV and a private bathroom ..
Restaurants Mataró
pl. d'Espanya 18 E - 08302 Mataró
This extensive family-run restaurant has a welcoming dining room designed along classic and contemporary lines. Traditional cuisine with a modern flair is served.
Sant Josep 31 E - 08302 Mataró
Restaurant managed with professionalism and enthusiasm. It has a contemporary style with designer features, and a visible cellar and kitchen.
El Nou-Cents
El Torrent 21 E - 08302 Mataró
A large foyer and two dining rooms, one is traditional with stuccoed walls and the other is more modern with a small tiled patio.
URH Ciutat de Mataró
Camí Ral 648 E - 08302 Mataró


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Here's Jennifer Lopez's Butt, if We Have Some Spare "Care"
Guys, don't get me wrong: that up there is one fine specimen of classic Jennifer Lopez backside, but pardon me if I just can't rouse myself from the Robin Williams death fugue that's been an all-encompassing thing for the last few days.
Personally speaking, never before has a celebrity death touched me so intimately, and it's hard to put the editorial pieces back together despite the fact that there's no personal connection with Robin or his family. When something like this happens, it leaves a mark on certain people, and while some can't understand the resonating sadness that just surrounds this whole event, and how it permeates through everything, others might, and those are the ones I implore to continue understanding.
Things will get back to normal -- lives will continue, and it'll be business as usual after awhile. Robin's family will begin the healing process, and the fans he left behind will start to remember other things of importance -- or in J Lo's case here, "importance" -- but in the meantime, it's OK for things to be weird and to seem unimportant.
Jennifer, no offense or anything, because we love you dearly and also, that ass, but an ass is an ass, after all, and a poor substitute for anything "butt" something of importance these days.

subset: commoncrawl


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Missouri walks away as Big 12 champs, and that's a shame - NCAA Division I Mens Basketball - CBSSports.com News, Scores, Stats, Schedule and RPI Rankings
I think Dennis Dodd is becoming my favorite writer.
English made a good point. He came to play Big 12 basketball, the SEC move is pretty much out of the players control.
Isn't this their first B12 title?
Why were fans chanting sec! They are going to get smashed
Chad Bass was one of those Missouri revelers on Saturday. He was wearing a black and gold T-shirt adorned with the SEC logo. Two weeks ago in Allen Fieldhouse, that was him was screaming "S-E-C!" from the rafters each time a Jayhawk shot a free throw. He'll probably never be able to do that again. He also doesn't care.
"I'm excited about going to the SEC because in five or six years the Big 12 isn't going to be around," said Bass, a fifth-grade teacher from Columbia, Mo.
1. How the hell is this Bass character qualified to be educating this nation's young?
2. No, the Big 12 WILL be around 6 years from now, and Mizzwho fans are going to be experiencing severe buyer's remorse when every single sport has been reduced to obscurity in the SECC.
"That's what I do. I drink, and I know things." - Tyrion Lannister
"Success is just failure that hasn't happened yet." - life advice from Latrell Spreewell
Mizzou will probably dominate the SEC IMO.
Originally Posted by atlantacyclone
Mizzou will probably dominate the SEC IMO.
You forgot your
Nope this is their second. They won wrestling this year.
Once again Missouri did not win the big 12 conference. They won the tournament, big difference.
I didn't realize winning the B12 tournament = winning a B12 title... . ... .
Yeah they've already won a tourney. They have never won a TITLE before last week in wrestling. They are no ******** about their seeding in the tourney. Good God.
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Fs, Ds were erased at Sweetwater school
The district is reviewing more than 100 grade-changing cases at Castle Park High in Chula Vista
Chula Vista The Sweetwater school district is reviewing transcripts for more than 115 students at Castle Park High School after The Watchdog presented officials with documentation that grades were improperly adjusted upward.
At least 37 students who failed a class, then got a passing grade in a make-up class this past spring break, were supposed to have both the old and new grades on their transcript. Instead, the school removed the F and put the higher grade in its place.
The same happened for 78 D's.
To make the changes, the school used a form reserved for teachers who need to correct grading mistakes, rather than using the form for make-up classes.
"Accountability is a No. 1 priority for me, and in this case, I am accountable for the mistake that I made," Principal Diego Ochoa said. "It was the wrong form to use."
The grade changes could help improve the school's graduation rate, an important measure of success under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Ochoa said the mistake did not undermine the validity of the credit-recovery effort itself.
"Our intent was to reteach and reassess for mastery and we accomplished that," Ochoa said. "We educated these kids. We did a great job of identifying what they needed to master and rectifying it."
The grade-change forms were signed by the teachers of the spring break classes, not the teachers who gave the original grade. State law says a teacher's grade is final "in the absence of clerical or mechanical mistake, fraud, bad faith, or incompetency."
Ochoa, who signed the grade-change forms after the teachers, said he should not have done so.
Ochoa is a Castle Park alumnus who was recently promoted to executive director of instructional services for high schools at the Sweetwater Union High School District. He took the helm at the 1,500-student campus in 2008 after serving as principal of Orange Glen High School in Escondido. He said he couldn't say for certain which forms were used in years past.
District officials say they are investigating the matter after being made aware of the situation by The Watchdog, and they will make any decisions based on individual student situations — not as a batch.
There may also have been issues with the amount of instructional time for the spring-break courses.
District guidelines call for a minimum of 60 hours of work per course credit, with the option of combining independent and in-class hours.
Students reported to school for 20 hours the week the program was offered, April 11-15. If students took one class, and then spent time on the course work outside of class, they might have accrued 60 hours.
But four students took two classes during the intersession. To fulfill the 60-hour requirement for both classes would have required them to work 24 hours a day for five days straight to complete 120 hours.
When asked if it the time frame was reasonable, Ochoa said, "I believe it to be appropriate."
"We recognize that the students would have needed to focus 100 percent of their free time on this intersession program," Ochoa said. "Some students work more quickly than others because we all have our own pace, but the outcome is that the students completed what we wanted and demonstrated to us, more importantly, that they knew what they were supposed to know based on the assessment."
Maria Castilleja, Sweetwater's executive director for curriculum and instruction and former Castle Park principal, could not say whether all the erased grades will be restored to student transcripts.
"I cannot tell you, 'This is what we are going to do' because every child is different in terms of their courses," she said.


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Council Member Chris Seelbach says he's getting impatient with streetcar delays. During a series of complaints aired on Twitter, Seelbach wrote the deadline for streetcar operation should be the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in 2015. This week's CityBeat cover story explains some of the delays and how the streetcar relates to the 2013 mayor's race.
The Pentagon is planning to lift the ban on women in combat situations. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the decision came after a recommendation from his Joint Chiefs of Staff. Between the end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and this decision, President Barack Obama's administration has been one of the most inclusive when it comes to the military.
The Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case questioning the constitutionality of JobsOhio. Policy group ProgressOhio says it might be illegal to use state liquor profits to fund JobsOhio, a private nonprofit organization Gov. John Kasich set up to drive economic growth in the state.
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game could bring $60-$80 million to Cincinnati, according to Julie Heath, director of the University of Cincinnati's Economics Center. It was recently announced Cincinnati will host the game in 2015.
Gov. Kasich said he won't oust State Board of Education President Debe Terhar after she made a Facebook post comparing Obama to Adolf Hitler. Kasich is happy she admitted it was a mistake, and he said he will leave it at that. Democrats called for her ousting Tuesday.
American Military Partner Association, a national organization that supports LGBT veterans, endorsed FreedomOhio's same-sex marriage amendment. If voters approve the amendment this November, gay marriage will be legalized in Ohio. CityBeat wrote more about FreedomOhio's ballot initiative here.
Cincinnati Public Schools is piloting an after-school program focusing on the arts. The high-energy sessions are apparently proving to be a hit among students so far.
U.S. Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from West Chester, says President Barack Obama is out to annihilate the Republican Party. I'm not seeing the problem here.
Moody's doesn't have confidence in U.S. nonprofit hospitals.
New science makes it possible to detect brain damage in football players that previously couldn't be seen until a victim was dead. CityBeat covered how head trauma relates to former Bengals players' workers' comp claims here.
Popular Science explains how to make the perfect snowball.
Gov. John Kasich is ready to support further action on human trafficking. Members of the Ohio legislature have already committed to further action. The next few measures will address the statute of limitations for trafficking, parents who traffic their children and laws affecting children services and child welfare. Last session, the legislature passed a "safe harbor" law that changed the classification of children caught in prostitution from criminals to victims. A 2010 bill also increased penalties for human trafficking and related crimes.
A Texas-based company wants to ship
thousands of barrels of fracking waste through river barges to Ohio. But the
U.S. Coast Guard is halting the plan while it investigates whether the
waste can be transported through water routes and the plan's potential
environmental impact. Critics are worried Ohio is becoming a dumping ground for fracking waste.
Mayor Mark Mallory took a tour with federal officials to show off developments going on in the city and the potential route for the streetcar. The tour was meant to show off projects that have gotten help from the federal government. After the bus tour, Mallory acknowledged the city has "a lot of work to do," but he added, "There really is a buzz about Cincinnati around this country. It is true."
A Cincinnati Children's Hospital survey found one-third of teen girls report meeting with someone they've met online. Psychologist Jennie Noll says abused or neglected girls are more likely to present themselves in sexually provocative ways on the Internet and meet more people in real life. Noll warned the meetings can be dangerous for young girls. Apparently, the meetings seem to happen regardless of Internet filtering software, but high-quality parenting and monitoring can help.
Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority is planning housing development for Mount Healthy. The development is coming after a study found the need for more housing in the area.
A controversial luxury apartment complex has been approved in Blue Ash. The approval came despite neighbors complaining that the complex will be an eyesore for the community.
Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville in Cincinnati will hire 200 positions.
A recent rise in smuggling led a Conneaut, Ohio, councilman to send a letter to Gov. John Kasich asking for the state to intervene at Corrections Corporation of America's Lake Erie Correctional Institution. But Col. John Born, superintendent at the Ohio State Highway Patrol, wrote in a response that criminal incidents have gone down at the CCA facility, even though drug smuggling has gone up. He also writes the state has deployed more cruisers, but he claims local law enforcement have better means and legal authority to deal with cases at the prison.
In other prison news, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) Director Gary Mohr wants to keep misbehaving inmates in prison longer. In the last legislative session, Mohr helped push laws that reduced sentences for low-crime offenders.
Looks like State Treasurer Josh Mandel is firing 10 percent of his staff. The press release for the announcement has great wording for the bad news: "Treasurer Mandel announces further payroll reductions and personnel consolidation."
Ohio gas prices ticked up in response to hopes of a larger economic recovery.
The Cincinnati Zoo has another adorable animal: the Brazilian ocelot kitten.
Science says global warming won't suck for everyone. Canadian killer whales tend to make gains, for example. Should humanity really risk making killer whales even stronger? They can already take down animals that are on solid surface.
Private prison critics have been proven right once again. Smuggling incidents are on the rise around Lake Erie Correctional Institution, which Ohio sold to the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) in 2011.
In a letter to Gov. John Kasich's northeast Ohio liaison, Conneaut Councilman Neil LaRusch claimed a rise in contraband smuggling has forced local police to increase security around the CCA facility.
Since the end of 2012, four have been arrested and charged with smuggling. Another four were arrested Monday and police suspect they were in Conneaut for a smuggling job. According to the Star Beacon, the four suspects arrested Monday were only caught due to the increased police presence outside the Lake Erie prison.
LaRusch said Conneaut and its police department are already running tight budgets, and they can't afford to continue padding prison security. He then asked the state and governor to help out with the situation.
The letter prompted a reaction from the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio (ACLU), which has staunchly opposed prison privatization in the state. In a statement, Mike Brickner, director of communications and public policy for the ACLU, said, "Unfortunately, this is a predictable pattern with private prisons. Promises of lower costs quickly morph into higher crime, increased burdens on local law enforcement, and in the end, a higher bill for taxpayers."
He added, "This is not an anomaly. It is a predictable pattern. The private prison model is built on profit above all else. These facilities will cut corners and shift responsibility to taxpayers wherever necessary to maximize profits."
The governor's office and Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) could not be immediately reached for comment. This story will be updated if a response becomes available.
Update (5:00 p.m.): Col. John Born, superintendent of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, responded to the councilman's letter. In his own letter, Born doesn't contradict that there's a rise in drug smuggling, but he gives the issue more context.
Born wrote criminal incidents at the Lake Erie prison have actually decreased. He acknowledges drug smuggling cases went up from four in 2011 to seven in 2012, but he says drug cases have gone down at the prison since 2010.
He also claims seven other state prisons have seen a greater rise in drug smuggling. Born frames the issue in a national context: "Unfortunately, despite best efforts, the national problem of illegal drug usage and drug trafficking continues to plague our nation."
Regarding state assistance, Born wrote the Ohio State Highway Patrol does not have the authority to strengthen security in order to directly prevent drug smuggling: "It is important to point out the Ohio State Highway Patrol's legal authority and corresponding duties prior to the sale of the prison and after the sale remain largely unchanged. Ohio troopers did not have original jurisdiction on private property off institution grounds while under state operations nor do they today."
He adds the Ohio State Highway Patrol has already deployed more cruisers at the prison, but he believes local law enforcement are still the best option for responding to incidents.
JoEllen Smith, spokesperson for ODRC, wrote in an email, "DRC will be in communication with the parties involved to ensure any remaining concerns are addressed."
CityBeat previously covered private prisons in-depth ("Liberty for Sale," issue of Sept. 19). Within a week of the story going to stands, ODRC Director Gary Mohr said the state would not privatize any more prisons. On the same day of his announcement, Mohr apparently received an audit that found the CCA facility was only meeting 66.7 percent of state standards ("Prison Privatization Blues," issue of Oct. 10).
Happy new year! Yes, planet Earth made it through another year. Welcome to an "extra saucy" Morning News and Stuff.
U.S. Congress managed to narrowly avert the "fiscal cliff," a series of tax hikes and spending cuts set to kick in at the beginning of 2013. If the fiscal cliff had not been prevented, economists and the Congressional Budget Office warned the United States would have plunged back into recession. The final deal keeps tax hikes for those making more than $450,000 a year, and most Americans will see their taxes increase as the payroll tax break passed with President Barack Obama's stimulus package expires. It's important to remember that the passing of a deal is not some show of bipartisan heroism; instead, it's Congress barely preventing an entirely self-inflicted problem.But the deal did not come smoothly. Not only did Congress wait until the very last moment, but U.S. Speaker John Boehner used a naughty word. At a White House meeting, the Ohio politician shot at unfavorable comments from Democratic U.S. Sen. Harry Reid's by telling Reid, "Go f— yourself." In fact, Boehner actually used the naughty word twice! Reid replied, "What are you talking about?" Boehner once again said, "Go f— yourself." Who knew U.S. Congress would turn out to be so much like high school?
When Corrections Corporation of America's (CCA) Lake Erie prison received an unfavorable audit, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction reacted by cutting payments to CCA by $573,000. CityBeat covered the audit and its troubling findings here. CityBeat also covered private prisons in-depth here.
On the bright side, Ohio's minimum wage went up, like it's required to do so every year. Policy Matters Ohio says the increase will bring in $340 per year for 215,000 low-wage workers around the state.
Cincinnati-based Kroger is looking mighty tempting this year. Stock-wise, anyway. I don't think many people like grocery shopping.
A court ruled Ohio overcharged 270,000 businesses for workers' compensation premiums and must repay them. The ruling could cost the state millions of dollars.
In case anyone was worried, the national standards Ohio adopted for schools do not ban The Catcher in the Rye. Book cliff averted.
Allstate is hiring in Ohio. I'm not sure why this is news, but it's on multiple newspapers today, so there it is.
Gays are now marrying in Maryland. Is the apocalypse near?
Intel could be looking to revolutionize the cable industry by allowing people to subscribe to individual TV channels.
That's not a medieval weapon; it's a space rover! The new rovers planned by top universities and NASA could visit Mars' moon Phobos or an asteroid. It's, like, whatever.
Cincinnati's Music Hall will be getting renovations, but the project will be much smaller than anticipated. Instead of the previously estimated $165 million, the project, which involves the city leasing the iconic building to the Music Hall Revitalization Company (MHRC) for 75 years, will only cover approximately $95 million.
At a joint press conference Wednesday, Mayor Mark Mallory and Otto Budig, president of MHRC, officially announced the plan, which City Council will take up early next year.
Not many details or a timeline were announced at the press conference, but some information did come to light. The renovations will include more comfortable seating, extra restroom capacity, heating, air conditioning, improved plumbing and new escalator models. During the renovations, Music Hall, home of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera and Cincinnati Ballet, will be closed for an estimated 17 months.
"We will do this in a manner that carries with it the surety that the project will be complete," Budig said. "The worst thing we could do is start this project without the natural resources and pledges available."
On top of the leasing agreement, the city will also help fund the project through tax credits.
The lease continues the trend of public-private partnerships city government has used to revitalize Over-the-Rhine and downtown Cincinnati in recent years. From the Banks to Washington Park, the city of Cincinnati has pushed to be seen as a more attractive, business-friendly environment.
However, that has come with some push back. The Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) and city have previously faced criticisms from homeless advocates for allegedly discriminatory rules at Washington Park, which were later voted down by the Cincinnati Park Board.
Some public officials have also raised concerns about the city giving away too many of its public assets. The 2013 budget currently relies on a proposal that will privatize Cincinnati's parking assets, a plan that has faced heavy criticism from Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld and mayoral candidate John Cranley. City Manager Milton Dohoney argues the privatization plan is necessary to avoid 344 layoffs.
Cincinnati City Council on Friday approved a budget that relies on parking privatization as a means to plug a $34 million budget deficit while also raising property taxes in 2014.
Mayor Mark Mallory opened up the council meeting with a moment of silent prayer for the 27 students and adults killed at an elementary school in Connecticut.
"I want us all to take a moment and put into perspective what we're doing today," he said.
Council voted to increase the property tax by about 24 percent, from 4.6 mills (a mill is equal to one-tenth of a cent) to 5.71 mills. That means Cincinnatians would pay an additional $34 for every $100,000 of their home's value.
The vote reverses a move made last year by conservatives on council, who reduced property taxes.
Council also passed a budget that relies on $21 million from a proposed lease of the city's parking facilities — a deal that is expected to be voted on in March. Of the proposals submitted to the city so far, Cincinnati stands to gain $100 million to $150 million in an upfront payment and a share of the profits over the 30-year lease.
"My concern about balancing this budget with a onetime revenue source by selling our parking system seems to be ill advised," said Independent Councilman Chris Smitherman. "We don't know how council will vote in March … but we have tied not only the budget to this one time revenue source, but we have also tied reciprocity."
Council nixed a plan to eliminate tax reciprocity for people who lived in Cincinnati but worked elsewhere and paid income tax in both cities.
Though the budget doesn't mention parking privatization, council hasn't mentioned other options to close the budget deficit.
If opponents of parking privatization want to keep facilities under city control, they would have to come up with $21 million in revenue elsewhere or make $21 million in cuts.
Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld suggested using casino revenue, cutting travel expenses, downsizing the ratio of managers to workers, sharing services with nearby jurisdictions and downsizing the city's fleet as ways to cut down the budget.
Councilwoman Laure Quinlivan, long an advocate of downsizing the police and fire departments, voted against the property tax increase in protest of what she said was bloated spending on departments that were outpacing population growth.
The budget also requires Cincinnati to accept police and fire recruit classes in 2014, regardless of whether the city gets a federal grant to fund the classes.
The budget also restores the Cincinnati Police Department's mounted patrol, which patrols downtown on horseback. The city will use $105,000 from off-duty detail fees from businesses that hire off-duty officers. Council also voted to start charging those businesses an extra $1.64 on top of the off-duty pay.
Council also voted to shift $50,000 for repairs and upgrades to the Contemporary Arts Center to pay for maintenance and beautification at Washington Park, which is operated by 3CDC.
Former Democratic city council member John Cranley is kicking off his 2013 mayoral campaign by getting involved in budget talks. In a public hearing at City Hall last week, Cranley tried to provide an alternative to privatizing the city's parking assets, which City Manager Milton Dohoney has suggested to pay for $21 million of the city's $34 million deficit.
"It's not the citizen's job to balance the budget, but let me make it very easy for you," Cranley said. "You have $12 million in casino money that can be used but is currently being used on pet projects, like street sculptures. The parking meters themselves produce $7 million a year. That's $19 million. And $5 million for garbage cans. That's $24 million. You only need ($21 million) to cancel the parking privatization plan, so I got you $3 extra million to spare."
In short, Cranley's alternative to parking privatization is using $12 million from casino revenue, $7 million from keeping parking meters under city ownership and $5 million saved from not purchasing trash carts.
So how viable are Cranley's ideas? In a memo, Dohoney's
office responded. The memo points out that casino revenue is currently
estimated at $7.2 million, not $12 million, and $1.3 million is already
included in the budget for Focus 52, a neighborhood redevelopment project. That leaves casino revenues $6.1 million short of what Cranley proposed.
Regarding parking meters, Dohoney's office says revenue
from parking meters is restricted to fund "operations and maintenance in
the right-of-way." The memo says City Council could authorize using the money to plug the deficit, but it would then have to find
alternatives for funding operations and maintenance.
Even the trash cart proposal doesn't work. Not buying trash carts would only save $4.7 million, not $5 million. And the plan, which is part of the city's effort to semi-automate trash collection, is in the general capital budget, not the general fund operating budget that's being debated. The memo concludes, "If the trash carts are not purchased, the funds would not be available to close the gap because this is a capital budget expenditure and resources supporting the capital budget cannot be used in the operating budget."
In other words, Cranley's "very easy" budget plan isn't just difficult; it's a mix of inadequate and impossible. If CityBeat was PolitiFact, Cranley's suggestions would probably get him a "Pants on Fire" label.
The Ohio Turnpike will remain a public asset, according to The Columbus Dispatch. Many Ohioans have been worried Gov. John Kasich would attempt to privatize the Turnpike in order to pay for transportation projects; instead, the governor will try to generate revenue for state infrastructure projects elsewhere, perhaps by using the Turnpike's tolls. Kasich will unveil his full plans Thursday and Friday.
The asbestos lawsuit bill is heading to Kasich to be signed. The bill attempts to curb duplicate lawsuits over on-the-job asbestos exposure. Supporters of the bill say it will prevent double-dipping by victims, but opponents say the bill will impede legitimate cases. Ohio has one of the largest backlogs of on-the-job asbestos exposure cases.
City Manager Milton Dohoney has released some of the potential bids for the city's parking services, and one bidder is offering $100 to $150 million. Dohoney says the budget can only be balanced if parking services are privatized or the city lays off 344 employees. But Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld is speaking out against the privatization of the city's parking services. In a statement, Sittenfeld said, "Outsourcing our parking system robs the city of future revenue, and also will mean higher parking rates, longer hours of enforcement, and more parking tickets."
LGBT rights are becoming "the new normal," but not for Western & Southern or American Financial Group. In the 2012 Corporate Equality Index, the Human Rights Campaign gave 252 companies a 100-percent score for LGBT rights. Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble got a 90 percent, Macy's got a 90 percent, Kroger got an 85 percent, Fifth Third Bank got an 85 percent, Omnicare got a 15 percent, American Financial Group got a 0 percent and Western & Southern got a 0 percent. The rankings, dubbed a "Buyer's Guide," can be found here.
The Sierra Club says Cincinnati has some of the best and worst transportation projects. In its annual report, the environmental group praised the Cincinnati streetcar, claiming the transportation project will attract residents and business owners. But the organization slammed the Eastern Corridor Highway project because of its negative impact on the Little Miami River and the small village of Newtown. The Sierra Club says the purpose of the report is to shed light on the more than $200 billion spent on transportation projects every year.
University of Cincinnati President Santa Ono is getting a 10-year contract.
The disease-carrying Walnut Twig Beetle has been discovered in southwest Ohio. The beetle is known for carrying Thousand Cankers Disease, which threatens the health of walnut trees. So far, no trees have been determined to be infected.
Ohio Gov. Kasich, Ky. Gov. Steve Beshear and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood will meet today to discuss funding for the Brent Spence Bridge project. If the bridge project starts in 2014, northern Kentucky and Cincinnati could save $18 billion in fuel and congestion costs, according to the Build Our New Bridge Now Coalition.
Following the defeat of Issue 2, the Ohio Senate is taking on redistricting reform, but opponents in the House say there isn't enough time to tackle the issue. The current redistricting system is widely abused by politicians on both sides of the aisle in a process called "gerrymandering," which involves politicians redrawing district lines in politically beneficial ways. The First Congressional District, which includes Cincinnati, was redrawn during the Republican-controlled process to include Republican-leaning Warren County, heavily diluting the impact of Cincinnati's Democratic-leaning urban vote.
Ohio employers are more aware of wellness than employers in other states, a new survey found. Wellness programs are one way employers can bring down health-care expenditures as cost shifting feels the pinch of diminishing returns.
However, Ohio ranked No. 35 in a nationwide health survey.
Ohio district didn't win federal Race to the Top education funds in the latest competition.
Internet cafe legislation is dead for the year. Ohio Senate President Tom Niehaus announced the legislation, which essentially puts Internet cafes and sweepstakes parlors out of business. State officials, including Attorney General Mike DeWine, have been pushing for regulations or a ban on the businesses because they see them as a breeding ground for criminal activity.
The final 2011-2012 school report cards will not be available until 2013. The report cards were originally delayed due to an investigation into fraudulent attendance reports.
Michigan may have approved its anti-union right-to-work law, but Ohio is not eager to follow. State Democrats are already preparing for a possible battle over the issue, but even Republican Gov. John Kasich says he's not currently interested in a right-to-work law.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is loosening hazardous waste reporting requirements for companies. If the rules go into effect, regulated facilities will report on hazardous waste once every two years instead of once a year. The rule changes will get a public hearing on Dec. 19 in Columbus.
In a question-and-answer session Monday, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia asked, "If we cannot have moral feelings against homosexuality, can we have it against murder? Can we have it against other things?" (Hint: The answer to both questions is yes.) The Supreme Court recently agreed to tackle the same-sex marriage issue. CityBeat wrote about same-sex marriage in Ohio here.
Dogs are now capable of driving, and parrots now have vehicles too. But can our new animal overlords shoot magic foam into the body to stop major bleeding? Because we can.
For the first time since inauguration, Ohio Gov. John Kasich has a positive approval rating, but a plurality of registered voters say Kasich doesn't deserve a second term. The Quinnipac University poll attributed the increase in Kasich's approval rating to "high levels of satisfaction among Ohio voters with life in the Buckeye State." About 42 percent of respondents approved of Kasich, while 35 percent disapproved. About 42 percent said Kasich doesn't deserve a second term, while 36 percent said he does. The poll surveyed 1,165 registered voters with a margin of error of 2.9 percent.
Last night, Cincinnati held its final public hearing on City Manager Milton Dohoney's proposed budget. About 40 people spoke during the meeting, with many voicing concern about Media Bridges funding, which CityBeat recently covered here. The budget has also come under scrutiny due to its privatization of parking services, but Dohoney says the choice is privatization or 344 layoffs.
Cincinnati plans to bolster its green building incentives. City officials are trying to amend the city's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards to encourage higher levels of investment in green projects. Since LEED standards were first approved in 2009, they have been criticized for only offering strong incentives for lower levels of certification. The amendment seeks to make the higher levels of certification more appealing.
University Hospital is being renamed to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
An "anti-immigrant bill" proposed by Cincinnati's Ohio Sen. Bill Seitz is not being received well by Innovation Ohio. S.B. 323 seeks to limit workers' compensation to illegal immigrants, but the Ohio policy research group is not sure that's a legitimate problem. The organization is also worried the bill will impose a regulatory burden on the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation and Ohio's workers without providing extra funds and training to carry out the regulations.
Ohio is improving in its battle against human trafficking. The state earned a "C" and it was labeled "most improved" in a new report from the Polaris Project. But one state legislator wants to go further by placing tougher standards on "johns" participating in the sex trade. CityBeat previously wrote about the human trafficking problem in Ohio here.
The Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved enough credits to help create about 500 jobs in Greater Cincinnati.
Michigan may have recently passed its anti-union "right-to-work" law, but Gov. Kasich does not share a similar interest.
Kasich will announce his changes to the Ohio Turnpike Thursday and Friday. The governor says his proposed changes will unlock "greater wealth," but critics are worried Kasich is about to sell off a major public asset.
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted is still defending his decisions during the lead-up the election. Husted has now become infamous nationwide due to his pre-election record, which CityBeat wrote about here.Even Jesus would be jealous. Science can now turn human urine into brain cells.
The city of Cincinnati and its largest city employees union have reached a deal regarding the privatization of the city's parking assets. Under the deal's terms, the city will give raises and not lay off anyone for three years, but only if the city's parking assets are privatized. However, the head of a Clifton community group is still not happy with the privatization plan. He says the plan is bad for business because it limits the amount of affordable parking in the area. But would laying off 344 city employees be better for business?
The identity of the Miami University student who put up
the infamous "Top Ten Ways to Get Away with Rape" flier may soon be revealed. The Ohio Supreme Court
will decide by Dec. 14 whether the case should be unsealed and open to public view. Robert Lyons, the Butler County part-time judge who sealed the case, has faced scrutiny in the past few months for conflicts of interest regarding drinking-and-driving cases.
Revenue from casinos in Toledo and Cleveland is dropping. The numbers paint a bad picture for Cincinnati and Hamilton County officials expecting budget problems to be solved by casino revenue.
A proposal mandating drug testing for welfare recipients in Ohio resurfaced last week. Republican legislators claim the requirement will save the state money, but a similar proposal in Florida added to budget woes as the state was forced to pay for drug tests.
Ohio's ultra-wealthy population is growing. About 1,330 Ohioans are worth $30 million or more, an increase of 2 percent since 2011, according to a report from Wealth-X. The news could shape Gov. John Kasich's plan to cut the income tax using revenue from a higher oil-and-gas severance tax, perhaps encouraging state officials to make the cut more progressive.
Gov. Kasich is ending the practice of giving so many tax credits to keep businesses in Ohio. The move could potentially cost the state jobs as businesses move to other areas with bigger, better incentives, but state officials and the business community don't seem too worried for now.
If the Ohio government agencies were forced to cut their budgets by 10 percent, the results would not be pretty. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction would have to close prisons, and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources would have a tougher time enforcing new regulations on fracking.
Ohio's exotic animal law is facing a challenge in federal court today. Exotic animal owners claim the law violates their First Amendment and property rights by forcing them to join private associations and give up their animals without compensation. They also do not like the provision that requires microchips be implanted into the animals. The Humane Society of the United States is defending the law, which was passed after a man released 56 exotic animals and killed himself in 2011.
An Ohio court said a business tax on fuel sales must be used on road projects.
Ohio gas prices are still dropping.
The cure for leukemia could be a modified version of the AIDS virus.


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Percenters of all Kinds Could Clash at GOP "Convention 'n Coneys 2016"
It used to be that Cincinnati would throw our hats in the ring to be considered for a national or regional event that would bring a ton of money to us, and organizers would just laugh. But these days our combination of sports, locally produced beer, music and awesome neighborhoods are well respected in the national eye, and the Queen City actually stands a chance at landing marquee national events. Take, for example, the 2016 Republican National Convention, which Cincinnati is competing to host against Cleveland, Dallas, Las Vegas, Denver and Kansas City, Mo. Local business leaders made their pitch to Republican National Committee leaders last month in Washington. The final choice won't be made until at least mid-summer, and in the meantime young people from Anderson Township and Madeira who use their Facebook feeds as their primary source of news will develop plans to descend on the convention wearing Guy Fawkes masks made in sweatshops if it does indeed come to Cincinnati. The protesters want to let everyone know that they support the gay weed agenda and think all Republicans are assholes, even though they're no longer sure that any form of pop art can make President Obama's spying ass look cool any longer. Republican pundits are nonplussed by the protesters' plans, noting that by 2016 people will be so fed up with all politicians that they'll stop caring about their stances on women's rights, drone strike spree deaths of civilians, or whatever.
Redskins Reporter Highlights Importance of Respecting Diversity in Workplace
To paraphrase Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, there is still something very messed up in this country when the white owner of the Indianapolis Colts gets pulled over with more prescription drugs than a pharmacy and $29,000 in cash on him and everyone is like, "Oh, let's get him the help he needs," but a black player gets booted from his team for hanging out with gang members and the media treats the guy like he's a convicted murderer.
The rumor that DeSean Jackson, the ultra-talented wide receiver released by the Philadelphia Eagles last week, would sign with the Washington Redskins caused Redskins Radio host Chris Russell to inform listeners that he would quit his job if the Redskins signed the un-convicted man. Jackson indeed signed with Washington, and the racially based furor and threats to quit his radio job disappeared. Russell explained that he'll keep his job and make a bunch of 40-year-old white guy jokes about how the Redskins colors are gang colors and that he'll be cool with Jackson as long as he doesn't disrespect Native Americans the way the team's helmet does.
New 'Gawker' Editor Quickly Finds Way to Sound Like Pretentious Scarf Wearer
According to journalism industry news organization Poynter.org, Gawker's new editor is intent on keeping journalism on the Internet from descending into a maddening sea of ROFLs, LOLs and IDGAFs. "We want to sound like regular adult human beings, not Buzzfeed writers or Reddit commenters," new Gawker Editor Max Read reportedly wrote in a memo to the publication's writers. Words like "epic," "pwn" and "derp" are no longer welcome on the site. Read also says the word "massive" is "never to appear on the website Gawker dot com." Longtime fans of the site shouldn't fret, however. It doesn't mean they are changing everything. The Gawker family of news sites promises to keep portraying non-coastal states as Idiocracy-like intellectual boneyards where everyone has sex with their relatives. Gawker also promised to cling steadfastly to its belief that while many of the most annoying people this great nation has ever produced came from New York City and other large coastal cities, they are 10 times cooler than anything in flyover country.
Tea Party Still Pissed Off About Stuff; No One Cares
The Tea Party is still looking for its first non-white and angry member, but hardly anyone pays any attention to them anymore. That's what happens when you're led by blowhards who are short on content and long on opinions that make people think they still associate long hair with communism and a black president with the antichrist. To show how far down the rabbit hole of lunacy and the "things were better before the races started mixing" ideology that so many of its members barely conceal, the National Tea Party Leadership Fund Political Action Committee has started waging a fight to unseat House Speaker John Boehner as congressman of Ohio's 8th District. Boehner used to be someone the Tea Party looked up to, but for reasons that no one cares about they all think he's like an Obama these days. Concerned by the fact that nobody gives the time of day about the Tea Party anymore, party members admit that although they don't want to start pronouncing the House Speaker's last name as "Boner" they are running out of options and things to be unjustifiably angry about.
Minimum Wage Hike Threatens to Give Fast Food Workers Small Amount of Dignity
An editorial on Cincinnati.com last week made great cases for raising minimum wage at least enough that one hour of a fast food worker's toil is enough to afford them any of the artery-clogging value meals on the menu. The flip side of the coin is that America can't afford to raise minimum wage too high because the people who have bought mansions with moats and lake properties where they spend time with their soulless children don't want anyone else to have a path to prosperity rather than basic sustenance and cheap beer and drugs here and there. The opposing forces in this equation are presently considering a compromise in which wages will be raised so that people can actually accrue a bit of savings, but not raise it so high that rich people will no longer be able to point and make snide remarks to their kids about why they must go to school to avoid working at said fast food job.
CONTACT ISAAC THORN: firstname.lastname@example.com
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In order to tryout or practice for a fall team, the following must be turned in before opening day, tryouts or practices:
A signed permission slip/consent form, available in the DHS front office, athletic director's office or can be downloaded from the school Web site.
An updated physical. All fall student-athletes must pass in a physical within 13 months of the first day of practices and/or tryouts.{sidebar id=4}
A user fee. The fee to play sports at Duxbury High School for the 2008-09 school year will be $210 per sport. The athletic department will not cash any checks until after teams have been selected.
All paperwork must be turned into the high school front office or the Athletic Director's office.
Fall Cheerleading: Thursday, Aug. 21.
Girls' Soccer: Monday, Aug. 25, all levels, Train Field (in front of Alden School) 8:30-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m., double sessions both Monday and Tuesday.
Field Hockey: Thursday, Aug. 21, all levels, fields behind town library 9-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m.
Boys' Soccer: Thursday, Aug. 21 – Varsity/JV, meet at pool fields. 9-11 a.m. and 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Freshman Boys' Soccer: Monday, Aug. 25 – pool field at 9 a.m.
Boys' Cross Country: Thursday, Aug. 21 at the DHS Track from 9-10:30 a.m. and 5-6:30 p.m.
Girls' Cross Country: Thursday, Aug. 21 – DHS track from 9 a.m-11 a.m.
V/JV Football: Monday, Aug. 18 – Non-contact practice at 1 p.m.
Freshman Football: Wednesday, Aug. 20 – TBA
Football equipment was Issued on Aug. 5.
Boys' Golf: Wednesday, Aug. 20 – Mandatory meeting in the DHS cafeteria at 5:30 p.m. First tryout is at the Atlantic Country Club in Plymouth on Aug. 21. The rain date is Aug. 22. The second tryout is at the Duxbury Yacht Club, on Aug. 25, with a rain date of Aug. 26.


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On this first full moon of the year, on this day of the moon, the members of Descried would like to announce that our album Snake Oil is available for download. Click the here to download your copy and once again, thanks to all the fans and supporters. 93/93.
Austin Osman Spare is acclaimed by art historians to have been the first surrealist. His work is mind-boggling, to say the least, considering that some of his drawings were done in the dark. Spare was influential because he was not only an incredible artist, but also an esoteric philosopher. Spare practiced the pseudosciences of automatic writing and drawing. He even published books on the subject. Some Descried songs such as "Malleus" and "Distractor" ( from this release anyway) were channeled into being by means of automatic writing.
Spare's artworks have anomalous qualities noted by those who own his pieces such as the story of the artwork that Psychic TV's Genesis P. Orridge purchased from Blondie's Chris Stein:
"It got so predictable and incontrovertible that I took to putting it in a cupboard, facing the wall... The last phenomenon was particularly odd. Before travelling abroad I arranged for two people to caretake my house in Brighton. I warned them, almost like in a fable like Hansel and Gretel, that they must not touch, move, or hang up the Spare painting "The Ids". Which was in the loft space of the house, facing the wall. I told them it may sound superstitious or stupid, but please trust me on this one. I guess, inevitably, they felt this as a challenge and chose to not only turn the picture facing outwards in the loft, but to spend a night staring at it and sleeping in the same space. Apparently, as they tell it, after an hour or so, the picture seemed to fill the room. Spare argued with himself, as usual. Then a new thing happened. The central face of a one woman (there were three women's faces above Spare's heads) came alive too. The picture seemed to grow into a huge mirror, filling the visual perception of one whole end of the loft. The room seemed to fill with green mist, and then holding her hand out, this woman walked out of the "painting" and came towards them..."
Interestingly, Spare was a favourite artist of Adolf Hitler. When comissioned to do a painting of the feurher, the artist flatly refuse and, in a letter replied :
"If you are a superman, let me be forever animal."
Spare was content to live a humble life and stay out of the limelight, which is probably the contributing factor to his obscurity. But he was a real treasure of a human being nonetheless and a great source of inspiration to me.
Below is a snippet of a documentary which includes someone who is certain to show up on this thread.
Alan Moore on Austin Osman Spare.avi: http://youtu.be/NXOt215GCWI
Some of AOS's work:
It is sleeting like mad here. And in Dallas Texas sleet (known in this neck of the woods as "snow"), can create something of a post apocalyptic environment. Therefore, I barricade my family indoors in fear of the hordes of bloodthirsty snowmen. Maybe that's an exaggeration of what I'm really up to, but it's eerily close. This actually brings me to another muse seen in the writing for Descried.
No I'm not talking about the relation of time and atoms of a nuclear substance; I'm talking about the video game. Yes, certain games can be nerdy, but I feel some do portray cultural events and shouldn't necessarily be overlooked from a literary or social standpoint. I mention Half-Life mainly because it has a certain depth to it that has stuck with me. For those who haven't played the game, it is set in a post-apocalyptic atmosphere wherein all of mankind had been enslaved (cheery). It has it all: mad scientists, alien control, political corruption, and tons of blood. There is still a lost chapter, but overall I feel it is one of the most thought out game series to date.
In the very beginning sessions of Descried, we were actually considering some of the pieces we wrote to be soundtracks for games. We still may go down that road at some point.
Half-Life 2 Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID1dWN3n7q4
Half-Life 2 Soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt2sbtvBuk8
As a musician I find it particularly hard to recommend music. Firstly, I don't listen to a lot of obscure stuff. In fact most music fans turn me on to new music. I'm usually way behind the curve when it comes to discovering something new and amazing. Another reason lies with the inspiration side. A common question is what inspires you? That's such a simple question, but the answer is quite complex. A short answer would be "life", but that is just a gross over simplification because it's only a small slice of the life pie that brings one out of the mundane and into that wanderlust place that we never want to leave from again, but I digress.
This week I'd like to bring a now defunct band named Seemless into focus. In particular their second and "last" album "What Have We Become". I discovered this band in 2009 or so after a long dry spell of not hearing any new rock bands whose albums I could leave on repeat and just explore the new sounds. The vocalist is Jesse Leach from Kill Switch Engage and Seemless's entire history was during his absence from that band. I hate throwing that out there before you listen to the band, because if you don't like KSE, you'll probably still love Seemless. Who knew the guy had such an amazing melodic singing voice? The range of topics on the album are incredible. Most of the album feels like an introspective look at what it means to be a modern human both on the self level and on the global level. These songs are easy to digest, but also resonate on a much higher level. This is a band Jack and I had just discovered right before the birth of Descried, and I think had a bit of an influence into what type of music we wanted to end up making. I've always felt artists have an artistic responsibility and Seemless definitely helped us hone in on ours.
The weird thing about this album is I feel like it gets better the further you get into it. Usually albums taper off after the first handful of tracks, but I feel this one really comes into it's full light toward the end of the album.
Here are some tracks to check out with a link to the full album stream below.
"Parody" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4GBq22kx0w&list=PLfWT14OjC0ijuGuXXrUbHrWGoe41ZHzrJ&index=9
"The Deep Below" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J_HAwQjbcI&index=5&list=PLfWT14OjC0ijuGuXXrUbHrWGoe41ZHzrJ
Entire album: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfWT14OjC0ijuGuXXrUbHrWGoe41ZHzrJ
Descried is beginning a weekly installment in which each member will discuss their influences. This isn't being done with a "look at us" kind of mentality. We just want to engage you, the fans, and hopefully generate some dialogue. We will be discussing personalities, books, bands, music, artists, thinkers, etc. whom we find interesting and who have played a role in energizing the ambience of Descried. Perhaps we can introduce you to new sources of artistic influence and new vistas of perception. These installments will occur every Monday and be archived on the site under the Horror Vacui tab.
We drew straws and since my crazy straw inked in cat urine had the best aesthetic quality, I go first.
I have been heavily influenced by artist and director David Lynch. My first encounter with his work was his 1977 film Eraserhead. Since then I have become enamored by some of his great works like the films Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway and Blue Velvet as well as the short-lived but very imaginitive Twin Peaks TV series. Stanley Kubrick once mentioned that Lynch was his favourite director and Kubrick was notoriously hard to please. David Lynch employs dream logic in most of his films. This is especially true in the scenes that take place in the Black Lodge in Twin peaks. Dream logic leaves the interpretation open to the viewer. We all have dreams, yet their language is rarely employed as a means of storytelling. Perhaps because dreams are so subjective. If 9 of us had the same dream, odds are we'd each have our own unique conclusions. There are certain seemingly archetypal recurring images and themes which would lead one to believe they were viewing Lynch's own cerebronocturnal cinema. Lynch is also the father of some incredibly odd and characteristically disturbing short films like "Six Men Getting Sick" and "The Grandmother." His artwork is fascinating, too. He's been known to use rotten meat and insects to add texture to his work. Comedian Russell Brand , who is friends with Lynch, mentioned the artist was letting a pigeon decompose in his studio so he could study the discolouration of the various stages of decay.
Lynch is also a musician, an author, and a philanthropist. He walks in to a bar...jk. He runs the David Lynch Foundation which teaches Transcendental Meditation and has been helping soldiers with PTSD and school children with emotional disturbances. He wrote a book to promote his belief in TM called "Catching the Big Fish." It's a great book for artists and it's what got me meditating. If anyone knows where to get artistic inspiration, I'd say it's this man. Thanks for helping me stay weird, sir. 93/93.
David Lynch short:
David Lynch The Alphabet 1968: http://youtu.be/_2ZN9cgAFkM
David Lynch music:
David Lynch 'Good Day Today' (Official Video): http://youtu.be/IugOfDBWcGc
David Lynch artwork:


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School Board renews North Pocono superintendent's contract
COVINGTON TWP. — Superintendent Bryan McGraw will lead the North Pocono school district for another five years.
The North Pocono School Board unanimously approved a new contract for Mr. McGraw at Thursday night's meeting. The contract takes effect July 13, 2015, and expires July 12, 2020. His salary for 2015-16 will be $145,000; in 2016-17, he will earn $147,900. By 2019-20, Mr. McGraw will earn $156,952, according to the contract approved Thursday.
The board's decision was met by applause from the audience and excitement from Mr. McGraw.
"I'm excited, humbled and honored by the opportunity to continue leading this district," Mr. McGraw said.
To express his gratitude, Mr. McGraw pledged a
$5,000 donation to the district's educational programs for each year of the new contract for a total of $25,000 over five years.
Before the meeting, business manager Dennis Cawley gave a presentation detailing the need for a grant to remodel the district's football stadium, track and tennis courts.
Replacing the surfaces
of the track and tennis courts and installing a turf football field could cost as much as $1.5 million, but Mr. Cawley said the district has started drafting an application for a Local Share Fund grant to cover up to $750,000 of the cost.
The rest, Mr. Cawley said, would be covered by fundraising, advertising sales and sponsorships from local
At the meeting, the board unanimously approved the application for the state grant to upgrade the outdoor facilities.
In other business, the board appointed Amber Wittel as a third-grade teacher at the Moscow Elementary Center at a salary of $43,655.
Amanda Finella was appointed as a temporary kindergarten teacher at the Moscow Elementary Center at a salary of $43,000.
Contact the writer:
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Online sales on Cyber Monday jumped 30.3 percent, according to International Business Machines Corp., which analyzes transactions for 500 U.S. retailers. Americans spent $21 billion shopping online since Black Friday alone, indicating a healthy trust in the e-commerce.
While shopping from the office browser during lunch hour is a trend that's going viral faster than the Gangnam dance, this doesn't mean cybercriminals are taking a holiday hiatus. On the contrary, the probability of online fraud and is higher: Even big name portals like Ebay and Craigslist are replete with fly-by-night storefronts promising deals.
Last year, consumers lost $1.1. billion in online shopping scams. That would leave quite a hole in anyone's stocking. As we become wiser to online crime, malware evolves and more ways are devised to infiltrate your data, computer system or bank account. If your employees are not-so-secret Santas, make it easy to keep them sharp: Rather than listing all the scams of Christmas on a scroll longer than this year's Naughty list, we offer our three finest gifts of cyberawareness wisdom to keep your office network peaceful and bright.
1. When paying online, never wire funds via Western Union or other wire-service. Purchase online items using a credit card, preferably one with a set limit. You can dispute charges if you get scammed. This is not always the case with debit cards. Continually monitor your credit card activity. Most financial institutions have an online service for you to do this. If you see something suspicious, report it immediately. Most card services have a 24-hour service, and they can help you determine if the activity is authorized.
2. Make sure the transaction is secure. Remember, that little lock icon is there to make you feel better -- it doesn't necessarily mean the site is secure. A simple way to check the security of the site is in the URL upon checkout. If it doesn't start with "https://" it may not be secure. If you have a concern, or it's your first time shopping at the site, contact the company and ask them what type of encryption they use. A legitimate business will tell you.
3. Don't open holiday e-cards. Whether from a friend or from legitimate-looking online store offering coupons, a greeting card in your inbox entices you to click on a link. The link could lead to a fraudulent site offering a deal if you log-in and enter your credit card information. Or it can launch unwanted downloads of malicious software onto your computer or network that can copy your data or log your keystrokes, making any future online purchases unsafe.
In the key of keeping the holiday cheery, these three gifts of wisdom will go a long way when shared with loved ones, coworkers and your social network. Extend goodwill to all by reporting Internet crime to the FBI at http://www.fbi.gov/sandiego. Alerting your older neighbors about online scams will probably bring you closer to peace on earth than caroling.
Submitted by Taranet Inc. – The Art of Risk Management; www.taranet.com
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When you want great French food, there is only one place to go in the Winter Park area. Call today and make a reservation, then enjoy our special cuisine, (more)
An intimate event calls for something special intimate (adjective): characterized by warm friendship or a personally close association or feeling; (more)
Make your next event a special occasion with Magic Occasions Catering. From our offices in Longwood, Florida, we will work closely with you from start (more)


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NATION: A year in review
"Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them." - George W. Bush
On Sept. 11, everything changed-including the definition of news. Reviewing the events of the past 12 months used to be a painful exercise in cutting to the bone. So much to say, so little space. How could a few pages do justice to a year's worth of news? Then came the day that the sky fell down on New York and Washington, and suddenly little else seemed very important anymore. It was as if the cloud of smoke and debris that swallowed up the Manhattan skyline obscured as well the mental landmarks that define the passage of time in any normal year. Policy debates, political scandals, economic crises-they all seemed so important before Sept. 11. Maybe, God willing, they will be again next year. But in 2001 we changed the way we measured what's important. Much of what used to be news now seemed, in the words of the Preacher, to be vanity. And in the long run, that might be the biggest news story of all. Check out any time you like
The world has always marveled at America's orderly transitions of power. How could a person or a party at the center of the political universe simply step aside, let it all go? From a distance, it looks so easy. Up close, however, things can be messier. The outgoing president and his party seemed especially loath to turn over the keys they'd held for eight long years. As the clock ticked down, the Clinton administration churned out record numbers of midnight regulations, while the president himself signed a slew of controversial pardons that would turn even some leading Democrats against him. Clinton bureaucrats moving out of their government offices left behind graffiti-covered walls, sliced phone lines, obscene voicemail messages, and wrecked computers. The extent of the damage would not be fully known until June. In the legislative branch, meanwhile, petulant Democrats declared war on the Bush cabinet. Linda Chavez, the president's first choice for secretary of labor, was forced to withdraw her name after critics revealed she had housed an illegal immigrant from Central America eight years earlier. With one scalp already under their belts, Senate Democratic chiefs began sharpening their hatchets for the most controversial nominee of all: Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft. Liberals descended on Washington to plead, pressure, and promise the end of the world if a conservative Christian took over the Justice Department. A month-long media circus finally culminated with nearly a week of contentious hearings. But this time Team Bush held firm, and the new president claimed his first major victory, 58-42. The debate never leaves
"It's the economy, Stupid." The sign may not have been on the new president's desk, but the sentiment was clearly on his mind as Mr. Bush addressed his first joint session of Congress on Feb. 27. "The growing surplus exists because taxes are too high and government is charging more than it needs," Mr. Bush declared. "The people of America have been overcharged, and on their behalf, I am here to ask for a refund." Although a tax-cut promise had been at the very center of Mr. Bush's year-long campaign, Democrats were shocked-shocked!-that he would actually deliver on that promise with his first budget. They countered with a smaller tax cut of their own, but Mr. Bush stood his ground. The battle lines were drawn. Other battles brewed. Just days earlier, in a scene reminiscent of the Cold War, government agents nabbed Robert Hanssen, a 27-year FBI veteran, as he tried to pass classified documents to the Russians. It was hardly the first time. Investigators charged that in exchange for $1.4 million, Mr. Hanssen had leaked some 6,000 pages of sensitive materials during his 15-year career as a spy. Another, brighter career came to an abrupt end when 49-year-old racing legend Dale Earnhardt crashed his black Chevrolet into a concrete wall at the Daytona 500. The crash was etched forever in the memories of some 30 million fans watching the race live. Many said they were shaken by the knowledge they had just seen a life snuffed out before their eyes. Little did they know it was just a prelude. March madness
A 15-year-old shooter opened fire at his San Diego-area high school on March 5, killing two students and wounding 13. Armed with a gun he found at home, Andrew Williams started his shooting spree in the boys' bathroom before moving into the hallway and squeezing off dozens of additional rounds. Two boys, aged 14 and 17, were killed. The San Diego tragedy was the worst school shooting since Columbine, just two years before. The Pacific Northwest, by contrast, had gone 35 years without a serious earthquake, even though the region is known for its major fault lines. That record was broken when a 6.8-magnitude quake rocked Washington state, cracking the Capitol dome in Olympia and trapping tourists at the top of a swaying Space Needle. Human casualties were light, however, leaving residents to wonder if the Big One was yet to come. Meanwhile, a shaky economy continued to endure jolts of its own. Both the Commerce Department and the Federal Reserve issued yet more gloomy reports, sending the stock market into a tailspin. Still, economic measures are not as precise as the geological kind, so the extent of the damage wouldn't be known for months: Subsequent government economic data confirmed that March was the month that the economy officially slipped into recession. Tension city
Just as President Bush was tussling with the Chinese over a U.S. spyplane and its crew, political opponents held his domestic agenda hostage, as well. In a bid for the political spotlight, John McCain on April 2 forced a Senate vote on his controversial campaign-finance reform bill, despite objections from the White House. The measure passed 59-41, but House Republicans held together and buried the bill, saving the president from exercising a bitterly divisive veto. In Cincinnati, racial tensions boiled over after police fatally shot an unarmed black teenager. Riots ensued, and on April 12 Mayor Charles Luken declared a state of emergency that included dusk-to-dawn curfews. Just as Cincinnati returned to normal, a jury in Birmingham, Ala., began hearing evidence against Thomas Blanton, a white supremacist charged with bombing a black church nearly 40 years earlier. The crime, in which four teenage girls were killed as they prepared for a Sunday morning service, was considered one of the most galvanizing events of the civil-rights era. He had been a suspect from the start, but Mr. Blanton had never been tried. After four decades, however, it took the jury only two hours to find him guilty. He was later sentenced to life in prison. Rebels and rebates, energy and enemies
Maybe it was spring fever. After his winter of discontent, Vermont Sen. Jim Jeffords-elected over and over as a Republican-announced on May 24 he was switching his party affiliation. With the Senate previously split 50-50, the Jeffords defection cost Republicans control of the upper chamber. The move meant little in terms of full floor votes, since Mr. Jeffords had voted like a Democrat for years. But without control of committee chairmanships, the GOP would find itself all but stymied for the rest of the year as it tried to advance the president's legislative agenda. Despite the Jeffords jump, both the House and Senate just two days later gave Mr. Bush the tax cut he'd built his campaign around. At $1.35 billion, the cut was less than the president asked for, but still represented the biggest rollback in two decades. As a quick boost to the ailing economy, the cut was made retroactive, and the Treasury Department quickly began writing refund checks to almost every taxpayer. With gas approaching $3 a gallon in the West and Midwest, it looked like Americans might have to use their tax refunds just to keep the lights on at home. Nothing could keep the lights on in California, where rolling blackouts crippled the economy and sent Democratic Gov. Gray Davis into a political tailspin. Mr. Davis met with President Bush on May 29 to ask for federal price caps on energy-a request that the White House politely declined. Also on May 29, a New York jury convicted four men of conspiring to bomb the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. The terrorist attacks were three years old and faraway, so news of the convictions was largely met with a shrug. Only months later would the name of a co-conspirator in the case begin to ring a bell: Osama bin Laden. No more terror?
Timothy McVeigh, considered at the time the worst terrorist in American history, was executed by lethal injection on June 11. McVeigh's 1995 bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City took 168 lives. The government delayed for one month his execution, the first of a federal prisoner since 1963, after FBI officials admitted they failed to turn over some 4,000 pages of documents to defense attorneys. In the end, however, the courts deemed the documents immaterial, and the execution went forward as nearly 250 victims and victims' families looked on. With McVeigh's death, America seemed ready to put thoughts of terrorism to rest. Just two days later, however, U.S. citizens around the world were warned to be on a heightened state of alert after a New York grand jury returned indictments against 13 Arabs in the 1996 bombing of an American military compound in Saudi Arabia. Still, the warning caused barely a ripple at home. With spring in the air and Timothy McVeigh in the ground, domestic terrorism seemed unthinkable. Unthinkable was just the word on many lips after Andrea Yates, a 37-year-old mother in suburban Houston, drowned her five young children in the bathtub. The oldest victim was 7, the youngest, just 6 months. Her husband, Russell, a NASA engineer, said she had been suffering from postpartum depression and had earlier attempted suicide. Broken hearts, artificial hearts, artificial humans
Philandering politicians and interns: Wasn't that chapter of our national life in the past? It took nine weeks and three interviews with police, but Rep. Gary Condit (D-Calif.) finally admitted to having an affair with Chandra Levy, the 24-year-old former intern missing since April 30. She still hasn't been found. Throughout the slow-news summer weeks, the Levy story had become a national obsession and attracted 24/7 media attention-despite the lone holdout, the CBS Evening News, whose star Dan Rather refused to cover the story. Mr. Condit's belated admission on July 6 added fuel to the fire. Doctors in Louisville announced on July 3 that they had successfully implanted the world's first self-contained artificial heart. Creators of the AbioCor device said they hoped the four-pound pump would allow a better quality of life than the Jarvik-7, a cumbersome artificial heart tested in the early 1980s. After weeks of anonymity, the recipient of the AbioCor, 59-year-old Robert Tools, came forward to thank publicly the doctors who had extended his life. It was not to last much longer, however: After 151 days with the device whirring in his chest, Mr. Tools died on Nov. 30 of internal bleeding. Another medical announcement touched off a political debate that would last for weeks. On July 10, scientists at a fertility clinic in Virginia revealed that they had created human embryos specifically for purposes of medical experimentation rather than procreation. The debate over embryo research dominated the political agenda for the rest of the month. President Bush discussed the issue during his first meeting with the pope on July 23, and a week later the House of Representatives passed a sweeping ban on human cloning; the Senate has yet to act. Stem-cell, sell-out?
President Bush went before the TV cameras Aug. 9 to make one of the most politically charged speeches of his young administration. After months of public hand-wringing, he declared a near-ban on embryonic stem-cell research. The 60 or so stem-cell lines already stored in labs around the country would be available for experimentation, the president said. In those cases, "the life and death decision has already been made." The new policy was widely hailed by pro-lifers, who objected to the destruction of human embryos in pursuit of medical breakthroughs. After six months of stormy relations with religious conservatives, John DiIulio, director of the administration's signature faith-based initiative, resigned on Aug. 20. A registered Democrat and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. DiIulio angered much of the Republican base by attempting to limit evangelicals' participation in the very program they had helped to create. By year's end the White House had yet to name a successor to Mr. DiIulio, and the once-sweeping faith-based initiative had been scaled back to a series of tax breaks for charitable donations. 9/11
A date that would become shorthand for terror started out clear and cool and quiet in New York City. Suddenly, one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center burst into flames. Rumors swirled of a bomb or a cruise missile. Half an hour later, on live TV, a jet crashed into the second tower. Within two hours, both towers would crumble, killing more than 3,000. A third jet crashed into the Pentagon just outside Washington, claiming nearly 200 lives. And in rural Pennsylvania, a fourth airliner, reportedly headed for the White House, was brought down when passengers banded together to overwhelm the terrorists. On Sept. 13, both houses of Congress voted to allow President Bush to use "all necessary and appropriate force" in responding to the terrorist attacks. Only one dissenter voted no. After an unprecedented four-day closure, Wall Street reopened for business on Sept. 17. The Dow promptly tumbled 7 percent, and continued to decline throughout most of the month. It would take nearly three months for the market once again to reach its pre-Sept. 11 levels. Addressing a joint session of Congress on Sept. 20, a grim but determined President Bush promised a long, unremitting campaign against terrorism. Americans seemed to be reassured by the president's words: Immediately after the speech, Mr. Bush's approval ratings soared-and remained high for the rest of the year. On Sept. 21, both houses of Congress rushed to pass a $15 billion bailout for the airline industry and to set up a trust fund for compensating victims of the attacks. Making good on his vow to choke off funding for terrorist groups, President Bush on Sept. 24 announced an immediate freeze on all U.S. assets of such groups. Banks around the world quickly followed his example, fearing American financial sanctions for failing to cooperate. Air war in Afghanistan; anthrax, acrimony at home
When a tabloid newspaper employee in Florida died of inhalation anthrax on Oct. 5, officials in Washington at first stressed that the timing might be coincidental. That illusion, fragile as it was, would be shattered altogether five days later when a secretary to NBC anchorman Dan Rather contracted the deadly disease after opening a tainted letter. First airplanes, now envelopes: The stuff of everyday life had become tools of terror. The anthrax hysteria reached Capitol Hill on Oct. 15, when millions of spores were released from a letter mailed to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Officials shut down government office buildings, and exiled lawmakers tried to do their jobs with skeleton staffs in temporary quarters. Eventually, law enforcement would discover anthrax in mail processing facilities in three different states, as well as at the State Department, Justice Department, and Voice of America. By the end of the month, the disease claimed three additional lives: two Washington postal workers and a hospital stockroom employee in New York. Americans weary of bad news got something to cheer about on Oct. 7, when the first bombs rained down on Afghanistan's Taliban regime and its al-Qaeda allies. U.S. forces quickly took out easy targets like airports and radar installations, but President Bush cautioned that the military campaign against terror would be a long one. Back in Washington, the political unity that had reigned for weeks showed its first signs of fraying. Democrats and Republicans clashed over how to stimulate the economy (government spending vs. tax cuts) and how to shore up homeland defenses (Republicans wanted U.S. military tribunals for non-citizen suspects, Democrats balked). On both issues, the House quickly passed legislation favored by the White House, but Democrats in the Senate held out. Not again?
News of another New York City plane crash, this time into a crowded neighborhood, threatened to send an already-jittery nation over the edge. The M.O. appeared similar, after all, and the timing-two months and a day after the terrorist attacks-looked awfully sinister. By mid-December, investigators still didn't know exactly what caused the tail fin to fall off American Airlines Flight 587, but they had at least eliminated sabotage from the list. That was good news for an industry tottering on the brink of bankruptcy-but no consolation to the families of the 265 victims of the crash. Even as Justice Department investigators probed the crash in New York, Attorney General John Ashcroft turned his attention to some not-so-mysterious deaths on the opposite coast. Mr. Ashcroft ordered agents to enforce federal drug laws against Oregon doctors who prescribed lethal doses of painkillers to patients who wanted to kill themselves. (Doctor-assisted suicide may be legal in that state, but doctors' federal licenses to write prescriptions limit the use of drugs for healing and comfort, not killing.) That reversed a decision by former Attorney General Janet Reno, to ignore such violations of the prescription-drug laws, and threw into question the future of Oregon's assisted-suicide law. State officials immediately challenged the attorney general in court, and a judge temporarily blocked prosecutions. Democrats in New Jersey and Virginia wrested their governors' mansions from Republican control in the first statewide races since President Bush took office. And the Arizona Diamondbacks wrested dominance of major league baseball from the New York Yankees. Behind pitchers Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, the Diamondbacks won, four games to three, a World Series that set a record for ninth-inning comebacks. GOP leadership breaks up, Microsoft holds together
Capping a year full of political retirement announcements, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) revealed on Dec. 12 that he'll step down from his powerful post next year. The retirement of the 18-year incumbent-a favorite of both fiscal and social conservatives nationwide-set off a scramble to replace him as the penultimate leader of the House. Zacarias Moussaoui, a 33-year-old French Moroccan, was indicted on Dec. 11 on conspiracy charges in the terrorist attacks exactly three months before. The so-called "20th hijacker" (19 were killed in the attacks) could face the death penalty when his trial begins in January. Of the approximately 600 foreign nationals held in the Sept. 11 investigation, Mr. Moussaoui was the first indicted. Microsoft appointed a team of lawyers to help the company comply with an agreement with the federal government that settled the mammoth antitrust lawsuit started under the Clinton administration. Company executives agreed to manufacture their popular Windows operating system in a way that allows customers to remove some portions of the system and promised to release some source code so competitors can write less buggy software. The agreement prevents a court-ordered breakup of the company and leaves Microsoft's desktop dominance intact, but a handful of states continued their legal pursuit of the software giant. The deal with the Feds effectively puts Microsoft in the legal driver's seat.


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How Much Does a Ficus Tree Cost?
A Ficus tree is one of the many varietied of trees. Trees have been around for a very long time and have provided us with significant benefits. Different trees bear different types of fruits that we can eat, and the bark of trees can be made into different by products. Ficus trees grow in the tropics and there are several species of the tree. These are collectively known as figs.
This type of tree does not only benefit us; they play an important part in the rainforest systems. Without fig trees, there would be many areas and species affected in negative ways. This would greatly harm the rainforests as we known them. In addition to the benefits to the environment, ficus trees are also a great addition to any landscaping.
How much is it?
- Ficus trees can be bought from farms and they can be priced differently depending on the location from which you buy the tree. They can be purchased in various sizes with varying ages; this will also affect the price of the ficus tree. Another factor that you need to watch that can change the price of the ficus tree is how much the farm may charge for it.
- On average a smaller ficus tree will start at around $20 and can cost as much as $300 for a larger tree.
- For example, a 6 foot silk tree created by Nearly Natural retails for $55 to $80, while a small live tree that comes in a tiny pot retails for $12 to $25.
- Silk ficus trees are sold everywhere. They resemble real ficus trees and are great as decorations and are easy to take care of since they are artificial and do not grow. Some would include real soil to make it look more authentic. The price of this type of ficus tree can cost $50 to $250.
- For example, live ficus trees can be purchased from 9GreenBox.com. Most of the trees that they sell do not grow exponentially but mostly used as table tops. One of the ficus trees that they sell is the ginseng ficus tree which costs anywhere from $20 to $30.
What is going to be included?
- There are several trees from which you can choose. These can include those that are already planted in a pot or seed to grow your own in your garden.
- There are live ficus trees that you can buy at a farm; however, due to their popularity, there are artificial ficus trees also available. These types of ficus trees are usually placed inside the house or an office building. These companies usually include shipping of the product for free.
What are the extra costs?
- Once you have chosen your ficus tree, you will have to have it shipped to you. There are companies that offer delivery services which will cost extra, and the price will depend on the distance of your house to the distance of the store gtom which you purchased the ficus trees.
Tips to know:
- Make sure that you know how to properly take care of a ficus tree. Keeping a tree alive is not as simple as watering it and exposing it to the sun.
- The type of soil you use will have a significant effect on the tree, and you will need to make sure that you have soil that is suitable to its growth. You can have your soil tested for this purpose.
How can I save money?
- Look for a store or nursery that sells ficus trees at an affordable price. You can shop around to check for ficus trees that are sold at a lower price. With the help of the internet, this can be an easier task since you will be able to look for one from the comfort of your own home.
- The seeds of a ficus tree will be the cheapest way to go, but this will take a lot more care and will also take a lot longer to enjoy the benefits of the ficus tree.


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Sites listed here must have multiple locations across the Piedmont. For sites about one attraction in one locality, please list in that locality.This category is for sites pertaining to tourist attractions in the Piedmont. Sites may include theme parks, zoos, and directories to attractions in the North Carolina Piedmont.
Sites listed here must be directories of campgrounds in the Piedmont or campgrounds/RV Parks with multiple locations within the Piedmont. If your site features one campground or RV park in one locality, please submit to that locality.This category is for sites pertaining to campgrounds and RV parks in the North Carolina Piedmont. The campgrounds may have cabin rental, but the main purpose of the site is for RV or tent camping only, not for cabin rentals or vacation homes.
This category is for sites about various forms of local lodging facilities, including bed and breakfasts, hostels, hotels, motels, resorts, and vacation rentals. It includes both the sites of these facilities and sites providing information about the available choices.
If your site is not specifically geared towards lodging options across the entire Piedmont Region, please submit to the proper category.
Submitting to the wrong category will delay and/or prevent your site from being listed in the directory.
Submission Tips:
Thank you for your cooperation.
- When writing your site''s title please ensure it is the same as your organization.
- When writing your site''s description, please tell what your site offers in a clear and concise statement without hype or promotional language.


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Mike Ward Design is a Centerville, Ohio web design firm specializing in web site development, web application programming, logo design and print design for corporate, small business, non-profit and personal needs.
Military Only Travel Logo
As part of the retro look and feel of the site, and based on the travel theme, I created the Military Only Travel logo with… more…
Military Only Travel
An old Navy buddy, and the man indirectly responsible for my many trips to Italy on an almost decade long Navy web application project, contacted… more…
Richard Lynch Band Logo
Some logo work I did in conjunction with the Keepin It Country Site and for the upcoming Richard Lynch Band Website. Richard is a local artist and… more…
Keepin It Country
A site redesign for a local business specializing in country music, barn dances, hay rides, and everything country. The logo is from their old site… more…
Say Yes To The Feis
For those of you who do not know what a Feis is, Wikipedia says 'The term "feis" is commonly used referring to Irish dance competitions.'… more…
Paradyn Technology
a few guys I have been working with for years spun off their own support company. The logo was designed by another firm but I… more…
Mason Yoga
aka Anahata Yoga Center… a new yoga studio in Mason, Ohio. Inspiration from their business sign and a request for blues and greens helped me… more…
- Military Only Travel Logo


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Movie buffs unite! We are bringing back PEx movie club! Do you want to be part of the new movie PExkada? Raise your hand!read more
Catch the latest tennis updates in this thread. Are your favorites ruling the court so far?read more
Join the promo for a chance to win exclusive X-Men movie items! Check out this thread for details.read more
What are the snacks from your childhood you still crave for until now? Let us do a foodie throwback!read more
Calling all gamers! Here is a movie you should not miss! Participate in the movie thread to get Warcraft PEx pins!read more
Love Me Tomorrow tells a story that revolves around the thought THAT age does not matter in love.read more