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Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) is one of the world's largest defense contractor by revenue.[1] As a manufacturer of primarily electronic, information, aeronautic, and space systems, LMT has benefited from the increased defense spending that has accompanied the Afghan and Iraq War.
United States government spending typically represents about 85% of Lockheed Martin's revenue.[2] As a result, the company is sensitive to political changes that impact federal government spending priorities. Historically, Republican political victories have benefited Lockheed Martin through increases in defense spending.
The Lockheed Martin Corporation is involved in the research, development, and manufacturing of technological systems, products, and services. It makes money by producing, operating, and maintaining these products for its customers, which are almost always for the governments (mainly the US government).
Lockheed Martin's growth continues to be fueled by global political instability, such as the conflicts in the Middle East particularly because Israel is Lockheed Martin's primary export partner. While civilian contracts do not play a very significant role, Lockheed Martin's diversification program (even within government contracts themselves) helps it sustain its net income and revenue levels even during times of global peace. Lockheed's diversification program focuses mainly on the acquisition of companies that can help them expand into civil endeavors.
Lockheed Martin is susceptible to fluctuations in the Department of Defense's budget since contracts with the United States government account for approximately 85% of its income. Therefore, the distribution of government spending also affects Lockheed Martin.
President Obama has mentioned on several occasions his desire to reduce the defense budget.[11] Often, while such a goal might reduce LMT's revenues in the long-run, defense allocations are planned several years in advance, so there will be a lag before any reductions by the Obama administration take effect.[12] But when these decisions occur abruptly, LMT suffers tremendously.
Lockheed Martin has been negatively affected by the Obama presidency, as military/defense spending have been cut under his administration. Further, depending on political preferences, LMT's operations can be curtailed if it does business with a country that no longer is in favorable terms with the United States. This is because arms sales to foreign governments are tightly regulated by the Arms Export Control Act. Foreign investments by Lockheed Martin, such as a joint venture with the Russian government on space systems, carry the risk of total loss if U.S. regulators deem instability in Russia or the hostility of that government to require the project's termination.
LMT projects strong international growth for the next several years in the global security solutions sphere as governments around the world face increasingly complex threats, specifically from terrorist fears. In particular, international demand for security systems and solutions is expected to grow from 15% currently to around 20% in coming years.[13] According to Homeland Security Research, this global demand for homeland security worldwide is expected to grow by roughly 124% to $518 billion USD by 2015. By increasing exposure to these lines, LMT can diversify its revenues as well as take part in the growing demand for security systems.
For comparison purposes, Lockheed Martin had $45.8 billion in FY2010 revenues.
|FY2010 Net Profit Margin
|FY2010 Operating Margin
|FY2010 EBITD Margin
|Return on Average Equity
|Biggest Division
|Lockheed Martin[18]
|Electronic Systems
|Civilian Aircraft
|Northrop Grumman (NOC)[20]
|Electronic Systems
|Raytheon Company (RTN)[21]
|Space and Airborne Systems
|General Dynamics (GD)[22]
|Information Systems and Technology


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Hot action likely in Chikmagalur Rally
Chikmagalur - There is a sense of unprecedented enthusiasm ahead of the two?day Coffee Day Rally that doubles up as third round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), commencing here Friday with 43 vehicles in the fray.
The rally crews last saw action two months ago during the Karnataka?1000 that opened the much delayed 2012 INRC season while the second round in Kodagu in October was cancelled due to heavy overnight rains.
The rally terrain is said to be smooth with a few fast sections.
"Last year, the average speed in the Birur stage was 94 Kmph and we expect the same this time around," said Farooq Ahmed, vice?president of Motor Sports Club of Chikmagalur.
For the competitors, it has been a frustrating wait as the cars that were prepared for the rally of Coorg have been lying idle.
"Not much of time in the rally car since K?1000 after which we briefly tested the vehicle to check out some changes. Beyond that, absolutely no testing as the car was fully prepared for the Coorg Rally that was cancelled," said Zuhin A. of Team Kajah Motorsport, the only entrant along with co?driver Moosa Sherif, in the IRC class driving a Subaru Impreza WRX STi.
Zuhin, who hails from Trichur, echoed the sentiments of other competitors among whom Mysore's Lohitt Urs (co?driver Sujith Kumar), winner of the K?1000 Rally, is expected to again dominate alongwith Kolkata's Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) who finished second.
Urs, representing Team PGA Horizon R3A, and Ghosh head a grid of 13 stock Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia cars in the Group N 2000cc class that also includes young guns like Karna Kadur (Somonita Ghosh) who was third in K?1000.
Ranged behind them are the experienced trio of Vikram Devadasen (Somaya), Urs' teammate Rahul Kanthraj (Vivek Bhatt), both from Bangalore and Kochi's Bikku Babu (George Varghese) of Team Musli?Power Motorsports.
Further down the grid, the top three finishers in the 1600cc class in K?1000, Adithya S. (Kariyappa K.B.), Siddharth Ranganekar (Nitin Jacob) and Prakhyat Shirole (S.M. Bharath) will resume their battle.
Of particular interest will be the performance of Mangalorean Dean Mascarenhas (Shruptha Padiwal) in the Junior INRC class (Maruti Esteem) that is open only to Under?23 drivers. Mascarenhas was smooth while clocking the seventh best time in K?1000.
For hardcore rally fans, the presence of three vehicles in the non?championship Gypsy class would be welcome. In the fray are Bangalore's Sanjay Agarwal (Shiva Prakash) and Sri Harsha (Raashid Kazi) and Shafeeq?ur Rehman (Dr Dinesh) from Chikmagalur.
The popular Gypsy class was scrapped at the end of 2011 season but there are increasing requests for restoring the category.
"We know there are no prizes for winning in Gypsy class but we are hopeful that more competitors will join us in the future and hopefully something good will come out of it," said Agarwal.
The two physical Special Stages of Birur (12.5 km) and University (18 km) will be run thrice Saturday while the Spectator Special Stage of 2.5 km at the Amber Valley school grounds will be held Friday afternoon. The total Rally distance is 367 km of which 94 km comprise competitive section (Special Stages).


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Six Cuban Ballet Dancers Arrive In Miami After Defecting While On Tour
MIAMI (AP) – Six dancers with the Cuban National Ballet have arrived in Miami after fleeing while on tour.
Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami director Pedro Pablo Pena says the dancers arrived from Puerto Rico over the weekend.
Pena says he spoke with four of the dancers Sunday and pledged to support them and offer an artistic space while they determine their next steps.
Despite the Cuban National Ballet's prestige, dancers routinely defect while on international tour. The first dancers defected in 1966 in Paris, citing political reasons. More recently dancers say they have left also for economic and artistic motives. Cuban ballet dancers earn on average no more than $30 a month.
Pena himself is an exiled Cuban dancer and has taken in numerous ballerinas throughout the years.
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DUBLIN (AP) — A Protestant mob stormed into the grounds of Belfast City Hall and clashed with police Monday night after the council voted to remove the British flag from the building for most of the year.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said five of their officers and two security guards were injured during the hour-long melee outside city hall. The violence spilled into predominantly Protestant east Belfast, where passing Protestant crowds threw bricks and bottles at a Catholic church and hijacked a bus.
Also injured outside the city hall was an Associated Press photographer who described being clubbed by at least one policeman as he found himself trapped between baton-swinging officers and the Protestant crowd near the rear iron gates. He suffered a head wound and a broken right pointer finger that is expected to require plastic surgery.
"A club came down on my hand as I was taking pictures and caught my finger really bad. It was right on the camera trigger. There's blood all over my camera," photographer Peter Morrison said in an interview from his bed at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital.
"The police appeared to be panicked and thought they were going to be overrun by the crowd. They were shouting and screaming at the crowd to get back in the street," said Morrison, a Belfast native who has covered many Northern Ireland riots for the past two decades.
He said a police club also gashed his head, requiring stitches. He never lost consciousness.
More than 1,000 Protestants had rallied outside as council members voted 29-21 to remove the Union Jack from the building for all but 17 designated days each year. The British flag has flown continuously from the city hall's dome for more than a century.
Some in the crowd smashed through the locked rear gates, vandalized staff cars and fought with police. Many concealed their faces with hats, hoods and scarves to make it hard to identify them through photographs or TV footage. Some tossed fireworks and smoke bombs at police lines, and a few climbed on top of police armored cars in the street outside and planted British flags on top of the vehicles.
The scene underscored deep-seated divisions that persist in the British territory despite its broadly successful peace process. That two-decade effort has largely ended politically motivated killings and forged a stable coalition government of British Protestants and Irish Catholics — but done little to unite society at grass-roots level.
Many parts of Belfast remain divided into British and Irish districts demarcated by high walls called "peace lines" and rival displays of flags. The British side's curb stones often are painted the red, white and blue of the Union Jack, while Catholics adorn theirs with the green, white and orange of the Irish Republic.
Belfast once had a Protestant majority, but a growing Catholic community means today's council has 24 from the Irish nationalist side and just 21 from the British unionist side. The balance of power is wielded by six councilors from Northern Ireland's only cross-community party, Alliance.
Intercommunal tension had been growing since Catholic council members last month proposed a motion to remove the British flag completely from the dome of the 106-year-old building. It sits at the front of Royal Avenue, the major shopping boulevard in central Belfast, and is decorated elaborately with Christmas lights.
But the Alliance party proposed Monday that the flag still should fly on official holidays and other specified days. That measure already has been adopted on other government buildings, notably the headquarters of Northern Ireland's regional government in east Belfast. Catholics voted for that compromise, but the Protestants opposed it as an assault on their community's identity and Northern Ireland's place in the United Kingdom.
Tempers flared during the debate preceding the vote, with both sides accusing the other of provocation likely to spark violence outside.
"This is a very hot issue. Flags cut to the core of people's identity and their belief system," said Christopher Stalford, a Belfast councilman from the major Protestant party, the Democratic Unionists. He contended that most Catholics wanted the British flag to stay atop city hall.
Gerry Kelly from the main Catholic-backed party, Sinn Fein, dismissed that as fantasy. He accused the Protestant side of seeking confrontation and the police of mounting an incompetent security operation.
Kelly said the Protestant crowd "indiscriminately attacked cars. We are very, very lucky that they didn't get into the building or we could have been dealing with a lot more injuries."


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Tests » Personality tests
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This assessment will establish your personality profile based on the tendencies that guide your behavior and relationships with others. No reference is made to mental health or to personal defects or qualities.
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The Traits Test was developed by Claude Forest, Ph.D.


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10 Jan 2014 06:38:28 AM
Matt Brown Releases Forced Apology for Saying That Women's MMA Should Be Topless; 'Legit Man Shit' Pulled Off SoundCloud
(Matt Brown: Knockout artist, foxy-boxing aficionado. / Photo via Getty)
On Wednesday, we gave our CagePotato Seal of Approval to Matt Brown's new podcast Legit Man Shit, featuring the "hilarious, borderline sexist musings" of the tough-as-nails UFC welterweight contender. As Jared wrote, "head over to the podcast's SoundCloud page and check out episode one before Brown is inevitably stifled by his superiors like every forward-thinking philosophizer before him."
We hope you took our advice, because Legit Man Shit #1 has been removed from the Internet. Indeed, the UFC has fed Brown the proverbial hemlock.
The quote that wound up getting Brown in trouble with his bosses was a rant about women's MMA that featured the line, "If I'ma pay 60 dollars for a pay-per-view to watch women fight, they should at least be topless." Soon after that quote began circulating around the MMA blogosphere, the UFC released the following statement:
"Matt Brown has apologized for the comments made on his podcast, and we have addressed the matter with him. His comments don't reflect the views of the UFC. There's no place for discrimination within our organization at any level. The UFC is built on principles of respect [Ed. note: LMFAO], and any statements to the contrary are not acceptable."
The UFC is understandably touchy about its female fighters being publicly disrespected by its male fighters; featherweight Conor McGregor was previously smacked down after he released a sexually-charged tweet about Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey. And now it's the Immortal's turn to put out a forced apology:Read More DIGG THIS


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Roasted Green Garlic Hummus
|Day Part
|Dinner, Lunch, Snack
|Menu Part
|Appetizer/Small Plate
|Cuisine Type
Source: Contributed by Chef Michael Giletto, CEC, Cherry Valley Country Club, Skillman NJ Courtesy of Christopher Ranch
Hummus is a simple, healthy and popular appetizer served alongside veggie sticks and warm flatbread (shown here with a beet puree). In this version, roasted green garlic delivers a crisp, sweet flavor profile which differs from mature bulb garlic.
4 each California green garlic small bulbs, minced
1 tsp. grape seed oil
Pinch kosher salt and pepper
2 cans (15 oz. each) garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed
2/3 cup tahini (roasted, not raw)
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
Toasted sesame seeds and chopped flat leaf parsley, for garnish
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Toss minced green garlic with grape seed oil, salt and pepper until coated evenly.
- Place marinated green garlic on baking sheet; roast until soft and tender but slightly golden brown. Remove and let cool.
- In food processor, combine roasted green garlic, garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, 1/2 cup water and olive oil. Process until smooth. Add salt, starting with ½ tsp., to taste.
- Spoon into serving dish and sprinkle with toasted sesame seed and chopped parsley. Serve with crackers, raw vegetables such as carrots or celery, or pita bread chips.
Makes 3 cups


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November 22, 2012 19:09 ET
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Nov. 22, 2012) - The Law Society's governing body (http://www.lsuc.on.ca/with.aspx?id=673) today approved its 2013 budget with a modest annual fee increase of 1.4 per cent for lawyers and paralegals. The 2013 fee for a practising lawyer will increase by $25, from $1,826 to $1,851, while the fee for licensed paralegals will increase by $14, from $982 to $996.
"In the current economic climate, we are particularly pleased to be introducing a budget with modest fee increases that maintains strong support for our core responsibilities and the priorities set by our governing board," says Law Society Chief Executive Officer, Robert G.W. Lapper, Q.C. (http://www.lsuc.on.ca/ceo/) This is Mr. Lapper's first budget since taking the position of CEO in February. "This is a prudent budget that takes into account the dynamics affecting the delivery of legal services and the practice of law in Ontario."
In addition to its core mandate of regulating the legal profession in the public interest, the Law Society's priorities for 2011-2015 include facilitating access to justice, strengthening professional competence and regulation, supporting equity and diversity, enhancing tribunals, and studying alternative business structures.
The primary factors underlying the 2013 budget are:
The deliberations on the Articling Task Force recommendations are not expected to have a significant financial impact in 2013. The Lawyer Licensing Process fee of $2,400 and the Paralegal Licensing Process fee of $1,075 remain unchanged from 2012.
Included in the annual fee for lawyers is a county law library levy which is increasing by $2 to $205 for 2013. Operational funding of the county law libraries is increasing by approximately 2%, consistent with the growth in funding over the last five years.
"I am pleased we were once again able to keep fee increases very modest while sustaining funding for our core programs and key initiatives," says Law Society Treasurer Thomas G. Conway. (http://www.lsuc.on.ca/treasurer/) "Going forward, we will continue to strengthen our legislated activities, support sole and small firms and remain fully committed to enhancing access to justice for all Ontarians."
The Law Society regulates lawyers and paralegals in Ontario in the public interest. The Law Society has a duty to protect the public interest, to maintain and advance the cause of justice and the rule of law, to facilitate access to justice for the people of Ontario and act in a timely, open and efficient manner.
Law Society of Upper CanadaLisa email@example.com Society of Upper CanadaDenise email@example.com
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Caterpillars you are likely to run across at some time
Where there are plants there are caterpillars. As an avid gardener, you are probably familiar with several species of caterpillars, particularly those that damage some of your favorite plants, such as tobacco hornworms, cabbage loopers, and tomato fruitworms. But our gardens and landscapes are host to hundreds of other caterpillar species.>> read "Crazy Crawlers" #Insects #Pests
Often when pulling weeds or mowing the grass, my mind drifts to some of the challenges in the world. I don't mean solving world hunger or anything, but just considering some of those gardening questions not discussed on radio shows. This happens in a "stream of consciousness" where one thought or question runs into another and another and so on.>> read "Gardening Questions You Never Really Thought to Ask" #Misc #Pests #Uncategorized #Vines
When most people think of wasps, they think of paper wasps, and they probably think of them only as pests because of unpleasant past encounters with these stinging insects. However, the world of wasps is much larger and more complex than this! Our gardens abound with hundreds of species of wasps that vary greatly in size and life habits. Most of the wasps in our gardens are tiny, parasitic species that do not sting people and go largely unnoticed. These are definitely friends because they help control pest insects. There is also a group of wasps known as sawflies whose larvae look like caterpillars and feed on plants. These are usually foes because they damage landscape plants. Two other groups of wasps are the social wasps, such as paper wasps, and the solitary wasps, such as mud daubers and cicada killers. Wasps in both these groups are capable of stinging, and they definitely qualify as foes when they do so, but paper wasps also have a beneficial side.>> read "Wasps: Garden Friends or Foes?" #Beneficials #Insects #Pests
Managing weeds in flowerbeds
Gardeners take pride in the appearance of their landscapes. However, nothing detracts from the beauty of flowerbeds like weeds. Along with being aesthetically displeasing, weeds in flowerbeds compete with desirable plants for water, nutrients and light. If weeds are out of control, expect fewer flowers and more headaches. For most people, backbreaking hand removal is relied upon exclusively to remove weed problems. Hand pulling may be successful for a few weeds, but for most weed problems it is only partially effective.>> read "The Best Defense" #Pests #Turf Grass #Vines
Every gardener has experienced it, usually more times than they can count. You walk into the garden and discover a plant that's been defoliated or otherwise damaged by caterpillars. The canna leaves are riddled with holes, the cabbage leaves look like lace, half the tomatoes have worms in the fruit, or the azaleas have been stripped of their leaves. How could this happen so quickly?>> read "Caterpillar Calamities" #Pests #Vegetables #Wildlife
The term "canker" refers to a lesion on a twig, branch or stem, usually caused by a bacterial or fungal pathogen. The appearance of cankers varies, depending on the host and the pathogen. Often, the bark of the affected stem or trunk is sunken and discolored. Fluids may ooze from a canker or fungal fruiting structures may appear on the bark covering or surrounding the lesion. In some cases, lesions remain small and isolated, causing no major problems for the host plant. In other cases, the canker spreads widely, causing death of twigs, branches or even the main trunks of trees. The best known example of the destructive potential of a canker disease is chestnut blight, caused by the fungus Endothia parasitica, which caused the virtual extinction of the American chestnut within 40 years of its accidental introduction to the United States in about 1900.>> read "Cantankerous Cankers" #Disease #Pests #Trees
Integrated pest management or IPM is a smart way of managing insect pests for economic and environmental benefits. IPM starts with the timely detection and correct identification of pests, leading to intervention using multiple control tactics. Insect traps can be used as a tool for timely pest detection and decision-making in home or commercial settings.>> read "Smart Gardening" #Insects #Pests #Tools
If you have a garden, it's more than likely that you also have a pest or three. It should be no surprise that pests and critters like our yards and gardens as much, or more, than we do. We are encouraged to invite wildlife into our yards and gardens because we love seeing them, and, in theory, they help balance our desire for our garden and nature to coexist. But what happens when they go rogue and start eating, digging and destroying all of our hard work?
Scaring them away, or we could say gently discouraging, wild and sometimes not-so-wild critters to "Step away from the garden," is always a first and sometimes successful option.
Container gardening is one of the fastest growing sectors of the gardening world – and why not? Containers can be grown where traditional gardens cannot, such as apartment balconies, courtyards, decks and patios. Since most containers are portable, there is a strong temptation to bring this instant landscape and color into the home once autumn transitions into the cold of winter. However, in addition to the preparation of the plants' horticultural needs, extra precautions need to be taken to ensure that no unwanted visitors hitchhike into your home on these container plants and jeopardize the health of your current houseplants or cause a nuisance in the home.>> read "Move the Plants, Not the Pests" #Containers #Insects #Pests
Tall, multicolored 'Granny's Bouquet' zinnias flourish in the sunny border. We've been clipping them regularly for the table, which encourages new flowering. Heritage garden roses are into their second or third flush. Landscape roses continue strong and brighter than ever. Grape, patio and large luscious tomatoes are at peak production. Yellow and green summer squash are so prolific that neighbors walk the other way when they see you carrying yet another vegetable.
July and August also can bring out the worst in marginally healthy plants. Plants are a collection of living cells, just like us. We're more susceptible to going downhill fast when stressed, underfed, dehydrated, injured, too hot or too cold.
The squash bug is common throughout the United States, and it is one of those creatures that truly has a logical name. The Anasa tristis is a true bug, and you surely want to "squash" it when seen.>> read "Squish the Squash Bug" #Insects #Pests #Vegetables
Symptoms that aren't as serious as they look
As an arborist, I work with a lot of people who care deeply about their trees and shrubs. Almost once a week, I will get a call from someone who is alarmed that something new they've noticed on their tree might be a major problem. Sometimes it is a problem that needs help, but often it is something that looks bad, but isn't. Here are some of the common issues that arise.>> read "What? Me Worry?" #Disease #Pests #Trees
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Enhance your health naturally with herbs from your own garden. Even if you've never gardened before, you can care for yourself and your family using time-tested herbal remedies harvested from your own medicinal herb garden. Master Gardener Dorie Byers offers simple growing instructions for more than 20 versatile medicinal herbs such as garlic, chamomile, and echinacea. You'll also find recipes and tips for using the herbs for first-aid and preventive health care.
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The Daily Voice accepts signed and original letters to the editor. To submit your letter email email@example.com .
Letter to the Editor:
I am writing to urge all of my fellow Republicans in the 17th Congressional District to vote for my friend Joe Carvin in the upcoming Tuesday, June 26, congressional Republican primary. We have a remarkable chance for capturing this seat with a solid tax-cutting, pro-growth, job-creating leader like Rye Town Supervisor Joe Carvin.
Not only is Carvin a common-sense business leader, but he has a stellar record in Rye Town of reducing taxes every year he has been in office and has cut expenditures by 25 percent. Carvins zest for eliminating bureaucracy and further reducing the tax burden is evident in his push to eliminate his own level of government. Not many politicians will lead the fight to get rid of their jobs, but Joe Carvin has been quite a vocal advocate for reducing the incredibly large number of taxing jurisdictions in New York state. It is time we have a voice in Congress that wants to fundamentally change the taxing dynamic in our state.
With three decades of business and professional experience, fluency in five languages and graduate degrees from Harvard and NYU, it is resoundingly clear that Joe has the right credentials for Congress. He has been a solid leader who has reached out to all segments of Rye Town in an effort to make us a model American community and increase voter participation in the political process.
Tuesday, June 26, is our opportunity as Republicans to elect a pro-growth, tax-cutting candidate to Congress. I ask all Republicans to vote for Joe Carvin to be our Republican candidate for Congress.
Joe Kenner Port Chester Village Trustee Port Chester Republican Chairman
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Yesterday, we kicked off our week-long State of the Phillies series by breaking down the past, present and future of the first base and second base positions. Our mission over these next few days is to identify where, exactly, the Phillies can improve this roster. The outfield is one such area, although the free agent market isn't exactly bursting with talent there either. In today's story in the Daily News, Ruben Amaro Jr. tells Ryan Lawrence that the trade market could offer some possibilities. Here, we break it down.
I. 2012 production, Phillies c orner outfielder s (NL rank out of 16 teams in parentheses)
Left field
Right field
BREAKDOWN: No position was as disappointing as right field this season, where the Phillies entered the year with Hunter Pence as a fixture in the middle of the lineup. In some regards, Pence was a victim of the expectations he set for himself with his torrid play after last July's trade from the Astros. In reality, his .270/.335/.446 line was right around his career averages in those departments and his 17 home runs were better than average. But the in juries to Chase Utley and Ryan Howard left the Phillies relying heavily on the production they would get out of Pence in right field and Victorino in center field. And Pence showed that while he is very good right-handed power bat, he lacks the consistency required to be a centerpiece bat capable of carrying a lineup. Left field was less of a surprise. In fact, the .760 OPS they got out of the position was probably better than anybody had a right to expect coming out of spring training, thanks to a resurgent year by Juan Pierre. Keep in mind the Phillies entered the spring thinking that John Mayberry Jr., Laynce Nix and Ty Wigginton would provide a capable rotation. Of all the problems the Phillies faced this season, left field was the most avoidable, since there were a number of proven power hitters available on the market for a reasonable price. You can argue the bullpen was the biggest area of neglect, but that ignores the slew of injuries that afflicted some of the younger relievers, and the regression of Antonio Bastardo during the first few months of the season.
II. Future salary commitments (luxury tax threshold $178 million in 2013, increases to $189 million in 2014)
2012: $13.7 million (opening day), 7.70 percent of luxury tax threshold (Hunter Pence, Juan Pierre, John Mayberry Jr., Ty Wigginton)
2013: 1.35 million, 1.00 percent of luxury tax threshold (Laynce Nix, 31 years old)
FLEXIBILITY : The Phillies have a blank slate here. Domonic Brown and Darin Ruf both have options, and Nix can slot into a role as a left-handed power bat off the bench. Brown's numbers were hardly eye-popping -- .235/.316/.396 with 5 home runs -- but he showed an ability to work a count and his defense was the detriment that some people feared. Brown has 496 major league plate appearances, but never more than 212 in a season. The feeling here is the potential reward of a cheap, young productive major league hitter outweighs the risk of Brown never developing into that player, which means the Phillies should not put themselves in a position where Brown is once again headed to the minor leagues in favor of a veteran. Between center field, the bullpen and the other corner outfield spot, the Phillies have enough places to spend their disposable income that they should enter spring training with the thought that Brown will be their opening day right fielder.
III. 2013 Organizational Depth Chart
- Domonic Brown, 25, pre-Arb (est. 1.090 service time) under club control through at least 2016
- Nate Schierholtz, 29, arb-eligible, $1.3 million in 2012 (4.078 ST) under club control through 2014
- Laynce Nix, 31, signed at $1.35 million through 2013
- John Mayberry Jr., 29, pre-Arb (2.095 ST) under club control through 2016
- Darin Ruf, 26, pre-arb (< 1.000 ST) under club control through at last 2018
- Tyson Gillies, 24, AA
BREAKDOWN: While age and injury have diminished the performance of the Phillies' veteran infield, the decline of the lineup can also be traced to the changing face of the outfield, which has seen Pat Burrell, Jayson Werth, Raul Ibanez, Shane Victorino and Hunter Pence hold down the fort since 2007 and is now without any in-house candidate that has a proven ability to replace any one of them. Brown, Ruf and Mayberry are the only young players who have the potential to contribute next year. Gillies is a center fielder, but we put him on the list anyway.
Nix and Schierholtz have never been everyday players. At this point, both profile as bench bats, but both are left-handed, which means it could be difficult to get them at-bats and still give Brown a chance to play regularly.
Mayberry played better down the stretch after an awful start to the season, but his .695 OPS still ranked 41st out of 49 right-handed hitting outfielders in MLB (min. 250 PAs).
IV. Potential for personnel upgrades
TRADE POTENTIAL: Corner outfield is always a position with significant trade possibility simply because there are more corner outfielders playing the game than any other position. There have been rumblings all season at the Diamondbacks would seriously consider trading star Justin Upton. The Rockies could look to unload Michael Cuddyer. But the Phillies really do not appear to be in a position to take on an aging player whose production either has dropped or is in the process of dropping precipitously. We'll have to take a longer look at this to identify some players who would make sensible trade targets, much like the Athletics acquired in Josh Reddick.
FREE AGENT MARKET: A lot depends on where the Phillies decide to go in center field. I have long been an advocate of Nick Swisher, who is a switch-hitter and brings healthy on base and extra base numbers. But he is also at the top of the market, and at 32 years old probably is not worth the money that he will likely seek. One problem the Phillies could have is convincing a veteran that he will have a legitimate shot at a starting job with so many players in the mix. A right-handed bat like Cody Ross or Scott Hairston would make a lot of sense, especially given their abilities to play center field. Would it surprise me to see the Phillies go with a wide-ranging rotation of mid-tier veterans and young players? Not at all. In fact, the economics might make sense. Say, bring in a guy like Ross and a more natural center fielder like Angel Pagan and let the whole mix sort itself out. That being said, the opportunity to add a power bat at a reasonable price was much greater last offseason than it is this one.
Here is an extremely preliminary power ranking of the available corner outfielders.
1. Josh Hamilton, 32
2. Nick Swisher, 32
3. Melky Cabrera, 28
4. Delmon Young, 27
5. Cody Ross, 32
6. Scott Hairston, 33
7. Torii Hunter, 37
8. Ichiro Suzuki, 39
9. Jonny Gomes, 32
10. Reed Johnson, 36
That's about it, although we'll have a much more in-depth look at the market as we get closer to free agency.
V. Corner outfield, in conclusion
Before the Phillies figure out how to approach the offseason, they need to figure out how they feel about the guys they already have in the fold. They have probably already done this, or at least have begun the process in earnest, but we are not privy to those discussions, so we can only operate on what we've seen. And what we've seen suggests that this offseason could force the Phillies to make a significant decision on Mayberry. Really, we could write an entire blog post on the situation. And given the length of October, there is a good chance that we will. At some point, the Phillies could reach a juncture where they must decide between bringing in a veteran right-handed corner outfielder like Cody Ross or Scott Hairston or sticking with Mayberry as a rotational guy. Again, a more in-depth breakdown is needed before I set my belief in stone, but if this offseason really is going to come down to incremental upgrades at all available positions, then Mayberry's role -- whether it is right-handed pinch-hitter/defensive replacement who is projected to get 250 plate appearances or a platoon/rotational guy who is projected to get 400 plate appearances -- is certainly one that the Phillies must examine.
As we noted earlier, Domonic Brown has the most upside of any position player in the upper levels of the organization, and the Phillies are in no position to leave upside unexplored. It is fair to mention Nate Schierholtz getting non-tendered as a possibility. It wouldn't appear to make much sense to eat the $1.35 million owed to Laynce Nix since, at the very worst, he gives you a left-handed power option off the bench and depth in the outfield and at first base. The wild card, of course, is Darin Ruf. I was one of many who snickered at the hoopla surrounding a 25-year-old Double-A player who has never been considered a real prospect, but I like to think that I keep an open mind, and I think anybody who does has to acknowledge that, at the very least, Ruf has shown that he can stay on a big league fastball and power it from alley to alley. I don't think you need a big sample size to be able to say that. The question is his ability to handle the offspeed stuff and pitchability of big league veterans with consistency. But you could argue that is the same question that faces Mayberry. And if the Phillies add a center fielder and a right-handed veteran, particularly one who can provide depth in center field like a Ross or a Hairston, then you could proceed to argue that Mayberry's skill set is redundant, and that they might as well ride Ruf (I'm in the process of trademarking that), carry him as, at worst, a right-handed bat off the bench who is capable of smashing a late-inning fastball, and perhaps he continues to refuse to let them ignore him, and he ends up playing his way into an everyday job and 10 years from now we find ourselves wondering how close he would've come to Barry Bonds and Hank Aaron if it hadn't taken all of us until he was 26 years old to realize that he is the greatest pure slugger the sport of baseball has ever seen. You can quibble with the details, but the underlying premise remains.


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October 01. 2013 9:50PM
Nashua Board of Education seeks Common Core clarity
Union Leader Correspondent
State education commissioner's Common Core presentation brings skeptics out to Bedford
— With the debate over Common Core standards heating up, the Nashua Board of Education is reaching out to help parents and members of the community understand what the new standards mean to the city.
The school board will hold the second in a series of open workshops on Common Core tonight from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the lecture hall at Nashua High School North. Administrators and teachers will present different aspects of Common Core, a set of national standards that define the English language and math skills kids should have at each grade level.
"We have a number of administrators and teachers who will be making presentations," said Superintendent Mark Conrad. "I'll be speaking, Karen Crebase, our assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, will be speaking, and we have some teachers who will talk about how Common Core will affect what they do in the classroom."
Although New Hampshire adopted the Common Core standards in 2010, public discussions about the new guidelines have started only recently, and opinions are mixed.
Some educators and communities welcome the new guidelines they feel emphasize abilities needed in a science and technology-rich economy and culture. Others worry about the loss of local control over schools, and untested and unfunded mandates from state and federal governments.
"The education community hasn't done a good job communicating what Common Core is," said Conrad, who said the standards do not mandate a specific curriculum nor do they dictate how teachers should instruct students.
Common Core standards for second-graders include demonstrating the ability to express opinions supported by reasons and to write explanations using facts and definitions. It's up to school districts and local educators to choose the materials and methods used to teach kids those skills.
Conrad said concern and opposition to Common Core is coming from several directions. Common Core comes with annual standardized assessment tests that will be used to evaluate students, teachers and administrators. Low scores could put promotions, graduations, raises and jobs at risk.
The American Federation of Teachers, the national union that represents the Nashua Teachers Union, has called for a moratorium on any penalties or consequences from test scores until schools have a chance for a Common Core reset.
Conrad said the other major wave of opposition to Common Core is political. More than 500 people, including residents of Nashua, have signed an online petition opposing the standards because they turn over control of local schools to the federal government. Opponents also believe Common Core violates privacy by collecting personal information on students, dictates how teachers should be evaluated and forces districts to spend significant amounts of tax dollars on new materials, technology and staff.
Common Core opponents have urged residents to attend the Nashua school board's workshop.
At Nashua's first workshop on Common Core, school board members expressed support but they also wanted more details on how teachers will bring the standards into their classrooms.
Conrad said Nashua schools are already focused on developing many of the math and literacy skills that Common Core emphasizes.
"In my view, if Common Core would suddenly go away, we wouldn't be doing anything different," he said.


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This is pretty straight forward. We declare what are the direct dependencies for this module, and initialize the router.
As it seems, the files I am loading (other than libraries) are my one model and the master view.
One thing you should notice about AMD modules is the return signature. Inside the module we have a sandbox we can use for private methods and variables. the only parts that will be accessible are what we are returning. In this case we are returning an object literal that contains both a model and a collection "classes" representing todos. I found this pattern useful, since models and collections are tightly coupled by definition.
The same apply for views:
This goes on an on. You can browse the code at GitHub to review the rest of it.
Once we are done with our basic app, we have 17 http requests for javascript libraries or assets. The next thing we want to do is
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the codebase into one file. We will do it using r.js which is a part of the RequireJS release. The dependencies for that are qinamp;X Womens Block Heel Heels Round Head Short Ankle Boots Shoes Black Cl4Cg04Ce
and (we will load the other dependancies using `npm install`). We will create a build.js file with the following syntax:
Or if we chose to use almond.js: Note that our main app moved from 'main' to 'include', and almond gets the 'main' slot
What we did here, is to tell the optimizer what is our app URL, what file contains require.config, in what module to start, and where to output it (and a couple of optional semantic configuration bits such as keeping copyright comments and the log level)
The benefit of using almond.js is it compiles all to one file and eliminates the need to asynchronously load anything. You get for pretty much free leaner code – because you don't use require.js anymore, and less http request – because you load one file other than two. The tradeoff is it eliminates the option to have a hybrid app where you load some modules asynchronously (a good example is remote apis such as google maps, etc.)
There's a nice build.js example on the r.js repository with all the details you can dream of.
The last thing we do is run the build command in our root folder:
Now, we have an optimized file. The last thing we want to do is replace the script tag that loads RequireJS with:
Using AMD to create a modular backbone app is easy. it helps to:
And with all that, when optimized does not impact performance.
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Pingback: Build Backbone Apps Using RequireJS | Simple Thoughts | web developer blog
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This gives us the correct widths for everything, and we have more real estate to play with, so we made the header a little taller, too. Almost there, but our desktop layout calls for some reordering: the Sign Up and Content boxes should appear underneath all the Feature sections.Content
This is where flexbox really shines. Trying to create this combination of mobile and desktop layouts would be very difficult with
Via Spiga Women's Edie Ankle Boot Air Force Blue Suede nx2SOz5UUb
. With flexbox's
, it's just a few lines of CSS. Append these rules to the desktop media query:
Ta da! A responsive website! Not bad for less than a hundred lines of CSS. More importantly, we didn't have to alter a single line of HTML to accommodate our mobile, tablet, and desktop layouts.
This was just one example of laying out a responsive site. You can use these exact same techniques to implement all sorts of other designs. Start with the base styles that apply to your entire site, then tweak them for various device widths by selectively applying CSS rules with
. You could even add another media query to, say, create a dedicated layout for ultra-widescreen monitors.
We've got one final task for making a responsive web page. Before responsive design was a thing, mobile devices only had a desktop layout to work with. To cope with this, they zoomed out to fit the entire desktop layout into the width of the screen, letting the user interact with it by zooming in when necessary.
This default behavior will prevent mobile devices from using our mobile layout, which is obviously very terrible. To disable it, add the following element to the
of our document. Just like
Ladies Coated Leather Upper Steel Toe Safety Trainers GR86 Black/pink xoE5Bt
, this is a critical element that should be on every single web page you create:
To see this in action, we'll need to
a mobile device in our desktop browser. This is a little advanced for where we're at right now, but we can give it a shot. Open up
in Google Chrome, then hit
View> Developer > DeveloperTools
in the menu bar. Then, to simulate a mobile device, click the
Toggle Device Toolbar
icon, highlighted below.
You should see the zoom-disabled version of the above diagram in your browser, since it's now pretending to be a mobile device. (We'll save the in-depth discussion of Chrome dev tools for a future tutorial.)
Alternatively, if you're reading this chapter on a smartphone, you can navigate to the live
Womens Shoes Pointed Shallow Mouth High Heels Ladies Single Shoes With Pearl Strap Low Heel Gold Black uNtzt5LWWM
versions of our example project to experience the effect of our
AdSpruce is the leading programmatic video advertising Supply Side Platform (SSP) on the mobile web dedicated to helping publishers maximize the value of their inventory through high-performance video ad formats and direct sales to brands and agencies. Our ad server can deliver video to more devices than anyone else and we own our whole technology stack enabling us to deliver industry-leading ad experiences, targeting, tracking, security and ad spot controls to customers.


text:
How Many Jobs Could Narrative Science's Robot-Writing Tech Do?
Narrative Science Inc. got lots of attention a couple of years ago for creating software that could potentially replace human sports reporters by automatically generating news stories about baseball games.
Since then, the Chicago-based company has continued to work on its software, and it's now raised $11.5 million to expand into new markets, Chief Executive Stuart Frankel told VentureWire. In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the U.S. intelligence community, became an investor earlier this year.
Mr. Frankel co-founded Narrative Science with two Northwestern University professors of engineering and computer science, Kris Hammond and Larry Birnbaum. They decided to create a software platform–whimsically named Quill after the precursor to the modern pen–that could generate stories from any type of data, starting with sports, financial and real-estate news.


text:
Gilmanton library group raises enough money to stay open until FebruaryBy DAN SEUFERT
Union Leader Correspondent
July 09. 2013 9:19PM
GILMANTON — The Gilmanton Year-Round Library Association has raised enough money to keep its doors open, at least until February, thanks to several fundraising events and numerous small and large private contributions from residents.
"The support has been very strong, and I'm very optimistic about the future," said Anne Kirby, the association's president.
The privately owned library, one of three libraries in town, but the only one running year-round, was opened in 2009. The library sought financial support from the voters at Town Meeting that year but voters said no.
Each year after — until this year — residents at town meetings approved articles for its yearly funding request of $45,000, which supports its yearly $70,500 budget.
After the last vote in March, the library association said it only had enough funds to get through November. But the association has been meeting since then to find new sources of funding, and has had a strong response from town residents, Kirby said.
As of this week, about $23,000 of the $45,000 needed to keep the library running was raised, which is enough to keep it going through February, she said.
Of the money raised, $10,000 came from the "400 Club," an effort started by some residents asking 400 people to donate $100. So far, 100 people have made the donation, she said.
A few thousand dollars were generated through a request from the committee to residents who support the library, asking that they donate what they would have paid in taxes if the library funding warrant article had passed in March. That amounted to about $9 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation, and numerous residents have made that donation, she said.
More fundraising efforts are being planned, she said.
Despite the strong private support, Kirby said the association will be forced to go back to voters again next March to ask for financial support.
"Even if we do make it to the $45,000 with private donations, it's hard to sustain that kind of funding, and you can't do any long-range planning because you don't know if the money will be there," she said.


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During a recent visit to Microsoft the Windows IT Pro staff got to sit down with Brian Goldfarb, Director of Microsoft's Development Platform Group. Brian pointed out that a big focus for Microsoft development tools has been in the area of Rich Internet Applications (RIA). Brian shared with us some of Microsoft's newest web developments including Microsoft's ASP.NET AJAX, the new ASP.NET Model-View-Controller (MVC) framework, and Silverlight.
Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX allows developers to create web applications that include rich and responsive user interface components such as tooltips, pop-up windows and progress indicators. ASP.NET AJAX is compatible with the most frequently used browsers including Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. The goal is not just to provide cool looking user interfaces but to also enable applications to provide a great platform for business applications that make business processes work better.
Brian noted that the new ASP.NET MVC framework is a response to Web 2.0. ASP.NET MVC separates web application components into Models which implement application logic, Views, that implement the application's UI, and Controllers that handle user interaction and select the View to show to the user. MVC applications are supported via new project templates that are part of Visual Studio 2008. The new ASP.NET MVC project support makes it easier to handle application complexity and perform testing. Brian pointed out that It's important to understand that ASP.NET MVC is an alternative to traditional ASP.NET Web Forms and that Microsoft fully intends to continue support for both ASP.NET MVC and ASP.NET Web Forms going forward.
Brian also mentioned that Microsoft Silverlight has been rapidly gaining in adoption and that there have been approximately 300,000,000 Silverlight downloads so far. Brian showed us an amazing demo of the Hard Rock Café's new Silverlight implementation. This demonstration highlighted Silverlight's Deep Zoom technology. It started with a view of Paul McCartney's signature. Then the demo began the process of zooming out. The next view showed the signature was actually an inscription on a figurine. Then the view zoomed out again to show the figures were a part of Hard Rock Café storefront display. Each time the view zoomed out you can see a larger view than the last. The next zoom showed that the storefront display was actually one tile in a 4 x 4 tiled postage stamp. Finally, the view ended up showing that the stamp was part of letter mailed by Paul McCartney. The resolution at each level was crystal clear and was legitimately cool. You can check out the Hard Rock Café's Silverlight implementation at www.hardrock.com on the Memorabilia link. To see the current postage stamp view (which is a bit different from the one we saw demoed) select The Beatles link and then begin clicking on the letter shown in the bottom row third image from the left.
Another really well known site that Brian mentioned that was been built using Microsoft technologies is MySpace. The www.MySpace.com site is built with 100% Microsoft technology including .NET Framework, ASP.NET, IIS and SQL Server.


text:
The world's premier canine aquatics competition event will be back at Lake of the Ozarks June 7-9.
The world's premier canine aquatics competition event will be back at Lake of the Ozarks June 7-9. Enter your four-legged friend or just make plans to watch as dogs from all over compete.
There are three basic competitions held over the weekend: the Big Air (how far the dog can jump), Extreme Vertical (how high the dog can jump), and Speed Retrieve (measures the length of time it takes for the dog to fetch).
The Iron Dog incorporates all three competitions into one.
Events are held all over the world and any dog is welcome.
Held at Dog Days on the 19-mile marker or off of Jeffries Road in Osage Beach. Online pre-registration closes June 4.
Anyone can bring their dog to an event to compete, either by pre-registering through our website or registering onsite on a first come first serve basis. The dog must be at least six months old and the handler must be at least seven years old to compete.
June 7
1 p.m. Onsite registration/practice
2 p.m. Big Air Wave #1
4 p.m. Big Air Wave #2
6 p.m. Big Air Wave #3
June 8
10 a.m. Onsite registration/practice
11 a.m. Big Air Wave #4
1 p.m. Big Air Wave #5
3 p.m. Big Air Wave #6
5:30 p.m. Extreme Vertical
June 9
10 a.m. Onsite registration/practice
11 a.m. Big Air Wave #7
1 p.m. Big Air Wave #8
3:30 p.m. Speed Retrieve (all in one finals)
5 p.m. Big Air Finals start (pro, semi-pro, amateur)
More info?
Like Dockdogs on Facebook, www.dockdogs.com


text:
Style # 232000
Cosmically on-trend. Sleek stretch linen pants with sexy metallic trim at the waistline, 4-pocket detail, and a hidden snap closure. Style with our Cosmo Sleeve Jacket for a flirty upgrade.
- 73% Linen, 24% Polyamide, 3% spandex
- Imported
- Rise: 10" (25 cm), inseam: 34" (86 cm), leg opening: 10" (25 cm)
- Model is 5'10" and wears a US size 6
Rated 4 out of 5�by 1 reviewer.
Rated 4 out of 5�by Daniella Beautiful!!! I'm a size 4 and fits perfectly, the only bad thing about it, and i know is because the type of fabric wish is made of, it wrinkles alittle to much, but still I love the way it fits me. March 13, 2014
1-1 of 1


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MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – The Georgia College softball program and head coach Jamie Grodecki are proud to announce the addition of Taylor Campbell for the 2013 season.
A three-time All-Middle Georgia Honorable Mention, Campbell showed versatility, playing third base, shortstop, outfield, pitcher and catcher for Northside High School in Warner Robins, Ga.
"We are very excited about the addition of Taylor to our roster," said Grodecki. "She has shown to be a very versatile athlete, which always makes for a successful athlete. She is a good student as well, and I know she will represent GC well both on and off the field."
A .474 hitter in her senior season, Campbell earned All-Region and All-County honors in each of her final three seasons. In 2011, she posted the highest batting average in the region. She plans to major in exercise science.
The Bobcats showed much improvement in 2012, finishing 25-24 with a 9-11 PBC mark, good for seventh and a PBC playoff spot after holding the top spot in the conference standings early in the season. GC put three players on the all-conference and all-region teams, including an All-American in Whitney Okvist (Kennesaw, Ga.).
The Georgia College Department of Athletics, two-time winners of the PBC Commissioner's Cup, sponsors 11 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. As a Division II program, Bobcat Athletics prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the teams' multiple appearances in post-season competition as well as documented academic success and community-service involvement. Sign up at www.twitter.com/BobcatSports and www.facebook.com/gcbobcats for up-to-the-minute reports, and visit www.GCBobcats.com for more information, and to nominate your favorite former Bobcats and Colonials to the GC Athletics Hall of Fame.


text:
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LODI - The 300-megawatt natural gas Lodi Energy Center is fully operational as of Tuesday, bringing clean energy to the Valley.
LODI - The 300-megawatt natural gas Lodi Energy Center is fully operational as of Tuesday, bringing clean energy to the Valley.
The $500 million project - $388 million for construction and $112 million in debt service - had been under construction for two years and will generate power used partially for Lodi homes and businesses, but also for BART trains and computer technology manufacturers in the Silicon Valley.
Tuesday's startup, which comes two months after its projected opening in September, means subscribers will be using the plant's power, and power will eventually be sold onto the California electricity grid.
"It's the official Commercial Operating Date, so it's an exciting day for us," Lodi Electric Utility Director Liz Kirkely said Tuesday afternoon.
The Lodi Energy Center is a 100-foot tall plant that utilizes a natural gas turbine then converts the wasted steam from the process to produce clean, efficient energy.
Lodi will receive only a portion of the power it produces as part of the Northern California Power Agency, which also includes 13 agencies, including the Modesto Irrigation District, Silicon Valley Power, the city of Roseville and other agencies.
Lodi will benefit by the plant being local, however. Mayor JoAnne Mounce said the city will earn $1 million annually from two agreements with the power agency. Lodi is leasing the city-owned land where the power plant is built adjacent to the White Slough wastewater treatment facility, and the plant is buying wastewater from the city.
"For Lodi, this was like buying land in Texas and finding out there's oil there," said Lodi Councilman Larry Hansen, who also serves on the power agency's board of directors. "We had the perfect site. It's next to power lines, access to the sewer treatment plant - and this plant uses a lot of water - and it's close to gas lines."
The Lodi Energy Center was given a "Top Plant" award by Power Magazine, Kirkley said, and it is said to be the cleanest major power plant in California, if not the country, Hansen said.
Contact reporter Keith Reid at (209) 546-8257 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/lodiblog.


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Despite the skyrocketing adoption of social media by customers and explosion of "experts" in this space, there is still significant angst among social media practitioners across companies who are struggling with lack of support from management.
So let's look at the key reasons why your management doesn't "get" social media and effective ways of channeling the frustration into some concrete steps, which can be a much more productive way to counter this issue.
#1 Can you hear me now?
In many organizations, social media champions/practitioners have little business background or acumen. So, their case for doing social media is somewhat weak since they can't effectively convey the value to management. To convince management why social media matters, you will need a strong evangelizer/s who understands the business objectives, has credibility with management and is able to communicate the value of social media effectively to your management.
#2 Failing the "So What" Test
Social media practitioners are failing to connect the dots between social media activities and business objectives. Management may not "get" social media but they understand business metrics. Too many social media champions are on "planet social media" while their management is firmly grounded in their financial reality. If social media champions want to make their case, they will have to start translating their social media metrics like fans, followers into real metrics like traffic, leads, and sales, ie. metrics that an executive can relate to and care about.
#3 Fuzzy is as Fuzzy Does
There are a wide variety of reasons for doing social media from "experts" ranging from "everyone is doing it" to "it's risky not to do it". Guilt and fear may be good instigators but rarely are good long-term motivators. The key is to share relevant examples and clearly highlight opportunities in your own industry, which is a much more effective way of getting your point across than showing random charts and examples from unrelated industries, just because the numbers look impressive. Having clearly defined business goals and tying social media activities to specific objectives will go a long way towards making a solid case.
#4 Focus on What Matters
The reality of corporate America is that your management's top priority is the bottom line (which can be a good thing as it keeps you employed). Rather than taking it personally, social media champions should address the real issues underlying the hesitation rather than demonizing the messenger. If your management's goal is to drive more awareness of a new product, put together a plan that can help meet that objective rather than offering to set up a social program with no clear direction or purpose.
#5 Rome Was Not Built in a Day
Last but not the least, change-resistant culture continues to be a huge inhibitor to adoption of anything new and this is no different. The only way forward is to take small steps towards the end goal and be patient yet persistent to get where you need to go. What is critical to success is your ability to listen to the concerns (you'd be surprised that some are quite genuine) and address each one as you build your case. Good news is that you're swimming with the tide not against it, so change will come, slowly but surely.


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Gentlemen, start your cash registers
This week the Holiday Season officially begins. Thanksgiving, a much exaggerated version of the first celebration that took place in 1621 will be enjoyed by families from coast to coast. The local Native Americans who were kind enough to help the Pilgrims survive their first winter after landing at Plymouth Rock were probably responsible for initiating that first event.
Although the 1621 feast is considered by many to be the very first Thanksgiving celebration, it was actually in keeping with a long tradition of celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops by the local Native American tribes.
The tribes included the Pueblo, Cherokee, Creek and many others. They organized harvest festivals, ceremonial dances, and other celebrations of thanks for centuries before the arrival of Europeans in North America.
Nonetheless, the first European settlers had a lot to be thankful for, and they owed most of their thanks to the hospitable and forgiving Native Americans.
The initial landing party at Plymouth, Mass., according to William Bradford who wrote an early accounting of the events, said that some time after their arrival, probably around 1620, the Pilgrim men led by Captain Miles Standish, fired shots into the darkness at "a hideous and great cry."
Apparently, they mistook the cries of the Indians for a "companie of wolves, or such like wild beasts." The next morning when arrows came flying at them by the hundreds, their assumptions changed.
But instead of introducing themselves and offering good will by treating the natives with even the smallest modicum of respect, they shot at them. As would be expected, this was not well received.
The first few months in America proved hard on the Pilgrims. Half of their 102 members perished. Of the 17 male heads of families, 10 died of infectious diseases. Of the 17 wives, only three remained after three months. The devastation was dramatic.
However, the following summer conditions improved due to the help and instruction of a native host named Squanto. This knowledgeable and benevolent native was a member of the Patuxet tribe that lived at present-day Plymouth, and fortunately for the Pilgrims, he spoke English. He felt sorry for the ragtag group of Pilgrims who would have surely died if he had not offered his assistance.
Squanto apparently taught the remaining Pilgrims how to survive the brutal winter, plant corn and other vegetables, and gave them a few tips on hunting.
Anyway, the Pilgrims decided to ask Squanto and a few of his friends who helped them to enjoy a little feast as a token of their appreciation. The word got out that the Pilgrims were having a party and everybody decided to get in on the action. Chief Massasoit, the head of one of the local tribes, brought 90 of his closest friends to join the celebration. Now the natives greatly outnumbered the hosts, which made them a bit nervous.
Massasoit was good guy however, and when he saw the meager table set by the Pilgrims, the chief, along with Squanto and a few braves, went hunting. As the story goes, they brought back five deer, fish, pheasants, wild turkeys, and other local fare, built a huge fire, and had a cookout that lasted three days. Since there was no refrigeration, the natives showed the Pilgrims how to dry the leftovers so they could be preserved and enjoyed at a later date. So, the first party was a roaring success.
Then, nothing happened for over 200 years. The 1621 three-day bash was the only "Thanksgiving" celebration. So, we fast-forward to the Lincoln administration in the mid- 19th Century when the Thanksgiving issue was raised again. The idea of a holiday was heavily lobbied by Sarah Josepha Hale, an influential magazine editor, who insisted on making Thanksgiving a national holiday.
Lincoln caved in and declared the fourth Thursday of November as a day of thanks. He did not make it a national holiday. Now jump forward nearly another century to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's second term in office. He thought it would be a good idea to boost the economy that was still recovering from the great depression by declaring the third Thursday in November as the day of thanks.
He thought it would give the retailers an extra week to promote business for the Christmas Season. In 1941, during Roosevelt's third term, Congress decided to make Thanksgiving an official national holiday, but they changed the date back to the fourth Thursday in November, where it has remained to this day.
So the truth is out. Thanksgiving is a holiday made for the retailers to promote business for the Christmas season. In other words, Thanksgiving kicks off the time of year that should be called "the selling season."
It's a perfectly good business idea. Disguised as the Holiday Season, the retailers are given an opportunity to move the stuff they couldn't sell all year long and make a little profit, and the consumers get their Christmas shopping done at discount prices. Although I hate to say this, it's a "win-win situation."
Then, when the holidays are over, retailers have the January white sales and inventory blowouts. Why they call it such, I have no idea. Anyway, that's when the retailers sell stuff that they couldn't get rid of at rock bottom prices before Christmas. In January, they charge slightly less than the fees they would pay if they had the trash man haul the merchandise away.
We, as a nation, have managed to rationalize the commercialization of the Holy Days, by calling the kickoff to the Selling Season, "Thanksgiving." It's just not as crass and keeps us from feeling guilty. Doesn't it just make you feel warm and fuzzy all over? It's little wonder that we live in a system we can't understand.


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Welcome back to the 70s.
This groovy, psychedelic retrostyle funk-track takes you back to the land of lava-lamps and discoballs, of free love and smoky clubs. Total 70s style guitar and drum sound, a vintage organ and a real picked jazz bass lead to a hippie style vocal hook line, making it a perfect fit for any retro / vintage style commercials and websites or a stylish fashion show.
The file contains the main track and a 0:35 sec short looped version:
1. Main: 1:40
2. Loop: 0:35


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Safeway (NYSE:SWY) is the third largest operator of traditional supermarkets in the United States and fourth largest food retailer after Wal-Mart (WMT), Kroger Company (KR), and SuperValu (SVU). Safeway sells food and other consumer products in 1,725 supermarkets under nine store brand names, including Safeway, Von's, Randalls, and Dominick's.[1] The stores are predominantly located in the western United States, Texas, Chicago, and the mid-Atlantic region.[2] Additionally, the company has a 49% stake in Casa Ley, a 137-store market chain in western Mexico.[1]
Safeway has placed a strong emphasis on its wholly owned subsidiary, Blackhawk Network, the industry leader in pre-paid third party gift cards. Through a network of 80,000 retail stores in the US, Canada, and the UK, Blackhawk Network sells gift cards for over 350 partner brands and charges 3-5% of the value of the gift card for commission.[3]
As a large retail grocer, Safeway faces competition from similar chains, local stores, and niche stores, such as Whole Foods Market (WFMI) and Kroger Company (KR). Wal-Mart (WMT), however, represents the most significant long term threat to the firm's continued growth. Wal-Mart (WMT) sells a wide variety of goods ranging from apparel to groceries. Because of its tremendous scale, the retailer is often able to offer below-market prices to its customers. Even if Safeway is able to compete in a lower price environment it is almost certain that doing so would eat into profits. To date, Safeway has been sheltered from the Wal-Mart effect given its predominantly West Coast locations. As the super-retailer invests more resources into beefing up its West Coast presence, Safeway may become more threatened by Walmart.
With 8% of the market, Safeway is the second largest traditional supermarket operator in the United States.[4] With its Blackhawk Network subsidiary, Safeway is also the largest distributor and seller of third party gift cards, offering brands such as Barnes & Noble (BKS), iTunes, and Home Depot (HD).[3]
Safeway earned $40.8 billion in revenue in 2009, down from $44.1 billion in 2008 (and the latter was reported for 53-weeks). In 2009 Safeway reported a net loss of $1,097 million, as compared to net income of $965 million the previous year. However, the poor result includes accounting for a non-cash goodwill impairment charge related to Safeway's reduced market capitalization and the recession; excluding the charge, Safeway would have posted net income of $720 million. Management blamed the decline in revenues on reduced consumer spending and an increase in bargain shopping, lower fuel prices, and "unprecedented levels" of price deflation for items such as dairy, meat, and produce.[5]
In December 2009, a food price index posted a 0.3% increase in its price basket -- the largest monthly increase in more than a year -- in a sign that deflation is easing in the U.S. If that trend holds, it may be good news for Safeway and other grocers. However, the price index was still down 2.4% from a year earlier.[7] Analysts say Safeway is betting on price inflation to improve results in 2010, yet competition may continue to hold down margins.[8]
Safeway's first quarter FY2010 net income fell 33% while its sales rose by 1%, translating to $96.0 million of net income compared to $144.2 million of net profit in Q1 FY2009.[9] Safeway attributes this discrepancy between the top and bottom line for several reasons. First, thinner margins such as gross profit, which declined from 28.7% in Q1 FY2009 to 28.4% in Q1 FY2010, was led by an overall increase in COGS rather than sales.[10] Secondly, Safeway underwent major capital expenditures in this first quarter of $192.6 million, which again decreased the bottom line. Finally, an overall increase in operating and administrative expense due to both deflation and volume declines led to an increase of 44 bp for operating and administrative experience, which further added pressure to the bottom-line.[11]
Despite the decrease in net profit, Safeway continued to reaffirm its FY2010 earnings guidance of $1.65 to $1.85 per share, as encouragement from volume trends in the first quarter of FY2010 compared to fourth quarter FY2009 hints at positive trends in the second half of FY2010.[12]
Safeway earned $141.3 million or $0.37 per share of profits for the second quarter of fiscal 2010 ended June 19, a 40.8% drop compared to same quarter in fiscal 2009.[13] However, these figures included a $57.8 million tax benefit. Total sales were $9.5 billion, which was flat compared to $9.5 billion in second quarter of FY2009.[14]
The drop in bottom-line with a top-line upheld was attributed to several major factors. Gross profit declined 32 basis points to 28.55% as a result of investments in price carried forward.[15] However, the largest influence to the drastic difference between bottom-line and top-line change was the result of operating and administrative expense, which increased by 46 basis points to 25.55% of sales as a result of deflation coupled with expected increases in wages and benefits.[16]
As a result, Safeway is cutting guidance for fiscal 2010 from $1.70 to $1.50 EPS, citing lower shelf prices and deflation as major issues. Safeway's same-store sales, which continue to fall as much as 1% for the year is evidence of these issues, as deflation combined with a struggling economy make consumers attract to lower-priced goods.[17]
Safeway reported net income of $122.8 million or $0.33 diluted EPS for the third reporting quarter of FY2010, a decrease of 4.65% compared to $128.8 million or $0.31 diluted EPS same period last year.[18] However, the current quarter included $12 million or $0.02 per diluted share worth of employee severance charges.[19]
Total sales for the period were $9.4 billion, slightly down compared to $9.5 billion same quarter last year; however, identical-store sales excluding fuel were down 2.0% due to a decline in overall price per item.[20] As such, gross profit margins were also down 13 bps to 28.14% compared to 28.27% in third quarter FY2009. Overall, performance was considered "in-line with expectations" according to CEO Steve Burd. Safeway expects the price per item to improve while continue to offer everyday low price approach model as its overall bottom line driver in the the second half of the fiscal quarter.[21]
Safeway reported net income of $229.6 million, or $0.62 EPS, for the fourth quarter of FY2010, with sales rising less than 1% to $12.8 billion.[22] These figures beat analyst consensus estimates of $0.58 EPS for net income and $12.45 billion for sales. Despite beating analyst estimates though, Safeway continues to face weak sales at existing stores open at least one year. For example, SWY's identical store sales fell 0.8% excluding fuel sales, the company's 8th consecutive decline in identical store sales. However, SWY is confident that sales trends are improving, driven by price cuts, private label brands and increased marketing.[23]
Food inflation, which has begun to affect all sectors of the economy, is taking a toll on SWY as well. With major U.S. food makers passing along the sharp cost increase in agricultural commodities to stores like SWY, this could definitely affect its profit margins, which has already been cutting prices for two years.[24] Going forward, along with rising gasoline prices, Safeway expects the first quarter results to be below normal.[25]
Wal-Mart is the greatest external force affecting any grocer. In markets that Wal-Mart has entered, grocery prices drop by an average of 10-15%.[26] Additionally, Wal-Mart is able to drop grocery prices 10-30% drastically during promotional periods because it can remain profitable on extremely low margins due to its volume of sales.[27]
Safeway is no exception, in that it has lost market share to Wal-Mart in the markets in which it competes. Safeway is, however, somewhat sheltered from Wal-Mart given its relatively more upscale focus and its geographic distribution, with Safeway's presence focused predominantly on the West Coast. As a result, Safeway has only a 24% overlap with Wal-Mart, while chains like Kroger are closer to 70%. In the long-term, Wal-Mart is expected to continue its expansion into the urban centers of the West Coast and has begun experimenting with higher-end products and store formats. It poses the most significant long term threat to Safeway's continued profitability.
Further, with its "Lifestyle" format, Safeway differentiates its stores by creating a warm ambiance through earth toned decor, custom flooring, and special lighting.[1] With 82 new store remodels in 2009, 79% of Safeway stores were converted to the "Lifestyle" format by year end.[28]In order to compete with other premium retailers, such as Whole Foods Market (WFMI), Safeway offers a 300 private label product line of "O for Organic" items as well as premium meats such as its Rancher's Reserve Tender Beef brand. Approximately 22% of all private label are manufactured by Safeway plants; the remainder are purchased from third party suppliers. Many stores also offer additional services like gas stations and in-store Starbucks kiosks.[29]
As the industry leader in gift cards, Blackhawk, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Safeway that primarily sells third-party gift cards, enjoyed 59% growth in its commission revenues in 2008. Blackhawk makes money by charging a 6% sales commission, half of which Blackhawk keeps and the other half which the vendor receives for distributing it. However, the subsidiary has yet to be challenged by a strong competitor. Its success will almost certainly encourage other companies to enter the third-party gift card market. The future success of Blackhawk will depend on how the company continues to foster this growth while confronting the difficulties posed by anticipated competition.
Blackhawk typically receives a significant portion of its cash inflow from third-party gift card retailers late in the fourth quarter of the year from the holiday season so a seasonality factor must be adjusted. In this fashion for example, Blackhawk's net payables related to third-party gift cards increased to $170.4 million in 2009 from $23.9 million in 2008 primarily as a result of the growth of the business and the change in the timing of holiday sales compared to fiscal year end.[30]
As a retail grocer, Safeway faces its stiffest competition several sources:
Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) Wal-Mart is the largest food retailer in the US with more than 3,550 stores and supercenters.[31] Wal-Mart is able to provide low prices through its distribution network and economies of scale. Consumers turn to discount stores such as Wal-Mart when their disposable income falls.
Kroger Company (KR) Kroger is the second largest food retailer and largest operator of traditional supermarkets in the US, with 2,400 stores nationwide.[32]
SuperValu (SVU) SuperValu is the third largest food retailer and second largest operator of tradition supermarkets int he US, with 2,200 stores nationwide.[33]
|Company (Fiscal Year)
|Comp Sales Growth
|Square Footage Growth
|Revenue per Square Footage (Millions USD)
|New Store Additions
|Average Store Size (Square Feet)
|Gross Margin (%)
|Operating Margin (%)
|Net Profit Margin (%)
|Capital Expenditure/Sales (%)
|Whole Foods Market (WFMI) (FY2010)[34]
|Safeway (SWY) (FY2009)[35]
|Kroger Company (KR) (FY2009)[36]
|SuperValu (SVU) (FY2009) [37]


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Jul 14, 2006 at 11:58 am
Man, I sure do miss the '72 MKIV spitfire. Wonder what Rusty did w/ her. He sure was pissed when I told him that 3/4 tires were filled w/ fix-a-flat goo. Man, all the hoopla on the Monte is making me want one! It makes the most sense, as it's a real car. I'd love an 3rd Gen IROC-Z, 4th Gen Trans Am, or a 4th/5th/6th Gen Vette - but that wouldn't be very practical w/ the two kids. Doesn't mean I won't end up w/ one, though! Keep on truckin, bro...
Jul 13, 2006 at 10:45 am
not bad making it to the top of the mcss.com forum page. i really like the black and orange. not sure about the SS in the grill. blut the black rims are sweet. i really love ur car
Jul 5, 2006 at 10:21 am
Lookin Good!