text:
"We are taking action to improve execution in our growth markets unit and in the elements of our hardware businesses that are under performing," CEO Ginni Rometty said in the quarterly statement.
Red ink is splattered on IBM's income statement. In the first nine months of the year, the multinational lost $713 million in its hardware business, compared with $253 million in profit in the year-earlier period. Chinese sales tumbled more than 20 percent. ...
But while IBM took in more than $1 billion in revenue from cloud products and services in the latest period, that is a penny-ante contributor to its quarterly top line of almost $24 billion. And this comes as IBM is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is looking into the finances surrounding its cloud business. For all the challenges, IBM on Wednesday did stand by its goal of reaching $20 a share in earnings by 2015, up from $15.25 last year. And the company has $11.2 billion on its current share repurchase program.
James Bramante's reassignment was first flagged during the company's conference call Wednesday, when Chief Financial Officer Mark Loughridge said sales chief Bruno Di Leo would be taking over at the unit, which oversees growth markets for the company. IBM declined to comment, and the person with knowledge of the move did not say where Bramante would be reassigned.
The results show that the hardware segment still matters a lot to Big Blue, even though it's a far smaller part than in years before services grew to be the biggest chunk. And hardware remains critical to the part of IBM that matters in the mid-Hudson, where thousands still work at its Poughkeepsie and East Fishkill plants.
In September, 697 employees in those two Dutchess County plants were terminated in the biggest local downsizing in several years.
It was part of a global reduction that IBM never put a public number on. The Alliance@IBM workers' group documented 3,390 cuts in the United States.
IBM took the $1 billion cost of those separations as a charge against earnings in the second quarter. Loughridge said the benefit of the staff reductions, which they call "workforce rebalancing," will flow through in the coming quarters. Another strategy is new products in hardware, notably a Power 8 upgrade in servers aimed at better penetration into markets favoring Linux software. And the currency problems are likely to reverse, he said. ...
Robert Djurdjevic, analyst with Annex Research, said in a note to clients, "IBM is continuing to shrink. And the stock market is finally starting to realize that there is no quick fix to its challenges."
In fact, this drop makes IBM Dow's Worst Stock Year to Date. ...
So Wall Street has only itself to blame. For, it refused to accept the reality of IBM's slow-no growth business model (see Big Blue Feet of Clay). Over and over again. Until now. This writer's empathy only goes to the gullible small investors who followed the bankers' advice.
I wanted to follow-up on the first question bit more broadly. I understand some of the specific issues this quarter around China, but if we kind of step back and think about what's been happening with IBM. Over a longer period recently you've had six straight quarters were revenue growth has been negative. You've missed consensus revenue expectations for seven straight quarters.
If it weren't for a huge tax benefit this quarter, it would have been a very significant EPS miss, which has occurred to IBM in the last couple of quarters and hadn't occurred in seven or eight years. So if we step back beyond the current quarter, we see a pattern of financial performance that is way out of whack with your historical model, lower revenue growth and operating profit growth that is dramatically lower but it's been buttress by tax rate and not including workforce rebalancing charge.
So my simple question is what's changed in the last six or seven quarters? Has there been a - I mean, less of a focus on execution that had to deal with the change in leadership at the top? Are you seeing new secular forces? I think it's very easy to explain away a given quarter, but six, seven, eight quarters in a row begins to make a trend. And so perhaps you can try and address what you think is happening more broadly and whether we should be thinking about a financial model that is more like 0% revenue growth and something less than double digit earnings growth on a sustained basis.
This is an extraordinary statement and set of questions. He summarizes my company-specific concerns expressed in my two Seeking Alpha articles on IBM. ...
In any case, only the small retail investor is fooled by IBM trying to avoid highlighting in the press release that its earnings missed expectations except for a large unsustainable tax benefit. A straightforward press release would have had a different tone from the start. ...
IBM keeps cutting R&D. How can it grow that way? Aren't these R&D cuts being done to enhance short term EPS growth? ...
How many other great companies try to persuade investors that they will earn a certain amount of money some years hence? What IBM is doing with its 5-year EPS plans raises the question of whether it is overly influenced by publicists and bean counters rather than inspired innovators and builders. ...
Conclusion: IBM's overarching focus on one metric, earnings per share, may have been a strategic error. IBM may have underinvested in future growth initiatives. Its multi-year policy of returning all its earnings to shareholders via dividends and share buybacks may have been well-intentioned. However, it may also reflect a company with diminished creativity, relying more on financial engineering than innovative hardware and software engineering than was optimal for its long run prospects.
Selected reader comments follow:
This strategy worked for many years but it now prevents any real growth. IBM must now transition into a growth company again or become another HP. It will be a hard transition but I believe they will make it. Next 1-3 years will be difficult IMHO
Back when the contract was originally granted by the CIA in mid June 2013, The Register wrote this:
The CIA picked Amazon over IBM for a lucrative government contract not because of price, but because of the company's "superior technical solution" - a view that contrasts with IBM's vision of itself as the go-to tech organization for governments. ...
The CIA contract with Amazon will be viewed as a "tipping point." Many of the world's largest organizations with easy access to funds, tend to choose contractors based upon their reputations and proficiencies, rather than going with low-end cheaper vendors. IBM has greatly benefited from this tendency, because of their heritage as the bluest of the blue chips.
One of the biggest concerns from organizations about cloud services is security and reliability. Large companies and government agencies realize that the price of allowing outsiders access to key intellectual property and state secrets, will greatly overwhelm any savings from moving to the cloud.
Most people, including myself, thought that while Amazon could grow their cloud service dramatically by attracting smaller companies, large companies, and especially governmental agencies, would stick with their old IT service vendors, when they wanted to transition to cloud services.
That Amazon won a private cloud contract from the CIA, and at a higher price, is a tipping point moment, in my opinion. Who knows more about security than the CIA? Who has one of the most sophisticated IT operations on this planet, outside of the NSA and the US Armed Services?
IBM's legal maneuvers are enhancing and leveraging this tipping point event. Tipping points are enhanced as more people are exposed to information regarding the product or service in question. The more often people hear about something new and great, the faster the uptake.
If IBM had said nothing about their contract loss to Amazon, then numerous articles, including this one, would probably not have been written.
It appears to me that IBM is caught in Quicksand, in relation to the CIA cloud contract. The more IBM fights and maneuvers around, the faster they will sink. In other words, the more publicity that Amazon gets from the CIA contract win over IBM, the worse it is for IBM's reputation.
First, there's never been any evidence from IBM's management that it can effectively respond to Oracle in the enterprise or Salesforce.com in the cloud.
Secondly, look at the degree to which rivals like Accenture and Tibco have won significant deals at the expense of IBM. The company is now getting attacked from all sides. Last but not least, there are now reports that the Central Intelligence Agency has bypassed IBM's cloud services in favor of Amazon.
In response to these threats, IBM's management has maintained the standard "corporate speak," saying (among other things) "we're going after higher margin businesses." While this might be true, this strategy has come at the expense of higher revenue and market share. Not to mention investor confidence. ...
In an effort to streamline costs and achieve its goal to deliver $20 in earnings per share by 2015, the company has been firing workers, while also shutting down portions of its hardware business that's been underperforming. To that end, management's profitability goals remain on track. For instance, while IBM did post a $350 million decline in gross profit, that the company was able to expand gross margin from 47.4% to 48% is nonetheless impressive.
Shares of IBM are now down 7.8% for the year to date. That badly trails a 20.1% advance in the S&P 500 and the 17.3% increase in the Dow, of which it's one of the most influential members, owing to its high price level in what is a price-weighted index.
Participation, the organizers' expectations exceeded at all locations, is an indicator of the mood of the IBM workforce in Germany. The traditionally high level of identification of employees with their company eroded rapidly. The lack of participation in the company's success has led in recent years to a collapsing acceptance of IBM employees for salaries and personnel policies of the IT giants. The fixation on shareholder value and EPS, which had been laid down in the five-year plans and roadmap Roadmap 2010, 2015, provide the basis for success of the company, the employees, for lack of understanding and frustration.
Editor's note: The article has several photos showing hundreds of IBM Germany protesters. Over 600 participated in Böblingen alone.
Cons: -Little to no annual raises; -Disingenuous regarding advancement through career based on locations; -"Drinking water from a fire hose", poor training and enablement; -Cumbersome and error-prone business intelligence/financial infrastructure; -No discernible company culture (team building events, happy hours, company clubs; -Salary in Westchester, NY (Finance HQ) not commensurate with cost of living; -Expectation to often work from home, often late with little/no bonus compensation; -No defined career path.
Advice to Senior Management: Bring back company culture of former IBM halcyon days; stop touting EPS growth when talented employees are leaving in droves. Substitute some benefits for higher salaries and events/culture that will make employees excited to work for IBM. Be up front with new hires regarding their location and career path. Gallows humor and unproductive employees will be the result of continued fervent cost-cutting at the expense of company culture. Eliminated unnecessary and cumbersome financial systems and dashboards (i.e. COGNOS Suits, Lotus Suite). No, I would not recommend this company to a friend.
The letter started "We have enclosed legal notices for your review, one for you and one for your non-Medicare dependent(s), including the Notice of Creditable Coverage."
The third paragraph states "The enrollment period for your non-Medicare dependent(s) will begin on Nov. 14 and end Dec. 6. During enrollment, you may review current health benefits for your dependent(s) and make changes for the coming year. You will receive enrollment materials from the IBM Employee Services Center for your dependent(s) in the mail by mid-November."
I am surprised that no one has posted yet about this letter, as it seemed like many were waiting to hear how non-Medicare dependents would be enrolled.
After all, there are few entirely conflict-free places where investors can educate themselves on the topic, and there's little to no money-related guidance offered within the public school system, which is where the financial groundwork should really be laid.
Joshua Rauh, a finance professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, is acutely aware of that. And it's why he felt compelled to open his graduate-level course on the finance of retirement and pensions to the masses. "My goal is to try to empower people to make better decisions about their finances with an eye toward retirement and for retirees who are thinking about managing their money," Professor Rauh said, "whether it is buying an annuity or having a spending rule." ...
"A person that would really benefit is someone who is 40 and realizing they really need to start putting together a plan for retirement and haven't thought much about it," he said, though he says he believes that it will be equally helpful for people of all ages.
Check out the Obamacare health exchanges. The mistake is thinking, oh, I'm covered by my employer, and not bothering to check out the new healthcare exchanges. "It's a good idea to go on the exchange and see what you would get if you dropped your employer's coverage," says Amy Gordon, an employee benefits lawyer at McDermott Will & Emery in Chicago. ...
Pay attention to spousal surcharges... Don't forget the kids!... Flexible spending arrangements—healthcare v. dependent care... Flexible spending accounts–healthcare... Flexible spending accounts—dependent care... Health Savings Accounts... Vacation Buy-Up...
It appears that I can sign my wife and myself up with a Humana Medicare Advantage Plan without pharmacy for $0 per month and then use the HRA for dental and vision expenses as well as any other medical expenses without having to purchase dental and vision insurance. Anyone else with military benefits looking at this?
The site I used is https://www.ehealthmedicare.com. New York heavily regulates insurance companies.
This is a highly positive development. It presents new opportunities. For example: Based on 2013 rates, I can purchase two High Deductible Plan F supplements on the open market for about the same amount as our monthly premiums on the Aetna Integration plans that we are currently on. This leaves virtually all of the $3000 subsidy to cover out of pocket expenses.
I'm not convinced that this is the best choice for my policy, as I have some ongoing medical supply needs, and the Exchange is offering me a Plan N at an exceedingly good rate.
Before I decide to purchase this Plan N, I will get the Medicare Supplement rates from my state Insurance Department, or SHIP, and make sure that the Plan N offered on the exchange is the best available. Or, I may contacts insurance brokers in my area.
For people who don't want to go through the work I am putting in, you now have the freedom to contact insurance brokers/agents in your area, have them show you the best offerings for you on the open market, and compare them with options for you on the exchange.
From Dr. Rhee:
With respect to your question asking for clarification on accessing your IBM subsidy through the Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA), you were advised correctly by Extend Health that you, the retiree, must enroll in a medical plan or prescription drug plan through the Medicare Exchange to receive the HRA. If you are enrolled through Extend Health, it is not necessary that your wife also enroll through Extend Health, and you will be able to use the HRA to reimburse your and your wife's health care premiums and eligible out-of-pocket expenses, including deductibles, copays and coinsurance.
Please continue to work with the Extend Health benefit advisor to find the plans that best fit your and your wife's needs. You can call Extend Health at 855-359-7380 or visit their website at www.extendhealth.com/IBM.
Thank you for writing.
Kyu Rhee, MD, MPP Vice President Integrated Health Services
I believe the intentions of IBM was to have EH "sell" the HD and Advantage plans so that all of the HRA funds were not exhausted. So remember anything left over at the end of the year goes back to IBM. The plan for everyone should be to "use up ALL' of the HRA funds in their account. Good luck as the games have begun.
If this were a positive or improvement to us then it would have had the group plans either similar or exactly as today with maybe a slight price increase. Good luck with your suggestion and hope you don't have to meet your deductible.
I assume you realize the HD plan for self+1 gives you a $4200 deductible where as the Aetna Int Plan A was 0. I'm happy for your opportunity.
IBM clearly differentiated the medical benefit from the drug benefit in each plan. However, since you could enroll in the IBM Prescription Supplement without the Medical Supplement, it's possible that the fact of that plan which also received the subsidy makes it possible to have just the Part D plan enrollment through EH allow for the HRA to be open.
I would just feel a bit more comfortable in my decisions going forward (this is a yearly exercise) to KNOW what all of the parameters are and will be committed for the future access to the HRA. A simple truth table could suffice for clarity.
I trust that a written U.S.P.S. delivered communication with be forthcoming yield clarity. Perhaps in the November form in which we all have to declare how to allocate our subsidy for evermore.
BTW, on one of my early calls to EH, the advisor told me that I could not be reimbursed through the HRA for Medicare Part B premiums. I challenged that assertion and she put me on "hold" for the next 10 minutes to research the answer. I was then informed that my IBM HRA could be used to reimburse the Part B premiums, but that other companies with EH did not do so.
When will we all receive the new determinations in writing from Dr Rhee and IBM? There's still no official letter from IBM changing the rules outlined on Page 7 or the Announcement Newsletter.
None of the new news would change my choices and enrollment, but the flexibility might do so in the future. There is also an implication that if the Part D or medical plan chosen were not available next year via EH, then one could still be reimbursed from the HRA. I really want to see the legal document that describes all of this. E-mails, verbal statements don't do it for me.
Legally, there's a whole "chain of evidence" that includes e-mail, faxes, pictures, written and signed letters, contracts, notarization, certification, etc. I no longer remember the exact sequence, but I knew this area well about ten years ago, and I think the way I wrote the sentence lists the primary sources, in order of low-to-high. There are probably others. This is court-admissible documentation.
Now, if Dr. Rhee has truly sent that e-mail, and someone else has a notarized document from Ginny that states that we WON'T get the HRA—well, we won't get the HRA in that case. It won't matter what Dr. Rhee wrote. Note also that Dr. Rhee's letter presumably doesn't have certification/authentication attached. But I'm not nervous about this; unless something else comes up before the end of the year, I expect to pick a low-cost Part D plan, to obtain access to my HRA funds.
Now we hear (and I use the term loosely) that the Part D drug plan premiums can be used to enable the access. Interesting, but the requirement is still there that the medical plan premiums must be from a plan for which the enrollment was accomplished through EH.
A lot of assumptions are being made about reimbursements from an HRA in general. Just because the IRS has defined allowable medical expenses for reimbursement does not mean that IBM will allow these.
IBM just sent out an update signed by the IBM Benefits Team, entitled Health benefits legal notices and enrollment update (October 2013).
I do not see anywhere in the document any reimbursement specifics for the HRA and certainly no amendments to the original September announcement letter. This update would have been the perfect opportunity for IBM to clarify any changes, yet there was nothing. There was the usual "Other Important Legal Information":
These and all other enrollment materials are intended to provide an overview of certain plans and programs in which you may participate. These materials are not an official Summary Plan Description and do not provide full details.
The company reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to amend, change, suspend, or terminate any benefit or other plan, program, practice or policy of the company, at any time.
I took the cheapest Part D, and my wife took the higher priced AARP MedicareRX Enhanced due to the mix of drugs she uses. She took the Delta Dental, and I will self pay for mine. We both took the AARP/UHC Plan F ND, which for us is $142.45 here in Arizona for our age (65). The bottom line was that with the HRA of $3000, our cost will be less than $100 more than if we had been able to take the old Aetna Integrated Plan A.
So, altogether not so bad for us. One thing we did find out regarding the AARP/UHC plan is the required AARP membership is only required for the first year. After that you can drop it and continue to have the medical insurance from UHC.
The IBM Pension forum members have been debating the access to the HRA as to what is the sufficiency requirement. The original written communication from your office stated that a retiree had to enroll in a medical plan for HRA access. Subsequently, your office has replied to several e-mails that a Part D Prescription drug plan or a Medical plan would suffice.
My question is the following: If I enroll in a Medical Plan through Extend Health this year, but next year that insurer/plan is no longer offered by Extend Health, will my HRA access be limited as a result? Will the HRA access be preserved and the reimbursements continued if the original plan in which I am enrolled continues outside of the Extend Health future offering? I would rather not be forced to continually change Medigap plans in order to obtain reimbursement from the HRA. Can you please clarify the IBM position on all of this?
Dr. Rhee,
I have received multiple letters from you regarding the new healthcare plans for retirees. First, I must say that I am very disappointed in IBM, since I retired in June of 1991 on the Voluntary Transition Payment Plan (VTPP) and was told at that time that I was "grandfathered" into the present medical plan for myself and my spouse. In fact I was the Branch Manager of IBM's Salem, Oregon Branch Office at the time and it was I who ran the information program for all of the potential retirees in our branch.
All of us who retired under this plan understood that "grandfathered" meant that we would have the same plan that we were under at the time. For several years after retirement, we did not have a monthly cost for our medical plan. We only paid a co-pay on office calls and drugs. Then after a few years, we started paying a monthly cost out of our pension plan for our medical care. And it continued to increase each year. This would not have been so bad, but we were also told that under our (VTPP) retirement plan that we would receive cost of living adjustments to our retirement income like had been the practice up until that time. In fact I spoke to a lady in Corporate at the time, because of a question on this matter from one of the employees attending one of the seminars. She told me that we could expect increases in the future consistent with what Social Security does and I still have the email that she sent me on the matter. None of us have received even one increase in our retirement pension plan since retiring in 1991. But we have received a number of increases in our medical plan.
Now for my real reason for writing. When I retired from IBM, I chose a 50% joint and survivor for my wife, with the restore option. This means that if I predecease my wife, that she will receive 50% of my pension. But if she predeceases me, then my pension will revert back to the original amount without the survivor option. Now the last letter I got from you said that since I retired before January 1, 1992, I would be eligible for a $3,500 HRA. However, if I choose to go with a survivor option, the HRA drops to $2,600. Then your letter states that if I die before my wife, then she will receive 50% of that, or $1,300. But you said nothing about the issue of what happens if my wife predeceases me. Does the HRA revert back to the original amount of $3,500 like the joint and survivor restore? If not, then why not? Also, how did you come up with dropping the $3,500 HRA amount to $2,600 for a survivor benefit without the assistance of an actuarial table? There are a lot of things in this whole plan that does not add up.
I spent over an hour on the phone this past Friday with Fidelity, who then sent me to Extend health, who sent me to Budco to try to get and answer on the survivor question. Then Budco sent me back to Fidelity, insisting that they were IBM Personnel, which I knew was not. I know that they were hired as a contractor to take care of our pension and medical plans. I ended up speaking with a Supervisor, by the name of Shawn Martinez who also did not know the answer to my question.
I would suggest that you need to send out another letter that addresses the answer to this question, since it is very key to those of us who are being forced to make a change in our healthcare without all of the information. Also, for your information, no doctors in Salem, Oregon are taking new Medicare patients. So Extend Health is offering us plans with companies and no doctors will be accepting them. IBM has left us high and dry at a time when those of us are in our advanced years and need to have available healthcare. Do you and the rest of corporate management really care? It appears that you don't, give what is happening to us. I want an answer from you on this question, since it is key in my deciding what to do on the survivor option.
Respectfully, Larry R. George
Response from IBM:
Dear Mr. George,
I want to respond to your note regarding IBM's announcement that Extend Health will provide you with new health plan options for 2014. We know this is an important change for you, which is why we want to do everything we can to help make this a positive experience.
With respect to your question regarding the IBM subsidy (HRA) amount, since you retired prior to January 1, 1992, the amount of your HRA will be $3,500. We are offering retirees the option to purchase additional coverage (surviving spouse and eligible dependent coverage in the future in the event of the retiree's death) and if they elect this option, your HRA will be reduced to $2,600. Upon your death, IBM will contribute $1,300 to the HRA for your spouse. More coverage - such as surviving spouse/dependent coverage in the event of the retiree's death - costs more money over a longer period of time for the pool of retirees that elect this option. IBM's 2014 offering maintains IBM's total financial contribution to retiree medical coverage (our contributions were capped in the early 1990's). We are giving retirees the choice of having that coverage for the future, or forgo that coverage for the future and have a higher HRA now. There is no "restore" option for this survivor election; should your spouse predecease you, your HRA will continue in the reduced amount. While the concept of survivor coverage is similar to what you describe in your note, the HRA survivor option is separate and apart from the operation of your pension.
I note that you are currently enrolled in a Kaiser Permanente plan. You should have received a letter from IBM with information on selecting an individual Kaiser Permanente plan and how to contact them to enroll directly. While the vast majority of Kaiser Permanente members will have access, there are a few members who do not, depending on the city/town where you live. This is because the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services has not approved the same service areas for the individual market as the group offering you are enrolled in today through IBM. You should contact Kaiser Permanente at 1-866-716-7311 to ask whether your city/town is covered by the individual plan. If it is, and you wish to remain in your Kaiser plan, you can enroll directly with Kaiser, and once you have completed enrollment, call Extend Health and tell them you have enrolled with Kaiser in order to receive the HRA contribution
If there is no individual Kaiser Permanente plan available in your area, or you do not wish to continue with Kaiser Permanente, you will need to contact Extend Health to select a new plan option for 2014. I encourage you to work with the Extend Health benefit advisor to address your concerns related to the plan options available to you with Medicare participating providers.
You should continue to use Extend Health (855-359-7380 or at www.extendhealth.com/IBM) as your point of contact for any other questions you may have related to the Medicare Exchange or the HRA. There is no limit to the number of phone calls you can make to Extend Health.
Thank you for your contributions to IBM, and for writing to express your concerns.
Kyu Rhee, MD, MPP, Vice President Integrated Health Services
I called IBM Employee Services Center to complain (they could do nothing). After being transferred back to Extend Health, I had a LONG conversation with a representative, but they refused to transfer me to a Benefits Advisor.
Moral: Get all your questions answered the first time, as you will have to wait a long time to get back to Extend Health.
If this is the future of health care, we are in trouble.
You have "choices!" Enjoy them!
"Any unused amounts in the HRA can be carried forward for reimbursements in later years."
IBM chose not to roll them over. Complaints should be sent to Ginni.
Make sure you do your research ahead of time and know what kind of coverage you want prior to calling EH, because their website does not reflect all they can really sell you. The EH website only had 1 Medigap Plan F company listed that we had never heard of with a premium that was $200 per month higher than what we knew we could get through AARP United Healthcare. It took a long discussion with the EH rep and her supervisor, but we eventually were able to sign my parents up for the AARP UHC plan. I'm not sure what else they might have been able to sell us, but you can certainly ask for anything else you may have found available in your area. I believe EH is just operating as an insurance broker here, so they should be able to sell you most anything you find on the medicare.gov website for supplemental insurance plans in your area.
When it came to the Part D Prescription Drug Plan, the EH rep was literally using the medicare.gov website to enter the prescriptions for my parents and to offer available plans. Unfortunately, she goofed it up and must have checked a box saying my parents were eligible for government assistance for drugs, because what she initially offered had radically lower premiums than what I saw on the same web site. She insisted she was correct, and I told her that the premium for the same plan on the EH website was the number I saw. Her supervisor finally acknowledged that she was incorrect. We went with the AARP UHC Rx Preferred plan which is apparently one of the most popular plans.
The EH rep also did not understand how the IBM subsidy worked when you wanted the spouse survivorship option. She confused it with the plan for another company and had to ask her supervisor for help. More bad information.
After we made the choice of plans, then we spent another hour with a 'data admin person' repeating the same basic info (name, DOB, SSN, address, phone, etc.) four times, one for each plan. My parents had to repeat a statement four times, And then they had to listen to long audio disclaimers for each plan.
To top it all off, the EH website would not allow us to register, so we spent another half hour with a customer support person who tried to figure out why it wouldn't accept my father's, name, SSN and email address to register. She did figure out that one of the earlier people had mistyped the email address. But that didn't fix the problem, so we still can't login to the web site. She said they were having problems with that site - obviously. Also, what are the chances that there are more typos in the info that we repeated four times in the process.
Hope this note is helpful to all you that have to go through this process in order to get the IBM subsidy. What a fiasco.
Doug Dowden PS - If it's any consolation, at least IBM has a subsidy for some retirees. My company still has an option of company provided insurance for medicate retirees, but it is not very good coverage and most people just buy a supplemental plan on the open market with no subsidy.
All in all, It was not a bad experience except for the initial wait. I had actually put the plan I wanted into my shopping cart on the Extend website but it disappeared the next day. However, he was already aware of what I wanted. I had already looked at the various "advantage" plans and was sure I did not want those I was expecting some "sales" or "marketing" of the other plans but there was absolutely none. Hope other folks call goes as smoothly as mine. Carl
I think I ended up with a decent deal for my wife and myself given our circumstances: AARP Plan F for Medigap and Cigna for drugs (with a Canadian pharmacy for comparison/backup). Time will tell.
I regret IBM's decision to abandon health insurance coverage for those IBM retirees who worked for many decades to build IBM's reputation and business. The Extend Health correspondence sent by IBM falls short of the high quality information I expected. For example it was stated that:
Like Obamacare, IBM's transition of retirees to a different health insurance process is very flawed. There was no communication regarding deductions ceasing from IBM employee pensions since payments won't be made to IBM after January 1st. And as I understand the process from discussions with Extend Health and the IBM Employee Services Center, a retiree will have to pay the insurance premiums, once for themselves and once for their spouses. Then they must apply to Extend Health (no directions provided as to how), to access payment from their HRA account. This process must be followed over and over for dental and vision coverage. IBM calls this added value.
I think it's all a disgrace. IBM explains that this transition is necessary because of health care costs rising in the future. Of course everyone knows that costs will rise in the future. We plan for costs to rise, doesn't IBM?
IBM's reputation was built by its retirees on customer service, excellence, and respect for the individual. Sadly this has all been apparently forgotten by current senior IBM management.
Thomas H. Henning, IBM Retiree.
They're not the only state seeing huge gains. California has signed up 600,000 low-income Golden Staters for the law's expanded Medicaid, and over 100,000 are in some stage of applying for insurance on the marketplaces. In Washington state, over 40,000 people have signed up for Obamacare. In New York, the numbers are even larger. Kentucky's online marketplace has been a model of glitch-free performance, with more than 10,000 signing up on the first day alone.
It's increasingly possible that Obamacare, at least in its early years, will be a success in blue states (and red states run by Democrats, like Kentucky) even as it flails in red states. ...
Today, most states with Democratic governors both expanded Medicaid and built their own exchanges while most states with Republican governors rejected the Medicaid expansion and left exchange construction to the federal government.
It's been clear for months that the Medicaid rejections would be a serious problem for the law. In those states, people who make less than the poverty line get nothing under Obamacare, but people who make between 100 percent and 400 percent of the poverty line gets subsidies for private insurance. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that about six million of the people expected to get health insurance through Obamacare fall through this massive crack. ...
The result may be that Obamacare doesn't do anything as simple as succeed or fail. Instead, it vastly improves the health-care systems of the states that wanted to use it to improve their health-care system while collapsing in the states where the leadership did what they could to undermine the law.
Over time, that could lead to a country with two health-care systems: One, a near-universal system based around Obamacare and centered in blue states; the other, a policy mess based around the rejection of Obamacare in the red states.
I happened to turn on the Hannity show on Fox News last Friday evening. "Average Americans are feeling the pain of Obamacare and the healthcare overhaul train wreck," Hannity announced, "and six of them are here tonight to tell us their stories." Three married couples were neatly arranged in his studio, the wives seated and the men standing behind them, like game show contestants. ...
I decided to hit the pavement. I tracked down Hannity's guests, one by one, and did my own telephone interviews with them. ...
Next I called Allison Denijs. She'd told Hannity that she pays over $13,000 a year in premiums. Like the other guests, she said she had recently gotten a letter from Blue Cross saying that her policy was being terminated and a new, ACA-compliant policy would take its place. She says this shows that Obama lied when he promised Americans that we could keep our existing policies.
Allison's husband left his job a few years ago, one with benefits at a big company, to start his own business. Since then they've been buying insurance on the open market, and are now paying around $1,100 a month for a policy with a $2,500 deductible per family member, with hefty annual premium hikes. One of their two children is not covered under the policy. She has a preexisting condition that would require purchasing additional coverage for $800 a month, which would bring the family's grand total to $19,000 a year.
I asked Allison if she'd shopped on the exchange, to see what a plan might cost under the new law. She said she hadn't done so because she'd heard the website was not working. Would she try it out when it's up and running? Perhaps, she said. She told me she has long opposed Obamacare, and that the president should have focused on tort reform as a solution to bringing down the price of healthcare.
I tried an experiment and shopped on the exchange for Allison and Kurt. Assuming they don't smoke and have a household income too high to be eligible for subsidies, I found that they would be able to get a plan for around $7,600, which would include coverage for their uninsured daughter. This would be about a 60 percent reduction from what they would have to pay on the pre-Obamacare market.
Finally, I called Robbie and Tina Robison from Franklin, Tenn. Robbie is self-employed as a Christian youth motivational speaker. (You can see his work here.) On Hannity, the couple said that they, too, were recently notified that their Blue Cross policy would be expiring for lack of ACA compliance. They told Hannity that the replacement plans Blue Cross was offering would come with a rate increase of 50 percent or even 75 percent, and that the new offerings would contain all sorts of benefits they don't need, like maternity care, pediatric care, prenatal care and so forth. Their kids are grown and moved out, so why should they be forced to pay extra for a health plan with superfluous features?
When I spoke to Robbie, he said he and Tina have been paying a little over $800 a month for their plan, about $10,000 a year. And the ACA-compliant policy will cost 50-75 percent more? They said this information was related to them by their insurance agent.
Had they shopped on the exchange yet, I asked? No, Tina said, nor would they. They oppose Obamacare and want nothing to do with it. Fair enough, but they should know that I found a plan for them for, at most, $3,700 a year, a 63 percent less than their current bill. It might cover things that they don't need, but so does every insurance policy. ...
I don't doubt that these six individuals believe that Obamacare is a disaster; but none of them had even visited the insurance exchange. And some of them appear to have taken actions (Paul Cox, for example) based on a general pessimistic belief about Obamacare. He's certainly entitled to do so, but Hannity is not entitled to point to Paul's behavior as an "Obamacare train wreck story" and maintain any credibility that he might have as a journalist.
But perhaps the most consequential subsidy is rarely mentioned or even noticed: Government for decades has directly subsidized individuals' costs of employer-based health care, to the tune of roughly $250 billion every year – sums far greater than the annual costs of the subsidized insurance coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act.
That fact makes the ongoing debate positively perverse. What we are witnessing today are individuals who already receive government health-care handouts attempting to prevent others from obtaining similar (but smaller in aggregate amount) health-care subsidies, as well. And as a group, today's recipients of government health-care subsidies are better off to begin with than are those they wish to exclude. ...
The vast majority of Americans get their health care through employer plans, which of course will continue under the Affordable Care Act. When your employer pays your salary, the employer deducts the cost of your compensation as a business expense in figuring its own tax bill. The same applies to health care that your employer buys for you – the insurance premiums or out-of-pocket expenses the employer pays are deductible expenses, because those costs, in fact, are simply more compensation paid for your services.
But – and here is the magic – while cash salary or bonuses paid to you are your taxable income, the tax code expressly allows you to ignore the value of the health-care costs that your employer pays on your behalf in calculating your taxable income. If your health-care insurance costs your employer $10,000 each year, you are saving up to $4,000 or so on your income tax bill, plus saving payroll tax costs on that $10,000, as well. Conversely, if your employer paid you the $10,000 in my example in cash, and told you to go buy insurance if you wanted it, you would be hit with both income and payroll tax bills on that amount. ...
The exclusion of employer-paid health-care costs is a deliberate exception to the general rule that any form of compensation must be included in your income. This is not a new government subsidy program – it has been the law for many decades. But it is in fact a subsidy, not an instance of the government letting you keep what's yours. As anyone who has compared job offers knows, health care is just another part of your total compensation package. ...
So today, 140 million Americans (including members of Congress) directly receive government subsidies when they get health-care coverage through their employers. The Affordable Care Act extends government health-care subsidies to millions of other Americans, but for administrative reasons delivers the subsidy through a different mechanism. But so what? Why is the first subsidy somehow lost in a fog of flag waving and free enterprise talk, and the second the sure sign of galloping socialism? ...
The plain fact is that those who have paralyzed government over the Affordable Care Act today feed at the trough of government health-care subsidies, while seeking to exclude others from sharing the bounty. This is simple selfishness in action. If you claim to stand on principle in your demands to destroy the Affordable Care Act, first give back the $250 billion you've been taking every year in government help.
"But dependency on government has never been bad for the rich. The pretense of the laissez-faire people is that only the poor are dependent on government, while the rich take care of themselves. This argument manages to ignore all of modern history, which shows a consistent record of laissez-faire for the poor, but enormous government intervention for the rich." From Economic Justice: The American Class System, from the book Declarations of Independence by Howard Zinn.
The study found that about 52 percent of fast-food workers receive some form of public assistance, compared with 25 percent of the general workforce. ...
The study defined public assistance as including food stamps, Medicaid for adults and children, temporary assistance for needy families, or TANF, and the federal earned income tax credit.
This site is designed to allow IBM Employees to communicate and share methods of protecting their rights through the establishment of an IBM Employees Labor Union. Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act states it is a violation for Employers to spy on union gatherings, or pretend to spy. For the purpose of the National Labor Relations Act, notice is given that this site and all of its content, messages, communications, or other content is considered to be a union gathering.


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2.25" Diamond Glitter Votive Holder 6 Pack
More details
6 Pack of Diamond Glitter Votive Holders. Each package contains 6 standard glass votive holders with some extra bling. Decorated with faux diamond like accent pieces and a dusting of silver glitter. Fits any standard votive candle or tealight. Perfect for weddings, special events and occasions. Each cup measures 2¼" Tall x 2¼" Wide.

subset: commoncrawl


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Interfaith Ministry is committed to the integrity of the individual and their spiritual journey. It honors all paths that cultivate relationship with the Higher Power, God, Goddess, Spirit … all names of The Source. A diverse yet harmonious approach to life, its meaning and purpose, is the basis of Interfaith.
Rev. Alan's public interfaith functions include Sunday Morning Meditation Gatherings, Kirtans, and Global Healing Meditations. Traditional clergy activities such as weddings, funerals, blessings, counseling and guidance are provided on a request basis. Whatever service is provided, it is done in the spirit of Interfaith – Spirit is One, many are the ways to worship It.
For information about Rev. Alan's Sunday Morning Meditation Gatherings, click HERE


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How are you? Keeping warm, I hope!
After saying that there were no signs of Spring in the garden the other day, I looked again yesterday and there are irises, daffodils and tulips shooting up all over the place. The birds definitely think Spring is on its way - well before 7am now they are making a right old racket out there!
It's so good to see Nature waking up, by this time of year it always feels as though Winter has gone on for ever. February is the most depressing month for me, even though my hubby thinks that can't be so as His birthday is in February!
Anyway, on to this week's card for The Daring Cardmakers, and this time its Sharon setting the theme:
Mirror, Mirror
At this time of year, with Winter dragging on we really need a bit of
something shiny to brighten the days.
So, I simply want to see something
reflective on your card!It could be foiling, shiny stickers, mirri card, or even mirrored tiles.Go on, Let it Shine!!!
Here's what I came up with in the end


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Request a callback
The VetLink facility in Kingswood Herd eliminates the need for you to record purchase and treatment details of medicines obtained from your vet. All purchases and their treatments - whether to individual animals or to groups of animals - are read in from the VetLink file quickly and accurately.
You only need to record medicine purchases from non-vet sources and treatments performed by yourself. Use Kingswood Mobile on your phone or tablet to record these.
Finally, Kingswood Herd has seven Bord Bia approved reports to help with your Quality Assurance audits. These reports are based on data taken in from VetLink files and from the Kingswood Mobile app. Kingswood Herd also allows you and the auditor to 'drill down' into individual animal records to check dates of treatments etc.
Veterinary Practices with VetLink Capability


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your bag
Your bag is empty.
Sorry, this product has sold out!
If you would like ARCHFASHION to try to and find it for you complete the form below.
An awesome take on the mandal! These shoes are like sunshine for your feet - golden and comfy. Leather lining and upper. Rubber sole. Please note: we recommend trying one size larger in this style.
The flattering Ida Mandal from Senso has sold out. We did have it in36, 37, 38 & 39.
Start a "Find It For Me" to notify hundreds of Australian Boutiques that you're looking for it and then be notified if it comes back in stock.


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Brussels Sprout Kimchi
By Chef Peter Calley of Culinary Hedonism
This is a super-easy project, and a fun one to try with kids. Fermented foods are a great way to support the healthy bacteria in the gut. Plus, once this kimchi is ready, it can last up to two months in the fridge.
Prep time: 40 minutes, plus 4 hours of soaking
Fermenting time: 3–4 days
Yield: 16 servings
2 quarts spring water
½ cup sea salt + ⅛ cup, divided
2 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and quartered
¼–⅓ cup gochugaru;* use up to ⅓ cup if you like your kimchi on the spicier side
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled
4–6 cloves garlic, peeled
1 ounce fish sauce†
1 tablespoon tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)
1 bunch scallions, sliced
2 bunches radishes, quartered
2 quart-sized Mason jars with lids, thoroughly cleaned
* Gochugaru is Korean chili powder. It has a distinct smokiness and heat that gives kimchi its distinct flavor. Many grocery stores carry it, or it can easily be ordered online.
† Most high-end grocery stores will carry good-quality fish sauce. Look for one with only two ingredients: anchovies and salt.
- In a large bowl, combine ½ cup sea salt and ½ gallon (2 quarts) non-chlorinated water (use good-quality bottled spring water, not tap).
- Submerge Brussels sprouts in brine, and place a plate on top to fully submerge. Let sit for about 4 hours.
- Combine gochugaru, ginger, garlic, fish sauce, remaining salt and tamari in a food processor and pulse a few times to make a paste.
- Drain and rinse Brussels sprouts. Add scallions, radishes and paste and gently mix together in a bowl to coat.
- Pack mixture into two Mason jars, gently pressing down with a wooden spoon to minimize air pockets. Leave about an inch of space at the top of each jar.
- Cover with lids and let sit at room temperature on your counter, out of direct sunlight. After a few days, you will start to see small air bubbles in the jars—signs that your kimchi is on its way! Pop the lid to release any gases, tighten lid, and let sit on your counter another day or so before storing in your fridge. Will keep for two months. Enjoy!
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South Beach CruisersFavorites [+]
Pay-Per-Minute Viewing
You can now enjoy this movie on your iPhone®, iPad®, or compatible Smart TV & Android devices.
Purchase Options
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Available MP4 sizes:SD 480p (1.37 GB)
DRM-free downloads offer content that is not limited by standard Digital Rights Management (DRM) access technologies. These technologies allow hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to limit the usage of digital content.
When you purchase DRM-free downloadable content, that content is available for you to download on any computer and save to a disk whenever you like. You can also download to multiple computers. There is no timeframe associated with your purchase and the content will not expire.
Running Time: 87 minutes
Released: 04/2001
Studio Name: Miami Beach Studios
Description: South beach in Florida is known for its wild parties, busy bar scene, crowded gay beaches and men who cruise for hot sex in a tropical gay paradise...Crusin' Men hot and horny...ready for anything! A horny lifeguard strikes it lucky with a tourist!
2 Scenes from South Beach Cruisers
South Beach Cruisers: Scene 1 Free Preview
Starring: Brian Hanson Mark Cummings ... More Details
Stars: Brian Hanson, Mark Cummings, Dakota Phillips, Mack Adams
Sex Acts: Anal Sex, Orgy, Handjob, Deep Throating, Masturbation, Oral Sex, Male On Male Action
Positions: Standing, Standing Missionary, Side Saddle, Sitting, Missionary, Laying, Kneeling, Doggy Style
Settings: Living Room
Studio: Miami Beach Studios
South Beach Cruisers: Scene 2 Free Preview
Starring: Brian Hanson Steve Pierce ... More Details
Stars: Brian Hanson, Steve Pierce, Michael Brandon, Mark Cummings
Sex Acts: Anal Sex, Masturbation, Oral Sex, Male On Male Action
Positions: Standing Doggy Style, Standing, Standing Missionary, Sitting, Laying, Reverse Cowgirl, Cowgirl
Settings: Bedroom
Studio: Miami Beach Studios
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AEBN Cams


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Antioxidant Omega 3 Natural Greens Supplement Review and Giveaway
>> Tuesday, July 20, 2010
You may be familiar with Tropical Traditions from some of the reviews I have done on their really great coconut oil and raw honey. They have a pretty large selection of things that are healthy for you! I decided that I would like to try their Antioxidant Omega 3 Greens Supplement. I always find myself rummaging around and eating the kids left overs at lunch time and I was excited to try the Antioxidant Omega 3 Greens because I figured it would help me improve my lunch time intake without any extra work or time! Antioxidant Omega 3 Greens sounded so great to me because it is like a 3 in 1 boost to your health.
Antioxidant Omega 3 Greens arrived packaged in a jar with a convenient scoop for measuring the dried powder into your drink. It comes in both mint and berry flavor. I tried the berry flavor and I was amazed that it tastes, well, like berries! My kids even liked it! Antioxidant Omega 3 Greens is so packed with stuff that is good for you, that I can barely tell you about all of it but I will try to squeeze as much info as I can.
"Antioxidant Omega 3 Greens supplies a rich blend of totally natural vitamins, minerals, plant enzymes, antioxidants, phytonutrients and symbiotic intestinal flora for optimal energy metabolism, digestion, detoxification, and immune enhancement.*"
I took a look at the Antioxidant Omega 3 Greens ingredients and it has omegas from organic flax seed, a fiber blend (which is great because most people don't meet the suggested daily intake for fiber), a greens blend that helps alkalize the body, a vegetable blend, an antioxidant blend that helps energize and protect from free radicals, an enzyme blend to help with digestion, and probiotics that help boost immunity.
Many experts recommend
5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables per day.
Easy to say, hard to do!
Antioxidant Omega 3 Rich Natural Greens makes it that much easier for me!
Tropical Traditions is offering one lucky reader one Antioxidant Omega 3 Natural Greens.
Giveaway Dates: July 20- August 6, 2010
How to Enter:
To enter this Giveaway, you need to do one or more of the following and post a comment below about each action you took. Each comment will count as a separate entry so your chances of winning increase but only the #1 entry is required.
1. Required: Visit Tropical Traditions and leave a comment with what other product you want to try
2. Follow Moms Wear Your Tees Blog in right margin w/ Google Friend Connect or subscribe to RSS feed
3. Like Tropical Tradition's Facebook page
4. Like the Moms Wear Your Tees Blog Facebook page in right margin
5. Follow MWYT on Twitter and Tropical Traditons on Twitter
6. Tweet and leave URL: Enter to #win Tropical Traditions Antioxidant Omega Greens Giveaway http://www.momswearyourtees.blogspot.com @MWYT @troptraditions
Giveaway Rules:
GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! Congrats to #26- Marci J.
Tropical Traditions provided me with Antioxidant Natural Greens in the hopes that I would share my honest opinions. I received no monetary compensation for this and the opinions expressed are my own.


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Pit Bulls Blamed For Killing Sheep In Riverton
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — Pit bulls are blamed for killing sheep in Riverton.
Farm owner Bill Jennings says he has found over 50 sheep dead in the last few months. He told KCWY-TV (http://bit.ly/tjP58A ) that he has found dogs in with the sheep twice and put down three dogs.
Capt. Ryan Lee of the Fremont County Sheriff's Office said there seems to be a lot of people that are allowing their dogs to run free. However, he says owners can be criminally and civilly responsible for any damage they cause to livestock.
The Farm Bureau is offering a reward of over $2,000 for information on the sheep attacks.


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Paul Taylor Dance Company / City Center, NYC / February 22 - March 6, 2011 Year after year, Paul Taylor can be counted on to create a pair of new dances--one light (such as the luminous Aureole, from 1962) and one dark (like the 1985 Last Look, which portrays the human race at the horrifying and undeniably convincing end of its rope). The first of the pair of works new to New York shown in his company's current engagement (February 22 - March 6, at City Center), sported the Edward Gorey-ish title Three Dubious Memories. Presumably this was … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2011
Jam Yesterday
On the Steps: Personal Indulgences No. 20
FIRST MEMORY My first memory of steps dates back to my childhood--extreme infancy, to be exact. Science tells us we don't remember the earliest part of life, and no one I know has ever claimed to. So what makes me think that I can remember--actually feel again--the slow bump, bump, bump as my beloved Aunt Ann, my mother's elder sister, cradling me carefully in her arms, descended to the street via the front steps of the hospital in which I'd been born just a few days before? Friends tell me I must have made up that memory a few years later, … [Read more...]
Show Biz
New York City Ballet: Susan Stroman's For the Love of Duke / David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center, NYC / January 28, 30M, February 3, 4, 5M, 6M, 2011 For reasons that still remain unfathomable to me, New York City Ballet commissioned yet another piece from Susan Stroman, the choreographer who has won every award in the book for her Broadway productions. (If they invented a Pulitzer prize for choreography, I bet she'd be the first to snare it.) The new item, Frankie and Johnny . . . and Rose, given its premiere on January 28, is now … [Read more...]


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Hi and hello!
Today I decided to make a CAS card, by using a stencil, Distress Inks and dobbers. What an easy way to make a quick card! And if you play around with the colours you can get quite a fun card too ;)
Here's my card!
Card recipe:
Distress Inks
Stempelglede Follow your heart stamp set
Pearl Shimmer Spray
Martha Stewart Butterfly punch
The Crafters Workshop Mini Confetti stencil
Thank you so much for stopping by, happy crafting!
xoxo Madeleine


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THE 'SACK YOUR LANDLORD CONTEST' comes alive this month. It's a competition that creates the platform for writers and aspiring writers to share their worst and best Landlord/Tenant Experience. We all have different tales about our various rental apartments and how much our relationship with our various landlords does affect our lives; I am talking about those that are still ...Read More »
Monthly Archives: April 2017
Who do you think should do house repairs: landlord or tenant?
A lot of questions have been raised in time past as regards house repairs. In fact, this has generated a lot of argument. Both tenants and landlords constantly feel cheated because either feel they are being forced to pay for house repairs supposed to be handled by the other. We asked people on Facebook to air their opinions on who ...Read More »
Two die, another injured in Lagos collapsed building
According to The Nation, two artisans were yesterday killed and another injured after a building collapsed in Lekki area of Lagos State. The building, situated at Nicon Town Estate, Admiralty Way in Lekki Phase One, was under construction when it caved in around 11:40a.m. The deceased simply identified as Tasiu and Abdulahi were crushed by the collapsed beams of the ...Read More »
Abuja Residents Solicit Govt Support on tree planting
PM News reports that some residents of Abuja have called on the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and area councils to train them and provide inputs that would facilitate their efforts to plant trees. They made the call in Abuja. Mr Aliyu Idris, a resident of Zuba, said that if relevant authorities could train and support the people with tree ...Read More »
'Infrastructure'll drive real estate growth'
"The Managing Director of Cross and Churchill, Mr. Taiwo Ogunbodede, has said the full potential of the real estate sector can be better realised if the government put in place adequate Infrastructure."- The Nation Such endeavour, he further said, would also stimulate faster growth in the real estate sector. Ogunbodede, also the Chairman, Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), ...Read More »
Property developer charged with defrauding 33 accommodation seekers
"A Yaba Chief Magistrates' Court in Lagos on Thursday granted N3 million bail to a Property developer, Hassan Lukmon, who allegedly defrauded 33 accommodation seekers of N11.3 million. The Magistrate, Mrs A. F. Adeeyo, also ordered Lukmon to produce two sureties each in like sum. She directed that one of the sureties must own a landed property in Lagos State ...Read More »
ODD WORLD: China Set to Build Smog-Eating 'Forest City'
China Is Set to Build This Smog-Eating 'Forest City' Filled With Tree-Covered Skyscrapers The eastern Chinese city of Nanjing, like many of the country's urban areas, suffers from intense smog. The Air Quality Index, which uses a scale from 0 to 500 (with higher numbers indicating worse pollution), rates Nanjing's air quality as 132 – a level considered unhealthy for the public, especially ...Read More »
Using Social Housing Scheme to Solve Housing Problems in Nigeria
When you talk about social housing for the masses, the words that come to mind are cheap, affordable, non-profit driven, mass produced houses that could be occupied by low income earners, who may wish to save towards eventually buying such houses with time. Considering the fact that Nigeria has a housing deficit of about 17 million units, any information that ...Read More »
Alleged N2b land fraud: EFCC quizzes Abuja estate developer, SAN
The Eagle Online has said that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has quizzed an Abuja-based estate developer, who is also the promoter of Winning Clause Limited, Obiageli Okwubanego, and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, P. I. N. Ikwueto, over alleged inappropriate land deals running into billions of naira. A senior operative of the anti-graft agency told journalists in Abuja ...Read More »
Imo community jubilates as work begins on Nigeria Prison site
"A cross section of elders and youths of Okwu, Umuoma in Nekede Autonomous community of Owerri west Local Government Area in Imo state, have expressed joy that after years of abandonment, the Nigeria Prison Service, NPS, has commenced work on their site." – Vanguard Vanguard visited the area yesterday and discovered that clearing and carting away of unwanted trees in ...Read More »


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Charter Cruises
Premium Cruises
Superior Cruises
Standard Cruises
Cho Gao Floating Market
Cho Gao Floating Market
In the early morning, you could travel by your comfortable bus towards Can Duoc, where you come aboard of your boat to cruise to the Cho Gao floating market.
This sightseeing is extremely interesting as you participate in the life of the local people. The market is a melting pot of colors, shapes, sounds and smells. Rice, fresh fruit, fish, handicrafts, bonsais, almost everything is for sale, a great opportunity to find some nice souvenirs for the loved-ones at home!
Quick Questions
Travel resources


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UPDATE: It appears that users who have reported resolution to this issue with the iOS 4.0.1 update may be experiencing improvement simply due to the restore and reset processes that occur during any iOS update, as Apple has now said that a permanent fix for the proximity sensor issue is coming in iOS 4.1 — due later this month.
It appears that iOS 4.0.1 resolves for many users an issue in which the iPhone 4 unexpectedly mutes a call, hangs up or engages FaceTime when the device is held up to the ear.
This problem occurs due to apparent under-sensitivity of the iPhone 4′s proximity sensor, which turns off the screen (and touch capabilities) when the phone is held to the ear. In other words, the proximity sensor does not properly engage, and the user's cheek or ear accidentally touches the mute button or other functions.
Although some users still report the problem, a number of posters to Apple's Discussion Boards note significant improvement:
- zoogme: "4.0.1 has fixed my sensor. It seems to be very snappy. It activates and deactivates very fast after the new firmware. I will have to also test out with the wife's iPhone4."
- Bryann: "My proximity sensor issues seems to be fixed as well!"
- bcfc789: "My sensor issues seemed to be fixed as well i have made 3 calls after update and no issues."
If you are still experiencing this issue, see our previously mentioned fixes.


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My last name is Trump.
My email is email@example.com (or firstname.lastname@example.com).
I am not the President, but I get a lot of email from people who think that I am.
For 100 days, I will be posting one email each day to show the messages that I receive as a project for my SVA Masters in Branding program.
These are REAL emails from REAL people.
Have something you'd like to say? Email me... everyone else does!


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To make it easier to see how the nParticles interact with the pitcher and glass objects, you can turn on the Solver Display attribute to see the nParticle collision volume. Collision volumes are a non-renderable surface offset from each nParticle radius that the nucleus solver uses when calculating collisions between Nucleus objects.
To edit Collide Width Scale and add fluidity
For liquid simulations, set Collide Width Scale to a value that is one-third the nParticle object Radius value.
The nParticles occupy the pitcher in three distinct layers one on top of the other. In the bottom layer, the nParticles are evenly spaced and level, while in the upper layer, there are gaps between particles. Since the top layer of nParticles represent the surface of the liquid, the gaps between particles create a surface that is uneven and unlike the surface of water.
Increasing Incompressibility decreases the tendency of the particles to be pushed together. This forces the nParticles into a more uniform distribution throughout the volume, which creates a smoother surface for the liquid.
More about Liquid Simulation attributes
For this tutorial, you leave the following Liquid Simulation attributes at their default values:


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|Katie throws a party for us every monday - connecting people together from all around the world. hearts and hugs to you Katie for doing this for us ♥
4 days ago it was my birthday.
I was really, really excited for my birthday.
On Thursday, my Mom and I were out shopping...
and when we came home, my aunt Kirsty was at our house:
Kirsty was visiting my grandma and grandpa in Cornwall and came to see me because it was my birthday.
That's it!
"My little taste tester" was born at 11:11pm on Sunday, November 7, 2004 in Ottawa, Ontario Canada.
That night, the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) lit up the sky and for the first time in my life, I caught a glimpse of the lights from the delivery room window.
Auroras were spotted all across Canada and the United States, as far south as California and Arizona. Even days later, people in Australia, New Zealand, and parts of the U.K. reported seeing the lights in the night sky.
How cool is that?
Here's what we saw in Ottawa:
If you would like to see more photos of this incredible celestial event, please visit Science @ Nasa's November 2004 Aurora Gallery.
Big hugs and kisses to "my little taste tester" for writing this post.
Thank you for reading! Have a MARVELOUS Monday everyone! xo
Have you ever seen the Northern Lights?
Do you ever see the numbers 11:11 on your clock? I ALWAYS do! Today I saw the number 1:11, 4:44, and then :44 on my oven timer. neat-o!


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FurMark is a very intensive OpenGL benchmark that uses fur rendering algorithms to measure the performance of the graphics card. Fur rendering is especially adapted to overheat the GPU and that's why FurMark is also a perfect stability and stress test tool (also called GPU burner) for the graphics card.
The benchmark was run in full screen with no AA for both resolutions on all cards.
Benchmark Results: The HIS Radeon HD5750 holds its own with no issues in FurMark 1.70.
Comments are closed.


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There will probably be some aspects of your wedding plans that will have to be waylaid in favour of some while there will be some that will need priority over others. Amongst the plans that need priorities, you find that the selection of good wedding photographers Los Angeles like Luis Luque ranks top. It is definitely a fact that several things that feature on your wedding day will not be permanent such as the food or the decoration. The only permanent thing that you can have with you after the wedding ends is the wedding photographs.
If your wedding photographs are going to be the only things you end up with, then it is only rational that the help of an expert is gotten so you can hold on to the best pictures of the day. Your wedding photographer's skill will definitely determine if you will get your desired wedding album. You might be wondering if hiring a professional wedding photographer will be enough to make sure that you have quality wedding albums.
The answer to the above question is that although a photographer can be a professional, he might not be an expert. Before making investments into their services, it is important that you gain proper knowledge of the qualities you need to look out for. They are:
Talent and Skill
For a wedding photographer, professional qualifications and expertise can be earned but skills and talent are in-bred. How a photographer develops their talents and skills will either be an asset or a liability to the client making use of it. Without the skill needed to manoeuvre the lenses of a camera, the best shots of your wedding day might turn out sub-par. Talent and skill do not come from the type of camera being used but learning how to make use of the camera efficiently.
The main reason why you need a wedding photographer that possesses these two qualities is because they help determine if the emotions of your special day get captured. If the wedding photographer has no idea about how well to shoot a scene or the right time to click his shutter, then there might just be no hope for beautiful wedding albums.
Professionalism is one thing that should never be ignored as this is the major defining factor of an expert. How can a wedding photographer claim to be an expert yet still not offer simple courtesies to their clients? Professionalism of a photographer displays itself not by the certificate the own that makes them a professional rather it is shown in the way they interact with their clients, how they deal with client needs, the levity in which they take their jobs and their dedication to the client. Therefore, everything from taking responsibility for the nature of the pictures to arriving on time is what makes a professional.
Amiable Attitude
A defining trait of a wedding photographer is also in how approachable they are to their clients. They might possess the above enlisted qualities but if they lack an approachable persona, then they are not for you.


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The ivory gull (Pagophila eburnea) is a high Arctic seabird that lives year-round in an icy habitat. There are only about 8,000 −11,500 breeding pairs, and populations of this red-listed species have declined significantly in the last 20 years.
Norwegian and Russian scientists have found that the gull's eggs are now 17 percent thinner than in samples collected before 1930, according to the December issue of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)'s magazine, Gemini.
The researchers' findings have recently been published in the academic journal Science of the Total Environment.
The ivory gull studies were conducted by the Norwegian Polar Institute in collaboration with NTNU and Russian research groups.
"This is very alarming - pollution isn't the only hazard facing this species," says Cecilie Miljeteig, a PhD candidate at NTNU's Department of Biology. "It is also dependent on the ice, so global warming is another threat.".
The researchers studied ivory gull egg samples from Svalbard and Northwest Russia.
The same team of scientists has previously found that these gulls' eggs have the highest registered concentrations of the environmental toxins PCB and DDT among all Arctic seabirds.
The study revealed a clear correlation between eggshell thinning and levels of such contaminants.
"The thickness of eggshells is an indicator of the health of the species," says Miljeteig.
"The immediate problem isn't that the egg breaks, but rather that the species' survivability is undermined," she says.
Studies of birds of prey have shown that a certain thinning of eggshells ties in with population drops.
The species nests in remote and inaccessible Arctic sites, so little information is available about earlier population sizes. In recent years population counts have been made in flyovers by aircraft.
The researchers have to rely on population numbers from abroad, because they lack historic population assessments from Norway. And they are afraid that Norwegian ivory gulls will suffer the same devastation as in Canada, where the population of the species plummeted by 80 percent in just 30 years.
Both DDT and PCB were targeted in global bans and phase-outs by the Stockholm Convention in 2001, although DDT was first banned by many industrial countries as early as the 1970s.
But years later these persistent toxins continue to pose a problem for Arctic species like the ivory gull.
Winds and ocean currents carry the pollutants northwards to the Arctic where they accumulate, because these compounds don't decompose easily.
The ivory gull feeds near the top of the food chain, so it accumulates high amounts of contaminants that have been concentrated in stages through the food it eats.
"The concentration will decline, but it will take a long time. The Arctic is like a freezer that preserves environmental toxins as they are," says Miljeteig.
"But we are surprised that the level of environmental toxins in ivory gulls is still so high," she says.
You can see a collection of pictures from different field seasons here.


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101 Best Blackberry Apps is a showcase for the best free and paid for Blackberry applications.
Join our growing network of mobile photographers. With a single click, you take a photo or shoot a video on your phone and it's automatically transferred to your personal, online photo gallery. No wires. No manual uploads.…
Link to I Took This On My Phone
With so many applications for the Blackberry phone it's hard to know what the best to use, we have set up 101 Best Blackberry Apps to help you get the most from your mobile. We've split out our showcase into helpful cateogries or why not use the search to find exactly what you're looking for?
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1. What animal lies dead not far away from Seeker?
An antelope.
2. What would Seeker have named her child?
3. How far do these apes journey forward in search of new habitat in the course of a lifetime?
Perhaps no more than a kilometer.
4. Where do the apes reach as far as?
Central Asia.
5. What is the name of the craft that Bisesa flies in?
Little Bird.
6. What does Abdikadir get called by the British troops?
7. What year is it?
8. What could Bisesa not recall in the weather forecasts?
Storm clouds.
9. What are both Ruddy and Josh?
All of these.
(read all 180 Short Answer Questions and Answers)
This section contains 3,458 words
(approx. 12 pages at 300 words per page)


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The Wii was a special console for me. Its lifespan coincided with a leisure sweetspot in my own life that afforded intoxicating levels of videogame opportunity. I played a lot of Wii games and tracked all the Wii developments, be they exciting or mundane, major or minor, captivating or frustrating. I found plenty of fun on my PS3, and I suffered the exclusivity of many X360 hits, but I don't regret spending the majority of my gaming prime with Nintendo's bold experiment.
many will say the Wii died long before 2012 (and not without merit),
the system's successor is a week away from taking the baton, signaling
the official end of Wii's journey. With that in mind, I thought it would
be appropriate to take a week and remember just what Nintendo's
"Revolution" was all about. Each day this week, we'll take a closer look
at one aspect of the Wii's legacy, framed by a number of Wii Truths
that have dawned on me as I look back on the generation.
Yesterday we checked the facts of the little white wonder's disruptive controller; we take a look at the rest of the system's features on day two. Wii was no stranger to big ideas, despite its modest guts. And it always dared to take on new challenges, seeming to find gold mine after gold mine with Wii Sports, Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit, and more.
But the truth is...
When unboxing the system that Black Friday morning, a friend of mine asked, "Is that really the whole system?" It was hard to believe a brand new console could be the size of a couple DVD cases. The whole system was lighter than the Xbox 360's power brick alone. Even the TV remote-style controller seemed lost in the palm of my hand. While a compact console isn't exactly groundbreaking innovation, it did make the Wii an easier fit in any entertainment setup and easily transported to gaming gatherings. The Gamecube had a handle, but the Wii was a truly portable console.
After first hooking up my Wii that cold November morning, my first software boot wasn't Twilight Princess, Excite Truck, or even Wii Sports. It was the Mii Channel, where I spent almost an hour putting together bobble-headed representations of the friends present. Mii mania leveled off before long, but Microsoft and Sony ripped off the avatars anyway. With the New Xbox Experience came Avatars that clumsily juggled cartoony roundness with more realistic body proportions and an initial lack of purpose. But at least they weren't the bomb that PlayStation Home and its uncanny valley mannequins turned out to be. It seems Nintendo's less-is-more Miis might have been the right approach: without defined arms and legs, Miis were infinitely adaptable and basic enough to excuse the limited customization options.
Nintendo wasn't keen on its family-friendly image being sullied by online gaming's symphony of expletives, so it took every measure it could to keep players from exposing each other to crude discourse online. Rather than letting players create a system-wide moniker like its competition did, Nintendo assigned each Wii a 16-digit numeric Friend Code: the only way to play online with someone was to exchange and register each other's Friend Code. Doing it once on the Wii Message Board to exchange text messages was bad enough, but every single game had its own assigned Friend Code. If Greg and I wanted to play Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart Wii, and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom with each other online, we would have to exchange a separate 16-digit friend code for each game. It was a clumsy and needlessly time-consuming method of friend registry, and it was universally reviled. Nintendo has recently announced that Wii U will not have Friend Codes. And there was much rejoicing.
Peripherals jumped onboard the Wii hype machine early, showing up on store shelves at launch with baseball, tennis, and golf attachments. Despite serving no purpose and often hindering gameplay by blocking the controller's infrared camera, this cheap crap must have sold pretty well because gun attachments, steering wheels, and controller decals often occupied more shelf space than actual Wii games. Nintendo themselves were little better, bundling Mario Kart Wii with a pointless wheel and Link's Crossbow Training with a plastic contortion of a rifle, blasphemously named the Zapper.
Did you know Nintendo actually made voice-chat hardware for the Wii? If you're imagining a headset, think again: Wii Speak was a microphone that sat near the Wii system so that Mom and Dad knew exactly who Junior was talking to online. It was only supported by a dozen games. Conversely, the Balance Board that came with Wii Fit was compatible with around a hundred games, most of them of such sterling quality as Imagine Party Babyz, Go Play: Lumberjacks, and Diva Girls: Divas on Ice. The Classic Controller Pro was an option in plenty of quality games, but it sure could have improved Donkey Kong Country Returns, Metroid: Other M, Tales of Symphonia 2, and many more that went without it. And we covered the tragedy of Wii MotionPlus yesterday...
PlayStation 3 had the Cross-Media Bar, Xbox 360 had its Dashboard Blades, and Wii had...Channels. Though many used the Wii menu much like the array of apps seen on all modern smartphones, you could actually use the + and - buttons to flip through them like, you guessed it, TV channels. Nintendo bigwigs expressed their desire for people to use the Wii like a television, flipping through useful channels between gaming sessions. They started by introducing news and weather channels soon after launch, eventually ending up with a suite of quirky but clunky internet features. Considering the promising previews of Wii U's TVii, the original Wii's Channels show that Nintendo is ever the paradox, both behind the times and ahead of the curve.
Though booting the Wii and checking the Forecast Channel was a lengthier process than doing the same on my computer, phone, or even TV, I'd still check it out now and then just to spin the globe with the Wii remote for kicks. The Nintendo Channel provided some interesting gameplay stats from both personal and global views, and it even let you download Nintendo DS demos to your portable system. The Check Mii Out Channel was a treasure trove of downloadable Miis, including movie stars, favorite characters, and even bizarre Mii face art. My personal favorite, though was the Everybody Votes Channel, a fairly simple collection of binary polls ("Dogs vs Cats," "Lefty vs. Righty," etc.) that nonetheless kept me coming back every few days for over a year. Add in a passable web browser, Netflix and Hulu Channels, and oddities like the Metroid Prime 3 Preview Channel, and it's easy to see Nintendo was going for a full entertainment center even on the severely limited Wii hardware.
With a paltry 512MB of internal flash memory, much of it dedicated to the OS, Wii launched with almost no room to store downloadable games, save data, or add-on content. A handful of N64 and SNES titles from the Wii Shop Channel would fill 'er up in no time. In some cases, even a player's Wii Message Board data could fill up the internal storage, and that was just for tracking daily play time and sending short notes and small images to friends. There was an SD Card slot on the front of the system, but it couldn't read SD cards larger than 2GB at launch, and that space couldn't even be used to store games. It wasn't until 2009 that an update allowed players to store and play games directly from an SD card, and added SDHC support up to 32GB. It was surprisingly decent of Nintendo to not require a proprietary storage solution, though they still sold their own Wii-branded SD cards with heavy markup...
There's just something comfortable about all those Wii channels. The Wii Shop Channel's lazy Muzak and barren, eggshell storefront brings back memories of buying trinkets at bargain bin stores. Pinching my friends in the Mii Channel and watching their little flailing limbs as I dragged them around the screen was a sick pleasure. Wii Message Board notes sometimes took over 24 hours to reach a friend online, but the attachable Mii pics and stationery style added a personal touch. And all the little musical intros to each channel and game were just precious. While the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 operating systems went for slick utilitarian silence, even the darkest corners of Wii's options menus had an almost ethereal electronic humming. Wii may not have had its competitors' feature sets, and the comparable services it offered were of a lesser caliber, but the runt of the litter certainly had character in spades.
For all its baffling feature omissions and chronic shortcomings, Wii still had a substantial (if quite odd) feature set. Did you ever use Wii's complementary channels, or was it strictly a game system? Join the discussion in the comments and check back each day this week for more of our look back at Wii's six-year life.
I've made my achievement preferences known. The best ones encourage you to play the same game with a new style. It's nice having a system-wide tally and the ability to check your friends', but it's hardly something I'd call a crucial feature for a console.
Oops. This was supposed to be a reply to the discussion below. Now it just looks like I'm replying to myself like a crazy person.
You're really blowing me away here. This is great stuff. It seems like we have a kinship in how we experienced our Wii. I enjoyed the channels. My wife and I particularly enjoyed Everybody Votes. And I frequently used the new and weather channels while waiting for my wife to get her things gathered for a night of TV. I think I still have the Metroid Preview channel on my Wii, although it won't work anymore.
It's odd to think back through the years of Wii ownership and how slow Nintendo was to comply with consumer demand (playing games from SD card for example) and even how they went backwards on some fronts. In this case, I was pretty disappointed when they dropped MP3 support for SD cards. It was only through the use of an SD card that I was able to fall in love with Excite Truck. The music in that game was so atrocious, but thankfully they allowed playing custom sound tracks from SD cards (few other Wii games did so then or now), which completely altered the feel of the game from cheap wannebe thrashmetal to super sweet big beat techno awesome. I'm not completely sure but I think that feature was removed from the Excite Truck followup, Excite Bots, which was, in its own right, an interesting departure but largely a disappointment to those of us who fell in love with Excite Truck.
There's just something so perfect about catching impossible air in a huge truck while Elton John hulks out. I actually didn't use the MP3 feature much because I didn't have an SD card yet, but friends would sometimes put their tunes in and we'd hurl our big damn trucks through the air to the soundtrack of our choice.
And yeah, Excitebots didn't have MP3 support, though it easily made up for it with online play and a pretty good achievement system. It was a little too spastic for its own good, I think, but there are worse problems a sequel could have. I thought it was a worthy follow-up.
While I've never been an achievement whore, there were a few games I liked well enough to try and go for some of their bonuses, and it sort of disappointed me that the Wii (and apparently now the Wii U) didn't have a system wide achievement/trophy system. Sure, it can be implemented on a game by game basis, but then there are no standards and nothing reported up to your friends, etc. I'm not even sure why I'm complaining because I've turned off all achievement notifications on the other systems, but it seems like another lost opportunity to attract the hardcore crowd.
I'd like for them to implement some sort of achievement system in theory but in practice I've come to mostly dislike the existing examples. I don't like that some games make them incredibly easy and others make them incredibly difficult. This renders the overall score meaningless. Do you have 20,000 points from all the NBA 2Kx games or do you have them from games like Dark Souls? I also don't like how few achievements are rewarded for actually beating a game. For example, I think it was CoD2 where you got 50 points for doing the tutorial and then only another 100 or so for completing the entire game on normal difficulty. All the rest of the points were tied to beating each level on harder difficulties. So, you could get more points for beating 2 levels on hard than you would for beating the entire game on normal, or thereabouts. Once the number becomes meaningless, I just wish it wasn't there at all. The trophy system is probably better overall, in that there is a ranking system. You can't get platinum trophies for doing many little things in many little games, which makes them more meaningful, but I have to imagine there are games that make them pretty easy to get. ANd if the PS3 community is anything like the 360 community, there are ample websites out there logging just which platinums are easiest to get so you can artificially inflate your score.
So, yeah, you're probably right, it's a missed opportunity to get the hardcore. But lets not kid ourselves, no self described hardcore gamer will ever take a Nintendo console seriously. Ever. I've been watching this since the SNES eliminated blood from Mortal Kombat. Even then Nintendo was "Kiddie". You still see it today, some 20 years later.