Letters to the Sun, Oct. 30 — School parcel tax, 'sustainable'
0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Oct 30, 2009 | by Lamorinda Sun
Public service, private greed
In an Oct. 24 piece by Eric Larsen in the Times (“Your Turn”), noteworthy was its contrast between some columnists who seem to specialize in promoting petty jealousies among their readers against hardworking people in public-service jobs, and those who write about the life insurance quotes far more egregious pay for the executives of insurance and banking companies who are taking in tens — if not hundreds — of millions in pay, bonuses, stock options and golden parachutes for not only marginal results, but even after disastrous outcomes to their stockholders, investors and taxpayers.
Where is your outrage and constant harping and running series exposing them?
Enterprising wage-earners who sacrifice time with their families and their health to assure the well-being of the families within the bounds of their employers’ rules, and who are encouraged and rewarded by their employers to put in efforts and time above and beyond, are chastised by your columnists for making too much.
It is often said by the media that they just report the news. Well, it is also true that the media should use their investigative resources to report news that is reflective of what harms the general populace when that news is hidden by those who most gain from cloak of secrecy. Do not appeal to our most petty jealousies. Enlighten and make the world better.
Tony Suh
Lafayette
Good schools reflect high standards
I support YES on Measure G (an extension of the existing $189 parcel tax for the Acalanes Union High School District) and ask all voters to cast their vote in favor of protecting our future.
It’s simple
Dial-up mpg
Muscle & Fitness, Nov, 2009
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AT Conference Ranked Among Fastest Growing Companies in North America on Deloitte's 2009 Technology Fast 500™
Business Wire, Oct 29, 2009
New York-based Conference Call Services Provider Attributes its 269
Percent Revenue Growth to Ongoing Service Enhancements, Infrastructure
Upgrades, Aggressive Marketing and Exceptional Customer Service
NEW YORK — AT Conference today announced that it ranked number 429 on Technology
Fast 500, Deloitte LLP’s ranking of 500 of the fastest growing
technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean
technology companies in North America. Rankings are based on percentage
of fiscal year revenue growth during the five year period from
20042008. AT Conference grew 269 percent during this period.
AT Conference’s CEO, David Jannetti, credits the efforts of AT
Conference staff at every level with the company’s 269 percent revenue
growth over the past five years. Jannetti said, “Over this most recent
Fast 500 grading period we continued to invest in development efforts
that enhance our services and in hardware upgrades that strengthen our
infrastructure. Our customer support team continues to build on its
strong record of customer satisfaction and we have expanded our
marketing efforts in multiple channels in what remains a very
competitive environment.” Added Jannetti, “Our success has really been a
team effort and everyone at AT Conference should take pride in this
award.”
“Technology Fast 500 recognizes innovative companies that have broken
down barriers to success and defied the odds with their remarkable
five-year revenue growth,” said Phil Asmundson, Vice Chairman and U.S.
Technology, Media and Telecommunications leader, Deloitte LLP. “We
congratulate AT Conference on this accomplishment.”
“With its impressive five-year growth, AT Conference has earned its
position among the fastest growing technology, media,
telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology companies in
North America,” said Mark Jensen, Managing Partner, Technology and
Venture Capital Services, Deloitte & Touche LLP. “Deloitte is proud to
honor AT Conference for its achievement.”
dryer vent cleaning The 2009 Technology Fast 500 ranking marks the third time Deloitte has
recognized AT Conference with one of its Fast 500 or Fast 50 awards. AT
Conference previously ranked 433 as a Technology Fast 500 award winner
for 2006 and ranked 28 as a New York Technology Fast 50 award winner
the same year.
About AT Conference
AT Conference is a leading provider of conference call and web
conferencing services that help businesses communicate more efficiently.
The company is primarily focused on the SMB market and has over 75,000
users worldwide.
Headquartered in Southampton, New York, AT Conference also has
operations in California, Georgia and Massachusetts
Expo Holdings, Inc. Receives Order From GTO, Inc.
Market Wire, October, 2009
Expo Holdings, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: EXPH)
through its wholly owned subsidiary D&D; Displays, Inc. recently received
its first order from GTO, Inc.
James D. Brown, CEO, stated, “We would like to formally thank GTO, Inc. for
including us in their recent bid for this home-center related project, and
would like to thank them for awarding this business to our subsidiary D&D;
Displays, Inc. This is our first order from GTO and we expect a mutually
beneficial business relationship moving forward. This PR is intended to
inform shareholders of our newest success in continued customer
diversification.”
The company will be issuing a press release in the near future outlining
the dates and times for our upcoming shareholder meeting. At this meeting
the company will be updating 2010 sales forecasts and introducing
shareholders in attendance to our team, products, and facility.
According to the GTO’s website www.gtoinc.com , GTO, Inc. was established in
1987, and is a leading U.S. based manufacturer of both professional and DIY
Gate Operators and Access Controls for rural, urban, commercial, and
industrial environments.
Expo Holdings operates in North Wilkesboro, NC. D&D; Displays is a wholly
owned subsidiary of Expo Holdings, which specializes in custom cabinetry
and high end store fixtures for retail vendors such as Newell-Rubbermaid,
Inc., Bosch Tool Corporation, Kronotex, USA, and Lowe’s Companies. D&D;
Displays has been in operation since 2000 and joined Expo Holdings in 2006.
This release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of
Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 27E of the Securities
Act of 1934. Statements contained in this release that are not historical
facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Investors are
cautioned that forward-looking statements win back love are inherently uncertain. Actual
performance and results may differ materially from that projected or
suggested herein due to certain risks and uncertainties including, without
limitation, ability to obtain financing and regulatory and shareholder
approvals for anticipated actions.
Contact:
J.D
The wooden workshop where homeless people can carve themselves out a new future
0 Comments | Evening News (Edinburgh, Scotland), Oct 28, 2009
Byline: HAZEL MOLLISON
THE sound of laughter and chatter rise above the background noise of sanding and polishing and the tinkle of the radio. Men and women dressed in jeans and overalls sit at wooden benches, putting the finishing touches to their work.
Manager Tommy Steele darts around the workshop, dispensing a piece of wood here, or a word of advice there. All around the walls, display cabinets show off the beautifully finished wooden clocks, candle holders and bottle racks.
It’s hard to believe that, until a few months ago, many of these craftsmen were sleeping rough. The majority have been homeless, while some have struggled with drug addiction, alcoholism and mental health problems.
Many had never picked up a saw or a piece of sandpaper before they discovered the Greyfriars Recycling of Wood, or GROW, project in the Grassmarket.
Tommy helped set it up three years ago with the Greyfriars Community Project and the Cyrenians charity, in a small portable cabin off Hunter’s Close.
Now it has expanded, with its own large workshop, and up to 20 people working each day. They turn unwanted church pews from around Scotland into unique, handcrafted pieces of furniture.
As well as recycling high-quality hardwood, the project has helped volunteers turn their lives around.
Chris MacCallum, 27, is sitting at a bench polishing a carved wooden clock. Until recently, he was living on the streets, shoplifting to feed his heroin addiction.
His troubles started when he split up with his girlfriend last year, had to leave the flat they shared, and found himself with nowhere to go. He says: “I got in with the wrong crowd. I was easily led. I had a heroin habit and I ended up begging on the streets.
“A lot of the time I’d be sleeping rough. Sometimes I’d stay in the Cowgate shelter, but you’d get chucked out at 7 in the morning, and I’d have nowhere to go all day.”
His wake-up call came when he was arrested and charged with shoplifting. Chris realised he had to deal with his drug habit, and managed to get methadone treatment. He moved into temporary accommodation, and heard about the Greyfriars project.
He says: “It gives me something to do with my time. I’ve been getting to know a lot of people here. Now I want to get back into work. I’ll try and get into college.”
The workshop grew from a pilot project, developed by Greyfriars Kirk minister Richard Frazer. Members started making smaller items, such as clocks and birdboxes, made from donated church pews and sold at craft fairs, with all the money ploughed back into the project.
But with the larger workshop, they have been able to become more ambitious. They joined forces with Edinburgh College of Art student, Mark Kobine, who has designed an elegant and sturdy three-shelf bookcase, made from a truncated church pew. He was inspired by the idea of centuries-old wood, bearing the dents and marks of long-term use.
It is the first in a range of larger items, which can be ordered at around GBP 400 a time. The project now has around GBP 1,600 worth of orders on its books, with most of the business coming through word of mouth.
Tommy says:
“Ninety per cent of people who come here say they’re rubbish at woodwork. But then they’ll produce something like a candle holder or a bottle holder, with a bit of support. That immediately is a quick fix for their confidence. Once they’ve done that, they can move on to making furniture.”
One success story is Stephanie Goddard, 21, who is sitting in a corner of the workshop filling out her college admission form. She hopes to study woodwork and joinery at Telford College next year.
Like most of the volunteers, Stephanie never expected to become homeless, but when her mother moved to England to be with her partner and the cinema where she worked closed, she found herself struggling to keep a roof over her head. She spent time staying on friends’ floors, then ended up in a hostel. Her self-esteem plummeted as she was repeatedly rejected for jobs. Stephanie was caught in a common trap – with no fixed address it was hard to find work.
She came to the Grassmarket after hearing about it from another girl at her hostel. Stephanie had done a little woodwork at school, and once her confidence grew, she realised she had a talent for it. The first thing she made was a bottle holder, but now she can turn her hand to everything from intricately carved clocks to elegant coffee tables.
“Knowing you’ve made something that someone else will buy is really good,” she says. “I know I can do something now if I bacterial vaginosis remedies put my mind to it. Everybody’s really friendly here and we all help each other.” She is now living with her sister in Gilmerton while she looks for a flat to rent on her own.
Just next to her, James Bjorkly is refurbishing an old table. He has removed the top from it, and is sanding it down and polishing it to give it a new lease of life.
The 40-year-old has been coming to the workshop on and off for two years, in between having surgery on his spine
Christmas Gifts for Globetrotters Everywhere, From Venere.com
PR Newswire, Oct 27, 2009
Gone are the Days When all you Need is Shower gel and Shampoo! Venere.com, Together With Mandarina Duck, has Created a Dream Travel kit and the Perfect Christmas gift Idea…
MILAN, October 27 /PRNewswire/ — Ever got to your hotel and found that you have forgotten something important that you’re sure not to find among the freebies in the bathroom? Venere.com, the European on-line reservation specialist, ever attentive to their customers’ needs carried out a survey to discover just what travellers want to find in their hotel bathroom.
Thanks to an on-line competition over five European countries, Venere.com has discovered the indispensable and sometimes surprising requirements of its customers and put them into practice, creating an innovative and unique kit! In addition to the essential shampoos and shower gels, Venere.com has selected very practical and desired items to put together the travel kit that you want.
Created in collaboration with Mandarina Duck, a limited edition kit will be available exclusively in December on the famous luggage site (http://shop.mandarinaduck.com/) for only EUR30 – a must for travel fans and a unique Christmas gift idea for those who love to travel.
The first that emerged from the survey is that travellers detest noise! Be it from inside or outside their hotel room. Venere.com has therefore included the wonderful Quies earplugs from the ‘be quiet I’m trying to sleep!’ range, guaranteeing a peaceful night’s sleep.
However, the noise that bothers travellers the most is the relentless snoring of the person sleeping next to them! Venere.com has found the solution not with a boxing glove, or a recording of a steam-engine but with “Breathe Right” nasal strips, which were second on the list of items most requested by users.
Third place goes to tweezers as every hair is one too many! The magnifying mirrors in all new hotels reveal, whether you are a man or a woman, those hairs that appear in the most unlikely and annoying places!
In fourth place come plasters – always useful be it for cuts and grazes or more likely for pains caused by brand new shoes that of course you didn’t wear in before wearing out!
Last but not least, in fifth place are condoms. Useful for one reason and one reason only, venere.com provides the solution to that embarrassing moment when you realise you haven’t got any and apart from ruining your ‘romantic’ moment by making you run about the city desperately trying to find an open shop, can be rather embarrassing when trying to make a more than good impression!
If you think the above 5 items are a must on your travels, log on to http://shop.mandarinaduck.com/ where you can buy the fabulous travel kit and never have to worry about leaving the essentials behind…
The ultra-chic Mandarina Duck travel bag coincides with the launch of their prestigious collection ‘Drop’ and Venere users get the chance to win luggage from the new collection which is a first for Mandarina Duck, who have entered into the world of hard-shell suitcases.
Discover the new range at http://shop.mandarinaduck.com/travel_drop/.
> The lucky winner of the competition has won a three day stay in a hotel in cheap hotels Barcelona: the splendid Hotel Vincci Condal Mar. And to round off the competition, made-to-measure travel kits will be sent to 50 users who participated in the competition.
For further information visit http://www.venere.com/ Contact PR&Communications; Manager Venere.com Micaela Zanarini 39-06-36192322 zanarini@venere.com
CONTACT: Contact: Pr&Communications; Manager Venere.com, Micaela Zanarini, 39-06-36192322, zanarini@venere.com
Gemalto PIV Card for Enhanced U.S. Government Security Doubles Memory Capacity – Earns GSA Approval
Business Wire, Oct 27, 2009
ARLINGTON, Va. — Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, today announced tony robbins seminar that its
large memory Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card is now listed on
the General Services Administration (GSA) Approved Product List (APL).
Gemalto has already begun volume deliveries of the card for the U.S.
federal governments PIV program. The card has already received FIPS 201
and FIPS 140-2 certifications.
The Gemalto PIV Card is dual contact/contactless technology built on the
JavaCard platform. It doubles the storage capacity of todays PIV cards,
a highly demanded feature in the government sector.
Our U.S. government customers asked us to develop this very large
memory card to give them more space to implement stronger digital
security measures, said Neville Pattinson, vice president of Standards
and Government Affairs, Gemalto North America. Today we are providing a
PIV card with memory capacity to handle larger encryption keys and store
multiple identity certificates. The larger memory will help to
future-proof PIV credentials, because it offers the room to add other
applications downstream, such as biometrics, extending its useful life.
The Gemalto PIV card allows the identities of government employees and
contractors to be verified electronically quickly, while resisting any
fraud, tampering or counterfeiting. Already capable of secure storage of
cardholder fingerprints, the card also supports, through its open
platform, adding new applications, such as biometric match-on-card, if
desired.
The Gemalto TOP DL card listing on the GSA APL can be found by visiting http://fips201ep.cio.gov/apl.php.
About Gemalto
Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital
security with 2008 annual revenues of 1.68 billion, and 10,000
employees operating out of 75 offices, research and service centers in
40 countries.
Gemalto is at the heart of our evolving digital society
Jailed, the ‘cash for crash’ crook behind [pounds sterling]12m scam; Swindler staged car collisions to rake in huge insurance payouts
0 Comments | Daily Mail (London, England), The, Oct 22, 2009
Byline: Jaya Narain
A SWINDLER who carried out a [pounds sterling]12million ‘crash for cash’ scam was jailed yesterday for four and a half years.
Mohammed Patel, 24, charged car owners [pounds sterling]500 a time to stage accidents in their vehicles – thereby opening the way for the owners to put in massively inflated insurance claims. Scores of innocent motorists who found themselves driving behind Patel were put at risk when he put his fraud into practice by suddenly slamming on his brakes at roundabouts.
He usually picked on elderly female motorists who were driving alone, as he believed they wouldn’t cause a fuss.
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His favourite trick was to disengage his brake lights so the target motorist would have no warning of the impending collision and would therefore admit liability. He staged the accidents at slow speeds to protect himself from whiplash.
His texas auto insurance quotes car owner customers – who were not present during the crashes – would then often claim there were four people in the car and invent extra damage, claiming on average around [pounds sterling]17,000 for each accident.
Claims would include compensation for injuries, such as whiplash, damage to the vehicle, a hire car and storage of the damaged vehicle.
Patel, of Bolton, admitted to a sample list of 93 staged collisions, which earned him [pounds sterling]46,000 and cost [pounds sterling]1.6million, although police believe he was responsible for ‘several hundred’, amounting to an estimated [pounds sterling]12million in bogus insurance claims. Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard Patel’s earnings funded an ‘Aladdin’s cave’ at the home of his unemployed girlfriend Ettorina Hay and the pair enjoyed luxury foreign holidays and drove expensive cars.
He bought Hay a [pounds sterling]15,000 Lincoln Navigator and a [pounds sterling]15,000 Mercedes Kompressor and paid for her home to be furnished and gave her [pounds sterling]1,000-amonth spending money.
Patel engineered the crashes early every day for three years, but the scam was only discovered when office workers overlooking one of his regular crash points – the Eden Point roundabout on the A34 close to Cheadle, near Manchester – became suspicious and alerted the authorities. Police and insurers investigated and Patel was arrested.
William Baker, prosecuting, said: ‘Mohammed Patel staged the road traffic accidents. He drove cars on to the roundabout and then stopped them so abruptly the vehicle behind could not avoid a collision
Yes, children DO make you happier
0 Comments | Daily Mail (London, England), The, Oct 27, 2009
Byline: Fiona MacRae Science Reporter
IT may come as a surprise to those struggling to cope with sleepless nights and mountains of nappies.
But having children really does make you happier, researchers say.
The finding, based on the experiences of tens of thousands of groom wedding speech British parents, contradicts a host of other studies which have concluded that having children can ruin even the most blissful of relationships.
Instead, it seems, the patter of tiny feet strengthens a relationship – but only if the parents are married.
Almost 90,000 mothers and fathers were questioned about their circumstances and how happy they were with their lot in life.
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The answers revealed that marriages become happier with the arrival of a baby, with three children bringing the most joy, the Journal of Happiness Studies reports.
Women, perhaps not surprisingly, derive more satisfaction from parenthood than men.
However, children bring happiness only to couples who are married. If a pair are simply living together, the birth of a child tends to bring discontent, the Glasgow University study found.
Researcher Dr Luis Angeles said: ‘The fact that people who live as a couple but are not married experience lower levels of life satisfaction with children is worthy of notice.
‘It dispels the idea that the positive effect on married individuals is due uniquely to the fact that they can pool resources, such as money and time, to raise children.
‘What separates married and unmarried couples is arguably not the possibility of pooling resources for the aim of raising children but the willingness to do so in the first place.
‘As a rule, the arrival of a child tends to be seen as a blessing to a married couple and as a problem to an unmarried one or to a single mother.’ Dr Angeles concluded that while bringing up children can be hard work, the benefits outweigh the negatives. ‘When considering their life as a whole, married individuals with children report themselves as better off than married individuals without children,’ he said.
Congress apparently has given up on the idea of securing the U.S.-Mexico border with a fence, having excised money for the project from a recent appropriations bill
National Review, Nov 2, 2009
Congress apparently has given up on the idea of 0 apr credit card securing the U.S.-Mexico border with a fence, having excised money for the project from a recent appropriations bill. Washington was never very serious about fencing off the border–the few miles of fence we have are routinely cut through by enterprising smugglers, cheeky crooks who install doors, complete with locks, for their own convenience.
Now it seems as though Washington will save them the trouble.