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Donna Howell, of Citrus Springs, has taken her penchant for making gifts by hand and turned it into an art that she has taken on the road.
DUNNELLON — Donna Howell, of Citrus Springs, has taken her penchant for making gifts by hand and turned it into an art that she has taken on the road.
Howell is now showing her small boxes of sand and seashells that can be rotated for an ever-changing beach scene at festivals and flea markets.
Each one is different and a good reminder of the fun one had at some of the Sunshine State's finest beaches, rivers and festivals, said Sheila Boss, visiting from Maryland.
"They are beautiful. Donna is our cousin, and when we first got down here a few weeks ago, she showed us what she was making. My husband got one for himself and then asked me, 'How about you?' So I got one, too," Boss said.
Boss came along when Howell set up a tent at the First Saturday Village Market in early March.
"Basically I've been making these types of things all my life, but doing it for family and friends. When I give a gift, it's usually something from the heart that I make for them," Howell said.
The small art frames containing shells and sand are not difficult to make, and it's actually fun doing them because each one turns out differently depending upon the materials used, Howell said.
"When I start one, I look for two picture frames that look the same. I start with one side and seal the glass into it. When that dries, I put the sand in and pick out the seashells I want to go in that particular piece.
"When I've done that, and I like how it looks, I put glue on the other side and then push the two frames down together to get them sealed good and tight. When that all dries, I pick them up to test them for leaks," Howell said.
Howell also puts together nautical-style collages using pieces of fish net with seashells and starfish.
It is always fun and relaxing to work on her projects, she said, but it surprised her how much fun it has been taking her art on the road and interacting with people at different events, such as the volunteers, staff, other exhibitors, vendors and visitors at Cracker Days in February at Rainbow Springs State Park.
On the morning the festival opened, Howell dressed in a way she thought looked somewhat old-fashioned.
"I didn't realize the outfit I wore the first day was pretty much in the right period (mid-1800s) until I went home that night and looked on the Internet. Then I found out that the dress was perfect, except that for Sunday I needed to add some lace to it," she said.


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Despite all the naysayers, the PC platform is hitting an upswing. At least, according to GPU manufacturer Nvidia and their strong profits in their last fiscal quarter. The company claims it is seeing a greater demand for high-end PC gaming, but notes that this is part of the natural push and pull of PCs and consoles. For the moment, PCs are "dramatically better" than consoles.
"The strength in our GPU business in the third quarter was largely attributable to our desktop GPU products, with revenue increasing 23.0 percent over the prior quarter," Nvidia CFO Karen Burns wrote in the earnings report (via The Escapist). "This was not only due to seasonal strength for desktop GPU in the third quarter, but also the increased demand for our high-end products as consumers geared-up their PCs for new titles such as Battlefield 3, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Star Wars: The Old Republic."
In a Q&A with investors, CEO Jen-Hsun Huang explained the trend. "This happens every major game console cycle toward the second half of its product life, because PC technology advances on a regular basis instead of once every seven to ten years," he said. "And so you could imagine how PC technology is dramatically better than a game console today, and you're starting to see that now with a new generation of games that are coming out, such as Battlefield 3."
The unspoken implication, though, is that we're nearing the next console cycle, when manufacturers like Sony and Microsoft are likely to take a loss on their hardware to get their boxes into homes. That would make the whole cycle start anew, as consumers adopt the relatively cheap console alternative. Still, it's nice to hear news that can serve as your answer next time someone claims that PC gaming is dead.

subset: commoncrawl


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|Head Coach
|9 Years
"Coach Morgan is an experienced and successful coach who has helped elevate this program to among the nation's elite over the past five seasons," said Maryland Director of Athletics Kevin Anderson. "His passion for this University, this program and its student-athletes was evident and made him the clear choice to lead Maryland women's soccer."
Morgan has served as an assistant coach with Terrapins for the past five seasons and helped lead a resurgence that saw the Terps earn two trips to the NCAA Sweet 16 (2009, 2011), the program's first-ever No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament (2010) and a berth in the ACC tournament championship game (2010).
"First, I want to thank Kevin Anderson, Nate Pine, and the search committee for providing me with this opportunity to lead the Maryland women's soccer program," said Morgan. "This program has had a history of great coaches and I am honored to be selected as Maryland's next head coach. I look forward to building upon the excellence and tradition that has been established. We have an outstanding group of student-athletes here and I'm so excited about the opportunity to lead them in accomplishing the academic and athletic goals they came to the University of Maryland to achieve.
"I'm also pleased to be able to continue working with Laurie George, who will remain with the coaching staff. Not only is Laurie one of the preeminent goalkeeping coaches in the country, but she is also a terrific and energetic person that is a vital part of this program. The continuity of our staff and our players continued commitment to being great will allow Maryland women's soccer to continue to move forward in its pursuit of reaching excellence in women's college soccer."
In the five seasons Morgan served as an assistant coach at Maryland, the Terrapins boasted a record of 57-33-13 (.617), including a mark of 44-14-9 (.724) over the last three seasons, while playing in the nation's premier women's soccer conference.
Morgan was instrumental in recruiting the incoming 2012 freshman class, which was ranked No. 5 in the nation by TopDrawerSoccer.com and includes two state Gatorade Players of the Year. He also led the recruiting effort for the 2008 freshman class, which was ranked No. 14 in the nation and featured All-American Jasmyne Spencer and Ashley Grove, who each finished among the top 10 in career goals and points at Maryland.
During his five seasons as a Terrapin assistant, Morgan has been primarily responsible for coordinating and training the team's defense, which included 2010 ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year Caitlin McDowell. He also helped coordinate the overall administration of the program, including academic support, scheduling, maintaining the operating budget, equipment, financial aid and fundraising.
Morgan also serves as the head coach of the Bethesda Soccer Club U17 girls, which is currently ranked No. 3 in the nation by Gotsoccer.com. During his tenure with BSC, Morgan has coached several players who have gone on to play with U.S. Youth National and USYSA Regional Teams.
Prior to coming to College Park, Morgan spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Ohio State (2005-06) where he was primarily responsible for recruiting and working with the Buckeyes' offensive attack. Under Morgan's tutelage the Buckeyes finished third in the Big Ten in points per game with a 4.84 ppg average.
The 2006 Buckeyes boasted the Big Ten conference's statistical individual leader in goals, goals per game, points per game, assists and assists per game in Lara Dickenmann, a two-time NSCAA All-American.
While in Columbus, Ohio, Morgan was the head coach of the Ohio Premier (OP) U15 girls club team.
Prior to coaching at Ohio State, Morgan spent three seasons as a volunteer coach at Rutgers, where he helped the Scarlet Knights to postseason appearances in 2002, '03 and '04. Among his responsibilities were assisting the coaching staff in developing and organizing all individual and team training sessions, as well as helping with recruiting, including the planning and directing of all official visits. During his tenure at Rutgers, Morgan helped coach Carli Loyd, a three-time NSCAA All-American, four-time first team All-Big East selection and full U.S. National Team player.
From 2001-05 Morgan was a staff coach for the Players Development Academy (PDA). During his time at PDA he coached four different teams between the ages of U12-U18. He had the privilege of coaching more than 40 future Division I student-athletes, three U.S. Youth National Team players and 10 USYSA regional team players.
A native of Dover, Del., Morgan was a four-year starter at Rowan College in Glassboro, N.J., serving as team captain his senior season with the Profs. After he finished his playing career, he broke into the college coaching ranks with his alma mater in 1995, helping the Rowan men's team to a 17-1-3 mark, a No. 4 national ranking and an appearance in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
He has also been involved with the Olympic Development Programs in Delaware and New Jersey, leading the New Jersey ODP girl's U-17 team to the Region 1 ODP championship in 2001. The team earned a trip to the ODP National championships and placed third. During his time with the New Jersey ODP program, Morgan helped coach U.S. Women's National Team players Heather O'Reilly and Jillian Loyden.
Morgan's ODP experience also includes being a part of the USYSA Region 1 staff from 2002-05.
A USSF "B" licensed and KNVB Dutch Certificate coach, Morgan graduated from Rowan in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in law/justice. He currently resides in Laurel, Md.


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HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) - Kevin Streelman, Charley Hoffman and rookie Steve LeBrun were tied for the RBC Heritage lead, and Brandt Snedeker was on the verge of missing the cut Friday when second-round play was suspended for the day because of rain.
Conditions worsened throughout the day and 17 players were unable to finish at Harbour Town Golf Links. They will resume play Saturday morning.
Streelman, the Tampa Bay Championships last month for his first tour title, shot a 1-under 70 before the wind picked up to join Hoffman and LeBrun at 6 under. Hoffman also had a 70, and LeBrun shot 68.
Luke Donald and Bill Haas were a stroke back. Donald had a 68, and Haas shot 69.
Snedeker, ranked fifth in the world, was 2 over - one past the cut line - after a 71.
KAPOLEI, Hawaii (AP) - Suzann Pettersen shot a 4-under 68 at wind-swept Ko Olina to maintain a one-stroke lead after the third round of the LPGA Lotte Championship.
The 32-year-old Norwegian, a 10-time LPGA Tour winner ranked sixth in the world, had a 14-under 202 total.
South Korea's Hee Kyung Seo was second after a 66, matching the best round of the day. She made three straight birdies on the back nine for a share of the lead, but dropped back with a bogey on the par-4 18th.
Defending champion Ai Miyazato was third at 11 under after a 70.
Pettersen, a stroke ahead of Miyazato entering the round, birdied the first three holes and got to 14 under with a birdie on the par-4 seventh. The European Solheim Cup star bogeyed the par-3 eighth, and got the stroke back with a birdie on the par-5 14th. She had consecutive LPGA Tour victories late last season in South Korea and Taiwan and won a Ladies European Tour event last month in China.
DULUTH, Ga. (AP) - Bart Bryant and David Frost topped the first-round leaderboard in the Champions Tour's rain-delayed Greater Gwinnett Championship.
The start of play was delayed four hours by rain. There were 57 players still on the TPC Sugarloaf course when the round was suspended because of darkness. Bryant completed a 4-under 68, and Frost was 4 under with five holes left. The first round will be completed Saturday morning.
VALENCIA, Spain (AP) - American Peter Uihlein shot a 4-under 68 to take a one-shot lead after the second round of the Spanish Open.
The former Oklahoma State player had six birdies and two bogeys at Parador de El Saler, leaving him at 6-under 138. Chile's Felipe Aguilar (71) was a stroke back along with France's Raphael Jacquelin (66) and Sweden's Rikard Karlberg (67). Spain's Sergio Garcia was seven strokes behind after a 73.


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WEST WINDSOR — With the tourney season fast approaching, there is a sense of urgency for both Hopewell Valley and West Windsor-Plainsboro South.
The two have combined for just two wins in the last 17 games and some positive signs are desperately needed.
It might not have been the win both were looking for, but a tie is certainly better than a loss.
Hopewell Valley scored the tying goal with 23 seconds remaining Wednesday to salvage a 3-3 tie with the Pirates in a Colonial Valley Conference game skated on the ice at chilly Mercer County Park.
South (4-6-2, 4-5-1 CVC) came out and took a 2-0 lead before the Bulldogs (4-9-1, 4-5-1 CVC) got on the board. When Hopewell Valley scored with 10 seconds left in the first period it was 3-2 South.
The two would trade a chance or two until Owen Salmon and Max Daley pushed a puck in front that Trevor Weidman converted for the tying goal at the 23-second mark of the final period.
"Getting the point is important for the Mercer County Tournament seeding," said Hopewell Valley coach Rob Donovan "It was great to get the tying goal, but we have to have that same sense of urgency right from the start."
South was ready right from the start getting the early lead. The trouble was it went 31:06 without a goal and surrendered the tying goal in the final seconds.
"We played a strong game except for three small mistakes and each one cost us," said South coach Laurent Lassance. "They understand the sense of urgency. We played a really good first period we need to maintain it all three periods."
Jonathan Matthews with two goals and an assist led the South offense, Chris Clancy had a goal and two assists with Brian Tso getting two helpers.
Weidman, who missed a few games early with a contusion, netted a pair for the Bulldogs with Robert Carrier getting the other. Daley, Salmon, Aubrey Toland and Bobby Broz had assists.
Hopewell lost Phil Angelastro to an ankle injury early in the first period and he was unable to return.
Weidman picked up the slack from his injured teammate and got HV a much-needed goal.
"Owen (Salmon) had a nice pass to Max (Daley) and he was able to skate into the zone and I happened to be there right in front of the net" said Weidman. "We had our foot on the throttle the entire game. I knew we could pull it out and we were able to pull through."
The MCT and the state tournament cutoff are just a few weeks away. South is in a little better shape, but it would be nice to seal the state deal as soon as possible.
Hopewell Valley right now is looking to improve its MCT seeding and take it one game at a time.
Both hope a tie proves to be the catalyst to begin stringing together a few more positives.
Hopewell Valley 4-9-1, 4-5-1 CVC) 2 0 1 – 3
WW-P South (4-6-2, 4-5-1 CVC) 3 0 0 – 3
Goals: HV: Weidman 2, Carrier. WWPS: Matthews 2, Clancy.
Assists: HV: Salmon, Daley, Toland, Broz. WWPS: Clancy 2, Tso 2, Matthews.
Shots: HV: 30, WWPS: 27. Saves: HV: Dajczak 24, WWPS: Stafford 27.
Wyoming Seminary 5, Lawrenceville 0
LAWRENCEVILLE — The Big Red gave up three goals in the first period and never got on the board, dropping to 6-9 on the season.
Wyoming Seminary 3 1 1 – 5
Lawrenceville 0 0 0 – 0


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Disclaimer: Where I work they are cool with "moonlighting", with the stipulation being that you must check with legal. Never been in this situation so this is largely guess work based on stories I've heard from others!
The obvious is of course to get a new job. I'm sure lots of people are going to recommend that, but of course it is rarely that simple.. especially in this economy and you like where you are working now.
The less obvious is to negotiate with your employer/your employers legal department. Just be cognisant of the fact that this may inadvertently force you into option 1. If the terms of your employment are there just to cover their ass.. you might be able to work something out if your ideas arn't within their business area. Just keep in mind that you are asking to work on something that you hope will lead to you resigning and pursing full time (I assume) and they may have a problem with that as well.
I guess the real question is, how sold on your own ideas are you? Willing to risk your job?... because I really don't see a way of persuing this that doesn't end there.
What I did at my current (academic) job is to keep copyright with my employer, but have them license it back to me under GPL. This means that if I move jobs or start my own business I can keep working on these projects. You can sell it to them as showing how they (ie, you) contribute to the community etc, and that they keep all IP so there is no danger of you suing them and they can always relicense.
Downside is of course that your future business model would have to build around an OSS core, but there are various options (OSS backend with proprietary frontend, web business / software as a service (no distribution = no requirement to give source code), proprietary modules that actually make it work (but make sure that the proprietary part cannot be construed as a derived work), etc etc.
At least in academia most places let you separate your work on the side. If you want to use your work on the side as part of your research work well that's where you get into your situation. When they ask "what are you doing on our time" you have to say something.
When it comes to the question at hand, one option is to pitch the ideas to your employer. The other is to get a separate job, or ask to renegotiate that portion of your contract or move into a job within the company with a less restrictive contract. Expect that to come with a significant paycut though.
You actually run the risk, even asking the question, of implying you have an idea for a product on your current companies time, that you may be thinking about (even if not implementing), so if you leave they may claim that work was done on this project on their time, and you're in violation of their agreement, and they have ownership of some of your work. The question posed could be phrased as 'i have this great idea for a product, how do I get out of having to give my employer any money for it'.
At least in academia most places let you separate your work on the side. If you want to use your work on the side as part of your research work well that's where you get into your situation.
I wouldn't trust that to be the case everywhere - my recollection is of research grants / studentships coming with "everything you do while you get this grant belongs to...". Plus you had to co-operate in patenting it if they wanted and sign over the patents. etc.
That was a lot of years ago though - maybe it's all more enlightened, less money focused and less bureaucratic in academia these days...
For professors, post-docs, and most assistant positions, the standard university contract in the US tends to say that you own the copyright of everything you do and the university owns the patents. This is likely not the case if you're working as an in-house programmer or copywriter or other similar positions, but for academics, they usually own their own copyright.
I'm in canada, and different universities have different rules, some of which even apply to undergraduates. My guess is that harvard doesn't own a large chunk of facebook just because it was developed in their dorm, but YMMV.
I wasn't trying to do an exhaustive breakdown of IP rights in academia. That would be well outside my very narrow experience of universities in ontario (canada) and east of ontario, and I believe at some places you can negotiate this as part of your contract. The only time I was on a hiring committee no one asked, and I was student rep anyway, so if they did it might have been when I wasn't in the room.
Not just profs, etc...
My daughter works in the dining hall at UCSB, and she got a "Patent Amendment" that she had to sign.
You actually run the risk, even asking the question, of implying you have an idea for a product on your current companies time...
This is one of the reasons I don't think corporations should be able to hold copyright or patents. While the company may have helped fund creation of an idea/project, it was a person, or at most a group of people that actually came up with the idea. I do think that the company should be able to stipulate generous licensing terms, or even be exempt from paying royalties (they already pay the inventor a salary after all), but ownership resides in the inventor. This also gives the corporation incentive to treat their employees well, so they will stay and continue to license the ideas to said corp.
Of course the downside is that things can become a bit more complicated when a group of people invent something, but any lawyer worth their salt should be able to figure out a succession plan. In fact that is all the corporate ownership really is, a complicated, one sided succession plan....
So does that mean that I, as an employer, am unable to hire / employ someone to invent a something new for me? If not, how would I do so?
you and at most a few others would have to get together and form a legal entity that could then hold that copywright. We could call it a grouporation or a cooperative relationship or something. You'll probably want to make sure you have someone to manage the inventors and some people to help find other talented inventors so you may want to make a people resources department. You'll need to take in some money to get everything started and you'll want some people that can manage it for you so you'll want to hire some money counting people. You'll want to sell your invention so maybe you could have a whole depart^H^H^H^H^Hsection of product price negotiator people. You'll probably want more people to help manage some of these things too. Just as long as it's not a corporation that holds these patents and copywrites.
The thing is, companies really don't own any copyrights or patents, unless some person or group of persons enters into a contract with the company giving them the rights to it. This is usually called an employment contract.
There are three options when approaching this:
1) (re)negotiate the contract,
2) find another employer,
3) go it on your own.
Option 1 is best applied before signing an employment contract. Once employed you have far less negotiating leverage. Also, the mere fact of renegotiation alerts the
You actually run the risk, even asking the question, of implying you have an idea for a product on your current companies time, that you may be thinking about (even if not implementing), so if you leave they may claim that work was done on this project on their time, and you're in violation of their agreement, and they have ownership of some of your work. The question posed could be phrased as 'i have this great idea for a product, how do I get out of having to give my employer any money for it'.
You can get around this by posing the question differently. Simply suggest that you do not have that idea, instead one of your friends does. And your friend has asked if you could help out on the side. You are now doing the prudent thing by asking your employers legal department if they have anything against that.
Downside is of course that your future business model would have to build around an OSS core
Then don't use the GPL for this. There are plenty of free software licenses this could be licensed under that would enable you to sublicense.
For example: You could have them retain copyright, but grant you an irrevokable write to modify, redistribute, sublicense, and produce derivative works.
Or use the BSD license / Academic Software License / Mozilla Public License.
This may or may not help with the current situation, but with regards to choice 2, (especially during the hiring process) mention that you do some community work on the side for non-profits, and that the entities you deal with want to make sure there are no legal issues with anything you contribute to them. Sell it as you helping your church with their web site (even if you don't have a church...), or helping with backend systems for running a homeless shelter, etc. That opens the door to them letting you adjust that part of your contract -- after all, which employer would want to be seen as squashing their employee's ability to do charity work / help the community?
Then, take the contract to your lawyer, tell him what you want to have covered, and he will be able to re-word that section of the contract as an amendment for you to have your employer sign. This may work better at hire time than once you've been at a place for a while though. But worth a try.
In my admittedly limited experience, the subterfuge you recommend is not necessary. Just be honest about the situation. If your side projects are in an area that overlaps with your employer's business, then they have a legitimate right to refuse. If there's no overlap, then there's no legitimate reason for them to not make an accommodation.
I had a side business doing software for material handling. When a prospective employer showed me their IP/non-compete agreement we had a discussion about the situation. They had the lawyers modify the agreement to accommodate what I was doing. The result was we both understood each other's position and knew ahead of time exactly where the lines were drawn. In the end it turned out there was some conceptual overlap between the two endeavors, but this turned out to be to my employer's benefit as things I'd learned in my side business were directly applicable to my primary job. There was no conflict with customers because we were addressing completely different industries.
Dishonesty is not a good foundation for any kind of new relationship, but especially not for one with an employer.
If your side projects are in an area that overlaps with your employer's business, then they have a legitimate right to refuse.
You bring up a very valid point. On first impression, overly restrictive intellectual property smacks of intellectual slavery, but then there's always the risk of an employer's ideas, know-how and internal processes being used against them by ambitious yet unimaginative and unscrupulous employees.
It's a classic scenario, isn't it? The manager of a X business quits and opens a copycat store, sometimes even right across the street, and a working relationship has turned into a rivalry, with the new business having privileged information about how his former employer does what he/she does.
Then, the new business could sell tacos, sandwiches, salads, pitas, gyros, ANYTHING, but inevitably it's also gotta be burgers, right? WHY does it have to be the exact same fucking thing?
True story: An office/school supply store was doing pretty good business, until some misguided imbecile tried to duplicate lightning in a bottle and opened another supply store next door. Now there's two businesses sharing the same number of customers in the same block, both struggling to make ends meet now, a toil and chore just to stay afloat.
Another one: For ages, there were no Spanish cuisine restaurants in my town. One finally opens up, and it's a resounding success. Within a year, there were five Spanish restaurants. Within another year, all had closed down, not enough customers to go around. Meanwhile, during all that time, no Thai or Vietnamese, no Peruvian or Brazilian, no Greek or Turkish, not even a place to get a decent baked potato with toppings. BRILLIANT!!!
Before I got my first pure IT job (back in 1984) I was developing sw for my father-in-law's company, I mentioned this during the interview and got an exception clause that would allow me to keep on supporting that software.
I have since then had a number of offers of new jobs/gone to multiple interviews: I have always mentioned the situation with my father-in-law and it has never been a problem.
At the same time (1982-1984) I had also developed some terminal emulation/file transfer software which was moderate
Simply put, they're hiring you for your mind
No, my employer is hiring me to do work. If they can't tell me ahead of time what work they want done, they have no claim on it.
and if you've got a great idea, like it or not you'll be thinking about it during work hours.
I think about a lot of things during work hours. As long as I'm not wasting work time just thinking about stuff, they have no reason to complain and no right to dictate what I can or can't think about.
no, your employer is paying you to work for them. You are their bitch, you should know this as you agreed to it when you signed the contract that exchanged your time for their money. If you had any sense you'd have read it and had the bit that says "all work done during this employment" changed to "all work done during contracted hours" (or similar)
If you don't like it, you have 2 choices: ask them to alter the contract terms (as both parties signed) or cancel the contract (by quitting).
You can try to avoid
no, he is not not their bitch. he is their employee. there is supposed to be a difference, though in today's world things like individual liberty and life balance are dying out in favor of unhealthy social dynamics. I think the bigger point is that employers should not have the right to expect or have such control.. it blurs the line between employee and slave. agreeing to stuff in a contract under duress (which this is since the choice is work or don't eat) is morally questionable at least, and probably against the law.
no, your employer is paying you to work for them. You are their bitch, you should know this as you agreed to it when you signed the contract that exchanged your time for their money. If you had any sense you'd have read it and had the bit that says "all work done during this employment" changed to "all work done during contracted hours" (or similar)
In most cases people are hired to perform specific tasks. They are not expected to perform tasks far outside the bounds of those things. If you're hired to be
What other industries have stipulations like this. If I'm a home modeller and I remodel my own house can my employer claim that my house is now theirs?
1) If it's a marketable idea, one that could make bucketloads of money, the employer is going to pursue it.
They may not. (IE, I think your third point is a lot more common than the 1st.) I had a friend who kept trying to get his project made and kept getting shutting down. So he left, and now he on the cusp of making boatloads of money. Companies are risk adverse, and of great ideas are pooh poohed until you're the one that proves that it's commercially viable.
I'd always recommend what I do, at least within
The policy is illegal, the same as so many of those non-competes that they copy off the web "because everyone uses them, so they must be enforceable". If you're off the clock, you're off the clock.
And before all the ID-10-Ts start whinging about "non-exempt" - forget it - there is NOTHING an ermployer can do except fire you, and they only time they'll do that is if your idea is really really good and they're trying to get you to fork it over, in which case, aren't you in the drivers seat at that point?
And before all the ID-10-Ts start whinging about "non-exempt" - forget it - there is NOTHING an ermployer can do except fire you,
And sue you and get injunctions to prevent you making money from it. So now you're out of work, paying lawyer fees burning through the nest egg you were supposed to start a business with.
They cannot claim your off-the-clock work, since you were neither hired to do it, nor paid to do it.
They will find some bullshit way to say your work is tainted by some IP you've used or seen at your job, and you will be forced to defend against that. The cost of proving that you work is clean and only using general methods and skills is enough that even if you win, you lose.
The obvious is of course to get a new job.
That doesn't always work anyway. Depending on how your IP agreement is crafted, some employers try to lay claim to anything you do up to two years in the future.
The obvious solution is not to sign a restrictive IP agreement in the first place, or negotiate language changes up front that make it clear what you develop on your own time is your property. I did that, more than once, and turned down jobs when they wouldn't budge.
There is quite a bit of variation to be found in the practices of companies with regard to this issue.
A good write up is found here: http://www.ieeeusa.org/members/IPandtheengineer.pdf [ieeeusa.org]
The article suggest there are two or three broad models of what is acceptable practice in this ares.
The Massachusetts Model is so called because it is prevalent in the northeastern United States. It was developed toward the end of the industrial revolution as a response to shop rights. Agreements written on this model tend to imply that the intellectual life of the employee is company property.
Never backed by law, this model is the most restrictive,
The cycle of innovation and renewal is fundamental to a healthy market economy. To foster this cycle, individuals require the same protections for non-work-related intellectual property that employers enjoy for work-related creations. In 1977, Minnesota formalized this concept with a law limiting the enforceable terms of pre-invention assignment agreements. The Minnesota Model adopts the philosophy that while the employer should enjoy protection, it should not come at the expense of today's employee to become tomorrow's new employer.
In California there are similar laws to the Minnesota system:
The State of California followed in 1980, by implementing protection for its famous entrepreneurial culture. As of this writing Utah, Washington, North Carolina, Kansas, Delaware, and Illinois have also promoted new business formation by means of
similar laws
The text of the California law is on the web here [ca.gov]. Washington state Here. [wa.gov]
Appendix B of the above linked article has a summary of legislation in various states and list of states where such agreements are already limited by state law.
That's fine to keep your IP... but it's very hard to keep your job if they no longer want you employed. If you like to be able to do it on the side, hitting them over the head with the law might not be the best approach.
Next time, modify the agreement before you sign it.
May be fine if you have lots of experience and they have specifically saught you out...
For the rest of the world, people are usually just happy to have snagged a job.. the last thing they are gonna do is start making waves before they even get their first pay cheque. Most "negotiations" regarding this kind of boilerplate "everyone signs it" agreement is along the lines of "your employment is conditional on your signing this, if you'd prefer not to, be sure to turn in your card on the way out!"
I used to think that as well. Until I came to be in the position to make demands and say "well, too bad" when they didn't want to meet them. As it turned out, if your demands are reasonable, you're probably going to get most of them approved.
No contract is ever boilerplate. Sure, they have a template. Usually you will find very few people with the contract as originally proposed.
That having said, being freelancer I can appreciate the IP issues. So what I normally do is tell people in advance which projects I'm working on, and are mine. Just titles and a very short summary. Never had a problem with that.
I can also appreciate an employer not liking his workers to moonlight. It always spills over into your normal day job, even if it is just lack of sleep because you were so stoked from your new idea that you couldn't sleep. It always affects them. An open discussion about this, showing you understand those issues and how you will make sure they are mitigated, will usually go down well. Not always though - understand how your boss operates before doing anything.
Wow, you lack a spine don't you?
"your employment is conditional on your signing this, if you'd prefer not to, be sure to turn in your card on the way out!"
And then they either spend another $10k+ looking for another potential employee or hire someone they deemed inferior to you. Finding qualified workers is generally a pain in the ass across the board in IT. So the company is on the hook as much as you are at that point.
Nice try, but it would be an invalid contract because there was no "meeting of the minds" to assent to the new contract. Of course if the terms were unfavorable, you might not be interested in a valid contract, and just wanted to shut HR up... which is fine, but it's not an enforceable contract.
Next time don't even sign it.
The last W2 job I ever worked tried to force something like this on me as well. My response was a lengthy legal agreement in which it spelled out all IP that I currently owned, was involved in creating, limited the scope of the IP they wanted to control to their specific business domains, etc.
They never signed mine, and I never signed theirs. Received a couple of threats from HR, stood my ground, and it just quietly went away. Worked at that company for 3 more years without the signed contract.
"Pray I do not modify it again."
I tried this move at one employer with a very vague and all-encompassing non-compete/IP contract, and while I did keep the job and didn't have the sign, the manager I was working with became extremely irate and basically left the table while we were working out which clauses of the contract I was at odds with. That particular firm was quite small and probably didn't relish the cost of recruiting and hiring a replacement, but at a larger firm where I was one of many new hires I don't doubt I would have been
each time I tried, they immediately find a reason to say they don't want you anymore. they will pluck another servant from the tree-of-humans.
you have no bargaining power. NONE. you sign or you walk.
if you think otherwise, you are dreaming.
I hate this!! but I've found that this is reality in today's world
Yes - explain why you don't like this, and what you intend to do in your spare time that you wish to retain ownership of.
These clauses usually come from a desire that employees don't misappropriate company IP and use it to write something competing. Or for a competitor (where the 'who owns what' question becomes murkier).
Any reasonable employer will write you an exclusion, but likely with a no-compete clause, which is fair enough.
IANAL, but I write the above as an employer, running a tech team of 21.
Time to talk to an attorney to see what is legal in your state.
often times the 'restrictions' you are required to sign aren't actually legal and are designed just to scare you, but unless they are challenged they stick.
If you find out its OK, with a company like that breathing down my neck id still document everything i do off hours so i can clearly show it was done on my time, with my materials if it ever came to that point. " Code section created x-date/time" "Receipts of hardware and software", etc.
After the contract has been signed.
So basically they have you by the short and curlies. But if you do try to hide stuff and manage to make it big time - hope that you make enough to hire a decent lawyer who will tie your current employer in knots. I hear that East Texas can be friendly for that sort of litigation.
OTOH you can always delve into IP that while legal, would be the sort of thing that your current employer would find repulsive. What was that link again? 1 girl, 2 D sized cups???
But one final comment. You say that "I am very happy with my current job", but given that you are trying to circumvent your employment contract I'd argue that you are not happy with your current job.
But one final comment. You say that "I am very happy with my current job", but given that you are trying to circumvent your employment contract I'd argue that you are not happy with your current job.
It's not possible to have one gripe with your current job while still enjoying it?
It's not possible to have one gripe with your current job while still enjoying it?
To say "I like my job, but there is this major part of it I want to change" is self deluding. Once you get past that then you can see what is really important to you.
You should have negotiated this before you started employment.
Once, when I objected to terms that would have granted the company ownership over everything I did outside of work, they just swapped out that page with another one they had ready. The different terms were there and ready, but just not the default. They were perfectly happy to give me the rights to my own projects, as long as I was willing to ask for them.
It does suck when you didn't pay attention to what you signed, and are stuck in a bad situation, and it can be hard to fix these things after the fact.
Your best option would probably to look for another job, and pay attention to what they are asking you to sign.
Hopefully you don't have any long term non-competes, or other clauses.
Can that be a legal requirement?
If I do something legal in my own time on my own equipment in my own home with my own ideas, it has nothing to do with my employer. Surely that cannot stand up in court?
But I do not have your constitution to 'protect' me.
Seek a new job. Otherwise, if your invention or code makes any money, expect to be sued.
The first step should be to talk to them about it and see if they will revise it for you. I work for a company that took a boilerplate IP Policy and wanted to roll it out (like I'm sure many companies do). When they did this, I talked to them and asked them to change it because the way it was written, they basically controlled anything I did. I cited the fact that they could use it for anything from claiming rights to a novel I would write, to any invention I came up with, to even using it to force me to take down a personal website I designed for myself. They obviously replied with "but we wouldn't do that" so I asked them to change it since they had no plans to ever do any of that. I rewrote the agreement to include anything worked on during company time or anything directly related to company work, and they had no issues with that. If you are happy with your employer, and have a good relationship with them, going tot hem should be your first step. If they are reasonable (which is a big if depending on the company and area of business) they hopefully won't have any issue changing it.
As someone who has been in that situation: go talk to your employer. Some will allow you to modify your employment contract to cover the umbrella case of IP outside of work hours. Some will officially sign over rights to you on a particular side project you're working on. Some simply can't do either, as they have iron-clad contracts with other people who require that clause for rights clarity purposes. Some will offer to partner with you on the project, or otherwise compensate you for the idea but have
And if you're not in one of the states that explicitly grants exemptions, don't just go ahead expecting that you'll win the legal battle.
Good advice. I would suggest the outcome will depend on if the outside project is related in any way to the job you do. If it can be argued that your knowledge required to complete the project was acquired as a result of your employment or a result of training your received at work then things may not be resolved in your favour.
When the company has a blanket policy that takes the employee's inventions, it can come to bite them in the ass.
When I was illegally fired by Microsystems, Inc. ("MSI") they took possession of work I did on my own time using my own tools. However, on the workers comp. claim their denial was based on the claim the tendinitis was caused in part by my work at home. Either MSI fraudulently denied the workers comp. claim, or committed fraud by asserting and taking possession of the work I did on my own time.
By having a blanket policy of owning everything you do, the employer could be on the hook for everything you do.
Go on..
What happened afterwards? Did you get MSI to accept its fault?
The workers comp insurance company settled. Then MSI paid a rule 68 judgment of $125k + interest, which was for a lawsuit stemming from their illegal firing, violation of the Mass. version of the ADA, the FMLA, and retailiation.
This kind of work condition is absolutely unacceptable.
If you don't actually own the rights to what you are writing, please don't contaminate open source projects by including code owned by your employer.
Cleaning up a contaminated code base is a big pain. Please make sure you own the code, or have the rights to release it before setting it free.
If you're in California, call me.
Renegotiate contract, talk to your company about your plans, quit... don't try to cheat your way around a contract you knowingly signed.
I've been open about my private programming endevors with each employer I worked for, before I signed the contracts, and none have ever been a problem. They usually require you to sign a paper which states you can't use company-specific knowledge/IP/etc (which I find understandable), but otherwise I've never been limited to what I can do in my own spare time. Most employers
It'll depend in part on how willing your employer is to negotiate those terms, and in part on what the law in your state is. For instance in California you have California Labor Code sections 2870-2872 [ca.gov] governing IP agreements. That law trumps anything in the agreement. Since I live and work in CA, I make it a point to mark up any IP agreements with a note about those sections before signing it. You'll want to check the law in your state, depending on what it says you may have more leverage with your employe
Just strike out those bits before you sign it - chances are they don't actualy care enough about them to argue.
Of course since you already have, either find out it is overridden by some applicable law or bad luck.
Don't try and "trick" your way around - while chances are they won't care at all if you happen to luck into the next angy birds/minecraft/facebook/google you can bet those tricks won't hold up when the lawyers come.
I am very happy with my current job, but there have always been a few ideas for things I've wanted to develop on the side. Ideally I'd keep my day job
Stop right there and put a period at the end. That's the opening of the letter you send to HR.
The next part is, "But I'll quit if I have to."
Then stop and consider real hard whether this is actually true before you sign your name to it.
Then the ball's in their court. You'll either get canned in short order, or they'll sit down with you and negotiate a contract where you belong to them during business hours but you own your own soul afterward. Which result you get depends on what kind of company it is... Some really do think that owning your whole life like property is the proper order of the world and be offended at your sheer audacity of thinking otherwise. Perhaps if they're paying really well that will be worth it, but if that was the case, you wouldn't be here now, would you?
I personally suggest you reneg even if you live in a state where such IP agreements are invalid. They can still sue you for the rights to your New Big Thing, and you will not have the time or money to fight it even if you'd theoretically win in the end. Get it in clear writing that you own your own time.
what happens to open source work? under laws like this I don't thing some places can say you did work on X open source projects and now we own the rights to the full IP of the project.
Don't quit your job
Do start the hunt for a new job. Investigate the laws of various states you would be willing to move to, to see what kind of negotiating power you might have with potential employers in those states. Only after you have acquired a new job should you resign from your old job.
Whether to tell them this is the reason, or not, is up to you. They MAY want to counter offer. If they do, suggest to them that in addition to matching
IMHO, of course. There are NDAs and Proprietary Technology agreements that any company can require for specific projects or capabilities. It should end there. The thought that a corporation can own your thoughts, no matter how derivative, is just sad. Then again, so is the currrent state of copyright law. Not much way around IP (and copyright) law without a massive multi-target Pelican Brief operation
You're incorrect.
These agreements are enforceable. There are limits, and things well beyond the work you do for the company may very well be excluded from the agreement, but how often is that the case?
If you are a programmer, and work for a company as a programmer, and create a work on your own that involves programming, then it is related to the work you do for the company.
Beware the advice you receive on Slashdot about this.
If you think there is a chance you can make money off of a potential side project, protect yourself and your partners by hiring a tech startup lawyer.
Otherwise you may be paying a lot more in legal fees down the road.
And I am a lawyer, and this is an area in which I practice.
I agree with you. That said, one thing that ought to be noted is that everyone is assuming this guy signed a contract; it doesn't say that in the summary. It just says:
my employer has an IP policy that states that anything I do while under their employ is theirs, even when I'm off the clock.
Stating that something is their policy doesn't necessarily make it so. They can't unilaterally impose something like that, although if you are working on a competing product in your spare time they wouldn't have to. You'd be in the soup in any case.
If it's something really unrelated to work and it's non-commercial, I'd say the best bet is to
I always stroked out those "all your code are belong to us" clauses and signed beside the cross-out before handing over employment contracts. When the person doing the hiring would question it, I'd explain that I had MSS Code Factory under development, show them the project, and make it clear that they did NOT own something I'd worked on since the late '80s to early '90s.
I never had a single employer complain about me doing that.
That is what I did I took my pen and drew a line through that clause noting that I did not agree with it and initialed the spot. Then signed the contract.
I never signed an employment contract that I did not modify.
Sorry to hear that, but when your job starts controlling what you do with your spare time, its no longer a good fit.
So the market is good, I had 3 calls on Friday alone, so its time to start looking and find something that's a good fit.
And remember, during the interview process, you already have a job and you're also interviewing them.
You have two choices:
1. Talk to your employer and try to get an exemption written into your contract. If choice 1 fails, then you are left with:
2. Quit.
Always leave room to add an explanation if it doesn't work out.


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Get a head start on the day's football talk with "NFL AM" at 6 a.m. ET on NFL Network. Today, Randy Moss checks in to discuss the offseason and whether a possible reunion with the San Francisco 49ers is in the works.
Here's what else is on tap for Thursday:
» News surfaced Wednesday that Niners receiver Michael Crabtree tore his Achilles tendon in organized team activities on Tuesday and has undergone surgery. Coach Jim Harbaugh downplayed the implications of the injury on the 2013 season, but our Adam Schein weighs in today.
» Sam Bradford is the latest QB to appear on Gregg Rosenthal's list of the Top 10 quarterbacks 25 or under. Hear from the Rams' signal-caller himself, and get a wrap-up of all Thursday's NFL news, on "NFL Total Access" at 7 p.m. ET on NFL Network.
» The Dave Dameshek Football Program gets a visit from Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew.
» Who will be the top player of 2013? Ten more players on our Top 100 list will be revealed at 8 p.m. ET on NFL Network. Ronde Barber and Antrell Rolle will share their take on our selections after the show.
» The QB competition in Florham Park got off to a rough start, with Mark Sanchez throwing three interecptions in the Jets' practices. Coach Rex Ryan called the performance a "disappointment," and NFL.com's Kimberly Jones says Sanchez is well on his way to losing the starting job.
» NFL Evolution has the recap of former Dallas Cowboys safety Roy Williams discussing the tornado in Oklahoma and his role in USA Football's Heads-Up Football program.
» Elliot Harrison's series on the top 20 games of 2012 continues with No. 7.
» The hour is getting late for the few NFL free agents still left on the market. Check out all the latest comings and goings with NFL.com's Free-Agent Tracker.
» Happy birthday to New York Jets running back Mike Goodson, who turns 26 on Thursday.
Want to get NFL.com's top 10 headlines sent to your inbox daily? Click here for details.


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Davidson County will soon begin paying civil court filing fees it had traditionally not paid in the past.
Davidson County will soon begin paying civil court filing fees it had traditionally not paid in the past."
A state memo emailed to clerks of superior court earlier this year said while state laws exempt counties from advancing filing fees, they still have to pay them at some point.
Davidson County often files complaints, actions and motions with the courts, most routinely through its operation of the Child Support Enforcement Program.
"Pursuant to G.S. 7A-317, counties are not required to advance costs in child support cases, so you may permit the agency to submit payment for all of its child support filings monthly or at some other agreed upon interval, but payment must be submitted," according to the memo from Jo B. McCants, associate counsel with the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts.
It costs $150 to file a complaint and any subsequent pleadings at the Davidson County Clerk of Superior Courts office.
Assistant County Attorney Mike Newby said the county will begin paying a monthly bill for its filings at the end of the fiscal year.
Davidson County currently accrues anywhere from about $5,000 to $7,000 in court costs and fees per month, according to projections obtained from the clerk of court's office.
Early drafts of proposed state legislation could have launched those costs even higher.
Senate Bill 385 and House Bill 343 would strike language in the existing law that exempts county government agencies from advancing filing costs associated with civil matters. Among other things, the legislation would force the counties to pay $20 motion fees, which have never been required of county governments.
As the county's department of social services continues to see an influx in child support cases, those motion costs could easily add up, said Newby.
"I've got child support court (on Wednesday), and I'll have about 300 cases on," Newby said. "Every one of them is based on a motion to show cause. That's one week, and I usually have two weeks in a month."
Davidson County commissioners were scheduled to formally oppose the state legislation during their regular meeting on Tuesday. However, the item was pulled from the agenda after being informed the N.C. Association of County Commissioners was making headway in changing some of the language.
"They are modifying it to be advantageous for us," Newby told commissioners. "We would be trying to defeat our legislation if we were to go through with (the resolution)."
Nash Dunn can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 227, or at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Marie Jocelyn Theodat
Marie Jocelyn Theodat, 60, of Port Charlotte, Fla., passed away Thursday, Sept. 26, 2013, at Lakeland Regional Medical Center.
She was born and raised in Port Au Prince, Haiti.
After becoming a registered nurse, Marie relocated to the United States, living in Miami, Fla., for a short time. While in the U.S., she was able to reunite with her childhood sweetheart, Frantz, and the couple moved to Brooklyn, N.Y. Shortly after, they were married and had two children, Clifford and Valerie Theodat. In 1988, after spending some time in New York, the family decided to move to Port Charlotte, where they enjoyed their life together.
Marie dedicated 25 years of her life as a caregiver; she was also a devoted mother and wife. She will be deeply missed by all who knew her.
Marie is survived by her husband of 29 years, Frantz Theodat; son, Clifford Theodat of Port Charlotte; daughter, Valerie Theodat of Port Charlotte; and grandchild, J.C., and a second to be expected.
Visitation will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013, at Charlotte Memorial Funeral Home and Cemetery, 9400 Indian Springs Cemetery Road, Punta Gorda, Fla. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 11, 2013, at Murdock Baptist Church, 18375 Cochran Blvd., Port Charlotte, Fla. Entombment will follow at the Tranquility Hall Mausoleum at Charlotte Memorial Funeral Home and Cemetery.
All memorial contributions will be donated to charities that are focused on the education of healthy eating and lifestyles, in honor of Marie J. Theodat.


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I'm embedding this because I can't embed the diavlog that I did last week with Gottlieb herself. "Marry Him" is the book I was talking about back here, where I responded strongly to someone who said that books based on Atlantic magazine articles aren't worth much more than the original article. (Here's the original "Marry Him!" article.) And I said:
I just paid $25+ for a 300+-page book that was an expansion of an article from The Atlantic. I did that for a Bloggingheads diavlog, and — you'll see when it's up — the author scolded me for skimming. Did that open the door for me to scold her for padding? Readers and writers — we all have our tactics and must guard our own interests. You pad. I skim. Or I take a look in the bookstore and put that thing right back on the pile. Unless I'm scheduled for a diavlog. In which case, I tough it out. Up to a point. Then I just scream. On my blog.But you won't see when it's up, because it will never be up, because Gottlieb's side of the diavlog disappeared somehow. Technical difficulties, I'm told. All that work of skimming 300 pages and talking for 47 minutes.
The book is written in a breezy, chatty style, but I couldn't get a conversation rolling at all. When I asked questions based on what was in the book, she mostly said read the book, it's in the book, etc. etc. I was trying to get past the actual contents of the book and to understand her motivation for writing it. Did she really want to get married? Would she really settle for Mr. Good Enough? If so, why wasn't she married yet? Was she really giving women good advice?
Gottlieb relied heavily on social science surveys about how married people are happier, but married people are the people who got married. You can't say, then: The people who aren't married would be happier if they got married too. They are the people who couldn't find what they felt they wanted or couldn't find real love in their own hearts or inspire it in others or had a greater skepticism about the value of relationships or who put a lot of stock in personal freedom or any number of other things. It was irrational to extrapolate that marriage would make them happy too. Even assuming those surveys about who's happy are sound (or even say married women are happier than single women).
ADDED: Look, some NYT reporter spent an evening with Lori Gottlieb and got just about nothing interesting out of her. Here, you can see me in real time, trying to get Lori Gottlieb to talk about something less trivial than how tall or short people are. This is late in the conversation, and I am struggling to remain decently gracious:
AND: Let me give you 2 more of my clips. In this one, I'm trying to get at Gottlieb's complaint about feminism (and getting nowhere):
In this clip, I invite Gottlieb to talk about divorce.
Could you tell what the other end of the conversation was like? At first, Gottlieb didn't understand what I was saying. She thought I said that she'd already written something called "Divorce Him." (I wonder if "good listener" is one of the factors we should toss out in our search for Mr. Good Enough.) When she got my question, which was whether she would also advise married women to divorce men who had stopped being good enough, she was clear that the answer was yes. She said "You're not dead" very sarcastically. The idea that marriage is a permanent commitment seemed not to be ping-ponging around anywhere in her head. You stay with that man to the extent that he serves your interests.


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See the original story from KOIN here.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) - Katie Bartholomew recently moved to Portland. She graduated in June and had about a month off. "Then I ended up getting a job up here in Portland, so I made the move [from Eugene]," she said.
She's not alone.
Portland State University's Population Research Center estimates the population of Oregon increased by more than 35,000 people in the past year -- about the number of people who live in Oregon City.
The main reason people move to Oregon is food, outdoor activities and affordable housing -- and the majority of the new Oregonians are coming from Washington and California.
And many of those people are moving to Multnomah and Washington counties.
"Most of the population growth in Oregon is concentrated up and down the I-5 corridor," said Risa Proehl of the PSU population center. "Those annual growth rates were higher and population growth increased because of net migration not because of natural increase."
Since the 1970s, the growth rate in Oregon every 10 years adds about 400,000 people. With an unemployment rate of 7.7% -- the lowest in five years -- more people are now coming to Oregon for work.
Couple that with tourism marketing and the number is bound to go up.
"We know that at least a few of those 8.1 million people who have visited Portland live here now," said Marcus Hibdon with Travel Portland.
Newlyweds Taylor and Case Mundy are visiting Portland from Houston. "We eventually both want to move to the Northwest so we have a few days in Portland and a few days in Seattle to get a feel for what city we like," she said.
If trends continue, the population of Oregon will reach 4 million in the next two years.


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Fat pockets sx
hi every one; joining the forum to connect with other car audio fanatic's & fabricators alike. if anyone is ever down to discuss audio, im always willing to listen and help out others, from car audio to pro audio, im not new to car audio but open to new ideas and inventions, anything custom gets me motivated in my builds. im an all hands down person, do all my own work, but pay close attention when learning. not a noob at fabricating i still have all my fingers as proof, and fully functional on the turntables, yes im also a club dj in cali. hope to meet cool people in the process here.


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Kristopher T
Question: Certifed VS general techs on 2004 mercury grand marquis
Ive had a 2004 mercury grand marquis for about a month. Had low milage for the years and nice interior, so I thought good buy for a knockaround car to rely on a few years. I called a dealership with mercury certified techs about getting some things checked out and its $90 an item and i wondered for these items is a certified tech really needed or will any "decent" shop be ok? If there's nothing major wrong and she's good for another +100k miles I plan to dress her up with custom paint interior wheels/rims sound etc.
+ cruise control doesn't work
+ 1 window motor out 1 really slow
+ knock in the motor at low speeds* no timing belts in these so maybe the convertor?
Any intelligent comments appreciated. Thanks
Car Brakes: How Do You Know When to Change Them?
By Zach Bowman For those who suffer a daily commute through heavy traffic, your vehicle's braking system can bring thousands of pounds of metal, plastic and empty Starbucks cups to a stop hundreds of times before you get to work. It goes without saying that these pieces wear out, but they do so slowly, meaning you may not notice they need attention until ...


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- ATP Tour
Nadal keeping expectations down ahead of return
Rafael Nadal will be focusing on fitness, not form, when he makes his return to competitive action following seven months on the sidelines.
Nadal is due to return to the ATP Tour at the start of February, after missing over half a year due to damage to his left knee.
The Spaniard has not played in a professional event since losing to Lukas Rosol in the second round of Wimbledon last year - while ill-timed illness prevented him from making his comeback ahead of the year's first grand slam, the Australian Open.
Nadal is now intending to return with three clay court tournaments in South America - the Vina del Mar in Chile on February 4, followed by the Brazil Open a week later and the Mexico Open at the end of the month.
The 26-year-old believes getting through all three tournaments without a flare-up of his knee problems will give him a solid foundation for the rest of 2013.
"Well I am going to play (after) a long time in a tennis tournament, professional tennis tournament, after seven months," Nadal told reporters on Wednesday. "The motivation, the illusion is big, so very happy to be back in the competition but just you know, with patience to know how the knee will answer after a long time without that top level.
"I will need a few weeks to see how the things improve, but the most important thing for me is if I can support the pain of the knee. If I can play these three tournaments in a row then I think it will work very well for me because I will have three important weeks to prepare for the rest of the season."
Nadal has historically dominated clay court tournaments, but insists he is not necessarily expecting to be victorious at any of his three comeback events - despite also making a switch to a new racket.
He said: "I know the first three weeks are going to be very difficult, in terms of results, but I am going to try everything.
"I will need a few weeks to see how things improve."


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Big plans for Georgia students' first racially integrated prom
(CNN) — As Quanesha Wallace remembers, it was around this time last year when the idea first came up at Wilcox County High School. It was nothing big, just chatter about prom, school, what comes next, what they'd change.
If things were different, someone said, we'd all go to the same prom.
For as long as anyone could remember, students in their South Georgia community went to separate proms, and homecoming dances, too. White students from Wilcox County attend one. Black students, another. They're private, invitation-only events organized by parents and students, not the school district. Schools have long been desegregated, but in Wilcox County, the dances never changed.
The friends all agreed they'd go to an integrated prom, Quanesha said, and when they asked, others said, "Yeah, I'd go, too."
"We are all friends," Quanesha's friend, Stephanie Sinnot, told CNN affiliate WGXA-TV in Macon, Georgia. "That's just kind of not right that we can't go to prom together."
So now it's April, and prom is coming up, and these black and white friends, longtime pals who go to classes together and play sports together and hang out together, are going to prom together, too. For the first, the students are organizing an integrated dance, one that welcomes any of Wilcox County High's 400 students.
"This is going to be the biggest prom ever to come through Wilcox County," said Quanesha, one of the event's organizers.
The theme will be "Masquerade Ball in Paris." There will be an Eiffel Tower and Mardi Gras-style masks, dancing, flowers, catered food and a clubhouse in nearby Cordele. They're expecting gowns, ties, manicures, up-dos, sparkle. Quanesha has a date, although she hasn't decided on a dress.
"If you want to get fancy, get fancy," Quanesha said. "If you don't, that's fine."
Attendees will vote on a king and queen but also cutest couple, best smile, best dressed. They'll do a recognition ceremony for a classmate who died. They'll start a new prom tradition: a unity toast.
By Thursday afternoon, about 50 tickets had sold for the integrated prom. They're aiming for 100. They're not sure they'll make it.
Not everybody is excited about the idea. Posters for the integrated prom were torn off the walls of the high school. Students who usually plan dances didn't get involved with this one. Nothing was different about this year's homecoming dances. Quanesha, the queen, is black. The king, white. She thought she might get an invite to the other prom, but they went to separate dances, and appear in separate yearbook photos, she said.
In a statement posted on the school district's website Thursday, Wilcox County Superintendent Steve Smith stressed the segregated proms aren't organized by the school.
When students approached him about hosting an integrated prom, Smith wrote, he and the county's board of education "not only applauded their idea, but we also passed a resolution advocating that all activities involving our students be inclusive and nondiscriminatory.
"I fully support these ladies, and I consider it an embarrassment to our schools and community that these events have portrayed us as bigoted in any way."
The statement was no longer on the schools' website Thursday night, but a new statement posted by Friday morning said the high school's principal "will place the 2014 Prom on its agenda for its next meeting."
Smith did not return CNN's phone calls or e-mails.
Wilcox County is not the only place with a racially segregated prom, nor is it the only one that's attracted widespread attention in recent years. In the 2009 documentary "Prom Night in Mississippi," director Paul Saltzman followed the preparations for the first integrated prom in Charleston, Mississippi. Actor Morgan Freeman, a native of the area, offered in 1997 to cover the cost if the school board would hold an integrated prom, but the offer wasn't accepted till 2008.
Students and parents say it's hard to spark conversation that breaks what's now seen as tradition.
"I've lived here all my life. Nobody pushed the issue. This year, these children — we didn't have any idea it was going to go as it did," Quanesha's mother, Linda Wallace, said Thursday. "Before we knew it, it was like a wildfire."
Indeed, Wilcox County's integrated prom has gotten a lot of attention this week. Schools in the county of about 9,000 residents are on spring break, but while classes were out, the prom story appeared on the local news, and the story spread. They'd been raising money for the prom all year, and some donations helped, but they've picked up a lot in the last few days. The prom's Facebook page drew thousands of fans since it was set up Wednesday.
Most of the comments are positive. "Your efforts will open the eyes of many. I applaud your courage and hopefulness. Continue your fight for change this year and every year, not just in your school but throughout your community. It just takes one person to change the world," one person wrote.
"You are civil rights leaders of 2013!" another wrote. "I am so encouraged by what you are doing. I believe that your generation has the power to make things better. Keep going and never give up."
Still, Quanesha is a little nervous about returning to school Monday. A lot of parents and students support them, she said, but she knows some don't. Why else, after all these years, were they still holding dances that segregated white and black students?
"I'm all about sticking together, reasoning with each other," Quanesha said. "We have very strong-minded students at Wilcox County. I hope they're there to back each other up."
The friends and organizers are trying to enjoy it. Soon, most of them will be graduating. Quanesha plans to go to college to study psychology. She said she's not going too far from home for now. She wants to make sure the prom keeps going, and she can come back to help encourage the underclassmen who will have to take it on next.
"I don't want to just leave them hanging. I know we're going to leave them a little money," Quanesha said.
"New tradition. Leave them a little something so it won't be so hard for them like it was hard for us."


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2013 Baseball
Bluffton takes series from Rose-Hulman
Bluffton earns first-ever series victory over Rose-Hulman
March 30, 2013
By: Kyle Stover, sports information assistant
BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University baseball team split a conference doubleheader with Rose-Hulman on Saturday, falling in the opener 9-4 but rebounding for a 6-3 win in game two. The series victory over the Engineers marked the first time in school history that a Bluffton baseball team has accomplished the feat.
Game one starting pitcher Ben Roeschley (Graymont, Ill./Flanagan) got off to a bit of a rough start, allowing two runs in the top of the first inning. He settled in quite well after that though, keeping the Fightin' Engineers off the scoreboard in the next four frames while Bluffton tied it up. Roeschley (2-2) ran into more trouble in the sixth inning, allowing two more runs that would end up giving him the loss for the game. He finished with 5.1 innings pitched, allowed seven hits and four earned runs and struck out one.
Sophomore Brad Schlabach (Fredericksburg/Hiland) closed out the game for the Beavers, pitching the final 1.1 innings. He completely shut down Rose-Hulman to finish the game, allowing no hits and striking out three with a deadly curveball that fell off the table.
After falling behind 2-0 in the first, Bluffton responded with a score of its own. That run came courtesy of a based loaded hit by pitch for Jake Townley (Mansfield/Madison). The scoring came to an abrupt end for the Beavers in the inning as the next batter lined into a double play.
The Beavers rallied to tie the game at two with an RBI single by Miles Richardson (Granville/Newark Catholic) in the bottom of the fourth, but Rose-Hulman responded with two in the sixth and five in the eighth for a 9-2 lead.
A leadoff walk for Mike Castro (Reynoldsburg) and a one-out single for Kyle Niermann (Napoleon) in the eighth put runners on first and second for Richardson, who knocked a single, scoring Castro on a fielding error by the Engineer center fielder. Tim Webb (Delaware/Worthington Christian) followed with an RBI single, scoring Niermann, but it would be too little, too late, as Bluffton dropped the lidlifter by a 9-4 count.
Game two was a different story for the Beavers, as they never trailed in the contest. It all started with the starting pitcher for the second game, Todd Stover (Tipp City/Tippecanoe), who turned in another strong performance on the mound. He kept Rose-Hulman off the board in the first four innings, allowing Bluffton to build a lead. In the innings where the Engineers were able to get runners on base, Stover minimized the damage, allowing just two runs during his time on the hill. Stover (0-1) did not get the decision in the win, but still tossed 6.1 superb innings, scattering six hits and two earned runs while striking out three.
Richardson (2-0), who started the game in center field for the Beavers, came on in relief and picked up the win. Despite struggling with control at times and walking five batters, he was still able to keep Rose-Hulman at bay during his time on the mound. Richardson allowed one run on three hits in 2.2 innings pitched and he worked out of trouble by fanning five batters.
The game stayed scoreless until the bottom of the third when Bluffton struck first. The lone run in the inning for the Beavers came courtesy of an RBI single by Greg Franks (Smithville).
Bluffton added another run in the bottom of the fourth, making the score 2-0. Jeff Roth (Bellevue) laced an RBI single to score T.J. Devore (Grove City) for the second run of the game.
Rose-Hulman battled back to tie the game at two in the top of the seventh, but Bluffton answered quickly, and in a big way. The inning opened with a double for Roth and he moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Doug Paullin (Jeromesville/Hillsdale). Niermann then came through with a double to left center, scoring Roth. Richardson's single advanced Niermann to third, setting up Bluffton for what would be the turning point in the game. Franks fouled off five straight pitches before crushing a three-run homer over the left field fence, pushing the Bluffton lead to four (6-2), one that they would not let go of for the remainder of the game.
Franks led the way for the Beaver offense, collecting six hits in the doubleheader, including his three-run blast to left field which clinched the victory for Bluffton. Niermann had five hits on the day and Richardson finished with three.
With the series win for Bluffton, the Beavers improved to 11-7 on the year with a 3-3 mark in the Heartland Conference. Rose-Hulman moved to 6-11 overall and 3-2 in the HCAC. After taking Sunday off for Easter, Bluffton is back in action on Monday, April 1, when the Beavers take on Oberlin College in a non-conference doubleheader at home. Game one of the twinbill is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. in Bluffton.


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MIAMI (AP) – Tim Duncan was delivering a vintage performance, and the San Antonio Spurs were streaking to the franchise's fifth championship.
Then the 37-year-old forward ran out of gas, and the Spurs collapsed down the stretch like they so rarely have before.
Duncan had 30 points and 14 rebounds in the first three quarters, but was scoreless and grabbed just three boards in the fourth quarter and overtime of San Antonio's 103-100 overtime loss to the Miami Heat in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday night.
The Spurs led by 10 points at the start of the fourth quarter and by five with 28 seconds to play. But Duncan missed all five of his shots in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Game 7 is on Thursday night in Miami.


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Reviewed By Edward R (HOPATCONG, NJ) Reviewed for a 2013 Nissan Xterra —1/16/2014 1:18 PM
Not bad, keeps back seat clean from unwanted stains, such as juice, potato chip grease and other things kids eat! Looks nice! The install was easy, but I wish it fit more snug around the edges! Overall I would definitely recommend it, if you're looking for long time protection!


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Portions of the following information are based on facts provided by the arrested individuals. Those individuals have been booked with, not convicted of, the offenses shown. All accused should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Portions of the following information are based on facts provided by the arrested individuals. Those individuals have been booked with, not convicted of, the offenses shown. All accused should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Sept. 25, 2012
Terrebonne Sheriff's Office
Eugene Harold Billiot, 53, homeless, criminal trespass.
Jason Joseph Olivier, 30, 505 Saturn Road, Morgan City, aggravated burglary, failure to appear.
Darren Oneal Ruffin, 17, 146 Stovall St., Houma, failure to appear.
Antonio Rodriguez, 30, 1406 Acadian Drive, Houma, holding for other agency.
Mona Sharana Pitre, 34, 608 Garnet St., Houma, two counts battery on school teacher, disturbing the peace by offensive language, interfering with education facility, resisting arrest by violence.
Dibiasi Jovan Austin, 34, 46 Killarney Loop, Houma, failure to appear.
Rene Holmes, 29, 387 East 23rd St., Larose, failure to appear.
Branden Paul Ledet, 31, 201 Ziegler Ave., Houma, failure to appear.
Justin Lee Butler, 23, no street address listed, Ball, holding for other agency.
Michael Jan Gonos, 54, 205 Cortez Ave., Houma, domestic abuse battery, simple battery.
Louisiana State Police
Elton Louis Washington, 54, 244 Shady Oak Court, Houma, failure to appear, contempt of court.
Mark Crochet, 48, 809 Palm St., Houma, possession of pornography with a juvenile.
District and City Courts
The individuals whose names follow were incarcerated on the order of a court or processed following a judicial determination.
Quanist Sneeze, 28, 3462 Grand Caillou Road, Houma, parole violation.
Thibodaux Police Department
Lucius Thomas, 60, 147 Al's Trailer Park Lot 50, Gray, possession of drug paraphernalia, expired motor vehicle inspection, stop signs and yield signs, turning movements and required signals. Brent Meads, 22, 1134 St. Louis St., Thibodaux, 3 counts contempt.
Brittany Riney, 20, 1506 Eagle Dr., Thibodaux, contempt.
Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office
Nathan Dumas, 35, 19484 Fig St., Vacherie, simple battery.
Ryan Gauthier, 22, 133 Murphy Ln., Des Allemands, contempt.
Brodie Matherne, 20, 100 Glenn St., Bourg, contempt.
John Youmans, 48, 209 Gouaux Ave., Houma, 2 counts contempt.
No arresting agency listed.
Brody Steven Albert, 30, 5467 West Park Ave., No. 252, Houma, holding for other agency.


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We are very excited that Beakley Takes a Trip is now available for both the Nook as a Nook Kids app and also for the Kindle and Kindle apps as an ebook.
This is a great story to download and share with your child before or during a trip on a plane, train, car, or boat. Beakley is scared to travel and he overcomes his fears of traveling and goes on an adventure on all sorts of vehicles.


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Community organizers in San Diego are hosting an event on Tuesday they hope will galvanize African-American efforts to tackle HIV/AIDS locally and nationally.
"I Am My Brother's/Sister's Keeper: Fight HIV/AIDS" will be held at 6 p.m. in the Tubman-Chavez Multicultural Center in Lincoln Park; the event includes a panel discussion and free HIV testing, entertainment, and refreshments. It is being held on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day as a way to build the response to disproportionately high rates of the disease among African Americans.
Terry Cunningham, chief of San Diego County's HIV, STD and Hepatitis Branch of Public Health Services, said progress on the issue is ongoing: "We've gone a long way from people not wanting to talk about AIDS to having very frank discussions. I'm hoping that's made a difference."
The nonprofit Faith-Based Working Group of San Diego, organizer of Tuesday's event, hosts awareness-raising forums year-round, said representative Kimberly Moore, who also is outreach coordinator at a nonprofit that supports women and families affected by HIV/AIDS, Christie's Place.
Moore said the panelists represent a cross-section of the black community. "We wanted individuals who can give us insights into what we need to do or what's working in getting the word out," she noted. "A lot of us have taken to social media and marketing that targets the African-American community."
For more information on the event, telephone Moore at 619-729-2066.


text:
The Ranking
|Overall Rank: n/a
iOS (iPhone/iPad) Rank: n/a
2012 Games Rank: n/a
2012 iOS (iPhone/iPad) Rank: n/a
Score based on 2 reviews
**IMPORTANT** Not supported on iPad 1st Gen!Only for iPad 2nd Generation and above.New Update Features:- FREE MODE: Candy Mode added (ultra hard, ultra sweet)- 13 New Environments- New animations (blowing up Robits never felt better)-----------------------------------------Inspired by the challenge and intensity of classic arcade shooters, Robotanika is a turret shooter in which YOU are the turret. With a seemingly endless army of rampaging Robits out to overrun your world, it will take precision timing, accuracy and the mastery of five powerful weapons just to survive. But the battle ahead won't be easy; the stakes, intensity and enemy numbers escalate quickly, and don't let up until you're dead. If you've got an itchy trigger finger and a taste for tactical action then Sharpen your Skills, Find your Flow, and prepare to send those Robits back to the scrap heap!Key Features: - 100 challenging waves of explosive action - 18 vicious Robit units, each with unique and complex AI-driven behaviors - Extensive upgrade options and multiple paths to mastery based on player style - Visually innovative world that evolves over the course of the game- Dynamic soundtrack that shifts with the flow of battle
Release Date: December 17, 2012
Latest Reviews
|3 out of 5
|Slide To Play
|2 out of 4


text:
The betting application will be made available on Samsung's internet enabled TVs, smartphones, tablets, Blu-ray players, home theatre systems and other consumer products. It allows viewers of broadcasted sports events to place bets via their TV remote control or other compatible device.
The deal follows the signing of a similar agreement in January of this year between Two Way TV and LG Electronics Australia.
The company currently has agreements in place to develop TV betting with two of the leading betting operators in Australia, Betfair and Sportingbet.


text:
Hi All,
We have a situation where we get a Pop up containing two buttons "Close" and "Yes". Both the buttons are used to close the Pop up with some functionality.
We previously used "top.window.close" to close the window. But in Safari Mac combination, the Pop Up closes automatically after it opens. We later tried "self.close" also to solve the problem. But the problem persist. We have used window.showModalDialog() to open the Pop up.
Does anyone have any idea on how to resolve this tricky problem in safari Mac combo? Thanks in advance.


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The State Attorney's Office has cleared Fort Myers Police officers in the fatal shooting of Starling Javier in September 2011.The SAO wrote that Officers Erin Campbell and Christopher Scavo were justified in the use of deadly force against an armed suspect who fired upon them first.On September 29, 2011, Fort Myers Police responded to the Westwood Apartments on Metro Parkway for reports of shots fired.The person who called in the shooting, witness Ryan Nash, told police he saw a man get shot in the parking lot of the complex.
Nash told police the gunman got into a blue Lincoln Navigator and left the apartment complex.Police officers located the Navigator and attempted to conduct a traffic stop, but the driver, later identified as Starling Javier, would not stop. Police pursued the vehicle.At Canal Street and Broadway, Starling's vehicle struck a marked Fort Myers Police patrol car. Starling's vehicle also hit a minivan at Canal Street and Central Avenue. That's when he got out of his Navigator and officers ran after him.Starling then allegedly fired shots at police and they returned fire.The chase ended at Royal Palm and Linhart inside a fenced area of the Sunrise Towers apartment complex, where the suspect was shot. Starling later died at Lee Memorial Hospital.Most of the report confirms the details released the day of the shooting. The investigation revealed Javier fired two shots and the officers fired eight shots. Four shots struck Starling.The report details two different witnesses who were interviewed during the investigation.The first, Sherita Jackson, told a local news station that she saw a police officer stand over Starling and shoot him in the back. She later revised her statement and said Starling was on his back and the officer shot him in the stomach.The officer she described matched the description of Scavo, but the ballistic evidence does not support her statement.Officer Campbell's bullet was the only one that entered Starling's chest area. In addition, there was no evidence of gunshot residue on Starling's clothing that would support the allegation of a gun shot at close range.Jackson provided the name of someone she said had the same vantage point, but he testified he was in his home at the time of the shooting.The State Attorney's Office concluded, "While I am concerned with this allegation, standing alone it is insufficient to overcome the totality of the other evidence, including the statements of the witnesses at the scene and the officers involved."The other witness whose statements were addressed in the report was a confidential informant.The confidential informant allegedly said that Starling had said if he was arrested he would be deported, so he said police would either have to kill him or he was going to kill the police. He said he would not be taken into custody.The State Attorney's Office said attempts to verify these statements with the witness were unsuccessful and the information given by the informant cannot be used for the review.The SAO stated because the informant's testimony was not verified, " the investigation must be viewed as incomplete."The review was then limited to whether or not there was probable cause that the officers committed a criminal act in using deadly force against Starling.The report concluded the officers' use of deadly force was justified.
3719 Central AvenueFort Myers, FL 33901Main Phone: (239) 939-2020Newsroom Phone: (239) 939-6223


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Note to everyone who is now considering Matt Moore a legitimate competitor for the Dolphins starting quarterback job:
Stop it. Just stop.
At least for now.
Dolphins coach Tony Sparano addressed the possibility today when he said he wouldn't say there is a quarterback battle right now because while Chad Henne had some issues during Friday's preseason game at Atlanta and Moore brought the team back from a deficit to help Miami win, 28-23, much has to happen for this to become a legitimate competition.
"I mean I wouldn't say there is a battle right at this second," Sparano said. "To me it takes more than a few outings, couple practices any of those things. But I mean I thought Matt did some good things. I mean, on the surface it's going to look like Matt did way more good things than Chad maybe, I guess to your eye but there was enough things in there to Matt's 36 plays I believe it was that needed to be corrected as well. He did some good things, that's the Matt I know. Matt can move the football team pretty well. He's got a little bit of savvy to him and he can move the team, step up in the pocket and make those kind of throws. He did a nice job last night."
In other words, Henne has to seriously struggle while Moore has to seriously play sharp the final three preseason games for the coach to consider this an issue.
And so that is not where we are right now. Remember, we're talking about snapshots in time here. Today, this is not an issue. Much stuff has to change for it to become an issue.
Henne can close the door on the issue by simply playing consistently well the next two games.
But as I wrote in my column for today's newspaper, Henne was both good and bad versus the Falcons. And consistently inconsistent is not unusual for Miami's quarterback. He finished 4 of 8 for 77 yards with one TD and two interceptions. Playing against both Atlanta's starters and second-team players, Henne posted a 83.9 rating.
Moore, playing strictly against backups and guys that will not be employed by the Falcons in a month, completed 11 of 18 passes for 123 yards, with two TDs and one interception.
That's a good but not perfect outing. It's an outing that suggests Moore is locking in on Miami's backup QB job. It is not a performance that says, 'I'm better than the starter."
At least not right now.


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Known for their cosmopolitan vibe in the laid-back setting of Colorado's Rocky Mountains, the towns of Aspen and Snowmass Village have long been synonymous with blending the best of both worlds.
Because of this, it is also easy to stretch your dollar and find plenty of fun, engaging and enriching things to do on a budget. Here are a handful of ideas to help you plan your winter vacation for less. Continue reading


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"They tried to steal our filing cabinet of birth certificates!"
He now needs your help moving the town's valuables out of the country, and would be willing to offer you 10% of the value as long as you deposit a cashier's check and make a western union transfer. God bless you.
Wrong side of the continent...
What? Did you think the US was the only thing in the universe with two coasts?
Wrong side of the continent...
What? Did you think the US was the only thing in the universe with two coasts?
Yeah, but Africa is so small. Only 6 letters. Also Africa is about the size of Greenland, as irrefutably proven by this map [mapsofworld.com]. And Greenland has only about 50k [wikipedia.org] people. That's how small Africa is, and so stuff like "which coast" is rather irrelevant.
I would think there are more cell phones than toilets every country. Cell phones are generally a 1:1 thing and toilets a 1:Many.
Not really. Most households in the developed world, will have two or more toilets nowadays, but there's also toilets in workplaces, and public toilets.
Yes, but never more toilets than people, and not usually in the lower-class either.
It's easy to imagine 4-6 people with a single toilet at home, yet most of them having cell-phones.
In many poorer places, the elderly live with their children, so no extra toilet there.
Also, the Guardian article makes clear something that was not clear from your previous post: that this is not - at least on the face of it - just a conspiracy by western cellphone makers to stop Africans from getting cheap cellphones: "Under European law, equipment which is still functioning
"Well, prosecutions and seizures are a good thing if the people really were cut-rate recyclers using damaging, illegal reclamation processes, unapproved dumps, and/or child labor. This is an actual, documented problem.'
Yes. IF. Here is a slashdot article http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/02/12/1431208/its-not-all-waste-the-complicated-life-of-surplus-electronics-in-africa [slashdot.org] showing the actual documentation of the actual trade in Africa during the time the African in the Guardian article was accused o
used cell phones were imported and hacked/jailbroken
If they're mostly imported from Europe, they shouldn't need to jailbreak them - especially non-smartphones, which seems to be the bulk of devices in Africa.
Locked phones do exist here. Especially dumbphones.
I'm just waiting for someone to post a picture of a portaloo built from broken mobile phones
used cell phones were imported and hacked/jailbroken, which created enough subscribers for private sector companies to erect the towers
Doesn't seem to make sense, why would someone import and hack a cellphone into a country with no towers? There is no reason to spend time and resources doing this, if the phones won't work. A few individuals may have done this for their own purposes, but you would never have enough people carrying around useless cellphones, that a company would then say, "hey, let's build a tower/network"
N.B. As I was actually living in an African country when cellphones were introduced, I happen to know that it was private
Oh please, people, these "burglars" are clearly "White Hat" and were simply penetration testing. Is it their fault the homestead was so easy to break into? The owner should be grateful and offer these Security Researchers a job watching their house.
Local residents, who subscribe to his tweets through a free text messaging service, jumped into action. They surrounded the house, sending the thugs fleeing into the night.
Yeah, whenever I've tried spending any time following someone on Twitter - I usually end up fleeing into the night as well.
You can only take so much rambling about being unable to pop a pimple or photos of what they've eaten...
Then find someone else to follow.
Still, it seems most of the tech heads are moving to G+...
I'm guessing the chase scene looked like the New York City Marathon!
...text messages are a major form of communication in the nation."
After vacationing in South Africa two years ago I'd claim that mobile phones aren't just a major form of communication in Kenya, but in all of sub-Saharan Africa.
Rent a car, give them your mobile number; when you return it in you'll get a text confirming that they got it. Even if you handed the keys to someone in person and got a receipt, you'll still get a text. When you check out of your hotel you get a text. Etc., etc.
Pretty much anything you do, if you gave them your mobile number, you'll get a text of some kind. And South Africa is unquestionably pretty advanced compared to much of the rest of Africa.
... but it might get you killed [in-other-news.com] in others.
Yes but if these thieves had a rifle it would of been a dead neighborhood watch.
Why do you think the locals don't have rifles? This photo [wikipedia.org] is from Kenya...
I've lived in Kenyan. What this story leaves out that is when the community catches someone burgling a house they very often end up beating/hacking to death with a shovel the thief. I can assure you this did not end well for the thief.
In a state with inadequate law enforcement, this is kind of inevitable... Turning them over to the authorities would probably just mean a bribe and a quick release with hardly a slap on the wrist. I assume that this would be the state in rural Kenya.
Forgive me if I don't have too much sympathy, though. I'm sure that's part of the understood cost of doing (nocturnal) business in that place...
"With text messaging, literacy is promoted."
"Conversion, fastidious Goddess, loves blood better than brick, and feasts most subtly on the human will." -- Virginia Woolf, "Mrs. Dalloway"