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Children, driver injured in crash
Two children were injured in a single-vehicle wreck in Sherrills Ford on Tuesday afternoon, including one who was airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center with serious injuries.
N.C. Highway Patrol troopers on the scene said an adult driver was traveling on N.C. 150 East when his pickup truck careened through an intersection near the N.C. 16 bypass and traveled up a steep hill.
The truck came to rest on top of a hill adjacent to the new N.C. 16 bypass interchange in Sherrills Ford.
The adult and two children, whose names were not available Tuesday night, were transported to the hospital. One child was airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte with serious injuries, officers said.


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AFL-CIO Convention 2017
UNION MEMBERS AND OUR ALLIES came to this convention amid a rising tide of energy and growing demand for real answers to the serious challenges working people face. The crisis before us is significant, but we identified opportunities to rewrite the economic rules, form and build unions and make our voices heard.
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subset: commoncrawl


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About UC Davis School of Medicine
A national reputation for life-changing biomedical discoveries, a passion for clinical care, and a commitment to engaging people from underserved communities are the hallmarks of a UC Davis School of Medicine education.
Our students are leaders who appreciate rigorous academic training balanced with hands-on experience, and have a strong desire to serve. Our faculty specialize in translational research covering a wide range of areas and are engaged in innovative, interdisciplinary collaborations, both within the UC Davis community and with other highly regarded institutions.
In 2015, U.S. News & World Report ranks UC Davis School of Medicine among the top 20 schools for primary care training and the top 50 schools for research. The school is affiliated with UC Davis Medical Center, one of the nation's best teaching hospitals.
Since its founding in 1966, UC Davis School of Medicine continues to have a major impact in Northern California and around the world through education of new physicians, research, patient care and community service.
UC Davis School of Medicine has developed a national reputation for its specialty and primary care programs. The school offers:
- volunteer hands-on clinical experience for students at community clinics;
- curriculum reflective of today's societal issues — doctor-patient communication, ethics, clinical reasoning, end-of-life care, cultural competency, self-knowledge and human side of illness;
- a fully accredited master's degree in public health, as well as a master's in business administration, and a doctoral program for physician-scientists to help meet scientific, social, ethical, political and humanitarian challenges of health care;
- an innovative training program through a Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant to enhance Ph.D. biologists' skills and knowledge in the translation of basic research discoveries into high-impact clinical applications;
- stem cell training to help young physician/scientists become better skilled and knowledgeable in stem cell research and its related ethical, legal and social implications;
- the state's largest program for family nurse practitioners and physician assistants; and
- professional development every year to most of the physicians in the region with more than 300 seminars, workshops, on-site hospital tutorials, distance learning, online classes, special lectures and one-hour weekly and monthly medical grand rounds.


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Upcoming TIDD & PID Board Meetings
Tax Increment Development District (TIDD) & Public Improvement District (PID) Board Meetings
On Thursday, August 1, 2013 the following TIDD & PID Board meetings are being held in the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Government Center, 1 Civic Plaza NW, Council Committee Room, 9th Floor, Room 9081.
10:00 am Trails Public Improvement District Agenda
10:30 am Saltillo Public Improvement District Agenda
11:00 am Mesa del Sol Tax Increment Development Districts 1-5 Agenda
12:00 pm Winrock Tax Increment Development District Agenda
Other Information
All meetings are open to the public. Public comment is not taken at these meetings.
Notice to Persons with Disabilities
If you have a disability and require special assistance to participate in this meeting, please contact the Council Office as soon as possible before the meeting date at 505-768-3100 or by TTY at 1-800-659-8331.


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Crawdads allow nine runs on 14 hits in loss
Greensboro's win over Hickory on the diamond Wednesday was as easy as 1-2-3.
The Grasshoppers (13-13, 53-43) scored one run in the fourth, two in the fifth and three in the sixth on their way to a 9-4 win over the Crawdads (17-9, 57-37).
Hickory first basemen Andrew Clark, the reigning South Atlantic League player of the week, continued his hot hitting, going 3-for-5 in the game to raise his batting average to .307.
Despite retiring the first three Crawdads' batters in the game, Greensboro pitcher Jheyson Manzueta ran into trouble in the second inning. He walked four batters and allowed one hit.
Due to a great defensive double play, though, from Manzueta to catcher Jacob Realmuto to first basemen Mark Canha allowed the Grasshoppers to get two outs.
Manzueta allowed one run i n the inning after walking Jhonny Gomez with the bases loaded. The Crawdads only scored one run in the second inning despite four walks and one hit.
With runners on second and third in the bottom of the third inning, the Crawdads once again stranded runners for the second straight inning. Hickory finished the game 4-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
A leadoff double by Greensboro's Noah Perio allowed the Grasshoppers to get their first hit of the game and get into scoring position. Canha brought Perio home three batters later on a line drive single to right field to tie the game, 1-1.
Hickory shortstop Jurickson Profar broke the tie in the bottom of the fourth inning. A single by Profar with runners on the corners plated Kellin Deglan to give the Crawdads a 2-1 lead.
Catcher Tomas Telis added another run on a ball hit to second basemen Joe Bonadonna that took a weird hop on the turf and flew over his head. That play scored Gomez, increasing the Crawdads' lead to 3-1.
After another RBI-single from Andrew Clark, the Grasshoppers replaced Manzueta on the mound with relief pitcher Kenneth Toves.
Third basemen Ryan Fisher cut into the Crawdads' lead in the top of the fifth inning on a solo home run that towered over the right field wall to make it 4-2. Two batters later, Aaron Dudley doubled to bring in Realmuto from first. The Crawdads led by one run, 4-3.
Greensboro scored in its third consecutive inning in the top of the sixth. The 'Hoppers scored three runs on four hits, including an RBI-double by Realmuto and a RBI-singles by Dudley and James Wooster.
Center fielder Christian Yelich singled with runners on the corners to plate a seventh run for the 'Hoppers in the inning.
Two more runs scored on a bases loaded single by Fisher to make it a 9-4 Greensboro lead.
Crawdads' relievers struggled Wednesday, allowing six runs on eight hits and five walks.
Greensboro's bullpen was the exact opposite, allowing one hit, one walk and striking out four Hickory batters.
After scoring four runs in four innings, the 'Hoppers bullpen allowed no Hickory runs.
Hickory and Greensboro play the second game of a three-game series on Thursday at L.P. Frans. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
Following the completion of that series on Friday, the Crawdads play Delmarva in a four-game series from Saturday to Tuesday before an off day on Wednesday.


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Daytona International Speedway president Joie Chitwood confirmed on Sunday morning that repairs to the racetrack's catchfence have been completed and the Daytona 500 is scheduled to start on time.
Chitwood gave an update on the repair efforts following a horrifying crash that occurred on the frontstretch during the final lap of Saturday's 300-mile Nationwide Series race, injuring at least 28 spectators in the grandstands. Chitwood once again noted that 14 race fans who were injured had to be transported to nearby Halifax Health Medical Center as well as other hospitals in the Daytona Beach area. Fourteen others were treated at the racetrack's infield medical care center for minor injuries.
Chitwood was not able to give medical updates on any of the victims. Two spectators were critically injured and several others were seriously hurt. Most of those treated at area hospitals were released later that night.
"I just want to reiterated how important our fans are to us, and we will continue to keep them in our thoughts and prayers," Chitwood said during a press conference. "We had our guest services team dispatched over to Halifax and other medical institutions last night. We helped all of those who were released from medical care to get reunited with family and friends."
Track personnel completed their work on the fence in the early morning hours. Repairs immediately began after the crash occurred.
"From an operations perspective, we met with NASCAR at 8 a.m. (ET) and reviewed all of the repairs that we made last night," Chitwood said. "We worked late into the evening and are prepared to go racing today. From the fencing that we repaired, we did not put the gate back in. We just have a straight fence there, and that was based on the timing of being ready to run the Daytona 500 today."
The last-lap accident, involving 12 cars, happened when Brad Keselowski hit Regan Smith from behind and spun him into the wall on the tri-oval, which triggered the wreck. Rookie Kyle Larson flipped around and sailed into the catchfence before coming back down on the track. Flying debris from both Larson's car and the fence struck dozens of fans in the grandstands.
The front end of Larson's Chevrolet was ripped apart after it tore a gaping hole in the catchfence. The engine and one of the tires sheared off of his car and lodged in the fencing. Another tire from his vehicle flew over the catchfence, which is 22 feet high, and landed in the upper deck of the grandstands.
"I think for the most part the (Nationwide) car held up and the tethers held up, but we can always learn when a car gets up into the fence," NASCAR senior vice president of racing operations Steve O'Donnell said on Sunday. "That's something we got to take back and analyze everything that we can."
NASCAR has already begun its investigation of the incident. The sanctioning body continues to work on its safety initiatives for both the competitors and the fans in attendance at races.
"We've worked closely together with the racetrack, and we're confident with the repairs that were put in place," O'Donnell said. "It will be an on-going process for us with the racetrack. We've got a (research and development) center in Concord, North Carolina that specializes in looking at things like this. We'll bring in the best and brightest and anything that we can learn will be put in place."
With no immediate threat of rain in the area, the Daytona 500 is scheduled to start shortly after 1 p.m. ET. According to the National Weather Service, there is a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms here during the afternoon.


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All My Children
Thursday, September 15th, 2011
Angie appeals to David, Cara gives David news, Dixie shocks JR, and Scott and Madison reconnect.
At the mansion, Colby shows JR a box of their father's things. He secretly grabs a gun and puts it in his bag. Scott shows up with Adam's new will, which does not include JR. JR accuses Scott of having something to do with his being disinherited. Scott counters he's lost his dad's respect and money all on his own. JR declares no one will take anything from him again. He grabs his bag and leaves. Colby calls Adam and tells him how out of control and angry JR is about the will.
Scott and Madison meet for hot dogs in the park. Madison is sorry his family is falling apart. She is there for him whatever he needs. He tells her it helps a lot. She misses him, but appreciates him taking it slow and giving her space. She suggests they give it another shot, unless he thinks it's too late. He interrupts her with a passionate kiss. Colby finds them and says, "It's about time." She also informs them that her dad's coming home.
Tad panics when he wakes up and Dixie isn't in bed. He finds her downstairs preparing for AJ's visit. She assures him she isn't letting their second chance go. Tad leaves to see Jesse, but not before marveling over how normal it is that he can say, "See you later." AJ comes downstairs looking for a snack, as JR stops by. AJ runs into his father's arms and tells him he missed him. Dixie worries because Marissa isn't there to supervise, but JR appeals to his mother. She gives him a few minutes and leaves the room. JR tells AJ to grab his favorite toy because they're going on an adventure. Dixie returns and AJ tells his grandmother what JR just said. Dixie shoos AJ out of the room, as JR tells his mother he can't let lesbians raise his son. He's taking AJ, comparing it to how she fought for him. Dixie points out it was different. She adds that he can't leave with or without AJ because Babe could be alive.
After Liza tries to console Jesse at Ellie's grave, he meets Tad at ConFusion. Jesse tells him Maya took Lucy and left. Tad urges him not to give up on Angie. Jesse would never give up on her because she's the best part of him.
Randi and Frankie run into Maya and Lucy at Krystal's. After spending some time together, Frankie and Randi leave to pick up Angie. Liza enters and overhears Maya on the phone saying she has to drop her classes because she can't get a job to accommodate school. Liza thinks Angie and Jesse would help her, but she can't ask them for anything more.
Cara and Griffin catch up at the hospital. They differ on their views on David. Cara knows his methods are out of whack, but he's saving lives. She also tells her brother that she thought her cancer returned and David helped her through it. She's fine though, but she is pregnant. He asks if she's going to keep it. She looks stunned and says of course. She's always wanted to be a mother and will not give it up. He holds her hands and says okay. However, he suggests she never tell David. Not ever.
In the interrogation room at the jail, Angie empathizes with David, who she thinks just needs love and to feel connected to someone. That's why he does the things he does. However, he's not the only one who has suffered loss. David is sorry for the loss of her daughter. She says it's been torture, but the only way to deal with pain is to stare it down with the help of people who love him. She urges him not to put up his walls and to let her in. He assumes she just wants to make sure he continues treating her, but she assures him she cares what happens to him. She thinks there's hope for him yet, but David notes he's probably going to prison. She counters that it's never too late and urges him to give Pine Valley the people he's holding back, including himself. Frankie enters to pick up his mother. David asks Angie to visit him in prison. She assures him he hasn't seen the last of her.
Once David is back in his cell, Cara visits. She wanted to say goodbye and to tell him she is pregnant with his baby.
Frankie brings Angie home. He turns on the lights, which Angie tearfully announces she sees.
Tomorrow's Pine Valley spoilers for All My Children:
Zach surprises Kendall.
Brooke returns.
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Original URL: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/07/h3c_compass/
Huawei-3Com taps Expand for WAN software
Converged application-accelerating routers are on the way
Posted in The Channel, 7th March 2007 09:52 GMT
The convergence of WAN optimisation with core routing may be taking a big step forward, with Huawei-3Com (H3C) buying the rights to use acceleration software from Expand Networks in its upcoming Intelligent Management Centre (iMC) integrated router platform.
"We saw a compelling reason to evolve our products into more of a multi-discipline device in order to address the requirements of the market," said Caoxiangying, H3C's CTO. "We evaluated many vendors and Expand Networks' Compass platform offers the most robust solution and is built to handle the many phases of WAN optimisation and application acceleration."
The Compass software includes modules to reduce TCP latency, cut application chattiness, and provide wide area file services (WAFS), among other things, and will be able to accelerate SSL-encrypted apps by the middle of 2007, the company said.
Expand CTO Efi Gatmor said the key to the H3C deal is the way Expand has decoupled Compass, which runs on a Linux base, from its own appliance hardware.
"Because our product is modular, we are in a unique position to run on third-party boxes, such as servers and routers," he said. "We will see a lot of OEM opportunities in 2007 and 2008 in different scenarios, some vertical, such as mobile, airlines, kiosks. If we can, we'll integrate with their code.
"I predict that in 2008/2009, the security companies will participate in WAN optimisation too. One pressure will be the Juniper roadmap and their vision of a god-box for UTM and WAN optimisation."
Gatmor said some of the OEM opportunities could involve Compass on a virtual server - Expand already has it running on VMware as a proof-of-concept. "I see there being three major players by 2009/2010. The first is applications - Microsoft, Oracle and the rest will add some optimisation capabilities to the applications themselves.
"Another is networking - Cisco, Juniper, etc, will integrate it into appliances, but that's only in the network, whereas we can put an appliance in the data centre as well, close to the servers.
"The third part will be managed service providers - they will have to add optimisation capabilities. We want to be part of the network and are also talking to MSPs." ®


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The 350H has over 30 hunt specific waypoints. Use them when scouting before the season begins to mark trail camera locations, water, food sources, game tracks, bedding areas and more.
The eXplorist 350H includes a FREE 1 year subscription to DigitalGlobe™ satellite imagery. Once activated download detailed imagery to your computer and scout potential hunting grounds for glassing locations, tree lines, game funnels and more. Upload this info into the 350H for reference when hunting.
Stay within legal hunting hours by knowing sunrise and sunset times.
Identify moon phases to determine prime hunting days.
Recommended ideal hunt times based on moon and sun positioning's effect on animal activity.
No more typing to note what you are observing on the hunt. Select from over 30 different hunt specific waypoints and easily enter information.
With a preloaded base map, contour elevations, and a subscription to DigitalGlobeTM satellite imagery, the 350H has maps covered.
Preloaded GMU's and WMU's from states and provinces and hunting Border Alerts.
View your tracks and leave digital bread crumbs to quickly make your way back to a campsite, blind or vehicle.
After the hunt use VantagePoint with your 350H to maintain a personal database of your hunting activities from season to season.
Tough enough to take on Alaska and survive
Designed for the Hunter
With Gerber Myth PocketKnife
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A practical guide to vertical search advertising
Vertical search engines, as deemed by e-marketing and search-engine pundits, are the "hottest trend in search."
As VSEs diversify, they become more attractive to users and advertisers alike. Here's how to integrate VSE advertising into your next marketing campaign.
What are VSEs?
Unlike general search engines like Yahoo and Google, which crawl the entire Web for content, VSEs crawl only within specific industries. While general search engines may return the most information, VSEs return the most relevant information.
Plugging "combine" into a general search engine will return information about software, games and merging words together, which is fine, unless you're a farmer searching a $250,000 piece of equipment. VSEs are more likely to know just what users want and point them, ideally, to your company, service or product.
Why advertise with VSEs?
The specificity and industry know-how that characterize VSEs also create a fruitful advertising opportunity. Since VSE users look for precise information or are closer to buying, they're classified as interested consumers. Qualified leads aside, here are a few more benefits of VSE advertising:
■ More leads, less money Finding an ROI in the expensive, time consuming, keyword-heavy world of general search engine marketing is difficult. As marketing moves online, it's easier to get lost. VSEs, however, remain small enough to offer competitive rates while building the vertical industry exposure necessary to attract potential clients.
■ More visibility Some VSEs are designed and run by large conglomerates. By listing with one VSE, advertisers get additional exposure in other online publications. Furthermore, some VSEs will spend money on general search engine keyword campaigns, increasing the likelihood that potential customers using those search engines will find the VSE and your products.
■ More targeted With VSEs, businesses can reach a specific audience that doesn't want to fish for information on general search engines. These audiences have been casting nets too wide for too long. VSEs provide these companies a smaller net and a better knowledge of the waters.


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WASHINGTON >> A bipartisan poll released by the American Gaming Association Monday shows that people favor casino gaming by a 2-1 margin and that many gamblers surveyed are younger homeowners with college degrees.
The come at the same time the AGA is releasing the latest gross gaming revenue numbers in New York, which increased from $1.802 billion in 2012 to $1.926 billion last year. That figure places New York seventh among the 23 states with commercial casinos.
The national telephonesurvey was conducted by Democratic pollster Mark Mellman, CEO of the Mellman Group, and Republican pollster Glen Bolger, founder and partner of Public Opinion Strategies. Key findings include:
· By a 2-1 margin, voters viewed casino gaming favorably;
· More than 70 percent of voters said casinos create jobs;
· Nearly 60 percent of voters believed casinos boost local economies;
· A majority said casinos shouldn't pay more taxes than other businesses.
The poll also took what it called a snapshot of the "typical casino visitor."
The survey found the following:
· Nearly two-in-three casino visitors owned a home;
· Most were ages 21 to 59 —t arget audiences businesses are trying to reach;
· A plurality earned $60,000 to $99,000 per year, and 70 percent of those polled considered themselves to be middle class.
· Nearly half said they holf a bachelor's degree;
· Two-thirds of casino visitors said they attend church; 25 percent called themselves evangelical or born-again Christians.
The executive summary, national survey and the survey methodology are available online at www.gettoknowgaming.org.


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Center for Women and Returning Adults
- Home
- University Archives
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Center for Women and Returning Adults
Categories: Topics
The center began as the Women's Center and was formally opened on November 19, 1986 in room G25 of the Walb Student Union. The purpose of the center was to provide information and assistance to current and prospective students, especially the nontraditional student who was making a re-entry or first time entry to college life. On January 16, 1990 the name was changed to the current one to respond to the needs of both men and women who need a supportive network when returning to the classroom after a hiatus. Linda G. Johnson became the new coordinator of the center at this time. The center published a newsletter, Rapport from to . The center also co-sponsored with Channel 6 a monthly television magazine program known as "Rapport."


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07/02/2013 - Clayton E. Cockrell
Funeral services for Clayton E. Cockrell of Thornton, Colorado, formerly of Chadron, Nebraska will be Tuesday, July 2, 2013 at 10:00 AM at the First Congregational Church in Chadron with Dr. Russ Seger officiating.
Burial will be at Greenwood Cemetery.
Mr. Cockrell passed away on June 23, 2013 in Thornton, Colorado.
Clayton Eugene Cockrell was born in Redfield South Dakota November 12, 1929 of parents Harry Clayton Cockrell and Elsie Bertha (Kissner) Cockrell of Tulare SD.
Clayton married Susie Viola Lowman of Centerville SD Oct 15, 1949.
Clayton and Susie had two sons, Michael born January 12, 1955 and Timothy born
August 22, 1959.
Clayton served in the U.S. Army in Germany during Korean War. He worked for the
CNW Railroad from his late teens (1949) until retirement in 1991. The work took the family to a number of locations in South Dakota and Iowa, settling in Tracy Minnesota until retiring in Chadron, Nebraska.
Clayton enjoyed camping, fishing and taking photos with his treasured Rolliflex camera.
The family went on camping vacations to many National Parks and Monuments, extending his love of travel and the West to his sons.
Clayton and Susie were faithful members of the 1st Congregational Church in Chadron.
Clayton particularly enjoyed annual Fur Trade Days Ice Cream Socials at the church.
He also was an avid supporter of Veteran's groups.
Clayton was preceded in death by wife Susie and his parents.
Immediate Survivors:
Sons of Colorado
Brothers & Sisters: Harriet (Neill) Binger, Hitchcock SD; Norma (Leon) Palmer, Sisseton SD; Meryl (Delores), Chadron NE; Dennis, Belle Fourche SD; Ruby (Gary) Huggett, Webster SD; Harry (Mary Ann), Magna UT; Evelyn Ost, Bassett NE, and numerous nieces and nephews.
The family requests memorials be directed to WWII Honor Flights where veterans visit
Washington DC for day-long tours of WWII, Vietnam, Korean, Lincoln, Air Force, Navy and Women's Memorals and Changing of the Guard at Arlington National Cemetery.
Send memorials to Chadron Community Foundation, Honor Flights, c/o Rob Wahlstrom,
718 E 10th Street, Chadron 69337.
Online condolences can be made at www.chamberlainchapel.com.
Chamberlain Chapel of Chadron is in charge of arrangements.
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Bealls Outlet upgrades interior of South Venice store
Roger Button
By ROGER BUTTON
Contractors have completed a major upgrading of Bealls Outlet at 4321 Tamiami Trail South near the Target store in South Venice. Renovation of the 3,400-square-foot store centered on improving the interior design, making it more appealing to shoppers. New exterior signage and automatic entrance doors have been fitted and internally there is a completely modern queue line, registers, upgraded new counters, cabinets and cart line.
Four isles have replaced the original three. The original drop ceiling and lighting has been replaced with new lighting fixtures, brightening the entire interior of the store; there are new restrooms.


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CRYSTAL LAKE – Middle and high school-aged art students are well underway on one of their biggest artistic endeavors.
Creative Arts Inc. art school in Crystal Lake is in the process of creating a mural depicting the theme "History and creativity keep us all connected" on the south wall of the Dole Mansion, 400 Highland Ave., said Amber Larsen, the school's director.
The 13-by-28-foot mural depicts the history of the Dole Mansion and all aspects of the fine arts the Lakeside Legacy Arts Park supports – "everything that the Lakeside Legacy art center provides for the community," Larsen said.
The Lakeside Legacy Arts Park works closely with groups such as the McHenry County Orchestra and rents spaces for musicians, fashion designers, culinary artists, photographers and other groups within the fine arts. The mural reflects that and includes musical scales, the "Comedy and Tragedy" theatrical masks, an artist painting on a canvas and other imagery of teaching within the arts.
Students painting the mural range in age from 11 to 17. The younger children who have not helped in painting the mural, those who are 4 to 10, will have a chance to leave their handprints so "everybody will have made their mark on the mural," Larsen said.
Makenzi Iddings, 11, of Crystal Lake, said she learned a lot from Larsen and that she took pride in her work on the mural.
"When I paint, my mom says, 'I don't know how you do it, I don't have the patience to do it,'" Iddings said. "I told her I have a passion for it. When I come, I sometimes express myself through painting, but I come to have fun."
The construction of the mural began toward the end of May and is expected to be completed this month.
The dedication ceremony is scheduled for July 20.
Larsen said she was happy with how the children have adapted to working with a new art medium and learning how to draw three-dimensionally.
"I've never painted on a big scale before, and it helped me with perspective," said painter Allison Spillane, 12, of Cary. "I learned how to put more detail in things."
Larsen is excited for the dedication ceremony and to give credit to the kids who put a lot of time into the project.
"They [the kids] feel like they made their mark on history," Larsen said.


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More than 80 locations around New Mexico are participating in the Drug Enforcement Agency's National Take Back Day.
The public is being encouraged on Saturday to drop off expired, unwanted or unused prescription medications so they can be destroyed. The drop-off locations include law enforcement offices.
State police offices from Albuquerque and Santa Fe to Las Cruces, Roswell, Gallup and Farmington are among those participating. Each office will have an officer available to take possession of the unwanted medications.
The DEA says the last five nationwide take-back events have netted more than 2 million pounds of prescription medications.
In New Mexico, officials say keeping prescription drugs out of the wrong hands has become a matter of public safety and health. They say deaths due to prescription drugs now outnumber those caused by illicit drugs.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.


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Pelosi Graduation Address at Mills College Commencement
Oakland — Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivered the keynote commencement address for undergraduate and graduate students at Mills College today in Oakland. Below are the Speaker's remarks as prepared.
"Thank you, Congresswoman Barbara Lee. Barbara Lee is nationally recognized as an outstanding leader, a champion for social justice, and a proud alumna of Mills College. We are so proud that she's the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus – the conscience of the Congress.
"I would also like to thank President [Janet] Holmgren, a transformational leader at Mills for nearly 20 years.
"Thank you: Mills College Board of Trustees, faculty, staff, and friends, and the Oakland community.
"I would like to join you in acknowledging the: parents, spouses, children, and entire families of the graduates today. Your love, hard work, and sacrifice have helped make today possible.
"And to the graduates: congratulations. Today is your day; with this honorary degree, I am proud to join the Mills College Class of 2010.
"I'd like to pay special tribute to one member of our class today: Hazel Soares. As many of you know, Hazel is receiving her undergraduate degree today at the age of 94. As Mills says, 'one destination, many paths.'
"In Hazel's life, there have been 17 Speakers of the House. I was honored to accept your invitation to be your commencement speaker as the first woman Speaker of the House.
"Since becoming the first woman Speaker, I've found that people are fascinated with firsts.
"Mills has a few firsts of its own:
• The first women's college west of the Rockies;
• The first women's college to offer a computer science major;
• The first business school in the West for women;
• The first and the only women's college to ever reverse its decision to become coed!
"Twenty years ago, modern-day suffragettes fought to preserve the all-women's undergraduate experience at Mills. They fought; they won; they made a difference.
"I understand the importance of an all-women's education; I'm a beneficiary of one myself. I'm a proud graduate of Washington, D.C.'s Trinity College: the oldest women's Catholic college in America. And it was the confidence and education that I gained at an all-women's college that helped me go from the kitchen to the Congress.
"I'm often asked by young women about the best path to take – whether to have children early in life, or to focus on career and then family. I've found there is no best path; there is only your path. As Mills says, there are many paths.
"My path to the Speaker's office was not planned. But what prepared me best to be a leader in Congress was raising my five children.
"Though I was active in politics, I never intended to seek public office myself. But in 1987, the opportunity presented itself to run for Congress. While honored with the suggestion, my concern was that my youngest child, Alexandra, was entering her senior year in high school.
"I prayed over my decision and asked my daughter thoughtfully — and with deepest sincerity — what she thought. I told her any decision is fine: I can stay at home with you, or go to Washington a few days a week to serve in Congress.
"My teenage daughter looked back at me and said, 'Mom, get a life.'
"And so I did.
"When I did, I was ready for the opportunity to come to Congress. And when I got there I was ready for the chance to lead.
"People had said to me, 'you are going to love Congress because you love issues.' And indeed, I did. I studied the issues, I mastered the policy. And 14 years later, when I was urged to run for leadership, I was ready.
"When I was elected to leadership, I was invited to the White House for a meeting of congressional leaders. I wasn't apprehensive because I had been to the White House for meetings many times before.
"But when the door closed, I realized that this meeting was unlike any other meeting I had been to; indeed it was unlike any meeting any woman had been to. Certainly, women had been to meetings at the White House as presidential appointees or staff. I was there as an elected leader of the House Democrats.
"President Bush, ever-gracious, welcomed me as a new member of the leadership. As he began to talk about a legislative agenda, I started to feel very squeezed in my chair. It was getting more and more crowded. It was as if every woman who had worked to promote women's opportunity was sitting in that chair with me — Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, Sojourner Truth, and every other pioneer who fought to gain the right to vote and empowerment for women.
"I heard them say, 'At last, we have a seat at the table.' And then they were gone.
"My next thought was, 'We want more.' We want more women and more people of color to have seats at the table of power.
"This March, I was at the White House again – this time, when historic health care reform was signed into law by President Barack Obama.
"As the world watched this moment, so did Trinity College. They were very proud to have two alumnae there with the President that day: the first woman Speaker of the House, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services and former Governor of Kansas, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
"We felt the power of all-women's colleges, of women's rightful seat at the table, and of our ability to make a difference.
"Health care reform is my proudest achievement in Congress. But it would not have been possible without the leadership of President Obama.
"The morning after the bill passed the House, President Obama called me to say he was happier than the day he was elected. "I told him, 'Mr. President, I'm very happy, but not happier than the day you were elected. Because if you hadn't been elected, this day would have never happened.'
"The new health insurance reform law is making a difference in the lives of American families – and in your lives.
"For young people, for the first time in history, you are allowed to stay on your parent's health care plans until you are 26 years old.
"For children, and for all Americans, we ended the days where you can be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition.
"For seniors, we closed the Medicare prescription drug donut hole, and strengthened Medicare for generations to come.
"For all Americans, health insurance reform gives you freedom: to change jobs, open a business, pursue your dreams and be creative and entrepreneurial.
"And no longer is being a woman a pre-existing medical condition!
"The bill also made the largest investment in college aid in our nation's history:
• Lowering the cost of student loans
• Capping student loan payments
• Expanding Pell Grants
• Rewarding those who pursue public service with loan forgiveness
"And that makes a real difference to the American people.
"Being Speaker affords me many opportunities to listen and learn.
"In my travels as Speaker, I have met with presidents, prime ministers, and kings. But what impressed and inspired me the most were my encounters with students.
"The students I meet are weary of war. They want an end to violence – whether in the Middle East, Afghanistan, or the genocide in Darfur. They want to end global warming and preserve the planet – God's beautiful creation. They want jobs, economic opportunity, and broadly-shared prosperity.
"Students understand the need to make a difference in the world. In a time of uncertainty and challenge, you have clear aspirations – for peace and prosperity, at home and around the world. You are ready for change; you are impatient.
"That's what I hear in my travels. That's what I see at Mills: impatience. And that is why I have such faith in the future.
"You go into the world in a time of enormous challenges and consequential choices, which the Greeks summed up in the word: ananke.
"As I have shared with other graduates, in classical Greek, ananke means destiny. It also means scarcity. The Greeks were suggesting that times of scarcity drive us to choose a destiny–and that these are moments when history can be shaped through deliberate choice.
"Throughout our history, America has confronted and surmounted each moment of 'Ananke.' We did so because each generation, at each critical moment, understood the challenge, made a bold choice, and shaped a destiny of its own.
"And now, as you leave this beautiful campus, you have the opportunity to continue to shape your own destiny. You will do so with an exceptional education, with the highest of aspirations, and with the love and support of this community.
"May the garden that your graduating class has planted here be a symbol of the difference you will make in the world.
"Thank you for this honorary degree. I am honored to be a member of the Class of 2010. To my classmates: you have a friend in the Speaker's office.
"God bless you.
"God bless America."


text:
The Senator PHILLIPS household was enumerated in the 1910 census of Murray Co., OK in the 2nd Ward of Sulphur City. Senator PHILLIPS was my paternal great-granduncle, husband of Una Maude LEMASTERS.
Senator was a veterinary surgeon in the 1910 census, aged 26, who had been married for 2 years. He was born in Kansas and both parents were born in Ohio. His wife, Maud, was aged 25, born in Indiana, with her father born in Mississippi and her mother born in Missouri. This is an error, as her father was born in Ohio and her mother was born in New Jersey. Perhaps the census taker was describing the parents of Senator Phillips. However, his mother, Jennie M., was living with them, aged 50 years old, listed as being born in Ohio.
The family's young son, Donald K., aged 1, born in Oklahoma, was also living with them.
Senator Winfield PHILLIPS b. December 22, 1883 Kansas City, KS, d. September 13, 1968 David City, NE, m. December 22, 1907 Jay Co., IN to Una Maude LEMASTERS, daughter of Luman Walker and Mary Keziah (CHEW) LEMASTERS. Maude b. April 26, 1884 Jay Co., IN., d. September 13, 1968 David City, NE.
The children of Senator Winfield and Una Maude (LEMASTERS) PHILLIPS :
i. Donald Keith PHILLIPS m. Nelvia JOHNSON
ii. Mary Louise PHILLIPS m. Lawrence Oscar WILSON


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The colossal collapse of Sears Holdings (NASDAQ:SHLD) this week in the wake of news that Kmart and Sears will be closing more than 100 stores was harmful to a lot of investors' portfolios. SHLD stock gave up more than 25% in one day as a result, pushing down the year-to-date loss to an ugly 55% in 2011.
So, Sears was the worst investment ever this year, right?
Wrong. Investors just had to know how to be on the right side of SHLD shares when the bottom fell out — and how to profit. Consider that as of the first of December, a whopping 40% of the "float" — that is, the amount of Sears Holdings stock that actually is available for trading on the public market — was held by short-side traders. That means more than a few folks made a tidy sum on the big move down Tuesday.
This kind of short-selling can be risky and is not for everyone. Read here for complete details on the ins and outs of these trades. But if you're comfortable with the risk and want to take action, consider these three stocks with massive short interest that could go the way of Sears very soon:
Zagg Inc. (NASDAQ:ZAGG) is an acronym for Zealous About Great Gadgets. This company makes accessories for smartphones, laptops and the like — a seemingly bulletproof business, considering everyone and their brother has one of those little sleeves for their iPhone.
Except there are signs momentum might be waning. Competition is fierce, and expensive charges related to the acquisition of competitor iFrog weighed on earnings this summer, with shares plummeting from $15 to just $7.50 currently.
The current short interest in ZAGG stock is a hefty 45% as of the beginning of December — even more than Sears saw before its crash. Granted, the August volatility had a lot to do with declines. And yes, revenues continue to soar, percentage-wise. The company has gone from $5 million in annual revenue for fiscal 2007 to about $150 million projected for fiscal 2011 — but let's be honest, that kind of mammoth growth simply can't happen again. Not unless Zagg can crank out $4.5 billion in sales by 2015.
Momentum stocks like Green Mountain (NASDAQ:GMCR) show what happens when share prices outpace expectations. The bears are sharpening their claws on Zagg right now.
Barnes & Noble
If you think Sears was the no-brainer short of the century, here's another one — Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS). The company has managed to outlast its defunct rival, Borders, and has projected a return to profitability in a year or so thanks to revenue that actually has risen substantially since 2009 lows. B&N might not be disappearing with these improvements to its business, and a lack of another big bookstore competitor (I'm talking brick-and-mortar, not Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), of course).
But in the short term, short-selling is the order of the day. BKS stock had almost 50% short interest as of Dec. 1.
If you think Sears was a clear loser based on broader business troubles and consumer weakness, Barnes & Noble might be a logical short-side play for you too. Many other investors seem to think so, judging by the short interest.
Sodastream (NASDAQ:SODA) manufactures "home beverage carbonation systems" — in plain English, they allow you to pour a fountain drink without going to a restaurant. It's delicious, cost-effective and fun to use Sodastream gear. But short-side traders are tasting a bubble here. As of Dec. 1, SODA stock was seeing a full 60% of its float held short.
Why? Well, Sodastream has been public for less than a year and remains right at its IPO price around $33 after a run-up to almost $80 in July and a spectacular crash. There isn't a very long history of earnings and revenue, so investors are uncertain of growth. And that old cautionary tale of Green Mountain and its Keurig coffee machines or Crocs (NASDAQ:CROX) footwear crops up — prompting the question of whether SODA is a fad stock that is ready to hit a ceiling.
The bears aren't always right, but the crowd is betting strongly against upside moves in this pick right now.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.


text:
Experts debate whether shouts are Trayvon Martin's
Experts debate whether shouts are Trayvon Martin's
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Audio experts differ on whether screams for help captured on 911 calls are those of defendant George Zimmerman or of shooting victim 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, according to reports released today.
One New Jersey-based audio expert said in a report that the screams came from Martin, while another Florida-based audio expert said the shouts were a mix of Martin and Zimmerman.
Attorneys prosecuting Zimmerman on a charge of second-degree murder hired the audio experts to compare samples of Zimmerman's and Martin's voices with the shouts from the 911 calls phoned in by neighbors of Zimmerman. The residents of the gated community heard the neighborhood watch leader struggling with the South Florida teen during a confrontation last year. Determining whose voice was calling for help could aid a jury in deciding whether Zimmerman's claims of self-defense were justified.
Zimmerman is pleading not guilty and his trial starts next month.
Martin's family claims the voice is that of the South Florida teen, while Zimmerman's father has said in court he believes the cries are from his son.
Zimmerman's defense attorney, Mark O'Mara, has asked a judge to determine whether the audio analysis can be used at trial. O'Mara said in a filing that he was concerned the analysis of the 911 calls would prejudice jurors.
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I would recommend that you use an application layer gateway or an SSL VPN Gateway/reverse proxy rather than placing a server directly on the Internet / passing traffic unchecked through your firewall. The additional layer provided by the gateway will protect the server from direct attack as well as the application from being hacked. Check out: F5 firepass or a product from Whale.
Register Hereor login if you are already a member


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It is hard to focus entirely on a single character in WoW. Unless a person can PvP, raid, or dungeon crawl all the time or has an extremely limited play schedule, most players create an alt or two or 10. Wrath made alts easy -- hit 80, run a few dungeons, full epic gear in a day. Cataclysm may have eased the leveling process, but gearing and rep grinding on a single character is much slower than in Wrath. Also, there are not a lot of successful PUG raids to get an alt into. Most guilds haven't even killed all the content yet in normal, let alone in heroic. So the question remains: How to deal with alts?
I had seven 80s in Wrath, and all of them had at least full 251 gear before Cataclysm launched; heck, I had the ICC drakes on two different characters. Yet in Cataclysm, I find myself leveling them much more slowly and in fact didn't touch any until I had gotten my main through heroics until the point that justice points became useless and I had been exalted with every Cataclysm reputation except my guild. Even then, I concentrated on a single alt primarily hitting 85, then getting some gear.
But I found something interesting: Merely doing cooking and fishing dailies every day in Stormwind, my other alts are gaining experience much faster than I thought they would. I hit 81 on a few alts without ever having left Stormwind, except for the initial trips out to Hyjal and Vashj'ir in order to open the portals. One the other hand, I have a friend who leveled all his toons to 85 before deciding which one he was going to focus on.
So how are you dealing with your alts in Cataclysm? Are you leveling them all or letting some sit? Did you change your main?


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Obama Taps Daniel Baer As Ambassador
President Obama has tapped former deputy assistant secretary of state Daniel Baer to be ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), according to The Washington Post.
Baer also happens to be openly gay, which is notable because The Washington Post is reporting that the President may name as many as five openly gay ambassadors in the coming weeks.
Those expected to be named include, HBO executive James Costos as the ambassador to Spain, former Office of Personnel Management director John Berry as the ambassador to Australia, former Democratic National Committee finance chairman Rufus Gifford as the ambassador to Denmark, and James "Wally" Brewster to another overseas locale.
Baer is only the fourth LGBT person to serve as an ambassador. The OSCE is based in Vienna, Austria.
Image Source


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First Class to Nairobi and 2 tons of carbon credits, please
The London papers are nailing the British diplomat whose job it is to lobby other countries to reduce global warming gases – but whose frequent-flier lifestyle produces a staggering 22.3 tons of carbon pollution a year, 30 times more than the average Brit's. John Ashton has racked up more than 80,000 air miles in 10 months on the job, flying to Washington, Nairobi, Tokyo and beyond "to engage with major developed and developing countries to drive forward the international response to climate change." The government said the trips were necessary and that all emissions were offset "as part of the department's commitment to become carbon neutral."
The jet-set world of the international envoy, tycoon and celebrity has been invaded by an inconvenient truth: Air travel produces vast amounts of global warming gases – up to 5 percent of all CO2, and three times as damaging as ground-level emissions. So what's an eco-conscious member of the Beautiful People to do?
Last month Hollywood not only gave Al Gore an Oscar, but proudly presented the first "carbon-neutral" Academy Awards. Business Week reports that "each performer and presenter received a glass statue representing the elimination of the amount of greenhouse gas associated with a celebrity lifestyle over the course of a year." The Motion Picture Academy purchased the carbon offsets from Terra Pass, a Silicon Valley startup that buys industrial emissions credits and then resells them to offset the greenhouse pollution of traveling (including daily commuting).
Sounds great, but it's checkbook environmentalism, no different than the indulgences popes once sold for permission to commit certain sins. You keep right on emitting the same amount of carbon; you just pay for the "right" to do so. You're a rock star or captain of industry, so you can afford it. But as always, you can't consume your way to sustainability: Business Week found that some Terra Pass credits come from polluting facilities that would have been required by law to clean up anyway. Let's not even mention the whole loathsome idea of emissions credits trading, which creates pollution markets and "rights" to pollute.
Here's a better idea: If you feel guilty about the global warming gases your lifestyle produces, change your lifestyle. Executives and government officials can make better use of video conferencing. Travelers should try to use trains and buses when possible. As for rock stars . . . Is another farewell tour of the Eagles worth all that hot air?


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NEW YORK (AP) - Missy Franklin keeps piling up the awards.
The 18-year-old swimmer won the Sportswoman of the Year award presented Wednesday night by the Women's Sports Foundation.
Franklin won four gold medals and a bronze at the 2012 London Olympics. She won a record six gold medals at the world championships two months ago in Barcelona, Spain.
The freshman at California was nominated along with Serena Williams, figure skater Mao Asada and wheelchair athlete Tatyana McFadden.
Los Angeles Sparks star Candace Parker won the team award. She averaged a WNBA-leading 25.7 points and earned league MVP honors.
The WNBA won the Billie Jean King Contribution Award and Melissa Stockwell earned the Wilma Rudolph Courage Award. Vivian Hao won the Annika Inspiration Award.


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Possible Post Series Video Games in the works for EA?
Aug 21, 2008
There is more online today, regarding the future of the Harry Potter video games, and a possible extension of the games post "Deathly Hallows." In a new interview with Jonathan Bunney, an executive producer with EA, makers of the Harry Potter video games, the future looks bright for future game plans post book seven. Quotage:
'EA hopes to make the Boy Who Lived continue to entertain game fans, even after the two-part "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" has bowed out of theaters. "I think that's a great opportunity," Wiimote-clutching "Harry Potter" executive producer Jonathan Bunney told MTV News last week at an EA summer press event. "Certainly, we've done it with 'Lord of the Rings.' We've extended beyond the movies there. We did it with James Bond for a while. I don't know what we'll do with 'Harry Potter.' It'd be fun to, I think. There's more stories that we can tell." As Bunney points out, this isn't without precedent. "Lord of the Rings" happily carried on in the interactive world past its original trilogy with new stories and interpretations."
Mr. Bunney also said the possibility exists for the company to go back and revisit the first Harry Potter video games, given the advancements in technology since the first in the series were made available. "There's an opportunity to go back to the original movie," he said. "The technology has moved on so much. When we were first making those games, we were making it for PlayStation 1, and now we've got, you know, the Wii. I think there's opportunities to [revisit stories]. "We have to figure out whether anyone wants to buy those or not!" he added with a laugh.
The subject of a possible online game was again addressed, with the producer re-iterating what he stated previously, as the article notes that "Warner Bros. has said they're interested in producing an online "Harry Potter," and so is EA. "We've talked about it a lot," Bunney said. "The reality is that we're focused on the movie games. I think there could be a fun MMO for 'Harry Potter.' "


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Finally a car-analogy that isn't!
please dont do that apple, I really like Tesla. I dont want apple to be able to remote kill my car if i dont accept their EULA
This sort of thing already made its way into the car industry years ago with OnStar; VW just introduced something similar called "Car-Net"; I wouldn't be surprised if Tesla's cars already include something similar, too.
- "Yes honey, I've seen the new 2019 iPad but I think that Microsoft stuff has gotten way better after being acquired by Lenovo, I think I'll buy the Officepad 10 HHHHHHHHHNNGGGGGGGGGGGG!"
I'm still wondering which we're going to see first: a donut with pizza fillings* from Dunkin Donuts or a custard-filled stuffed crust from Pizza Hut.
* a Hot Pocket isn't a donut.
It always seems that when companies start trying to branch out into wildly dissimilar industries, it's a sign of trouble within the organization. Do what you do well, figure out how to do it better if things aren't going how you'd like them. Don't try making sushi if you've always sold donuts.
Google's in a similar boat. Self driving cars, robots, barges in the San Francisco bay...
If Apple bought Tesla, they should just buy a controlling stake to keep Google away from purchasing Tesla, and then let Tesla keep doing it's thing. Make Apple's tremendous software design resources available for Tesla, but don't try and micro manage.
But as I said, everyone is doing the same branching out. I agree it's not a good sign, but at this point, we've run out of innovation steam on mobile and most of PC, so com
Also some companies greatest growth happens when they buy into a dissimilar industry. It is a risk, sometime you win, where your brand name somehow complements the product and sometimes it fails miserably.
Also there are a lot of products owned by other companies that you have no idea who the real company behind it is.
IMO that works well when your strength is in manufacturing products. This is why Lenovo's aquisition of IBM worked. They are a vertically integrated company which can have much lower costs of manufacturing than IBM ever could all they needed was a brand to sell their own products. Apple is the complete opposite of that. For me it seems like utter nonsense to enter a different market like that.
Apple does have have a strong strength in manufacturing.
A lot of their product designs are actually rather hard to manufacture Those curved metal that are near seamless, glass cut to nice curves. To have the product sold at nearly the same cost of its competitor who have products that are much simpler to make (molded plastic). Apple cannot create and sell a product that will take a craftsman days to make they need to be mass produced.
The difference is Apple did that with internal resources and minor acquisitions. Plus the products themselves were not that different from what they were used to building its still consumer electronics. To call a car a consumer electronics product is nonsensical.
Like Google buying Nest.
Well, good news -- the only "not a good sign" you're seeing is from these idiot analysts who, collectively, are wrong about 90% of the time when it comes to Apple. If you care to hear what Apple themselves have to say...
WSJ: Apple has never made a billion-dollar acquisition. Google is snapping up everyone including your old friends at Nest. Does this alter how you think about bigger deals?
Cook: We've looked at big companies. We don't have a predisposition not to buy big companies. The money is also not burning a hole in our pocket where we say let's make a list of 10 and pick the best one. We're not doing that. We have no problem spending ten figures for the right company that's the right and that's in the best interest of Apple in the long-term. None. Zero.
But we're not going to go out and buy something for the purposes of just being big. Something that makes more fantastic products, something that's very strategic -- all these things are of interest and we're always looking regardless of size.
WSJ interview with Tim Cook, 2/14/2014 [wsj.com]
If you've been paying attention to Apple for the last 15 years, you know they aren't usually stupid, panicky, or reactionary. Remember when everyone was saying the *had* to make a netbook? And then they didn't, and then that market segment dissolved? An
Nokia did that just fine (for a pretty while at least). So, branching out doesn't have to spell doom.
the company's deep desire to move away from iPhones and iPads
iPhones and iPads make Apple an obscene amount of money and they are in a controlling position in the market. It should go without saying that they don't have "a deep desire to move away" from them. Add new product categories? Sure. Move away from iPhones and iPads? Nope.
"Apple must increasingly rely on new products to reignite growth beyond the vision" of late founder Steve Jobs, said Bill Kreher, an analyst with Edward Jones Investments in St. Louis. "They need the next big thing."'"
Growth is a bullshit metric. A company with one customer can grow their user base 1000% by getting to ten customers. A company with hundreds of millions of customers can't grow like that. Growth naturally slows as a company gets larger. Only bullshit artists looking to get page views or prop up a stock price blather on about how Apple need the next big thing to continue growing. They don't need to continue growing. They are raking money in faster than just about any other company. Trying to grow at the same rate as they have done in previous years is not only a ludicrously unachievable expectation to place on them, it's probably bad for business if they were stupid enough to try. Apple's core strength has always been a small, focused product family.
Right, what you say is spot on, but unfortunately it doesn't map to the reality of what the stock market deems a "successful" company - one that grows and hence expands it's share price. Too many investors are of the buy low, sell high variety, rather than the dividends variety, so if you don't want to cater to that mindset you should probably just go private else you can only expect to carry on hearing people tell you you're a "failure" because you only pulled in $20bn last quarter instead of $22bn.
Yes it'
iPhones and iPads make Apple an obscene amount of money and they are in a controlling position in the market. It should go without saying that they don't have "a deep desire to move away" from them. Add new product categories? Sure. Move away from iPhones and iPads? Nope.
No, but they realize that while the cash cow is iStuff, it won't be that way forever. Because just a little over 5 years ago, the cash cow was... iPods. Now iPods sell even less than Macs.
Oh yeah, 5 years before THAT, the hot cash cow was
Because just a little over 5 years ago, the cash cow was... iPods. Now iPods sell even less than Macs.
Because everybody who used to buy iPods now buys iPhones instead, which does everything an iPod does and more. They didn't lose sales, they moved their customers over to a more expensive product.
Are you saying that Apple have a product waiting in the wings that's an entire replacement for an iPhone but earns them more money? If not, what's your explanation for the idea that they want to move away f
The 'cash cow' was Steve Jobs.
You look at every single time Apple came back from the dead:
- Turning the business loser Lisa into the succesful Macintosh phenomenon
- Coming back from Next and bringing what would eventually become iOS and the iThingy phenomenon
That was Steve Jobs.
There ain't no bringing him back this time and Apple's never been anything than a flash in the pan that was fueled by Steve Jobs business savvy.
Granted it will take some time but they will fade into the obscurity they were headed tow
Actually they need a new product. Their profits in the mp3 player market have basically evaporated and the smartphone market is getting commoditized as would be expected to happen in any mature market. They may grow for a couple of years more as they finally get contracts with telecoms operators in China and India but then its gonna go down. Especially when the competition can manufacture a superior products that costs less. I expect them to shrink to 10% of the market just like happened to them with PCs. T
Any issues with the car will probably be blamed on the driver. "Your car doesn't accelerate properly because you're holding the steering wheel incorrectly."
changelog for CiOS 3 9/21/16 update:
- iPhone-based ignition system bugfixes - now requires latest iOS build to start
- iTunes integration update - hitting the horn button no longer plays random track from Library
- Emergency braking converted to premium service, requires new EULA agreement
With the passing of Jobs, I'm pretty sure everyone must realize that Apple's relevance is simply fading away. I know this sounds like a troll and perhaps in some ways it is.
Despite the fact that I disliked Jobs and all that, there's no denying he was extremely effective. Despite the fact that I think he help the company from overtaking the business marketplace, he probably did it for extremely good reasons. He probably kept the company from making huge mistakes and from being hugely liable for all sorts o
It seems to me the lightning connector, for all of its mechanical advantages over the 30 pin, also came with a lot of new restrictions and complications, all designed to keep Apple in control.
It seems to me that they're stifling innovative uses via third party accessories which seems to encourage people to find other platforms which could ultimately shrink their user base.
It's just one example, but in a lot of ways I would think they would want to encourage the iPhone/iPad as more general purpose devices wi
I wish I had thought to mention that myself, but my rant was already pretty long.
Yes. Apple loves to restrict and limit. And they don't care what it costs the end user. "No, you cannot replace the battery. If we let you do that, other companies would make compatible batteries and extended life batteries and all that mess. Also, we want to make sure we can find you and your phone. It must be on at all times even if you think it's off."
I'm starting to rethink who the good guys and who the bad guys were
I'm less concerned with stuff like the battery or other kinds of hardware engineering questions.
When it was new, the idea of a non-replaceable battery seemed dumb, but having owned 4 iPhones since and two iPads, it doesn't really seem to matter and frankly it's just as easy/convenient to carry a spare generic USB charging battery as it would be a phone battery if I'm doing the kind of traveling where I will be away from power and worried about depleting my battery. Every other use case seems to be covered
All true. They're going down. When the Lisa was their flagship loser Jobs went psycho and made the macintosh a winner.
They kicked him out and started going downhill. He got what was eventually to become iOS developed at NeXt before bringing it back to an Apple that needed resuscitation once again and the iThingy revolution saved their asses.
Then he decides to get all hippy dippy refusing conventional medicine which most likely would have saved his life and as a result kicked the bucket earlier than was n
Remember when Apple was the company that came out with revolutionary new products and the rest of the industry followed them?
Apparently, now it's Google.
(Oh, and who would trust Steve Jobs' company to make their medical devices? Yes I am speaking both to his general approach to ethics, and the circumstances of his death.)
Remember when Apple was the company that came out with revolutionary new products and the rest of the industry followed them?
Apparently, now it's Google.
(Oh, and who would trust Steve Jobs' company to make their medical devices? Yes I am speaking both to his general approach to ethics, and the circumstances of his death.)
Hmmm... I thought Creative made the first portable MP3 player. And I know that Apple didn't invent the PC.
Remember when Apple was the company that came out with revolutionary new products and the rest of the industry followed them?
Apparently, now it's Google.
(Oh, and who would trust Steve Jobs' company to make their medical devices? Yes I am speaking both to his general approach to ethics, and the circumstances of his death.)
- Not the first smartphone
- Not the first touch phone
- Not the first MP3 player
- Not the first GUI
- Not the first All-In-One
- Not the first platform for media production
- Not the first selling media
Apple's strength was, under Jobs, an impeccable sense of timing to enter the market, and marketing. They were great at making people think they were innovating, and made hundreds of billions doing it. There's nothing wrong with that except that they fundamentally weren't innovating, and they're not so good
Ask yourself this... do you trust Apple with your pace maker? Your cochlear implant?
Would you trust MICROSOFT with your pace maker (holy hellzapoppin' no)
I can just see it... " Your cochlear implant has reached it's maximum amount of words amplified for the day. In order to hear more today, you need to upgrade to MICROSOFT COCHLEAR PROFESSIONAL 8.1" or even worse "Oh shit. I'm sorry, I can't do anything else today. I'm only using PaceMaker XP and if my heart beats more than 86,400 times today, my pace m
Apple Rumored To Be Exploring Medical Devices[, ]Electric Cars To Reignite Growth
The word you're looking for is "and."
"The Apple rumor mill is alive and well."
And, you can stop reading right there. Analysts are idiots, and rumors usually turn out to be wrong.
As for growth... "Last year, we grew (revenue) by $14 billion to $15 billion. Yes, those percentages are smaller compared to a year earlier and two years earlier and so forth. But that doesn't mean that you're not a growth company. We were in hyper-growth, or whatever is above growth. We went from $65 billion to over $100 billion to $150 billion to $170 billion. These are historic, unprecedented numbers. I don't know any companies adding growth at that level. So when you say $14 billion to $15 billion compared to those numbers, it's clearly smaller and a smaller percentage, but, to put it in some context, that's like adding three Fortune 500 companies in a year. [emphasis mine] I think that's hard to say that's not a growth company."
--Tim Cook to the WSJ Feb 7, 2014 [wsj.com]
Let's see them try that in TX and then I will call them and say You can pick the bodys of the next guys who show up.
Apple may do most of the pioneering work. But they'll never stay in those areas.
Quite simply, they don't want the hassle of having to deal with industries.
Deep down, Apple wants (and needs) to be the artsy-fartsy choice for computers and media consumption devices.
They simply don't have the mindset to fix problems for people who don't give a flying fuck about the Apple/Mac "aesthetic", and simply want their business equipment to work without having to dick around with it too much.
They don't want to have to
Space is to place as eternity is to time. -- Joseph Joubert


text:
Wigwam Bay watershed getting $150k makeover
Conservation collaboration
AuGRES TOWNSHIP — Several public and private groups are putting up money to rehabilitate Wigwam Bay to attract waterfowl to the watershed and ensure it continues to assist in cleaning up the Saginaw Bay.
The agencies – Ducks Unlimited (DU), the Michigan Department of Natural Resource (DNR), the Federal Fish and Wildlife Agency, Dow Chemical, Saginaw Bay Watershed Initiative Network and Bay Area Community Fund – put their heads and wallets together, and with partial funding provided by a grant from the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, put up approximately $150,000 to spruce up the area.
"This project is to restore critical waterfowl production and migration habitat at Wigwam Bay," said Ducks Unlimited Public Affairs Coordinator Kristin Schrader. "The primary goal and objective of this project is to restore hydrology and viability of the wetland for the benefit of breeding and migrating waterfowl."
Paul Hess, DU Regional Biologist, says not only birds will benefit from the restored habitat, but people will have plenty to do there too.
"The most direct one (benefit) is public recreation. … Whatever the state will allow there – hunting fishing, bird watching, photography," Hess said, adding it will also enhance water quality. "Individual wetlands sort of have a whole function of values. They provide areas for flood storage and they recharge ground water, filter nutrients."
Schrader added that a secondary goal of the project is to improve and protect the Great Lakes, since the rehabilitation will help retain runoff and filter sediments and toxins.
Hess described some details of the effort.
"It's (wetland) been partially drained over the years," Hess said, adding a berm on one end of the watershed, along with ditches running through it are the culprits of the drainage. "We're going to plug those ditches… We're going to sort of level that (berm) off."
"There will be a contractor starting to work next week," Schrader added. "He'll be moving dirt to help restore the hydrology."
Horatio Davis, AuGres Township resident, says acreage in the watershed used to be his property, prior to him selling it to the state of Michigan.
"I sold property to them a few years back," he said. "They bought an 80 (acre lot) off me."
The DNR currently owns the 135 acres.
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text:
We knew this was bound to happen - according to an article on ReadWriteWeb, smartphones outsold personal computers in the fourth quarter of 2010, marking the first time such an event has occurred. Data crunched by the analytic company IDC indicates that smartphone OEMs sold 100.9 million units worldwide, which is an 87.2% jump. While PC OEMs sold 92.1 million units worldwide, for only a 5.5% increase.
The report also lists the top five smartphone vendors of 2010 as: Nokia, Research In Motion (BlackBerry), Apple, Samsung, and HTC. No surprise that RIM was holding second on the list and shows great numbers, even with all of the outside skepticism that RIM is falling in the market as a Smartphone leader.


text:
The study is authored by Holger Nielsen and Masao Ninomiya, who argue that the very particles the LHC produces will prevent the accelerator from ever being used. Harvard post-doc and CERN collaborator Kevin Black relates their argument to the grandfather paradox - that a particle like the Higgs boson goes back in time and prevents its own birth (i.e. the future changes the events of the present).
As evidence, they provide the failed Superconducting Super Collider, which Congress canned in 1993 after spending $2 billion on the project.
And Higgs is known as the God particle. Maybe God is stopping the construction of this modern Tower of Babel.
Shame that "God Particle" was actually "God-dammed particle."
This is not the Sarah Conner you are looking for.
This message brought to you by Speedy Boson Delivery Service -- "If it's not there by yesterday, it will never be there."
"If it's not there by yesterday, it willen never on-have be there."
Fixed that for you...
This reminds me of my early childhood, when I bet my sister that no matter how many of her cookies she gave me I'd be able to eat them all.
Cowboy Neal, is that you?
Such large project are automatically going to have delays. that is easy to predict.
Everyone working in a project knows that the most sure way to make a project go late is to add people. On the LHC thousends of scientists are working. SOmeone wil decalre it will be ready in june, but in reality it will not be fully functional the next years.
Don't worry. It will not make sense unless you work in that particulare field for the next decades.
Professor Farnsworth's doomsday devices are a lot more expensive and they haven't even been invented yet!
How can you tell it's more expensive? Earthican Dollars also don't exist yet..
...they should fire that thing at a small gold pin. What could possibly go wrong?
We slay an indeterminate number of dancing angels?
I mean, if they're line dancing, then fair enough.
If you worked at the LHC you too would be happy to hear "The repair will cost at least $21 million."...
14 million quid is the price of a decent footballer. It's really not that much money at all. CERN's total budget runs to something like £700 million per year.
CERN's budget is not secret at all. It is something like 800 million EUR per year.
What intrigues me is that the numerical value has remained the same, despite inflation eating up its worth through the years...
"how large a secret fortress I could build with it...."
You'll can probably build some undergroung fortress with some 20km or 30km of radius, I guess. With a doomsday machine still on budget!
Complete sense-of-humor failure over there. It's also in a couple of the above replies.
Great work if you can get it. Need 20 million in funding? Drop a wrench into something that looks complicated.
Q: Whats the difference between GW Bush and Hoover?
One sucks, the other sells vacuum cleaners?
Great work if you can get it. Need 20 million in funding? Drop a wrench into something that looks complicated.
First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price?
Great work if you can get it. Need 20 million in funding? Drop a wrench into something that looks complicated.
... for some values of "something". For others [encycloped...kansas.net], it might not be such a good idea.
They should have planned for this kind of thing and taken it into account, like by having a few months of performing shake-down tests and finding any problems then!
Oh, wait...
They are gonna get me a black hole for my birthday!
It'll be the greatest fireworks display you were ever embedded in.
(Yes, I know nothing will happen, don't worry your stupditity-detectors)
The parallel universes in which the LHC works without failure are already wiped out by the LHC
This is the.. unanthropological principle
The parallel universes in which the LHC works without failure are already wiped out by the LHC
This is the...unanthropological principle
Actually, you might be surprised to know there's already a name for that theory: Quantum Suicide [wikipedia.org]
Any universe with intelligent beings will sooner or later have run an experiment like the LHC and wipe themselves out. Therefore, no intelligent life can exist. QED.
"The media portrayal of the LHC experiments has been branded as irresponsible and sensationalist by psychologists - especially since the death of a 16-year-old Indian girl, who killed herself after being distressed by the coverage on an Indian news channel." [trinitynews.ie]
The threat to human life from people like KDawson posting sensationalist anti-LHC garbage to places like
The supposed threat from the LHC, on the other hand, is a fantasy made up and promoted by irresponsible, money-hungry media shills like KDawson to sell ads.
The LHC is safe. People like KDawson kill.
At least one person has killer herself because she went into an irrational panic, and did something stupid and rash. That's often a sign of psychological problems.
Yeah, the media coverage has been sensationalist and dumb. But it didn't kill anyone.
Stupidity kills. That's ridiculous, claiming that he could kill people. You know what? I don't much like kdawson either, but anyone that kills themselves because they were told the world was going to end deserves a some kind of nationally recognised award for being a fucking moron.
Her own abject stupidity, her appalling lack of critical thinking skills killed her. She killed herself because of a doomsday claim that she could've found to be false in an hour, if she actually bothered to evaluate it. She
She would've found that there have been thousands of doomsday claims over thousands of years, and that every single one was without merit.
Of course every doomsday prediction has proved false. If one had proved true, we wouldn't be here to debate it!
that's good, because I heard a whopper of one. Supposedly this east coast oil tycoon who poses as a Texan, totally fries his brain on cocaine and alcohol, then becomes president of the U.S., creates a police state and runs the country into the ground and starts this huge expensive war to help his oil interests and his buddy's defense contractor business. Right before he leaves office, he convinces Congress to "save the economy" with a law costing hundreds of billions of dollars, but the money just gets gi
I want to know the logic that girl fallowed. I might die so instead I'll kill myself? My math might be a little rusty but I'm pretty sure that even the slimmest chance of living is better than no chance. I imagine I'm going to die someday, guess I should just get it out of the way now....
I think when someone is already irrational, then logic flies out the window. Honestly, I really suspect someone who's already deranged enough to commit suicide (and not seek help about it - there are tons of anonymous suppo
What's with everyone blaming kdawson? I thought it was a scientifically proven fact that KDawson never, ever reads the stories he publishes here, much less writes them.
And how many people kill themselves each year for other crap because they're depressed?
Radtea, you murderer!
Surely one hour's R&D expenses could be spared for the LHC.
> Surely one hour's R&D expenses could be spared for the LHC.
Unless they're researching a black hole repeller shield, of course.
Enjoy your last few months outside of an event horizon.
It's been my life long dream to experience an Event Horizon. The only shame is I won't be able to contemplate such a great experience afterwards.
The total cost of the is estimated to be somewhere between 3 billion to 7 billion. A couple of tens of millions will increase the overall cost by less than 1%.
will increase the overall cost by less than 1%.
well I usually have to count depreciation into my budgets, at my capital rate this would be $210 million delay, if I sat on a $7 billion asset for 6 months. I realize they had planned to shutdown for much of that time anyway, but they also planned to have some data available to look at during that time, and presumably refine the next test from that.
I am sure the $21 million repair cost is insignificant compared to the other real costs of this delay. Then again these research projects are a different ballg
Whether something is a black hole or not is not determined by mass but by density. In theory, if you can sqeeze the mass into a small enough volume it will collapse into a black hole. No one ever said that any produced black hole will destroy the solar system, let alone impact the galaxy.
The worst case senario is the blackhole spirals through the Earths crust for the next few hundred thousand years, hardly ever absorbing any matter because of its extremely small size. Even if it were to eventually absorb all the matter of the Earth you would have a black hold smaller than the head of a pin, going around the exact same orbit with the exact same amount of gravitational attraction that the earth had.
Of course, this ignores the fact that such a small black hole will almost instantaniously evaporate in a puff of Hawking radiation. It also ignores the fact that most likely the LHC is an order of magnitude too weak to produce the micro black holes at all. Finally, it ignores the fact that neutron stars exist. If the LHC is powerful enough to produce a stable black hole, then cosmic rays hitting neutron stars are too. After a few million years we wouldn't have neutron stars as they would all be converted to black holes.
The point is, there are lots of reasons that the LHC won't destroy the Earth. Not having enough mass to produce a black hole isn't one of them.
Disclaimer: IANOF!
Though you're most certainly correct about the LHC not forming a black hole, what you fail to mention, is that at high energies the character of all forces (gravity, electromagnetic etc.) probably becomes equal, like it was at the time of the Big Bang: light is gravity is magnetism etc. Therefore, your assumption that the weight of a proton in rest is a good argument against the LHC becoming a black hole, is wrong. At least, in theory it is.
Disclaimer: IANOF!
I am not on fire?
I must have misspelled IANFO...
I are not a flying ostrich. I are baboon!
I'd also like to point out that the history of science is a history of being the smartest people on the planet being wrong.
So don't throw numbers that you couldn't possibly back up with fact and think that they make me feel any better.
Personally I figured God would stop the LHC from running if it were that dangerous, and so far that still gives me more comfort than your napkin back calculations.
The time when the black hole jokes was funny has passed. Please move on.
Have you ever seen a mini black hole? Everything gets sucked in. It's like a nuclear compression charge going off. Looks good! From a distance.
Big numbers! Soo - this works out as what, around 0.3% of the construction budget so far? Or about 3% of their yearly operating budget?
All in all it sounds to be about equal to paying $2.50 for a spare power cable for the $800 pc you just bought.
I am surprised it didn't cost more - I suspect that replacing coolant takes quite a significant part in that sum.
Disraeli was pretty close: actually, there are Lies, Damn lies, Statistics, Benchmarks, and Delivery dates.


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AntiM wrote:lazerfox wrote:what would you consider fancy??
I'm betting a dance crinoline with the layers of ruffles and flounces.
I made a loop tutu, and I swear, I hate it. When I took it out of the bin in the desert, it was full of static and clung to me, clung to my head, to my arms. I was trying to pry the damn thing loose, but each time I'd peel off one batch of tulle, another would latch on. I ended up wearing it on my head. ARGH.
So AntiM do you think if I put a large piece of tulle over the top, to hold down the looped layers, that it would help? I was thinking that doing that might help to keep it from blowing up and sticking...


text:
The epitome of an American classic, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, reigns supreme in all of our imaginations from the original masterwork all the through the several motion picture adaptations in the bygone years. This classic can now be enjoyed in the form of The Great Gatsby audio book and with a stellar narration by Jake Gyllenhaal, you get a sense that the story is sprouting to life.
Of course the backdrop of The Great Gatsby sets itself up perfectly in the roaring 1920's, relatively soon after the first World War had come to an end. This legendary tale is the story of a reclusive, eccentric and extremely wealthy man who goes by the name of Jay Gatsby. The point of view of the story is told through the naive but subtly stern eyes of his neighbor and good pal, Nick Carraway.
Even though Gatsby hides away within his mega-mansion, he still remains the buzz of the town, due to his insanely extravagant and lavish parties, where the whiskey and champagne flows deeply like the rains of Spring. The quite peculiar thing about his parties is that he never participates in them, he simply stands and peers out the window at the great time that he is giving his countless guest.
This is a bittersweet and haunting tale, that even to this day, not only pulls at the heart strings but it also haunts your soul long after the story has been digested. It is a story of unrequited love, fledgling self-beliefs and a sign that even the most beautiful scenarios just may not find their happy conclusion.
Jake Gyllenhaal is the perfect choice for the narration, he lends a boyish voice enhanced with a wildly keen timing which fits the scene of the novel so incredibly well. He never comes off as being too stylish or flashy and when the moment calls for it, he keeps his composure at a solid balance. The understatement of the book is very well paced and it rest in between the too reserved and the loudly boisterous. It is the way that F. Scott Fitzgerald would have ultimately wanted it.
The characters are read by it's fine actors so convincingly well that it really makes you think you are getting the audio feed from a high-caliber, star-filed Broadway show. The music, the sound effects and the heart of an American classic are expertly poured in and blended with just the right amount of atmosphere to beckon the word "perfection" to mind. The Great Gatsby audio may just become a classic like its forefather, you can believe that.


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California Politicians Want To Force All Social Networks To Be Private By Default
from the and-to-delete-content dept
You can recognize why a politician (or even individuals) might like the sound of this without thinking through what it might actually mean. In the bill itself social networking websites are defined as:
an Internet Web-based service that allows an individual to construct a public or partly public profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom the individual shares a connection, and view and traverse his or her list of connections and those made by others in the system.This is trimmed down from a longer, more vague, description, but it's still troublesome. For example, Techdirt allows people to create public profiles. While we don't have a system to let people share connections, we've certainly had people ask about it, and I know other blog sites have enabled similar capabilities. But, at the same time, our long-standing policy is that we don't remove comments from people. Yet, if this law passes, we'd run the risk of $10,000 for potential violations.
The thing is, while there may be serious privacy risks on certain websites, this bill doesn't really address any of them. Instead, it seems to pick a random, non-existent problem, and try to solve it. Take, for example, Twitter. It would clearly fall under this law, but the whole point of Twitter (for the most part) is to be able to communicate publicly. Why force all new users to default to a "private setting"?


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Jeff Shaffer: Creating confidence
Jeff Shaffer has improved the foodservice at Reed Smith by:
- fostering a work environment that encourages trust between team members
- creating and maintaining a rooftop terrace garden, which provides the café with fresh produce during the summer months
- implementing a comprehensive home meal replacement program, where customers place orders at lunch to pick up take away dinners
- introducing new concepts quarterly for the café's rotating station, which has helped increase revenue by 8.9%
The garden isn't the only place Shaffer sources local produce. The account also works with a farming cooperative called Penn's Corner, which provides produce from within 100 miles of the city. "It's been a great help having a partnership with them," he says. During peak growing season, the operation purchases about 20% of its products locally. "It's been great to have local items in the café and being able to advertise it and share it with our guests. They really enjoy it and know it comes from the area.."
Home meal replacement: Another initiative that has made customers happy is home meal replacements. Shaffer says there was a demand for the service from the associates at Reed Smith who work late. Since the café is only open for breakfast and lunch, those associates were left with few options.
"Employees can pick anything off our lunch menu on that particular day and we'll package it, individually label it and put in a microwavable container for them to come pick up at their convenience," Shaffer says. "If they are working late they can come pick it up and pop it in their office microwaves or take dinner home to their family. It's been very popular."
Shaffer says customers place their home meal orders when they come to the café during lunch. Menus are posted on Fridays for the following week so customers can plan ahead. "That way they can look ahead and plan and if they know they are running the kids to soccer practice that night they know they can order a meal from us, take it home, pop it in the microwave and have a good quality 'home cooked' meal without having to hit McDonalds. Plus the associates who are working late aren't picking something out of the vending machine or something brown bagged from home."
Shaffer says another part of that program that has really taken off, especially during the summertime, is packaging meals from the café's premium grill, which is a station that offers steaks, nicer cuts of fish and seafood such as soft shell crabs.
"If someone wants to pick up a couple of steaks and take them home and barbecue them themselves they can do that," Shaffer says. "I have a customer who faithfully comes in and buys our nice 2-inch rib-eyes every Friday and takes them home. We call that our Butcher Shop To Go. It's a great convenience for them. The customers know they are getting quality stuff here. It's fresh. I get local beef, local pork and things like that."
New concepts: The premium grill was introduced last year to great success, says Shaffer.
"[Premium Grill] is part of our cook-to-order grill," Shaffer says. "We have a glass case that showcases cut steaks, fish, soft shell crabs, veal chops, lamb chops, things that customers would usually have to go outside a corporate café to get. If they want to impress a client and take them to a steakhouse, we can offer them that same steak with the same quality and they don't have to leave the building. Those entrées are packaged together with side dishes like fresh vegetables and starches. It changes daily.
"The premium grill has been around about a year. It's been especially popular now that we have offered seasonal items like the soft shell crabs. We offered that for the first time this year and they've been selling like crazy."
As a Parkhurst account there are standing café stations, such as the Parkside Diner, which serves homestyle entrées. Where Shaffer has really been able to innovate is at a station that allows for rotating concepts.
"We have concepts such as a taqueria, which had hand-rolled burritos with fresh salsas," Shaffer says. "We've also done what we call a bento bowl, which is a stir-fry action station. We're getting ready to launch a build-a-burger program, which is a customized burger with a lot of different meat and topping options. It's always changing. I run the concepts for two weeks and then change them out. Then every quarter I bring in a new idea that the customers haven't seen before. It's a great way to test a few different concepts out before we commit to doing something companywide. It allows for creativity."


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(RNN) - Type the name of any major city and Craigslist into Google, and there is a good chance the search results will produce a story about someone using the website to lure a victim into a meeting for criminal purposes.
Police departments are fighting that problem head-on by inviting customers to use their headquarters as meeting places.
East Chicago, an Indiana town of 30,000 situated on Lake Michigan, announced in early May residents could use its parking lot and lobby for cash transactions with people they have never met.
Police Chief Mark Becker said the program, which his department calls "Operation Safe Sale," is not only for people who initiate business deals online.
"We've had, over the last year or so, reports of Craigslist transactions where people get raped or robbed. We weren't just targeting Craigslist - it's open to everyone," Becker said. "I'm really amazed we didn't do it before. The idea came from a patrol officer who said, 'Hello, why don't we do this?' I said, 'yeah, why don't we?'"
The East Chicago Police Department offers police supervision Monday through Saturday for people who give headquarters advance notice. They can also make deals there anonymously.
Ankeny, IA - a city of about 46,000 people just north of Des Moines - made a similar offer to its residents Wednesday.
According to Lt. Ben Bowersox, the department made the move proactively.
"We don't want to make everyone think internet sales are dangerous and only criminals do them," Bowersox said. "We personally, in our jurisdiction, have not seen these types of crimes."
The same cannot be said of nearby Des Moines, the state capital and a city more than four times the size of Ankeny.
In the first two weeks of May, two robberies with virtually the same modus operandi were reported. Someone who had listed a motorcycle on Craigslist met the buyers and then robbed them at a church.
While better serving the people they're sworn to protect, some departments are concerned they leave themselves open to legal harm.
Becker said other police chiefs called him expressing concern about liability for such a program.
"You can get sued for anything," Becker said. "We can pull behind a car and turn our lights on, and the guy's got a flat tire and gets hit. You don't have to call us. You can use our parking lot, where there's a camera there and it's well-lit. Or you can use the lobby, which is also well-lit and full of cameras."
One of the most notorious examples of these types of crimes involved Philip Markoff, known as the "Craigslist killer."
Before Markoff committed suicide in jail, he was charged with the 2009 robberies of two women and the robbery and murder of a third woman, who answered an online ad for a massage.
Officials often advise people meeting to complete online transactions to do it in a public place, but sometimes that isn't enough.
It is also important to do it during the day in a well-populated area. Bring along a friend and take pictures of the vehicle and license plate of the other person. Arrange meetings during the week so banks and financial institutions can be contacted if there is a problem with the transaction.
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