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Exclusive Interview: Omnipresent Marcia Wagner on All Things ERISA
Nary a day goes by when you don't see her in the news, speaking at a conference or, if you're smart, even in your email box. Like Ray Stevens' Santa Claus, "she's everywhere, she's everywhere." Marcia S. Wagner is the principal of The Wagner Law Group, one of the nation's largest boutique law firms, specializing in ERISA, employee benefits and executive compensation. A summa cum laude graduate of Cornell University and a graduate of Harvard Law School, she has practiced law for over 28 years. Ms. Wagner was appointed to the IRS Tax Exempt & Government Entities Advisory Committee. For the past five years, 401k Wire has listed Ms. Wagner as one of its 100 Most Influential Persons in the 401k industry. Ms. Wagner has written hundreds of articles and 14 books, is widely quoted in business publications, as well as being a frequent guest on televised media outlets.
FN: So, here's what a lot of people wonder – even if they don't know it – what prompts a lawyer to decide to specialize in ERISA matters? I mean, you don't ever see those TV lawyers taking on ERISA cases. What inspired you to enter this particular field? Was there a specific case you took on that made the light bulb in your head go off?
Wagner: I started practicing law in 1987, and, because of my background in economics, decided that tax law would be best suited for me. ERISA is very Internal Revenue Code based (Title II), so it seemed a natural fit! It is crazy that I have been a practicing ERISA lawyer for the past 28 years…time does fly….especially when you are having ERISA fun!
FN: Before we get too much into ERISA, let's first talk about your business. You're very active in promoting your service. How did you learn what you needed to undertake such a very successful promotional campaign? Did you have someone help teach you? Is there a social media specialist in your firm?
Wagner: The Wagner Law Group employees close to forty people, and I personally feel a real fiduciary responsibility to keep all employed! Necessity is the mother of invention, and I learned one needs to be promotional and "out there" in promoting services, in other words selling! Being a substantively excellent ERISA law firm is a necessary but not sufficient condition to being successful…. the sufficient condition is good old fashioned sales and marketing! I learned much on my own, but we do now employ a marketing specialist, who knows about social media.
FN: Many believe that those who own their own business have a special advantage when selling to other businesses, mainly because they have to go through a similar decision making process that their clients do. How does running your own business instruct you on helping clients when it comes to retirement plans?
Wagner: Running this law firm, with our three offices, close to forty employees and myriad diverse business, professional and personnel issues that arise, has made me a much better lawyer than I ever could have been without this experience and responsibility. One learns the value of one's and others' time, humility, how to listen and hear, respect for those that chose to create and those that chose to run businesses or business units and the importance of staying on time and on budget!
FN: OK, enough of this business school case study stuff, let's turn to All Things ERISA. In the last few years, a lot has happened (and will happen) regarding the DOL. Let's go over them chronologically (or as close to chronological as possible). First, there's the individual advice rule for 401k participants. What are some of the tricks, traps and tribulations you see when it comes to offering individual advice? For example, is there any way a plan fiduciary can offer individual advice? What are some actions that might trigger a determination from the DOL that a plan fiduciary is offering individual advice? Can you suggest any rules a plan fiduciary can follow that will help keep education general and not specific? What's a plan fiduciary to do if a participant insists on receiving individual advice?
Wagner: A financial advisor will be considered to be rendering investment advice, if, in general, he or she renders investment advice, for a fee, on a regular basis, pursuant to a mutual agreement or understanding that the advice will be a primary basis on which people will rely and the advice is particularized to the plan participant or the plan demographic. Although this definition of investment advice fiduciary may change in 2014 to be more broad and encompassing, this is the current rule. If one does not want to be an investment advice fiduciary, he or she should make sure to not satisfy the conditions of the definition of an investment advice fiduciary, not act as a fiduciary, clearly inform the plan sponsor or plan participant (as applicable) that the advisor is not a fiduciary, and be sure to provide only investment education (as defined in DOL Interpretive Bulletin 96-1). Investment education is the providing of general information about the plan and its terms, general investment information, and general not particularized asset allocation information.
The big trap I see in the proffering investment advice is when financial advisors do so, but receive variable compensation (for example, revenue sharing, 12b-1 fees, or commissions). A fiduciary cannot receive variable compensation; to do so, results in a prohibited transaction and the applicable Draconian excise taxes and sanctions.
Financial advisors who wish to be fiduciary should make sure their compensation is flat or level (a fixed dollar amount or percentage of assets under management), or if the advice is being provided to the plan participant directly, the advisor might also explore using a computer model, which, if compliant with the Pension Protection Act of 2006 and the regulations promulgated thereunder, would enable the financial advisor to receive variable compensation.
FN: Hmm, that was actually a pretty long question (mainly because it was five questions in one). We'll try to keep this one more succinct. It's about fees and fee disclosure. There's been a lot of talk about the plan level implications of the Fee Disclosure Rule, but let's focus on the participant level reporting, in part because it may be relevant to the previous question. As you know, fees are now required to be broken down by service on the participant statements, but some record-keepers only have very generic categories. For example, there's the difference between a plan-level 3(38) adviser and an individual adviser. Both may be registered investment advisers, but one is providing true co-fiduciary services to the plan sponsor while the other is providing what is all likelihood non-discretionary advice to plan participants. Yet the record-keeper only has one "investment adviser" bucket on the participant statement. Putting the 3(38) co-fiduciary under the "investment adviser" bucket can confuse the participant to thinking those fees are for individual advice (this is especially problematic if the plan has no individual participant adviser). Given the choice between "investment adviser," "trustee" or "other," where should the 3(38) co-fiduciary fees be placed in the participant statements? This is only one example (albeit one that may be most relevant to our readers). What other fee issues can arise regarding participant statements? What have you seen as the greatest liability for plan sponsors when it comes to the 401k Fee Disclosure Rule in general?
Wagner: I see the greatest exposure in not being clear as to what the fees are and what they are for. Therefore, I always advise my clients to be very clear in the disclosure statements. In your example, I would push the record keeper to have the disclosure line read "Investment Manager" fees (or "Other – Investment Manager fees"). Clarity is the best protection for all concerned: the plan sponsor, the vendors, the fiduciaries and, ultimately, the most important of all, the plan participants.
FN: This next one will be a lot easier. All it involves is a crystal ball. We're talking about that favorite of all subjects – the Fiduciary Rule/Fiduciary Standard. Where do you see the DOL and the SEC going on this? Will we end up with a watered down definition of fiduciary (as many fear) or will we end up with (at least) two different types of fiduciaries – one that is allowed to self-deal and one that must abide by the prohibited transaction rule?
Wagner: It is hard to read the tea leaves on this….we will know a lot more in 2014.
FN: I've already asked far beyond my usual questions since I've grouped them by topic, so for my final question, let me invite you to add any other comments or thoughts that weren't covered but may be of interest to our readers. What have we missed?
Wagner: We have covered some significant ground today. You asked what you missed….Well, you missed the most important salutation which I heartily wish to all: Have a wonderful Holiday Season and Happy New Year!
FN: Marcia, that's an absolutely wonderful way to end this interview. Thank you for taking the time to share with our readers some of your thoughts and specific practical suggestions on these important and timely ERISA issues. Above all, we wish you, your staff and all those around you a joyous snow-filled Holiday and the Hap-Hap-Happiest of New Years!


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Custom House Signs
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subset: commoncrawl


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Position Summary
The LifeCafe Supervisor oversees the daily shift operations in the LifeCafe. They deliver a high-quality experience to the members, and motivates staff to ensure excellent customer service. The LifeCafe Supervisor monitors food quality and speed of service ensuring a positive member experience.
Job Duties and Responsibilities
Manages LifeCafe shift operations while making schedule adjustments based on traffic flow
Acts as daily shift leader by providing a high level of customer and team support
Ensures team members prepare menu items correctly and service customers in a professional manner
Provides promotion and disciplinary recommendations to the Manager
Manages light food prep responsibilities
Responds to member questions, comments, and concerns
Position Requirements
1 year of fast casual or full service restaurant experience
CPR/AED certification required within the first 30 days of hire
ServeSafe certification with the first 60 days of hire
Ability to routinely and repetitively bend to lift more than 20 lbs.
Ability to work in a stationery position and move about the Cafe for prolonged periods of time
Preferred Requirements
University Of Phoenix
Posted 3 days agoVIEW JOBS
Life Time Fitness


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To be honest I don't have the prettiest hands to rock a beautiful nail-polish, but once-in-a-while, I love to enjoy a cute pop of color on my nails.
And I had been totally smitten by this color from essie: To buy or not to buy, I was so excited to see the speckles of duo-chrome purple and blue iridescent glitter in it, that I couldn't resist buying it.
But it's a bummer that the glitter isn't that evident on the nails, and it comes of as a cream nail polish. None-the-less it's a gorgeous color for the warm weather.
P.S. : I don't know if it's only me and my awkward nails, but Essie nail polishes apply super streaky and I have to go back to applying 2-3 coats to get a bearable uniform color pay-off .
Do you own any essie polishes? Which is your favourite color?
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Howard S. "Howdy" Holmes III, president and CEO of Chelsea Milling Company, is the eighth-generation Holmes in the business of flour milling, the fourth generation in Chelsea, Michigan, and the third generation to market the company's Jiffy mixes, the first of which was created by his grandmother in 1930. With the purpose of making his racing history better known in the local area, Baggy Paragraphs visited the his office on July 30, 2010, to talk with Holmes for a story in AnnArbor.com.
Holmes is 62 years old, but delayed entry into the family business while pursuing a 20-year-long racing career that saw him compete six times in the Indianapolis 500, where he was rookie of the year in 1979. Holmes retired from racing after the 1988 season. He revamped the business, which had been a sole proprietorship, and brought in modern management practices emphasizing teamwork, equality, and an open-door policy. During our hour-long interview, he was interrupted by a sales staff member and later by the company's technical director, who had one bag of devil's food cake mix with shortening and another evidently without for Holmes's inspection. They discussed the volume, color, and texture of the mixes.
Despite being a modern business executive, Holmes made the decision to eschew the use of a personal computer, and he says many have expressed envy at the amount of free time he must have today.
Besides his business career, racing also caused him to delay marriage, and he wed late, in 1986, before becoming the father of one son, Howard S. Holmes II, also known as Howdy. (There's a story about why the son is Howdy II, but I was eager to devote the time to racing; and besides, genealogy is generally confusing to me.) Howdy II will be a senior in college in the fall and is working at the company for the fifth summer.
Howdy Holmes: Some folks remember every round of golf they played and what they shot and what ball they played and what irons they used, and stuff like that, and you know, if you were to ask me what the stats were, I'd be hard-pressed to come up with really good answers. I can tell you plus or minus five or six how many Indy car races I did or how many Indys or how many years in this—that kind of stuff.
Baggy Paragraphs: It says you were a graduate of EMU [Eastern Michigan University] in 1968.
Howdy Holmes: I think that article didn't say I was a graduate.
Baggy Paragraphs: It says you were a senior.
Howdy Holmes: Yeah, right. Because I left, that article was accurate. I left in my senior year to start to pursue my boyhood love of becoming a race car driver. Now, mind you, I had no more idea than a rabbit how to do that. But that didn't seem to matter. My interest, I guess, was spawned by going to the Indianapolis 500 with my family. I'm the eldest of five kids and other than Christmas the one thing we did together, and I think we all remember very fondly, was to go to the Indy 500 each year: go west on [Interstate] 94 to [Interstate] 69 and then stop just inside Indiana, Pokagon [State] Park and have the obligatory burnt chicken, deviled eggs and stuff like that, and then drive a little bit farther and—I'm sure you know this—even today, within a 50-mile radius of Indianapolis, all the hotels double and even triple the price and charge you for three days even if you're staying for one. So we're a pretty conservative family, and we would stay outside that 50-mile radius. So that was, I believe, 1957, the first race. So for me, basically, it was this boyhood dream. And in the mid-'60s, Ronald, they built Michigan International Speedway out here, which is I think identical to the Texas speedway. If I'm not mistaken, it was built by the same guys—I can't think of their names—the same architects. I think they're both two-mile, they're identical, much like Ontario Motor Speedway was very similar to Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
In any event, anybody who lived within 50 miles of Cambridge Junction, in the Irish Hills, got in the mail an advertisement promoting the Michigan International School of High Performance Racing. It was a pretty slick, six-color brochure, said the school was going to be taught by Stirling Moss [laughs]. I'm thinking Stirling Moss had no idea where Cambridge Junction was. He might've heard of the state of Michigan. And so I went whimsically and thought this would be— You know when you're a little kid and you dream about things, a couple things happens. You don't have any sense of reality of what that may be: probably the good thing of fantasy, it always ends up the way you want it to, that way. So I went to the school and it was one of these situations where, "I'm just going to do this." Actually, it was taught by a guy named Kenny Love, who was a South African who was in North America racing in the Continental Series, which was basically Formula B cars, SCCA classification Formula B, and they had races in Canada and the United States. And then his mechanic was a guy by the name of Kenny Smith. So these were two guys who were over here racing on a shoestring, and he was the instructor. So after that summer—I think that was '68 maybe—I worked for a guy in Ann Arbor whose name was John Stringer. He had a company by the name of Road Sport International, and to me, he was a big deal and was a nice find. I was kind of the go-fer. As it turns out, he just had a small race shop and loved racing, wasn't a Roger Penske, per se. But with my limited experience, anybody was more experienced that I was. So a couple years of hanging around there, doing odd jobs and things. Then I finally took the plunge by ordering a set of tools through a catalog for $69.95, from the Auto World catalog, built a homemade trailer with another guy, a close friend, and purchased a Royale RP3 from John Stringer, who somehow had the Royale distributorship for the Midwest. I think I was the second car that he had sold. As you know, those cars, Formula Fords, had four-cylinder, English Ford Cortina engines. The guys down here at Chelsea Milling Company built me about a 12 by 20 foot plywood garage in the corner of one of the warehouses, and I bought my engine manual from Ulrich's Bookstore, in Ann Arbor, and that's the way I started. What were humble beginnings, looking back, I mean, for me it was a really big deal. I never had been mechanical as a kid. You know, when you look back, it's a great way to do things, is to just jump in with both feet. You make a lot of mistakes, but you learn it. Of course, more from your failures or mistakes than you do from one's successes.
Baggy Paragraphs: You were about 24 around this time?
Howdy Holmes: I was 23, I think. My first race was—have to think about this. I did SCCA Detroit Region Formula Ford in '71 and actually won the regional championship, and halfway through I had the regional thing wrapped up, the central division, and the question was, "Well, shall I do national races?" I really wanted to go for that. And it looked like, with the schedule, I might not have a chance of winning that, so I stayed, did a couple of national races, and then oddly enough the guy who was sent to Atlanta for the runoffs from this area, Detroit region, central division, a guy by the name of Jim Harrell, out of Adrian—and Adrian later on in my career plays a big role—anyway, Jim Harrell asked me to be his mechanic. I thought, "Wow!" You know, for a guy who knew nothing about mechanics and stuff. And it turns out, he ends up winning the national championship that year. Next year, [I] go to Super Vee, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, Formula Atlantic, and all that kind of stuff.
Baggy Paragraphs: In Formula Atlantic, you actually were pretty hot and outperformed Bobby Rahal. I just wondered about your account of those days. What engines did they run in Formula Atlantic?
Howdy Holmes: A BDA: A Ford 1600cc twin-cam BDA done by Cosworth. I could tell you that of all the cars I've driven, Formula 3, Formula 2, Indy cars, blah, blah, blah, Atlantic to me was the best example of horsepower to weight and balance, just marvelous machines to drive. And of course they weren't turbocharged or anything like that, so you could drive with your foot. You want the tail end to come out, a little bit more gas. You want to bring it? To me that's what driving's all about. So I remember Formula Atlantic days fondly. I was champion in '78. Gilles Villeneuve was '77. He was a hell of a driver, and a nice man, too. So you had Rahal in there, Keke Rosberg, Tom Gloy, and of course the big race for Formula Atlantic was the Three Rivers [Trois-Rivières] race. That was the big deal. It was a great series that was in Canada, Mexico, and the United States, I mean just an immense amount of talent. And unfortunately, I think this year is the first year that Atlantic doesn't have a series. It's been going for 35 years, something like that.
Baggy Paragraphs: [Shows a business card for Newfoundland promoter Bob Giannou and asks about the Atlantic Series' race in St. John's, Newfoundland.]
Howdy Holmes: It was in July, it might have been '74, I'm going to guess. It was either '74 or '75, I think '74, and it was in July, and it was around the Confederation Building. It was a combination of the main street that went in front of the Confederation Building and surface streets, and back through a parking lot behind the Confederation Building, and that was it. Saturday's practice was delayed for an hour and a half because there was an iceberg in the harbor—I'm not shitting you—iceberg in the harbor and it was evaporating, so it was causing this fog. You couldn't see a thing. Oh. What else? The race course was this combination of regular streets, surface road, and wide-open parking lot with cones. And much like rallies, people were standing right on the edge of the road. And you find yourself drifting through a corner with the tail out and people are within a foot of you. And it was sort of frightening on one hand. But it's very much like street courses. The more road you use, the straighter the line, the faster you go. It was really bizarre.
Baggy Paragraphs: Well, it's hard to kill a Newfy.
Howdy Holmes: What else is there to tell? I was there driving for Fred Opert in a Chevron. I believe I started fourth and finished second. I'll never forget Newfoundland.
Baggy Paragraphs
: That's the thing about racing. I think that it's like going to sea, you know? Boys used to run away and go off to sea. You have incredible adventures and all kinds of people. It's fascinating.
Howdy Holmes: They're a hardy group of people.
Baggy Paragraphs: Then the speed and everything. What about getting into Indy cars? You were rookie of the year at Indy in 1979.
Howdy Holmes: I was.
Baggy Paragraphs: To make that step you're talking about, Indy really was kind of a long ways away, still, from here. You made that big step that you had only envisioned in your mind.
Howdy Holmes: Well, let me tell you how that happened. Being the Atlantic champion in '78 and Bernie Ecclestone coming to the, he was at the Three Rivers race and Gilles Villeneuve had just made the jump from Atlantic, actually went gone to McLaren before he went to Ferrari, so my career path was more towards Formula One. And all road racers, that's their career path. What's odd about that is, my background is road racing, but I'm an American. Road racing in America is about as popular as, I don't know, American football is in Turkey. I mean, it just, so [laughs], and I know you know that. You also remember that in '78 Mario Andretti won the world championship, and he was driving for Lotus. And his teammate was Ronnie Peterson, and the car was just spectacular. I mean, they're good drivers. But we all know the car is more important than the driver. So they were winning everything that year and then Peterson was killed, which I don't mean that as a negative to why, one of the two was going to win the world championship and Peterson was leading in points. I mean, both of those guys were blindingly fast, especially Peterson, on a single-lap basis. Mario was probably a little better, more consistent. Peterson, he'd do just a screamer, and the next lap would be two- or three-tenths, and in racing, that's years. So what I'm getting to is that, there were some people that were very interested in having an all-American team at Lotus. And I attended the Watkins Glen race which was always in early October—
Baggy Paragraphs: That was the USGP?
Howdy Holmes: Yes, as a guest of the Lotus team. And being my own manager and things like that, I guess I really didn't know any better, but the European press knew who I was and started asking me questions and I kind of referred to this project that was going on. That was the end of that. That was a really difficult lesson to learn. And the lesson is: you keep your mouth shut, especially in Formula One. All of a sudden, that possibility was no longer probable.
Baggy Paragraphs: So you were around 30 by this time?
Howdy Holmes: Yeah, about 30. And then what happened was— Wow, what a mistake that was! What a lesson to learn! Yikes! So I went back in '79 to Atlantic again. I loved the series, but in racing, as you know, there's this certain kind of progression that at any time, if it gets stalled someplace, they basically take your name right off the list. That's just the way it works and I was aware of that and didn't want that to happen. So it seemed to me that the best think I could do was to defend the Atlantic championship. And I drove for Doug Shierson [of Adrian, Michigan], a great guy and sorry he's not with us.
Baggy Paragraphs: He has since died?
Howdy Holmes: He has, and very, very sad. A big part of my life. But as it turns out, in March [1979], I get a call from a guy, and this is exactly the way it happened:
"Are you Howdy Holmes?"
"How would you like to drive in the Indy 500?"
Now I'm still suffering from this kind of political mistake, and I actually thought it was some idiot trying to be funny. I'm having my own pity party because I apparently think I've blown the rest of my career. The guy says, "Are you Howdy Holmes?"
He says, "How would you like to drive in the Indy 500?"
I say, "No, thanks. I'm playing paddleball that weekend." That's kind of my sense of humor, twisted as it may be.
And the guy says, "No, my name is Yanto [sp?] Roberts. I'm serious."
I never knew who he was. I said, "I was sort of kidding about the paddleball thing. Tell me what's up."
And it turned out that Sherman Armstrong, who was an Indiana businessman, from Winchester, Indiana, a self-made multimillionaire who grew up in Winchester, worked for Anchor-Hocking, which is the glass company, thought, "Wait a minute. This stuff looks pretty easy. I could do this myself." So he did. He started Armstrong Mould and made a gazillion dollars, small-time guy, didn't know what to do with all this money.
Baggy Paragraphs: It's only 40 miles to Indy from Winchester.
Howdy Holmes: Yeah, but they first got into sprint car racing.
Baggy Paragraphs: I know there's a track right there.
Howdy Holmes: Oh, yeah! I tested the first March Indy car at Winchester, without a rear wing. Interesting day! Talk about pucker power! Anyway, Sherman Armstrong had gotten Paul Leffler, who was the best mechanic in sprint cars in those days, and they were winning everything and they got bored, so they were looking for something else to do. Somehow, they thought, "Well, let's go to Indy." They got hooked up with Starcraft and a couple of other companies, and Texaco hired this PR firm out of New York, where Yanto Roberts comes in. The theory was: "Hey, this is a new Indy car owner. Why not come in with an unknown Indy car driver? Rookie-rookie sort of thing and see what we could do?" Well, I was the choice. It happened, and, geez, we qualified thirteenth. I'll never forget—"
Baggy Paragraphs: Do you remember roughly your speed? Two-ten?
Howdy Holmes: No, it wasn't even close. It was in the high 80s [180s] in those days. What's interesting is that, in those days, practice would start the first Saturday of May. But that weekend I had an Atlantic commitment in Mexico City. I won the race in Mexico City, and I had all the flights lined up to get out of Mexico City as quickly as I [could]. But you know what happened, I won the race in Mexico, so you had to stay around for the celebrations and all that stuff, which is fine, I mean, I wouldn't have it any other way. And then, I had talked with the promoters down there, and they knew that I had this flight to get. So they put me in the back of this car and I had an escort, two motorcycle—you've been to Mexico, right?
Baggy Paragraphs: Never been to Mexico City.
Howdy Holmes: Well, I want to tell you, there's 29 or 30 million people in Mexico City, and the driving is a nightmare. The motorcycle cops are out of control and I'm in the back of this car with a police escort on the way to the airport, and one police motorcycle guy would get in front, go to the next intersection and slide to a stop, put his hands up and we'd go blasting through. And then these cops would keep changing places. I've never been so frightened in my life. I mean, not in Indy cars, I've been in horrible wrecks. That's nothing compared to being… Of course, you're not driving, you know? Long story short, I get to Indy, the car is not ready, I don't get on the track until Thursday, the first day. These guys, good competent people from sprint cars, but hadn't been used to open-wheel cars. I brought part A and part B so I could make a seat, with the paper, or the plastic bag and all this kind of stuff so I could touch the pedals, and I mean it was a zoo. Well, geez, I get out on Thursday—
Baggy Paragraphs: Had you driven on an oval?
Howdy Holmes: No. Well, a little bit. In 1977, they had this thing called Mini-Indy, which was a Volkswagen series. Volkswagen had a Super Vee series for a number of years, and then they tried to do a thing called Mini-Indy, which was supposed to be a step up to Indy cars and they had a race at Trenton, Phoenix, there might have been another one, maybe someplace else. [Milwaukee and Mosport were also on the schedule; Holmes finished second and third in four starts.] So that's the experience that I had. Anyway, I breezed through my rookie test and had maybe 35 laps on the car before qualifying. I qualified 13th and finished seventh. You know, looking back, and at the time I realized that there was a sea change going on, a paradigm shift if you will, because the path, so to speak, to Indy cars had been midgets and sprint cars. And all Indy car races had only been on ovals, the Trentons and the Phoenix and Milwaukees and so on. There was in those days an uprising with the owners. It was the beginning of CART, and USAC—and remember that there was a plane crash where five of eight USAC officials perished—and that was the tipping point where CART basically broke away, for good reasons, in their minds. The stated reason was the board of directors for the USAC were 21 people, and they were all basically friends and associates of the Hulman family in sprint car racing. But USAC was the sanctioning organization, the administrative body, that also put on the Indy 500. So there was a lot going on. I basically was, I'd been a business guy ever since I was a kid. I sold Cutco cutlery and so on. And I'm running my own marketing business and advertising business in motorsports and being my own mechanic; I told that story. So I was kind of like the prototype corporate driver, is what other people would say. I came with attorneys and not chief mechanics. And I understood that racing is entertainment first; that's the way it's sold. And it's the only sport that demands overt commercialism to survive. So the truth is, racing's about putting deals together, more than anything. And I was pretty good at that. I was a pretty good driver, too. My personal disappointment was, I wish it was more about talent, a driver's talent, skills, skills on the track, than skills off the track. But, hey, that's the way it is. So, I have to tell you, the car was a Wildcat. It was four-year-old car. Wildcat was the name that Pat Patrick used for their brand, for making their own car. It was a four-year-old car, had an Offenhauser engine. The hot stuff at the time was the Cosworth V-8. Offenhauser was a four.
Baggy Paragraphs: Turbocharged?
Howdy Holmes: It was. A hundred and sixty-one-cubic-inch, I think. But the good news was that the car had been around, so there was fair amount of knowledge on what it took to set up the suspension and stuff. Although we did a good job in qualifying and we did a good job in the race, the fact is, on lap two, we spent two minutes in the pits.
Baggy Paragraphs: After they threw the yellow flag?
Howdy Holmes: No, no, no, no. There was a mechanical problem with the car. On the second lap I came into the pits because a hose clamp had come off the turbocharger that [went] between the plenum chamber and back in… They found it. Went back out thirty-third and finished seventh.
Baggy Paragraphs: You'd lost a lap by that point.
Howdy Holmes: Two.
Baggy Paragraphs: You finished seventh on the lead lap?
Howdy Holmes: No. I wasn't on the lead lap. I don't remember how many laps. I'm going guess three or four. But two of them were right there. But Goodyear guys told us—
Baggy Paragraphs: But otherwise you kept the race pace.
Howdy Holmes: Yeah, I mean, who knows? But Goodyear, they always do cornering speeds and things like that, we consistently had the fourth-fastest cornering speeds. So it turned out to be terrific.
Baggy Paragraphs: A huge success!
Howdy Holmes: Yeah, and I'll tell you another thing which I discovered during that experience, Ronald. I'd always believed, and maybe some people still do, that the most difficult thing would be road racing, and of course the most difficult thing to drive would be a Formula One. Both not true. Oval driving is considerably harder than road racing, and here's why: because once you—especially the big ovals—once you get going, you're not braking, you're not shifting. You don't have perception changes, depth perception. You're not turning left, not turning right. You're just basically going around in a circle. What that means is, your band of concentration is very narrow. You don't have constant reminders to keep you sharp. So the focus window is considerable smaller. Oh, by the way, your average speed is a whole lot faster. And there are walls. And they hurt.
Baggy Paragraphs: [Mentions Nelson Piquet's unfortunate experience at Indy in 1992.]
Howdy Holmes: In road racing, you're always looking at the apex. Different people might disagree on this one. In oval racing, yeah, the apex is important. But instead of looking always to your left, you need to look to the right because the more you can straighten out that curve, the faster you go because the less friction you're generating, side-bite. So the idea is to straighten out the corner as much as you can; you'll go faster the longer way around. It may a hundred, a hundred-fifty, maybe seventy-five RPM, but the whole trick is, you buy those RPM for the whole length of the straightaway, and that's why you're fast.
Baggy Paragraphs: And that also means going up really close to that wall at time. I see these cars come up just inches from the wall, and I can't imagine doing that. So you were in seven Indy 500s?
Howdy Holmes: Six: '79, '82, '83, '84, '85 and '88.
Baggy Paragraphs: By '88, you were 40, 41 years old.
Howdy Holmes: A young pup [laughs].
Baggy Paragraphs: And starting to look at the end of things.
Howdy Holmes: Well, really, honestly, I started my exit. I had a five-year exit plan. In 1983 is when I kind of made the decision, it's time to start detoxing my way out of racing and preparing for my return to Chelsea Milling Company, which, for the record, I always intended to come back here. My mom and dad knew it. I don't think any of us thought it would be 20 years, but it was, and I'm very thankful for it. So it was a five-year plan. I raced in '83, '84, and '85. Two-thirds of the way through the '85 season I got hurt pretty bad at Laguna Seca.
Baggy Paragraphs: Who were you driving for at the time?
Howdy Holmes: Forsythe Brothers. Real kind of bad concussion. No broken bones but a fairly bad concussion. So I was out the last third of '85, '86, and '87. It was a good news/bad news kind of situation, because I'd already made the commitment to have this five-year business plan, exit/reentry. It gave me a lot of time to think. I happened to meet the right girl [Caroline] in '83, and that was helpful of course—and different.
Baggy Paragraphs: What do you mean: different?
Howdy Holmes: Well, I was used to being, I was a single guy for a long time. I guess I always thought I would be single forever. But things change. So that's what I mean, different, in that sense. I came back to Chelsea Milling Company in November of '87, but then this John Capels '88 season opportunity came up. I don't know, honestly, why I went for it. It probably, in looking back, was the best thing I did, because it horrible relationship. I persevered through '88. As an example, at Indy, we just couldn't get up to speed. The last day of qualifying we got bumped out of the field. Turns out, we had a crack in the plenum chamber. John Capels was telling me I didn't know how to use the boost. It was ugly. Anyway, we went back on the track, the last ones to go out, the gun goes off as I'm starting the first turn, and we got back in the race by seven-one-thousandths of a second.
Baggy Paragraphs: Do you remember who was bumped?
Howdy Holmes: I don't, but whoever it was, and I don't remember, I would feel very sorry for them. I mean, it happens.
Baggy Paragraphs: Seven one-thousandths. So you started last.
Howdy Holmes: Started last, finished twelfth or thirteenth.
Baggy Paragraphs: Did you? So you ran the whole race.
Howdy Holmes: Probably other than competing at Indy, you get asked from time to time what was the best memory, this, that, and the other, for me it was since it all started as a fantasy, sitting in the stands, to race at Indy was kind of the best, but to race six times, start six and finish six, a sixth, a seventh, two tenths, a twelfth, and a thirteenth. Actually, I had the highest average finishing record of anybody who started three or more races when I retired in '88.
Howdy Holmes: I think the ones that stand out to me the most, some of these names, they're not well-known names. I guess the guys that I respected and hung with a little bit—drivers generally don't hang together because it's a pretty dangerous sport, so you don't want to get too close to somebody. But the ones that come to mind are Al Unser Sr. and Rick Mears and Johnny Rutherford. Of course, A.J. [Foyt] and Mario [Andretti] and [Gordon] Johncock and all these guys. It's very unreal to be sitting in the stands as a spectator and watching Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt and Al Unser Sr. race in the Indy 500, and then find yourself competing against them. I mean, it's really different. So those are names that come to mind. Bobby Rahal and I, I would say, are really good friends.
Baggy Paragraphs: Even today?
Howdy Holmes: Even today. We don't see each other often, but whenever we do, it doesn't matter how much time has gone under the bridge. We just pick up where we left off. Keke Rosberg would be another one of those names. He's got a son, Nico, that's in Formula One now. Paul Newman, probably, is certainly on that list.
Baggy Paragraphs: You were close to him?
Howdy Holmes: Very close to him. Even though we didn't compete in the same series and stuff like that, we just sort of—I met him in 1972, I think, at Road Atlanta. He came up to me and said, "I understand you're the new hot shoe." And I'm going, "You gotta be shittin' me! What? This is Paul Newman!" And he said, "I want to talk to you. Come into my motorhome." I tried to act like I do that stuff all the time. Of course I didn't. The thing about Paul, and his wife, Joanne, is their status is legendary, but in practice they're just down home folks, Paul was. I'm sorry he's gone. But he was like, he was just one of the guys. I mean, we used to call him Chicken Legs, because he had no calves. He had these legs that were kind of like [gestures]. So he'd never wear any shorts. So I had a good relationship with Paul. So that's another one. I mean, as an example, how well did I know him? Well, Paul Newman sang "Happy Birthday" to my wife [Carole] in a Portland restaurant in 1985. So I'd say, pretty well.
Baggy Paragraphs: You were relatively newly married at the time, I gather?
Howdy Holmes: We weren't even married yet. We didn't get married till '86.
Baggy Paragraphs: What are your reflections on Indy racing today?
Howdy Holmes: One, I don't go to the races. I haven't since I retired. I do take seven employees each year to the Indy 500. To me, it's an opportunity to get to know them a little bit better away from here. There have been a lot of changes. Honestly, I'd have to say I don't think many of them are for the better. The racing is different than back then, so to speak. Of course, everybody says that. I think it's very unfortunate that the split that took place with the IRL and CART—
Baggy Paragraphs: Fifteen years ago, or fourteen years, but we're still feeling the effects?
Howdy Holmes: Oh, are you kidding me? I don't think it's ever going to recover to where it was. And there's some very strategic reasons that I believe that's true. You had a history going, and a momentum, that you can't replace. I don't care who's involved. You just can't replace that. It's broken. The line's broken. So then you have to rebuild. The competition for the consumer dollar—let's keep in mind that all other types of racing haven't been just standing still while Indy car or the Champ car series or whatever you want to call it decides that they're going to go bonkers and have a spitting contest. I think it's tragic, what happened. I don't think they'll ever recover from it, which is too bad. I'm old-fashioned. I think a great deal about tradition and principle and things like that. I still love going to the Indy 500, but the racing is pretty boring and it's very predictable. It's a spec series. I've never driven one of these cars but I understand you can pretty much go around most anything flat out. And you said it earlier, they all finish the races. That wasn't the way it was in the old days.
Baggy Paragraphs: You had the drama of, "Well, yeah, he's a quarter lap ahead, but will that Buick live?"
Howdy Holmes: Yeah. I want to be conscious of the owners and the mechanics and the sponsors and the drivers and everybody that's involved and not be critical or judgmental, but it is very different. It's not the same product. And at the end of the day, it is the entertainment business, even though racing is a very serious profession. A lot of people don't see it as that, but it is a business. I feel a little sorry for those that are doing it now because it isn't what it used to be, and there will always maybe sort of be a asterisk. I feel sad about that. But what are you going to do? It's kind of like a piece of you has gone away and my reaction is to be very thankful and appreciative of having had an opportunity during a time when it was really something. I mean, it was a really big deal.
Baggy Paragraphs: Even at Michigan International Speedway through the late-'90s, they were drawing big crowds for those Indy races, and you'd see whole sections where they'd all be wearing the same orange cap from some company. There was a lot of interest. And then a couple of things happened, including three people dying among the spectators. And the crowds just dropped way off. Then they quit the race.
Howdy Holmes: That, and let's not forget that NASCAR was making terrific gains during that time.
Baggy Paragraphs: How about the way the sport has changed?
Howdy Holmes: So the racing's different, and the politics is very different. Women's presence in racing is a good example of that—I think a good example of that. Politics isn't always a dirty term, although that's the way it's usually portrayed. For Sherman Armstrong, Janet Guthrie drove for Sherm Armstrong in, I think it was 1978, if I'm not mistaken. The year I won the Atlantic championship, Janet debuted with—was it Sherman? Might have been Sherman. Yeah. And that was a big question that a lot of people struggled with. People said, "It's dangerous and all." Well, all those things are true. But you look at today and there's some really good drivers. Say what you want about Danica Patrick, but she's got the right stuff. I don't know this Simona—
Baggy Paragraphs: Simona de Silvestro.
Howdy Holmes: I maybe can't pronounce her name, but I've seen her drive. She knows what she's doing. Have there been women out there that don't know what they're doing? Yeah. But I want to tell you, there have been a lot more men out there that don't know what they're doing than there have been women that don't know what they're doing. And the percentages aren't even close. So you can come to your own conclusions on that one. I suppose I find myself, Ronald, kind of thinking, you know, "Here's this old fart talking. Aww, it ain't like it used to be!" And all that kind of stuff. And in a lot of ways, it isn't. But the important thing is, whatever the time, and whatever the environment, you've got to make it happen.
Baggy Paragraphs: As a driver?
Howdy Holmes: As a driver or as a business person: whatever it may be. The environment might change. But it's a little unfair to compare the Thirties with the Eighties in any sport, whatever it may be, auto racing included. I can only share that the things that I see, and it's not for me to judge per se the things that you and I are talking about. It's not disputable. Those are facts. At the end, every year that I go to Indy, and take employees down there, I seem to have a greater and greater appreciation for the fact that I did that. And honestly, I go, "Holy smokes! This really is a big deal!" When you're in the middle of doing it, I never thought of it that way. I looked at it as a job and a career, and the blinders were on.
Baggy Paragraphs: I don't think a racing driver can afford to be that self-conscious.
Howdy Holmes: Yeah, which is another way of saying you can't listen to your emotions. Oh, that's right, we're talking about guys. What are feelings?
Baggy Paragraphs: How about the future of racing?
Howdy Holmes: I think there is a future for racing of all types because it is so mysterious and automobiles are so ingrained in our life. With the open-wheel stuff, there's a culture that's different here in the United States than it is in Europe. Here, it's the stock car stuff and it gets you from point A to point B, and who doesn't know about cars? I think that the thing that's really important is that, let's not forget that one of the biggest reasons that racing is going to continue, Ronald, is that it's about technology and it's about engineering and the studying that takes place in the field. As long as there are people out doing that, and corporate America can utilize racing as a way to entertain and to explain things and introduce products, it's always going to be there.
The element of danger is always there. I don't think anybody would really like to see somebody hurt, but crashes are spectacular.
I think it's exciting. And of course when somebody gets hurt, it's tragic. But most of the crashes, people don't get hurt.
Baggy Paragraphs: [Mentions Mike Conway's violent crash at Indy.] How was that guy not torn limb from limb?
Howdy Holmes: That's my point. The cars are safe.
Baggy Paragraphs: The era that you raced in, if you hit the wall you were likely to crush your legs right up to your knees.
Howdy Holmes: Well, I used to be six foot six.


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National Center of Excellence for Hyperhidrosis Treatment
What is Better, Vein Stripping or Endovenous Obliteration (VNUS, EVLLT, ELVeS)
By: Hratch Karamanoukian, MD and Raffy Karamanoukian, MD
August 18, 2008
image borrowed from keokimed.com
How effective are endovenous obliteration techniques in the treatment of lower extremity varicose veins? This is a question I often get asked when I evaluate patients with venous reflux disease and varicose veins.
A recent meta analysis of existing clinical studies looked into this topic by analyzing studies published until 2007. Dr. Van Den Bos and colleagues from the Department of Dermatology,
The researchers found that endovenous obliteration techniques, when compared to ligation and vein stripping was superior: At 3 years follow-up, vein stripping was 78% successful, radiofrequency ablation (VNUS) was 84% successful and endovenous laser therapy (e.g. EVLT) was 94% successful.
The authors concluded that "in the absence of large, comparative randomized clinical trials, the minimally invasive techniques appear to be at least as effective as surgery in the treatment of lower extremity varicose veins
Dr. Karamanoukian's note – There you have it, endovenous obliteration is more effective than vein stripping and it seems that endovenous laser (EVLT, ELVeS) are more effective thatn radiofrequency obliteration (e.g. VNUS).
# # #
For more information about hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating) , as well as surgical and non-surgical hyperhidrosis treatment options, contact Dr. Karamanoukian at The Center for Excessive Sweating, a National Center of Excellence for Hyperhidrosis Treatment by email or by phone at (716) 839-3638.


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Korea Tensions Overshadow Summit
Three leaders from China, Japan and South Korea meet at an annual summit overshadowed by heightened tensions on the Korean penninsula. Video Courtesy of Reuters.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
good ... recent tensions between the Koreas overshadowed proceedings as China Japan and South Korea meet for their annual regional summit ... it's usually meant to strengthen ties between the three ... of the recent sinking of a South Korean ship ... threatens regional stability ... it all started last March after a legit North Korean torpedo sunk its neighbour said ... tit-for-tat cancellation of agreements between both countries has all of ... the North denies the attack ... a moment of silence for those loss was proposed by Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama ... after which South Korea laid out their agenda ... including the show in an incident I would like to exchange views on regional and international affairs such as Northeast Asia cooperation for fares in the region ... Q Connie international cooperation for joint response to crisis and climate change ... the numbers ... but it's time to support the two countries are seeking ... as the South takes its case before the UN Security Council ... China with their veto power is seen as the key to any resolution ... Chinese from year one of the bowel ... tip toed around the subject when giving his opening address ... new book the link ... UCLA's to work out ... I look forward to working with presently and Prime Minister to Yemen ... to produce solid resents from Tea speaking in that would send a message to the words ... of confidence in peace stability and development it ... bought in the U ... K walk ... for now ... Beijing is torn between a strong trading partner in the south ... and longtime ally in the


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If you measured your artwork in millimeters or centimeters, enter the dimensions below and we'll let you know what size to enter into our frame builder! Please note: if your artwork or the artist claims it to be a certain size, you should always measure it yourself to confirm - just to make sure you receive a frame that fits it perfectly.
Measurement: mm cm


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Most people consider the kitchen as one of the most important rooms in your house to clean. But in fact it is only partially true. Yes, the kitchen is important because the role it has in the preparation of the food and it must be sparkling clean. Probably because of that we clean it often enough and there isn't time for the bacteria to grow.
A place we neglect when cleaning is the bathroom and it is a huge mistake. According the latest research a sparkling bathroom is very important for your health and the reason is very obvious. This is the room where humidity is big and that leads to mould growth very fast. Experts advise you to clean thoroughly the bathroom every month.
Spring cleaning this room is also important in order to find expired products which can be very hazardous. It is recommended checking all cupboards and cabinets, and cleaning them on regular basis. The same refers to the flooring as well. It collects dust and debris and the spring according the professionals is the perfect time for this cleaning.


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Walk-In Urgent Care center in Bedford, MA
According to a recent survey conducted by the New York Times in 15 metropolitan areas, the average wait in days (including Saturdays and Sundays) for a dermatologist in Boston area is 72, and 66 days for family practitioner, both the highest in the survey. At AFC Urgent Care Bedford, you can skip all that wait time and there is actually no need for a referral or an appointment to cure your medical needs. Our board certified providers are dedicated to provide quality service and treatment to have the patient be healthy again. You would also get the advice you need to prevent illnesses and injuries in the future. Our hours are Monday to Sunday, 8am to 8pm, and we accept most major insurances.
We provide care and treatment for a wide variety of non-life threatening illnesses and injuries including:
- Fever, colds, and flu infections
- Burns, cuts, and rashes
- Dehydration
- Kidney infection and inner ear infection
- Strep throat, sore throat, and coughs
- Earaches, ear infections, and ear wax removal
- Fractures and breaks
If you need care and treatment of any non-life-threatening acute illnesses and injuries, look no further than AFC Urgent Care Bedford. Our walk-in clinic also provides on-site digital x-rays and various vaccines.
For more information about AFC Urgent Care in Bedford, please call us at 781-430-8161.


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CU Insured was set up to provide a financial advisory service to Credit Union members, their family and friends.
CU Insured was set up to provide a financial advisory service to Credit Union members, their family and friends.
We provide information and solutions to all your financial questions.
We put our clients needs front and centre of everything we do.
You are invited to a Free Consultation with a CU Insured highly Qualified Financial Advisor in private at your preferred location. We will discuss your questions and provide you with solutions.
At CU Insured we make it very easy for you. We meet you and find out what you need. After this we look at
your situation and do a review to see how we can help you.
We can meet you at your local credit union, or at home, or at an alternative location – the important thing is that it suits you.
We understand that people lead very busy lives and can't always take time off work to come into town.
Your initial meeting will last between 30-45 minutes.
We want to ensure we spend sufficient time with you so as we understand your circumstances and your objectives
We would ask you to bring along any existing policies that you would like us to review for you to this meeting
Relax – we won't expect you to make any decisions to purchase any products or services at this meeting
We may come back to you and ask you for some more information if we feel it is important in finalising our recommendations to you.
We will use our expertise and experience to evaluate all of the options available in the marketplace in order to recommend a proposal that best suits your specific needs.
We will keep you informed of our progress during all stages of this process
We will arrange a suitably convenient time and place to meet you in order to present our recommendations to you.
We will document, in plain English, our proposals and have a copy available for you to take away.
We will disclose all fees and/or commissions we will earn from our nominated Product Provider in order that you can be sure of our transparency and honesty.
Review needs on an annual basis at face to face meeting.


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For the past week or so all I have heard people talk about is their new years resolutions. Lists and lists of things people want to change about themselves, and it always seems to be negative things. It all got me thinking about my new year and what I want to see happen this coming year.
I know for sure I am ready to ditch the negativity completely. In all aspects of my life, there is negativity and it is not productive or good for anyones mental health, especially mine. My anxiety seems to peak around stress and negativity and that is one thing I want to get on top of over the next year. Negativity brings nothing to your life, so what is the point?
So, in light of this, I have decided to not change anything. Instead, I am going to do things! Instead of trying and failing to give up this, start that etc. I am going to go on new adventures and try lots of new things.
2018 is going to be the year of 'new'. My mum, my sister and I have all put together bucket lists for the year instead of resolutions that we never stick to. So we each have a list of new things we want to do this year.
In 2018 I am going to…
Visit two new cities in Europe
See a new part of Scotland
Learn Yoga
Visit a new beach
Enjoy the little moments more
Put my phone away when I am with company
Put my toes in an ocean I haven't before
Say YES more often
Learn to love the mornings
Make more time for family
visit a new Scottish castle
Watch a sunset/sunrise
Switch to a green energy company
Laugh more
I am so excited for the year ahead. It is a big year for my whole family. A lot of change is coming and it is amazing to see it all happen to my favourite people in the whole world. We are going to have a whole load of adventures together and on our own. I can't wait to look back on 2018 and say it was our year!


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Paris Tennessee is considered the oldest incorporated town in West Tennessee. The centerpiece of the historic downtown area is the 1897 Richardsonian Romanesque Henry County Courthouse, the oldest working judicial building in West Tennessee. Enjoy visiting the many shops and eateries, downtown park, Eiffel Tower, Heritage Center, library, dozens of seasonal events and more in this vibrant city. Paris is well known for the "World's Biggest Fish Fry," an annual event held the last week of April.
Downtown Paris even has an app, so you won't miss a thing! This app includes recorded history, photos, shopping deals, an event calendar and more.


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After that last link, I saw this photo in my own collection. Taken just around the corner here. Built to the old Architect's philosophy "tread lightly upon the earth".
Actually they were moving the house "just a jump to the left" er..right to subdivide the land. Something we do a lot here because we are so desperate for land (?). You know Australia has barely any land left! (I will keep my political views to myself).
Anyway's I thought to share the great shot. Look at that house sag !! ('deflect' for you engineers).
Best to ya.


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01771 622573 - 07943007214
Aden House
19 Abbey Street, Old Deer, Mintlaw, Peterhead, AB42 5LN
With plenty of off-street private parking available, few minutes walk to Aden Park, and plenty of en-suite bathrooms: our 7 bedroom guest house is a perfect getaway for any traveller or holiday goers. With single, twin and family rooms available.
We offer free wifi to guests, have multiple bathrooms which either have showers or baths, large laundry room available and comfortable, warm lounge areas also. The establishment is deceiving due to looking quite compact when you first see it but hides a very spacious interior, warm and welcoming lounge areas, multiple en-suite's and bathrooms as well as a spacious car park and outside area.


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California Light
We have been stuck inside for a few days . . . staring out the windows.
So today we went outside to snap a few photos, getting use the California lighting!
Aubrey of course was up to her usual posing tricks.
Singing into her microphone.
Then we tried out the light in our garage. I think it might make for a nice natural light studio.
This was her choice of posing:
And another one of her picks. She says this is like a mommy - hands on hips :)


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Man Made Diamond Rings
You must have heard about the natural extraction of diamond from the deep ores of earth, have you? But have you ever heard that diamond can be produced or is produced through controlled culture process? If not then it is a new thing and new information for you as you can find natural and man made diamond rings in the market in present time. Yes, there are many companies who have developed their plants and production houses for man made diamond rings. Now you can easily find custom colors and more diversification in diamonds. If you are thinking that the proportion of carbon is different in man made diamond then you are wrong as these laboratory produced diamonds have similar formula and proportion of carbon but they aren't as superior as natural diamond.
You may not be able to differentiate between natural and man made diamond with naked eye as it needs professionalism of gemologists. So, if you are buying diamond rings for the first time then it is unquestionable that you will be confused about the authenticity of diamond. You should ask the gemologists to help you in this regards. Man made diamond rings are cheap as compared to natural diamond rings.


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Muthoot Finance Limited has issued recruitment notification inviting candidates for the walk in interviews for the posts of junior relationship executives. The vacancies are available in Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Vikarabad, Medak, Sangareddy and Siddipet districts.
Post: Junior Relationship Executives
Qualifications: Graduates in any discipline can apply. Candidates with sales and business sourcing ability preferred. Junior Officers from CASA team of banks will also be considered. Age should be below 35 years with basic computer knowledge. Freshers also can appear for walk ins.
Interested candidates may walk in for an interview at the following venue of 26th, 27th and 28th September 2017 between 10 AM to 4 PM.
Venue: Muthoot Finance Limited, Secunderabad Regional Office, 3-6--2/1/1, 2nd floor, Grandpass Royal Mansion, Near Liberty Cross Roads, Himayat Nagar, Hyderabad.
You can send your CV through email to email@example.com OR firstname.lastname@example.com . Phone: 9393401342 / 040 - 23229204 / 05.


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In an interview, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is asked if his organization has any of Clinton's "undisclosed emails." He replies, "We have upcoming leaks in relation to Hillary Clinton," and "We have emails relating to Hillary Clinton pending publication, that is correct." He also says, "There is very strong material both in the emails and in relation to the Clinton Foundation."
He believes this contains enough evidence for the FBI to recommend Clinton's indictment: "We've accumulated a lot of material about Hillary Clinton. We could proceed to an indictment."
He doesn't specify when or how many emails might be published. Asked about the FBI's Clinton investigation, he believes the Justice Department will do the bidding of President Obama and so they will not indict Clinton. (The Guardian, 6/12/2016) (ITV, 6/12/2016)
Several days later, a hacked using the nickname Guccifer 2.0 shares files from a recent hack of the DNC (Democratic National Committee) and claims to have given "thousands of files and mails" to WikiLeaks. (Wired, 6/15/2016) (Vice News, 6/15/2016)


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After more then over a year of excessive testing and using, I can finally sum up my thoughts and "longterm" test of the Crispi SAHARA EVO SRVV edition Boots, which are widely used and preferred by some of the Russian special forces like FSB, MVD and special police units like OMSN (formerly known as SOBR).
Being personally a little bit obsessed with the gear used by the FSB units ALFA and VYMPEL during the time period of 2000 – 2008, I find myself very often looking and studying the pictures of the tragic Beslan school siege, which occurred on September 1st 2004 in the region of North Ossetia-Alania, Russia, since there are plenty of high resolution pictures available online (well at least high enough to pin point several gear items out). One thing that in particular is often missing in most "legit" and authentic gear setups and collections are the boots. So I started investigating and trying to find out what boots are those used by the FSB on those pictures of the Beslan incident. Digging deeper and deeper I came into more pictures of the FSB, MVD and OMSN (SOBR) wearing those particular boots I was looking for.
At First I thought those were the BYTEKC (BUTEX also known as BOOTEX) type COBRA boots made in Russia, Moscow region that I found on Ebay and later also on Red Alliance forums. I bought a pair in January 2014 (seen above) for around 100 €, which are actually pretty good looking "copies" (look at the sole pattern!) of the Crispi SAHARA EVO boots, which are genuinely made in Italy. Somebody once said that those BYTEKC boots are actually also made in cooperation with Crispi, but I never found any legit statement about this "rumor". After knowing that those are not the real SAHARA boots I was looking for, I sold them with slight loss right away after using them once for buying groceries 😀
I do not know if they are good and/or durable in the long term, since I have only used them once.
After meeting with the SRVV owner back in 2014 at IWA exhibition and being told that there will be a SRVV line of Crispi boots (including the SAHARA EVO) made in Italy exclusively for SRVV, I wanted of course one pair of those boots.
In July 2014 I finally bought the Crispi SAHARA EVO SRVV edition boots of the SRVV online shop with several other small Items. They took around 3 weeks to arrive and with a cost of around 130 € (excluding shipping and customs) the price is in the same category then other premium manufacturers with their boots. In comparison the "classic" black suede SAHARA EVO boots cost around 115 € here in Germany.
The boots have following properties according to the SRVV shop entry:
- Water-repellent CORDURA 1000 Den in SURPAT camo
- High quality suede (2,5mm thickness)
- Padded mesh lining 3D
- Rubber sole with anti static and anti slipping properties
- Durable lace
- Comfortable inner sole
- Brass hooks and loops for lacing
Designed by SRVV in Russia – Made by Crispi in Italy exclusively for SRVV.
As you can see in this little comparison picture I made there are indeed several big differences from the original Crispi SAHARA EVO and the SRVV designed variant. The SRVV variants look a lot more rugged and tougher then the original boot. Besides the reinforced material (CORDURA for the SURPAT ones and canvas cotton for the black SRVV boots) for the hooks (and they actually have hooks in comparison to the simple loopholes).. We have also been told by the owner of SRVV that their boots have been tested in cooperation with FSB and MVD Units before offering them in their stores.
What really catched my eye and what I liked a lot, are those little details like the metal Crispi logo at the bottom lace and the SRVV and Crispi logos burnished in the outer sides of booth boots.
Here you can see those brass loops for the lace and on the right side the "pull tab" (for ease of getting in the boots) made out of thick suede as well. I really like the base olive color of the suede and it even harmonizes great with the SURPAT CORDURA.
The sole states again the antistatic, oil and fuel resistance and no marking properties. In terms of grip the sole is great! I never slipped with it on wet stones (river crossings) or other wet smooth surfaces. For the oil and fuel resistance I only tested it at my petrol station, since the floor next to the pumps are often wet and dirty with spilled diesel and gasoline and they didn't it slip there nor did I saw any changes (burns) in the sole from the fuel later.
The boots are really light for their height and have this kinda slim fit design, so you feel like you are actually wearing heavy socks with a thick sole. I never snapped my ankles in those boots and felt always secure and sturdy wearing them.
And that is how they look now after a little more then a year (Pictures made in November 2015 – bought in July 2014). I went on several hikes, Airsoft MilSim games, and used them generally when I knew I will go in the woods or somewhere where I can get dirty shoes.
First thing that I noted after wearing the Boots for the first time was, that the little metal plate with the Crispi logo/inscription flipped up or downwards when tightening the laces of the boots. Not very important, but I wanted to point it out anyways.
You can see that the suede got smooth on some parts of the boots, but no rips or stitches opened nor did the sole debonded from the boot (which was honestly my biggest concern, but they proved me wrong, thankfully!)
Here you can see as well some smooth spots on the suede and that it got some kind of wavy where the hooks for the lace are located, probably because of the tightening. Maybe I should've bought one size smaller for the perfect fit. The boots are size 44 (UK 10 / US 10,5) and I have a 43,5 feet. But I rather bought them 44 then 43, because I can always wear bigger socks (as I do – mostly).
Inside the boot it is still unharmed and I am very happy that there is no hard plastic popping out of the boot in height of the Achilles part of the foot, like other boots do!
You can see some wear on the pulling tab of the boots from slipping in but that did not matter, since it is 2,5mm thick. After taking these pictures, just on the next use, the tab on the right boot turned loose due to the fact that the inside stitches were not strong enough or badly stitched. On the outside it is still strong attached. I can still pull on the now longer Tab to get into the boot and then I usually just jam it in the boot so it does not flap around while walking.
The rubber sole is still great and show just little wear, maybe because I mostly use the boots on soft terrain. As said before the anti slipping properties are great and so far the best I experienced in all of my boots I have and had before (like HAIX, Magnum, LOWA).
Well overall I am very, very happy I bought them and I really like using them. Until now you can say I used them around 3 to 8 days a month. Since my daily life does not require me to wear boots I only wear them on hikes, outside duties and airsoft events, as mentioned before.
With the price tag of 130 €, I can say they are worth every cent and I am even thinking of buying the black SAHARA SRVV variant as soon as they have my size back in stock. Waterproofness is one of the big aspects of an all-around boot like this one. I never got any real amount of water inside the boots and I crossed several shallow rivers and stepped in several puddles before. Well, I haven't emerged them more then 2-3 seconds into water and haven't emerged them fully. About the SURPAT camo pattern, besides having a SURPAT cover for my (selfmade) ALTYN helmet and a documents pouch, I do not have anything in this (great) camo, but thanks to the subtle olive green main color of the boots, they do fit with every camo and even with black clothes – in my opinion. I often get blisters, but with these boots I get them only on the "big toe mound" and only when I really walk all day long like on a few MilSim events.
If you want to get also you a pair of those special tough italian made for the russian special forces boots, then get them at the SRVV online store below.
Here are the usual reference pictures – but I am not 100% sure if those shown are now BYTEKS or Crispi boots, since you can't see the small details.
ALFA units during the Beslan school siege in 2004 wearing Crispi Sahara 1 gen (look at the metal hooks for the lace) or BYTEKS Cobra boots.
This shows as well ALFA units during the Beslan school siege in 2004 wearing Crispi Sahara 1 gen (look at the metal hooks for the lace) or BYTEKS Cobra boots.
SOBR unit wearing Crispi Sahara or BYTEKS Cobra boots.
This are SOBR units as well, on the left you can see the sole pattern really well.
And here again SOBR units showing their Crispi SAHARA or BYTEKS COBRA boots.
15.01.2016 – by Logisticz for Gruppa L


text: Slowly I'm working my way through my review pile… But one book I started recently is going to require a few trips before I'm done. (For part 1 of the review, check here.) The Midgard Campaign Setting is not just a lengthy tome detailing the various corners of a flat world populated by myths and . . . → Read More: Supplement Review: Midgard Campaign Setting by Wolfgang Baur and the Open Design team, Part 2


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Despite the rumors about Port Lewis, Michael Gates doesn't expect the house he rents with his sister on Foxglove Lane to be haunted. An eerie meeting with Victor Lewellyn, the resident witch-turned-demon who is bound to the property by dark magic, changes his mind.
Michael isn't looking to start a relationship with anyone, let alone someone like Victor, but the intense attraction between them can't be ignored. As he dives into the world of magical drug rings, demons, witches, and necromancers, Michael also grapples with the complicated past he left behind in Arizona.
A relationship might not be what he wants, but it sparks something in him he didn't realize he needs—the chance to heal.
Available in Print from most major retailers.


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The CES 2009 will officially start on January 8th, which is less than 2 weeks away. Netbooks will be of course a very hot topic at the CES 2009. The new generation of netbooks will add touch and will have twistable screens to use them in tablet or notebook style.
As reported two weeks ago Intel is set to introduce a new Classmate netbook with a twistable screen and touchscreen at the CES 2009. Back in October we already reported that Asus is planning to introduce touchscreen Asus Eee netbooks early 2009. Asus is exhibiting at the CES unveiled pre-show that takes place already on January 6th. Expect the Asus Eee Touch to be already unveiled then.Gigabyte has outrun all of them with the Intel Atom powered M912V (photo) that has been on the market already for a while. See this M812V review we featured back in September. I hope Asus, Acer, MSI, Samsung and the other netbook vendors bring more innovation to the netbooks than just adding touch to netbooks. I expect an UI that is also made for touch and not just a shell with 6 large icons to push as desktop.
More CES 2009 News.


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Power and Love
Author: Simon Duffy
Thoughts on intentional community
I was surprised, but pleasantly surprised, to be approached by the Camphill Alliance to chair a seminar in Westminster: Choice for Intentional Community and Shared Living. My own life has been very much focused on helping people with learning difficulties to gain power, to achieve citizenship and to become part of mainstream society. I am certainly no expert on intentional community or shared living, but it was fascinating to explore together what we can learn from each other.
For those who don't know, Camphill was founded in 1940 by Dr Karl Koenig, a Jewish Christian and a refugee from Nazi Austria. Koenig was also an 'anthroposophist,' that is a follower of the thinker Rudolf Steiner. Koenig was a doctor who was inspired by working with people with learning difficulties, and he went on to create distinct communities, where people with learning difficulties could live and work with others, as equals. There are now 100 Camphill communities in 23 countries.
Partially inspired by Koenig, Jean Vanier began the L'Arche movement in 1965 as an act of Christian vocation. He and others chose to help people with learning difficulties move from institutions into the community by sharing their own lives with them, and by growing and learning together. L'Arche also does not think of itself as a service provider, instead it aims to be a community of equals. L'Arche is also an international movement and supports people who either live together or who live in community networks.
The seminar brought together a wide range of people, including people with learning difficulties who lived and worked in these communities, along with families and other experts. For instance, one of the most striking presentations was given by Dr Marcus van Dam, a GP who serves Botton Village in North Yorkshire (a Camphill community). He described some of the health benefits experienced by those living at Botton in 2010:
- Instead of the average 28% rate of obesity for people with learning difficulties, Botton had a rate of only 15%
- Instead of the average 40% rate of mental illness for people with learning difficulties, Botton had a rate of only 15%
- Instead of the average 30% rate of use of psychotropic medicine by people with learning difficulties, Botton had a rate of only 12%
Dr van Dam suggested that these significant health improvements were probably the result of the collective lifestyle at Botton: where people worked together, ate together and lived together. [Research by Dr van Dam and others can be found at the Camphill Research Network.] However, worryingly, some of those health statistics had recently worsened, and Dr van Dam believed that this might be because of negative changes in the development of Botton Village.
James, Lucinda and Frank are three people with learning difficulties who live at Botton Village and they were very clear that they liked their lives. They valued its traditions and the opportunities it gave them to contribute and participate fully in village life. They valued the relationships they had formed and the length of time they had known their co-workers. They regretted that houses were starting to become empty and that the co-worker model was being changed. Lucinda even proposed that Botton should offer homes to Syrian refugees. Given that Camphill was founded by a Jewish refugee, during World War II, this seemed like a very powerful idea.
Dr Stuart Cumella shared some of the academic research on the benefits of village communities. For instance, Dr Cumella cited the important 1999 research, carried out by the team led by Professor Eric Emerson. I remember this research very well, for it had a big impact on the policy battles we were having with government. At that time campaigners disagreed between each other about which were the best models for people with learning disabilities. In particular, many of us felt that NHS campuses should be forced to close. NHS campuses were the institutions that had survived the first phase of deinstitutionalisation and the closure of the long-stay mental handicap hospitals. In reality they were often just new housing, sited on old institutional sites. Many of the old institutional practices remained firmly in place.
However defenders of the NHS campuses argued that these institutions were really 'a kind of community' just a different kind of community. But Professor Emerson's research fatally undermined their case. The outcomes associated with NHS campus services were significantly worse than the outcomes of other 'services'. Eventually the Government was forced to accept the argument for closing NHS campuses; and it then began a (very slow) process of deinstitutionalisation.
However, as Dr Cumella observed, while the Emerson research was influential, nobody was very interested in the very positive outcomes that it demonstrated for people living in village communities. Nor do I remember hearing any voices from Camphill or L'Arche in those debates. Perhaps they were treated a special case: Christian organisations that could not be easily replicated in a secular society.
For many campaigners the end of the NHS campuses was also the end of their long battle against the institution - job done. But for others, like myself, this felt like just the beginning. We argued that institutionalisation did not end with the large institutions, but that it was rife in so-called 'community' services, or what the researchers had called 'dispersed housing schemes.' We believed that what people with learning difficulties wanted, needed and were entitled to was not 'models of dispersed housing' but:
- Relationships and love
- Work and contribution
- Real housing rights, including the right to own your own home
- Citizenship and full disability rights
- Self-determination, individualisation and empowerment
Instead of proposing new or better models of housing - we were argued that every person should have the right to make their own decisions, to control their own life and to live as they saw fit. In a sense, and this seems to me to be the fundamental point, we disagreed with the assumption that government and professionals should decide how people with learning difficulties lived. Rather, it was for people themselves, with the support of family and friends, to make those decisions - in the same way that everybody else does. It was not models people needed, but real lives.
The logical consequence of this different way of thinking was to propose that people needed an entitlement to social care that they could then control. In other words, this is why I developed ideas like personal budgets, so that everybody could decide, with the support they need, the best support solution for themselves. In fact, although I was a critic of residential care, I argued that, so long as residential care was legal, then it must also be a possible option for people with learning difficulties to choose. In fact, in one of the first pilots for personal budgets, 15 people in residential care used their budgets to leave residential care and move into homes of their own; however 1 person changed their minds and moved back into residential care.
As I saw it, our primary goal was to help people to get the necessary power in their lives to make their own decisions, in their own way. This was not because power or money was our ultimate goal. It doesn't take much reflection on human nature to realise that most of us would give up all the power, money and fame in the world for just one spoonful of love. However, we need power in order to build the life that is right for us - and it is in this way that we are best able to build relationships of love, family and friendship.
In my book Keys to Citizenship I tried to describe this vision and to show the close connection between love and power. I encouraged people to take control of their own life and to explore all available options; but I also encouraged people to see that richer relationships and stronger community life were the proper end point for which all citizens should strive. You can't be a citizen without serving your community; and you can't have a real community without having free citizens who are willing build it. Or, as the great Jewish sage Hillel put it:
"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I?"
Personally, I have never lived in an intentional community, but I've always chosen to live with friends or family, never on my own. Also, while I don't dislike cities, I would prefer to live in the country than the town. Most of my friends with learning difficulties have also wanted their own homes, and to live with people they choose, contributing to that messy and chaotic thing we call mainstream society. However I can also understand why some people might prefer to live in an intentional community like Camphill or L'Ache; and I certainly think people have the right to live in such communities.
What is power for if it is not to help us build better communities together?
Encouragingly, when we tested personal budgets we discovered that one of the main consequences of people having more power in their lives was, not loneliness, but community. This new found power gave many people the chance to strengthen their families, to form new relationships, to marry, to find friends or to contribute as citizens.
Power really did lead to community.
Yet, still today, most people living in so-called 'community care services' do not experience these good things and do not get the chance to enjoy community life; instead they lived in what Robin Jackson calls micro-institutions. For size was never the real issue; institutions are created when some people take control over the lives of other people (whether those people live together or separately). Size is not the issue, power is the issue; and we need decent communities in order to create and share power, in a spirit of equality and mutual respect.
Recent events have made me understand the importance of community even more sharply. Since 2010 the UK Government has targeted disabled people for cuts in income and support. As part of this process personalisation has unravelled and turned into a cost-cutting exercise. So far there has been little resistance to this. It is clear that people with learning difficulties - along with many other groups - cannot be truly empowered unless they can also resist injustice by the exercise of collective power.
If we want justice then we will need to work with trade unions, with other campaigners, and with community organisations. We cannot just hope that things that will just get better or hope that a nice politician will eventually win power. Oppression never ends on its own, it has to be resisted, and it must be resisted together. When oppression targets disabled people then resistance must mobilise disabled people, as disabled people. For as Hannah Arendt wrote:
"You can only defend yourself as the person you are being attacked as."
It is in this difficult environment that we must welcome the desire of communities like Camphill and L'Arche to connect up and become part of a bigger conversation, and a bigger movement. They have so much to teach us. They are communities that have not forgotten that it is only together that we can be powerful. They are communities that know that an empowered individual is a contradiction in terms: we only create power together, anything else is bullying - not power.
And they are not alone. The story of intentional community does not end with these pioneering Christian movements. For instance, KeyRing was created by my friend Carl Poll (a committed atheist) who saw how powerful people with learning difficulties could be when they supported each other to live independently, connected in networks of peer support. More recent innovations like Local Area Coordination, Best Buddies and PFG in Doncaster, have also continued to demonstrate the power that comes when you start with community.
There is clear and strong evidence that the benefits of intentional community are very great. People flourish when they are in an environment of high trust, where taking risks is encouraged, and where their actions and contribution is welcomed and celebrated. People flourish when they feel secure and when there are in long-standing relationships where there is a real sharing of life.
This is a lesson that other organisations are learning. Last week I was lucky enough to be invited back to the organisation that I founded in Scotland: Inclusion. There I discovered that what people valued about support from Inclusion was the matching of personal assistants and the fact that Inclusion encouraged personal assistants to behave like human beings, to be open to sharing some or all of their lives together. Heresy as this is to some, what people valued most of all, was the relaxation of the professional boundaries. Sadly this is still all too rare in community services.
Of course this doesn't mean intentional community is a panacea. History shows us all too clearly that the best idea and the most beautiful community can be corrupted. A particular risk for intentional communities is that they can lose perspective, by looking inward, and by becoming cut off from the wider community. I suspect that a good indication of a strong community is that it learns how to balance its need to take care of itself with its responsibility to look outward and to build bridges with others. A community that looks only inward will lose its identity and its integrity. Communities need other communities, just as people need other people, in order to truly thrive.
Today I hope we can move beyond a repetition of the old debates. We don't need to decide who has the best community or the best service. Instead we must defend people's right to get support and to choose the right solution for themselves.
In difficult times like these let's not fall back on old fear and prejudices. Let's risk reaching out to others and trying to build community together. Let's celebrate and support all of those who seek to create community in all its many forms; but let us fight for our right to choose to build the community that makes the most sense for us.
Above all, let us welcome all of those at risk of losing community, losing citizenship, into our own communities whether they be people with disabilities or Syrian refugees.
The publisher is the Centre for Welfare Reform.
Power and Love © Simon Duffy 2015.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this paper may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher except for the quotation of brief passages in reviews.


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Dr. John Anastasatos MD FACS – Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon
Click any image to preview in full size:
Repair of previous liposuction, liposuction revision, liposculpture
If your looking for a Male Plastic Surgeon in Los Angeles, Body Contouring, Body Sculpting Plastic Surgeon in Southern California, Dr. John Anastasatos is recommended by patients and professionals. He performed surgery for this patient pictured below.
This athletic male came to me after he had liposuction of his abdomen and flanks twice at other plastic surgeons. When he came to me he had lumps and bumps all over his abdomen and especially at the lower part of his abdomen as you can see. More importantly he was left from his prior liposuction surgeries with an unattractive skin fold to the right and to the left of his belly button. He came to me for correction of the skin folds and the contour irregularities.
The operation that I did was liposculpture of his whole abdomen and flanks and fat harvesting and grafting to his problem areas that were depressed and made folds.
The result that you see is after 6 months. His abdomen and flanks have a much better and more masculine contour. Furthermore his folds around his belly button are gone. He is very happy and much more confident about his.
In general the revision of liposuction can be a difficult thing. It requires adding fat and removing fat from other areas. I is a much more complex operation than liposuction.
When someone has liposuction in an area scar tissue forms under it. That is part of the problem causing uneven skin contour.
The important message in this case is that even when something goes wrong in plastic surgery or liposuction it can be fixed!


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This sculpture of John Wooden captures the intensity and focus of Coach Wooden with his expressive facial features and pose. Conceived as a moment in his coaching career, he is in a kneeling position, grasping a "signature" rolled up playbook, gazing towards Bankers Life Fieldhouse. He is surrounded by the legs of his team with historically appropriate socks and footwear highlighting key periods of his basketball career and beyond. The base is encircled with the words from Wooden's Pyramid of Success, such as confidence, honesty and cooperation.
"It was an honor to be entrusted with the responsibility of depicting Coach John Wooden," said artist Jeffrey Rouse, who previously lived in Indianapolis. "I am struck by his passion and conviction as both a player and coach. He deeply understood the fundamentals of integrity and what was required of a team to ensure success. I had the good fortune of working with a great team to create this monument to an iconic man, including the Bright Foundry, CGM Precast and RATIO Architects.
Commemorative pillars allow Georgia Street visitors to experience Hoosier history amidst dining, shopping and entertainment. The City unveiled 10 of the 6-foot-tall structures in the inaugural class in March 2012 and plans to add two or three pillars each year. Over time, the pedestrian mall on Georgia Street will have up to 30 commemorative pillars. Honorees were chosen by a panel of historians, archivists and Hoosiers with the following requirements in mind: the person has been deceased for at least 20 years, spent a significant portion of his/her life in Indiana and that their accomplishments attained national and international recognition. Each will feature the likeness of Indiana's finest individuals with a brief biography.
|President Benjamin Harrison: In 1881 the Civil War general was elected by the Indiana General Assembly to the U.S. Senate. As Senator he argued six cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. He remains the only U.S. President elected from the State of Indiana.
|The Lilly Family: The family of Colonel Eli Lilly, through entrepreneurial, civic and philanthropic acts, has done more for this city than can be captured in words. This honor is designed to reflect the history and generosity of the family through the decades.
|President Abraham Lincoln: The future president spent his youth and formative years in Indiana, and no list of great Hoosiers would be complete without our nation's 16th and most celebrated president.
|J.L. "Wes" Montgomery: This legendary jazz guitarist, Grammy winner and Indianapolis native has been an influence on musicians for decades.
|Ernest "Ernie" Pyle: The American journalist wrote as a roving correspondent for the Scripps Howard newspaper chain from 1935 until his death in combat during World War II. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1944.
|Booth Tarkington: A two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author, his novels "The Magnificent Ambersons" – widely considered one of the greatest American novels of all time – and "The Gentleman from Indiana" are both master works based on Tarkington's experiences in Indianapolis.
|May Wright Sewall: The renowned leader of the women's suffrage movement served as a delegate to the 1st National Suffrage Convention, was president of both the National and International Councils of Women and co-founded multiple civic organizations in Indianapolis.
|Tecumseh: The Shawnee chief, orator, warrior and diplomat was leader of the Shawnee Confederation and one of the most important Native American leaders in history.
|Madame C.J. Walker: This entrepreneur was the first self-made female American millionaire and the wealthiest African-American woman in America during her lifetime.
|Lew Wallace: The Civil War General was author of the best-selling American novel "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ," member of the tribunal that tried the Lincoln conspirators, governor of the New Mexico Territory and American Ambassador to the Ottomans.


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Last week I came across a tool that is probably the coolest damn cool I have come across in months. It's called IFTTT (If This Than That). It automates process on the internet. A simple example is that it will automatically upload any new Instagram photo to Flickr.
I came across IFTTT in trying to automate all of my social activity (tweets, vimeo posts, instagram photos, etc) to dump into my tumblr account as a catch-all. It took about 15 minutes to set up. Beautiful. It's based on a concept called Recipes. You can create your own from scratch or browse existing recipes and still people's ideas.
It can do more complex things, though, like adding any Tweet that your favorite to Evernote, Google Docs or Pocket.
You can set time based rules, such as posting a Facebook status to thank people for the birthday wishes every year, on your birthday. (A bit presumptuous, perhaps, but pretty slick!).
The one that really blew my mind and also widened it was the ability to have your WeMo controlled home lighting change colors based on temperature.
Sidenote: WeMo is a Belkin product line of WiFi, 3G/4G/LTE controlled switches. I'm thinking hard for a reason to drop $50 bones on one of these switches.