text:
Consumer Safety
Important Propane Safety Information for You and Your Family
- NO FLAMES OR SPARKS! Immediately put out all smoking materials and other open flames. Do not operate lights, appliances, telephones, or cell phones. Flames or sparks from these sources can trigger an explosion or a fire.
- LEAVE THE AREA IMMEDIATELY! Get everyone out of the building or area where you suspect gas is leaking.
- SHUT OFF THE GAS. Turn off the main gas supply valve on your propane tank if it is safe to do so. To close the valve, turn it to the right (clockwise).
- REPORT THE LEAK. From a neighbor's home or other nearby building away from the gas leak, call your propane retailer right away. If you can't reach your propane retailer, call 911 or your local fire department.
- DO NOT RETURN TO THE BUILDING OR AREA until your propane retailer, emergency responder, or qualified service technician determines that it is safe to do so.
- GET YOUR SYSTEM CHECKED. Before you attempt to use any of your propane appliances, your propane retailer or a qualified service technician must check your entire system to ensure that it is leak-free.
Propane smells like rotten eggs, a skunk's spray, or a dead animal. Some people may have difficulty smelling propane due to their age (older people may have a less sensitive sense of smell); a medical condition; or the effects of medication, alcohol, tobacco, or drugs.
ODOR LOSS. On rare occasions, propane can lose its odor. Several things can cause this including:
- The presence of air, water, or rust in a propane tank or cylinder
- The passage of leaking propane through the soil
Since there is a possibility of odor loss or problems with your sense of smell, you should respond immediately to even a faint odor of gas.
Under some circumstances, you may not smell a propane leak. Propane gas detectors sound an alarm if they sense propane in the air. They can provide an additional measure of security. You should consider the purchase of one or more detectors for your home.
GUIDELINES regarding propane gas detectors:
- Buy only units that are listed by Underwriters Laboratories (UL)
- Follow the manufacturer's instructions regarding installation and maintenance
- Never ignore the smell of propane, even if no detector is sounding an alarm
LEAVE IT TO THE EXPERTS. Only a qualified service technician has the training to install, inspect, service, maintain, and repair your appliances. Have your appliances and propane system inspected just before the start of each heating season.
DO NOT TRY TO MODIFY OR REPAIR valves, regulators, connectors, controls, or other appliance and cylinder/tank parts. Doing so creates the risk of a gas leak that can result in property damage, serious injury, or death.
WHAT IS CARBON MONOXIDE (CO)? You can't taste or smell CO, but it is a very dangerous gas. High levels of CO can come from appliances that are not operating correctly, or from a venting system or chimney that becomes blocked.
CO CAN BE DEADLY! High levels of CO can make you dizzy or sick. In extreme cases, CO can cause brain damage or death. Symtoms of CO poisoning include: headache, dizziness, fatigue, shortness of breath, and nausea.
- If you or a family member shows physical symptoms of CO poisoning, get everyone out of the building and call 911 or your local fire department.
- If it is safe to do so, open windows to allow entry of fresh air, and turn off any appliances you suspect may be releasing CO.
- If no one has symptoms, but you suspect that CO is present, call your propane retailer or a qualified service technician to check CO levels and your propane appliances and equipment.
CO DETECTORS CAN IMPROVE SAFETY. For extra protection and to supplement regular inspection, install UL-listed CO detectors on every level of your home.
- Have a qualified service technician check your propane appliances and venting systems annually, preferably before the start of the heating season.
- Install UL-listed CO detectors on every level of your home.
- Never use a gas oven or range-top burners to provide space heating.
- Never use portable heaters indoors unless they are designed and approved for indoor use.
- Never use a barbecue grill (propane or charcoal) indoors for cooking or heating.
- Regularly check your appliance exhaust vents for blockage.
- If an appliance valve or a gas line is left open when the propane supply runs out, a leak could occur when the system is recharged with propane.
- If your propane tank runs out of gas, any pilot lights on your appliances will go out. This can be extremely dangerous.
- A LEAK CHECK IS REQUIRED. In many states, a propane retailer or a qualified service technician must perform a leak check of your propane system before turning on the gas.
IF A PILOT LIGHT REPEATEDLY GOES OUT or is very difficult to light, there may be a safety problem. DO NOT try to fix the problem yourself. It is strongly recommended that only a QUALIFIED SERVICE TECHNICIAN light any pilot light that has gone out.
YOU ARE TAKING THE RISK of starting a fire or an explosion if you light a pilot light yourself. Carefully follow all of the manufacturer's instructions and warnings concerning the appliance before attempting to light the pilot.


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Radio DJ Places Escort Ad For Co-host, Co-host Pissed
Leeds Real Radio DJ Guy Harris placed an eBay ad for his co-host, Lorna Bancroft selling her as an escort girl. Needless to say, Bancroft was pissed.
Bancroft said, "I got nice emails from listeners after my photo was put on the radio website. Guy got jealous and this was his way of having a go at me. It (the eBay ad) made me look like a prostitute and people believed I was for sale. I am really angry with him. It was bang out of order and it will take time for me to calm down."
Harris has apologized and hopes Bancroft can forgive him.

subset: commoncrawl


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"aCappella, this is the United States Coast Guard. When was the last time you were boarded?" It was five years ago. A year or less and they typically give you a pass. But we don't mind getting boarded. It's an important function and we have always found the Coast Guard officers to be polite and friendly. So we slowed a bit, opened the transom door, and warned them that we had two dogs onboard. Or as we like to refer to them, the killer security team. The kids knew something was up and were on high alert.
Within minutes Luke and Nick were onboard. What!?!? Dyna and Dylan had no idea we could have visitors while underway! I mean, they meet all kinds of people at the dock and on land. Folks have come onboard at marinas and even when we're at anchor. But while underway - no way!
Luke and Nick were great even while D and D gave them the standard Lab greeting, covering their navy uniforms with short blond hairs. Hopefully neither one has a jealous wife or girlfriend.
We passed our inspection with flying colors. But couldn't convince them to give us extra credit for having life vests for the dogs as well as for us. They posed with the kids for a farewell picture. They looked great but Dylan was still in greeting mode and couldn't sit still. In a moment they were gone.
We received the much prized "gold document." So next time we hear, "aCappella, this is the United States Coast Guard. When was the last time you were boarded?" we might get skipped by providing the gold serial number. Or maybe not. Dyna and Dylan thought it was pretty cool to have visitors while underway.


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Sen. Shadrack McGill, who went on the record earlier this year saying that his reproductive health policies are dictated by Scripture, is none too popular among the... ahem... more sexually liberated folks in his state. Since his proclamation that separation of church and state can go to hell (no pun intended), McGill has been being trolled by a group of strippers who will approach him incognito during the day and ask for things like help changing a tire. When McGill obliges, he is always meant with a business card encouraging to visit the local strip club. On several occasions, McGill even had his Facebook page hacked and rather racy photos of strippers posted with captions like "had a great time with Shadrack last night!! ;) ;)"
Finally, McGill's wife Heather had enough of the strippers' shenanigans, and took to Facebook to tell them that they'll be smitten or something if keep up with this crap.


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Bristol chairman silences a citizen
BRISTOL — When Bristol Planning Commission Vice-Chair Chico Martin refused to accept public comments from John "Slim" Pickens — the only citizen in attendance at the commission's Tuesday meeting — Martin may have violated state law, according to Secretary of State Jim Condos and his deputy Brian Leven.
Pickens was seeking to better understand a map presented at the commission's last meeting in October, which displayed the redrawn lines of a controversial, resource-extraction prohibition zone (see related story). When Pickens began to comment on the map, Martin cut him off and told him that if he did not have a question about something on the agenda, he couldn't speak. Since the map was not explicitly stated as an agenda item, Martin silenced Pickens. After protesting to no avail, Pickens left.
See the Video Here:
Minutes later, the map was brought to the table by Adam Lougee, executive director of the Addison County Regional Planning Commission, who is assisting the planners as a consultant as they restructure the zoning ordinances. At the planners' request, Lougee presented the planners with a redrawn version of the map that Pickens had inquired about moments before Lougee arrived.
According to Condos' initial understanding of the situation, Martin was overzealous in shutting off Pickens' desire to comment. Condos pointed to a section of Vermont's Open Meeting Law, which clearly states: "At an open meeting, the public shall be given a reasonable opportunity to express its opinion on matters considered by the public body during the meeting, as long as order is maintained. Public comment shall be subject to reasonable rules established by the chairperson."
The map was "considered by the public body during the meeting," and, as Condos explains, public boards should interpret the clause "reasonable rules" broadly in favor of the public.
"I think there are certain limits that can be placed on the public's right to speak, but those limits usually are a time limit. If there're 150 people in the room, saying we're going to limit people to two minutes, that, I think, would be considered reasonable. On the other hand, if you have one person in the room, and the person wants to speak, limiting that person to two minutes might be unreasonable … I think if this would go to court, the court would try to determine what was reasonable in that particular instance."
"The law clearly states that the public has the right to express opinions on a matter before the public body," Leven added. "From the board's (perspective) or the town or whatever agency it may be, if they're inclined to disregard or not hear information that someone is willing to offer, that really calls into question the soundness of their decision-making process."
Martin began the Bristol planning commission meeting Tuesday with a word on procedure.
"We will only be taking comments on our agenda, so that we can make better use of time of our consultant," Martin said at the start of the meeting on Tuesday before Lougee arrived.
However, during the public comment portion of the meeting, when Pickens began to comment, he was cut off in mid-sentence.
"I'm here to make comments on your last meeting," Pickens began, when he was interrupted by Martin.
"No you can't," Martin said. "We're only taking comments on the agenda … It's up to the discretion of the chair," Martin continued, explaining that there wasn't time for comments other than what was on the agenda.
"So for two months you're not going to allow comments?" asked an incredulous Pickens.
"On anything other than the agenda, no," Martin answered.
"May I ask just one clarification question pointing to the maps, just to inform myself?" asked Pickens. "I won't make any comments. It's just that the map isn't very clear … and I'd like to ask just one question about where something is located."
Martin said the map accepted by the planners at their last meeting and printed in the AddisonIndependent on Oct. 20 was a draft. He said a final version of the map was drawn up by the regional planning commission and will be given to the selectboard. At the planners' last meeting they approved the proposed plan and passed it onto the selectboard.
"You should reserve your comments on the map for the selectboard," said Martin, failing to inform Pickens that the exact map Martin referenced would be distributed minutes later to members of the planning commission for further discussion.
"I'm very disappointed," Pickens said to Martin and commission members. "I think it's a little unfair to have a meeting — and I can only make a comment on that meeting after I've reviewed the meeting — and I come the next chance and I'm not allowed to make a comment… It seems very unfair and not very citizen friendly."
According to the Secretary of State's office, when public officials inappropriately shut down citizen comments there is a legal recourse and a public-process recourse as outlined in title one, section 314(h), of the Vermont statutes.
"The average citizen has a choice of taking his or her own legal action or filing a complaint with the attorney general's office," said Leven, adding that the attorney general's office might then take up the case. Or, the selectboard can also take action over its appointed body.
Selectboard Chair Joel Bouvier was unaware of the details of the incident on Wednesday morning, but said he would look into the incident.
"It doesn't matter to me who it is that asked the question," Bouvier said. "If their due process was violated, … I will look into it."
Meanwhile, as part of Condos' Vermont Transparency Tour, he stopped by Middlebury on Nov. 7 and addressed the issue of accepting public comments at open meetings.
"I can't say that enough. The public has a right to speak at your school or selectboard meetings," said Condos. "You can't shut them off."
After the planning commission's meeting, Martin was asked why he silenced Pickens and if he consulted Vermont's Open Meeting Law.
"We accept comments on the agenda items," he replied. "And in the past when we have had consultants or other business pressing, we haven't had any public comments at all."
Reporter Andrew Stein is at [email protected].
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text: Sure, a bottle of vino is the safe holiday party offering, but a super-creative gift for the hostess is so much better (and more memorable!). Whether it's one of your closest pals or someone you're just getting to know, receiving a fab gift that's useful and fun is always appreciated. So, we've gone ahead and tallied up these foolproof gifts (at all different price points) to summon the most sincere you-shouldn't-haves, all season long (and guarantee you an invite again next year!).


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SAN DIEGO – After see-sawing through surges and droughts for 39 minutes and 59 seconds, the Boise State Broncos thought they had beaten No. 17 San Diego State.
Thomas Bropleh put up a wide-open 3-point attempt from the corner but it rimmed out at the buzzer, allowing the Aztecs to hang on for a 58-56 victory Wednesday night.
"I don't know how it gets closer than that," Boise State coach Leon Rice said. "The thing looks like it was halfway down and then somebody at Buffalo Wild Wings pushed the button," he said, referring to a TV ad.
"Tre (Nichols) made a terrific play and got Thomas a great look," Rice added. "It was halfway down. It really was."
Jamaal Franklin had 16 points and Chase Tapley added 14 for San Diego State, which rallied from a 12-point deficit early in the second half. The Aztecs (19-3, 5-1 Mountain West Conference) used a 14-0 run in the second half to take control as Boise State (10-11, 0-6) lost the shooting touch that had given it the big lead.
Anthony Drmic and Nichols scored 17 apiece for Boise State.
"The thing I am most impressed with about our team is that even though we got smacked around, we kept coming back," Rice said. "These are tough, emotional losses and it just kills these guys, and the problem is that there is such a small margin of error when you play a team like this."
Boise State seemed ready to run away with the game after making the first two baskets of the second half to take a 37-25 lead, its biggest of the night. But the Broncos scored just 19 points the rest of the way and lost their seventh straight game.
San Diego State rebounded after a dismal 17-point loss at Colorado State on Saturday.
This one didn't start well for the Aztecs, though.
Boise State stunned the cold-shooting Aztecs by rallying from an early 10-3 deficit. The Broncos went on a 14-0 run, fueled by three 3-pointers and a jumper by Nichols to take a 17-10 lead with 8:14 left before halftime. Garrett Green made one of two free throws with 7:48 left for the Aztecs' first points in nearly 7 minutes.
The Aztecs pulled to 19-16 with a 3-pointer by Franklin and a slam dunk by DeShawn Stephens, only to see Drmic get hot from behind the arc with three 3-pointers plus another long shot that helped the Broncos take a 33-25 halftime lead.
After making the first two shots of the second half, the Broncos bogged down with fouls, turnovers and poor shooting, allowing the Aztecs to go on their 14-0 run.
LaBradford Franklin made an off-balance layup and a free throw to pull the Aztecs to 37-35, Franklin made a fallaway jumper to tie it at 37 and Xavier Thames hit a jumper to give SDSU a 39-37 lead with 10:23 to go, its first since midway through the first half.
SDSU led 47-40 before Boise State closed the gap on a 3-pointer by Nichols and a three-point play by Derrick Marks. SDSU made seven of eight free throws over the last 34.1 seconds.
Marks had 12 points for the Broncos.


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If It Involves Books, Rainy Days, Tea & Cats Count Me In | White Mug
If It Involves Books, Rainy Days, Tea & Cats Count Me In | White Mug
Regular price
Regular price
Sale price
Unit price
Just imagine yourself sitting cozily by the fire, reading your most favorite book, and drinking hot chocolate from a mug like this. Made with a premium hard coat that provides crisp and vibrant color reproduction, this mug is sure to look sharp in your hands for years.
- High Gloss + Premium White Finish
- ORCA Coating
- Dishwasher and Microwave Safe
- Features a double-sided print
- 11oz: 3.7"H x 3.7"W x 3.2"D
- 15oz: 4.5"H x 4.5"W x 3.4"D
- 11oz: 10.2" Circumference
- 15oz: 10.75" Circumference


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Could Obama's Latest Push Send McDonald's Stock Tumbling?
In February, President Obama called for an increase to the federal minimum wage. Considering minimum wage hasn't been increased in four years, employees working for this minimum are probably thrilled. On the flip side, employers are likely concerned about how this could impact business and profit. Right now, federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, and if the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013 is passed, it'll increase to at least $9 an hour. At this point, there's no way to tell if the legislation will be passed. But since we Fools like to invest for the long term, let's assume for a moment that minimum wage is increased. What could this mean for company profit and, consequently, investors?
Do you want fries with that?
Over the past few years, the cost of living has increased -- I know, I'm not happy about it, either. For employees making $7.25 an hour, the increase in things like gas and groceries has probably been especially onerous. So, is it valid to argue that employers should also be keeping up with the cost of living by increasing pay? Some might argue yes, while others might say no.
For those who argue yes, it might be tempting to assume that employers are greedy if they're not increasing employee pay. But is that fair to employers? Consider the following:
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Of the total workforce in America, only 4.7% make at or below minimum wage. The above graph breaks down this 4.7% into age groups. As you can see, almost half of the total workers making at or below minimum wage are under 25. However, workers under 25 make up only one-fifth of the total U.S. workforce. This means that most people making minimum wage are high school to college age.
In addition to the above, consider this:
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This pie chart represents all the industries where workers are making at or below minimum wage. The top seven industries employ 77% of the workers making minimum wage, with the remaining 23% coming from a variety of other industries.
As you can see, leisure and hospitality make up 34%. Most of those jobs are in restaurants and other food services -- like McDonald's , Chipotle Mexican Grill , YumBrands' Taco Bell, and Starbucks . Consequently, if the Fair Minimum Wage Act is passed, it'll have the biggest impact on fast-food and restaurant companies.
Yum! A lukewarm, gray burger that's mostly just bun
Fast-food chains are successful because of their focus on high-volume, low-cost food. But even that low-cost food has seen a price jump thanks to increased supply chain cost. Take for example a Big Mac from McDonald's. At the end of the recession, the average price in the U.S. for a Big Mac was $3.57. Today, it's $4.37.
This trend is expected to continue. In its 2012 Annual Report, McDonald's reported that in 2013, it expects to spend 1.5% to 2.5% more on groceries in the U.S. Furthermore, in 2012 McDonald's reported that even though there were positive comparable sales, profit margin decreased due to "higher commodity and labor costs." More importantly, McDonald's profit margin decreased because it kept prices low despite escalating costs. It focused on keeping prices low -- and continues to do so -- because fewer people are eating out, according to the Harris Poll.
To top that off, the poll reported that 90% of respondents said "good prices" were the primary factor in where they dined. Additionally, 26% of respondents said they were eating at fast-food restaurants "less frequently," while only 14% reported "more frequently."
A look in the crystal ball
What all this boils down to is the fact that restaurants, particularly fast-food joints, are already feeling the pinch thanks to increased supply chain cost and weaker consumer spending. Also, they employ a large portion of workers at minimum wage. Furthermore, most of the people working at these places are high school and college age, and probably not looking for a career in fast food. This likely leads to a higher turnover rate.
Consequently, if the Fair Minimum Wage Act is passed, there's a good chance companies like McDonald's, Chipotle, Taco Bell, and Starbucks will be forced to raise prices, which will likely impact consumer spending. For investors, that'll mean a loss in profits, leading to a negative impact on stock prices.
Time to toss the wrapper?
Right now, the Fair Minimum Wage Act could go either way, but I imagine -- or at least hope -- that representatives are considering all the factors. Yes, living on $7.25 an hour probably makes it hard to make ends meet, but at the same time, most of the workers in this situation aren't facing the full expenses of "adulthood." In addition, employers in fast-food chains are probably weighing a variety of factors, and not simply being greedy. Therefore, if employers are forced to raise minimum wage for everyone, I imagine it'll prove costly to their bottom line. In turn, that'll probably negatively impact the stock price. As such, investors would do well to continue monitoring the progress of the Fair Minimum Wage Act. If it looks like it will pass, it might be a good idea to reevaluate your holdings.
McDonald's turned in a dismal year in 2012, underperforming the broader market by 25%. Looking ahead, can the Golden Arches reclaim its throne atop the restaurant industry or will this unsettling trend continue? Our top analyst weighs in on McDonald's future in a recent premium report on the company. Click here now to find out whether a buying opportunity has emerged for this global juggernaut.
The article Could Obama's Latest Push Send McDonald's Stock Tumbling? originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Katie Spence has no position in any stocks mentioned. Follow her on Twitter @TMFKSpence. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill, McDonald's, and Starbucks. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright © 1995 - 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


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(Thanks to Andrew Hoenig)
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(Thanks to Andrew Hoenig)
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You've got to be careful with that wild tea. You can never be sure it wont turn on you.
First to say... Huh? and then Why?
Well, if the bot hadn't attacked I would have been first.
However, I do have to say that Monkey Picked Tea sounds better than this Kopi Luwak Coffee
Monkey tea, monkey doo?
I thought this was gonna be about boogers...
eeeeeeek ewwwwwwwwww Baron!
I knew I could get an ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww out of you, Siouxie.
Again, Happy Friday.
do spider monkeys pick spiders?
Baron- I'll try the monkey poop coffee if you want to try the weasel coffee
Now, that's pretty funky too, ddd.
Happy Friday to you too, Baron ;-)
*accck* ddd!!
passes on the coffee. and the beverage picking monkeys. i want one of those toilet cleaning chimps.
I don't know about that tea, but I'm all over the crocodile curry!
And we'll wash it all down with some nice scorpion infused vodka!
Our scorpion vodka, contains a real farm raised scorpion, latin name buthus martensii).Which has been specially bred for us in southern china. The scorpion is first put through a special detoxifying process then infused in the vodka for 3 months before hitting the shelves, the scorpion imparts a pleasant soft woody taste to the vodka, it also effectively smoothes off the sharp edge of the vodka.
Alcohol infused with a scorpion is said to possess many excellent health properties when drunk, such as helping to increase libido, lowering blood pressure & helps remove toxins in the bloodstream.
Scorpion vodka is best served straight from the freezer neat, but it is also a pleasant partner to a simple mixer such as tonic. Once you have finished the vodka you can then move on to the scorpion which has been carefully detoxified so that it is 100% safe to eat!
* Please be careful of the sharp stinger *
Ummm, looking at those links, are we sure its not already April Fools day where you guys are?
I hope not, Matt; I've just run up all my credit cards!
i don't what them pulling my leg or my "rehion"....that's just sick
Looking at the text of the monkey-picked tea, I'd guess the specially-trained monkeys did the typing also.
I bypassed the 'bot, AGAIN !!
Ha HA Ha (my evil laugh)
Try a steaming cup of many weed tea.
too bad it's not monkey-poop coffee, but i guess the name capuchin-o was taken (or maybe capuchin-eau for the french market...)
maybe "rhesus pieces" for the monkey tea...
"monkey picked tea: Because there's some jobs political prisoners just aren't good for...yet!"
*snork* @ insom
"rhesus pieces" Heh. **SNORK**
I don't like the way they call their slaved laborers 'monkeys' ...
So, are they saying that Monkey Picked Tea is tea that has been picked by monkeys, or tea that has been picked by Mickey, Davey, Peter, and Mike?
I can hear it now. You're walking around in remote mountain region of China, minding your own business, thinking how nice it would be to have a cup of tea picked by monkeys, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, you start hearing this:
Here we come, walkin'
Down the street.
We get the funniest looks from
Every one we meet.
Hey, hey, we're the Monkees!
And people say we monkey around.
But we're too busy picking wild tea
To put anybody down.
Wild Tea? Does that mean people go ape-sh!t over it?
from ddd's 9:31 post -
How do you clean weasel-barf tea? Autoclave? Alcohol? All of the above?
Wild tea
You make my taste buds sing
Yeah, you make everything groovy
Wild tea
Wild tea
I think I'll drink you
Wild tea
But can I trust those monkeys for sure?
Wild tea
A brew so rare
Wild tea
Wild tea
You make my taste buds sing
You make everything groovy
Wild tea
C'mon c'mon wild tea
C'mon c'mon wild tea
Drinkin' drinkin' wild tea
C'mon c'mon wild tea
Wild tea
C'mon climb up those trees
Wild tea
I think I'll drink you
awesome earwig, marfie!!! nicely done ;-P
*passes Siouxie a "wild" mojito*
thanks, marfie!!!
Fivver, from here on out, I will use the phrase "Many-Weed Tea" when I mean S***. THank you for your contribution, and might I add an Eeeeeewwww to the chorus?
Did you see the "species" designation at the right side of the screen?
These days, the phrase "macaca mulatta" would get an awful lot of people in trouble, especially politicians using it in public.
It's quite a mouthful even if you've heard of macaque monkeys before.
They've tried to be politically correct, asserting (on what basis? squirrel surveillance cameras?) that no monkeys could possibly have been mistreated in the course of being required to harvest tea from cliffs all day every day. But the species name is a no-win thing to publicize ...
My own only regret is that my comment is way too late to inspire one of our resident poets to add a verse. They've obviously already struck home....
The comments to this entry are closed.


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Earlier this week, Baroness (Susan) Kramer moved a debate in the House of Lords on UK economic growth. Her speech covered the background to the UK's current economic position as well as a number of suggestions of what the government can do to encourage growth. Below is a slightly edited version of the speech.
In 2010 the coalition inherited a badly damaged economy. The previous Government had built their boom on the back of tax revenues pumped up by false profits from the banks – a bubble that burst in 2008 – and on the back of consumer spending pumped up by excessive consumer credit and a huge bubble in asset prices, particularly house prices. I remember that in the other place my colleague Vince Cable pressed the need to deal with excessive public and private debt but was generally treated with some scorn. However, public spending spiralled out of control in around 2004. Even before the bank crisis struck, the UK had the highest budget deficit in the G7. The country had no cushion at all with which to deal with any economic shocks, and the shock came spectacularly in 2008. I think most would argue that devaluation of the pound and ongoing public overspending helped to provide an initial cushion, but by the 2010 general election the UK was on track to have the highest deficit in the G20 and Liam Byrne was not kidding when he left that note saying "There is no money left".
However, the fundamentals were worse. According to The Plan for Growth, under various Governments the UK had "stopped saving, investing and exporting". Savings rates had declined to some of the lowest in the developed world. Manufacturing had fallen sharply as a share of the economy. The UK's share of the global exports market had declined, largely due to our inability to succeed in exporting to high-growth markets. Some of your Lordships have often remarked with astonishment that Belgium exports more to China than we do. Only 6.5% of our exports are to the BRIC countries. The economy had become dangerously unbalanced by both sector and geography. It was far too dependent on financial services, far too weak as regards manufacturing and economic prosperity was concentrated largely in London and the south-east.
Since then we have made some progress. The Government have taken a grip on the structural side of the deficit, using both tax increases and spending cuts. The talk is of austerity but the truth is a far more measured pace of deficit management. In some ways it suits my Conservative colleagues and the Labour opposition to overegg the reality of the rate at which the deficit is being tackled. We will not see deficit reduction in real terms until 2014 at the earliest. It is quite a measured programme and, ironically, if you were to look at the Labour programme outlined by Alistair Darling and the current programme laid out by George Osborne, you would not find a significant difference. I understand that it suits the parties to highlight the difference, but the reality is that we are moving in a fairly measured way.
It also pleases me that the burden has fallen most on the wealthiest 20%, as it should do. A good example is that while corporate tax has been cut to competitive rates, the starting point of income tax has been increased to take more than a million low earners out of tax altogether. This Government have put forward numerous schemes for growth, which include a boost to the enterprise investment scheme, enterprise zones, a doubling of apprenticeships to revive our skill base, £1 billion committed to the Youth Contract, £1.4 million invested in the regional growth fund, half a million pounds invested in the Growing Places Fund, and investment in the green investment bank that will reach £3 billion in this Parliament. The list is long and I suspect that I can rely on the Minister in his closing speech to add significantly more detail to it. The financial markets have responded and shown sufficient faith that long-term borrowing for the UK has fallen to lows unheard of in recent history. Most recently, one is looking at a rate of something between 1.5% and 1.7% for long-term borrowing.
Unemployment has been an ongoing concern, especially youth unemployment, and I suspect that Tuesday's report of improvement, especially in the full-time jobs figures, will have pleased all noble Lords. I quote Brendan Barber of the TUC who said that it was "some long overdue good news".
However, much more remains to be done, and it would be sad if we became in any way complacent. Whatever the outcome of the euro crisis, it will continue to be a drag on our economy for some time to come.
Like others, in responding to the issues that have been created in our economy, I have been interested to look at lessons from the 1930s. Recovery from the 1930s recession was not based on fiscal stimulus; and I say that because sometimes there is a myth that fiscal stimulus was the answer. That did not really occur until rearmament in the second half of the 1930s.
Instead, devaluation and cheap money were key to recovery. In the UK, they led to a surge in housing construction. That strikes me as a useful lesson. Fiscal discipline has allowed the Bank of England room to use monetary policy, with significant QE so far, and I hope there will be more to come.
The equivalent today of cheap money has been quantitative easing and, to some extent, credit easing. As a consequence, we have had a weak pound, which, along with devaluation, has played a significant role in boosting manufacturing and exports that have carried us through several years at least, although they may not look quite as strong as they initially did. However, that played a definite role, and I am not trying to score party-political points but get back to how we deal with the issues.
However, I am very concerned that in attempting to access opportunity for growth, small businesses have found it extremely hard to get credit and lending from the banks. It is noticeable that in 1932, the banks worked and provided that credit flow to business. I would argue that we do not have that in the same way today. Effectively, we are looking at a banking system that is broken.
Because of all that, I welcome the Chancellor's announcement of £80 billion for the Bank of England to provide what is now called "funding for lending". If the banks prove capable of targeting the money at sectors such as small business and at home buyers who have the capacity and the appetite to invest, I think that it can make a difference in stimulating growth. However, my fear – I have expressed this before in this House – is that the banks no longer have that kind of knowledge base, the skills or the capacity effectively to reach small business. It is a custom business and it needs to be designed by people who really understand those to whom they lend. It is not a commodity business, and the banks that we think of as high street banks are essentially in a commodity business. Therefore, I urge the Government to look at RBS and Lloyds to see whether they can push a change in culture and approach so that those mechanisms are used to get the money to the small businesses that need it.
Small businesses provide something like half our GDP, and simply accelerating the plans that they already have for expansion and investment could have a significant impact on jobs and growth. I also say to the Government that, if there is more money for tax cuts, then tax cuts that would impact on the decision of small businesses to invest would be one of the best ways to use that money.
Housing also played a key role in the 1930s and I am sure that it can do so again. Once again – I have urged this before – I ask the Government to set aside a tranche of some of the credit easing for cheap funding schemes for housing associations, especially the small associations that cannot easily go to the market. One million pounds spent on housing repairs creates some 30 jobs. That is an amazing multiplier, and that is the kind of impact that I think we need to see now.
Nearly half a million unbuilt new houses have planning permission but the developers are holding off on construction. We need to tackle this because it could obviously provide a quick win. Land banking at this time is not an appropriate strategy. If financing is the problem, then this is a chance for the Government to tackle it. I am very glad that the Chancellor has now said that he will use the national balance sheet to try to unlock money for housing, as that could make a significant difference.
Pushing the lever on infrastructure spending can also happen through local government. The Local Government Finance Bill is on its way through this House. Tax increment financing is included in the Bill but is so constrained as to be minimal. I ask the Government to look again at tax increment financing, because each local authority has much low-hanging fruit in small infrastructure projects that could unleash new opportunities for growth with a very powerful multiplier effect.
Looking at the list of speakers in this debate, I can see that many colleagues on all sides of the House will be talking about growth in particular sectors – for example, tourism and the creative industries. Again, I think that a sector-by-sector approach to stimulating growth at this point would be powerful in assisting the economy. Therefore, I shall listen to those speeches eagerly to see what lessons can be learnt.
Earlier, we had a debate on social investing, social enterprise and the voluntary sector. That is a neglected area. In a sense, it has been the poor relation so far as concerns financing and investment. Now, there is potential in the City and other places to look at social impact bonds. What is also needed is a willingness by individuals to invest socially, so that, although they want profit, they give up an element of that profit in order to meet a social objective. Tapping into that will start to deal with some of the hardest-to-meet but quickest gains that we can achieve in our economy.
At the bottom of this, growth must be sustainable. It cannot be built on the back of another public spending bubble that will simply burst, and that seems to be the challenge facing this coalition. I shall listen eagerly to all the speeches because I think that it is the responsibility not just of government but of our two Houses more broadly to come forward with ideas that can provide the growth, jobs and prosperity that the country needs. I beg to move.
The full debate can be read in Hansard here, or viewed on the BBC's Democracy Live site here.
* Nick Thornsby is a day editor at Lib Dem Voice.


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Tim Streeter came home from work on Thursday and did what he usually does -- check the voice mails on his phone at his Edina home.
A woman's voice on the line told him Democratic nominee Barack Obama associated with "domestic terrorist" William Ayers, who "killed Americans." She warned about Obama's "extreme leftist agenda" and hung up after leaving the Washington number for the Republican National Committee.
"It's very disturbing that the campaign has gotten to the point where the Republicans have sunk this low to suggest Obama consorts with murderers," said Streeter, who identified himself as an Obama supporter.
Like thousands of others on Thursday, Streeter had been robo-called, Minnesota-style.
Ordinarily, a robo-call is one in which a potential voter is called at home by an automatic dialer and is spoken to by a recorded voice.
Phone calls of that kind, 32 seconds long, spread throughout the country following Republican nominee John McCain's comments during a debate Wednesday about Ayers, a former Weather Underground member, and his relationship with Obama.
In Minnesota, however, according to McCain campaign officials, calls like the one Streeter received were made with actual people on the other line.
It is against a 1987 Minnesota law to use robo-calling unless it is preceded by a live operator. Without revealing how many calls were made or how long they will last, McCain campaign officials said they complied with state law, even with actual costs of a live call ranging from 20 to 30 cents apiece, about 10 times the cost of a recorded call.
"We made the calls, and they were all live," said McCain regional political director Ben Golnik.
'It's that time of year'
Under the headline, "Wave Of McCain Robocalls Reported, Some May Violate State Law," the left-leaning online website the Huffington Post said several readers from Minnesota reported receiving the calls and questioned whether they were illegal.
At an Obama campaign office in northeast Minneapolis, a volunteer working the phones said she received about a half-dozen calls complaining about receiving the message, but all said there was a person on the other end of the line.
As for Streeter, he found the call disturbing, but it quickly became part of the clutter of the political season.
"It's that time of year, you expect calls from supporters and pollsters," Streeter said. "I just would like the candidates and their representatives to represent them honestly."
Mark Brunswick • 651-222-1636


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This article is more than 1 year old
Insider 'fesses up: Amazon's Glacier cloud is made of ... TAPE
El Reg storage man Chris Mellor gets the scoop at IP Expo
IP Expo It's October and that show has come around again – IP Expo, the successor to Storage Expo. This year, the UK's "premier IT trade show" took place in Earl's Court, and saw a busy floor with lots of stands, lots of lead-hunting stand staff and the usual assortment of attention-grabbing oddities, like a man dressed as an HP Cloud, cupcakes and an angel.
There was more than enough news and gossip to go around, but we've sorted through them to bring you the juicy bits.
Contrary to previous ideas that Amazon's Glacier cloud archival storage uses disk-based object storage, the latest word is that it is based on LTO6 tape. This comes from a nameless but senior person in the IT industry who "cannot talk about it". El Reg has also heard the same from another source in the general IT industry.
This idea of tape being the Glacier store fits in with the longish retrieval time for Amazon Glacier data and the cheap-as-chips cost structure Glacier has. El Reg reckons the Amazon system uses IBM LTO-6 drives and big tape libraries from either IBM (TS3500), Oracle (StreamLine) or SpectraLogic (T-Finity); there being no other big library vendors.
CA has moved all its storage assets into a stand-alone business, the Data Management business unit managed by Mike Crest. Chris Ross is its VP world-wide sales and he's been at CA for some three years, coming from Bakbone. There are some 600 people world-wide in the BU. Ross says that the ARCServe product set - Backup, Replication, HA, and Disk-to-Disk - is a single all-in-one data protection product set with single pane-of-glass management. CA has something of the order of 300,000 or more ARCserve customers and there are some 8,000 partners selling the products in Europe with a 2-tier distribution model.
Just switch for a rabbit head, and HP Cloudman
will be ready for his children's party gig.
The legacy business is selling to small and medium enterprises but the BU is focussing on the enterprise and the cloud, meaning managed service providers. The Data Management BU owns its own product technology and roadmap and has been set up to generate more revenue from CA's storage assets. Ross says that one goal is to gain new customers. You betcha.
Andy Monshaw is moving within IBM from running mid-markets to running the Pure Systems business to lead IBM's fight against Oracle's engineered systems. Prior to the mid-market gig he was COO for IBM Japan and before that ran IBM's storage business. He bought XIV into IBM and Diligent. Some say he "fixed" IBM storage and is making it exciting again. From what we hear, it's abundantly clear IBM is getting really serious about converged systems.
Coraid has knocked out a 3PAR system at a US hedge fund managing $10bn of investments. The customer bought an EtherDrive array with the ZFS head, 386 OCZ 400GB SSDs, Cisco UCS servers and Arista switches. This hardware stack is used for running tier one VMware and database applications. Coraid's EVP world-wide sales, Carl Wright, said an "all-flash 3PAR array was millions of dollars more expensive."
Wright said Coraid had increased revenues 12x in two-and-a-half years, had reached the 1,700-customer mark, and was adding 70-100 new customers a quarter. Fifty per cent of the revenues comes from repeat buying by the installed base, claimed Wright. He said that he thought that the company was more than 12 months away from an IPO, which was the goal. Our guess is that Coraid is not that much mote than twelve months away from its IPO.
Great British bake-off: ShoreTel cup cakes
SpectraLogic VP of worldwide sales, Brian Granger, commented that he was seeing the rate of Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) adoption increasing. Does this mean that FCoE's latent promise is about to be realised? We might expect an announcement or two from Spectra in the next month is my guess.
Overland Storage has a major product out, the SnapScale X2, which is a scale-out NAS (Network-Attached Storage) product using technology acquired through Overland's Maxiscale acquisition – background here.
It offers a single global namespace, five nines reliability, high availability, replication and disaster recovery, dead simple installation and operability, and both scale-up (add drives) and scale-out (add nodes) capabilities. European VP Sales at Overland, Andy Walsky, said it had been tested up to 200 nodes, but could go up to 10,000, with a total capacity of 512 petabytes. Adding nodes increases overall performance as well as capacity. A 3-node cluster does more than 400MB/sec and this scales linearly.
The operating system is called RAINcloud, RAIN standing for Redundant Array of Internet Nodes, and it provides a distributed filesystem, load balancing, web-based management and the global namespace. Data protection is by 2- or 3-way data redundancy. Overland's other filer product, its SnapServers, can replicate their contents into a SnapScale cluster.
Competitors include Scale Computing's R-Series and EMC's Isilon scale-out filers. The table below provides a street pricing comparison.
There's a SnapScale X2 datasheet available here (pdf). A minimum configuration is three nodes and 12 drives and that's priced from $19,995 (£12,500, €15,500). ®


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The retail space is changing. Twenty years ago we used to shop and buy in person at retail stores. Ten years ago, the Internet started a change Wave. We could buy online but were not ready yet. So we shopped online, but we still bought in person at stores. Now we have reversed this trend completely. Today we shop in retail stores to see and touch, but we buy online because prices are lower.
This trend has reshaped the marketplace, and it is not done. Many companies could not handle the shift. Large retailers like Borders and Circuit City have closed their doors forever. Others like Barnes & Noble and Best Buy, which we thought would be strengthened by less competition, are still struggling with problems created by this shift.
At the same time, Internet companies like Amazon.com have exploded with growth during the last 10 years. And as we see many of yesterday's retail leaders like Sears fade, we also see them going online to try to claim victory there.
Some companies are successful. Others are complete failures. That's what I'll dig into in this column.
My Pick of the Week is something brand new that MetroPCS is doing with local television on the wireless handset.
Loose Keyboards Sink Ships
Over the years, I have watched CEO Brian Dunn guide Best Buy through both good and bad times. One thing about Dunn and Best Buy — when there's a screwup, the company takes responsibility and apologizes. Take the mistake made this holiday season, for example. Believe it or not, talking with and staying close to customers can even help companies that make a mistake to live through it — and even get stronger. Companies that don't take responsibility will lose, as I will explain.
What's funny is every time Best Buy hits a rough patch, the media writes the company off — this has happened time and time again. I find it laughable, but it hurts the company when this happens. Sometimes more damage can be done by loose keyboards than by real problems. Best Buy has challenges, for sure, but they are an important part of the process.
Yes, Best Buy has to update and ride its next Wave. It can be a success both in the online world and the retail world if it can update the brand. It has begun. It has smaller, specialty wireless phone stores in malls. This is exactly the kind of thing it needs to do — but much more. What is the next Wave for Best Buy?
Barnes & Noble is remaking itself with its Nook e-reader and tablet line. This part of the business is new and expensive for the company, but it is its next Wave. It is a rapidly growing and vital part of its future. This comes with its own challenges. B&N must learn to compete on the loud stage against companies like Amazon and Apple.
B&N's retail side is just as important for different reasons. The problem is it has not updated the brand of the retail stores and their image in the marketplace. They look the same as they did 10 years ago. In that respect, it is on the downside of that Wave. What will it do to create the next Wave?
If both Barnes & Noble and Best Buy can update their Waves and brands, they can regain their strength and win. Will they?
Can they? That is the big question. Their futures depend on it. While these first efforts are good, they must continue, because these steps are not enough.
Follow Amazon's Course?
One easy path for Barnes & Noble is to follow Amazon, now that it has Apple in its sights. Amazon not only sells books online, but also tons of other things both from its own shelves and from countless smaller firms that sell their products on the Amazon.com site.
One thing that makes Amazon's model work is trust of the brand. Customers are taken care of like gold. Others do this successfully as well, like online clothing retailer LL Bean or Zappos shoes. There are so many good operations that make you feel special and taken care of. They make you feel comfortable — even when you're dealing with one of their partners and not them directly.
That's where the power and magic of the brand comes into play. That brand relationship is what Amazon is building its future on. Companies must protect and build their brand. If they don't, they eventually lose, don't they?
Amazon is also expanding to compete with Apple. Later this year, it will start selling smartphones. So, it will offer books and merchandise, Kindles and smartphones, and tie it all together under the cloud.
This is brilliant. Successful. Profitable. Competitive.
Why can't Barnes & Noble follow? It can. In fact, there are many other key areas it could grow into. Will it? That is the question.
If it does, they can compete and grow. If it doesn't, I am afraid it will decline. Sticking to one segment — like books, which worked through the 1990s — may not work any longer.
Sears, with its new push online, is a good example of what can go wrong. It is a longtime American brand. A historic company. You would think it would care about its brand.
However Sears retail stores are struggling. The company sees an opportunity in following Amazon online. Its online store sells stuff from Sears and many smaller businesses as well. I like Amazon — so I tried Sears.
Customer-Service Disaster
I ordered a video game for my nephew in the middle of December. I was notified that it was mailed the next day. Mailed — not shipped? Well, OK. As long at it would arrive in a few days.
It never arrived. I sent several emails to both the selling company and Sears over several weeks. The day before Christmas, I emailed them once again, asking where it was.
Bottom line: I never heard from the smaller company at all, and it's been almost a month already. At least Sears would take care of me, right? I kept getting excuses from Sears — but no results.
Sears kept saying it needed five days to hear from the vendor. I heard that excuse several times over several weeks. So much for customer care.
Finally, I gave up. I called American Express about my credit card purchase and it took care of me. It took the charge off my account with a smile. That is why I always use American Express — I can count on its service. It's a company that cares about its customers. That's why its customers care about American Express. That's why it is successful.
As for Sears, I finally just received a form letter by email signed by Imran Jooma, SVP of e-commerce, saying the company was sorry it did not meet my needs and that it had refunded my purchase price and hoped I would shop there again.
Sears failed. This was a holiday gift, remember. I got no communications and no help. Therefore, I can no longer trust Sears with my purchases. Obviously, if this is the way it deals with customers, it will not survive.
Sears does not understand — like Amazon and Best Buy do — that the primary key is to keep the customer happy and to stay close in order to keep the customer. The rest is just noise.
All the money Sears spends on advertising and public relations gets customers in the door or to log on. After that, it's all about the service — and in my case, Sears failed.
The sad part is I don't even think the company realizes it. Without that realization, Sears does not have a chance to succeed. Compare its service to the world-class service of American Express, Amazon, Apple, Best Buy and Barnes & Noble. The difference is stark.
There are serious challenges as companies remake themselves. One thing is for sure — some companies will succeed, and others will fail.
What about your company? Are you hitting home runs with customers and winning against competitors, or are you failing? I am sure you can give me plenty of examples as well.
There are plenty of companies on both sides. The writing is on the wall. The key question is which side is your company on? And what are you doing about it? digital television service by using existing broadcast spectrum. That way, companies can deliver local TV to mobile devices.
The delivery method is different as well. Instead of sending the television signal to your device over your wireless network, the new venture uses new technology and an old-fashioned approach.
Remember before cable television when we received a signal over the air? When we had an antenna on the roof or on top of the television itself?
In this case, local television stations install a new way to deliver their signal for wireless devices and then simply broadcast. Next-generation wireless handsets from Samsung have the ability to pick up these signals and show them on screen.
The first year or so will be free to the customer, so this is a great value. Customers just have to purchase the new handset. After there's a large enough customer base, MetroPCS will decide how to monetize the idea. It could sell advertising, or it could charge the customer, but that decision is still down the road.
In this first stage, as long as you have the right handset, you can get free local television — and that is the good news.
This service is not available in every market yet. Local television stations have to upgrade the way they send their signals. This first year is a building time. You can find out from MetroPCS if the new service is available in your area.
I have not yet used this yet, but the idea sounds great. How successful will it be? Good question. Depends on how well MetroPCS markets the service and how much users really want to watch TV on their handsets. This is an interesting time in wireless with all these new devices and innovations.


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Composers in games are always the bloody bridesmaids. While Kojima, Clifford Bleszinski the Third and Shigeru Miyamoto lap up all the credits, complimentary hookers and free mini muffin baskets, the men and women behind their games' epic music go unnoticed.
Steven Spielberg famously said that composer John Williams' score in Jaws was responsible for 50% of the movie's success. And when you consider the iconic tunes from Super Mario Bros. or Shadow of the Colossus' sweeping score, it's hard to underestimate the impact a well composed soundtrack can have on a title. But while the music itself is often celebrated, the talented folk behind it rarely are. That's why we're giving some of gaming's finest composers the long overdue recognition they deserve. Oh, and don't worry peeps, the mini muffins are in the post.
Harry Gregson Williams
Notable scores: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Before a certain suave owner of the sexiest in specs in gaming approached him about scoring a mildly anticipated game, Williams was a big time Hollywood composer. His works include Enemy of the State and Team America: World Police (F*CK YEAH!). Ahem.
Anyway, during the development of Metal Gear Solid 2, Hideo Kojima sent Harry a sample tape with loads of the composer's music on it, some of which he hadn't even been credited for. Williams was so impressed by the effort Kojima had gone to, he immediately agreed to start work on Snake's megaton adventure, even though he'd never scored a game before. And as your eardrums will attest, the results were nothing short of epic.
Inon Zur
Notable scores: Men of Valour, Fallout 3, Prince of Persia (2008)
After assumedly realising there was only so much emotion he could squeeze out of the men-in-cheap-plastic-suits genre, Zur made the wise move of switching to game composing. While we love the melancholy tunes of Fallout 3, his theme for Vietnam shooter Men of Valour is pretty inspiring.
Jack Wall
Notable scores: Mass Effect, Myst IV: Revelation, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
Despite these kick-ass accomplishments, and his award-winning work on Myst IV, Jackie boy will always have a special place in our ears for the Mass Effect menu music. Known as Vigil, we spend hours just listening to the ethereal melody that so beautifully encapsulated the mythic wonder of exploring space. God, just thinking about it makes us want to treat our earlobes to a damn good stroking.
Jesper Kyd
Notable scores: Freedom Fighters, Hitman series, Assassin's Creed II
While we love what's he's done in the murder folk for moolah genre, our favourite score of his comes from 2003's criminally overlooked Freedom Fighters. A pulsating, rousing composition, it made the already frantic squad shooter even more intense. The Battle For Freedom, which we've included below, is pretty incredible. And we can say with confidence, there's no other piece of music we rather shoot Russians in the face to.


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On behalf of the men and women of the Modesto Police Department, we would like to welcome you to our website.
The Modesto Police Department is a professional and progressive law enforcement agency committed to working together with the community we serve, in order to provide the highest quality of service.
Together, in partnership with the community, we will continue to make the City of Modesto a great and safe place to live, visit, and do business.
I encourage you to browse our website to learn more about our department and the many services we provide. We constantly strive to enhance the quality of service we provide and welcome any suggestions or comments you may have.
Click on an area below to find out more information. Download Police Beat map
View the Modesto Police Department news and updates regarding public safety as well as our social media feeds below.


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Crackers are developing more sophisticated techniques for take over the control of corporate databases using malicious code akin to malware already common on Unix platforms. The threat also applies to repository-based software such as CRM systems and web applications, creating a need for new security tools, according to Alexander Kombrust of Red Database Security.
Kombrust told a session at the Black Hat security conference in Amsterdam on Friday, 1 April that operating Systems and databases are quite similar in their architecture. Each has users, processes, jobs and executables. This similarity means forms of malicious code - like rootkits - that have long being a problem for Unix admins are also an issue for database administrators.
Rootkits refer to a set of tools used by crackers after breaking into a computer system to hide logins and processes under the control of an attacker from detection. Kornbrust said a database rootkit for Oracle systems would hide the Oracle execution path, database users, processes and jobs as well as modifying internal functions.
Database rootkits would be implemented by either modifying a database object or changing the execution path, for example by creating a local object with the identical name, establishing a synonym pointing to a different object or switching to a different schema. Thereafter Kornbrust showed how it would be possible for a hacker to hide database users or processes he controlled. Most internal packages from Oracle are protected from modifications but Kombrust emphasised that the threat - although hard to quantify - was real.
"Knowledge is not widespread about how to hack databases but information is out there," said Kombrust. "This is not for script kiddie but internal attack is possible - a professional attacker is very difficult to detect. There are no figures on incidents," he added.
Databases don't keep tabs yet, so buy our software instead
Kombrust explained how to rootkits/backdoors in a database could be identified using a special tool called repscan, developed by Red Database Security. The tool finds modifications in execution paths and checks for insecure database settings. Ultimately databases or other application should check the repository for modifications themselves, according to Kombrust, who added that the rootkit threat ought to prompt more secure coding practices among developers. ®
Related stories
Oracle's first monthly patch batch fails to placate critics
Windows Root kits a stealthy threat
.NET more secure than WebSphere


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I fear there's an element of dog-whistle politics in George Osborne's "help to work" plan - the whistle being that he's appealing to those who wish to blame the unemployed for their plight under the guise of helping them. I say so for the following reasons:
1. This is not really about being "fair to those who pay for welfare" simply because the net exchequer cost of long-term unemployment is low. There are now 462,000 who have been out of work for over two years. With JSA at £71.70 per week, this costs £1.7bn per year - a little over 0.1% of GDP, which is well below the forecast error in government borrowing*. If Mr Osborne is serious about helping the jobless find work and reskilling them, this'll cost money. An "intensive regime of support" for addicts and illiterates won't come cheap. As I've said before, scrounging is not a major macroeconomic issue.
2. Unemployment is a massive source of unhappiness. ONS data show that whereas only 3.7% of those in work report very low life satisfaction (0-4 on a 0-10 scale), 14.1% of the unemployed do. Worse still, the unemployed do not adapt to their situation. This suggests that, if Mr Osborne's offer of help is sincere, there needn't be any element of compulsion in it because - for the most part - the long-term unemployed do want to work.
3.There's strong evidence that many (not all) workfare programmes fail (pdf) to get people into lasting employment. This warns us that, in the wrong hands, such schemes can be more of a way of harassing and stigmatizing the unemployed than actually helping them.
4. There's a big cyclical element in long-term unemployment. It rises in recessions and falls in booms. At it's low-point, there were fewer than 150,000 who'd been out of work for two years or more. The present rate is three times this. This suggests that long-term unemployment is more about macroeconomic conditions than workshyness and folk wanting something for nothing.
Now, I don't want to be too hard on Osborne here; his speech wasn't as harsh on the unemployed as I'd feared it might be from this morning's reports. And given the huge welfare cost of joblessness, any genuine help for them is to be welcomed. I just wish politicians (of all parties) wouldn't try to mix this with the base motive of encouraging people to blame the victim.
* Yes, the unemployed are entitled to other benefits, but they're entitled to some of these if they get low-paid work.


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- Additional Strength Along Seams


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18K Yellow Gold 6mm half round comfort fit wedding band
- Regular Price
- $696.00
- Sale Price
- $696.00
- Regular Price
- $870.00
- Unit Price
- per
18K Yellow Gold 6mm traditional plain half round comfort fit men's & women's wedding band. This classic ring is for everyday wear.
The thickness of light weight ring is about 1.3mm
The thickness of standard weight ring is about 1.5mm


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This shiny silver must-have necklace features a dainty chain adorned with chic diamond-shaped pendants. Wear the All is Bright Necklace alone or layer it up for a touch of effortless shine to any outfit! Your purchase of the All is Bright Necklace to wear or to gift, gives survivors of human trafficking and exploitation the opportunity to build a bright sustainable life of freedom! Thank you!
Box size and color may vary.
Hypoallergenic; lead and cadmium free with nickel content less than 100 ppm.
Size: 16-18 inches
Suggested MSRP: $49.99
Shop more from Starfish Project's collection
We invest 100% of your purchases into our social mission to restore hope to exploited women and girls.
Starfish Project is all about restoring hope, one woman at a time. This ethical accessory company helps women in Asia escape trafficking and exit the sex trade by providing living wage jobs making really cool jewelry. So when you purchase that affordable, well-designed necklace or pair of earrings from Starfish Project, you're also contributing to their community outreach programs, which provide shelter, healthcare, counseling, vocational training, education, and more to these survivors. With their new skills and gained independence, these women go on to have fulfilling careers as managers, accountants, graphic designers, photographers, and more!
Starfish Project accepts returns for any reason within 30 days from the date of purchase. Returns will be credited in the same form as the original payment type. Original shipping & handling charges are non-refundable for all orders. Please email firstname.lastname@example.com to initiate a return or exchange. Send returns to this address: Starfish Project, 118 S Main St, Suite 2, Goshen, IN 46526. Please make sure to include your invoice in return package and the original jewelry packaging.


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I have a ton of songs that I classify in named playlists, and would like to have an easier way of knowing if a song has been previously classified or not. The thought occurred to me to make a Smart Playlist that will show me songs that meet the following requirements:
- Media Type must be Music (excludes Music Videos, Movies, TV Shows, Books, Podcasts, etc.)
- Must not exist in any playlist within the parent Classification folder.
- Must not exist in the "Unclassifiable" folder.
I can't get the Smart Playlist to populate with all remaining songs:
Is it possible to create a Smart Playlist showing all songs not in another playlist?


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Tobias Sonne of Carnegie Mellon devised suspenders equipped with stretch sensors that detect differences in resistance depending on the user's posture. If there is not enough stretch in the suspenders, a buzzer gives haptic feedback, alerting the user to sit up straight.
If suspenders don't suit your style, it looks like these can easily be worn under clothing. If it's possible to wear such a device all day, it could be helpful to those who find themselves sitting for much of the day, but in a variety of seats that don't necessarily address sitting posture in a good way.
[via Fashioning Tech]
Join Make: Community Today


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Helen Barret's Digital Storytelling portfolio site:
Martin Weller's social learn discussion:
Future Learn:
Katy Jordan's MOOC stats project
Martin Weller's MOOC stats blog:
Goodfellow, Robin and Lea, Mary R. eds. (2013). Literacy in the Digital University: Critical Perspectives on learning,
scholarship, and technology. Research into Higher Education.
Abingdon: Routledge.
Goodfellow, Robin and Lea, Mary (2007). Challenging E-Learning in the University: a Literacies Perspective.
Maidenhead & New York: McGraw Hill, Society for Research into Higher
Education, Open University Press.
Goodfellow, Robin (2005). Virtuality
and the shaping of educational communities. Education,
Communication and Information, 5(2) pp. 113–129.
Goodfellow, Robin (2004). Online
literacies and learning: Operational, cultural and critical dimensions.
Language and Education, 18(5) pp. 379–399.
Laurillard, D. (1993) Rethinking University Teaching. London
& New York: Routledge.


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Original One Sheet (27 X 40 Inches)
In early-1970s Las Vegas, low-level mobster Sam "Ace" Rothstein (Robert De Niro) gets tapped by his bosses to head the Tangiers Casino. At first, he's a great success in the job, but over the years, problems with his loose-cannon enforcer Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci), his ex-hustler wife Ginger (Sharon Stone), her con-artist ex Lester Diamond (James Woods) and a handful of corrupt politicians put Sam in ever-increasing danger. Martin Scorsese directs this adaptation of Nicholas Pileggi's book.


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Systemic Pesticides Don't Wash Off
- 6/16/15
There are dozens of reasons to choose Certified USDA Organic, but here's yet another significant reason: systemic pesticides. In short, they're "bad to the bone" for plants and for you.
Maybe you've never heard of them, but systemic pesticides are just what they sound like. They're damaging pesticide chemicals that systemically invade plants—from the soil, to being absorbed into vegetation, traveling through the xylem and making their way into the leaves and flowers, where they can then infect pollen and nectar as well as anyone or anything consuming any part of these.
These systemic pesticides were first used in 1998, but have now become used widely for growing conventional foods. Unfortunately, the more pesticides are used, the more ineffective they become—and we're using plenty of them. In fact, pesticides are a $35 billion industry run by global corporations, and people pour 2.5 million tons of these chemicals into the environment each year. That's a problem for many reasons, including the fact that they don't work. We're losing more crop yields than ever to insects, even though pesticide use is at its peak. To add to the problem, pesticides don't stay just where they're applied. A full 99.99 percent can get off target and damage our environment and, ultimately, our health.
It's happening, too. For example, scientists and farmers alike are seeing the death of entire bee colonies due to pesticides. Truth be told, billions of bees are vanishing because they can't handle the poisonous nectar they're pollinating from contaminated flowers.
Bees aren't the only ones feeling the fallout of pesticides, however. Pesticides can disrupt the human thyroid, adrenal and pituitary glands—glands which control hormones in the body and support healthy growth, development, gender distinction, behavior and reproduction.
Many people are no doubt aware of how pesticides can damage their health, which is why they opt to wash their fruits and veggies prior to eating them, thinking this will wipe away pesticide residues.
But not so fast. These pesticides go way beyond being only residual and able to be washed away. Systemic pesticides are bad through and through and are in the entire matrix of the soil, plant, leaves, flowers, and even in the nectar and pollen. Some of these systemic pesticides include, but are not limited to, these four:
Imidacloprids: These are applied to veggies such as tomatoes and leafy greens.
Thiamethoxam: These are used as seed "treatment" for corn, but is also applied to soil for fruit and veggies.
Clothianidan: This is a seed contaminant, used on canola, cereal, sugar beets and potatoes.
Dinotefuran: This is either applied to soil or is sprayed directly onto leafy greens and other veggies, including cucumbers.
They're showing up in force, too. Tests from 1999 to 2007 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed stunning levels of systemic pesticides in conventional products. A whopping 70 percent of broccoli and 74 percent of fresh lettuce had imidacloprid residues, while heavy levels of thiamethoxam were in strawberries and sweet peppers. Likewise, 48 different pesticides were found on spinach, including five known or probable carcinogens. Meanwhile, tests found imidacloprid levels of up to 550 parts per billion in eucalyptus nectar and pollen—which is three times the amount needed to kill honeybees. The Journal of Economic Entomology reports, "When bees consume guttation drops, collected from plants grown from neonicotinoid-coated seeds, they encounter death within a few minutes."
Additionally, systemic nitroguanidine pesticides can last up to 500 days or more in soil, affecting the ecosystem for up to two seasons, poisoning water, soil, worms, beetles, and bees, which all play important roles in a thriving environment. Even the water droplets from a plant's surface often test positive for systemic pesticides.
In short, systemic pesticides run through the entire plant ecosystem. Avoid them by choosing Certified USDA Organic and Non-GMO.


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Parshat Ha'azinu
Almost all of Ha'azinu is a song, written in the Torah in two parallel columns. Moshe summons the heavens and the earth to stand as eternal witnesses to what will happen if the Jewish People sin and do not obey the Torah. He reminds the people to examine the history of the world, and note how the Jewish People are rescued from obliteration in each generation - that G-d "pulls the strings" of world events so that Bnei Yisrael can fulfill their destiny as His messengers in the world. G-d's kindness is such that Israel should be eternally grateful, not just for sustaining them in the wilderness, but for bringing them to a land of amazing abundance, and for defeating their enemies. But, this physical bounty leads the people to become self-satisfied and over-indulged. Physical pleasures corrupt the morals of the people. They worship empty idols and powerless gods, and indulge in all kinds of depravity. G-d will then let nations with no moral worth subjugate Israel and scatter them across the world. However, their only purpose is as a rod to chastise the Jewish People. When these nations think that it is through their own power that they have dominated Israel, G-d will remind them that they are no more that a tool to do His will. The purpose of the Jewish People is fundamental - that man should know his Creator. Neither exile nor suffering can sever the bond between G-d and His people, and eventually in the final redemption this closeness will be restored. G-d will then turn His anger against the enemies of Israel, as though they were His enemies, showing no mercy to the tormentors of His people. G-d then gives His last commandment to Moshe: That he should ascend Mount Nevo and be gathered there to his people.
Shabby Old Jake
"For G-d's portion is His People; Yaakov, the measure of His inheritance…" (32:9)
The Jewish People are the only people in the world to have become a nation prior to having a land.
All other nations developed through pragmatic alliance produced by a shared culture, influenced by geography, location, and climate, which in itself shaped the deities that they worshipped. The land gave the people their identity.
Not so the Jewish People.
G-d placed us as a fully-fledged nation into a land that was already cultivated and matured by other nations.
The task of the Jewish People is to bring its spiritual, moral and social culture, fully formed by G-d, into the land, into the world. Not the reverse.
What the soil of the land is to other nations, G-d is to us. Our sustenance both physical and spiritual comes only from G-d. In their essence, the other nations' portion is their land; in our essence, it is G-d.
"For G-d's portion is His People; Yaakov, the measure of His inheritance…"
It is for that reason that our root-name is Yaakov and not Yisrael. Yaakov, the one who hangs onto the heel of history, who finds himself homeless and unbefriended throughout the long night of exile; Yaakov who has no chance to build himself a land, an empire, and a beautiful culture that he can worship; Yaakov, who is the pariah, the outcast and thus defines himself by one thing only — he is G-d's inheritance.
The other nations have had no time for G-d and less for His Torah. They were too busy worshipping the gods that they believed had made them great; their motives were far from the sanctification of morals, of truth justice and love, that is both the Torah's demand and its purpose.
So ironically, it is shabby old Yaakov, sullied and bloodied by the harshness of exile, rejected by the united nations of the world who had the privilege of becoming G-d's inheritance in this world.
- Adapted from Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch


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Peer instruction: Engaging students one-on-one, all at once
Catherine H. Crouch, Jessica Watkins, Adam P. Fagen, Eric Mazur, in E.F. Redish and P.J. Cooney (Eds.) Research-based reform of University Physics
Reviews in Physics Education Research v.1: Research-based reform of University Physics
The chapter from Volume 1 of Research-Based Reform of University Physics presents the background, design, and impact of Peer Instruction. Peer Instruction is an instructional strategy for engaging students during class through a structured questioning process that involves every student. Here we describe Peer Instruction (hereafter PI) and report data from more than ten years of teaching with PI in the calculus- and algebra-based introductory physics courses for non-majors at Harvard University, where this method was developed. Our results indicate increased student mastery of both conceptual reasoning and quantitative problem solving upon implementing PI. Gains in student understanding are greatest when the PI questioning strategy is accompanied by other strategies that increase student engagement, so that every element of the course serves to involve students actively. We also provide data on gains in student understanding and information about implementation obtained from a survey of almost four hundred instructors using PI at other institutions. We find that most of these instructors have had success using PI, and that their students understand basic mechanics concepts at the level characteristic of courses taught with interactive engagement methods. Finally, we provide a sample set of materials for teaching a class with PI, and provide information on the extensive resources available for teaching with PI.
This resource is referenced here:
Pedagogy in Action:Library:ConcepTests: References
Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Interactive Lectures: References
Physics:Education Practices:
Education Foundations,
Education Practices:
Active Learning,
Education Practices,
Education Foundations:
Learning Theory
Resource Type
Pedagogic Resources:
Description of Pedagogic Method, Pedagogic Resources,
Peer instruction, student engagement, active learning


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The Environmental Protection Agency set a potentially unprecedented process in motion when it began work on Feb. 28 to preemptively block Pebble mine as an effort to protect Bristol Bay fisheries.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said in a formal statement the agency was initiating action to invoke its authority to veto the proposed Iliamna-area copper-gold mine under the seldom-used Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act.
The regional U.S. Army Corps of Engineers handles Section 404 permit applications for all projects, public or private, that could impact wetlands.
Subsection 404(c) of the Clean Water Act gives the EPA the authority to veto Section 404 applications and the agency has issued 13 final veto determinations nationwide since the act became law in 1972. All of the prior veto actions came after a Section 404 permit application had been submitted, meaning Pebble would be the first case in which use of the veto power occurred without a permit application.
The entire process usually takes at least a year.
"Extensive scientific study has given us ample reason to believe that the Pebble mine would likely have significant and irreversible impacts on the Bristol Bay watershed and its abundant salmon fisheries," McCarthy said in an EPA release.
If fully developed, the Pebble deposits could become one of the largest surface copper-gold mines in the world.
EPA's most recent action comes after the agency issued its final watershed risk assessment of Bristol Bay in January that found large-scale mining could have "potentially destructive impacts to salmon and other fish" in the region.
Bristol Bay is home to the world's largest commercial sockeye fishery; the 2013 ex-vessel value for all commercial salmon harvested in Bristol Bay was $140.5 million, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
The move drew immediate praise from fishing groups — sport and commercial — as a conservation-minded approach to development, as well as criticism from some political leaders.
In statements from their offices, Rep. Don Young and Sen. Lisa Murkowski both spoke out against EPA's intent to begin blocking the mine prior to a mine plan or environmental permits being submitted.
"This expansive, jurisdictional power-grab proposed by the EPA severely jeopardizes not only Alaska's sovereignty, but the rights of states and all private property owners nationwide," Young said. "Today's (Feb. 28) announcement for review under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act shows an agency corrupted by politics — one with no regard for the state or federal permitting processes found in the statute."
State Attorney General Michael Geraghty sent a letter to McCarthy and EPA Regional Administrator Dennis McLerran Feb. 28 asking agency leaders to suspend the 15-day period that the state, applicant and the Corps of Engineers have to respond to the action until after permits are submitted by Pebble.
Geraghty wrote that the January watershed assessment is more than 1,000 pages long and that the state has not had a chance to fully vet it, thus making an appropriate response to the Section 404(c) action difficult.
All Pebble Limited Partnership claims are on state land, which requires state involvement in the process.
Pebble CEO Tom Collier said in a release that the group is confident in its project and will continue to work with the state and the EPA, while calling the move a step that has turned the federal permitting process "on its head."
"The steps taken by the EPA to date have gone well outside its normal practice, have been biased throughout and have been unduly influenced by environmental advocacy organizations," Collier said.
EPA's announcement is the latest blow to Pebble. In September, London-based Anglo American Plc, a 50 percent owner in the Pebble Partnership, announced it would pull out of the project after it had invested more than $540 million in exploration and planning.
Remaining owner Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. CEO Ron Thiessen has said the company would continue to pursue other partners in Pebble.
Political leaders have asked for a yet-to-be released formal mine plan from Pebble so the decision process on the proposal can begin.
The United Tribes of Bristol Bay issued a statement saying the EPA action is "the first step toward fulfilling (the agency's) trust responsibility to Bristol Bay's tribes and the subsistence way of life."
Sen. Mark Begich took a stand against Pebble shortly after the January watershed assessment was released. When asked by the Journal of Commerce whether he thought the project should be allowed to enter the permitting process, he responded with a formal statement from his office: "Pebble Limited Partnership has had years to present a final mine plan and file for permits. Even after prodding by my colleague, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, this fall, they failed to do that. Right now, the project can still apply for all of its state and federal permits.
"As I understand it, once the 404c process is underway, the company can apply for but not receive a wetlands fill permit until the process reaches an end. I made my decision, after reviewing the science and hearing from Alaskans, that this is the wrong mine in the wrong place. Residents of Bristol Bay need certainty about how to plan their future and deserve not to have this issue hanging over them forever."
Murkowski and Young sent a letter to EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins Jr. Feb. 12 asking him to follow up on a request by the Pebble Partnership to investigate the origination and content of the Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment, or BBWA.
"We believe the BBWA sets a terrible precedent for future development not just in our home state but throughout the nation. We therefore ask you to look into the allegations that have been raised about the BBWA, and to determine whether it is in fact impartial, based on sound science, and compliant with all relevant federal and EPA quality standards," the letter states.
Bristol Bay Native Corp. President and CEO Jason Metrokin said a vast majority of the company's shareholders and area residents oppose the mine.
"Bristol Bay Native Corp. appreciates that EPA will identify appropriate options to protect Bristol Bay from the risks Pebble poses," Metrokin said in a formal statement. "While BBNC supports responsible development, including mining, the science has shown that the proposed Pebble mine presents unacceptable risks to Bristol Bay salmon, people and existing economies."


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To Advance and Diffuse the Knowledge of Physics will be on exhibit in its entirety at the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) headquarters in Gaithersburg, MD through the end of 1999. Visitors are welcome.
Growth in numbers of physicists meant more research to be published. The Physical Review grew rapidly in size, quality, and prestige. Reviews of Modern Physics was introduced to offer authoritative summaries of specialized areas of research. The need to give others early word of fundamental work led to the establishment of Physical Review Letters.
Reviews of Modern Physics
John Torrence Tate |
In 1928 John Torrence Tate, managing editor of the Physical Review, felt the need for a new type of physics journal-one that would contain definitive, up-to-date reports on branches of physics. He solicited comments from 54 prominent physicists and asked each to consider writing for the new journal. Response was positive, and the first issue of Reviews of Modern Physics appeared in 1929.
Bethe Bible
Bethe Bible |
Rev. Mod. Phys. (1936-1937) This series of authoritative papers by Hans Bethe and colleagues long served as a textbook for the new field of nuclear physics. The authors incorporated Bohr's theory of the compound nucleus and Breit and Wigner's theory of the shape of nuclear resonance, which appeared during the writing of the articles.
Most Heavily Cited RMP Paper 1943 - Stochasticity: S. Chandrasekhar [click here for larger photo]
Physical Review Letters
Physical Review Letters |
To speed up reports of major discoveries, Phys. Rev. introduced a "Letters to the Editor" section in 1929. By 1957, the time lag for "Letters to the Editor" was nearly as long as for regular articles. To speed up publication, Samuel Goudsmit, the journal's editor, created Physical Review Letters.
PRL Highlights
1967 - Electroweak Interactions: S. Weinberg
1982 - Spooky Q.M. Actions at a Distance: A. Aspect, et al.
1982 - Scanning Tunneling Microscopy: G. Binnig, et al.
1987 - High-Tc Superconductors: C. W. Chu, et al.
1998 - Neutrino Oscillations: Y. Fukuda, et al.
PR 'Baby' Grows From an Inch to Over Thirteen Feet
PR 'Baby' |
Physical Review, affectionately called 'the creeping green' published all physics topics until it began splitting by subject in 1970. Today, a year of PR and PRL comprises almost 100,000 pages and has multi-colored covers.
PR Highlights:
1916 - Measurement of h: R. Millikan
1923 - Compton Scattering: A. H. Compton
1927 - Diffraction of Electrons: C. Davisson & L. H. Germer
1932 - Cyclotron: E. O. Lawrence & M. S. Livingston
1935 - EPR Paradox: A. Einstein, B. Podolsky & N. Rosen
1948 - Transistor: J. Bardeen & W.H. Brattain
1949 - Feynman Diagrams: R. P. Feynman
1957 - BCS Superconductivity: J. Bardeen, L. Cooper & J. R. Schrieffer
1958 - Laser: A. L. Schawlow & C. H. Townes
Curator: | Sara Schechner Genuth Gnomon Research |
Exhibit Director: | Barrett Ripin |
APS History: | Harry Lustig |
Journals History: | R. Mark Wilson |
Researchers: | George Trigg Ruth Kastner Steven Norton Amy Halsted |
Exhibit Design: | Puches Design Inc. |
Fabrication: | Malone Displays |
APS encourages the redistribution of the materials included in this newspaper provided that attribution to the source is noted and the materials are not truncated or changed.
Editor: Barrett H. Ripin
Associate Editor: Jennifer Ouellette


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Cover Reveal: Together We Stand Anthology
Together We Stand Anthology
Genre: Multi-Genre Romance for Charity
Release Date: August 1st, 2020
Cover Design: Geri Glenn
Model: Cassia Brightmore
Photographer: LJ Photography
As the entire world is impacted by COVID-19, a group of talented Canadian authors and authors with Canadian roots have come together to bring you short stories in multiple genres, each one surrounding essential workers.
All proceeds from this anthology will be donated to a Canadian charity that provides relief during the pandemic.
Join 30 True North authors and allow yourself to be captivated from a social distance.
Participating Authors:
Geri Glenn 🍁 C.A. King 🍁 Cameron Allie 🍁 V.J. Allison 🍁 Cassia Brightmore 🍁 AW Clarke 🍁 M. Jane Colette 🍁 Michelle Corchis 🍁 Allison M. Cosgrove 🍁 Tricia Daniels 🍁 Carey Decevito 🍁 Brianna Galway 🍁 Gillian Jones 🍁 Andrea Joy 🍁 Jean Kelso 🍁 Bethany-Kris 🍁 JA LaFrance 🍁 C.J. Lazar 🍁 Sue Langford 🍁 K Logan 🍁 Leah Negron 🍁 Lorne Oliver 🍁 DD Prince 🍁 Jennifer Rose 🍁 Crystal St. Clair 🍁 P. Stormcrow 🍁 Kadian Tracey 🍁 J.M. Walker 🍁 Scarlett Wells 🍁 Tracy Willoughby 🍁
Geri Glenn – USA Today Bestselling Author of sexy bikers and the strong women that bring them to their knees.
C.A. King – USA Today Bestselling Author. Bringing fantasy worlds to life one word at a time
Cameron Allie – Author of warm and fuzzy romance
V.J. Allison – Small town romance with a twist
Cassia Brightmore – Dark romance author of twisted characters you love to hate
AW Clarke – Speak softly, ride loudly, write with passion
M. Jane Colette – Flirty-funny-filthy love stories for people who think too much
Michelle Corchis
Allison Cosgrove – Author of murder, mayhem and love
Tricia Daniels – Award winning author of love stories beyond the limits of time
Carey Decevito
Brianna Galway – Romance reader turned author
Gillian Jones – Author of romance that sometimes hits you in the feels
Andrea Joy – Makes naughty look so good
Jean Kelso – Living between the pages with lots of love. Live everyday, love hard, and laugh lots
Bethany-Kris – Unapologetic romance
JA LaFrance – Author of sassy, strong women
C.J. Lazar
Sue Langford – Empowerment/realistic romance – empowering real women in the real world
K Logan – Love on the water
Leah Negron – Author of chaos and havoc, romantic suspense, and edge of your seat thrillers. Where chaos comes with a price and everything you can imagine is real
Lorne Oliver – Author of Faryn Steel thriller, Alcrest mysteries, Sgt. Reid series killing people with no apologies
DD Prince – Author of dark, dangerous and deliciously addictive romance
Jennifer Rose
P. Stormcrow – Sexy romance that twist the tropes and challenge the norm
Kadian Tracey – Interracial stories with a plus size twist
J.M. Walker – Stories worth losing sleep over
Scarlett Wells – Romances to get lost in
Tracy Willoughby – Reader with a dream


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Prinova USA (Carol Stream, Ill.) received Grade A status and official certification from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
BRC is an internationally recognized certification program for global standards on food safety and quality and part of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). The BRC Food Technical Standard is in place to assist retailers and manufacturers in identifying suppliers that produce food products at the highest standards of quality.