text:
Email us!
8AM to 5PM PST (M-F)
Contact Full Tilt directly for product information.
Full Tilt USA
413 Pine St.
3rd Floor
Seattle, WA 98101
8AM to 5PM PST (Monday-Friday)
Phone: 800-994-5605
Email: Customer Service
Or click to email the U.S. offices:
For help with returning product, please visit Easy Returns or Warranty Returns
1 Westside Drive, Unit #7
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M9C 1B2
Seeshaupter Strasse 62
D-82377 Penzberg
+49 8856 901 0
ph: 01527405410
11F, Shibaura Square Bldg,
4-9-25 Shibaura Minato-ku,
Tokyo 108-0023 Japan
Contact Kibo via 24/7 customer support phone number or online for help with order related questions.
Phone: (877) 412-7467
Kibo Order Support
If your Full Tilt product was purchased from a local retailer rather than from fulltiltboots.com, you must bring your product back to the retailer.
Please do not contact Full Tilt regarding returning a product that you purchased from a retailer. We are only able to accept returns for products that were purchased from fulltiltboots.com and were fulfilled and shipped directly by Full Tilt.
We are unable to process warranty returns without a copy of the original Proof of Purchase showing the product is within the warranty time-frame and that you are the original purchaser.
Product purchased from a retailer must be returned to the original point of purchase. The dealer will then process the warranty with Full Tilt on your behalf.
If your product was purchased directly from fulltiltboots.com, all warranty-related inquiries must be directed to your order fulfiller. You can find contact information for your order fulfiller on your order Packing Slip and in your Kibo Account, on your online invoice.
Our fulfillment partner will then process the warranty claim with us on your behalf.
If your order was fulfilled directly from Full Tilt, please contact Full Tilt Customer Service. A Full Tilt Service Rep will be happy to provide you with an RMA # for you to submit your product for warranty inspection.
If you send in your warranty return without contacting Full Tilt Customer Service, we will be unable to process your warranty request.
Exact product replacement depends on inventory availability.
*Consumer is responsible for shipping charges to mail back warranty returns.
Thanks for your Full Tilt Boots purchase. Full Tilt warranties are reserved for the original purchaser only. Make sure to keep a copy of your original purchase receipt or invoice (Proof of Purchase), in the unlikely event that you need warranty service. If the original Proof of Purchase cannot be provided on a warranty return, Full Tilt will use the manufacturing date as the start of the warranty period.
Items will be repaired or replaced if, upon inspection at an authorized Full Tilt Service Center and sent to and agreed upon by a Full Tilt Warranty Service Technician, they are found to be defective in materials or workmanship.
In the event an exact product replacement is no longer available, we will replace your product with one of comparable performance, size, and value. This applies to replacement parts as well.
Full Tilt warrants its boots to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for a period of (1) year from the original date of purchase at retail.
Full Tilt warrants its accessories to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for a period of (180) days from the original date of purchase at retail.
What is covered:
What is not covered:
Click here for a complete copy of our Full Tilt Boots Warranty Policy.
Full Tilt makes every effort to keep items in stock. Occasionally, even after an order has been placed, products will be oversold. If this happens, you will be notified immediately that part, or all, of your order cannot be fulfilled.
If only part of your order is unavailable, the remaining items will be shipped to you. Your account will only be charged for the shipped items.
Because we rely on the support of our specialty retailers in the fulfillment and shipment of online orders, it is likely that your order will be shipped by one of these retailers. When product becomes sparse, it is also possible that your order will be fulfilled by multiple retail partners.
If you are interested in a specific out-of-stock item, continue to check the website periodically and/or contact Full Tilt Customer Service to find out when the product will be made available.
Full Tilt products are sold at numerous online and retail stores. To locate the Full Tilt dealer nearest you, please check out our Dealer Locator.
If you have Full Tilt Boots and would like to purchase a replacement part, you can order all replacement parts directly from our website. Simply go to our Parts Section and order what you need. If we do not have a specific part in stock, you can also check with your local dealer.
All tongues, liners, boot boards, upper cable inserts, forward lean inserts, power straps, cables, replacement heels and outsoles are all sold as a pair - for a pair of boots. All buckles are sold individually with one per package. If you are in need of (2) you will need to order (2).
To download a Cables Size Chart click here.
To download a chart of previous FT Boots Models click here.
You can use your own footbeds in Full Tilt boots if you heat mold the liners. This will allow the bottom of the liners to mold to the your footbeds.
Please have a professional boot fitter perform this for you. Make sure to heat up the boots before inserting the footbeds and molding the liners to your feet.
View our Instruction Manuals below or click here to download a copy of our Instruction Manual...
**Well we've received so many sticker requests this year that we're out of stickers for the next couple months. So keep sending your requests, they just won't be fulfilled right away. Thanks!
Just send us a standard size (no insanely big envelopes), self addressed, stamped envelope inside the envelope you mail to us and we'll stuff it with stickers and mail it back to you.
Letters, ideas, entertaining pics are always appreciated by the sticker guy.
Mail requests to Full Tilt Boots in your Country:
Attn: Free Stickers Please!
413 Pine St.
3rd Floor
Seattle, WA 98101
Attn: Free Stickers Please!
1 Westside Drive, Unit #7
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M9C 1B2
Attn: Free Stickers Please!
Seeshaupter Strasse 62
D-82377 Penzberg
+49 8856 901 0
Attn: Free Stickers Please!
ph: 01527405410
Attn: Free Stickers Please!
11F, Shibaura Square Bldg,
4-9-25 Shibaura Minato-ku,
Tokyo 108-0023 Japan
Attn: Free Stickers Please!
Attn: Free Stickers Please!
Click here to visit our Contacts page.
The best way to stay informed about what's been going on in the world of Full Tilt is to follow our News page.
For Full Tilt job postings visit the K2 Sports Careers site.
Curious about how we got started? Check out our story here.
For Full Tilt Boots catalog click here.
To download a Full Tilt Boots comparison chart click here.
Track your package! At any time you may check order status in your Kibo Account.
Your order tracking number will be sent to you via email after your order has shipped. Your tracking number is also available in your Kibo Account.
Full Tilt is not responsible for lost or stolen packages which are confirmed to be delivered to the shipping address provided during order checkout. Upon inquiry, Full Tilt will confirm delivery to the provided address, date of delivery, tracking information and shipping carrier information for the customer to investigate.
The following shipping rates are for items purchased through fulltiltboots.com only.
Ground Shipping Rates
Orders placed before 10am PST Mon-Fri may ship same day, standard processing time is up to (3) business days.
No weekend deliveries are available.
Full Tilt is unable to ship to PO Boxes.
Unless specified otherwise, all orders are shipped using standard ground service (3-7 business days).
We do ship to US Military addresses through our US website, even if you are stationed internationally.
If you are outside the US, please make sure to select your appropriate Region from the bottom of this page to find out if our website offers online sales in your country.
If your country is not set up for online sales, please contact your local Dealer to place your order.
As soon as your order has been marked for fulfillment, you will be notified that your order is being shipped by Full Tilt. Contact information for your order is located on your corresponding order packing slip and in your Kibo Account.
Estimated arrival dates are not guaranteed. Weather delays and other circumstances may impact delivery.
For additional shipping-related questions, please contact Kibo at (877) 412-7467
For purchases from fulltiltboots.com
Please allow two (2) to three (3) weeks from product arrival for processing.
Refunds typically appear on credit card accounts one (1) billing cycle from the original date of purchase.
If your return was a gift, the credit will go to the original purchaser of the item.
Once you have created your RMA, you will receive an email from Kibo with additional instructions.
Please ship your return to the address on your order invoice or packing slip (it may be a retail partner)
If you did not receive a packing slip, your invoice is available in your Kibo Account.
Additional information for purchases from fulltiltboots.com
To exchange Full Tilt product, please follow our return instructions above and then place a second order through fulltiltboots.com.
You are required to cover all return shipping charges, unless the item(s) arrived damaged or in defective condition or you received a mis-shipment.
Please contact your order fulfiller to set up a replacement shipment. In these cases, the order fulfiller will cover the cost of the return shipment.
As an alternative to credit cards, Full Tilt accepts Bill Me Later for payment. See Bill Me Later for more details.
Full Tilt Boots is required to charge sales tax on orders purchased through lineskis.com and originating in the following states: CA, CO, CT, IA, ID, MI, MN, NC, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, PA, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, and WI.
This means that after purchasing product from fulltiltboots.com you will receive email communication regarding order and shipment status from Kibo.
In addition to email communication, all returns are processed through Kibo. To initiate a return, cancel an order, or check order status, log into your Kibo Account.
At any point in the order process you may be contacted by Kibo, Full Tilt, or a Full Tilt retail fulfillment partner directly.
Check out our size charts below for Original, Soul, Influence and Growth Spurt Boots.
You can also click here to download a copy of our size chart.
We don't pay skiers to ride our boots; even pros you see rocking our boots, like Seth Morrison, Tom Wallisch, and any number of Olympic freestyle skiers, are on our boots simply because it gives them a performance advantage over people that ride conventional overlap boots or weak copies of our original 3-Piece designs.
Of course, if you're one of the hard working skiers at the pro level on podiums or star in pro ski films we may consider sending you a pair to give you the advantage needed to kick even more butt.
Otherwise, we're just a bunch of boot fitters that live and breathe boots and believe the most important place to put our money is back into the product.
Please refer your world class athlete to the Full Tilt Team Manager in their home country for consideration of sponsorship so we can work with them one on one. We like to keep a close relationship to these pros to enure a healthy partnership and continue to develop the worlds best boots. Thanks!
Go to our Team Page for a list of elite Full Tilt athletes.
Just send us a small poster tube with a self addressed shipping label and paid return postage inside the poster tube. We'll then fill with posters and send back to you using the paid postage you've included inside.
Here is an example of what to include inside:
Mail Poster requests to:
Attn: Poster Request!
413 Pine Street
3rd Floor
Seattle, WA 98101


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This section of the gallery will enable you to view the designs registered by the proprietor's name. The term proprietor is the legal title of the design owner. You can also view all designs by registration date or object.
A monthly round-up of news, blogs, offers and events.
KewRichmondSurreyTW9 4DU Tel: +44 (0) 20 8876 3444
Staggered holidays for comfort. Artist Eileen Evans, 1939-1946. INF 3/94
All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated

subset: commoncrawl


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Jul 11, 2014Category: ConcertsPosted by: micaela
I wil be playing a lunchtime recital at St Swithun's Worcester to commemorate the anniversary of the death of St. John the Baptist. St Swithun's Recitals will use the 1795/1844 Gray/Nicholson organ, restored by Goetze & Gwynn in 2010, and also the Wetheringsett Organ (2002), the reconstruction of a Tudor organ of c.1530 currently on loan.Apr 22, 2014Category: Childen, Young People and FamiliesPosted by: micaela
We have just received word that Wychavon will grant us funds to run a project in Autumn 2014 on the subject of 'peace and conflict' through music. We will be working with Vale of Evesham Special School and Simon de Montfort Middle School.Feb 21, 2014Category: Childen, Young People and FamiliesPosted by: micaela
Proudly announcing that tickets are on sale for our Lilliput Concert in Chipping CampdenFeb 21, 2014Category: ConcertsPosted by: micaela
Our ball tickets are selling well (15 March). While you are at it check out the rest of theJun 18, 2012Category: ConcertsPosted by: micaela
I performed for the Friends of the Ashmolean Museum on 20 March 2012- right before the anniversary of Bach's birthday.Jun 18, 2012Category: ConcertsPosted by: micaela
I performed last night for the Friends of the Bate Collection - to help raise funds to restore a Michael Thomas clavichord.Dec 3, 2011Category: ConcertsPosted by: micaela
We now have a ticket booking form and most of the info. arranged for the Week(end)Feb 15-18Sep 14, 2011Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
Hi folks- just a rant here- no music content whatsoever. Why are these things you get at the supermarket called 'Carrier bags'? I mean, what does one do with a bag except to carry things?Apr 7, 2011Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
I have a new standing collar (Elizabethan) partway down and a new Victorian hat, which reminded me to put a picture of the first Victorian hat. Have a look (bottom of screen) by clicking here.
Mar 27, 2011Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
In Bath I saw a real pleasure gardens site, Sydney GardensMar 23, 2011Category: ConcertsPosted by: micaela
A great comment from a person who attended ouir concert on 20 March at Huntingdon Hall....Jan 19, 2011Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
Had a nice sandwich on our day off in Evesham at Teve's Tasties.Jan 8, 2011Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
Parking advice
You need to get ot the corner of Bath Road and Thirlestaine Rd, and the Park House is the first on the left, with columns and 5 steps leading up to the front door. (apologies- it is not wheelchair accessible).Dec 3, 2010Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
Just an note: if you are coming to hear Lady Georgianna tonight at the late night shopping in Broadway you'll want to go into Cotswold Court (the arcade) as we'll be there, rather than the Green in the High Street.
The High St entrance is just to the right of Tisane's tea room.Nov 19, 2010Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
There is no sign from the Winchcombe direction for Postlip Hall itself, but I can tell you how to get in!Nov 17, 2010Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
What's an entrepreneur?
Someone who puts together exciting, large scale, risk-taking projects becauase they don't how not to!Oct 31, 2010Category: Adult EducationPosted by: micaela
For ideas - see the following
The Jane Austen Centre in Bath sells items so you can achieve the same look as Mr. Darcy
Jane Austen Society www.janeausten.co.uk
More delightful things
Oct 31, 2010Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
An exciting announcement! Tickets are now available for our Jane Austen Christmas Ball.
It takes place Saturday 18 December at 8pm in the beautiful Assembly Rooms in Cirencester.
Please book in advance a
Oct 24, 2010Category: ConcertsPosted by: micaela
Lady Georgianna has as mini Victorian tour- that's right 12 days and 14 appearances. We'll be so well practiced after working on the Christmas CD, it will be a pleasure to share it with audiences. Plus we may have some new threads to show off too.Sep 17, 2010Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
We just wanted to make sure you knew that the Co-op Community Fund gave us some much appreciated funding for our education work!Sep 17, 2010Category: Adult EducationPosted by: micaela
A review by Lucas Ball for the Worcester News:
AN EARLY keyboard masterclass with Micaela Schmitz? That could well be most harpsichord enthusiasts' idea of an experience worth cherishing.Aug 24, 2010Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
Worcester News covered us in the run up to the festival. I've been promised more coverage of our Keyboard day and the performance by Piva.Aug 23, 2010Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
Another successful Worcester Early Music Weekend! Seeing people smile puts a smile on my face; the dancers doing 'Strip the Willow' at the ball, the adults who tried out improvisation for the first time in their lives, and the toddlers who enjoyed nursery rhymes were the highlights for me.Aug 18, 2010Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
Sunday's Coffee Cabaret will be at Huntingdon Hall.
It's right next door to the Art House Cafe, so it's not far.Aug 15, 2010Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
Travel advice. Newsflash
for those travelling from the Evesham direction through Pershore towards Worcester.Aug 9, 2010Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
Benedicto's Italian restaurant in Worcester is our newest sponsor and they're offering 10% off your food bill when you show them your ticket or programme.
Jul 31, 2010Category: ConcertsPosted by: micaela
First off- come hear our 'Ghostly Adventures' preview Wed. 4 August 12.30-2pmJul 30, 2010Category: Childen, Young People and FamiliesPosted by: micaela
Did I mention my twitter name is 'early musica'? https://twitter.com/earlymusica
On Twitter I mention our new Jane Austen outfits. So exciting- see the home page of the Lady G Website for a peek!
Also, Kerrygold tells us that we are ranked 12 out 43 projects.Jul 22, 2010Category: Musical ResourcesPosted by: micaela
We found this busking code of practice useful. Having never busked in my life, I have finally stepped a toe in...Jul 18, 2010Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
The Chap Olympiad was a bit of fun. I've already add a pic of me on the costumes page.
Jul 16, 2010Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
Hi there, just a note to say I've joined the legions on Twitter.
Also I've started a Facebook Group called
'Vote for Early Music Weekend Education'May 17, 2010Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
Pavlo Beznosiuk took chances and won over the audience.May 13, 2010Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
I was in Chipping Campden yesterday for the festival lunchtime concert and heard the soprano Anna Patalong who stepped in at the last moment because the tenor was ill.Apr 13, 2010Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
The Worcester Early Music Weekend is going to be fantastic this year, and I'm so excited, I can't keep it to myself! With the help of Barbara Dunn, we have now founded an organisation called Worcestershire Early Music, which will administer the weekend
Feb 19, 2010Category: Childen, Young People and FamiliesPosted by: micaela
We enjoyed a wonderful concert last night in the Guildhall despite traffic problems created by the snowfall.
Students came together for a concert in the Assembly Room (on the 2nd floor) of the Worcester Guildhall.
Feb 18, 2010Category: Childen, Young People and FamiliesPosted by: micaela
Our baroque orchestra and vocal students are in the press!
See the article in the Worcester News Here.Feb 18, 2010Category: Childen, Young People and FamiliesPosted by: micaela
Parents were very appreciative of early years and primary school level Music activities run by
the Chipping Campden Music FestivalFeb 10, 2010Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
Some verbal comments from the Bach Duo concert:Jan 31, 2010Category: Childen, Young People and FamiliesPosted by: micaela
I'm really enjoying preparing for the half term course. We've got lots in store for our young players and singers.
We could just fit in a few more string playersJan 24, 2010Category: Childen, Young People and FamiliesPosted by: micaela
Friday-Sunday, 2-4 July 2010
Vocal course for ages 8-18; cost £100Jan 13, 2010Category: ConcertsPosted by: micaela
We have been interviewed in The Gloucestershire Echo.Jan 11, 2010Category: Childen, Young People and FamiliesPosted by: micaela
Auditions for The W Factor are coming quickly, the first week of February, so if you know of a young person that isDec 29, 2009Category: Childen, Young People and FamiliesPosted by: micaela
Just what I've been talking about! Sue Hollingworth and the Scunthorpe Co-operative Junior Choir are
doing early music for their next competition.Dec 24, 2009Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
Have a fantastic holiday.Nov 16, 2009Category: ConcertsPosted by: micaela
Don't forget the concert by Lady Georgianna on 28 November on a ghostly theme...Nov 16, 2009Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
I recently visited an original instrument collection. It was much like a wine tasting- the only problem was you couldn't
buy any to take away.Nov 16, 2009Category: Childen, Young People and FamiliesPosted by: micaela
I've recently put together some instructions on make your own percussion.Jul 14, 2009Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
A few more bits of information have been added about the Worcester Early Music Weekend.Jun 30, 2009Category: GeneralPosted by: micaela
This website was built using 'CMS made simple' Content Management System.
Coffee next door
Sunday's Coffee Cabaret will be at Huntingdon Hall.
It's right next door to the Art House Cafe, so it's not far.
Sunday's Coffee Cabaret will be at Huntingdon Hall.
It's right next door to the Art House Cafe, so it's not far.


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Dark of the Moon is a online nice search picture game by 123bee. Find out the below displayed objetcs, which are been hidden, from Transformers photos. Find out the items in short duration to score more. Good luck and have fun.
Welcome to free online hidden object games, no download. You can find the new unlimited and best secret things games on our site. At the right place for searching and finding hidden objects. Our site is updated frequently and adds the best games for fans of the lost items games. You can follow us on social media.


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The Bayview Hotel & Apartments in Sliema has made us one of the most sought after 3 star hotel in Sliema. It is conveniently situated on the Sliema promenade. The Bayview Hotel & Apartments overlook the picturesque fortifications, the historical buildings of Malta's capital city Valletta and the traditional Marsamxetto harbour.
Being a perfect base for your vacation, the Bayview Hotel & Apartments in Sliema with its few meters away from the popular Sliema shopping centre which includes cafes, bars and restaurants that offer a wide variety of entertainment and relaxation as part of your things to do in Malta. The Bayview Hotel & Apartments is conveniently located next to various bus stops, which allows full mobility to the entire island. Whilst for night owls St. Julians and Paceville with their throbbing nightlife, the hotel is only a stone's throw away.


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Ray O'Farrell
CTO & Executive Vice President, VMware
Ray O'Farrell joined VMware in April 2003 and currently serves as executive vice president and chief technology officer. His main focus areas is to ensure VMware's long term technology leadership through research and innovation programs, with the primary goal of positively impacting and shaping the future of VMware, its ecosystem and its customers. He is also responsible for ensuring VMware's successful partnerships across the industry with a focus on the Dell Technologies family of businesses.
Prior to his role as Chief Technology Officer, O'Farrell co-led the Software-Defined Data Center Division comprising the vSphere, networking, management and storage businesses and was responsible for the division's strategy, business and product planning and engineering execution.
O'Farrell joined VMware to lead the ESX Storage team during the early development of the ESX platform. He helped build a large ecosystem of partners in storage and helped expand the portfolio, which today includes products such as VMFS (Virtual Machine File System) and VMware vSAN. During his tenure at VMware, O'Farrell built and managed a global R&D organization and held engineering responsibilities across the entire VMware portfolio. His responsibilities spanned management of all of the components of VMware's flagship vSphere and suite products, including core compute, networking, storage and Cloud management. O'Farrell also spearheaded the Dell Technologies IoT division.
O'Farrell has over 20 years of software engineering and product delivery experience. Before VMware, he developed and shipped development tools and operating systems for real-time, embedded and DSP systems at a number of companies including Industrial and Scientific Imaging (Ireland), Ashling Microsystems (Ireland), Improv Systems (United States) and Microtec/Mentor-Graphics (United States).
O'Farrell holds a bachelor's of engineering in electronics and a master's of engineering in computer science, both from the University of Limerick in Ireland.


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Windows Phone 8 users to get free access to 11 million Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide
posted by Nick T. / Nov 06, 2012, 7:36 AM
Unfortunately, while DataSense and Devicescape will help those Windows Phone 8 users find free Wi-Fi around them, the login process is still done manually. However, ways to automate this are currently being developed, so signing on to a nearby hotspot will not require user interaction one day. Since the majority of Devicescape's Wi-Fi access points are located in the U.S., the benefit will be felt mostly by Stateside users.
source: Telecoms via Neowin
32 Comments
1. AliNSiddiqui
Posts: 382; Member since: Sep 19, 2012
Free access to 11 million Wi-Fi hotspots and yet Windows Phone doesn't use WiFi when going to sleep... Not everyone has a data plan you know?
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 7:43 AM 3
6. jubbing
Posts: 150; Member since: Aug 20, 2008
I believe it works differently in wp8 does it not? Either way it was was implemented like that to save battery. But an option to choose would have been nice.
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 7:54 AM 6
16. AliNSiddiqui
Posts: 382; Member since: Sep 19, 2012
Tests show that battery lasts just as long, and no, it works the same way in WP8.
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 9:32 AM 0
2. networkdood
Posts: 6330; Member since: Mar 31, 2010
I wonder if at the site where you login to there will be an option to look at a map for these wi-fi spots...
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 7:46 AM 0
3. KingShango
Posts: 89; Member since: May 16, 2012
Now can people please stop whining about the "lack of apps" or a "weak ecosystem" and realize how awesome WP8 is? Apps are the easy part, they'll come with time especially now that Win8 has launched. Anyone that thinks MS is going to fail and just walk away from mobile computing is kidding themselves.
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 7:47 AM 15
Posts: 4851; Member since: Apr 13, 2012
Lack of apps and games, no Rooting or overclocking or changeable Kernels. You have no access to ownership of this phone.
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 7:52 AM 2
8. No_Nonsense unregistered
Can you decide your stance at once? One day you bash WP and the other days you bash iOS.
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 7:55 AM 10
17. pookiewood
Posts: 631; Member since: Mar 05, 2012
Rooting, overclocking and changeable kernels? Really? Ya'll are running out of things to bash WP about.
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 10:38 AM 5
19. jdep1
Posts: 26; Member since: Nov 06, 2012
I had android & flashing ROMs, rooting,over clocking & so on was a MUST because most Android devices are bloated, sluggish & need to be over clocked in order to get smooth transitions I can't say that about WP or iOS since the os runs smooth out of the box. Free WiFi is always good!
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 12:03 PM 5
22. XPERIA-KNIGHT unregistered
only thing i can agree on is lack of apps as most people, like the comment above says, dont root or over clock there phones bro.......but on the lack of apps part.......just gotta give them a little more time as there app store will be growing........my only problem with windows phones as of right now is the UI seems to be the most "cluttered" and "unorganized" UI I've ever seen! Every thing seems to be just all over the place and the app draw is just one long list to scroll down on.........Wow if they could some how change that then maybe I would consider it over android......but then again im still not sure its enough for me to leave an "almost" perfect OS and UI like
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 12:46 PM 0
14. frydaexiii
Posts: 1476; Member since: Dec 01, 2011
Yes, WP8 is great, except for the fact it's basically an underdeveloped iOS with "live tiles". The customisation on it is almost 0 other than setting your own "tiles" and changing the color scheme. OS is locked down unless you're a developer, in which case you have to go thru some painstaking process to unlock your phone and void your warranty. Microsoft is as cocky as ever. (Yes, putting a whole lot of customized androids together and you can't tell the difference, but put all WP8 phones together that have a different color scheme stands out a lot) The only good thing that I can think of as an IT student is that Microsoft is really making app development easy with Visual Studio 2012 and a whole lot of tutorials and incentives. Other than that, I'll probably never switch to WP8
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 8:36 AM 1
21. carlosechev07
Posts: 39; Member since: Oct 16, 2012
You as an IT student must be thinking in development for all platforms if you want really rocks mobile platforms. Thinking in just one platform is warranty of slow traction for your development. And talking about IDE's, you must see Android SDK plugin for Eclipse, Visual Studio 2012 is really baby steps compared to Eclipse..!!
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 12:19 PM 0
15. brandonrana
Posts: 57; Member since: Nov 04, 2012
Agree with u #kingShango . Infact i think WP8 have the most brightest future ahead
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 8:44 AM 6
23. android4president
Posts: 5; Member since: Oct 14, 2012
Naah i don't think so, i don't know maybe i'm wrong and only time will tell but it feels like people want to control more and more from their smartphones and make life easier, Android is the perfect platform for that. You can use Android in everything, making it able to control TV, refrigerators or the lights at home, it literally works on things out of this world.
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 1:33 PM 1
24. chaoticrazor
Posts: 2347; Member since: Aug 28, 2012
and no other os can do the same, wp8 could be easily implemented in the ways you stated, plus the connection to xbox gives it an advantage. the ties it has trumps android for what your saying wp8-desktop-xbox-tablet android-camera-tablet both should have great futures but when you say android is the perfect platform, that just isnt the case
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 4:20 PM 1
26. jroc74
Posts: 6023; Member since: Dec 30, 2010
The thing is...the costs associated with putting WP in refrigerators, dishwashers and what not...thats where Android has the leg up. Android is already integrated in TV's and cable boxes. No need for something like Xbox os desktop PC's as the middle man. MS has a huge leg up on the entertainment side tho.
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 7:28 PM 0
25. jroc74
Posts: 6023; Member since: Dec 30, 2010
Maybe....but at some point any company would re evaluate is it worth the time and money. Ask RIM and Palm about that....once upon a time I bet they thought they would never be where they are now. I like the free wifi thing. As tiered data plans are being pushed, this is a huge plus for WP.
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 7:24 PM 0
27. KingShango
Posts: 89; Member since: May 16, 2012
Except tha MS is ten times the company RIM and Palm were. They basically owned the computing space for decades. Yes they fell asleep at the wheel but its pretty obvious now they have their focus back. Look at the success of Xbox. They spent years and billions of dollars to break into mainstream gaming and last time i checked that bet has paid off pretty well. MS is in this for the long haul. They're not going anywhere.
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 7:43 PM 1
28. jroc74
Posts: 6023; Member since: Dec 30, 2010
I forgot to add...once upon a time MS was 1 or 2 in market share for smartphones. They have to be feeling the heat in the smartphone arena. Yea they got their focus back...but it may be a case of too lil too late. They should have never let Android do what it did. I wont count them out yet tho....lol. And I agree about Xbox. I remember when it first came out....I was among the many that doubted it could compete with the PlayStation.
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 7:54 PM 0
Posts: 4851; Member since: Apr 13, 2012
Nick.T how was i Trolling? please specify?
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 8:25 AM 0
29. networkdood
Posts: 6330; Member since: Mar 31, 2010
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is teaming up with Wi-Fi offload specialist Devicescape to power the Wi-Fi hotspot map that is part of Microsoft's Data Sense application, one of the new key features of Windows Phone 8. Data Sense is a suite of services intended to help users better manage their data usage and stay under their monthly data cap. Devicescape is giving Microsoft access to its curated virtual network of 12 million hotspots, the first time it has partnered with a major smartphone platform provider. To get access to the Wi-Fi mapping solution, users can enter through the Data Sense app and go to the control panel and select Wi-Fi map; launch a service that just shows the hotspots; and use Bing search's Local Scout feature to find nearby hotspots or access the map through the phone's Wi-Fi settings. The map of Wi-Fi hotspots represents Devicescape's curated list of free, public hotspots that have been vetted as strong, reliable and popular connections. Devicescape uses crowdsourced information from its users to get real-time data on the performance of hotspots. Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) is so far the only U.S. carrier that will take advantage of Data Sense for its Windows Phones. Users on other networks with Windows Phone 8 devices will still be prompted if they want to connect to Wi-Fi when they are near hotspots, but they will not have access to Devicescape's curated network. Data Sense is not only about finding Wi-Fi hotspots for offloading though. The solution compresses every webpage, which Microsoft said will give users 45 percent more Web browsing than they would get if they were on the same data plan on another smartphone platform. Data Sense can also adjust how a user's phone behaves to avoid going over a data cap. More importantly, the service shows how much data each app is using and will pop up with a notification when a user is close to going over their limit. Devicescape has had deals with MetroPCS (NASDAQ:PCS), U.S. Cellular (NYSE:USM), Cincinnati Bell, MVNO Republic Wireless and Bouygues Telecom, but the company's deal with Microsoft is a major win. "We've never in the past had a distribution deal like this where our data was being validated and on a major platform," Devicescape CMO David Nowicki told FierceBroadbandWireless. "It's a major step forward for Microsoft to want to use this kind of data as opposed to something that hasn't been verified."
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 10:41 PM 0
30. networkdood
Posts: 6330; Member since: Mar 31, 2010
Nowicki declined to specify the business model for Devicescape as part of the Data Sense app, but he said the collaboration grew out of the company's long-standing relationship with Microsoft. "They were looking to differentiate their platform, [and] we have a well-differentiated solution, so it made sense to put those things together," he said. Nowicki also said the app would likely lead to more carriers embracing Data Sense and Wi-Fi offloading more generally. "Carriers are doing this for a marketing experience," he said, arguing that allowing customers to have access to high-quality Wi-Fi hotspots improves the customer experience.
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 10:41 PM 0
31. networkdood
Posts: 6330; Member since: Mar 31, 2010
From Fiercewireless.com
posted on Nov 06, 2012, 10:42 PM 0
32. SemperFiV12
Posts: 949; Member since: Nov 09, 2010
Good news... roll on WP, roll on.
posted on Nov 07, 2012, 1:10 AM 0
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Upcoming Events
IV PADS stays active in our community and is very thankful for the opportunity to participate in various community events and speaking engagements.
Need a speaker for your group? Want to host an event to benefit IV PADS? We would love to hear from you! Contact us to discuss the opportunity.
Events for November 29, 2017
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4:00 pm
Ottawa PADS Volunteer Training
Interested in volunteering? We could use your help! Come learn about various volunteer opportunities at Ottawa PADS, tour our shelter, ask questions, receive our volunteer handbook, and get scheduled. Volunteer training is offered every Wednesday from 4:00PM - 5:00PM. If you need to set up another time to meet, please call the shelter at (815) (Read full story)Find out more »


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Everyone who breathes, high and low, educated and ignorant, young and old, man and woman, has a mission, has a work. We are not sent into this world for nothing; we are not born at random; we are not here, that we may go to bed at night and get up in the morning, toil for our bread, eat and drink, laugh and joke, sin when we have a mind, and reform when we are tired of sinning, rear a family and die. God sees every one of us; He creates every soul, …for a purpose. He needs, He deigns to need every one of us. He has an end for each of us; we are all equal in His sight, and we are placed in our different ranks and stations, not to get what we can out of them for ourselves, but to labor in them for Him. As Christ has worked, we too have but to labor in them for Him. As Christ has His work, we too have ours; as He rejoiced to do his work, we must rejoice in ours also. ~ St. John Neumann
By secular standards, St. John Neumann's story is a typical American immigrant success story. He arrived in the U.S. in 1836 from Bohemia, alone and without the promise of a job. But he quickly achieved his dream of becoming a priest, and sixteen years later, at the age of 41, he became the bishop of one of the largest dioceses in the United States, Philadelphia.
But, despite St. John Neumann's rise to success, he was not the typical American immigrant – he was a saint! He would have eschewed the idea that his life was successful and would have preferred a different kind of success – spiritual. He did not want to be a bishop and only wanted to serve God and serve God's people. It is because of his pastoral works, his humility, and his acts of kindness that he is remembered today. For his feast day, celebrated today in the U.S., I would like to share more about his amazing life and also relate how his life affected the lives of my family years after his death.
John Nepomucene Neumann was born on March 28, 1811 in Prachatitz, Bohemia (today, the Czech Republic). From childhood he had inclinations towards the priesthood, and his high intelligence allowed him to receive higher education. He wanted to enter the seminary, but he had heard that the overcrowded seminary only accepted applicants with letters of recommendations from important people. Undaunted, and unshaken in his faith, he applied anyway – without recommendations – and was admitted to the seminary in 1831.
At the seminary, John excelled in his studies and showed a strong proclivity towards foreign languages. But he faced obstacles as well. At the time, the seminary was rife with heretical thought and an almost unholy atmosphere, and he lacked a spiritual director. The darkest hour came when the bishop indefinitely postponed all ordinations in the diocese because of an abundance of priests! But John's faith never wavered – when he heard that America desperately needed German-speaking priests, he decided to make the long journey.
John Neumann arrived in New York in 1836. When he contacted the bishop the next day, Bishop Dubois was delighted at his arrival – so much so that John Neumann was ordained a priest only three weeks later for the diocese of New York. The diocese at the time included the entire state of New York and one-third of New Jersey. Of the 200,000 Catholics in that large area, there were only 36 priests – and only 3 spoke German. John was immediately sent to the parish of Buffalo, which included over nine hundred square miles from Lake Ontario to Pennsylvania.
The time John Neumann spent as a parish priest ministering to the Catholics in this large area is in itself worthy of admiration. John Neumann worked tirelessly to provide sacraments to the Catholic immigrants as well as minister to their educational and medical needs. At this time in American history, anti-Catholicism was rampant. John Neumann made sure that Catholics were educated in their faith, and he also won over many converts to the faith.
Eventually, traveling by foot over vast distances put a strain on the priest's health. John felt that his spiritual needs might be better met through a religious community, and in 1840 he joined the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. Two years later, he became the first Redemptorist priest to make his vows in America.
As a Redemptorist priest, John Neumann was assigned to parishes in Baltimore and Pittsburgh and continued his ministerial work with the same intensity as before. He became so well known for his piety, learning, and work ethic that in 1851 Archbishop Kenrick, Archbishop of Baltimore and former Bishop of Philadelphia, asked John Neumann to be his confessor. Much to his horror, Archbishop Kendrick asked the Pope to appoint John Neumann as his successor in Philadelphia. John Neumann felt he was not worthy of such a dignity, and if appointed it would cause "a calamity for the church." Pope Pius IX felt otherwise, and in 1852 John Neumann was consecrated as the 4th Bishop of Philadelphia.
At that time, the diocese of Philadelphia consisted of two-thirds of Pennsylvania, western New Jersey, and all of Delaware. In this vast area were 170,000 Catholics in 113 parishes ministered by only 100 priests. Although we think there is a shortage of priests today, these numbers are staggering.
John Neumann exhibited the same zeal in his work as bishop as he did as a priest. He sought to visit every parish in the diocese as well as hospitals, orphanages, and religious communities. He avoided the pomp and ceremony customary of the office of bishop and preferred to live on a smaller scale without secretarial staff. He continually gave his belongings to the poor. Other bishops scoffed that Bishop Neumann would wear tattered clothes unbefitting of his "stature". He never rebuffed the remarks nor defended himself, but merely continued to live as piously as he could.
John Neumann accomplished much for the diocese of Philadelphia. First, he attempted to make a pastoral visit to every parish – even the most distant from the city of Philadelphia. He used this visits as an opportunity to meet the parishioners, and because he spoke eight languages he was able to hear confessions for many immigrants. Next, he established the first parochial school system in America. As if that weren't enough, he published catechisms that remained in use until the publication of the Baltimore Catechism thirty-five years later. John Neumann, the Bohemian immigrant, founded the first Italian Catholic parish in the United States, St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi in Philadelphia. He introduced the devotion of Forty Hours to the United States as well. And in a rather amazing accomplishment, in the eighty months he served as Bishop of Philadelphia, he founded eighty new churches as well as forty new schools. He even founded an order of religious sisters, The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis.
On January 5, 1860, the bishop was not feeling well. A fellow priest asked about his health, and Neumann replied, "I have a strange feeling today. I feel as I have never felt before. I have to go out on a little business and the fresh air will do me good." He added mysteriously, "A man must be ready, for death comes when and where God wills it."
The bishop went to run some errands. On his trip home, he collapsed on the corner of 13th and Vine Streets and died. He was only 48 years old. He was buried in the Redemptorist church of St. Peter. Today, St. Peter's has a shrine to St. John Neumann and visitors can see his body lying under the main altar.
Soon after John Neumann's death, there were reports of miraculous cures from his intercession. The first scrutinized miracle took place in 1923 when an 11-year-old Italian girl was cured of peritonitis. In 1949, a 19-year-old college student in the Philadelphia area was near death after a car accident; he was healed after prayers for John Neumann's help. These two miracles led to the beatification of Neumann in 1963.
The third miracle – the one that led to Neumann's canonization – took place in 1962 when a young Philadelphia boy was given six months to live after a cancer diagnosis. After visits to the shrine at St. Peter's to pray, he was completely healed within five months. St. John Neumann was canonized on June 19, 1977.
St. John Neumann left his mark on Philadelphia in many ways. My family immigrated to Philadelphia over forty years after his death, yet his life impacted my family in several ways as well. First, the Redemptorist church in which St. John worshipped and was buried, St. Peter's Church, is in the neighborhood where my Bavarian great-grandparents settled. It became their church, my grandparents' church, and my father's church. All worshipped there in the presence of St. John Neumann's body, and the story of his pious life and miraculous intercessions were well known in my family as a result.
Also, as mentioned above St. John Neumann is known as the Father of the Parochial School System. My mother and grandfathers attended public schools, but my father, two grandmothers, my brother and I and numerous cousins all attended Catholic schools in Philadelphia. Until the Catholic school system was organized by St. John Neumann, there was no centralized method for Catholic education in this country. Those of us that "lived through it" are grateful that it existed. We always felt special attending Catholic school because we shared our faith daily in addition to sharing the quest for knowledge about other subjects. As Catholic school children, we had a greater exposure to attending Church and learning about the faith, and we got to experience priests and nuns as our teachers.
The institution of the Forty Hours devotion by Neumann also impacted my family's lives. Forty Hours is a 40-hour-period of Eucharistic adoration that represents the traditional time Jesus' body was in the tomb from his death to Resurrection. The Forty Hours devotion began in Italy by St. Phillip Neri, but St. John Neumann was the first to introduce it to America. My teenage experiences with the annual Forty Hours at my parish positively impacted my faith. It became a celebration of sorts, and the music, prayers, and special guest preachers revitalized the parish. Coincidentally, the priests who came to preach were from the Redemptorist order and lived at St. Peter's – they were wonderful preachers.
St. John Neumann's name has a way of occasionally appearing in my own life because of the many churches he built during his tenure. Most of these are not within the city limits of Philadelphia, but quite far away, and stumbling on to these legacy churches showed me just how much territory Neumann covered as a pastor. My first Neumann-church find was somewhere near Scranton, PA – unfortunately, I do not remember the name, and there are about 27 churches founded in what is now the diocese of Scranton in addition to the cathedral. As teenagers we were "far away" from home – nearly four hours north on the PA Turnpike – and visited a small, old church on our travels. On the wall was a sign that indicated St. John Neumann had made a pastoral visit to the church – and I wondered just how long that horse ride must have taken! I came upon another of his churches close to the town where I now live. The church, St. Peter's in Riverside, NJ, would have been another long ride and must have included a ferry across the river since Neumann lived before the local bridge was built. This St. Peter's is also the church where my brother got married.
Whether or not you have had that "personal" connection to the saint as I do, after reading his story hopefully you will find St. John Neumann's life worthy of admiration for all of the good works he accomplished. He also continues to do good through intercessory prayer and miracles. All of that is rather amazing for a man who was told that he couldn't be ordained because there were too many priests! I pray that the church will be blessed with more priests like St. John Neumann.
St. John Neumann, pray for us!
For More Information
- The National Shrine of St. John Neumann
- St. John Neumann Biography at Catholicism.org


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Friday, April 23, 2010
popcorn for two
My big boy's lunch for the day:
He had popcorn in the big section, a strawberry cereal bar and granola bar in the smallest section, and an orange in the middle spot.
Magoo LOVES to have popcorn at school, but it doesn't fit well in most boxes. So happy to have the EasyLunchboxes for popcorn days! :)
My little girl's lunch for the day:
Paige had a ham & cheese sandwich on half a kaiser roll and corn puffs (Trader Joe's brand of "pirate booty") which my little girl calls "yummy popcorns" :) in the big section, an assortment of organic raisins and yogurt covered raisins in the smallest section with a piece of fruit leather cut with The Lunch Punch, and finally some broccoli (with ranch in the little dip cup).
The little puzzle piece of fruit leather is a reminder of.... what was it again?
(all together now!) It's Autism Awareness Month! Very good class! :)
Our Autism Awareness message of the day, written by my amazing friend Amy:
"Eye tracking experiments show that non-autistic people (as young as three months old) will look at people's eyes for social cues and clues about emotion, meaning and intention. But autistic people, from infants to adults, will tend look at mouths instead to find the source of the sound. This is Autism Awareness Month and this is me making you aware. :)"
A lack of eye contact as an infant was the first thing that tipped me off that something was going on with my son. His gaze would skirt all around my head and settle in the distance, wholly refusing to look at my face. Gradually this faded, he makes great eye contact now. :)
Don't forget that in celebration of Autism Awareness Month I am having a fabulous bento goodie giveaway! Don't forget to leave a comment (on that post!) to enter. :)
And speaking of comments, I think I have the nicest readers on all of the internets! My goodness, you are all so sweet and flattering. Don't make me go and get a big head. ;-) Some of the comments regarding your own experiences with autism have had me in tears. Happy tears. :) You all are the BEST.
Supplies used to pack these lunches:
4 comments:
- Sandra said... [Reply to comment]
Oh my goodness, I'm loving this blog. My daughter takes a lunch everyday and even though she is 11, she still wants me to write her a note everyday. I know she would love a little variety and these are soooo cute. I'm following and I'm tagging you for a blog game, (post your 6th blog picture) Come check it out if you want to participate:-)
- April 23, 2010 at 11:44 PM
- Tifani says... said... [Reply to comment]
Do you think the kids are going to miss the puzzle pieces next month? I know all of mine would! :)
- April 24, 2010 at 11:03 AM
- Melissa said... [Reply to comment]
Tifani, I'll still use the puzzle shapes after April! I won't use them exclusively though, like I feel I have been this month. I love how the crackers have come out using them, so I'll definitely keep doing that I think. Puzzle pieces are too fun. :)
- April 24, 2010 at 11:20 AM
- Juliette Frost said... [Reply to comment]
How cute! I saw two bento boxes that I think you'd love seeing: http://myfoodlooksfunny.com/tag/bento-box/
- April 26, 2010 at 4:40 PM


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Participate in the Microsoft Access 2010 online course to improve your level of knowledge with Microsoft Access functions, while you prepare to take the Microsoft Certification Exam. The book, The Complete Guide to Microsoft Access 2010 ebook includes both recall and authentic assessments to measure your understanding at an increasingly advanced level. You will work hands-on with the commands, as you complete sample projects to reinforce your learning. This course does not rely on abstract learning but on the program in context.
By completing the Microsoft Outlook Online Training Program, you will be able to do the following:
This program teaches the exam objectives for the following optional certification test, which is not required for MOS Certification:
The primary instruction in the Microsoft Access 2010 course is related to business applications of Access, as Microsoft Office is used in almost all workplaces. Nearly every business finds a use for Microsoft Office programs, including inner-office memos composed on Microsoft Word, sales presentations created with Microsoft PowerPoint, and budget spreadsheets compiled in Microsoft Excel. Teachers frequently use Microsoft Office for both teaching preparation and record-keeping as well as in student assignments. Home users may find many uses for Microsoft Office, similar to those used in the workplace. Microsoft Office is a product with great possibilities, and this course aims to familiarize you to such possibilities.
Students for the Microsoft Access 2010 certification tests should have the equivalent of six months of hands-on computer experience before taking the exam. These exam candidates should be proficient at file management. In addition, students should be able to readily identify and use the commands for at least 80% of the exam objectives in preparation for taking the timed exam.
Upon registering, you're given six months to complete this program.
This program can only be taken on a PC. It is not compatible with a Mac. It is compatible with the Windows XP and later operating systems and IE 7 and later browsers. You need a high-speed Internet connection and e-mail account. You should also have the following full-retail version Microsoft Office 2010 Products already installed: Access, Word, and Excel.
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Before you enroll in the Microsoft Access 2010 Certification Training program, you should have strong computer skills and should be comfortable using an Internet browser and selecting commands from a menu or toolbar. You should be able to manage files, including saving, updating, and backing up your files. You should also be proficient in Microsoft Excel.
This program is for you if you are an office worker, manager, entrepreneur, or other professional who wants to start using advanced Microsoft Office skills immediately. This program will also suit you if you want to learn about this software and expand your job possibilities.
Elizabeth Ann Nofs is the designer and developer of the Computer Mama guides. Her research on how men and women approach computer learning provided the foundation for the Comma Method of training, as well as The Computer Mama Show, a pilot produced with WFUM/TV28 (PBS), Flint, Michigan.
She's the author of 44 books, including: The Computer Mama Guide to Computers (2001), The Comma Method of Computer Training (2003), The Comma Teachers Edition (2003), and The Complete Computer Guide (2005) and the Complete Computer Guides for Microsoft Office 2007 and Office 2010 (MOS) certification training.
Elizabeth received her B.A. degree in Biology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
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A very special project of Lourdes Hospice
Camp Hope for Kids is a day camp for children and teens who have experienced the loss of an immediate family member such as: a parent, guardian, grandparent, or sibling. Children ages 6-14 are welcome to participate in this specialized day camp. This year's camp will take place August 20-22, 2019.
The camp is run by professional social workers, teachers and nurses who have experience working with children and grief and loss. They will be able to grieve openly and learn how to deal with their emotions and realize that there are other children that are experiencing similar loss.
The activities offered in the camp provide opportunities for learning, healthy grieving and hopeful living. The camp will encourage fun and play, while engaging the children in therapeutic activities such as memory books. Campers will also participate in Healing Circles, a support group that gives opportunities for each child and teen to share their stories, get to know each other and learn ways of coping. Our caring staff offers guidance and support.
Camp Hope is hosted by Camp Sertoma, Johnson Road, Kirkwood, NY.
Activities Include:
- Art
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- Swimming
- Hiking
- and More...
Registration Information
Enrollment for this program is limited to 40 children and is on a first come first serve basis. Once you call or email to enroll, we will call you back and send you an enrollment packet to fill out. Registration and a slot at the camp is not reserved until the enrollment packet has been completed and returned. Cost is $10 per child for the entire camp session.
For more information or to register, contact Bettye Canestaro, Lourdes Hospice, 4102 Old Vestal Road, Vestal, NY 13850, 607-584-9160, email@example.com


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Voncille Dirks
Voncille Jean Dirks, 57, of Hillsboro died Monday at Hillsboro Community Hospital. She was born Jan. 25, 1955, in Hutchinson to Leonard and Voncille (Johnson) Goering.
She worked in medical records and health information at Hillsboro Community Hospital. She married Norman Dirks on April 12, 1986, in Hillsboro.
She is survived by her husband, Norman of Hillsboro; and two brothers, Thomas of Pretty Prairie and Russell of Mustang, Okla.
Services are scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at Parkview Mennonite Brethren Church in Hillsboro with Pastor Steve Schroeder officiating. Burial will be at 1 p.m. Friday in Gnadenau Cemetery, rural Hillsboro. The family will receive visitors from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Jost Funeral Home, Hillsboro.
Memorial funds have been established for Parkview Church and Union Rescue Mission.
Last modified Sept. 5, 2012


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Now AvailableSaturday, May 31st, 2014
Framed and Hung by Alexis Fleming
Publisher: Escape Publishing
Genre : Erotic Romance
eISBN: 9780857991621
Job satisfaction has never been this good…
If there's one thing Zoe Chandler, Historical Restorations expert, knows, it's that naked bankers aren't supposed to look like Greek Gods. Honestly, it's enough to make any woman pause. Luckily, Zoe is more of a take charge, rush in where angels fear to tread kind of girl, and she definitely has fantasies of rushing towards Jake. But Jake is a man who is all about control, and there's no way he's going to let Zoe run this show.
Nude paintings, blackmail, and mind-numbing sexual frustration…will either of them survive this project?
'Good evening, Lord. I'd ask you how it's hanging, but I guess I can see the answer for myself.' A gurgle of laughter accompanied the comment. 'Now that's what I call a resurrection.'
Jake jerked his head up and stumbled backwards, catching his balance at the last moment. The open mobile phone in his hand forgotten, he propped his fists on his hips and glared across at the person standing on the back patio. 'Oi, what the hell do you think you're doing?'
Damn kids. It was a good thing he'd moved in today rather than wait until the decorating was finished. Otherwise, God only knows what he would have found. Probably a whole group of teenagers shacking up in his mother's new home.
'Not exactly what I'd expect from a fine, upstanding banker,' another voice, definitely female, commented, although a flowering shrub on the edge of the patio hid the person from view.
'Oh, I don't know.' The owner of the first voice tilted her head on one side and stared across at him. 'Hmm, it is rather…impressive, and it's definitely upstanding. Well, sort of. Wonder how much incentive it'd need to snap to attention.'
Jake shook his head. What the hell were they going on about? 'This is private property.' For the moment, anyway. 'You're trespassing,' he ground out through clenched teeth.
'If that's the case, what are you doing here?' The female hooked her fingers into the top of the skimpy hipster shorts she had on and sauntered towards the edge of the patio. Cocky was how he would have described the attitude she projected. 'You're a bit old for squatting, aren't you?'
'Old? Old? I'll have you know…' Jake let the words peter out. He gritted his teeth and tried to get his thoughts in order. Christ, he was arguing with a kid. She couldn't have been much more than 16, 17.
No more than five foot two, maybe five three at most, the interloper took the single step down from the patio and strutted over to him, a smile plastered on her face. A tight T-shirt showed off a decent set of breasts — at least a mouthful — and hugged a slender waist.
She'd tied her blonde hair up in pigtails either side of an elfin face, the features delicate, but with a hint of strength in the tapered jaw. Sensual lips curved into an enticing grin that invited you to share the moment with her, as if she held a secret that she just knew you'd enjoy.
Heat swept through him and his lower body tightened in reaction. Jesus, Drew wasn't far off the mark. He needed to get a life. Here he was, fantasising about a freakin' teenager, for crying out loud. Hell, he'd turned into a degenerate. Maybe his mother and brothers were right. All work and no play makes Jake a dull boy.
Or at least a twisted pervert.
'I wish you kids would learn some decency instead of turning up where you're not welcome. You know you're breaking the law right now, don't you?'
'Decency, Lord?' As she strutted along the path that led to the spa, she let loose with a hearty burst of laughter. 'You have the balls to lecture me about decency and you're standing there starkers? Oh, that's priceless.'
With a cheeky grin, she allowed her gaze to track downwards. 'And talking about balls — '


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AR Philosophy > Morality of AR > Speciesism - Index
No Difference Between Human and Insect
http://www.nagaland post.com/ ShowColumn. aspx?colid= UzEwMDAwMDA0OQ% 3d%3d-3EJP7Eltdg M%3d
No difference between human and insect
By: Maneka Gandhi
As I learn more about the beings of this planet , I realize there is no
difference between the human and the insect. The only difference is
perhaps our destructiveness. Here is another example of our similarity.
While countries waste time on making laws on ridiculous issues
like abortion and homosexuality, the rest of the animal world takes
these issues as natural. University of Oslo 's Natural History Museum in
Norway has put up a first-ever museum display "Against Nature?," which
presents 51 species of animals exhibiting homosexuality.
According to researchers, since male-male cooperation is extremely
important for adult survival, the homosexual behavior of the young
calves could be aimed at establishing lifelong bonds. Male walruses,
often form homosexual pair bonds and have sex with each other outside of
the breeding season, but will revert to a heterosexual pattern during
the normal breeding season..
Real difference between a man and any animal
By: Maneka Gandhi
Article published on 7/6/2009 11:52:37 PM IST
What is the real difference between a man and any animal or insect? Let
this article explain to you; A book called Elephants on Acid, Bizarre
Experiments by Alex Boise is a collection of experiments which the
writer finds weird. While most of them are very sad – killing hundreds
of dogs to see whether any dog can live with two heads, two of the
experiments should open your eyes to the nature of the human being.
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|After a couple of animated downers, Disney's latest adventure goes for a happy heroic tone by taking on Greek myths. Baby Herc is the son of Zeus, who rules on Mt. Olympus. Hades, Lord of the Underworld, plans a takeover and learns that only Hercules' strength will stand in his way. Hades manages to kidnap the tyke and turn him mortal but when the teenaged Herc learns his true origins, he also discovers that if he proves himself to be a hero he can regain his immortality and return to Mt. Olympus. He's aided by his flying horse Pegasus, satyr-like trainer Phil, and smart gal Meg, while Hades has his less-than-bright minions Pain and Panic. Lots of fun and lots of merchandising (even the movie makes fun of the inevitable tie-ins).
|Directed by:
|John Musker, Ron Clements
|John Musker, Alice Dewey, Walt Disney Pictures, Buena Vista Ron Clements
|VOICE(S) BY: Tate Donovan, James Woods, Danny DeVito, Matt Frewer, Bob(cat) Goldthwait, Susan Egan, Rip Torn, Samantha Eggar, Paul Shaffer, Barbara Barrie, Hal Holbrook, Amanda Plummer, Carol(e) Shelley


text:
On July 8, 1949, the Long Island Star Journal published a full-page ad for a community of affordable homes that the developer Levitt & Sons was building on a tract of farmland near Farmingdale, about twenty miles east of Queens. The ad featured an eight-hundred-square-foot ranch house on a sixty-by-one-hundred-foot plot. "This is Levittown! All yours for $58!" a month, the ad read. "Practically everything you can think of is included in that price. Refrigerator, range, Bendix, Venetian blinds, General Electric oil burner, legal fees, appraisal charges—yes, sir, the whole works are in." Prospective buyers could choose from five slightly different models, which were all priced at $7,990. If they were former G.I.s, as most were, the government guaranteed them a mortgage, with no down payment.
As recently as the summer of 2000, there were houses for sale in Levittown for under two hundred thousand dollars. After the Nasdaq crash of April, 2000, prices fell for several months in a row, and Richard Dallow, the owner of the Dallow Agency, one of Levittown's leading real-estate agents, thought that the long-predicted property slump had arrived. He had to reduce the price of one house from $199,000 to $189,000, and then to $179,999. It finally sold for $177,000. But in the fall of 2000 buyers returned to the market. To Dallow's surprise, prices kept rising right through the recession that began in March of last year, through the aftermath of 9/11, and through the first nine months of this year. "If we could buy that house for two hundred thousand dollars today, we'd grab it in an instant," he said. "Today, that same house would probably be in the two-hundred-and-seventy-five-thousand-dollar-to-three-hundred-thousand-dollar range, and it would go quickly."
Richard Dallow's family has been selling real estate in Levittown since 1951, when his father, Ted, moved there from Queens. Dallow has lived through several real-estate booms since joining the family business, in 1971, but the endurance of this one has stunned him. During the 1990-91 recession, house prices in Levittown fell by about a fifth, and they remained steady for several years. Dallow expected the current recession to cause a similar downward adjustment, but instead houses keep getting more expensive. "It has to impact at some point," he said. "But, then again, in the summer of 2000 I thought it was impacting, and then things came back."
By and large, the kinds of people buying houses in Levittown are the same as they have always been: cops, firefighters, janitors, retail workers, and others to whom fifty thousand dollars a year is a good salary. But now many of them have to apply for jumbo mortgages—loans of more than three hundred thousand dollars—which used to be reserved for the well-to-do. "Levittown has always been a low down-payment area," Dallow explained. "If the price is three hundred and thirty thousand and you put down five per cent, that's a mortgage of three hundred and thirteen thousand five hundred. You need a jumbo mortgage. For Levittown."
A few years ago, it became fashionable to deny what was, in retrospect, perfectly obvious: a speculative bubble had developed on Wall Street. Instead of warning investors to go easy, bullish analysts came up with increasingly outlandish justifications for stratospheric stock prices: the death of inflation; the rise of the Internet; a productivity "miracle"; the end of the business cycle; the aging of the baby boomers. Such rationalizations aren't heard much in connection with the stock market these days, but similar arguments are becoming prevalent in discussions of real estate. "The single-family housing market is not in a bubble, and I don't think it is susceptible to a bubble," said Frank Nothaft, the chief economist at Freddie Mac, one of two government-sponsored companies—the other is Fannie Mae—that provide mortgage financing to tens of millions of American families. "The economic fundamentals help to explain a lot of what we have seen with house prices in recent years." Nothaft ran through a list of these fundamentals: the mildness of the recession; low mortgage rates; the modest inventory of new homes; rising demand for housing from immigrants and "echo boomers"—boomers' children who are old enough to start families and buy a home. "We are not going to see the price of single-family homes fall," he insisted. "It ain't going to happen."
Many independent economists are also sanguine. Karl Case, a Wellesley economics professor who specializes in the real-estate market, reminded me that the average price of houses across the country has risen every single year since the Second World War. Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, has also dismissed comparisons between the real-estate market and the stock market. Speaking on Capitol Hill in July, he said that house prices reflected rising immigration and a shortage of building land. Of course, Greenspan has a vested interest in keeping the housing market humming. For the past eighteen months or so, he has been relying on the stimulative effects of the housing boom to offset a precipitate fall in business investment. If he succeeds in exploiting the buoyant housing market to prevent a "double dip" recession, it will be one of the great Houdini acts of economic policymaking.
Considering the way that Greenspan helped inflate the stock market during the late nineteen-nineties, by keeping interest rates artificially low and refusing to acknowledge the bubble, some homeowners might be tempted to put their properties on the market while they still can. In Levittown and elsewhere, many of them are doing just that. "They are saying we are never going to see prices like this again, and it's time to sell," Richard Dallow said. In Manhattan, where the average price of a two-bedroom apartment is now nine hundred and thirty-three thousand dollars, the number of properties for sale has risen sharply in the past couple of months, but would-be sellers may have missed the peak. In March, April, and May, the Corcoran Group, one of the city's largest real-estate agencies, enjoyed the best three months in its history. Since then, the volume of sales has fallen short of expectations, and prices have started to slip. "Anecdotally, I can say that certain apartments are not getting the prices that they did in the spring," Pamela Liebman, the president and C.E.O. of the Corcoran Group, confirmed.
The market is softening in other affluent areas as well, including parts of San Jose and the Dallas suburbs. This may be what Wall Street analysts used to call a "healthy correction," which doesn't spread to places like Levittown, but it could also mark the beginning of something much more serious. "In a real-estate crash, the top end of the market usually cracks first," Christopher Wood, a financial analyst at C.L.S.A. Emerging Markets, a brokerage and investment bank, warned. "Then the bad news cascades down." In 1989, at the peak of the last real-estate boom, Wood advised his New York friends to sell their apartments and rent for a year. He is issuing the same advice again. "The American housing market is the last big bubble," he said. "When it bursts, it will be very ugly. In places like Manhattan and San Francisco, prices could easily drop forty or fifty per cent."
Even Nothaft concedes that prices can't keep on rising vertiginously. Over the next few years, he predicts, they will gradually revert to their historic rates of increase: between four and five per cent per annum. The many Americans who view their houses as their most important and enduring store of wealth will be hoping fervently that Nothaft is right. However, his optimistic prognosis inevitably brings to mind the declamations of stock-market analysts like Abby Joseph Cohen and James K. Glassman. While the Dow and the Nasdaq were on the ascent, these seers regularly predicted a reversion to more modest gains at some point, but they dismissed the prospect of a severe and lasting downturn.
Unfortunately, there is no reliable way to determine how much houses are worth. Many factors come into play, including location, size, condition, interest rates, and the overall state of the economy. In the end, the search for intrinsic value is doomed to failure: all assets are worth what somebody will pay for them. Twenty years ago, gold was worth seven hundred dollars an ounce; now its price is about three hundred dollars an ounce. In January, 2000, stock in Yahoo! was worth nearly five hundred dollars; now it is worth . . . well, no need to go into painful details.
Houses are less volatile than Internet stocks, but their prices vary greatly from time to time and place to place. Taking the United States as a whole, house prices have appreciated by almost forty per cent since 1997, which is the biggest jump in a five-year period since the late nineteen-seventies. Regionally, the pattern has been uneven. In San Francisco, house prices have risen by seventy-five per cent in the past five years; in Boston, they have virtually doubled; on Long Island, they have increased by about eighty per cent. Meanwhile, homeowners in other parts of the country, such as Mississippi, New Mexico, and West Virginia, have largely missed out.
If house prices are considered relative to income—a common method of assessing value—prices in the country as a whole are at their highest levels since the late nineteen-eighties. In San Francisco in 1989, for example, a typical house was selling for a price equal to three and a half times the average family income in the city. During the early nineteen-nineties, the ratio of house prices to income fell, to two and a half. Last year, it moved back above three. In Boston, New York, and Washington, the pattern is similar. Meanwhile, the ratio of house prices to rents has risen to an all-time high. "Valuation looks quite extreme, and not just at the top end," Ian Morris, the chief United States economist at HSBC Bank, said. "Even normal mom-and-pop homes are now very expensive relative to income."
Of course, most people who buy or sell a home don't look at valuation ratios. Potential sellers look at what other homes in the area have fetched; potential buyers work out whether they can afford the monthly payments. Low interest rates and ready access to credit are the main things propelling the market. Last month, the fixed rate on a thirty-year mortgage dropped below six per cent for the first time since 1965.
Richard Dallow ran through the financial arithmetic facing a young couple who buy a home in Levittown for three hundred and forty thousand dollars. Assuming they put five per cent down, their monthly mortgage payments come to about two thousand dollars. Including property taxes and utilities, Dallow estimated the couple's total monthly housing costs at about three thousand dollars. This may sound like a lot of money for a city cop earning less than fifty thousand dollars a year, but the government subsidizes house buyers with a generous tax break on interest, and in most families there are two wage earners. "When I first started in the business, people could afford a house on one income," he said. "Today, the husband and the wife both work, and the husband generally works two jobs, just to make ends meet."
Developments in the financial industry have also made it easier for middle-class families to get big loans. Many real-estate agents now have an in-house mortgage broker who can go online and arrange a loan from any one of dozens of financial institutions. "That is one of the things that has changed drastically," Dallow said. "We get people approved within a few hours. Some of them don't even need approval. They come pre-approved." Twenty years ago, lenders used to set a strict limit of twenty-eight per cent of gross income for mortgage repayments. Today, they rely on software programs, which also take into account the borrower's credit rating, rental history, and other factors, and some homebuyers end up getting loans with monthly payments that are close to forty per cent of their income. As a result, mortgage-interest payments are consuming a record share of household income.
During the past decade, the Clinton and Bush Administrations have pursued the goal of increased homeownership by encouraging Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to expand their lending. "Owning something is freedom as far as I'm concerned," President Bush said recently. "It's part of a free society." Thanks to low interest rates and to Fannie and Freddie, sixty-eight out of every hundred American households now own their homes, but worthy policies can have unintended consequences. Cheap money and declining lending standards are often associated with speculative peaks, which invariably are followed by busts.
Whether they realize it or not, homeowners who burden themselves with hefty mortgages are taking a risk, especially if they might need to sell within the next few years. In the housing market, affordability is not the same thing as sustainable value. Current interest rates reflect the depressed state of the economy, and they can't last. In the next few months, the economy could improve, in which case the mortgage rate would rise considerably. Should it reach 8.5 per cent, which is where it was in the middle of 2000, the monthly payment on a mortgage of three hundred thousand dollars would rise by about five hundred dollars, and many potential buyers in places like Levittown would be priced out of the market. If, on the other hand, a double-dip recession materializes, mortgage rates may drop to 5.5 per cent, but unemployment will increase and many homeowners will be forced to put their homes on the market. At the moment, the jobless rate is only 5.6 per cent, well below its average level over the past thirty years, and most people are either employed or confident of finding work. But if unemployment rises sharply, as it does during most recessions, potential buyers will be too worried about their future to take on a big mortgage, and house prices will fall dramatically.
Realtors like to boast that property is much safer than the stock market, but that isn't always true. "Ultimately, the weaknesses that infect the stock market almost always catch up with the property market," HSBC's Ian Morris warns. After the stock-market crash of October, 1987, house prices rose for three years, but then dropped at the end of 1990. In Tokyo, where the biggest property bubble of the twentieth century took place during the nineteen-eighties, the stock market peaked in December, 1989. Real estate kept going up for another year, whereupon it collapsed.
A homebuyer needs to ask not whether prices are rising currently but how much future buyers will be willing to pay when he or she wants to sell. Many people seem to have forgotten what happened after the property boom of the nineteen-eighties came to an end. Between 1989 and 1995, inflation-adjusted house prices in San Francisco and San Jose fell by almost forty per cent. In Honolulu, the downturn lasted a full decade: between the second quarter of 1991 and the first quarter of 2001, the real price of houses fell by almost a third. These cases are not atypical. In housing markets where speculative bubbles have developed, falls of thirty, forty, or fifty per cent are often needed to restore balance.
When inflation is running at five or ten per cent a year, housing can be made cheaper without prices having to fall much in absolute terms. Sellers keep their asking prices steady, and inflation gradually eats into them. This is what happened during the early nineties in many areas. Today, though, the option of invisible price cuts is no longer available, because inflation has virtually disappeared. (In September, the consumer price index was just 1.5 per cent above its September, 2001, level.) If house prices have to come down in order to restore sanity in the real-estate market, the falls will be out in the open, where everybody can see them.
If the housing market does crack, the ramifications for the rest of the economy are huge. Since the end of 2000, housing has been the biggest source of spending growth in the economy, both directly, through increased homebuilding, and indirectly, through the so-called "wealth effect." (When a family sees the value of its home rising, it is less apt to save for the future, because it is getting better off anyway.)
As anybody who has tried to hire a carpenter or a builder recently already knows, the country is in the midst of a construction boom. Every month, a hundred and fifty thousand new homes are being built, and in some areas land is getting scarce. The "teardown," once considered a California curiosity, is now a familiar sight in other places, such as the Hamptons and the North Shore of Long Island. When new homes are built, and when existing homes get more expensive, the country's stock of wealth increases. In the past seven years, about $2.6 trillion of housing wealth has been created, which translates to about thirty-five thousand dollars for every homeowner. This isn't nearly as much as the eight trillion dollars of stock-market wealth that has been eviscerated since the Nasdaq crash, but houses are distributed more equitably than stocks, which tend to gather in the portfolios of the already wealthy. Consequently, changes in house prices tend to have a bigger effect on spending patterns than changes in the stock market.
Many families have offset their losses in the stock market by refinancing their mortgages and taking out home-equity loans. During the past two and a half years, homeowners have raised more than three hundred and fifty billion dollars in this way, of which they have already spent more than a hundred billion, on S.U.V.s, furniture, and other consumer goods. In the words of Fortune, "The American home has become a virtual ATM." Should house prices start to fall, the cash machine would run out of money. Homeowners who bought at or near the top of the market would see the value of their homes fall below the value of their mortgages, a condition known as "negative equity," and they would try to rebuild their savings. In Japan, Britain, and Scandinavia, this process has in the past led to collapses in consumer spending, and the same thing could easily happen here. Businesses have already severely curtailed their expenditures. Were corporations and consumers to retrench simultaneously, there would be little that Alan Greenspan, or anybody else, could do to prevent a full-blown slump.
Homeowners wouldn't be the only ones to suffer in a property crash. In the past, the biggest victims were often banks that had extended dubious loans to house buyers and real-estate developers. During the past decade, however, the mortgage industry has changed almost beyond recognition, and banks now play a much smaller role. Today, when Citibank or J. P. Morgan Chase gives one of its customers a mortgage, it is usually acting as a broker. Once a bank has issued a home loan, it bundles it with thousands of others and sells it to investors, a process known as securitization. The investors receive the homebuyer's monthly payments; and if the homeowner defaults they suffer the consequences.
By far the biggest purchasers of residential mortgages are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two quasi-governmental enterprises are now among the biggest financial institutions in the country, with almost four trillion dollars in assets between them. Their remarkable growth has helped millions of Americans to purchase their first home, but it has also concentrated a great deal of risk in two enterprises that maintain a smaller capital cushion than regular banks. Fannie and Freddie both buy mortgages on which the borrower has put down as little as three per cent of the purchase price, and they're giving an increasing number of loans to people with suspect credit histories. Inevitably, concerns have arisen about what would happen to them if the housing market crashed. "They look O.K., but they are big, they are powerful, and they have systemic risk," Karl Case commented. "And it's not the kind of risk you can diversify around. You can't hedge real-estate values."
Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist, repudiated concerns about its financial stability. He reminded me that Fannie and Freddie have their own regulator, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, which is about to subject them to quarterly "stress tests," in which it simulates a sharp rise in interest rates and mortgage delinquencies over a ten-year period, and then checks whether they have enough capital to survive. So far, Fannie and Freddie have passed all the dry-run tests. "For a calamity to happen to Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae, you are talking about some economic scenario that is probably as severe as, if not worse than, the Great Depression," Nothaft said.
Not everybody is convinced by this argument. William Poole, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, recently warned that the sheer size of Fannie and Freddie could create a "massive problem in the credit markets." To pay for all the mortgages they buy, Fannie and Freddie issue bonds, which pay interest to their owners. What would happen, Poole asked, if the market value of these bonds fell sharply, because investors grew concerned about the financial soundness of Fannie and Freddie? "I do not know, and neither does anyone else," he said. Poole is hardly alone in expressing concern. A couple of months ago, Fannie's stock price sank after it announced that the recent wave of mortgage refinancings had adversely affected the balance it tries to maintain between its assets and its liabilities. (Fannie has since moved to restore the balance, and its stock price has recovered some of its losses.)
If Fannie or Freddie did get into serious trouble, the repercussions would dwarf the problems at Long-Term Capital Management in 1998, when buyers and sellers withdrew from the credit markets and the financial system almost seized up. That "liquidity crisis" prompted the Fed to organize a multibillion-dollar bailout, which a number of big Wall Street firms paid for. If Fannie and Freddie needed bailing out, taxpayers would probably end up paying for it. The federal government doesn't guarantee the survival of Fannie or Freddie, but it is unthinkable that it would let either of them fail. When it comes to housing, even the most ardent conservatives in Congress tend to forget their free-market principles.
In Levittown, the prospect of a real-estate crash still seems remote. A few weeks back, I took a tour of some properties for sale with Bruce Golub, a Realtor in the Dallow Agency, who had just come from a closing, at which a house sold for three hundred thousand dollars. Until a couple of years ago, Golub owned a bike shop in town, but a Target opened nearby, and he decided to go into the real-estate business. His first sale was for a hundred and sixty-three thousand dollars. Recently, he sold the same house again, this time for two hundred and seventy thousand dollars.
First, we visited an unmodernized Cape—something of a bargain at two hundred and fifty-nine thousand, but already under contract. Next, we saw a ranch that had been converted into a sprawling five-bedroom, with two separate wings. Its owners, who had moved to Florida, were asking three hundred and forty-nine thousand, and Golub was confident they would get it. Compared with the surrounding towns—Hicksville, Bethpage, Wantagh, East Meadow—Levittown is still relatively cheap. Compared with the North Shore of Long Island, where Golub lives, it is a bargain. "People are literally paying eight hundred thousand or a million for houses and tearing them down," he told me. "A small ranch sold on my block for eight hundred thousand. I'm driving down the street, I said, 'Where's it gone?' It wasn't there anymore. They are building a ten-thousand-square-foot home."
Like millions of Americans, the owners of that monstrosity are betting that bricks and mortar will continue to be the most secure and rewarding of all investments. If they turn the house into a home and live there for several decades, their gamble will probably pay off. But, if they are looking to make some quick and easy money, they may soon discover new meaning in the phrase "safe as houses." ♦