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Sawhorse necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 21 diseños de 7 diseñadores freelance.
Clean Plater
Muckrack.com is a network of sites that index and categorize top Twitterers -- see them all at http://sawhorsemedia.com. The project is to design a new identity and theme for a soon to be launched site named Clean Plater based on http://Muckrack.com.
CleanPlater.com will be a site that catalogs the top people on Twitter who talk about food: foodies, bakers, chefs, cooks, restaurants, etc.
Other sites/publications in this category include: eater.com, epicurious.com, and cooking.com, Cooks Illustrated, Gourmet, Matha Stewart
The design should be clean and modern looking and appeal people who are interested in food and cooking. Not a techy crowd- don't try to make it look like Twitter
Start off with MuckRack.com (and feel free to browse our network of similar sites on the top bar for inspiration)
You can change:
- Top banner - 950 by 79px - Must contain the name, logo and slogan of the site ("Foodies on Twitter") as well as these links: About, Follow @CleanPlater on Twitter, Add a Foodie
- Colors for the page background, headlines, subheadlines, and any
- Fonts
Keep the same 3-column format, dimensions and page width (950px). The best way to start is probably to take a screen capture of http://Muckrack.com and make adjustments to that on new layers.
Please post a screenshot of your new theme here, and the winner will need to provide PSD and/or AI files for the new theme.
No HTML coding needed.


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The PTCC and PCTA support
the enactment of
House Bill 76 and Senate Bill 76, The Property Tax Independence Act
Please Sign The Petition!
Everyone's voice needs to be heard if we are to achieve true home ownership through the Property Tax Independence Act. PLEASE take a few moments to sign the on-line petition supporting our efforts to have this vital legislation enacted and help to eliminate the damaging and inequitable school property tax forever.
Tell the Harrisburg politicians that you want property tax freedom NOW!
Click here to sign the petition.
House Bill 76 and Senate Bill 76, The Property Tax Independence Act, is legislation that will forever ELIMINATE the antiquated and inequitable school property tax. The Property Tax Independence Act was crafted by members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly in full collaboration with the 76 member groups of the nonpartisan grassroots Pennsylvania Coalition of Taxpayer Associations. The Property Tax Independence Act belongs to the people; it is unique in that it is OUR legislation in a state that does not allow for citizen initiatives. The Property Tax Independence Act has many lawmaker proponents from both parties and enthusiastic grassroots supporters from across the entire political spectrum. We as taxpayer activists have accomplished what the politicians in both Washington and Harrisburg have been unable to do – work across party lines to reach a solution to a critical problem.
- The Property Tax Independence Act will eliminate school property taxes across the Commonwealth and will replace those taxes with funding from a single state source.
- The Property Tax Independence Act introduces a modernized school funding method that is based on 21st century economic realities.
- The Property Tax Independence Act utilizes in great measure our current sales tax mechanism to fund schools, restoring the original intent of the tax.
- The sales tax provides a predictable and stable funding source that is tied to economic growth. This is in clear contrast to the school property tax which is not based on economic growth and is subject to much variation.
- Current school spending regularly exceeds tax revenue and The Property Tax Independence Act addresses this problem head-on by limiting school budget increases to the rate of inflation.
Read all of the details of The Property Tax Independence Act here.
See how much you can save on your total taxes through the enactment of The Property Tax Independence Act. Our exclusive Property Tax Independence Act Excel calculator is here.
The Truth!
Opponents of the Property Tax Independence
Act say the October 1, 2013
Independent Fiscal Office study of HB/SB 76 proves that "the numbers
don't work."
The truth is here.
The real faces of the school property tax issue
Here, in their own words, are the real-life stories of Pennsylvania families of all ages and areas of the state who are finding it increasingly difficult to withstand the oppressive economic hardship imposed by relentlessly increasing school property taxes.
These true accounts were submitted by PTCC and PCTA subscribers who volunteered to tell their stories. Their hopes are twofold: that Pennsylvania lawmakers will read their words and finally understand the hardship imposed by this inequitable, archaic tax and that they will act quickly to eliminate this unnecessary burden that is diminishing the quality of life for Pennsylvania homeowners.
Click on the photo to read their stories.
PTCC Quick Facts
WHAT is the PTCC?
The PTCC is the Pennsylvania Taxpayers Cyber Coalition, a free subscription-based nonpartisan statewide E-mail list and website that serves as a taxpayer advocacy group for those who have no local group available to them. This list represents a virtual community of thousands of taxpayers from throughout Pennsylvania who are concerned with school property tax and education finance reform.
WHY does the PTCC exist?
School property and nuisance taxes are out of control and are draining the lifeblood of Pennsylvania residents. Pennsylvania school boards cannot continue to annually raise taxes by greater than the rate of inflation before homeowners can no longer afford to pay. This situation is a train wreck waiting to happen, and if something is not done quickly to resolve the problem the entire system will crash in a very short time.
WHAT are the PTCC goals?
The PTCC and our statewide nonpartisan grassroots umbrella group, the Pennsylvania Coalition of Taxpayer Associations (PCTA), are dedicated, through legislative reform, to eliminating school property taxes for all Pennsylvanians and to the equitable funding of all Pennsylvania schools from a broad-based, statewide funding source. Such a source would ultimately equalize disparities between wealthy and poorer school districts, ensuring a quality education for all Pennsylvania schoolchildren. The PTCC is a supporter of House Bill 76 and Senate Bill 76, The Property Tax Independence Act, a property tax elimination proposal that will abolish all school property taxes and provide equitable funding for all Pennsylvania schools.
WHAT can I do to help?
Please take time to explore this site to learn more about the issues, the PTCC's objectives, and pending tax reform legislation. Join the free PTCC e-mail list to receive updates, spread the word to your friends and relatives about this movement and urge them to join this group, and help with occasional action items to keep the momentum alive. In a grassroots movement such as this, EVERY person counts! Please join in this vital mission to achieve true education finance reform for all Pennsylvania taxpayers and schoolchildren.
WHY should I join the free PTCC e-mail updates list?
If you're happy receiving your information from this web page, that's great! We hope that you'll check back often for updates. But by joining the list you'll receive updates and action items more quickly, and we'll be able to keep a more accurate count of supporters when demanding legislative action. We'd really like to have you as a subscriber. And, of course, your e-mail address will always remain strictly confidential.

subset: commoncrawl


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The reign of Sugar, the Siamese cat
Wick's World
Saturday marked the end of a 42-year reign of Siamese cats in our household, although we never did own one. Early on, we learned that Siamese do not have owners; they have staff. Similar to the long line of rulers in certain dynasties or royal families, a Siamese cat's reign can be defined by the personality of the ruler. We realized early on that Sugar's would be a reign of terror.
For the majority of her 15 years in charge of our household, she ruled over every dog we owned. One can be a dog owner and maybe you could also be a cat owner, but not if the breed of cat is Siamese. I don't know where or when this arrogant attitude entered the species, but I suspect it was at some point back when Thailand was called Siam. The kings of that era were fond of their Siamese cats. By the 20th century, they had become one of America's favorite cats.
Their elegant eggshell white coats of fur eventually darken with age, so that near the end of Sugar's life, her coat had turned an iridescent shade of black. Another significant change happened; she mellowed dramatically with age. She no longer greeted strangers with a blood-drawing bite to the ankle.
Her eyesight also got worse with age, although we suspect that she had poor eyesight from the beginning. She always seemed unsure of her surroundings and got especially edgy when something new entered the house, like a small puppy.
Six months after Otis, our Bichon-Poo left us for Doggy Heaven, we brought home another mixed breed poodle. We purchased a Shiatsu-poodle we named Sweet Pea. She is a small seven-pound puppy who somehow managed to make Sugar like her. She had all of the exuberance that little puppies have and wanted to play with everything from her owners' shoes, socks, eyeglasses and blankets, to toys and even Siamese cats. To state that Sugar disliked dogs would have been a gross understatement before Sweet Pea entered her life. She not only tolerated her puppy-like behavior, she would sometimes let Sweet Pea lay beside her.
During the last few days of her life, Sugar stopped eating and drinking. Two days before the end, Sugar left her bed and the bedroom where she spent the majority of her time and came out to the living room to be near the family. On her last full day on the planet, Sweet Pea decided to lie down beside her. As Sugar could no longer walk, she really had no choice but to let the puppy remain by her side.
I eventually told Sweet Pea that she had to leave Sugar alone as most animals prefer to go off and die by themselves. This was not to be. Sweet Pea insisted on lying with Sugar, their warm bodies touching each other. As the end approached, my wife and I sat beside Sugar and spoke words of comfort. I was surprised when she opened her eyes one last time upon speaking her name. I doubt that she could see much of me because she had been running into walls for the last six months. I do know there was recognition, though, because she let out one last, very weak meow.
Moments before the end, she exhaled what would best be described as a sort of cough. Following the third cough-like exhale she stopped breathing. I knew this type of cough from past experience. First with my father, then my mother, followed by Otis and finally now Sugar. Sometimes this sound is referred to as the "death rattle." Whether it is the soul leaving the body or just simply the body exhaling its last breath is up to each of us to decide for ourselves.
Personally, I prefer to be there at the moment when a loved one transitions to the other world. Although death is generally treated with sorrow as opposed to birth, which is treated with joy, the two share some common ground. I see these moments as passing through a doorway to another world, with birth as entering our known physical planet, and death as exiting to the unknown.
Each can be as wondrous an occasion as the other if we only allow them to take their natural course.


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Posted 8 years ago
(63 items)
I remembered this poster as a kid. The movie was a violent cavalry vs indian affair. But the poster I think is the best! Anyway, my wife wont let me put it up. Says it's my 'bondage' picture! And I spent alot getting it framed. Anyway. It's full size. Been folded but now it's framed it's hardly noticeable.


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Rookies are reporting!
Like children on the first day of school, on Wednesday, rookies for the Baltimore Ravens, San Francisco 49ers and Buffalo Bills kick off the procession of players reporting for training camp.
The Bills list 18 rookies on the roster, with the likes of draft picks Sammy Watkins (wide receiver) and Cyrus Kouandjio (offensive tackle) leading the way.
Jimmie Ward, Carlos Hyde and Burce Ellington are among the 20 49ers scheduled to report.
The Ravens count 26 first-year players on their roster, including draft selections C.J. Mosley (linebacker), Timmy Jernigan (defensive tackle) and Terrence Brooks (safety).
For a Baltimore squad that just experienced its fifth arrest of the offseason, getting the rookies under wraps early is an added benefit.
The Bills will be the first team to hit the field when they begin practicing on Sunday, July 20. Get pumped.
Your full list of training camp reporting dates can be found here.
The latest "Around The League Podcast" bangs the table for Cordarrelle Patterson and predicts which stars will soon descend.


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text:
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Kremlinology in Our Times
Flew in from Miami Beach BOAC
Didn't get to bed last night
All the way the paper bag was on my knee
Man, I had a dreadful flight
I'm back in the U.S.S.R.
You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the U.S.S.R.
I do realize that a certain portion of our readers may never have come across the word "Kremlinology."
After all, the notion of studying seemingly minor things such as the placement of officials in photographs of the May Day Parade in order to determine what was going on at the Kremlin—and, therefore, in the government circles of the notoriously secretive USSR—seems ridiculous in light of the fact that:
a) The USSR no longer exists;
b) Vladimir Putin, the President of its Russian successor, simply takes whatever he wants whenever he wants it.
So who needs "Kremlinology" anyhow?
To illustrate how quickly the world has changed, the spell-checker in this word processor, brought to you by the Microsoft Monopoly, doesn't recognize "Putin," and insists on underlining his name in a squiggly red line as I type.
That squiggly red line is highly annoying, although compared to something as evil and pernicious as the "Insert Key"—which computer users only discover when they accidentally it hit by mistake and then wonder why their words are being eaten up by the computer—the squiggly red line under "Putin" is nothing.
I know some people who, before they learned what that innocuous little button in the right hand corner of the keyboard actually did, would re-start their notebook computer in order to turn off the "Insert Key." They would then pray that whatever strange bug had suddenly gripped their system would not re-occur.
When they learned the source of the problem, they were so relieved their machine was not infected by some strange virus created by a twelve year old kid in Uzbekistan that they experienced a sense of relief akin to discovering that a biopsy had come back negative.
Now, the fact that twelve year olds in Uzbekistan and Lithuania are free to create computer viruses is all thanks to the end of the Cold War in 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell and the USSR began to disintegrate.
Which is why the term "Kremlinology" means nothing these days: by the time this year's college graduate was old enough to read a newspaper, the Soviet Union no longer existed.
In any event, the term itself is a good description of the type of work analysts must do when companies resort to the type of self-deception practiced by the occupants of the Kremlin during the heyday of the USSR.
A prime example is the following press release recently issued by Netflix, the DVD-by-mail service that recently upset Wall Street's Finest with modestly disappointing subscriber growth, even while reiterating plans to reach 20 million subscribers sometime down the road—video iPods and YouTube notwithstanding.
LOS GATOS, Calif., Feb. 20 ...Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX - News) today announced that Chief Operations Officer Bill Henderson is planning to become a strategic advisor to the company and that Vice President of IT Development Andy Rendich, an eight-year Netflix executive, has become interim head of Operations. Mr. Henderson is expected to serve as a consultant to Netflix for at least the next two years.
The casual reader might think nothing more of this than what it says: that the Chief Operations Officer is getting a new job title following a job well done. After all, the CEO heaps praise on Mr. Hendersen as follows:
"Bill's unprecedented operational expertise as former Postmaster General of the United States has contributed to Netflix's tremendous gains in automation and efficiency," said Netflix Founder, Chairman and CEO Reed Hastings. "We look forward to Bill's continued participation in the company's growth."
However, the less-casual reader would recall a press release from a little more than one year ago in which the same CEO, Reed Hastings, welcomed Mr. Hendersen to the the COO job with great expectations:
LOS GATOS, Calif., Jan. 18 [2006]…Netflix, Inc….today announced the appointment of former U.S. Postmaster General William J. Henderson as chief operations officer of the world's largest online DVD rental service. He assumes his new role on January 23 and succeeds Tom Dillon, who is scheduled to retire in April.
Mr. Henderson, 58, was chief operating officer of the United States Postal Service (USPS) from 1994-98 and postmaster general and USPS chief executive officer from 1998 until his retirement in 2001. He was the 71st postmaster general of the United States and the fifth career employee to lead the world's largest postal system, which processes, transports and delivers more than 650 million pieces of mail to more than 130 million addresses every day.
At the time, cynical observers scratched their collective heads at the notion that a guy from the Post Office—the Post Office!—could bring anything more dynamic than longer lunch breaks to an operation already honed to a fine tune by the outgoing COO, Mr. Dillon, who as it turns out came from a slightly different background than Mr. Hendersen.
Actually, Dillon came from an extremely different background.
He came from the disk drive industry, which is to the Post Office what a NASCAR driver is to your average Oldsmobile-driving Florida retiree when it comes to speed and efficiency. Mr. Dillon, according to my friends in the business, was the guy who really made Netflix an efficient operation.
But Mr. Hastings, who is nothing if not a cheerleader for his cause—was insistent that this Post Office veteran was the right man for the job:
"Bill Henderson is about the only person on the planet who looks at our volume of mail as a trickle," said Mr. Hastings. Netflix ships over one million DVDs a day from 37 distribution centers across the U.S.
"Bill is the perfect person to ensure that our operations are inextricably linked with every aspect of the business and that our service levels are a linchpin of the Netflix customer experience," Mr. Hastings added. "We'll look for him to extend our current competitive advantages in this area, particularly as our mail volume increases with our forecasted growth to at least 5.65 million subscribers this year and 20 million by 2010-2012."
"Bill" is gone—at least in Kremlinological terms, having been metaphorically air-brushed out of the May Day parade photo of the top guns at Netflix, and shifted off the platform to a minor post in Uzbekistan.
So what really happened behind the scenes?
Why has a man—of whom so much was expected not 13 months ago—been shifted to the role of "Strategic Advisor" for a company whose strategy has, as far as most observers of the company would tell you, been set and directed by the founder, Mr. Hastings.
And, not for nothing, why in this age of instant communication, Regulation Fair Disclosure and the democratization of the investing class, must we resort to Kreminology here in the first place?
Jeff Matthews
I Am Not Making This Up
© 2007 Jeff Matthews
The content contained in this blog represents the opinions of Mr. Matthews. Mr. Matthews also acts as an advisor and clients advised by Mr. Matthews may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Matthews' recommendations. This commentary in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. It is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Weekend Edition: Joe Biden Outside the Mainstream of America
"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy…I mean, that's a storybook, man."
—Three-time U.S. Presidential hopeful and election speech plagiarist Senator Joe Biden, describing fellow Senator and Presidential hopeful Barack Obama
"I take a bath every day."
—Articulate, bright, mainstream African-American former Presidential candidate Al Sharpton
For the record, I have Al Sharpton's autograph.
Now, before you spit out your coffee—Al Sharpton is a very divisive character, what with pleading guilty to tax evasion, not to mention perpetrating the Tawana Brawley hoax, which ruined innocent lives and for which he never apologized—let me explain how that happened.
I was leaving a mid-town Chinese restaurant one night shortly after Sharpton had ended his Presidential campaign. On my way out between big glass fish tanks and the red-jacketed waiters I passed by a table where a woman had just excused herself to go to the bathroom and the man who remained seated was exuding an unnatural amount of charisma.
It was Al Sharpton—big hair, big ring and big presence.
I'm a soft touch for celebrity—in particular musical (one day I will relate the Sting autograph story here) and political. So I stopped and asked him to sign my train schedule.
This he did, taking out a big pen of his own and signing with a flourish. As I left to hustle to Grand Central he was being surrounded by a flock of other diners who apparently took advantage of the break in his private dinner to metaphorically kiss his very real, outsized, gold ring. Whatever you think of him, as I said, the guy exuded charisma.
He was also, I can vouch, physically if not ethically quite clean.
So, when Joe Biden seemingly stratified an entire race of Americans into those that are mainstream, clean and articulate as opposed to those that are not, I found the ensuing media and political debate about whether Biden meant what it sounded like he meant to be extremely silly.
Of course he meant it. What else could he mean?
Now, this is not a political blog, although I have written about Joe Biden before (see "Weekend Edition: Say it Ain't So, Fighting Joe" from August 20 of last year), when he was campaigning against, of all things, Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart bashing was popular at the time, and Biden had lashed into what is, by any standards, one of the most successful enterprises the world has ever seen—one that has created more jobs and reduced prices for more Americans than Joe Biden could even imagine, if he had the brains to comprehend such things, which he clearly does not.
The fact that Biden has created no jobs himself to speak of despite endless years of seat-warming down in Washington made his remarks even more ridiculous than they were on the face of it, which was the point I made at that time
However, when Biden's description of Barack Obama—"mainstream" and "articulate" and "clean"—appeared, they surprised even me, given that they are racial code words not usually associated with a liberal Democrat like Biden.
Biden's lame attempt at damage control—"I have no doubt Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and the rest know exactly what I meant,"—did nothing to assuage the issue, particularly when Sharpton came out with the best line of the whole mess:
"I take a bath every day."
Destroyed Presidential campaign aside, what does all this mean about Joe Biden? Personally, I think it means he is simply a product of his age.
For Joe Biden was born in Pennsylvania in 1942 and grew up in Delaware, which was one of 17 states whose public schools were officially segregated until the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision forbade segregated schools.
I'm not saying Biden attended a segregated school, nor do I know a thing about his family life; but racism back then was out there in every day American life—not hidden beneath the surface as now.
For those of you too young to know what it's like when racism is right out front in every day life, I recall my parents stopping at a Howard Johnson's ice cream counter during a family drive in New England sometime in the early 1960's.
We got in line and my sisters and I debated what flavors to get when a hubbub arose that I did not comprehend until we got back in the car and my parents explained what had happened. What had happened was, a white man with his family got upset that a black man was served ahead of him, and he made his displeasure known to other people in line as well as the lady behind the counter.
I am not making that up. It was my first lesson on racism in America.
Does this mean Joe Biden and other 64-year olds are, by definition, racist? Not at all. But the fact that he used those code words the way he used them, and was entirely clueless how loaded they would appear at the time he used them, means, in my opinion, he is simply a product of his age.
The good news is things have changed since then—not just about race, but also about personal stigmas. Indeed, the demystification of Biden's racial code words reminds me of something that took place at my own house just a couple of years ago.
John was a family friend of ours and a State Representative we'd helped over the years; he was a good guy at heart, but extremely insecure and, in private, a macho guy who loved to make fun of gays then serving with him in the legislature. And he always had bad dates with women we set him up with. Naturally, we figured he was gay and urged him to come out of the closet before his next campaign, just to stop the rumors flying around town and to get on with his career.
He insisted he was not gay, and although it didn't figure into the election, he lost.
One Saturday shortly afterwards, John came over to the house as he had done many other Saturdays, to have tea with my wife. Usually they talked politics. This day, he wanted to tell us something. He wanted to tell us he was gay.
It was, for him, a huge deal. His hands trembled and his voice was husky as he told us. Then he cried, we hugged him, and my dog Lucy, who had always loved John more than any other visitor to our kitchen, put her head on his knee and accepted him as she always had done. When John was ready, we called upstairs to our older daughter, who had known him since she was a toddler.
"John wants to tell you something," we said. When she came bouncing into the kitchen dressed and ready to go out and meet friends, he said nervously and quietly: "I'm gay." He was still holding his tea cup, and still trembling with emotion.
"Oh, okay," she said. She kissed him on the cheek. "I gotta go." And she ran out the door.
To an eighteen year old, what John had told her had none of the shock, the emotion, the power that it had to John's peers. Her complete indifference to it amazed him at first—then he laughed. It was for him an enormous relief.
When Joe Biden called Barack Obama "mainstream" and "articulate" and "clean," I think anybody of a certain age, who grew up before the mainstreaming of African-Americans, does, despite Biden's insistence to the contrary, know "exactly" what he really did mean by those words even if they do not agree with him.
The good news is that those who grew up after that time, particularly since the falling of borders across the world and the tremendous globalization of the world's economies, most likely reacted as our eighteen year old did to the news that her former state legislator was gay: they didn't get what those loaded words meant once upon a time.
That's even better news than this: Joe Biden has no chance to be President.
Jeff Matthews
I Am Not Making This Up
© 2007 Jeff Matthews
The content contained in this blog represents the opinions of Mr. Matthews. Mr. Matthews also acts as an advisor and clients advised by Mr. Matthews may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Matthews' recommendations. This commentary in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. It is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
The Least Helpful Research Report You Will Read Today
The least helpful research report any investor will likely read today comes from the folks at Friedman, Billings, & Ramsey—a firm that hitched its financial star to the sub-prime market and is now experiencing the downside of that affiliation.
FBR, it should be noted, helped manage equity offerings for New Century Financial, a company that was, until last night, the Poster Child of the sub-prime lending debacle now unfolding across this highly leveraged land of ours.
What happened last night—specifically, four seconds after the market closed—was that Novastar Financial took New Century's crown by announcing one of the most horrific operational 180's in Wall Street history.
Novastar, it should be noted, is structured as a Real Estate Investment Trust, and as such paid out its earnings to until-recently happy shareholders who were woefully oblivious to the Ponzi-like nature of Novastar's earnings stream.
The earnings stream itself depended on the company's ability to package and sell sub-prime loans into a marketplace eager for yield, allowing Novastar to book largely non-cash gains up front on those sales as income, and to pay out that income to those formerly happy shareholders as dividends.
Unfortunately, given the non-cash nature of the up-front gains on those mortgage packages, and the Ponzi-like need to keep amassing—and selling—more sub-prime mortgages, Novastar borrowed money to pay the dividend income to those formerly happy shareholders.
A lot of money.
In fact, from 2001 until last year Novastar shelled out over $500 million in dividends to those formerly happy shareholders, while its debt went up by four billion dollars.
Which is why last night's disclosure—that the company as a REIT wouldn't likely generate any taxable earnings through 2011—shouldn't have been much of a shock to anybody who even casually read the newspapers lately.
But it was, apparently, to the folks at FBR.
For this morning their analysts downgraded Novastar's stock from "Market Perform" to "Underperform," and cut their price target from $27 per share to $10 per share.
Unfortunately for those formerly happy Novastar shareholders—whose ranks used to include much of the "Naked Short-selling Conspiracy Theory" crowd with whom Patrick Byrne associates and from whom he apparently derived his most bizarre notions regarding naked shorting by hedge funds—Novastar's stock closed last night at $17.56 and looks to open closer to $11 a share this morning.
Seems the shorts were right all along.
Also seems the FBR report announcing their downgrade and $17 per share price target reduction will almost certainly be the least helpful research report anybody will read this morning.
Jeff Matthews
I Am Not Making This Up
© 2007 Jeff Matthews
The content contained in this blog represents the opinions of Mr. Matthews. Mr. Matthews also acts as an advisor and clients advised by Mr. Matthews may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Matthews' recommendations. This commentary in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. It is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.
Monday, February 19, 2007
World's Worst-Kept Secret Revealed!
Satellite-Radio Rivals XMAnd Sirius Agree to Merge
By DENNIS K. BERMAN and SARAH MCBRIDE
February 19, 2007 3:42 p.m.
To absolutely nobody's surprise, the satellite radio duopoly is going to become a monopoly, if Sirius Satellite's Mel Karmazin and XM Satellite's Gary Parsons have their way.
As today's online Wall Street Journal summed it up,
XM Satellite Radio Holdings and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. are merging into a single satellite-radio giant, the companies announced Monday.
Mel Karmazin, currently chief executive of Sirius, would be chief executive of the combined company, and Gary Parsons, currently chairman of XM, would be chairman of the new entity. The companies would merge as equals, with both companies getting the same share of the new company. The company would keep offices in both New York, where Sirius is based, and Washington, D.C., home to XM.
Anybody who has ever listened to satellite radio knows this: aside from the fact that Howard is available only on Sirius and Major League Baseball is available only on XM, the two satellite services are virtually indistinguishable.
They each have channels devoted to rock hits arranged by decade; they each have the entire spectrum of talk-radio, from right-wing to left-wing; and they each have so many channels devoted sub-categories of rock, classical, jazz, and country music that, for example, the thrash-metal aficionado does not have to settle for mere heavy-metal music.
If you're in a car and don't have CDs or an iPod, satellite radio is indispensable. Five minutes with Clear Channel Corporate So-Called Radio and its three distinct formats—"Easy Listening," "Classic Rock" and "Mostly Ads"—will leave you driving on sidewalks to get through traffic and out of the car.
(In fact, I think a terrific graduate thesis would be to investigate the statistical correlation between the rise of Clear Channel Corporate So-Called Radio and the proliferation of road rage on our nation's highways: I'd bet the correlation is almost one-to-one.)
It is precisely the broad overlap in their content that makes the two satellite networks attractive merger partners: why have duplicate satellites beaming near-duplicate content to cars equipped with two different receivers? Why have two sets of broadcasting facilities, customer-acquisition programs, call centers and billing operations?
The savings, as Mel Karmazin himself has said in his quite-public lobbying for a deal, would be enormous.
In fact, today's press release from the two companies notes that Wall Street's Finest have estimated a range of savings between $3 billion and $7 billion, enough to turn the two money-losing enterprises into one extremely profitable enterprise.
So why not shmoosh the whole thing together?
The one and only negative answer to that question is this: just last month, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said such a thing was not possible, as reported thusly in Bloomberg.
``There is a prohibition on one entity owning both of these businesses,'' Martin said.
Mel Karmazin, however, is nothing if not persuasive, and today's coverage suggests the two companies see a way to get around the prohibition:
…the two sides are likely to argue that the proliferation of Internet-based radio, digital music players, and new HD-radio formats creates a vigorous competitive market for such media. Indeed, in surveys, consumers rarely can differentiate between the two companies, which have spent hundreds of millions trying to appeal to them.
So the worst-kept secret in corporate deal-making has finally been made public, but now the hard part begins: getting the deal approved by all the relevant regulators.
I can't take credit for knowing this was imminent, but I did suspect something was up just three weeks ago when I saw Mel Karmazin at the Four Seasons Hotel on 57th Street. I was leaving an IPO roadshow lunch and noticed Mel standing along in the hallway outside a room where a Sirius Satellite Radio lunch was in progress.
Mel was talking not on his cell-phone, but on a regular land-line phone, and he looked very very very serious.
I wondered why the CEO of a public satellite radio company would be using something as ancient and outmoded as a land-line for a serious conversation—one urgent enough to disrupt his appearance at a company-sponsored lunch with investors. It seemed obvious the call had to have something to do with the hoped-for merger Mel himself had been pushing in the press for months.
I flirted briefly with the idea of going back and whispering something like, "What does Howard think of the deal?"
But I resisted the temptation. Mel looked like he wanted to hit somebody.
I suspect he'll be a lot cheerier tomorrow on the conference call.
Jeff Matthews
I Am Not Making This Up
© 2007 Jeff Matthews
The content contained in this blog represents the opinions of Mr. Matthews. Mr. Matthews also acts as an advisor and clients advised by Mr. Matthews may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Matthews' recommendations. This commentary in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. It is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Three Cave-Ins, From White House Station to New Delhi
Merck & Co. will pay the federal government $2.3 billion to resolve roughly a decade of disputed back taxes, in one of the largest publicly disclosed settlements between a U.S. corporation and the Internal Revenue Service.
—The Wall Street Journal
It's not every day you see a big U.S. company cave in to the I.R.S. with a multi-billion dollar settlement, but White House Station, New Jersey-based Merck did just that.
In "Where's Sammy Antar When You Need Him?" last September 28, 2006, we looked into a Wall Street Journal report on how Merck had transferred patents for certain blockbuster drugs to offshore entities in low-tax jurisdictions, shielding itself from $1.5 billion in federal taxes.
I pointed out at the time that such tax-avoiding asset-shuffling is quite common among all companies with good tax departments; now it seems the folks at Merck are admitting as much.
After all, when was the last time you saw a company fork over $2.3 billion to the I.R.S. without a real fight? ExxonMobil is still fighting a multi-billion punitive damage suit from the Exxon Valdez oil disaster—which happened eighteen years ago.
Speaking of ExxonMobil, that's another company which also caved recently…on global warming.
After years of fighting the rather common-sense notion that the presence of 600 million gas-guzzling cars, not to mention millions of diesel-guzzling trucks and hundreds of thousands of coal-guzzling factories, might have something to do with the melting ice cap, ExxonMobil has taken full page ads stating its new, if highly nuanced, position on global warming:
Much has been said recently about ExxonMobil and our views on climate change. So we'd like to take this opportunity to set out, clearly and concisely, our position on this important issue.
* The earth's climate has warmed about 0.7C in the last century
* Many global ecosystems are showing signs of warming
* CO2 emissions have increased
However grudging the ExxonMobil Bigs' admission that there just might be some link between the stuff they make and the suddenly-receding glaciers in Switzerland, Greenland and Bolivia, corporations don't usually cave like that.
Governments, on the other hand, cave every day, and India is a case in point. See if you can detect the flaw in the logic of the latest attempt by that government to both ameliorate inflation and stay popular:
NEW DELHI -- The Indian government Thursday cut the price of gasoline and diesel, the latest in a string of measures aimed at containing inflation, and said more steps will be taken to ease the pressure on supplies of key commodities.
—The Wall Street Journal
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't recall a single instance when "pressure on supplies of key commodities" has ever been "eased" by decreasing the price of those commodities. Still, the lack of historical examples is not stopping the pols in New Delhi from trying:
The announcement came after the government released data that showed the wholesale inflation rate rose to 6.73% for the week ended Feb. 3, the highest in more than two years and well above the central bank's comfort zone of 5.0% to 5.5% for the fiscal year ending March 31.
Reacting to the price cuts and latest inflation data, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the price cuts will moderate inflation.
It may take longer than Merck took to give in to the I.R.S. for the Indian government to realize the errors of artificially cutting prices in the face of rising demand, and it may even take as long as it's taken ExxonMobil to pay up for the Valdez verdict—which is to say a long long time.
But I suspect at the end of the day, the Indian Government will figure it out.
Jeff Matthews
I Am Not Making This Up
© 2007 Jeff Matthews
The content contained in this blog represents the opinions of Mr. Matthews. Mr. Matthews also acts as an advisor and clients advised by Mr. Matthews may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Matthews' recommendations. This commentary in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. It is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
"Let's keep going": The Credit Markets Find Their Inner Thelma and Louise
Thelma Dickinson: OK, then listen, let's not get caught.
Louise Sawyer: What're you talking about?
Thelma: Let's keep going.
Louise: What do you mean?
Thelma: Go.
Louise: You sure?
Thelma: Yeah, yeah. Let's.
—Thelma and Louise
Written by Callie Khouri
Seems to me the world's credit markets have found their Inner Thelma and Louise.
For those not familiar with that movie of "lady fugitives on the run," the quote above is from the final scene in which the pair of sympathetically-depicted criminals in their getaway car decide—police behind them and canyon in front—to "keep going" over the cliff.
Which is, it seems to me, exactly what the world's credit markets have decided to do en masse, so inexorable is their drive to lend to anybody with title to an asset—any asset—and a pulse.
The head-scratcher, of course, is that it was precisely the same type of non-existent credit standards that got America's home-buyers, and their lenders, in trouble not so long ago.
And by "not so long ago," I mean, "like, last week."
For that is when HSBC announced a $1.76 billion dollar sub-prime debt impairment charge, blowing the collective minds of HSBC shareholders and U.S. sub-prime mortgage lenders alike.
Here's how last week's Wall Street Journal described the errors of HSBC's ways:
When the U.S. housing market was booming, HSBC Holdings PLC raced to join the party. Sensing opportunity in the bottom end of the mortgage market, the giant British bank bet big on borrowers with sketchy credit records.
Yet according to my Bloomberg, the lessons learned are not, apparently, stopping anybody from throwing money at leveraged buyouts the way HSBC was throwing money at the Thelmas and Louises of the sub-prime mortgage market.
Univision Seeking Record "Covenant-Lite" Loan for LBO — By Harris Rubinroit, Bloomberg
Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Univision Communications Inc., the largest U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster, is asking potential lenders to forgo restrictions on a $7 billion loan to fund its leveraged buyout, according to investors who may participate.
Now, you might think that those "potential lenders" would have second or third thoughts before committing to such terms, what with the sub-prime blow-up still reverberating on the Wall Street Journal's front page this very morning:
Rising defaults are prompting some lenders to clamp down on the use of "piggyback" mortgages, a risky type of loan that allows borrowers to finance up to 100% of the purchase price.
Yet according to the Bloomberg story it would appear that sub-prime commercial borrowers are being courted with as much fervor as the sub-prime Thelma and Louise-type home buyers during the housing boom of, oh, eighteen months ago:
Univision is seeking a covenant-lite loan, which has no quarterly limit on the borrower's amount of debt relative to cash flow. The Los Angeles-based company also wants no quarterly requirement for the minimum amount of cash flow it must generatein proportion to interest expense, said three investors, who declined to be identified because the terms aren't public.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but that looks suspiciously like a sort of corporate version of the "no documentation" loans described in the HSBC report just last week:
To speed up these purchases from other lenders, HSBC accepted loan paperwork that didn't verify whether borrowers made as much as they claimed. Mortgages that rely on the borrower's word about that are called "stated-income" loans. (More conservative lenders might demand full documentation of income.)
More conservative lenders than HSBC are not taking $1.76 billion charges for their fully documented loans.
And more conservative lenders will probably shy away from deals like Univision. But that is not stopping Univision from demanding the virtual equivalent of "stated-income" loans for its multi-billion dollar buyout from the HSBC's of the commercial markets:
The seven-and-a-half year covenant-lite loan would be the largest loan of its type. The money is part of $10.2 billion in financing to be used to help pay for Univision's $12.3 billion takeover by a buyout group that includes Madison DearbornPartners LLC, Providence Equity Partners Inc., Texas Pacific Group, Thomas H. Lee Partners LP and Saban Capital Group Inc.
And despite what you heard Mick Jagger sing growing up in the early 70's, Univision will probably get what it wants.
The Univision loans are a ``function of excess liquidity in the market driven by institutional investors,'' said Neal Schweitzer, a senior vice president in corporate finance at Moody's Investors Service in New York. ``The loans are structured to weather a potential hiccup.''
As with HSBC and its sorry tale of woe, however, I suspect we will find in the not too distant future that the Univision loans are structured for nothing but the simple blind faith that the worldwide asset bubble will continue to expand—the same kind of blind faith that blew up HSBC:
"There was very little data on loans to subprime borrowers where the borrower put very little down," says Thomas Lawler, a housing economist in Vienna, Va.
Chris Freemott, president of All American Mortgage Inc. in Naperville, Ill., says it was a time when "everyone lowered their credit standards" in what he refers to as "a race to the bottom." Adds Mr. Hamilton at Lime Financial: "People got way too aggressive in pricing, and they weren't pricing for the risk."
And so the commercial credit markets, as did the sub-prime mortgage market once upon a time, "race to the bottom."
While Thelma and her pal have already driven off the cliff.
Jeff Matthews
I Am Not Making This Up
© 2007 Jeff Matthews
The content contained in this blog represents the opinions of Mr. Matthews. Mr. Matthews also acts as an advisor and clients advised by Mr. Matthews may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Matthews' recommendations. This commentary in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. It is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.
Monday, February 12, 2007
The Best Press Release of 2007: A Sentimental Journey with J. Lloyd Tomer
Yes, I know what you're thinking.
You're thinking, how in the world can I declare "Best Press Release of 2007" only 42 days into the year, with another 230 or so business days remaining before the year 2007 officially ends?
Get a load of the following explanation for a stock sale, excerpted from a press release which hit my Bloomberg late last week, issued by a company called "YTB International."
"Coach Lloyd Tomer sold his dream home a few years ago to help fund YTBI at a critical time inthe Company's growth. A few days ago he regained ownership of his dream home by giving one million shares of YTB International, Inc. stock to the person he sold it to, John Simmons. In return, Coach got the real estate back."
—YTB International Press Release, 2/8/07
I make none of that up.
And while I certainly expect there will be some hefty competition for the title of Best Press Release of 2007 in the weeks and months ahead, I can't imagine a more hilarious example of the dumbing-down of corporate America than the full release, which was headed as follows.
YTB INTERNATIONAL Chairman Provides Clarification Re: Real Estate
Press release "Clarifications" are always worth a glance, no matter what the company—even one so obscure as YTBI, which describes itself as follows:
ABOUT YTBI: YTB International, Inc. provides Internet-based travel booking services for travel agencies and home-based independent representatives in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. It operates through three subsidiaries: YourTravelBiz.com, Inc., YTB Travel Network, Inc., and REZconnect Technologies, Inc.
Googling "YourTravelBiz" brings up a "YTB Demo Site," which kindly provides the YTBI closing stock price ($9.20), but only fairly limited information about the exact nature of the business itself. See if you can figure out what the business of this company is:
The YTB companies offer two unique and powerful business opportunities, that of referring travel agent or "RTA" and that of independent marketing representative or "REP". The travel agent opportunity has an initial fee under $500 and a monthly license fee of $49.95. There is no fee or travel agency purchase required to be a REP. You may choose to participate in one or both opportunities.
Hmmm. Does that smell like one of those direct-selling pyramid things to anybody?
Fortunately for the skeptics among us, the YTB Demo Site publishes a vast array of testimonials from satisfied customers, in a section titled "Testimonials."
At the risk of boring our readers, I will reprint all the Testimonials from that front page, for the sake of accuracy. Bear with me. Here goes:
"YTB gives anyone who wants it, fun, financial freedom, and time with their FAMILY!"
--Kevin Adams
That's it.
Now, before you rush out there and join Kevin Adams to get some of that fun, financial freedom, and time with your FAMILY, I suggest you read the full text of the press release in question, the one "clarifying" the recent "real estate transaction."
WOOD RIVER, IL -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 02/08/07 -- YTB International, Inc. ("YTBI" or the "Company") (PINKSHEETS: YTBL) and its Chairman of the Board, J. Lloyd Tomer, provided clarification today regarding Mr. Tomer's disposition of 1,000,000 shares of YTBI's common stock in payment of the purchase price in a real estate transaction that had closed in January 2007.
Seems Mr. Tomer sold 1 million shares at $6.69 a share on January 24, which is not a bad gig for a company with no quarterly earnings reports that I can find since year-end 2005.
On the surface, Mr. Tomer's sale might look a little opportunistic, considering the fact that the stock had doubled in three weeks. Furthermore, it constituted about a quarter of Mr. Tomer's reported holdings, leaving him with 3.28 million shares.
Not to mention the fact that early in 2006 the company had "initiated an internal inquiry" into "accounting-related matters" causing the company to report, in a recent 10QSB/A, that it "needed to restate certain of the Company's financial statements."
The phrases "material weaknesses" and "deficient controls and procedures" appear as well, along with the fact that the company's previous accounting firm "had provided prohibited services and appeared to have not followed the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board…"
However, YTBI wants to set the record straight: turns out, the sale had nothing to do with the price of YTBI stock or Mr. Tomer wanting to sell while the selling was good, nor the "material weaknesses" or "deficient controls."
It has to do, instead, with getting back "his dream home."
I am not making that explanation up.
As required under federal securities laws, Mr. Tomer filed a Form 4 disclosing the transfer of the shares as part of the purchase of a piece of real estate. While the disposition of the shares was technically deemed a "sale" under the rules that govern Mr. Tomer's SEC filings, in reality the shares were merely used as a means to purchase a piece of property that had long-standing sentimental value to Mr. Tomer.
The Company released the following statement in clarification of the true story behind the share disposition: "Coach Lloyd Tomer sold his dream home a few years ago to help fund YTBI at a critical time in the Company's growth. A few days ago he regained ownership of his dream home by giving one million shares of YTB International, Inc. stock to the person he sold it to, John Simmons. In return, Coach got the real estate back."
And that's it.
Now, until a week ago I knew nothing of YTBI, and today I know only slight more than nothing, aside from what is quickly and easily at hand on my Bloomberg.
But I know this: a sale is a sale is a sale.
And I know this is the Best Press Release of 2007...unless YTBI has another one up its sleave.
Jeff Matthews
I Am Not Making This Up
© 2007 Jeff Matthews
The content contained in this blog represents the opinions of Mr. Matthews. Mr. Matthews also acts as an advisor and clients advised by Mr. Matthews may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Matthews' recommendations. This commentary in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. It is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.
Friday, February 09, 2007
The Not Making This Up Awards Part III: Announcing "The Patrick" Award for Worst Conference Call of the Season
Long time readers may feel a certain assuredness reading the title of this particular post, believing they already know what company—out of the thousands of possibilities—The Not Making This Up Awards is nominating for Worst Conference Call of the Season.
But the fact that we here at Not Making This Up have chosen to label our "Worst Conference Call" award "The Patrick" does not actually mean that Overstock.com has won "Worst Conference Call."
It's just what we decided to call the thing.
After all, Overstock's quarterly conference calls are like nothing else. To paraphrase the narrator in "A Christmas Story" when describing his father's prowess in cursing, Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne works in non sequiturs the way Picasso worked in oils.
Take his wrap-up on this last quarter's conference call: see if you can figure out what this means...
I have never heard Jason [Lindsey, Overstock President] so optimistic for the future actually. Okay, that is all we have to say. Thank you, owners, for sticking with us, those that have.
We have been through tough times. '06 was a wipe out year. And there was a lot of pain, but a lot of it -- all the pain of tightening the belt and resizing our expense structure, we got our infrastructure fixed, but our expense structure still isn't there. But we have already taken steps at the end of the year and the first part of this year. We have made most of the decisions and made some of the changes. And there is -- we just have to carry them out in the next few months.
But I actually have never heard Jason -- I'm just not going to comment on my own emotions, but those of you who know Jason, know you probably never heard him so optimistic. But we do have our work cut out for us still. But we do think we've gotten through the toughest part. Thank you all for your time. Bye-bye.
Why it matters that "Jason" has "never been so optimistic for the future" is beyond me—"Jason" is both President and Chief Operating Officer of the company, yet he failed to correctly answer a pretty basic question earlier in the call:
Jason Lindsey, President and COO: Bill asked three questions. The middle question I don't think we answered, which is where do you see the $5.5 million co-location termination payment. And Dave correct me if I'm wrong, that is in our G&A expenses, is that correct?
David Chidester, SVP Finance: It is actually in our technology expenses which relates to the co-location facility
As far as I can tell, even a cursory glance at the Overstock "L" statement (that's a "P & L" without the "P") would have revealed the likely placement of the one-time $5.5 million line-item to the most casual financial observer—but you be the judge:
Overstock's G&A expense rose $4.2 million year over year, from $11.6 million to $15.8 million; Overstock's technology expense rose $15.4 million year over year, from $9.9 million to $25.3 million. Where would you guess the $5.5 million technology related co-location payment had been expensed?
Still, the point here is not to belabor the latest public statements of a company whose operating problems are well known, and whose CEO has, lawsuits and conspiracy theories notwithstanding, taken the blame for those operating problems.
The point here is to highlight a company whose fourth quarter conference call was one of the worst I have ever heard.
The company in question is a biotechnology company with a great product (Synagis, an anti-viral medication for premature infants) and a less-great product (FluMist, a nasal flu vaccine that has generally failed to meet anybody's expectations since a much-ballyhooed introduction flopped a couple years back).
On the plus side, the company provided key IP for Gardisil, the new Merck HPV vaccine that is on track to be one of the blockbuster new products of the decade, so it should ride a fast-growing royalty stream from the HPV vaccine for years to come.
In the meantime, the company has been struggling to demonstrate to Wall Street's Finest—almost uniformly skeptical since the FluMist debacle—that it has a worthwhile pipeline of new products, and held what is generally referred to as an "upbeat" analysts day almost exactly 60 days ago to showcase all the great things it was doing to extend the Synagis franchise, to get FluMist back on its metaphorical feet, and to hit two bucks a share in earnings in 2009.
On the surface, this company's Q4 numbers looked like a pretty good start towards that goal. According to the press release issued Wednesday morning,
[The company] also announced today that it had exceeded its earnings guidance for 2006 by reporting net earnings of $75 million, or $0.30 per diluted share, excluding share-based compensation expense. Including share-based compensation, [the company's] net earnings for 2006 were $49 million, or $0.20 per diluted share, as calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
The casual reader would be pleased especially with the fourth quarter, which by all appearances was a bang-up way to end the year:
For the 2006 fourth quarter, [the company's] net earnings were $155 million, or $0.64 per diluted share, excluding share-based compensation.
Wall Street's Finest had been looking for $0.54 per share.
It is only by reading further down, under "Gains on Sale of Asset and Investment Activities" do we find that the company—which, yes, is MedImmune—did not get to those chest-thumping numbers by dint of strong sales and reduced costs alone:
During the fourth quarter of 2006, MedImmune completed the sale of the CytoGam … product line, recognizing a gain of $49 million. Also during the fourth quarter of 2006, MedImmune realized gains of $42 million, after impairment charges of $6 million, primarily from the sale of two investments in its venture capital investment portfolio. For all of 2006, gains on investment activities totaled $34 million, net of impairment charges of $15 million.
One of Wall Street's Finest—taken aback at the convoluted disclosure—later described the super-duper reported earnings as "almost fictional." But that was later, after the conference call.
Another "almost fictional" number trumpeted in the press release was the U.S. revenue number for Synagis—an important and very profitable but highly seasonal drug under pressure from managed care providers—in the press release:
In the fourth quarter of 2006, worldwide sales of Synagis grew to $457 million from $439 million in the 2005 quarter, due primarily to an increase in reported sales for the U.S. to $403 million in the 2006 period from $379 million in 2005.
That U.S. Synagis number was right in line with Wall Street forecasts, although a little disappointing to the optimists. But in one of the greatest "oh, by the way" bombshells I've ever heard, the CFO disclosed on the conference call that $20 million of those so-called sales had actually been the result of a reversal in previous reserves "with respect to Medicaid rebates."
Management also used the conference call to drop two other bombshells: first, that FluMist doses fell about 20% short of managements guidance at the analyst meeting 60 days ago; and that the introduction of Numax, a follow-up drug to Synagis on which management has placed great emphasis, has been pushed back following a meeting with the FDA.
Now, business is full of risks—and the medical business is probably full of bigger risks than any other. If a new drug isn't toxic, and doesn't kill patients, and actually does what the drug discoverer hopes it will do, there's no telling whether the FDA will approve it, the government will reimburse it, and doctors will use it.
So there is no shame in a company—any company, but especially a biotech company—missing quarterly numbers and adjusting new product schedules without mentioning all the details in the earnings press release.
But MedImmune not only missed numbers and pushed out an important new product without discussing the details in the press release: on the ensuing conference call, the company limited Wall Street's Finest to one question each and cut off the call after an hour, with only nine of Wall Street's Finest able to ask questions.
I am not making that up.
For the record, I counted 12 questions from the floor, including three brief, apologetic follow-ups from those of Wall Street's Finest who dared cross the "one question only" rule, before the CEO wrapped things up by noting that the hour was up.
By way of contrast, when Boston Scientific was missing numbers last fall, I counted 36 questions on their third-quarter conference call, from ten analysts with no limits on their questions or their follow-up questions.
As I said, there is no shame in a company missing numbers.
But companies that do miss numbers, or push out new product releases 60 days after reaffirming those product releases, or fail to highlight non-recurring gains in their earnings release—or all three, as in this case—generally spend the time to take all questions, in public, however they hurt, and answer them.
This award—"The Patrick"—is named for the CEO of Overstock.com, whose conference calls some find as unintentionally amusing as a grade-school production of "Fiddler on the Roof." But I will give Patrick Byrne one thing: he takes questions on his calls, good, bad, ugly, from Wall Street's Finest, no holds barred, as MedImmune did not.
Hence, the first "Patrick" award goes to David Mott, CEO, MedImmune.
Jeff Matthews
I Am Not Making This Up
© 2007 Jeff Matthews
The content contained in this blog represents the opinions of Mr. Matthews. Mr. Matthews also acts as an advisor and clients advised by Mr. Matthews may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Matthews' recommendations. This commentary in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. It is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Exciting Days in Takeover-Land!
"What's exciting is when you buy them when no one wants them,"
—Carl Icahn to the Wall Street Journal
Carl's back. As reported in today's Journal,
Carl Icahn is making a $2.75 billion bet that battered U.S. auto-parts suppliers are poised for a comeback.
His rationale?
Mr. Icahn said the beaten-down share prices of auto suppliers like Lear have made them attractive values.
"What's exciting is when you buy them when no one wants them," Mr. Icahn said in an interview [emphasis added].
And truer words word never spoken: it is exciting to invest when nobody else sees the value, or wants to take the risk that that value will be realized some time in the uncertain future.
But, according to my Bloomberg, the time when nobody wanted Lear—which happens to be one of many auto suppliers struggling to make something out of a commodity business under severe price pressure with a high cost union work force—was a year ago March, when the stock bottomed at $15.60.
Not yesterday, at the $34.20 opening price before Icahn's bid got even fewer people not wanting the shares.
Now, I understand that when Carl Icahn walks into any room, he is very likely the wealthiest individual in that room. And his record for creating value for himself and his investors ranks up there in the thermosphere of all-time great investors.
But by my calculation, nearly $1.5 billion of potential value has already been absorbed by public shareholders who ventured to buy Lear when the stock was being thrown out in the mid-teens—the time when "no one" wanted to own poor, suffering Lear.
And grey-hairs will remember another company Carl Icahn bought "when no one wanted to own it."
That company was TWA.
And Icahn's tenure over that veil of tears turned out to be merely one of several times "no one" wanted to own what was, in the end, a commodity business under severe pressure with a high cost union work force.
Let the excitement begin!
Jeff Matthews
I Am Not Making This Up
© 2007 Jeff Matthews
The content contained in this blog represents the opinions of Mr. Matthews. Mr. Matthews also acts as an advisor and clients advised by Mr. Matthews may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Matthews' recommendations. This commentary in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. It is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.
Friday, February 02, 2007
The Not Making It Up Awards, Part II
—Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, earnings call
Earnings season is winding down, and even Google has proved itself mortal—or at least subject to the same law of large numbers that causes all things, eventually, to regress to the mean.
The Mountain View boys' U.S. revenue growth rose 53%, a number Microsoft would kill for but which is nothing like the 80% growth in 2005. In fact, Google's U.S. revenue accelerated during the first three quarters of 2005, but has decelerated every 90 days since.
It was up to non-U.S. countries to carry the ball, which they did with 90%-type growth, but the rising cost of doing business online and Google's own spend-for-growth mentality—which has paid off in spades since the IPO—caused a slight but notable company-wide margin contraction.
Overall, Wall Street's Finest "reiterated" their positive ratings on Google, which in these post-Enron days of extreme skittishness may take the form of "Buy" or "Outperform" or "Overweight" or "Legally We Do Not Want to Be Held Liable if You Lose Money But We Do Believe the Stock May Be Appropriate For Certain Accounts Assuming You Are Not a Moron But Before You Invest Please See the Attached Sixteen Pages of Legal Disclaimers."
Google's conference call did not, alas, generate the kind of fawning from Wall Street's Finest that makes for good copy here, although CEO Eric Schmidt did do his usual impersonation of a kindergarten teacher at Parent's Night, both congratulating his class on their work and expressing his great satisfaction to his listening audience, repeatedly, to the point where you want to either break something or vomit, or both.
In fact, Schmidt gets our first award of this second installment of The Not Making It Up Awards:
The Most Use of "Very" as an Adverb in One Sentence Award
Eric Schmidt, Google Inc. - CEO
Thanks very much, Kim. Business continues to be very, very good here at Google, and we are very happy to present another very strong performance from the Company.
And that was just the first sentence. In fact, he used it 11 times in his opening remarks and 43 times during the entire call.
I am not making that up.
Here are the other awards we deem worthy of either Wall Street's Finest or the Captains of American Industry, in no particular order:
The Why They Call Us a Cyclical Award
Bill Foote, USG Corporation - Chairman, CEO
Each downturn is unique, and a distinctive feature of the downturn that began in 2006 has been the speed with which adjustments have been made by both homebuilders and drywall dealers to keep inventories under control. For us, that has meant a rapid contraction in wallboard demand.Let me illustrate. Industry wallboard shipments were up 6% in the first six months of 2006 year-to-year. They were down 17% in the last six months year-to-year. Up 6 in the front, first half; down 17 in the second half.
The Worst Reason for Not Answering A Simple Question Award
Antonio Perez, Eastman Kodak Company - Chairman, CEO
Analyst: And would it be possible to give us some sense of what you think investable cash flow or what you now call net cash generation will be in '07?
Perez: For the year -- on the 8th, again, we'll talk to that. We won't have the time -- if I give you a number now, I won't have the time to explain why we reached that number. The -- and why we have the -- the two, three hour meeting on the 8th. We'll do a much better job at that time.
Analyst: Okay. Okay, I tried. Thank you.
The Bob Nardelli Lives! Award
Mark Ketchum, Newell Rubbermaid Inc. - President, CEO
In 2006, we also announced the building of a new headquarters building in Atlanta, which will bring together several of our business units and functions, further supporting our cultural transformation. At the new Newell Rubbermaid, we want to foster a Company culture that embraces consumer centric innovation and branding, collaboration and team work, training and development, diversity in all its forms, and best-in-class performance.
The More "Cute Stories About Inflation" Award
Mike Mangan, Black & Decker Corporation – CFO
During the fourth quarter, we had about $39 million in incremental commodity inflation. So for the year, that resulted in 2006 with a number of $95 million. As we look to 2007, we are expecting about $120 million of incremental inflation, weighted a little more towards the first half.
The Eddie Haskell Lives! Analyst Award
Eric Katzman, Deutsche Bank - Analyst
Katzman: Good morning, everybody.
David Mackay, Kellogg Co. - President, CEO Good morning.
Eric Katzman: Congratulations on your new titles.
David Mackay: Thank you.
The Most Bizarre Impersonation of a Low-Cost Airline Award
David Neeleman, JetBlue Airways - CEO
First of all…our primary goal is to institutionalize low cost carrier spending habits. We are really, really focused on not only keeping low cost but even driving our cost even lower through improved productivity and through automation. And we think that we have some room to go on our cost initiatives, and John'll -- like I said, will give you a lot more detail on that.
The Most Refreshingly Candid CEO Award
Reuben Mark, Colgate-Palmolive - Chairman, CEO
Let me back up for a moment. Well, we'll wait until the next question. I assume somebody else will ask about margin because I have some interesting things, I think, to say about gross profit.
Why did I screw that up? Who knows? Okay. Anyway, sorry. Go on.
To be continued. Nominations from the floor are welcomed.
Jeff Matthews
I Am Not Making This Up
© 2007 Jeff Matthews
The content contained in this blog represents the opinions of Mr. Matthews. Mr. Matthews also acts as an advisor and clients advised by Mr. Matthews may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Matthews' recommendations. This commentary in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. It is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.


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Pop everything into a Really Useful Box! From jewellery tools to art stationery, utilise every corner with this polypropylene surface that can be stacked and stored away. Just seal the lid with a tough, reliable clip-top on the edge and put it away!
From the office to the home, this box is perfect for keeping your odds and ends off the desk and inside a secure, portable plastic box. The sturdy top and reinforced corners allow these boxes to be stacked together at different weights and sizes.
Inks and paints can be easily wiped from the semi-transparent plastic and the raised edging around the lid secures other boxes, preventing them from slipping off. Carry these around comfortably with a pair of shallow handles on either side that are tough and convenient. Take your equipment wherever you go!
Hassle-free, unfussy and perfect for organising your hobbies and interests, the Really Useful Box is perfect for keeping your essentials in one place.
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Red Felt Advent Numbers 25 Pack
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Contact For Rates & Specials!
Go rafting on your vacation! Experience the thrill of a lifetime on our Kentucky whitewater rafting tours. If you are looking for excitement take our rafting trips that will surely be the highlight or your vacation. Our Kentucky river rafting will get your adrenaline pumping and have you sitting on the edge of your seat. Professional guides will take you safely down the river. If whitewater rafting is too intense novice rafters can enjoy riding down calmer rivers. Our rafting adventures may be the most fun you ever experience. Browse our Kentucky rafting and plan your vacation today!


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Contact details
The Boghill Centre is an eco venue situated in the north of Co Clare not far from the Cliffs of Moher. It offers holidays, tours, workshops, family breaks, activity days, and individual/group retreats.
Read more
Want to know more? Ask a question in our Community, they're the people who know Ireland best.
For more information on travel, accommodation and attractions have a look at our brochures and maps.
If you're a visitor from the island of Ireland you may want to visit one of these sites… Otherwise proceed to Ireland.com
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All things Mighty Muggs, Galactic Heroes Fighter Pods Jedi Force. Discuss!
Use this control to limit the display of threads to those newer than the specified time frame.
Allows you to choose the data by which the thread list will be sorted.
Order threads in...
Note: when sorting by date, 'descending order' will show the newest results first.


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A Florida state senator is calling for an investigation into the payout of more than $500,000 to the principal of a failed Orange County charter school.
A school board chairman blasted the payout of taxpayer money, which has sparked outrage in Orlando, as "immoral and unethical."
Kelly Young, principal of NorthStar High School in Orlando, received a check for $519,453.96 in June, about the same time the Orange County School Board accepted the school's plan to close in lieu of being forced to shut down based on declining student achievement, The Orlando Sentinel reported.
The Sentinel also reported that Young was "still being paid thousands of dollars a month" at the time to complete the school's affairs. The school serves about 180 students in east Orange County.
Young's payment was authorized by the charter school's independent board, which is separate from the Orange County School Board, in June. At the time, the independent board called it "well-deserved and earned for her years of dedicated service at a below-market rate of compensation," the Sentinel reported.
Attempts by NBC News to contact Young on Thursday were unsuccessful.
Orange County School District officials say they were unaware of the principal's payment because the school isn't required to report it under Florida's charter school law, according to the Sentinel.
Young's attorney, Larry Brown, said the payment was justified. "Here's a lady with no retirement, who at that point had put six years of her life into the school, feeling like she had to make provision for retirement in her contract," Brown told the Sentinel.
Watch the Top Videos on NBCNews.com
While the payout appears to be legal, it has sparked outrage from State Sen. David Simmons and Orange County School Board Chairman Bill Sublette.
"There's no room for abuse by charter or traditional schools," Simmons told the Sentinel. He called for an investigation. "All it does is hurt children."
"The law is very clear that school boards cannot put limits or control how a charter school spends their money, including payouts like this" Sublette told the Sentinel. He called the payment "a shameful abuse of public tax dollars" and "immoral and unethical."
Charter schools are privately run public schools with fewer regulations than traditional public schools. Charters, like public schools in Florida, receive state money based on student population.
Money leftover from charter schools is supposed to funnel back to school districts upon closure.
According to the Sentinel,
NorthStar, which had a balance of $717,293 at the end of the 2011 school year, has not turned over any money to Orange County Public Schools.
A statement provided to the district by the charter school showed a balance of less than $10,000 on June 29.
Young's payout was based on a contract that called for her to be paid about $305,000 per year through 2014, even though the school's contract was up for renewal in 2012. She was paid 85 percent of her remaining contract.
Young's salary was more than 2 1/2 times that of the highest-paid principal at a traditional Orange County public school in 2011: $116,565.
More content from NBCNews.com:
- Federal jury acquits cousins of gay hate crime in landmark case
- Bullet in chest doesn't stop N.Y. cop from catching suspect
- Surprise intruder: 300-pound deer breaks into Philadelphia home
- Hurricane Sandy could be a 'Nor'easter on steroids'
- Illinois hoarder ordered to get rid of hundreds of birds


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Selamat siang and welcome to our expat community in Bali! As part of our private network of expats you can get to know like-minded members of the expat community as you make your big move to Bali. Our experienced and knowledgeable members are always happy to help with any questions or concerns you might have about relocating and living in Bali. You may want to ask them, "where is the best place to live in Ubud?", "is it possible to live on the beach and commute to a city?", or "what is the education system like in Bali?" Whatever your questions may be, our helpful and friendly network of expats in Bali is happy to share their tips and advice with you and help make your move that bit easier. Join InterNations and connect with fellow international people and get valuable information and tips. Interact in a casual way with other expats, get the answers you need, while building up relationships with like-minded people.
With InterNations, you never stand alone. Whether you move to another city or go on a business trip somewhere — our communities are there to make you feel at home wherever you are in the world. Feel free to also check out our other vibrant InterNations Communities like the ones in Beijing or Jeddah.
Attend our monthly events and activities for Bali expatriates to get to know like-minded expatriates in real life.
Get trustworthy advice and local insights from fellow members in our Bali expat forums.
When you think of Bali, you think of yoga. The island is synonymous with meditation and yoga retreats and attracts yoga fans to the island every year. It's not entirely surprising that they choose Bali; the island, which is part of Indonesia, is a beautiful tropical paradise and home to impeccable landscapes, such as volcanic mountains, rice paddies, white sandy beaches, and spectacular coral reefs. Its beachside city Kuta is a tourist hotspot, as are the resorts of Seminyak, Sanur, and Nusa. Expats move to Bali for the lifestyle, since employment is low and it can be difficult to find work. Many expats that leave to work in Bali may start their own business on the island or be involved in yoga or meditation. Bali today has everything you could need from modern living, with improved internet connections as well as the exoticism of constantly being right next to the beach. Whether you choose to live in the expat-friendly Ubud, great for yoga and cafes, or the resorts of South Bali, where the majority of people in Bali live, Bali offers a high quality of life. Bali scores highly with expats already living there for its ease of settling in, the friendliness of the people and the ease of finding friends. Expats are also largely satisfied with the options available for childcare and education, which is good, cheap, and widely available. The cost of living is one of the lowest, leaving expats with a large disposable income to spend on leisure activities and socializing.
InterNations is the largest global network for expatriates, with communities in 420 cities across the globe. Get to know fellow internationals in your city, before you're moving, or when traveling somewhere and never feel like a stranger. InterNations makes it easy for you to stay in touch with your expat friends, both online and offline, so you can grow your network of friends and contacts from all over the world. Whether they live in Shanghai or Hong Kong, InterNations allows you to be close to them even if they are miles away.
All of our InterNations members have been approved before becoming a part of this private expat network, and so our expat communities are completely secure. This means you can interact safely and positively with other members, and even organize to meet up with these members outside of the website. We recommend joining up with like-minded expats through the organized groups in the InterNations Bali Community. From seeing more of the island with the Bali Explorers Group to making new friends at the Bali Dinner and Drinks Group, there are plenty of ways that you can meet up with fellow expats and learn new and interesting things.


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We Focus on Shoes !
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Come in our store and choose shoes Adding To Cart.
1).Your satisfactory is our persuit.Your feedback is extremely important to us.
2).Pls. kindly leave us positive feedback once you're satisfied with your purchase.
3).Pls. don't hesitate to contact us if you're unhappy with your products,we'll solve all the problems with you.


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built in 1256
established in 2001
It is with great pleasure and a profound sense of pride, that we welcome guests to B&B Sei Stelle in the heart of the ancient city of Sulmona. This venture brings me and my family full circle back to where we began. The name "Sei Stelle" or Six Stars, is taken from our family crest that is carved in stone above the main entrance. The name has sentimental meaning for us as well and is in line with the philosophy that whatever you do in life merits that you invest part of yourself. For us, this is natural when it comes to this property and to this city. Sulmona, once my home as a young boy, is again my home for part of the year. Living between the great city of Boston and the ancient city of Sulmona combines the best of two worlds. It has afforded me the chance to remain connected with the culinary traditions of Italy in a very direct and authentic manner. It has also given me the precious opportunity to share my heritage and culture with my children, not as visitors, but as residents.
Filippo Frattaroli
Filmark Hospitality Group
Boston, Massachusetts


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North Coast mayors visit Glenugie Coal Seam Gas blockade
CLARENCE Valley deputy mayor Craig Howe has thanked two Northern Rivers mayors for visiting the Coal Seam Gas blockade at The Avenue, in Glenugie today.
Lismore City mayor Jenny Dowell and Byron Shire mayor Simon Richardson arrived on site at 10am and have spent the morning meeting and talking with protestors.
Cr Howe said the mayors were welcome in the Clarence Valley and he thanked them for supporting the protestors at Glenugie.
He added that local councillors were notified of their impending visit but were unable to attend due to being on leave.
"Our mayor Richie Williamson received an email on Tuesday but unfortunately he is away and is subsequently unable to join the other mayors at the site," he said.
"Their support means a lot to everyone in the Clarence Valley who opposes coal seam gas.
"I also plan to visit the Glenugie site soon."
Cr Richardson, who organised the visit, said today was an opportunity for the mayors to show their support to the local protestors and demonstrate their opposition to CSG.
The mayors thanked protesters for taking a stand against the threat of CSG in the Clarence Valley and spoke of their own concerns regarding CSG in their shires.
"It was important for us to come to Glenugie today to show solidarity on behalf of our local communities who also oppose CSG mining. The protestors have essentially put their lives on hold to take a stand to help protect their communities against CSG and we wanted to be here to offer then additional support and thank them," Cr Richardson said.
The mayors said their visit was not an attempt at political grandstanding.
Cr Richardson said the controversies surrounding CSG extend beyond more than one electoral boundary and it was important for communities to unite.
"We wanted to be here to look at the site, to talk to the protestors and offer them our support," he said.
"We (mayors) have all been following the accounts of the Glenugie site through social media and also in the news," he said.
"Cr Richardson contacted Clarence Valley councillors to inform them of our visit and we are sorry that mayor Richie Williamson could not (attend)."


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A notably bonkers car chase on the Palmetto Expressway in the Miami-Dade area just ended, with thankfully no injuries to other motorists. One of the suspects was airlifted to the hospital, the victim of what appears to be some police-fired bullets.
The chase reached speeds of 111 MPH, not bad for a minivan, even if it is an R-Class. There's lots of insane weaving in and out of traffic. In one of the videos the anchor refers to the car as "champagne-covered" which, even if we know what he meant, adds a certain touch of class to the whole affair.
Of course, it ends like almost all these chases end, with things going pretty crappy for the chasee, in this case giving the viewers a nice, heavy plop onto the ground after ramming a chain-link fence as preserved in this GIF.
You know what these guys should try when they stop the car? Sewers! I bet shimmying down a manhole and trying to navigate the rat-and-poop-infested sewers could really solve things.
(Hat tip to Timothy!)


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E-Filings | previous page
Web Forms
From here you can submit online forms to the
South Dakota Public Utilities Commission
is for telecommunication providers in South Dakota.
You can fill out an online version of the
Annual Report for Telecommunication
Providers by selecting this option.
This is due by June 1 for the preceding calendar.
is for registering
with the South Dakota Public Utilities
Commission to use an
automatic telephone dialing system.
You must register with the PUC at least 10 days prior to using the system.
is for reporting inventories of warehouse
receipted grain, grain bank and emergency
storage inventories.
This online form can be used in place of the paper form
that is mailed to the
South Dakota PUC.


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In November 2010, the human rights record of the United States was reviewed in Geneva by the United Nations Human Rights Council. This means the human rights record of the U.S. was given official scrutiny of the international community.
Among many recommendations made by members of the U.N. to the U.S., member state Uruguay called on the Obama Administration to "Undertake awareness-raising campaigns for combating stereotypes and violence against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people; and ensure access to public services paying attention to the special vulnerability of sexual workers to violence and human rights abuses."
The U.N.'s recommendations create an opportunity to form sustained collaborations between the Federal, State, and Local institutions and community organizations for the purpose of reducing human rights abuses of sex workers.
Please join the HIV Prevention Justice Alliance (HIV PJA) in endorsing a letter to urge our nation to take these recommendations seriously.
This action by the global community highlights human rights issues that have gone unnoticed for too long. Because of the stigma and criminalization associated with sex work, sex workers (and those profiled as such) are highly vulnerable to violence, discrimination and human rights abuses. They are also frequently impeded from accessing critical services such as healthcare, and the right to equal protection under the law. When murder, sexual assault, or physical and verbal assault is committed in these communities, they are often systematically ignored.
We know that the marginalization of sex workers and LGBTQ people fuels HIV stigma and aids HIV transmission. Please act today to support these powerful recommendations.
Please click here to see the full text of the letter and to add the endorsement of your organization.


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Photo Plasmatic DeluxeFree
Do you love amazing pictures? New frames with which you will be the star of your own ad. Choose your favorite image and add it to selected frame. Create in seconds a fantastic photo collage in which you are the protagonist! With "Photo Plasmatics", you can: - Share your creations via social networks, email and more. - Easy to use: Just a few steps! - No internet connection required. - Select a photo from the gallery or take photos using the phone or tablet camera. - Wide range of styles and different frames for any picture. - HD quality hoarding frames, you will love the results - Tap to apply different effects on your photo: Black & white, sepia, grayscale, rotate, zoom and more! See below for further suggested effects EXTRA: Effects: Powered by Aviary - Enhance: Auto, Night, Backlit and Balance - Effets: Original, Singe, vivid, san carmen, indiglow, concorde, aqua, strato, laguna, ventura and soft focus - Sticker: Get an amazing library of images to a
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"The Wall - –Live In Berlin" at Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, Germany. Joni joined an international cast of musicians at a benefit concert in support of 'The Memorial Fund for Disaster Relief', on the site of the recently toppled Berlin wall.
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Jmorgan12 necesitaba un nuevo diseño de papelería y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 88 diseños de 22 diseñadores freelance.
How would you like to design the stationary for a company that is seen at colleges all over the country?
We are a rapidly growing company that proctors exams over the internet. Ever take a college class online but still had to travel to campus to take your final or midterm? With ProctorU, you can take the exam right from your home, by using our service to connect to a live person via webcam. Our proctors and students can see each other and speak to each other, the proctor helps you into your exam, and monitors the student while they complete it (always being there to help with tech problems). To see how this works, check out the demo video at http://www.ProctorU.com (don't worry, our website is up for redesign next).
Our service is sleek, easy, and becoming very popular. We are currently being using at over 40 different colleges around the country (including The University of Florida, Northwestern, Saint Louis University, The University of Arizona, University of Illinois and several others).
The people who will see this stationary are in the education or training industry. They will be professors and school administrators.
It is important that we give off the impression of "integrity" and "education" for the school officials, while still looking "friendly and easy to use" for the students.
We need:
*Biz Cards:
We would like some sleek, cool looking business cards that play on our logo. We would also like a back side to the card. The back of the card should play on the three pillars of proctoring an exam... (Watch The Student - Watch What They Are Doing - Know Who They Are). Maybe use an icon for each one... get creative.
On the front, feel free to play with our new logo (attached). You can move the owl away from the typeface logo, zoom it, do whatever you think looks good. Example card info:
Jarrod Morgan
Vice President of Business Development
ProctorU Inc.
205-870-8122 ext 112 (office)
205-677-5277 (mobile)
2919 John Hawkins Parkway
Hoover, AL 35244
* Letterhead:
We are looking for something clean and professional, but would like to see some more playing with the owl. Should have our address, phone number (205-870-8122), and website.
* Envelopes:
Feel free to be creative. Obviously just need the address on it.
We are looking for something awesome that reflects our company in a positive light and instills confidence in the integrity of our brand.
PLEASE NOTE: The attached logo is the correct one. Please try to use the teal blue as that is our main "color." In some of the files below, there is a line below the typeface that shouldn't be there. Please the JPG to view how the typeface should look


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Philips Sonicare DiamondClean
Standard sonic toothbrush heads
- Whiter teeth in just one week
- Diamond-shaped bristles give you 100% whiter teeth in 1 week
- Removes up to 7 times more plaque than a manual toothbrush
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- than a manual toothbrush
Whiter teeth in just one week
Philips Sonicare DiamondClean toothbrush head removes up to 100% more stains for whiter teeth in just 7 days.
Diamond-shaped bristles give you 100% whiter teeth in 1 week
This Philips Sonicare toothbrush head features a central stain-removal pad, from densely-packed diamond-shaped bristles to remove surface stains caused by food and drinks. Also available in smaller, compact size for precision cleaning.
Removes up to 7 times more plaque than a manual toothbrush
Philips Sonicare DiamondClean brush head is clinically proven to remove up to 7 times more plaque than a manual toothbrush after just four weeks of use.
Engineered to maximize sonic motion
Philips Sonicare brush heads are vital to our core technology of high-frequency, high-amplitude brush movements performing over 31,000 brush strokes per minute. Our unparalleled sonic technology fully extends the power from the handle all the way to the tip of the brush head. This sonic motion creates a dynamic fluid action that drives fluid deep between teeth and along the gum line for superior, yet gentle, cleaning every time.
Works with any Philips Sonicare click-on toothbrush
This brush head clicks on and off your brush handle for a secure fit and easy maintenance and cleaning. It fits all Philips Sonicare toothbrush handles except: PowerUp Battery and Essence.
Part of a better oral healthcare routine
Like all authentic Philips Sonicare branded brush heads, this brush head is safe on teeth and gums. Each brush head has been quality tested for exceptional performance and durability.
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At first glance it may not be obvious, but brush heads lose stiffness and gradually wear down over months of normal use. Our blue reminder bristles fade to white and help you recognize when it's time for a replacement. For optimal results, replace your brush head every three months.
|Brush heads
|3 DiamondClean standard
|Brush head system
|Suitable for these models
2 Series plaque control
3 Series gum health
FlexCare Platinum
for Kids
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|Whiter teeth in just one week
|Every 3 months
|for optimal usage
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