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Rob Van Dam revealed that he will not be on hand for this week's Impact Wrestling tapings. When a fan asked him on Twitter if he was looking forward to being in Chicago on Thursday, he replied, "Ill be in Cali. More on that in a few days."
It is also worth nothing that during an interview on Joe McDonnell Uncensored back in October, Rob Van Dam mentioned that his contract with the company would be up in March of 2013. RVD's deal was originally set to expire in March of 2012 but had an option for another year.
This could be an indication that he didn't re-sign with the company.


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Jordan's got the putting down. He was crashing chains like crazy last week at Legacy league, right in the middle.
I loaned out my flak jacket and my AK, couldn't make it without those.
talk is cheap......Arturro 1008 Jake Bowen 990Tank 1000 CD 986Shanan Carson 987 Mike Murphy 975 Joe Hesting 984 Fred Smith 968Loomis 978 Mike Thomas 966 Heberto Villareal 977 Jose Ossa 964Cooper Arnold 975 Jamie Barry 946 Brian Guthrie 970I know there are many really good players that don't show up in PDGA stats, but the odds makers would have to favor the West side based on these facts. This is all in good fun, don't take it personal.
I think I'm willing to take the East side up on that distance challenge. Or a putting challenge. Heck, we might as well add these to the overall team competition. I've seen the best the east can do in these categories and I must confess - not impressed at all. What do you say, East side, you game for some skills competitions? Are you ready to put your individual talents to the test? I'm sure there is a way to tie them in to this somehow.
What do you say, East side, you game for some skills competitions? Are you ready to put your individual talents to the test?
And don't fool yourself Hinck. You're good, but you ain't never out thrown me.


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Tozer here gives us ten lessons from the Gospel of John. Using the theme of faith as a springboard, Tozer explores how faith in God transforms the ordinary into something unimaginable. Those familiar with Tozer will recognize his perceptive application of Scripture truths to real-life problems within the church. They will also learn to exercise a faith that believes in things beyond human understanding—things only possible with God.
Aiden Wilson Tozer (1897-1963) was born on a small farm in what is now Newburg, PA. His family moved to Akron, Ohio, when he was just a young boy. At the age of 17, Tozer heard a street preacher, responded to the calling of Christ, and began his lifelong pursuit of God. After becoming an active witness of Jesus as a lay preacher, he joined The Christian and Missionary Alliance and was soon serving as the pastor of West Virginia's Alliance Church, in 1919. He transferred to the Southside Alliance Church in Chicago in 1928, and his ministry continued there for 31 years. During that time he preached on the Moody Bible Institute's radio station. In the 1940s Tozer was invited to speak at Wheaton College, and seldom a year passed after World War II that he didn't preach in the college's Pierce Chapel. In 1950 he became the editor of The Alliance Life magazine and served in that capacity until his death.
Self-taught, with no formal Bible training, Tozer has been called a twentieth-century prophet within his own lifetime. Through years of diligent study and constant prayer, he sought the mind of God. A master craftsman in the use of the English language, he was able to write in a simple, cogent style the principles of truth he had learned. For Tozer, "there was no substitute for knowing God firsthand." He wrote many of his books with one idea in mind—that his reader would achieve the heart's true goal in God and maintain that relationship with Him.
Tozer moved to Toronto in 1959 and spent the final years of his life as the pastor of Avenue Road Church. He and his wife, Ada, lived a simple, non-materialistic lifestyle and let much of the royalties from his books go to those in need. The Tozers had seven children, six boys and one girl. James L. Snyder, said of Tozer that his "preaching as well as his writings were but extensions of his prayer life. He had the ability to make his listeners face themselves in the light of what God was saying to them."


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"You're going to build a what?"
That's what Tony Fadell's wife, Dani, said to him in 2009 when he told her his idea for a new company. Fadell is one of the most sought-after talents in the world of gadgetry—he designed the hardware for the iPod, and headed Apple's iPod and iPhone division before leaving his VP post to spend time with his wife and two young children, living an idyllic year in Paris.
But even before he moved back to the U.S. he was mulling over his next step. Many assumed that the 42-year old technologist would continue his brilliant career in consumer electronics. He might even become a contender to run an existing multi-billion dollar business—in electronics, in mobile, maybe even Apple.
Instead, he told Dani, he was going to build a thermostat.
A what?
Fadell explained his concept: Untold tons of carbon were being pumped into the air, with people losing billions of dollars in energy costs, all because there was no easy, automatic way to control the temperature. But what if you could apply all the skills and brilliance of Silicon Valley to produce a thermostat that was smart, thrifty and so delightful that saving energy was as much fun as shuffling an iTunes playlist?
You could revolutionize an important but neglected tech backwater—and significantly improve the environment. Within 15 minutes, Dani got it. As did the others Fadell would talk to over the next few months. These included a dream team of Silicon Valley engineers, designers, and computer scientists who became the first employees of Nest Labs, the company Fadell founded.
Investors were equally enthusiastic, and though Nest won't disclose the size of the total stake, it is reasonable to assume that upwards of $50 million has come from a consortium that includes Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures, Lightspeed Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Intertrust, and Generation Investment Management (backed by Al Gore, who was enchanted with a demo that Fadell gave him at TED in 2011.)
"In other green startups, ideas are incremental—we haven't found breakthrough ideas," says Kleiner Perkins partner Randy Komisar. "But this breaks the mold."
Today comes the payoff, when Tony Fadell's company introduces the Nest Learning Thermostat. It is available for preorder at Best Buy and Nest.com, and will ship in November. Units are already streaming from assembly lines in the Chinese factories that churn out advanced digital gadgets.
The Nest is the iPod of thermostats. A simple loop of brushed stainless steel encases a chassis of reflective polymer, which encircles a crisp color digital display. Artificial intelligence figures out when to turn down the heat and when to jack up the air conditioning, so that you don't waste money and perturb the ozone when no one is home, or when you're asleep upstairs. You can communicate with the Nest from your smartphone, tablet or web browser.
Fadell promises the Nest will pay for itself within a year or two of use, and ultimately save you up to 30 percent of your utility bill. And its presence on your wall will be less an artifact of the industrial age than a piece of high-tech art.
Can the unloved thermostat become an object of techo-lust? Will the Nest really save its users an aggregate billions of dollars? Can it spare our beloved pale blue dot endless tons of unwanted carbon?
Tony Fadell is about to find out.
Fadell got the idea for Nest Labs when he was building a green home in Tahoe. A long-time aficionado of architecture, he threw himself into the details of house design. His domicile would be as gorgeous as the products he worked on at Apple, endowed with the same love of detail. When it came to HVAC – the industry acronym for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning – he worked with architects to drill sophisticated geothermal wells to regulate temperature. Everything was looking great. And then the architects presented him with the options for the thermostats that would adorn the walls of his perfect home.
They sucked.
"What was wrong with them?" he now says. "They were ugly. They were confusing. They were incredibly expensive. They didn't have half the features you would expect for a modern thing. None of them were connected, so they didn't talk to each other. I wasn't able to remotely control them. In Tahoe, you want to be able check on the temperature of the house or turn it on before you get there. Because it's really cold in the winter. I couldn't do any of that, and I was like, Why is this?"
So Fadell started researching.
Thermostats, he found, had not changed much in decades. The most popular model is known as the Honeywell Round, a white sphere circle with tiny meters indicating actual and desired room temperatures. When legendary designer Henry Dreyfus designed it, it was an instant hit – but that was 1953!
More recent, upscale programmable thermostats were not only hideous – displays were straight out the DOS era – but programming them was reminiscent of getting a 1970s VCR to tape a football game. In 2008, after a study that concluded that homes with programmable thermostats used more energy that similar ones without them, the Energy Star label was stripped from the entire category. A recent Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study found that "as many as 50 percent of residential programmable thermostats are in permanent 'hold' status."
According to Alan Meier, the scientist who performed the study, "A large fraction of people didn't know how to use them and didn't have patience the learn." The government estimates that the average home has a $2,200 energy bill, half of which is under the control of the thermostat. That means every household was losing hundreds of dollars because of that oblique gizmo on the wall.
It was an industry ripe for disruption. "Thermostats are made by very large companies with no incentive to innovate," Fadell says. "Their customers are contractors or HVAC wholesalers, not consumers. So why spend to make them better? It's a good business."
How good was that business? Fadell ran some numbers. On the back of an envelope, he figured there might be 100 million homes in the U.S. Each one had between one and two thermostats – that's 150 million. In light commercial spaces – small offices, restaurants, retail – there's another 100 million, or so. Add 10 million more in hotel rooms. That's a quarter billion thermostats already, and that doesn't account for those in bigger commercial spaces! He looked deeper. Every year, 10 million thermostats are sold in the residential space alone. "That's more than refrigerators, dishwashers, dryers; almost as much as bicycles are sold," says Fadell. "It may not be the iPhone, but it's bigger than most other businesses."
On a trip back from Paris, Fadell shared his idea with former colleague Matt Rogers, who started at the company as Fadell's intern and rose to manage teams on the iPod and iPhone. Rogers was enthusiastic, and the pair began due diligence to discover whether anyone else was working along the same lines.
"We assumed there might be someone, even some small company or startup, innovating along these lines," says Rogers. "There was nobody." And so, Nest Labs was born. The duo rented a garage in Palo Alto, on Alma Street near downtown, and began recruiting.
One of the first people they approached was a cell phone engineer named Shige Honjo, who was then the program manager for the iPhone. It was a dream job; Honjo worked with great people to make a hugely popular product and was making bundles of money. But when Matt Rogers invited him to the garage on Alma Street, Honjo was startled to find his old boss Tony Fadell there. That was a Friday. On Saturday Honjo told his wife that they had a decision to make: Should they follow through on the big beach house they were about to buy, or he should join a startup and save the world?
On Monday Honjo quit Apple. "The choice was to save the world," he says.
Another early employee, David Sloo – who had worked with Fadell almost two decades ago in the legendary startup General Magic – was similarly inspired. "Tony comes along and says here's a problem that affects pretty much every household. Think of all the air conditioning that runs in empty houses – it wastes hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and that's Alabama alone!" Sloo pauses, as if realizing that his voice is getting too loud and his words too fast. "The scale of home energy waste is orders of magnitude beyond anything people here have worked on. But I don't want to sound hubristic. We're just making a thermostat."
On a table in Nest Lab's new headquarters in Palo Alto – a corporate park with neighbors like Mercedes Benz and Frog Design – is an array of conventional thermostats, a reminder of the industry that Nest hopes to heat up. In making Silicon Valley's version of the thermostat, Nest's idea was to modernize every aspect of the device, making all those units on the table as antique as eight-track tape machines in the age of iPod. "We have innovated literally everywhere," says Rogers. "To the outside world, none of it needs to be apparent. It just needs to be a beautiful device that's easy to control."
The Nest team realized the first key element in their success would be its hardware's good looks. "If you don't make it look beautiful, people don't cherish it," says Fadell. "I want it to be a jewel on the wall so that it's a conversation piece. People come over and they go, 'What's that on your wall?' and you go, 'Oh, you've got to check this out.' If it can invite conversation, we think we're going to be able to drive awareness. We're going to drive more interest, and people will actually save energy."
"We had to figure out whether this was a consumer electronics gadget or an architectural piece," says industrial designer Fred Bould. "It took us a while to figure out it was both. The biggest challenge was the integration of all this technology into a small, intuitive package. There's a lot of sensors and moving parts."
In the same way that Apple squeezes elements into increasingly compact iPhones, the Nest team compressed previously unwieldy parts into its sleek device. One particular challenge was integrating the motion detectors that sense whether people are in a room. The ones you see on a typical security system have unwieldy lenses that would look out of place in the elegant Nest design. But Shige Honjo found versions with much smaller lenses, and hid them behind an almost imperceptible grill.
It's also a friendly little thing, lighting up when you approach and yielding its secret in ways familiar to Apple's intuitive ways of interaction. You push down on the display to show the menu. And when you turn the ring to set temperature, it tells you how long it will take to achieve that temp. When it heats, the display turns red; when it cools, the color is blue.
A different technical problem emerged in keeping the Nest fully charged so it could be ready to not only control temperature and run calculations to predict when people would be out of the house, but also to connect to Wi-Fi, so people could set temperature via iPhone and also to report data to a website that helps people keep track of energy consumption.
The problem was that the thermostat would draw power only from the tiny trickle of electricity from its wires. "We spent cumulatively more than 10 man-years working on the technology to enable remote control over the Internet while the device is on the wall, asleep, without using external power," says Matt Rogers. "It basically took all our years at Apple to do that. What makes an iPod play music for 24 hours is what enabled us to do this for the product."
The Nest Thermostat also aces a task that traditional thermostats surprisingly don't do very well at: measuring the temperature. At one time, thermostats routinely used mercury, but then the element was banned. The default measurement is now a system that takes note of the electrical resistance in a metal wire. And it isn't all that accurate: Many current thermostats can be routinely off by four or five degrees.
Because only a single degree has significant financial effects, the Nest was designed to be dead-on. Each thermostat has multiple sensors exploiting cutting-edge MEMS technology to measure temperature both inside and outside the device; sophisticated algorithms account for the slight heat generated by the thermostat itself and figure out an accurate reading for the room. (This works on the same principle as the noise-canceling microphone in the iPhone.)
But probably the most sophisticated feature of the Nest is the artificial intelligence that helps it regulate the temperature to your liking — without your having to engage in complicated setup tasks.
Included among Nest's advisors is Stanford AI head and Google researcher Sebastian Thrun, who told Fadell and Rogers that the best person in the world to produce this complicated intelligence was Yoky Matsuoka, a 2007 MacArthur "genius" fellow and MIT-trained computer scientist who heads a University of Washington lab, and also was working on futuristic projects for the top-secret Google X division. Rogers set up a meeting.
When Matsuoka heard him utter the acronym HVAC, she pictured some guy in a blue shirt coming to her house and checking out some dirty spot in the basement to fix something. "But seven minutes later, I was captivated," she says. "I'd seen plenty of smart home projects in academia, beginning in the 1980s, but they just could not take off. When Matt presented the idea, I tried to poke holes in it, but he had answers for every problem I bought up. I realized that this could be the entry point – and that this was an opportunity I could not miss."
It's the intelligence within that makes the Nest Learning Thermostat unique. After it's installed, users simply set temperatures that make them comfortable for a few days. Soon, the thermostat figures out what you want, and starts adjusting temperatures on its own, based on time of day and whether people are around.
If you're not home for a while, the Nest will figure out the house is empty. If you routinely turn down the air conditioning before your household goes to sleep, and you forget to do this one night, the Nest will figure it out and take action. "If this is in your house for 10 days, it really starts making a difference. If you're feeling cold, turn it up. If you're feeling warm, turn it off. Turn it up two days at the same time, we know," says David Sloo, the Nester in charge of the user interface.
Matsuoka knew that she'd been successful when she installed one of the 200 test units in her home. One night after she'd gone to bed, she kicked herself for forgetting to turn down the thermostat to prevent a wasteful blast of hot air during the night. She dragged herself out of bed and walked over to the Nest, which lit up to greet her.
"It already had the temperature that I would have selected for efficiency," she says. "And I thought, how could it know? I didn't remember putting in those temperatures – it did a better job of remembering my pattern than I remembered my pattern."
An unhappier discovery came when Matsuoka learned that some of the Nest's prototype testers were unhappy with her algorithms. She had instructed the thermostat to proactively set temperatures for efficiency: Once it learned when people were out of the room, it greedily lowered temperatures in winter and raised them in summer. But people felt that the Nest was forcing them to change their behavior. It was like Al Gore himself was in the room, barking at you to put on a sweater.
So Matsuoka changed the algorithms, shifting the Nest's personality to more of a gentle coach than a noodge with a climate-change slide show. Her model was the dashboard on the Toyota Prius hybrid car. Just as the Prius provides feedback on fuel consumption, the Nest gives owners a sense of how they're using energy — and an incentive to save, as opposed to a guilt trip when they don't. Now, when you set the energy to a temperature-saving level, the Nest awards you with a virtual leaf – a little icon that Nest hopes you will cherish. It's like a DIY carbon offset.
"We're actually trying to change the culture," Matsuoka says. "If we just put a machine-learning device in people's homes that changes the temperature without people understanding how it works, it's never going to take off. We really had to understand how humans learn to live with a brand-new system."
"It's all about the control we can give to the customers," says David Sloo, who is in charge of the user experience. "Seventy degrees is just a number. The real question is whether the people in the house are comfortable."
The Nest Labs folks realize that it will take a long time for people to move away from traditional thermostats. For one thing, there's the cost: At $249, the Nest is five times the price of a Honeywell Round.
Even though Nest Labs can provide data that says the device will pay for itself very quickly, it's probably the Whole Foods crowd that will adopt it at first, either buying their own or being delighted when their new-home contractors present it to them along with the Sub Zero fridge and mesquite flooring.
When people do buy a Nest, they will find that, just like an Apple product, even the packaging is designed to be unwrapped like a treasure, and not an, um, HVAC device.
Then they have to install it, of course. Nest has devised a step-by-step system designed to allow even relatively unsophisticated do-it-yourselfers to set it up in under a half an hour. (You can follow along with videos posted to YouTube.) The thermostat display even corrects you when you've hooked up one of the leads to the wrong wire. But for those not confident enough, Best Buy will send out the Geek Squad to do your install, or Nest will provide installers charging $119 for the first unit, and $25 more for additional units. Nest is also setting up a customer support center in Utah to take calls during the process and afterwards.
After installation, in fact, is when the Nest business gets really interesting — in ways that make the company much more than a manufacturer of devices.
Fadell hopes that the Nest will change the current situation where "people write a check to some faceless company for a random amount. The furnace is just something that sits in a basement." Indeed, the Nest will not only do its learning thing in your home, but also report data to a web site. Nest Labs will use the information to write better, more efficient algorithms — and to fix problems that arise.
Software updates will come automatically via the web, and motivated users can perform analytics on their own energy consumption, perhaps learning ways to cut costs without much sacrifice.
Though Fadell isn't specific, he says that the company may offer more services, perhaps ones that bring more money to Nest. For the long-term, Nest plans to move beyond thermostats and exploit similar green opportunities in the way that only a tech company can. This particularly excites Nest's investors.
"The Internet so far has been a collection of connected people. We think that the next step is connected devices," says Randy Komisar, of Kleiner Perkins. "This could be the edge device that drives other things connected to the home."
Nest can also be a model for another phenomenon: applying the skills of Silicon Valley to transform other seemingly mundane but nonetheless important objects. One convert to this idea is John Beagan, who runs a small Massachusetts company called HVAC Automation, Inc.
Beagan has been in the business since 1976 and thinks it's high time that someone makes a big leap beyond the Honeywell Round. He just didn't expect that leap to come from the folks who made the iPhone.
"It is a different group of people," says Beagan. "One of the first fellows I talked to was an Indian fellow. He had a Ph.D. in algorithms. I thought that was very interesting. The next guy I met was an electronics technician from MIT. It's a fresh approach to thermometers and they've come up with a nice product."
The engineers of Nest, of course, see their efforts as much more. And some of them don't mind sounding hubristic at all. "I don't know why I waited 20 years to work on something like this," says Shige Honjo. "By making it easy for people to turn this on and off when they need it, we're saving the environment. We're saving the world."
But before that happens, first geeky greenies at Nest must first find out whether people will pay $249 to fall in love with a thermostat.


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Easy Nail Ideas For Fall
10 High-Fashion Manicures You Can Do Yourself
10 High-Fashion Manicures You Can Do Yourself
Every season, designers send fabulous, fantastical nails down the runway in some of the most astonishing color combinations, textures, and patterns imaginable. But although they may be bold, lots of the prettiest haute manicures are also simple enough to do at home. From these gorgeous gold tips to the modern French manicure you'll see all year, these 10 looks are easy to nail.
Photo courtesy CND


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VANCOUVER -- The federal government has quietly doubled the number of Irish workers allowed to enter the country without the usual check to ensure Canadians aren't being displaced.
The International Experience Canada visa allows anyone aged 18-35 from 32 countries party to a bilateral youth exchange agreement with Canada to work in the country for up to two years without a Labour Market Opinion. Most participants come from Europe and Australia.
Under most worker immigration streams, employers are required to first post the job in Canada for a reasonable length of time. They must then submit proof they have done so to Employment and Social Development Canada, which assesses the impact hiring that worker would have on the Canadian labour market. A positive labour market opinion, or LMO, is required for most foreign workers before Citizenship and Immigration Canada will issue a visa.
The International Experience class is exempt from that requirement because it involves quotas based on reciprocal agreements with other countries. It is subdivided into working holiday, young professional and internship/co-op streams. In B.C., it is most often associated with Australians working in Whistler or bartenders from the U.K.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada spokeswoman Amanda Lannan insisted the purpose of the program is primarily to "facilitate an economic and cultural exchange."
"Reciprocity is an important part of that and we will be doing more to encourage Canadian youth to participate," she said in an emailed statement.
But the Canadian government has raised those quotas significantly in recent years for Ireland in particular, a country employers here often look to as a source of skilled workers. The number of Irish workers allowed to come in on the visa increased to 10,750 this year from 4,000 in 2010. Ireland has the second-highest number of places under the program after France, where the allocation of 14,000 spots has not changed since 2010.
Recruiters in Europe and the federal government are advertising the program as a way for Canadian employers to bring in skilled workers without having to go through the LMO process. The website of the Canadian embassy in Ireland, for example, describes the program as a "win-win" for employer and employee.
"Many Canadian employers consistently hire temporary foreign workers under IEC again and again in industries like tourism, food service, hospitality, engineering and commerce," the website says. It goes on to add: "You can hire young workers from Ireland without a Labour Market Opinion normally required by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. Canada issues a two-year work permit to qualified applicants."
Doug Parton of the Ironworkers Union said he was told by an Irish recruiter that it was "no problem" to bring in construction workers on an IEC visa. That recruiter also said an Alberta-based concrete-pumping company was an enthusiastic user of the program.
Another advantage to employers using the IEC visa is there is no requirement under that program to pay workers the prevailing wage rate in the industry, which can create a significant incentive in trades like ironworking, Parton said.
"Where's the checks and balances here?" he asked. "This isn't a union and a non-union thing, this is a Canadian thing and it just disgusts me."
Lannan's statement did not say what safeguards are in place to ensure Canadian workers are not being displaced by participants in the IEC program, but did say the government is "currently reviewing this program, and the (temporary foreign worker program) to ensure that it meets Canada's needs and interests.
"Our government's priority will always be to ensure Canadians are given first crack at available jobs."
The temporary foreign worker program has been under increased scrutiny in recent months after a number of controversies, including a Victoria McDonald's franchisee allegedly hiring workers from the Philippines when there were qualified locals available, HD Mining bringing in Chinese workers for a project near Tumbler Ridge and a case last year in which the Royal Bank displaced a number of Canadian workers after contracting out IT services to a foreign supplier.
Canadians should be angry this is happening, Parton said, but emphasized that it would be wrong to blame the people who come. He recalled travelling to Ireland last year and meeting some prospective immigrants hoping to come to Canada.
"I don't think there's a Canadian out there who wouldn't do the same thing. If you can't pay your mortgage or feed your family and times are getting tough, then you're going to do what you have to do."
The Irish quota numbers began creeping up in 2012, when then-Immigration Minister Jason Kenney visited a recruitment fair in Dublin and discussed "opportunities for young people to work in Canada as part of the International Experience Canada program," according to a press release put out by Kenney's office at the time.
Around the same time, the government increased the quota for Irish workers under the program to 6,350 for 2013. This year, it is 10,750.
A spokeswoman for Jason Kenney, who now oversees ESDC, the ministry responsible for labour market opinions, redirected The Sun's request for an interview to the office of Immigration Minister Chris Alexander, who was also not available for an interview.
The Canadian government divided working holiday visa spots for Ireland into two batches this year. The second batch of 3,850 visas, released April 1, was snapped up in half an hour, according to the Irish Times. There are still 2,400 spots available for Irish workers under 35 with a job offer from a Canadian employer. Citizenship and Immigration Canada figures show that while the quota for Ireland is always filled, other countries, including Australia and France, do not always use all their allocated spots.


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Kirstie Alley On Dieting, Dancing With The Stars, and Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Kirstie Alley continues to get slimmer and slimmer by the day as you can see from a new Daily Mail picture above. Yesterday, Kirstie was a co-host on The View where she was asked about her weight loss. Kirstie remarked that she has lost 90 pounds with 30 of them being after she started dancing on Dancing With The Stars. She also promoted her diet company "Organic Liasons" saying that "the products helped to give her energy to get her through the strenuous competition". Here is more from The Examiner of Kirstie's appearance on The View. She is asked on Maks too which I'll address afterwards.
Actress Kirstie Alley was the guest host on ABC's talk show , "The View," on June 21, 2011. Alley sat in along with regular hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
The first topic was Kirstie Alley herself. Alley has had a public battle with her weight over the past several years. She announced that she has lost a total of 90 pounds. She lost 60 pounds prior to her recent stint on "Dancing with the Stars," and an additional 30 pounds during the celebrity dance competition. Alley said that beyond the weight loss, the hours of daily dancing changed the shape of her body. The strenuous exercise helped with the weight loss and toned her body, so she looks fabulous.
Kirstie Alley took a few minutes to hawk her company, "Organic Liasons," saying that the products helped to give her energy to get her through the strenuous competition. The company also focuses on organic living and getting harmful chemicals out of the diet.
Alley was asked whether her relationship with pro-dancer Maks went beyond the professional relationship seen on "Dancing with the Stars." The dancing couple did seem to have sizzling chemistry, but Kirstie refused to confirm or deny. Make of that what you will.
I can't believe they asked her if there was something more going on with her and Maks? What if there was? And why is it that people can't go out with each other without it being said there is something more than a friendship? Anyway, here is Kirstie looking spectacular with Maks as well while attending the "Bad Teacher" premiere in New York Monday night.


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Henry is still flying.
One year ago, LightBox published Rachel Hulin's series of whimsical photographs of her son, Henry, magically flying. Henry hovered above a sink, levitated nude in a hallway, and floated through a barn.
Unsurprisingly, Henry went viral.
"The week after the images were published was sort of a hilarious blur," Hulin told TIME. "CNN called, then the Huffington Post and a lot of other news outlets." Two days later she was on The Today Show. "It was surreal," she noted.
Hulin was surprised at the reaction, particularly at the rabid interest in how the photographs were created. And not all of the feedback was glowing.
"I was admonished a fair amount for throwing my child by people who took the pictures too literally," Hulin said.
She kept making pictures of Henry, now 2. Inspired by an interview she heard with lauded children's book author Maurice Sendak , Hulin started to form a narrative.
"At first it was about clean flights, in beautiful, mostly indoor spaces," Hulin said. "But after all the hoopla I wanted to really have fun with [the photos] — to go outside, to use props, to give the kid an adventure."
The project turned into a book, Flying Henry, "about a baby who is rather pleased when he realizes he can fly," Hulin explained. "He flutters about his home at first, but soon thirsts for adventure and flies the coop."
The children's book, published by powerHouse books in March, culminates in Henry's grand discovery: the real secret to flying.
I asked Hulin what it was like to see her son all over the internet, and now on stranger's bookshelves and in stores across the country. "I certainly never set out for him to become a celebrity," she said. "He was just a very good model, and often had availability for shoots."
"He's huge in Japan."
Hulin will be appearing at powerHouse with TIME international picture editor Patrick Witty on Monday, March 11 at 7:00pm.


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Nonprofit employers range in size from tiny soup kitchens to our largest universities and museums.
Welcome to Cornell Career Services
Cornell Career Services (CCS) is part of Cornell's Division of Student and Campus Life. We offer services in Barnes Hall open to all undergraduates plus many graduate students and alumni, as well as services distributed in each undergraduate college, to meet the diverse needs of the Cornell student population. Students in the Johnson Graduate School of Management, Law School, and College of Veterinary Medicine are served by their independent career offices.
We invite you to visit our offices for help with your career exploration, graduate and professional school advising and preparation, health careers, legal careers, internship and full-time job searches, fellowships, and specialized advising needs. You may also find our extensive library of career-related materials, including general information and specialized resources, to be useful as you explore your options for the future.
Whether you're sure of what you want to do after you leave Cornell, or are just beginning to think about what lies ahead, there's something for you in CCS. Visit us soon and often so that you can take control of your future.


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The Olde Port Difference
Welcome to Olde Port Fish, where you will find the freshest and finest sea foods available! Our reputation for the highest quality sea foods is well known throughout the seafood industry. That is why our products of the sea are in such great demand by the wholesalers, retailers, restaurants, and the public.


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No Pain, No Gain?
The only thing that the Cardinals pitching staff has gained this Spring Training is attention from the training staff, including Chris Conroy, head trainer for the Redbirds.
St. Louis Cardinals reliever Mitchell Boggs rubs his back as he talks to trainer Chris Conroy during Tuesday's game against the Florida Marlins in Jupiter, Fla. Boggs left the game with a lower back strain. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Along with Boggs, projected opening day starter Chris Carpenter suffered a left hamstring injury yesterday (3/1) and is currently listed as day to day, but will likely miss his next start even though he said his hamstring is feeling better. Boggs' status is still unknown but it doesn't look to serious.
Conroy enters his seventh season with the Redbirds and his 12th season in the Cardinals organization. Let's all hope that yesterday will be his last visit to the mound!
Conroy stretching out Albert Pujols before batting practice at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)


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Baltimore—the colorful, diverse city that is Maryland's largest city and economic hub, is known for its beautiful harbor; quirky, distinct neighborhoods; unique museums and the world-renowned Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Nestled just beyond the east wall of Baltimore's famous Inner Harbor, Harbor East is one of Baltimore's newest and most exciting neighborhood destinations. Centered around several luxurious waterfront condominium developments, Harbor East is home to some of Baltimore's newest hotel properties. Shopping and dining options abound: from shoes to sushi and furniture to fine wines. A new, upscale movie theater, spa and health club round out the Harbor East experience. A short walk from the Inner Harbor, Fell's Point and Little Italy, Harbor East beckons with new merchants and dining options popping up all the time.
Visit the links below to learn more about Baltimore:


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Reaction to Jim Caldwell being named head coach of the Lions has ranged from outrage to tepid.
There is little.
He is viewed as Tony Dungy's buddy, who rode Peyton Manning and others to the best parts of his resume.
The Lions' clearly targeted Ken Whisenhunt, and were shunned by him for the Tennessee Titans.
Plan B was Caldwell, and there was no competition for him. The Lions settled.
Caldwell isn't the Super Bowl winning head coach returning for another shot at glory. He isn't the up-and-coming go-getter ready to set the world on fire.
He is the been-there-and-almost-done-that guy.
At some point, the Lions' brass will join Caldwell out in front of a microphone. It will not be one of those news conferences where the naming of the coach is like a coronation. Instead, it will likely be testy. The Lions' leadership tell their long suffering fans essentially, "Trust us. We've got this. Jim Caldwell is the man."
And the Lions' fan base will react by rolling their collective eyes, throwing their hands in the air in unison and screaming on social media and calling the local radio station.
They will make a terrific point, too.
By all accounts, Caldwell is cerebral and dignified, the type who stays above the fray.
It could make him like a guppy in a shark tank. The natives, are to say the least, restless.
I've heard from sources William Clay Ford Jr. is not only playing a more prominent role in the Lions' operations, but came perilously close to firing team president Tom Lewand and general manager Martin Mayhew, and making Lou Perez, the Lions' CFO, the new sheriff in town as team president.
Instead, head coach Jim Schwartz became the lone fall guy.
It would have made little sense for the Lions to bring Schwartz back. The 6-3 start turned into a 7-9 disaster was clearly the end of his road in Detroit. The collapse itself wasn't so much because of Schwartz's failings as those of his star players, but he had plenty of missteps in his five years as coach. It was just time.
Yet, the cache the Lions' gained by firing Schwartz has been lost by hiring Caldwell. If the Lions had given Schwartz another year, it wouldn't have been much more unpopular, if any.
Of course, none of this is fair to Caldwell. His background shares more in common than differences with Whisenhunt. He is a fine football coach.
None of the Lions' past issues are his doing, but it's not like he is part of fresh start and a new day for the Lions.
In retrospect, considering how limited the coaching candidates were, the Lions should have either stuck with Schwartz and keep the front office intact, or gone all the way by making changes in both areas.
Instead, they are stuck in no man's land.
The Lions do have more talent than at any point since the mid-1990s. Caldwell can become the most popular hire history if he wins.
A big "If," eh?
There is a pall hanging over the organization that is intangible and impossible to truly define, yet is all-encompassing and undeniably real.
Jim Caldwell's hiring as head coach doesn't change that, but rather is another symbol of it.


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The holidays are coming up fast, which means your calendar will soon fill up with office parties, dinner invites and other special events. No doubt you're looking for a new and fun hairstyle to try out for these occasions — but between shopping, cleaning, decorating and school activities, who has time to spend on a fancy 'do?
You do! We've found three great styles for you that are elegant and take just minutes to put together. All you need are the basics: elastics and a few bobby pins. Wow the crowd with these easy hairstyles — and find more great styles in our new Pocket Hairstylist tool.
Step 1
Starting with a side part, gather hair into a medium ponytail. Secure with elastic.
Step 2
Braid the ponytail in a normal braid.
Step 3
Wrap hair clock-wise into a bun. Secure with bobby pins.
Step 1
Gather the hair above your ears from both sides of your face.
Step 2
Twist your hair slightly in the back and secure with a bobby pin, placing the pin vertically so it pins up into your hair.
Step 3
Pull all your hair into a low ponytail and start twisting. Twist the whole ponytail with one hand, then grab the twist halfway down with the index finger of your other hand. Use this finger to loop the ponytail so it snakes around itself.
Step 4
Pin in place and spray to secure. If you want some volume at the front, use the handle of a teasing comb or eye shadow brush to lift and loosen your hair.
Step 1
Place a circular elastic headband around your head, placing it a half-inch or so behind your hair.
Step 2
Starting with the hair behind your ears, start tucking your hair into the headband. Use bobby pins to secure sections if needed.
Step 3
Work your way around your hair, tucking sections
into the headband as you go. Use


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Each holiday season, the Enterprise publishes Acts of Kindness stories highlighting the good deeds and big hearts of your friends and neighbors. If you know someone who goes out of their way to be kind, we want to recognize them.
Nominate friends, neighbors, a local group, an area businessperson for the small things they do to make Broomfield a better place. Over the years, we have written about neighbors who go out of their way to rake leaves, shovel snow and loan out ladders to those who might need their help. There have been stories about students sending cards to soldiers in Iraq and youngsters collecting books to help students impacted by Hurricane Katrina. There are no shortage of stories of people doing especially kind things, but we need you to help us tell them.
Send information about the person or group you would like us to consider for a story to editor Julie Baxter at firstname.lastname@example.com. Please submit your suggestions by Dec. 10.


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Individual Membership Dues
Benefits of individual membership:
- Attend IWC networking events and educational workshops free or at a discount
- Lead educational initiatives or networking events through IWC's resources
- Access to and listing in our members-only directory (coming soon!)
- Receive exclusive IWC MEMBER newsletter and other communications
- Connect with your peers, brainstorm, network and collaborate
Illinois Women in Cannabis is a non-profit organization. Under IRS rules, "contributions to section 501(c)(6) organizations are not deductible as charitable contributions on the donor's federal income tax return. They may be deductible as trade or business expenses if ordinary and necessary in the conduct of the taxpayer's business." Please consult your tax professional as to the deductibility of your contribution.


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Risk assessment: Polly needs a wisecrack
If I were an insurance risk assessment expert like Reuben Feffer (Ben Stiller), I could feed the positive and negative factors of a movie like Along Came Polly into a computer, hit "Enter" and have its potential spit out as a numerical value.
But I'm a film critic, so I'll list the pros and cons in a review and let you assess whether to risk the price of admission on seeing it, even though I generally wish I could spit out the whole movie.
What makes this one difficult is that it's up to you which column a huge determining factor goes into: body emissions. Many comedies rely on them for some of their biggest laughs– consider the campfire scene in Blazing Saddles– but you have to get down to some of Eddie Murphy's lowest comedies to find any that rely on bodily functions for nearly all their laughs.
Stiller pees, pukes, and poops his way through the role of "a nice, safe, conventional guy" with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Alec Baldwin farts– with a Jewish accent yet– as his boss and Philip Seymour Hoffman "sharts"– that's going to become a buzzword if the movie's more popular than it deserves to be– in his picture-stealing role as Sandy Lyle, Reuben's best friend.
Along Came Polly opens with Sandy as best man at Reuben's wedding to Lisa (Debra Messing), his dream girl. "I would insure this marriage any day of the week," Baldwin declares at the reception.
If they took him up on it, they wouldn't have to make a second premium payment. While they're honeymooning on St. Bart's, Lisa runs off with a naked scuba instructor (Hank Azaria with another of his funny accents).
Life as he knew it is over for Reuben– for the moment– but then along comes Polly. Sandy persuades Reuben to go to a party where he's recognized by Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston), whom he hasn't seen since seventh grade. She eats spicy food, has no career, and moves a lot. She can't commit to anything but her pet, a blind ferret. (That doesn't fit her profile, but it sets up a few animal-bumping-into-things gags for those who need some higher-brow humor.)
The opposites somehow attract, and soon Reuben's in love again. He even takes salsa dancing lessons from Javier (Jsu Garcia), a gay instructor, to win Polly's heart. Just when things seem to be going well– except in Reuben's intestines– along comes Lisa. Yes, her fling is over, and she wants to resume married life with Reuben.
He uses risk assessment software instead of following his heart to decide who his mate should be, but a life lesson comes from an unexpected source to set the stage for the final chase.
A subplot has Reuben analyzing whether the company should insure Leland Van Lew (Bryan Brown), an "extreme sports nut" whose lifestyle is obviously more dangerous than those of fellow Australians Paul Hogan and Steve Irwin combined. (There was a boat ride off Nantucket...)
Sandy is remembered for playing bagpipes in a Brat Pack movie but hasn't done much since except screw up his own life and give Reuben bad advice so he can do the same. Hoffman's the funniest thing in the movie, but even he overstays his welcome in his climactic scene.
Aniston manages to create a character from the bundle of quirks in the script, but Stiller just does his same old Stiller thing, although he does it well.
John Hamburg, best known for writing Meet the Parents and Zoolander, shows no skill here at directing his own material. There's some terrible editing with unnecessary shots inserted to cover laughs when there's no reason for anyone to laugh.
It's unusual to find a good movie opening in January unless it was released the previous year for award consideration (and even that's no guarantee of quality). Along Came Polly isn't bad for a January movie, but that isn't saying much.


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Microbe Magazine
Cover Image
Cover: Colorized micrograph of Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease. Researchers find that the organism is present in badgers in the United Kingdom, adding another potential reservoir for this wide-ranging human pathogen (see p. 352). (Image © Science Source).
Microbe Magazine, Cover Image
Cover ImageVaccines are crucial for controlling the spread of influenza, but currently are only effective against a limited mix of strains. A universal vaccine remains elusive, but progress is being made (see p. 433). (Image © James King-Holmes/ Science Source.)
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- 12.5ft BERG Champion 380 Round Trampoline with Comfort Enclosure (35.42.04.02) New and Improved
The BERG Champion range offers fantastic trampolining comfort, optimum safety and durability.
The new and improved Champion range now comes with an AirFlow bounce mat. Higher jumps mean more fun. Berg have developed the AirFlow technique to enable you to make higher jumps. This jumping mat allows 50% more air permeation compared with a standard jumpking mat. Good airflow ensures less resistance while jumping higher, which is why you can make higher jumps.
It has extra wide and thick protective padding that completely covers the springs and frame. The trampoline legs are double coated providing extra protection for the frame as well as a super smart appearance. The Champion range is also equipped with the innovative TwinSpring System. This system consists of a large number of obliquely placed springs which provide a unique jumping characteristic for the trampoline; so ensuring maximum safety and comfort whilst bouncing. The BERG Champion range of trampolines is of such a high specification that they offer a 13 year warranty on the frame.
This package includes the Comfort safety enclosure which has the self closing entrance to provide maximum ease and safety for users entering and dismounting from the trampoline. The door closes with the use of velcro to ensure users are protected as soon as they are on the trampoline.
BERG Comfort Safety Net
This enclosure has nice clean lines with straight poles covered with a smart black sleeve which has foam inside to prevent little fingers picking at the foam! The net attaches at the top via a click system and bungee for added flexibility. The enclosure poles connect to the legs of the trampoline via a U bolt for strength. The trampoline entrance is via a self-closing entrance with a green trim to clearly show users the way.
Additional Information
Manufacturer BERG Size 12.5ft Round Shape Round Colour Green Bounce Area 95 (Sq. ft.) or 8.4 (Sq. m) No. of Springs 112 Spring Length 7.7" (19.5cm) Bed Woven Pad Thickness 30mm Frame Diameter 38mm Maximum User Weight 17 stone or 110kg Frame Warranty 10 years Spring Warranty 5 years Bed Warranty 2 years Pad Warranty 2 years Net Warranty 2 years
Included with this trampoline:
- 9ft diameter trampoline
- Protective padding
- Choice of Safety Enclosure
- Diameter: 9ft / 2.7m
- Frame: The frame and legs are connected via a special click system to keep it firmly in place when bouncing or moving. The frame has a zinc coating for additional rust proofing
- Padding: 38cm wide and tapers in depth from 20mm to 10mm with a non-absorbent waterproof foam and a water drainage system
- Springs: 48 x 19cm Gold Springs
- Entrance height: 70cm
* The warranty on the frame can be increased by 3 years if the product is registered within 1 month of purchase.
The new and improved Champion range now comes with an AirFlow bounce mat:
BERG has more than 20 years experience in developing, producing and selling active outdoor playtime pleasure! Their own team of experienced designers and engineers work daily on updating and improving their products. Leveraging innovations in technology, quality, safety, ease of use and design, their products constantly improve in function, ease of use and appearance. After development of a prototype and extensive testing in Holland, the new trampoline is taken into production. BERG is synonymous with top quality and safety. In addition to their internal testing, BERG submits its products to quality control testing by independent bodies. As a result of the tests, the products are certified in accordance with international standards and legislation. Of course the products are also tested by the users themselves: children.
Why choose BERG?
- All trampolines - including accessories - are developed and designed with safety as the main core value. The safety of each BERG trampoline is extensively tested.
- Each BERG trampoline is fitted with a protective edge which covers the springs and the steel frame.
- Each BERG frame is equipped with several strong connection pins. The advantage of this is that the connection pins connect all the component parts together. They also ensure that the legs underneath the trampoline do not fall off when the trampoline is moved from A to B.
- There are several types of safety nets, because BERG also wants to guarantee the safety during trampolining as much as possible.
The materials used for all BERG trampolines are carefully selected and of a high quality. This is apparent from the very high quality BERG Elite+ protective edge, the thick wire used by BERG for the Goldspring+ springs and the thick steel frames of the BERG trampolines.
All springs used in our trampolines are elastic, supple and finished with a thick, rustproof layer of zinc. That is why you can keep on trampolining much longer.
All materials meet the prescribed, legal quality requirements and, in some cases, even exceed them.
The woven jumping mat is attached by springs to the trampoline frame through triangular eyes, each of which has been stitched through eight times. This ensures optimum strength and safety.
The combination of a well-finished frame at the welding seams, a thick rustproof layer of zinc inside and out, a large diameter and the large wall thickness of the steel ensure a sturdy and solid frame.
FREE NEXT WORKING DAY DELIVERY - This item is despatched free of charge on a next working day service to England, Wales and parts of Scotland. Other areas will have a delivery surcharge (dependent on the postcode) added automatically during checkout.
Orders received before 3:00pm will be despatched the same day.
We're sorry we can't ship directly to the rest of the world but we are happy to liaise with a UK freight forwarder to arrange delivery overseas. To do this simply enter your freight forwarder's details in the delivery address at checkout. If you have any queries please contact us.
If you are exporting this product, we can provide you with documentation to enable you to reclaim the VAT. Please contact us for more information.xPrice:Actual Price:Our price is lower than the manufacturer's "minimum advertised price." As a result, we cannot show you the price in catalog or the product page.
You have no obligation to purchase the product once you know the price. You can simply remove the item from your cart.Our price is lower than the manufacturer's "minimum advertised price." As a result, we cannot show you the price in catalog or the product page.
You have no obligation to purchase the product once you know the price. You can simply remove the item from your cart.
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So pop on over today for some fun stamping between 10am and 5pm to COME STAMP WITH ME. Have any questions - the details are on the side bar of this blog or you can contact me HERE
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text: Protect your assets against financial exploitation Share on: Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Email Key Points Cognitive decline (age-related changes in the brain) can make even high-functioning, healthy adults prone to financial exploitation. To protect your assets or those of a family member, know how to spot the signs. We are here to help support you — be sure to work with your Ameriprise financial advisor. Imagine a beloved family member or friend working a lifetime, only to see their savings lost to financial exploitation later in life. Your Ameriprise advisor, with support from Ameriprise anti-fraud teams, can help protect your assets at every stage of life. How to spot financial exploitation Industry trade group SIFMA (Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association) reports that financial exploitation — the illegal or improper use of a vulnerable adult's funds, property or assets — is becoming a bigger issue that crosses racial, ethnic and economic lines. Cognitive decline, or age-related changes in the brain, can make even high-functioning, healthy adults more prone to exploitation, so it's critical to know the signs. Who is at risk? Seniors tend to be more at risk because they may have significant savings, have instilled values of trust for professionals and may be more likely to live alone. Seniors lose roughly $2.9 billion annually in media-reported cases,1 yet authorities receive reports of only one in 44 cases of financial exploitation.2 What happens? Perpetrators manipulate victims to access money, property or assets. Examples include taking money out of financial accounts without permission, forging signatures, talking someone into wiring money, accessing financial emails and accounts and pressuring someone to sign legal documents such as a contract or will. Who are the perpetrators? About 90% of financial abusers are family members or someone in a position of trust.3 However, romance scams against those who have recently lost a spouse are common and involve international wire transfers of large amounts of money. Lottery scams are also common. How to protect your assets Set up a power of attorney. This may be the most important step you can take to help protect your family's assets. A person designated with power of attorney is someone you trust who can legally act on your behalf for financial and other matters. You decide what your power of attorney can and cannot do for you. Provide your advisor with a trusted contact person. To help protect senior investors and vulnerable adults, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) established national standards in 2018 with two levels of protection: Your advisor may request from you the name and contact information of a trusted contact for your account. The intention is to provide your advisor and Ameriprise with someone to contact and disclose information about your account if we suspect financial exploitation or need to confirm the identify of your legal representatives (such as a power of attorney). The trusted contact person cannot make transactions in your account. Ameriprise may place a temporary hold on the disbursement of funds or securities when there is a reasonable belief of financial exploitation and can notify your trusted contact. Review your financial goals, progress and investments regularly with your advisor. Your advisor can provide you with personalized financial advice to help you stay on track to achieve your goals and protect your assets. Talk to us first Ameriprise and your advisor are here to help support you and your family members. Ask your advisor for more information on how to safeguard your assets. If someone is pressuring you or a family member, or something just feels off, trust your gut: Your advisor is always available to discuss your concerns and provide support. News & Featured Insights Retirement Planning for unexpected medical costs Insurance & Estate Insurance solutions later in life Markets & Economy Resources during market uncertainty Retirement 5 things to know about Medicare Personal Finance & Investing Is your portfolio on the right side of digitalization? Markets & Economy Potential sector impacts of the presidential election Markets & Economy 5 key drivers for stocks in the near term View more insights


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You get up feeling sluggish one morning. Dark and pessimistic. Someone peels an orange just beside you. What a pleasant odor. Suddenly things seem much brighter.
Do the blues hit you in the middle of the day? You have a glass of fresh orange juice and suddenly you feel lighter.
A depressing evening after a bad day. Dusk is fantastic. You take two minutes to contemplate it. The orange of the sky soothes you. You already feel better.
Orange is freshness, love of life and calmness. Three sensations that perform miracles in decoration.
The colour orange stimulates the senses without putting them into the overdrive that comes from red, while leaving the softness and serenity of yellow.
The ideal vivid colour, orange is a must for a room with citrus tones, along with citrus yellow and lime green. Add some red and you obtain a vintage effect that evokes the happenings of the 1960s.[caption id="attachment_11680" align="aligncenter" width="580"] iStockphoto[/caption]
No need to drown a room in orange to appreciate this warm colour, even though it does exist. We once saw a living room that was orange from one end to another. Projectors mounted in various places of the room mirrored shining halos on numerous glass surfaces. The effect was staggering.[……]


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Friday, December 11, 2009
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After all the years of infertility and loss, Matthew and I were blessed with a surprise pregnancy. We were pregnant with twins, but unfortunately, Baby A could not stay with us. Baby B grew into a healthy and happy baby girl that we named Bella Marie. We are so blessed to have two beautiful children.
Blah Blah Blah by Laura at 12/11/2009 11:30:00 AM
Classification Just Jamie, kidisms


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Earlier this week a woman in San Francisco had her laptop stolen from a local coffee shop after she left her items unattended to go to the bathroom.
Now, just a few days later, police have arrested someone in connection with the theft after a local resident recognized the alleged thief from a video uploaded by the victim, Ahryuan Moon.
A 32-year-old woman named Paul Raynal has been charged and is being detained, the San Francisco Police Department told Business Insider.
Police said the suspect was spotted at a Starbucks on Clay Street by an employee who had seen Moon's video. Raynal was wearing the same outfit she wore in the video that Moon had posted online, according to authorities.
Raynal was detained and taken to San Francisco's Central Station by police, where she was positively identified using Moon's video. She is booked on a number of charges, which include burglary, possession of stolen property, falsifying her identity to police officers, probation violation, and attempting to use someone else's identity to identify herself. There was also a warrant for parole violation issued for Raynal.
Moon had turned to the Web earlier this week to post images of the alleged thief that were taken by the coffee shop's surveillance camera. She called out to the Internet for help, and the response was overwhelming.
A video of the security camera footage uploaded to YouTube amassed more than 200,000 views in a few short days, sparking a comment thread that was more than 200 entries long.
Moon's blog post had also been shared on Reddit, and a few publications, including Business Insider and local San Francisco news outlets, covered the theft.
Here are the images taken from the coffee shop's surveillance camera, which Moon posted to her blog.
See Also:6 Scientifically Proven Things Men Can Do To Be More AttractiveHere's How To Protect Yourself From The Massive Security Flaw That's Taken Over The Internet8 Incredibly Useful Japanese Words That Have No English EquivalentBarbara Corcoran Explains The Difference Between Salespeople Making $40,000 And Those Making $8 MillionHe Started A Website In College � Now 130 Million People Read It And Investors Beat Down Doors To Give Him $40 Million
SEE ALSO: A 55-Year-Old Developer Tells Us What It's Like To Face Homelessness In Youth-Obsessed Silicon Valley


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BBC News
- Covid: PM considering new restrictions amid second coronavirus wave
- Dominic Raab's bodyguard 'left gun on plane'
- Coronavirus: 'Rule-breaking Bolton pub crawl' saw cases rise
- Woman falls from car on M25 filming Snapchat video
- Covid restrictions in London 'increasingly likely'
- Edition of Shakespeare's last play found in Scots college in Spain
- Mitcham murder: Man whose body was found on fire named
- Labour Party: Starmer aims to build trust with 'new leadership' slogan
- More Afghan interpreters eligible to settle in UK after rule change
- Coronavirus: Devolved leaders urge PM to help aerospace sector
- Girl saved from sea at Porthcawl Rest Bay by hero, says mum
- 'Seal selfies' harming animals on Yorkshire coast, charity says
- Covid: How should I talk to neighbours who break the rules?
- Covid: Can a 'circuit break' halt the second wave?
- 'Another lockdown would be disastrous for our business'
- 'We had to find a way of getting open' - launching a music venue in a pandemic
- Coronavirus: Teacher writes about 'horrendous' Covid-19 battle
- New Covid-19 rules for more parts of North and Midlands
- Coronavirus: Testing problems leaving families in limbo
- Puppy prices soar during coronavirus lockdown
- Coronavirus: Second wave coming as UK's R number rises
- Coronavirus: London's New Year's Eve fireworks cancelled
- Coronavirus: Shielding unlikely in second Covid-19 wave
- Coronavirus: Van Morrison lockdown protest songs 'dangerous'
- Coronavirus testing: Simple test gives results in 90 minutes
- Covid rules: Which areas are under new coronavirus restrictions?
- Coronavirus now 19th most common cause of death in Wales
- Staff blamed for Covid outbreak at Bacup primary school
- Lockdown 'sexting' blackmail concerns for young people sharing images
- My NHS dentist can fix my son's teeth - if we go private
- Will Halloween and birthday parties be cancelled in Scotland?
- Where might next Welsh lockdown be?
- Six months of heartbreak and loss
- How stolen Hindu idols were discovered in UK
- Covid symptoms: Is it a cold, flu or coronavirus?
- Coronavirus: How to get a Covid test
- 'They used my picture and I should've got paid for it'
- How the Kanneh-Masons hope to demystify classical music
- Quiz of the week: Who scored the Premier League's opening goal?
- Rail replacement services 'humiliating' disabled people
- Drive-in Car Park Panto to tour UK (Oh yes it is!)
- Coronavirus: NHS workers who died in the pandemic
- Covid-19: Prime minister says UK 'seeing a second wave'
- Covid: 'Mixed messages' in new lockdown measures
- Climate Change: Is the movement diverse enough?
- Breaking down the Brexit border problem
- What maths is involved in stirring a cup of tea?
- Newspaper headlines: PM warning and England faces 'two-week lockdown'
- Covid-19: Highest surge since May with 350 new cases
- Coronavirus: Fears 1,800 NI aerospace jobs 'at risk'
- Coronavirus: Hospital and care home visits suspended
- Waterloo station death: Family of travelator engineer 'need answers'
Our traditional ANY-Village websites can still be found at their original location:
Below we are listing some of the most popular UK property websites advertising homes for sale in the Chillenden area:
Nestoria (CHILLENDEN Map Search)
Vebra.com (CHILLENDEN Map Search)
Rightmove (CHILLENDEN Map Search)
Zoopla (Chillenden Map Search)
Homes for SALE / Flats for SALE in CHILLENDEN
Homes for RENT / Flats for RENT in CHILLENDEN


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you're my sweetie pie
Here's our little cuppycake, wishing you a happy Valentine's Day. Because you are so cute. I mean ... dear. (Want to hear the original? You can find it here.)
10 comments:
Oh my goodness! This is TOO precious! I can't stop watching it! :)ReplyDelete
no way should one kid be allowed to hog so much cuteness!! omg - she is a doll!ReplyDelete
This totally made my day, she's so cute!!ReplyDelete
Happy Valentines day guys!!!!!! As always, Lo is such a cutie.ReplyDelete
Love it! Super cute!ReplyDelete
Cutest song ever...this definitely made me smile!ReplyDelete
so. adorable. :-)ReplyDelete
- Emma schneiderFebruary 15, 2010 12:22 AM
Jen~ cutest thing ever.ReplyDelete
oh my gosh, that was so dang cute.ReplyDelete
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Vientiane (hotel venue to be determined), 05 September 2008
Localisation projects are often deemed as gender neutral, having a prime focus of developing localised technology only. However, in practice a number of different aspects/kinds of localisation projects could make it extremely gendered. For example, in terms of technology development, the type of job roles that are offered to men as compared to women could distinctly vary. Also the choice of localised technology to be developed may widen or diminish the digital divide between women and men. Similarly in training end-users on the localised tools, the training material used especially its content in terms of the language, terminology and examples; as well as the training approach and delivery, can have different effects and impacts for both women and men.
Thus, from a research perspective, it is interesting to observe how localisation efforts impact women's and men's use of ICT and more specifically women's and men's lives. What are the gender issues in each context and how could the gender lens be effectively used for evaluation of localisation efforts?
To address these concerns, PAN Localisation project in collaboration with the GEM II project are organizing a four-day workshop to help address these concerns in context of localisation projects, in an effort to adapt the Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM) for localisation initiatives.
Specifically, the four-day workshop aims to:
1. Encourage the use of the gender lens and provide a gender analysis framework and suitable tools/approaches to PAN Localisation project partners to identify gender and ICT issues in the respective projects and integrate these considerations into their project evaluation plans.
2. Provide opportunities for sharing insights, discussion and mentoring in order for PAN Localisation project partners, to be able to finalise country project evaluation plans based on the identified gender and ICT issues following the Gendered Outcome Mapping Framework (OMg) developed by the PAN Localisation project.
3. Develop the GEM adaptation plan in collaboration with the PAN Localisation project team, its country project partners, and the GEM II project team
The fundamental challenge in adapting GEM for localisation initiatives is that it is the first time, localisation initiatives are being encouraged to use a gender analytical framework for evaluation of their initiatives, and to share their evaluation experiences (both process and immediate outcomes) as part of the GEM II research. Both the PAN Localisation and the GEM II projects recognise that in order to do this well, localisation initiatives would require some level of skills and capacity-building, as well as mentoring support, in terms of gender analysis and interrogation due to the inherent complex nature of such initiatives. Results acquired from this adaptation would benefit both localisation projects and gender and ICT advocates. Through these evaluations, localisation projects would gain a deeper understanding of the different impacts of their work upon women and men while the gender advocates would gain a deeper appreciation of the interconnections of technology and gender, which would enhance their advocacy in the ICT arena.


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You are here
Office of Government Contracting | Resources
The Federal Government has strict guidelines regulating its purchase of goods and services. Small businesses must meet certain qualifications, and government contracting officials use standardized procedures. As a small business owner seeking to sell to the government, you first have to understand how the contracting process works, determine whether your business qualifies, and decide whether government contracting is right for you. The SBA set up its Government Contracting Program to help both contracting officials as well as small business owners looking to do business with the government.
To learn more about the contracting process, the SBA has several free, online courses geared towards competing for and winning government contracts. You can find that page here.
For more information about how the SBA provides help with government contracting, visit the Office of Government Contracting and the Office of Government Contracting and Business Development.


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The writer of the letter to the Hebrews said, "See to it that no one misses the grace of God." Over the centuries much ink has been spilled on the subject of grace. Yet perhaps nothing is as hard to "explain" as God's grace. "It doesn't make sense. It's not fair. It can't possibly cover over what I've done." The best way--perhaps the only real way--to understand it is to "experience" it. But too often in our churches we're not getting grace across and grace is not experienced.
Bestselling author and pastor Kyle Idleman wants "everyone" to experience the grace of God. Through the powerful medium of story, Grace Is Greater leads readers past their hang-ups toward an understanding of grace that is bigger than our mistakes, our failures, our desire for revenge, and our seemingly impossible situations. No sin is so great, no bitterness so deep that God's grace cannot transform the heart and rewrite the story.
Perfect for individuals and also for small groups and church-wide studies, Grace Is Greater will help readers truly grasp God's grace, even if the Christians around them have failed to live it.
Throughout his life blessed by God, James Robison has had countless opportunities to witness clearly the power of God and his amazing grace. He has shared inspiration and insight with church leaders, ministers, presidents, entertainers, and celebrities. Millions have been inspired through his television outreach, and countless others have found relief through his ministry's humanitarian efforts.
In this inspiring book, Robison desires to show readers that they too can witness God at work in transforming, powerful ways. His remarkable stories and biblical insights will inspire and empower readers to:
- recognize the spiritual significance of ordinary events and how God orchestrates encounters to change our lives and others'
- see God at work in and through us to make a difference in the world
- learn to live in constant holy amazement of God's great love
How God Uses Angels to Heal, Protect, and Comfort us.
After a powerful experience in the presence of the Holy Spirit, Ed Rocha began to witness healings, signs, and wonders--and angels. Now he shares remarkable insights about these holy messengers. This practical and biblically grounded book is packed with real-life stories about supernatural encounters. Through an exploration of Scripture, Rocha answers questions like:
- Where do angels live?
- How do angels deliver messages to me?
- Are guardian angels watching over me?
- What does it mean that healing is "in their wings"?
- Can I pray to see angels?
Ingenious Parenting Shortcuts Every Mom and Dad Should Know
Parenting can be hard work, and our lives continue to get busier and busier. Is it possible to lighten the load but still raise great kids? From his experiences as a dad as well as interacting with countless other parents, Jay Payleitner has gathered scores of secrets worth passing along--simple things veteran moms and dads have learned over the years. Things as simple as passing along truths during TV commercials or connecting with your children as you tuck them in at night or learning how to laugh over spilt milk.
Some of the ideas are old-school secrets that were passed from one generation to the next; others deal with issues that would have never crossed Grandma and Grandpa's minds. All of them are easy to implement. This book is designed for a quick, breezy reading experience, letting parents pick and choose those ideas that will make their lives easier, their kids happier, and their futures even brighter.
Connealy Combines Western Action and Charming Historical Romance
The Boden clan thought their problems had ended with the death of a dangerous enemy, but have they truly uncovered the real plot to take their New Mexico ranch? Rancher Justin Boden is now in charge. He is normally an unshakable and rugged man, but with his brother, Cole, shot and in mortal danger, even a tough man faces doubts. And it doesn't help that Angie DuPree, the assistant to the doctor trying to save Cole, is as distracting a woman as Justin ever laid eyes on. With her and the doc's timely skills, Cole looks to be on the mend, and Justin and the rest of the Bodens can turn their attention back to the dangers facing them. It's clear now that everything that's occurred is part of a much bigger plot that could date back to a decades-old secret.
Can they uncover all the pieces before danger closes in on them, or is the threat to the ranch even bigger than any of the Bodens could imagine?
When Deputy Sam Brooks commits to something, nothing can sway him--not just on the job as liaison between the Mercy Falls sheriff's department and PEAK Rescue, but in his private life. He's the one who stuck around to take care of his mother after his father's accidental death. And he's the one--perhaps the "only" one--who believes Sierra Rose is the perfect girl for him. Safe, practical, and organized, she's nothing like her hippie, impulsive, bleeding heart sister, Willow.
Willow, however, has been in love with Sam Brooks for as long as she can remember. But she wants her sister to have a happy ending. Besides, Willow has other things to focus on--namely, nabbing the job as youth pastor for her small-town church. Best thing for her to do is to purge Sam from her heart.
Neither can predict the events that will bring them together in a fight for their lives in the forbidding wilderness of Glacier National Park. Stranded, injured, and with the winter weather closing in, Sam and Willow will have to work together to save a crew of terrified teenagers. As they fight to survive, they might just discover a new hope for love.
From afar, Cimarron Creek seems like an idyllic town tucked in the Texas Hill Country. But when former schoolteacher Lydia Crawford steps onto its dusty streets in 1880, she finds a town with a deep-seated resentment of Northerners--like her. Lydia won't let that get her down, though. All will be well when she's reunited with her fiancE. But when she discovers he has disappeared--and that he left behind a pregnant wife--Lydia is at a loss about what to do next. The handsome sheriff urges her to trust him, but can she trust anyone in this town where secrets are as prevalent as bluebonnets in spring?
Bestselling author Amanda Cabot invites readers back into Texas's storied past to experience love and adventure against a backdrop of tension and mystery in this first book in a brand-new series.


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Europe is at the forefront of international efforts to tackle climate change, establish protected areas and reduce air pollution, yet the region's environmental footprint remains disproportionately high, according to the Global Environment Outlook 5 (GEO 5) report from the United Nations Environment Programme.
Despite some successes in 'decoupling' environmental pressures from economic growth, large parts of Europe are consuming unsustainable levels of resources.
Comprehensive legislation is helping to improve the sustainable management of waste, yet volumes of waste continue to grow across the region. Figures suggest that Europe is still not a recycling society.
Approaches used by European countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants have had considerable success; from introducing congestion tax and a low-emissions Zone in Sweden to introducing feed-in Tariff schemes in Germany. Many such policies have already been – and have the potential to be – replicated, with positive effects.
Such integrated, cross-sectoral approaches to environmental policy development and implementation has helped countries in Europe achieve long term results at lower costs.
However, a lack of environmental data, insufficient resources from public and private investors in tackling key environmental issues, combined with the persistence of traditional, consumption-oriented economic policies, are posing barriers to further progress in Europe.
The above are among the main findings for Europe from the Global Environment Outlook 5 (GEO 5), which analyses the worldwide state of the environment and tracks progress towards agreed goals and targets.
As well as presenting the state of the region's environment, GEO 5 highlights successful initiatives and policy approaches for addressing environmental problems in Europe that can potentially be scaled-up and replicated elsewhere.
1 For GEO 5, Europe includes 51 states.
The Brussels based United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe - UNRIC provides information on UN activities to the countries of the region. It also provides liaison with institutions of the European Union in the field of information. Its outreach activities extend to all segments of society and joint campaigns, projects and events are organized with partners including the EU, governments, the media, NGOs, schools and local authorities.
United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC Brussels)
Residence Palace, Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 155, Block C2,7th and 8th floor, Brussels 1040, Belgium
Tel.: +32 2 788 8484 / Fax: 32 2 788 8485


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David Koch (1940-2019)
David H. Koch (born in 1940, died in 2019) is Executive Vice-President of Koch Industries, and the CEO of the subsidiary Koch Chemical Technology Group.
David Koch was tied with his brother Charles as the 6th wealthiest person in the World according to Forbes, estimating their weath at $41.3 billion each. Bloomberg estimates David Koch's wealth exceeds $52 billion. David Koch is the richest person living in New York City ahead of former mayor Michael Bloomberg. In addition to his Park Avenue residence, he has homes in Aspen, CO; Southampton, NY; and Palm Beach, FL. At the time of his death, David Koch's real estate was estimated at $143 million by Business Insider. Though he donated millions to conservative, libertarian organizations, David Koch garnered public attention for his non-political philanthropy.
Regarding a $100 million naming gift to the New York City Opera and Ballet, Koch explained "I could afford it.… And, of course, there are beautiful girls." A few of his namesakes include the new David H. Koch Theater at New York's Lincoln Center, the David H. Koch Dinosaur Wing in New York's American Natural History Museum, and the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins at Smithsonian's Natural History Museum in Washington D.C.
David Koch was the 1980 Vice Presidential candidate for the anti-regulatory Libertarian Party. David Koch served on the Board of Directors for the Cato Institute and Reason Foundation, two think-tanks that have dismissed climate science and fought against policy solutions to the problem. Koch was founding member and Chairman of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, an astroturf group that opposes climate solutions and clean energy.
Sourced from Greenpeace
"If we're going to give a lot of money, we'll make darn sure they spend it in a way that goes along with our intent. And it they make a wrong turn and start doing things we don't agree with we withdraw funding. We do exert that kind of control."
-Interview with Brian Doherty, as quoted in a Mises Institute review of Radicals for Capitalism, 2007.
"You might ask: How does David Koch happen to have the wealth to be so generous? Well, let me tell you a story. It all started when I was a little boy. One day, my father gave me an apple. I soon sold it for five dollars and bought two apples and sold them for ten. Then I bought four apples and sold them for twenty. Well, this went on day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, until my father died and left me three hundred million dollars!"
-The New Yorker, August 30, 2010
"Sometimes I feel like a beautiful girl, saying, 'God! Does every guy that goes out with me just want to sleep with me? Don't they like me for my personality?' "
"I've never been to a tea-party event. No one representing the tea party has ever even approached me"
"I felt that the good Lord spared my life for a purpose. And since then, I've been busy doing all the good works I can think of."
"The Earth will be able to support enormously more people because a far greater land area will be available to produce food [due to global warming]."
-New York Magazine, July 25, 2010
See PolluterWatch's profile of Koch Industries for information on its pollution record, political spending, and financing of campaigns against climate change and clean energy policies. See Greenpeace's factsheet for Koch Facts.
Front Groups Defending Oil Industry Political Favoritism
David Koch worked behind the scenes during the 2010 "Rally for Jobs" astroturf events, coordinated by the American Petroleum Institute, in order to create political pressure against clean energy and climate legislation in the interest of the oil and gas industry. Groups such as Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, which are heavily funded by the Koch brothers and were founded by David Koch, were partner organizations in promoting the rallies.
Koch Industries has a long record of environmental crimes and violations, spends millions on lobbyists to fight climate and energy legislation, millions more on backing industry-friendly politicians, and still more millions on organizations denying climate change. Foundations linked to Koch Industries have spent over $70 million in traceable contributions to the same network of organizations, with addition untraceable funding funnelled through organizations like Donors Trust. Key Koch-backed organizations include the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, which was founded and remains chaired by David Koch, the Cato Institute, which Charles Koch co-founded and David Koch remains a board member after an attempted coup, and the Reason Foundation, of which David Koch is a trustee. Most of the climate change denying organizations funded by the Kochs are members of the State Policy Network.
Formaldehyde and Cancer
While David Koch was a victim of prostate cancer, he donated hundreds of millions of dollars to cancer research institutions and is a member of the National Cancer Advisory Board, Koch Industries subsidiary Georgia-Pacific is actively working to downplay the dangers of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.
Mitt Romney Fundraiser
David Koch had ties to Mitt Romney, hosting a fundraiser for the Massachusettes politician at his Southhampton mansion in New York
David Koch Confronted on Camera
While at ThinkProgress, blogger Lee Fang shot a series of short on-the-spot interviews with David Koch, getting Koch's opinion on global warming, his ambitions for Americans for Prosperity, and refusing to discuss the Supreme Court's ruling on the 2010 Citizens United v. FEC case:
Approached by Greenpeace activists at the Americans for Prosperity Defending the American Dream 2011 conference, David Koch was handed a wanted poster featuring his face, citing his funding of groups that deny the science of climate change and policy solutions to global warming. David Koch didn't comment on his opinion regarding climate change being beneficial for people, when Greenpeace cited a study funded by the Charles Koch foundation that corrorborated evidence of global warming.


text: My Farrell's Transformation is Part of My Life! 09/15/2016 Blog category: Testimonials My name is Mark. I am 56 years old and the father of two grown children. I am a firmware engineer - my typical day includes way too much time in front of my computer - one of the hazards of my occupation. I've always tried to do something active, such as walking, biking, roller blading or hiking, but it never became a regular activity. Back in my college days, I used to ski, bicycle and run. Over time, my life became more sedentary, I put on weight and got out-of-shape. At my annual physical last year, I weighed almost 280 lbs. and was borderline hypertensive. High blood pressure runs in my family. Many of my friends and family are experiencing health-related issues as we age. I lost my younger brother recently to a health-related illness. I was not content to accept that fate and decided that I needed to make a change in my life. I noticed that a co-worker had slimmed down, and I asked her about that. She told me about Farrell's. The structure of the program appealed to me and I became a member last fall. I worried that I was too out-of-shape, so I prepared by walking on my treadmill for an hour each morning before work. To reduce boredom, I streamed episodes of "The Walking Dead". I made it to the middle of season 4 before starting at Farrell's last January. I attended the Friends and Family week before I started, to get a taste of what I was in for. I was a little apprehensive, but found the environment welcoming, supportive and fun. When I started the 10-week program in January, I weighed in at 265 lbs. After 10 weeks, I was down to 232 lbs., I had lost 33lbs.* I had to buy new clothes for the 10-week party. I felt really good about that. I enrolled for another year – my transformation will be a permanent part of my life. At my annual physical this year, after completing the 10 weeks, my blood pressure was normal . . . actually really good! My doctor (also a FIT member at Shoreview) called me a 'Rock Star'. As a new FIT member, I still found some of the exercises to be a challenge. Instructors would say, 'You can do it', but I was struggling. Recently I've turned the corner. When I hear 'you can do it', I know that I can. Bring on those challenges! The structure of the program keeps me interested and motivated. I go to the 6AM class. I've skipped only one Saturday since I started, due to a commitment to a friend. Since January, I've lost 60 lbs.* As I approach my goal of weighing 200 pounds, I am now more focused on increasing muscle mass than on weight loss. I've got more energy, stamina, and flexibility. People that I've not seen for a while are amazed at my transformation. I recommend Farrell's to everyone. Mark is a FIT Member at our Shoreview, MN Farrell's eXtreme Bodyshaping location. Back to Blog


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State finds millions in questionable spending at Houston charter
A new state report blasts the Varnett charter school in Houston for millions of dollars in questionable spending - including cruises, first-class airfare, spa services and deals that enriched the superintendent.
An investigation by the Texas Education Agency also found that school officials conducted business out of public view, holding board meetings via phone or far from the main office - at a New Orleans hotel, for example, and on a Carnival cruise ship.
Conflicts of interest were pervasive at The Varnett Public School, the report found, noting that Superintendent M. Annette Cluff employed family members and owned a bus company and a real-estate entity that made money off the school. The Houston Chronicle reported on the relationships last year.
The school denied wrongdoing in a written response from Houston attorney Rusty Hardin.
"We vigorously dispute any suggestion that our client or its principals have ever acted with unlawful intent," Hardin wrote to the Texas Education Agency. "Having said that, we acknowledge where innocent mistakes have been made by our client and recognize the possibility of improving some of our client's business practices."
Sanctions weighed
Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams is weighing sanctions against the school, which could include closure. The investigative report also is being sent to the U.S. Department of Education as state investigators questioned $5.2 million worth of federal funds the school received from 2009 through 2011.
"This is very serious," DeEtta Culbertson, a spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency, said Tuesday. "We're talking a substantial amount of money."
As a charter school, Varnett is publicly funded but is free from some state regulations. Nepotism rules, for example, are looser for charters than for traditional public schools.
Cluff, the superintendent, founded the school. She earned a salary of $264,600 in fiscal 2011, according to the state, higher than leaders of some larger school systems. Varnett has three campuses and about 1,700 students.
As superintendent of HISD, the state's largest district, Terry Grier earns a base salary of $300,000.
Cluff's husband, Alsie Cluff Jr., serves as Varnett's facilities and operations manager, and their children have worked for the school.
The couple owns a private bus company that contracts with the school. Varnett's transportation costs topped $980,000 in 2010, the state report said. In addition, the Cluffs benefited from a $1 million lease agreement between the school and their own real estate company.
State auditors also found that school funds were used to reimburse the Cluffs for numerous questionable charges. They include more than $132,000 for hotels, cruises and travel packages; nearly $44,000 at restaurants; and more than $3,000 on tickets for Broadway, Las Vegas and Disney on Ice shows, according to the report.
Reimbursed themselves
Instead of having a school credit card, the Cluffs used a personal American Express card and reimbursed themselves, the report said.
Hardin said in his response that a personal charge may have gone unnoticed accidentally.
"It is and has always been The Varnett Public School's policy to correct any accounting errors through a full reimbursement," he wrote.
Hardin and a spokesman for Varnett could not be reached late Tuesday.
Auditors with the Texas Education Agency first visited Varnett for the investigation in March 2011, but the agency did not issue its final report until this month.
Culbertson, the agency spokeswoman, said the review required a lot of time and a change in agency staff may have contributed to a delay.