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USC Cinema-Television dean at UH Manoa for film symposium and UH Communication presentation
Lecture on multimedia literacy free and open to the public on November 4University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
UH Manoa Chancellor's Office
Jeanntte Paulson Hereniko, 808-396-8353
The youth of today know Castle Wolfenstein better than Frankenstein.
Finding Nemo better than Captain Nemo.
Sony better that the Sonnets.
Neo better than Nero.
Cause for concern? No. Cause for celebration? Yes.
From pre-school to grad school, today's students are growing up in an environment rich with sound and image. Film, music, and interactive gaming are but a few examples of how new media influence and inform our children's modes of expression and learning well beyond the bounds of traditional text.
These and related topics will be the subject of a free public presentation by Elizabeth Daley, executive director of the Annenberg Center for Communications and dean of the School, of Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California, as she describes the vast opportunities for educators at all levels to meld time-honored academic traditions with new media's vast potential.
Daley has a long and distinguished career in television and film. In addition to heading up the USC Cinema School since 1991, she has overseen the
development of the USC Annenberg Center for Communication, whose initiatives include the Labyrinth Project, a model for interactive narrative, and the Institute for Multimedia Literacy, dedicated to the recognition that true literacy in the 21sy Century demands fluency in the language of multimedia. The center also supports the student-run Trojan Vision television service and the Asian Film Connections project, an online Asian film database.
Prior to joining USC, Daley served as executive director of Taper Media Enterprises, the film and television subsidiary of the Mark Taper Forum, and as a producer for MGM/UA Television. Daley earned her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin and Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts degrees from Tulane University and Newcomb College.
Daley will discuss the expanded use of multimedia in teaching, as well as the work that is currently underway at the Institute for Multimedia Literacy (IML). Based at the Annenberg Center for Communication, the IML is exposing students and faculty at USC and beyond to the time-based, interactive language of sound, image and text that is the basis of multimedia. Through its work, the IML is demonstrating and defining how this language is transforming the way society thinks and communicates in the digital age.
Expanding the Concept of Literacy:
Opportunities for Educators
A public lecture by Elizabeth M. Daley
Tuesday, November 4, 2003 — 5:30 p.m.
Art Auditorium — UH Manoa
A question and answer session follows Ms. Daley's presentation.
This presentation is sponsored by Educational Foundations, UH College of Education; the Carol Burnett Foundation for Responsible Journalism and the UH Manoa School of Communication; the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival, and the Asia Pacific Media Center, Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California.


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TORONTO – The rally on stock markets that propelled North American indexes higher during January could find further momentum this month in the wake of solid economic data from the U.S. at the end of last week.
And the Canadian dollar could find some lift if the employment report for January comes in better than expected.
The S&P/TSX composite was up a shade over two per cent in January while the Dow industrials jumped about 5.75 per cent as corporations delivered some better than expected earnings reports and U.S. politicians avoided the so-called "fiscal cliff" with a compromise on taxation and an extension of the debt limit. There were also signs that China's economy is reviving.
Sentiment was further improved on Friday as the U.S. non-farm payrolls report said the American economy created 157,000 jobs in January. The number of jobs created in November and December was also significantly revised upward, with a total of 127,000 more jobs created than initially thought.
And the Institute for Supply Management said its index on manufacturing showed greater than expected expansion, coming in at 53.1 in January, up from 50.2 in December to the highest level since April.
A similar Canadian index also showed marginal improvement for the first time since October, rising one-tenth of a point to 50.5 last month.
Those reports helped take some of the sting out of other data that showed the U.S. economy contracted during the fourth quarter by 0.1 per cent.
The TSX lost some ground last week, down 0.36 per cent, partly because of selling pressure on BlackBerry, the company formerly known as Research In Motion Ltd., (TSX:RIM), after it rolled out its new BB10 product last Wednesday.
However, New York bounded higher and the Dow industrials gained 0.81 per cent, closing above the 14,000-mark for the first time since late 2007.
But there are some headwinds. A major one could turn out to be one of the less-publicized aspects of the agreement that saved the U.S. from going over the so-called fiscal cliff at the beginning of this year.
Part of the deal brokered between Republicans and Democrats called for top earners to pay more in taxes.
The deal also saw the re-imposition of higher Social Security payroll taxes that will take a big chunk of cash out of the pockets of U.S. consumers. The tax increased to 6.2 per cent from four per cent.
"That's probably something in the order of $125 billion out of wage earners' pockets," said Robert Gorman, chief portfolio strategist at TD Waterhouse.
"This is going to have an effect on consumer spending and in particular, consumer spending for the basics, the mass merchandisers, all sorts of things."
For example, someone earning $35,000 would take a $700 hit, while someone earning $50,000 would have $1,000 less after tax money, and so on.
Gorman said the consequences of those higher taxes will show up as early as this week as U.S. retailers start to issue preliminary results for January sales.
Meanwhile, economists had expected Canadian hiring activity to be paused last month after blowing past expectations in December, but the economy created more than 31,000 jobs.
"We think employment growth will slow to just 5,000 in January and that will push up the jobless rate to 7.2 per cent," said Benjamin Reitzes, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, adding that the slowdown in the housing sector is partly responsible for the softening.
Hiring in the construction sector saw a big gain in December "and that's not really consistent with what we're seeing in housing. So as housing cools, I expect that sector to cool as well," Reitzes said.
Elsewhere on the TSX, BlackBerry is expected to remain volatile after losing ground last week in the wake of the launch of its new BB10 product. The stock closed up slightly Friday after tumbling 17 per cent in the previous two sessions, partly on profit taking but also because availability has become an issue as U.S. customers won't be able to get the BlackBerry Z10 until March, a month later than in Canada.
"And the U.S. is the biggest single market. So that is an issue at least in the short term," said Gorman, observing that some analysts have cut back their anticipated sales in the coming quarter because of this.
"At the end of the day, it's now about execution. They have a great device now. They have to get it into the hands of the users and make a buck."
Traders will also be looking to earnings reports from big Canadian corporations this week.
Suncor (TSX:SU), Canada's biggest integrated oil company, hands in results Tuesday. Analysts are calling for adjusted earnings of 76 cents per share on revenue of $9.5 billion. A year ago, the company posted results of 91 cents a share on revenue of $10.1 billion.
"Often, there's a fair bit of volatility in some of the oilsands producers (and) it wouldn't surprise me to see a little softness there," added Gorman.
You can have issues associated with downtime for maintenance and so on which can make the earnings on a quarter to quarter basis a little volatile."
Other notable companies reporting include discount airline WestJet (TSX:WJA) on Wednesday while BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE), insurer Manulife (TSX:MFC) and Shoppers Drug Mart (TSX:SC) hand in earnings on Thursday. Telecom Telus Corp. (TSX:T) reports on Friday.

subset: commoncrawl


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I. In Focus This Week
Defiance County, Ohio at center of elections 'Scandal'
Local officials not sure why show chose Defiance
It was about 48 hours after the polls closed on November 6, 2012 when Defiance County, Ohio Elections Director Pamela S. Schroder got the late-night text on her phone from another Ohio county elections official.
It's the type of message no elections official wants to get.
There was talk on television of vote rigging in Defiance County.
Schroder looked at the text on her phone and thought "Why us?"
Fortunately for Schroder, while the text was real, the talk wasn't. It is part of a story line on the ABC drama Scandal.
Scandal is a primetime drama on ABC starring Kerry Washington as public relations "fixer" in Washington, D.C.
The show features a variety of salacious storylines, but the one that caught Schroder by surprise that November night is a vote rigging storyline.
In the show, produced by Shonda Rimes (despite electionline's best efforts, we could not reach Rimes for comment), a cabal of five people — the first lady, a PR executive, a Supreme Court justice, a Texas businessman and the president's chief of staff — all scheme to get the president elected. Part of that scheming was paying a hacker to rig the vote in one small Ohio county — Defiance, population 38,884.
Why Defiance? Why Ohio? Schroder has no idea.
"It's an interesting county name?" Schroder speculated. "We have an Indy car championship driver, several professional baseball players, the movie—"Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio," but we really have NO idea."
Although based on this report it may not seem like it, the show is quite popular and most recently won its time slot with overall viewers and the coveted 18-49 year olds. A reporter from the Pittsburg Post-Gazette said that "[v]iewers seem to be eating it like it's delicious warmed brie."
Schroder said that nothing the show has shown about Defiance elections is remotely true, right down to the voting machines the show uses.
"Ours are not the same as the ones on the show," Schroder said. "We use Premier TSx's (touch screen). The print outs on the show were totally different than our process."
Schroder said she hopes that the voters of Defiance — and people everywhere — realize that the show is fiction.
"We hope this doesn't cause distrust with our voter," she said.
But could it happen? Would it be possible for five, well-placed people, to pick up the phone and have a hacker hack one voting machine in one small county and change the outcome of an election?
"I have not seen the show but have heard about the story line. As with any good TV fiction, one has to be able to suspend disbelief. In this case, as a former election official with a background in information security, I lack sufficient imagination to suspend that much disbelief," said Dan Nolan, vice president, strategic planning and government operations, SOE Software, a Scytl Company.
Nolan said the cost and complexity of even attempting such a conspiracy would "beggar Citizen's United." He said that even if an undetectable Trojan Horse could be introduced into a voting system, despite intrusion detection systems, immutable logs, etc., the routine audit process conducted by elections officials would reveal anomalies.
Pamela Smith with Verified Voting agrees that the show is a bit over-the-top, but does feel that it could provide a cautionary tale for voters.
"It's silly but it's not," Smith said. "I don't actually see it, so I went on Apple TV and watched an episode."
Smith noted that some voting systems are more securable than others and she said the show could have an impact on public perception and make voters wonder about the systems used in their jurisdiction.
"I wouldn't necessarily want people to think that all voting systems are suspect, but I don't want them to think that they aren't either," Smith said. "People need to be vigilant on an on-going basis."
Smith and Nolan both agree though that an audit of a voting system would prevent something like what happened on Scandal from well, happening.
"If you have an evidenced-based election and you have an auditable system and you are doing audits, then you have the evidence to reconstruct the outcome if there were a question," Smith said.
Back in Defiance, Schroder said that most people have found the storyline to be amusing and there are lots of funny grins and lots of questions from residents if anyone in the elections office has seen the show or not.
"One of our board members arrived at a board meeting and we were discussing the 'Defiance' episode about the voting machine being found at the high school that had been rigged and his facial expression was quite concerned—eyes bulging, eye brows raised and mouth open," Schroder said, but. "… [T]he show is totally fiction. We work diligently to provide fair and honest elections in Defiance County, Ohio."
Scandal airs on ABC at 10 p.m. on Thursdays. On tonight's episode "Gladiators in Suits," we'll "discover the truth about the rigged election."
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How much money do you want to spend when you die?
The question is awkward, morbid, even painful.
Setting aside that humane angst:
In a rampantly capitalist society, the sheer array of immediate post-life options can be dismaying.
Organic banana leaf caskets go for $845 on eBay.
They are not available at Hood Mortuary, Durangos only funeral home.
Ryan Phelps, owner of Hood Mortuary, sighed.
Ive seen all kinds of things on the Internet. And Durango loves themed funerals. But its impossible to get anything shipped here in time, he said.
At La Plata Countys Pine River Cemetery, a plot costs $400, said its administrator, Patricia Ludwig, and $300 if you live within the limits of Bayfield School District regardless of the plots view.
But Californias Santa Barbara Cemetery will give you a burial plot on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean for $83,000.
For a mere $200,000, Arizonas Alcor Life Extension Foundation will cryogenically freeze your corpse (cheapskates can opt for just the brain a bargain at $80,000) in the expectation that future technology, especially molecular nanotechnology, will be able to reverse the cryonics process, according to Alcors website. (None of the 200 people supposedly frozen in liquid nitrogen have yet recovered. Have the estate keep the receipt.)
Or would you like to be mummified? For a donation of $67,000, Summum, a tax-exempt organization in Utah, will mummify you (price subject to change).
Or you might drop anywhere from $2,500 to $25,000 at Vermonts Cremation Solutions, which will transform ashes into diamond jewelry. (The companys website features a glittering pendant with the slogan, Keep your loved one close to your heart with cremation jewelry.)
Local tastes
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, everyone will at some point die.
Death is a giant industry. In 2007, it employed more than 102,877 workers, and the combined revenue of funeral homes and crematories alone was almost $12 billion.
The National Funeral Directors Association calculated the average adult funeral cost at $7,775 in 2010 and this figure included only the most commonly selected items, such as caskets.
If you include cemetery costs such as a headstone, and opening and closing the grave the typical funeral costs $9,000 without flowers, not to mention without liquor.
Phelps said it was generally cheaper to die in Durango than elsewhere in the country.
We average about $5,500, flowers included, but cemetery costs typically come to a further $1,000, and maybe $1,200 for a headstone, he said.
But like every local funerary merchant (there are about 12) interviewed for this article, Phelps said his business had suffered from the social decline of the traditional casket funeral and burial.
Financial necessities
Phelps said that, since the recession, about 80 percent of clients cremate.
Partially, its the influence of the college. Our families are more socially liberal and less traditional,he said. But from 2008 on, weve had at least 10 families who mentioned it was the only option they could afford.
Nationally, 41 percent chose cremation versus 3.5 percent in 1960, according to the Cremation Association of North America. In 2010, in Colorado, 63 percent of bodies are cremated the seventh highest rate in the country.
Nationwide, cremation costs $1,000 to $2000. Phelps warned that the cost of transporting cremated remains can be significant. You have to mail via the U.S. Postal Service. Fedex, DHL they wont, unless with Fedex, its registered mail upon receipt.
Hood Mortuary has tried to accommodate families increasing need for thrift.
Its cheapest funeral comes to $1,195, which means the deceased will be ensconced in a cardboard box that is inserted into an oak rental casket for the service.
Its a nice presentation, if that is important to the family, Phelps said.
But even with traditional casket burials, theres room for penny-pinching. About five times a year, Phelps has families that build their own caskets out of plywood or barn wood
Outfits such as New Mexicos The Old Pine Box and Arizonas Frugal Casket specialize in do-it-yourself casket construction, with cost ranging from $200 to $600.
When Brenda Shorts mother, Gail, died on a Sunday last June, expense was not a concern.
Still, her family chose a nontraditional funeral.
Planning it was the hardest thing Ive ever done, the most taxing, the most exhausting, she said. Everybody got together that week and decided what mother would have wanted.
Short said she was shocked by how inexpensive the funeral was. Because it was nontraditional, we only used Hood Mortuary for the service. They were great, Short said.
Phelps said: We cater to peoples needs. If they want to bury someone in a cardboard box, golly, thats what theyre going to get. Every individual is treated decently in this business, thats a moral responsibility. But this is not a recession-proof business.
Search for meaning
German author Franz Kafka wrote that the meaning of life is that it ends.
The meaning of the ending of how we choose to mark the permanent ending of each others lives nonetheless remains puzzling and elusive, particularly as consumers: After all, a funerals guest of honor, even if corporally present, does not partake.
Mark Kimsey, who has worked at Family Craft Memorial, Durangos storied headstone carver, since 1993, reasoned that funerals are like a wedding: expensive, but not much left to show for it afterward.
But he said a monument remains for the ages.
Just speaking from my own experience, when my child died, I went every day to dress the grave. It was just part of the mourning process, he said.
Later, Kimsey said Craft Memorials was moving away from marble headstones.
To most customers, its too expensive, he said.
cmcallister@durangoherald. com


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Photovoltaics on the roof. Geothermal heating under-ground. Spiffy dual-flush toilets all about.
This wasn't the nature of our eco-mania.
Over the last 12 months, the Home&Garden section embarked on a project we called "Living the Green Life." This series of stories was meant for real people (with kids, budgets and mortgages) who want to do better by the environment. For the most part, we focused on lifestyle changes -- minor adjustments in daily behavior that may seem inconsequential when one ponders the big picture of global warming. But taken in aggregate, as a nation (when all of us do even one thing), these little lifestyle changes have a huge impact.
We considered ways for reducing household waste. We looked at less toxic housecleaning products, and green gardening techniques and pet products. We answered readers' questions and printed tips from the hundreds who wrote to us throughout the year. In the end, we amassed a huge bank of information on what we can do to make a difference.
We're marking the one-year anniversary of the series' launch with a compilation of 50 of the best ideas we've printed -- tips from engineers, chemists, environmentalists, recycling experts, government agencies, medical professionals, appliance-makers, Master Gardeners and, of course, our trusty readers.
The dishwasher
Use it. Contrary to popular eco-belief, it's greener than hand-washing -- if you run it with full loads and scrape rather than rinse. The average dishwasher in American homes today uses 8.7 gallons of water a load. Washing by hand for 10 minutes with water running can use 20 gallons. If you fill the sink, you still use about 5 gallons for washing, 5 for rinsing.
Drying laundry
Do not over-dry laundry. An electric dryer operating an extra 15 minutes a load can cost you up to $34 a year in wasted energy; a gas dryer, $21 a year. If your dryer has a moisture sensor that turns the machine off automatically when clothes are dry, use it.
Wash only full loads of laundry and save (the average American home) as much as 3,400 gallons of water a year.
Water-saving planting
Plan for wise watering. Group thirsty plants in one bed close to the house. Fill farther beds with drought-tolerant perennials that need little or no watering. For lawns, choose fescues, which tolerate dry spells better than bluegrass. Mulch around trees and plants to keep water from evaporating.
The garbage disposal
Use it. It's greener to feed the disposal than it is to encapsulate food waste in a plastic garbage bag and send it to the landfill. Sent down the disposal and into the sewer line, organic waste gets treated by the sanitary district and turned into fertilizer.
Home electronics
Power them off. A home office with a computer, printer, fax machine, computer speakers, scanner and cordless phone could consume as much power as two 75-watt light bulbs left on 24/7. And that could cost you $100 a year in electricity. Plug equipment into a surge protector-power strip. Power off all equipment and then turn off the power strip at the end of the day. If you have a high-speed cable connection to the Internet (i.e., Comcast), plug that modem into a separate outlet and keep that "on" all the time, as Comcast updates during the night. If you have AT&T DSL (high-speed Internet), it's OK to power off that modem. In fact, AT&T's technical folks recommend it, to preserve the modem's life.
Get a programmable thermostat and save as much as $150 a year. Set it way up (in the summer) or way down (in winter) when everyone's at work or at school and when they're asleep. And program it to turn up the heat (in winter) or air conditioning (in summer ) shortly before folks get home or shortly before they wake up.
Doggie waste
Switch to eco doggie bags that biodegrade in the landfill -- which means Fido's poop won't be forever preserved in the landfill, in the plastic bag you grabbed without considering its end-of-life issues. Among them: Chicago- (and corn-based) Poop Bags (poopbags.com) and biodegradable Pooch Pick-Up Bags from PetSmart stores.
Leaky toilet
Fix it now. A leaky toilet can waste 200 gallons of water a day. Check for leaks by adding food coloring to the tank. If you have a leak, color will appear in the bowl within 15 minutes. Flush as soon as you're done with this test to avoid staining the bowl. A footnote: It is estimated that 2 out of every 10 toilets in the U.S. leak. Those two leakers can waste as much as 146,000 gallons of water a year. That's enough water for a family of four to wash clothes in their washing machine for eight years.
A year's worth of papers from a big-city daily weighs nearly a half-ton. Every ton of paper that gets recycled saves the equivalent of 17 trees, saves enough energy to power an average home for six months, saves 7,000 gallons of water and keeps 60 pounds of pollutants out of the air.
Light bulbs
Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs. If you replace five of your most-used incandescent bulbs with CFLs, you can save $25 to $65 a year in energy costs. CFLs use two-thirds less energy than incandescent bulbs, generate 70 percent less heat and last up to 10 times longer. They do contain a small amount of mercury -- but the benefits of using CFLs outweigh the mercury issue. (See story inside for tips on CFL recycling.)
Hand soap
Rediscover good ol' bar soap. And eliminate the plastic bottle waste that comes with using liquid soaps.
The microwave
Yes, use it instead of the oven/stove to reheat food or cook small portions. You will reduce cooking energy by as much as 80 percent.
Cooking on the stove
Match pots to the appropriate size burner. A 6-inch pot on an 8-inch burner wastes more than 40 percent of the burner's heat. Using the right-size pot can save you as much as $36 a year with an electric range, as much as $18 with a gas range.
Water for laundry
Forgo the hot water when doing laundry. Heating water to "hot" accounts for 90 percent of the machine's washing energy; only 10 percent goes to power the motor. Switching to "cold" can save the average household more than $400 annually with an electric water heater and $300 annually with a gas heater.
More on water for laundry
And get over the idea that you need hot water to kill nasties. Cold-water laundering is perfectly healthful in most situations at home, with a couple of caveats. One: If you suffer from allergies, you might need a shot of heat, which you can get from tossing the laundry into a hot dryer for 10 minutes. Here's how it goes: If your problem is pollen or mold spores, cold water (and detergent) can rinse those out of your laundry as well as hot water. You need no heat on the situation. If your problem is animal dander or dust mites, you need some heat. Putting your laundry in a hot dryer (120 to 130 degrees) will kill those allergens. You don't need to precede that with a hot water wash. It's overkill.
The other big caveat: infectious diseases. If your family is dealing with something like E. Coli or norovirus (the cruise ship virus) or food poisoning or excessive diarrhea, all of which result in high levels of bacteria or virus in the environment, you need bleach. The hot water setting on most home washing machines is not hot enough to kill these. Add bleach with a cool or warm water setting and then follow with a hot dryer.
More on drying laundry
Clean the lint trap before every load. It's the safe thing to do and the efficient thing to do. A clean trap can save as much as $35 a year in energy costs.
Get organized
Do your own (linen, storage) closet systems with a bunch of inexpensive clear plastic boxes/bins. Stash all sorts of household essentials in their own box -- for instance, tape, ribbon, razors, soap, shampoo, etc. That way you can see what you already have at home and won't be tempted to overbuy.
Multiple-use products
Pay attention to all the single-use items in your daily life -- the throwaway plastic water bottles, paper napkins, paper towels, disposable wipes. And try to figure out alternatives: reusable water bottles; cloth napkins; microfiber dusting cloths that can be washed and reused; etc.
CFL disposal
Get rid of CFLs -- recycle them -- responsibly. The mercury contained in compact fluorescent light bulbs should not be accumulating in a landfill or, even worse, incinerated.
* Check with your municipality to see if it has scheduled a household hazardous waste collection date with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. And/or in the coming months, get the schedule of those collections by visiting www.epa.state.il.us/land/hazardous-waste/house hold-haz-waste/hhwc-schedule.html.
* Visit www.epa.gov/bulbrecycling for ongoing waste collection sites.
* Know that IKEA offers free CFL recycling at its stores: 1800 E. McConnor Pkwy., Schaumburg, 847-969-9700; and 750 E. Boughton Rd., Bolingbrook, 630-972-7900.
* Check out earth911.org for more on bulb recycling.
Cleaning tiles
Keep shower tiles sparkling clean without using chemicals. After a shower, use a microfiber cloth or chamois to wipe down tiles and fixtures or for glass, use a squeegee.
Brushing teeth
Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth and save as much as 10 gallons a day, a person. For a family of four, that's 14,600 gallons of water a year.
Recycling etiquette
* Rinse out cans and bottles before throwing them into a recycling bin to discourage vermin and keep food waste off paper.
* Remove caps from bottles, since they are made of different materials. But don't bother trying to remove the plastic or metal rings that are often left from caps on glass bottles.
* It's best to keep paper recyclables dry until collection day. But a night in the rain isn't fatal.
* Don't risk cutting yourself by trying to remove the metal tops from cardboard tubes (in products such as scouring powder and ready-to-bake cinnamon rolls). Separation is ideal, but most recycling programs will process the item anyway, either as metal or mixed paper.
Soda cans
They're small, but not insignificant. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television or operate a computer for three hours.
Plastic newspaper sleeves
Reuse the sleeves that your newspaper comes wrapped in. Wrap paintbrushes in them if you're midway through a project but have to stop for the day. The plastic sleeve will keep the brush soft for up to a day and saves water normally used for rinsing brushes. You can also use them to slide shoes into when packing.
Printer cartridges / recycle
Office Depot, OfficeMax and Staples take back ink and toner cartridges -- and hand you a $3 store coupon for your effort.
Printer cartridges / refill
Walgreens and OfficeMax offer in-store refilling stations in some of their stores. Bring in your empty printer cartridge and a store clerk will refill it on the spot (or in a matter of 10 minutes or so) and at a price that beats buying a new one. Walgreens charges $10 for black cartridge refills, $15 for color. Check the Web site (walgreens.com) for the list of refillable cartridges and for the list of participating stores. OfficeMax charges $12.49 to $26.99; call stores to inquire about participation; visit officemax.com for store locations or call 800-283-7674.
Walgreens stores in Chicago take back household batteries for recycling. So does any Chicago Public Library. All Office Depot stores take back cell phone and household batteries. All Staples and OfficeMax stores in the Chicago area take back rechargeable household batteries. Or visit earth911.org for a battery recycling site near you.
Discrete recycle stations
Don't be quick to say "I don't have room to recycle all that." Or: "I hate the look of recycling bins in my kitchen." Try scattering (pretty) wicker or rattan baskets in bare corners of your apartment or condo or in any home where space is at a premium. They will add warmth to your place and be your catchall for recyclables such as batteries, printer cartridges, magazines you plan to pass along to friends and family.
E-liminate it. Recycle your electronic waste -- computer monitors, desktops, laptops, fax machines, printers, scanners, peripherals, keyboards, telephones, digital cameras, VCR players, DVD players, televisions, etc. -- , which could be chock full of lead, mercury, plastics, etc.
* Visit illinoisrecycles.org and click on "E-cycling" for a list of collection sites (some take items without charge; others charge a small fee).
* Visit earth911.org for more of the same
* Office Depot offers a Tech Recycling program. The store will recycle as much e-waste as shoppers can fit into one of Office Depot's small ($5), medium ($10) or large ($15) Tech Recycling boxes. The only charge is for the box. Visit officedepot.com/techrecycling for the list of acceptable items.
* Staples stores in Chicagoland also invite consumers to bring in a wide variety of e-waste (but not TVs) for recycling. There is a $10 fee per piece of large equipment; no charge for small computer peripherals such as mice and keyboards. Some of the items will be refurbished by Staples' partner, Collective Good, and sold with a portion of the proceeds going to charity. For more information, visit staples.com/ecoeasy.
* And finally, OfficeMax has extended its pilot program for electronics recycling. Through February, customers can bring obsolete computer equipment to any Chicagoland OfficeMax store (downtown Express stores excluded). Cost to recycle: $5 to $20 a piece. For their effort, customers get an in-store coupon ($5 to $30) to use on selected items.
Plastic bags
Bring your own (string, canvas, any kind of reusable) bags to grocery stores and say "no" to the store's plastic bags. Americans toss some 100 billion of those low-quality polyethylene plastic bags annually and the recycling rate for them is just 0.6 percent. Each high-quality reusable bag has the potential of eliminating hundreds or even thousands of plastic bags over its lifetime.
Avoid using them in your garden and yard. Build up healthy soil instead to help prevent disease. Use barriers such as netting or cutworm collars. Wash aphids away with spray from the hose. Encourage beneficial insects that eat harmful ones. And learn to tolerate a few weeds, spots or insects if it's only an aesthetic problem.
Don't over-fertilize. Plants only can absorb so much; the rest washes away to pollute waterways. Follow directions or err on the side of less. Look for organic fertilizers that release nutrients slowly.
Native plants
Use them in your garden. They know how to fend for themselves; they're adapted to the local climate, soils and pests. That means less watering and fewer chemicals.
Watering the garden
Don't sprinkle more than necessary or in the heat of the day when much water evaporates. Put drip irrigation and soaker hoses on timers to water at night or in the early morning. Water lawns long and deep once a week, not lightly and frequently.
Save the rain
Put a rain barrel under a downspout to collect free water for the garden. And/or make yourself a rain garden by making a bed designed to collect rainwater so it can be absorbed by deep-rooted natives and perennials.
It is the basic ingredient of good soil. Start with a simple heap of plant material or buy a bin to keep out animals.
Garden plastics
Keep them at bay. Take cardboard boxes to the nursery and leave plastic nursery flats behind. Look for plants grown in biodegradable containers. And start seeds in yogurt cups or other recyclable containers (poke a hole for drainage and wash in a 10 percent bleach solution). Or make your own pots out of yesterday's newspaper (see chicagotribune.com/pots).
The organic seal of approval
The term "organic" should mean produced without chemical fertilizers, fungicides or herbicides -- but it's best to ask. If you see the OMRI (Organic Materials Research Institute) seal, it means the product has met a strict standard.
The organic price tag
Expect to dole out some green, for the green. Organically grown plants generally cost more. So do organic fertilizers. But they're worth it.
Garden power
Consider electric yard equipment -- and your own muscles. Electric mowers, string trimmers, leaf blowers and hedge trimmers create less pollution and are more energy-efficient than gas ones. Even better: manual equipment.
Plant them. They're like giant air filters. One mature tree takes care of the pollution caused by 13 cars.
Get rid of them. It takes more energy to run those floating toasters or even a static image than it does to have your computer and monitor go into a low-power mode. Unlike 10 years ago, the screen-saver does not extend the life of your monitor. Killing it could save $50 to $100 a year on your electric bill over a year's time.
Old clothing
Reinvent clothes. Turn children's jeans with worn-out knees into shorts. Reinvent clothes that you still like and still fit, but have minor "style" problems -- for example, hemlines that need to be shortened significantly. Many dry cleaners employ seamstresses for those who can't (or can't find the time) to do it themselves.
Old clothing -- Part 2
Be conscious of how you dispose of well-worn clothes. They're not likely to end up on the shelves of your local thrift store. (In 2005, an estimated 11.1 million tons of textiles were generated as municipal solid waste, only 15.3 percent of which was recovered for export or reprocessing.) The Salvation Army, AMVETS and Unique Thrift Stores are three organizations that work hard to divert all types of unsold fabric from landfills. (Many charities sell unsold clothes to textile recycling companies, which in turn sell wearable items to wholesalers overseas, where demand is high. The really worn stuff could be turned into cleaning cloths or filler inside your mattress or car's interior roof.)
The non-profit Gaia-Movement, USA (773-651-7870, gaia-movement-usa.org) and U'SAgainLLC, a commercial textile recycling company (800-604-9533, usagain2.com), have drop boxes in and around Chicago. Call them for locations. Both of these organizations also ensure that worn clothes find a second home overseas or a second life through reprocessing.
Three simple ways to improve your mileage:
1. Don't drive aggressively. Speeding, rapid acceleration and hard braking can lower your highway gas mileage by as much as 33 percent and city mileage by as much as 5 percent.
2. Don't go super-fast. Driving 75 m.p.h. instead of 65 m.p.h. can cut fuel economy by as much as 15 percent.
3. Keep up with your car's maintenance. Clean air filters can improve gas mileage by as much as 10 percent. Properly inflated and aligned tires improve mileage by about 3 percent.
Check out freecycle.org. It's a kind of eBay experience -- but without the financial gain. The city-specific site allows people to post items they want to get rid of and others who live close by, in turn, to "shop" for something they need. No money is exchanged between parties.
Check out these Web sites:
* illinoisrecycles.org
* earth911.org
* ecomall.com
* footprintnetwork.org (to measure your ecological footprint)
* recycle.net
* cityofchicago.org/environment
* energystar.gov
* www.doe.gov
* epa.gov
Thermostats -- Part 2
Use your programmable thermostat -- even if you have a leaky old home and are worried that your furnace is working too hard to bring the house back up to your comfort zone two times a day. Without getting into the issue of proper insulation, it saves more energy to let the house cool down when you're not home during the day and while you sleep at night than to keep it at the comfort zone continuously. But, if you're setting it back to, say, 60 degrees, that may be too far for a Chicago winter, especially if your home isn't well-insulated. At 60 degrees, countertops and dishes will seem cold. Try setting the thermostat back to 63 to 65 degrees in the winter. That way the recovery is not so steep, but you still get some benefit from the set back.
Kitty litter
Consider alternative litter. There are more earthy-friendly, organic options than the standard clay litters, which pile up in landfills. Among them: Feline Pine (made of pine), Sweat Scoop (wheat) and World's Best Cat Litter (corn). When it's time to change the litter, you can let organic litters biodegrade naturally by dumping them in your yard -- far, far away from where kids may roam and from the veggie garden and compost. If you would rather not engage your yard, you still can go green with a biodegradable liner for the cat pan. (Biobags makes one; order at dirtworks.net).


text:
The financial meltdown the economists of the Austrian School predicted has arrived.
We are in this crisis because of an excess of artificially created credit at the hands of the Federal Reserve System. The solution being proposed? More artificial credit by the Federal Reserve. No liquidation of bad debt and malinvestment is to be allowed. By doing more of the same, we will only continue and intensify the distortions in our economy - all the capital misallocation, all the malinvestment - and prevent the market's attempt to re-establish rational pricing of houses and other assets.


text:
President To Pardon Turkeys
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama throws his support behind Liberty...
< Direct Primary Care
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - A man struggling in the Spokane River
Sep 30, 2011 17:51
Category: General News
Category: General News
Spokane River Rescue
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - A man struggling in the Spokane River
early Friday near the Gonzaga University campus was lucky some ROTC
students were nearby.
KHQ reports (http://on.msnbc.com/niTmWg ) they heard him yelling
for help about 5:35 a.m.
They pulled him from the river onto a platform. He was taken to
a hospital.


text:
Proliant ML530 G2 3.0GHz 512KB Manufacturer Part# 271244-001
Note: Due to a weight greater than 100lbs Part# 271244-001 will be shipped via our "Ground" service.If you require faster shipping please call us during normal business hours for a shipping estimate.
Overview:The ProLiant ML530 Generation 2 is a high-performance 2-way server that delivers industry-leading expansion and availability features. ProLiant engineering and design expertise optimize system resources for intensive data center and remote office environments. Processor memory and I/O subsystems combine to provide unbeatable price/performance for database engines or server consolidation efforts. Internal expansion of up to 14 hot-plug Hard Drives and 7 PCI-X slots allows application flexibility and headroom for future growth. Intelligent fault resilience features such as Advanced Memory Protection technology and hot-plug components guarantee maximum uptime for business-critical and infrastructure applications.


text:
This category lists all known casinos in the GTA series.
Pages in category "Casinos"
" A casino is a facility where people gamble. Casinos are seen throughout the Grand Theft Auto...
Media in category "Category:Casinos"
Posted in: The Camel's Toe Safehouse
Posted in: The Emerald Isle
Posted in: Big Shot Casino
Posted in: Royal Casino
Posted in: Casino Floor
Posted in: Come-A-Lot
Posted in: Kenji's Casino


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text:
Ian writes: "OpenRequest, the pure java toolkit for projects, developers and organisations wishing to quickly implement the ISO 10161 (ILL) document interlending protocol, is available. Please feel free to download, play and get in touch. 1.0.4 includes extended support for more ILL extensions, many bugfixes, improvements in deployment options and lots more."
OpenRequest-1.0.4 (rc7)
Ian writes: "Open Request 1.0.0 is a pure java toolkit for developers, systems integrators and organisations needing access to ISO ILL and other interlendng protocols in a java (Or other enterprise) environment who do not wish to write their own implementations. This release fixes a number of bugs and adds minor improvements to the 1.0.0 rc1 release. Read more about this release and download the code/binaries at the Developer Site."
Open Request-1.0 beta 1
Ian writes: "Hi All. A brief note that a first beta release of Open Request is available for download. Open Request is a pure java toolkit for developers wishing to implement the ISO 10161 Inter Library Loans protocol. The current release features helpers for constructing all protocol messages, encoders and decoders for the full protocol and components that store all incoming and outgoing messages in the database. Extensive use is made of the Hibernate project to provide as much database independence as possible. This initial release is provided mainly for feedback. We hope to integrate the open source component of OpenRequest with our cross searching z39.50 toolkit JZKit in the near future. As always, we are on the lookout for anyone interested in collaborative projects..." This is great news, something many of us have been looking/hoping for for some time now.


text:
This product is currently sold out.
You can obtain status and/or reserve this item by contacting us. We can also be reached by calling toll free 1-866-326-9377 (Dialing from outside the US +01 314 772 3566) between 10AM and 6PM CST (-6 GMT).
These N2N Bodywear Split Dream Shorts fit like a dream! The ultra-soft fabric and high-cut leg openings allow for a flowing fit and freedom of movement.
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text:
Paul Reddick Exposes the Secrets That Turned His Coaching Business into a 6-Figure Enterprise
How You Can Start Your Own 6-Figure Baseball Instruction Business
Discover The Methods and The Tactics That Will Allow You To Become Your Own Boss, Coach The Sport You Love and Generate The Income You Deserve!
From: Paul Reddick
To: Anyone Who Is Passionate About Baseball and Coaching…
The best decision I ever made was to start my own instruction business.
- Because I am my own boss – and I have all the freedom that comes along with it
- I make a 6-figure salary with NO employees and NO overhead
- I actually get to work at something I truly love
- AND… it made me a local celebrity in the world of baseball coaching
I am here to tell you that anyone with a passion for baseball can start their own instruction business – with very little investment required.
In fact, Baseball Instruction is one of the only businesses in the world you can start without any overhead, without any experience and without any start-up capital… and instantly start generating hundreds of dollars each day!
And if you make the right choices and follow the right system… YOU can turn your own coaching business into a hassle-free, 6-Figure Enterprise.
But before you jump right in, I want you to understand that there are a LOT of mistakes you can with an instruction business…
Mistakes that can hurt your credibility, ruin your profits and destroy your business (sometimes before you even really get it off the ground).
How do I know about these mistakes?
Because I have made them all!
It took me several years to over-come these mistakes – and it took me several years of studying business management and marketing to establish a truly successful business…
But eventually I developed a fool-proof system that has brought me more profits and more success than you can ever imagine.
How You Can Take Your Love Of Coaching And Build A Lucrative and Successful Business…
When you read my bio, you are going to see that I have been lucky enough to build-up a pretty impressive resume.
I have coached in the minor leagues. I have been a delegate for USA Baseball. I co-authored a book with Tom House and am currently Yogi Berra's baseball camp director.
I have ghost written over a dozen best-selling instructional baseball books and I was a major league scout for over 12 years, most recently with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
But the truth is that when I started my business, I had NONE of these things going for me.
In fact, most of this stuff came about BECAUSE I started my own baseball training business.
When I started my instruction business, I was nothing more than a bad ex-baseball player who had a love of pitching. I was coaching (for free) some high school league.
I didn't have a name for myself; I didn't have an impressive resume.
All I had was a great love for the game and a great love for coaching. Now I have a 6-figure coaching business (along with many other baseball businesses I have developed).
And now I have decided to share my secrets and give away the exact business blueprint I have developed over the years.
With my methods you are going to have the security you need to start you own instruction business – without any fear or worry – and avoid all the nasty, little mistakes that are business killers.
I was 20 years old – coaching a high school league (for free) – when someone asked me if I gave private coaching lessons.
I tried not to act surprised, and I managed to stutter out, "Yeah, $15 per hour".
After that first, private $15 lesson I was on cloud nine. I had actually gotten PAID to coach baseball.
As I was driving home that night, I started doing the math… 8 hours per day at $15 is $120 bucks… $120 bucks per day for 5 days is $600 per week!
It was then I decided to start my very own instruction business.
So I started developing flyers and I started advertising my $15 per hour coaching sessions all over town. I realize now the mistakes I was making, the money I was losing on bad advertising and the time I was wasting.
But I was young, I had a lot more energy than I do now and I was driven… and I slowly started getting more and more clients.
And I have to tell you… when you start giving instruction your creditability will skyrocket. People give you respect like you wouldn't believe.
You become somewhat of a local celebrity! Every parent wants their kid to have "that guy" give their kid personal baseball lessons.
It wasn't until I started making smarter choices and making good business decisions that my coaching business really took off.
What Happened?
If you are a good coach you will start getting referrals and you will start to build a name.
Soon I was working 6 hours every single night – Monday through Friday. Then I was doing 8 hours a day on Saturday and Sunday. I was doing the equivalent of 46 hours of lessons each week.
As the years went on, my rate went up as my list grew and as I built my business. I even got it to the point where I was earning $50 for a half hour.
I was earning $100 bucks and hour and about $4000 a week coaching baseball.
I was making a very good living, but the problem is this…
If you have ever given a lesson, you know what hard work it is to give a lesson. You only have so much energy in the day – and you are giving these lessons every single day, you know how easy it is to get burnt out.
Of course, lots of people work a 46 hour week. But when you are giving a baseball lesson, there is no down time. I didn't get to take a break, or check my email, or sit in a meeting where I didn't have to talk much. I was ON for 46 hours each week – talking and thinking and working all the time. That is some hard work.
What's more is that each client that comes to you expects you to be fresh and on top of your game. And you have an obligation to give your last lesson of the day the same amount of energy as you do your very first lesson of the day. You have to be 100% all the time.
So even though I was making a great living coaching baseball, I was making a LOT of terrible mistakes – and some bad stuff started to happen.
I was booked all the time!
I literally had no time to do anything else. I had no time to work-out and I had no time to spend with my girlfriend.
I would wake-up in the morning and get to work running the "desk" part of my business – scheduling, invoices, etc. Then I was right back on the field.
- With no time to work-out or eat healthy… I got fat. I weighed 247lbs!
- I was drinking at least four 20oz. Starbucks coffees each day, I even had parents who would bring me coffee through the day!
- I would be so wound-up after drinking so much coffee that I started pounding a few beers every night just to calm down.
I was stuck in a very unhealthy cycle and I was developing some pretty serious health problems.
I didn't have time to take care of myself, I didn't have time to get married or start a family. I would even close my eyes at night and see baseballs being thrown…
And that is when I really started to NOT like what I did.
I know that the player who had my last lesson of each day wasn't getting my best. And that was not a place I wanted to be. I felt like I was cheating my customers.
But I had another problem… I had "copy-cats" popping up – Which means that I wasn't the only guy in town offering pitching lessons. And these guys were taking business away from me.
Between my competition and my lifestyle choices, I was losing a grip on my business – and my life.
Then one day I checked my bank account
and I had $18 to my name!
I was broke!
I had moved into a nice townhouse, I was spending money trying to advertise and run my business, I was wasting money on this and that… and one day I realized that I was BROKE!
I still am not sure how I spent all that money; I am still not sure how I let it all get away from me. But I had to swallow my pride and I had to move into my grandmother's attic.
Here I was, this "big success"… who all of a sudden was broke, fat and moving into my grandmother's attic.
Right about this time, when I was hitting bottom, the season was about to start. So the money that I had coming in was instantly cut in half.
That is when I hit a wall and I knew I had to make a change. I knew that there had to be a better way.
With my business slowing down because of competition and the off season… I had a little extra time. And I started working on my marketing and getting my business better organized.
I took my free time and I studies marketing. I read books on running a successful business. I took courses on effective advertising.
And about a month after I started this study, I realized that I was doing it all wrong. I had built a business around a model that consumed all my time.
And the worst part was that I had reached a point where I was making the most amount of money I could make.
With my old business model I had reached the highest peak I could reach. I could have never made any more money than I was already making. And I would have never been able to grow and expand my business.
I could have hired people to work for me, but I didn't want to do that. I still don't have anyone working for me because I like working for myself and by myself.
Well, I never found anyone that was a passionate about baseball pitching as I was. And I didn't want to manage anyone else and I didn't want any employees approaching my customers.
So I decided to re-organize my business.
Not only did I re-organize my business… but I changed my entire business model where I could:
- work less hours
- make more money
- set myself apart from all the other competition
- GET PAID UP-FRONT and in advance
Since I had about 20% of my clients either cancel or become a no-show, getting paid up-front was crucial to me. And getting paid up-front automatically allowed me to shave 20% off my work load without having to worry about losing any money. That was 10 or 11 hours a week I got back.
Then I started shaving my hours down even further by finding clients who were willing to pay more money for longer, more in-depth lessons.
And in order to deal with all the copy-cats and all the other competition that was coming along… I started setting myself apart from everyone else.
So I started putting these changes into my business, I started using the right marketing tools and started managing my time and my money better.
My Business Model Now Handles All The Problems and Issues More Coaches Face – With EASE!
I have it DOWN. I know how to effectively market without spending hardly any money, I know how to manage my business without all the hassles…
I Designed A 6 FIGURE Plan with only 36 students & only 20 hours of work per week.
I was able to give all of my students my absolute best, I was able to earn more money, and I was able to regain my life!
But here is the amazing part…
- The only employee that I have is a kid (usually a former student) I pay to be my catcher.
- I have no over-head… no rent, no utilities.
- My equipment cost is minimal – less than 300 per year.
I have 20 students that pay me an extremely high fee to train year-round. There is no off season and there are no cancelations to worry with.
Not only do I get paid a high fee, but I get paid all this money UP-FRONT…
On Sept 1 of every year, I go to the bank and deposit all the money I am going to make for the entire year. IT IS ALL IN MY BANK ACCOUNT BEFORE I EVER COACH THE FIRST SESSION.
And honestly, the look on the banker's face when a guy in shorts and a baseball cap deposits 6 figures is pretty priceless.
But the best part is that I handle all my invoicing and the majority of my "desk" work in 1 day! I don't worry about it the rest of the year.
After I make that 1 deposit, on that 1 day, all I focus on is coaching and teaching my kids.
It is a great feeling because all I WANT to worry about is my kids anyway! It is why I got into this business in the first place!
I am able to have this freedom because I have a fool-proof system for marketing and managing my business.
Want to know the truly amazing part?
I have had about a dozen major, mega-size baseball academies open up around me… and NONE of them can touch me!
Even with all their money and all their resources, they don't affect my business one bit.
I really thought that some of the other coaches or big-name academies would have ripped-off my system by now… but the truth is that they can't figure it out!
I Will Expose My Secrets – and My Complete Business Model To YOU…
I want you to understand that your coaching business can be whatever YOU want it to be. You could take my exact business model and put it into use however it works with your life.
You can coach whatever YOU want to coach… pitching, hitting, etc…
You could use my business model to bring-in a few clients and make an extra $500 a month to help pay for a new car, or your kid's college… or just bring in extra spending money!
You could use my business model to leave the job you hate and start your own 6-figure enterprise. And the best part about it is that this will be a job you will truly love.
- You're getting to see exactly what I did – step-by-step – so you can go out and set-up your own successful business.
- You're gonna learn all the mistakes I made – so you don't have to make them.
- You'll know exactly how to market your business – so you don't have to waste money on ineffective advertising.
- You'll see exactly how to organize and run your business – so you can easily manage your business, hassle-free.
- You'll get the security you need to get started – so you can take that first step without fear and without hesitation.
You don't have to be some baseball guru, you don't have to be an expert, you don't have to be an ex-player… you don't even need to be a successful coach.
All you need is a passion for baseball and a love for coaching kids because that is all you really need to build your business.
My 4-Week Training Program
Right now I am offering you the chance get your hands on my complete system that gives you everything you need to start your own baseball coaching business – and run it successfully!
I have already made the mistakes – and I have developed a fool-proof plan that will allow you to dominate the market in your area and earn the salary you deserve.
The platform for the program is really simple. You log-into our website using your personal user name and password – and you instantly gain access to all the information you need.
You will get instant access to the complete series of audio lessons, and each audio lesson will cover 1 specific thing you need to know.
To start you off, I give you a complete run-down of the entire program. All the general information you need to take that first step and set-up your business is all in this program.
I am going to tell you what to expect, what you need to do to get started, and every other piece of knowledge you need to become a professional baseball coach.
But in the entire system, I am going to go much more in-depth into the secrets and the tactics that will make you successful.
Just take a look at some of the information we will cover in the system …
- Position Yourself
You'll know exactly how to position yourself, how to start spreading the word about who you are, what you do and what all you need to have in place before you begin giving lessons.
- Consultations
This is a major session because a good consultation is one of the ways you are going to become un-beatable to your competition. I will give you the perfect guide on how to give a consultation – so that you instantly establish confidence in your client and make them choose YOU over every other coach around.
- Packaging Your Services
You'll learn how you can "chunk" your services – to they make you more money and make it much more appealing and attractive to your clients.
- Up-Front Payments
You'll get the security you need to get started – so you can take that first step without fear and without hesitation.
- Brochures
You are going to need a brochure – this is one of the only costs that you will have to invest in to start your business… but if you are going to spend the money you need to know how to develop a brochure the RIGHT WAY.
I have never seen a successful brochure in any baseball business (especially the coaching business) that I haven't done myself. Most of them are ineffective because they talk about the wrong things and they all sell the wrong things. But with my methods, you will have a brochure that is highly effective and creditable.
- Advertising
There is bad advertising that will just waste your money – there is passable advertising that works a little (but still costs an arm and a leg). And then there is the most effective form of advertising out there (and most of this advertising is free). We will go over what works, what doesn't and how you can make the most out of a non-existent advertising budget.
- League Endorsements
Most people I know who tries to approach local baseball leagues ends up looking like absolute idiots. But there is a way for you to get every single league in your area to ENDORSE YOU.
Endorsements are one of the hardest things in marketing to accomplish – but I can show you exactly how YOU can get that. This is difficult for most people to do, but I have a system in place that you can follow to make this happen for you in NO TIME!
- Funnel Business
You'll see how you can get ALL other businesses in your town to funnel business to you. I have seen this done the wrong way – and it actually can hurt your business because so many people just don't understand how this works and how to use this method properly.
But I can show you the most effective method that will make it worth a business's while to promote you… and how you can turn your entire town into business generation for YOU.
- Publicity
You'll learn publicity… Hell, I can make you famous! And this is just one of those things that 99% of people do the wrong way.
But I can show you how to approach news and radio and TV outlets to get on the air – continually. And the more you are on the air the more you will build creditability and the more business you can generate.
- Referrals
You'll learn how you can get your current clients to bring-in more clients. Most people just hand out their terrible brochures and ask people to pass it around their league or their friends – and it is just the dumbest thing ever!
You need to know HOW to work referrals the right way… and I am going to show you just how to do that.
- Product Generation
You'll learn how YOU CAN develop your own products – you can write your own books or create your own DVDs.
Products are a great way to generate additional income, but they are even better at generating authority for yourself and your business. I will explain exactly how you can write books or develop DVDs… and how these money-making products will work like an authority magnet for your business.
- "Value Triplifier Method"
You're getting my "Value Triplifier Method" which will allow you to TRIPLE the value of a lesson for your clients without it costing your client any additional money. This is something that will put you ahead of any competition and make your business simply untouchable.
But that's not all… we are going to talk about how you can use direct mail without using your shirt, how to use email and maintain constant contact with your customers and much, much more!
How You Can Generate Money on Demand
One of the most powerful parts of my course is my own, personal system for generating "Money on Demand".
"Money on Demand" is literally when you need money for something, you can get it.
A great example of this is when my wife wanted to add a deck, which was going to cost $3,000. I put together a clinic and a camp, I knew exactly what to do, exactly what to say and exactly who to go to with it… and BOOM – I made $4,000 and I built a very nice deck.
If you set-up your business right – you can get "Money on Demand" when you need it and never have to worry about any emergencies and any problems that might come-up in the future.
Your "Results-Only" Guarantee
This guarantee is simple. Either you get results – or I give you your money back.
And the best part is that I am giving you a full 60 days to make-up your mind.
This means that you could go through this entire course– TWICE – before you ever have to decide.
This gives you enough time to discover the information, put it to work for you and start seeing the profits roll in – before your guarantee ever expires.
And if you happen to decide that baseball coaching really isn't for you – all you have to do is send me an email and I will instantly refund your money. You don't have to return a thing.
This is how confident I am in this program.
And this is how confident I am that it will work for you!
Start Your Own Baseball Coaching Business and Generate More Clients Than You
Can Handle – TODAY!
This is the program that can change your life. It can give you a clear path to live your dream.
And the best part is that I am giving you a full 60 days to make-up your mind.
All you have to do is be passionate about coaching kids and coaching baseball – everything else I can teach you!
If you want to turn baseball coaching into a 6-figure career, then this is the course for you.
Your success is guaranteed and the cost for this course is minimal.
All you have to do is hit the order button, go through the 2-minute order process right now.
You can be building your own business by next week – regardless of your age or your experience. All you need is the passion – and this powerful system.
And the best part is that I am giving you a full 60 days to make-up your mind.
All you have to do is be passionate about coaching kids and coaching baseball – everything else I can teach you!
If you want to turn baseball coaching into a 6-figure career, then this is the course for you.
Your success is guaranteed and the cost for this course is minimal.
All you have to do is hit the order button, go through the 2-minute order process right now.
P.S. I Can Bring-In More Business Than You Can Handle
With my methods, your business will never suffer because I have the methods that will secure your place at the top of the baseball coaching market in your area.
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Tyler Perry's last film, "The Single Moms Club," was an all-around disaster — the film, greeted by scathing reviews, marked his worst showing ever at the box office and even tanked with his core audience.
But that failure hasn't discouraged the writer-producer-director and OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, from moving forward with a spinoff based on the flop.
However, in an apparent attempt to distance themselves from the movie's performance, Perry and OWN have discarded "The Single Moms Club" title.
Casting for the retitled series, "If Loving You is Wrong," has been announced. The series, which will debut in September, will be the second drama produced by Perry for OWN under his exclusive deal.
"If Loving You is Wrong" follows "the relationships of a group of husbands and wives that live and love on the same street." Perry created the show and will executive produce, write and direct.
The cast includes Amanda Clayton ("John Carter"), Heather Hemmens ("Hellcats"), Eltony Williams ("24"), Joel Rush ("Days of Our Lives"), Edwina Findley ("Treme"), Charles Malik Whitfield ("Law & Order") and Zulay Henao, who reprises her role from the original film.
Released last March, "The Single Moms Club" drew $8.3 million in its opening weekend, falling about $10 millon short of expectations. The film scored a dismal 20% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Perry's first OWN drama, "The Haves and the Have Nots," the most popular series on the network, just launched its second season.


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New Orleans — A Gentilly strip mall, blighted and abandoned since Hurricane Katrina, will soon meet the wrecking ball after the City Council voted unanimously Thursday to approve construction of a Wal-Mart on the site.
A planned 118,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter will replace the Gentilly Woods shopping center on Chef Menteur Highway at Press Drive. The project, including demolition of the existing mall, is expected to cost about $13 million and be completed by mid-2014.
"On behalf of District D, I want to tell you we've been waiting anxiously for this for over three years," said District D Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, who represents the neighborhood. "We can't wait for cranes in the sky.
"We'll first tear it (the old mall) down, then put the cranes in the sky. But we can't wait for you to tear it down first."
Wal-Mart requested a waiver to allow 481 spaces, about 100 fewer spaces than a regular Supercenter has but about 100 more than the City Planning Commission suggested. The planning commission staff said the store should be able to operate with 385 spaces, based on big-box-store regulations, but the planning commission last month overrode the staff suggestion and OK'd the larger parking lot.
It also agreed to several other waivers, including the number and size of signs attached to the building, but rejected the staff's suggestion of a second walkway in the parking lot.
This is the second Wal-Mart the council has approved in recent months.
The body voted in November to allow another store at Interstate 10 and Bullard Avenue in eastern New Orleans. That store is also expected to open in late 2013 or early 2014.
"We need more. Keep going," council Vice President Jackie Clarkson told Wal-Mart's representatives after Thursday's vote.


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BSkyB, 21st Century Fox in Talks Over Pay-TV Assets
Deal Would Involve British Company Taking Control of Sky Deutschland, Sky Italia
British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC said Monday that it had started preliminary discussions with 21st Century Fox over a multibillion-dollar acquisition of its pay-TV assets in Germany and Italy.
In the possible reshuffle of media mogul Rupert Murdoch's broadcasting business in Europe, the U.K. company would be taking part in the recent accelerated consolidation of Europe's cable, television and telecom sectors. Industry executives are looking for cross-border heft in buying rights to show sports and entertainment, and in...


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President Obama delivered a public statement on the situation in Libya today. His statement displayed the same incoherence that has characterized the administration's policies on Libya to date.
Obama explained why the U.S. has a vital interest at stake:
Now, here's why this matters to us. Left unchecked, we have every reason to believe that Gadhafi would commit atrocities against his people. Many thousands could die. A humanitarian crisis would ensue.
The entire region could be destabilized, endangering many of our allies and partners.
The calls of the Libyan people for help would go unanswered. The democratic values that we stand for would be overrun.
Moreover, the words of the international community would be rendered hollow.
And that's why the United States has worked with our allies and partners to shape a strong international response at he United Nations.
Everything Obama listed as a reason for acting now was equally a reason for acting weeks ago–more so, actually. Qaddafi has been left "unchecked," and he has committed atrocities against his own people. Many have died, and a humanitarian crisis already exists. And if the entire region "could be destabilized, endangering many of our allies and partners," hasn't this been true from the beginning?
Having laid out this justification for action, however belatedly, Obama went on to explain that America's response will be carefully circumscribed:
I also want to be clear about what we will not be doing. The United States is not going to deploy ground troops into Libya. And we are not going to use force to go beyond a well-defined goal, specifically the protection of civilians in Libya.
Which means, if you take Obama's words seriously, that getting rid of Qaddafi is not one of our objectives. If we and our allies had acted two weeks ago, when the rebels were in control of most of Libya, the result almost certainly would have been regime change. It seems likely that acting now will have the effect of freezing the status quo in place, with Qaddafi in control of most of the country. Moreover, if the "well-defined goal" is "the protection of civilians in Libya," how is that goal to be achieved without any ground forces? The rebels are perhaps outnumbered and certainly outgunned. What part of the U.N.'s response will prevent Qaddafi from taking revenge on his opponents at his leisure?
In his statement today, President Obama proclaimed rather grandiose purposes–not just protecting civilians but averting "destabilization" of the "entire region"–but seemingly did not match those goals with actions or resources equal to the task.
It is also interesting that Obama has made no effort to secure Congressional approval for military action in Libya. I don't think Congressional approval is constitutionally required, although some disagree. (Andy McCarthy, for example: " Last time I checked the Constitution, the Security Council doesn't get to authorize [military operations].") But, given Obama's history on Iraq, in particular, the omission seems odd. One wonders what the Left will make of it.


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He said, she said, they said
Since we live in an age where accountability is allegedly mandatory, I must say that the media icons are the biggest offenders of not making people they quote accountable, and that disturbs me. The following phrases from the New York Times, Washington Post, CBS News, CNN, and the Associated Press are cause for concern:
"The police officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press." - NY Times
"White House officials fear that . . . " - NY Times
" . . . according to several administration officials and outsiders they are consulting . . ." - NY Times
". . . said one senior official, who, like others involved in the discussions, would not speak on the record . . . " - NY Times.
"The Washington Post, citing unidentified sources, reported Sunday that . . . " - CBS News
" . . . near a crowded bus station in central Baghdad at about 8:30 a.m. Monday, the official said." - CNN
"Congressional Democrats returning from their Independence Day break are ready for battle with. . . ." - Associated Press on CNN
Anything could be written in front of or behind all of the aforementioned phrases and nobody would be held responsible. Powerful media giants like the New York Times, CNN, the Washington Post etc., could, and very well might, use these tactics to influence political sway, or worse.
For instance, a newspaper having differences with the chief of police of any city could use the first sentence and write something like: "Police officials report that the chief of police was found in his office on several occasions dancing the tango with his secretary while dressed in a bear costume. 'The police officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press'." I believe running an article like that at a strategic time could cause the average voter pause before considering the incumbent chief for re-election. Now - how would the chief of police prove that it didn't happen?
How well do you think the public would receive the following sentence if the second phrase from above were used to open the sentence? "'White House officials fear that captive aliens at Roswell, New Mexico, have contacted home for reinforcements to assure their release and to expose the government for keeping their captivity a secret." Every tabloid on the face of the earth would pounce on that tasty little news tidbit.
Let's try the third phrase in an interesting sentence. "The president must stop staring into a crystal ball to make administrative decisions 'according to several administration officials and outsiders they are consulting'."
Now let's paraphrase the last two phrases by CBS News and CNN and combine them into one sentence. "'The Washington Post, citing unidentified sources, reported Sunday that the secretary of defense was found crawling on his hands and knees while howling at an imaginary moon near a crowded bus station in central Baghdad at 8:30 a.m., the official said'." Who is the official who allegedly said that? We would never know.
Anyway, I think you get the idea. None of the above could possibly be traced to a real source. The media giants could take advantage of an assumed credible past and use it to their advantage by reporting biased news and even borderline slander.
I am happy to write for small town newspapers. Like most local publications, all reporting must be attributed to a source, especially the quotes. If a person says something, their name goes on it. If they don't want to be quoted, then they shouldn't say anything - as it should be.
I am not so naive that I don't realize that attaching one's name to sensitive issues could be a dangerous practice. However, when news is reported and appears to be less than credible, it stands to reason that the newspaper and the source should be held accountable.
The ongoing irresponsibility of the media is definitely part of that system we can't understand.


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WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S.-led military command in Afghanistan will no longer count and publish the number of Taliban attacks, a statistical measure that it once touted as a gauge of U.S. and allied success but now dismisses as flawed.
The move comes one week after the coalition, known as the International Security Assistance Force, acknowledged in response to inquiries by The Associated Press that it had incorrectly reported a 7 percent drop in Taliban attacks in 2012 compared to 2011. In fact, there was no decline at all, ISAF officials now say.
The mistake, attributed by ISAF officials to a clerical error, called into question the validity of repeated statements by allied officials that the Taliban was in steep decline.
Anthony Cordesman, a close observer of the war as an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said it had been clear for months that ISAF's figures were flawed.
"The truth is they should not have published them in the first place," he said. "A great many people realized from the start that it was a meaningless measurement" because it implies that in order to succeed the Taliban has to keep attacking rather than gaining ground by influencing ordinary Afghans. It's that influence which needs to be overcome in order to ensure the viability of the Afghan government.
"Over the last year it has become clearer and clearer that not only was the measurement meaningless, but it became embarrassing because there weren't any (ISAF and Afghan) gains," he added, noting that Taliban attacks last year were more numerous than in 2009, before President Barack Obama sent an extra 30,000 U.S. "surge" troops.
"Basically speaking, we've ended up — after the surge and three more years of fighting — with absolutely nothing that we can tell ourselves that shows the level of progress we did or did not achieve," Cordesman said.
The U.S. and its ISAF allies have pledged to end their combat mission by the end of next year, and while they are likely to leave at least several thousand troops to help train Afghan troops, the Afghans are to assume the lead role for security across the entire country this spring, when the Taliban typically step up their attacks.
There are now about 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Statistical measures of battlefield progress have long been a point of dispute, not only in Afghanistan but also in Iraq. The disputes typically are a combination of doubt about the numbers themselves and about what they mean.
Jamie Graybeal, a spokesman for ISAF's headquarters in Kabul, said Tuesday that the coalition has lost confidence in the reporting system that produced its figures on "enemy-initiated" attacks. That is mainly because more combat operations are being performed by Afghan forces, out of view of American and allied troops. That means ISAF has diminishing control over the mechanics of collecting the data.
"We have determined that our databases will become increasingly inaccurate in reflecting the entirety of enemy initiated attacks," Graybeal said in a written statement.
"Additionally, we have come to realize that a simple tally of (attacks) is not the most complete measure of the campaign's progress," he said. "At a time when more than 80 percent of the (attacks) are happening in areas where less than 20 percent of Afghans live, this single facet of the campaign is not particularly accurate in describing the complete effect of the insurgency's violence on the people of Afghanistan."
Taliban insurgents have been pushed out of many population centers and have failed to regain territory they held before the surge of U.S. troops in 2010. But they are expected to test Afghan forces as U.S. and allied troops withdraw.
Coalition officials, including Obama administration officials, had previously cited the reported 2012 drop in Taliban attacks as a sign that the insurgency was in decline and that the Afghans could take on more of the fighting burden.
Last Tuesday, on his final day as defense secretary, Leon Panetta indicated that he was disappointed in the mix-up. The Pentagon on Tuesday said it was leaving it to ISAF to explain the decision to stop reporting attack figures.
Graybeal said ISAF will continue to track Taliban attacks that are observed and recorded by ISAF troops. But it will not track and report on the totality of attacks — including those directed at Afghan forces.
The erroneous ISAF report of a decline in 2012 attacks came to light after ISAF removed from its website a set of statistics that included its tally of "enemy initiated attacks," which it had said declined by 7 percent. When the AP inquired about the missing figures, ISAF said they had been removed because they contained errors.
Initially, ISAF said it would correct and republish the statistics, but on Tuesday Graybeal said the corrected 2012 figures will not be put back on its web site.
That raises questions about the Pentagon's most recent report to Congress on progress toward stabilizing Afghanistan, which used the coalition's figures on enemy attacks as its main measure of insurgent violence. The report also cautioned in a footnote, however, that the attack figures have "a number of limitations" and should not be used by themselves as a reliable indication of violence levels in Afghanistan.
A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. William Speaks, said the issue of counting Taliban attacks will be addressed in the next report to Congress, due by April 30, "and the errors in these figures will be explained." That report will cover developments in Afghanistan from October 2012 through March 2013.
The previous report to Congress, covering the period from April 2012 through September 2012, said ISAF and Afghan forces had continued to "degrade the cohesion and capability" of the insurgency, while acknowledging that the militants were still capable of carrying out high-profile attacks like a stunning assault on Camp Bastion on Sept. 14 in which 15 Taliban fighters breached the security perimeter, killed two U.S. Marines and destroyed six U.S. Marine aircraft.
Follow Robert Burns on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/robertburnsAP


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TOKYO (AP) — Outspoken leaders from Japan's two biggest cities formed a national political party Saturday, seeking to become "a third force" to lure undecided voters and challenge the country's two biggest parties.
Nationalist Shintaro Ishihara, who resigned as Tokyo governor to create his own party this week, said he is scrapping his four-day-old group to join the Japan Restoration Party formed in September by the young and brash mayor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto.
The announcement comes the day after Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda dissolved the lower house of parliament, paving the way elections next month. His ruling party is expected to give way to a weak coalition government divided over how to tackle Japan's myriad problems. The biggest problems are getting a stagnant economy going again and reconstruction after the crippling March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Elections are set for Dec. 16, with official campaigning starting Dec. 4. If Noda's centrist party loses, the economically sputtering country will get its seventh prime minister in six and a half years.
Japan is going through a political transition with a merry-go-round of prime ministers and the mushrooming fringe parties to challenge the long-dominant Liberal Democrats' return.
"This country is going to fall apart if we don't act now," Ishihara told Saturday's party convention held in Osaka, announcing the merger of his party and Hashimoto's. "I've decided to ignore small differences to join hands on common ground. This will be my last service for the country."
Apparently, Ishihara made concessions to Hashimoto's policy supporting phase-out of nuclear energy and participating in the U.S.-led trans-Pacific trade block. The timing of the election could pre-empt moves by more conservative challengers to build enough electoral support.
Ishihara, 80, now heads the Japan Restoration Party, replacing Hashimoto, who now serves No. 2 post. Hashimoto, 43, has said he will remain mayor of Japan's second-largest city and not run in the election. On Saturday, he announced backing 46 candidates to run in the polls.
"We'll claw our way through the election battle — not just to win seats, but to change the root of this country," Hashimoto told a televised party convention. "We will change all forces that try to defend the status quo."
The DPJ, in power for three years, has grown unpopular largely because of its handling of the Fukushima nuclear crisis and its plans to double the sales tax.
Noda's most likely successor is LDP head and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He resigned as Japan's leader in 2007 after a year in office due to stomach ailment.
Polls indicate that the conservative, business-friendly LDP will win the most seats in the 480-seat lower house but will fall far short of a majority. That would force it to cobble together a coalition of parties with differing policies and priorities. Many of the newly formed small groups are formed by defectors of Noda's party, and Japan now has at least 15 political parties, half of them with only several members.
Although DPJ's rise to power was initially seen as a chance to have stable British-style two-party system in Japan, their troubled rule and infighting have prompted part divisions and defections, not necessarily based on policies.
"Now there is no division of conservative, liberal or centrist. There is no telling which two are the main parties," said political commentator Shigetada Kishida on a TV talk show Saturday. "We are now in the process of figuring out which parties should take charge of Japan as an alternative."
Political leaders took to the streets Saturday to make their election appeals to voters.
Noda, who visited schools in Tokyo, called the party merger "no-principle coalition" that neglected policies.
"We have mountains of problems to tackle — the economy, energy issues, diplomacy and political reforms. Do we want to push them forward or backward? That's what the elections are all about and I will convince voters who should be in charge," Noda told reporters.
In Kumamoto, southern Japan, Abe accused Noda's party of failing to achieve results. "Their existence itself is political vacuum. We should get rid of them, or the vacuum only continues."
Ishihara said his party aims to be "a second force" not third, to be close enough to take power.
Ishihara resigned as Tokyo governor and created the Sunrise Party with several ultra-conservative national lawmakers Tuesday. As governor, Ishihara helped instigate the territorial spat with China by saying Tokyo would buy and develop the disputed East China Sea islands controlled by Japan but claimed by Beijing. The central government bought the islands, apparently to thwart Ishihara's more inflammatory plans, but failing to calm China's anger.


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By Margaret Chadbourn
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two leading Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday pressed the U.S. government's mortgage insurer to revise one of its housing aid programs to ensure it reaches a larger pool of distressed borrowers.
A new requirement to verify employment for those participating in the Federal Housing Administration's loan modification program shuts out eligible borrowers who would otherwise benefit from the government's assistance, Senate Banking Chairman Tim Johnson and fellow Democrat Elizabeth Warren said in a letter to the FHA's chief.
"There is no good justification for restricting access to the loan modification program based on the source of one's income," the senators wrote to FHA's Commissioner Carol Galante.
The new requirement, which went into effect on March 15, limits some seniors, veterans, and single parents with other sources of income outside of monthly paychecks, the lawmakers stated.
Many homeowners draw funds from other sources, including personal retirement accounts, alimony or child support, and federal benefit programs, such as Social Security Disability Insurance. The senators want the clause "currently employed" that was inserted into the FHA's guidelines for the government's loan modification program to be removed to allow those who rely on various income sources to be eligible for aid.
The Federal Housing Administration made the changes earlier this year as part of its improved loss mitigation efforts, including a revised set of alternatives to foreclosure in order to reduce the number of claims against the agency's insurance fund. The FHA, which insures about a third of U.S. mortgages, faces a projected shortfall of $16.3 billion due in part to defaults on mortgages it guaranteed from 2007 to 2009 as the housing bubble deflated.
It could be forced to turn to the Treasury Department for a bailout at the end of September.
"The 'currently employed' provision is bad for homeowners and also bad for FHA, which can benefit from a more effective loss mitigation program," the senators wrote.
The FHA does not actually lend money to home buyers but instead insures the home loans made by private lenders. In exchange for this protection, the FHA charges certain fees and the cost of which is passed on to borrowers. The government mortgage insurer plays a key role in helping those with low and modest incomes obtain access to credit to purchase a home.
(Reporting by Margaret Chadbourn; editing by Jackie Frank)


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Words That Make You Sound Smarter
Some of us really are smart, but many of us have to fake it. And faking it just got easier thanks to a book from the editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries called "100 Words to Make You Sound Smart." Just think! Learn one word a day -- while you're cooking dinner, riding the train to work or taking care of business in the bathroom -- and in just over three months, you'll sound educated, articulate and literate. Can sophisticated be far away? So what kind of words are on this list? They are real words. Words that you can actually use in conversation and writing that do sound smart, but not ostentatious. A colorful variety of words have been chosen, including handy words of just one syllable (such as "glib") and words derived from the names of famous people (such as "Freudian slip" and "Machiavellian"). There are expressions from popular culture ("Catch-22") and words that date back to classical civilization ("Spartan" and "stoic").
Here are 20 of the 100 words that will make you sound smart:
1. Acrimony
(noun): rancor, spite, bitterness, hostility, ill will
2. Dichotomy
(noun): division into two contradictory or exclusive entities; something with two contradictory qualities
3. Equivocate
(verb): prevaricate, beat around the bush, vacillate
4. Esoteric
(adjective): obscure, mysterious, cryptic, arcane
5. Euphemism
(noun): inoffensive or agreeable substitute for an expression that may be distasteful or offensive
6. Fastidious
(adjective): fussy, finicky, particular
7. Finagle
(verb): obtain by indirect or convoluted means or through trickery
8. Glib
(adjective): persuasive, smooth, slick
9. Harbinger
(noun): herald, portent, omen, forerunner
10. Idiosyncratic
(adjective): individual, personal, distinctive, eccentric, peculiar
11. Insidious
(adjective): sinister, menacing
12. Lurid
(adjective): shocking, explicit, vivid, sensational
13. Maudlin
(adjective): overly sentimental, mawkish, soppy
14. Non Sequitur
(noun): a response unrelated to or not following logically from a previous statement
15. Ostentatious
(adjective): showy, flamboyant, pretentious, grandiose
16. Ostracize
(verb): exclude, shun, snub
17. Panacea
(noun): cure-all, magic potion, universal remedy
18. Sycophant
(noun): flatterer, toady
19. Ubiquitous
(adjective): everywhere, ever-present, omnipresent
20. Zealous
(adjective): enthusiastic, passionate, fervent, ardent, obsessive, fanatical, extreme