text:
copyright © 2007 Betsy L. Angert
"The dog ate my homework," said young Jonathan. In those tender years, he hoped an authority figure would trust the statement to be true. As an adult, Jonathan grumbled in frustration, "The computer ate my vote." The concerned citizen wanted to hear no excuses. Just as he knew the sweet little pup on his lap never digested the paper he did not write, Jon understood; the central processing system did not devour the votes. Constituent choices were not read or recorded accurately.
In January 2008, Jonathon, a New Hampshire resident, cast his ballot for Barack Obama, as did his wife, and their adult children. When asked by exit pollsters, Jon's parents proudly proclaimed, "We each voted for Obama." Neighbors on either side were loyal to Edwards. Colleagues were mixed. Dennis Kucinich was a favorite for Julie, Helene, and Amy. The three were outspoken in their support. While sentiments were mixed, very few supported the former First Lady, Senator Clinton. As Jonathon assessed all he heard and read he believed as the pundits predicted, Obama would Win by 18-20%. However, that is not what happened.
Post Primary Election Day the results in New Hampshire are being questioned. By an overwhelming majority Barack Obama was expected to triumph. Clinton would not see her presumed coronation. People such as Jonathon and the pundits asked, "What happened?" Conspiracy theories abound. Americans are reminded, in the last three elections, a ballot cast through circuitry may not be a reliable tally.
Critics, cynics, those who rebuff the idea that any authoritarian agenda might have caused, or effected, the capricious vote count offer evidence that the current system is clean. Experts evaluate, it is not the method, but the map that produced the unexpected.
Preliminary analysis from Edison/Mitofsky, however, indicates that the difference between the two types of precincts goes back at least two elections. As Joe Lenski, executive vice president of Edison Media Research, wrote in an e-mail, "unless there has been hidden election fraud in New Hampshire for the last three presidential primaries the 'evidence' being used by these fraudsters probably does not hold up to any rigorous statistical analysis."
Moreover, attributing all the differences between these townships to their choice of vote-counting procedures misses other potentially important differences among voters (e.g., proportions independent, highly-educated).
Update: The table below has been updated to reflect new numbers from the Secretary of State.
Vote By Type of Equipment Used Optical scanners Paper ballots
2008 Clinton 40.09 33.74
2008 Obama 35.84 39.77
2008 Margin Clinton +4.25 Obama +6.03
2004 Kerry 39.52 32.40
2004 Dean 24.74 34.43
2004 Margin Kerry +14.78 Dean +2.03
2000 Gore 50.35 45.80
2000 Bradley 45.03 49.13
2000 Margin Gore +5.31 Bradley +3.33
Reports that substantiate the validity of what is do nothing to diminish or dismiss the underlying veracity of what might also be true. There are plenty of questions and the rate of replies grows exponentially. An analysis begs speculation. Might the optical scanners appear in affluent areas. In these communities, people may be less dependent on landlines, and more tied to a cellular telephones. Possibly conventional means for vote computation occurs in neighborhoods where people are home and accessible to canvassers. It might be that those polled did endorse Obama in greater numbers. However, even if this theory is accurate, it does not explain the vastness of the gap.
Jonathon muses, "No one polled me." His mother and father were not reached. Edwards supporters in his neighborhood were not contacted. Julie, an activist, yearned to offer her opinion to a campaign researcher She waited for a call. None came. Granitite State local Helene wanted nothing more than to declare her support for Dennis Kucinich. This lovely lady in the "Live Free or Die" state had much to declare. She and her friend Amy welcomed a call from a pollster. Indeed, when each was presented with a list of candidates and then asked whom they might vote for, Helene and Amy inquired, "Why was Dennis Kucinich not included in the rooster?" Many ruminate, the survey amongst voters might reflect more than a margin of error. Andrew Kohut, President, of the Pew Research Center argues the polls were perfect. The reviewers are "Getting It Wrong."
The failure of the New Hampshire pre-election surveys to mirror the outcome of the Democratic race is one of the most significant miscues in modern polling history. All the published polls, including those that surveyed through Monday, had Senator Barack Obama comfortably ahead with an average margin of more than 8 percent. These same polls showed no signs that Senator Hillary Clinton might close that gap, let alone win.
While it will take time for those who conducted the New Hampshire tracking polls to undertake rigorous analyses of their surveys, a number of things are immediately apparent.
First, the problem was not a general failure of polling methodology . . .
Second, the inaccuracies don't seem related to the subtleties of polling methods . . .
Third, the mistakes were not the result of a last-minute trend going Mrs. Clinton's way . . .
Fourth, some have argued that the unusually high turnout may have caused a problem for the pollsters . . .
To my mind, all these factors deserve further study. But another possible explanation cannot be ignored – the longstanding pattern of pre-election polls overstating support for black candidates among white voters, particularly white voters who are poor.
For Andrew Kohut, a man who makes a career of research, those who conduct polls, and calculate statistical information gathered, are not to blame for discrepancies. The data is flawless. The people who respond to a survey are the problem. Kohut claims humans lie to hide their bigotry. The rift is realized in race relations.
That conclusion might be also be disputed. Indeed, we can hear the quarrel now Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and their respective spouses spew venom, as they discuss the role of Civil Rights Leader, Martin Luther King Junior America revisits the achievements of a peaceful African-American leader, and we discover perceptions differ.
Nonetheless, we cannot negate what has been an obvious concern long before this recent election, electronic elections are not fully certifiable. The process New Hampshire authorities adopted is arguably better than the techniques many other States use, still the optical scanners are a less than a secure system.
Perhaps, we must consider that charts and editorial information furnished, while interesting, do not lessen the need for our shared concern. For those that think there is a well-crafted campaign to conspire, we are likely to hear, "Hackers would not wish to leave an easily observable trail." For those who do not necessarily fear a plot to alter or obfuscate the results, there is a consensus humans are fallible. Programmers are not perfect. Nor are locks.
One brand of machine leads in market share by a sizable margin: the AccuVote, made by Diebold Election Systems. Two weeks ago, however, Diebold suffered one of the worst kinds of public embarrassment for a company that began in 1859 by making safes and vaults.
Edward W. Felten, a professor of computer science at Princeton, and his student collaborators conducted a demonstration with an AccuVote TS and noticed that the key to the machine's memory card slot appeared to be similar to one that a staff member had at home.
When he brought the key into the office and tried it, the door protecting the AccuVote's memory card slot swung open obligingly. Upon examination, the key turned out to be a standard industrial part used in simple locks for office furniture, computer cases, jukeboxes – and hotel minibars.
Once the memory card slot was accessible, how difficult would it be to introduce malicious software that could manipulate vote tallies? That is one of the questions that Professor Felten and two of his students, Ariel J. Feldman and J. Alex Halderman, have been investigating. In the face of Diebold's refusal to let scientists test the AccuVote, the Princeton team got its hands on a machine only with the help of a third party.
Even before the researchers had made the serendipitous discovery about the minibar key, they had released a devastating critique of the AccuVote's security. For computer scientists, they supplied a technical paper; for the general public, they prepared an accompanying video. Their short answer to the question of the practicality of vote theft with the AccuVote: easily accomplished.
The researchers demonstrated the machine's vulnerability to an attack by means of code that can be introduced with a memory card. The program they devised does not tamper with the voting process. The machine records each vote as it should, and makes a backup copy, too.
Every 15 seconds or so, however, the rogue program checks the internal vote tallies, then adds and subtracts votes, as needed, to reach programmed targets; it also makes identical changes in the backup file. The alterations cannot be detected later because the total number of votes perfectly matches the total number of voters. At the end of the election day, the rogue program erases itself, leaving no trace.
Computers, cared for, corrupted, and programmed by people, can be as a compulsively confounding as a poll worker. A central processing unit, by rote, will remove the excess waste as mindlessly as a human might endeavor to do. In days of old, poll-workers were the problem. A misplaced bag of ballots or a box filled to the brim with bogus paper ballots was the reason anxious Americans sought a better system. Mechanical means were thought to eliminate human error or manipulation.
Some elections officials next adopted lever machines, which record each vote mechanically. But lever machines have problems of their own, not least that they make meaningful recounts impossible because they do not preserve each individual vote. Beginning in the 1960s, they were widely replaced by punch-card systems, in which voters knock holes in ballots, and the ballots can be stored for a recount. Punch cards worked for decades without controversy.
Until, of course, the electoral fiasco of 2000. During the Florida recount in the Bush-Gore election, it became clear that punch cards had a potentially tragic flaw: "hanging chads." Thousands of voters failed to punch a hole clean through the ballot, turning the recount into a torturous argument over "voter intent." On top of that, many voters confused by the infamous "butterfly ballot" seem to have mistakenly picked the wrong candidate. Given Bush's microscopic margin of victory – he was ahead by only a few hundred votes statewide – the chads produced the brutal, month long legal brawl over how and whether the recounts should be conducted.
The 2000 election illustrated the cardinal rule of voting systems: if they produce ambiguous results, they are doomed to suspicion. The election is never settled in the mind of the public. To this date, many Gore supporters refuse to accept the legitimacy of George W. Bush's presidency; and by ultimately deciding the 2000 presidential election, the Supreme Court was pilloried for appearing overly partisan.
Partisan politics is perhaps the truer issue. Even those that do not ascribe to conspiracy theories, doubt their opponent. The "enemy" in an election may be the corporations, the rival candidate, the government, or anyone who might garner support in opposition to a particular voter. Jonathon marvels at the foes that lurk in the shadows. People he does not know and perchance, personally, never will, are those he does not trust.
In New Hampshire, the electorate attempted to approve the best of both worlds. Paper ballots are used in every precinct. Granted, all votes are cast on traceable tallies. However, recounts, such as the one now proposed by Presidential hopeful, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, may not be possible in the way a verification of the vote once was.
Consider the plight of Elections Director Jane Platten, in Cuyahoga County Ohio., At 3 in the morning on November 7, at the "end" of a twenty-two hour workday, the too-tired public service official said, "I guess we've seen how technology can affect an election." The electronic voting machines in Cleveland were once again a source of trouble, and the reason for more time spent on the job.
All went well for a while. Voter turnout was light on that fateful day. About 200,000 voters strode through the polls, tapped their choices onto the county's 5,729 touch-screen voting machines, and gladly turned in their electronic memory cards ready for the count. All security procedures were followed. Then the fun began.
Suddenly, at 10 Post Meridian the server froze, as did all operations. No votes could be counted. Technicians gathered. A young, and well-dressed employee from Diebold, the company that manufactures the equipment used in Cuyahoga elections , entered the scene; yet offered no solutions. No one could figure out what was wrong. Ultimately, the election workers did what people do. They cut the power. The hope was the machine would clear its "mind," rest a bit, return refreshed, and then begin the calculations anew.
This seemed to work, until the system crashed a again. Once more, the staff rebooted the computer and resumed the count. Gleefully, the computation was completed.
Worse was yet to come. When the votes were finally tallied the next day, 10 races were so close that they needed to be recounted. But when Platten went to retrieve paper copies of each vote – generated by the Diebold machines as they worked – she discovered that so many printers had jammed that 20 percent of the machines involved in the recounted races lacked paper copies of some of the votes. They weren't lost, technically speaking; Platten could hit "print" and a machine would generate a replacement copy. But she had no way of proving that these replacements were, indeed, what the voters had voted. She could only hope the machines had worked correctly
As demonstrated repeatedly, the readable receipt may have been altered. The tangible total may not be as accurate as presumed. Evidence of the discrepancies is everywhere.
The infamous Diebold [now Premier election solutions] optical scanner voting machine is used to tally fifty-eight [58] percent of the votes, or 175 of New Hampshire's 301 precincts ballots. The AccuVote optical scan machines were the only mechanisms independent-minded New Hampshire residents would accept. Nonetheless, even this apparatus is troublesome. Persons such as Jonathon, a man anxious for change, and committed to the democratic process of elections, has had many a sleepless night since realizing his vote may not count.
Jonathon, his wife, children, parents, friends, and neighbors may need to be contacted, to vote again if we are to establish how they voted. Even then, others would wonder; will the truth be told?
Jonathon understands as do many concerned citizens, the Diebold trail, regardless of how secure the equipment is advertised to be, can be diverted. Diebold itself has done much to redirect the flow of information.
On November 17th, 2005, an anonymous Wikipedia user deleted 15 paragraphs from an article on e-voting machine-vendor Diebold, excising an entire section critical of the company's machines. While anonymous, such changes typically leave behind digital fingerprints offering hints about the contributor, such as the location of the computer used to make the edits.
In this case, the changes came from an IP address reserved for the corporate offices of Diebold itself. And it is far from an isolated case. A new data-mining service launched Monday traces millions of Wikipedia entries to their corporate sources, and for the first time puts comprehensive data behind longstanding suspicions of manipulation, which until now have surfaced only piecemeal in investigations of specific allegations.
In spite of attempts to alter any information available on Diebold, the company continues to garner much attention. Each election cycle generates greater concerns than the one preceding it. The New Hampshire primaries are no exception.
This method is highly vulnerable to error and manipulation; although many may quibble the authenticity of this claim. Nonetheless, after much scrutiny and many experiments, the truth was told. Jonathon recalls the news report.
Election Whistle-Blower Stymied by Vendors
After Official's Criticism About Security, Three Firms Reject Bid for Voting Machines
By Peter Whoriskey?
Washington Post?
Sunday, March 26, 2006; A07
Miami — Among those who worry that hackers might sabotage election tallies, Ion Sancho is something of a hero.
The maverick elections supervisor in Leon County, Fla., last year helped show that electronic voting machines from one of the major manufacturers are vulnerable, according to experts, and would allow election workers to alter vote counts without detection.
Now, however, Sancho may be paying an unexpected price for his whistle-blowing: None of the state-approved companies here will sell him the voting machines the county needs.
"I've essentially embarrassed the current companies for the way they do business, and now I believe I'm being singled out for punishment by the vendors," he said.
There are three vendors approved to sell voting equipment in Florida, and each has indicated it cannot or will not fill Sancho's order for 160 voting machines for the disabled. Already, he has had to return a $564,000 federal grant to buy the machines because he has been unable to acquire the machines yet.
"I'm very troubled by this, to be honest — I can't believe the way he's being treated," said David Wagner, a computer scientist at the University of California at Berkeley who sits on a California board that reviews voting machine security. "What kind of message is this sending to elections supervisors?"
The trouble began last year when Sancho allowed a Finnish computer scientist to test Leon County's Diebold voting machines, a common type that uses an optical scanner to count votes from ballots that voters have marked. Diebold Election Systems is one of the largest voting machine companies in the United States.
While some tests showed that the system is resistant to outside attack, others showed that elections workers could alter the vote tallies by manipulating the removable memory cards in the voting machines, and do so without detection.
A Diebold spokesman scoffed at the results, and compared them to "leaving your car unlocked, with the windows down and keys left in the ignition and then acting surprised when your car is stolen."
State officials similarly played down the results.
But last month, California elections officials arranged for experts to perform a similar analysis of the Diebold machines and also found them vulnerable — noting a wider variety of flaws than Sancho's experts had. They characterized the vulnerabilities as "serious" but "fixable."
"What he [Sancho] discovered was — oops — that the conventional wisdom was all wrong," said Wagner, a member of the panel that reviewed the Diebold machines. "It was possible to subvert the memory card without detection."
Rather than take responsibility for a system gone bad, voting machine manufacturers would rather not sell to any Supervisor that might question the quality of the hardware or software. It seems obvious to all, regardless of the excuses, or rationalizations, no matter the method or the map, vote counts are always prone to error.
Thus, Jonathon wonders is his will stronger than the way of these machines and the persons who program them. The villainous touch-screen voting machines, were thought too problematic for New Hampshire voters. Jon, his friends Julie, Helene, and Amy were among the vocal residents who expressed a need for caution. However, these activists did not have the influence they hoped to have on official decisions.
In New Hampshire, as in much of the nation, technology was considered manifest destiny. Throughout the country, the use of electronics to tally ballots was employed at great expense. The cost in dollars can be overshadowed only by the lose of liberty. Countrywide, Americans ask . . .
Can You Count on Voting Machines? For Jane Platten, Head of Poll Worker Training and Voter Education Programs in Cuyahoga County, Ohio says, "No!"
In the lobby of Jane Plattten's office in Cleveland sits an AccuVote-TSX, made by Diebold. It is the machine that Cuyahoga County votes on, and it works like this: Inside each machine, there is a computer roughly as powerful and flexible as a modern hand-held organizer. It runs Windows CE as its operating system, and Diebold has installed its own specialized voting software to run on top of Windows. When the voters tap the screen to indicate their choices, the computer records each choice on a flash-memory card that fits in a slot on the machine, much as a flash card stores pictures on your digital camera.
At the end of the election night, these cards are taken to the county's election headquarters and tallied by the GEMS server. In case a memory card is accidentally lost or destroyed, the computer also stores each vote on a different chip inside the machine; election officials can open the voting machine and remove the chip in an emergency.
But there is also a third place the vote is recorded. Next to each machine's LCD screen, there is a printer much like one on a cash register. Each time a voter picks a candidate on screen, the printer types up the selections, in small, eight-point letters. Before the voter pushes "vote," she's supposed to peer down at the ribbon of paper – which sits beneath a layer of see-through plastic, to prevent tampering – and verify that the machine has, in fact, correctly recorded her choices. (She can't take the paper vote with her as proof; the spool of paper remains locked inside the machine until the end of the day.)
Under Ohio law, the paper copy is the voter's vote. The digital version is not. That's because the voter can see the paper vote and verify that it's correct, which she cannot do with the digital one. The digital records are, in essence, merely handy additional copies that allow the county to rapidly tally potentially a million votes in a single evening, whereas counting the paper ballots would take weeks. Theoretically speaking, the machine offers the best of all possible worlds. By using both paper and digital copies, the AccuVote promised Cuyahoga an election that would be speedy, reliable, and relatively inexpensive.
Little of this held true. When the machines were first used in Cuyahoga Country during the May 2006 primaries, costs ballooned – and chaos reigned. The poll workers, many senior citizens who had spent decades setting up low-tech punch-card systems, were baffled by the new computerized system and the rather poorly written manuals from Diebold and the county. "It was insane," one former poll worker told me. "A lot of people over the age of 60, trying to figure out these machines." Since the votes were ferried to the head office on small, pocketsize memory cards, it was easy for them to be misplaced, and dozens went missing.
On Election Day, poll workers complained that 143 machines were broken; dozens of other machines had printer jams or mysteriously powered down. More than 200 voter-card encoders – which create the cards that let voters vote – went missing. When the machines weren't malfunctioning, they produced errors at a stunning rate: one audit of the election discovered that in 72.5 percent of the audited machines, the paper trail did not match the digital tally on the memory cards.
This was hardly the first such incident involving touch-screen machines. So it came as little surprise that Diebold, a company once known primarily for making safes and A.T.M.'s, subsequently tried to sell off its voting-machine business and, failing to find a buyer, last August changed the name of the division to Premier Election Solutions (an analyst told American Banker that the voting machines were responsible for "5 percent of revenue and 100 percent of bad public relations").
Researchers at Princeton University are not surprised. A comprehensive study, Security Analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting Machine, released in September 2006 revealed the hardware and software in question are not dependable.
Ed Felten [among the authors of the report] is a computer scientist at Princeton University, and he has become famous for analyzing – and criticizing – touch-screen machines. In fact, the first serious critics of the machines – beginning 10 years ago – were computer scientists. One might expect computer scientists to be fans of computer-based vote-counting devices, but it turns out that the more you know about computers, the more likely you are to be terrified that they're running elections.
This is because computer scientists understand, from hard experience, that complex software can't function perfectly all the time. It's the nature of the beast. Myriad things can go wrong. The software might have bugs – errors in the code made by tired or overworked programmers. Or voters could do something the machines don't expect, like touching the screen in two places at once. "Computers crash and we don't know why," Felten told me. "That's just a routine part of computers."
It is true. Each day, many compatriots swear at electronic gadgetry. Yet, as a nation, we spend millions in hopes that electronic equipment will work on Election Day. Americans rely on these erratic electronic marvels to calculate our votes. Citizens of this country count on defective Diebold voting machines to accurately compute what might be considered the most important decision, we, the people make. Faulty software and hardware determine who will represent our country, and us.
More than Jonathon has experienced a moment of frustration with a computer. Election Boards are familiar with the scenario.
One famous example is the "sliding finger bug" on the Diebold AccuVote-TSX, the machine used in Cuyahoga. In 2005, the state of California complained that the machines were crashing. In tests, Diebold determined that when voters tapped the final "cast vote" button, the machine would crash every few hundred ballots. They finally intuited the problem: their voting software runs on top of Windows CE, and if a voter accidentally dragged his finger downward while touching "cast vote" on the screen, Windows CE interpreted this as a "drag and drop" command. The programmers hadn't anticipated that Windows CE would do this, so they hadn't programmed a way for the machine to cope with it. The machine just crashed.
Even extremely careful programmers can accidentally create bugs like this. But critics also worry that touch-screen voting machines aren't designed very carefully at all. In the infrequent situations where computer scientists have gained access to the guts of a voting machine, they've found alarming design flaws.
In 2003, Diebold employees accidentally posted the AccuVote's source code on the Internet; scientists who analyzed it found that, among other things, a hacker could program a voter card to let him cast as many votes as he liked. Ed Felten's lab, while analyzing an anonymously donated AccuVote-TS (a different model from the one used in Cuyahoga County) in 2006, discovered that the machine did not "authenticate" software: it will run any code a hacker might surreptitiously install on an easily insertable flash-memory card.
After California's secretary of state hired computer scientists to review the state's machines last spring, they found that on one vote-tallying server, the default password was set to the name of the vendor – something laughably easy for a hacker to guess.
But the truth is that it's hard for computer scientists to figure out just how well or poorly the machines are made, because the vendors who make them keep the details of their manufacture tightly held. Like most software firms, they regard their "source code" – the computer programs that run on their machines – as a trade secret. The public is not allowed to see the code, so computer experts who wish to assess it for flaws and reliability can't get access to it. Felten and voter rights groups argue that this "black box" culture of secrecy is the biggest single problem with voting machines. Because the machines are not transparent, their reliability cannot be trusted.
For years, there has been much concern and more delay. In 2007, the Senate decided to hold hearings on the security of voting machine. Citizens who have long yearned for a viable paper trail inquire, why the wait. For too long, Americans have known when electronic voting machines record the votes, counts are frequently flawed. Nevertheless, we continue as we have.
Currently, in the United States, approximately eighty-seven [87] percent of the votes are frozen in computer chips. Elections remain entrusted to miniature wires, soldered into plastic boards, and so too is America's future. Adults in the United States are told to vote; our participation makes a difference. So, cast your ballot with confidence, and know that even if your vote is counted, it may not count.
Sources, Secret Codes, Software, and Scanners . . .
- New Hampshire Prediction – Obama to Win by 18-20%, McCain to Narrowly Beat Romney. USA Election Polls. January 8, 2008
- Security Analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting Machine, by Ariel J. Feldman, J. Alex Halderman, and Edward W. Felten. Center for Information Technology Policy and Dept. of Computer Science, Princeton University
- Can You Count on Voting Machines? By Clive Thompson. The New York Times. January 6, 2008
- pdf Can You Count on Voting Machines? By Clive Thompson. The New York Times. January 6, 2008
- Hacking Democracy. Home Box Office. Thursday, November 2, 2007
- Senate to Hold Hearing on Security of Voting Machines, By Kim Zette. Wired. July 31, 2007
- An open invitation to election fraud, By Farhad Manjoo. Salon. September 23, 2003
- Method or the Map? By Jennifer Agiesta and Jon Cohen. The Washington Post. January 10, 2008
- See Who's Editing Wikipedia – Diebold, the CIA, a Campaign, By John Borland. Wired. August 14, 2007
- pdf See Who's Editing Wikipedia – Diebold, the CIA, a Campaign, By John Borland. Wired. August 14, 2007
- Election Whistle-Blower Stymied by Vendors, By Peter Whoriskey. Washington Post. Sunday, March 26, 2006; A07
- pdf Election Whistle-Blower Stymied by Vendors, By Peter Whoriskey. Washington Post. ?Sunday, March 26, 2006; A07
- Diebold
- AccuVote-OS Premier Election Solutions.
- AccuVote-TSX. Premier Election Solutions.
- AccuVote-TSX. Premier Election Solutions.
- Getting It Wrong. By Andrew Kohut. The New York Times. January 10, 2008
- pdf Getting It Wrong. By Andrew Kohut. The New York Times. January 10, 2008
- The Big Gamble on Electronic Voting, By Randall Stross. The New York Times. September 24, 2006
- pdf The Big Gamble on Electronic Voting, By Randall Stross. The New York Times. September 24, 2006
- Kucinich Calls for New Hampshire Recount. Associated Press. The Washington Post. January 11, 2008
- Clinton's King Comment 'Ill-Advised,' Obama Says, By Anne E. Kornblut and Perry Bacon Jr. Washington Post. Monday, January 14, 2008; A01
- pdf Clinton's King Comment 'Ill-Advised,' Obama Says, By Anne E. Kornblut and Perry Bacon Jr. Washington Post. Monday, January 14, 2008; A01
- Senate to Hold Hearing on Security of Voting Machines, By Kim Zetter. Wired. July 31, 2007


text: There are many women that choose to enhance the appearance of their bodies before they have children. However, they do need to make these decisions carefully as the choices can impact how they will be able to care for these children in the future. Women considering a breast augmentation should think about whether or not they hope to breastfeed. A breast augmentation does not necessarily make this impossible, but it can have a bearing.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Milwaukee Police Department, along with the City of Milwaukee and the Fire and Police Commission, will be holding three upcoming open houses for the MPD Police Aide Program.
Qualified 17-to-19 year-olds, who are either high school seniors or recent high school graduates, are invited to apply for this full-time employment opportunity that may lead to a law enforcement career with the Milwaukee Police Department.
These open houses will have information regarding this opportunity, will allow interaction with current MPD members, and will provide a chance to complete an application on-site. The open houses will take place:
*Saturday, September 24th from 10 am-1 pm at the Milwaukee Police Academy (6680 N. Teutonia Avenue)
*Saturday, October 15th from 12 pm-4 pm at MPD District 7 (3626 W. Fond du Lac Avenue)
*Saturday, October 29th from 12 pm-3 pm at Milwaukee Job Corps (6665 N. 60th Street)
For more information, please contact MPD Officer and Recruiter Katrina Warren at 414-935-7825.


text:
JUNEAU, Alaska -- Sarah Palin will embark this weekend on a campaign-style bus tour along the East Coast, sending a jolt through the now-sleepy Republican presidential contest and thrusting a telegenic but divisive politician back into the nation's spotlight.
Palin's tour announcement is the strongest signal yet that she is considering a presidential bid, despite her failure to take traditional steps such as organizing a campaign team in early primary states.
The former Alaska governor's approval ratings have fallen across the board -- including among Republicans -- in recent months, but many conservatives adore her, and she has enough name recognition and charisma to shake up a GOP contest that at this point seems to be focusing on three male former governors.
Beginning Sunday, Palin plans to meet with veterans and visit historic sites that her political action committee calls key to the country's formation, survival and growth.
The tour follows reports that Palin has bought a house in Arizona and the disclosure that she has authorized a feature-length film about her career, which could serve as a campaign centerpiece.
She recently said she has "that fire in the belly" for a presidential bid.
Palin said on the website for SarahPAC that the nation is at a "critical turning point," and that her bus tour will serve as a reminder of "who we are and what Americans stand for."
Many Republican Party insiders say that Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee, has engaged in too many political spats and soap-opera dramas to win the nomination and challenge President Barack Obama 18 months from now.
"I think that pathway is closed," said GOP pollster Wes Anderson, who is not working for any presidential candidate. Still, Anderson said, it's not surprising that Palin would look at the current field "and say, 'Why not me?' "
A Gallup poll of Republicans, taken before Palin announced the bus tour, showed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney favored by 17 percent. Palin followed at 15 percent, Ron Paul had 10 percent, Newt Gingrich 9 percent, Herman Cain 8 percent, Tim Pawlenty 6 percent and Michele Bachmann and Jon Huntsman 5 percent each.
Party insiders have said that Pawlenty, a former Minnesota governor, and Huntsman, a former Utah governor, have the best chances to compete with Romney over the long haul. But a Palin candidacy could affect the contest in unpredictable ways.
In Iowa, Palin could appeal to thousands of religious conservatives who participate heavily in the nation's first presidential caucus.


text:
The Anx were a tall sentient species with crested heads.[1] They were represented in both the Galactic Senate[6] and the Jedi Order.[4]
- Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace (First appearance)
- Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Secret Weapons"
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "A Sunny Day in the Void" (Appears in flashback(s))
- Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
- Thrawn
- Ezra's Gamble (First identified as Anx)
- Star Wars 11: Showdown on the Smuggler's Moon, Part IV
Notes and referencesEdit
In other languages


text:
My DD #1 has always been more of a tomboy. She was tougher than most boys her age, and had her Mama's mouth.
So I was happily surprised to see her slowly become domesticated.
Sewing cloth napkins and selling them to make extra money.
And apparently she's really good at it. (proud Mama voice)
Then she decided that arm knitting would be a good family project her and the kids could do together during a night of t.v. watching.
I never really took much notice of arm knitting, figured it was a fad that would fade pretty quickly. I mean like really?!?
But she got so excited about it, I decided to give it a looksy. And now I have, yes! have to! knit one of these! 30 minutes! A whole, warm, snuggly blanket! You know I would have to try.
So of course being a visual person, I started with YouTube and found a couple of good videos.
That would be me. I like the CO in this version.
Which led me to this video
A couple of tutorial videos
You can purl too
Needless to say, I can't start anything new while gift knitting season is upon me.
But as soon as it is over I am going to try this whole arm knitting thing.


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Here are some important factors you should consider as a way of choosing the Right CCTV Camera.
- Understand the variety of security camera types available
- Check the warranty of CCTV camera
- How large an area do you want to cover?
- Understand basic camera capabilities: (size, storage etc…)
- Determine Coverage Area and Target Distance
- Choose the Right Camera Type (HD, IP etc…)
- Select the best camera position(day/night vision)
You can get this type of Modern CCTV Camera in Vadodara at affordable costs from the Wittag Solution. We are most promising CCTV system dealers in Vadodara which offer the Best CCTV surveillance systems like Wi-Fi CCTV Camera, Explosion Proof CCTV Camera, IP CCTV Camera, HD CCTV Camera, Thermal Imaging Camera in Vadodara (Baroda), and Gujarat, India
There is variety of different types of CCTV camera which suit different situations or premises, for that we offer Samsung CCTV Camera which is Capable of monitoring low-lit to totally dark conditionscontinue reading


text: This half-time thing is getting worse every year. Everyone's talking about this. I don't like Black-Eyed Peas recent covers of songs at all. Cristina Aguilara butchered the National Anthem. I knew something was wrong when she missed the lyrics of the song but I really do wish younger people would quite trying to sing it in this autotune style.


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Posted by Roman Foxman on May 12th, 2017
Posted by Igor Aronov on May 3rd, 2017
I visited Puerto Rico for the first time in April. While enjoying the natural beauty of the island, I've uncovered quite a few interesting samples of fonts, shapes and colors that are seen everywhere, even in some unexpected places.
Posted by Roman Foxman on April 10th, 2017
Recently I came across an article about the partnership between Waze and Spotify. Both companies are about to update their apps allowing drivers to seamlessly control Spotify playlist while in Waze and see Waze alerts while browsing Spotify app. Because for now this new feature would only be available on Android, I wonder if a similar UI is available on iOS.


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Holiday Card 2012: Behind the Scenes
It's 2013! We're back at work and before we get too far into the new year, we want to share a little behind-the-scenes from our holiday card production. Many of you have had the opportunity to work with our fearless President, Mr. Tom Stringer, and after 30 years in the biz, he's hanging up his purple velvet jacket and heading for the (ski) hills he refers to as "retirement." We just couldn't let him leave without a proper send off.
Andy cut together a new BTS video showing some of the nifty products we received from LensRentals.com as well as all the personalities that make up the Bruton Stroube family. There are some new faces this year including our resident
magician illusionist, Casey, who was responsible for the motion graphics and 3D elements. We also have to extend our gratitude to Zymo Sculpture Studio for allowing us to shoot in their magical workshop. A final shoutout to The Nadas for supplying the apt soundtrack to the BTS video.
If you missed the holiday card video, you can view it here.


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We rely solely on the community for funding so we can offer programs and services free of charge to our members. By joining an event, sponsoring someone who is participating in an event or creating your own event, you are helping Wellspring Calgary make a difference in the lives of those living with cancer.
For more information on how to get involved, visit the event-specific websites below or CLICK HERE to create your own event.
Wellspring Calgary's Signature Events
Firefighter Stairclimb Challenge
May 5, 2019
The Calgary Fire Department and the Calgary Firefighters Benevolent Society were inspired to hold a firefighter stairclimb challenge, with a focus on raising awareness of the risks firefighters take in their daily work, and the presumptive cancers that a firefighter faces in the line of duty while serving their community. Wellspring Calgary was chosen as the charity to benefit from the fundraising activities associated with this event which launched in 2015.
Toupee for a Day
Since 2012, hundreds of people across Canada have put on a colourful hair piece to show support for Wellspring and people with cancer. Don't wear yours alone! Get your company, family or community to join, or support someone who chooses to stand up and stand out for people living with cancer.
Wellspring Calgary Partner Events
Light It Up Calgary
Spring 2019
Light It Up Calgary is a fun walk/run in support of Wellspring Calgary. Led by a wonderful group of community volunteers, this event is a fun way you can shine a light on cancer support. This family-friendly event is open to anyone of any age and ability.
September 11-16, 2018
Cancervive helped launch Wellspring Calgary and is our longest running partnership event. This cycling experience has raised over $2.3 million for Wellspring since 2007. You can ride, volunteer or donate to continue this wonderful legacy to those living with cancer.
Community-Hosted Fundraising Events
Wellspring Calgary welcomes you to join an event, donate to an event or host your own event in support of those impacted by cancer.
DONATE to or REGISTER for a community event HERE.
Here's how to create and manage your own event:
- Download our Event Cash & Cheque Form. Track donations to your event and ensure donors get a tax receipt for their generosity
- Collect pledges and make one large gift to Wellspring on behalf of your donors without a tax receipt
- Set up an online fundraising page for your unique event so participants can register and donate online
- See who's currently holding an event for Wellspring – join or DONATE here.
Looking for some ideas for your next event? Check out our list of Fundraising Tips.
If you have any questions about setting up your event please contact Karen O'How, Events Manager, at 587.747.0260 ext. 1005 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
2018 IFH Golf Tournament
August 17th, 2018
The IFH Charity Golf Tournament is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in our community. Since 2009, World Health (Edgemont) club has chosen to support Wellspring Calgary through this annual golf tournament. Proceeds raised will directly impact the lives of Calgarians who have been affected by cancer. We invite you to be a part of the 12th annual tournament this summer. With your involvement, we will work toward building healthier communities together.
Date: Friday, August 17, 2018
Time: 8:00am – 4:00pm
Where: Springbank Links Golf Club
Green fees: $160/person
Registration deadline: July 31, 2018


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"Mama Said Be Grateful For What You've Got!"
At least, that's the line I got growing up! A huge mistake I see marketers making, however, is focusing an indiscriminate amount of time on attracting new leads, driving traffic, and making that first-time (and often "last") sale to the detriment of all other retention, ascension, and "existing customer" programs and activities. I know folks


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Duvals Lead Mount Everett Harriers at Hoosac Valley
CHESHIRE, Mass. -- Grayson and Cole Duval finished second and third, respectively in Wednesday's cross country race at Hoosac Valley to lead Mount Everett's boys to a 27-29 win over Lee.
Grayson finished in 18 minutes, 52 seconds, nine seconds off the pace set by Wahconah's P.J. Pharmer (18:43).
Lee's boys got a fourth place finish from Sebastian Dowd-Smith (19:23) on their way to a dual meet win over the host Hurricanes.
In the girls race, Wahconah's girls took the top three places with freshman Haley Crosier leading the way in 20:56. Juniors Gabrielle Orlando (21:53) and Danielle Orlando (21:57) were second and third, respectively.
Hoosac Valley took the next three spots with Jamie Barthe (23:47) in fourth, followed by Natiya Cili and Paige Barrow.
Lee seventh-grader Anna Martin cracked the top 10, finishing ninth in 24:47. Mount Everett's girls were led by Carly Duval (25:53) in 14th place.
Girls Team Scores: Hoosac Valley 19, Lee 41; Lee 24, Mount Everett 31; Wahconah 15, Lee 48.
Boys Team Scores: Lee 15, Hoosac Valley 50; Mount Everett 27, Lee 29; Wahconah 21, Lee 38.
Timing and scoring provided by Berkshire Running Center.


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S: My perfect wedding
1: my perfect shoes for my perfect wedding
2: The food would be Mexican | because
5: thefoodwoudbe Mexican
6: moments to remember
7: life is nice to you if you respect it
9: the food will be Mexican
Have questions?
Email us at email@example.com.
We'll be glad to help!


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Troy is a true professional. His vocal performance and song choices were perfect. We really appreciated having him perform at our event and will look to have him return in the future.
Review by Anthony I. FROM LONG BRANCH, NJ ON 12/16/2017
Thank you Troy for making our wedding so special. Your voice is magical!!! We can't wait to see you perform in October. Thank you for being so awesome and coming out to be a apart of our special day!!!
Review by Nancy B. FROM EAST SETAUKET, NY ON 9/8/2017
Troy exceeded our expectations. He was very professional and no fuss. Everyone at the function commented on how good he was. He is a great performer and we thoroughly recommend him!
Review by ROBERT W. FROM NEW YORK CITY, NY ON 7/13/2017
AMAZING! Arrived early, very professional and unbelievably talented. Received so many compliments and ended up asking Troy to stay longer. Will absolutely use again!
Review by kate b. FROM MAHOPAC, NY ON 8/20/2016
Troy was great! He added the perfect mood toy my 50th birthday party in my backyard. He played a variety of music and was very professional. I would recommend him to anyone!
Review by Andrew F. FROM TENAFLY, NJ ON 7/28/2016


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* Required fields
1 - Do I need to login to use Virtual Journeys?
If you haven't logged in you will still be able to search for experiences, activities and attractions using the search box at the top of the page. But there's so much you can do and share with your customers once you have logged in, such as creating your own tailor-made Virtual Journey video itinerary, sharing this with your colleagues and customers via Facebook, Twitter and email and being able to print the itinerary out onto PDF.
2 - Am I eligible for Virtual Journeys?
Virtual Journey's is a fantastic resource for travel agents to see the NT like never before so if you're a travel agent, sign up and enjoy the wonderful video footage that you can share with your customers.
3 - Will Tourism NT continue to run in-destination familiarisations?
Yes absolutely. There is no substitute for experiencing the NT in person and as much as we'd love to whisk you all away for months-on-end to really immerse you in the breathtaking and inspiring attractions, activities and landscapes we know that your time is precious so we've done the next best thing!
4 - Can I use the program on my phone or tablet?
Yes the Virtual Journey's website is fully accessible via mobile phones and tablets so you can search for experiences and create journeys whilst you're on the move.
5 - Can I register as an agency or do we need to register individually?
We'd recommend registering individually as you can 'favourite' your preferred experiences and save your journeys within your own dedicated profile area so unless you share the journeys with colleagues or customers, no one else will be able to see your journeys.
6 - Am I able to share these journeys with clients?
Yes absolutely. Bringing the NT to life visually, through the first-hand perspective footage, is a great resource to help sell to your clients. You can share experiences and journeys with clients and colleagues via Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and email by clicking on the social media icons on the website.
7 - How can I book the journey for a client?
Most of the products featured on the videos are available through your wholesaler but just in case, each operators contact details are included on each experience page so you can get in touch with them directly and easily.
8 - How do I look for a particular product?
If you haven't logged in you can search by typing what you're looking for into the search box at the top of the page. If you have logged in, click on the '+Create Journey' button and you can search by typing into the search box, by selecting a region within the NT on the map and also using the 'recommended' and 'most watched' journeys.
9 - How long does it take to complete a virtual journey?
A journey can include an indefinite number of experiences so a journey with just two experiences will take a lot less time than a journey with ten experiences. Once you conduct a search it's a simple process of dragging and dropping the experience into the journey queue and clicking 'save and view' so a journey with only two experiences can take as little as one minute to create.
10 - Can I use this internationally?
This version of Virtual Journeys has been created for travel agents within Australia but the experiences and video content is suitable to all both international and domestic markets. However, if you are accessing Virtual Journey's from outside of Australia an international version of Virtual Journeys will be coming soon!


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Clymer, Pennsylvania Dentist - David Sparks, DDS - General and Cosmetic Dentistry
If you have any questions, concerns, or would like to schedule an appointment, please contact us using the information provided below.
Office Hours:
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday---9am to 3pm
Wednesday- 2pm to 8pm
24 hour notification is necessary to change a reserved appointment otherwise a $50.00 charge will be incured.
Please call or Email us of necessary changes.
Phone: 724/254-9669
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
View Larger Map
Welcome |
Our Practice |
Smile Analysis |
Procedures |
Links |
Dental Videos |
Patient Info |
Insurance Policy |
FAQs |
Site Developed by ProSites.com


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Please find details of a talk about the Cryptic Wood White butterfly next Thursday, 18th May, in Antrim Castle Gardens, from 7 to 8.30pm. The speaker is James O'Neill, who has studied this butterfly species in the south Lough Neagh … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2017
Northern Ireland's first public CES bird ringing programme at Ecos Nature Park
Ecos Nature Park, Ballymena is the first public Constant Effort Site (CES) in Northern Ireland. The programme began on Monday 8 May 2017 and 11 more morning sessions will be spaced out across the summer. The bird ringing mornings are led by BTO … [Read more...]


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Nicki Minaj Teases Latest Perfume, Minajesty, with New Perfume Ad
13 August 2013
Calling all you Nicki Minaj fans out there! This is the latest ad campaign for her latest perfume (still to be released) - Minajesty!
What do you think?!
*Photo Credit: NickiMinaj/Instagram
Posted in: Beauty Industry News, Celebrity, Perfume News
Leave a comment
No comments


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UP Police Female Constable Recruitment 2016
Latest UPPRPB Bharti for 5800 Female Constable Vacancies: The Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment & Promotion Board, Lucknow is all set to organize a recruitment process for those aspirants who have been looking for the latest constable jobs through UP Police Female Constable Recruitment 2016. The aspirants who want to get the most of this recruitment need to take a look at the UP Police Female Constable Notification 2016 to get a detailed info regarding the same.
The Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment & Promotion Board, Lucknow has successfully dispatched a notification regarding the recruitment of 5800 vacancies of Female constable. The interested aspirants need to fill the apply using the UP Police Female Constable Application Form 2016 which is available at the Official Website of the authority. Aspirants are supposed to fill the applications on or before the last date of the application submission.
UP Sub Inspector 2064 Vacancy SI Police Bharti Online
This is a great job chance for those aspirants who were in search of the constable vacancies especially for those who are female. Such aspirants should not wait and grab this bang-up job opportunity for the aspirants seeking the Police Jobs. The more details in this concern are well shown the following section.
Some Points on UP Police Female Constable Bharti 2016
|News Regarding:
|UP Police Female Constable Recruitment 2016
|Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment & Promotion Board, Lucknow
|Total Posts:
|Age limit:
|18 years to 22 years
|Last date:
|29th February 2016
|Official Website:
The aspirants also have to check the required documents or the eligibility from this page.
Educational Qualification:
The aspirants, who have completed their 10th & 12th, are only eligible to apply for this recruitment. This doesn't apply to Appeared or Appearing Candidates.
Age Limit:
The age limit of the aspirants should be in between 18 years to 22 years as on 01st July 2015.
Selection Mode:
The aspirants have to appear in the following and will be selected on the combined merit of 10th and 12th, Physical Standard test, Medical Test, and Training.
The aspirants can check the requirement in the various tests.
Physical Efficiency Test:
- 4 Km. in 16 Minutes
- Race Marks- 200 (If Complete 2.4 km in 11 Min)
- Race Marks- 120 (If Complete 2.4 km in 16 Min)
Physical Standard:
- Height– 152 cm. (147 cm Only for ST Candidates)
- Weight– Min. 40 Kg. Compulsory
How to apply for UPPRPB Female Constable Recruitment 2016
- The aspirants have to log on to PRPB official website www.prpb.gov.in & www.uppbpb.gov.in
- After that, they need to download full advt. notification (Read full procedure).
- Interested eligible candidates fill the Application form online
- Then, attach original documents digital signature and photograph.
- Finally, submit the application.
UP Police SI Admit Card Download
Important links
The aspirants can check the official notification and apply here.


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It's been 3 years since the massive earthquake in northern Japan which in tandem caused the tsunami that wiped out vast areas of land including a portion of Fukushima's power plants, ultimately causing a global nuclear crisis of which we are still facing today.
In the first video of our three part special, VICE heads to Fukushima to meet our friend Naoto Matsumura (from "Alone in the Zone" http://bit.ly/1dj2Ckc) to install a Safecast monitor to help raise awareness of radiation levels in the area. In the second video, VICE follows up with anti-nuclear energy artist "Anti_nuke" who elucidates in detail that he must hide his face and name due to threats by members of the Right-Wing. In third and last video, the focus is on kids and the photographs they've taken of the disaster area.


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Rare meme
Go play. :)
Here's another, just because :) I'd forgotten what fun it is to screw around in photoshop...
...or how I learned to love the odd pistol... CZs, Nagants, other combloc memorabilia with the look and build of a tractor axle that somehow shoot like dreams. *My* domain, the strange and beautiful mechanisms of handheld firearms long past. And don't forget the strange ideas, nightmarish creations that spring from my head and make everyone I work with thankful that I don't *yet* have a CNC machine...
Go play. :)
Very plausible. I'd buy the album just to see what it sounded like. :)
I'm tempted to make a few more, just to see if my luck holds out :)
oooh, very nice. These turned out well.
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]


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7 Goal Setting Mistakes You Don't Know Your Making
Do you agree?
Setting goals is very similar to arranging formal dinner parties.
Or maybe you've never made the connection?
I hadn't until last week when I was arranging my own dinner party.
You see, goals are great. Dinner parties too.
In theory.
The truth is, both can be horribly stressful if done the wrong way.
Take being the host or hostess of a formal dinner party.
There's a long list of tedious, if not down right stressful, tasks that need sorting to pull off a successful evening.
What has that got to do with goal setting?
Well, like your goals, you probably had a plan of how your dinner party would be.
Likely, an over-ambitious one. And likely one that led to a fair amount of fretting and stressing:
- You got all precious about it – you insisted you wanted a formal affair even though your idea of a good time was eating at Burger King.
- You got complicated – you struggle to cook an egg and yet you put home-made Boeuf Bourguignon on the menu -as a starter.
- You didn't do your homework – you'd never even had people over for canapes, but thought a Victorian Themed Dinner Party would be fun.
- You did it someone else's way – you listened to your mother/aunt/best friend and planned it the way they thought it ought to be.
- You felt you 'should' – you actually wanted a fun, informal gathering but told yourself you should have a formal dinner party because everyone else does and you're an adult now, dammit.
- You left yourself out of the equation – you organized everything for your guests' enjoyment and forgot your own, running yourself ragged.
- You didn't know when to quit – you spent way too much time and money and should have canceled when the Baked Alaska burnt the sitting room down.
And you've probably made the same mistakes with your goal setting.
I know I have. I've made almost all the mistakes above at one time or another, with goal setting and dinner parties.
So, to save you the pain of making the same goal setting mistakes, I invited two dozen experts, 'Gourmets of Goal Setting' as it were, to a cyber dinner party.
I opened the discussion by asking each of them this question:
'What's the one thing on your goal or bucket list that you let go of because you finally realized that it was never your dream in the first place?
Or maybe it's still on your goal list… even though you know it shouldn't be?'
But the discussion soon came round to goals and goal setting in general.
So in exchange for me freely dispensing digital drinks, they freely dispensed fine slices of wisdom on the 7 goal setting mistakes you don't even know you're making….
Note: To get a formal introduction to each dinner guest, just click the arrow next to their name. And definitely pay them a visit – maybe you'll get invited to one of their cyber dinner parties one day 🙂
Goal Setting Mistake no. 1:You got all precious about it
Brendan Baker
At 3:16 one morning Brendan decided he had to create Start of Happiness. Previously I was convinced that nothing good had ever come out of 3 in the morning, but Brendan proved me wrong!
For Brendan happiness is success in life. At Start of Happiness he helps people make a difference and an income doing what they love. You can even take the Start of Happiness Pledge!
I always had a dream growing up to own my own sport and recreation camp – a camp where people can go to do various activities like archery, orienteering, tennis, games, whatever it may be.
I grew up going to sport and recreation camps and loved them.
It's no longer my dream because the internet is the future of business. I'm now much more interested in the online world and creating an online business, supported by face to face training and workshops. Although I still love to throw in some funky games into my workshops 🙂
Stefany Land
Stefany is on a mission to help people stay positive and happy on their life journey. She believes that positivity is a choice. One we have to make every day.
Her sole purpose at Gems Of Happiness is to write for people that are seeking to get back that everlasting joy and happiness and enjoy life, the world around us and everything this beautiful earth has to offer. Amen to that!
When I was a little girl my biggest dream was of the performing arts. The performing arts was like oxygen to me and in elementary, I would participate in as many plays, recitals and musical presentations as I was allowed to. Keep in mind I was in a religious school (a fact I exceptionally loved), thus making the arts a must and a significant part of the curriculum.
My only goal was to be able to be cast in at least one performance each semester (Christmas performances were my favorite). During Christmas, you could easily find me in a play and minutes later I would be on stage belting out a song with the choir and naturally my first thoughts were to continue stage performances.
However, that changed the moment I attended high school, for some reason the love for performing dwindled and I found happiness in reading and researching. It gave me a thrill that was so alien to me but loved. As I approached adolescent I began writing about my research. That is how the love for writing started.
I realized that I loved the performing arts because that is what I was exposed to as a child. Coming from a musically gifted family I learned the art from a young age. But what I loved more than that was writing. Unlike performing the love for writing came naturally and was never influenced by the people around me. I believe that is the reason why writing stuck.
Sometimes in life, the dream you once cling to is the one you have to let go of to make room for that which is naturally yours. Don't be afraid to let go. Letting go is often the best thing to do. Besides you can still carve out time to keep that dream alive.
Alison & Andrew Matheson
For Alison & Andrew the beauty of travel is the connection made along the way – to people, to food, to nature, to culture and to history. It's hard to make a deep, lasting connection when you're running to the next destination.
So, Alison & Andrew slow down. They set aside their checklists and let the destination speak to them at the wonderfully named Cheese Web!
My bucket list has always been personal and aspirational. It's meant to be fun. It's not something I share with others or add things to because I feel pressured. Because travel is my biggest passion, my bucket list mainly contains places I want to go and things I want to see and do when I get there.
I also have a short section for personal goals and things I'd like to try. I keep all of my goals around business and personal achievement separate. I re-evaluate these goals regularly and I don't hesitate to add or drop things that no longer suit my lifestyle or business.
Goal Setting Mistake no. 2: You got complicated
Ellen Bard
Ellen dispenses simple ideas, shared with heart, to help you create a shinier, sparklier, more streamlined life-style and work-life.
Find her at Ellen Bard or grab her self-care cheat sheet which has 5 unusual ideas to take care of yourself.
A corporate career was my dream at one point, it just evolved into not-my-dream as I grew and developed in my life and self. So I don't know that I have let go of anything that wasn't my dream, it's more about it not being my current-self's dream.
Being comfortable with change and the idea that the dreams I have today don't have to include all the things that past-me wanted has been an important part of growth and development and enabled me to reach for what is right for who I am now, rather than who I was in the past.
Jessica Sweet
I'm Jessica Sweet, career coach and licensed therapist. At Wishing Well Coach I work with people who are successful, passionate, people-focused, high potential, and can't be easily defined by one label because they are excited about too many different things.
They also need to leave their jobs or have already left their jobs because of a layoff, or because of sheer boredom.
I'm here to help you figure out what you really want to do, and make a rock solid plan for doing it.
Way back, before I started my business, I was trained to be a therapist by some of the top therapists at a Harvard Medical School Teaching Hospital. It was a very prestigious program and I was surrounded by great minds. I had an opportunity to push and make a name for myself in the world of mental health and psychiatry.
However, even though I worked as a therapist and loved it, I knew it wasn't my destiny to be doing that work. I was honest with myself and moved into coaching because I knew I wanted to help people focus on their futures and the possibility – not the past and their pain. It was absolutely the right decision for me.
Niklas Goeke
When Nik isn't munching on a slice of delicious pizza, he's writing. He answers questions on Quora every day and publishes weekly articles on his website.
An avid reader, he's also building a portfolio of book summaries on Four Minute Books.
Owning an expensive car. I love cars, but I know 99% of them are a waste of money. I try to keep telling myself it'll be enough if I'm one day able to drive cool ones here and there, but secretly I still hold on to the idea of owning a Ferrari, Lamborghini or the like.
I'm not perfect, but I keep trying to fight the idea when it comes up. Let's hope I get to the point where we can even find out how this ends 😉
Goal Setting Mistake no. 3: You didn't do your homework
Blaz Kos
Blaz Kos is on a mission to help you become the best version of yourself and live an extraordinary life. On his site, Agile Lean Life, he applies data-driven personal development tactics so you can develop your core life strategy and superior decision-making system.
Blaz uses a completely new approach for making key life decisions which is a quantum leap from traditional "fast-result" personal development ideas and misleading one-sided views to a more holistic, scientific and systematic body of knowledge and tools.
I have a very agile approach to my goals. From the psychological point of view, there's a big gap between what you think you want and what you actually want. Consequently, you don't really know what you truly want until you try it. On a very practical level, that means that a little bit of experimenting with different small goals can be very beneficial before you fully commit to anything big.
If the small steps give the desired results (emotional satisfaction, return on effort etc.), you can persevere to follow the big dream, otherwise you can easily pivot to something better. You just must be careful not to become a loose cannon while experimenting with many different things. Once you find the right thing, you absolutely must fully commit.
Let me give you a few examples from my personal live:
(LET GO) I had a dream to learn how to code. Once I learned the basics and found out how tough it is to become a really good programmer, I realized that being a full‑time coder was never my real dream in the first place. I just thought it would be nice to know how to code, and I still do. But I don't take it that seriously.
(PIVOT) I also had a dream I will stay vegan for my whole life. But when I started to exercise more (anaerobically), my body started to crave meat. I still keep a very healthy diet, but I rather listen to my body than have rigid dreams.
(PERSEVERE) I also had a goal to release an online course. When I started shooting the videos, I found out I have to improve my spoken English a lot. In this case, since it's a tough project for me, I started convincing myself that it's not my dream, but it really is. In a few months, I'm releasing my first online course no matter what. If there isn't any success, then I'll pivot to something else.
As you can see from the cases above, there are times when you have to be flexible, times when it makes sense to pivot, and times when you must persevere over obstacles so that you don't kill your own dream. Having a good connection with your inner self is essential for knowing what course of action to take. That's why I do self-reflection on a daily basis.
At the same time, you're more flexible to seize all the opportunities your environment offers, if you keep your goals and dreams agile. That's very important, because you can achieve so much more in life if your dreams and goals are aligned with market trends and the greatest opportunities in the environment.
Ben Fishel
Ben is a freelance writer and the creator of Project Monkey Mind, a blog that explores Psychology and Spirituality to find practical wisdom for the digital age.
Do you often ruminate and procrastinate? You'll want to check out his latest post on how to stop overthinking everything once and for all!
This seems very common for a lot of bloggers/writers who end up churning out work that doesn't truly represent them. When I look closely and honestly at that goal, I believe I want to write a book for all the right reasons, but probably want to write a bestseller for all the wrong reasons.
I wouldn't say I have let the idea go completely, but I would say that over the last year or so I've noticed myself fantasizing a lot less and writing a lot more!
Goal Setting Mistake no. 4: You did it someone else's way
Paige Burkes
Paige created Simple Mindfulness to support you in new, mindful ways of being that will allow you to live a happier and more fulfilled life. Paige's goal at Simple Mindfulness is to guide you along the path that she's taken and save some of your precious time and life energy on your quest to being truly happy.
Paige hopes that by being very transparent with her life and mistakes (i.e. learning experiences), she can support you in your journey to higher levels of happiness and fulfillment in your life.
When I was younger, no matter what I did, I never felt like it was enough. I had to be the best at my job, top of my career, have the most amazing vacations. My bucket list included more adventures. I thought I had to be the best at everything because that's what I thought my parents expected of me.
Then, about six years ago, I started studying mindfulness and living more mindfully. This includes getting clear on my core values and living more in line with them, regardless of what my parents or anyone else thinks. The more I did this (and the less I cared what anyone thought of it), the happier I became.
The more I could be happy with me as I am in the moment and with my life as it is, the better life got. I no longer needed one adventure after another. I realized that the adventures only offered fleeting shots of "Wow! That was cool! What's next?" Then I went back to feeling "not enough" and unhappy, trying to think of the next thing that could give me that Wow! jolt. The Wow! moments are fleeting and there is a ton of time in between each one.
I didn't realize that I had given up on the concept of a bucket list until I attended a networking event where each attendee was asked to write their name and one item on their bucket list on their name tag as a conversation starter. It hit me – I don't have a bucket list. I'm perfectly happy with my life the way it is.
If there's something important I feel I need to do, I do it. Every now and then I think, "Today could be my last day. Have I done everything I could do to make my life complete?" Almost every time, I can answer "yes." The most important things for me to do each day are to tell my husband and children that I love them and live in a way that ensures that they feel it.
I just turned 50 and have been thinking about what I want to focus on during my next 50. The first thing I thought of was the book, "Top Ten Regrets of the Dying." People's biggest regrets are focusing and spending too much time at work, spending your life the way you think others expect of you instead of doing what you're passionate about, and spending enough time with the people you love.
I also thought of the people and communities described in the book, "The Blue Zone," that attempts to figure out why people in these areas regularly live beyond 100. These people spend most of their happy lives focusing on the top regrets of the dying.
The more simply I live, the happier I become. The more I have focused on spending time with my family, doing what I enjoy and balancing work with the rest of my life, the happier I am. More importantly, the less I care or prioritize what I think other people expect of me and the more I live my own authentic life, the happier I am.
Matthew Snider
Matthew Snider is a writer, a personal development junkie and a regular blogger at Self Development Secrets.
Matt, with his one quarter Asian descent, did not start out as a writer, but he says, "the love for a subject is the most important aspect of writing. The readers want to read something written by someone who understands them."
I'm from Asian descent and in our culture, we are always pressured to do things that we don't actually want to.
One goal that I can say I secretly wish I could let go is my job goal/ambitions. I do want to excel in my job now but I feel somewhat that I would be happier just working on my own business which is my blog. I'm sure everyone feels this way, confused because I want to excel in what I'm currently good at, but I also want to drop it because it may just make me a much happier person.
But one thing I know for sure is this, I will try everything I can and make as many mistakes necessary while I still have time!
Jonas Salzgeber
Hey, my name is Jonas and I'm the co-founder of njlifehacks.com, a blog dedicated to helping people live a better life through relentless self-improvement. I write about productivity, procrastination, habit psychology, the science of happiness, and a bunch of other stuff that interests me.
This is a tough one. When I think about my bucket list, then I see mainly things I really want to do at some point in my life – live on a beach for some time, dive with sharks, swim in the clearest waters of the world, jump out of a plane, speed dating, etc.
In the last couple of years I grew into the person who doesn't worry so much about what other people think or say. So I let go of many things such as driving a badass sports car, sleeping with hundreds of top models, wearing luxurious clothes and bling and stuff.
Yet there's actually one thing that comes to mind, one thing I really dread doing that's still on my list: Reading Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. It's just massive. This brick-sized book is something I kind of want to read because many people recommend it, but every time I look at it I just go, "Nah, no way you do that to yourself."
For now, the book stays on the list, but it also stays on the shelf. No pressure.
Goal Setting Mistake no. 5: You felt you should
Camilla Hallstrom
Camilla Hallstrom currently lives in Berlin, Germany, and works with some amazing content/copywriting and SEO clients.
Camilla is a lawyer, but somewhere along the way, ended up in online marketing. She started Influence With Content to help you know your customers better than they know themselves.
When I started studying law, it seemed like a really good idea. Lawyers have relatively safe jobs and their careers can be very lucrative. So I thought it was awesome.
Well, a few years later, I was miserable. Turns out, law just wasn't the right thing for me. In hindsight, I realize that I chose this path not so much by listening to what I really wanted to do, but because of groupthink. Law is high-status, so I assumed it was what I wanted to do with my life. But actually, it was just what society said I "should" do.
I guess the moral of the story is that you should follow Steve Jobs' advice. Take a look in the mirror every day and ask yourself if what you're doing is what you WANT to be doing. If it's not, start thinking of ways to change your situation. And that applies to all goals, however small they might seem.
Cephas Tope
Cephas is the founder of Reach Your Dream Goal where he helps people attain a life of freedom and value. To do this he helps them find clarity in what they are doing in order to become the best version of themselves.
If there's one thing I'd wish to secretly let go, it would be the idea of working for the system, following the rules, instead of building my dream.
Most family members and friends want me to get a job where I'll work 9 hours a day for a little pay because that's how most people do things here in Africa. To follow the rules and keep your own opinion to yourself.
In their view, you can only do right when you do that, but the truth is, I love working from home. Organizing my ideas and teaching them to the world right there in front of my desk. The problem is, working from home is not something common and it does take a long time before things like that are understood and developed around here in Africa.
So not long ago, I did something 'crazy', I found a place of my own, set up a little office, and worked every day towards building my dream. I stopped following the rules and to some; it's almost like taking a big risk.
But I've always told myself; if you're prepared and know what it takes, it's not a risk, you just have to figure out a way to get there AND there's always a way to get there.
Ann Davis
If you're looking for inspiration on how to turn a situation around, Ann will give you the motivation, encouragement and practical advice to follow your real dream. Her delicious sense of humor combined with her practical advice will motivate you.
On her website Ann teaches men and women how to start a profitable business while working full time.
The goal was to quit my job before end of the year. That goal has been trashed. I love what I do and I make a decent income.
There's this fancy goal of quitting a 9-5 and starting a business. Well, I'm in a job I love. I work on my business three hours a day and on the weekends.
The business bring in a good income but I'm not really ready to quit my job because it's the "new trend for new entrepreneurs ." Someday I'll quit and work on my businesses full time but because I want to, not because I feel pressurized into it.
Cylon George
Do you you feel like you're constantly spinning your wheels, or struggling to find purpose in your daily life and work? Is your hectic lifestyle causing your most important relationships to suffer? Then Cylon knows just how you feel.
As a father of six with a hectic schedule, Cylon knows what it is like to struggle to find balance in your personal and professional life. Which is why at Spiritual Living For Busy People, he helps busy people slow down so they can focus on the things that matters most in life.
As I reflected on this great question, the one that comes to mind was my goal of earning a Ph.D. and becoming a recognized expert in my field. At the time, the field of expertise didn't quite matter as my interests were, and still are, quite varied.
My goal was less about curiosity or love for a given subject matter and more about my perceptions of the prestige and social status gained by being referred to as Dr. so-and-so. I used to imagine that having the title would win me instant admiration among colleagues, friends, and strangers.
I'm not opposed to earning a Ph.D. someday. I've just given up my reasons for wanting it. I know now that I am worthy of admiration just the way I am. And I'm not talking about the admiration of others—I'm talking about my own admiration and love for myself. Turns out too that I'm way more likely to win the admiration of others by being authentic rather than flashing fancy titles at them 😉
David The Optimist
David thinks that reaching goals is closely related to how we set and achieve objectives and how well connected they are to our lifestyles, no matter how big the obstacles could be. Find him at David The Optimist.
Fortunately, I don't have such goals.
Just because people are doing stuff, doesn't mean I have to do them too. I've always been self-conscious about my actions and I've always done just what I wanted to do.
For example, when I was 20 years old, a friend of mine (same age) got a job as a receptionist. He told me there was another spot available, for the same type of job. In that moment I remember I asked myself if that's what I really want to do. It seems that my writing passion was greater than earning some money. I was still living with my parents and I was unemployed.
But guess what? Six months after refusing that job, I got my first freelance gig as a content writer.
So, going back to your question, the simple answer is no. I don't set goals just because others are setting them or because I feel pushed by the society. That's not part of my perspectives regarding personal development.
Goal Setting Mistake no. 6: You left yourself out of the equation
Stephen Guise
Hi, I'm Stephen, the author of Mini Habits and the founder of Deep Existence.
I tend to lean heavily toward logic because that's where the solution breadcrumbs lead. But I'm interested in the emotional side of things too, and not just as a topic to analyze, but as a human who enjoys and experiences them. I've got heart. I cry at movies. I…robot. No. Not that one.
For me, it's the general idea of being productive and machine-like. Being in the personal development field, I feel a lot of pressure from society to be some super productive workbot, because that's what successful people do and recommend. But every time I think about it, I hate it.
I don't want the pressure. I don't need the pressure!
I wrote a worldwide bestselling book that's been translated into 17 languages by aiming for 50 words of writing per day. Many days were unproductive. I was lazy at times and still am, but whenever I've lowered my expectations, I've made more progress than ever before.
I don't have to be a perfect workbot to create valuable things, and that's the one thing I need to embrace. I know there are people who do get up at 4 AM and conquer the world before noon, but so what? That works for them, not for me.
I need to let go of that unstated pressure to appear successful and polished and just continue to do what works for me. That's the only thing that's brought me real success anyway!
In conclusion, I need to let go of the fantasy that I'm going to get up at 4 AM, work out, and write 41 books before noon every day. That said, it's possible I'll eventually evolve into that sort of person, but even if it happens, it won't be through conventional means.
Vidya Sury
With six blogs of her own and published contributions across the web, Vidya writes to collect smiles and donate to charities. And I defy you to visit her blog without smiling!
At Vidya Sury and her other blogs, Vidya shares stories about all the things she enjoys in life; parenting, mindful living, conversations, coffee, books, food, music, health, DIY, travel, photography and showing her diabetes who's boss. She wants to know: Did you smile today?
Considering that I had a birthday last week and have counted five decades (and counting), I do have more than one goal/dream, and more than one that I've let go of. Life's experiences are excellent teachers and show us what matters in the long run. Since you asked for the "one", here it is.
I've let go of the need to be perfect. Perfection is truly a myth and it certainly does not matter. I've learned that it is more important to celebrate the little moments of imperfections that are numerous, rather than go after getting things just right.
Case in point–and a rather dummy example–is my penchant for deep cleaning. I used to stress over it. Rather than just quickly dust, sweep and mop, and get it over with in a couple of hours, I'd dismantle stuff, move things around and find that by the end of the day, my place is more of a mess than I started with.
Oh yes, the next day I'd continue and finally, everything would look great. But is that necessary? No. Invariably, I would have paid the price by missing out on family TV time, laughing together or walking together that day. Now I know what should have been my priority: family time, not obsessive cleaning.
I know letting go across various aspects of life can open the doors to happiness and help me be more mindful. Same with work. I now know that by trying to be perfect, we complicate even simple things. Not saying it is not important to do things properly, but it is more important to prioritize what deserves our attention.
But yeah, some things are definitely still on my goal list. After all, old habits die hard. I am just learning to be more conscious about where I invest my time.
Another major thing I must mention here is this: I've let go of the reluctance to say no. Initially it was difficult and embarrassing–for me–but I've overcome that and my life is far happier now for not overwhelming myself with requests from others. I also know they will get their stuff done anyway, regardless of whether I agree or not.
Jessica Blanchard
You know how people feel stressed, fatigued, and overwhelmed —and they have no idea how to sift through all the health advice to help them feel better?
Jessica Blanchard uses yoga, Ayurveda and nutrition to fix the root causes of their problems, so they get fit, and feel calm and energized. Click to discover the best health advice for your constitution on Balanced Healthy Path.
I left my corporate cubicle for an office on a tropical paradise. In July 2004 I started teaching yoga on Koh Samui, Thailand. I tried to convince myself that this was my ultimate dream job.
There was a big problem. Each week people cycled through the retreat center, and each week I cycled through a range of emotions. I loved meeting a new set of people each week, then was gutted to say goodbye to everyone at the end of the week.
I longed for a permanent circle of friends and support.
After three years I admitted that I wanted a stable home and moved to New Orleans, my birthplace. Within a few months I had a yoga studio, within a couple years, a husband, and now after ten years, I have two perfect children.
Giving up the goal of exotic living was the first step on my path to happiness.
Mandy Kloppers
Mandy has come a long way since her teens/twenties when she was emotionally 'all-over-the-place' and very insecure.
Now a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist. Accreditation with the BABCP pending. (British Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies) Mandy runs her own private practice and in between blogs on Thoughts Of Life And Love
I gave up on expecting a man to come along and save me. I used to think this was very romantic but now that I am older and wiser, I have realised that I need to save myself and be self reliant. Of course, a lovely man wanting to help is a great bonus but I would never have been truly happy relying solely on a man for my sense of safety and peace of mind.
So now I take the time to remind myself of all my strengths and celebrate my independence. The more independent you are and the more you rely on yourself financially, the easier it is to be true to yourself and not be manipulated into doing what someone else wants or ending up as a 'possession' belonging to someone else.
That can be soul destroying. The ideal is a loving supportive partner as well as your own money and sense of freedom, of which I now have both!
Goal Setting Mistake no. 7: You didn't know when to quit
Steve Mueller
Steve has been running Planet of Success since 2010. In that time he has built a community designed to inspire you to live a successful life full of joy, meaning and happiness.
It's the place to meet like-minded people, discover unique strategies to live a successful life and to share your own ideas about being successful in life.
I guess the entire idea of having to write a bucket list is absolutely unnecessary. People feel pressured into having to do certain things at least once in their lifetime that they seek to rush through one experience after the other.
So instead of actually taking the time to enjoy life, they are busy seeking one exciting experience after another.
Irene Conlan
Irene Conlan runs the Self Improvement Blog where she's serious about helping you find the tools you need to achieve your self-improvement goals and begin to experience the happiness you desire. She also runs the wonderful Self Improvement Show on VoiceAmerica's Empowerment Channel every Thursday.
I have to admit that I don't have a bucket list. I'm working really hard at living in the moment and I find that doing that makes each moment its own bucket item.
Dragos Roua
Dragos is the real deal. One of those people who has done and experienced so much in his lifetime you figure that he has to be like a gazillion years old. In fact he isn't. Nothing like.
And in between teaching people how to start, run and succeed at business at Dragos Roua, Dragos somehow finds the time to teach tango, run ultra-marathons and be a proud father. I think I need to lie down…
Unfortunately Dragos had to leave before the main course. But he left us with this great link to his wonderful post on how to know when to let go of your goal…or to push on through: Pushing Through Versus Letting Go.
Set those goals – avoid those mistakes
There you have it. How to avoid common (and not so common) goal setting mistakes.
Because your goals should serve you, not stress you.
They should bring you joy, not pain.
And like a really great dinner party, when they're all done and dusted they should leave you with a great taste in your mouth
And the desire for more.
Happy goal setting!


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From: Scott Coomber Subject: Silly task It is only week two of Press
Cadets, yet already you have lost the only competitor cut out to be a
I salute Elaine Okyere and wish her all the best after her
decision to quit the competition. She was the only one to realise the
cadets' second task was an initiative test.
Any true reporter asked to "climb into William Hogarth's Gin Lane sketching", "listen to the characters" and,
my personal favourite, "taste the gin", would have known the correct
procedure in such situations is to tell the features editor to fuck off.
Scott Coomber Dartford, Kent


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So, yesterday I decided to wear a skirt – the weather has been FANTASTIC for September so far this year so I am happy to not have to cover from head to toe every day. Check out this great combo – skirt from BCBG and top from a little boutique from my home town called Kelly's Kloset.
Aaaaaaaand then I noticed I wore black and white two days in a row – gotta add more color!


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Laura Weiss has outdone herself with her second YA novel called Leftovers. I read Such a Pretty Girl and was pretty unhappy with it. I thought the characters were a little far-fetched and the storyline was a bit of a stretch. But Leftovers is fantastic!
The 2-person narration style is well suited for this novel. It is a story of 2 girls from opposite parts of society. But they are best friends and their friendship drags them through the mud and then some. What they endure is hard to imagine yet believable. I think Weiss's characters tend to be a bit stereotypical but other than that, I have no complaints.
Leftovers is a great mystery that brings you through a few years in the lives of two strong young women. I've read a few other reviews of this book and it sounds like lots of people are reading it in one sitting. Maybe it will be on the quick picks list? One can hope.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Posted by Morgan at 6:32 PM
1 comment:
- Melissa Walker said...
Giving away a copy of this one on my blog this week--I really enjoyed it immensely.
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Anti-Kiev Forces Should Halt Abductions, Release Dozens Held
MAY 6, 2014 www.hrw.org/news/2014/05/05/ukraine-captives-describe-brutal-beatings
(Donetsk) — Self-proclaimed authorities in eastern Ukraine should immediately release people held in captivity and put an end to abductions by armed men acting on their behalf. The fate of dozens of captives remains unknown, and those released whom Human Rights Watch interviewed reported severe beatings in captivity.
On May 4, a large group of armed men abducted six residents of Novogradovka, 40 kilometers northwest of Donetsk: Aleksandr Vovk and Aleksandr Gurov, members of the Independent Trade Union of Ukrainian Miners; Konstantin Museiko, Valeriy Pavlik, and Oleg Bubich, members of the Novogradovka town council; and one other man.
Vovk said that all six men were interrogated separately and that he could hear the sounds of beatings and screams from the adjacent room. Around 1 a.m. on May 5, Vovk said, the captors released him, Pavlik, and Bubich and told them to go home. The captors took the men's money and kept Vovk's pension card, although they did return other documents they had confiscated.
The witness said that following inquiries from regional Svoboda leaders, the police opened a criminal investigation into the abduction and questioned her, but she was not aware that the investigators had made any progress. Unofficial sources told her that Malanchuk was being held in the office of the Ukrainian security service, SBU, in Sloviansk, which is under control of anti-Kiev forces.
Popyk's mother said the police came to the house after the kidnappers left. They asked questions and wrote a statement that the mother signed. The following day she tried to formally register the abduction with the local police and make sure they open a criminal investigation, but because of the public holiday nobody was there to take her statement.


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As the new owner of Blough Inc., Sean Larkin plans to maintain the company's roots as a metal finisher in the middle of "farming country."
A turbulent period full of major disruptions for the automotive industry has translated into business doubling for Conway MacKenzie Inc., a Birmingham, Mich.-based turnaround firm.
ACME — After an extended period of growth, vehicle sales have started to cool at a time when industry-wide uncertainty is hampering manufacturers' optimism.
So far this year, West Michigan-based automotive suppliers have endured the fallout from supply chain disruptions, wrestled with rising costs related to steel and aluminum tariffs and struggled to fill open positions at their factories.
With the automotive market performing slightly ahead of expectation for the year, IHS Markit analyst Mike Wall pinpoints trends that will keep projections positive for the rest of 2018. So far this year, Wall said news in the industry has been "interesting," as some automakers phase out sedan nameplates to focus on trucks and crossovers, while others move "heaven and earth" to source components after a major supplier fire. In an interview with MiBiz, Wall shared his insights into the automotive industry.
Spurred on by tax reform, a need for innovation and the current talent shortage, manufacturers increasingly have embraced automation on their shop floors.
For West Michigan manufacturers who are struggling both to find workers and to keep up with order volumes, the recent federal tax reform offers some welcome news.
DETROIT — By offering diesel powertrains in their light-duty pickup trucks, the Detroit Three automakers are betting they can eke out even more sales in what's been a red-hot market.
A growing number of automakers are adopting a new business model that could change how some customers get into the car market.
DETROIT — As two of the top three best-selling vehicles get a makeover this year, the 2018 North American International Auto Show once again seemed devoted to the ultimate American lifestyle automobile: the pickup truck.


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