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Ordering Policies & Warranty Information
Credit Card Payment Policy
Racing Beat accepts VISA, MasterCard, Discover and American Express for payment. Online credit card order transactions are processed immediately via Authorize.net. Online orders that require freight "To Be Determined" are submitted to Racing Beat for processing. To protect your security, all freight "To Be Determined" orders arrive at Racing Beat encrypted and must be de-encrypted by our Sales Staff during processing.
To minimize the risk of or credit card fraud against both Racing Beat and the authorized Cardholder, the following conditions apply:
- Racing Beat will only ship an order to the address the issuing bank has on record for that particular card. Operating through our credit card authorization service, our bank requires us to verify and confirm your name, address and zip code during the transaction authorization process.
- We must have your phone number in order to contact you if there is a problem or question with your order.
- We will ship credit card orders only to addresses in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. (Our credit card process provider does not have the capability to verify name, address, and zip code for international addresses.)
We appreciate your cooperation. These security policies are beneficial to both Racing Beat and the authorized Cardholder.
Credit Card Payment Policy - Frequently Asked Questions:
Why will Racing Beat only ship my order to the billing address that the bank has on record for my credit card? This is very inconvenient for me.
In order to protect our relationship with our customers, and privileges with our credit card processing bank, we have agreed to follow established guidelines and ship only to the primary billing address that the credit card issuer has on file. This information is verified by either Authorize.net or Racing Beat employees utilizing an AVS (Address Verification System) provided by the bank. We believe this additional level of security, although sometimes inconvenient, is a service to our customers.
I absolutely cannot ship to the billing address of my credit card. Do I have any options?
Although we cannot make exceptions to this policy, if you absolutely cannot have your order shipped to the billing address for your credit card, you can opt to send us a cashiers check or money order, including freight cost, and specify the desired shipping address. You will need to contact us before the funds are sent in order to obtain a freight quote. Another option is you can contact one of our Authorized Racing Beat Dealers. They may have a different shipping policy and possibly facilitate shipping to an alternate address.
Does Racing Beat accept Paypal payments?
No, at this time we do not accept Paypal payments.
I have an alternate address on file with my bank. Can I have my order shipped to this address?
No. We can only ship to the primary billing address listed with your credit card issuer.
Direct Payment Policy
For direct payment, we recommend a bank-issued cashier's check or bank wire. Both personal and business checks require a three week waiting period from the date we DEPOSIT your check until the parts are shipped from our facility, thereby allowing for inter-bank, Federal Reserve, and postal transit time. If you would like to place an order and make a direct payment, contact Racing Beat for a price quote.
International Orders
We accept online orders for the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada only.
For shipments to Canada:
United Parcel Service (UPS) shipping rates to Canada do not include customs clearance. Brokerage services (provided by UPS unless otherwise requested by importer) and all related charges, duties, and taxes will be billed to the importer. You are responsible for all brokerage charges, duties and taxes at the time of import. Contact the International Customer Service Center at 1-800-782-7892 for information regarding international shipments. If possible, Racing Beat will attempt to ship your Canada shipment via US Postal Service to minimize brokerage charges.
For orders placed outside of the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada:
When requesting that parts be shipped internationally (any location outside of the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada) prepayment of merchandise and freight is required in all instances. The parts will be shipped on a Freight Prepaid basis via our standard freight carriers.
To place an international order:
Step 1. Request a quote including shipping costs via the Racing Beat website shopping cart, e-mail, telephone or fax. If sending your request via e-mail or fax, include complete destination information so an accurate freight quote can be provided. Depending on the size and weight of the package, and destination, Racing Beat will select a freight company that provides the most economical and expedient service. If you require express delivery, please indicate this with your inquiry. All customs duties, tariffs, and other fees are the sole responsibility of the customer. Racing Beat does not accept credit card payment for international orders. You will receive a reply email with a price quote within 1-3 business days.
Step 2. Sending a Bank Wire or an International Draft for the quoted amount to Racing Beat as follows:
Sending a Bank Wire - When sending your outgoing bank wire, you are responsible for paying ALL outgoing and in-transit charges associated with your wire transfer. Many international banks will collect an outgoing wire service fee from the sender (you) at the time you send your bank wire. It is very important that you instruct your bank to send the outgoing wire on a "no beneficiary deduct basis". If you do not instruct your bank to do so, it is very likely that any correspondent banks your bank utilizes will collect additional fees as the outgoing wire travels en-route to our bank, resulting in a lesser net amount than required being received by Racing Beat. It is necessary that you also include an additional $25.00 (USD) to reimburse Racing Beat for the charges we are charged by our bank to receive your bank wire. If you do not include this additional charge, you will be required repeat the process and send another wire. This is a costly and time consuming process!! We strongly encourage you to deliver a print-out of below titled "Racing Beat Account Information" to your bank. We do not recommend that you attempt to send your wire via your bank's online service - this is based on the collective experience of our international customers as well as Racing Beat.
Sending an International Draft - Sending an International Draft in U.S. dollars is an extremely economical option when there are not crucial time limitations in receiving the parts. Request your bank to issue an International Draft in U.S. dollars. Mail the International Draft to Racing Beat, 4789 E. Wesley Drive, Anaheim, CA 92807 USA. The International Draft must be payable through a U.S. bank and must be acceptable for deposit through normal branch banking procedures. The International Draft must be MICR-encoded for U.S. Federal Reserve processing. International Drafts that must be mailed for collection to the issuing bank or its U.S.subsidiary will be returned to the sender. We allow approximately (8) to (10) business days, from the date of deposit, for an International Draft to clear. We will make a reasonable effort to contact the U.S. subsidiary to accelerate the process, but not all U.S. subsidiaries are helpful in this regard.
Racing Beat Account Information:
Account Name: | Racing Beat, LLC |
Bank Name: | Bank of America - Anaheim Hills Branch #1043 |
Account Number: | 10439-70220 |
Routing Number: | 0260-0959-3 |
Swift Code: | BOFA US6S |
Step 3. Contact Racing Beat via phone, e-mail, mail, or fax to place and confirm your order and receipt of bank wire. To expedite your order, fax a copy of the bank wire receipt that was provided by your bank. After Racing Beat confirms the receipt of your bank wire, your order can be prepared for shipment.
If you submit your order via e-mail, you must provide your COMPLETE delivery address, telephone number(s) and a list of the parts being requested. If we have questions regarding your order, we will attempt to contact you at the telephone number(s) or e-mail address that have been provided.
Shipping Schedule & Services
We retrieve all on-line orders before 12:00 noon (PST), Monday through Friday. Orders are shipped in the order they are received and are normally shipped within 2-3 business days. These guidelines apply only to stock on hand. If a part is not in stock, you will be contacted at the phone number or email provided on the order.
Unless otherwise requested, we ship all orders via United Parcel Service (UPS) - Ground. Deliveries normally take from 1-8 days once they leave our facility. If we have your e-mail address on file, you will be notified once the order has been shipped via UPS notification service with delivery and tracking information provided.
If you would like to make expedited shipping arrangements, contact a Racing Beat Sales Representative for further assistance at (714) 779-8677.
Delivery to US Post Office box
We cannot ship via United Parcel Service (UPS) to US Post Office boxes. If the mailing address for the credit card you are using for this order is a US Post Office box, your order will be shipped via the US Postal Service. Most items can be sent through the US Postal Service with the exception of extremely large boxes; such as fiberglass body kits, complete exhaust systems, over-sized items, etc.... If your package is too large to ship via USPS then you will be contacted immediately and alternate shipping options will be discussed.
Oversize Shipments
Oversize and/or overweight orders will normally be sent by truck freight. If truck freight is required for your order, we will provide a price quote before the order is shipped.
Sales Tax
California residents will be charged the prevailing Orange County, CA sales tax on all orders.
Shipping Charges & Delivery Options
Freight charges will be added to each online order. We use United Parcel Service (UPS) as our standard freight carrier. All freight charges are FOB, Anaheim, California. The weight, size and destination are all factors in the shipping costs of each order. All shipments sent by UPS are covered by insurance at the rate of .35 cents per $100.
If you would like your shipment to be sent through the US Postal Service or you require expedited delivery, please call us immediately after you submit your order. We are capable of utilizing all services offered by UPS and the USPS (i.e. 3-day, 2nd day, next day, etc.). Available options will be confirmed at the time of your call. Please have your web order number ready.
Can Racing Beat put a note on the box to have UPS leave the package at my door?
No, we cannot. Once your order leaves our warehouse it becomes the responsibility of the shipper. Our customers will often leave a note for the UPS driver with special instructions. This may be successful but it is still no guarantee. UPS will make 3 delivery attempts and leave a note after each attempt before the package is returned to the sender.
Backordered Parts
Any product that is not in stock will be placed on backorder. Backorders will be filled as parts become available. You will be contacted by telephone or e-mail if a product you have ordered is on extended backorder. If your credit card has been charged for an item(s) that is on backorder a credit will be typically issued within 1 business day for the backorder amount. You will be contacted when the parts are available, at that time your credit card will be charged for the backorder amount (plus shipping charges).
Orders cancelled at the customer's request are subject to charges equal to the costs incurred by Racing Beat at the time of cancellation. If you need to cancel your order, contact Racing Beat at (714) 779-8677. Do not send a cancellation request via e-mail.
Special Orders
Special ordered items cannot be returned.
Returns are accepted within 30 days of the invoice date if the product has not been installed. Any shipping errors by Racing Beat require Racing Beat's authorization and issuance of a Return Authorization Number prior to the return of the items. Important: Any package received without the Return authorization number prominently and clearly displayed on the package will be refused. Racing Beat is not responsible for any damage incurring in transit. When returning parts, it is the customer's responsibility to adequately package and insure all contents. Any items missing from the item will be deducted from the return. A 20% re-stocking charge is assessed on returns due to customer error.
Electrical components, apex seals, spark plugs, ring & pinion gear sets, O-ring sets, Gasket and O-ring kits, brake components, and stationary gears cannot be returned for exchange or refund due to their fragile nature and possible customer mishandling. Furthermore, All tools, including carbide grinding tools, will not be accepted for return.
Product Photos & Images
Products shown in the Racing Beat printed catalog and/or website may differ in appearance or packaging from the actual parts.
Racing Beat-brand products and services
Racing Beat, Inc-brand products are considered to be products and services that are manufactured, assembled, constructed or performed by or for Racing Beat, Inc. Products offered may include components or parts from subsidiary sources, however, the finished product is considered to be a Racing Beat, Inc. product.
Product Warranty for Racing Beat-brand products and services
ONE YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY*: Effective as of 09/01/2006.
For one year from original purchase, subject to limitations following, genuine Racing Beat, LLC. (Racing Beat) manufactured* products (Products) are warranted to be free from material or workmanship defects. This warranty is valid only for original retail purchasers (Buyer) and is not transferable. Keep your original sales receipt; proof-of-purchase and retail price paid is required. Altered, abused, negligently damaged or incorrectly installed products are not warranted. Similarly, the warranty does not extend to normal wear and tear.
Racing Beat's® sole obligation under this warranty shall be to repair or replace any defective Products, or to refund the original retail purchase price paid by the Buyer (not including sales tax, freight or handling charges) at Racing Beat's® sole, absolute and unrestricted discretion. Cost of painting or surface finishing services, installation, removal and re-installation charges are not included as part of this limited warranty. Buyer assumes sole and complete responsibility for such painting and surface finishing services, installation, removal and/or re-installation.
To submit a warranty claim, Buyer must contact Racing Beat® to obtain a Return Authorization Number and shipping instructions. Products returned to Racing Beat® must be shipped at Buyer's expense. Buyer shall be solely responsible for proper packaging and shipment insurance.
This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may have other rights that vary from state to state.
*Products manufactured by others and resold through Racing Beat® (Third Party OEM Products) are not covered under this warranty. RACING BEAT EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR USE OR PURPOSE WITH RESPECT TO THIRD PARTY OEM PRODUCTS. RACING BEAT® FURTHER DISCLAIMS, AND SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR , AND GENERAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES CAUSED BY ANY ACTUAL OR ALLEGED DEFECT IN THIRD PARTY OEM PRODUCTS. The only warrant(ies) applicable to Third Part OEM Products are those offered by the actual manufacturers of such products.


text:
Why Trade Share CFDs with Amana?
Some of the Most Popular Shares You Can Trade
Practice trading today
in a risk-free environment.
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and access the global market.
Advantage of Trading Share CFDs
Shares Dividends:
CFDs on shares are subject to dividend. When a share pays dividends to its shareholders, dividend adjustments will be made to the trading accounts of clients who hold a position on the index at 00:00 GMT+2 time zone (DST applies) on the ex-dividend date.
Buy positions will receive an amount calculated as follows:
Dividend Adjustment = dividend declared x lots
Sell position will be charged an amount calculated as follows:
Dividend Adjustment = stock dividend declared x lots
Stock Split:
When a company declares a stock split, the number of shares of that company increases, but the market cap remains the same. Existing shares split, but the underlying value remains the same. As the number of shares increases, price per share goes down
there is no impact on the company's market capitalization the action carried out is to reflect the clients existing share position using the split ratio announced.
Client bought 200 shares in MSFT at $100, currently trading at $140. MSFT announces a 2-for-1 Stock Split, Client's 200 shares position is closed flat then 2 New positions are opened for the client, 200 shares each opened at $70, new market price is $70. Client's equity will not be affected and remains the same as before the Stock split.

subset: commoncrawl


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Energy performance certificate (EPC)
Certificate contents
Share this certificate
17, Killester Gardens
23 January 2029
- Property type
- Semi-detached house
- Total floor area
- 112 square metres
Rules on letting this property
Properties can be let if they have an energy rating from A to E.
You can read guidance for landlords on the regulations and exemptions.
Breakdown of property's energy performance
This section shows the energy performance for features of this property. The assessment does not consider the condition of a feature and how well it is working.
Each feature is assessed as one of the following:
- very good (most efficient)
- good
- average
- poor
- very poor (least efficient)
When the description says "assumed", it means that the feature could not be inspected and an assumption has been made based on the property's age and type.
Feature | Description | Rating |
Wall | Solid brick, as built, no insulation (assumed) | Very poor |
Roof | Pitched, 200 mm loft insulation | Good |
Window | Mostly double glazing | Good |
Main heating | Boiler and radiators, mains gas | Good |
Main heating control | Programmer, room thermostat and TRVs | Good |
Hot water | From main system | Good |
Lighting | Low energy lighting in all fixed outlets | Very good |
Floor | Suspended, no insulation (assumed) | N/A |
Secondary heating | None | N/A |
Primary energy use
The primary energy use for this property per year is 199 kilowatt hours per square metre (kWh/m2).
What is primary energy use?
Primary energy use is a measure of the energy required for lighting, heating and hot water in a property. The calculation includes:
- the efficiency of the property's heating system
- power station efficiency for electricity
- the energy used to produce the fuel and deliver it to the property
Environmental impact of this property
This property's current environmental impact rating is D. It has the potential to be B.
Properties are rated in a scale from A to G based on how much carbon dioxide (CO2) they produce.
Properties with an A rating produce less CO2 than G rated properties.
- An average household produces
- 6 tonnes of CO2
- This property produces
- 3.9 tonnes of CO2
- This property's potential production
- 1.4 tonnes of CO2
By making the recommended changes, you could reduce this property's CO2 emissions by 2.5 tonnes per year. This will help to protect the environment.
Environmental impact ratings are based on assumptions about average occupancy and energy use. They may not reflect how energy is consumed by the people living at the property.
Improve this property's energy performance
By following our step by step recommendations you could reduce this property's energy use and potentially save money.
Carrying out these changes in order will improve the property's energy rating and score from D (67) to B (86).
Do I need to follow these steps in order?
Yes. Each step builds on the one before it so you can save the most energy.
For example, it's more energy efficient to insulate your home before you buy a new boiler. A well insulated home will lose less heat so you do not have to run your boiler as often.
Step 1: Internal or external wall insulation
- Typical installation cost
- £4,000 - £14,000
- Typical yearly saving
- £202
- Potential rating after completing step 1
Step 2: Floor insulation (suspended floor)
- Typical installation cost
- £800 - £1,200
- Typical yearly saving
- £46
- Potential rating after completing steps 1 and 2
Step 3: Solar water heating
- Typical installation cost
- £4,000 - £6,000
- Typical yearly saving
- £31
- Potential rating after completing steps 1 to 3
Step 4: Solar photovoltaic panels, 2.5 kWp
- Typical installation cost
- £5,000 - £8,000
- Typical yearly saving
- £310
- Potential rating after completing steps 1 to 4
Paying for energy improvements
You might be able to get a grant from the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. This will help you buy a more efficient, low carbon heating system for this property.
Estimated energy use and potential savings
Based on average energy costs when this EPC was created:
- Estimated yearly energy cost for this property
- £845
- Potential saving if you complete every step in order
- £280
The estimated cost shows how much the average household would spend in this property for heating, lighting and hot water. It is not based on how energy is used by the people living at the property.
Heating use in this property
Heating a property usually makes up the majority of energy costs.
Type of heating | Estimated energy used |
Space heating | 12966 kWh per year |
Water heating | 2106 kWh per year |
Type of insulation | Amount of energy saved |
Loft insulation | 321 kWh per year |
Solid wall insulation | 4725 kWh per year |
Saving energy in this property
Contacting the assessor and accreditation scheme
This EPC was created by a qualified energy assessor.
If you are unhappy about your property's energy assessment or certificate, you can complain to the assessor directly.
If you are still unhappy after contacting the assessor, you should contact the assessor's accreditation scheme.
Accreditation schemes are appointed by the government to ensure that assessors are qualified to carry out EPC assessments.
Assessor contact details
- Assessor's name
- David Norrington
- Telephone
- 07974449645
- firstname.lastname@example.com
Accreditation scheme contact details
- Accreditation scheme
- Assessor ID
- Telephone
- 0333 123 1418
- firstname.lastname@example.com
Assessment details
- Assessor's declaration
- No related party
- Date of assessment
- 24 January 2019
- Date of certificate
- 24 January 2019
- Type of assessment
Show information about the RdSAP
RdSAP (Reduced data Standard Assessment Procedure) is a method used to assess and compare the energy and environmental performance of properties in the UK. It uses a site visit and survey of the property to calculate energy performance.
This type of assessment can be carried out on properties built before 1 April 2008 in England and Wales, and 30 September 2008 in Northern Ireland. It can also be used for newer properties, as long as they have a previous SAP assessment, which uses detailed information about the property's construction to calculate energy performance.
Other certificates for this property
If you are aware of previous certificates for this property and they are not listed here, please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com or call our helpdesk on 020 3829 0748 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).
- Certificate number
- 8601-6229-5510-8770-5072
- Expired on
29 January 2019


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LANSING (AP) — Gov. Rick Snyder's go-to argument in asking lawmakers to back $2.5 billion in new spending for road repairs and health insurance for low-income adults may seem counterintuitive.
Not adding the significant influx of money to the next budget, he says, would actually hurt the state's bottom line.
Get used to these figures as the Republican governor, a former accountant, seeks support from residents and skeptical GOP legislators in coming months:
• $25 billion, the bill Snyder says the state would be stuck with later if it does not spend $1.2 billion more a year on road and bridge maintenance in the next decade.
• 2035, the year he says the state would effectively start owing anything to expand Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of people under the federal health care law. That is because initially, the people who get medical and mental health care from state-funded programs would be covered by federal money. The governor says if the savings are tucked away for future use, Michigan would be off the hook for 21 years.
How effectively Snyder makes his fiscal pitches could determine the fate of the two biggest proposed spending increases in the budget.
It will not be easy because, bottom line, some Democratic and Republican lawmakers would have to stomach voting for higher gas taxes and vehicle registration fees. State gas taxes have not gone up since 1997. Though former Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm had no luck raising transportation revenues, Snyder is making it a bigger priority than she did.
"If we treat this as normal politics, it probably won't get done," he said during a town hall-style event Thursday night in Grand Rapids, the same day he unveiled his budget. His previous call for more road cash went nowhere in 2012, an election year.
Snyder said he has never once heard participants in his town halls say they like their roads. He is asking drivers to pay $120 more per vehicle per year and frames it as a chance to save on vehicle repairs and have safer roads.
Spending $1 to maintain a road in "fair" condition eliminates or delays spending $6 to $14 later if it becomes a "very poor" road, according to his administration.
Initial reaction in the Capitol has perhaps been less muted than to past road-funding bills. The Senate's Republican leader appointed a new seven-member committee Thursday to review Snyder's proposal, and it includes veterans ineligible for another Senate run in 2014 because of term limits.
Freshman Rep. Michael McCready, a Bloomfield Hills Republican, said he knows new road revenue could be needed.
"I have to think, though, that there's some money in the general fund somewhere we can apply toward that $1.3 billion," he said.
Some outside Lansing voiced outrage with Snyder's plan and said lawmakers should not bow to pressure from the road-building lobby and some business groups to act.
"Instead of looking for new solutions, the governor has chosen the same failed tactics — reaching for taxpayers' wallets," said Denee Rockman-Moon, leader of the state Libertarian Party.
Medicaid expansion may be more palatable because the federal government would pay all or most of the cost, and Democrats, hospitals, doctors and others strongly support carrying out the health care law championed by President Barack Obama. But conservatives have doubts.
Sen. Patrick Colbeck said he is leery of "getting into bed" with an unstable federal government at a time Michigan's fiscal outlook is sunnier than in the past.
"I don't think it's a done deal that this Affordable Care Act is something that is going to be coming into place," he said, questioning the Obama administration's ability to set up another key piece of the law — an online marketplace in Michigan where people can shop for health insurance.
The GOP-led state House last year rejected Snyder's call to create a state-run exchange, so the state is now headed toward a partnership exchange controlled primarily by the federal government. Michigan last month was given a $31 million federal grant to help implement the exchange, but that, too, could run into resistance when Snyder soon seeks permission from legislators to spend it.
The governor has his work cut out for him.
"Let's be making investments — not just quote-unquote 'spending' but investing where there's a positive outcome that clearly has more value to all 10 million Michiganders than not making that investment," he said.


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Monday, April 6, 2009
Irish Caraway Crisps
Years ago Bob and I trekked to northern Canada in search of the Aurora Borealis. The solar flares that initiated our journey stopped as soon as we reached the border. Undeterred, we continued on, sure in our belief that they'd resume in a day or two. Needless to say our quest was unsuccessful. I can, however, report we had an awfully good time getting there - there being an Alaskan border town that wasn't even on the map. It was a wonderful adventure. Later, I recounted the trip with an Irish colleague who thought I was completely daft. As a child she was able to see the Northern Lights from her front stoop. That anyone would spend three weeks in the wilderness in search of something so ordinary truly baffled her. Bridie was a homemaker and far more domestic than I was at the time. She was very feminine - you'd never catch her in boots, a tent or an outhouse, but you could count on her to bring cakes and cookies for the staff to enjoy with coffee or tea. The caraway crisps were one of her favorites. I recently inherited a dog-eared copy of Maida Heatter's first cookbook and it contains a cookie very similar to Bridie's crisps. These cookies are not too sweet, wonderful with tea and very easy to make. If you're looking for something a bit different to satisfy your sweet tooth without causing sugar shock you might want to give these a try.
Irish Caraway Crisps
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup ( 1 4-oz. stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2) Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a small bowl. Set aside.
3) Place butter in bowl of an electric stand mixture and beat until soft enough to mix with sugar. Add sugar and beat well. Add egg and beat until incorporated. Gradually add dry ingredients; mix well.
4) Turn mixture onto a lightly floured work surface. Add caraway seeds and knead just until incorporated.
5) Wrap dough in plastic wrap. Place in freezer for 15 minutes. Transfer to refrigerator and let chill for 1 hour, or until mixture is firm enough to roll.
6) Lightly flour a work surface. Working with 1/3 of dough at a time, roll dough to 1/16 or 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with a 3-inch round cookie cutter; use a thin spatula to transfer cookies to an ungreased cookie sheet spacing them 1/2-inch apart. Scraps can be rerolled and cut.
7) Bake 13 to 15 minutes, or until cookies are lightly brown all over. Rotate pans in oven. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack. Store airtight. Yield: 30 to 36 cookies.
Recipe courtesy of Maida Heatter.
28 comments :
- Martha said...
These look good and yes, the caraway would be good with coffee.
Have you noticed how many European "sweets" have a licorice flavor? And how well that flavor goes with coffee? - April 6, 2009 at 2:22 AM
- MyKitchenInHalfCups said...
What a marvelous cookbook you've inherited. Since I'm a great fan of caraway, I know I'd enjoy these.
I'd have trooped all over to catch the Aurora Borealis too :) - April 6, 2009 at 5:20 AM
- Through My Kitchen Window said...
Hello Mary. I just discovered your blog and I love it! Your vegan chocolate cake looks so moist and it really caught my eye. I'm new to the blogging world and am trying to build a network of friends. I'm glad I happened upon your site and I hope we become friends.
- April 6, 2009 at 6:28 AM
- Through My Kitchen Window said...
Hello Mary. I'm new to the blogging world and I am looking to build a network of foodie friends. I am very glad to have stumbled upon your blog as it is warm, cosy and wonderful. I really liked your vegan chocolate cake. So moist. There is so much to check out!
I hope you drop in and say hi because I am definitely on board. - April 6, 2009 at 6:40 AM
- Schnitzel and the Trout said...
Mary, these are so wonderfully different!!
- April 6, 2009 at 7:02 AM
- Cathy said...
Sounds like you and Bob had a wonderful adventure even though you didn't see the Northern Lights.
I don't have an overactive sweet tooth so these cookies sound perfect. - April 6, 2009 at 9:13 AM
- Penny said...
Mary, How much sugar goes in these cookies? They look delish! Just my cup of tea.
- April 6, 2009 at 9:15 AM
- Netts Nook said...
Love the caraway. Are you a profession photographer if not your pictures sure look like you are. Can't wait to try.
- April 6, 2009 at 10:03 AM
- Pam said...
I love your stories - I think your adventure sounds fun! It's too bad you didn't see the lights.
I love caraway crisps - they look so thin and crisp. - April 6, 2009 at 10:19 AM
- Mary Bergfeld said...
Good morning to all. Penny, I've added the sugar to the crisp recipe. Thanks for catching that. A hearty welcome to Through My Kitchen Window a new blogger who adds a beautiful new voice to our world.
- April 6, 2009 at 10:50 AM
- Mary Bergfeld said...
Lynette, no professional photographers here. Just a husband who tries very hard to see my vision.
- April 6, 2009 at 11:25 AM
- La Bella Cooks said...
These would be perfect with my cup of tea this morning. I love the flavor of caraway. What a great treat this would be.
- April 6, 2009 at 11:27 AM
- noble pig said...
I never thought of caraway with coffee...now I will.
These look like nice and enjoyable. - April 6, 2009 at 12:23 PM
- Karen said...
I have always wanted the experience of seeing the Northern Lights. People tell me we can see them from here (40 miles S of Canada border in Montana) and this summer I'm going to make an effort to see them - even if we need to head North for a bit and camp out!
- April 6, 2009 at 1:11 PM
- Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...
Caraway seeds are so under used. These look perect and would be wonderful with coffee, tea or cocktails.
- April 6, 2009 at 2:09 PM
- Mary Bergfeld said...
Karen, call the astronomy department of your university to see when would be the best time to make the attempt to see them. We've tried 3 times and it still hasn't worked out.
Katherine, I'm so glad you stopped by again. We always love to have you here. - April 6, 2009 at 2:35 PM
- Apples and Butter said...
These look lovely and very proper. It sounds like they were very fitting of your friend! I don't own any of Maida Heatter's cookbooks, but have considered getting her book on chocolate many times. Thanks for the reminder!
- April 6, 2009 at 2:54 PM
- NKP said...
I have just discovered how good caraway can be in a sweet application. The crisps look so tasty, they would be awesome with a nice cup of herbal tea. Puppies and I like to have tea time about 4pm every day. And throw squeaky toys, of course.
- April 6, 2009 at 4:23 PM
- Zita said...
Caraway crisps...very interesting, look so thin and crunchy :)
- April 6, 2009 at 4:33 PM
- The Blonde Duck said...
These look so neat!
- April 6, 2009 at 5:18 PM
- Lori said...
Mary these look amazingly delicious. I would have never thought of caraway and sweet together. I would love to try these.
My husband and I so want to go to Alaska in the winter to see the lights. I have a picture of it in my hallway. I bought the print up in Alaska when I was there during the summer. Wonderful time there.
Such a lesson in your story. I guess really anything we think of as ordinary could be a marvel to someone else! - April 6, 2009 at 6:55 PM
- Mary Bergfeld said...
Isn't it amazing Lori? I love that we're so different form one another. I also love that we are so much the same. That's the gift age brings us:).
- April 6, 2009 at 7:08 PM
- Dragon said...
I love caraway and these crisps look amazing. Yum!
- April 6, 2009 at 8:10 PM
- Mary Bergfeld said...
Hi Dragon, thanks for stopping by to visit. I hope you'll visit often.
- April 6, 2009 at 8:30 PM
- Selba said...
It looks so perfect for a snack :)
- April 6, 2009 at 10:40 PM
- turmericnspice said...
five star...i love salty crisps
- March 13, 2011 at 10:55 PM
I tried these, with no success. My mixture was dry & crumbly and would not hold together. I can't imagine what I did wrong, it's such a simple recipe!
I wish people would post their comments after trying the recipe. Just to post that something looks good really isn't helpful-it looks good to all of us!!!
If anyone tries this recipe, I hope they will post their results.
Love your blog! I will continue to visit here! Thanks! - March 15, 2014 at 4:59 PM
- Mary Bergfeld said...
I rarely post anonymous comments but because this one came from a reader who had disappointing results with this recipe, I wanted to address her concerns here. This is a simple cookie to make, but the dough must be worked with your hands in order to come together. It must also be well chilled before any attempt is made to roll or cut. This, as stated in the post, is a Maida Heatter recipe and she rarely misses a beat. I searched other blogs for cooments about the cookies that can be seen here http://mylittlekitchen.blogspot.com/2006/07/mondays-with-maida-caraway-crisps.html
- March 15, 2014 at 5:29 PM


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Purple Banarasi Gold & Silver Zari Alfi Jangla with Multi Diagonal Stripes Cutwork Brocade Handwoven Katan Silk Saree
Inclusive of all taxes in India
We do not recommend waiting for sold out products as they may not be available again. Despite best efforts, we may not be able to respond to queries for sold out products. Please pick your favorites before they go.
Being direct manufacturers based in Benares for five decades, we have a relentless focus on quality and value for money.
All our products are stocked in our own warehouse in Benares & are shipped within 2 business days.
We make our own sarees. So while you get the best prices, your purchases help us directly support the weavers and the craft.
The Composition:
This saree uses
Pure Mulberry Silk warp and weft.
It has the luxurious feel and subtle sheen which you associate with a silk product.
The Weave:
The saree features the Cutwork Brocade weaving technique, where the floating extra-wefts used to create the motifs are neatly clipped at the back, giving the motifs an embossed look.
The Measurements: The saree measures approximately 5.4 meters (220 inches) in length, 1.10 meters (44 inches) in width and 850 g in weight.
The Blouse: The saree comes with an unstitched blouse piece measuring 70-90 cms. Please refer to the last product image for a snapshot of the blouse piece.
The Care: We only recommend dry-clean for all our textiles.
- All products images on our online store are of the actual products that we dispatch. The products are shot inside our premises with utmost care, keeping their freshness intact.
- Most buyers find our products even more pretty than the images. We do not add any filters or color boost to our images. However when buying any textile online, please note that there can be some color difference from the images due to variations in how cameras read colors vis-a-vis human eye, your screen's luminance, hue, and saturation settings, and also the lighting conditions when viewing the physical product.
We ship to most cities in India and to major countries worldwide.
- All our products are stocked in our own warehouse in Benares & are ready to ship.
- All ready to ship products are shipped within 2 business days. Kindly allow a couple of business days more for Orders with fall picot & tassels, or other additional services.
- We use Blue Dart for shipping within India, and DHL for overseas shipments. Pincodes where Bluedart service is not available, we use Speed Post.
- We will email you a shipping notification with the tracking information when the order is shipped. Please ensure to provide correct email while placing the order.
- Once shipped, it usually takes 3-5 business days to deliver to most major cities in India and 5-12 business days to other cities depending on logistics availability.
- International shipments usually take 4-8 business days to deliver if paid shipping option is selected.
- Please note that while we try to process and deliver the orders asap, we do not offer guaranteed delivery time. We depend on logistics service providers, like DHL, Blue Dart for deliveries. Delay in deliveries due to regulatory norms, customs clearances, natural calamities or logistical reasons will not be eligible for a return/refund claim. Incase you need time-bound delivery, please do check with us before placing the order.
- Free shipping is available within India on prepaid orders above Rs 10,000.
- For COD orders, a nominal COD fee is applicable based on value of goods.
- FLAT SHIPPING offer is available to select countries where you pay fixed shipping of Rs 2500 on orders above Rs 25000, irrespective of number of items.
- Any duties, or other fees like ODA (Outside Delivery Area) on international shipments, if applied by DHL, custom officials in India, or any country of transit or destination, are to be borne by the buyer. They are not included in the shipping charges displayed on checkout while placing the order.
Manufacturer: HolyWeaves, Kashi Anathalaya Bldg, Maldahiya, Varanasi 221001
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Inclusive of all taxes in India


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Tony Awards To Head Back To Radio City Music Hall
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Tony Awards are going back to the place where the Rockettes high-kick it.
The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, joint producers of the show that honors the best of Broadway, said Monday that the glittery event will be broadcast live by CBS from Radio City Music Hall on June 9.
Producers of the show were forced to find a new home for the 2011 event after Cirque du Soleil moved into the 6,000-seat Rockefeller Center arena with its $50 million acrobatic rock opera "Zarkana.'' The Tonys had been hosted at Radio City from 1997-2010.
For the past two years, the Tonys were handed out at the Beacon Theater on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The venue was much smaller, having only about 2,870 seats, leading to ticket-rationing and a struggle to seat the often large amount of show producers.
The decision to return to Radio City, where the Grammy Awards, MTV Video Music Awards and the ESPY Awards have previously been hosted, was made easier when "Zarkana'' left after the summer.
The Tonys, which consistently win Emmys for their presentation, began being televised in 1967 and a different Broadway theater - the biggest, the Gershwin Theatre, has about 1,900 seats -- rotated as host each year. Producers often just added a glittery drop and brought in a few props.
That all changed when Radio City became the home for the telecast, giving producers access to a massive arena that had a stage bigger than any Broadway house and space to grow into an annual spectacle.
Last year's telecast at the intimate Beacon, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris and which saw "Once'' crowned as best musical, was seen by 6 million viewers, down significantly from 2011's 6.9 million. It was also the second-lowest ratings for the Tony Awards since 1988, though it was up against the season finale of AMC's "Mad Men.''
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


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Learn about the science behind the current exploration of the solar system in this free class. Use principles from physics, chemistry, biology, and geology to understand the latest from Mars, comprehend the outer solar system, ponder planets outside our solar system, and search for habitability in our neighborhood and beyond. This course is generally taught at an advanced level assuming a prior knowledge of undergraduate math and physics, but the majority of the concepts and lectures can be understood without these prerequisites. The quizzes and final exam are designed to make you think critically about the material you have learned rather than to simply make you memorize facts. The class is expected to be challenging but rewarding.
Price: Enroll For Free!
Language: English
Subtitles: English, French
TUN Helps Students!
Copyright, 2024 – TUN, Inc


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We are going to ask you to fill an interactive form that is intended to be easy to fill out for anyone.Please, be as precise as you can. Your report is important, it alerts us to potentially scientifically significant events that occur, and contributes to the general database of knowledge about meteors.You will have the opportunity to give us all the details about your sighting experience at the end of the form.
If you encounter technically difficulties, please click the Help links or try the simplified version of the form.
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About the Theraputty® and Puttycise® brands
Theraputty® hand exercise material has been used by therapists to develop and maintain grip strength since the 1980s. Many of you who have received therapy after a hand injury have probably used Theraputty® material.
Theraputty® material is manufactured in the USA and carries the CE mark for sale outside the USA.
CanDo® Theraputty® hand exercise material is the standard in resistive hand exercise material. Each color-coded putty has a different consistency ranging from xx-soft for strengthening the weakest grasp to extra-firm for developing a stronger grip. Available in convenient easy-to-open plastic containers (2, 3, 4 and 6 ounce) for individual patients to use at home and a choice of larger containers (1 and 5 pound) for the hospital or clinic. CanDo® Theraputty® material is gluten, latex and casein free
XX-Soft (Tan), X-Soft (Yellow), Soft (Red), Medium (Green), Firm (Blue), X-Firm (Black)


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Norman's Best Tune-Up and Auto Repair Services
The best high-performance auto repair near Norman is easy to find. We are right around the corner at 2651 36th Ave NE. From BMW to Audi to Chevrolet we are here to help. Call us today at 405-202-4279 to schedule an appointment.
General Maintenance to Keep Your High-Performance Car in Peak Shape
If your engine sputters and misses instead of roaring it may be time for a tune-up. At Hansmeyer Diesel Performance, we give our customers this simple advice, the best way to care for your high-performance car or truck is to get a tune-up or perform general maintenance at more frequent intervals. For example, when high RPM drivers in Norman invest in regular oil changes they save hundreds of dollars by avoiding high-cost engine repairs down the road.
From high-performance foreign import cars to custom monster trucks, Hansmeyer Diesel Performance has the tools and expertise to make sure your ride runs at it's best. You can drop your car off in just minutes as we are conveniently located near you in Norman. Get honest and affordable routine service to ensure that all fluids, filters, and hoses are in optimal condition. With super fast service, you can put Hansmeyer Diesel Performance in your rearview mirror in a snap and get back in the race.
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This is FRESH AIR. Harold Ramis, who died earlier this week, was a writer, director and actor who played a key role in several of the most popular comedies of the last half-century. His list of credits includes "Animal House," "Caddyshack," "Meatballs," "Stripes," "Ghostbusters" and of course, "Groundhog Day." Our critic-at-large John Powers is a fan, and says there was more going on in Ramis' work than you might think.
JOHN POWERS, BYLINE: Back in the '90s, I was talking to a DP who'd been working on a Hollywood comedy. He told me how he'd been fussing over a lighting setup when the director politely urged him to get a move on. This scene doesn't have to be beautiful, the director told him; it has to be funny.
The director was Harold Ramis and if there's one thing he knew, it was funny. In fact, if you think of American comedies since the '70s as a muddy playground, Ramis is the guy whose big footprints are positively everywhere. As a writer, director and actor, Ramis worked with Rodney Dangerfield, the National Lampoon and Second City, whose "SCTV" was like the brainy Sherlock Holmes of skit shows to "Saturday Night Live's" plodding Dr. Watson. And then there's the roll call of zeitgeist shaping movies that virtually everyone enjoyed, from "Animal House" through "Ghostbusters" to "Groundhog Day."
Ramis had pop culture in his bones. As a kid in Chicago, he would get up early to watch TV on Saturday morning before the programming even began. One imagines that he was always dreaming of what might appear onscreen. I suspect those dreams were anarchic, for the work that made him golden in the late '70s and early '80s - including "Meatballs," "Caddyshack" and "Stripes" - was freewheeling, often scattershot comedy fueled by the joy of flouting authority.
Ramis loved to see the inmates running the asylum. He backed the outs against the ins. This meant that his perfect actor was slouchy wise ass Bill Murray, who didn't merely act against authority in the movie but like a latter day Groucho Marx, acted against the authority of the movie itself.
And because Ramis preferred showing off the individual brilliance of comic actors to making finely crafted work, he helped Murray do his thing - as he did with Robin Williams, Chevy Chase and many others. Ramis' comic vision helped spawn everything from Steve Martin's clueless jerks to Judd Apatow's scabrous dialogue, to the genial silliness of Will Ferrell's "Anchorman" pictures.
Ramis was the master of the smart dumb movie, which he could only make because he was actually one of the smartest guys around. He could fence, speak Greek, joke about Trotsky, and do the ritual drumming he learned attending Robert Bly's men's groups. He was always more serious than people originally supposed.
The great turning point for both was their 1993 "Groundhog Day," perhaps the greatest comedy of our era, which is casually steeped in philosophical notions from Buddhism and Frederick Nietzsche. Focused, not scattershot, it's about an acerbic, self-absorbed weatherman who relives the same day over and over until he gradually learns to see and care about other people. Here, Murray's in a diner with his producer, played by Andie MacDowell; proving to her that he has a god-like knowledge of everyone and everything that's going on.
BILL MURRAY: (As Phil) This is Doris. Her brother-in-law Carl owns this diner. She's worked here since she was 17. More than anything else in her life, she wants to see Paris before she dies.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (As Doris) Oh, boy, would I.
ANDIE MACDOWELL: (As Rita) What are you doing?
MURRAY: (As Phil) This is Debbie Kliser and her fiancee, Fred.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (As Debbie) Do I know you?
MURRAY: (As Phil) They're supposed to be getting married this afternoon, but Debbie is having second thoughts.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As Fred) What?
MACDOWELL: (As Rita) Lovely ring.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (As Debbie) Thanks.
MURRAY: (As Phil) This is Bill. He's been a waiter for three years since he left Penn State and had to get work. He likes the town, he paints toy soldiers, and he's gay.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As Bill) I am.
MURRAY: (As Phil) This is Gus. He hates his life here. He wishes he'd stayed in the Navy.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As Gus) Well, I could've retired on half pay after 20 years.
MACDOWELL: (As Rita) Excuse me. Is this some kind of trick?
MURRAY: (As Phil) Well, maybe the real god uses tricks. You know, maybe he's not omnipotent, he's just been around so long he knows everything.
MACDOWELL: (As Rita) Oh, OK. Well, who's that?
MURRAY: (As Phil) This is Tom. He worked in the coal mine till they closed it down.
MACDOWELL: (As Rita) And her?
MURRAY: (As Phil) That's Alice. She came over here from Ireland when she was a baby. She lived in Erie most of her life.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (As Alice) (Laughing) He's right.
MACDOWELL: (As Rita) And her?
MURRAY: (As Phil) Nancy. She works in the dress shop, and makes noises like a chipmunk when she gets real excited.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (As Nancy) Hey!
MURRAY: (As Phil) It's true.
MACDOWELL: (As Rita) How do you know these people?
MURRAY: (As Phil) I told you, I know everything. In about five seconds, a waiter's going to drop a tray of dishes. Five, four, three...
MACDOWELL: (As Rita) This is nuts.
MURRAY: (As Phil) ...two, one.
MURRAY: (As Phil) OK?
MACDOWELL: (As Rita) OK. That's enough.
POWERS: Ramis followed up "Groundhog Day" with two sadly underrated films, "Stuart Saves His Family" and "Multiplicity," which are also carefully conceived works about trying to be a good man. They didn't click with an audience that increasingly didn't go to comedies for lessons in how to be decent. They preferred the dumb part of smart dumb.
Then again, even his early successes had been tinged with ambiguous significance. Although Ramis was steeped in the left-leaning '60s - he even dreamed of making a movie about the anarchist Emma Goldman - his comedy offered no resistance to the grand cultural transformation of the Reagan era, when gleefully bashing elites became a conservative style more than a liberal one. Like it or not, there's a lot of Ramis' DNA in Rush Limbaugh.
It must also be added that Ramis, who once worked as a jokes editor for Playboy, wasn't exactly great at putting the opposite sex onscreen. On the contrary, his hits were precisely the ones whose success had the unintended consequence of shrinking funny women's place in screen comedy, which largely turned into an animal house.
But I don't want to chide Ramis for what happened in the culture during his glory years. I'm here to praise him for making me enormously happy. Like a favorite uncle who perks up the family reunion by spiking the punch, Harold Ramis was one of those entertainment giants who may not seem like a great artist in any traditional sense, but whose work means far more to people than the beautiful achievements of his supposed betters. I don't know about you, but I'd rather watch "Groundhog Day" again than almost any Oscar winner you can name.
DAVIES: John Powers is film and TV critic for Vogue and Vogue.com. Harold Ramis died Monday. He was 69. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Air Duct Cleaning Miami
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We are the best air duct cleaning company Miami, FL. Our team is made up of highly-trained and experienced professionals that can provide high-quality services for reasonable prices. We know that you have many options when it comes time to hire an air conditioning company, so we strive to provide our clients with the best work.
Miami, officially the City of Miami, is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the much larger Miami metropolitan area, which, with a population of 6.14 million, is the second-largest metropolitan area in the Southeast after Atlanta, and the ninth-largest in the United States. With a population of 442,241 as of the 2020 census, Miami is the second-most populous city in Florida after Jacksonville. Miami has the third-largest skyline in the U.S. with over 300 high-rises, 61 of which exceed 491 ft (150 m). Miami is a major center and leader in finance, commerce, culture, arts, and international trade.


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Jobless Claims Jump Up By 24,000
The number of people filing first-time claims for unemployment insurance rose by 24,000 last week from the week before, the Employment and Training Administration reports. There were 399,000 such claims.
Also, "the 4-week moving average was 381,750, an increase of 7,750 from the previous week's revised average of 374,000," the agency says.
As The Associated Press reports, the increase "followed three months of steady declines that brought applications to the lowest level in more than three years."
Some of the rise was to be expected, AP adds:
"Applications typically soar in the first two weeks of the year. That's because companies are letting go of temporary workers brought on to help during the holidays. The department attempts to adjust for those patterns, but the data can be volatile."
In other economic news, the Census Bureau reports that retail sales rose 0.1 percent in December from November, but ended the year up 7.7 percent from December 2010.


text: Bobby is the self-deprecating host of The Bobby Bones Show and The Country Top 30 Weekend Countdown, but this true Arkansas boy has a lot more going on than just doing radio from 5a-10a every weekday (which really is already a full-time job).He (literally) doesn't sleep at night, but during the day he moonlights as a New York Times Best Selling Author for his first book, Bare Bones: I'm Not Lonely If You're Reading This Book. He's also one-half of the comedy duo The Raging Idiots (with Producer Eddie), where they have raised MILLIONS. Yup, MILLIONS for charity and racked up a couple milestones of their own: No. 1 Comedy Album and Top 5 Country Album for The Critics Give It 5 Stars.Oh, thought that was it? Nope. He's also going on his first ever stand up comedy tour – Funny and Alone. And somehow he finds time to tweet typos daily, post like 15 instagram posts, snapchat the most ridiculous things and cuddle his dog, Dusty.


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Lance Armstrong ready for 'no-holds barred' interview with Oprah
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Days of preparation dwindled to hours for Lance Armstrong whose scheduled interview with Oprah Winfrey transformed his quiet upscale neighborhood into a destination for media...
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Days of preparation dwindled to hours for Lance Armstrong whose scheduled interview with Oprah Winfrey transformed his quiet upscale neighborhood into a destination for media waiting for word of an apology and onlookers snapping pictures of it all for souvenirs.
After more than a decade of denying that he doped to win the Tour de France seven times, Armstrong was set to sit down Monday for what has been trumpeted as a "no-holds barred," 90-minute, question-and-answer session with Winfrey.
The cyclist will make a limited confession about his role as the head of a long-running scheme to dominate the prestigious bike race with the aid of performance-enhancing drugs, a person with knowledge of the situation has told The Associated Press.
Winfrey and her crew said they would film the interview at Armstrong's home and broadcast it Thursday on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Local and international news crews were staking out positions in front of Armstrong's Spanish-style villa. News crews began arriving before dawn, hoping to catch a glimpse of Winfrey or Armstrong.
If he was feeling any pressure, Armstrong hardly showed it during a jog under bright skies Sunday, even as members of his legal team began arriving one-by-one at his home.
"I'm calm, I'm at ease and ready to speak candidly," he told the AP, but declined to reveal how he would answer questions about the scandal that has shadowed his career like an angry storm cloud.
Armstrong was stripped of all seven Tour titles last year following a voluminous U.S. Anti-Doping Agency report that portrayed him as a ruthless competitor, willing to go to any lengths to win the prestigious race. USADA chief executive Travis Tygart labeled the doping regimen allegedly carried out by the U.S. Postal Service team that Armstrong once led, "The most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen."
Yet Armstrong looked like just another runner getting in his roadwork when he talked to the AP, wearing a red jersey and black shorts, sunglasses and a white baseball cap pulled down to his eyes. Leaning into a reporter's car on the shoulder of a busy Austin road, he seemed unfazed by the attention and the news crews that made stops at his home. He cracked a few jokes about all the reporters vying for his attention, then added, "but now I want to finish my run," and took off down the road.
The interview with Winfrey will be Armstrong's first public response to the USADA report. Armstrong is not expected to provide a detailed account about his involvement, nor address in depth many of the specific allegations in the more than 1,000-page USADA report.
In a text to the AP on Saturday, Armstrong said: "I told her (Winfrey) to go wherever she wants and I'll answer the questions directly, honestly and candidly. That's all I can say."
After a federal investigation of the cyclist was dropped without charges being brought last year, USADA stepped in with an investigation of its own. The agency deposed 11 former teammates and accused Armstrong of masterminding a complex and brazen drug program that included steroids, blood boosters and a range of other performance-enhancers.
After he was stripped of his Tour titles, Armstrong defiantly tweeted a picture of himself on a couch at home with all seven of the yellow leader's jerseys on display in frames behind him. But the preponderance of evidence in the USADA report and pending legal challenges on several fronts apparently forced him to change tactics, and he still faces legal challenges.
Former teammate Floyd Landis, who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title for doping, has filed a federal whistle-blower lawsuit that accused Armstrong of defrauding the U.S. Postal Service. The Justice Department has yet to decide whether it will join the suit as a plaintiff.
The London-based Sunday Times also is suing Armstrong to recover about $500,000 it paid him to settle a libel lawsuit. On Sunday, the newspaper took out a full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune, offering Winfrey suggestions for what questions to ask Armstrong. Dallas-based SCA Promotions, which tried to deny Armstrong a promised bonus for a Tour de France win, has threatened to bring yet another lawsuit seeking to recover more than $7.5 million an arbitration panel awarded the cyclist in that dispute.
The lawsuit most likely to be influenced by a confession might be the Sunday Times case. Potential perjury charges stemming from Armstrong's sworn testimony in the 2005 arbitration fight would not apply because of the statute of limitations. Armstrong was not deposed during the federal investigation that was closed last year.
Many of his sponsors dropped Armstrong after the damning USADA report — at the cost of tens of millions of dollars — and soon after, he left the board of the Livestrong cancer-fighting charity he founded in 1997. Armstrong is still said to be worth about $100 million.
Livestrong might be one reason Armstrong has decided to come forward with an apology and limited confession. The charity supports cancer patients and still faces an image problem because of its association with Armstrong. He also may be hoping a confession would allow him to return to competition in the elite triathlon or running events he participated in after his cycling career.
World Anti-Doping Code rules state his lifetime ban cannot be reduced to less than eight years. WADA and U.S. Anti-Doping officials could agree to reduce the ban further depending on what information Armstrong provides and his level of cooperation.
AP Sports Columnist Jim Litke contributed to this report.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.


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Chris Brown -- Secret Service Could Save Him from Prison
Chris Brown Secret Service Could Save Him From Prison
The Secret Service -- charged with protecting the President of the United States -- could end up protecting Chris Brown from being sent to prison ... TMZ has learned.
Here's what we know. According to official D.C. documents -- obtained by TMZ -- a witness to the fight early Sunday morning told cops he heard the alleged victim tell a D.C. cop Brown NEVER HIT HIM.
The cop later DENIED ever even speaking with the witness in question. But get this. A Secret Service agent -- who was on duty and in uniform patrolling the streets near the White House -- made contact with D.C. police and told them he happened to be around when the victim told the cop Chris never struck him. The agent says he absolutely heard the victim's admission to the cop that Chris never struck him.
This is doubly helpful for Chris. The Secret Service agent's testimony could destroy the credibility of the alleged victim and cause prosecutors to drop the misdemeanor assault case.
It could also save Chris from the more serious probation revocation in the Rihanna case -- and remember, if the judge revokes Brown's probation, he could go to prison for 4 years.
Your tax dollars at work.


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Milk - 3 tbsp
Large Eggs - 3
Vanilla - 1.5 tsp
Sifted Cake Flour - 1.5 cups
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Baking Powder - 3/4 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Unsalted Butter - 13 tbsp, softened
- Preheat your oven to 350 F. Butter an 8 inch by 4 by 2.5 inch loaf pan, or any six cup loaf or fluted tube pan.
- Lightly whisk together milk, eggs and vanilla in a medium bowl.
- Place dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix on low speed for 30 seconds, until blended. Add the butter and half the egg mixture, and mix until dry ingredients are moistened. On medium speed, beat for one minute. This will aerate and develop the cake's structure. Scrape down sides.
- Add the remaining egg mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds between each addition. Scrape down sides.
- Pour batter into prepared pan. Smooth surface with a spatula. Bake for 55-65 minutes (35-45 minutes if baking in a fluted tube pan), until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cake cool on a rack in the pan for 10 minuets before inverting onto a greased wire rack. If using a loaf pan, flip the cake over so the top is up.
For making Cake flour at home - Take one cup of all purpose flour and remove 2 tbsp from it.Replace the 2 tbsp flour with cornflour and sift together 2-3 times.Cake flour is ready to use.
Enjoy it warm or at room temperature with your morning or evening tea/coffee or even as a dessert with some ice cream or any sauces you prefer. We enjoyed it with some warm butter as snack :)
That's all for now. Take care till next.


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The exploding number of brands, channels, and distinct customer segments means that many companies must now juggle hundreds of thousands—in some cases, millions—of price points while seeking to maintain consistent pricing strategies and communications across an ever-increasing number of products and outlets. For a broad variety of manufacturers that sell to consumers and businesses alike, this proliferation has made pricing more difficult but the rewards for managing it well much greater.
The proliferation of channels and the microsegmentation of customers have driven the typical consumer packaged goods (CPG) company to create new brands and stock-keeping units (SKUs) as it attempts to limit channel conflict, address unmet needs, and reach for underserved consumption occasions. In extreme cases, some CPG manufacturers with a number of brands and SKUs—selling through various channels at both regular and promotional prices across different geographies—have tried to manage as many as 20 million individual price points each year. In food service, where prices might move on a daily or weekly basis, each transaction may carry a unique price point, elevating the number of pricing decisions to more than 100 million. And sheer transaction volumes aren't the only issue. The introduction of new discount, rebate, and trade allowance categories, combined with customer-specific trade terms negotiated by powerful retailers, has driven down the number of "standard" transactions, further complicating price management.
The environment of business-to-business companies is no less thorny. A leading manufacturer of lighting equipment, for example, manages more than 450,000 SKUs across ten major brands as it tries to meet local market preferences and remain nimble in the face of increasing domestic and overseas competition. Direct-sales representatives, key-account-management teams, and third-party agents sell these products to contractors, local distributors, distribution chains, consortia of small distributors and retailers, and, not least, large home center chains. With more than three million pricing opportunities annually, the challenge of making the right pricing decision every time is enormous.
Traditional models for managing prices are clearly inadequate for these and many other situations. Distributed responsibility for pricing decisions across functions and geographies leaves no one managing the total price-profit-volume equation. Without a common process for making pricing decisions across different brands and channels, as well as a common set of data to support these decisions and monitor performance, pricing becomes unmanageable. The results are inevitable: pricing performance varies enormously among business units, channel conflicts lead major customers to demand price protection, and brand managers compete among themselves for the same consumers and shelf space.
In light of these issues, this chapter doesn't focus on strategies, tactics, or tools for setting prices. Instead, it explores the new operating model many companies need to realize the full potential of today's state-of-the-art approaches to analyzing and improving pricing performance.1 The model has three characteristics: better visibility into pricing performance and clearer performance standards; a common system for pricing across brands, channels, and segments; and organizational balance, with a central pricing group that integrates the model throughout the company but doesn't make every decision. In many cases, the model will require substantial changes in the way companies make daily pricing decisions, as well as changes to systems, organizational roles and responsibilities, performance metrics, and incentives. Making these changes stick calls for real dedication and, frequently, a new performance culture focused on pricing.
Visibility into the performance of pricing
For many companies, generating even simple bottom-line price and margin reports for individual customers or SKUs is a monumental task exacerbated by the proliferation of brands, channels, and segments. Companies frequently find themselves with a variety of systems that capture key pricing data. Integrating the data is difficult and time consuming—and therefore rarely done. With so little information available centrally, it isn't surprising that sales forces have even less information when it is most critical—at the point of negotiation. Few companies have tools to help the frontline sales force manage or improve pricing.
This lack of visibility increases the likelihood of wide variations in price points for similar products across disparate channels and customer segments. What's more, the level of discount offered usually isn't related to the size or importance of individual customers, as might be assumed, and raises the risk of channel conflict and arbitrage. In industries ranging from CPG to building products to commodity chemicals, examples abound of very small customers receiving huge discounts and, invariably, of companies serving unprofitable customers. In some cases, the variation among accounts is so significant that companies fear that imposing greater order and structure on frontline pricing could disrupt their business.
Given the importance of incorporating clear information as well as the growing need to bring pricing decisions closer to customers, an integrated database and frontline tools for pricing are essential ingredients of success. Unfortunately, despite the increased sophistication of pricing software, companies still have great difficulty extracting the insights they need to improve their performance in this area. The information required to develop these insights—product volumes, list prices, promotional spending, trade allowances, payment terms, and data on the cost of products, for example—typically resides in a broad array of isolated systems run by finance, sales, logistics, and customer service. At the lighting company mentioned earlier, for instance, managers had to pull data from more than 35 sources to develop a comprehensive profit-and-loss statement for products and customers.
Since compiling and integrating so much disjointed information is a daunting and time-consuming task, it's not surprising that many businesses lack even the most basic insights into profitability at the more granular levels. This failure can prevent the best companies from optimizing their pricing and discount levels. How can you manage pricing when you can't compare net prices across markets or don't know whether a particular price level will leave you with a profit or a loss? Since a 1 percent shift in overall prices can affect profits disproportionately, rules of thumb and gut instinct aren't sufficiently reliable for fine-tuning prices.
Creating transparency
The answer is to combine a laserlike focus on the most important information needed to make pricing decisions with a simple process that integrates this information so that salespeople can use it. One leading beverage company regularly captures and synthesizes accurate field pricing data, including prices, promotions, and shipments at the retail level. This company also enlists its vast field sales forces to calibrate pricing on a market-by-market basis.
By methodically capturing information in a pricing database and support tool, a company creates a consistent set of data to guide its decisions and measure their impact. Both aspects are vital, since visibility and accountability go hand in hand. A Fortune 500 building-products manufacturer, for example, saw that the amounts paid by customers receiving its highest and lowest prices varied by more than 40 percent, even though its products were largely considered commodities. This company faced a common problem: a strong traditional focus on volumes combined with scant pricing data meant that the sales force drove down prices to win deals. Once the company installed a relatively simple software package to integrate its pricing data, it could institute a compensation structure that rewarded gross margin dollars and percentages (in addition to volumes), thereby improving the alignment between the incentives of the sales force and corporate profitability.
After creating visibility, a company must bring this information to bear on decisions. Consider, for example, the very large distribution company that designed a new process its sales reps could use in making on-the-spot pricing decisions. This process not only used discount guidelines that varied by account type, product type, deal size, and geography but also provided for decentralized—though consistent—decisions. To work, however, pricing guidelines for the company's 30,000 products had to be easily accessible to more than 1,000 salespeople. The answer was a relatively simple frontline pricing tool that showed sales reps the range of their pricing authority and displayed historical pricing for the customer at hand as well as recent pricing for comparable accounts.
The pricing tool, supporting interactions between the frontline force and the central pricing group, was a critical link in the new process. When-ever sales reps wanted discounts outside these guidelines, the tool alerted these individuals to forward the deal to the central organization for evaluation. Discounts beyond the guidelines were rarely approved, and competitive pricing data played a key role in evaluating these requests. By centralizing the decision-making process for exceptional cases, the organization minimized unnecessary discounting and reduced the frequency of frontline pricing disparities—including those among separate locations of large national customers—for highly visible SKUs.
Understanding trade spending
Software that makes the impact of trade spending more visible can also improve the performance of pricing. Many CPG manufacturers annually manage hundreds of thousands of individual promotional events or other initiatives across a wide range of retailers, brands, and SKUs. The return on these investments varies a good deal. Usually, it is correlated with some combination of promotional price, duration, frequency, the use of point-of-sale displays and features, geography, customer, product, and time of year. Combining internal shipment and trade-spending information with syndicated store data linked to each event is tedious and time consuming. As a result, most CPG companies measure the performance of only a very small percentage of their events, and even these efforts are inconsistent, since they vary from account manager to account manager.
Some leading packaged goods companies, by contrast, have made the return on their promotional investments a key component of the pricing system. To examine more events, these companies have deployed promotion analysis tools that provide regular and consistent measures of the way events perform. Such tools give the frontline staff immediate feedback that guides future investments. The companies can also review and synthesize their events centrally, which helps them to develop better overall promotional strategies and to allocate funds across brands, channels, and customer segments more effectively.
Institutionalizing core pricing processes
If a lack of visibility makes it difficult to monitor and enforce good pricing, inconsistent processes across an organization further complicate the execution of pricing. As the products and channels of companies become more complex, each silo within an organization develops its own approach to making important pricing decisions, such as pricing new products, negotiating the pricing of deals, and managing trade funds. Without consistency across the organization, a company can't leverage best practices, shift and promote talented workers effectively, or present a uniform image to customers who make purchases in a number of product categories, often from different salespeople.
To ensure consistency across silos over time, it is critical to identify and standardize the two or three most important pricing processes and to institutionalize them across the business. By formally establishing a consistent set of core pricing processes, companies can deploy best practices and process improvements more quickly and make key pricing and promotion decisions more transparent. Other benefits include predictable planning cycles, standardized communications to key retail and distribution partners, and a system of internal checks and balances to avoid poor decisions and potentially illegal pricing actions.
The process problem
The pricing of new products offers a clear example of the challenges generated by the traditional disarray and shows how an embedded pricing process can address them. New brands, products, and packaging have proliferated as companies respond to changing consumer tastes and shifting retail dynamics. Such companies commonly introduce their new products at price points near those of their existing ones, thus cannibalizing the portfolio. Instead of increasing their market share, they divide it among a larger number of SKUs, each competing for the same shelf space, consumer acceptance, and internal resources. Ironically, considering how critical these decisions are, companies often set prices for new products on an ad hoc basis just before they hit the market, with limited or no pricing research to support them.
Manufacturers selling to businesses face an equally profound problem, which frequently stems from introducing new versions of products without effectively retiring the older ones. The net effect is increased inventory costs, greater management complexity, and declining production efficiency. A major medical-device manufacturer's experience shows some of the problems. This company faced very short product cycles, usually lasting 12 to 18 months. Whenever it launched new versions of a product, it aimed to shift 80 percent of the sales volume to them within 6 months. Yet the company also continued to sell older versions and allowed the sales force to offer deeper discounts to make them attractive to interested customers. These price cuts encouraged such customers to stay with older products. In addition, the company risked dragging down the price of new products, since such heavy discounting could have tarnished the value perception of an entire line. Despite annual R&D investments of hundreds of millions of dollars, the average price for every product line the company offered was declining each year.
Creating consistency
Companies can respond to these challenges by institutionalizing a pricing process for their new products as part of the pricing system. A leading consumer electronics company showed how this can be done in the face of common obstacles. The company sold a range of products targeted at different customer segments that frequently overlapped. Further complicating the picture, each product group had its own manager and its own approach to product pricing, and there was relatively little interaction among silos. To create consistency across the entire organization, the company established a new process—used by all product-management teams—based on four core principles:
Pricing must play a role early in the product-development cycle, and any new product must either address a portfolio's gaps (such as price point gaps or underserved segments and channels) or explicitly replace an existing product.
New-product introductions represent opportunities to increase prices overall.
Whenever possible, product managers must commission research on consumers to understand their price sensitivity and the perceived value of a product relative to competing alternatives.
Plans to introduce any replacement product must include a clear strategy for the end-of-life management of the existing one.
These four principles became the centerpiece of a clear process the company could repeat again and again to manage the pricing of new products throughout its portfolio. The process led not only to better pricing decisions for individual products but also to a more cohesive product portfolio, with fewer conflicts and less redundancy.
Pricing new products is just one example of the kind of core pricing processes that companies can standardize across their operating silos. Each company should identify the two or three most critical pricing decisions it faces and focus its efforts on institutionalizing the processes needed to make them. By concentrating investments in process design, training, and support systems on relatively few pricing processes, companies can build capabilities that truly differentiate them from their competitors.
Striking an organizational balance
As companies try to make their pricing performance more visible and to institutionalize core pricing processes, the question of who manages and maintains the infrastructure becomes increasingly important. If most pricing decisions remain decentralized, who makes sure that strategy and tactics are integrated across brands, channels, and segments? Who maintains the central pricing database and mines that data to create reports and identify pricing opportunities? Who trains the organization's people in the elements of the pricing system? Leading companies have answered these questions by creating a central pricing organization—a center of pricing excellence—that maintains basic systems and functions and can collaborate with the rest of the company (exhibit).
Integrating pricing strategies
To be effective, the pricing organization must be led by a full-time manager who is well respected within the company and has strong interpersonal skills, since the role involves frequent work with sales, marketing, finance, customer service, and operations. While the organization needn't be large to be effective, it must have the ability to perform several key functions. First, it should mine the database and produce regular reports for top managers. Second, the group must collect and synthesize pricing intelligence, which may include consumer research, market studies, and publicly available information about competitors. It may also weigh exceptional discounting requests from frontline sales reps and make recommendations or even final decisions. Last, the organization could be charged with identifying pricing opportunities and leading cross-functional teams to capture them. Whatever its responsibilities, its roles and objectives must be defined clearly.
Collaborating while selectively centralizing
A close look at a case involving a leading consumer electronics manufacturer highlights several key roles for a central pricing group. This company, a leader in a nascent but rapidly growing product category, has fewer than a dozen major products on the market. All have a very short life cycle, and prices can vary widely depending on the sales channel. Each product once had separate managers, as did each of the company's three major channels: distribution, retail, and key accounts. Product managers were responsible for managing the price level and trajectory of their products, and channel managers had relatively unfettered authority to discount products to their customers. The results were predictable: unclear product positioning, cannibalization, significant price variations for individual SKUs, internal tension between sales and product management, and margins that contracted quickly as products matured and were discounted in channels.
To begin addressing these issues, the company created a pricing organization staffed by a pricing leader and two pricing analysts. The organization's first job was to craft an overall pricing strategy to guide the positioning of the company's products relative to competitive offerings. Next, the organization worked with the consumer insights group to commission external market research, which could be repeated annually, on the entire product portfolio. Of particular importance was the development of price elasticities and cross-elasticities for each product.
After developing this data, the pricing group worked with the product managers to reset prices for the company's entire line. That repositioning alone increased the company's operating margin by more than 20 percent. Then the pricing group took the new price list and developed a set of guidelines and a consistent process for discounting across all channels. In addition, the group developed a set of standard reports that provided the sales force and management with feedback on overall pricing trends, the attainment of prices for each major market and region, competitive pricing dynamics, and the performance of individual products. The net result was a more cohesive and coherent approach to pricing, from top-line strategy to frontline execution.
Coordinating action through a pricing council
More and more, companies are supplementing the pricing organization with a cross-functional pricing council, typically chaired by the pricing leader and including executives from brand, product, sales, and channel management and from customer service, finance, and operations. Meeting every month or two, such a council serves as a central clearinghouse for pricing issues. Among other things, it resolves conflicts across sales and operational silos, refines and coordinates strategy for pricing, reviews the performance of pricing, and responds to major competitive moves. It also identifies broad pricing opportunities—such as across-the-board price increases or the repositioning of the whole portfolio—that cut across multiple brands or channels.
Opportunities to capture value by differentiating prices across proliferating brands, regions, channels, and SKUs are too large to ignore, while the costs of neglecting these opportunities or of trying to address them with piecemeal efforts are substantial. With a new model for price management, companies serving consumers and businesses alike can enhance the role of pricing as a strategic and tactical lever for creating value.


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Older comments
i'd love to try essie handle with flair
by AstridB Wednesday, March 20, 2013 at 12:38PM Report as inappropriate
I like a lot of these colors. Just wish some lighter ones had been included.
by NillaButterfly Sunday, December 23, 2012 at 04:11PM Report as inappropriate
These colors look like fall, where are the spring colors?!
by odie Monday, April 23, 2012 at 08:51PM Report as inappropriate
I like the light and sheer shades
by LittleBunny Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 11:12AM Report as inappropriate
Dark shades are my favorite
by eatinglipstick Tuesday, April 3, 2012 at 07:57PM Report as inappropriate
I am loving the bright coral trend right now.
by beautybody Thursday, March 29, 2012 at 11:38AM Report as inappropriate
Looks like dark shades are definitely in.
by Nicole1021 Monday, March 26, 2012 at 03:25PM Report as inappropriate
I'm not sure this is a current article (original publication dates would be helpful for trend-themed articles like this), but it was still fun to look at.
by tallredamanda Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 07:01AM Report as inappropriate