text:
The voice on the other end of the phone, spiky with trans-Atlantic static, told Iiyah that if the curse were lifted, one day she'd be worshiped like a god. The key step now was to build a temple in Egypt that would clear out the dark energy.
Sitting in her bedroom in Luton, 30 miles north of London, Iiyah, 27, was getting used to such advice. In the four months she'd been swapping calls with the American psychic she knew as Sienna Miller, news flashes from the spirit realm had been reliably weird. But deity status didn't sound too bad.
"Bloody hell, who wouldn't want something like that? It was like a dream come true," she says today. "You're going to be like a god? It was going to be an end of all my suffering."
Iiyah, born in Bangladesh but raised in England, was a pretty, moon-faced accountant living a steady middle-class existence until the summer of 2006. In swift succession, she lost her job, and her four-year marriage snapped. She and her soon-to-be ex still shared the same house. Their fighting was constant. The only guy Iiyah felt tugging at her heart already had a girlfriend. She also felt lingering sadness from the still-unexplained death of her father when she was 13. "I was just stuck," she recalls. "I was scared as well. I didn't want the rest of my life to carry on as it was."
One day, she happened upon a website — 1masterpsychic.com — that promised a free reading from a psychic. "Will you revitalise your love life? Change your job or get a promotion? How will your finances grow and develop?" the crudely designed page asked. Iiyah dialed the 888-number.
Miller "said that me and [my crush], we were soulmates, and we were really meant to be," Iiyah explains. "It was really rare." But the psychic also sensed negative energy. She'd need $200 to scout the ether for an answer. Iiyah wired the money.
Miller reported that in a past life, Iiyah had killed a woman to be with her soulmate. The woman retaliated with a curse that kept the lovers apart in future lives and also blocked Iiyah from realizing her full potential. Only serious work could lift the spell.
So began a three-year ordeal. The lonely English woman funneled funds to Miller to pay for candles, quartz crystals, oils, and figurines. She remortgaged her house, took out loans, and borrowed from family. The money was wired to Miller's "assistants" in Hollywood, Florida.
Every time cash vanished from her accounts, Iiyah felt bad. But weekly phone conversations with Miller propped her up. When Iiyah fought with her family, Miller attributed it to "a manifestation of dark energy." If she complained about money, Miller said that in the future, she'd make more than she knew what to do with. Like a one-woman cheering section, the psychic constantly promised that a grander life was coming.
By mid-2009, Iiyah was dry. After she stopped paying, the waits between phone calls stretched. It was like the end of a long romance, death by small, painful degrees. "I just want to tell you that I am still here working for you and I have been kept away and only able to speak with the spirits," Miller wrote in a final kiss-off email. "Please stay strong and keep faith."
Then, radio silence. Iiyah had handed over more than $140,000. "I hated myself. It was just the worst," she says today.
Iiyah's self-loathing is the standard fallout from a run-in with a psychic scammer. Armed with impressive magic acts — a modern-day fortuneteller might wield a combo of internet savvy, Eastern mysticism, and/or freaky rituals with fruit — bogus psychics tell victims they're cursed, then fleece them for money. Law enforcement sources say many such scammers are Gypsies, or American Romani, operating out of South Florida. "It's something that appeals to the culture because it's such a lucrative way to make money," says Gregory Ovanessian, a former San Francisco Police Department detective and director emeritus of the National Association of Bunco Investigators, a trade association for fraud cops. "A good fortuneteller can make $200,000 to $300,000 a year easily."
In August, Fort Lauderdale psychic Rose Marks is scheduled to go on trial in federal court for her role in a record-setting alleged $25 million fraud perpetrated against best-selling romance novelist Jude Deveraux and other clients. Besides the high-profile names involved, what really distinguishes the Marks case is that it was prosecuted at all. Fortuneteller scams happen all the time here. They just rarely see the inside of a courtroom.
Until summer 2011, the Marks family ran the Fort Lauderdale arm of its business from a charmless one-story storefront near Federal Highway and Davie Boulevard. Clients were a mix of curious entertainment-seekers and genuinely fragile people hoping to patch up emotional damage.
That August, Rose Marks and eight other members of her family were arrested in a sting dubbed "Operation Crystal Ball." Authorities allege the clan used its spiritual hold to squeeze $40 million (later discounted to $25 million) from clients. The state's key witness, Jude Deveraux — author of bestsellers such as Scarlet Nights, Days of Gold, and 35 other books that together have sold more than 60 million copies worldwide — first fell in with the family in 1991 after walking into a Marks-owned shop in Manhattan. Over 20 years, Marks leveraged Deveraux's marital problems, pregnancy fears, and grief. Large sums of money and valuables passed between the author and the psychic, all to be used in rituals to clear out curses. Deveraux allegedly lost $17 million. (Marks and Deveraux both declined to be interviewed for this article.)
The family was handed a 28-count indictment. Charges include money-laundering and mail and wire fraud. Suddenly, there was a blast of attention aimed at a culture that's survived by ducking the mainstream.
"The police officers are now looking at every Gypsy like they've got $40 million," says one local Romani elder who spoke to New Times on the condition of anonymity. "What you don't want to see is every Gypsy being a target."
Originally from northern India, the Romani, or Roma, arrived in Europe around 1100 AD. Tagged with the name "Gypsies" due to the mistaken belief that they came from Egypt, they've been a longtime target of persecution. During the Crusades, Muslims attacked them as Christians; Christians attacked them as Muslims. In the Balkans, they were enslaved. Hitler wiped out more than 1.5 million Romani during the Holocaust.
Facing constant harassment, the culture became geared toward survival at all costs — even if it meant stealing and scrapping. According to the Gypsy elder, it led to an inverted value system. Gypsy children grow up hearing a bedtime story about how in Jerusalem, a Romani boy stole the fourth nail meant to kill Jesus on the cross. "Jesus then gave the Gypsies the right to steal," explains the Roma elder. "In a Gypsy's mind, if he does some roofing or driveway work and it costs $300 but he gets $900 for it, is that criminal?" Or clever?
But there's a line, he says. Cultural codes prohibit violence, as well as bleeding a victim dry. "Take a taste. Don't swallow."
Experts peg the number of Romani in the United States at 1 million, with close to 3,000 reportedly in South Florida, mostly clustered in south Broward County. Regardless of address, the Roma have consistently stood in a cultural airlock, keeping their customs and putting those who are non-Roma — called "gadje" in the culture's language — at a suspicious distance.
According to the elder, women are penned in by a series of strict rules meant to protect their purity. They can't handle dishes or walk in front of men when they're menstruating. Children don't go to school but learn from an early age the trade plied by their family. Boys might pick up paint and body work or metal scrapping; girls, fortunetelling.
In arranged marriages, a girl's dowry is based upon how much she can earn. The groom's family wants to set up their son with a woman who can support him. Negotiations are capped during a large party where the male heads of both households toast the deal with shots of Crown Royal. Although traditionally girls were married as young as 13, today 17 is more the standard age.
The community is organized by extended families, called "vitsas." A "kumpania" is a group of "vitsas." Disputes are settled by a "kris," a secret, male-only court of elders ("rom baros") that hands out fines ("glabas").
According to police in South Florida, Rom families have been linked to a number of petty but nonviolent scams. They'll knock on residential doors posing as utility workers, then steal jewelry or money. Some Gypsies have been known to stage auto accidents to bilk insurance money. Others heist precious metals. A "sweetheart swindle" is when young women romance lonely snowbirds to siphon off their finances. "Billies" are males who pull the same move on women.
"This is organized crime," says a law enforcement source who works undercover in Miami-Dade. "They're going to tell you that that's not the case, but I'm going to tell you that they are. They are organized in the sense that they know what they're doing, they speak a language no one else knows, and they work crimes together."
Today many Romani psychics work using websites and 800 numbers. George Eli (legal name: Steve Cola), a Roma filmmaker from Connecticut — and Rose Marks' cousin — equates it with life coaching.
"The prosecutors and the newspapers are calling her a 'fortuneteller.' What's important to know is that these are American words. The designated word within the culture is 'drabarni,' " Eli says. "The word for 'medicine' in our language is 'drab.' So what Rose really does, and what you guys call 'fortunetellers,' are ancient medicine women."
Romani spirituality includes pieces of Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Islam, and Roman Catholicism. Good energy flows from God (Del), negative energy from the Devil (Beng). The latter can turn up as curses (amria) or bad omens (prikaza). Dead spirits with grudges can target the living.
Only drabarni can combat the bad vibes, through prayers, candle burning, and charms such as crystals and coral necklaces. Some in America have turned the practice into businesses.
"This is a small, small group," Eli says. "There are 12 million [Roma] in Europe, 15 million worldwide. Believe me, they're not all drabarni."
As far as the assumptions police fix on the Roma, Eli says it's the oppressive labels the culture has always fought against.
"Americans are the type of people that embrace other cultures," he says. "But as far as government and law enforcement, that's when you find the racism and prejudice, in my opinion."
Still, although police have the Roma on their radar, they hardly ever go after them. Because if clients willingly hand over their money, where is the crime?
With her eyes pinched shut, Priti Mahalanobis listened as a gong sounded near her right ear, then her left. A woman's voice chanted. Mahalanobis, 42, opened her eyes.
Peaches Stevens, in her late 20s with straw-blond hair and pouty lips, sat down across from her client in the Orlando office. With a knife, she slowly cut into a grapefruit that Mahalanobis had brought. The blade dipped into the fruit. A second perpendicular cut formed a cross shape.
As Stevens peeled the skin back, Mahalanobis gasped. Instead of juicy pink fruit, inside was a stringy black mass, like something hacked up from an animal's throat.
"The evil has made a home in your body," Stevens consoled her panicked guest. "Don't worry. I'm going to put this evil to rest."
Only a week earlier, in March 2010, Stevens had sailed into Mahalanobis' life with the junk mail. Flipping through a stack of coupons, Mahalanobis found an ad offering $20 psychic readings.
A prim, petite Indian woman with a husband and two children, she had been swirling with anxiety. Her sister was ill, her brother's marriage was ending, and the economy was threatening to sink her father's business. Mahalanobis herself was nervously preparing to cut the ribbon on her own Quiznos franchise. Stomach problems kept her in constant discomfort.
"I called the number," Mahalanobis recalls. "The appointment was for the next day."
The Meditation and Healing Center was located in a one-story house steps from the local police station. In their first meeting, a sympathetic listen was all it took to pick the lock on everything Mahalanobis had been holding in.
The psychic sensed negative energy. She said that for $200, she could hunt for answers through meditation. Mahalanobis agreed. As a Hindu, concepts of negative energy and meditation were familiar. "All her terminology was couched more to appeal to more people with Eastern belief systems and philosophies," Mahalanobis explains in retrospect.
But the recon from the other side was bad. The psychic informed Mahalanobis that before marrying her mother, Mahalanobis' father had been involved with another woman but rejected her. The scorned lady placed a curse on the family for three generations.
"It would affect us in the area of love, health, and money," Mahalanobis says. "Suddenly, it seemed to make sense."
With a master's degree in applied economics, Mahalanobis was trained to look for patterns in a mess of data. A curse sensibly wove together all the seemingly random bad news.
The curse could be proven, Stevens claimed. She told her client to go home and write the names of her extended family on a piece of paper. She would also need a $100 bill for each person and a grapefruit. That night, Mahalanobis placed her list — 11 people total — plus $1,100 in an envelope under her pillow as instructed. She put a grapefruit under her bed.
The next day, Mahalanobis was staring at the proof her family was cursed. They couldn't just toss the evil — which had been siphoned out of her body and into the grapefruit — in the dumpster. It would have to be put to rest in a golden tabernacle. The psychic could handle the work, but it would cost $19,000.
Mahalanobis hid and rationalized her actions. At the bank, pulling $1,000 in cash for the psychic, she noticed the teller counted out the bills in the shape of a cross — just as Stevens had cut the grapefruit. When Mahalanobis' side began to ache, it was just as Stevens had warned: Now that the evil had vacated her body, it would leave an emptiness. When she began to doubt Stevens, it was just the curse manifesting negative ideas.
The stress burned 20 pounds off her frame. Gray began creeping into her fine black hair. When friends asked why she looked ground up, she blamed the new business. But because she was rerouting its income to Stevens, her new Quiznos closed after only two months.
Three months in, Stevens had a revelation: Mahalanobis, not her father, was the root of the family curse. Seven lifetimes back, when she had been a man, she had caused much pain and suffering. The curse wouldn't let up now until seven golden tabernacles were constructed. This plot twist sent Mahalanobis scrambling for more money and rested new guilt on her shoulders. The karmic stain was on her.
Her life shrank to a single purpose — saving her family. She gave to protect the 11 lives that mattered most. The money couldn't leave her hands fast enough.
"What would I not give if it meant the freedom of my whole entire family?" she asks today. "At that point, if she had told me to give up my life, I probably would have done it."
One day, Mahalanobis' husband of 20 years asked why she'd spent $13,000 at a store called Zodiac Gallery. Mahalanobis cooked up a limp lie about buying herbal medicine for a sick friend. Her husband said she'd have to sell her gold jewelry to cover the debt. She'd already pawned it.
By December 2010, Mahalanobis could no longer handle the stress. On a Christmas trip to Arizona, she asked her father point-blank if he'd been with another woman before his marriage. The answer was a definite no.
The next day, she told her family about the psychic. All told, Mahalanobis had handed over more than $130,000.
Sandy Williams nudged her car off West Glades Road in Boca Raton. Atop a beige strip of storefronts housing bath and flooring companies, the word "Psychic" was written in flashy script. Inside, Williams (who asked that her real name not be used) found a tall, 40ish, olive-skinned man in a suit and tie sitting on a couch.
"Come in, love," he purred.
It was September 2012, and Williams, a black-haired divorcée in her early 60s, had recently retired from teaching. Her father had also died. Unmoored, she was contemplating a move. A psychic might help her gauge her options.
The man introduced himself as "Trinity." Williams asked the price for a reading.
Eighty dollars.
The woman climbed back into her car, drove to an ATM, then returned with cash. Trinity next told Williams she needed to fetch a white rose to disperse negative energy. Again, the woman left and went to Publix.
She wasn't back long before Trinity dispatched her to the beach to fill half a bottle with ocean water. Back at his office, the psychic mixed oil into the bottle, then instructed Williams to shower with the solution in the shop's bathroom. Williams finally declined, halting the routine. But when she got home, she brought the oil into the shower.
The pair began meeting regularly, and the older woman stepped wherever Trinity pointed, like she was on autopilot. "I was numb to all of this that was going on," she says now. "I was doing something because he commanded [me] to do it."
On one visit, he sent her to the bank to withdraw $600. The psychic separated the bills into three stacks — for the past, present, and future — then tied red ribbons around each. Because money was the root of all evil, he commanded his client to take the cash home, place it in a white pillowcase, and throw pieces of paper with written phrases such as "free me" and "release me" inside.
Next, Trinity revealed that Williams' beloved dad was trapped in purgatory. The only way to spring him was through spiritual rituals. Although Williams had grown up in the Jewish faith — which doesn't even recognize the concept of purgatory — "it was comforting to know that I was going to help with getting him out," she says now. Over the next few months, Williams says, she funneled both large-scale bundles of cash and smaller increments in the form of gift cards.
In October, the pair drove to Boca's Town Center Mall. At Mayor's Jewelry, Trinity instructed Williams to purchase a $28,900 gold Rolex watch. By sacrificing it, they'd release her father. Trinity took the purchase home, telling Williams he'd either throw it in the sea or smash it with a hammer.
Williams worried that she was shoveling her life's savings to a bizarre stranger. When in Trinity's presence, however, the psychic dialed down her anxiety, always explaining that the pair was just about to "finish the work." But in October, Trinity delivered more bad news: She had cervical cancer. They must construct a gold shield inlaid with diamonds and rubies to keep Satan at bay.
By then, Williams estimates, she'd handed over more than $70,000. By mid-November, when she walked into the Boca Raton police station to file a report, she'd given the psychic another $70 grand. Williams was left with just $1,000.
In August 2009, 19-year-old Tamara Wilson (not her real name)stepped inside her shower and poured a jug of milk over her body.
A curvy woman with a rocky sea of stylish curls, she gave off a canny, no-bullshit attitude. Still, emotional doldrums were melting her down. She was living at home with her mother. After a string of bad grades, her college was close to pulling her financial aid. A hot-and-cold relationship was causing her heartache.
Also, she was wracked with body issues, wishing for one of the runway figures she watched parade through New York's fashion world — where she hoped to work one day. But those big life goals seemed to be pulling out of reach. "I was in a dark place in my life," she says. "When you're in a vulnerable state, you see everything as a possibility."
A search-engine cruise turned up the number for a free reading at truelovepsychic.com. A soft voice on the other end identified herself as Nadine. Wilson unloaded. The psychic detected a dark presence and felt Wilson's boyfriend was cheating. Rituals could help.
A skeptical Wilson demanded to meet the psychic in person. Nadine declined but said she could instead meet with a young psychic whom she'd personally trained.
At a house in Hollywood, Wilson met Hillarie, a 17-year-old blond cheerleader type draped in designer Seven jeans and Tory Burch sandals. The younger psychic channeled Nadine.
"You should already be in New York in fashion," she reported.
Those words were like a shot of heroin. Like beauty coaches and spiritual healers combined, the psychics promised to steer Wilson to her goal.
The initial consultation cost $400. As she handed over the money, a corner of Wilson's mind barked out in protest.
"It wasn't something I was raised to believe in. I was hesitant," she says. But despite the weird window-dressing, Nadine's message echoed what Wilson had been telling herself: It's time to get your life on track. "That clicked with me."
Wilson was given strict orders. She bathed with sea salts and milk and burned sage in all the rooms of her house. Wilson emailed Hillarie images of the features she wanted: Rihanna's lips, Megan Fox's eyes. She was instructed to scatter flower petals over a white sheet, as well as cash — five $100s, four $50s, three $10s, two $5s, and a single. After wrapping herself in the sheet, she handed over the money for the psychics to cleanse.
Soon, Wilson was tapped for $900 for a set of urns. These were to be sculpted into the body she wanted. Nadine sent her to Saks, J.Crew, and Bloomingdale's; she opened credit cards to buy high-end outfits. The purchases were dropped off to Hillarie to dress the sculptured urns in the clothing. Wilson was promised the clothes back — once the work was complete. When Wilson used a Gucci purse one night before turning it over to Hillarie, Nadine angrily demanded she exchange it for an unused one.
Eventually, the psychic pair discovered that Wilson had been cursed by a Louisiana voodoo priestess hired by the current wife of an ex-boyfriend. New York, the fashion world, the body she wanted, happiness — it all depended on shaking the curse.
Wilson burned through almost $30,000. She maxed out five new credit cards, plus three she already had.
"What are you doing?" she'd plead with herself. "You don't just give people money like this."
But she was in so deep, it was hard to hit reverse. It would mean admitting she'd been gullible enough to step into the trap. "[Psychics] have you do the most embarrassing things," she explains, "because, then, are you really going to tell people about it?"
When the Rose Marks case heads to trial this August, the family matriarch will stand alone. All nine codefendants in her federal case have pleaded guilty. If convicted, Marks faces 20 years in prison.
Jude Deveraux has yet to publicly discuss her time with Marks, but what's known follows a familiar script: Emotionally rocked after a divorce in the late '90s and the death of her 8-year-old son in 2005, the writer reportedly leaned on the psychic for support. In turn, Marks convinced Deveraux her son was marooned between heaven and hell. Along the way, the writer willingly parted with $17 million.
Jurors will have to decide: empathetic victim or idiotic sucker?
"I can't express strongly enough what a monumental effort it takes when attempting to help the victims of fraudulent fortunetellers in South and Central Florida navigate their way through a criminal justice system that is often extremely unsympathetic toward their plight," says Bob Nygaard. "I've had these criminals call me up and tell me Florida is open season for them — they love it. They laugh about it because the prosecutors don't prosecute."
Bald and linebacker-bulky, Nygaard is a private investigator specializing in swindles, particularly cases involving American Roms in New York City and South Florida, the two hotbeds. The retired Nassau County cop gets opposite responses in the two jurisdictions. New York prosecutes these cases. Florida doesn't.
"I've brought three recent cases to the NYPD and the Manhattan prosecutor's office. No problem," he says. "The whole culture of law enforcement down here is a lack of will to do these cases."
Nygaard can pick apart a scam like a mechanic stripping an engine. The frauds often follow a similar structure, he says. To gauge a victim's willingness to follow, psychics will give out a to-do list, each request wilder than the last. To sink the hook, they'll take a grapefruit or egg that the victim provides and swap it with one they've already injected with ink or hair — "proof" of an evil spirit. They'll forbid talking about the work with others. They'll coo praise one minute, then bully with guilt the next.
When the veil drops, victims face financial wreckage. But Nygaard guesses only one out of 50 fortunetelling victims comes forward. "A lot of people call me, and they just want to talk, tell me what happened. But they don't want to go forward. They're too embarrassed. They don't want to see their name in the papers."
Beaming in over Skype from England, Iiyah her head. Her face twists into an embarrassed smile before deflating. She still doesn't know much about "Sienna Miller" or where her $140,000 went — but she never got an Egyptian temple. "It sounds so stupid," she says.
Four years after she was scammed, Iiyah is badly in debt. She's begged for help from police. English police told her to contact authorities in South Florida. She says she buzzed Hollywood, Hallandale Beach, and the Broward Sheriff's Office only to be told this was a civil, not a criminal, matter. She's too broke to sue.
"I don't know who I am after this," she says. "It's been really, really hard."
In late 2010, after Priti Mahalanobis confessed to spending $130,000 on a woman who duped her with a grapefruit, she cut off all contact with the psychic. When she tried filing a police report in early 2011, she was told the con didn't constitute a crime. "I was shocked and angry," she remembers. "What the hell? How could someone so openly do this?"
She found Nygaard online and hired him. He collected information and sent it to the Orange County State Attorney's Office that March. Mahalanobis waited. By late summer, anxious for her case to move forward, she went on Anderson Cooper's daytime show. Before the daytime viewing audience, she opened up. Her episode aired in October, and in November, Peaches Stevens was arrested in Orlando and charged with fraud, but charges were dropped in September 2012 when Stevens agreed to repay Mahalanobis in full.
This January, Stevens and her aunt, Sharon Stevens of Hallandale, were charged with squeezing $50,000 out of another Orlando woman. Charges were dropped in March, when the pair agreed to pay restitution. Attempts to contact both were unsuccessful, and multiple calls to their attorney were not returned.
Susan Williams realized she'd been conned by "Trinity" and in December 2012 filed a report with the Boca Raton Police Department. Police attempted to contact the psychic — real name: David Miller Uwich — for three months. They checked pawn shops and found that Uwich had sold the gold Rolex watch — not smashed it to rescue Williams' father from purgatory.
When investigators interviewed Uwich last March, he claimed his relationship with Williams had begun as business but developed into romance (although he told police "no actual sex occurred"). He denied accepting money but said the older woman had given him gift cards as presents. Uwich also claimed Williams had possession of the Rolex.
"She came into my office, she fell in love with me, we started dating," Uwich told New Times when contacted briefly by phone. "One thing led to another. Then I let her go, and she came up with this elaborate story. I never did spiritual work for her. We started dating. I bought her stuff; she bought me stuff. I'm 40; she's like 68 years old."
Williams admitted she never expected the money or the watch to be returned — they were supposed to be used for rituals. "[I]t is impossible to show intent," the case report concludes, because Williams "knew that everything she was giving to Uwich was never going to be returned to her." No charges were filed.
By September 2009, the bills filling up her mailbox broke the spell Tamara Wilson had fallen under. She demanded that Hillarie and Nadine return her money. The more she pressed, the more the two pulled away. Finally they stopped taking her calls altogether. Wilson tried to hide her deteriorating financial situation, but sensing something was wrong, her mother searched her room, finding the paper trail of bills.
With Nygaard's help, Wilson went to the Broward Sheriff's Office in 2010. The investigation identified the teenaged counterpart in the case as Hillarie Miller, then a juvenile. The name was significant — her mother is Gina Marie Marks, a Broward-based psychic who's been repeatedly charged with scamming clients since 2007. (No relation to Rose Marks; Marks is a common Roma surname.) In 2010, Marks served nine months of an 18-month sentence. She's currently on probation.
Attorneys for Miller offered Wilson restitution for the full $29,507, and both prosecutors and police pressed the victim to settle, but despite her bleeding debt, Wilson rejected the payout. She wanted a prosecution.
In June 2012, the state attorney issued a warrant on Hillarie Miller for organized scheme to defraud and grand theft. She's still at large. Investigators have not identified the psychic who called herself Nadine.
Asked if Gina Marie Marks had acted as the older psychic in her daughter's alleged crime, Miller's attorney, Michael Orenstein, says, "She had nothing to do with it; she's on probation."
Wilson's phone still rings regularly with creditors. Interest is piling up. She can't go back to school because she can't afford tuition. Looking back on who she was in 2009, she reflects, "I didn't have problems. I thought I had problems. Now I have problems."


text:
Sunday, July 4, 2010
6 on Sunday...
63 comments:
- carpediem said...
Wow Wendy!!!.....fabulous new sets! I see so much potential in so many of the images for "making art"! Thanks for the early sneak peeks!
- July 4, 2010 at 7:01 AM
- Helen said...
Oh, Wendy - these are even better than yesterday's - you are a GENIUS. I squealed - I mean it, really squealed, when I saw the last set, botanical art - I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. (not that the others aren't great too) I have to have these stamps!!!!!!!!!
Can't wait to see the book, too. I bet it's fantastic. Thank you for being so good at what you do!
- July 4, 2010 at 7:23 AM
I am really really impressed, and see so many possibilities. Love and want them ALL, but have to say, that first set....I do so many art journals, I think that's just what I've been looking for. Brilliant!
Eileen in NYC
- July 4, 2010 at 7:25 AM
- Ally said...
These are fantastic stamps and I can't wait to get some! Thank you
- July 4, 2010 at 7:46 AM
- jan metcalf said...
What fun! It is way too hard to pick just one, but the queen does have my heart! Happy 4th
- July 4, 2010 at 8:00 AM
Holy Cow Batman, I am in LOVE!!! These stamps are all amazing! The minis are fast becoming a favorite of mine. I have never made ATCs but they too may be coming into my future. Thanks for creating such a great collection - now to wait for ART PARTS! Marijane
- July 4, 2010 at 8:04 AM
- Robin Swederske said...
Your new stamps are GREAT!!! I can't wait to get them inky! Thanks!
- July 4, 2010 at 8:11 AM
- Nancy said...
Oh, my gosh, Wendy! These are ALL wonderful!! WOWOWOWOWOW! Going to have to get a pre-order in with Heidi 'cause I'm wanting these asap.
- July 4, 2010 at 8:15 AM
- Maria said...
Wow I love them all, Wendy!!!
Since I've got your stamps, I'm addicted to grungepaper flowers!!
Hugs, Maria
- July 4, 2010 at 8:47 AM
- Kim said...
WOW!!! Just WOW!!! You always do such a wonderful job!!!
- July 4, 2010 at 8:51 AM
- Sharon said...
Love the new lotus-style flower(well, at least if you cut off the stem)...and the old German text...though I'm not sure how old it is...my German language books were in this style...does that make me vintage? Oh, dear! And as for your book...do you know if Stampers Anonymous will be taking pre-orders on it at Carson? They've done this in the past...looking forward to the Art Parts. So many stamps...so little time...where are all those pennies?
- July 4, 2010 at 8:54 AM
- SusanK said...
I want them all NOW!!!!!!! Great job on all the cool stamps, Wendy!
- July 4, 2010 at 8:55 AM
- Scrapthat said...
Very cool!! Those doilies look awesome! I love the stripes too...well instead of me saying each one is fab just let me say they all look fabulouso!
- July 4, 2010 at 8:58 AM
- lesleyworth said...
fabulous fabulous fabulous! can't wait to get my hands on these!
- July 4, 2010 at 9:03 AM
- Unknown said...
You've outdone yourself this time! Oh those lace doilies. I can't wait for those.I can see so many ways to use those. Now about those Art Parts...how much longer do we have to wait???
- July 4, 2010 at 9:08 AM
- scrappin-scrappin said...
Wow, you have out done yourself!!! These are fabulous, absolutely fabulous!! Love them all but the dollie one will have to be one of the first I get!! My loan amount just got bigger!! Thanks so much Wendy for creating such awesome stamps!! Hope your brother is doing better! Take Care!
- July 4, 2010 at 9:13 AM
- michelle said...
Happy 4th Wendy. . .
What a bang this morning with you last 6 stamp sets. They are beautiful and so creative!
- July 4, 2010 at 9:24 AM
- slbt17 said...
WOW! Very cool! ummm which do I buy first?
- July 4, 2010 at 9:30 AM
- Kim Costello said...
WOW Wendy these stamps are fantastic I lOVE the backgrounds and I Can't wait to see the book, too. I bet it's wonderful. Thank you for your creative inspiration!
HuGs Kim :)
- July 4, 2010 at 9:31 AM
- Tammy Tutterow said...
Absolutely awesome sets Wendy! Every single one is a must have!
- July 4, 2010 at 9:33 AM
- Unknown said...
WOW! I think this is my favorite set of yours! I'm most intrigued to play with the vintage lace one;D I'll be seeing you at CHA!
- July 4, 2010 at 9:58 AM
- Melody (lacyquilter) said...
Oooo, love the flowers and the crochet edging & doily. I'd have to get rid of the spider though - hate them.
- July 4, 2010 at 10:00 AM
- Sherry Cheever said...
CONGRATS! They are all AWESOME and I can see a large shopping spree in my future! I really, really LOVE the last one shown today . . . oh crap, I LOVE them all!
- July 4, 2010 at 10:35 AM
- Hels Sheridan said...
Oh Wendy.. these are as gorgeous as yesterday's 6 - do you think if anyone would notice if I wandered off to the local bank wearing a headstocking and carrying a bag marked SWAG??? ROFL
I can see I am gonna need these all ASAP so that means...a lot of foottapping over here in the UK... congrats on making more AMAAZING designs...and... CONGRATS on getting Book #3 nearly ready...cannot wait for that either!!! In fact, I am in such a state of excitement now, I need to go and lay down for a while LOL
Hugs hunny and... happy July 4th... still thinking of you and yours xx
- July 4, 2010 at 10:42 AM
- Margie Higuchi said...
I'm with Sherry - love the last set too! But they are all wonderful :) "In Love With ART" set is interesting...the doilies! Great story behind it too! I wonder if that will fit any of my Oval Nesties? Heehee!! See you in a few weeks!! xo
- July 4, 2010 at 10:43 AM
- Joyce said...
Wonderful! Wonderful! I love the hand, the small heart and more fabulous flowers! Thank you for taking the time out of your crazy life right now to share with us.
- July 4, 2010 at 11:32 AM
- Unknown said...
I'm going to need a few of these sets for sure. The last set with the butterfly, will be in my cart as soon as they are available. These are beautiful Wendy. Thanks for being such an amazingly inspiring lady. Love your work.
- July 4, 2010 at 11:51 AM
- BETTY said...
well you are right, I am in love with the new stamps.
I see a lot of possibilities.
I can't wait, hope they come soon in Holland.
- July 4, 2010 at 11:56 AM
- Debby said...
Oh be still my heart! These are amazing and I want to have all of them! Hope all is going well with your family. Have a safe and Happy 4th!
- July 4, 2010 at 12:06 PM
- Liz in MO said...
LOVE<LOVE< LOVE them!!!!!!
- July 4, 2010 at 12:40 PM
ok too much...have to count my pennies ...will be sad not to be able to get much this time of year, but..eventually...luv luv luv them all...ty for sharing and cannot wait for the reveal...xo cher
- July 4, 2010 at 1:07 PM
- Courtney said...
Love them all! Can't wait for the book!
- July 4, 2010 at 1:45 PM
- nonnie said...
Happy 4th of July!!
The lace doilies had me at hello....
- July 4, 2010 at 2:57 PM
- Anita said...
These are amazing!
- July 4, 2010 at 3:09 PM
- Linda R said...
Boy if these don't make you smile, nothing will! These are FUN - thanks, can't wait for ART parts ;-)
- July 4, 2010 at 3:37 PM
- mikki said...
can't wait to see them in person
@cha! already trying to decide
which ones to get first...so hard
cuz want 'em all.
- July 4, 2010 at 5:13 PM
- Karla Anderson said...
fabulous!! My first purchase will be Botanical Arts - in love with that set! Live and Make Art will be next. So excited to see your Art Parts. know I will love them.
- July 4, 2010 at 5:34 PM
OMG - the stamp sets are incredibly awesome and I thought they couldn't get any better - boy was I wrong. Can't wait to purchase - just so difficult for which will be first. You rock!! Happy July 4th!
- July 4, 2010 at 6:04 PM
- Dianal said...
What fabulous stamps Wendy ... which ones will I buy first ... so many projects going through my mind ... the possibilities are endless ... thanks for sharing!!
- July 4, 2010 at 6:45 PM
so glad you included the spider. definitely cute. like the way that everything fits together. small, medium and large... so many options.
- July 4, 2010 at 7:22 PM
- Tona said...
These are wonderful!
Okay, I have a new favorite today...Botanical Art.
- July 4, 2010 at 7:47 PM
- Chirpin Is Fun said...
I need these sets more than ever! OMG! Wendy, thank you so much! Can't wait, can't wait!
- July 4, 2010 at 8:02 PM
Wendy - what awesome sets you come up with. Especially love the botanical art one, but I can definitely see more than one of these in my future.
- July 4, 2010 at 8:14 PM
- Art By Wanda said...
Wow!!! All wonderful sets!!! I'm really looking forward to Art Parts!!!!
- July 4, 2010 at 9:03 PM
- Miss Iowa said...
So many possibilities here! I am loving the small sets (great for ATCs). Thanks for the early peek.
- July 5, 2010 at 1:16 AM
- Betty said...
I will be among the lucky ones to see your stamps first hand at the Carson show. Yippee! (Will miss seeing you there though). The only hard part will be deciding which of the "fab 12" will be first in my basket!
- July 5, 2010 at 2:05 AM
- Helena said...
beautiful sets, Wendy! I just got the Feb CHA ones a couple of weeks ago so I have plenty to play with while I decide which one/s of these new ones I need the most:)
- July 5, 2010 at 6:39 AM
- Linda said...
Fabulous! I think the first set I have to get will be "botanical art" or maybe "collectible art" or maybe I will just all of them at once so I don't have to decide! lol
- July 5, 2010 at 7:48 AM
- Unknown said...
You should be one proud mamma Wendy. Your new sets are just beautiful! You really thought of everything - sizes, backgrounds,it is very well done. Praying on for you and your family.
- July 5, 2010 at 8:28 AM
- libbym said...
Beautiful! My Ink pads can't wait!
There are so many I am in love with.
- July 5, 2010 at 8:37 AM
- Shirley said...
Love all your new stamps. it would be hard to pick & choose--anxious to see your new book as well. i don't see how you manage to get it all done--and travel as much as you do. Have a great week making art!
- July 5, 2010 at 10:02 AM
- Unknown said...
Oh Wendy I am so sorry to hear about your brother and Rick's relative. I have been out of town, and just caught up on your blog. Your new stamp set are so cool! Can't wait to see the projects.
- July 5, 2010 at 10:27 AM
Thanks for the sneak peak! Can't wait for book 3 and your next class to see what you do with them. Lot's of possibilities! So sorry about your personal sorrows. Hope that art is therapy for you. My prayers.
- July 5, 2010 at 10:45 AM
- Kathy said...
Awesome new sets, the vintage text is my favorite. But I also know that I have to have them all. Thank you for the great art.
- July 5, 2010 at 11:10 AM
- Elaine A said...
Wendy -
Whoa! Awesome new sets of stamps! I can't pick a favorite (ok I love that little spider), they are all just wonderful! Oh my poor pockets - LOL!
Praying for your brother.
Elaine Allen
- July 5, 2010 at 11:39 AM
- Kathy Eddy said...
Anyone know how to file for Chapter 11? LOL After these are released, I am going to need it! How to decide what to get first!
- July 5, 2010 at 11:50 AM
Wendy, I love the new designs.
How to choose, how to choose...hmmm...wait...I don't have to choose I should just get them all.
These are all great and will enhance my collection of stamps and making art much more fun. Susana
- July 5, 2010 at 12:01 PM
- Kate Burroughs said...
Those of us not able to attend Carson will just have to be patient for the stamps to come to our local stores or online vendors. Thanks for sharing all the new stuff!
Aloha, Kate
- July 5, 2010 at 12:47 PM
- Shannon said...
Wendy, first off I really hope your brother is hanging in there okay or at the very least he's not doing any worse. I'm so sorry for anyone who has to deal with such a grave illness such as cancer. My heart goes out to your brother and you and your family. God Bless! I can't imagine how you accomplish doing all your new stamps and all that you have to do for the up & coming CHA show and then going to and from the hospital. Very draining I'm sure.
Secondly, you're killing me here with the new stamps. I'm still trying to get caught up from the last CHA show and buy all your awesome stamps and all of Tim's awesome dies & new stamp pads. Now I've got to start all over again and add all these wonderful new stamps of yours to my wish list. How do you continuously come up with such great ideas??
- July 5, 2010 at 5:36 PM
Wow - your new stamp sets are so wonderful. All that hard work and planning (grin) definately shows!
I can't wait to see the new creations you've made from your new stamps.
- July 6, 2010 at 4:46 AM
- Vicki in MD said...
wonderful work! I'd be hard pressed to pick just 1 or 2 or 7 or even 10 of these sets. They are all top picks. Can't wait to catch up with Ted! I think the lace doilies and collectible art are the 1st two that I must have!
- July 6, 2010 at 7:40 AM
- Bethan said...
Flipping heck....I was unable to log on for couple of days...and you decide to show your new stamps...well they're flipping fabulous! Absolutely love the sentiment on the 'in love with art' set....let what you love be what you do..so true!
Can't WAIT til Book 3 is available!
- July 6, 2010 at 7:45 AM
oh wendy....love all the stamps, but what a wonderful idea for the book art basics..using tim's dies. YIPPPEE my order cannot come soon enough
- July 6, 2010 at 2:10 PM

subset: commoncrawl


text:
(REUTERS) - Consumer complaints against United States (US) airlines rose sharply in 2012, even as the carriers claimed a better record of on-time arrivals and luggage handling.
Those disparate findings, from a report released on Monday, highlight the continuing tug of war between an industry struggling to find ways to make money and a travelling public often unhappy with those choices.
The Airline Quality Rating Report, produced by professors at Purdue and Wichita State Universities, found that even though airlines lost bags or arrived late less frequently, complaints from consumers rose by more than 20 per cent from 2011.
Of 11,445 complaints lodged with the US Department of Transportation (DOT) against airlines flying domestically, about 62 per cent were in the following categories: flight problems, reservation, ticketing and boarding problems, or customer service problems.
The report noted big increases in complaints about reservations, ticketing and boarding - up about 58 per cent in 2012 to 1,668 complaints from 1,058 - and customer service, where complaints rose some 44 per cent to 1,634 from 1,132.
At the same time, 81.8 per cent of flights were on time in 2012 compared with 80 per cent in 2011 and mishandled bag complaints declined to 3.07 incidents per 1,000 passengers in 2012 from 3.35 in 2011.
An airline analyst says it makes sense that people are going to be unhappy with the airlines today.
"As the industry continues to consolidate, capacity is rationalised and reduced, seats are packed closer and closer together and load factors get higher and higher. The travel experience becomes punishing," says Mr Robert Mann of RW Mann & Company, an airline industry analysis and consulting company. "Add fees for services previously considered part of the bargain and you have the recipe for discontent."
The study highlighted the growing incidences of "bumping", when a passenger shows up at the airport and finds out his seat has been sold to someone else. The number of flyers subject to "involuntary denied boarding", rose about 17 per cent to nearly one in every 10,000. Passengers are bumped when a flight is over booked and the airline has to move them to a different flight.
The report is based on data collected by the DOT.
Virgin America, included in the survey for the first time, received the highest quality ranking, followed by JetBlue Airways Corp and AirTran Airways. At the bottom of the 14-airline survey was United Airlines, where the rate of customer complaints almost doubled to 4.24 per 100,000 in 2012 from 2.21 per 100,000 passengers in 2011.
A United spokesman defended the airline.
"United's operations improved significantly in the fall of 2012 and we continue to meet or exceed our on-time standards and set new records for performance," spokesman Charles Hobart says. "Customer satisfaction is up, complaints are down dramatically and we are improving our customers' experience."
The other airlines included in the survey, in order of their rankings, were Delta Air Lines Inc (4), Hawaiian Airlines (5), Alaska Airlines Inc (6), Frontier Airlines (7), Southwest Airlines Co (8), US Airways Inc (9), American Airlines Inc (10), American Eagle (11), SkyWest Airlines (12)and ExpressJet (13).
The airlines clearly function differently, something National Geographic Traveler ombudsman Christopher Elliott says gives consumers some choices. The Airline Quality Ratings and the US DOT's Air Travel Consumer Report provide the data for any traveller who wants to drill down to see where there might be trouble spots.
For instance, someone who wants to avoid being put in a situation where they might get bumped from a flight would find that flying on either Virgin America or JetBlue would virtually eliminate that possibility.
"There are some airlines where you're more likely to get bumped or you'll have a much higher chance of losing your luggage," he says. "The reputation each airline has is deserved."
Mr Paul Hudson, president of the consumer advocacy group FlyersRights.org, says his group would like to see more pressure from the federal government on airlines to provide passengers with more support for excessive flight delays, overlooking, the amount of room provided for passengers and lost luggage.
"We're at a break-point here - a fork in the road," he says."We've pretty much come to the end of the line with the philosophy of deregulation will solve all the problems. Clearly that has failed. People need to realise they are in a black hole when it comes to consumer rights with the airlines."
He urges consumers to contact their members of Congress to urge greater regulation and more consumer rights for airline passengers. Mr Hudson also suggests that consumers take advantage of the tools available to them to help avoid some of the common problems.
He recommends the following:
* Check on the on-time statistic for a flight before booking (you can find the data on http: www.flightstats.com).
* Travel without checking bags to keep down fees and keep your property with you. Even if you check bags, make sure you keep essential medicines with you on the plane.
* Look at weather reports for potential delays both the day you fly and the day before.
* Compensate for the typical lack of food available on-board by planning meals prior to travelling.
* Know the airline's policy on cancellations and changing flights prior to booking.
* Use the major travel sites to compare air fares and schedules.
Sometimes, fares themselves can seduce a consumer into booking a flight. That can often translate into the most uncomfortable of all trips, Mr Elliott says, and might not be the right choice.


text:
Show All Answers
Aside from a post office delivery issue, if you recently purchased the home or business, you may not have received a tax bill. Our information is based on what Milwaukee County Register of Deeds sends to our Assessor's office. We generally have all recorded changes from the County through October. To obtain a copy of the tax bill, please see question #4.
Yes, located on the bottom of the home page: Helpful Links > Tax Data > Tax Portal. Property type is "Real Estate," unless you are a business owner looking for your Personal Property bill. Search by only ONE criteria (i.e. Parcel Number, Last Name, House Number) and click Search to view a list of results. After finding your property, you can view the most recent tax bill. There is a button "Print Tax Bill" if you wish to print the bill. The Tax Portal is also where you go to make an online payment. Additional information on this process is listed under question # 9 below.
Yes, located in the Tax Portal (See question #4 for directions on how to navigate to it). If a payment was made, it will be noted in the Payments box. Select "Print Tax Details" to use as a receipt of payment. We process all payments as quickly as possible. When a payment is posted, the website is updated automatically.
(1) You can pay in person at the Treasurer's Office at City Hall, 7325 W. Forest Home Ave.
(2) ONLY IN DECEMBER, Tri City in the Pick N Save Store at 76th and Cold Spring Rd. can take tax payments. You do not need to be a member of the bank and a receipt will be provided. When making a payment at the bank, you will need to bring a copy of your tax bill with you. Refer to the tax letter enclosed in your tax bill for current year's hours of operation and phone numbers (a copy of the tax letter is also located in the "General Tax Bill Information" section of the City's website).
******If you cannot make your payment during business hours, City Hall has a secured deposit box located on the south side of the building, to drop off check payments.******
Yes, credit card and E-check payments can be made online or by phone. There is a 2.55% transaction fee added for the credit card service, with a minimum fee of $2.00 for credit card payments. Visa debit cards incur a flat fee of $3.95. E-checks in an amount up to $10,000 have a flat fee of $1.50. E-checks for over $10,000 are charged a flat fee of $10.00.
To Pay Online: Using the City's website, www.Greenfieldwi.us click on the "Pay Online" circle. Then click on "Taxes" and on the next screen click on the green writing for the tax portal. Click on the "Accept and Sign In" button if you agree to the terms and conditions. On the next screen, in the tax information area, type in the tax year you are paying for to the right of "Single" and choose "236-CITY OF GREENFIELD" in the municipality drop down box. Then type one way to search and click the search button. For a search by parcel number, enter the digits in the Property # box. If using the address, type only the house numbers in House # box (for example 9999) and street name (Layton) in the corresponding box. If the system brought up what you were looking for click on the box to the left and then the "Add to Cart" button (If not, try a different way to search). Then click the "View Cart" button and follow the prompts.
Pay by phone: 1-866-526-8385. Real Estate Property Tax is Prompt 1, only use Prompt 2 for a business' Personal Property bill. You will need to provide your 10 digit parcel # if making a real estate tax payment or 5 digit parcel # if making a business' personal property tax payment.
If your tax payment is done through City Hall, the refund will be processed by our Accounting Department and a check will be issued after 15 business days. If your mortgage company sent payment directly to us and overpaid, the refund will be sent back to the mortgage company. However, the bank collecting taxes for us in December does offer a faster option:
At TRI CITY BANK, in the Pick 'N Save store on 76th St. and Cold Spring Rd, an immediate refund and confirmation of an overpayment will be provided. Cashier's checks will be issued to all payees listed on the escrow check for the refund for both customers AND non-customers. Refunds may be cashed immediately with a valid ID as long as all payees are present.
Please keep in mind that December 31st is not a due date, BUT to ensure a payment receipt dated in December, a payment mailed to the City of Greenfield must have a properly addressed envelope, with a December postmark from a mail delivery service (i.e. the United States Postal Service, FedEx, etc.), in order for the December payment date to be honored. Payments received by our Treasurer's Office in January, having this proper December postmark date, will be processed as a December payment.
Some mortgage companies send escrow checks to a third party tax service before sending them to the City. In this case, your mortgage company may tell you the check was cut early in December, but we may not receive it until late December. To see when your escrow was received and obtain a receipt of payment, please refer to our Tax Portal on our website for paid tax bill information. Your receipt will reflect the date that the payment was received by the Treasurer's Office, not the date on the check.
Perhaps you do not qualify for the credit (see question #25 below for eligibility requirements). However, if you purchased a home that was not a primary residence for the previous owner, or you did not complete a Lottery and Gaming Credit Application in the past, no Lottery Credit was applied to your current property tax bill.
If you are eligible for the Lottery Credit and did not receive it, you need to complete an application form. The lottery form is available on the Wisconsin Department of Revenue Lottery Credit website (http://www.revenue.wi.gov/Pages/Form/lottery-home.aspx) or from our office. Return the completed form to the City of Greenfield Treasurer's Office, not the County Treasurer as directed on the Wisconsin Department of Revenue site. We must receive the completed form by January 31, in order to apply the credit to your current property tax bill. (If you missed the January 31st deadline, you can file a late claim application with the Wisconsin Department of Revenue by October 1st)
This type of tax refers to items such as machinery, furniture and fixtures used to operate a business. No change of location or sale of any personal property after January 1st affects the assessment for that year (Sec. 70.13(6)). There is no partial year pro-ration: You will still receive a City of Greenfield Personal Property Tax Bill for the full year. If you did not have personal property in the City of Greenfield on January 1 of the current tax year, please contact our Assessor's Office at 414-329-5340.
Trash and recycling services for single family homes, 2-4 unit apartments, and some condominium complexes are provided. The City uses Johns Disposal Services 1-888-473-4701. The fee for this service is listed as a Special Charge under the Net Property Tax Amount on the Tax Bill. To obtain the current year's recycling and yard waste calendar:
• The Public Works tab on this website has it listed for viewing or printing.
• It's listed in the city's "Recreator" magazine, which is mailed to all homes in December.
• At City Hall, pamphlets are kept in the literature wall racks located in the hallway


text:
Editor's Note: Ulrich Speck is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely his. Follow @uli_speck and @Carnegie_Europe on Twitter.
Story highlights
What's at stake in Ukraine is not just Crimea's future, but the world order, Ulrich Speck says
He says Moscow has never accepted Ukraine's sovereignty and considers it in its sphere
Putin's broader plan is to create a "Soviet Union lite" with Ukraine the cornerstone, he says
Speck says the West must now decide whether to accept Russia's rules
What's at stake in the conflict between the West and Russia over Ukraine is not just the future of Crimea, it's the future of international order.
Some weeks ago, Crimea was a remote place, to historians known as the center of a war in the 1850s, while ordinary people would have associated it with some kind of sparkling alcoholic beverage. But suddenly and unexpectedly, Crimea has become a geopolitical hotspot in a conflict between Russia and the West that seems to be straight out of a Cold War playbook.
Moscow has raised the stakes dramatically with a de facto annexation of this region, which is home of an important Russian naval base and inhabited by a population whose majority is oriented towards Russia (while an important minority, among them the Cossacks, is strongly attached to Ukraine).
It is unclear at the moment whether President Vladimir Putin sees this only as a first step, which may be followed by an invasion of other parts of southern and eastern Ukraine.
What is clear is that Russia is not going to leave anytime soon.
'Soviet Union lite'
The tactics and strategies of de facto-annexation have already been displayed in the Georgian regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia after the Russian-Georgian war in 2008; we're likely to see them now in Crimea. Under the cover of sham legality, the region will in essence be fully controlled by Moscow.
The current leadership in the Kremlin has never accepted that Ukraine, which achieved independence in 1991, is a sovereign state. It considers Ukraine to be in its sphere of influence, which means that on important issues the country must – in Russia's view – ask Moscow for permission.
Putin's broader plan is to recreate some kind of "Soviet Union lite," a ring of countries under Moscow's control, with the goal of boosting Russia's geopolitical standing. Ukraine is the cornerstone of that project.
The downfall of President Yanukovych and the triumph of the popular Maidan movement in Ukraine have signaled to Moscow, however, that it is losing its grip on Ukraine and that its grand strategy is going nowhere.
As the new government in Kiev appears committed to a close association with the EU and as Putin had lost indirect means of control, he decided to use armed force to win Ukraine back – or at least to deny the West what he sees, in his terms, as the West's victory.
Moscow has been consistent in viewing Ukraine as a satellite country but the West has constantly ignored the risk that Russia could use armed force there.
Yes, there was the precedent of the war in Georgia, but back then Moscow had at least some arguments to back up its narrative of a humanitarian intervention, while the Georgian side lost its nerve and acted preemptively. And the U.S. and the EU were all too happy to accept Moscow's version of events and continue to do business as usual.
The Ukrainian situation is different in many regards. First, there were no serious ethnic tensions that could serve as a pretext for Russian intervention. Second, Ukraine lies between the EU and Russia, which means that the West simply cannot ignore a Russian aggression because of geographic proximity. Thirdly, the EU is already deeply involved in Ukraine.
In the case of Ukraine, the West is not going to accept Moscow's narrative. This is too obviously a case of aggression – the use of force violating Ukraine's sovereignty. But Putin must have calculated that nevertheless the price for challenging the West over Ukraine won't be too high – that the West is not going to unite behind a strong response.
Western cracks
Is he right? Signs of disagreement about the proper response are visible. On Sunday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier publicly voiced doubts about the proposal to exclude Russia from the G8. Berlin's tactic is to continue to act as if Russia were ultimately a constructive partner, which just has to be brought back to its senses through intense dialogue.
While Berlin wants to offer carrots to bring Moscow back on the path of virtue, others think the time for sticks has come. Washington is preparing measures to step up economic pressure. But inside the EU there is no unity about the proper reaction.
The West is far from a united stand and a forceful response. Worse, instead of keeping their differences behind closed doors, Western cracks are all too visible, emboldening Putin.
It's safe to assume that the Western reaction is shaping Putin's course of action. Moscow fears isolation and economic retaliation. The money that permits the Russian leadership to pursue costly and risky foreign policy adventures comes in large part from the EU, as payment for gas and oil. And substantial parts of the investments of the Russian elite are in the EU as well.
But it doesn't look as if the West is using its leverage. This caution may backfire. It may incentivize Putin to go beyond the de facto-annexation of Crimea and try to split larger parts away from Ukraine.
Western policymakers should raise their game and understand what is at stake.
If Russia goes beyond Crimea, there is the risk of a major war with Ukraine. No government can simply watch as another country invades its territory.
Acting like an empire
Beyond Ukraine, this conflict is also a defining moment for future Russian foreign policy. If Moscow succeeds in Ukraine, it will come to the conclusion that it can act like an empire. An empire has no borders and doesn't respect the borders of others.
Moscow's pretext of protecting allegedly threatened Russian passport-holders could be used against many countries. If the operation in Ukraine succeeds, it will scare many neighboring countries and prompt them to try to buy off Russia.
Safe borders and sovereignty are core principles of the global order, enshrined in the United Nations charter and in other documents – many of which Russia has signed. Russia is a stakeholder in this system, its U.N. Security Council seat is an important element in ensuring its standing as a great power.
It is also in Russia's interests to insist on the sanctity of borders as it has itself a stronger neighbor on its south-eastern side – China. Moscow cannot put the sovereignty of others into question without risking its own sovereignty.
Power vacuum
What is at stake in Ukraine is broader than just the region.
If the EU and U.S. accept Russia's land grab, they weaken the foundations of today's international order, born out of the ashes of World War II and enshrined in the U.N. charter.
A situation where powerful states set conditions according to their own interests and weaker ones have no choice but to accept is precisely what this charter is aimed at preventing.
If one state can invade another without being attacked, without having an international mandate and a clear backing by international norms (such as the responsibility to protect), the foundations of today's international order will be at risk.
In the past, it was the U.S. that promoted and guaranteed the U.N.-order. In the role of a global quasi-sovereign, and faced with major threats, it sometimes violated this principle itself. But these were exceptions to the overall beneficial role the U.S. played in the promotion of a liberal democratic order.
Nowadays, however, Washington is diminishing its global footprint, with its taxpayers no longer willing to bear the biggest chunk of the burden to uphold world order.
The Kremlin has sensed a power vacuum and is stepping in.
Now the West must decide whether to accept the new rules Russia is setting in its neighborhood – or whether it has the power and strength to defend an order which has brought it decades of freedom, security and prosperity.
Read more: Russia blasted for military buildup
Read more: Ukraine vs. Russia - who's stronger
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ulrich Speck.


text:
At its annual Subway Team Operations Marketing & Planning (STOMP) Summit, Subway restaurants recognized 10 of 202 markets for their success and leadership by naming them Market of the Year.
Of those recognized, three markets are represented by The Summit Group Communications (TSG), the longest-running, independently owned advertising and public relations firm in the state of Utah.
"We've been working with Subway restaurants since 1988," says Bill Paulos, founder and CEO of TSG. "This recognition goes to show you that you can't get too familiar or complacent; you have to always bring new and successful ideas to the table. We're honored to have that challenge with an ever-increasing number of markets each year."
The three TSG markets awarded Market of the Year include Charlotte, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; and Charleston, South Carolina.
The agency represents 32 Subway markets total, spanning from Florida to Washington.


text:
Game Description
Journey to a land of royalty and adventure! Rescue the princess, defeat the villain, and save your homeland in this fun and exciting strategy game.
This adventure is impelled by romantic and heroic story of John Brave, who finds his homeland captured by greedy villain. And only John dares to face off with enemies and save the kingdom from total plunder.
Build, trade, research and even combat for your kingdom! Workers, clerks and warriors will help to restore to life towns and villages, solve mysteries, defeat the enemies and restore the order.
-Amazing adventure
-Rescue the princess, defeat the villain, and save your homeland
-Build, trade, research and combat
-Additional 'prequel' episodes
-Strategy Guide
-Art gallery


text:
Category: Environment
News and events form Eastern Fish & Game can be accessed from here.
Can't find what you are looking for? Contact us for help!
National Party fishing and hunting policy positive for anglers and hunters and conservation efforts
The National Party's support for hunting and fishing recognises the valuable contribution anglers and hunters make to the country's conservation efforts and the importance of trout, salmon and game birds...
Read more about 'National Party fishing and hunting policy positive for anglers and hunters and conservation efforts'...
Fish & Game calls for support to farm recovery effort
Fish & Game is calling on anglers and hunters to reach out to farmers still cleaning up from the devastation of cyclone events earlier in the year.
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Regional council must act on deadly botulism outbreaks
An outbreak of avian botulism in Waikato's Whangamarino wetland that has killed thousands of waterfowl including some rare indigenous species is yet another wake-up call for urgent action, says Fish...
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Proposed law turns back on Kiwi way of life
People who enjoy the outdoors for recreation, fishing and hunting will lose rights under the Natural and Built Environments Bill.
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Call to Halt Decline of Wetlands Ahead of World Wetlands Day
New Zealanders are being encouraged to consider creating and preserving wetlands to help halt the decline of these threatened habitats across the country.
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'Significantly' More Work Needed To Remedy Environment Woes – Fish & Game
Fish & Game says the latest stocktake of the New Zealand environment points to significantly more work being required to improve water quality and reverse wetland loss.
Read more about ''Significantly' More Work Needed To Remedy Environment Woes – Fish & Game '...
ALERT: Te Reinga Bridge Closure (Ruakituri River)
The Te Reinga Bridge on the Ruakituri River is Closed to all passage (pedestrians and vehicles) until further notice following damage to the structural support.
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Manchurian wild rice could trick you
Duck hunting gets you out along the waterways and in among some of the plants that like wet feet.
Positives found in High Court loss on Lindis
Otago Fish and Game Council is considering the implications of a judgement from the High Court where its appeal against the Lindis River Environment Court decision was not upheld.
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Fish & Game Supports Calls for Forestry Re-Focus
Fish & Game NZ is supporting calls for an urgent rethink on the rapid proliferation of exotic forests currently being supported by central government, and instead, refocus on native plantings...
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Nutrients In Rivers - How Much Is Too Much?
Top New Zealand freshwater scientists have answered the question of how much nutrients should be permitted in our rivers to maintain ecosystem health.
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Stunning photo helps save wetlands
Marlborough photographer Matt Winter's stunning photo of a New Zealand shoveler duck lifting off the water has won the 2021 Game bird habitat stamp photo competition.
Endangered Eels find refuge in hunter-created wetlands
Southland Fish and Game research has revealed just how important hunter-created wetlands are for our native fish species.
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Freshwater reforms a significant step forward
The Government's policy announced today is a significant step forward in reducing pollution in our rural and our urban waterways caused by intensive farming and through council's neglect.
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DairyNZ claim of economic ruin if we stop polluting "misleading"
New research from independent economic consultancy NZIER shows that DairyNZ's economic analysis and conclusion are misleading New Zealanders.DairyNZ's economic analysis resulted in them claiming that GDP will lower by 1.1...
Read more about 'DairyNZ claim of economic ruin if we stop polluting "misleading"'...
DairyNZ reliant on NZIER research
The attempts by DairyNZ CEO, Tim Mackle, to discredit the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) is undermined by ten years of DairyNZ citing NZIER research.
DairyNZ's selective memory in support of polluters
In response to DairyNZ's attempt to dismiss an economic report that highlighted dairy's role in the New Zealand economy is only three per cent of GDP, Fish & Game New...
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Freshwater plan unlikely to have major impact on Dairy Industry - NZIER report
Fish & Game New Zealand has welcomed the findings of a New Zealand Institute of Economic Research report, which rejects claims the Government's freshwater proposals will have a significant economic impact.
Read more about 'Freshwater plan unlikely to have major impact on Dairy Industry - NZIER report'...
New Zealanders deserve fresh, clean water - Govt needs to deliver
Today's Government announcement has the potential to fix New Zealand's freshwater pollution crisis - but only if the right options are selected, Fish & Game New Zealand Chief Executive Martin...
Read more about 'New Zealanders deserve fresh, clean water - Govt needs to deliver'...
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text:
Paisley Skull Oil Warmer
Sale price $19.99 Regular price
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Paisley Skull Oil Warmer
Use fragrance oils in this unique paisley Skull oil warmer lamp to fill your home with a wonderful scent! Features a hidden dish for scented oils! A great gift for anyone!
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We have over 140 fragrance oils to choose from! VIEW OIL SELECTION


text:
Brandt, Zelma Corning, 1891-1990
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
Zelma Corning Brandt papers
Collection — Box: 1
Identifier: BMC-M92
Overview Zelma Corning Brandt (1891-1990) was a social crusader active throughout the twentieth century. Her chief interests included the independence and development of colonial countries, American Indian affairs, nuclear disarmament, women's issues, and geriatric concerns. The collection consists of correspondence, travel notes, diaries and writings, and publications and reports, especially from 1960-1989. Brandt's longevity and attention to detail provide a complete view of various world and...
Dates: 1906 - 1989
Found in: Bryn Mawr College / Zelma Corning Brandt papers


text: Better protection for forging dies Hard or tough – very often, the manufacturers of forging dies must make a compromise here. A new technology now makes it possible to combine both characteristics and clearly expand the useful life of forging dies. The scientists will introduce the process at the Euromold trade fair (Hall 11, Booth C66), from November 27 - 30 in Frankfurt, Germany. Forging dies must withstand a lot. They must be hard so that their surface does not get too worn out and is able to last through great changes in temperature and handle the impactful blows of the forge. However, the harder a material is, the more brittle it becomes - and forging dies are less able to handle the stress from the impact. For this reason, the manufacturers had to find a compromise between hardness and strength. One of the possibilities is to surround a semi-hard, strong material with a hard layer. The problem is that the layer rests on the softer material and can be indented by blows, like the shell of an egg. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in Aachen, Germany have now developed an alternative. "The forging dies we have been working on have a useful life that is up to twice as long," explains Kristian Arntz, head of department at the IPT. "We are using a working material that is less hard and able to handle the impact stress well. We melt the uppermost layer of the material with a laser and introduce a powder into the melt material that is used to chemically alter the characteristics of the material. We have therefore achieved a large degree of hardness in the upper millimeter." The advantage is that since the characteristics of the outer layer do not change abruptly (as is the case in a deposited layer), but increases in hardness gradually (this is also called a hardness gradient) we can circumvent the "egg shell effect". In addition, the particles act like sand paper and prevent the material from wearing off the die. Since the wear only occurs in certain spots of the die, the scientists are altering only these surface areas. They are therefore further minimizing the effect the layer has on the impact resistance. Simulations help to calculate the areas that are particularly stressed – and knowledge gained by experience is also applied. To be able to work on the forging dies, the scientists and their colleagues at Alzmetall have developed a machine with which they are able to work on the free-form die inserts and forging dies. The scientists have also developed a software with ModuleWorks that ensures that the laser travels across the surface at a constant speed and that the gaps between the laser paths remain even – otherwise tears would develop in the surface. "This isn't a problem if the surfaces are straight; however, we had to develop special algorithms for free-formed tools that keep the path distance and the speed constant – even with complex geometries," said Arntz. The machine and the software are ready; the scientists have already manufactured initial tools and dies for the industry. They will introduce the technology at the Euromold trade fair (Hall 11, Booth C66) from November 27 - 30 in Frankfurt, Germany. The scientists are planning, in a further step, to reduce expensive raw materials such as chromium, molybdenum and vanadium. To date, these materials are present in all forging dies. "We want to utilize the basic fundamentals of our technology so that we only have to alloy the reworked surface layer with these materials." Countries Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, United Kingdom


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NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600 (First Look Review)8 Jul, 2007 By: Ron LaFon
Ultrahigh-end graphics card is a reliable workhorse that boasts a long list of features — for a price.
It had been some time since NVIDIA introduced any ultrahigh-end graphics cards, but earlier this year the company announced two additions to the Quadro
The Quadro FX 4600 is a PCIe 16x workstation-level graphics card with 768MB of onboard GDDR3 memory. In a radical departure from previous Quadro graphics cards, the FX 4600 (and the FX 5600) are based on the G80 series of GPUs (graphics processing units), similar to an architecture used in the latest NVIDIA line of consumer-grade cards, including the GeForce 8800 GTS and GTX. In the new workstation versions, the graphics cards are enhanced to support the needs of professional users. This move affords NVIDIA support for DirectX 10 on the new Microsoft Vista operating platform and offers a unified shader architecture that also benefits OpenGL and legacy DX 9 applications.
The NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600 is an ultrahigh-end PCIe graphics card based on the G80 GPU and boasting 768MB of onboard GDDR3 RAM.
The FX 4600 supports OpenGL 2.1 and has 20 new OpenGL extensions. Additionally, the new Quadros support high-bandwidth digital content protection (HDCP) for playing back protected content. NVIDIA POWERdraft for AutoCAD and NVIDIA MAXtreme for Autodesk 3ds Max are supported for those who use these design applications. Among the many extras for the professional-level Quadro FX 4600 are extensive application certifications.
NVIDIA Quadro G-Sync II and SLI option cards will be available for the Quadro FX 4600, which has two DVI-I DL connectors and one stereo connector. The FX 4600 uses a maximum peak of 135W of power. An extensive list of features is posted on the NVIDIA Web site.
We tested the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600 on an Xi MTower PCIe from @Xi Computer, which was based on an Intel Core2 X6800 2.93GHz processor that was overclocked to 3.47GHz and water cooled. The system had 2GB of RAM installed, and testing was done with NVIDIA prerelease drivers v.220.127.116.1172 (01/29/07) that had incorporated the configuration files for the new Quadro card. We changed our benchmark test procedure slightly for this review, as noted below.
For this run of tests, we used the Cadalyst C2006 benchmark with AutoCAD 2008, testing both the native OpenGL and Direct3D drivers. We ran several iterations of the benchmark, selecting the highest performance score -- though there was actually very little variation from test to test. The FX 4600 produced a C2006 Total Index Score of 319 using the AutoCAD 2008 native OpenGL driver. With the native Direct3D driver, the Total Index Score was 428. Both are very good numbers.
Next we ran the ProE-04 Viewset of the SPEC ViewPerf 9.03 benchmark, which generated a Weighted Geometric Mean of 49.79. Finally, we ran the MAXBench4 benchmark with Autodesk 3ds Max 9, doing several iterations of the test with three different configurations. First we tested with the integrated OpenGL drivers included with 3ds Max 9 and produced an averaged high/low score of 103.01. We then tested Direct3D performance with the integrated D3D driver and generated an averaged high/low score of 231.41. Our final iterations of the MAXBench4 test used the NVIDIA MAXtreme 9.00.01 accelerated D3D driver for 3ds Max 9 and produced an averaged high/low score of 253.59. All numbers are very good.
We note that although current Autodesk applications tend to be weighted more heavily toward Direct3D -- and thus give excellent DirectX performance -- applications that run on multiple OS platforms continue to rely on the standards-based OpenGL model.
The NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600 carries a suggested retail price of $2,399, but the street price has dropped as low as $1,800 through some online sources, and a discount typically applies when the card is purchased with a new workstation. All in all, that's a bit pricey, but might be worth the splurge if you need the combination of features and performance delivered by this reliable and speedy workhorse.
About the Author: Ron LaFon
For Mold Designers! Cadalyst has an area of our site focused on technologies and resources specific to the mold design professional. Sponsored by Siemens NX. Visit the Equipped Mold Designer here!
For Architects! Cadalyst has an area of our site focused on technologies and resources specific to the building design professional. Sponsored by HP. Visit the Equipped Architect here!


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E.P.I.C. Representative Agreement
- General Acknowledgment. I understand and acknowledge that as an independent Representative of E.P.I.C. Assets LLC ("E.P.I.C." or the "Company"): (a) I have the opportunity to purchase products and services from E.P.I.C. or its partners; (b) I have the right to offer for sale E.P.I.C. products and services, without the individual approval of each sale by E.P.I.C., but in accordance with this Acknowledgment, the E.P.I.C. Policies & Procedures and all appendices thereto, including without limitation, the E.P.I.C. Marketing and Compensation Plan (all of which are collectively referred to herein as the "Agreement"); (c) I have the opportunity to enroll persons as Representatives of E.P.I.C.; (d) I will assist, train, and motivate the Representatives in my downline marketing organization; (e) I will comply with all federal, state, county, and municipal laws, ordinances, rules, and regulations, and shall make all reports and remit all withholdings or other deductions as may be required by any federal, state, county, or municipal law, ordinance, rule or regulation; (f) I will perform my obligations as a Representative with honesty and integrity; (g) I will only use the sales contracts and order forms which are provided by E.P.I.C. for the sales of its products and services; and (h) I will procure leads for both customers and other Representatives on my own without the assistance of the Company and I understand that the Company does not provide leads to me.
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or as part of a class action.
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- Agreement to Refrain from Discrimination. I agree that I shall not engage in any discriminatory practices, including sexual harassment and harassment based upon race, sex, national origin, religion, disability, age or any other protected characteristic. I understand that harassment of employees, representatives, customers, including harassment because of race, color, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, sex, pregnancy, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, military or veteran status or any other status protected under applicable federal, state or local laws, is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. In keeping with this commitment, I will not tolerate, and understand that E.P.I.C. will not tolerate, the harassment of representatives by anyone, including any representative, employee, vendor, client, contractor, or customer.
- Confidentiality Obligations. I understand and agree that the E.P.I.C. Policies & Procedures obligate me to keep all confidential information of the Company in the strictest of confidence and I agree to comply with
those obligations.
|Representative Level
|Number of Representatives at this level in 2015
|% of Representatives at this level
|2015 Annual Income High
|2015 Annual Income Low
|2015 Average Annual Income
|Non Leadership Position
|Executive Trainer
|Executive Director
|National Director
|Senior Vice President
|Bronze Senior VP
|Silver Senior VP
|Gold Senior VP
|Platinum Senior VP
|DPSVP or Diamond
In 2015, there were 15,296 representatives with earnings paid in the United States. Representatives were classified to each title cohort based on the position held most days in 2015. These values do not represent any earnings before or after 2015. These values do not include trip incentives, car lease programs or any other non cash payments.
These values do not include expenses incurred by representatives in the operations of their E.P.I.C. business. The earnings above are not necessarily representative of the income an individual can or will earn through participation in E.P.I.C. and through the E.P.I.C. Compensation Plan. The values shown represent earnings paid in 2015 and should not be regarded as a guarantee or forecast of earnings. Individual efforts will determine individual earnings.