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Thursday, November 5, 2009
Author Interview & Giveaway: Rachel Caine
1. For any new readers, could you start by telling us a bit about your Morganville Vampires series?
RC: Morganville is one of those odd little towns that sits out in the middle of nowhere (this one happens to be in Texas) -- you never know anybody from there, or going there. It just ... is. Well, the difference in Morganville is (1) it has a really not-very-good university campus in town, and (2) the rest of the town is secretly owned and operated by vampires. The humans in town either work for the vampires or have "protection" agreements with them to stay safe. The main character Claire arrives via early admission (she's 16) at Texas Prairie University, but things quickly go very wrong for her, leading her to move off campus and encounter the exciting nightlife of the *real* Morganville.
There's a lot of intrigue, suspense, and -- yes -- romance ... Claire ends up at the Glass House, a big Victorian-style house owned by 19-year-old musician Michael Glass, and shared with Eve (Morganville's local Goth), and Shane (Michael's best friend, and all-around useful bad boy). Morganville is full of secrets -- and so are Claire's new friends.
2. Fade Out (book 7) recently hit bookshelves. What sort of adventures are Claire and her friends in store for in this installment?
RC: Books 1 through 6 introduced us to a lot of people and situations in Morganville that I don't want to spoil for new readers, but I can tell you that Michael finally gets a big concert, Eve gets a part in a play, Shane has to deal with an old kinda-girlfriend, Claire has her hands full with an increasingly unstable computer named Ada AND her vampire boss, Myrnin ... and to top it all off, Eve's new instant BFF Kim may be out to expose Morganville to the world.
So, a lot, I suppose!
3. Morganville Vampires book 8, titled Kiss of Death will be released in the Spring of 2010. Will this be the last in the series or can we expect the story to continue?
RC: I'm very excited to tell you that Kiss of Death (#8 in the series) will be followed by four more books after that! We just signed a contract for Morganville #10-12. I don't have too many details yet about what comes after Kiss of Death, because I have a couple of other projects in between, but I'll keep details posted as I start writing.
4. If you could describe your heroine Claire in 5 words, which would you choose?
5. These are young adult novels. Claire has shown quite a bit of growth since the first book Glass Houses. As she matures and deals with more adult situations, do you find it challenging to stay within the YA parameters?
RC: Only in the sense that I think she is growing up, although she's not really an adult yet. Her relationship with Shane is certainly going to another level, and that can be a little challenging to write without being either too descriptive, or not descriptive enough. It's a challenge, but a good one.
6. You also have two very successful series' for adults, Weather Warden and Outcast. You must be an impeccable organizer. Do you find it difficult to change between each series?
RC: Ha, I WISH I was an impeccable organizer. It's a challenge, for sure -- I'm averaging 2 Morganville books a year (3 in 2009) plus one Warden novel and one Outcast Season novel, and making sure all the details of the universes stay consistent over long series is a huge task. I'm lucky that I have very good editorial assistance to help me when I get off track.
It does help that the three point-of-view voices -- Claire in Morganville, Joanne in the Weather Warden series, and Cassiel in Outcast Season -- all sound different to me, which helps really make a difference in the books themselves.
7. Do you do much research for your books?
RC: Lots, I'm afraid. On the Morganville side I looked into all kinds of things -- the historical roots and myth associated with vampires; specific historical people I wanted to bring (in disguise) into my books, even a lot of alchemy and physics. On the Weather Warden novels I have to do a lot of meteorological research, plus quite a bit of location research since it's set in the real world (and often in real buildings). Outcast Season also requires a lot of reading and research, mostly along similar lines.
8. Lastly, what is your favorite way to unwind after a hard day of writing? Any guilty pleasures?
RC: I have filled up my TiVo list with awesome TV shows, but when I'm done with those, I love kicking back in the home theater room with DVDs I love -- like the entire series of Veronica Mars (which is not a GUILTY pleasure!). Okay, I also love sometimes trashy horror movies. That's probably guilty, but I also love the really excellent ones, like SPLINTER.
Oh, I heard you have some good news about film and TV. Care to share?
RC: The news is that the Morganville series has been optioned for film, TV and multimedia by British Producer Charles Armitage and Noel Gay Motion Pictures ... they're behind the fantastic, long-running SF comedy series RED DWARF to the UK. I don't have production news to share yet, but I hope I will soon!
RC: Thanks so much for the opportunity to be here! It's a real pleasure!
Thank YOU Rachel for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer some questions. Much luck to you on your new release and on future books.
For more information on Rachel Caine and her books, visit her website.
To follow Rachel on Twitter, please follow this link.
Contest Time...
I have an extra copy of Fade Out for a lucky follower. This contest begins now and will end on Sunday, Nov 15. I will announce the winner on the following Monday! This contest is open to anyone who can receive books from the book depository.
To enter...
You must follow my blog (through google friend or RSS) and comment on the interview. That's it!
For extra entries...
+1 follow me on Twitter
+2 Spread the word! (+2 entries for every place you link to-sidebar, post, twitter, facebook, wherever you go.) Please leave me a link for verification!
Good Luck and Happy Reading!
46 comments:
- brizmus said...
yay for the Morganville vampires! What a great interview! So cool that it's been optioned for film! I hope they make it! :-)
+1 follow you on twitter (@brizmus)
+2 tweeted it (http://twitter.com/brizmus)
+2 in my sidebar (http://brizmusblogsbooks.blogspot.com)
- November 5, 2009 at 7:52 AM
- Mitz said...
Great interview, love Rachel Caine. I didn't realize how busy she stayed between all her books, props to Rachel.I truly enjoy the morganville vampires series and would really love to have Rachel's 7th in series Fade Out. Happy to hear there will be another 4 atleast after 8, that's sweet.
- November 5, 2009 at 8:17 AM
- ~Jennifer~ said...
Thanks for the interview and giveaway! I'm been hearing a lot about these books and been hoping to be able to start reading them soon.
+1 follow you on twitter (@JennSicu)
jennsicurella at verizon dot net
Jennifer @ Reading with Tequila
- November 5, 2009 at 8:28 AM
- Book Crazy Jenn said...
What a great interview, I love reading about the authors, it's fun to get a little glimps into there heads! :)
I follow you on twitter @fingerstotoes
And I would love to win!
- November 5, 2009 at 8:46 AM
- xxsquigglesxx said...
Great interview! Please enter me!
+1 twitter follower (@squiggles87)
- November 5, 2009 at 8:49 AM
I have read all and love the "Weather Warden" and though have collected the first few in the YA series, haven't started it yet. I tend to have to have 4 or 5 books in a series before I will start it. Please enter me in the giveaway!
+1 twitter follower
- November 5, 2009 at 9:26 AM
- JMom said...
I hadn't heard of this author before and I love this genre! Thanks, I would love to read her work. I think my daughter will like her YA novels too.
I'm following your blog as JMom
- November 5, 2009 at 9:28 AM
- JMom said...
I am now following you on Twitter @jmom
linked to you on my sidebar under "Book Bloggers"
- November 5, 2009 at 9:30 AM
- YA Vampire Books said...
Nice interesting interview! So excited that Morganville Vampires have been optioned for TV/Film!
Is this contest open internationally? If so, please enter me!!
+1 following you on Twitter (@brasir)
- November 5, 2009 at 10:05 AM
- GMR said...
I've heard great things about this one already and seen it on the shelves of my local bookstore....count me in! It's interesting to see how much or how little an author takes historical accounts into their writing. I mean they have the ability to take free reign of it all as it is their own world they are creating. Sounds like she prefers to keep it accurate...a plus for most readers!
+2 - tweet tweet! (http://twitter.com/GRgenius/status/5452739149)
+2 - linked in sidebar under contests! (http://insatiablereaders.blogspot.com)
- November 5, 2009 at 11:05 AM
- Llehn said...
I've heard so much about the Morganville Vampire series that I really need to start reading it!
I already follow.
- November 5, 2009 at 11:23 AM
- pt said...
I'm looking forward to getting into the Morganville Vampire series. I already have Ms Caine's Weather Warden series, so I know it must be good!
- November 5, 2009 at 1:41 PM
- Ladytink_534 said...
I just love this series!
I'm a follower
- November 5, 2009 at 1:41 PM
- throuthehaze said...
Great interview! I have heard this series is great. Can't wait to read it! I'm a follower
+1 follow on twitter @throuthehaze
throuthehaze at gmail dot com
- November 5, 2009 at 1:45 PM
- Maria said...
Great interview, I hope it becomes a film.
+1 following you on Twitter
- November 5, 2009 at 2:07 PM
- CallMeKayla said...
I love Rachel Caine's writing!! Espically this series!!
[current follower]
- November 5, 2009 at 2:38 PM
- Abigail [All Things Urban Fantasy] said...
Great interview. I'm new to the Morganville series, but I've read her Weather Warden series, so I'm looking forward to this.
+2 I added this on my Contests & Giveaway section of my blog
- November 5, 2009 at 3:05 PM
- elaing8 said...
I love this series.please enter me in the giveaway
I am a follower
- November 5, 2009 at 6:08 PM
- allisonrocks said...
- November 5, 2009 at 6:51 PM
- Mandy said...
Wow, 3 series going on all at once? Wow.
+1 Follow twitter:
- November 5, 2009 at 7:12 PM
- cait045 said...
I love the morganville series and all the novellas. I cant wait to read more with Fade Out and the rest of the series.
+1 Following on twitter
- November 5, 2009 at 9:31 PM
- natalierenae said...
I can't believe they've been optioned for TV! Hmm...I wonder how I managed to miss that...
+1 Following on Twitter
+2 Sidebar Link
+2 Tweeted It!
Natalie @ Mindful Musings
- November 5, 2009 at 9:48 PM
I haven't read this series yet but a fellow blogger just gave it a strong recommendation. It's so much fun to read author interviews on book bloggers' sites. I hope to host one myself someday!
- November 5, 2009 at 10:17 PM
- Andrea [Buried In Books] said...
I didnt know there were 4 more books coming out. I've been wanting to read this series!
+2 sidebar: ireadd.blogspot.com
- November 6, 2009 at 12:24 AM
- Jenny N. said...
Nice interview. I can't wait to read this book.
I'm a blog follower.
+1 Twitter follower (@Jullysay)
+2 Tweeted here:
- November 6, 2009 at 12:45 AM
- RKCharron said...
Hi :)
Thanks for having the fabulous Rachel Caine here. It was a wonderful interview! I enjoyed learning more about her & her writing.
Love & Best Wishes,
- November 6, 2009 at 5:03 AM
- Zombie Girrrl said...
Cool contest, and excellent interview! Thanks for giving me a heads up! =)
+2 I linked you on my sidebar!
- November 6, 2009 at 3:07 PM
- Cherie J said...
Wonderful interview! Please enter me. I am already a follower. Thank you!
+1 Follow you on Twitter now (@cherierj)
- November 6, 2009 at 4:17 PM
- Kelsey said...
Wow now I know why Morganville Vampire series is so great, she does a TON of research!
Enter me please :) I'm a follower.
+1 following on twitter (fadedfairytale)
+2 tweeted about the giveaway
- November 7, 2009 at 11:30 PM
- Tegan said...
Awesome interview, excited for more tv news.
- November 8, 2009 at 12:21 PM
- Lexie said...
I admit that Morganville Vampires is a series that caught me by surprise. I enjoyed it a whole lot more then I originally thought I would and can't wait to see more from it!
- November 8, 2009 at 11:15 PM
- Jo said...
I am so STOKED! There will be another 6 books for me to read in the Morganville Vampires series! And here was me thinking there were only a few left! (6 as Fade Out isn't released in the UK until January) *Dances* And a possible movie?! My god, that is just SO exciting! I am literally buzzing now! I so love this series!
I follow you!
Email: joannestapley[at]googlemail[dot]com
+1 I now follow you on Twitter (@jo_scrawls)
+2 Tweeted
+2 Facebook
+2 Blog Post on Ink and Paper
+2 Blog Post on Once Upon a Bookcase
+2 Myspace
- November 11, 2009 at 4:15 PM
- rubynreba said...
This sounds so intriguing and interesting! I am a follower.
- November 12, 2009 at 9:02 AM
- Pixie said...
Great interview. I have not started this series yet, but my friend loves it.
+1 twitter follower
+2RT it at its_pixie
+2 link on sidebar
Page Turners
- November 12, 2009 at 10:30 AM
- kimberly said...
Love the interview I enjoyed the books
+1 for following on twitter
- November 12, 2009 at 2:14 PM
- Marie said...
I'm really excited to hear that there will be more books in the series, I just love this series!
I follow you on twitter -- doodlebug40.
- November 12, 2009 at 3:23 PM
- jellybelly82158 said...
I have heard a lot about your books.
A friend just gave me a copy of the audiobooks. I prefer reading but I am going to listen to these.
Thanks for the interview.
I am a follower
jellybelly82158 at gmail dot com
- November 14, 2009 at 1:06 PM
I am a follower of your blog and would love to be entered in your draw. I also subscribe via Google Reader. wandanamgreb(at)gmail(dot)com
- November 14, 2009 at 6:56 PM
- robin_titan said...
I follow now!
Oh man she's coming to Houston but I can't go bc of work :'(
+1 follow you on Twitter
+2 sidebar
under giveaways
- November 15, 2009 at 12:24 AM
- Aubrey (AKA Stacey) said...
Great interview! I have been wanting to pick these up because I kinda am in love with vampires. Have been since I was like 10. Thanks!
- November 15, 2009 at 10:27 AM
- Patty said...
Following on Twitter (yayreader)
- November 15, 2009 at 1:02 PM
- ladystorm said...
Would love to enter this contest.
I am a follower
- November 15, 2009 at 6:55 PM
- Alexa said...
I love the Morganville Vampires Series!!!!
+1 follow on twitter @naggy8
+2 sidebar: http://hookedonyabooks.blogspot.com/
+2 tweeted: http://twitter.com/naggy8/status/5755380177
+2 post: http://violeteyesroaming.blogspot.com/2009/11/contests2.html
- November 15, 2009 at 10:37 PM
- Keta Diablo said...
The interview was awesome and Fade Out looks very intriguing. I would love to get my youngest into reading and this looks like something he'd enjoy. Just think, you'd be starting a youngster in a love of books! If I win. Crossing my fingers and toes.
Best, Keta Diablo
- November 15, 2009 at 10:54 PM
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- November 24, 2009 at 10:37 PM
- cassandrae24 said...
I love your books and so happy inside to get to read your future books. Thanks Rachel for your writing!
- February 21, 2010 at 1:30 AM


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Assalaamu alaykum I really need your help. I have been given feedback that I recite through my nose. Can you give me feedback on how to stop doing this. JazakAllah Khayran for all your great work
Assalaamu alaykum
I really need your help. I have been given feedback that I recite through my nose. Can you give me feedback on how to stop doing this.
JazakAllah Khayran for all your great work
Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,
This is not uncommon, especially in the mudood letters. On the whole this mistake is not too difficult to fix by Allah's will, but of course needs work from the student along with dua'.
If you have it all of your letters, it may take a bit more patience and steadfastness to overcome the problem, but it can be done with Allah's help and striving. Usually those who have a ghunnah in all their reading also have a strong nasalization in their speech.
The first step in trying to correct it is to train your ear to hear it. This can be done by forcing the incorrect nasalization on a letter, for example by elongating a medd letter and then forcing a ghunnah in it by letting the air flow purposely up through and out the nose, then trying to correct that and force the air out the mouth. After doing this 5 or 6 times, insha' Allah you will start to feel and hear the difference between the incorrect ghunnah with the and the correct sound coming out solely from the mouth. This practice then can be extended to the other letters which are coming out incorrectly with a ghunnah. After several sessions like this, you can start testing your reading by pinching off your nose when you are reading the letters which have the problem and seeing if the sound diminishes. If the sound diminishes when you pinch off your nose while reading, there is a ghunnah there.
If you find there is a ghunnah, go back to the first exercise again until you are sure you can control the flow of the sound so it all goes out your mouth when there is no ghunnah wanted in the reading.
This error is generally not fixed in a day or two, but with Allah's help it should not be too hard.
May Allah make it easy for you.
Wa iyyaakum.
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Howard sent us a link to his personal account of Ride the Rockies. "419 miles later… and now we've spent the entire weekend recovering. It hasn't been enough. And there's not enough Advil in the world to make us all better."
Good work Howard. The first thing I always tell anyone that asks me about preparing for an epic ride is to use chamois creme (tip, Noxema works really well).


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Admission to a Degree Program: U.S. Citizen
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The first step in the application process is to complete an application for admission online. A $56 non-refundable application fee is required.
While completing the electronic application, be certain to identify three (3) references (relatives are not acceptable academic/ professional references) who can assess the ability of the applicant to do graduate work.
While identifying the references, be sure to:
- provide complete name and contact information
- consult with the specific program in which you are seeking admission to verify whether they have different reference requirements.
The Office of Graduate Studies will notify an applicant's references that they are to provide a letter in support of tan applicant's admission. Letters can also be sent separately by the references directly to the Office of Graduate Studies. If an applicant submits letters directly th the Office of Graduate Studies, the letters must be in envelopes sealed by the reference(s).
Some programs have different reference requirements. Please check the program's admission instructions first for specific reference requirements.
Have all official transcripts sent directly to the Office of Graduate Studies. Copies "issued to student" are not considered official. UW Oshkosh students and alumni: you do not need to provide an official copy of your transcript.
A number of programs have additional or other admission requirements. Please consult this document or refer to the appropriate program section in the Graduate Bulletin.
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Selecting your vehicle's make, model, and year allows us to display only parts and items specific to your car's model and year.
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Rebuild your original Hurst Competition shifter with these reproduction arms from OPGI. Arms are manufactured to factory specifications using hardened-steel for increased strength and durability. Sold as a complete three-piece set, each arm is stamped with the original Hurst part number for authenticity.


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I keep hearing on the news from people who are supposed to be unbiased and sooo much smarter than I that if Ted Cruz and the Tea Party would just shut up and do as they are told everything would be alright.
I keep hearing Obamacare is settled law. That maybe so, but so was slavery, Prohibition, the right to bear arms, freedom of speech, drug laws, etc. Our so-called representatives in Washington want to pick and choose which laws they want to be settled and which ones they want to ignore.
Abortion laws were based on the right of privacy, but they have decided our e-mails and phone calls are up for grabs. The Fifth Amendment is supposed to protect you from self-incrimination. Try telling that to the IRS on April 15. How about your medical records? Do you want some unelected bureaucrat digging through your records and finding out about that rash that took six months to clear up and where it was located!
It seems the Democrats don't like immigration laws, gun rights, business, welfare reform, tax reform, voter ID, freedom of speech or any independents of any kind.
Just so you know, the Tea Party has a lot more support than the marching morons in Washington realize. They locked out our heroes from the memorial we built for them for political gain. We won't forget!
Alfred Cooper


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TACOMA - "We're a sisterhood! We did this for our school, our community and especially our parents!" Natalia Bazan gushed as she and her Lady Grizzly teammates stormed off the Tacoma Dome court last Saturday with a fourth-place trophy from the State 3A girls basketball tourney.
It's a sisterhood of 12 girls that left the rest of the state impressed wih Sunnyside's brand of controlled chaotic basketball. Their crowning achievement came Saturday with a blistering second half rally to knock off University 56-42 in the fourth/sixth place game.
University High School in Spokane, the only tourney team with a losing record, managed a 27-25 lead at the half over Sunnyside. Hampering the Lady Grizzlies further was miscommunication from tourney officials that brought Sunnyside back to the court too late to warm up for the second half.
Turned out the Lady Grizzlies were plenty warm already, on fire to be exact, as Sunnyside went on a 21-4 rampage in the third quarter to take control of the game. They turned the tide with defensive pressure to the tune of 12 steals and a renewed focus on pushing the ball inside.
"That was our best half of the season," said Coach Rick Puente.
He said the key to his team's turnaround was rediscovering Sunnyside basketball. "Let's be us," he told the girls at halftime. "Go back to us. Us is being efficient. Us is out-working people."
Us is a sisterhood that needed all 12 girls to pull off the best season ever for Lady Grizzly basketball with the highest finish at State and the most wins in one season, 23.
For example, Sunnyside's leading scorer all season, Jordan Rodriguez, went from the points column to point guard in Saturday's finale. Rodriguez tallied just 7 points, but dished out three assists and hauled down four rebounds. "Their players were guarding me close. I could hear their bench yell 'Stop 23!' so I looked for my teammates," Rodriguez said.
Those teammates included Bazan, who like Rodriguez is a junior. Bazan averaged barely 8 points a game during the regular season, but on Saturday paced Sunnyside with a game-high 16 points and seven rebounds. Freshman Emilee Maldonado poured in 10 points and collected three rebounds on Saturday for Sunnyside.
Junior Selena Rubalcava also came up big Saturday with 11 points for the Lady Griz. A defensive stalwart who picked University's pocket for three steals, Rubalcava came to Tacoma averaging 7 points per game.
For all the excitement and fireworks and hardware on Saturday, it almost didn't happen for the Sunnyside sisterhood.
That's because last Friday they had to get past pesky Lincoln High School of Tacoma in a loser-out consolation game. Sunnyside won that game by the deceptively large margin of 67-54.
Deceptive because throughout the contest Sunnyside built up double-digit leads over the Lady Abes, only to see them storm back to within a single bucket.
Each time, the Lady Abes were ably thwarted by timely Sunnyside scores. Those momentum-switching swishes most often were delivered by Bazan, who poured in a season-high 18 points.
Lincoln actually looked strong to start the game with two quick scores to go up 4-0. Sunnyside rallied with a 22-8 run to close out the quarter. Fifteen of Sunnyside's points in the opening frame were poured in by the combo of Rodriguez and Maldonado, who led all scorers with 19 points.
"We played our hearts out!" Maldonado smiled after Friday's win. "We didn't want to go home."
Rodriguez scored 14 points Friday to help make sure the Lady Griz stayed put in Tacoma. In the process she scored her 1,000th career point. She was also a warrior for Sunnyside in the paint with 13 rebounds.
The sisterhood needed all the help it could muster in the post Friday with Tiana Perez forced to sit after suffering what proved to be a knee injury on Thursday. The junior gamely started Saturday's trophy contest and played six minutes. "It felt better, but it still hurts," Perez said of her right knee, which may have suffered a miniscus tear or hyperextension during Thursday's opener against Bellevue.
So, with their tallest player out, the sisters needed others to step up. "I told the reserves get ready for some extra minutes," Puente said. Among them was Summer Hazzard, a sophomore, who logged nine minutes on the court Friday in Perez's absence.
It was a good experience," Hazzard said of extra time on the State's big stage. "We just had to play hard and keep up the work."
That hard work paid off in spades for Sunnyside with the girls' first State tourney trophy since 1991.
Coaches and players were in tears Saturday celebrating an end to Sunnyside's hardware drought, but also bidding farewell to "super" senior Vanessa Alvarez, who tallied a combined 13 points and nine rebounds in the two victories.
"It's a roller coaster of emotions," said Puente, whose four years at the Lady Grizzly helm mirrors Alvarez's four years with the program. "It's sad with our senior leaving us. She drives us, she never lets us give up."
"It's a great way to go out," Alvarez said, clutching the fourth-place trophy.
Alvarez said goodbye to her coach in the Tacoma Dome tunnel Saturday, reaching out to hand him the trophy. Puente smiled and shook his head. "Nah, you hold on to it for awhile."
Besides that trophy, the sisterhood has a season of memories to hold on to, culminating with those three days in Tacoma.
The sisters are also holding out for more.
"It's great. Hopefully we can come back next year and do as good or better," said freshman Jessica Mendoza, a sparkplug with a combined 7 points and seven rebounds in Sunnyside's two victories at State.
Added Maldonado, "Hopefully we can win a championship!"
Lincoln 12 14 12 16 -54
Sunnyside 22 16 9 20 -67
2-PT FG – Lincoln 18/50 (Breneya Johnson 6/10), Sunnyside 13/45 (Natalia Bazan 6/7, Jordan Rodriguez 3/11). 3-PT FG – Lincoln 1/3 (Joy Failauga 1/1), Sunnyside 7/15 (Emilee Maldonado 3/4, Natalia Bazan 2/3, Jordan Rodriguez 2/5). FT – Lincoln 15/24 (Tamia Braggs 9/10, Kayla McLean 2/2), Sunnyside 20/29 (Emilee Maldonado 8/10, Jordan Rodriguez 2/2, Vanessa Alvarez 5/7, Selena Rubalcava 3/4). RBD – Lincoln 45 (Breneya Johnson 9, Tamia Braggs 8, Kiaira Thomas 5), Sunnyside 40 (Jordan Rodriguez 13, Jessica Mendoza 6, Vanessa Alvarez 5). TO – Lincoln 21, Sunnyside 10. STEALS – Lincoln 3 (Aaqila Turner 2), Sunnyside 10 (Vanessa Alvarez 3, Jessica Mendoza 3, Jordan Rodriguez 2).
Lincoln – Kiaira Thomas 3, Aamira Turner 3, Breneya Johnson 13, Isis Amen 0, Donaisiah Brooks 0, Aaqila Turner 2, Kayla McLean 2, Joy Failauga 3, Charity Talo 0, Victoria Mukisa 0, Jasmine Mamea 3, Tamia Braggs 25
Sunnyside – Mireya Herrera 0, Vanessa Alvarez 7, Summer Hazzard 0, Jasmine Lua 0, Jazel Trevino 1, Aubrey Isquierdo 0, Natalia Bazan 18, Selena Rubalcava 5, Emilee Maldonado 19, Jessica Mendoza 3, Jordan Rodriguez 14
Sunnyside 13 12 21 10 -56
University 13 14 4 11 -42
2-PT FG – Sunnyside 18/33 (Natalia Bazan 7/10, Emilee Maldonado 5/6, Selena Rubalcava 2/5, Jordan Rodriguez 2/5), University 10/31 (Ashley Woods 4/9). 3-PT FG – Sunnyside 4/17 (Selena Rubalcava 2/7, Vanessa Alvarez 1/1), University 3/15 (McKenzie Peterson 2/3). FT – Sunnyside 8/13 (Tiana Perez 2/2, Jessica Mendoza 2/2), University 13/15 (Ashley Woods 6/6, Kendall Collins 2/2, Shelby Ritchford 2/2, Kylie Collins 2/2). RBD – Sunnyside 34 (Natalia Bazan 7, Emilee Maldonado 5, Vanessa Alvarez 4, Jessica Mendoza 4, Jordan Rodriguez 4), University 30 (Ashley Woods 5, Shelby Ritchford 5). TO – Sunnyside 16, University 19. STEALS – Sunnyside 12 (Vanessa Alvarez 3, Selena Rubalcava 3, Natalia Bazan 2, Jordan Rodriguez 2), University 7 (Ashley Woods 2).
Sunnyside – Mireya Herrera 0, Vanessa Alvarez 6, Summer Hazzard 0, Jasmine Lua 0, Jazel Trevino 0, Aubrey Isquierdo 0, Natalia Bazan 16, Selena Rubalcava 11, Emilee Maldonado 10, Jessica Mendoza 4, Jordan Rodriguez 7, Tiana Perez 2
University – Ashley Woods 14, Emma Kennedy 2, Kaitlin Pannell 2, Emily Terhaar 0, Sydney Weiler 0, Morgan Hawley 5, Kendall Collins 2, Brooke Bailey 3, Shelby Ritchford 4, McKenzie Peterson 8, Kylie Collins 2, Jessica Shill 0
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The court exempted the firm from paying 100 percent of Upshur County property taxes for two years, 50 percent the third year, and 25 percent the fourth year on condition it provide at least 100 jobs by May 2015, and maintain that number. The action does not exempt the firm from paying school property taxes as Texas schools cannot legally grant such abatements.
The business is constructing a new pipe heat treatment facility, Fowler said.
Pct. 2 Commissioner Cole Hefner said that if the firm improves the property by $10.5 million as planned, its county tax bill without an abatement would be about $54,000 annually. Ron Bedard, SCT's President and Chief Executive Officer, said he "petitioned for abatement on behalf of SCT's customers as well as SCT. However, the commission was unable to abate the county portion on behalf of SCT's customers."
Specifically, Bedard requested a 2-year abatement on his customers' pipe, but Pct. 4 Comm. Mike Spencer and Fowler replied the court couldn't grant that. The abatement is for capital improvements. Nonetheless, Bedard said after the meeting he was pleased with the abatement the court granted.
Lee Simpson, SCT's Chief Financial Officer, told The Mirror the county would receive additional tax from his firm's investment as well as from the inventory of pipe which SCT's customers would maintain on site. He had told the court his firm would like a 100 percent abatement for 5-10 years.
Bedard contends he needs the abatement in order to help his firm compete with Houston-area businesses which treat pipe that comes into the Port of Houston. His prospective customers would be sending the pipe 235 miles to the Ore City area instead of five miles to a Houston treatment firm, thus incurring $30 per ton in additional freight costs, he said.
Simpson told the court that Wednesday was the first anniversary of his firm buying Steel Country Threaders, which had threaded pipe near Ore City, and that the new ownership has been laying out a new plant which will include a heat treatment facility.
In the year since the current ownership purchased SCT, its work force has grown from eight part-time workers to 26 full-time ones, and "every single one of our hourly workers is a local worker," Bedard told the court. Many of those hired had been laid off elsewhere, he noted.
Pct. 1 Comm. Paula Gentry told Bedard and Simpson, "I would like to see as many people hired from Upshur County as we can." Bedard, a Houston resident who said he is spending time here every week, replied that all current workers are "from the area" and that SCT would focus on hiring Upshur residents.
Simpson said yard workers would be paid $10-$18 hourly.
Besides purchasing the threading operation, Steel Country Threaders bought 20 more acres nearby. It has "sourced local labor where we could" and plans to be operational within two months, eventually providing 140-150 jobs in direct employment with an estimated annual employment expense of about $6.7 million, Simpson said..
All the heat-treating equipment is on site and being installed, he added.
A separate company will be on site to inspect pipe, he said. SCT will operate 24 hours daily seven days a week, Simpson said.
In a move related to granting the abatement, the court held a short public hearing before voting to establish a permanent "Ore City North Reinvestment Zone" on the firm's 42-acre site on U.S. 259 north of that city.
Fowler said establishing the zone, which is near the intersection with Hwy. 155, was a necessary legal step in creating the tax abatement.
During the 4-minute hearing, Upshur County Democratic Party Chariman Dan Miles Jr. asked if granting the abatement was the only way to get the business to locate in the county. Fowler replied that SCT is providing a "pretty significant number of jobs" and that granting the reinvestment zone "sends a message. . .Upshur County might be a good place to come."
Fowler noted that Gilmer-based Upshur-Rural Electric Cooperative is building a substation in the area for the firm because "that's how much electricity they need."
After the meeting, Hefner said the county is "thrilled to have" the newly-expanding industry, and that its ownership consists of "good, solid folks." Of the abatement, he said Upshur wants to be known as a "business-friendly county."
Hefner said that the tax burden in Harris County, where Houston is located, is 40 or 50 cents more per $100 valuation than in Upshur County.


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Box Score | Top Plays Video | Coach Buckley's Postgame Comments
FOREST GROVE – Pacific Lutheran capitalized on turnovers and big plays to stun a Pacific team that won big last week as the Lutes knocked off the Boxers 41-23 in Northwest Conference football action at Lincoln Park Stadium.
The Lutes (3-2, 2-1 NWC) saw quarterback Dalton Ritchey throw passes of 15 yards or more to four different receivers on the afternoon while four rushers had runs of 10 yards or more. The long plays highlighted a highly charged offense day that saw the teams combine for 828 yards of offense.
The PLU defense helped their own cause by intercepting Pacific quarterback P.J. Minaya (Jr., Wahiawa, Hawaii) three times, all of which led to touchdowns.
Ritchey completed 24 of 31 passes for 262 yards and one touchdown and rushed for a second as the Lutes finished with 413 yards of total offense. Minaya completed 32 of 45 passes for 342 yards and a trio of touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The Boxers were even in the yardage battle with 415 yards of total offense, but penalties hampered themonce again as the Boxers were flagged eight times for a total of 105 yards.
Kelson Kawai (Jr., North Kohala, Hawaii) led seven Pacific receivers to catch balls with 114 yards on seven receptions. Jakob Lawrence (So., Sherwood, Ore.) had eight catches for 83 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Deven McKinney (So., Spanaway, Wash.) finished with 83 all-purpose yards. He led the Boxers with 40 yards rushing on four carries and also had 40 yards receiving on two catches.
Kyle Warner proved to be Ritchey's favorite target for the Lutes, making 11 catches for 142 yards. Brandon James led the PLU ground attack with 70 yards on 11 carries.
"In those first couple of series we moved the ball quite well, but we made a couple of mistakes that killed the drives," Pacific Head Coach Keith Buckley said. "With where we are right now, we can't make those mistakes and recover from them easily. We went into halftime down 18-2 and we had a chance to stay in the ball game. Sometimes you make plays and sometimes you don't, and in the second half we started to make those plays."
Pacific Lutheran broke open a defensive minded first quarter, when James ran in from two yards with 45 seconds left for the game's first score. The PAT attempt was blocked, one of three point-after failures for the Lutes in the game. PLU ended the quarter with the 6-0 lead.
The Lutes were right back on offense after Kellen Westering intercepted Minaya at midfield. PLU then took 4 minutes, 38 seconds to march down the field, ending when Ritchey found James for a short one-yard scoring pass that made it a 12-0 game.
PLU scored again on their next series with Niko Madison rushing on from four yards for the touchdown with 4:31 left. On the ensuing point-after attempt, Devin Lagorio (Jr., Stockton, Calif.) came up with the block and Craig Bailey (Jr., Fairfield, Calif.) ran the ball to the opposite end zone for the two-point conversion. It is the second time in as many years that the Boxers have turned a blocked point after into two points. With the deuce, the Boxers went into halftime trailing 18-2.
Pacific went three-and-out on their opening possession of the second half, and PLU wasted little time getting back on the board. Nick Kaylor's field goal attempt from 22 yards out capped a 10-play, 54-yard drive that took over six minutes to complete. The Lutes' defense then picked Minaya for the second time, this time with Tayler Angevine making the interception. That set up a Ritchey quarterback keeper for the score that gave PLU a 28-2 lead at the end of the third.
The Boxers finally put some scoring on offense together in the fourth quarter as they scored all three of their touchdowns in the stanza. On their first full drive of the quarter, Minaya marched the Boxers 71 yards before finding Roher for a six-yard scoring pass that made it a 28-9 game with 9:02 to go.
Pacific recovered the ensuing onside kick and seven plays later Minaya found Lawrence for the six-yard touchdown pass to cut the PLU lead to 28-16 with 6:33 to go. The Boxers could not recover their next onside kick attempt, and the Lutes converted it into one final score as Cody Pohren rushed in from three yards for a 35-16 lead. PLU managed the clock well, using 3:47 to cover 46 yards.
PLU put the game well out of reach on the very next play, as Mychael Tuiasosopo intercepted Minaya on the first play of the Boxers' next drive to make it a 41-16 lead. The Pacific quarterback recovered quickly, covering 80 yards over the next 2:14 and found Lawrence again for a one-yard scoring pass with 16 seconds left.
Bryan Mills (Jr., Imbler, Ore.) finished with a Pacific season-high 12 tackles to lead the defense. Josh Brinkworth (So., Elk Grove, Calif.) finished with seven tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss. Chrystian Johnson (Jr., Rogue River, Ore.) had the lone sack of the game, his third in as many games. Greg Hibbard's seven tackles led PLU.
Buckley said he was happy with the continued fight in his team throughout the game. "If there is one we have always done, it is continued to fight during games," he said. "I think that showed today. We have a spirit that we will fight through."
The Boxers will regroup with a bye week, returning to the field on Sat., Oct. 27, when they play at Lewis & Clark. Pacific Lutheran returns home next Saturday to take on Willamette.
Pacific Lutheran Runs Past Boxers Thanks To Turnovers, Big Plays
|No. 20 Pacific Lutheran (3-2)
|Pacific (2-4)
Box Score | Top Plays Video | Coach Buckley's Postgame Comments


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Actually, there may have been several unofficial records set at the Games Convention - most teutonic booth babes, most embarrassing erection at a major trade show, etc.
The actual Guinness Book Of Records people were on hand, though, to promote the Guinness World Records videogame and to oversee record attempts at three of the included minigames.
Its a bit of an odd duck, the GWR game - yes, you can technically break the world record in one or more of the mini challenges (and have these uploaded to the Guinness site), but it is no more or less (actually, it probably is a bit less) impressive than getting the best possible score in any other, actually popular, game.
So, tiny golf clap applause please for Max Schoenemann (virtual Sheep shearing - 5 sheep in just 13.71 seconds!),
Florian Mack (Smashing melons with head - 60 in a minute) and Christian Kurka (100 balloons popped in 10.48 seconds).
Well done you.


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Its All About The W's
More W's Then Just The One For Win!
How about the one for WOW!
With Sunday's heart stopping victory, The Cowboys brought home the NFC East Title for the first time since 1998. It most definitely wasn't a pretty win and there may have been a little help from Lady Luck, But A Win is a Win. I'll take it anyway they can get it.
Then theres the one for WADE!
Head Coach Wade Phillips has taken full blame for the flat performance that was shown by the Cowboys Defense. He claims he didn't fully prepare them for the run and had to try and readjust the defense to what the Lions were giving them. He also stated that Cowboys corner-backs Terrence Newman and Anthony Henry may have been rusty from the switch back to thier original positions in the back Field. With what he is saying only leads me to the next W.
which is WAKE UP DEFENSE!
There where a number of plays that lead me to believe that the Dallas defense was shell shocked by the way the Lions offense came out swinging. The defense has to be ready for anything any offense brings them. The backfield defense cannot be sitting back waiting on the receivers to catch the ball and come to them. They have to attack the ball. One thing that stood out to me on the defense that made all the hype of Kitna's comments from last year worth it was my next W
With 3:22 left in the first quarter, Ware was penalized with a personal foul for ruffing the passer. It hurt the defensive stand but it was well worth it to see Ware slam Kitna on his butt after the film flam Kitna was saying last year of the defense. I thought for sure that would get the Dallas defense the spark it needed. I think it only lit a fire underneath Kitna. Thats the way it goes sometimes in the NFL.
Last but certainly not least WITTEN
Despite a fourth-quarter fumble at the Lions' one yard line on a drive that would have given Dallas the lead, Witten set a franchise record with 15 receptions and a career high 138 yards receiving. Only adding to his glory of the day Witten hauls in 4 of the last ten plays on there 83-yard game winning drive, the last of the four for the game sealing touchdown score! Truly the Best Tight-End in the NFL. He keeps playing like he is and that may turn into all of NFL History!
How Bout Dem Cowboys!!!!!!!


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Luke Hancock scores 25, No. 13 Louisville hits 16 3-pointers in 102-54 rout of Rutgers
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Louisville turned all those open looks on the perimeter into a 3-point shooting clinic that even included a little-used freshman.
Luke Hancock scored a career-high 25 points, including six 3-pointers, and No. 13 Louisville throttled Rutgers in a 102-54 blowout Sunday night.
The Cardinals (21-4, 10-2 American Athletic Conference) made a season-high 16 shots from beyond the arc on 30 attempts for their fourth straight win, completing a season sweep of the Scarlet Knights (10-16, 4-9). Louisville shot 56 percent overall in posting its biggest win this season.
Freshman guard Terry Rozier added a career-high 16 points, hitting four 3s, and Wayne Blackshear scored 10 with a couple of 3-pointers. Russ Smith, Chris Jones, Tim Henderson and freshman reserve David Levitch also made long-range shots in a game that quickly became lopsided.
"It felt great," said Hancock, who went 7 of 9 from the field and 5 of 6 at the free throw line. "We had some really good looks early and guys hit their first couple of shots and then it was kind of, everybody was in rhythm. You saw the ball go in, even if it wasn't for you."
The Cardinals' last scheduled conference game against Rutgers ended with them dominating on the boards (39-24) while forcing 18 turnovers that led to 23 points. The Scarlet Knights shot just 35 percent in falling to 1-13 against Louisville, which had 23 assists to 10 for Rutgers.
"When you shoot the ball well and don't turn it over and play hard, it makes your defense better," Cardinals coach Rick Pitino said. "It makes you play better in all phases of the game. So, I'm really excited about the victory."
Kadeem Jack and Myles Mack each scored 10 points for Rutgers, which is headed to the Big Ten next season while Louisville goes to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The game matched two teams on different trajectories. The Cardinals were looking to maintain momentum as they prepare for Saturday's rematch at first-place Cincinnati, while the Scarlet Knights were trying to break out of the bottom half of the standings.
Despite entering with a split of its past four games, including a 23-point rout of Houston, Rutgers faced a huge hurdle against the third of four ranked opponents in a five-game stretch. Louisville came in leading the nation in scoring margin (20.1) and had won its last three by an average of nearly 19 points.
But unlike last month's meeting in New Jersey that Louisville won 83-76 by making 41 of 46 free throws, the Cardinals did their damage from beyond the arc this time, with Hancock and Rozier thriving in particular.
Smith (seven points) and Hancock started it off by hitting from long range. Jones followed with a perimeter jumper that was initially ruled a 3 before a replay review showed his foot was on the line. But that hardly bothered the Cardinals, who just kept firing from outside en route to a 43-24 halftime lead.
Rozier needed only a half to match his previous career high of 14 points set last month against Rutgers as he went 4 of 6 from 3-point range and 5 of 9 overall from the field. Louisville shot 52 percent in the first half, including 7 of 14 on 3-pointers.
"Anybody can get beat on any given night," said Rozier, who finished 6 of 13 from the floor. "That's why we wanted to take care of business from the jump."
A game that was already a rout at the break quickly became a laugher as Louisville made its first five 3-pointers in the second half, with Hancock hitting back-to-back shots in a 21-0 run that made it 69-27. With no answers for Louisville's onslaught, Rutgers could only watch as the Cardinals' lead reached 48 points with 31 seconds left.
"When you can't answer back, their confidence and mojo is at a high," Rutgers coach Eddie Jordan said. "They hit a 3 and jump shots on the break. Their confidence was riding high. We didn't get back well enough."


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Selecting your vehicle's make, model, and year allows us to display only parts and items specific to your car's model and year.
Part# C21010
Mfg# C21010
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OPGI Price: $540.99
Part Type: (P) High Performance, designed to improve performance
Years: 1969-1972
Sold As: EACH
2018 Chevelle Catalog Page: 453
The most popular Hurst shifter by far, the "Competition Plus" shifter has all the features you would expect from the industry standard for more than 30 years. Heat-treated components, chrome-plated stick, mounting hardware and easy-to-follow instructions are expected, but what makes this kit so special is its compatibility with factory consoles and floor pan holes. These kits are designed per application, allowing them to fit factory 4-speed cars with or without a console. Shift boots with small and large base are available for those not utilizing a factory console. Installation kits are included with all shifters.


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Mexican forward Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez to join tour prior to Red Devils' game vs. MLS All-Stars in Houston on July 28; tour also features matches against the Kansas City Wizards, Philadelphia Union and Celtic F.C.
Manchester United unveiled their 23-man travel roster for the upcoming four-market North American Tour. The list of international superstars includes legendary midfielders Ryan Giggs (Wales) and Paul Scholes (England), as well as Edwin Van der Sar (Holland), Nani (Portugal) and Dimitar Berbatov (Bulgaria).
The team's recent marquee acquisition, heralded Mexican forward Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez, is scheduled to join the squad in Houston on July 27. Chicharito scored two goals for Mexico at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Today the club announced that Gary Neville, will not be traveling due to a last minute setback at training (small tear to his calf muscle).
The 2009 English Premier League champions Manchester United will face the MLS All-Stars in the 2010 AT&T MLS All-Star Game at Reliant Stadium, in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday, July 28 (live on ESPN2 and TeleFutura at 8:30 p.m. ET). The game marks the last stop of the tour, which also includes matches against Major League Soccer's Kansas City Wizards (July 25 in Kansas City), Philadelphia Union (July 21 in Philadelphia), along with Scottish power Celtic F.C. (July 16 in Toronto). Tickets are available by calling 1-800-745-3000 or visiting ticketmaster.com. More information on the tour is available by visiting www.manutd.com/tour2010.
Manchester United's North American tour is being presented by Major League Soccer and Creative Artists Agency (CAA). The tour will mark the first time United have played games in this region of the world since 2004.
Led by Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United is one of the most recognized clubs in the world, lifting a total of 18 English Premier League titles, four Carling cups, three European Cups and a record 11 FA Cups. In 1999, United were the first team to win the Treble (English Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League) in one season. Founded in 1878, the Red Devils have competed in the top division of English soccer since 1938, with the exception of the 1974-75 season.
Giggs, a midfielder from Wales, is English football's most decorated player. He has also made more appearances (838) that any other player in United's history. Scholes has been a staple in the Manchester United midfield since making his debut in 1994. In additional to his 643 club appearances and 149 goals, he has been capped 66 times by the English National Team, having played in two FIFA World Cups.
Van der Sar is the most capped player in the history of the Dutch National Team, and has won the UEFA Champion's League with two different teams. Speedy winger Nani was on the Portuguese National Team roster for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but had to withdraw just days out due to a shoulder injury. Berbatov is the all-time leading scorer in the history of the Bulgarian National Team and a six-time Bulgarian Player of the Year. He has scored 26 goals since joining Manchester United in 2008.
GOALKEEPERS: Ben Amos (ENG), Tomasz Kuszczak (POL), Edwin van de Sar (NED)
DEFENDERS: Wes Brown (ENG), Fabio Da Silva (BRA), Rafael Da Silva (BRA), Ritchie De Laet (BEL),
Corry Evans (NIR), Jonny Evans (NIR), John O'Shea (IRL), Chris Smalling (ENG)
MIDFIELDERS: Tom Cleverley (ENG), Darren Fletcher (SCO), Darron Gibson (IRL), Ryan Giggs (WAL),
Nani (POR), Gabriel Obertan (FRA), Paul Scholes (ENG)
FORWARDS: Dimitar Berbatov (BUL), Mame Biram Diouf (SEN), Javier Hernandez (MEX) [will join in
Houston on 27 July], Federico Macheda (ITA), Danny Welbeck (ENG)
MANAGER: Sir Alex Ferguson
July 16 Manchester United vs. Celtic F.C 7:00 pm ET Rogers Centre, Toronto
July 21 Manchester United vs. Philadelphia Union 7:30 pm ET Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
July 25 Manchester United vs. Kansas City Wizards 6:00 pm ET Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City
July 28 2010 AT&T MLS All-Star Game vs. Manchester United 8:30 pm ET Reliant Stadium, Houston
BEN AMOS – 20-year-old goalkeeper has worked his way through the Old Trafford ranks since the age of 11; made his first team debut in September 2008.
TOMASZ KUSZCZAK – The Poland international made a stunning penalty save in his United debut.
EDWIN VAN DER SAR – In 2007/2008, the Dutch international kept an incredible 24 clean sheets in all competitions; is his nation's most capped player.
WES BROWN – A veteran of 13 seasons with United, the rugged defender has 23 appearances for England's national team.
RAFAEL DA SILVA – 20-year-old Brazilian right back was a finalist for the Premier League's Young Player of the Year for the 2008-2009 season.
FABIO DA SILVA – Rafael's twin brother, "Fabio" plays on the left side of United's defense.
RITCHIE DE LAET – Belgian international is eyeing more playing time after being named the Manchester United Reserve Player of the Season in May 2010.
CORRY EVANS – Younger brother of defender Jonny Evans, Corry settled and excelled at centerback for United's Reserves, rising through the ranks to train regularly with the senior squad and has been named to a handful of first team squads.
JONNY EVANS – Older brother of defender Corry Evans, Northern Ireland center back has 19 international appearances for his country.
JOHN O'SHEA – Versatile Republic of Ireland international has played every position – including goalkeeper – during his 11 seasons with United.
CHRIS SMALLING – Former Fulham defender joined United earlier this year.
TOM CLEVERLEY – A bright future beckons for the 20-year old; was nominated for the prestigious Denzil Haroun Reserve Player of the Year award.
DARREN FLETCHER – One of United's most consistent performers, Fletcher was named captain of the Scottish National Team in August 2009.
DARRON GIBSON – A regular for the Republic of Ireland, Gibson scored five goals in 23 appearances in the 2009/2010 season.
RYAN GIGGS – Nicknamed "The Welsh Wizard," Giggs has played for Manchester United his entire professional career, holding a host of records, including being British football's most decorated player. In the 2009-2010 season, his 11 assists tied him for fifth best in the EPL.
NANI – Powerful and speedy Portuguese international put together a string of hugely impressive displays and contributed vital goals to win over fans in the 2009/2010 season.
GABRIEL OBERTAN – French international has progressed through the ranks for his country receiving caps at Under 16, 17, 18 and 19 levels. Is currently involved in the French under 21 squad.
PAUL SCHOLES – The 35-year-old midfielder has spent his entire professional career with the 'Red Devils,' and has represented the England national team in the 1998 and 2002 World Cups.
DIMITAR BERBATOV – The all-time leading goal scorer for Bulgaria's national team (48 goals in 78 appearances), Berbatrov is known for scoring spectacular goals.
MAME BIRAM DIOUF – Senegalese international joined United in 2009 after three seasons in Norway.
JAVIER HERNANDEZ – Mexican standout scored two goals at the World Cup in South Africa … could become "a major influence" with United, according to the club's assistant manager Mike Phelan
FEDERICO MACHEDA – 18-year-old Italian forward has 3 goals in 9 League appearances for United …known as "Kiko".
DANNY WELBECK – Rising young winger/striker has often been compared to Nigerian star Nwankwo Kanu.


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Thu, Oct 13th 2011 3:01pm
Filed Under:
$60, movie windows, theaters, tower heist, video on demand, vod
comcast, nbc universal
It was barely a week ago when we reported that Universal was planning to test a $60 Video On Demand release of Tower Heist only 3 weeks after the theatrical release of the film. In that report, we noted that theater owners were threatening to boycott the film if Universal went ahead with its plans. We now learn that Universal has given into the demands of theater owners and will be putting off its early VOD release of this film. This is not all too surprising as Universal would not want to damage its relationships with theater owners. However, Universal still plans to go forward in the future with this plan as soon as it finds a mutually beneficial deal with theater owners. Nowhere, however, is there any indication that Universal is seeking a plan that is mutually beneficial to consumers.
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Reader Comments
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jimbo, 13 Oct 2011 @ 3:12pmdo something constructive for their customers? you gotta be kidding me! that would be sensible and i ain't seen any sense come from the entertainment industries yet!
surfer (profile), 13 Oct 2011 @ 5:47pm
Re:I dunno, mebbe I am missing the point...
content is content.. the MAFIAA create awesomeness remakes like Avatar (Dances with Wolves w/ aliens), or remix comic books into movies (Marvel, ad nauseum), but the end result is entertainment.. it's not like food, or water, it's entertainment. How is it that they think their value is upwards in the vicinity of diamonds, a rare commodity?
it's entertainment!
More content is being produced today, and I mean daily, than has been produced in the past 10 years. youtube.com accepts about 40hrs of content per minute!?!?
I read a great article on torrentfreak where they posted the top 10 most pirated movies, alongside the 'alleged' gross for said movie, and it made perfect sense. If you create a great product, ppl will pay for it, AND pirate it, yet you (being the MAFIAA) are still raking in the billions, irrelevant of the file sharing count. Honestly, it was almost equal, the download count, add a zero, and that was the gross profit, 12 million downloads, 1.2 billion in gross.
This can only lead to the Freudian belief emitted from their twisted reality, 'ppl are watching it and not paying us'. Am I the only one that sees this as greed personified? The story-lines are so predictable, I could write the scripts!
I changed my mainstream media content consumption 12 years ago, and never looked back.. Masnick comments on 'cord-cutters', honestly, I don't get it. I have a 60" LED that I use for a monitor for a computer to view my content'?
Am I alone? In the digital age, infinite possibilities result in infinite results.
Copyright is about as effective as jay-walking offenses, so I educate as many ppl as I meet that there are alternatives.
It's not about 'not paying' it's about circumventing the greed. Price movies to 1USD, and songs to 10�, and ppl will pay, the days of your exorbitant profit margins are OVER.
surfer (profile), 13 Oct 2011 @ 5:57pm
Re: Re:ok, add two zeros, and no, I am not enigmax =]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Oct 2011 @ 10:21pm
Re: Re:Yet for all that "content", people still pirate the (some would says shitty) hollywood stuff and ignore most of what is on youtube.
In this digital age, people still want to be like everyone else. They still want the stuff.
Any Mouse (profile), 13 Oct 2011 @ 10:43pm
Re: Re: Re:Unprovable supposition. The stuff on Youtube is already free, so it cannot be 'pirated.'
Anonymous Coward, 14 Oct 2011 @ 1:19am
Re: Re: Re:You see 10 years ago it wouldn't be only 12 million it would have been a hundred million people downloading and going to the theaters, You don't get it do you, the world has 7 billion people what 12 million means?
Means you are screwed.
surfer (profile), 14 Oct 2011 @ 3:23am
Re: Re: Re:"Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed."
-Abraham Lincoln
Re: Re: Re:"In this digital age, people still want to be like everyone else. They still want the stuff."
of course ppl want stuff, this goes back to cro-magnon man stealing women, c'mon, catch-up!
in the digital age, there is an abundance. I remember the old days of 'Peaches' the record stores, they were packed to the gills with cassettes (in those days), of every type of music imaginable. in the digital age, that Peaches store is now the size of Texas, and the cassette size is equivalent to a 10� coin. so how many 10� coins can you fit in Texas? even if you only stacked them 10 high, your talking trillions, right? with such an abundance of content now available, albeit MAFIAA spoon-fed remakes, or kitty videos on youtube, it just makes sense, the law of averages states, 'more x, more demand for x'.
techflaws.org (profile), 15 Oct 2011 @ 4:22am
Re: Re:the MAFIAA create awesomeness remakes like Avatar (Dances with Wolves w/ aliens)
Try Pocahontas.
A Dan (profile), 13 Oct 2011 @ 3:18pm
Re:It happens, just not from the mainstream sources. Search the site for "Kevin Smith" or "Red State".
william (profile), 13 Oct 2011 @ 3:26pmI still don't understand the mentality of theater owners. It's almost as if they are not real human beings that goes to movie theaters.
If I want to go a theater, it would be either
1) it's such an amazing movie that I must watch now
2) it's a movie that you can only feel the full effect on big screen
3) a bunch of friend is going and I need to go for social reasons
whether or not the movie is released outside theater sooner or later does not factor in the equation at all. I am pretty sure most if not all of my friend are this way.
Anonymous Coward, 13 Oct 2011 @ 4:16pm
Re:You should make another friend, that way you will be able to say friends ; )
Re: Re:Aaaaa...aaaaaaaaaaaah........aaaaaaaaaaaah! Or so Sam Kinison might have said.
william (profile), 14 Oct 2011 @ 3:39pm
Re: Re:lol. That's my Chinese-English grammar at work there. Chinese don't have plural form so I am always forgetting my 's' and randomly rotate my 'is' and 'are', even after moving to Canada for more that 19 years. ;-)
Anonymous Coward, 13 Oct 2011 @ 5:11pm
Re:I believe there are just a bunch of "theater owners" left, they coalesced into a pool with fewer players, with some of them being direct competitors to Universal so I see this as a way they get to sabotage Universal first, they are not thinking about the public, they are thinking how they get more money from Universal by leveraging our monopoly on the distribution channel and they are doing this because probably Universal doesn't have the reach the others have and it is afraid of disc sales falling and rentals disappearing, which is a real possibility now.
But that is just an unpolished opinion I don't really know the facts behind it all, I'm just guessing at this point.
Anonymous Coward, 14 Oct 2011 @ 11:37am
Re: Re:I suspect that theater owners get upset about shortened windows primarily because Universal et al. require them to pay the vast majority of ticket proceeds to the distributors in the initial weeks. Popcorn, drinks, and assorted snacks aside, the majority of a theater's profits are made from ticket proceeds later in the run. So theater owners would probably balk less if there were a more even split in the opening week.
A Guy (profile), 13 Oct 2011 @ 3:45pmSeems like a sensible course of action for universal. People might actually go see their movie in the theater. No one was going to rent it for 60 bucks. That price is ridiculous and no one in their right mind would pay it.
Anonymous Coward, 13 Oct 2011 @ 3:48pm
Re:If i was super rich it wouldnt bug me to avoid the stupid movie theater lines and dirt
Killercool (profile), 13 Oct 2011 @ 4:02pm
Re: Re:If I was super rich, I would just go to a better theater.
The eejit (profile), 13 Oct 2011 @ 10:06pm
Re: Re: Re:If I was super rich, I'd make my own theatre, and have plays and shit in it and make BILLIONS! [insert DR. Evil laugh here]
Re: Re:Rich people pirate movies too. You don't get super rich by paying too much for things. Some of the tightest people you'll ever meet are the super rich.
Effectively you're saying "It would be worth $60 to me to avoid the stupid movie theater lines and dirt."
I'm saying: $60 is too much to pay for a movie.
It's not really about whether you and I are super rich or super poor. It's about how much the movie is worth. Is a movie worth $60? Not to me.
Anonymous Coward, 13 Oct 2011 @ 5:23pm
Re: Re: Re:I do agree with you, I don't want to pay $50 for a Bluray, and I don't even bother with $25 for a DVD, now in what world are those people thinking I will spend $60 to watch a movie inside my own home that will be a one time experience?
Are they not paying attention to OccupyWallStreet?
80% of the people in the US lives with bellow the 30K a year bracket, are they trying to target the 15% that lives on the 50K(roughly 45M people out of 300M) I don't think they got the money to spend on that either, than you get the other 15M(%5 of 300M) that can afford that and make more than a 100K a year.
I was watching the numbers and mostly the market share of leading companies in the cable/rental business is about 15 to 20 million people which correlates to them only appealing to those higher incomes, mostly.
There are literally millions of people in untapped profits to be made and they don't want to go there, somebody will eventually.
Matthew (profile), 14 Oct 2011 @ 7:53am
Re: Re:If you were super rich and played the VOD movie on a non-stop loop on 20 different sets and paid for each play on each set and 100 more idiots like you were willing to do the same then this might be a viable revenue stream. ...And the theater owners still wouldn't have to worry about it because it would only be taking a few hundred butts out of their seats.
Anonymous Coward, 13 Oct 2011 @ 4:13pm
Re:For just themselves, no.
But if they have a home theater setup, they can invite a bunch of friends and split the cost like splitting a dinner bill.
They get to start the movie/video on demand, plus they avoid all the other negative aspects of seeing the movie in a crowded theater.
I had a neighbor who's a fan of cricket. He'd do this with some friends to watch the PPV matches.
Ron Rezendes (profile), 13 Oct 2011 @ 4:21pm
Re: Re:You just know that is begging for some scrutiny under the guise of a public performance, somehow - somewhere - in some office filled with lawyers that conversation would take place.
Anonymous Coward, 13 Oct 2011 @ 7:57pm
Re: Re:The key word there is "could" not "will", the way Americans are they probably never invite nobody just so they don't need to clean up after.
I can see problems arising from this, how many people would handle the pressure of another one badmouthing them to others because he was not invited? This is the country and time where people get angry at you because you didn't friended them on Facebook.
ASTROBOI, 13 Oct 2011 @ 3:58pm
Universal is determined.....Universal is determined to make day and date home viewing work and they always fail. They tried it before back in 1983 with The Pirates of Penzance with Kevin Kline and it didn't work. The movie was an "art house" subject anyway and the few theaters that might have shown it refused it. Now that most theaters belong to national corporations Universal and friends are up against powers as awesome as themselves and nobody is going to give an inch. And the ironic thing is that anybody who is absolutely determined to watch a new movie at home can download it free most of the time. And not just a second-tier dog either.
Universal blows poniesAt the same time, I feel sorry for the ponies.
Anonymous Coward, 13 Oct 2011 @ 8:35pm"Nowhere, however, is there any indication that Universal is seeking a plan that is mutually beneficial to consumers."
Neither is our legal system. Look at copy protection laws (ie: infringement penalties, double standards, and copy protection lengths). Hardly any of our laws are mutually beneficial to consumers.
Anonymous Coward, 14 Oct 2011 @ 2:57amI believe Universal should heed Cory Doctorow's advice on the subject.
http://boingboing.net/2011/10/13/advice-for-a-person-contemplating-rectal-insertion-of-t he-worlds-hottest-pepper.html
BentFranklin (profile), 14 Oct 2011 @ 6:50amTRWTF is Hollywood acts like everything they crap out is gold. Tower Heist? Really? This is what you want to test out your new service on? After seeing the trailers, you couldn't pay me $60 to watch it.
Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) (profile), 14 Oct 2011 @ 7:37amSo it failed before it would would have failed?
Seagate just released this hard drive that holds 3Tb of storage and outputs directly to your TV. I got to thinking: That thing could hold every movie ever made that I'm interested in seeing. And the two or three new movies a year that I would want to see... I could pay to see them at a cinema or rent them on DVD when they come out.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/13/seagate-goflex-cinema-puts-up-to-3tb-of-media-files-at-your-t vs/
That could mean my movie collection could be like my music collection: Something that's always there, which I update every now and again when I hear something compelling. Which isn't very often.


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HAMPSHIRE – Crystal Lake Central wrestlers won five individual titles Saturday to capture the team championship at the Class 2A Hampshire Regional.
It was the fifth consecutive regional title for the Tigers and the fifth for coach Justen Lehr, who is in his fifth season at Central. The Tigers won with 173 points, followed by Johnsburg with 101, Richmond Burton (97.5), Marengo (88) and Woodstock North (85).
Kyle Fugiel pinned Marian Central's Charlie Forman in 59 seconds in the championship match at 145 pounds. Fugiel said Lehr was clear about the team goal.
"Coach wants to keep the run going," Fugiel said.
Lehr said his team improved on its performance from a week ago at the Fox Valley Conference Meet.
"I hope we take some momentum into sectionals," Lehr said.
This year's Tigers team is not packed with multiple state champions like in the past few years, but Lehr said he was impressed with how his team came together and fought hard.
"We're not as star-studded, but our kids work just as hard," Lehr said. "It was a good team effort. They've really had to battle."
The top three place winners in each weight class qualified for the Antioch Sectional on Feb. 8-9. Central will compete Feb. 19 at the Antioch Dual Team Sectional against Montini.
The Tigers' Mike Zelasco pinned Woodstock's Alan Hafer in 1:47 to win the 160-pound championship, but Hafer scored first with an early takedown. Zelasco said he knew Hafer was good on his feet and tried to pressure him early.
Getting taken down was a good reminder about what his coaches are emphasizing – to keep his focus even after getting down.
"I knew [Hafer] was good in neutral," Zelasco said. "When you get taken down, don't lose your head, still go at it."
Also winning for Crystal Lake Central were Logan Lundelius at 132, Andrew Marsden (170) and Justin Ellman (182). The Tigers led all teams in qualifying nine wrestlers for sectionals.
Woodstock was next, qualifying six and went, 4-0, in the sectional elimination, third place matches. Johnsburg, Hampshire and Richmond-Burton each qualified five to sectionals and Woodstock North, Marengo and Marian Central each had four wrestlers advance.
Thomas Rodriguez won his third-place match for Woodstock to qualify, but nearly didn't even make the regional lineup. Rodriguez, a senior, won a wrestle-off on Wednesday while Blue Streaks' coach Jon Grell was at the regional seeding meeting.
It is the first year Rodriguez has wrestled and entered regionals with a 6-6 record in his career.
"For [Rodriguez] to get out of here in third place is an accomplishment," Grell said.
Rodriguez said just making the regional lineup was pretty amazing.
"Getting to regionals is awesome but getting to sectionals is even better," Rodriguez said. "I knew I could do it if I tried hard enough."
Grell said Rodriguez is the hardest worker he has and the improvement he has made this season, starting as a complete beginner, is remarkable.
"[Rodriguez] was absolutely god awful horrible (when he started)," Grell said. "Now he's shooting and finishing shots and putting kids on their back."
Also winning regional titles were Jake Fiorito from Woodstock North at 106, Marengo's Corey Graham (113) and John Lesiak (220), Richmond-Burton's Grant Sutton (120), Cameron Kennedy (126) and Garrett Sutton (152), Marian Central's Nick Remke (138) and Johnsburg's Christian Nugent (195) and Brandon Boyle (285).


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Banking. Just another mundane task, like doing the shopping or going through the mail. Right?
Banking. Just another mundane task, like doing the shopping or going through the mail. Right?
Not necessarily. Imagine being able to play online games—virtual currency trading, for example—or crowd-fund pet projects, all while checking the status of your bank account. Or consider being able to log on through Facebook Connect and letting Facebook "likes" determine the interest rate on your accounts—the more different customers who "like" the rate, the higher it goes.
Germany's Fidor Bank offers all this—and plenty of practical financial services besides. Its customers can discuss their requirements and share ideas via chat rooms, for instance, with the bank's specialist advisors, who are always on hand to offer help. Fidor has no sales staff. It relies on its online community to recommend it to others and also propose product innovations—hence Fidor's description of its clients' experience with the institution as "banking with friends."
There's a lot more to Fidor than friends having fun, however. The Munich-based, online-only institution has attracted people who lost confidence in mainstream finance during the downturn and now demand a different banking experience—more personalized, more engaging and more responsive to their everyday interests. Fidor is fulfilling those needs by leveraging the new digital technologies—social media, in particular—that define its customers' lives.
Mainstream banks have much to learn from the nimble, digital disruptors offering the trusted, trans-parent services that today's customers increasingly seek, all built on a lean, asset-light business model. By emulating this model—leveraging social and mobile capabilities, as well as cloud computing, software-as-a-service and the advanced analytics that can help them make sense of Big Data—traditional full-service banks could drive more customer interactions at a lower unit cost. Moreover, by attracting new customer segments, they could develop the additional revenue sources they so desperately need.
Indeed, Accenture research suggests that if these institutions can harness the power of new technologies to make themselves more streamlined and more relevant, they could bridge two-thirds of the profitability gap they're still struggling to close (see Sidebar 1).
Yet most mainstream banks are fighting just to keep up with the unprecedented pace of technological change—and too many are falling behind. Banks everywhere are grappling with slower growth, tightening regulation and economic volatility, even as many of them face a high and inflexible cost base. In North America, for example, recent Accenture analysis suggests that unless they become more agile, full-service retail banks could lose as much as 35 percent of their market share by 2020—much of it to the digital disruptors (see Sidebar 2).
Most mainstream banks simply aren't using technology smartly enough to deliver the transformation they need. At the same time, some of their pioneering peers have recognized that every business is now (or should be) a digital business, and they are starting to position themselves as digital winners.
Their stories are remarkably diverse—a reflection of the different sizes, structures and positioning of the world's banking institutions. But in our experience, all the banks that are leveraging digital technologies successfully have business models that are more operationally efficient than their peers. Many, moreover, have exploited those models to make significant inroads into new markets and customer segments, and some are developing new services and thus new revenue streams, often in collaboration with third parties.
Leading banks have not only invested more astutely than their peers in multichannel integration. They're also working toward a seamless banking experience for their customers.
How is technology-enabled transformation in banking improving revenue generation, operational efficiency and risk management of existing business models?
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, for example, Spain's second-largest bank, implemented new core banking technology at BBVA Compass, the Bilbao-based institution's US operation. BBVA Compass is now among the first US banks to record internal transactions in real time, so its customers' accounts are immediately up to date, regardless of channel. What's more, the bank's lowered processing costs have improved its cost-to-income ratio and its technology total cost of ownership (TCO). Meanwhile, some banks are adopting cloud computing to further enhance the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of their infrastructure, applications and services.
The leaders are combining an industrialized approach to business processes with customer-insight analytics based on real time customer behavior to design, market and deliver seamless, individualized customer experiences. One large European bank, for example, retooled its Internet banking site and boosted its customer conversion rate—the number of customers responding to online offers—by a whopping 290 percent by leveraging web analytics that enable it to personalize each customer's online experience. Such initiatives can double cross-sell rates, cut customer churn by up to 40 percent and increase marketing ROI by as much as 20 percent. Digital channels clearly cut costs. In fact, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. estimates that the costs of servicing fully digital bank accounts are 70 percent lower per household than for traditional accounts. But industry leaders also recognize that customers still value branches, so even as banks become increasingly digital, they are leveraging new customer service technologies to make better use of what they already have, developing differentiated branch formats that meet customer needs more effectively—and at lower cost.
Witness, for instance, how ING's full-service banks in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are developing an interactive retail offering that exploits advanced digital channels, including a mobile app, for the majority of daily interactions yet also ensures that specialists are available at the branch when face-to-face advice is needed.
The Stockholm-based bank Nordea, meanwhile, has used a combination of analytics; leaner, sales-focused branch formats; and mobile self-service channels to transform its distribution model. The upshot: significantly lower cost to serve, more income per customer and higher sales. Citibank, similarly, is maximizing the impact of its existing assets by combining tablet and smartphone customer access with the rollout of flagship branches equipped with the bank's very latest technology innovations, from high-function ATMs, some with video capability, to digital banking kiosks with interfaces so customers can get remote advice interactively in convenient locations.
By leveraging the lower cost-to-serve capabilities enabled by the technology-driven transformation of their operating and distribution models, banks can reach new customers in new markets. And some leading players are providing financial access for the hundreds of millions of people who remain outside the scope of traditional banking services—a tantalizing growth opportunity for any bank striving to restore profitability.
Why is expanding financial services to the world's unbanked population a major opportunity for banks and a huge benefit for their communities?
In Malaysia, for example, RHB Banking Group, the nation's fourth-largest financial services provider, has launched a technology-empowered branch network called Easy. This simple, agile and transparent delivery model, designed to attract the less affluent, is 15 percent cheaper to build and operate than traditional RHB branches. Moreover, branches built on the Easy model break even in one-quarter of the time of traditional branches, and generate operating profits equal to the initial investment more than twice as fast.
In many countries, particularly those where infrastructure challenges loom large, banking by mobile phone is making rapid headway. Just consider the success of Safaricom's M-PESA mobile payment service in Kenya, which now boasts more than 17 million users—more than half the East African country's adult population.
Right now, telecom providers, with their vast distribution networks, dominate such services. But some innovative banks have opted to partner with them for a piece of the action. For example, ICICI Bank, a leading provider of mobile banking services in India, has forged a network of partnerships with telecoms including Chennai-based Aircel and the United Kingdom's Vodafone Group to reach rural and unbanked customers.
The skillful mining of Big Data can open up new revenue streams for banks, helping them measure risk better, identify sales or cost-saving opportunities—and build new services. Witness, for instance, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group's service, ANZ Business Insights, which aggregates payment transaction data to provide small and medium-sized businesses in Australia with actionable insights into customer behavior and sales trends.
Leading banks also recognize that the digital revolution is driving a convergent customer experience across many industries—retail, travel and entertainment among them. By using social networks, for example, they can access customers' social profiles, deepening their insights into their behavior.
As customers' digital financial ecosystems expand, banks must develop a comprehensive view of their activities and decisions to help shape the service experience.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia, meanwhile, has developed a range of mobile and online services that satisfy a diversity of its customers' everyday needs, including a guide to real estate and an app that lets customers make peer and commercial payments via email addresses, mobile phone numbers and Facebook IDs (see Sidebar 3).
If banks don't make better use of new technologies and analytics to become part of their customers' digital ecosystems—working with third parties to create value by making their products and services as relevant as possible in multiple contexts—they risk becoming sidelined by alternative providers in important new service areas.
Take Los Angeles-based ZestFinance, a credit analytics firm that is leveraging Big Data to improve credit-scoring models in the payday lending market. Or consider the previously mentioned Fidor Bank, which has partnered with a German peer-to-peer lender to help its customers make loans among themselves.
Peer-to-peer lending is the increasingly popular practice of lending money to unrelated individuals without using a traditional financial intermediary. It matches potential borrowers with potential lenders without risking the bank's balance sheet, and industry leaders are looking to boost customer engagement by becoming part of it.
The agile, digital, connected bank—integral to customers' everyday lives, and the key financial services provider in their digital ecosystems—is emerging as a new model for the industry, capable of revolutionizing it in much the same way that lean and supple, just-in-time supply chains revolutionized manufacturing. The journey toward this model will, of course, differ from bank to bank. But the market's leaders are not only showing others that such a model can be built—they are also demonstrating the diversity of routes that technology-enabled banking transformation can take.
To determine what it would take for a bank in today's market to become a high performer and deliver an ROE over the cost of capital and in the top quartile of peers, Accenture examined the performance of 80 banks, each with more than $100 billion in assets, from 2007–2012. All were based in developed markets. We also included analysts' estimates to 2015.
We examined the drivers of bank profitability, including the impact of regulatory change, improvements in asset quality, operational improvements and restructuring efforts. We also projected how changing key performance levers—cost reduction, balance sheet efficiency and revenue growth—will affect leading banks' results, taking into account as well Accenture's own client experience. The goal was to determine what levels of change are required, what kinds of initiatives could be employed, and which of these would be delivered or enabled through technology change.
For example, in examining the potential for cost reduction, we looked at the impact of multichannel distribution and branch network reorganization. We considered the implementation of self-service technologies, process automation and straight-through processing technology, as well as next-generation core banking technology. And we took into account workforce collaboration tools to enhance staff productivity, as well as such emerging technologies as the provisioning of cloud services, just-in-time managed services and digital marketing.
Already, we see that leading banks have a significant cost advantage over their peers, and we have concluded that these technology-led initiatives could help a bank in the middle of the peer set reduce overall operating costs by up to 16 percent against a total cost reduction of up to 25 percent through combined technology and non-technology initiatives, leading to an overall ROE uptick of 3.2 percent.
Following several years of industry trauma and crisis, what are the medium-term prospects for the North American banking sector?
Accenture's analysis of more than 500 traditional full-service banks that comprise more than 85 percent of today's market came to this conclusion: North American banks need to move quickly to match the agility and innovation potential of the sector's rising new leaders, some of which bear little resemblance to today's institutions.
Indeed, with more than one-third of their market share at risk,1 the stakes could scarcely be higher. We chose to focus specifically on North America for this analysis so that we could better understand the implications for the broader industry from what's happening in this important market.
The good news: The same innovative technologies that are powering a new kind of financial services player that Accenture calls "digital disruptors" can also deliver sustainable competitive advantage for traditional banks. What's more, some of those banks are already starting to harness them.
Our investigation suggests that technology—mobile platforms, social media and robust analytics—is fundamental to the transformation that traditional, full-service US banks must undergo if they are to emerge as winners in 2020. It enables the optimized and simplified operations they require to keep market share. And it builds the agile mindset, backed by robust IT platforms and digitally driven front offices, they must develop to remain competitive tomorrow. Technology is a critical driver of the continuous innovation of digital products and services that will separate the high performers from the pack in 2020 and beyond.
Many traditional banks can succeed by advancing their existing business models and combining them with excellent execution. But we also believe that three new operating models for success will emerge by 2020.
A few dozen highly agile niche digital providers will offer specialized products such as wealth management services or mortgages at scale.
Digital full-service banks with a broad product offering will drive business primarily through digital distribution channels.
Big-box banks will compete largely on price with commoditized products for mass-market consumers.
In every case, the integration of new technologies, and the strategies, products and services they have the potential to engender, will be critical to banking success.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia—known as CommBank—is the country's biggest bank by market value, a financial behemoth with just over $700 billion in assets (as of November 2013) and operations across much of the Asia Pacific region, as well as in the United Kingdom and the United States. Yet it's also remarkably agile—a market leader in the digitally driven products and services that are revolutionizing global banking.
CommBank was swift to recognize that today's digitally empowered generation expects to bank at its own convenience, as simply and securely as possible. And that by harnessing innovative technologies it could not only put customers in control, it would also secure a critical role in their everyday lives.
Indeed, since 2007, when the Sydney-based company first started to revamp a digital service platform powered by the streamlined interfaces and real-time analytics that expedite delivery of a personalized customer experience, CommBank has transformed the way Australians bank—achieving significant competitive advantage in the process.
It was the first bank in the country to launch a near-field communications payments solution, for example. The CommBank Kaching app for smartphones and Facebook, which has all the functionality of its online NetBank, enables customers to pay anyone they choose through mobile, email or Facebook contacts. They can also use the CommSec app to buy and sell stocks while on the go. And CommBank's Property Guide app gives them real-time real estate information, as well as direct access to mortgage advisors.
In addition, through Nomad, its mobile point-of-sale app, CommBank is providing payment solutions directly to retailers and merchants—competing head-to-head with such third-party POS online payments providers as PayPal. Its Pi software platform offers merchants an easy way to split bills into two or more parts and reimburse different providers for performing a shared service, for instance, or activate loyalty programs by leveraging information on customer preferences. And they can use CommBank's own mobile payment terminal or a device that attaches to iPhones and transforms them into merchant terminals to facilitate transactions.
CommBank's mobile innovations plainly please the more than 6.5 million people—half of its total retail customer base—who bank online through NetBank. Just three years ago, 88 percent of daily logons were via PC; today 56 percent are by mobile. What's more, core process transformation has greatly improved the quality and speed of service in CommBank's 1,100 branches.
Juan Pedro Moreno is the managing director of Accenture's Banking industry group as well as for Accenture's Core Banking Services. He is based in Madrid.
Anton Pichler leads Accenture Research's Banking Research team. He is based in London.
Andy Starrs is the group technology officer for Accenture Financial Services operating group. He is based in London.


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mediainc needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 138 designs submitted by 54 freelance designers.
Our product, "Pure Resveratrol", is an anti-aging supplement, known to be found in red wine for being good for your heart. Recent scientific research has proven the true benefits of Resveratrol.
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Examples of competitors logos are listed on these few page. Most of them are on the product labels of the bottle.
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Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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This article is a collaboration between MedPage Today® and:
A new way of genetically screening embryos for transplantation via in vitro fertilization (IVF) may improve embryo selection and, ultimately, birth outcomes, researchers found.
Next-generation sequencing with the Ion Torrent found genetically healthy blastocysts in two IVF patients that resulted in normal pregnancies, and the first child has been born in one of them, according to Dagan Wells, PhD, of the University of Oxford and colleagues.
They reported their findings at the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology meeting here.
"Many of the embryos produced during infertility treatments have no chance of becoming a baby because they carry lethal genetic abnormalities," Wells said in a statement. "Next-generation sequencing improves our ability to detect these abnormalities and helps us identify the embryos with the best chances of producing a viable pregnancy."
In addition to time, a major hindrance of next-generation sequencing of embryos has been cost, but Wells noted that the technology developed for this study cuts down on both of those constraints.
Genetic sequencing has been applied to other areas of genetic research and diagnosis, but hasn't been assessed for its value in selecting embryos for implantation in IVF.
Ideally, the researchers said, it could enable analysis of aneuploidy and other genetic mutations where other methods have failed. They noted that several genetic screening methods have been tried over the past decade, but have been met with little success.
For their study, Wells and colleagues conducted the genetic analysis using the Ion Torrent platform, which took about 16 hours and enabled fresh embryo transfer, a major advantage, they said.
They validated their method using single cells from cell lines with known genetic defects including aneuploides, cystic fibrosis mutations, or mitochondrial DNA defects.
They also took cells from another 45 embryos previously shown to be normal via an array-comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) test; these cells were reassessed in a blinded fashion.
And finally they tested seven blastocysts from two patients, ages 35 and 39, with a history of miscarriage who were having IVF.
They found that their next-generation sequencing technology correctly identified all of the aneuploidy diagnoses in their validation models, as well as all cystic fibrosis mutations and mitochondrial DNA defects.
With regard to the two patients, they found three out of five genetically healthy euploid blastocysts from the first couple and two out of two such embryos for the second couple.
Single embryo transfers based on these results led to healthy pregnancies in both cases, and the first pregnancy ended with delivery of a healthy baby boy in June, Wells and colleagues reported.
They wrote that the method provides an "unprecedented insight into embryo genetics and has the potential to dramatically reduce the costs of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and pre-implantation genetic screening."
However, Wells cautioned that a randomized clinical trial is still needed for further analysis, and that he and colleagues expect to start one later this year.
Dirk Kotze, PhD, a fertility expert at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, who was not involved in the study, told MedPage Today that the findings "can advance us in our knowledge of embryology because it's been proven that only genetically normal embryos develop into a baby."
"Currently, we have a problem with the time that the test can be completed in," Kotze continued. "Previously it took several days to get results. However, with this expedited technology, the embryo can be tested and transferred as a fresh cycle, and that can be very beneficial."
But Kotze agreed with the authors that more works needs to be done to confirm these findings before putting them into practice.
"At the moment, I think this definitely has potential to develop into a novel means of chromosomal testing, but it has to be proven with the true test of a prospective randomized trial," he said.
The researchers reported no conflicts of interest.
- Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and Dorothy Caputo, MA, BSN, RN, Nurse Planner
last updated
Primary Source
European Society for Human Reproduction and EmbryologySource Reference: Wells D, et al "A novel embryo screening technique provides new insights into embryo biology and yields the first pregnancies following genome sequencing" ESHRE 2013; Abstract L13-0932.