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We live blogged all the action in the stock market on Wednesday. You can get before-the-open news in Indications and a compact rundown of the day\'s action in Market Snapshot.
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- 9:36 am
- Down after weak GDP report
- by Victor Reklaitis
- Add a Comment
Good morning.
Stocks are in the red in the early going after that disappointing report on first-quarter U.S. GDP.
Dow -0.01%
Nasdaq -0.5%
- 9:38 am
- Dow turns positive
- by Victor Reklaitis
- Add a Comment
The Dow has turned slightly positive in the last few minutes, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are still in the red.
- 9:42 am
- What's helping the Dow?
- by Victor Reklaitis
- Add a Comment
The Dow is getting a lift from UnitedHealth Group's gain of about 1%, as well as Goldman Sachs rising 0.5%.
Most recently, the blue-chip index has been wavering between small gains and losses, while the other two indexes are staying lower.
Dow +0.03%
Nasdaq -0.5%
Photo credit: Getty Images
- 9:51 am
- Improving after Chicago PMI
- by Victor Reklaitis
- Add a Comment
Stocks improved somewhat after a fresh reading on Chicago-area business conditions came out at 9:45 a.m. Eastern.
The latest Chicago PMI figure was 63, above forecasts.
At last check:
Nasdaq -0.4%
Dow +0.04%
Photo credit: Shutterstock
- 10:01 am
- Twitter tumbles
- by Victor Reklaitis
- Add a Comment
Twitter is one of today's big losers after its quarterly report late Monday.
Shares were last down 12%.
Twitter has no problem growing its revenue, but the social network is still struggling to add users at a faster rate, reports MarketWatch's Ben Pimentel.
Meanwhile, MarketWatch columnist Jeff Reeves gives 5 reasons why Twitter is dead money this year.
And last but certainly not least: Therese Poletti writes how Wall Street fears the microblogging firm will remain a niche player in social media.
Feel free to give your views on Twitter below in the comments section. Do you use Twitter or stick only to Facebook…. or avoid online social networks altogether?
Photo credit: Bloomberg
- 10:18 am
- What's hurting the Nasdaq?
- by Victor Reklaitis
- Add a Comment
The Nasdaq looks determined to be today's worst performer among the three main indexes.
The tech-heavy index was last down 0.6% vs. the S&P 500′s dip of 0.1% and the Dow's dance around breakeven.
Some of the blame for the Nasdaq's drop can go to eBay, down 6% on its earnings report, as well as Express Scripts, also falling 6% on its quarterly release.
Photo credit: Bloomberg
- 10:23 am
- Pepco pops, leads S&P
- by Victor Reklaitis
- Add a Comment
Express Scripts and eBay, mentioned in the post at 10:18 Eastern, are weighing on the Nasdaq and also are the S&P 500's two worst performers.
But the S&P 500 is getting a lift from Pepco, which is surging 17% on news that another utility, Exelon, has reached a deal to buy out Pepco for $6.8 billion.
Shares in Exelon were last down 4%.
- 10:33 am
- S&P 500 now basically flat
- by Victor Reklaitis
- Add a Comment
About one hour into today's session, the S&P 500 is now roughly flat.
The Dow is slightly positive, while the Nasdaq is still in the red.
All three main indexes have been hitting session highs in the last few minutes.
Dow +0.1%
Nasdaq -0.1%
- 10:40 am
- Zillow rallies
- by Anora Mahmudova
- Add a Comment
Between Twitter, eBay, Netflix – Internet stocks are not in favor today. The Global X Social Media Index ETF is down 2.1%.
But one such momentum stock is still doing well: Zillow, Inc. /quotes/zigman/5930210/delayed /quotes/nls/z Z At last check it is up 6%. It is also nearly 35% higher year-to-date and has doubled its market value in the past 12 months.
There's only one momentum stock left and, fittingly, it's at the end of the alphabet: $Z
— Downtown Josh Brown (@ReformedBroker) April 30, 2014
- 10:53 am
- How markets may react to FOMC
- by Anora Mahmudova
- Add a Comment
The Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Wednesday isn't expected to yield any surprises. But as the markets learned with Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen's "six months" gaffe in mid-March, anything can happen, writes Myra P. Saefong. Read: How markets may react to what the Fed says
Back then, U.S. equities sold off — and so did gold, as the dollar strengthened — in the wake of Yellen telling a reporter that the first rate hike could come as soon as "six months" after the central bank ended its bond-buying program. Many interpreted that remark, made as the two-day FOMC meeting ended on March 19, as putting the first rate rise as early as April 2015. Investors started to price in three rate hikes, instead of two.
- 10:59 am
- Dow near record high
- by Anora Mahmuodva
- Add a Comment
Stocks have turned corner and are in positive territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is about 0.1% (or less than 20 points) off its record close.
Today's trading is more defensive, however.
S&P 500 +2 points
Dow +27 points
Nasdaq +1 point
- 11:20 am
- Down again
- by Anora Mahmudova
- Add a Comment
Earlier buying momentum did not last long – stocks are in red again. Trading is rangebound, however.
Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial:
It is not unusual for markets to be cautious ahead of the Fed meeting and right now investors' expectations are for tapering to continue. It is likely the Fed will issue a boiler-plate announcement, without any changes.
- 11:34 am
- April's winner and losers
- by Anora Mahmudova
- Add a Comment
April is wrapping up as a fairly flattish month for stocks. The S&P 500 is looking at a 1% gain over the month, as is the Dow. The Nasdaq Composite is headed for a 1% loss.
What's remarkable though, is gains in defensive stocks.
Utilities are up 5.3% this month – and 13.6% since the start of the year.
Energy and consumer staples stocks also did well this months – up 4.5% and 3% respectively.
- 11:49 am
- MarketWatch Radio newscast
- by Anora Mahmudova
- Add a Comment
"I'm not throwing out the baby with the bathwater." PNC's Stuart Hoffman, after weak first quarter GDP, sees a spring rebound.
- 12:06 pm
- WSJ Live: GDP slows to a crawl in 1Q
- by Anora Mahmudova
- Add a Comment
The U.S. economy slowed in the first quarter to one of the weakest paces of the five-year recovery as the frigid winter appeared to curtail business investment, and health care played a role as well. WSJ's Kathleen Madigan explains on MoneyBeat. Photo: Getty
- 12:25 pm
- Twitter's results fail to impress
- by Sue Chang
- Add a Comment
Twitter /quotes/zigman/23556538/delayed /quotes/nls/twtr TWTR shares skidded 10% after the microblogging site reported average monthly active users of 255 million, marginally below analysts' estimates.
MarketWatch's tech reporter Ben Pimentel explores why Wall Street is focusing on glass-half-empty aspect of Twitter's earnings when its revenue more than doubled.
- 12:38 pm
- Alibaba IPO may be a record setter
- by Sue Chang
- Add a Comment
Alibaba Group's initial public offering may be the largest in history if the company and its bankers decide to sell more shares than originally planned, The Wall Street Journal reported.
No decision has been announced yet but additional shares could mean that Alibaba may net more than $20 billion from the deal.
Yahoo owns a 24% stake and SoftBank of Japan owns 37% of the Chinese company.
- 12:46 pm
- Yelp gets weak review ahead of earnings
- by Sue Chang
- Add a Comment
Shares of Yelp /quotes/zigman/9021597/delayed /quotes/nls/yelp YELP are down more than 4% ahead of its earnings release after the bell.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet are projecting the online review website to lose 6 cents a share in the first quarter.
"Expectations are that YELP will be increasing full year guidance by more than the annualized beat in first quarter 2014 due to the deals with YP and YHOO and anything less would be a disappointment. Additionally, we recently noticed instances of search ads from YELP, which could indicate the start of a search advertising service," said analysts at B. Riley in a report.
- 1:21 pm
- MarketWatch Radio newscast
- by Anora Mahmudova
- Add a Comment
Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital, says the latest economic reports were "a miss and a hit" leaving stocks still trapped in their recent trading range.
- 1:24 pm
- Facebook rallies
- by Anora Mahmudova
- Add a Comment
Facebook rallies as Zuckerberg promises 'stable mobile platform' in F8 conference, writes Benjamin Pimentel.
Shares of Facebook Inc., which were up fractionally earlier in the session, rallied 2% Wednesday as the company kicked off its F8 developer conference.
Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg began his presentation by saying that the social network was focused on creating "a stable mobile platform."
The comment highlighted Facebook's heightened focus on the mobile ad market in which the company has emerged as a major player. Facebook's mobile ad business now represents 59% of its total ad revenue.
- 1:47 pm
- Market update
- by Anora Mahmudova
- Add a Comment
Stocks remained on sidelines for the past few hours and less than 15 minutes before the release of the FOMC statement, indexes are mixed.
S&P 500 +1 point
Dow +20 points
Nasdaq -6 points
- 1:57 pm
- S&P 500 and FOMC statements
- by Anora Mahmudova
- Add a Comment
From a historical standpoint, the statement from the Federal Open Market Committee hasn't helped stocks, writes Wallace Witkowski.
According to data compiled by Rob Leiphart at Birinyi Associates, the market has consistently seen a downturn in the final two hours of trading following the 2 p.m. Eastern release of the FOMC statement.
Since April 2009, the S&P 500 Index has averaged a decline of 0.57% from its level before the statement's release.
- 2:02 pm
- Fed statement reaction
- by Victor Reklaitis
- Add a Comment
Stocks have lost some ground as traders take in the Fed statement…
- 2:03 pm
- More on Fed statement
- by Victor Reklaitis
- Add a Comment
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday voted unanimously to reduce its bond-buying stimulus program for the fourth straight meeting, reports Jeff Bartash in his short story for MarketWatch.
At first glance, the FOMC news is looking basically as expected.
- 2:05 pm
- New session highs now
- by Victor Reklaitis
- Add a Comment
Just like that, stocks have stopped losing ground in the wake of the Fed statement.
They're now hitting new session highs.
- 2:10 pm
- Roughly back to pre-Fed statement levels
- by Victor Reklaitis
- Add a Comment
After dipping and then popping to fresh session highs, stocks are back to roughly where they were before the Fed statement hit at 2 p.m. Eastern.
They're basically little changed, with the Dow and S&P 500 slightly in the green and the Nasdaq slightly in the red.
Dow +0.15%
Nasdaq -0.1%
- 2:14 pm
- Identical reduction
- by Victor Reklaitis
- Add a Comment
Looking past surprisingly grim growth in the first three months of the year, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday decided to keep moving slowly toward the exit of its bond-buying stimulus plan, writes MarketWatch's Greg Robb.
He adds:
"As expected, the U.S. central bank trimmed the size of its bond-buying strategy by $10 billion to $45 billion. This is the fourth straight meeting with an identical, gradual, reduction."
Photo credit: Federal Reserve
- 2:20 pm
- No surprises
- by Victor Reklaitis
- Add a Comment
"Not one surprise of note" — that's the subject line for Steven Ricchiuto's email offering his take on the Fed statement.
He is chief economist at Mizuho Securities.
So given his take, it's no surprise that stocks are roughly where they were before the statement hit at 2 p.m.
- 2:47 pm
- Financials still low
- by Kaitlyn Wells
- Add a Comment
Some financial stocks in the Select Sector SPDR-Financial, which tracks financial stocks in the S&P 500, fell slightly following the Fed statement, and a few remain in the red.
Citigroup Inc. -0.01%
American Express Co. -0.3%
Bank of America Corp. -0.3%
J.P. Morhan Chase & Co. -0.2%
- 2:48 pm
- Wall St takes Fed in stride
- by Anora Mahmudova
- Add a Comment
Fed statement doesn't change Wall Street's course. Merger will join two energy companies. Adrienne Mitchell reports.
- 2:55 pm
- Shepherdson: "Focus now is on the extend of the 2Q rebound"
- by Anora Mahmudova
- Add a Comment
Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics wrote: "FOMC announcement was entirely as expected – focus now is on the extent of the Q2 rebound.
As expected, the FOMC tapered its asset purchases by a further $10B per month to $45B, with the reduction split evenly between Treasuries and mortgages. The decision was unanimous.
The statement says the activity data have "picked up recently", in contrast to the March FOMC meeting, at which time many of the key numbers were depressed by "adverse weather conditions". The assessment of housing is unchanged – the recovery remains "slow" – but the contined tapering makes it clear that the Fed does not view ever-increasing home sales as a necessary condition for the gradual normalization of policy.
No significant changes elsewhere in the statement; this meeting was a holding operation after the March abandonment of the 6-1/2% unemployment threshold. What
matters now is the extent of the Q2 rebound in GDP growth and payrolls.
- 2:59 pm
- Facebook unveils new feature
- by Kaitlyn Wells
- Add a Comment
After taking a dip following the Fed statement, Facebook just hit its session high of $59.54, currently at $59.51, or up 2.4%. Today the social-media site introduced a new feature that allows users to log in anonymously in order to try out new apps. Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said the feature is about "giving people more power and control."
Photo credit: Bloomberg
- 3:02 pm
- Dow tops record close
- by Anora Mahmudova
- Add a Comment
The Dow Jones Industrial Average just surpassed the highest closing level, reached on Dec 31, 2013. The blue-chip index is up 44 points to 16,579.
- 3:16 pm
- Oracle CEO interested in Clippers
- by Kaitlyn Wells
- Add a Comment
Oracle Corp. recently hit its session high of $40.86, less than a hour following the Fed statement. Currently at $40.85, or up 1.9%, the software/hardware company's CEO, Larry Ellison, is interested in purchasing the Los Angeles Clippers, reports The Wall Street Journal. Ellison is in talks with celebs Oprah Winfrey and David Geffen to co-purchase the team.
Photo credit: Getty Images
- 3:23 pm
- All indexes are green
- by Kaitlyn Wells
- Add a Comment
All indexes are short of their session highs, but remain slightly positive.
Dow +0.1%
Nasdaq +0.01%
- 3:42 pm
- Is the Fed statement really news?
- by Kaitlyn Wells
- Add a Comment
An interesting take on the Fed statement; sometimes the news doesn't change.
FOMC statement: The dates have been changed, everything else basically remains the same. Another $10 billion cut to $45 billion a month.
— Binyamin Appelbaum (@BCAppelbaum) April 30, 2014
- 3:56 pm
- Levels to watch
- by Victor Reklaitis
- Add a Comment
The Dow is continuing to trade near its record closing level hit on Dec. 31.
The mark to beat is 16,576.66.
The blue-chip index is well off its intraday record of 16,631.63, achieved on April 4.
- 3:58 pm
- S&P also nearing record close
- by Victor Reklaitis
- Add a Comment
It doesn't look like the S&P 500 will score a record close today, but it's not that far off from one.
The benchmark's all-time closing high was 1,890.90, hit on April 2.
- 4:02 pm
- Dow record!
- by Victor Reklaitis
- Add a Comment
Dow +0.3% to around 16,581 — a record close!
Nasdaq +0.3%
Photo credit: Getty Images
- 4:07 pm
- Monthly, YTD results
- by Victor Reklaitis
- Add a Comment
Here's how the main indexes performed in April:
Nasdaq -2%
Dow +0.8%
Here's how they're faring in 2014 to date:
Nasdaq -1.5%
Dow +0.03%
- 4:15 pm
- After hours
- by Victor Reklaitis
- Add a Comment
Yelp has been down 5% in extended trading after its quarterly earnings report.
MarketWatch's After Hours column will have details on Yelp and other late movers. It's in the works and will be published shortly.
That's a wrap for today's live blog. Thanks for checking it out.
Photo credit: Bloomberg


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Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Oracle does the right thing with open source acquisition
Back in October 2005, Oracle acquired Innobase, the developer of InnoDB, an open source database engine. At the time, I wondered whether Oracle's intention might be to interfere with Innobase's relationship with MySQL, an open-source database product that uses InnoDB as its engine for users that need that want high concurrency, row-level locking, and transactions in MySQL.
At the time I wrote,The open source community is not quite sure how to interpret Oracle's move. Is it a further endorsement of the open source movement? Oracle has been a huge supporter of Linux, an open source operating system. But Oracle doesn't sell operating systems. Oracle sells databases, among other things. And InnoDB is at the heart of the open source database movement.Well, it's now been over a year, and the outcome so far is encouraging. Zack Urlocker from MySQL writes to me that Oracle has been very good about continuing to develop Innobase and that Oracle renewed Innobase's agreement with MySQL with no changes.
The more cynical view is that Oracle is buying InnoDB in order to divert its five (yes, just five) developers away from supporting open source development and the MySQL relationship. The InnoDB/MySQL agreement is up for renewal next year, and Oracle's press release says they expect to see it continue. But who knows?
He writes:Oracle continues to fix bugs and release updates [to InnoDB], which is good. It has been pretty much as before which is in some ways surprising because many expected Oracle to go off in some other direction. But we were very happy to renew the agreement with them under the same terms as before, ensuring that InnoDB is supported as a top notch engine for many years to come. (And that's one of the reasons we made Oracle "partner of the year" at our conference last April.)Oracle is really being a good citizen in its relationship with MySQL, at least so far. Oracle, like Microsoft, is an easy target, and I've given Oracle my share of criticism from time to time. So, I want to be sure to give Oracle credit when it does the right thing.
So while I think some folks were initially spooked by Oracle's moves into open source, at least on the MySQL front, things have been "business as usual" for us.
But we also recognize that it's good to have other storage engines out there, so there's a growing ecosystem that includes several partners and open source projects, described at www.mysql.com/engines. And we've also launched an alpha of our own "Falcon" storage engine which is targeted to transactional web sites and embedded applications.
Update, Jan. 31: Computer Business Review has more on MySQL and its plan to go public.
Related posts
The disruptive power of open source
Oracle bid for Innobase a threat to MySQL?by Frank Scavo, 1/31/2007 06:01:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Tuesday, January 30, 2007
The disruptive power of open source
Zack Urlocker, from MySQL, an open source database developer, called my attention to his blog, where he has been discussing the open source business model as disruptive to traditional software license vendors.
His first post is a good basic explanation of the definition of a disruptive technology.What makes something disruptive is making it more convenient, simpler, more flexible and sometimes, making it cheaper. Often, for a business to be disruptive it requires a different business model. Sometimes the business model itself is the source of the innovation. The idea of getting DVDs in the mail may not seem radical today; but if you're Blockbuster and you've built your entire revenue on thousands of retail stores, its hard to wrap your head around using a web site to send DVDs out by mail.In his second post, he goes on to discuss disruption in the software industry, specifically. I agree with everything Zack as written, but I found his comments regarding MySQL, specifically, to be noteworthy:[MySQL] gets deployed on a lot of niche applications, like web sites, ecommerce, data warehousing, reporting, custom applications and telecommunications infrastructure. And those niches are growing faster than the rest of the database industry.He goes on to discuss some specific innovations taking place now at MySQL:
Typically, MySQL does not replace the existing legacy databases in organizations. In fact, many of our customers are also users of Oracle, SQL Server and DB2. But they use them in different areas. As Charles Phillips from Oracle said a while back: Oracle and MySQL are both in the transportation business. But Oracle is a 747 and MySQL is a Toyota.At MySQL, we have long focused on using disruption as a way to make our customers' lives easier. The first stage focused on making developers' lives easier with a no-nonsense database that was easy to use, reliable and fast. The second stage was the introduction of MySQL Enterprise and the Monitoring & Advisory service that makes the DBA's life easier. And now the third stage is to make the IT Buyer's life easier. We are doing that by announcing today something we call MySQL Enterprise Unlimited.It will be interesting to see how the major software vendors, such as Oracle, view MySQL's further incursions into the enterprise space. One of the characteristics that Zack doesn't mention is that incumbent providers typically don't take the threat of disruptive providers seriously. At first, their technology is viewed as primitive, or even as a toy (think of the Radio Shack TRS-80 PC that first started popping up here and there in corporate settings). The disruptive technology, at first, is only of interest at the low end of the market, the segment that the incumbent vendor has the most difficult time servicing and is the least profitable. But over time, as the disruptive technology improves, it begins to move up-market, eating into the segments where the incumbent vendor really makes money. This has certainly been the case with Linux, which at first was viewed as a hobbyist operating system and now runs enterprise applications. The same thing, hopefully, may be happening with MySQL.
For $40K (the price of a single CPU of Oracle) you can get an enterprise wide use of MySQL Enterprise, with production 24x7 support and unlimited use of the MySQL Network Monitoring & Advisory Service for a year. For customers that are used to spending $1 million or more on closed source licenses, this is a heckuva good deal.
Zack makes good points. (His blog is also a good example of what other software vendors--open source or traditional--should be doing with blogs to better communicate with their customers and the general technology community. Tone down the PR-speak, and just talk to people.)
Related posts
Oracle plans free version of database
Oracle bid for Innobase a threat to MySQL?
Why organizations choose open source software
Key advantage of open source is NOT cost savings
Open source: turning software sales and marketing upside downby Frank Scavo, 1/30/2007 08:26:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Thursday, January 25, 2007
New faces at Lawson
It's always good for a company when top executives are coming rather than going. So, I made note this morning that Lawson has picked up three new senior members for its management ranks. Scott Swoish, formerly of PeopleSoft/JDE, is coming in as senior VP of sales operations; Fady Sfeir, formerly of Oracle, will become VP of indirect channels in EMEA, and Barry Wilderman is being named VP of business strategy.
Barry's announcement is most interesting. I met Barry a couple of years ago at an industry conference. At that time, he was a senior analyst at Meta Group, and he had authored one of the best reports I've ever seen on the ERP marketplace. That report, based on a survey of actual ERP implementation experiences, compared the total cost of ownership of SAP, Oracle, J.D. Edwards, PeopleSoft, QAD, and Lawson. As I recall, QAD and Lawson came out the clear favorites in terms of TCO.
According to Lawson's press release, Wilderman "will lead initiatives that link Lawson's overall business strategies and value stories with the organization's sales objectives." His previous work at Meta is certainly consistent with the story that Lawson will want to tell.
Related posts
Lawson's performance better than it appears: CEOby Frank Scavo, 1/25/2007 09:30:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Unlocking value within legacy software vendors
With so much news about vendor consolidation, one might imagine that in a few years the entire market for enterprise software will be owned by SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, Infor, and a handful of other players.
But that won't be the case. The software market is far more fragmented than most people realize. There are thousands of vendors of business applications. Most are small and privately-held, and they are not household names. But they serve real needs, and millions of customers rely upon them.
If you were to plot all business software vendors individually in order of declining revenue, you would see a few tall bars representing the big vendors, such as SAP and Oracle, and then a long, long series of bars tailing off to the right, representing the thousands of software vendors that serve niche industries and business functions. For example, the Open Directory entry for agriculture and forestry software lists nearly 50 vendors, and the page for veterinary business software shows 20 vendors. And that only includes vendors that took the time to get listed.
Functionally adequate but technically dated
So, who are these developers? Some of them are new companies, using the latest software platforms to provide leading-edge applications or serving new markets. But many of them have been in business long enough to have fallen behind the technology curve. They still have customers, even satisfied customers--business users can be notorious for sticking with obsolete technology, such as client-server or even mainframe platforms, as long as it works. But the vendor's business may be stagnating, as new prospects are reluctant to go backwards in terms of technology.
I'd been thinking for some time about the future of vendors that have good solutions and an established customer base but not the resources to bring their products up-to-date in terms of technology. What is the future for such packages?
A new investment approach
Last week I met an associate who has started a private equity fund to specifically address this need. The idea is to acquire such vendors--not to consolidate them or squeeze out costs--but to upgrade their technology and increase their value to existing and new customers. Such an approach may be attractive to private owners who don't have the resources to reach the next level or who are simply looking for an exit strategy that continues to do the right thing for their customers and employees.
If you know of someone who might be interested in more information on this investor, let me know and I'll pass on his contact information.
It's an interesting investment approach and one that recognizes that there is value in legacy systems beyond merely milking the client base for recurring revenues. It will be interesting to see whether other investors begin to recognize these opportunities.by Frank Scavo, 1/24/2007 07:48:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Philly pulls plug on failed Oracle project
For Oracle, Philadelphia is not the city of brotherly love these days. The fifth largest municipality in the U.S. has just killed a project to implement Oracle applications in the city's water department. Furthermore, Oracle has agreed to forgive or pay back a whopping $6.9 million in fees.
The Oracle project was put on hold in October 2005, after the city had spent $18 million with nothing to show for its time and effort. In its place, the city has launched a new project to implement Basis2, a utility billing system from Prophecy International Pty., an Oracle business partner in Australia. The new system will run on an Oracle database and will interface with Oracle E-Business Suite products that the city runs for financial applications. Oracle itself will play no role in the new project.
What went wrong?
There are several hints in a Computerworld story on the situation, concerning the root causes of failure in Philadelphia.
First, it appears that the city did not appreciate the magnitude and difficulty of managing a project of this size, at first putting it entirely under the direction of the users. In light of the fact that their IT experience was limited to a legacy application using punched cards (!), one assumes they were ill-equipped to manage an Oracle implementation.
In contrast, the new project is being jointly managed by the users and the city's IT group. The city's new CIO, Terry Phillis says, "I know it's second-guessing, but the city suffered somewhat by not maturing the organization to care for a project like this." Under the joint-responsibility arrangement for the Basis2 project, he said "We're getting along terrifically. We're singing 'Kumbaya' -- not well, but we're singing it."
Second, the original project included quite a bit of custom software development. Custom development greatly increases the risk in an implementation, especially a large project such as this one, magnifying any deficiencies in project management. In contrast, implementation of Basis2 will require no customization. One wonders why the city didn't try harder in the beginning to find a system that better fit its requirements.
If these are the root problems, then Oracle shouldn't be blamed entirely for the failure, although a give-back of nearly $7 million suggests that Oracle made its own mistakes on the engagement. One suspects that the city had some strong terms and conditions in place for Oracle's performance. If so, at least the city did one thing right.
Related posts
Project management: the missing disciplineby Frank Scavo, 1/16/2007 07:01:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Monday, January 15, 2007
Lawson's performance better than it appears: CEO
Harry Debes, CEO of Lawson Software, emailed me yesterday to help me better understand Lawson's recent financial performance. He didn't say so, but I suspect he was reacting to a single sentence at the end of my post over the weekend that mentioned Lawson. In that post I wrote,The heavy discounting by SAP and Oracle make it hard to beat them on price, and slowing growth in IT spending for software means fewer deals to go around. Lawson's loss in the most recent quarter is another point of evidence.So, Debes wrote to me yesterday, concerned that I might not have "the complete story on Lawson Software." He then continued (bolding is mine):Lawson acquired Intentia in April 2006. Both companies were of comparable size, but each served different markets. Lawson was focused on the Americas and services-based organizations while Inentia was focused on Europe and manufacturing & distribution organizations. Because of the different industry focus, we decided to keep our existing industry focus and discrete products - naming the former Lawson suite S3 and naming the former Intentia suite M3. There were plans to cross-sell the applications into each others' geography and customers and that is working fairly well.I have bolded the key point above, which is the issue of recognizing revenue in a contract or subscription business. You receive software license contract (or maintenance contract dollars) all at once, but you deliver services for the contract through the year. At the beginning of the contract period, such businesses accrue revenue on the balance sheet and then credit sales month by month throughout the life of the contract, so that the GAAP principle of matching revenue with expense is maintained.
On a non-Gaap basis, where we exclude certain one time, non-cash accounting treatments, the newly combined company was profitable in Q1 (June - Aug 06) and again for the second quarter (Sept - Nov 06). Pre-tax, non-Gaap operating income - the appropriate measurement of management's performance and one that is used by all of the Wall Street analysts, was 3% in Q1 and 6% in Q2.
Our transition year accounting can be difficult to understand. We did miss our license guidance in Q1 and Q2 primarily because during our first year of integration, we must defer approximately 50% of our license revenue. That deferred revenue goes to our balance sheet and will come back into income in our second year, as we deliver the projects. This means that next year, we will automatically receive a $8m - $10m license revenue bonus every quarter on our P&L. Because of the acquisition, we did not have an opening deferred license revenue balance, but if this was a normal year, with all other activity at the same level of performance, our license fees and our earnings would be $32m-$40m higher this year - resulting in revenues of approximately $780m and operating income of approximately $60m. Because of the transition and timing issues associated with our acquisition, we must wait until our next fiscal year (June - May 2008) to reap these financial statement benefits.
On the whole, the business is sound. Every quarter we engage in competition against SAP and Oracle and every quarter we come away with 35-45 new accounts. We are growing our sales force and as we do, those number of wins will continue to increase.
Lawson offers a legitimate alternative to customers who don't find a suitable solution or level of partnership with the two larger ERP vendors. We are more focused on our target markets and are also more focused on developing an intimate relationship with our customers.
Of course, Lawson has been accounting for its sales in this way long before the Intentia deal. But Debes appears to be claiming that, at the time of the deal, Lawson mis-estimated how much revenue would need to be deferred for the newly acquired Intentia contracts. So, I asked if this were the case.
Debes responded:To answer your question directly - no we did not think the deferral rate would be as high as it has turned out. We estimated a 40% deferral rate for the former Intentia's products for the first quarter and then improving numbers over the course of the year. For many reasons, our deferral rate has been and average of 50%. Also, the accounting treatment for the acquisition wiped out any previous deferred balance on Intentia's books, so we were starting the year with nothing. By then end of this year, we will have built a balance of $40-50m in deferred revenue and next year we will be able to take that into revenue at the rate of $8-10m per quarter.I decided not to attempt to delve into the reasons that Lawson's deferral rate was different from what Lawson originally estimated. Suffice to say that, according to Debes, there should be an improvement in Lawson's GAAP financial performance in the next fiscal year if for no other reason than the realization of deferred revenue.
My point is that while we are building this backlog, we have artificially low revenue (license revenue) and earnings in our current fiscal year. That should all be behind us next year.
Debes' other main point is that, apart from immediate financial performance, Lawson's business is strong. He claims 35-45 wins over SAP and Oracle every quarter, which he attributes to Lawson's deeper focus on its target markets, such as retail and health care, along with Lawson's "more intimate relationship" with its customers. Over the long term, those are the things that should result ultimately in superior financial performance. It will be interesting to return this time next year to see whether it turns out to be the case, because investors have certainly not rewarded Lawson relative to SAP and Oracle in the past year (see relative share prices for the three companies below).
Lawson still has challenges in integrating its Intentia business and operating as a global company. In its conference call, Debes also pointed out that it is behind in meeting its goal to ramp up its sales force. Add to this the challenge of moving its existing customer base to its new Landmark architecture. For the sake of choice in the marketplace, and to keep things interesting, I hope Lawson is successful.
Related posts
Business brightens for Lawson
Lawson acquiring Intentia
Blogging from the Lawson user conferenceby Frank Scavo, 1/15/2007 02:35:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Sunday, January 14, 2007
SAP license sales grow, but short of target
Being top dog in enterprise applications brings a lot of close scrutiny from investors.
SAP found this out on Thursday when it announced a 7% increase in software license sales--ahead of the overall growth rate for ERP in general, but beneath analyst expectations of a 9% rise. SAP's stock price promptly dropped 7.5% on the news, although it recovered 3% in the U.S. the next day.
I wouldn't put too much blame on SAP for the shortfall, however. SAP now expects sales growth around 11% for 2006--still a healthy increase. But growth in the U.S., its largest market, was flat. The market is taking SAP's underperformance as a sign that IT spending growth in North America is slowing, which, if true, will be a problem for most other vendors as well.
Furthermore, SAP still has Oracle to contend with. Oracle, with its many new acquisitions, is able to compete with SAP in many more deals, and it's not afraid to compete on price. So much for fears that Oracle's acquisitions would be anti-competitive. As I noted in a comment on a previous post, if anything I see price competition even more fierce than it was prior to Oracle's bid for PeopleSoft.
What does this all mean for the enterprise software market? Just that it's going to continue to be hard for other horizontal application vendors to make money. The heavy discounting by SAP and Oracle make it hard to beat them on price, and slowing growth in IT spending for software means fewer deals to go around. Lawson's loss in the most recent quarter is another point of evidence.
Business Week has the most complete analysis of the story behind SAP's recent announcement.
Update, Jan. 15: Sharad Sharma has further analysis of SAP's and Oracle's financial results. He argues that the large enterprise market is getting saturated and agrees with me that a license price-war is breaking out. He sees both of these trends as evidence of ERP entering into a "falling edge dynamic" (the opposite of "leading edge"). If he's right, it's not good news for traditional license vendors in general.
Related posts
Payback begins from SAP's Netweaver strategy
Oracle knocks quarterly results out of the parkby Frank Scavo, 1/14/2007 11:06:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Friday, January 12, 2007
Mini-Y2K: Change in daylight savings time rules
Expansion in the dates for daylight saving time, dictated by the U.S. Energy Policy Act of 2005, is shaping up to be a mini-Y2K for IT organizations and software vendors.
The Act changes the start and end dates of daylight saving time starting this year. Clocks will now spring ahead on the second Sunday of March instead of the first Sunday of April, as was done in the past. As most users know, Microsoft Windows automatically adjusts for the clock change (Microsoft has a complete list of its programs affected). In addition, many business applications that depend on an accurate rendering of local time will need to be assessed. Such applications include calender and scheduling applications, programs that calculate elapsed time (e.g. tariff calculations and service billing), and transaction logging functionality that records transactions in local time. In large shops, rolling out such changes may be no small effort, and many IT managers are not even aware of the change to daylight savings time rules.
Nevertheless, many IT executives may also be skeptical about daylight savings time changes, after what was perceived to be an over-hyped need for Y2K changes. Software developers have long been aware that daylight savings time is a common source of software bugs, and a mass change to the rules will undoubtedly cause many more such problems.
Many may be taking a wait-and-see attitude, willing to react after the fact to any problems that crop up in the production environment. For mission-critical systems, such as scheduling systems in certain industries (think transportation), such an attitude may be irresponsible. IT managers should at least take the time to evaluate the impact of any problems with the clock shifting.
Wikipedia has an entry on the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
eWeek has more on IT impact of the change in daylight savings time.by Frank Scavo, 1/12/2007 12:15:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Thursday, January 04, 2007
Gartner retires mid-market ERP magic quadrant
A Spectator reader alerted me to a recent decision by Gartner to discontinue its "magic quadrant" for mid-market ERP. Gartner's magic quadrants are a way to graphically display competing IT products in terms of the vendor's completeness of vision versus its ability to execute. Gartner has over 150 of them.
In attending vendor presentations, I am always amused by the fact that the vendor always seems to be able to find one magic quadrant that puts his product in the most favorable position.
Now it seems that Gartner is retiring its magic quadrant for ERP Midmarket Manufacturing. My source, who works for one of these vendors, says that as a result of consolidation there are not enough vendors left in midmarket ERP to populate the quadrant.
Related posts
Software vendor consolidation and buyer concernsby Frank Scavo, 1/04/2007 09:12:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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A leaked report from Morgan Stanley seems to suggest that Google will pay Apple a cool $1 billion dollars in 2014 to remain the default search engine in iOS. TechCrunch reports the leak , explaining that Google only paid $82 million for the same privilege in 2009. That's got analysts suggesting that the payment is on a pay-per-device basis—but nobody knows for sure. What it does mean, though, is that for every dollar of ad revenue Google makes on iOS searches, Apple creams off 75 cents. For perspective, Google will apparently pay $400 million to Mozilla for similar reasons in 2014—and Google is the main contributor to that organization. But while $1 billion is change for Apple, it's still a sizeable sum for Google, which managed a $2.9 billion profit last quarter. [TechCrunch]
Image by AP
Update: Just to be clear, analysts are just guessing in cases like this. Your belief that Apple is paying Google with several dozen clamshells is equally valid. Please ignore, please move on.


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Please select your meditation time
Start Meditating
Conclude Meditation
Staying in the present moment
If we just watch our thoughts for a while, we realise quite soon that all of them are linked to the past or to the future. They whirl around our concerns about what has happened, in the form of memories, both good and bad, or about what might happen, our fears, hopes, desires and plans.
The Power of Silence
The essence of meditation is stillness and silence. Silence is both external and internal. External silence is hard to find in our world today. We are bombarded by trivia and distraction through the media.
Quotes about the Mantra in the Eastern and Western Tradition of Christianity
"The mind should unceasingly cling to the mantra until strengthened by continual use of it, it casts off and rejects the rich and ample matter of all kinds of thought and restricts itself to the poverty of the single verse.
The problem of distractions
"I want now to address a particular question that we all encounter. It is the question of distractions. What should you do when you begin to meditate and distracting thoughts come into your mind? The advice that the tradition has to give us is to ignore the distractions and to say your word and to keep on saying your word.
The Journey of meditation (2)
Last week we talked about what may happen to us on our journey of meditation. We begin with enthusiasm, our commitment to the daily practice grows, but in time we inevitably meet with the 'demon of acedia'. We start feeling bored and restless; we feel as if we enter the desert.
The journey of meditation
The journey of meditation is in John Main's words essentially "a pilgrimage to our own heart", the most sacred place, where Christ dwells. Meditation is discovering "the life of the Spirit of Jesus within our human heart."
Can I change my mantra?
In Christianity praying by repeating a set phrase or phrases has been a very well -established practice throughout the ages, just think of the 'Our Father', the 'Hail Mary', 'Glory be', and the 'Jesus Prayer' in the Orthodox tradition.
The fruits of meditation
In our mind we often restrict the aim and purpose of meditation to a way of relaxing our surface self and dealing with our stressful lives. The focussed attention on our prayer word, our mantra does indeed do exactly that. And that is good too!
Do we ever stop saying the Mantra?
This is an important question any meditator or group leader will be asked. Often we start feeling so relaxed after saying the mantra for a while, that the mantra may seem an interruption in the peace and quiet we are experiencing.
Sample Talks introducing meditation to a mainly Christian audience (Part Two)
The following are suggestions for talks for weekly groups. The following points will be food for a series of talks. Restrict your introduction to 15 minutes at the most at your weekly group meeting.


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The Parish of Sandal Magna
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There will be a Memorial Service for those recently bereaved at 4pm on Sunday 29th October in St Helen's Please contact the Parish Office so that we can prepare a candle if you wish to attend.
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text: « All Events This event has passed. Art Exhibition – Edgar Heap of Birds: Defend Sacred Mountains March 29, 2018 @ 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm|Recurring Event (See all)An event every week that begins at 12:00pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, repeating until March 30, 2018 Event Navigation « Careers & Caffeine: LinkedIn and Other Social Media Art Exhibition – Manifesto: A Moderate Proposal » Curated by Bill Anthes and Ciara Ennis Pitzer College Art Galleries January 20–March 29, 2018 According to noted artist and activist Edgar Heap of Birds, the exhibition Defend Sacred Mountains is a message both ecological and spiritual. Pitzer College Art Galleries is helping him deliver the message. In Defend Sacred Mountains, a suite of Edgar Heap of Birds' text prints calls attention and rallies resistance to the desecration of four mountains that are sacred to Native Americans: Bear's House/Devils Tower, Wyoming; San Francisco Peaks, near Flagstaff, Arizona; Bear Butte, South Dakota; and Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Edgar Heap of Birds documents the history of the sites and the struggle over land rights connected with these four mountains in 64 monoprints that reveal how lands venerated by Native Americans are being plundered. It is this cultural contempt against which Edgar Heap of Birds is crusading. + Google Calendar+ iCal Export Details Date: March 29, 2018 Time: 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm Event Category: Art Exhibition Website: https://www.pitzer.edu/galleries/edgar-heap-birds-defend-sacred-mountains/ Venue Nichols Gallery 1050 North Mills Ave Claremont, CA 91711 United States Phone: 909.607.3143 Website: https://www.pitzer.edu/galleries/ Organizer Pitzer College Art Galleries Phone: 909.607.3143 Email: email@example.com Website: https://www.pitzer.edu/galleries Event Navigation « Careers & Caffeine: LinkedIn and Other Social Media Art Exhibition – Manifesto: A Moderate Proposal »


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Average SAT scores are down overall in Beaufort County, mirroring state and national data for the class of 2012. But Bluffton High School produced some gains, the highest of all county high schools.
Average scores for Beaufort County public school seniors dropped from 1,397 in 2011 to 1,381 in 2012. Average scores at three of the district's five high schools improved, while scores at one decreased and scores at one were reported for the first time:Hilton Head Island High's 2012 seniors posted the district's highest average scores at 1,479, up from 1,473 last year (84 percent of seniors tested).Bluffton High's seniors posted the district's highest increase in scores, improving to an average of 1,420 (68 percent tested), up from 1,395 last year.Beaufort High's average was 1,419 (59 percent tested), up from 1,381 last year.Battery Creek High's average was 1,265 (52 percent tested), down from 1,285 last year.Whale Branch Early College High graduated its first senior class in June, so it received school SAT averages for the first time at 1,155 (66 percent tested).
Statewide,South Carolina's overall 2012 state public school average was down five points to 1,431. The national average dropped two points to 1,498.
Superintendent Valerie Truesdale said schools are analyzing SAT and ACT data. Overall district averages on SAT and ACT college entrance exams have remained stagnant in recent years while other local high school achievement data have improved significantly.
Earlier this year, 81.4 percent of Beaufort County high school students passed both sections of the exit exam on their first attempt compared to only 70.3 percent five years ago. On the Algebra 1 end-of-course exam, 80.5 percent passed in 2012 compared to 70.6 percent five years ago; 73.2 passed the English end-of-course exam in 2012 compared to 60.7 five years ago.
Chief Instructional Officer Dereck Rhoads said the district's high schools would make SAT/ACT preparation courses more accessible and also make better use of individual student feedback from preliminary SAT and ACT tests.
Rhoads also pointed out that district's steadily improving academic results among younger students could result in improved SAT and ACT scores when those students become high schoolers.
The numbers of Beaufort County public school seniors taking the SAT have declined since 2009 as more students have chosen to take the ACT. Rhoads said that high school guidance counselors have taken a more active role in suggesting to students which of the two college entrance exams best suits their academic strengths.


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Art Search
Browse the entire WAG collection using the Art Search database.
Search results for:
Multiple flask
Tubular greenish glass in two compartments with double fingered handle of darker green glass; dark green circular decoration; iridescent outer coating
Iridescent blue glass; rounded shape with narrow mouth, wide base
China cabinet with hinged glass doors on top and bottom; top cabinet has mirrored back wall and one shelf; bottom cabinet lined with red velvet and has one shelf; inlaid brass decoration on top and bottom exterior
Table Service
Amber crystal with Baden-Powell family crest on all pieces. Claret (u-ff), wine (gg-rr), cordial (ss-ddd) and sherry (eee-ppp) glasses are stemmed. Finger bowls (rrr-cccc) are six-sided with shallow concave fluting. Plates (dddd-pppp) have 12 lobes with scalloped rims. Decanters (qqqq-vvvv) are bulbous-shaped. Water jug (wwww) has 6 convex flutes at base.
Iridescent turquoise glass; wide mouth with flat lip; short, tubular neck; indentation on four sides and on bottom
Dipped glass with coil-wound decoration; lapis lazuli coloured with flutings on lower portion; short slender neck with flaring mouth; two looped handles separately attached; foot very small requiring stand for support; green leaf form enclosed in yellow circular bands around coil
Iridescent green glass; tall flask with bell-shaped base and long, thin stem between rim and base
Faience beads with mosaic-type decoration; graduated sizes; between each large bead are smaller beads in combinations of 2 blue, 1 gold and 2 blue; small, round, flat beads are also next to the large beads
Graduated green and yellow beads
Graduated green and yellow beads with 2 small green beads between each
Pairs of long, slim yellow, turquoise, blue and brown beads with 2 small blue beads and 1 small rust bead between each pair; carved, clay pendant suspended at front, centre
Variegated colours
Dark blue iridescent coating; bulbous body with short, tubular neck; out-turned lip
Heavy green glass toilet flask 4" tall; tubular centre 3/4" across extending full length with exception of bottom inch gradually extending to 1 1/2" in width. Lip flanged at top to 1 1/4". Darker green at bottom of flask. Lip of flask is chipped.
Paint Box
Inlaid wooden paint box containing 16 glass bottles with metal lids containing dried paints; blocks of dried paint, glass grinder, bowl and oblong palette; box sits on 4 attached wooden 'feet'; top of box has ornate border and centre design with inlaid brass, Mother of Pearl, Turquoise and other unidentified materials
Centre door with oval shaped glass window; painted floral decoration at 4 corners of door; curved glass sections at either side of door; glass sides; 2 curved shelves inside; red cotton brocade lining on shelves and inside back wall
Bellerophon mounted on the Winged Horse Pegasus, slaying the Chimera with at spear
Amethyst glass with gold oak leaf and acorn decoration around bottom of decanter; at base of neck, fluted design with gilding; gilt rim; acorns and gilding on stopper
Amethyst glass with gold oak leaf and acorn decoration around bottom of decanter; at base of neck, fluted design with gilding; gilt rim; acorns and gilding on stopper
Sweetmeat dish
Wine Glass Cooler
White Wine glass
Wine Glass Cooler
Milk glass plate with 24 flutes radiating from inner circle; pierced design around rim creates square form around circular centerpiece
Amber crystal with Baden-Powell family crest; 6-sided with shallow concave fluting
Gallery Hours
- Tuesday 11am-5pm
- Wednesday 11am-5pm
- Thursday 11am-5pm
- Friday 11am-9pm
- Saturday 11am-5pm
- Sunday 11am-5pm
- Closed Monday


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Transfield scores Sydney NBN build contract
$AU170 million for first two years
Northern Territory partner Syntheo might be having trouble matching the pace demanded of it by NBN Co, but the builder of Australia's National Broadband Network is apparently satisfied with Transfield Services, announcing a new contract with the latter covering Sydney.
In a brief statement to the Australian Securities Exchange, Transfield Services says that it has been signed for a $AU170 million contract to design and construct the passive optical network in metropolitan and south-east Sydney.
The two-year contract could be extended – if the network survives the looming September election and if nothing goes wrong with the rollout – to a maximum of four years and $AU300 million in value. Transgrid Services has similar responsibilities in Victoria, and also holds a $41 million, three-year contract providing facilities maintenance for NBN Co sites.
The network's detractors didn't even bother to conceal their schadenfraude late last week, when it emerged that the ten-year project had been delayed by three months. ®
Sponsored: Becoming a Pragmatic Security Leader


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Student Complaint Policy
Students may file a formal complaint in writing with the academic dean (or designee) who will investigate the complaint and take action. Complaints are defined as any student concern regarding College programs, services, or staff other than those addressed by institutional appeal policies.
- Students will be instructed to submit their complaints in writing and forward them to the dean of their academic program or to the ombudsperson.
- The dean or designee will investigate the complaint, take appropriate action and respond to the student within 30 days. A record of the student complaint will be placed in the student file and noted on the SIS activity log.
Notification to Accrediting Agency
If the student has exhausted all options to resolve a complaint within the College, the student may file a written complaint with the College's accrediting agency, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Complaints to the Commission must be in writing and signed by the complainant. They should be sent to:
Middle States Commission on Higher Education
3624 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-2680
Notification to State Authorities
A student may also file a complaint with the appropriate state agency within the state in which the student resides. To access contact information for the appropriate state agency go to the Consumer Complaint page.


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Verizon is having another one of their mandatory face-to-face training sessions for an "iconic pre-order", this one scheduled for January 25 to February 4, 2011, and it could just be for the Verizon iPhone. That's what many seem to believe, at least.
An alternative could be the Android-powered Thunderbolt, but we're being told February is blackout month for Verizon which has not been the case before.
This source has been good to SPE in the past but if there's anything we've learned from years and years of rumors -- we'll believe the Verizon iPhone is here when Steve Jobs holds it up, and/or it goes live on Apple.
Still, it jives with reports of Apple employees getting blacked out during a similar period and seriously, the amount of rumors coalescing around early February 2011 sure are interesting.
What do you think, has the go order been given?


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#32 wrote:ReginaldLewis wrote:Let's be honest. mullin counted on POB to help THIS YEAR.
Absolutely false. Patrick O'Bryant was projected as a project. A 'long-term' project, at that. Every team in the league knew this kid needed to bulk up and hone his offense more. There's not a chance in hell that Chris Mullin expected him to be NBA ready out of the gate. The D-League was in his future from the start.ReginaldLewis wrote:Yes he's a project but I'm sure Mully did not think that he was THIS RAW. Mullin and everyone know that the Warriors are not good enough to draft projects. We need guys that can play now.
The only other impact players on the board, at the time, were Rodney Carney and Marcus Williams. We weren't gonna take Williams (because we already have a Baron-Monta tandem at PG) and Carney was another swingman (and this team already has too many of them). The Warriors entered the draft looking for a big man (if they couldn't land Gay, which they knew they wouldn't). They left with the best center (read: not PF, like Alderige or Thomas) in the draft. It was gonna either be Sene or O'Bryant and Mullin took O'Bryant. He did the only possible thing that ever had a chance of helping the team. If O'Bryant busts, we lose nothing. If he blows up, we're solid at center (starter and backup). Win/win.ReginaldLewis wrote:3. nelly has forgotten how good Barnes and Pietrus has played for him. The new guys are getting all the playing time. Barnes and Pietrus were important cogs when the Warriors were playing well. i don't blame them for being a little down right now.
Pietrus, maybe, but Barnes majorly fell off in the month of January. Nelly pulled on the choke-chain a little and Barnes is rebounding back into his normal form. The more consistent Barnes and Pietrus become, the more minutes they get. Besides, both of these guys still get plenty of time (considering how many players can man their positions). Both still have a role. On a team like this, that's all you need.ReginaldLewis wrote:4. Jackson should be benched and Harrington needs to get his big ass on the boards more. Especially defensively. Poor Andris is out there fighting by himself until pietrus comes into the game.
Jackson is streaky; you bench him and you miss games like Indiana (where he dumped 36 on their heads). As far as Harrington, read Pest's stats on the guy. He's not rebounding, but he's boxing out really well. Is it any wonder that Biedrins is now grabbing 18 boards or 15 boards when Harrington plays big minutes?
Reg and 32, great dialogue here.
I take a different perspective on POB; I would like to see him on the NBA team spelling Biedrens and practicing with NBA players.


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Associated Press
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) – When an on-duty police officer was shot and killed by a colleague a month ago, residents of this agricultural community north of Santa Barbara were horrified. Outrage grew when they learned the shooting occurred as fellow officers tried to arrest the policeman on suspicion he was having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl in the city's "Police Explorers" program.
But inappropriate relationships between officers and youths in the junior police program aren't all that rare. No organization keeps statistics but an Associated Press examination of news accounts during the 21 years since the Explorers was spun off from the Boy Scouts of America found at least 97 cases involving officers accused of sexual assault on minor girls, and sometimes boys, in the program.
And that's likely a fraction of all such incidents, said Samuel Walker, a University of Nebraska-Omaha criminal justice professor and expert on police misconduct and accountability. Most relationships never become public because a youth is unlikely to report it and even if fellow officers are aware, they're reluctant to do anything.
"More often than not other officers know that something wrong is going on and they don't report it," Walker said. "Police departments are like villages: everybody gossips and everybody knows."
The Explorer program is run by Learning for Life, a subsidiary of Boy Scouts of America that pairs young people 14 to 21 with police mentors who take them on ride-alongs, and teach them to write reports and direct traffic in the hope they'll be inspired to pursue law enforcement careers. It is open to anyone, male or female.
Learning for Life representatives would not speak directly to AP, but answered written questions submitted through a public relations firm. National Director Diane Thornton said mentors, before participating, go through a training program aimed at keeping young people safe. Explorers under 18 can't go on ride-alongs after midnight and should not be used in covert operations or as confidential informants or sources, she said.
In Santa Maria, the department apparently did use an underage Explorer in a covert operation _ the alleged female victim. She was part of a sting in January set up to get Officer Alberto Covarrubias to reveal the relationship so officers could make the arrest. He did divulge the information, two sources told The Associated Press, but the arrest went awry when the 29-year-old, married officer resisted and shots were fired.
Thornton said her organization has no record of a 17-year-old girl being in the Santa Maria program at the time of the incident. However, under the organization's guidelines, an applicant can begin participating in the program before application materials are processed, which typically takes several weeks. The local department normally is responsible for forwarding application materials to the organization. It's unclear whether Santa Maria did that because the department has refused to discuss the case.
"I can't talk to you about anything regarding the Explorers at this point," Lt. Rico Flores said. "It's obvious we still have an internal investigation going on, so it's premature to look at anything involving the program and make any changes."
The AP confirmed the girl's participation through two retired Santa Maria officers who have been in close contact with officers involved in the investigation. One of the ex-officers said Wednesday the girl wore her Explorer uniform on the night of the shooting. Both officers spoke only on condition of anonymity.
The shooting has shaken the department. In a recent vote, officers overwhelmingly expressed no confidence in Chief Danny Macagni.
Thornton wrote that each law enforcement agency is responsible for monitoring and establishing policies to "further protect Explorers." She said the organization will work with the Santa Maria department as it evaluates its program.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department in southeast California changed its policies last year after Deputy Nathan Gastineau, 31, was charged with lewd acts upon a child and unlawful sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old Explorer. In August 2011, another deputy, Anthony James Benjamin, 30, agreed to a plea bargain giving him nine months in jail on two counts of oral copulation of a 17-year-old Explorer.
After those incidents, Sheriff Rod Hoops suspended the program for his 216 Explorers. When it resumed there was a 10 p.m. curfew for teens. A limit was established for the number of times an Explorer can ride with the same deputy, and a watch commander now must sign off on all ride-alongs.
"It's a good program," sheriff's spokeswoman Jodi Miller said. "We've got a couple of deputy chiefs who started out as Explorer scouts."
Neither Learning for Life nor the Boy Scouts keep track of sexual abuse cases involving Explorers. Neither do organizations such as The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children or the U.S. Office of Violence Against Woman. The University of Nebraska-Omaha did a simple web search in 2003 and found 39 such cases in the media dating to 1995.
Among the places where busts have occurred are Nogales, Ariz., where last year Officer Mariano Garibay received a two-year prison sentence for sex with a 16-year-old Explorer. Also last year, former Burlington, N.C., Officer William Matthew Hill, originally charged with rape, pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent liberties with a minor for incidents with a 14-year-old Explorer. In Brownwood, Texas, in 2007 Sgt. Vince Ariaz, the founder of the local Explorer program, pleaded guilty to reduced charges of sexual assault on a 15-year-old Explorer and was sentenced to three concurrent 20-year terms.
In California, the San Benito County Sheriff's Department suspended its program after rumors surfaced following a camping trip with Explorers and officers to Yosemite National Park. The deputy and the girl under suspicion denied wrongdoing, but three years ago when the officer was accused of spousal rape investigators went back to the former Explorer for corroborating evidence. She admitted an affair and said she had been afraid to speak up at the time.
"Where it hurts is that in law enforcement we are held to a higher standard," said Curtis Hill, who was undersheriff at the time and later served as sheriff. "We're in a position of trust. These young people are looking up to them as examples of a future career path. When you mix in that human condition sometimes these employees forget the higher standard."
Andre Pena, a fourth-year Explorer in Clovis, Calif., said he's never seen anything but professional relationships between officers and young people in the program. His experience has inspired him to pursue a criminal justice degree with plans to return to the city's police force after graduation.
"I think the biggest change in me over the years is growing my leadership skills," he said. "When I first joined it was to get an inside look at law enforcement as a possible career choice, and it has strengthened the idea for me."
While everyone acknowledges the rate of abuse is low among the 105,000 young people in the Explorer program each year, for those who are victimized the damage can be lasting.
"You have an under-aged person incapable of making mature decisions who is pressured by someone you've always been told you can rely on. It has a devastating impact," said attorney Dennis Steinman, who successfully sued on behalf of a girl in the Explorer program in Tualatin, Ore., who was sexually abused by four officers. The abuse causes victims to "question their own self-worth, their own sexuality, their own importance in life," he said.
Violations of trust by priests, teachers, coaches and others with authority over children are tragic occurrences that make salacious headlines. But with police it seems especially egregious since they enforce sexual assault laws and should be sensitive to the long-term emotional and psychological harm caused by sexual exploitation, said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
"When it's a police officer who represents a broader kind of authority, who are you going to tell?" he asked.
Julie Reed Bell and Susan James of the AP News Research Center contributed to this story.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


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HOUSTON, July 9, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE:CCI) ("Crown Castle") today announced plans to release its second quarter 2014 results on Wednesday, July 23, 2014, after the market closes. In conjunction with the release, Crown Castle has scheduled a conference call for Thursday, July 24, 2014, at 10:30 a.m. eastern time. The conference call may be accessed by dialing 800-289-0498 and asking for the Crown Castle call (access code 9681950) at least 30 minutes prior to the start time. The conference call may also be accessed live over the Internet at http://investor.crowncastle.com. Any supplemental materials for the call will be posted on the Crown Castle website at http://investor.crowncastle.com.
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CONTACT: Jay Brown, CFO Son Nguyen, VP - Corporate Finance Crown Castle International Corp. 713-570-3050
Source:Crown Castle International Corp.


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Sponsorship Marketing on a Shoestring
Presentation Description: Sponsorship marketing (funding an event or entity in exchange for positive exposure) can have tremendous value as a marketing approach in business. Efficiently maximizing a sponsorship's returns, however, depends on approaching it strategically, creating sponsorship messages relevant to all audiences, and aggressively tapping into all available activation tools.
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House Defeats Move to Curb NSA Surveillance Program
House lawmakers defeated an attempt to drastically curb the national-security program that collects the phone records of millions of Americans, after a tense debate. Siobhan Hughes has details. Photo: Getty Images.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... the ... deal to define the NASA secure thirty in response to revelations about the price of electronic surveillance program ... was roundly defeated in the house last ... despite angry May six is the voting population ... of the cycle Prism program ... this is most well Mike is in the house at least strongly believe ... that any threat to privacy is outweighed by the benefits of tracking down potential terrorists ... to ones used joins us from Washington with the story good morning to own ... a morning ... person what it's pretty striking how strong was appalled was Vanessa's efforts to get out of those congressmen who shot down them is to explain their position ... AOL is really on the grounds of national security Allaah to the information about the attacks that and Ford is classified back ... support base like Micra IJ is that the leadership on both sides said that terrorists attacks that have been diverted because of this program ... and that that was the primary issue ... they did it does seem that it is the ... significant to this um the the backs of courses also support the population ... for going after terrorists no doubt that I'm ... you know he's been on some risk that these guys ... I'm torn with good effect ... what will its warrant noting this was a ... very close vote on that Republican leadership and and John Payne and they barely mustered enough votes to block this amendment from passing ... and it's also noteworthy that people like Mike Rogers said he was going to come back and try to interact around some of the privacy concerns when the intelligence the opposition comes out ... you have lawmakers on both sides now actually weighing legislation that would basically take this data out of the hands of the government and keep it that that phone companies sell ... this issue is not going away ... aam Khan crystal black slab Congress does here the public's concerns about privacy and there's another leg to this to come ... when a poll question here that does is it because two of the public's position on this is this for the open sky ... this is which worries me more that the US will not go far enough the monthly activities in many cases to the festival go to file and violence is from Tennessee ... they see it will go to fight gets fifty six percent of us a ... clue what people are concerned about government and reach here ... for the month is is is interesting in the new story is ... that the cost this measure was sponsored by what was the son of the post of libertarian Republicans and liberal Democrats ECU an interesting meeting of ... the mines ... across the across the floor ... a bit of politics in this are totally scrambled that's right you have someone like Justin Ummah she's a very prominent conservative ... teaming up with someone like Nantes at ... yet teaming up with it ... you know people you wouldn't expect to be in a scam someone like Henry Waxman ... aam you also saw an interesting development was James Sensenbrenner who is the former House Judiciary Committee chairman who actually wrote the Patriot Act ... he came out and said what the government has gone way too far I have no idea this was there to try to do so it scrambled all over the map well that significant ... did the very fact that this this was due to a house that does that put pressure on the NSA to clean up and go to the least come clean or two and to address some of the ... secrecy with which ... this is been approved in the US ... they see no end especially on the NSA and in fact a lot of decals that we probably wouldn't otherwise have had have started leaking out ... of the NSA is under pressure it knows it's under pressure at the leadership of the NSA Keith Alexander has been very careful to say that the government open to making some changes ... ALM ... so there's a lot of attention on both sides ... really a story the snow and went to a thank you very much heat on this one ...


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— I know several teachers, and I hear some of them of talk about what 'No Child Left Behind' means at the classroom level. Most of what I hear is not good. Many of the complaints are based on the idea that students are being left behind. They say that most of what is being funded and built is just a huge standardized testing industry. What do you think? Has this law had a positive impact in your state, your school district, your childs classroom?
Discuss as:


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Santana gave up nine runs on 39 hits with 47 strikeouts in 44 1/3 innings. He only walked 13.
With the way Santana finished the season, it is hard to believe he was booed in the first half. He's been lights out since early July.
-Since July 4, was 9-0 with a 2.09 ERA in 17 starts. He allowed three runs or less in 16 of these starts.
-Santana was 6-0 with a 1.47 ERA in his last nine starts at Shea.


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DURHAM -- Duke and Michigan renew an on-and-off rivalry in this year's ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
The two programs have met 29 times, with Duke winning 21. Duke defeated Michigan in the 1992 NCAA title game and eliminated the Wolverines from the 2011 tournament.
Fifty years ago, Duke and Michigan met for the first time, twice actually, games played in different places, with different stakes, producing very different outcomes.
Duke visited Ann Arbor December 21, 1963. Duke was one season removed from its first Final Four. The Blue Devils returned three starters from that team, including All-America forward Jeff Mullins. But national player of the year Art Heyman had graduated and replacing his scoring, rebounding and toughness was not a given.
Ranked fourth by AP at the beginning of the season, Duke started 3-0, lost at Vanderbilt and won three more.
They entered the game ranked fifth.
Michigan was coming off a 16-8 season but returned the majority of that team and added the nation's best sophomore, 6-5 wing Cazzie Russell.
The Wolverines began the season ranked eighth. By the time they met Duke, they were 5-0 and had moved up a spot.
Jay Buckley was Duke's starting center that season. He says Duke had only a slight idea what they were in for. "College basketball was a regional sport back then. We never saw teams on TV. We knew Michigan was good. But we didn't know how good."
Duke's big men-Buckley, Hack Tison and Jack Marin—were tall, skilled and very thin. Michigan countered with All-America center Bill Buntin and forward Oliver Darden, both in the 6-8, 240-pound range. Starting wings Russell and Larry Tregoning went 6-5, 220.
The Michigan defense was known as "bloody nose alley." For good reason.
It was close early. Duke was deliberate on offense and Russell scored only three points in the first half. But Buntin dominated inside, while Tregoning kept finding holes in Duke's defense.
Michigan led 38-30 at the half.
Russell heated up after intermission, scoring 13 points in the first 10 minutes. By that point Michigan led 60-40. Duke never got closer than 14 after that. The final was 83-67.
"We had never played in an environment like that," Buckley recalls. "I got beat up. They just crushed us. They just killed us physically. We were not prepared for that."
Mullins had 22 points for Duke, Russell 21 for Michigan. The defining statistic was Michigan's 61-35 rebounding chasm. Buntin had 14 points and 18 rebounds, while Russell added 15 rebounds.
Bucky Waters was an assistant on that team. He remembers critics chiding that team as guys who played in tuxedoes. "Michigan was very, very physical inside. We just didn't match that."
Duke recovered, finishing first in the ACC regular season and winning the tournament, thus securing the league's only bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Michigan won the Big Ten.
Buckley insists that he never looked at the NCAA brackets. But Duke beat Villanova and Connecticut to win the East, while Michigan defeated defending champions Loyola and Ohio to capture the Mideast.
So, there they were, the Final Four, in Kansas City, Duke ranked third, one spot behind Michigan.
If anyone had something to prove, it was Buckley, a cerebral senior who would go on to earn a doctorate from Johns Hopkins. Buckley was so overmatched in Ann Arbor that one local newspaper dubbed him Duke's weak link. His amused teammates called him "Link" for the rest of the season.
Waters says Buckley was ready for redemption. "He was just fearless. If I had embarrassed Jay Buckley a first time, I would not sleep well going into a rematch. He had a chip on his shoulder. He was wired that way."
Buckley says that he spent the first two seasons of his varsity career playing off Heyman and Mullins, "setting screens and trying to get open when they were double-teamed. It took us most of the year before we learned how to play without Art. The light went on for me. I started jumping higher, I started dunking it, I started going after it."
Duke tried to control the tempo the first time the teams met but decided that did not play to his team's strengths. Bubas admitted his error before the rematch. "We will come out running and shooting. That's what we do best."
"We were an athletic, perimeter team," Waters recalls. "We depended on medium-range shooting. That was our calling card. We were not invincible. But as the season progressed, we developed a bit of an attitude."
Russell was a huge obstacle. Waters calls Russell "a beacon, electric in his talent; their focal point."
Waters and Buckley suggest that Michigan may have been a little over-confident. "When you get that far, " Waters says, "you know your strengths. We knew theirs. We just went after them."
Buckley certainly went after Buntin, absorbing contact and using his length advantage to counter Buntin's strength edge.
Michigan got three early layups and led 9-4 after barely two minutes. It was 27-23 Michigan when Duke began to assert itself.
Duke battled Michigan to a draw on the boards and forced Wolverine turnovers. Buckley credits unsung Duke guards Denny Ferguson and Buzzy Harrison for the latter. "Denny and Buzz never got a lot of credit. But they were great defenders, smart and quick and good."
Michigan started throwing it around and Duke started capitalizing. Duke took a 35-32 lead with three minutes left in the half and closed on a 13-7 run.
Duke led 48-39 at intermission.
Michigan made one second-half surge. Trailing 69-55, with 11:50 left, the Wolverines cut it to 71-64. But Mullins converted a follow shot and Buckley added two foul shots.
Duke stabilized, Michigan started losing players to fouls and the Blue Devils salted it away from the line. The final was 91-80.
Each team ended with 41 rebounds but Duke forced 20 turnovers, while committing only 10. Losing coach Dave Strack cited the turnovers and second-half fatigue.
Buckley says the threat of Mullins gave him room to operate inside. But the senior made the most of that space, shooting 11-16 from the field, scoring 25 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, while holding Buntin to 19 points and nine rebounds (and five turnovers).
Mullins added 21 points, Tison 13 rebounds. All five starters scored in double figures.
Russell, playing on a sore ankle, led everyone with 31 points.
The win advanced Duke to the title game against undefeated and top-ranked UCLA. Duke struggled mightily against UCLA's press for several minutes late in the first half and the Bruins used the resulting 16-0 run to build a double-digit lead. They held that, winning their first national title, 98-83.
Duke and Michigan continued the regular-season series into the early 1970s, before taking off two decades.
The first two games set a high standard for the rivalry, with Duke's win in Kansas City one of the program's biggest victories to that date.
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STOCKTON - A man was arrested Tuesday evening after stealing a forklift, police said.
Someone from a business in the 800 block of South American Street called police about 5:30 p.m. to report the stolen forklift. According to authorities, 50-year-old Alfonso Villasenor attempted to have the forklift towed to a recycling center and sold for scrap.
Officers responded to the area and took Villasenor into custody, arresting him on suspicion of vehicle theft and presenting false identification to a peace officer, authorities said. He was also arrested for a number of felony warrants, including two no-bail warrants for auto theft and a $100,000 warrant for escaping while felony charges were pending, police said.
Man attempts to sell forklift for scrap
May 9, 2013 at 12:01 AM
STOCKTON - A man was arrested Tuesday evening after stealing a forklift, police said.


text:
Social Worker necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 158 diseños de 25 diseñadores freelance.
Kim Flowers, LCSW
I'm a therapist specializing in infant-parent and early childhood-family therapy. I work most often with parents with their children, so play is a big part of what we do. Helping parents to connect in their relationship is foundational. It is also parallel to the therapist-client relationship. In other words, our relationship is also one of attunement, sensitivity and support. I have worked extensively with military families. I help families in which there has been trauma in their experience, often either in the adults' childhood or in their young child's life. I also teach practical parenting skills and facilitate a group for moms with post-partum depression. I like helping women understand themselves better, learn to express and meet their needs and reach out for support with one another. This helps them in their relationships, especially with their young child. I also provide adult individual and couple's therapy. I like supporting fathers in their development as fathers. It is immensely rewarding to help parents connect and really "be" available to their child relationally and practically. I teach at a university in a Infant Preschool Mental Health Certificates program. I want to convey a picture of connectedness in relationships--the parent-child, husband-wife, therapist-client, women with women, etc. It is critical to help parents and their children--our world.
My desired clientele is infants, toddlers & preschoolers --and their parents, as well as individual adults and couples. A diverse clientele is desired, to include a variety of ethnicities and cultures, religions, sexual orientation, etc. My clientele will be those who have children with emotional, behavioral, sleep and feeding problems, as well as those with attachment difficulties. They will include adults with depression and anxiety, relationship problems, substance abuse, child abuse, domestic violence and trauma experiences. They will be primarily parents of young children.
I would like a simple logo that represents at least two people connected. Because I work with many different people, my thought is to portray them in a way that their ages and genders and ethnicities can be interpreted in different ways, i.e. adult-child, or two adults. Kind of non-descript. If a feeling can be generated in the viewing of the logo (not necessarily depicted in the faces of people, but more in response to viewing the logo) I would like it to be one of attunement, of presence, of support and of strength. I don't require many colors, but I do like warm colors(think Italy!): olive greens, golds, reds, browns. No clipart. I'm not married to the people connected in the logo idea. If you've other ideas, I'm open. Be creative. Artsy is okay. I do not want my business name integrated into the logo. I'd like it to stand alone.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Flying Nortwest to Maui
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Joined: 11 Mar 2001
Posts: 144
Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2006 11:14 am
Post subject: Flying Nortwest to Maui
Im flying to Maui in June on Northwest Airlines and Im wondering if anyone has experience with regards to bringing gear? Thanks
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Joined: 02 Jan 2006
Posts: 20
Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2006 12:31 pm
Post subject: RE: Flying Nortwest to Maui
Unless you are planning an extended stay its not worth the hassle, anxiety(lost or damaged gear) and cost. Last couple times I flew to Maui via NWA through MSP required a change in planes in HNL. Prebook your rentals and save $$. Ive used ExtremeSportMaui. Friends have used HawaiiIslandSports & the Simmer Shop. We were all very happy. Wide choice of gear for any condtion on Maui. Plus chance to try out new different gear. Ended up purchasing a board I never considered buying after sailing 14 straight 4.0 days on it.
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Joined: 10 Apr 2000
Posts: 189
Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2006 5:15 pm
Post subject: RE: Flying Nortwest to Maui
Rent from Simmer, contact Keith Holland. He provides great service and excellent product/local knowledge. Plus, its in Paia..... Extreme Sports Maui has been closed for a few years. If you are there for more than two weeks bring your gear. Less than two weeks, rent for sure. Baggage for windsurf gear has gone up a lot in the last year. Whatever you do, make sure your bag doesnt weigh more than 75 lbs!!!! Even that may cost you on Northwest.
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Joined: 23 Jun 1999
Posts: 5
Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 11:26 am
Post subject: RE: Flying Nortwest to Maui
Im a Gorge sailor and went to Maui last May with friends who go frequently... the consensus is that with all the great gear available to rent in Maui and the cost and hassle of hauling your own better to rent. Find the shop that rents gear you like and go for it. You can get a better deal if you combine car and gear rental and friendliness is appreciated by the locals...
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Joined: 11 Mar 2001
Posts: 144
Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 12:19 pm
Post subject: RE: Flying Nortwest to Maui
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Joined: 24 Sep 1996
Posts: 2790
Location: oahu
Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 12:30 pm
Post subject: RE: Flying Nortwest to Maui
they are just as bad or worse. rent..
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Joined: 06 May 2002
Posts: 53
Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 4:31 pm
Post subject: RE: Flying Nortwest to Maui
I have gone a handful of times both with and without gear. My thoughts:
Gear rental prices, in my opinion, are just too high period, regardless of the length of your stay. Its not so much that Im cheap ( I swear, Im not), it just seemed like a rip to rent what I already own and could have brought with me. Even with the cost of paying extra to transport the stuff I did bring, my total rental costs were less than if I rented a full rig and board. Some might think the inconvenience of schlepping is worth renting, but that does not bother me.
Last time I went, I brought over all my stuff except my boards which are too small for Maui. Worked out great for me, especially having my own booms and harness lines. A friend who went with me rented a full rig but was very disappointed, at first. He was not able to get a board he liked until 5 days into our 10 day trip. In fact, we noted that the inventory of rental boards at all the big shops was only OK.
Second, if you look at previous posts or even call the airlines, you rarely get the same answer twice about gear rules and prices. I have the answer. Go to your airlines web page, print out the Contract of Carriage (a pretty long document full of legalese) and be sure to carry it with you when you travel.
In my case, the rules spelled out the weight and size limits and list the charges for flying with certain types of gear. Alaska Airline rules (airline for 1st leg of my trip) distinguish between surfing and windsurfing equipment. Believe it or not, windsurfing equipment is exempt from a lot of the weight and size rules to a greater extent than is surfing equipment, which I was stoked to learn. Also in my case, the rules note a flat fee of $75 for windsurfing equipment, which I gladly paid. Interesting, while leaving Maui, the ticket counter staff tried to charge me $150 for my gear for a one-way flight back home. I pulled out the Contract, showed it to them (they were pissed), but they backed off and let me go paying just the $75.
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Joined: 19 May 1998
Posts: 3320
Location: Leo
Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 5:11 pm
Post subject: RE: Flying Nortwest to Maui
Even the $150 to ship it is still less than the $280 per week rental fee that Simmer charges. I think Id schlep my gear over there if I planned on sailing the whole time I was there. If I was going to just sail a day or two and maybe SCUBA on the other days then I would definitly rent.
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Joined: 24 Sep 1996
Posts: 2790
Location: oahu
Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 5:17 pm
Post subject: RE: Flying Nortwest to Maui
what about the $100 ding repair when the airlines screws up your board ? I have heard countless stories of damage with the airlines.
I always liked trying out the new gear, since my stuff always seemed to be a few seasons old. I never had the right stuff for Maui sailing anyway.
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Joined: 10 Sep 2000
Posts: 2657
Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:23 am
Post subject: RE: Flying Nortwest to Maui
Yup, Im with you there Spyder! I bring my own harness lines and fins. Good fins at rental shops are hard to find because renters tend to ding them up. Fits right in my luggage so no extra cost.
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hey there! my first post ever!
first of all I'm completely new to C# and .NET programming.
background: I'm trying to write a piece of code that uses HttpWebRequest to post an entry to a friendfeed feed via it's API. it's a console application and uses HTTP Basic Authentication for Credentials.
problem: when I run the application it throws an exception-> The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found. this happens while it's working if you try it through your browser.
you can use FF's API Test Form to see that Basic Auth and all of this works and FF API does the job.
I'm using .NET 3.5/VS2008
here is the code I've written:
what am I doing wrong?Code:try { HttpWebRequest mineReq = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create("http://friendfeed-api.com/v2/entry?"); //http://friendfeed.com/api/share/ or http://friendfeed-api.com/v2/entry both can be used mineReq.KeepAlive = false; mineReq.ProtocolVersion = HttpVersion.Version10; mineReq.Credentials = new NetworkCredential("Username", "FFRemoteKey"); mineReq.Method = "POST"; String postData = "body=Hello API&format=xml"; byte[] Databyte = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(HttpUtility.UrlEncode(postData)); mineReq.ContentType = "multipart/form-data"; mineReq.ContentLength = Databyte.Length; Stream dataStream = mineReq.GetRequestStream(); dataStream.Write(Databyte, 0, Databyte.Length); dataStream.Close(); WebResponse mineRes = mineReq.GetResponse(); dataStream = mineRes.GetResponseStream(); StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(dataStream); XmlDocument mineXML = new XmlDocument(); mineXML.Load(reader.ReadToEnd()); reader.Close(); dataStream.Close(); mineRes.Close(); // XmlDocument readXML = new XmlDocument(); // readXML.Load(mineReq.GetResponse().GetResponseStream()); } catch(Exception exp) { Console.WriteLine(exp.Message); }
the attached file is the FF C# API Library written by FF API Team. it's for API version 1. but I'm going to use version 2, so I canot use it but I though it may help!
thanks in advance
P.S. I'm not a native English! so forgive me for any language errors!!!