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Sunday, October 31, 2004
The Spectator makes it to the TechWeb Top Ten
Thanks to your votes, the Spectator has make it into the top ten for the First Annual TechWeb Network Best Independent Tech Blog Readers Choice Awards. To all of you who voted for me last week, thank you very much!
The next step is a run-off of votes for the top blog. So, if you'd like to help me win $500 of Starbucks coffee and some free publicity, please return to the TechWeb site once more and cast your vote for The Enterprise System Spectator.
Thanks again.by Frank Scavo, 10/31/2004 09:50:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Oracle's bid for PeopleSoft cleared by European Commission
In a decision largely expected, European antitrust regulators today ruled that Oracle can go ahead with its hostile bid for PeopleSoft. That's one more hurdle out of the way for Oracle.
The remaining hurdles include take down of PeopleSoft's poison pill takeover defense, removal of PeopleSoft's so-called customer assurance program (which gives large payments to recent PeopleSoft customers if Oracle suspends support for PeopleSoft products), and PeopleSoft board approvel (which will probably come down to a matter of price).
It's not a done deal yet, but it looks a lot more likely than it did three months ago.
ZDNet has an article on the European ruling.
Related posts
Duffield: PeopleSoft not for sale
Rumor: Duffield in no mood to give in to Oracle
Another PeopleSoft executive exits
Oracle confidential information released by court
Why PeopleSoft fired CEO Conwayby Frank Scavo, 10/26/2004 08:40:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Monday, October 25, 2004
Build/buy pendulum swinging back toward build
Ten years ago, many of us thought that the days of companies writing their own software would soon be over. Commercial packages such as SAP and Oracle would become more and more comprehensive and flexible, eliminating the need for much custom code.
But like so many trends in business, the build/buy decision is a pendulum, and Erik Keller at AMR says that, for many companies, the pendulum is swinging back toward the middle.
Keller points out three factors that are working in favor the build option:
I agree with Keller's general direction. However, I believe that the most companies, especially small and mid-size businesses, would be best served by exhausting the search for commercial software before taking the plunge into custom development. This is especially true with major enterprise level functionality. Custom development has its own set of issues and risks, and unless a firm has a competent internal development organization, or has the in-house expertise to manage a third party developer, it's better not to start down that path.
- Open source, which gives companies a cost-effective platform and a cheap starting point for their own application development efforts. Examples include open source content management packages such as Zope, Red Hat, and OpenCms, and ERP/CRM packages such as Compiere, Ohioedge, and Anteil.
- Offshore development, which lowers development costs, at least for program coding. I've pointed out in the past that when considering to offshore development, companies need to consider the hidden costs and the risks of offshoring as well as the labor savings.
- Web services, which allow custom applications to be more easily integrated with existing systems and commercial packages. Although web services have been touted for several years as the wave of the future, the promise is only beginning to be realized.
Read Keller's whole analysis on AMR's web site.
Related posts
Risks of offshore outsourcing
Productivity risks in offshore outsourcing
Companies mum on savings from IT offshore outsourcing
Software buyers turn cheap
Open source ERP
Buzzword alert: "open source"by Frank Scavo, 10/25/2004 07:52:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Sunday, October 24, 2004
IT wages set to rise
If you're an IT professional, finally, there's some good news. A Meta Group report forecasts that IT salaries will rise 10-15% by 2007. General economic growth is behind the increase.
But whether you benefit depends on whether you have the skills in highest demand. Leading the way are training and experience in program management, application development, and networking. Internet skills and Java are also high on the list.
The demand for application development skills is particularly intriguing, seeing that conventional wisdom views those jobs as moving offshore.
The stats pertaining to application development are particularly surprising considering the number of those jobs that are being outsourced and offshored to save company's money. Outsourcing is picking up in practice and general acceptance and some of the first jobs to go are those in call centers and those in application development. Many analysts have been loudly warning workers that they need to acquire new skills if application development is all they have on their resumes.Back in March I predicted that the trend to offshore software development would actually result in an increase in related jobs in the U.S.
[Maria] Schafer [of Meta Group] says not so.
"I think the outsourcing issue has gotten a huge amount of attention, but the reality is that it's a difficult thing to do and to do well," she says. "Clearly, outsourcing has begun to happen and it will increase over time. But fewer companies are doing that than most people believe or that the mass media would have you think."
Datamation has an article on the Meta study.
Related posts
The supply-side argument for offshore software development
Offshore outsourcing driving down US IT salariesby Frank Scavo, 10/24/2004 06:40:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Saturday, October 23, 2004
Infor aquires Lilly Software: vendor consolidation continues
Infor Global Solutions (formerly Agilisys) has just acquired Lilly Software, the latest in its series of acquisitions in the Tier II and Tier III ERP marketplace.
Just last week I interviewed representatives from Lilly at the APICS International Conference, and I was quite impressed with Lilly's support for constraint-based manufacturing (drum-buffer-rope) and lean manufacturing. But there was no hint in our discussion that privately-held Lilly was about to be acquired. Business must still be tough out there.
If other vendors have not been paying attention to Infor, they should be. Infor is obviously on a roll, snatching up a series of mid-market vendors almost too numerous to mention. Whether Infor can consolidate these many offerings or rationalize the portfolio is another question. SSA Global and Epicor have adopted similar strategies, SSA larger and somewhat more successfully, Epicor less so.
I'm waiting for Infor to give some indication of what its strategy is for rationalizing its many offerings.
Update, Oct. 31. Interestingly, John Moore at ARC Advisory Group appears to have exactly the same perspective on Infor as I do.The addition of Lilly, who has struggled recently, should fit nicely within the discrete solution product suite Infor Global offers, in particular, its Lean Manufacturing solution. Unlike fellow mid-market consolidator SSA-Global though, Infor does not appear to have a coherent strategy for bringing its products together, which over time could create a growing cost burden and compromise future R&D and support for its customers.Related posts
Infor acquires process ERP vendor, IncoDev
Agilisys changes name to Infor Global Solutions
Agilisys acquires Infor
Agilisys continues acquisition binge
Rumor confirmed: Agilisys is acquiring daly.commerceby Frank Scavo, 10/23/2004 07:51:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Friday, October 22, 2004
Vote for me!
TechWeb is running a competition for "Best Independent Tech Blog Readers Choice Awards," and I've entered this blog into the competition. The ten finalists will get six month's of free publicity, and the winner gets a year's supply of coffee (don't ask me why).
To vote for me, just hop over to http://www.techweb.com/blogawards/nominate.html, then enter:
Title: The Enterprise System SpectatorI'm Frank Scavo and I approve this message.
URL: fscavo.blogspot.com
Covers: select "Software"by Frank Scavo, 10/22/2004 09:20:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Thursday, October 21, 2004
Duffield: PeopleSoft not for sale
PeopleSoft posted quarterly results today that were better than expected. In Q3, PeopleSoft reported record revenue of $699 million, an increase of 8% from the previous quarter and up 12% from the same quarter last year.
Separately, it looks like the rumor I reported regarding Duffield has turned out to be true.
PeopleSoft officials also confirmed that Duffield circulated a memo to employees asserting that he "didn't come back here to sell to Oracle."There's more detail on eWeek.
"Rather, I'm here to beat Oracle in the marketplace, increase our revenues, re-energize our employees, and deliver greater long-term value to our shareholders," the memo said.
Related posts
Rumor: Duffield in no mood to give in to Oracleby Frank Scavo, 10/21/2004 08:05:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Tuesday, October 19, 2004
How not to buy software
A software salesperson wrote to me today, with an interesting question. This sales rep, who works for a major Tier I vendor that will remain unnamed, is trying sell to a prospect that is, let's say, acting a bit aggressive toward potential vendors.
Frank, I would like your input on what you think about a potential client. This prospect first ran software suppliers through an extensive custom demonstration, detailed RFP response, and sales presentations. The prospect then made some first-round cuts to get to a short list and is now going into a reverse auction process in which they are introducing some new suppliers. This is a major multi billion dollar company.To be honest, I've never seen a company attempt to buy software like this. But let's turn it around and ask readers. If you're a software buyer, would you use a process like this? If you're a software vendor, what would you do in this situation? Click on the Read/Post Comment link below, or send me an email with your thoughts.
Mind you--we have been respecting the prospect's process and rules, and now they pull this. It makes me wonder how the software industry will ever stay in business.
This prospect has also stated how important it is to build a strategic relationship. Also, the software solution isn't a simple straightforward application that anyone can do. In other words, it's not a commodity.
Your thoughts? Have you run into companies buying software like this lately?
Related posts
The dark side of reverse auctionsby Frank Scavo, 10/19/2004 10:08:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Monday, October 18, 2004
Another PeopleSoft executive exits
Two weeks after the firing of CEO Craig Conway, PeopleSoft announces the departure of Ram Gupta, VP of Products and Technology. PeopleSoft is not revealing whether the exit is voluntary.
When Conway was fired, PeopleSoft announced the return of founder David Duffield as CEO and Aneel Bhusri as vice chairman, to oversee "product strategy." At the time, I noted some confusing comments from Duffield about "a technology vision that's been absent for a period of time." The departure of Gupta, whether voluntary or forced, would be consistent with that.
Computerworld has more, with speculation by various analysts.
Related posts
Rumor: Duffield in no mood to give in to Oracle
Why PeopleSoft fired CEO Conway
Why are executives leaving PeopleSoft?by Frank Scavo, 10/18/2004 08:52:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Sunday, October 17, 2004
Retire your apps
CIOs spend a lot of time thinking about how to implement new applications. Maybe they should spend more time thinking about how to get rid of some of them.
Larry Dignan, writing for Baseline, talks about the trend for companies to save money and simplify IT operations by reducing the number of software applications.
Companies are increasingly getting the message.Dignan also points out the obstacles that CIOs face in eliminating, or consolidating, applications.
At 3M, Jerry Erickson, vice president for applications, says he expects his company's effort to clean house will reduce an incalculable number of applications in use "by a factor of 5.'' If successful, 3M's cost of sales will decline by 1 percent or more. That's $92.8 million out of the company's current $9.3 billion in cost of sales. Add it up, and 3M could potentially boost its net income of $2.40 billion by 3.9 percent.
- General Motors has cut its mission-critical applications—systems that would hinder GM if they went down—from 7,000 in 1996 to just over 3,000 today. The company doesn't break out direct savings from the consolidation, but it's no coincidence that GM's information-technology budget has been driven down, from $4 billion to $3 billion over the same period.
- Hewlett-Packard intends to slash its enterprise resource planning systems from 21 to four. HP reckons it can cut total applications from 3,500 to 1,500. The consolidation effort is part of a plan to save $1 billion a year in overall operating costs.
- Boeing went from 4,500 applications in 2000 to 3,500 today, and its official target is 500. Chief information officer Scott Griffin says fewer programs will raise productivity, helping the company launch new products and services faster.
Call it system elimination, consolidation, decommissioning, or retirement. Whatever the name, CIOs are finding that less can be better.by Frank Scavo, 10/17/2004 04:04:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Thursday, October 14, 2004
ERP rollout: better the second time around
Here's some encouraging news. Two years ago, I wrote regarding problems in the City of Los Angeles in the initial implementation of a $22M PeopleSoft procurement and ERP implementation.
Now, two years later the city is doing a major upgrade to PeopleSoft v8.8, and it appears that everyone has taken to heart some lessons learned two years ago."Change is a lot easier when people trust that you are not doing anything that will hurt them," said Robert Jensen, assistant general manager in the L.A. municipal government's department of general services.Change is possible. Computerworld has more on the story.
One of the keys to success that the general services department will be applying is that it will spend money upfront for change management -- a hard lesson learned from the initial rollout. Good change management requires a communication plan that identifies everyone whose role will change during the implementation.
"The plan needs to identify champions, owners, stakeholders and users and what and when you will communicate with them and the media used for that communication," Jensen explained. "The other part is how to self-motivate these folks to want to spread the word that the change is good and should be supported."
Related posts
Large system implementations require organizational disciplineby Frank Scavo, 10/14/2004 08:50:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Tuesday, October 12, 2004
APICS returns to its roots
At its international conference today, APICS has formally announced its new name: "APICS The Association for Operations Management."
To understand the significance of this, a review of APICS' long history is in order. APICS was founded in 1957 as The American Production and Inventory Control Society, but since that name was a bit lengthy, the society has always been referred to as APICS. (APICS is pronounced AYE-PICKS. If you say the name by spelling out the letters, A-P-I-C-S, you are clearly an outsider).
APICS has made major contributions to industry in its nearly 40 years:
I've been an APICS member continuously since 1978, I've been certified as an APICS Fellow since 1981, and I've spoken at many APICS meetings and conferences. So I've witnessed much of this first hand.
- APICS, and its fathers such as George Plossl and Ollie Wight, made a huge contribution by upgrading the production planner's job to a true profession. Much of the professionalism of production and inventory management came from the APICS certification program, the CPIM (Certified in Production and Inventory Management), which became almost a universal prerequisite for promotion.
- In the early 1970s, the organization launched what it called an "MRP Crusade" to promote the new (at the time) concept of material requirements planning as a superior way to manage inventory, in contrast to the traditional order point systems. Ultimately, the Wall Street Journal credited APICS for the widespread adoption of MRP, which has contributed to the softening of so-called "inventory recessions."
- In the 1980s and early 1990s, APICS was at the forefront of the Just-in-Time approach to manufacturing, which is now generally referred to as lean manufacturing.
- In the early 1990s, the society also embraced the theory of constraints, as set forth by Eli Goldratt in "The Goal," and has been one of its main promoters.
In the early 1990s, APICS became dissatisfied with its narrow focus on production and inventory management, and decided to take a more generalist approach. The rubric would now be "resource management," that is, helping companies (not just manufacturing companies) plan, manage, and control all of the resources (people, machines, material, etc.) that they needed to deliver goods and services to customers. APICS launched a second certification program, the CIRM (Certified in Resource Management), which would focus broadly on all of the functional areas of an organization and their interrelationships. If that sounds vague, it is. I was one of the first APICS members certified as CIRM in addition to my CFPIM.
In my opinion, APICS started to wander during this time. It dropped "Production and Inventory Management" from its name, in favor of "APICS--The Educational Society for Resource Management." When people would ask us, "What does APICS stand for?" we had a hard time answering, since the letters no longer stood for anything. We were just "APICS."
That was well over 10 years ago. Since that time, attendance at APICS events around the country have been flat, at best. I recall in the late 1970s, Orange County APICS monthly dinner meetings with over 300 in attendance. These days, it's 40 to 50. APICS points to the steady decline in manufacturing industry employment over the past 20 years, the move to offshore manufacturing, the thinning of management ranks (leaving managers with less time for outside professional groups), and general cutbacks in corporate training budgets as reasons for the decline in membership and attendance. As evidence, they point to other similar professional societies, such as ISM (formerly National Association of Purchasing Managers, NAPM), that have had somewhat similar declines.
But still, I can't help but feel that APICS lost something by trying to broaden its focus instead of sharpening it. In the 1970s and 1980s, APICS literally defined the body of knowledge for production and inventory management. It now needs to continue to expand and strengthen that body of knowledge with new learning and new technologies.
The new name, "APICS The Association for Operations Management," recognizes that APICS is truly an organization focused on the operations function. That's broader than production and inventory management, but still narrow enough to appeal to the professionals that APICS wants as members. However, if it's just a name change, it won't mean much. The name change needs to be the first step in a renewed focus on the things that give APICS its proud legacy.by Frank Scavo, 10/12/2004 01:45:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Monday, October 11, 2004
Rumor: Duffield in no mood to give in to Oracle
I was at the APICS International Conference in San Diego today, and I heard an interesting bit of gossip regarding Oracle's hostile bid for PeopleSoft. This source, who is outside of PeopleSoft but has connections inside PeopleSoft, said that David Duffield, founder and newly reappointed CEO of PeopleSoft has been indicating to employees that he is adamantly opposed to Oracle's hostile bid.
If this is true, then all the Wall Street analysts that took Duffield's appointment as a sign that PeopleSoft was about to cave in to Oracle are wrong. It also confirms my interpretation of events last week.
Separately, Oracle co-President Safra Catz said today in court that Oracle might drop its offering price for PeopleSoft by one-third to one-fourth. This follows Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's testimony last week that basically said the same thing.
In my opinion, this is a transparent attempt by Oracle to drive down the current share price of PeopleSoft, making Oracle's offer more attractive. It's right in line with Oracle's attempt to create fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) by launching its hostile bid originally, as indicated in Oracle internal e-mails that the court mistakenly released in unredacted form last week.
Here's a shot I snapped of PeopleSoft's booth at the APICS conference today. A nice booth, in a prime spot next to the main entrance, adjacent to Microsoft's.
Related posts
Oracle confidential information released by court
Why PeopleSoft fired CEO Conway
Huh? PeopleSoft fires Craig Conwayby Frank Scavo, 10/11/2004 07:41:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Thursday, October 07, 2004
Siebel enters Chapter 2
No, not Chapter 11. Chapter 2 is Siebel's new strategy, as presented by CEO Mike Lawrie at Siebel's user conference this week, to move beyond selling packaged software and hosted services to offering more customized solutions. The strategy is enabled by the trend to component architecture by many vendors, which makes it easier to build composite solutions.
In this regard, Siebel appears to be aligning with the approach of other major vendors, such as SAP and PeopleSoft.
Personally, I feel that composite applications, which appears to be what Siebel is promoting, are particularly well suited for the CRM space. In my experiences, companies are most likely to develop custom software for customer-facing processes than any other area of the company. If Siebel is successful in this strategy, it could propel Siebel back into a leading position among business application vendors. Siebel has had a tough last few years, and I hope they are successful.
For some reason, I'm having trouble finding an official Siebel press release on Chapter 2. But Computerworld has a short summary of the initiative, as well as a follow up article.
Related posts
Has Siebel turned the corner?
Siebel loses $59M and responds by going on a shopping spree
Siebel makes strategic bet on Microsoftby Frank Scavo, 10/07/2004 03:18:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Oracle confidential information released by court
PeopleSoft Craig Conway is testifying today, and most of the press is focusing on his colorful characterization of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison as "Genghis Khan."
But the real news, in my opinion, is some Oracle correspondence that was released by the court in an unredacted form, that is, without some confidential portions omitted. The memos in question can be interpreted as Oracle's attempt to use the takeover bid in an attempt to sow fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) among PeopleSoft prospects, thus hurting PeopleSoft in the marketplace.
According to CNET,Mark Jarvis, Oracle's chief marketing officer, suggested in an internal June 3, 2003, e-mail that the company "use this news in order to create FUD with prospects and customers alike." FUD is a common term in the computer industry that describes a campaign to spread misinformation or exaggerations.Read the whole CNET article for more excerpts.
Another excerpt included in the PeopleSoft interrogatory and Oracle's reply was an e-mail message sent by Keven Blake to Oracle President Charles Phillips and others on Sept. 10, 2003. It said that "(we) have successfully spread enough FUD along with our own capabilities to have a good average shot at winning."by Frank Scavo, 10/06/2004 11:07:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Checklist for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance
Here's a simple one-page checklist for a self-assessment of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance readiness. To download it, you'll need to do a one-time free registration with Baseline.
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Sarbanes-Oxley spotlights need for controls in IT
Cost of compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley isn't mainly in new systems
Is Sarbanes-Oxley the new Y2K?by Frank Scavo, 10/06/2004 10:09:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Microsoft counters SAP with Axapta price cut
A few months ago, Microsoft and SAP were talking about a merger. This month, they are fighting each other for market share. It appears that SAP, with its SAP Business One and All-in-One program targeted at small and mid-size companies respectively, has had some success in taking deals in Germany away from Microsoft, specifically those involving its higher end Axapta ERP offering. (Unlike in the U.S., Axapta has always had a strong presence in the European market and has been competing with SAP there for years.)
Quoted in an AFX News article, Michael Kleinemeier, head of SAP's German operation said,"We have increased our total number of clients in this space by 40 to 50 percent," Kleinemeier said. He said that about 500 small businesses now use SAP's Business One software package and 2,000 mid-sized businesses use its All-in-One program. As a result, SAP is out in front of rival Microsoft and its "Microsoft Business Solutions" product.In response, Microsoft is reportedly cutting the price of Axapta by 12% in order to hold ground against SAP.
It would not surprise me to see Microsoft make similar price cuts in the U.S., if it hasn't done so already. Microsoft can certainly afford to do it, and it would put pressure on all the major players, including SAP, Oracle, and PeopleSoft, at a time when they are trying to hold the line on revenue and earnings numbers.
A price war would be good news for buyers.
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Big three vendors target small companies
Microsoft and SAP: the merger that didn't happen
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SAP plugs hole in Business One
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SAP aims to cover all market tiersby Frank Scavo, 10/06/2004 09:16:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Tuesday, October 05, 2004
PeopleSoft execs sighted at Oracle HQ?
Reuters is now reporting that the new PeopleSoft executives paid a visit to Oracle headquarters last week, increasing speculation that PeopleSoft may be softening its stance against Oracle."Our sources indicate to us that the new PeopleSoft management team visited the Oracle campus last week. This indicates to us that (they are) more willing to engage in a dialogue with Oracle to discuss its options," said Prudential Equity Group analyst Brent Thrill in a note to clients.Further evidence that PeopleSoft's position may be softening came from Steven Goldby's second day on the stand in Oracle's lawsuit to overturn PeopleSoft's poison pill.The PeopleSoft Inc. director who has been leading the defense of the software company's antitakeover measures said Tuesday the company's board is willing to talk about a deal with rival Oracle Corp.
On the stand for the second day in a Delaware court trial, PeopleSoft director Steven Goldby said German software company SAP AG was the chief beneficiary of the long-running takeover fight between the two companies.
PeopleSoft's board would be willing to talk about an Oracle acquisition now if the price was right and there was a "high certainty" that a deal could close quickly, Goldby said.
An AP article has more details.
Update: Woops. Brent Thill is now backing off his reporting of a meeting between the new PeopleSoft executives and Oracle."There's been no management team meeting with Oracle," said PeopleSoft (PSFT) spokesman Steve Swasey.Looks like it was just a rumor.
He responded to questions following a report from analyst Brent Thill with Prudential Equity Group that stated such a meeting did happen. Thill cited "sources" that informed him PeopleSoft's new management team visited the Oracle (ORCL) campus last week. In a follow-up research note issued Tuesday afternoon, Thill said a PeopleSoft senior executive confirmed that no senior management members met with Oracle.by Frank Scavo, 10/05/2004 09:41:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Monday, October 04, 2004
Why PeopleSoft fired CEO Conway
Today was the start of a lawsuit by Oracle to overturn PeopleSoft's poison pill anti-takeover defense, and already there are some insights into the firing of PeopleSoft CEO Craig Conway.
According to a CNET article, PeopleSoft board member Steven Goldby testified today that Conway "was fired in large part because of his reckless exaggeration to Wall Street analysts when informing them last year [September 2003] that Oracle's offer to buy the company was no longer a disruptive influence." At the time, the board was so uncomfortable with Conway's representation that they amended an SEC filing that included a transcript of Conway's remarks.
I remember how Conway was talking around this time, because I wrote a blog post based on Conway's attitude, entitled "All over except for the shouting."
It also appears that the board just discovered two weeks ago that Conway had made quite a concession to Oracle's lawyers during a deposition for this trial.Oracle's lawyers played a five-minute videotape of the deposition, in which Conway acknowledged being less than honest during the conversation with analysts in September 2003. At the end of the video, after repeated questioning, Conway admitted that his remarks "weren't true."So this would explain why PeopleSoft only moved last week to fire Conway, a year after his "less than honest" remarks to analysts. Knowing that Conway's admission of his untruthfulness would come out in court this week probably forced PeopleSoft's hand.
This does help explain things. If this picture is accurate, then there's no relevance to PeopleSoft founder and new CEO David Duffield's comment last week about a technology vision being lacking.
Also, in the trial today, Goldby seemed to indicate that PeopleSoft's board had been simply waiting for the right time to fire Conway:Goldby said that last week was not the first time that the board had considered firing Conway, saying "it really goes back further than that." But the board waited to terminate Conway until it had good news to deliver as well, he said.I find that excuse pretty weak, since there have been other points since September 2003 when PeopleSoft had better-than-expected quarterly results and could have taken action against Conway.
CNET has more.
I would also add that if my interpretation is correct, then the consensus of Wall Street analysts is wrong. Market analysts have been reading too much into the firing of Conway, thinking that PeopleSoft fired Conway because they wanted to deal with Oracle and Conway was an obstacle. I think that Goldby's testimony today indicates that PeopleSoft's board wants to fight and that because Conway's deposition was not helpful in that fight, they fired him.
Update, Oct. 4. There was more interesting testimony from Goldby today, as reported by the Wall Street Journal:Mr. Goldby, the PeopleSoft director, said the board had become increasingly concerned about Mr. Conway's "micromanagement," which made him unable to work well with the rest of PeopleSoft's senior executives. Three key executives were "terribly, terribly unhappy and likely to quit," he said.Back in March, I wrote a short post entitled, "Why are executives leaving PeopleSoft?," but didn't see that it might be a sign of dissatisfaction with Conway.
There's more to come. Craig Conway is being called as a witness on Wednesday. CFO Kevin Parker and EVP Phil Wilmington, who replaced Conway as president, are also expected to testify. Expect more interesting stuff to come out then. A Forbes article has more details.
John Palatto, writing for eWeek, thinks that Conway overstated the significance of the PeopleSoft/IBM alliance, and that also contributed to the board's dissatisfaction with Conway. But I don't buy it.
Quoted in Computerworld, Charles Di Bona, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. thinks that problems with the JDE acquisition are also a factor:Charles Di Bona ... said he sees continued problems at PeopleSoft – ones that go deeper than the confusion created by Oracle's bid. He noted that the $150 million in software revenue is 9% lower than last year's third-quarter sales figure.Might be a bit overstated. But on the other hand Di Bona follows PeopleSoft pretty closely.
"I think a large part of the loss of confidence [in Conway] really is more around the J.D. Edwards situation than Oracle," Di Bona said, referring to PeopleSoft's problematic integration of former rival J.D. Edwards & Co., which it acquired last year. "This is not a growing company; this is an ailing company."
Update, Oct. 6. It appears that the three executives that threatened to quit were sales EVP Phil Wilmington, CFO Kevin Parker, and chief marketing office, Nancy Caldwell. This is according to Steve Goldby's testimony in the Oracle lawsuit yesterday. With Conway now gone, Wilmington and Parker are now co-presidents.
Related posts
Huh? PeopleSoft fires Craig Conway
Why are executives leaving PeopleSoft?by Frank Scavo, 10/04/2004 09:44:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Sunday, October 03, 2004
SSA grows, but don't get no respect
I wasn't able to attend the SSA Global client forum in Philadelphia. But John Moore from the ARC Advisory Group has a pretty good report, summarizing strategic direction for SSA in the coming year.
Moore points out that SSA's approach to standardize on IBM Websphere technology across its multiple products is similar to that of PeopleSoft, but SSA was taking this approach prior to PeopleSoft's recent announcement of the same.
With its strategy of buying software products and customers from distressed vendors, SSA doesn't get a lot of respect from consultants. But SSA's strategy has propelled it to the position of number four among enterprise system vendor, behind SAP, PeopleSoft, and Oracle. And, if Oracle gobbles up PeopleSoft, SSA will be number three.
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SSA's obituary was a bit prematureby Frank Scavo, 10/03/2004 03:43:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Saturday, October 02, 2004
Lawson fires 100, blames Oracle
Lawson Software is laying off 100 employees in a cost cutting move, following its most recent earnings disappointment.
What I find hilarious is the new excuse that Lawson has come up with for why its sales are lagging: it is blaming Oracle!Since earlier this year, Lawson has said its business is being hurt by the ongoing efforts of competitor Oracle Corp. to buy another competitor, PeopleSoft, in an unfriendly takeover. The U.S. Department of Justice opposed the Oracle takeover of PeopleSoft on antitrust grounds, but Oracle won the case earlier this month and continued its takeover bid. As a result, some ERP customers have decided to wait out the battle to see which suppliers remain, Lawson said.As I recall, back in April during Oracle's anti-trust trial, Lawson took out two full page ads in the Wall Street Journal thanking Oracle for positioning Lawson as a top competitor!
But now, somehow, Oracle is to blame for Lawson's problems. I can see how PeopleSoft might make that claim. But Lawson?
Maybe next quarter they can blame the hurricanes in Florida.
Lawson's hometown paper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, has the details.
Related posts
Lawson joins earnings disappointment clubby Frank Scavo, 10/02/2004 11:32:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Friday, October 01, 2004
Huh? PeopleSoft fires Craig Conway
I'm seeing this just now on CNBC. PeopleSoft's board has just fired CEO Craig Conway, effective immediately, citing "loss of confidence in Mr. Conway's ability to continue to lead the Company."
The CNBC commentators are as baffled as I am about this. They are speculating about "personality problems." I don't think so. As the CNBC commentators finally conclude, the move makes no sense. The press release indicates that the decision received the unanimous vote of the independent directors, so there must be something else going on here.
The press release leads with the news that Dave Duffield, PeopleSoft's founder, is now back as CEO. Kevin Parker (CFO) and Phil Wilmington (EVP Americas) are being promoted as co-presidents. Aneel Bhusri has been appointed Vice Chairman, focusing on product and technology strategy
You can read the press release on the PeopleSoft web site. Hopefully there will be more light shed on this development in the coming hours and days.
Update: less than an hour into trading, and PeopleSoft shares are up over 8% to $21.44, which is actually above Oracle's tender offer. The market apparently thinks that Conway's departure increases the chance of Oracle's takeover being successful. PeopleSoft is hosting a conference call shortly, so hopefully there will be more clarification.
Update: S&P analysts feel that Conway's departure does increase the likelihood of a deal, and that Oracle will need to raise its tender offer to at least $23. But in a PeopleSoft conference call just now, new CEO David Duffield said, "There has been no position that the transaction committee has taken with Oracle that was at odds with where Craig was." He says that the departure of Conway has nothing to do with the Oracle bid. On the other hand, he didn't say why they "lost confidence" in him.
Update: Here are some more analyst reactions, as noted by CBS Marketwatch.
From Stephen Trotta at Technology Business Research:What this tells me is that the board is in favor of throwing in the towel and, clearly, Conway was not ready to do so. This certainly clears the path for PeopleSoft to be acquired. ... One of the greatest obstacles in this battle has been Conway's ego and the emotional stake he has vested in attempting to out smart Larry Ellison. The removal of Conway eliminates the emotional factor from the process and clears the way for the founder of PeopleSoft, David Duffield, to come back and have the final say.Art Hogan, of Jefferies & Co says, "The obvious interpretation is that this makes the deal more doable."
Patrick Snell, of Robert Baird, thinks that firing Conway was "a move to restore credibility in the eyes of the investment community and customers/prospects, which may have suffered in part due to Conway's very public [and] personal attacks on Oracle's [CEO] Larry Ellison."
Update: separate but related news just in: the DoJ now says that it will not appeal the court's ruling to let Oracle proceed with its hostile bid for PeopleSoft.
Update, Oct. 2. The New York Times (free registration required) has gathered some additional insight into what might be going on:Executives close to PeopleSoft said that while Mr. Conway's aggressive approach to the Oracle offer was a consideration in his removal, frustration with his handling of strategic business issues was also part of his undoing. Most notably, PeopleSoft's acquisition of J. D. Edwards in 2003, a project that Mr. Conway led, is largely considered a failure. The company has also been slow to give customers a clear plan for the future, the executives said.Although the NY Times insights are helpful, I am still perplexed by several things. First, the contention that the JDE acquisition has been a failure is surely a debatable point. Second, I was at PeopleSoft Connect press conference last week and did not hear any great skepticism voiced by these same analysts about PeopleSoft's product strategy. Finally, Duffield's comment about putting together a technology vision is really baffling--especially after PeopleSoft just signed a $1B agreement with IBM that addresses this very issue. What exactly would Duffield do in addition to, or differently from, what PeopleSoft just stated as a technology direction? Does Duffield disagree with the IBM alliance? If anything, Duffield's comment would make me more concerned about PeopleSoft's direction, not less concerned.
Tad W. Piper, an analyst with Piper Jaffray, said the ouster of Mr. Conway could smooth the way for an acquisition by Oracle, but noted it was not the only reason for the board's decision. Problems with the company's product strategy were apparent at PeopleSoft's annual customer conference last week, he said, which might account for the timing of the board's announcement.
Other analysts said that the appointment of Mr. Duffield, the company's founder, as chief executive might indicate that the board, though unhappy with Mr. Conway, remained opposed to an Oracle takeover.
Mr. Duffield told analysts on Friday that he planned to "put together a technology vision that's been absent for a period of time."
Update, Oct. 2. John Moore of the ARC Advisory Group has the same reaction as I expressed in the preceding paragraph.There is another interesting twist to this story and that is the appointment of former PeopleSoft employee, Aneel Bhusri, as Vice Chairman to lead the company's product and technology direction. In the conference call Duffield stated that he thought the technology vision at PeopleSoft was "lacking as of late," which brings into question what part of that vision was suspect. At Connect, the company announced a major partnership with IBM and touted the success of their Total Ownership Experience (TOE) initiative, which is getting significant traction among the customer base. Thus it is hard to determine where the company may be faltering - could it be the slow progress in integrating JD Edwards?Update, Oct 4. There's better information now emerging. See my post on Oct. 4, Why PeopleSoft fired CEO Conway.
If you've got thoughts on PeopleSoft's latest moves, please click on the Read/post comments link below and post your viewpoint.by Frank Scavo, 10/01/2004 05:43:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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This sweet, 80-year-old cottage was purchased only a few months ago. One of the owners asked me to "give it some wow."
She would love for people to slow down and point at her home as they drive by. She imagined a full English garden. Little did she know that such an important landscaping would require high maintenance. A mini and cleaner version would still offer plenty of colours and variety while enhancing the façade. The composition is made up mostly of perennials and would be less costly than shrubs. To complement the hues of the house, our palette will be white, orange and shades of purple. Obviously, except for the annuals, the perennials will not bloom simultaneously as my sketch shows, but will take turns throughout the season.
Deep and wide custom-made wooden flower boxes will be installed to fit from corners of the building up to the frame of the door. These containers, as well as the fence, will adopt the same medium brown tint as the roof shingles and will be furnished with white daisy-like plants and apricot orange cascading annuals. The door will reveal a rich bright orange paint colour in a soft sheen.
The existing light is placed too low and should be removed. New brown or silver light fixtures should be installed on each side of the doorway. An elegant brushed metal handle, in the same finish, would instantly give the entry a richer look.
All white features, like window trims, aluminum frames of mosquito screens, fascias, soffits and gutter pipes ought to be painted in the colour of the vinyl siding in matte.
The proprietors wished to build a porch extending all the way to the driveway with steps landing on the left side of the structure. This would entail having a ramp hiding most of the door and psychologically provide an uninviting disposition. I opted for a long floor with full-width front steps that would descend to a pathway leading to the car entry.
The flower bed consists of two, very deep concave lines and three protruding convex curbs. To obtain the desired form, a water hose can be placed on the lawn. Don't hesitate to pull out and push in the tubing for an interesting design. After cutting the turf edge with a semicircular blade shovel and removing the lawn, a good quality professional divider should be installed between the grass and the exposed earth. Then garden soil and compost worked into the dirt would ensure a thriving plantation.
The bright orange Asclepias tuberosa, which is often visited by butterflies, will cast a well-needed shadow on the foot of the appreciative climbing beauty positioned behind it. This Clematis Jackmanii Superba will deploy a profusion of blooms with its head in the sun. The miniature grafted lilac, the lavender and the salvia will not only offer various nuances of purple but also soothing scents.
For any landscaping to be successful, a good plan is needed to begin with. Respecting the required spacing between plants is a must and impeccable upkeep is necessary - no weeds allowed. A good four inches of dark brown mulch will help prevent this invasion.
With the new organic additions and the improvements on the building, this tiny home will surely invite passersby to stop, point and say: "Wow."
Vegetation (from left to right):
- Cotoneaster acutifolia (shrubs, white, yellow-red in fall, driveway, birds)
- Syringa meyeri Palibin (grafted on trunk, light purple, scented)
- Hemerocallis Purple d'Oro (perennials, purple red, under Syringa)
- Calamagrostis acutiflora Karl Foerster (several perennials, ornamental grasses)
- Geum borisii (perennials, orange, edge of walkway, in a line)
- Leucanthemum superbum Becky (several perennials, white daisies)
- Lavandula angustifolia (several perennials, soft purple, scented, cut back in spring)
- Berberis thunbergii Sun-sation (shrub, yellow, orange in fall)
- Lilium Orange Pixie (several perennials, orange, scented)
- Phlox paniculata David (several perennials, white)
- Potentilla fruticosa Abbots-wood (shrubs, white, hedge near foundation)
- Iris pallida Aureo-varie-gata (several perennials, light purple, variegated)
- Salvia nemorosa Cara-donna (several perennials, violet, front of hedge)
- Asclepias tuberosa (three to five perennials, orange, butterflies)
- Lamium maculatum White Nancy (perennials, ground cover, white, silver)
- Clematis Jackmanii Superba (climbing, deep purple, cut back in spring)
- Zinnia Profusion (annuals, white, daisy-like, flower boxes)
- Calibrachoa Superbells Dreamsicle (cascading annuals, apricot orange, flower boxes)
Most homes can use a little bit of help when it comes to warming up their curb appeal. If you would like some inexpensive ideas on how to improve the appearance of your home, send a clear photo of your house with your commentary to: Suzanne Rowe, Designer, email@example.com
Curb Appeal: Adding some 'wow' to a cozy little cottage
This sweet, 80-year-old cottage was purchased only a few months ago. One of the owners asked me to "give it some wow."

subset: commoncrawl


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A close flyby of Phoebe, Saturn's outermost moon, revealed an ancient, pockmarked surface. The many craters are thought to have resulted from collisions with smaller objects. Twenty-four of the largest ones have been deemed conspicuous enough to receive names from the International Astronomical Union. Images obtained using the Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) also suggest that the tiny moon contains ice at shallow depths-perhaps just 300 to 500 meters below the darker surface material.
Saturn's rings have inspired wonder ever since Galileo first glimpsed them in 1610. Thanks to new observations, they are more alluring than ever. Images produced by the ISS have revealed new moons within the rings. They also indicate that diffuse rings populate gaps within the main rings. Up close and personal, the pictures even document the particle properties of the planet's lovely ornaments.
It might look serene from Earth, but Saturn is a tempestuous place. Astronomers have long known that winds in the ringed planet's equatorial region rage at speeds approaching 10 times that of Earth's jet stream. The new findings show that these gusts change with altitude, with wind speeds decreasing with height. Energy transferred by convection from Saturn's interior appears to be fueling the cloud-level winds. Cassini has also pinpointed the source of powerful electrostatic discharges first documented by the Voyager spacecraft flybys more than 24 years ago. Scientists attributed the earlier lightning observations to unseen storm activity in the planet's equatorial region. Fresh evidence reveals that they are indeed one and the same. Why Saturn's lightning is so much more intense than Earth's remains a mystery, however.


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Candidates for the Delaware House of Representatives and Sussex County Council sparred Wednesday night during debates hosted by the Milford Beacon
Candidates for the Delaware House of Representatives and Sussex County Council sparred Wednesday night over how best to promote economic development, improve public education and address public transportation needs during a candidate debates hosted by the Milford Beacon and GateHouse Media Delaware at Milford High School.
Milford Beacon Executive Editor Jesse Chadderdon served as moderator of the debates between candidates running for state representative in District 33, Sussex County Council District 2 and Sussex County Council District 3.
House District 33
Incumbent Republican state Rep. Harold "Jack" Peterman and Democratic challenger John "Kevin" Robbins offered differing approaches on how they would help encourage job growth in Delaware.
Peterman said he believes the state is too preoccupied with trying to lure big businesses to locate in Delaware.
"I believe we need to focus on job creation efforts and growing the small businesses that are already here, as well as attracting new start-up ventures that hold the promise of positive growth and new employment," he said.
Peterman also said more should be done to reduce electric rates in Delaware.
"Energy costs are a key factor in determining the viability of many businesses, including existing employers," he said. "We need to re-craft state policy … We need to reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses."
Robbins agreed that helping small businesses to thrive in Delaware is critical, but said should be done by offering more tax credits and helping to ensure that businesses are able to obtain lines of credit.
"Since the clamp down on the economy, the banks are still tough on giving these small businesses credit and we to give them credit so they can expand and hire more people," said the farmer and milk hauler from Harrington.
The candidates also disagreed about the impact of the four-year, $119 million federal Race To the Top grant awarded to Delaware's Department of Education in 2010.
"Our educational system has vastly improved in the last few years," Robbins said. "We won in the state the Race To The Top competition … We do not, do not, need to cut the funding for our educational system."
Peterman said he believes the Race To The Top funding has been used disproportionately on administrative costs rather than being directed toward classrooms.
"We keep talking about sending out kids to school to educate them so they can go out and get a good job and support themselves, but Race To The Top does not really do that well at all," he said. "If you do not help out children and grandchildren, then you know that they're going to go on welfare … and you know, it's not their fault. It's the schools' fault and the government's fault."
The candidates also disagreed about what the state should to protect the community from illegal drugs, such as a methamphetamine labs recently uncovered in Harrington and Houston.
Peterman said better enforcement is required and not more laws.
"We let people get away with so much," he said. "I can tell you, when I was a kid growing up, whatever my parents said is exactly what I did … We need to make sure what we say is what we mean and we do what we mean."
Robbins, however, said the state needs stronger laws against the manufacturing of illegal drugs, including better monitoring of the ingredients commonly used in meth labs, such as the over-the-counter cold medication pseudoephedrine.
"They could put that on the state's prescription monitoring program and get a clear picture of who is purchasing this thing and how they are purchasing of it," he said.
Sussex County Council District 2
The debate between Incumbent Republican Councilman Sam Wilson of Georgetown and Democratic challenger Gary Wolfe of Greenwood became contentious almost from the start.
Following Wolfe's opening statement in which the former Milford School Board member said he was moved to run, in part, by the large number of children in the area who are living in poverty or without adequate shelter, Wilson pounced.
"The county council does not run a welfare system," Wilson said in response. "Mr. Wolfe I think you're in the wrong job. You should be running for state (office), because that is where the welfare is usually handed out."
Later in the debate, the candidates differed on whether the county should work to add more public transportation options in Sussex County or help spearhead a more regional approach to planning.
Wolfe said he believes the county should work with the state to encourage public/private partnerships to address transportation issues for seniors.
"It's something we need to sit down together with the state and municipalities about to see how we can work that out," he said. "We have buses in Dover and buses in Wilmington … we need to look at how to make it affordable for those who have to use it and make sure those folks get on it."
Wilson said the lack of public transportation in Sussex County is a state problem. He said adding more bus routes also would be cost prohibitive because very few people would actually use public transportation.
"Who's going to pay for all this," he asked. "There's no Santa Claus. There's no free gifts, no free lunch. Somebody is going to pay for it."
When asked if the county should partner with municipalities to undertake a more regional planning approach, Wilson said the county and the municipalities each take care of their own planning.
"We [should] not interfere with [the cities]; they have their zoning laws, regulations," he said. "Up to the town limits, the county runs the county, and by the way, we work closely with the cities and help them with their police and fire departments … but we don't rule them."
Wolfe, meanwhile, said he believes the county should be looking for planning options that work best for both the county and the municipalities.
"How do we work with them, how do we use the resources of both the county and the municipalities to improve the economy, not only within the county but in those municipalities," he said. "How do we sell the municipalities and the county to the businesses we want to bring in here? We need to work together as a team."
County Council District 3
The debate between incumbent Democratic Councilwoman Joan Deaver of Rehoboth and Republican challenger Donald Ayotte of Georgetown also included plenty of sparks.
When each candidate was asked what the single biggest difference between them and their opponent is, Ayotte said he is a "super-property rights guy" who will vote on the side of the property owner "every single time." He also described himself as a Christian Conservative and a constitutionalist.
"My opponent is not as conservative as I am, without question," he said. "I don't quite know where she stands."
"Don't label me," Deaver shot back, before giving her own answer. "I know he used to mill about in the back of the county chambers … I don't understand how he thinks or anything, so I really can't help you."
Later in the debate, the candidates displayed differences in their opinions on whether Sussex County has an adequate police protection.
"I don't believe that we're adequately covered because it is a tourist area and the population is growing," Ayotte said. "The state police response time is awful. We just had four more state police hired at a (county) cost of $300,000 … I think they're charging us way too much money. We're the only county that has to pay extra for state police coverage."
Deaver, meanwhile, said the county's contract with the state police means that more troopers would be patrolling the county every year going forward.
"Please understand that we have an allotment from the state and then we pay for 40 more, and they pay for half of those 40 more," she said. "I've also talked to [Delaware State Police Superintendent] Col. [Robert] Coupe about bringing us more summer police, and I'm still working on that, but we have towns that have their own police forces … so it's not as if we're totally out of police protection."


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Oderus Urungus of GWAR Talks Acting With Dee Snider, Fighting Off Cyborgs On Tour + More
GWAR frontman and super alien warlord Oderus Urungus was the guest on Full Metal Jackie's radio show this past weekend. The 43 billion year old monster talked all about the new horror sitcom he's in with Dee Snider called 'Holliston,' as well as touring in order to survive and much more. If you missed Jackie's show, check out her interview with Oderus Urungus of GWAR below:
It's great to have you back on the show, it's good to hear your voice. We've missed you. We've obviously loved the Mad Minutes each and every week. When you want to hear them again, and I know that you do, you can go to fullmetaljackieradio.com and you can listen to all of them. We've got them all archived there, so thank you for being part of the show.
Yeah, it's a lot of fun. Whoever would have thought of all the spokesmen of metal that it would be the one from outer space that would be delivering some of the more rational and down to earth kind of sentiments? I'm helping people Jackie, these rants are really helpful -- especially to mental patients [who] I understand are very very big followers of the show, misfits, freaks, tentacle creatures all kinds of things, werewolves.
Werewolves, I have a lot of werewolves listening to the show I can tell you that.
A lot of werewolves love your show Jackie, they appreciate the extra work you do -- reaching out to the werewolf community. The werewolf community has been misrepresented by that f---ing show 'True Blood;' who makes them all biker werewolves? C'mon, haven't we seen that enough? Some French Creole biker werewolf -- it's just so stupid!
I do want to talk about this new show of yours, FEARnets new original series 'Holliston'.
FEARnet's got a sitcom coming out here directed by Adam Green, whose done movies like 'Frozen' and 'Hatchet' and he's got a twisted little brain. He's completely out of his mind. He's got me and Dee Snider talked into being in this sitcom slash slasher com? I don't know what you call it. All I know is that I'm appearing as the main character's imaginary friend. Now, I don't really know if that's the starring role or not, but they assured me I was starring in it -- but I don't think that's really true. I don't know if you remember the show, I'm betraying my age here, but I'm kind of the equivalent of the character on 'Rhoda' of Carlton the doorman, if anyone remembers him.
I have read that your character is described as the exact opposite of what a guardian angel should be.
I would hope. Yeah, that sounds good. I would hope that's what's comin' across here. I give him terrible advice. I'm trying to get something going on the show here, you know?
Dee Snider is also part of the show. Oderus Urungus and Dee Snider -- you can't help but imagine the chaos. Tell us more of the premise and some of your roles in these episodes.
Well, it's about these two lovable schlubs Adam and Joe and they've got a late night horror movie cable access TV show. Dee comes into the picture -- he plays Lance Rocket, the questionable sexed, lead singer of a local Van Halen cover band -- and we're not really sure if his character is gay or not so [there is] a lot of uncomfortable gay humor there, with Dee Snider. Yeah, really uncomfortable with a really awkward laugh track. I don't even know if that part's funny so much it's just kind of disturbing.
Then you've got Adam and his friend Joe running around trying to get laid, and Adam's character is particularly pathetic. I mean Joe is bad enough, he washes out his rubbers and reuses them, but Adam just walks around crying and then he goes into the shower and stares at himself and cuts himself with a straight razor while screaming, "I'm no good at sex, I'm no good at sex." Then I come out of the closet literally and slap him around a little bit and tell him to get a hooker -- and that's a typical episode. There's hot chicks Corri English and Laura Ortiz -- two young actresses that I get gigantic boners for. Corri English has even dropped some pretty sexy tweets on me, she says she really likes these fishnets of mine. Oderus, a sex symbol, I can see it.
Who's the better actor you or Dee?
Well he is a consummate professional and he's a man's man. He's an every man's man's man -- something or the other. He's got radio shows, he's got movies, he's the 'Celebrity Apprentice' and he's also sold millions of records. So I'm not going to sit here and say anything to piss him off, even if I am Oderus Urungus God damn it. I've got a lot of respect for Dee and to be on the same show with him, quite frankly, is an honor and a privilege. I just sit there in the bathroom and stare at my face and weep tears of joy basically. I would have to say despite all that, I'm a way better actor that Dee Snider. I mean c'mon, I'm Oderus Urungus.
The show is about young filmmakers struggling to make a low budget film.
Oh that's right, I forgot that part. That's part of it too!
Having said that, going back to the beginning of GWAR, how much does that starving artist scenario resonate with you and your own ideas as you had about making a movie?
Well, I suppose it does to a certain extent in the misery that we've inflicted upon our followers. The people that we have forced to build our hulking war machines and scrap equated brain matter off of my armored war suit -- it can be a living hell. One of the few things they ever did to get out of it was a desperate attempt at getting laid after the show when GWAR cleared out. Some chicks had hid under the corpses of their dead friends, desperate attempts at romance were made, and then GWAR would be there again with the bat shaped helicopter and the whirling knives. So I didn't really feel sorry for them at all. In fact, it makes me laugh when I think about all the pain I inflicted on them.
GWAR's back on tour, but it seems like GWAR is always on tour. What is it about that environment that's a comfort zone for you?
Well, basically unless we stay mobile, our enemies find us and then we have to fight for our lives a lot more. We find with various cyborgs attacking us at every move, it's much better to present a moving target. When we sit in one place like the GWAR temple for too long, the armies of the world and our super powered advisories will mask around us and attack us all at once. That can really suck, that's how the GWAR temple was destroyed I think two or three records ago and we really haven't rebuilt it since. All the fans went down to Antarctica and they built a new temple for us but it wasn't very good. In fact, I put the key in the lock of the front door and the whole thing fell over. Thank God it fell over onto them.
Sounds like it's tough being in GWAR.
It can have its ups and downs, but the perks far outway any negative. Granted I might have to live on the run; the life of a pirate if you will, but I pretty much get to do whatever I want whenever I want to -- except of course star in that show. They told me I was starring in that show.
But you're a pirate and pirates are really cool.
Ahoy there Lassie, miss matey! Yes, pirates are so cool that a few years ago Metal Blade kind of adopted a piratey logo because they're pirates of metal.
It was either going to be a pirate or ninja because it doesn't get much cooler than either one of those things right?
I'm glad they didn't go with the ninja thing. I would back whatever they did. Metal Blade's been GWAR's home now for many years and they've been absolutely great and we love them so much. [Cries] All of the things that have happened to GWAR -- it's been exposed, it has happened and it's very embarrassing that GWAR actually does have some feelings. They're tiny, they're microscopic, they're almost non-existent but they are in there somewhere.
Oderus, always a pleasure. You're welcome on the show any time that you want and I appreciate all that you do [come on].
Well you've been a fine supporter and somehow you've cheated death all these years. When you do find yourself getting on the dark side at 80 and you need some kind of injection, I'm sure I've got something down here in the lab that can unnaturally extend your life [by] hundreds of years. So when you're ready for that, you just let me know.
This coming weekend, Full Metal Jackie will talk to Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead. Full Metal Jackie can be heard on radio stations around the country — for a full list of stations, go to fullmetaljackieradio.com.


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Publick Nuisance
The secret files of the Ventureverse
- What Goes Down, Must Come Up...
Man oh man we are busy...
I really haven't posted anything in quite a while, have I?
This is because we are desperately racing the clock to edit each new episode in time for broadcast, and...
Yup, the character/prop/background design teams and production team started work at World Leaders several weeks ago...and we didn't even have a script for them. I turned in my first script (Ep. 40, "Handsome Ransom," if you're keeping track) a little over a week late, keeping the artists busy in the interim with judiciously doled out spoonfuls of design assignments for characters and locations I was pretty sure would make it into the final draft. And Doc is just now turning in the second episode of the season...which we're supposed to finish designing in like three days. Neither of these scripts, by the way, are for next season's premiere episode. As usual, we probably won't get to that one for a little while...
We have never tried this business of overlapping seasons before, and I must say it is hell on all of us. Nevertheless, I'm quite pleased with what we've all turned out so far on both the art and writing fronts. Episode 40 is already being storyboarded and we're set to record the voice tracks next week, keeping our fingers crossed in hopes of getting a special guest voice to play a major role, which I will not spoil.
Now I have less than a week to get the next script in. Guess who will be late again?
If I hadn't been so busy, I'd probably have written a bunch of stuff about all the episodes we've shown so far. Like about the various songs we tried unsuccessfully to license for the last montage scene of "The Invisible Hand of Fate..."
...Or how all the photos at the beginning of "The Buddy System" are of Doc, me or my brother circa 1977. Because you can't put pictures of other people who were children in 1977 on TV unless you can track them down and get them to sign a release form, no matter how public a place your dad snapped the photos in. So take that, "Josh," you could have been on TV, but Noooooooo...
...Or about all the real and fictitious celebrities hanging out at Jonas Venture's house in the key party scene of "Dr. Quymn, Medicine Woman..."
...or how Dr. Entmann in this week's episode was recorded three different times by two different actors, after we were turned down by a third semi-celebrity (who shall remain nameless because he apologized profusely)...
...but I guess I'll save that stuff for the DVD commentaries, which someone is bound to make us start recording soon, because we don't have enough to do. Then they'll bleep it all out for legal reasons.
In other news, Ep. 33: "What Goes Down, Must Come Up," is now available online at adultswim.com for your viewing pleasure, and will of course be broadcast in its full glory this Sunday night at 11:30pm EST. It's another solo effort by yours truly (and a weird, dark one at that) and features the voice of our beloved "Art Director" (I prefer "Storyboard/Design Guru," but apparently that doesn't fly on Linkedin) Stephen DeStefano, whose lovely blog can be found by clicking here, and who probably speaks in that accent at the office roughly 38% of the time.
Next week's episode will be Doc Hammer's "Tears of a Sea Cow," the working title of which was "Murder O'Clock" just because.
The network tells me our ratings are excellent this season, with each episode scoring higher than the highest-rated episode of any previous season. The Family Guy continues to kick our ass, of course, because it would seem many many many more people would prefer to watch a Family Guy rerun for the tenth time than a brand new episode of our show. That, or a lot of people go to bed at 11:29 (EST) on Sunday nights.
And Shirt Club continues to rock the worlds of our overworked interns, and the bodies of fandom...
We Love You,
Oh, and Happy Belated 4th of July, everyone...
This is kind of one of the most amazing things I've seen on the Internet, and sir, I have gone through a lot of LOLcats.
This picture needs an award of some sort.
This picture needs an award of some sort.
i like looking at this picture sometimes and thinking to myself... yeah, that happened...
i still have a picture of the disney Executive that joined us when we ditched their party cause the open bar closed, somewhere.
i still have a picture of the disney Executive that joined us when we ditched their party cause the open bar closed, somewhere.


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|Palo Alto, CA
|High School:
|Henry M. Gunn
Team captain... Second team All-Ivy selection... One of only three players to start all 17 games... Recipient of Walter Leeman Trophy, awarded to the senior member of the varsity team who, by sportsmanship and team play, upholds the ideals of Walter Leeman... Scored one of the prettiest goals of the season on a header off a corner kick against Boston College... Had assists in victories over Maine and Stony Brook. 2007: Second team All-Ivy selection... One of three players to start all 17 games... Helped anchor a defense that allowed only 22 goals and posted five shutouts... Scored the only goal in Yale's 1-0 victory over Army... Named to the all-tournament team at the Yale Classic... Recipient of the Walter J. McNerney Trophy as Yale's most valuable player. 2006: Appeared in 15 games... Scored in Yale's 3-2 loss at Harvard. 2005: Started 17 games, the most of any freshman... First career goal came in his first career game, against Fairfield... Tallied assists against Stony Brook in the first round of the NCAA College Cup and on the game-winning goal in a key 2-1 Ivy League victory over Brown. Before Yale: Named the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League - De Anza Division most valuable player and the Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area Central Coast Section Player of the Year at Henry M. Gunn High School... First team All-CIF Central Coast selection... Team captain... Played club soccer for Santa Clara Sporting Ruckus.


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10 Things We Miss Most When Away From Home
While we love vacation, we love home more.
With vacation season in full swing, it's hard not to dream of getting away. But, sometimes, when we leave, all we can dream of is coming home.
Here are the 10 things we miss most when away from home:
10. Our pup.
Though we're pretty sure he misses us more.
9. THAT spot on the couch
The polyester chair in the hotel room just isn't the same.
8. OUR pillow
Oh, how I've missed you!
7. Not spending money.
At home, our air is free!
6. Access to our whole closet.
Because I only want to wear what I didn't bring!
5. Not having to type in the hotel wifi password every 5 seconds.
Because we literally die without the internet.
4. Our routine.
I missed zumba?!
3. A dresser.
So we can give up the artful smush-everything-back-in and zip.
2. A healthy, homemade meal.
Because the "I'm on vacation" diet isn't doing anything for our beach bod.
1. Our OWN Bed.
There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like….zzzzzz
Still not convinced? I hate to break it to you, but vacation's over…Go Home!


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Find accommodations in Langley Park with the hotel list provided below. Find cheap and discounted hotel/motel rates in or nearby Langley Park, MD for your personal leisure or group travel. We list the best Langley Park Maryland hotel rooms. Review the Langley Park hotel list below to find the perfect lodging. We also have a map of the Langley Park hotels. Planning a group? Lock in Langley Park Group Hotel Discounts
The Langley Park center point is around 1 mile east of Takoma and 1 mile north of Queens Chapel.
How should we direct your call?


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We are happy to release an alternate version of The Saturnettes II album mixed and produced by Atheos. It does not only feature new mixes and sounds but it's also combined from different takes from the album recording sessions. The more modern and electronic elements as well as renewed arrangements give new edges and atmosphere to the songs.
You can download and listen to it from thesaturnettes.bandcamp.com
Jann Wilde sums up his career with "Rock'n'Roll Dreams"
"Rock'n'Roll Dreams" is Jann Wilde's first career spanning collection featuring 24 songs from five albums, Tokio Okei (2007), Neon City Rockers (2008), Don't Play With The Flame On Your Hand (2010), The Saturnettes (2011) and The Saturnettes II (2013). The album is available as a pay-what-you-want download exclusively from jannwilde.bandcamp.com
The collection will not just celebrate the 10th anniversary but will also be the final release by Jann Wilde.
The collection will not just celebrate the 10th anniversary but will also be the final release by Jann Wilde.
New video - Television Boy/Television Girl
New video "Television Boy/Television Girl" uploaded. Directed by Jann Wilde & Henrika. Click here to watch.
Two interviews
"Sisältö on kaupallisuutta tärkeämpää"
Viikkouutiset/Aamuposti 15.11.2013
"Uusi linjakkaampi The Saturnettes"
Desibeli.net 19.11.2013
Tilaa: Blogitekstit (Atom)


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Corless named Georgia Southern's co-defensive coordinator
Statesboro, GA – Two is better than one with the Georgia Southern defense.
Head coach Jeff Monken announced on Tuesday that linebackers coach Kevin Corless has been promoted to co-defensive coordinator alongside Jack Curtis.
Corless joined the Eagles' staff in January 2012, but his pairing with Curtis isn't new.
"Jack and K.C. have worked together successfully in this role for several seasons at Northwestern State and Arkansas State," Monken said. "Over the past year, it has become apparent that this is a partnership that will benefit our team as well."
The 2013 season will be the final one in the Southern Conference and on the FCS level for Georgia Southern, which will join the Sun Belt Conference and the FBS next year.


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And good gravy, that man impresses us.
Sure, being a good talker is only one aspect of the job for a manager1, but what what warms our cockles is to hear Farrell bring the perspective of a former opponent to bear on the decisions he makes. This week alone, he's told Bob McCown and Damien Cox on Prime Time Sports that the Jays were regarded as "one-dimensional" offensively, and an easy team to prepare to face.
He also revealed to Jeff Blair on the Fan 590 that "around the industry"2, people knew that Aaron Hill's swing was being affected by his injury, and that he'd expanded his strike zone and was chasing pitches. He also underlined the fact that the Jays were very fortunate last year to get through the season with only a minimal amount of games lost to the DL by significant players, and that as they set their sights on the coming season, their expectations in terms of true advancement for the team has to be balanced off against that fact.
Now, it's entirely likely that the former Manager understood these concepts, and simply chose not to discuss them publicly. Maybe he just didn't feel as though everyone deserved to be let in on the knowledge of the game that he possessed.
But on the other hand, it seems as though Farrell relishes discussing the complexity and nuance of the task before him, and that there really aren't any simple answers to what's going to happen with this team now, and in the near future.
Hearing the man speak is such a way that doesn't sound as though he's dumbing down his task for the unwashed, presumed stupid masses might sound like small mercies. And yet, it's reassuring. It makes us feel as though we're in good hands.
1. And for all of the Cito-love that exists out there, his PR skills were every bit as bad as his in-game management. Cito seldom revealed anything that appeared to present an outlook beyond that day's game, much less a development plan for the franchise. The condescension in his voice as he spoke to those "outside the game" was palpable, as was his inability to take any sort of substantial question from a thoughtful member of the media. So there.
2. "Around the industry" might be the most awesome thing we've heard come from him. It makes him sound like a senior management-type as opposed to a good old boy with a minor league playing pedigree and an affable manner.


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Lip Balms
Spa-inspired presents, including these handmade lip balms, can be created from basic kitchen ingredients and craft materials.
Source: Martha Stewart Living, December 2008
To make more than one kind of lip balm at a time, divide the recipe in half and scent and color the batches separately. For lip balms, we like to use essential oils that have an "edible" scent, such as citrus. Beeswax pellets are available at crafts stores.
Our how-to makes two .15-ounce tubes and two 1/2-ounce tins or pots.
Gift-Packaging Idea: Top cosmetic tubes and tins with custom labels: Water-slide decal paper is clear, making the design look as though it has been printed directly onto the container.
Resources: Similar containers, sunburstbottle.com. 8 1/2"-by-11" clear water-slide decal paper for ink-jet printers, beldecal.com. Varnish, by Krylon Kamar, from dickblick.com.
Get More Bath and Body Treatments and Learn About Essential Oils
1 tablespoon beeswax pellets
2 tablespoons carrier oil
A few drops essential oil(s)
Lipstick shavings in desired color
Heatproof glass jar
Plastic pipette
Slide tins or metal pots
Put beeswax and carrier oil in jar, and close lid. Heat the jar in a pot of water over medium-low heat until wax has melted. Remove jar from pot carefully.
Stir mixture with a metal spoon. Using a pipette, add essential oil, 1 drop at a time, until strength of scent is to your liking. Stir in lipstick shavings, 1 at a time, until desired shade is achieved and color is even throughout.
Using another pipette, transfer lip balm to containers. Let set for 1 hour.
Always fill containers before labeling them. Download clip-art labels, above, and print with an ink-jet printer onto water-slide decal paper. Spray with clear-coat varnish, and let dry.
Cut out each label. Transfer to a bowl of water; soak until decals start to separate from paper backings, about 1 minute.
Slide decals from papers and onto clean containers. Blot excess water with a paper towel. Let dry for 2 hours.


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Now that .NET 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010 are in full swing, I think it's wise to open a page to jot down the useful add-ons that can enhance the developer experience. As time goes by, this list will get updated.
"Visual Studio 2010 runs faster when the Windows Automation API 3.0 is installed ..... Applications that use Windows Automation APIs can significantly decrease Microsoft Visual Studio IntelliSense performance if Windows Automation API 3.0 is not installed. For example, the Windows pen and touch services can significantly decrease Visual Studio IntelliSense performance if Windows Automation API 3.0 is not installed."
"A set of extensions to Visual Studio Professional (and above) which improves developer productivity."
what a coincidence. Just after i post mine, Scott Hanselman delivers a list of his own.
I'll slowly incorporate the items into my primary list later on.
Web Deployment Projects
if you used Web Deployment Projects previously to package web sites in Visual Studio 2005/2008, the 2010 version can be downloaded here
ASP.NET MVC (current v2)
Either install MVC template via Web Platform Installer, or download from


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The G Plan Chloe features a sumptuous high back, square arms with generous padding and bull-nose seat cushions. The premium quality foam and fibre interiors offer the ultimate in long lasting comfort and support. The range offers 3 seaters, 2 seaters and chairs in standard and small sizes all with the option of manual and power recliner actions. Available in a wide range of fabrics and leathers.
W68.6cm x H47cm x D58.4cm
Please note that all screens vary in colour reproduction and whilst every effort has been made to show the fabric colour as accurately as possible it is for guidance only.
This item is made to order.
G Plan Chloe Footstool
Item: 130305
In Stock (allow 7 weeks for delivery)
UK mainland delivery from £25.00


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Cardinals coach Bruce Arians says he'll fight it if the NFL tries to force his team to appear on Hard Knocks. But 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh says he'd welcome it.
"There's going to be teams that are going to be on Hard Knocks and that seems like a popular thing and something people want to see," Harbaugh said. "So, I don't see it going away. You could stamp your feet and say I don't want to do it, but I don't know how productive that is for anybody concerned."
This week the NFL adopted a rule saying the league office can force a team to appear on Hard Knocks if no team volunteers. However, that rule says any team that has made the playoffs in either of the previous two seasons cannot be forced to appear on the show. The 49ers made the playoffs last year, so Harbaugh knows the 49ers won't be forced to appear on Hard Knocks next year.
The rule also exempts teams that have been on Hard Knocks in any of the last 10 years from being compelled to appear, and also exempts teams with new coaches. None of those rules would help the Cardinals if they don't make the playoffs this year, however, so Arians might find himself forced to appear on Hard Knocks next year. In which case Harbaugh would tell him not to stomp his feet and say he doesn't want to do it.


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Crypton® Chair Cover - Green Tea Suede
Crypton's Suede is a versatile, rich-looking fabric that is constructed to act tough, but play soft. Crypton is Stain Resistant upholstery fabric, Breathable Comfort, Moisture Barrier, Extreme strength and durability, Passes upholstery flammability codes, Performance fabric engineered to provide anti-microbial protection.
Our chair cover is stain resistant with breathable comfort lined with 200 denier nylon a waterproof material so if your dog is wet, your sofa underneath stays dry. This cover is the solution to incontinent dogs.
Designed with an integrated flap for the back seat as well as the sides that tucks into the chair to keep the cover in place. The extended panel covers your back chair generously as well as a panel to cover the armroll.
This product ships in 2 days.
Select from 2 sizes
Large - Seating area, sofas 25 depth and 68 width, measurements from inside the arm rolls.
Back flap 35 depth and 69 width
Arm flaps 20.5 depth(front to back) and 19 width (over the arm or side to side)
Extra Large - Seating area, sofa 27 depth and 72 width, measurements from inside the arm rolls.
Back flap 37 depth and 73 width
Arm flaps 24 depth (front to back) and 23 width (over the arm or side to side)
Care Instructions: Machine Washable, line dry
Made in the U.S.A


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I'll tell you one thing: we're not here to talk nonsense to Bob Loblaw. No, we're here to talk about how the new season of Arrested Development is reportedly coming out next spring. That's not as far away as it seems!
Personally, I am optimistic as heck about the new season of Arrested Development. Most shows couldn't come back after this long off and do well, but Mitch Hurwitz and company make anything but "most shows."
What about you? Are you ready for more of George Michael, Maeby and the gang? Do you wish they'd let the show rest in peace? What gags do you hope to see again, and do you think Mr. Loblaw will make an appearance?
Chat about that, or anything you like, here or over in the Talk Amongst Yourselves forum. Have good discussion, and careful not to stumble on any beads.


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In Oaxaca, green mole (mole verde) is one of the seven famous moles. What makes this one different is not just the lack of chocolate, but also the fresh herbs, which give it a fabulous green color. Of course every region or family has its own way of making mole. I learned this recipe from my friend from Puebla, who calls it mole pipían, referring to the pumpkin seeds used in it. Whatever you call it, it's fantastic with chicken, fish, pork, or as a spicy sauce over a bunch of enchiladas.–Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee
LC If There is Mole, There is a Party Note
A chef in Mexico once told us that when guests are invited to a party in Mexico, it is not uncommon for them to pose the question, "Is there mole?" If the answer is no, the chef explained, well, there's no party. To clarify, when most people think of mole, they think of black mole (mole negro), the rich, earthy, equal parts bitter and sweet concoction containing various dried chiles and a couple dozen other ingredients, slowly simmered into a sauce that's unquestionably worth celebrating. This mole, though sort of its antithesis given its spare ingredient list and minimal investment of time, is no less party worthy. Nor will there be any fewer compliments.
Pumpkin Seed Mole
- Quick Glance
- Makes about 3 cups
- 1 cup shelled pumpkin seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (optional)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
- 1 white onion, cut into wedges
- 5 tomatillos, husked and halved
- 5 garlic cloves, halved
- 2 jalapeño peppers, sliced
- 2 cups chicken stock or canned chicken broth
- 1 cup packed coarsely chopped cilantro leaves
- 1 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
- 1/2 cup fresh epazote (optional)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1. In a large skillet with high sides or in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, toast the pumpkin seeds, cumin seeds, and oregano, if using, until fragrant, 3 to 4 minutes. Toss frequently to make sure they don't burn. Remove from the heat and transfer to a spice grinder or a blender and process until finely ground.
- 2. In the same skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, tomatillos, garlic, and jalapeños and cook until slightly browned, 4 to 5 minutes, tossing a couple of times but not too much. Place the vegetables in a blender or food processor, then add the broth, cilantro, parsley, epazote (if using), and salt and process until puréed.
- 3. Pour the mixture back into the skillet and add the ground pumpkin seed mixture. Let simmer gently until the flavors are melded, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately. (Leftovers—if there are any—can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to a couple of days.)
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.


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hitching post
Jump to navigation Jump to search
hitching post (plural hitching posts)
- A post to which a horse (or other animal) may be tethered to prevent it from straying.
- Joe tied his horse to the hitching post before going into the bank.
- (slang) A main shelter at a recreation place (e.g. a campground) where people go to socialize, eat, and purchase small items.
- The two girls who were camping went to the hitching post to buy some hot dogs and buns for the wiener roast.
a post or bar to tether an animal, usually a horse, to stop it straying


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Vodafone UK has published a new entry on its blog detailing plans for Windows Phone 8. The carrier previously unveiled that it would be stocking a selection of Windows Phone 8 hardware in early 2013. More details have been revealed as the company has now confirmed that a new Windows Phone will be joining the Lumia 820, HTC 8X and HTC 8S. It would appear as though the Lumia 920 exclusivity deal with EE is drawing to an end.
The flagship Nokia handset will be making its way to Vodafone in the new year. We had doubts that the manufacturer would continue down the exclusive path with EE, especially with all the negativity the new 4G network has received from consumers due to data limitations, expensive pricing and sub-par service. We even wrote up a short opinion piece on why consumers dislike the new network.
We've reviewed all four handsets and believe each one to offer a unique Windows Phone experience. Covering multiple price points, Vodafone will be able to target different demographics. These will include newcomers to the platform and smartphones in general, as well as those with tight pockets or who desire the best possible specification.
For the time being Vodafone is stating that all four Windows Phone 8 devices will arrive in the early stages of the new year, but we'll be sure to update closer to the time with more accurate details on both pricing and availability. It's good to see other networks taking up Lumia Windows Phones as smartphone exclusivity is not entirely welcomed by British consumers.
With Vodafone jumping on the train, we expect O2 and possibly even Three to look at taking Nokia's flagship Windows Phone sometime soon and adding it to their already established arsenal of handsets.
Source: Vodafone; thanks, Brenda, for the heads up!


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Marketing Via Rings
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The Stallion Community
+ ADD YOUR SITE (82 members)
The Stallion Community
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The Stallion Community
+ ADD YOUR SITE (82 members)
The Stallion Community is a community of sites featucommunity stallions standing at stud. We consistantly have 100+ sites and the community is pretty regularly managed. LAST RING UPDATE/CHECK: MAY 20, 2005. Also featured on the Community's homepage are free photo classifieds and an extensive equine links page. PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR SITE UNLESS YOU ARE READY TO PLACE THE REQUIRED HTML FRAGMENT ON YOUR SITE. ANY SITE SUBMITTED THAT DOESNT HAVE A FRAGMENT IN PLACE WITHIN 24 HOURS WILL BE DELETED UNLESS OTHERWISE ARRANGED WITH RING MANAGER.
Wyandah Cylip San
1998 AQHA Sorrel Stallion - 15 hh - NRHA registered with multiple championships in reining. Stallion Specialties: Working Horse. ALSO STANDING: RU Hi N Dry - 2002 PHAA Sorrel Tobiano Stallion, 15 hh ...
Amana Arabians & Performance Horses
Home of Straight Egyptian Arabian Stallion, Majeed El Mareekh SS and grand son of *El Mareekh!
K bar D Ranch
K bar D Ranch ( one hour east of Dallas) is a family operation that Breeds & offers some of the finest Performance Bred Quarter Horses in North East Texas
Bay Badger Tivio-Foundation Quarter Horse Stallion
Kentucky foundation quarter horse stallion, Bay Badger Tivio, is the earner of nine World Championships in the World Foundation Quarter Horse Association. He stands in Brandenburg, Kentucky at Chasing ...
Excessive Prospect
2000 Dark Bay TB Stallion - 16.1 hh, sired by In Excess out of a Native Prospector daughter. Stallion Specialties: Working Horse. ALSO STANDING: Greentree Nightwing - 1994 Black Morgan Stallion, 14.3 ...
Donadio H
Black Spanish Andalusian Stallion sired by Ascension, Top Ten 3 & 4 year old Stallion at ERALHS 2002 show. Also Standing: Tobruks Encore - 1996 Chestnut Saddlebred Stallion, CH Wing Commander, Mr Butterfly ...
Mega Bucks Gold
Sheilds Quarter Horses standing Mega Bucks Gold ~ AQHA/FQHR/PHBA Golden Palomino Stallion. Color Producer. Skipper W and Zippo Pat Bars breeding. Sire is AQHA Champ with Superior in Halter and Western ...
Page Bull Parker
Hass Quarter Horses is home of now retired AQHA/IBHA Dunalino Stallion ~ Page Bull Parker. Standing The Golden Bull ~ AQHA/PHBA/NFQHA Palomino Stallion ~ 15.1 Hands. Stallion Specialties: Breeding Stallion/Color ...
Royal Pride Rythm
Royal Pride Rythm is a gorgeous 15 hand chestnut purebred Arab stallion with get on the ground. He is certified 70% Crabbet-bred by the Eastern Crabbet Arabian Horse Society. He is producing halter and ...
Arabians of Iowa
Arabian horse database focusing on farms in Iowa. Site features horses for sale, stallions at stud, links, farm info and extensive community memberships.
Farbig Bud
1995 Black and White Spotted Draft Horse Stallion ~ NASDHA Registered, 16.3 hands, 1900 pounds. This stallion is one of the most popular Spotted Draft horse stallions in North America. Stallion Specialties: ...
Silver's Big Threat
Gray Tennessee Walker Stallion. Triple Threat bred. Stallion Specialties: Breeding Stallion/Gaited. Site Features: Foal pics, mare information, and links. Bolton's Bachelor Creek Walking Horse.
Dee Bar David
ApHC Black & White Stallion - Mighty Bright & Prince Plaudit lines. Stallion Specialities: Color Producer/Performance. Also Standing: Matthew's Mandate, red leopard stallion by Mighty Matthew and out ...
Neemeepoos Chataqua
1997 ApHC Dark Brown Leopard Stallion, 15.1 hands. Stallion Specialties: Breeding/Color Producer/Working (ranch)/Trail. Also Standing: Sunspot Comet ~ 1986 ApHC Bay Leopard Stallion, 15 hh, Sunspot Revel/High ...
WL's Prince Sarke
(LCFG on both stallions){;}1985 ApHC Leopard Stallion, "natural shuffler", Prince Plaudit & Red Eagle bred. Stallion Specialties: Breeding/High Percentage Color Producer/Gaited. Also Standing: Little ...
Awesome Reward
1998 ApHC Chestnut Stallion ~ Sired by Let's Just Skipit out of a Goer Grandaughter. Stallion Specialties: Breeding Stallion. Site Features: Mares, foals, horses for sale, pedigrees and links. Ramblin ...
Cherub Fancy Dude
1992 ApHC/ApHCC Red Roan near leopard stallion, performance bred with lines to Bright Eyes Brother, High Hand, High Spot, Mansfields Comanche and more. OAHA & SWOAPC nominated sire, high percentage color ...
Buck N Badger
1989 AQHA/NFQHA/FQHR Brown Stallion ~ 27% Joe Hancock, sicommunity working foals with color. Stallion Specialties: Reining, cutting, breeding stallion/foundation breeding. Olde Tyme Quarter Horses, Michigan. ...
Touch of Perfection
Registered Dark Bay Foxtrotter Stallion ~ 15.2 hands, naturally gaited, bloodtyped, champion bloodlines. Gaited Acres Foxtrotters, Kentucky.
DR Forego
ApHC Leopard Stallion ~ own son of Forego out of a Skipa Star AQHA mare. Stallion Specialties: Halter, Breeding Stallion. Tomahawk Ridge Appaloosas, Mo.
Kid's Coolest Clu
1997 AQHA Liver Chestnut Stallion, 16+ hands. HYPP N/N. ROM Earner and World Qualifier. Incentive Fund, GNFSSP, NWCSSF. Grandson of Kid Clu. Stallion Specialties: Breeding Stallion/Halter/Color Producer. ...
Plaudit Skipruler
Chestnut Appaloosa Stallion, Plaudit/Spanish Ruler bred. Lone Cedar Appaloosas. Site Features pics, pedigrees and links.
Cajun Eclipse
1991 APHA Black Tovero Stallion. Grand and Reserve Grand Champion Halter as a weanling. Other show/performance accomplishments: APHA Superior Reining, NRHA Open & Novice Horse Open Champion, Western ...
Hotroddin Zippo
1995 ApHC Black and White Stallion, Zippo Pine Bar grandson, Reserve World Champion, Winner of $10,000 Crown Center Incentive money, ROM in Western Pleasure, 84% color producer. Stallion Specialties: ...
Super Rockin Robin
1984 APHA Sorrel Overo Stallion, 15.1 hands, Superior Halter Producer, Foundation Bred, Color Producer. Stallion Specialties: Breeding Stallion/Foundation/Color Producer/Champion Producer. Double C ...
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Brown Secures Judgment Against Two Men Responsible for Brutal Orange County Hate Crime Attack
SANTA ANA – In a "notable judgment" for victims of violent hate crimes, Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced that his office has secured a novel civil award against two individuals who targeted a man based on his ethnicity, forced him out of his car and beat him until blood flowed from his ears.
"Victims of crimes inspired by hate deserve every remedy available under the law," Brown said. "This notable judgment ensures that in California, justice doesn't stop at the criminal courtroom door."
The judgment, signed late last week, requires James Joseph Kelly III, 28, of California City and Justin Louis Mullins, 26, of Garden Grove each to pay $25,000 to Felipe Alvarado, 31, whom they brutally assaulted and verbally harassed.
The incident began about 2 a.m. on August 9, 2007 in Garden Grove. As Alvarado waited at a traffic light at the intersection of Magnolia Street and Trask Avenue, Mullins and Kelly pulled up and began verbally harassing him. Alvarado ignored the insults, but on the other side of the intersection, in the parking lot of his workplace, the two men jumped out of their vehicle, forced Alvarado out of his vehicle and dragged him to the pavement. Defenseless, Alvarado was punched, kneed and kicked until blood flowed from his ears.
During the assault, the men insulted Alvarado with ethnic slurs. The beating left him with permanent back pain and hearing loss.
Today's civil judgment follows criminal convictions in October 2008. Kelly was sentenced to nine months in jail on one count of misdemeanor assault. Mullins was sentenced to three years in state prison for misdemeanor assault, driving under the influence and violating probation.
The civil case marks the first time the Attorney General has filed a case to benefit victims of violent crimes under the Ralph Civil Rights Act, which enables victims of many types of hate crimes to pursue civil penalties in addition to criminal charges. Given the circumstances and brutality of the crimes, Brown decided to pursue a civil case after the defendants were released from confinement.
Victims who believe their rights have been violated under the Ralph Act or any of California's other civil rights laws, can file a complaint with Brown's Civil Rights Enforcement Section at http://ag.ca.gov/contact/complaint_form.php?cmplt=PL.
Copies of Brown's complaint and last week's judgment, entered in Orange County Superior Court, are attached.