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Aerospace Fraud
Aerospace Fraud and the Whistleblower
The aerospace industry is a high technology field with applications in research, development, manufacturing and operation of aircraft and spacecraft. Some aerospace companies manufacture aircraft, propulsion units, space vehicles, satellites, and related parts and components for the United States Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under the terms of government contracts. These companies may also be paid by the government to develop, upgrade or fix aging technology and equipment as needed.
Aerospace companies covet defense contracts with the federal government. In some cases, these contracts can be worth many millions, if not billions of dollars. This amount of money changing hands opens the door to fraud and abuse.
Baum Hedlund Settles Boeing Aerospace Whistleblower Case for $18 Million
The Boeing Company has agreed to pay $18 million to settle whistleblower allegations claiming the world's largest aerospace company improperly charged the government for aircraft maintenance. Whistleblower James Thomas Webb, Jr., represented by Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman whistleblower attorneys Mark H. Schlein and Diane Marger Moore, will receive a reward of over $3 million for exposing the alleged aerospace fraud.
Boeing was under government contract to perform maintenance on the C-17 Globemaster aircraft at Long Beach Depot between 2006 and 2013. According to Mr. Webb, the aerospace company allegedly submitted claims during this time for 8-hour work shifts performed by its employees, even though the billed for hours included time spent at lunch and extended breaks. Billing for hours which were not reimbursable under the terms of the government contract caused the government to drastically overpay for the aircraft maintenance, according to the whistleblower lawsuit.
When an aerospace manufacturer submits false claims about the technology they manufacture or the services they provide to the government, they are, in effect, stealing taxpayer dollars by committing fraud.
Aerospace fraud schemes can include many types of corrupt conduct, including, but not limited to, deliberately inflating the charges on a particular contract with the Department of Defense or NASA, supplying defective parts, or failing to meet the specifications of a contract. Whatever the scheme, the end result is bilking money from our defense budget.
Aerospace fraud is investigated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and other federal agencies, frequently as the result of complaints filed by whistleblowers under the False Claims Act.
Examples of Aerospace Fraud
The Justice Department pursued a complaint against Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, alleging that Sikorsky and two of its subsidiaries, Sikorsky Support Services and Derco Aerospace Inc., overbilled for parts and materials that were used to maintain Navy Aircraft. In filing the complaint, DOJ joined a whistleblower lawsuit that had been filed by a former Derco employee. According to the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, Sikorsky billed the government using special software that hid an illegal 20 percent markup for the parts. The amount of the overbilling was reported to be nearly $50 million, a figure which would entitle the whistleblower to a multimillion dollar reward of between 15 and 25 percent of the money recovered by the government.
In another case, the Boeing Company paid $23 million to resolve allegations that it improperly charged the U.S. Air Force for labor costs in connection with the repair and maintenance of C-17 Globemaster aircraft. The C-17 is used to transport troops and cargo around the world. The allegations were originally brought in a qui tam lawsuit by four Boeing Company employees under the FCA. The four split a whistleblower award of $3.9 million as their share of the settlement.
One of the largest aerospace fraud settlements in history came in 2009 when aerospace giant Northrop Grumman paid $325 million to settle FCA allegations that TRW, Inc., a company which Northrop Grumman acquired in 2002, had provided defective parts for spy satellites in the 1990s. The charges were first raised in a qui tam lawsuit brought by whistleblower Robert Ferro, an electrical engineer for a private research company that tested the parts for TRW in 1995. Ferro discovered the parts would likely fail if used in satellites but his findings were suppressed by TRW. He received a whistleblower award of $48.8 million.
Becoming an Aerospace Fraud Whistleblower
All of these cases highlight the critical role that the whistleblower plays in fighting aerospace fraud. By reporting schemes that would be difficult or impossible for the government to uncover without inside information, the integrity of government contracts can be preserved .
The False Claims Act permits an individual who is aware of fraud against the government to file a qui tam lawsuit (also known as a whistleblower lawsuit) against the perpetrators on behalf of themselves and the government. DOJ is notified of the lawsuit and, after its own investigation, may decide to intervene in the action. In such cases, the whistleblower is entitled to receive between 15 percent and 25 percent of the recoveries stemming from a successful enforcement action.
If you are aware of aerospace fraud and are considering legal action, the experienced Baum Hedlund whistleblower team can assist you in filing a whistleblower lawsuit. Expert legal assistance can protect your rights, gives you the best chance of a successful outcome and can maximize the size of your reward.
Please allow a few moments after submitting this form. You will be notified when your information is received.


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Sunday, November 29, 2009
whack \ˈwak\ noun: condition; state
Etymology: unknown (at least to me)
I purposefully left out all of whack's definitions except the one that pertains to the phrase "out of whack." Seen in this light it makes sense that something misaligned from its natural condition or state is "out of whack." (Whack's more common definition "a punch or strong blow" seems unrelated to "a condition or state," but who knows? Stranger things have turned out to be true. If you can shed some light on this mess, please post a comment.
2 comments:
- Tulsa Jack said...
A whack, blow, or punch knocks its object off-kilter, that is, "out of whack."
- May 3, 2010 at 8:02 PM
- Travis said...
Hey, that makes a lot of sense!
- May 4, 2010 at 7:28 AM
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subset: commoncrawl


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Most companies tell you what they do and how they do it. They rarely, if ever tell you WHY they do what they do. What their passion is that led them to build their business. I want to start with WHY I chose to start Invincible Health and Wellness.
I spent over 20 years suffering with migraine headaches. I used to lie on the couch while my children played around me. My head hurt so bad that when my daughter would talk to me I would have to ask her to whisper or not talk to mommy. I also was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2001. I do not want other parents to miss out on quality time spent with their families because of pain. Pain that keeps you sitting on the sidelines and not joining in on the family fun.
I tried the conventional way of dealing with chronic headaches and pain. I went to the doctor and was given prescriptions. For the pain initially they helped, but over time not so much. I found myself supplementing the prescription pain relievers with OTC medications. As for the migraines my doctor and I never found a medication that worked for me. I then tried Chiropractic and Acupuncture. Again, initially there was relief, but the migraines kept returning.
Fast forward to 2013 when I found myself in the emergency room. All those years of taking prescription and OTC drugs had taken their toll on my liver. It was time to try something new. I decided it was time to see if diet really could heal you. What I found out astounded me! Within 3 weeks my headaches went away, my joints didn't hurt, I could sleep at night, I actually had energy!
Why don't doctors tell you about diet? Why is eating right hidden from the general public? Fad diets and the newest prescription drugs get all the attention online and television. I want to dispel the myths around what a healthy diet looks like. I want families to grow old together. Be active together. I want you to enjoy your life. That is my passion. To educate you to make decisions about what you want to eat and be aware of the consequences of your choices or to reap the reward of feeling great and finding true health.
If you have read this far and you want to learn about my services and approach continue reading....
My passion in helping others help themselves has led me to want to help young families avoid diseases that destroys families. Diseases that were once thought to be hereditary, but scientists have since discovered are related to diet. Diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer. I offer classes for women who are pregnant or want to become pregnant as well as classes for families so that the whole family can learn about good nutrition and have healthy goals together around food, exercise, attitude and lifestyle.
Maybe you are one of the millions of people living with daily chronic pain? Is it keeping you from enjoying doing the things you used to do? Does it effect the simplest of tasks? Are you on prescription medications, but they seem to hardly help? At Invincible Health and Wellness, I offer you authentic and scientifically proven results through nutrition. Teaching you how to become healthier, stronger and make more educated decisions about food. I use Dr. Sears L.E.A.N system which stands for Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitude and Nutrition. By applying these techniques, I help you take a proactive approach to your personal wellness. Health, happiness and strength must be balanced in all areas to create sustainable body wealth.
Discover the benefits of eating a whole food diet, eating for energy and lifestyle nutrition. In my "Take Back Your Life Workshop" you will also learn how 85% of all diseases are diet related and can be managed by making positive changes in the way you eat, move and think. You do not have to be defined by your disease or let it control your life. If you are ready to Take Back Your Life schedule a Complimentary discovery session with me today!
I offer online classes, retreats, corporate wellness programs and individual coaching packages to teach individuals how to break generations of poor eating habits, what is in your food and how to make good choices as well as what those good choices are. 85% of all diseases are diet related and can be overcome by making positive changes in your diet, lifestyle, attitude and making time for some exercise. I do not teach or promote fad diets, I teach you how to eat a whole food diet. That is, foods that are as close to the source as possible. Before I was a Master Certified Health Coach I was overweight and suffering from chronic pain due to Fibromyalgia. Let me teach you what I learned so that you too can take back your life and create sustainable body wealth!
I offer a *60 minute phone consultation to discuss your current health concerns and goals. Email me or text the word "coach" and your name to (253)225-5052 to schedule yours today!


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A cozy Kabocha Two Bean Chili simmered in a chipotle and poblano base with fire roasted tomatoes and warming spices. No Kabocha? No problem! Sub pureed pumpkin! Dinner in 30 minutes? Helloooo weeknight chili! This recipe is vegetarian, vegan + gluten free.
Chili Inspiration
If you asked me two years ago what Kabocha is, I would have told you a fizzy, fermented tea. Have you tried it? Kabocha, not kombucha. hehe.
Kabocha is a sweeter cousin of pumpkin, with flavor somewhere between a sweet potato, butternut squash and a sugar pie or winter luxury pumpkin. The flesh is edible too.
All of the above pair well with bold chili spices because it balances the kick of chili peppers with subtle sweetness. But I love kabocha for its extra sweet notes! It pairs perfectly in this gluten free chili recipe.
So, if I don't have any pureed kabocha on the ready, pureed pumpkin makes a fabulous vegan pumpkin chili. However, roasting kabocha is easy and it's freezer friendly too. I tend to stock up this time of year along with pumpkin puree.
Here's a tutorial on How to Make Pumpkin Puree and How to Roast Pumpkin Seeds if you need. Kabocha can be roasted and frozen the same as pumpkin.
How to Make Kabocha Two Bean Chili
For this vegan chili recipe, I use poblano and onions to build flavor. Poblanos can vary in their heat, so if you're feeling timid about spicy things, still use the poblano but reduce the chipotle and adobo a bit.
- First, saute the poblano and onions.
- Second, add warming spices like cumin, chili powder and smoky paprika.
- Next, after the spices release their fragrance, add garlic, chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, fire roasted tomatoes, broth, beans and the kabocha puree.
- Last, simmer for 10 minutes and easy sweetish and spicy vegan chili is ready.
This is a perfect weeknight vegetarian and vegan chili I lean on hard during the cold winter months.
Share this vegan pumpkin chili with guacamole, avocado slices or Chili – Lime Pepita Crema and plenty of jalapeño slices. A big slab of cornbread (gluten free) is really nice too.
More Chili Recipes to Love
Kabocha Two Bean Chili
- 1 Tbs Coconut Oil, unrefined, virgin
- 1 1/2 C (200g) Yellow Onion, large dice
- 1 C (125g) Poblano Chili Pepper, large dice*
- 1 tsp Cumin, ground
- 1 1/2 Tbs Chili Powder
- 2 tsp Smoky Paprika
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
- 1 Chipotle Chili, minced
- 1 Tbs Adobo Sauce, from can of chipotle chilis, look for gluten free if needed
- 2 C (465g) Vegetable Broth
- 14 1/2 oz (411g) Fire Roasted Tomatoes, + juice
- 15 1/2 oz (440g) Cooked Black Beans, drained and rinsed
- 15 oz (425g) Cooked Pinto or Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 C (270g) Kabocha Puree, or pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie)
- 3 Cloves of Garlic, minced
- 2 tsp Black Pepper, ground
- 1 tsp Oregano, dried
Serve With:
- Chili - Lime Pepita Cream
- Fist Full of Fresh Cilantro
- Avocado slices
- Jalapeños
- In a large dutch oven or soup pot add the coconut oil and heat on medium heat until it shimmers. Add the onion and poblano pepper. Turn the heat to medium-low and saute for 8-10 minutes or until slightly softened. Some charing is good!
- Add the cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt, chipotle chili and adobo sauce (for a milder chili, reduce the chipotle chili and adobo sauce to taste). Stir for 1 minute or until the spices release their fragrance. Pour in the vegetable broth, stir to deglaze, then add the tomatoes, beans, kabocha, garlic, black pepper and oregano. Bring to a simmer, turn to low and cook for 10 minutes until warmed through.
- Serve with fresh herbs, avocado and jalapeños. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to three days, or up to three weeks in the freezer.


text: Single Dictionary Word Skirr.net Expires in 2 day 22 hours in godaddy auction store make your offer now. *Auctioned on* https://auctions.godaddy.com/trpItemListing.aspx?miid=280583208 Skirr is dictionary single word, that means for verb (used without object) to go rapidly; fly; scurry. Verb (used with object) to go rapidly over. Noun, a grating or whirring sound. Registrar: Godaddy.com


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After weeks of hearing my lady's enthusiastic recommendations of Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games trilogy, I finally started it last week, and at every reading opportunity I've had since then I've torn through the first book like a genetically-engineered wolf-person tearing through a poverty-stricken teenager. The book is mighty-fine pulp: cynical but not hopeless; mercilessly violent yet deeply compassionate; lean but not scrawny.
The biggest question I had throughout the book was, "This book's supposed to be class warfare, right?" Which is not necessarily a criticism. Normally I wouldn't condone fanning the flames of class warfare, but in a sense, most satire is class warfare, and satire is always necessary. The Hunger Games is a vicious, occasionally comic satire of the ever-widening gap between the haves and have-nots, and like some of its ancestors (1984, Idiocracy), it often feels frighteningly inevitable. Since it was written and published well before "class warfare" became a hot topic again, you can't really criticize it for bandwagon-hopping or shameless zeitgeist-mining. The book's disdain for the cruelty that festers in widening class-gaps is timeless; it was only a matter of time before its scorn became relevant again, when, say, a billionaire mayor bullied Occupy Wall Street protesters from their tents instead of, you know, maybe passing a few more laws that might actually help the unfairly impoverished and punish the unfairly wealthy.


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If you would like to make someone's big day extra exciting, then send this spectacular birthday card that features fireworks bursting in the night's sky! It showcases sparkling colors of blue, purple, and orange, and it looks terrific! Let the person who is turning a year older today know that this day is worth celebrating in a big way with this stunning birthday card!
Are you looking for a fun, vibrant birthday card that is bursting with color? If so, you have just found it! This ecard is super exciting and contains many awesome colors. Traditional birthday elements are seen such as a celebration hat, balloons, candy, confetti, a yummy cupcake, and fun lettering that spell out Happy Birthday! This birthday card is simply the best, and no matter who you send it out to, they are going to love it!
Who says flower-centered birthday cards have to be boring?! This card is a one-of-a-kind way of wishing someone special to you a very happy birthday. The mint color of the vase and light pink color of the flower create a nice contrast, while the plain background adds a nice element of simplicity. The sweet sentiment of the words is the icing on the cake of this magnificent birthday card!
If you're looking for a birthday card that showcases the best looking cake ever, you have just found it! This awesome ecard displays a fun and colorful celebration cake with vibrant decorative candles, perfect white frosting, and lots of sprinkles. No one could ever resist a cake that looks this good! Send this birthday card without delay so someone can make their birthday wish right away.
If you know someone who is celebrating their birthday, show them how much you care by sending golden sparkling balloons and a fantastic cupcake! The outstanding birthday card will wish someone a happy birthday with a little class and style. It features the perfect combination of reflective gold, pink, and white colors. It all comes together to wish someone a sensational day and a prosperous year! Send this elegant ecard to your friend, coworker, or family member today!
This birthday card is amazing not just for its stunning car picture on the front, but for a great pun that's bound to make anyone chuckle. It's perfect for car lovers-especially those who like antique cars-but can be a great pick for anyone who appreciates a good joke. The background has a pattern that fits right into the classic theme, and it really ties the birthday card together.
This exquisite birthday card is fitting for anyone who likes the finer things in life. It includes lovely butterflies, delicate flowers, and a beautiful red and gray bird. It's a wonderful scene that will capture the attention of anyone who sees it. It contains a meaningful message that will touch the heart of the person you are thinking of today. Hurry and send this birthday card so you can let this little bird fly over to meet someone special today!
Send these beautiful purple flowers over to someone today to make their birthday extra special! They are perfectly placed in a pretty polka dot watering can. Purple confetti is seen falling upon the words Happy Birthday, and it looks fantastic. It will surely make anyone smile on their big day. You can't go wrong by sending this because everyone loves flowers!
If you want to add extra joy to someone's big day, send these awesome festive balloons their way! These celebration balloons are vibrantly colored, have lovely designs of stripes, swirls, polka dots, and flowers! Plus, festive balloons are always welcomed when such an exciting occasion such as this is happening. So don't delay, send this super fun birthday card out before these special balloons float away!
If you were to picture the perfect batch of cupcakes, they would certainly look like these. They are simply irresistible! Each has its own outstanding design with delicious frosting, sprinkles, a cherry, and more. Also seen is colorful confetti falling upon these yummy decorative cupcakes! This birthday card is truly a must-send because these cupcakes are too good to keep to yourself!
Do you know someone who would like an elegant birthday card that celebrates the day they were born? If so, then this ecard would be perfect! It showcases a sparkling golden gift that looks sensational. The words Happy Birthday are written in glimmering gold and are perfectly centered. No matter what you do, be sure to wish someone a very happy birthday and a lovely year with this exquisite greeting card today. It will certainly bring great joy to their day.
Nothing says "Happy Birthday" and "I love you" better than a bouquet of roses. Pink roses mean love, gratitude, and appreciation, so there's no better way to tell your sweetheart how much you love her than with the flowers on this Happy Birthday card! Your loved one is the most incredible and beautiful person you know, so help her have an amazing day with this card!
One look at this birthday card and you know you have to send it! It's way too cute not to. The puppy is adorable, and with a pink flower in his mouth, he looks as cute as can be. The words Happy Birthday are written in a fancy way that includes a pretty pink gift box. This puppy can't wait to meet the person you are thinking of, so make sure to send him on his way for their birthday!
Wish someone the very best on this special day, and for the year ahead, with this outstanding birthday card! It showcases a wonderful design filled with colors of black and pink, shapes that represent fireworks, birthday streamers, and a creative way of displaying the phrase Happy Birthday. It also contains the words "happy" three times in a row, so they will be sure to get the message! Add joy to someone's day by getting this ecard out to them right away.
The infinite diverse pallet of color and shape found in natures bountiful beautiful collection of flowers, make for a joyous means of wishing the people that matter most to you, the best possible cheer on their birthday. Be they delightful daisies, magnificent mums, or any wonderful wildflower, the recipient is sure to feel Full of Love and Happiness. Make their day by sending them this birthday bouquet card!
Send an absolutely beautiful birthday card out today to make someone's day extra cheerful! This awesome ecard was created with bright orange, red, and yellow colors that really pop. The flowers look perfect, and the words Happy Birthday are written with artistic lettering. Plus, confetti surrounds this important phrase, giving it an extra shot of excitement. You can easily send these flowers out to everyone you know this year that will be celebrating the day they were born!
When you think of birthdays, most likely, treats, presents, and fun come to mind. With that said, this birthday card covers them all. In it you see perfectly wrapped presents, yummy treats, and a fun party hat! It was designed with bright happy colors and a birthday wish. It also contains a great message that reminds the person you are thinking about that they should surround themselves with friends and family during this grand occasion, and to take advantage of all this day offers!
If you want to send a fun and festive birthday card to the person you are thinking about today, this is definitely the card to send! It has a traditional birthday design that's filled with colorful items such as sparkling balloons, ribbons, stars, and the words Happy Birthday creatively displayed. It will remind someone of how this day is certainly worth celebrating!
Receiving flowers on a birthday is a wonderful gesture, and that's what makes this colorful flower card so perfect. It will allow you to send two beautifully colored flowers that look sensational against the bright pink background. Plus, the words Happy Birthday are displayed in fancy lettering, which only adds to the elegance of this birthday card. If you want to add some joy to the day of the person you are thinking about, deliver these flowers to them today!
This incredible birthday card includes many celebration icons such as balloons, presents, confetti, ribbons, streamers, and much more. The words Happy Birthday are beautifully written in gold and black. It all looks sensational! The meaningful message will remind them that the day they were born is a day to celebrate! Don't wait a second longer, let someone know how much you care be sending this ecard out soon.
Wish the person you about a day of fun with this super cute penguin birthday card! They will be sure to smile the instant they see it. The sweet penguin is happily holding festive party balloons, along with a pretty gift box. He sports a bright pink party hat while he balances on the letter B in the phrase Happy Birthday. So adorable!
If you're looking for a birthday card that sports a creative and artistic celebration cake, then you have just found it! This beautiful cake features wonderful colors, hearts, swirls, stripes, polka-dots, and more! It also showcases a brightly lit candle, ready for a wish to be made. Above this fantastic cake, the words Happy Birthday are creatively displayed, complete with firework-like shapes. Send this fun cake over to the person you are thinking of today!
Do you want a really clean and classy way to wish someone a happy birthday? Well, this Happy Birthday card is just the thing that you are looking for. It has modern colored balloons next to some sleek gifts. It also has "happy birthday" stylishly written out, along with some very nice birthday wishes on their very special day.
If you had to pick one icon that represents a birthday the most, it has to be a present, especially one that is perfectly wrapped with a pink bow and polka dot wrapping paper, such as this one. Sending this birthday card out will remind them of the fact that they will be opening gifts at some point during the day. This is certainly something to get excited about! Make their birthday an amazing one by sending this gift box over to them today!
This retro style cupcake looks totally cool, and the person you send it to will think so too! The cupcake sports awesome pink frosting and is topped off with a cherry! Also, this birthday card was designed with cool colors that will catch the attention of anyone it's sent to. Make sure to wish someone a happy birthday with this cool cupcake ecard so you can brighten their special day!
Are you looking for a birthday card that will be sure to catch someone's attention? If so, then this ecard will surely do the trick. It's loaded with bright, vibrant, happy colors! The fun green background displays creative swirls that look sensational. Perfect gifts of blue and yellow are seen, along with many celebration balloons. The best part is the outstanding birthday cake that features five layers, gourmet frosting, and more!
This birthday card looks incredible with its pretty colors, confetti, hearts, and of course, its terrific gift boxes. These presents are specially wrapped in decorative paper that's fitting for the occasion at hand. No matter who this greeting card is sent to, it will certainly impress them. Everyone loves to receive birthday cards, and when they receive this one, they will be touched that you remembered their big day.
If you want to send joyful cheer over to someone on their big day, this birthday card would be the perfect choice! It showcases many fantastic colors, party balloons, and super cute celebration birds, with one even wearing a festive hat! Also seen is a perfectly wrapped gift, and the words Happy Birthday, creatively and colorfully written. Be sure to send someone wishes for a super fun day with this awesome birthday card today!
Birthdays are exciting! Let's show your excitement by sending this card. Just like the fireworks on this card, a birthday person's heart will sparkle when he receives this card. Let's make a birthday more joyful and fun!
Presents, balloons, streamers, and a special note come together to create one fantastic birthday card! This bright pink ecard will add a cheerful element to anyone's day, and will bring a smile to their face. It contains everything you will need to wish someone a happy birthday in style! So get these presents and decorative balloons over to someone special before their birthday passes!
One glimpse of this gorgeous b-day card and anyone is bound to swoon. The balloon bouquet reinforces the excitement of an upcoming birthday, while the gold, glitter letters add a fun element to this b-day card. Whether you're searching for the perfect b-day card for your best friend or hoping to find something to send a colleague, this b-day card is a classic, great for any birthday celebration!
These perfectly frosted strawberry cupcakes look awesome! They feature pretty pink frosting decorated with sprinkles, fresh strawberries, and matching red cupcake holders! The person who is celebrating their birthday today is going to love this card! Plus, it will wish them a wonderful celebration. Don't wait, send this birthday card soon so they can enjoy these delicious cupcakes on their big day.
Have a friend, family, or coworker that's celebrating their big day? If so, this card is appropriate to send to anyone in your life that you want to send a happy birthday wish too. It features fantastic colors and shapes, along with a creative display of the words Happy Birthday. This greeting card's message will wish someone a super fun day that's filled with surprises. It will certainly bring a smile to their face when they read it!
An important occasion is taking place today - someone you care about is celebrating their birthday! This means it's time to send flowers and a card. Luckily, this beautiful birthday card is ready to be sent. It displays lovely flowers with sensational colors. The flowers sit in a charming basket, and candy is seen nearby. It all looks just fabulous! It will make them feel special and brighten their day. Be sure to send this ecard out soon so they can enjoy these flowers on their birthday!
Do you know someone who is celebrating their big day, and who loves cats? Then you are in luck! This adorable cat wants to wish the person you are thinking of a happy birthday. He's wearing a fun party hat and is surrounded by sensational sparkles! This birthday card also sports a fantastic pink background. It all looks simply amazing. Send this cute kitty over to wish your friend or family member a happy birthday today!
Just look at those bright, gorgeous flowers! This birthday card is sure to bring a smile to anyone's face. Whether you're looking for the right birthday card for your teacher or colleague, or searching for one to send to your mother or sister, this is one that can't be beat. For some extra brownie points, send along a bouquet that matches the birthday card... or include some flower puns in your note!
It's tradition to make a wish on your birthday as you blow out the candles, and that's what makes this birthday card so perfect. It will remind your friend or family member that the day they have been waiting for all year has arrived, the day they can finally make their big wish! This beautiful greeting card features a lovely way of displaying the words, "Make a Wish - Happy Birthday to You", and it includes wonderful flowers and pretty colors. It's a great card that will certainly make someone's day extra special.
Everyone should make a wish on their birthday, but to do that, they need birthday candles! You can solve the problem by sending these sensational celebration candles their way! They feature stars, stripes, polka-dots, wonderful colors, and are brightly lit, ready to be blown out for a wish or two. This birthday card also has an exciting background that contains items that resemble fireworks. This, along with the festive and colorful lettering, creates the perfect birthday card!
It's someone's birthday today, and they deserve an awesome party cake! Luckily, you can easily send them one with this cool happy birthday card! It contains a big cake with red and white frosting, along with the words PARTY sitting on top. Plus, the bright stars add even more excitement to this greeting card. Your friend, family member, or coworker is going to love it, especially because it's from you!
For that special someone in your life celebrating their birthday, this sweet birthday card is the key to their heart. Everything about it is simply lovely. Just look at those gorgeous flowers in purple and yellow. The faded background adds a soft elegance, too. We can't forget the sweet sentiment of the verbiage! Tears are bound to happen!


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A RALLY is being held in Boscombe today to gain support to help find missing toddler A'ishah Sabra.
A'ishah went missing in the Hurghada resort in Egypt on May 16 while on holiday with her mother Leila Sabra and grandmother Barbara Maas, who lives and works in Bournemouth.
Leila claims her two-year-old daughter was taken by her father, Saber Mesbah Sabra, but he has told the Echo he doesn't have her and doesn't know where she is.
The rally has been organised by Barbara with the help of Cllr Lisa Northover, who wants people to write letters of support calling for action.
The rally is taking place in Boscombe high street from 11am to 3pm today.
Posted by Lisa at 09:15 Labels: Bring back Aishah
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Bangalore-based ZoomCar India Pvt Ltd, which runs car rental service Zoom, has raised funding from angel investor Rajkumar Elango, as confirmed by the Co-Founder & CEO Greg Moran. With this round, total funding raised by Zoom has reached USD 525K.
Prior to this round of funding it had raised USD 215k from Empire Angels, New York and an investor group based out of U.K led by Lady Barbara and earlier this year it had raised USD 30k in angel funding from Larry Summers, a former director of the United States National Economic Council. The latest funding was first reported by Techcircle.
The company will be using these funds primarily for expanding its vehicle fleet, building team, and bolstering technology capabilities.
Zoom has over 2,200 members and nearly 600 reservations till date. It is expected that Zoom will double its fleet size in the next 6 weeks. Currently it has a fleet of 30 vehicles consisting of 16 Ford Figos, 12 Mahindra Scorpios, and 2 BMW 3 Series'.
Started its services back in February with only 7 vehicles, the company now has 3 vehicle sites across Bangalore i.e. Malleshwaram, JP Nagar, and Ulsoor.
The company had been very limited in terms of marketing up-till now, and has initially worked with Orion Mall and Cafe Coffee Day to raise awareness about its services. "Since March, we have done scarcely any marketing with very minimal Ad Words. We expect to do very limited marketing until we have a much larger fleet size with more locations across the city (probably at least 75 cars across 7-8 sites)," said Greg.
Recently, it has also integrated payment gateway on its website and working to redesign the portal.
Zoom make revenues by charging customers on the basis of hour/day of usage.
Few other players in the same space include Hertz's Indian franchisee, Carzonrent India, Mercury Car Rentals (Avis) and International Travel House and soon US Based private car hire online platform Uber might be expanding its operations in India. Recent funding in the same category include, TaxiForSure which had raised USD 4 million in venture capital from Accel Partners, Helion Venture Partners and Blume Ventures.


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David Ryall
Around the World in 80 DaysHD
IMDb: 5.8
Set in 1872, the story focuses on Passepartout, a Chinese thief who steals a valuable jade Buddha and then seeks refuge in the traveling companionship ...
Actors: Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, Cécile De France, Robert Fyfe, Jim Broadbent, Ian McNeice, David Ryall, Roger Hammond, Adam Godley, Howard Cooper, Karen Mok, Daniel Hinchcliffe, Wolfram Teufel, Tom Strauss, Kit West
IMDb: 6.8
1h 38min
Cecily, Reggie, and Wilfred are in a home for retired musicians. Every year, on October 10, there is a concert to celebrate Verdi's birthday and ...
Country: UK
Actors: Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins, Michael Gambon, Sheridan Smith, Andrew Sachs, Gwyneth Jones, Trevor Peacock, David Ryall, Michael Byrne, Ronnie Fox, Patricia Loveland, Eline Powell, Luke Newberry
Jack the RipperHD
IMDb: 7.7
190 min
During the latter half of 1888, a notorious serial killer nicknamed Jack the Ripper terrorises the East End of London by murdering prostitutes in a ...
Actors: Michael Caine, Armand Assante, Ray McAnally, Lewis Collins, Ken Bones, Susan George, Jane Seymour, Harry Andrews, Lysette Anthony, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Peter Armitage, Desmond Askew, Trevor Baxter, Mike Carnell, Ann Castle, Deirdre Costello, Jon Croft, Angela Crow, Kelly Cryer, Marc Culwick, John Dair, Roy Evans, John Fletcher, Sheridan Forbes, Hugh Fraser, Martin Friend, Christopher Fulford, Michael Gothard, Bruce Green, Rikki Harnet, Ronald Hines, Denys Hawthorne, Michael Hughes, Peter Hughes, Frank Jarvis, Edward Judd, Gertan Klauber, Jon Laurimore, Mike Lewin, Rod Lewis, Gary Love, George Malpas, Eric Mason, Bernadette Milnes, Jonathan Moore, Richard Morant, T.P. McKenna, John Normington, Ronald Nunnery, Sandra Payne, Neville Phillips, Iain Rattray, David Ryall, Gary Shail, Gerald Sim, George Sweeney, David Swift, Norman Warwick, Brian Weske
IMDb: 6.9
121 min
The story of the relationship between painter Dora Carrington and author Lytton Strachey in a World War One England of cottages and countryside. Although platonic ...
Actors: Emma Thompson, Jonathan Pryce, Steven Waddington, Samuel West, Rufus Sewell, Penelope Wilton, Janet McTeer, Peter Blythe, Jeremy Northam, Alex Kingston, Sebastian Harcombe, Richard Clifford, David Ryall, Stephen Boxer, Annabel Mullion
IMDb: 6.8
94 min
Country: UK
Actors: Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins, Michael Gambon, Sheridan Smith, Andrew Sachs, Gwyneth Jones, Trevor Peacock, David Ryall, Michael Byrne, Ronnie Fox, Patricia Loveland, Eline Powell, Luke Newberry


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Over six years ago director Hiroyuki Imaishi and writer Kazuki Nakashima collaborated to create the seminal and venerated manly mecha series Gurren Lagann. Now they are back in the saddle together helming the first tv series to come out of Trigger, Imaishi's upstart studio. Kill la Kill focuses on 17 year-old Ryuko Matoi as she searches across Japan to find her father's killer. This quest takes her to Honnoji Academy, where she thinks she'll finally end her mission. Does Trigger kill it or....you know what? No. I'm not going to end the opening paragraph like I normally do, let's just get to the review.
They're Going HAM
There's really just no way to say it eloquently, Kill la Kill is simply 110% pure concentrated balls to the wall, pedal to the metal badass. Every episode of Kill la Kill left me even more pumped up than when I went in. And virtually each subsequent episode tops the previous one in terms of badass levels, so it is a constantly escalating scale of awesome. And it isn't just the main characters that get to go HAM, either. Virtually every character with combat capabilities and a name get a chance to shine, especially towards the end of the series. To put it another way, the following video is more or less how I reacted to each episode of Kill la Kill.
Granted with less food references and more anime references, but still, similar reactions.
Demands Your Full Attention
I honestly cannot believe how many times I see people say Kill la Kill is a turn your brain off type of show. It is not. Kill la Kill requires your full undivided attention. There are just too many references and theming for you to coast through this show on autopilot. Can you? Sure, you could totally just watch for the balls out awesome fight scenes, but then you'll miss out on some rather nice character details that you'd have a better chance catching if you paid attention.
A Legendary Tribute
Kill la Kill is stuffed to the gills with references and tributes to the works of the legendary Go Nagai. Nowhere is this more prominent than in Satsuki's vile mother Ragyo, who might as well have been plucked straight from Nagai's mind.
Predictable Yet Still Shocking
I'll be up front, Kill la Kill can be a tad predictable, in that you can probably guess most of the major twists and turns the story will take long before they happen. Despite this, when the twists finally did happen, they were still legitimately shocking to me. Which just goes to show how you present the twists can affect how effective they are.
Fluid Animation
To say that Kill la Kill has a fluid, dynamic, and down right cartoonish animation style is putting it lightly. It is still a treat to see just how flexible the characters are and how generally crazy the animation can get. When so many series have stiff, rigid animation, it is just so nice to see something that isn't afraid to inject some life into what we are seeing.
Unique Character Designs
I've had the pleasure to watch anime for nearly twenty years, and in that time I have seen very few anime to come close to just how varied and unique Kill la Kill's cast is. Aside from the nameless mook armies, no two characters look exactly the same. With a cast as big as Kill la Kill's I honestly can't tell you every character's name, but I can instantly recognize their design, even the bit characters with barely any screen time.
Epic Soundtrack
Hiroyuki Sawano is one of the best composers in the anime industry today. He created the awesome soundtrack that helped make Attack on Titan as great as it was, and he doesn't slouch when it comes to Kill la Kill's either. I don't think I can name another anime series that was so enhanced by its soundtrack. Without Sawano's music, this anime just would not be the same beast it was. For an example of this show's awesome music, check out the main theme that is pretty much played whenever something badass happens....which means this song, or a variation of it, plays a lot.
PLOT That Aids the Plot
You pretty much can't go anywhere without finding someone who detests the fanservice found in Kill la Kill. However, this fanservice is not only justified by the plot, it plays one of the central roles to the overall theming of the series. On top of that, there is equal opportunity fanservice, with actually far more men being in a state of undress than women.
Mako's Interruptions
Mako, Ryuko's primary best friend, will randomly interrupt each episode, with each interruption accompanied by a divine shower of light and a chorus of Hallelujah. Every single one of them are hilarious and they feature some of the whackiest animation in the show. I honestly looked forward to them the most in each episode, because I couldn't wait to see what would happen. The funny thing is, towards the end of the series, I mostly stopped reading the subtitles during these scenes, because I somewhat became accustomed to Mako's weird gesture-based language.
Multilayered Characters
Several of the characters in Kill la Kill are rather complex. More specifically the characters with some kind of personal connection to Satsuki, like the Elite Four, Ragyo, Nui, and of course Satsuki herself. Unfortunately not all of the characters are tailored the same...
Somewhat Shallow Lead Character
Look, I like Ryuko. Really, I do. It is just...compared to some of the other characters in the series, Satsuki specifically, Ryuko is a rather shallow character. For most of the series she has a one track mind, only ever focusing on the current goal at hand. That can be fine, and I still think she's a total badass, I just wish there were more layers to her.
Some Important Character Details Not in the Show Itself
Remember how up above I said the Elite Four were complex characters? Well, not all of their character details are in the show itself. Sure they are still pretty awesome characters in the show just based on what the show covers, but some of their most key character details are left out of the show and can only be found in extra material that you have to find for yourself. But once you do find it and read it, it greatly improves the four of them.
Plain and simply, Kill la Kill is one of my all time favorite anime series. I think it is one of those few series that will live on for years to come, much like its spiritual predecessor Gurren Lagann. In addition to that, despite being a show full of tributes and some predictable tropes, I think Kill la Kill is the most original anime to come out in a long, long time. I can firmly say I have never seen an anime that is truly like Kill la Kill.


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Trustee Fulp is Senior Vice President of Brand Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility for John Hancock Financial, at its company headquarters in Boston.
UVI Board Chair Alexander A. Moorhead welcomed Fulp to the UVI Board of Trustees in March 2010, along with former part-time UVI instructor, translator, and St. Croix native Luz Suarez de Highfield; West Indian Company Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Edward Thomas; and retired Ivanna Eudora Kean High School Principal Sinclair Wilkinson. V.I. Superior Court Judge Patricia Steele, who notified the Board of a prior commitment, was welcomed in absentia.
Trustee Fulp served as Director of Community Programming and Human Resources for WCVB, Boston's ABC-TV affiliate and was also Employee Relations Manager for the Gillette Company. She is a trustee of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Foundation and is a member of the Harvard Kennedy School's Women's Leadership Board.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick appointed Fulp to the board of directors of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority in 2009. In 2010, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino appointed her as a trustee to the Boston Public Library, the oldest public library in the country.


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Lena Gemzöe: "Pilgrimage as cultural critique"
- Datum: –12.00
- Plats: Engelska parken - Eng3-2028; Campus Gotland B-43 på video
- Arrangör: Institutionen för kulturantropologi och etnologi
- Kontaktperson: Susann Baez Ullberg, Don Kulick
- Seminarium
Forskningsseminariet i kulturantropologi
Lena Gemzöe, Stockholms universitet: "Pilgrimage as cultural critique. Ecology, health and gender in Swedish pilgrimage."
Since the end of the 1990s, a wave of interest in walking pilgrimages has surged in Sweden. Swedes join the international community of pilgrims walking to Santiago de Compostela in north-western Spain, or they participate in the development of a vernacular pilgrimage movement led by the Church of Sweden. In my interpretation of the Swedish pilgrimage movement, that I have studied for the last decade, I have emphasized the elasticity of pilgrimage, i.e. its capacity to absorb or encompass a range of social forms. In this presentation, I will discuss the ways in which pilgrimage is intertwined with current social trends, such as a health and fitness culture, changing gendered modes of being, and an engagement with sustainability and the preservation of nature, recently drawn upon by the Church of Sweden, explicitly linking pilgrimage walks to ecology. How are these themes expressed and understood in Swedish pilgrimage, and in what ways, if any, are they bearers of a political, cultural or religious critique in contemporary Sweden? In my discussion, I will tie into recent academic debates on the return of religion and suggest how the study of pilgrimage and feminist approaches to the study of religion can bring vital insights to these debates.


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Ben Dub Pro Model – Kebbek Skateboards
Ben lives a mysterious life in the woods, and it's important for him to stretch his resources. Tune in to see the various ways he likes to use his new pro-model, and get inspired to do the same.
Ben is a man of mystery. He lives off the grid in the rugged backwoods of northern Quebec, and answers only to his dog, Sasquatch. We haven't heard from him in months, but when he does venture into the city to surface for a local event, his personality and style is never forgotten. Ben has been on the team since 2008, and has continued to influence downhill skateboarding with vibrancy and charisma.
Go fast, find lines, hop a sewer, cut alleys and do it every day. Ben's lifestyle is one that has no boundaries so we had to make him a board without any. Are you tired of packing your car with too many decks for a trip? Do you just want to bring one that can do everything? Make more room for beer in your trunk by only needing to bring one deck. Get the ben dub to skate everything.
Length: 38 inches
Width: 9.75 inches
Wheelbase: 23.8 to 27 inches
Features: Opalescent paint, Flushmount, Rocker .5 Inch,Micro drop, 9 ply


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Lot 1046 (Silver, Asian Works of Art & Ceramics Online, starts 1st February 2018 15:45, ending 15th February 2018 20:00)
Sold for £50
TWO EARLY 20TH CENTURY JAPANESE IMARI PLAQUES 30.5cm and 27cm diameter; along with three English imari patterned plates (5)
Condition reports indicate issues visible to the naked eye. Whilst every effort is made to provide accurate and honest condition reports, none of our staff is a professional conservator or restorer. Any condition report offered should be accepted as an indication of any obvious issues or problems or the lack of them. The condition report does not form part of any contract between McTear's and the buyer, and all lots are offered "as is" in accordance with our Terms of Business in the printed catalogue and available on our website.


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The blogger I'm most likely to repost, Storiesbywilliams, has nominated me for the Versatile blogger award! There is truth in that. I don't have one single focus. I blog about books, movies, hobbies, and food with an occasional smattering of politics or whatever is in the news that trips my trigger. All from the point of a middle-aged, sci-fi fan, cosplay, gamer, goth girl.
So, you want to know 7 things about me?
1. I have to many hobbies and not enough time. I need to find someone who wants to fund my hobby addiction and support me while I work on needle crafts, read LOTS of books, watch tons of movies, spend hours gaming (PC or Real World), and help me lose weight to I can properly indulge in my costuming desires.
2. I love ethnic food. Thai, Japanese, Indian, Vietnamese, being my top favorites. I love spicy food and use cayenne in most things I cook just for myself.
3. I would like to write the next great Vampire Novel, but that is not going well. More on that later. It was my topic for today.
4. My ideal home would be a cave in the woods. So long as it has a good bathroom with a spa tub, a great kitchen, electricity, a reliable internet connection, and a steady supply of books and computer games. Hermitting in Style.
5. I'm a misanthrope. I like some people but think that humanity in general is a lost cause. I often get extremely angry with humanity and the older I get the more I think that trying to make humanity better is a losing fight not worth the time and energy. Maybe that is bad of me and it means I'm not a good person. I guess I'm just not the type to go tilting at windmills.
6. I'm a bit weird. I don't really fit in any mold or category. As a result, I've never really fit in anywhere. So I've made my own niche of other weird people who don't fit in for various reasons. I'm not quite goth enough for a lot of the Goths. (But it is still the closest descriptor to use) I'm not a hard-core enough gamer for some people (I'm not willing to spend a month trying to solve one thing in order to move on in a game, I'll look it up). I guess I'm not 'enough' of anything for most groups of people to truly accept me. I guess it might go back to the point of having to many hobbies and to many passions and not enough time.
7. If I had the money, I'd spend my life in school studying everything I want to know. History, Archeology, Sociology, Anthropology, Religion. I'm interested in Psychology but I left it out because in many ways, it relies to heavily on the agreed upon societal norms inside particular cultures. I think some of the things work across the board but others are group based and don't work as well when you are trying to analyze people and cultures within the culture or by comparison with similar culture groupings. I'm really interested in the connection between the physical environment on how culture and religion developed differently in different parts of the world as well as the interconnectedness of underlying religious themes across cultures despite the differences in form and structure in the actual practice. I want to know where people come from, not in the physical sense, but in the cultural identity sense.
I'm supposed to nominate another 7 people. Oh, how to pick? More importantly, I never learned how to hide a link under a name. But I may have figured it out!
Madame Guillotine This historical blogger covers a wide range of topics. From Napoleonic France to Jack the Ripper's London, she also touches on movies, books (mostly historical), personal relationships, interesting things from her life, and wonderful dodads and geegaws that would appeal to most Goths, Steampunks, and neo-Victorians.
Gin and Lemonade This personal blogger writes delightful blogs about her life from her unique perspective. She manages to laugh at things that would make me rage. She also blogs writes about books she is reading and coffee.
Fluffy Bunnies This is basically a mommy blog. It is a wonderful blog that I enjoyed before they moved to Romania and loved even more after. One day a week she writes a regular blog. One day a week she does a photo blog. One day a week she does a Haiku blog. Most every day, she poses a question or two at the end of her blog. While I have no children myself, I find that I really relate to her and it often reminds me of my childhood or my interactions with my friends who have families.
Sweet Mother This humorist blogger writes on topics all across the board from a very definite point of view with a unique voice. It's really hard to describe her so I recommend you just read her.
I can only come up with four. There are many other bloggers that I really love. But their focus is pretty specific. Food writers that really stay focused on food and food prep, writing blogs that really stay focused on the author's writing, and so on. I could add them but I don't think it would be staying true to the intent of versatility. I also decided not to include people who suddenly dropped of the face of the earth. Of course, maybe I should. Maybe it will get them to start blogging again?


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His style was early influenced by Etty, but the Elgin Marbles, Michelangelo, and the great Venetian painters (notably Titian) were his avowed exemplars in his aim 'to affect the mind seriously by nobility of line and colour'. He wanted to invest his work with moral purpose and his most characteristic paintings are abstruse allegories that were once enormously popular but now can seem vague and ponderous (Hope, 1886, Tate, London, and other versions). His portraits of great contemporaries (Gladstone, Tennyson, J. S. Mill, etc., NPG, London) have generally worn better. As a sculptor, he is remembered chiefly for his equestrian piece Physical Energy (1904). A cast of it forms the central feature of the Cecil Rhodes Memorial, Cape Town, and another is in Kensington Gardens, London. Watts was twice married, his first wife being the celebrated actress Ellen Terry, of whom he painted several portraits, notably 'Choosing' (c.1864, NPG). Only 16 at the time of the wedding in 1864, she was 30 years his junior and they separated the following year. His former house at Compton, near Guildford, Surrey, is now the Watts Gallery, devoted to his work. Wilfrid Blunt was curator 1959–85.
Text Source: The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford University Press)


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Keeping Ahead of the Kansans
Iowa's Neighbors Show the Folly of Drastic Cuts to State Income Tax
• Big income-tax cuts in Kansas have dramatically reduced funding for schools, health care and other services.
By Peter S. Fisher
As state legislators consider drastic cuts in Iowa's income tax, they would do well to consider the experience of our neighbor Kansas, which enacted a huge income tax cut in 2012, and cut taxes again in 2013. These cuts have dramatically reduced state funding for schools, health care, and other services.
These Kansas tax cuts were touted as a powerful economic development tool. Businesses and jobs would flock to Kansas, and growth would be so strong that, according to some, state tax revenues would actually increase.
Instead, the state of Kansas has been forced to cut school funding each year since enactment. At a time when the majority of states have increased education funding to make up for cuts during the recession, general state aid in Kansas has continued to fall, and per pupil funding is 15 percent below pre-recession levels[i], with school closings and increased class sizes the result. Two districts recently announced they will have to end the school year early for lack of funds.[ii] The state recently abandoned the school funding formula; aid is no longer tied to enrollment. Most of the state's reserves have been used up just to keep services afloat, leaving the state with no cushion to soften the effects of the next recession. The state's bond rating has been lowered.[iii]
As for the tax cut being "a shot of adrenaline" for the state's economy, as the governor predicted, the anticipated job growth did not materialize. Instead, private sector jobs in Kansas have grown by 3.5 percent since the tax cuts took effect, well below the 5.0 percent growth nationally over the same period.[iv]
It is instructive to consider as well the experience in Wisconsin, where a large personal income tax cut took effect at the start of 2013, with similar results: subsequent job growth of 3.4 percent, farther below the norm than in Kansas.[v]
None of this should come as a surprise. Most major academic research studies have concluded that individual income tax cuts do not boost state economic growth; in fact, states that cut income taxes the most in the 1990s or in the early 2000s had slower growth in jobs and income than other states.[vi] Businesses need an educated workforce, and drastic cuts to education are likely to make it difficult to attract new workers, who care about their children's schools at least as much as they care about taxes. Nor will income tax cuts help small businesses create jobs. Only a tiny fraction of those paying income taxes own a business, and of those most are not in a position to create more jobs, or can expand employment only if demand for their services increases, regardless of taxes.[vii]
[i] Michael Leachman, "5 Pieces of Context for the New Kansas Budget." Off the Charts Blog, Jan. 16, 2015. http://www.offthechartsblog.org/5-pieces-of-context-for-the-new-kansas-budget/
[ii] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/03/kansas-schools-funding_n_7001244.html
[iii] Reid Wilson, "Kansas bond rating downgraded after tax cuts." The Washington Post, August 6, 2014. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/08/06/kansas-bond-rating-downgraded-after-tax-cuts/
[iv]Growth in total private employment, seasonally adjusted, from Dec. 2012 through January 2015, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics. The tax cut took effect in January, 2013.
[v] See note 4.
[vi] Michael Leachman, Michael Mazerov, Vincent Palacios, and Chris Mai. State Personal Income Tax Cuts: A Poor Strategy for Economic Growth. Washington, D.C.: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, March 21, 2013. http://www.cbpp.org/files/3-21-13sfp.pdf
[vii] Michael Mazerov. Cutting State Personal Income Taxes Won't Help Small Businesses Create Jobs and May Harm State Economies. Washington, D.C.: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, February 19, 2013. http://www.cbpp.org/files/2-19-13sfp.pdf
Peter S. Fisher is research director of the Iowa Policy Project, which together with the Child & Family Policy Center formed the Iowa Fiscal Partnership, a nonpartisan initiative focused on helping Iowans to understand the impacts of budget choices and other public policy issues on Iowa families and services. IFP reports are at www.iowafiscal.org.
Related Areas of Research


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Almost one-third of web users are discovering brands through social media. This demonstrates that it's a powerful way to engage with your clients and keep them informed about your business. And while you may still be on the fence about engaging in social media, there's no denying that it's an extremely important piece of any marketing campaign.
For example, people who have never heard of your business, brand or product can find out about it through venues like Facebook® and Twitter®. Exposure is one of the most important parts of marketing; if people aren't aware of a particular brand, they obviously won't be purchasing it.
By using social media to improve brand recognition, it will be much easier to then use other marketing techniques, such as content marketing, to make actual sales. Online marketing is, in many ways, more interactive and complex than print or television marketing, but it can also be far more effective. Using a social media campaign to build brand awareness may not bring in direct sales as well as other methods, but it will help improve the effectiveness of other strategies.
When you decide to invest the time and money necessary to not only create a social presence, but also keep it active and engaging, you will help drive traffic to your websites and other digital properties. This can lead to more clients finding you.
The trick is to look at social media marketing more as a long-term investment to build brand awareness, customer engagement and sales. When handled properly, this type of marketing can bring in steady clients who will give you personal referrals – the most effective marketing there is.


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If you are like me, you enjoy reading about airplanes, Cirrus airplanes in particular and now about the new Cirrus Vision Jet. I also enjoy reading about other pilots experiences, hoping that I can glean something from what they did; good or bad. Hello, my name is Tim McConnell and welcome to my new blog, "Tim's Tailwinds", I am a PLATINUM Cirrus Standardized Instructor Pilot (CSIP) from Greenville, SC. I spend a lot of my time at the Cirrus aircraft factory in Duluth, MN and at the new Cirrus Vision Center in Knoxville, TN. usually picking up new airplanes or training new Cirrus owners and pilots as they take delivery of their new Cirrus. I really enjoy the time I spend with each client and I strive to make a new friend each and every time.
I hope that you will follow along with me on "Tim's Tailwinds" as I tell you more about my background and some of the experiences I've had. (and continue to have) I've really come to love my career of working with airplanes and pilots and every interaction creates it own story. As a pilot and flight instructor I've experienced everything from "close calls" to some "hilarious stories", and I plan to share them all with you. I will also include current stories about what I am up to as well as what Cirrus Aircraft and other Companies are doing too. Watch for my new blog entries every Friday.
Until then-


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In 1835, Rev. Fountain E. Pitts was sent by the Mission Board of the Methodist Church in the United States to visit some of the capital cities on the east coast of South America. Some of these visits resulted in the formation of small groups of Methodists. This was the beginning of Methodism in Latin America as well as in Brazil, as one of these groups was formed in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
In 1836, Rev. Pitts returned to the United States but his successor, Rev. Justin Spaulding, arrived in Rio de Janeiro in the same year. Rev. Spaulding's ministry was characterized by his ample distribution of the Bible, an unheard of activity in this country, by his stand against slavery, and by the founding of a small school. These were forerunners of the two great emphases of Brazilian Methodists, education and preaching the gospel.
In answer to Rev. Spaulding's calls for help, Rev. Daniel Parish Kidder was sent to Brazil in 1837. The two returned to the US in 1841, but left the way open for other missionaries who would come to Brazil after the Civil War in the US, a war that lasted from 1861 to 1865.
After the end of the Civil War in 1865, many families from the southern part of the United States immigrated to Santa Barbara do Oeste, in the state of Sao Paulo. Among these was Rev. Junias Eastham Newman who arrived in 1867. But it was only in 1876 that the Methodist Episcopal Church South (USA) sent the first official missionary to Brazil, Rev. John James Ranson. He established Methodist work in Rio de Janeiro. This was 35 years after the first attempt to organize a Methodist group in this city.
Bishop John Cowper Granbery, supervisor of the Brazilian Mission, came to Brazil in 1886 with the purpose of better organizing the work and creating an organization to legalize the properties of the mission. He authorized the transformation of the Brazilian Mission in an annual conference (expression similar to our ecclesiastical region). The work grew and in 1919 there were three annual conferences: the North, the South and the Central Conference.
The Brazilian Methodist Church became autonomous in 1930 and elected its first bishop, William Tarboux, an American. The first Brazilian Bishop, Cesar Dacorso Filho, was elected in 1934. A strong leader, his episcopacy left a profound mark on the church.
The 1938 General Conference approved the founding of a theological school in Sao Paulo. It was 1942 before this school came into being by uniting the theological courses already in existence at Granbery Institute in Juiz de Fora (MG) and at Porto Alegre Institute (RS).
The Methodist Church in Brazil developed the ecumenical spirit of Wesley and therefore became the first church in Latin America to become a member of the World Council of Churches. This organization was formed in 1938, but due to the Second World War, it only was officially recognized in 1948.
The Methodist Church, at the present time is divided into six ecclesiastical regions, one missionary region of the Northeast (REMNE) and one national mission field located in the North and Northwest (CMNN). Today, the church has 144,000 members and approximately 360,000 participants.
The legislative organization is the General Conference. There is an Administrative Board (COGEAM), authorized by the General Conference, to administrate the Church according to the guidelines and orientation contained in the documents of the church. In COGEAM there are bishops, clergy and lay people. Each ecclesiastical region and missionary fields have one bishop. For the first time, there was a woman elected as
bishop. The eight bishops compose the College of Bishops, responsible for pastoral and doctrinal guidance of the church. There are four executive national coordinations: Administrative, Missionary, Educational and Social. The last General Conference was in 2001. For the first time, there was a woman elected as bishop.
These basic documents are Canones (the church Disciplines), the Social Creed, the Plan for Life and Mission of the Church and the National Guidelines for Program. In addition to these, the College of Bishops produces Pastoral Letters to orientate the church on pastoral and doctrinal unity and action.


text: Overcoming barriers to hospitality's food waste Written by: RWW | Published: 21 March 2014 Comment on this article Last month, the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association held a hospitality-specific event to find out why restaurants, hotels and caterers are still throwing so much food waste into landfill. How much more of what's unavoidable could be recycled into energy through anaerobic digestion? David Burrows, freelance writer, investigates. Hospitality businesses in the UK produce something in the region of 920,000 tonnes of food waste a year. That's about 1.3 billion meals or one in six of the eight billion meals eaten out of home. Three quarters of that waste is avoidable and could have been eaten, claims WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme). Restaurants throw away £682m of food waste a year. Pubs chuck £357m. For staff caterers the figure is £44m. Extrapolate this to the cost per tonne - including labour to prepare, cook and serve it, the cost of ingredients, logistics and waste management - and the figures are even more startling (see table). For restaurants it's £3,500 per tonne, while pubs are forking out £2,100 on every tonne of food that ends up in the bin. For hotels the figure hits £4,000. Barrier one: The cost of collectionIt was no surprise this cropped up as one of the top three barriers to increased treatment of hospitality waste through AD at the conference held last month by the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA). It was, after all, a room partly filled with waste contractors and AD specialists - for whom it's been a constant challenge and a particular frustration. After all, the unavoidable mass equates to about 25% of the 920,000 tonnes - or 230,000 tonnes of good, yet hard to reach and expensive to collect, feedstock. Indeed, the weight versus volume dilemma came up time and again. A study by ReFood, published late last year, found that hospitality companies that have heavier bins are being subsidised by those with lighter ones. This pay-per-bin model has a number of flaws, the firm claimed, not least because it leaves little incentive to separate the heavier food waste out. Peter Jones, a senior consultant at Eunomia Research & Consulting, highlighted how food waste "takes up very little space in the bin. You are not making a saving as the volume is still [pretty much] the same." So, by separating the food waste, businesses are likely to save little. In fact, waste costs can go up. What's more, the gap between gate fees for food waste and general waste is still not large enough to make the majority of hospitality business - 97% of the sector are small to medium sized enterprises - think twice. Studies in Scotland show savings are possible for smaller cafes and restaurants, but perhaps not enough to offset the hassle involved. Barrier two: Lack of AD awareness, knowledge and educationIn Scotland, businesses producing more than 50kg of waste of waste now have to separate it for AD or in-vessel composting. Space for an extra bin was foreseen as a big headache for some businesses (who also have to separate out other recyclables under the new Waste (Scotland) Regulations). Innovation is helping to overcome this. Brendan Hunter at WRAP admitted that "it isn't easy" for SMEs to separate all their waste, but he's seeing some "really clever innovations" that are helping overcome space issues with "bins constructed to take more waste streams [in separate compartments]". Some of the bigger companies at the event explained the challenges they are facing too. KFC and McDonald's are both faced with the regulations north of the border and both are struggling with encouraging customers to separate waste. Janet Cox, head of health and safety at KFC, explained how she is working "very closely" with McDonald's on a solution. This would also ensure customers in both restaurant chains were receiving consistent messaging. Indeed, the fact that separate household food waste collections had not also become mandatory at the turn of the year was seen as a "missed opportunity" by some at the event. The messaging would have been clear and enabled businesses to explain to customers why food waste needs to be separated. The knock-on effect, and bigger 'win' of course, is that less food is wasted. Barrier three: lack of legislationThis one tended to cloak the other two issues. Legislation was thought to breed consistency of messaging and drive economies of scale. However, the coalition government has said its current programmes of work on AD and food waste are nearing completion and "the responsibility for taking work forward will largely rest with the industries concerned".This clearly remains a frustration. "There is not any leadership from Defra in terms of where we should be going with this," says Dean Pearce, regional commercial manager at PDM, which owns the ReFood brand. Leaving it up to the market might lead to "myriad solutions rather than the most environmentally friendly one or the most economically efficient", he adds.Those in the foodservice sector are also keen for more government involvement. Mike Hanson, head of environment and energy at caterers BaxterStorey said he believed in "an element of command and control", adding: "In Scotland, the market has recognised [the law] was coming and the opportunities that are there. That makes it happen. When it's left up to the market it's a chicken and egg situation."So, where do we go from here? There is little sign of government intervention; though Labour has suggested that, if elected, it would ban food waste from landfill, while the European Commission's upcoming communication on sustainable food could contain food waste reduction targets. But with 920,000 tonnes of food being wasted from the sector, at a cost of over £2.5bn, there is little to be gained in waiting. So, waste businesses and their hospitality clients need to work more closely.The conference concluded that waste contractors must help businesses understand the benefits of separate food waste collections, with case studies showing financial and environmental gains.More transparency in invoices would also help, as would better communication of how innovation can help overcome the perceived challenges. As SITA UK's development director Stuart Hayward-Higham noted: "We often get customers who say they only have room for one bin and that's a 1,100l one. We have bins [that size] that have six different containers [within them]."This communication should also extend to what services are offered, not least the levels of contamination that food waste collectors will accept. This currently varies from contractor to contractor, which has affected the quick service restaurant in particular where food is served in packaging. PDM's Pearce explained: "Food waste recycling dies a death as soon as you put too many restrictions on it. You have to be able to handle a certain amount of contamination."For their part, food businesses should also be looking at collaboration. Eunomia's Jones highlighted a number of businesses working together in Bath: polling their food waste and procuring waste services from one contractor had enabled the group to save 50%. There are other examples around. There are certainly challenges to overcome as the AD sector looks to the valuable, but traditionally hard to reach, hospitality food waste stream, and legislation is still viewed as the key. However, it doesn't have to stifle progress. Mandatory food waste collections and a landfill ban would help, but waste contractors and foodservice companies can help themselves too. This material is protected by MA Business Ltd copyright. See Terms and Conditions.


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Winter is a special time of year, i think everything looks more impressive with a layer of snow on it and the sun breaking the morning frosty air is something you can never get bored of.
Its a fact that winters are changing though, i don't believe they are getting shorter but i do think the dates are changing. The snow now seems to arrive later and finishes later, in Europe it always used to be christmas time that the snow fell, that has now moved to January and it still snows in June in the French alps.
So what does this mean for people who chase the snow or who work within the industry. Well, not much is the answer, Christmas will never get moved so the chalets companies will still sell this time as peak season. Which means people will have to start work earlier and wait for the snow to come...which brings me to my point of this blog........DOWNDAYS.
Downdays are a snow sport lovers worst nightmare. Maybe theres no snow, maybe its raining, maybe the wind isn't on your side.....whatever the reason its when the weather isn't playing ball.
These are days when the mundane shit gets done, emails get sent, catch up on work, binge watch the Walking dead....drink.
Down days are manageable for a max of two days in a row, in my opinion. Any more than this and it gets dark, theres nothing worse than boredom when in the mountains as usually there isn't a whole lot else to do. It's a tease to be sat looking at the mountains and imagining yourself riding those lines or hitting that drop. This is when other hobbies are a must, lucky for me i have my first passion, basketball, to keep me busy. Its a good way to stay fit and social. Im not what i used to be, but it keeps my competitive nature satisfied and it's a good laugh.
And this brings me to right now in New Zealand. So far it's been a few weeks of down days...but not because the weather has been bad, in fact it has been scorching hot and blue skies....sounds nice right? not if you here for the pow. The weather systems haven't been on our side as a recent storm bypassed us and smashed OZ with a 50cm dump much to the annoyance of the ozzies that have come here.
One resort has managed to open and has been on point for spring like conditions. The other is struggling, theres just no snow and none forecast, but there is a saying around these parts "snow in June comes too soon". The locals aren't worried, and they are the guys to trust.
October 2017


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(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)
* Broadcom slides after warning of chip demand slowdown
* Tech down most among 11 major S&P sectors; Chips tumble
* China's May industrial output growth cools to 17-yr low
* Data shows U.S. retail sales rise in May
* Indexes down: Dow 0.16%, S&P 0.24%, Nasdaq 0.53% (Updates prices, comments)
By Shreyashi Sanyal
June 14 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks dropped on Friday, as shares of chipmakers sank on a warning from sector major Broadcom of a broad weakening in global demand and Chinese data pointed to the worst slowdown in industrial growth in 17 years.
Shares of Broadcom Inc fell 6.53% after it cut its full-year revenue forecast by $2 billion, blaming the U.S.-China trade conflict and export curbs on Huawei Technologies Co Ltd .
Shares of Apple Inc also slipped 1% and weighed the most on the three main indexes. Broadcom is a major supplier to the iPhone maker.
"Until there's a resolution or some type of clarity on the trade deal with China, you're going to see the chipmakers show weakness," said Ryan Nauman, market strategist at Informa Financial Intelligence in Zephyr Cove, Nevada.
Losses in chip companies, who both source product and sell heavily in China, dragged the benchmark S&P 500 index lower, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor index tumbling 2.67%.
"People are backing off of optimism that a trade deal will get done and it'll probably drag out longer into the year," Nauman said.
China's industrial output growth in May slowed below expectations and showed signs of weakening demand, sending a chill through stock market investors globally.
Technology stocks fell 0.8%, the most among the 11 major S&P sectors. The trade-sensitive industrials slipped 0.61%.
At 11:27 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 41.61 points, or 0.16%, at 26,065.16, the S&P 500 was down 7.07 points, or 0.24%, at 2,884.57 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 41.69 points, or 0.53%, at 7,795.44.
The S&P 500 index has gained 4.8% in June so far and was on track to end the week slightly higher, on hopes the Federal Reserve will soon cut interest rates.
A Fed meeting next week may provide the acid test of market expectations that the U.S. central bank could cut rates as much as three times this year, while a G20 summit at the end of the month may yet yield more progress on a trade deal.
In a bright spot, data showed U.S. retail sales increased in May and sales for the prior month were revised higher, suggesting a pick-up in consumer spending that could ease fears the economy was slowing down sharply in the second quarter.
Online pet products retailer Chewy Inc rose 63% in its market debut on Monday, at a valuation of over $14 billion and joined a host of high-profile companies, such as Lyft Inc and Uber Technologies Inc that listed on U.S. stock exchanges this year.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.74-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.96-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 24 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 31 new highs and 50 new lows. (Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Aparajita Saxena in Bengaluru; Editing by Patrick Graham and Arun Koyyur)


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Does God have your attention? In Exodus 3, Moses encounters God in a burning bush while tending a flock of sheep in the middle of nowhere.
By this stage, Moses was an ex-royal and ex-resident of the king's palace who was 80 years old and on the run from the consequences of a fit of rage 54 years before. He had lost his social capital, financial capital and physical capital… in essence, all those things we naturally think make for a great life. He had none of it, and yet it's at this point that God says, "I can finally get your attention".
It is one of the great principles of the Bible that people searching for God discover Him in a burning bush. I don't mean a literal burning bush, but those moments where something inexplicable shakes you out of your usual patterns of life. It may be an inexplicable person, event or experience. Or even sadly inexplicable moments of loss like Moses.
Don't overlook the significance of those surprise detours from life's expectations. It may well be God's way of trying to get your attention (albeit a little less dramatically) like He did with Moses.