FSRN continues to be a valuable source of independent, grassroots news, but to be frank,Soft Floor tiles
is easier to install and perfect for all types of residential and
commercial uses. a review of this past year’s newscast needs to be seen
in the context of financial hardship and a near-permanent state of
being underfunded and consequently understaffed, which both have
concrete and measurable effects on the newscast we put out. That said,
FSRN continues to produce a consistently high quality product that
draws on stellar reporting and profiles voices often unheard in other
media. And despite serious challenges, FSRN has even been able to
expand and improve some aspects of our coverage.
FSRN continues
to adhere to high technical standards to ensure that the newscast has a
professional sound and maintains high quality - and that goes for the
community voices we profile, the reporters' narration, ambient sound
and the overall flow of the newscast. This is quite a challenge because
we encourage stories that come from areas of conflict or
hard-to-access places where basic necessities of phone lines, Internet
access and electricity are often wanting. It's a tough balance, but our
technical producers, led by Rose Ketabchi and including Jeannine
Etter, Shaunnah Ray and Zayn Qarissli, work hard each and every day to
maintain this high standard. At times, they also work one-on-one with
new reporters to guide them in capturing and producing the
best-sounding stories they can.
Much of this credit goes to
Catherine Komp, our producer, who continually seeks out underreported,
community stories and fosters the story development, from pitch
proposals, to in-the-field reporting, to script editing and production.
For our headlines package, that role is overseen by Nell Abram and Jes
Burns, who have the daunting task of coming to the morning editorial
meeting already prepared to discuss news from the entire world and
working with reporters to create a fresh, compelling top of the
newscast section that kicks off the program. Our scripts go through
multiple edits and fact-checking, where reporters are required to
provide original sourcing and different points of view to the issue at
hand.
Our international coverage continues to feature
underreported and original stories, often from places that are ignored
by US mainstream media and that feature voices that are virtually
nonexistent in the US national conversation. Some of the highlights
this year include reporting from Sam Olokuya in Nigeria on the
demolition of one of the country's oldest slums, when residents were
forced to live in their canoes and continued to organize for safe and
adequate housing. Sam also brought the voices of farmers and fisherfolk
in the Niger Delta who challenged multinational oil company Royal
Dutch Shell for its ongoing pollution and destruction of their land and
homes.
The conflict in Syria continued as a top humanitarian
and political crisis this year and we brought reporting from inside the
country. Zak Brophy reported from Aleppo on the destruction to the
city from fighting. David Enders featured voices of media activists and
residents hit by shelling; and Marine Olivesi brought listeners the
stories of families who are torn apart by fighting and the lack of
humanitarian aid. We also had stories from the border region, from
Turkey and Lebanon. We've looked critically at all aspects of the
conflict, often focusing on the plight of residents, the internally
displaced and refugees. We’ve also included reports of abuses carried
out by opposition forces or those associated with rebel fighters. We
featured an interview with Amnesty International's Donatella Rovera
after her visit to Syria when she documented abuse by opposition
fighters. We also aired original sound from a photojournalist inside
Syria that revealed a scene of torture at the hands of rebel fighters
in Aleppo and detailed his eyewitness account.
We've continued
our coverage of the developing situation in the Middle East and North
Africa, and we’ve brought attention to government crackdowns in Saudi
Arabia and Bahrain, two strong US allies in the region, and areas that
typically don’t get a lot of attention from US media. We’ve done this
by airing the voices of activists themselves, notably Nabeel Rajab, in
Manama, Bahrain, who we interviewed days before his arrest by Bahraini
authorities and continued to report on during his detention.
Throughout
Africa we had reports on the DRC and the mining industry’s role in the
conflict there; the miners’ strikes in South Africa; process of
independence in South Sudan and issues of famine and rural agriculture;
and the struggle for independent media in Somalia.
Rami
Almeghari continues to bring listeners to Gaza, with a perspective
rarely heard on other news outlets, on the daily consequences of the
Israeli blockade for Gaza residents and the effects of the government
of Hamas. Rami also filed from Cairo and the Egyptian border as
fighting renewed and the post-revolutionary economy hit local merchants
in the tourism industry. From the West Bank, Ghassan Bannoura brought
stories on Palestinian prisoners who waged a hunger strike. It shed
light on the effects of administrative detention and abusive practices
in Israeli jails. And, partly from response to our Middle East coverage
from listeners in the past, we've expanded our coverage to more reports
from Israel. Jillian Kestler D'mours recorded the voices of Israelis
who went to a center that was distributing gas masks and offered US
listeners a glimpse into what ordinary residents think about the war
rhetoric with Iran.
From Latin America, we covered the removal
of President Lugo in Paraguay with a critical look at land reform in
the country. Land issues played prominently in our coverage of killings
in Honduras of peasants, union leaders and activists as Tim Russo kept
listeners up to date on developments there. A new reporter for us,
Eillis O’neil brought reports from Chile and Argentina, covering womens’
reproductive rights and putting together a documentary on the
recycling program spearheaded by local residents in Buenos Aires. We
also covered new trade agreements in Colombia and Panama and US trade
policy in the region.
From Europe, we brought reports on the
challenges and successes of protests movements and democratic change.
From Russia, Ekaterina Danilova has really elevated our coverage,
bringing regular reports on pro-democracy protests in the lead up to
Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency. She reported on new laws
that cracked down on freedom of expression, the LGBT movement in St.
Petersburg and challenges to these measures, such as the Pussy Riot
trial. FSRN reporter Jenny Johnson also should be credited with
mentoring Ekaterina and facilitating her reporting for us.
We
also covered prison conditions in Georgia, economic and anti-austerity
movements in Greece, Spain and France. We brought a critical look to
the summer Olympic games in London, drawing attention to temporary tax
shelters set up for corporations during the games and the fight by
local residents against the Olympic village construction.
From
Indian-administered Kashmir, Shanawaz Khan reported on students fighting
government secrecy.Carlo Gavazzi offers a broad range of ultrasonic sensor
and ultrasonic transducers for level detection and process monitoring.
We had a lot of reporting from India, on the environment, human
rights, economic issues. Gayatri Parameswaran and Felix Gaedtke reported
on a decade after the deadly riots in Gujarat state.
We
continue our regular coverage of the US drone strikes abroad, in Yemen,
Somalia and in Pakistan, through FSRN reporter Gabe Mathews, who files
from the tribal region. He’s also reported on access to health and
education for residents.We have a wide selection of dry cabinet
to choose from for your storage needs. Recently, he took FSRN
listeners to the school where 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai attended.
She’s the teenager shot by militants on her way home from school
because of her advocacy for youth and girls access to education. Gabe
spoke to her classmates about their fears and their resolve to continue
schooling.How To learn kung fu in china.Find the best iPhone headset
for you at Best Buy. Hearing the voices of these 14 or 15 year old
girls in Swat Valley is a testimony to Gabe’s access in the area and
the risks that he regularly goes through to bring these voices to FSRN
listeners.
One challenge for us has been to get consistent
reporting from inside China and that will prove more important in the
coming years, especially to bring a different view than the one that
dominates US rhetoric on the country. We could also improve our
coverage of southeast Asia, though Madonna Virola has filed stories
from the Philippines on mining and environmental concerns, and human
rights in economic zones. More could be done.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
A Life in Writing
John Maxwell Coetzee, the great South African man of letters, is a
paradoxical figure. On the one hand he is known to guard his privacy
intensely. On the other hand, he has published three volumes of
“fictionalised memoirs” already: Boyhood (1997), Youth (2002) and
Summertime (2009). Exactly to what degree these three works adhered to
the historical facts of his life has always been unclear: Coetzee
consistently refuses to elaborate on interpretations of his work once
published. “All writing is autobiography,” he has said more than once.
The question of how accurate the autobiographical trilogy is will
perhaps provide one titillating motivation for readers to pick up this
new biography. The short answer is – Boyhood and Youth are largely true
to the record; Summertime strays far more into the fictional domain.
Coetzee’s choice to cooperate with biographer John Kannemeyer is an interesting one. Many others must surely have come knocking, but the closest Coetzee has come previously to backing such a project was David Atwell’s Doubling the Point (1992), a collection of essays and interviews. Kannemeyer was hailed as one of the foremost authorities on Afrikaans literature – the obvious dissonance being that Coetzee, despite his surname, is not an Afrikaans writer.
Kannemeyer suggests himself that perhaps “the fact that the request was coming from outside the sphere of English literature may have appealed to Coetzee,Service and equipment provider in professional Car park management system. with his contrarian take on things”. Whatever the reason, Kannemeyer got the go-ahead, and was given access to a rich stock of letters and documents and permitted to interview Coetzee in his home in Adelaide, Australia, for two weeks. Kannemeyer stresses that Coetzee’s cooperation was given “unstintingly and even enthusiastically”. Even when quizzed on the most sensitive of family matters, Coetzee gave full and meticulous answers. Typically, the only subject on which he would not be drawn was that of the analysis of his works.
Turning down the offer of a documentary on his life in 2005, Coetzee said: “My life has been completely uneventful.” It becomes clear as the biography unfolds that Coetzee is prone to this kind of dry self-deprecation in order to deflect invitations – he also routinely claims to have no gift for lecturing, when such a request is raised, even though past students tell a different story. On the matter of his life’s narrative, though, Coetzee is partly right – barring the tragedy around his two children, which shouldn’t be diminished, this biography would suggest that Coetzee has indeed led a sedate, cautious life, largely unmarked by rollicking drama. His books didn’t even get banned during Apartheid, though he later said this would have been a kind of “badge of honour”.
But this doesn’t mean that there is no material for Kannemeyer to work with. Ably translated by Michiel Heyns from the Afrikaans original, the biography stretches to an impressive 707 pages and sustains interest throughout. Partly, it must be admitted, this is due to the frisson that accompanies the glimpse into a guarded life: for some years now it has appeared that Coetzee sought to inherit the mantle of literary recluse donned by figures like JD Salinger. The case of Salinger is instructive, however,Leading the way with innovative solutions to any parking guidance challenge. because after his death in 2010, it emerged that Salinger wasn’t really very much of a hermit, contrary to perceptions. In fact, he was a fairly active member of the community of Cornish,Carlo Gavazzi offers a broad range of ultrasonic sensor and ultrasonic transducers for level detection and process monitoring. New Hampshire, where “Jerry”, as he was known, would attend town meetings at the Cornish Elementary School, lunch daily at the Windsor Diner and allow children to sled down his hill. It appears Salinger just didn’t like having his privacy infringed upon by readers, and he never granted an interview in the last 30 years of his life.
Compared to Salinger, Coetzee comes across as a veritable socialite in the new biography. It is true that as time goes by interviews become increasingly rare and he maintains his privacy.Soft Floor tiles is easier to install and perfect for all types of residential and commercial uses. But the biography makes clear that the image of the writer as reclusive and secretive is simply not accurate. Ever since the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003, Coetzee has been deluged with invitations to lecture, teach and read publically from his works. He has declined the majority; at 72 he resents long-distance travel. But even the relatively small amount that he has assented to has resulted in what sounds like a fairly hectic schedule of public appearances over the past decade.
To what, then,The CenTrak rtls platform can address today's healthcare challenges. do we owe this conception of Coetzee as a hermit? In large part perhaps to Rian Malan’s famous account of his interview with Coetzee in 1990, where Malan writes that Coetzee put him through something approaching psychological torture. In answer to a question Malan put to him regarding an aspect of Foe, his 1986 postmodern re-write of Robinson Crusoe, Coetzee replies simply: “I would not wish to deny you your reading.” In reply to the question of what music he enjoyed, Coetzee gives the cryptic response: “Music I have never heard before”. Malan characterises Coetzee as the “prince of darkness”, claiming: “A colleague who has worked with him for more than a decade claims to have seen him laugh just once. An acquaintance has attended several dinner parties where Coetzee has uttered not a single word.”
This has become the dominant imagining of JM Coetzee, bolstered by his frequent refusals to attend awards ceremonies or other celebratory occasions. Kannemeyer prints a letter Coetzee sent to his agent explaining why he would not travel to Spain in 2000 for the launch of Spanish translations of Boyhood and Youth, his fictionalised memoirs: “There is absolutely nothing in it for me in paying such a visit,” a clearly irascible Coetzee wrote. “Two days are knocked out of my life travelling there and back, and the pound of flesh my hosts will require will be that I sit down with one journalist after another answering questions I have heard scores of times before. Then the Embassy will mount a reception and I will have to shake hands with strangers and answer questions like ‘How long will you be in Madrid?’”
But Kannemeyer trots out an extensive cast of players in the biography to testify to Coetzee’s character as a loyal friend, witty dinner companion and generous mentor to young writers. Kannemeyer attributes his behaviour with Malan partly to his characteristic interview impatience and partly to a spirit of mischief which nobody seems to suspect in him. As a young man, Coetzee was apparently quite the prankster, fond of antics like jumping out at people from behind trees. There is one particularly bizarre account of a Coetzee prank-gone-wrong, carried out when Coetzee was a 20 year-old house-sitting in Gardens, in Cape Town.
Coetzee’s choice to cooperate with biographer John Kannemeyer is an interesting one. Many others must surely have come knocking, but the closest Coetzee has come previously to backing such a project was David Atwell’s Doubling the Point (1992), a collection of essays and interviews. Kannemeyer was hailed as one of the foremost authorities on Afrikaans literature – the obvious dissonance being that Coetzee, despite his surname, is not an Afrikaans writer.
Kannemeyer suggests himself that perhaps “the fact that the request was coming from outside the sphere of English literature may have appealed to Coetzee,Service and equipment provider in professional Car park management system. with his contrarian take on things”. Whatever the reason, Kannemeyer got the go-ahead, and was given access to a rich stock of letters and documents and permitted to interview Coetzee in his home in Adelaide, Australia, for two weeks. Kannemeyer stresses that Coetzee’s cooperation was given “unstintingly and even enthusiastically”. Even when quizzed on the most sensitive of family matters, Coetzee gave full and meticulous answers. Typically, the only subject on which he would not be drawn was that of the analysis of his works.
Turning down the offer of a documentary on his life in 2005, Coetzee said: “My life has been completely uneventful.” It becomes clear as the biography unfolds that Coetzee is prone to this kind of dry self-deprecation in order to deflect invitations – he also routinely claims to have no gift for lecturing, when such a request is raised, even though past students tell a different story. On the matter of his life’s narrative, though, Coetzee is partly right – barring the tragedy around his two children, which shouldn’t be diminished, this biography would suggest that Coetzee has indeed led a sedate, cautious life, largely unmarked by rollicking drama. His books didn’t even get banned during Apartheid, though he later said this would have been a kind of “badge of honour”.
But this doesn’t mean that there is no material for Kannemeyer to work with. Ably translated by Michiel Heyns from the Afrikaans original, the biography stretches to an impressive 707 pages and sustains interest throughout. Partly, it must be admitted, this is due to the frisson that accompanies the glimpse into a guarded life: for some years now it has appeared that Coetzee sought to inherit the mantle of literary recluse donned by figures like JD Salinger. The case of Salinger is instructive, however,Leading the way with innovative solutions to any parking guidance challenge. because after his death in 2010, it emerged that Salinger wasn’t really very much of a hermit, contrary to perceptions. In fact, he was a fairly active member of the community of Cornish,Carlo Gavazzi offers a broad range of ultrasonic sensor and ultrasonic transducers for level detection and process monitoring. New Hampshire, where “Jerry”, as he was known, would attend town meetings at the Cornish Elementary School, lunch daily at the Windsor Diner and allow children to sled down his hill. It appears Salinger just didn’t like having his privacy infringed upon by readers, and he never granted an interview in the last 30 years of his life.
Compared to Salinger, Coetzee comes across as a veritable socialite in the new biography. It is true that as time goes by interviews become increasingly rare and he maintains his privacy.Soft Floor tiles is easier to install and perfect for all types of residential and commercial uses. But the biography makes clear that the image of the writer as reclusive and secretive is simply not accurate. Ever since the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003, Coetzee has been deluged with invitations to lecture, teach and read publically from his works. He has declined the majority; at 72 he resents long-distance travel. But even the relatively small amount that he has assented to has resulted in what sounds like a fairly hectic schedule of public appearances over the past decade.
To what, then,The CenTrak rtls platform can address today's healthcare challenges. do we owe this conception of Coetzee as a hermit? In large part perhaps to Rian Malan’s famous account of his interview with Coetzee in 1990, where Malan writes that Coetzee put him through something approaching psychological torture. In answer to a question Malan put to him regarding an aspect of Foe, his 1986 postmodern re-write of Robinson Crusoe, Coetzee replies simply: “I would not wish to deny you your reading.” In reply to the question of what music he enjoyed, Coetzee gives the cryptic response: “Music I have never heard before”. Malan characterises Coetzee as the “prince of darkness”, claiming: “A colleague who has worked with him for more than a decade claims to have seen him laugh just once. An acquaintance has attended several dinner parties where Coetzee has uttered not a single word.”
This has become the dominant imagining of JM Coetzee, bolstered by his frequent refusals to attend awards ceremonies or other celebratory occasions. Kannemeyer prints a letter Coetzee sent to his agent explaining why he would not travel to Spain in 2000 for the launch of Spanish translations of Boyhood and Youth, his fictionalised memoirs: “There is absolutely nothing in it for me in paying such a visit,” a clearly irascible Coetzee wrote. “Two days are knocked out of my life travelling there and back, and the pound of flesh my hosts will require will be that I sit down with one journalist after another answering questions I have heard scores of times before. Then the Embassy will mount a reception and I will have to shake hands with strangers and answer questions like ‘How long will you be in Madrid?’”
But Kannemeyer trots out an extensive cast of players in the biography to testify to Coetzee’s character as a loyal friend, witty dinner companion and generous mentor to young writers. Kannemeyer attributes his behaviour with Malan partly to his characteristic interview impatience and partly to a spirit of mischief which nobody seems to suspect in him. As a young man, Coetzee was apparently quite the prankster, fond of antics like jumping out at people from behind trees. There is one particularly bizarre account of a Coetzee prank-gone-wrong, carried out when Coetzee was a 20 year-old house-sitting in Gardens, in Cape Town.
On board Marco Polo cruise ship with my mother
If there is one thing that sends me hurtling back to childhood it is
travelling with my mother. But she needed a break, and a five-night
cruise sailing from Tilbury (no stressful airports) to Amsterdam, Rouen
and Antwerp, seemed to fit the bill. And I thought I would take the
risk and tag along.
So it was that I found myself sipping an afternoon cocktail in a hot tub on the top deck of the Marco Polo all by myself. The ship was sailing on the river Seine towards Rouen, and from my vantage point I could see pretty towns, a chateau or two, and the sheep looking non-plussed as they grazed on the landscape that inspired Monet. It felt indulgent.
The thing is, this was October and yes, it was a bit nippy, and that’s why my mother didn’t join me. Neither did she see the romance of sea air wafting through her hair while taking a cream tea on deck. She preferred the bingo.
In any case, I wasn’t worried. After all, the Marco Polo is not a big ship — just 22,000 tons (a midget compared to some liners). Yet it packs in two restaurants, five lounges, a library, card room,Service and equipment provider in professional Car park management system. outdoor pool, three hot tubs and a spa.
This was our second day and by now many of the stewards, not to mention many of the other guests, were pretty well-acquainted with my mother. At our first dinner at the formal dining Waldorf restaurant, she had asked for an avocado. A look of disappointment when told there was none to be had prompted Liza, our steward,This is my favourite sites to purchase those special pieces of buy mosaic materials from. to offer to nip into town when we arrived in Amsterdam. Sure enough the next night at dinner, there was the avocado. Only for a mother does this sort of thing happen.
Oh, and did I mention mothers are always right? Like when we took boat trip along an Amsterdam canal. The lunch was as lavish as any they serve up on these trips, but none of it was quite good enough for her to actually eat.
And then there was the time we decided to tour Rouen on foot. They forecast rain.This document provides a guide to using the Ventilation system in your house to provide adequate fresh air to residents. She wore sandals claiming comfort over dryness.
And at the cheese and beer tasting (yes, you heard) in Antwerp, she decided she really did want to join in and taste what was on offer. A ride home in a tuc-tuc with your elderly mum giggling away like one of the girls? OK, but what the hell — I loved to see her happy.
The fact that the ship is such a home-from-home also helped. Most of the time I spend with my mother is in her front room — eating her cakes and drinking her tea. No change there then, though someone else baked and brewed — and there were more than a few “front rooms” to try on board.
Marco Polo, unlike the larger, plusher, newer liners, has had an intriguing past. It started life in 1965 as a Russian ship called Alexander Pushkin and, though quaintly named after a writer, it was decked out in a grim Soviet style.
By the ’70s it was being used as a budget-priced cruise ship.Carlo Gavazzi offers a broad range of ultrasonic sensor and ultrasonic transducers for level detection and process monitoring. All that austerity disappeared when she defected to a British company in 1991, when Gerry Herrod, founder of Ocean Cruise Lines, bought her. Two years and millions of dollars later, the ship emerged as the Marco Polo, sailing for Orient Lines. In 2010 Cruise and Maritime took her over, offering a variety of sailings from the UK, including around the Norwegian fjords and a 42-night cruise to the Amazon — and, of course, this short break cruise. The ship’s size means it can sail along rivers and dock in small harbours, such as at Antwerp, where we were able to disembark directly into the town.
The on-board experience was homely and unpretentious and though billed as three-star, it delivered far more than expected.The CenTrak rtls platform can address today's healthcare challenges. There was no casino, no pressure to buy anything on board and it was adults only. There is evening entertainment a mix of cabaret, music and comedy and a versatile cruise director who can present, tell jokes (“this announcement is for the guy who lost his Rolex watch — the time now is 2.30pm”) and sing. There’s also an extremely funny magician.
But my mother missed all that, preferring to repair to the bedroom to enjoy quiet time after busy day trips, playing games, eating fine foods, and I might add, drinking the odd pina colada.
We shared a twin-bed cabin with a small shower-room and a satisfactory amount of cupboard space to cater for the ample contents of the luggage belonging to two Jewish women who carry too much for fear of have nothing to wear — especially on formal night.
You can imagine the scene — the question “how do I look in this?” ping-ponged between us as we tried on several outfits. Incidentally, as was the norm when the ship was built, none of the rooms have a balcony, but what this ship does have is a lovely wrap-around deck that harks back to bygone days.
Unlike mum, I not only enjoyed the shows but then went to the disco in the Marco Polo lounge for a tipple and a wiggle on the dance floor.
I admit I got back to the room way past midnight one night, but was shocked to see my mother waiting up for me. “I just called you,” she said. “I was worried that you were out so late.” As incredulous as it sounds I found myself apologising (I am, after all, a mother myself). But boy, was it worth it.
So it was that I found myself sipping an afternoon cocktail in a hot tub on the top deck of the Marco Polo all by myself. The ship was sailing on the river Seine towards Rouen, and from my vantage point I could see pretty towns, a chateau or two, and the sheep looking non-plussed as they grazed on the landscape that inspired Monet. It felt indulgent.
The thing is, this was October and yes, it was a bit nippy, and that’s why my mother didn’t join me. Neither did she see the romance of sea air wafting through her hair while taking a cream tea on deck. She preferred the bingo.
In any case, I wasn’t worried. After all, the Marco Polo is not a big ship — just 22,000 tons (a midget compared to some liners). Yet it packs in two restaurants, five lounges, a library, card room,Service and equipment provider in professional Car park management system. outdoor pool, three hot tubs and a spa.
This was our second day and by now many of the stewards, not to mention many of the other guests, were pretty well-acquainted with my mother. At our first dinner at the formal dining Waldorf restaurant, she had asked for an avocado. A look of disappointment when told there was none to be had prompted Liza, our steward,This is my favourite sites to purchase those special pieces of buy mosaic materials from. to offer to nip into town when we arrived in Amsterdam. Sure enough the next night at dinner, there was the avocado. Only for a mother does this sort of thing happen.
Oh, and did I mention mothers are always right? Like when we took boat trip along an Amsterdam canal. The lunch was as lavish as any they serve up on these trips, but none of it was quite good enough for her to actually eat.
And then there was the time we decided to tour Rouen on foot. They forecast rain.This document provides a guide to using the Ventilation system in your house to provide adequate fresh air to residents. She wore sandals claiming comfort over dryness.
And at the cheese and beer tasting (yes, you heard) in Antwerp, she decided she really did want to join in and taste what was on offer. A ride home in a tuc-tuc with your elderly mum giggling away like one of the girls? OK, but what the hell — I loved to see her happy.
The fact that the ship is such a home-from-home also helped. Most of the time I spend with my mother is in her front room — eating her cakes and drinking her tea. No change there then, though someone else baked and brewed — and there were more than a few “front rooms” to try on board.
Marco Polo, unlike the larger, plusher, newer liners, has had an intriguing past. It started life in 1965 as a Russian ship called Alexander Pushkin and, though quaintly named after a writer, it was decked out in a grim Soviet style.
By the ’70s it was being used as a budget-priced cruise ship.Carlo Gavazzi offers a broad range of ultrasonic sensor and ultrasonic transducers for level detection and process monitoring. All that austerity disappeared when she defected to a British company in 1991, when Gerry Herrod, founder of Ocean Cruise Lines, bought her. Two years and millions of dollars later, the ship emerged as the Marco Polo, sailing for Orient Lines. In 2010 Cruise and Maritime took her over, offering a variety of sailings from the UK, including around the Norwegian fjords and a 42-night cruise to the Amazon — and, of course, this short break cruise. The ship’s size means it can sail along rivers and dock in small harbours, such as at Antwerp, where we were able to disembark directly into the town.
The on-board experience was homely and unpretentious and though billed as three-star, it delivered far more than expected.The CenTrak rtls platform can address today's healthcare challenges. There was no casino, no pressure to buy anything on board and it was adults only. There is evening entertainment a mix of cabaret, music and comedy and a versatile cruise director who can present, tell jokes (“this announcement is for the guy who lost his Rolex watch — the time now is 2.30pm”) and sing. There’s also an extremely funny magician.
But my mother missed all that, preferring to repair to the bedroom to enjoy quiet time after busy day trips, playing games, eating fine foods, and I might add, drinking the odd pina colada.
We shared a twin-bed cabin with a small shower-room and a satisfactory amount of cupboard space to cater for the ample contents of the luggage belonging to two Jewish women who carry too much for fear of have nothing to wear — especially on formal night.
You can imagine the scene — the question “how do I look in this?” ping-ponged between us as we tried on several outfits. Incidentally, as was the norm when the ship was built, none of the rooms have a balcony, but what this ship does have is a lovely wrap-around deck that harks back to bygone days.
Unlike mum, I not only enjoyed the shows but then went to the disco in the Marco Polo lounge for a tipple and a wiggle on the dance floor.
I admit I got back to the room way past midnight one night, but was shocked to see my mother waiting up for me. “I just called you,” she said. “I was worried that you were out so late.” As incredulous as it sounds I found myself apologising (I am, after all, a mother myself). But boy, was it worth it.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Leonard keeps calm and stands out for re-tooling Spurs
For years Tim Duncan has run up and down the courts of the NBA
wearing a poker face that is as much a part of his uniform as the black
and white Spurs jersey.
Kawhi Leonard makes him look like a Chihuahua that just stuck its tongue into a wall socket.
As a rookie last season, Leonard never talked back to referees and barely carried on in-game conversations with his teammates.
There was a reason for that. He was too busy trying to learn the plays during an on-the-fly, crammed-in, no-training-camp, post-lockout 66-game schedule.
"I played mostly on instinct," Leonard explained.
If that's the case and one day Leonard happens to whisper a few lottery numbers into your ear, pay attention. His instincts are good.
The 21-year-old forward did more than just start 53 games last season on a veteran club that finished tied for the best record in the league, and he did more than average 7.Republic parking system is a privately owned professional parking management company based in Chattanooga,9 points and 5.2 rebounds, earning a spot on the All-Rookie first team.Totech Americas delivers a wide range of drycabinets for applications spanning electronics,
He got coach Gregg Popovich to start building a team that would make Leonard as much a permanent fixture of San Antonio as the Alamo.
"If the planets and agents and that sort of thing line up, we'd love for him to be a Spur for life," Popovich said.
It was a statement about where the Spurs are heading, this year and in the coming ones. After making no significant personnel changes during the offseason, they are a team that will expect and require improvement from within if a return trip to the Western Conference finals -- and maybe even a push for a fifth NBA championship -- is to be within reason. With the era of Duncan (who is 36), Ginobili (35) and Tony Parker (30) inevitably reaching an end, there is also a need to hand the baton to the next generation.
Few expected Leonard to be tabbed for a leading role in the next generation after he quietly slipped to the Spurs in a 2011 Draft-night deal that sent point guard George Hill to Indiana. What the Spurs figured to be getting was an in-your-face defender, tough rebounder and live-wire player to give the lineup a jolt.
The first and most egregious mistake by many was calling him the "next Bruce Bowen." Leonard is by no means Bowen. He is better. Much, much better.
He can dribble and pass the ball. He can rebound and bang around on the inside. He also defends like a hawk and can nail the 3-point shot out of the corner, just like Bowen. (His one weakness was supposed to be his outside shot, yet he finished up his rookie season shooting 37.6 percent from behind the 3-point line. He raised that to 45 percent in the playoffs.)
He's also a decade younger and much further ahead of where Bowen was on those championship teams. During a blink-and-you-missed-it season that had many NBA veterans' heads spinning, what Leonard showed most, though, was remarkable consistency and composure.
He does it all while looking like a guy who could take off his mask only to reveal another mask.
"On the court,This is a superb introduction to how Injection Mold tools are made. I know I've got to communicate more," Leonard said. "Last year it was more me not knowing what to say. I didn't know all the defensive rotations or all the offenses we were running."
"I don't think he ever gets excited," Duncan said. "He's absolutely even keel all of the time. I think he's even more mellow than me, if that's possible."
Yet Popovich went so far over the summer to label him the future face of the franchise.Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery.
In Game 3 of the Spurs' second-round playoff series in L.A. last spring, the Clippers opened up a 21-point lead in the second quarter. Popovich was very close to pulling all of his starters to save them for Game 4, which was coming on a rare back-to-back situation in the playoffs.
But just before the game went completely over the edge, Leonard took charge, grabbing rebounds, making stops, draining buckets and pulling his team back. When the Spurs used a 24-0 run in the third quarter for the win,Welcome to news from www.glassmosaicchina.com,Our company is committed to produce all kinds of new materials mosaic. on their way to a 4-0 sweep of the series, much of the attention, as usual, went to the Big Three of Duncan, Ginobili and Parker.
Kawhi Leonard makes him look like a Chihuahua that just stuck its tongue into a wall socket.
As a rookie last season, Leonard never talked back to referees and barely carried on in-game conversations with his teammates.
There was a reason for that. He was too busy trying to learn the plays during an on-the-fly, crammed-in, no-training-camp, post-lockout 66-game schedule.
"I played mostly on instinct," Leonard explained.
If that's the case and one day Leonard happens to whisper a few lottery numbers into your ear, pay attention. His instincts are good.
The 21-year-old forward did more than just start 53 games last season on a veteran club that finished tied for the best record in the league, and he did more than average 7.Republic parking system is a privately owned professional parking management company based in Chattanooga,9 points and 5.2 rebounds, earning a spot on the All-Rookie first team.Totech Americas delivers a wide range of drycabinets for applications spanning electronics,
He got coach Gregg Popovich to start building a team that would make Leonard as much a permanent fixture of San Antonio as the Alamo.
"If the planets and agents and that sort of thing line up, we'd love for him to be a Spur for life," Popovich said.
It was a statement about where the Spurs are heading, this year and in the coming ones. After making no significant personnel changes during the offseason, they are a team that will expect and require improvement from within if a return trip to the Western Conference finals -- and maybe even a push for a fifth NBA championship -- is to be within reason. With the era of Duncan (who is 36), Ginobili (35) and Tony Parker (30) inevitably reaching an end, there is also a need to hand the baton to the next generation.
Few expected Leonard to be tabbed for a leading role in the next generation after he quietly slipped to the Spurs in a 2011 Draft-night deal that sent point guard George Hill to Indiana. What the Spurs figured to be getting was an in-your-face defender, tough rebounder and live-wire player to give the lineup a jolt.
The first and most egregious mistake by many was calling him the "next Bruce Bowen." Leonard is by no means Bowen. He is better. Much, much better.
He can dribble and pass the ball. He can rebound and bang around on the inside. He also defends like a hawk and can nail the 3-point shot out of the corner, just like Bowen. (His one weakness was supposed to be his outside shot, yet he finished up his rookie season shooting 37.6 percent from behind the 3-point line. He raised that to 45 percent in the playoffs.)
He's also a decade younger and much further ahead of where Bowen was on those championship teams. During a blink-and-you-missed-it season that had many NBA veterans' heads spinning, what Leonard showed most, though, was remarkable consistency and composure.
He does it all while looking like a guy who could take off his mask only to reveal another mask.
"On the court,This is a superb introduction to how Injection Mold tools are made. I know I've got to communicate more," Leonard said. "Last year it was more me not knowing what to say. I didn't know all the defensive rotations or all the offenses we were running."
"I don't think he ever gets excited," Duncan said. "He's absolutely even keel all of the time. I think he's even more mellow than me, if that's possible."
Yet Popovich went so far over the summer to label him the future face of the franchise.Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery.
In Game 3 of the Spurs' second-round playoff series in L.A. last spring, the Clippers opened up a 21-point lead in the second quarter. Popovich was very close to pulling all of his starters to save them for Game 4, which was coming on a rare back-to-back situation in the playoffs.
But just before the game went completely over the edge, Leonard took charge, grabbing rebounds, making stops, draining buckets and pulling his team back. When the Spurs used a 24-0 run in the third quarter for the win,Welcome to news from www.glassmosaicchina.com,Our company is committed to produce all kinds of new materials mosaic. on their way to a 4-0 sweep of the series, much of the attention, as usual, went to the Big Three of Duncan, Ginobili and Parker.
Improvements to hiking trail system in South Mountain
Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. announced that work
to repair and rehabilitate existing hiking trails in Essex County South
Mountain Reservation and establish a new trail system through the
Mayapple Hill section of the reservation has been completed. The
improvements enhance accessibility throughout South Mountain Reservation
and address erosion problems.
“South Mountain Reservation is an open space treasure that enables the public with places to enjoy nature. The improvements made as part of this project restores hiking trails and park infrastructure and provides visitors with a high quality trail system to experience and explore the reservation,” DiVincenzo said. “We are pleased to have partnered with the South Mountain Conservancy on another phase to revitalize the reservation,” he added.
“This was a remarkable partnership between the County, the Conservancy, the RBA Group and JAC Excavating to produce some significant improvements in the Reservation. Not only are the steps on Overlook Trail repaired, but existing trails were restored and a new, three-mile trail through Mayapple Hill was created,” South Mountain Conservancy President Dennis Percher said. Also representing the Conservancy at the ribbon cutting with the County Executive was Treasurer Marian Raabe.
The project involved repairing sections of existing hiking trails in Essex County South Mountain Reservation that have been impacted by erosion. In addition, about two and a half miles of new, interconnected hiking trails were created through the Mayapple Hill area of the reservation. Essex County,Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery. West Orange, The Land Conservancy of New Jersey and South Mountain Conservancy worked together to preserve 11 additional acres of undeveloped open space and added that property to South Mountain Reservation in October 2009. The acquisition expanded the total size of South Mountain Reservation to 2,110 acres.
The conservancy also will celebrate the opening of the new Mayapple Hill trails with an inaugural hike on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 10 a.m. Meet in the parking lot of the Mayapple Hill section of Essex County South Mountain Reservation, which is located off of Northfield Avenue in West Orange.
The RBA Group from Parsippany received a $103,000 contract to design the trail improvements. JAC Excavating from Howell, was awarded a publicly bid contract for $985,000 to perform the construction work. The Essex County Department of Public Works worked with the contractor to answer questions and make sure the project remained on schedule. Funding was provided through a NJ Green Acres grant received by the South Mountain Conservancy and a grant from the Essex County Recreation and Open Space Trust Fund. Construction started in June and took about five months to complete.
Working with the South Mountain Conservancy, a project to accelerate the regrowth of the forest understory in South Mountain Reservation was completed in 2009. A total of 42 enclosures were constructed to protect the more than 10,000 native plant species that were reintroduced to the Reservation. The planting is part of an ongoing initiative to reverse damage at the Reservation caused by years of neglect and overbrowsing by deer.We are porcelain tiles specialists and are passionate about our product，
In 2006,Republic parking system is a privately owned professional parking management company based in Chattanooga, Essex County and the Conservancy developed a Master Plan that provides a comprehensive overview of South Mountain Reservation and recommends a series of upgrades be made to maintain and revitalize the area. The 2-acre South Mountain Dog Park was opened in July 2006 and has become a popular attraction on Crest Drive. In 2005, a series of improvements were made to repair hiking trails, address erosion problems and improve access to the reservation.
These projects were funded with grants from the NJ Green Acres program and the Essex County Recreation and Open Space Trust Fund.Service and equipment provider in professional Car park management system. In 2010, New Jersey Monthly magazine recognized the trails in South Mountain Reservation as the best in the state.Welcome to news from www.glassmosaicchina.com,Our company is committed to produce all kinds of new materials mosaic.
The Essex County Park System was created in 1895 and is the first county park system established in the United States. The Park System consists of more than 6,000 acres and has 22 parks, five reservations, an environmental center, a zoo, Treetop Adventure Course, ice skating rink, roller skating rink, three public golf courses, golf driving range, two miniature golf courses, three off-leash dog facilities, a castle and the Presby Memorial Iris Gardens. Essex County South Mountain Reservation covers about 2,110 acres and is located in West Orange, Maplewood and Millburn. It is the largest reservation in Essex County.
“South Mountain Reservation is an open space treasure that enables the public with places to enjoy nature. The improvements made as part of this project restores hiking trails and park infrastructure and provides visitors with a high quality trail system to experience and explore the reservation,” DiVincenzo said. “We are pleased to have partnered with the South Mountain Conservancy on another phase to revitalize the reservation,” he added.
“This was a remarkable partnership between the County, the Conservancy, the RBA Group and JAC Excavating to produce some significant improvements in the Reservation. Not only are the steps on Overlook Trail repaired, but existing trails were restored and a new, three-mile trail through Mayapple Hill was created,” South Mountain Conservancy President Dennis Percher said. Also representing the Conservancy at the ribbon cutting with the County Executive was Treasurer Marian Raabe.
The project involved repairing sections of existing hiking trails in Essex County South Mountain Reservation that have been impacted by erosion. In addition, about two and a half miles of new, interconnected hiking trails were created through the Mayapple Hill area of the reservation. Essex County,Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery. West Orange, The Land Conservancy of New Jersey and South Mountain Conservancy worked together to preserve 11 additional acres of undeveloped open space and added that property to South Mountain Reservation in October 2009. The acquisition expanded the total size of South Mountain Reservation to 2,110 acres.
The conservancy also will celebrate the opening of the new Mayapple Hill trails with an inaugural hike on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 10 a.m. Meet in the parking lot of the Mayapple Hill section of Essex County South Mountain Reservation, which is located off of Northfield Avenue in West Orange.
The RBA Group from Parsippany received a $103,000 contract to design the trail improvements. JAC Excavating from Howell, was awarded a publicly bid contract for $985,000 to perform the construction work. The Essex County Department of Public Works worked with the contractor to answer questions and make sure the project remained on schedule. Funding was provided through a NJ Green Acres grant received by the South Mountain Conservancy and a grant from the Essex County Recreation and Open Space Trust Fund. Construction started in June and took about five months to complete.
Working with the South Mountain Conservancy, a project to accelerate the regrowth of the forest understory in South Mountain Reservation was completed in 2009. A total of 42 enclosures were constructed to protect the more than 10,000 native plant species that were reintroduced to the Reservation. The planting is part of an ongoing initiative to reverse damage at the Reservation caused by years of neglect and overbrowsing by deer.We are porcelain tiles specialists and are passionate about our product，
In 2006,Republic parking system is a privately owned professional parking management company based in Chattanooga, Essex County and the Conservancy developed a Master Plan that provides a comprehensive overview of South Mountain Reservation and recommends a series of upgrades be made to maintain and revitalize the area. The 2-acre South Mountain Dog Park was opened in July 2006 and has become a popular attraction on Crest Drive. In 2005, a series of improvements were made to repair hiking trails, address erosion problems and improve access to the reservation.
These projects were funded with grants from the NJ Green Acres program and the Essex County Recreation and Open Space Trust Fund.Service and equipment provider in professional Car park management system. In 2010, New Jersey Monthly magazine recognized the trails in South Mountain Reservation as the best in the state.Welcome to news from www.glassmosaicchina.com,Our company is committed to produce all kinds of new materials mosaic.
The Essex County Park System was created in 1895 and is the first county park system established in the United States. The Park System consists of more than 6,000 acres and has 22 parks, five reservations, an environmental center, a zoo, Treetop Adventure Course, ice skating rink, roller skating rink, three public golf courses, golf driving range, two miniature golf courses, three off-leash dog facilities, a castle and the Presby Memorial Iris Gardens. Essex County South Mountain Reservation covers about 2,110 acres and is located in West Orange, Maplewood and Millburn. It is the largest reservation in Essex County.
Candy corn is back, and trendier than ever
The yellow-, orange- and white-striped kernels may be America’s most
controversial confection. For some, October wouldn’t be the same without
a bag of candy corn. Others loath the sweet stuff, and think handing it
out to trick-or-treaters risks waking up to find your house draped in
toilet paper.
Yet candy corn returns each autumn, along with falling leaves and football.
“We sell the most of it at Halloween,” says Bill Kelley, vice chairman of Jelly Belly Candy Co., which makes candy corn in North Chicago year-round — even in different colors and shapes for other holidays — and last year added a candy corn-flavored jelly bean to its official list of flavors.
Today, candy corn is trendier than ever. Not only are local chefs experimenting with candy-corn-imbued desserts, but other manufacturers have capitalized on the concept, producing new sweets on the theme.Welcome to the china kung fu school.
As a seasonal treat at Zest Bistro & Lemon Tree Grocer in Downers Grove, Pastry Chef Laurie McNamara revels in the candy’s sweetness. She melts candy corn into marshmallow cream, and studs it with still more candy corn as a filling for pumpkin-spiced whoopie pies, then further sweetens the dessert with a scoop of candy-corn-flavored ice cream.
Introduced this fall, candy-corn M&Ms, large round candies with a white-chocolate filling, come in the familiar colors but taste less like the classic confection than like artificial butter with a hint of suntan lotion.
JarBee Coffee, a McHenry roasting company known for offbeat blends such as Maple Bacon and Peanut Butter Cup, now offers Witches Brew, candy corn-flavored arabica.
And to great Internet notoriety, Nabisco marketed a short run of candy-corn Oreo cookies in September. They’re vanilla sandwich cookies with a yellow- and orange-colored filling but good luck finding any. They were sold exclusively at Target stores, and none of those we checked last week had any left. Calls to both Target headquarters and the brand’s parent company, Deerfield-based Mondolez International (the new spinoff of Kraft that got its confectionery and baking businesses), found us no cookies, either, so we can’t say what they taste like.
Oreos spokeswoman Caroline Lainio was unable to provide any statistics for how many of the limited-edition cookies were produced or if any are still available. According to Lainio, the century-old brand added candy-corn cookies to its lineup to relate to consumers in “fresh, new relevant ways.”
Yet candy corn is even older than Oreos, dating to the late 1880s, when candymaker George Renninger created it at the Ph. Wunderle Candy Manufacturing Co. of Philadelphia (since absorbed into Nestle). Not long afterward, Goelitz Confectionary Co.,Leading the way with innovative solutions to any parking guidance challenge. the firm that ultimately became Jelly Belly, began producing the candy.
“We think the company was founded making candy corn,” says Kelley, 71, whose family founded Goelitz in 1898 in Cincinnati. Their candies were such a success that they expanded to Chicago in 1903 and 10 years later moved to the factory in North Chicago, where they became America’s premier maker of candy corn.
Kelley says that the formula for the candy, a category called “mellocreme,” remains the same as it was in the 19th century. “When I started with the company,” 46 years ago, he says, “it was all we made.”
Today machines do what was once done by hand, but the method is identical: Sugar, corn syrup and water are cooked together and whipped into a fondant with mazetta.We are porcelain tiles specialists and are passionate about our product，
“Mazetta is really a form of marshmallow, which gives the candy its creamy structure, and it makes the little white tip opaque,” Kelley says.
Trays filled with cornstarch are pressed with a form to mold the kernel shapes, 1,200 candies to a tray, and the candy deposited into the impressions. “First white, then orange, then yellow on top, in layers,” says Kelley.
In the old days,Service and equipment provider in professional Car park management system. the molds were filled by hand by men called “stringers” who walked backward down the line with kettles of molten candy.Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery. “They basically poured the candy into the molds,” he says.
Yet candy corn returns each autumn, along with falling leaves and football.
“We sell the most of it at Halloween,” says Bill Kelley, vice chairman of Jelly Belly Candy Co., which makes candy corn in North Chicago year-round — even in different colors and shapes for other holidays — and last year added a candy corn-flavored jelly bean to its official list of flavors.
Today, candy corn is trendier than ever. Not only are local chefs experimenting with candy-corn-imbued desserts, but other manufacturers have capitalized on the concept, producing new sweets on the theme.Welcome to the china kung fu school.
As a seasonal treat at Zest Bistro & Lemon Tree Grocer in Downers Grove, Pastry Chef Laurie McNamara revels in the candy’s sweetness. She melts candy corn into marshmallow cream, and studs it with still more candy corn as a filling for pumpkin-spiced whoopie pies, then further sweetens the dessert with a scoop of candy-corn-flavored ice cream.
Introduced this fall, candy-corn M&Ms, large round candies with a white-chocolate filling, come in the familiar colors but taste less like the classic confection than like artificial butter with a hint of suntan lotion.
JarBee Coffee, a McHenry roasting company known for offbeat blends such as Maple Bacon and Peanut Butter Cup, now offers Witches Brew, candy corn-flavored arabica.
And to great Internet notoriety, Nabisco marketed a short run of candy-corn Oreo cookies in September. They’re vanilla sandwich cookies with a yellow- and orange-colored filling but good luck finding any. They were sold exclusively at Target stores, and none of those we checked last week had any left. Calls to both Target headquarters and the brand’s parent company, Deerfield-based Mondolez International (the new spinoff of Kraft that got its confectionery and baking businesses), found us no cookies, either, so we can’t say what they taste like.
Oreos spokeswoman Caroline Lainio was unable to provide any statistics for how many of the limited-edition cookies were produced or if any are still available. According to Lainio, the century-old brand added candy-corn cookies to its lineup to relate to consumers in “fresh, new relevant ways.”
Yet candy corn is even older than Oreos, dating to the late 1880s, when candymaker George Renninger created it at the Ph. Wunderle Candy Manufacturing Co. of Philadelphia (since absorbed into Nestle). Not long afterward, Goelitz Confectionary Co.,Leading the way with innovative solutions to any parking guidance challenge. the firm that ultimately became Jelly Belly, began producing the candy.
“We think the company was founded making candy corn,” says Kelley, 71, whose family founded Goelitz in 1898 in Cincinnati. Their candies were such a success that they expanded to Chicago in 1903 and 10 years later moved to the factory in North Chicago, where they became America’s premier maker of candy corn.
Kelley says that the formula for the candy, a category called “mellocreme,” remains the same as it was in the 19th century. “When I started with the company,” 46 years ago, he says, “it was all we made.”
Today machines do what was once done by hand, but the method is identical: Sugar, corn syrup and water are cooked together and whipped into a fondant with mazetta.We are porcelain tiles specialists and are passionate about our product，
“Mazetta is really a form of marshmallow, which gives the candy its creamy structure, and it makes the little white tip opaque,” Kelley says.
Trays filled with cornstarch are pressed with a form to mold the kernel shapes, 1,200 candies to a tray, and the candy deposited into the impressions. “First white, then orange, then yellow on top, in layers,” says Kelley.
In the old days,Service and equipment provider in professional Car park management system. the molds were filled by hand by men called “stringers” who walked backward down the line with kettles of molten candy.Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery. “They basically poured the candy into the molds,” he says.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Accel To Take On PayPal And Square
Braintree, an online payments gateway provider for online and mobile
platforms, has raised $35 million in Series funding led by New
Enterprise Associates (NEA) with participation from existing investors
including Accel Partners, RRE Ventures and Greycroft. This brings
Braintree’s total funding up to $70 million.
For background, Chicago-based Braintree powers and automates online payments for merchants and companies online. The company provides a merchant account, payment gateway, recurring billing, credit card storage, support for mobile and international payments, and PCI Compliance solutions.
Braintree’s client list includes Rovio/Angry Birds, Uber, 37signals, OpenTable, Fab, GitHub, Airbnb, Heroku, Engine Yard, Animoto, Shopify and HotelTonight. The company is seeing $1 billion a year in mobile transactions and $5 billion in total payments annually for over 3,000 mobile and online merchants. Currently, Braintree works with merchants in more than 30 countries and is able to accept more than 130 different currencies.
For Braintree, the new funding is going to help the company take on giants in the digital payments industry like PayPal. “We think we can build the next PayPal,Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery.” says Braintree’s CEO, Bill Ready. “The payments game will be won or lost in next few years, and we need the resources to push the company forward aggressively,” he explained in an interview.
The new funding will be used to build out Braintree’s payments product, for hiring engineering talent in the Bay Area, New York and Chicago, and for additional international expansion.
Ready explains that Braintree differs from PayPal in that it offers a comprehensive, full-featured payments processing platform for both small startups and large companies, like Fab, which is processing hundreds of millions in transactions. He says that traditionally, a small business would start with PayPal, then graduate to Authorize.net (owned by Visa), and would move onto Cybersource processing when the company would have tens or hundreds of millions in payments revenue. But Ready says there is a huge opportunity to service the full range of companies, and that’s what makes Braintree distinct.
“We are taking sophisticated payments capabilities and making them accessible to startups and big companies, and when small businesses grow into larger organizations, we will have everything they need,” says Ready.
Over the past few months, Braintree has been heads down on making its product as useful to merchants as possible. The company expanded to mobile, added support for one-click checkout, cut fees, and eased the sign-up process.Republic parking system is a privately owned professional parking management company based in Chattanooga, In fact, Braintree removed a $100 monthly fee for developers, and starting matching fees of rivals with 2.9 percent rate and $.30 per transaction.Welcome to news from www.glassmosaicchina.com,Our company is committed to produce all kinds of new materials mosaic. Additionally, the company has made some key hires from Google.
The company also highlights Braintree Instant, which gives merchants instant access to a full suite of payments tools, such as international payments and single click checkout, which used to be available to only the largest of merchants after months-long integrations to legacy payment providers. Braintree Instant also aids cash flow by typically providing funds within two days, versus a week or more for others in the industry.
“We are working to do for payments and e-commerce what Apple did for mobile: providing a developer-friendly platform that sparks a new wave of innovation and company-building, ” Ready adds.
But in order to take on payments companies like PayPal and Square, Braintree has to engage the consumer as well. That’s where the company’s Venmo acquisition comes in. In August, the company acquired the New York-based startup, which is disrupting social payments by allowing people to send money to friends via a mobile app.
Venmo, which remains based in New York as a standalone app, is the basis for Braintree’s consumer business.This is a superb introduction to how Injection Mold tools are made. “This will become the slickest way for consumers to make payments to merchants,” says Ready. We’re building a better PayPal on the merchant side, and a better PayPal on the consumer side.”
“Braintree is kicking down both the technology and business road blocks that have made online and mobile payments challenging for developers and a hassle for consumers,” said Ravi Viswanathan, General Partner of NEA, said in a release. “We believe Braintree has the strengths to challenge all the incumbents in the payment space, including PayPal. This investment reflects our confidence in the technology, team and international capabilities Braintree has built.”
As part of the news today, NEA is also opening up a Chicago office to be closer to its investments in the Windy City.
As we’ve recently reported, the payments space is heating up and all the players, including Square and PayPal, are gearing up for the battle. Square just landed a huge deal with Starbucks and closed $200 million in new funding. PayPal is also trying to reinvent itself. New entrant,Totech Americas delivers a wide range of drycabinets for applications spanning electronics, Stripe, has also been making waves in the industry. And now with Braintree’s new funding, we can expect there to be one more player who is vying for a piece of the payments pie.
For background, Chicago-based Braintree powers and automates online payments for merchants and companies online. The company provides a merchant account, payment gateway, recurring billing, credit card storage, support for mobile and international payments, and PCI Compliance solutions.
Braintree’s client list includes Rovio/Angry Birds, Uber, 37signals, OpenTable, Fab, GitHub, Airbnb, Heroku, Engine Yard, Animoto, Shopify and HotelTonight. The company is seeing $1 billion a year in mobile transactions and $5 billion in total payments annually for over 3,000 mobile and online merchants. Currently, Braintree works with merchants in more than 30 countries and is able to accept more than 130 different currencies.
For Braintree, the new funding is going to help the company take on giants in the digital payments industry like PayPal. “We think we can build the next PayPal,Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery.” says Braintree’s CEO, Bill Ready. “The payments game will be won or lost in next few years, and we need the resources to push the company forward aggressively,” he explained in an interview.
The new funding will be used to build out Braintree’s payments product, for hiring engineering talent in the Bay Area, New York and Chicago, and for additional international expansion.
Ready explains that Braintree differs from PayPal in that it offers a comprehensive, full-featured payments processing platform for both small startups and large companies, like Fab, which is processing hundreds of millions in transactions. He says that traditionally, a small business would start with PayPal, then graduate to Authorize.net (owned by Visa), and would move onto Cybersource processing when the company would have tens or hundreds of millions in payments revenue. But Ready says there is a huge opportunity to service the full range of companies, and that’s what makes Braintree distinct.
“We are taking sophisticated payments capabilities and making them accessible to startups and big companies, and when small businesses grow into larger organizations, we will have everything they need,” says Ready.
Over the past few months, Braintree has been heads down on making its product as useful to merchants as possible. The company expanded to mobile, added support for one-click checkout, cut fees, and eased the sign-up process.Republic parking system is a privately owned professional parking management company based in Chattanooga, In fact, Braintree removed a $100 monthly fee for developers, and starting matching fees of rivals with 2.9 percent rate and $.30 per transaction.Welcome to news from www.glassmosaicchina.com,Our company is committed to produce all kinds of new materials mosaic. Additionally, the company has made some key hires from Google.
The company also highlights Braintree Instant, which gives merchants instant access to a full suite of payments tools, such as international payments and single click checkout, which used to be available to only the largest of merchants after months-long integrations to legacy payment providers. Braintree Instant also aids cash flow by typically providing funds within two days, versus a week or more for others in the industry.
“We are working to do for payments and e-commerce what Apple did for mobile: providing a developer-friendly platform that sparks a new wave of innovation and company-building, ” Ready adds.
But in order to take on payments companies like PayPal and Square, Braintree has to engage the consumer as well. That’s where the company’s Venmo acquisition comes in. In August, the company acquired the New York-based startup, which is disrupting social payments by allowing people to send money to friends via a mobile app.
Venmo, which remains based in New York as a standalone app, is the basis for Braintree’s consumer business.This is a superb introduction to how Injection Mold tools are made. “This will become the slickest way for consumers to make payments to merchants,” says Ready. We’re building a better PayPal on the merchant side, and a better PayPal on the consumer side.”
“Braintree is kicking down both the technology and business road blocks that have made online and mobile payments challenging for developers and a hassle for consumers,” said Ravi Viswanathan, General Partner of NEA, said in a release. “We believe Braintree has the strengths to challenge all the incumbents in the payment space, including PayPal. This investment reflects our confidence in the technology, team and international capabilities Braintree has built.”
As part of the news today, NEA is also opening up a Chicago office to be closer to its investments in the Windy City.
As we’ve recently reported, the payments space is heating up and all the players, including Square and PayPal, are gearing up for the battle. Square just landed a huge deal with Starbucks and closed $200 million in new funding. PayPal is also trying to reinvent itself. New entrant,Totech Americas delivers a wide range of drycabinets for applications spanning electronics, Stripe, has also been making waves in the industry. And now with Braintree’s new funding, we can expect there to be one more player who is vying for a piece of the payments pie.
Acworth Police Ready for Upgrade
To hear Det.Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor
system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery. Jonathan Sampson
tell it, the Acworth Police Department's current record management
system has some deficiencies.
Officers still have to save investigative reports on USB drives. They can't cross-check seemingly basic information while in the field. And the system's search function has limitations.
That's why Sampson made the pitch Monday night for a new system.
It's called CourtWare, and it won't cost the city anything. But more than that, it will eliminate redundancies and better assist the Acworth Police Department in investigations, Sampson told Mayor Tommy Allegood and the Board of Aldermen.
Currently, the police department, the court and the jail use different record systems.
"Not one of them," Sampson said, "communicates with the other."
So if an officer stops someone,Totech Americas delivers a wide range of drycabinets for applications spanning electronics, that officer can't check jail or court records during the stop.
"The only way to use the jail software is to drive back to the (police) station, sit down at a terminal and use it," Sampson said.
That's not the only limitation of USA Software, the system the city currently uses.
"For example," Sampson said, "Cherokee County calls us and says,A smooth and Glossy floor tile not only looks bright and clean, 'Hey, you've got any dealings with so and so?' We can only search the people who've been to our jail system as arrestees and we can only search (the) people who have been reported as victims of crimes."
With CourtWare, the police department will be able to pull up the names of anyone it has dealt with, whether they've been arrested or not. And it will also allow law enforcement personnel to quickly search reports for keywords.
"For example," Sampson said, "Cherokee calls again and says, 'Hey, we've just recovered six iPads, four cell phones and a GPS. Currently, unless someone in the detective division remembers the report about stolen iPads or stolen electronics, we can't find that report without looking through each report individually. This new system allows us to search through the narrative for 'iPads,' greatly aiding our investigative ability."
Entering and maintaining reports can also a hassle, Sampson said.
"Under the current system, there are five different saves for one report to make it from the police officer to the citizen. An officer saves it in his car, then he saves it onto a USB drive and walks it into the police department. Saves it onto a computer in the police department. His sergeant pulls up the report, reviews it and saves it into another location. Then the records division pulls that report up, reviews it, and saves it into its final resting place.
"Under the new system, there will not be multiple saves. Everything will be saved in the cloud so to speak. In real time. And once the file's created it will stay in its location until it reaches records and the end user."
The police department has looked at three software providers: CourtWare, USA Software and OSSI. More than 50 percent of the law enforcement agencies in Cobb use OSSI,This is a superb introduction to how Injection Mold tools are made. Sampson said.
While Acworth liked that software "more than we liked the one we have here," he said, the price tag was "out of our reach."
"The cost for OSSI is an initial investment of $300,000 financed over three years with an annual maintenance cost of $28,000 per year."
USA Software, the software the city currently uses, quoted Acworth a one-time upgrade cost of $80,000 a year with an annual maintenance cost of $24,000 a year.
With CourtWare, there's no upfront cost and upgrades are free.
"The way their price works is they take a certain dollar amount off of each paid citation through the court system," Sampson said. "Our current rate is $4 per paid citation. The increase would be four more dollars, raising it to $8 per paid citation to finance this software. And that $8 per paid citation would cover .Parking Guidance for parking management system and Vehicle Control Solutions,.. everything about the software. There would be no other investment."
The police department will need $20,000 to outfit the department with new hardware to get the software up and running by Jan. 1, 2013. It will also need $4,000 to convert its old data from USA Software into the new system.
None of the money will come out of the city's general fund. The police department will pay for those expenses with money collected from drug seizures.
Officers still have to save investigative reports on USB drives. They can't cross-check seemingly basic information while in the field. And the system's search function has limitations.
That's why Sampson made the pitch Monday night for a new system.
It's called CourtWare, and it won't cost the city anything. But more than that, it will eliminate redundancies and better assist the Acworth Police Department in investigations, Sampson told Mayor Tommy Allegood and the Board of Aldermen.
Currently, the police department, the court and the jail use different record systems.
"Not one of them," Sampson said, "communicates with the other."
So if an officer stops someone,Totech Americas delivers a wide range of drycabinets for applications spanning electronics, that officer can't check jail or court records during the stop.
"The only way to use the jail software is to drive back to the (police) station, sit down at a terminal and use it," Sampson said.
That's not the only limitation of USA Software, the system the city currently uses.
"For example," Sampson said, "Cherokee County calls us and says,A smooth and Glossy floor tile not only looks bright and clean, 'Hey, you've got any dealings with so and so?' We can only search the people who've been to our jail system as arrestees and we can only search (the) people who have been reported as victims of crimes."
With CourtWare, the police department will be able to pull up the names of anyone it has dealt with, whether they've been arrested or not. And it will also allow law enforcement personnel to quickly search reports for keywords.
"For example," Sampson said, "Cherokee calls again and says, 'Hey, we've just recovered six iPads, four cell phones and a GPS. Currently, unless someone in the detective division remembers the report about stolen iPads or stolen electronics, we can't find that report without looking through each report individually. This new system allows us to search through the narrative for 'iPads,' greatly aiding our investigative ability."
Entering and maintaining reports can also a hassle, Sampson said.
"Under the current system, there are five different saves for one report to make it from the police officer to the citizen. An officer saves it in his car, then he saves it onto a USB drive and walks it into the police department. Saves it onto a computer in the police department. His sergeant pulls up the report, reviews it and saves it into another location. Then the records division pulls that report up, reviews it, and saves it into its final resting place.
"Under the new system, there will not be multiple saves. Everything will be saved in the cloud so to speak. In real time. And once the file's created it will stay in its location until it reaches records and the end user."
The police department has looked at three software providers: CourtWare, USA Software and OSSI. More than 50 percent of the law enforcement agencies in Cobb use OSSI,This is a superb introduction to how Injection Mold tools are made. Sampson said.
While Acworth liked that software "more than we liked the one we have here," he said, the price tag was "out of our reach."
"The cost for OSSI is an initial investment of $300,000 financed over three years with an annual maintenance cost of $28,000 per year."
USA Software, the software the city currently uses, quoted Acworth a one-time upgrade cost of $80,000 a year with an annual maintenance cost of $24,000 a year.
With CourtWare, there's no upfront cost and upgrades are free.
"The way their price works is they take a certain dollar amount off of each paid citation through the court system," Sampson said. "Our current rate is $4 per paid citation. The increase would be four more dollars, raising it to $8 per paid citation to finance this software. And that $8 per paid citation would cover .Parking Guidance for parking management system and Vehicle Control Solutions,.. everything about the software. There would be no other investment."
The police department will need $20,000 to outfit the department with new hardware to get the software up and running by Jan. 1, 2013. It will also need $4,000 to convert its old data from USA Software into the new system.
None of the money will come out of the city's general fund. The police department will pay for those expenses with money collected from drug seizures.
Google Throws Open Doors to Its Top-Secret Data Center
Engineering prowess famously catapulted the 14-year-old search giant
into its place as one of the world’s most successful, influential, and
frighteningly powerful companies. Its constantly refined search
algorithm changed the way we all access and even think about
information. Its equally complex ad-auction platform is a perpetual
money-minting machine. But other, less well-known engineering and
strategic breakthroughs are arguably just as crucial to Google’s
success: its ability to build, organize, and operate a huge network of
servers and fiber-optic cables with an efficiency and speed that rocks
physics on its heels.A smooth and Glossy floor tile
not only looks bright and clean, Google has spread its infrastructure
across a global archipelago of massive buildings—a dozen or so
information palaces in locales as diverse as Council Bluffs, Iowa; St.
Ghislain, Belgium; and soon Hong Kong and Singapore—where an unspecified
but huge number of machines process and deliver the continuing
chronicle of human experience.
This is what makes Google Google: its physical network, its thousands of fiber miles, and those many thousands of servers that, in aggregate, add up to the mother of all clouds. This multibillion-dollar infrastructure allows the company to index 20 billion web pages a day. To handle more than 3 billion daily search queries. To conduct millions of ad auctions in real time. To offer free email storage to 425 million Gmail users. To zip millions of YouTube videos to users every day. To deliver search results before the user has finished typing the query. In the near future, when Google releases the wearable computing platform called Glass,The M3 Parking assist system has been designed from the ground up to solve traditional car park problems and more. this infrastructure will power its visual search results.Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery.
The problem for would-be bards attempting to sing of these data centers has been that, because Google sees its network as the ultimate competitive advantage, only critical employees have been permitted even a peek inside, a prohibition that has most certainly included bards. Until now.
Here I am, in a huge white building in Lenoir, standing near a reinforced door with a party of Googlers, ready to become that rarest of species: an outsider who has been inside one of the company’s data centers and seen the legendary server floor, referred to simply as “the floor.” My visit is the latest evidence that Google is relaxing its black-box policy. My hosts include Joe Kava, who’s in charge of building and maintaining Google’s data centers, and his colleague Vitaly Gudanets, who populates the facilities with computers and makes sure they run smoothly.
A sign outside the floor dictates that no one can enter without hearing protection, either salmon-colored earplugs that dispensers spit out like trail mix or panda-bear earmuffs like the ones worn by airline ground crews. (The noise is a high-pitched thrum from fans that control airflow.) We grab the plugs. Kava holds his hand up to a security scanner and opens the heavy door. Then we slip into a thunderdome of data …
Urs H?lzle had never stepped into a data center before he was hired by Sergey Brin and Larry Page. A hirsute, soft-spoken Swiss, H?lzle was on leave as a computer science professor at UC Santa Barbara in February 1999 when his new employers took him to the Exodus server facility in Santa Clara. Exodus was a colocation site, or colo, where multiple companies rent floor space. Google’s “cage” sat next to servers from eBay and other blue-chip Internet companies. But the search company’s array was the most densely packed and chaotic. Brin and Page were looking to upgrade the system, which often took a full 3.Parking Guidance for parking management system and Vehicle Control Solutions,5 seconds to deliver search results and tended to crash on Mondays. They brought H?zle on to help drive the effort.
It wouldn’t be easy. Exodus was “a huge mess,” H?lzle later recalled. And the cramped hodgepodge would soon be strained even more. Google was not only processing millions of queries every week but also stepping up the frequency with which it indexed the web, gathering every bit of online information and putting it into a searchable format. AdWords—the service that invited advertisers to bid for placement alongside search results relevant to their wares—involved computation-heavy processes that were just as demanding as search. Page had also become obsessed with speed, with delivering search results so quickly that it gave the illusion of mind reading, a trick that required even more servers and connections. And the faster Google delivered results, the more popular it became, creating an even greater burden. Meanwhile, the company was adding other applications, including a mail service that would require instant access to many petabytes of storage. Worse yet,Understanding what it means to study china kung fu at Shaolin Temple. the tech downturn that left many data centers underpopulated in the late ’90s was ending, and Google’s future leasing deals would become much more costly.
This is what makes Google Google: its physical network, its thousands of fiber miles, and those many thousands of servers that, in aggregate, add up to the mother of all clouds. This multibillion-dollar infrastructure allows the company to index 20 billion web pages a day. To handle more than 3 billion daily search queries. To conduct millions of ad auctions in real time. To offer free email storage to 425 million Gmail users. To zip millions of YouTube videos to users every day. To deliver search results before the user has finished typing the query. In the near future, when Google releases the wearable computing platform called Glass,The M3 Parking assist system has been designed from the ground up to solve traditional car park problems and more. this infrastructure will power its visual search results.Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery.
The problem for would-be bards attempting to sing of these data centers has been that, because Google sees its network as the ultimate competitive advantage, only critical employees have been permitted even a peek inside, a prohibition that has most certainly included bards. Until now.
Here I am, in a huge white building in Lenoir, standing near a reinforced door with a party of Googlers, ready to become that rarest of species: an outsider who has been inside one of the company’s data centers and seen the legendary server floor, referred to simply as “the floor.” My visit is the latest evidence that Google is relaxing its black-box policy. My hosts include Joe Kava, who’s in charge of building and maintaining Google’s data centers, and his colleague Vitaly Gudanets, who populates the facilities with computers and makes sure they run smoothly.
A sign outside the floor dictates that no one can enter without hearing protection, either salmon-colored earplugs that dispensers spit out like trail mix or panda-bear earmuffs like the ones worn by airline ground crews. (The noise is a high-pitched thrum from fans that control airflow.) We grab the plugs. Kava holds his hand up to a security scanner and opens the heavy door. Then we slip into a thunderdome of data …
Urs H?lzle had never stepped into a data center before he was hired by Sergey Brin and Larry Page. A hirsute, soft-spoken Swiss, H?lzle was on leave as a computer science professor at UC Santa Barbara in February 1999 when his new employers took him to the Exodus server facility in Santa Clara. Exodus was a colocation site, or colo, where multiple companies rent floor space. Google’s “cage” sat next to servers from eBay and other blue-chip Internet companies. But the search company’s array was the most densely packed and chaotic. Brin and Page were looking to upgrade the system, which often took a full 3.Parking Guidance for parking management system and Vehicle Control Solutions,5 seconds to deliver search results and tended to crash on Mondays. They brought H?zle on to help drive the effort.
It wouldn’t be easy. Exodus was “a huge mess,” H?lzle later recalled. And the cramped hodgepodge would soon be strained even more. Google was not only processing millions of queries every week but also stepping up the frequency with which it indexed the web, gathering every bit of online information and putting it into a searchable format. AdWords—the service that invited advertisers to bid for placement alongside search results relevant to their wares—involved computation-heavy processes that were just as demanding as search. Page had also become obsessed with speed, with delivering search results so quickly that it gave the illusion of mind reading, a trick that required even more servers and connections. And the faster Google delivered results, the more popular it became, creating an even greater burden. Meanwhile, the company was adding other applications, including a mail service that would require instant access to many petabytes of storage. Worse yet,Understanding what it means to study china kung fu at Shaolin Temple. the tech downturn that left many data centers underpopulated in the late ’90s was ending, and Google’s future leasing deals would become much more costly.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Could be driving with counterfeit airbags
Thousands of drivers may be on the roads in vehicles with faulty counterfeit airbags.
The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued a consumer safety advisory about the counterfeit bags.Advice from an experienced artist on what to consider before you buy oil painting supplies so your money is well spent.
Homeland Security tells WBTV a raid that took place in Indian Trail over the summer is related to this new warning. Officials say the raid is not the only reason, but is part of the investigation.
Replacement airbags will need to be replaced, at the owner's expense. That is because the airbags are not a manufacturing defect,The CenTrak rtls platform can address today's healthcare challenges.Soft Floor tiles is easier to install and perfect for all types of residential and commercial uses. and there hasn't been an actual recall.
"The bad actor here is the counterfeiters," said Bailey Wood, a spokesman for the National Automobile Dealers Association. "Because of that,This document provides a guide to using the Ventilation system in your house to provide adequate fresh air to residents. the cost to have an airbag evaluated and possibly replaced is going to be borne by the consumer."
The NHTSA says drivers most at risk are those who have replaced their air bags in the last three years at a shop other than the car dealership.
Officials also said only 0.1 percent of the U.S. vehicle fleet are makes and models for which counterfeit air bags are known to be available. That's about 250,000 vehicles.
The government tested eleven counterfeit bags last month and found ten of them did not inflate, or failed to inflate properly.
In one test, a counterfeit bag shot flames and shards of metal shrapnel at a crash dummy – instead of inflating.
NHTSA Administrator David Strickland showed a video of that test at a news conference earlier Wednesday.
"It is an extreme safety risk," said Strickland.
No deaths or injuries have been tied to the counterfeit bags, but it's unclear if investigators would be able to identify a counterfeit bag from a genuine bag.
About 1.5 million airbags are deployed each year in police-reported crashes, according to the Center for Auto Safety.
Clarence Ditlow, the executive director of the Center for Auto Safety says, "Airbags save several thousands of live annually. But they can't save lives if they have not been repaired properly."
The counterfeit airbags were manufactured by purchasing genuine auto airbags that were torn down and used to make molds to produce the counterfeit bags.
Trademark emblems were purchased through Honda, Toyota, Audi, BMW and other dealerships located in China and affixed to the counterfeit airbags.
The airbags were advertised on a website for "Guangzhou Auto Parts". The bags sold for approximately $50 to $70 each, far below the value of an authentic airbag, according to an official statement.
About 2,500 counterfeit airbags have been seized by law enforcement authorities so far this year, John Morton, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told reporters. Investigations are under way in several locations around the country, and further arrests and seizures are expected, he said.
Counterfeiting of a wide variety of auto parts has long been a well-known problem, industry officials said. But recent incidents have escalated concern by government officials.
In August, federal agents confiscated nearly 1,600 counterfeit airbags and arrested a North Carolina auto mechanic.
The mechanic was tied by federal officials to another counterfeit airbag case last year in Tennessee, the report said.
Dai Zhensong, a Chinese citizen, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in federal court in Chattanooga, Tenn., last February to 37 months in prison for trafficking in counterfeit airbags, according to a statement made at the time by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Zhensong was a part owner and manager of the international department of Guangzhou Auto Parts, which made a variety of auto parts, many of which were counterfeit,Shop for high quality wholesale glassmosaicchina products on Dhgate. the statement said. In 2010, he traveled from China to Chattanooga to sell additional counterfeit airbags and other auto parts.
Counterfeit bags are marketed to auto repair and body shops as the real deal, industry officials said. Auto dealerships that operate their own body shops are usually required by their franchise agreements to buy their parts, including airbags, directly from automakers and therefore are unlikely to have installed counterfeit bags.
But only 37 percent of auto dealers have their own body shops, according to the automobile dealers association. Many consumers whose vehicles have been damaged are referred by their insurance companies to auto body shops that aren't affiliated with an automaker.
NHTSA compiled a list of dozens of vehicle makes and models for which counterfeit airbags may be available. The agency cautions – the full scope of the problem is not yet clear, and officials expect the list to evolve.
The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued a consumer safety advisory about the counterfeit bags.Advice from an experienced artist on what to consider before you buy oil painting supplies so your money is well spent.
Homeland Security tells WBTV a raid that took place in Indian Trail over the summer is related to this new warning. Officials say the raid is not the only reason, but is part of the investigation.
Replacement airbags will need to be replaced, at the owner's expense. That is because the airbags are not a manufacturing defect,The CenTrak rtls platform can address today's healthcare challenges.Soft Floor tiles is easier to install and perfect for all types of residential and commercial uses. and there hasn't been an actual recall.
"The bad actor here is the counterfeiters," said Bailey Wood, a spokesman for the National Automobile Dealers Association. "Because of that,This document provides a guide to using the Ventilation system in your house to provide adequate fresh air to residents. the cost to have an airbag evaluated and possibly replaced is going to be borne by the consumer."
The NHTSA says drivers most at risk are those who have replaced their air bags in the last three years at a shop other than the car dealership.
Officials also said only 0.1 percent of the U.S. vehicle fleet are makes and models for which counterfeit air bags are known to be available. That's about 250,000 vehicles.
The government tested eleven counterfeit bags last month and found ten of them did not inflate, or failed to inflate properly.
In one test, a counterfeit bag shot flames and shards of metal shrapnel at a crash dummy – instead of inflating.
NHTSA Administrator David Strickland showed a video of that test at a news conference earlier Wednesday.
"It is an extreme safety risk," said Strickland.
No deaths or injuries have been tied to the counterfeit bags, but it's unclear if investigators would be able to identify a counterfeit bag from a genuine bag.
About 1.5 million airbags are deployed each year in police-reported crashes, according to the Center for Auto Safety.
Clarence Ditlow, the executive director of the Center for Auto Safety says, "Airbags save several thousands of live annually. But they can't save lives if they have not been repaired properly."
The counterfeit airbags were manufactured by purchasing genuine auto airbags that were torn down and used to make molds to produce the counterfeit bags.
Trademark emblems were purchased through Honda, Toyota, Audi, BMW and other dealerships located in China and affixed to the counterfeit airbags.
The airbags were advertised on a website for "Guangzhou Auto Parts". The bags sold for approximately $50 to $70 each, far below the value of an authentic airbag, according to an official statement.
About 2,500 counterfeit airbags have been seized by law enforcement authorities so far this year, John Morton, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told reporters. Investigations are under way in several locations around the country, and further arrests and seizures are expected, he said.
Counterfeiting of a wide variety of auto parts has long been a well-known problem, industry officials said. But recent incidents have escalated concern by government officials.
In August, federal agents confiscated nearly 1,600 counterfeit airbags and arrested a North Carolina auto mechanic.
The mechanic was tied by federal officials to another counterfeit airbag case last year in Tennessee, the report said.
Dai Zhensong, a Chinese citizen, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in federal court in Chattanooga, Tenn., last February to 37 months in prison for trafficking in counterfeit airbags, according to a statement made at the time by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Zhensong was a part owner and manager of the international department of Guangzhou Auto Parts, which made a variety of auto parts, many of which were counterfeit,Shop for high quality wholesale glassmosaicchina products on Dhgate. the statement said. In 2010, he traveled from China to Chattanooga to sell additional counterfeit airbags and other auto parts.
Counterfeit bags are marketed to auto repair and body shops as the real deal, industry officials said. Auto dealerships that operate their own body shops are usually required by their franchise agreements to buy their parts, including airbags, directly from automakers and therefore are unlikely to have installed counterfeit bags.
But only 37 percent of auto dealers have their own body shops, according to the automobile dealers association. Many consumers whose vehicles have been damaged are referred by their insurance companies to auto body shops that aren't affiliated with an automaker.
NHTSA compiled a list of dozens of vehicle makes and models for which counterfeit airbags may be available. The agency cautions – the full scope of the problem is not yet clear, and officials expect the list to evolve.
Middelburg Mall Features Thoughtful Architecture
The Mall offers 43 000 m2 of GLA
on a single level and has potential for further expansion. It offers 94 shops
that are anchored by retail giants Checkers, Woolworths, Edgars, Pick n Pay and
Game. Over half a million shoppers visited Middelburg Mall within the first
three weeks of opening - a convincing indicator of the potential ongoing success
of the mall.
The mall’s location, off the busy N4 highway with access from both the Fontein Street offramp and Tswelopele Avenue, makes it easily accessible to N4-road users and a wide catchment area.
Sean Pearce, a partner at MDS Architecture and lead partner on this project, says that an important consideration in the design was the honesty of materials used. “We emphasised the various materials and exposed structural elements of the building for interest,” he says.
An external hub for public transport was developed within the precinct of the mall to attract more visitors and improve traffic flow by providing a designated area for public transport. Middelburg Mall features parking for 2400 cars.
MDS Architecture has designed a shopping centre that entices shoppers with its contemporary design incorporating warm and inviting design elements.
The front entrances of the mall feature exposed steel and structural concrete. From the outside, the off-shutter concrete frames the exposed trusses, creating an eye catching portico. Rotating glass doors serve to minimise draught and dust penetration whilst keeping the entrances light-filled.
The finish on the exterior walls includes different types of brickwork and stone cladding. Red facebrick, plastered bricks and exposed stock bricks were all used with exposed roof sheeting and wall cladding to further evoke elements of a typical mining house.Shop for high quality wholesale glassmosaicchina products on Dhgate.
Pathways in front of the mall leading towards the entrances were specifically designed to enhance the traffic flow. Planted hedges were chosen instead of barriers to lead shoppers towards their destinations, creating balance and colour by the use of natural materials. Eye-catching sculptures have been used to good effect outside the entrances and in the interior of the building, adding a playful element.
Inside, high level clerestory windows have been used throughout to naturally light the malls and the feature courts.This is a superb introduction to how Injection Mold tools are made.The CenTrak rtls platform can address today's healthcare challenges. At night,Advice from an experienced artist on what to consider before you buy oil painting supplies so your money is well spent. these clerestory windows give the effect of a lantern viewed from afar.
The mall features five promotional courts.Service and equipment provider in professional Car park management system. Volume is a distinctive feature of the courts, as are the themed mosaic floor tiling designs inspired by Nguni cow hides. The flooring includes a combination of polished concrete and full bodied porcelain tiles.
Oversized chandeliers break down the scale of the large skylights, adding to the warm and homely feel whilst also drawing attention to the promotional areas. Directional signage on old-fashioned street lamps create further interest in the walkways.
Framed images of cows and sheep on the walls leading to the public toilets further evoke the farmhouse aesthetic, recycled timber ceiling and floor boards have been used to create these frames.
The walls and roofs have a rustic yet modern appeal. Exposed wooden trusses in the walkways contrast with modern bulkheads and concealed light troughs, these ensure the centre is light filled and comfortable. The red bricks in the walkways were further treated with a lime wash effect for a rustic yet contemporary appearance.
The structural concrete was left exposed above the shopfronts and entrance features as yet another respectful reminder of the raw materials used in the centre.
The mall’s location, off the busy N4 highway with access from both the Fontein Street offramp and Tswelopele Avenue, makes it easily accessible to N4-road users and a wide catchment area.
Sean Pearce, a partner at MDS Architecture and lead partner on this project, says that an important consideration in the design was the honesty of materials used. “We emphasised the various materials and exposed structural elements of the building for interest,” he says.
An external hub for public transport was developed within the precinct of the mall to attract more visitors and improve traffic flow by providing a designated area for public transport. Middelburg Mall features parking for 2400 cars.
MDS Architecture has designed a shopping centre that entices shoppers with its contemporary design incorporating warm and inviting design elements.
The front entrances of the mall feature exposed steel and structural concrete. From the outside, the off-shutter concrete frames the exposed trusses, creating an eye catching portico. Rotating glass doors serve to minimise draught and dust penetration whilst keeping the entrances light-filled.
The finish on the exterior walls includes different types of brickwork and stone cladding. Red facebrick, plastered bricks and exposed stock bricks were all used with exposed roof sheeting and wall cladding to further evoke elements of a typical mining house.Shop for high quality wholesale glassmosaicchina products on Dhgate.
Pathways in front of the mall leading towards the entrances were specifically designed to enhance the traffic flow. Planted hedges were chosen instead of barriers to lead shoppers towards their destinations, creating balance and colour by the use of natural materials. Eye-catching sculptures have been used to good effect outside the entrances and in the interior of the building, adding a playful element.
Inside, high level clerestory windows have been used throughout to naturally light the malls and the feature courts.This is a superb introduction to how Injection Mold tools are made.The CenTrak rtls platform can address today's healthcare challenges. At night,Advice from an experienced artist on what to consider before you buy oil painting supplies so your money is well spent. these clerestory windows give the effect of a lantern viewed from afar.
The mall features five promotional courts.Service and equipment provider in professional Car park management system. Volume is a distinctive feature of the courts, as are the themed mosaic floor tiling designs inspired by Nguni cow hides. The flooring includes a combination of polished concrete and full bodied porcelain tiles.
Oversized chandeliers break down the scale of the large skylights, adding to the warm and homely feel whilst also drawing attention to the promotional areas. Directional signage on old-fashioned street lamps create further interest in the walkways.
Framed images of cows and sheep on the walls leading to the public toilets further evoke the farmhouse aesthetic, recycled timber ceiling and floor boards have been used to create these frames.
The walls and roofs have a rustic yet modern appeal. Exposed wooden trusses in the walkways contrast with modern bulkheads and concealed light troughs, these ensure the centre is light filled and comfortable. The red bricks in the walkways were further treated with a lime wash effect for a rustic yet contemporary appearance.
The structural concrete was left exposed above the shopfronts and entrance features as yet another respectful reminder of the raw materials used in the centre.
Motorists with repaired cars urged to check
Thousands of motorists may be driving cars and trucks installed with
dangerous counterfeit airbags and they should have them replaced at
their own expense, the Obama administration warned Wednesday.
Most at risk are motorists who have had their airbags replaced over the past three years by a repair shop other than a new car dealership, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officials said.
Only 0.1 per cent of the U.S. vehicle fleet -- about 250,000 cars on the road -- are makes and models for which counterfeit airbags are known to be available, NHTSA said. Auto industry officials briefed by the agency said they were told that tens of thousands of car owners may be driving vehicles with counterfeit airbags.Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery.
An official at Transport Canada said the organization hasn't seen trouble with these counterfeit airbags in Canada.
"Aftermarket parts and service are regulated by provincial and territorial governments," said spokeswoman Maryse Durette in an emailed response.
"To date, Transport Canada has not received any complaints regarding these replacement airbags and is not aware of any deaths or injuries."
However she added that Transport Canada does investigate suspected safety-related manufacturing defects in vehicles and wants to know about these issues.
To report a suspected safety-related defect consumers may fill in our on-line complaint form Defect Complaint Form or call 1-800-333-0510.
In U.S. government tests last month of 11 counterfeit bags,We have a wide selection of dry cabinet to choose from for your storage needs. 10 didn't inflate or failed to inflate properly. In one test, a counterfeit bag shot flames and shards of metal shrapnel at a crash dummy instead of inflating, said NHTSA Administrator David Strickland, who showed a video of the test at a news conference.
"It is an extreme safety risk," he said.This is a superb introduction to how Injection Mold tools are made.
NHTSA is asking car owners to check a government website, www.Safercar.gov, for information on how to contact auto manufacturer call centres to learn if their vehicle model is among those for which counterfeit airbags are known to have been made.
No deaths or injuries have been tied to the counterfeit bags, NHTSA said. But it's unclear whether police accident investigators would be able to identify a counterfeit bag from a genuine one, industry officials said.
NHTSA has compiled a list of dozens of vehicle makes and models for which counterfeit airbags may be available, but the agency cautioned that the full scope of the problem isn't clear yet and the list is expected to "evolve over time."
If a car model is on the list and has had its airbags replaced during the past three years by a repair shop other than a new car dealership, NHTSA is asking owners to take the vehicle into a dealership or repair shop to be inspected at their own expense to determine whether the replaced airbags are counterfeit.
Fees for checking out airbags -- a complex and technical process -- could run between $100 to $200, said Bailey Wood, a spokesman for the National Automobile Dealers Association, said.Service and equipment provider in professional Car park management system. The cost of replacing a driver's side centre column airbag is $750 to $100, he said. Other airbags may be more, he said. Some types of cars have as many as eight airbags.
The problem isn't the result of a manufacturing defect by automakers and isn't a recall, NHTSA and industry officials said.
"The bad actor here is the counterfeiters," Wood said. "Because of that, the cost to have an airbag evaluated and possibly replaced is going to be borne by the consumer."
The counterfeit bags typically look like airbags made by automakers and usually include a manufacturer's logo. Government investigators believe many of the bags come from China, an industry official said.
The bags are marketed to auto repair and body shops as the real deal, industry officials said. Auto dealerships that operate their own body shops are usually required by their franchise agreements to buy their parts, including airbags, directly from automakers and therefore are unlikely to have installed counterfeit bags, industry officials said.
But only 37 per cent of auto dealers have their own body shops, according to the automobile dealers association. Many consumers whose vehicles have been damaged are referred by their insurance companies to auto body shops that aren't affiliated with an automaker.
Consumers who bought replacement airbags online or who have purchased a used car that may have its airbags replaced in the past three years were also asked to check NHTSA's list.
Counterfeiting of a wide variety of auto parts has long been a well-known problem, industry officials said. But recent incidents have escalated concern by government officials. In August, federal agents confiscated nearly 1,600 counterfeit airbags and arrested a North Carolina auto mechanic, according to a report by the Charlotte Observer. The mechanic was tied by federal officials to another counterfeit airbag case last year in Tennessee, the report said.
Dai Zhensong, a Chinese citizen, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in federal court in Chattanooga, Tenn., last February to 37 months in prison for trafficking in counterfeit airbags, according to a statement made at the time by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Zhensong was a part owner and manager of the international department of Guangzhou Auto Parts, which made a variety of auto parts, many of which were counterfeit, the statement said. In 2010, he travelled from China to Chattanooga to sell additional counterfeit airbags and other auto parts.Shop for high quality wholesale glassmosaicchina products on Dhgate.
The counterfeit airbags were manufactured by purchasing genuine auto airbags that were torn down and used to make moulds to produce the counterfeit bags. Trademark emblems were purchased through Honda, Toyota, Audi, BMW and other dealerships located in China and affixed to the counterfeit airbags. The airbags were advertised on the Guangzhou Auto Parts website and sold for approximately $50 to $70 each, far below the value of an authentic airbag, the statement said.
About 2,500 counterfeit airbags have been seized by law enforcement authorities so far this year, John Morton, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told reporters. Investigations are under way in several locations around the country, and further arrests and seizures are expected, he said.
Most at risk are motorists who have had their airbags replaced over the past three years by a repair shop other than a new car dealership, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officials said.
Only 0.1 per cent of the U.S. vehicle fleet -- about 250,000 cars on the road -- are makes and models for which counterfeit airbags are known to be available, NHTSA said. Auto industry officials briefed by the agency said they were told that tens of thousands of car owners may be driving vehicles with counterfeit airbags.Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery.
An official at Transport Canada said the organization hasn't seen trouble with these counterfeit airbags in Canada.
"Aftermarket parts and service are regulated by provincial and territorial governments," said spokeswoman Maryse Durette in an emailed response.
"To date, Transport Canada has not received any complaints regarding these replacement airbags and is not aware of any deaths or injuries."
However she added that Transport Canada does investigate suspected safety-related manufacturing defects in vehicles and wants to know about these issues.
To report a suspected safety-related defect consumers may fill in our on-line complaint form Defect Complaint Form or call 1-800-333-0510.
In U.S. government tests last month of 11 counterfeit bags,We have a wide selection of dry cabinet to choose from for your storage needs. 10 didn't inflate or failed to inflate properly. In one test, a counterfeit bag shot flames and shards of metal shrapnel at a crash dummy instead of inflating, said NHTSA Administrator David Strickland, who showed a video of the test at a news conference.
"It is an extreme safety risk," he said.This is a superb introduction to how Injection Mold tools are made.
NHTSA is asking car owners to check a government website, www.Safercar.gov, for information on how to contact auto manufacturer call centres to learn if their vehicle model is among those for which counterfeit airbags are known to have been made.
No deaths or injuries have been tied to the counterfeit bags, NHTSA said. But it's unclear whether police accident investigators would be able to identify a counterfeit bag from a genuine one, industry officials said.
NHTSA has compiled a list of dozens of vehicle makes and models for which counterfeit airbags may be available, but the agency cautioned that the full scope of the problem isn't clear yet and the list is expected to "evolve over time."
If a car model is on the list and has had its airbags replaced during the past three years by a repair shop other than a new car dealership, NHTSA is asking owners to take the vehicle into a dealership or repair shop to be inspected at their own expense to determine whether the replaced airbags are counterfeit.
Fees for checking out airbags -- a complex and technical process -- could run between $100 to $200, said Bailey Wood, a spokesman for the National Automobile Dealers Association, said.Service and equipment provider in professional Car park management system. The cost of replacing a driver's side centre column airbag is $750 to $100, he said. Other airbags may be more, he said. Some types of cars have as many as eight airbags.
The problem isn't the result of a manufacturing defect by automakers and isn't a recall, NHTSA and industry officials said.
"The bad actor here is the counterfeiters," Wood said. "Because of that, the cost to have an airbag evaluated and possibly replaced is going to be borne by the consumer."
The counterfeit bags typically look like airbags made by automakers and usually include a manufacturer's logo. Government investigators believe many of the bags come from China, an industry official said.
The bags are marketed to auto repair and body shops as the real deal, industry officials said. Auto dealerships that operate their own body shops are usually required by their franchise agreements to buy their parts, including airbags, directly from automakers and therefore are unlikely to have installed counterfeit bags, industry officials said.
But only 37 per cent of auto dealers have their own body shops, according to the automobile dealers association. Many consumers whose vehicles have been damaged are referred by their insurance companies to auto body shops that aren't affiliated with an automaker.
Consumers who bought replacement airbags online or who have purchased a used car that may have its airbags replaced in the past three years were also asked to check NHTSA's list.
Counterfeiting of a wide variety of auto parts has long been a well-known problem, industry officials said. But recent incidents have escalated concern by government officials. In August, federal agents confiscated nearly 1,600 counterfeit airbags and arrested a North Carolina auto mechanic, according to a report by the Charlotte Observer. The mechanic was tied by federal officials to another counterfeit airbag case last year in Tennessee, the report said.
Dai Zhensong, a Chinese citizen, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in federal court in Chattanooga, Tenn., last February to 37 months in prison for trafficking in counterfeit airbags, according to a statement made at the time by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Zhensong was a part owner and manager of the international department of Guangzhou Auto Parts, which made a variety of auto parts, many of which were counterfeit, the statement said. In 2010, he travelled from China to Chattanooga to sell additional counterfeit airbags and other auto parts.Shop for high quality wholesale glassmosaicchina products on Dhgate.
The counterfeit airbags were manufactured by purchasing genuine auto airbags that were torn down and used to make moulds to produce the counterfeit bags. Trademark emblems were purchased through Honda, Toyota, Audi, BMW and other dealerships located in China and affixed to the counterfeit airbags. The airbags were advertised on the Guangzhou Auto Parts website and sold for approximately $50 to $70 each, far below the value of an authentic airbag, the statement said.
About 2,500 counterfeit airbags have been seized by law enforcement authorities so far this year, John Morton, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told reporters. Investigations are under way in several locations around the country, and further arrests and seizures are expected, he said.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)