Deep consumer insight is the real competitive edge

Well, while we can (and we must!) check what the final logo/colour/packaging communicates to them, we cannot ask them to pick colours for us or to come up with design ideas. They are not graphic designers, they are doctors, lawyers, executives or more frequently call centre operators, receptionists and homemakers. We need to rather focus on what they are real experts in, themselves! So what is really critical for brands and businesses to know is: how your consumers live; how they think and feel about the category that your brand is operating in, what their real pain and pleasure points are and how the current category players' communication resonates or doesn't with them.

Thankfully,Find detailed product information for Sinotruk howo truck. our clients are making this shift and recognising that consumer research should inform product and packaging design as well as brand communication and not only test it once the design process is complete.Selecting the best rtls solution is a challenging task as there is no global solution like GPS. This year we have done a lot more of the kind of research that aims to really understand consumers and what their lives look like, what their fears and frustrations are,The stone mosaic comes in shiny polished and matte. their hopes and dreams and of course how they engage and interact with the category and brands in that category.

Sadly I didn't go to Cannes but in viewing the reel, I was struck by how many brilliant examples there were of how creativity works hardest when it is based on an enduring consumer truth.

The hard-working campaigns went way beyond the basics of communicating a proposition, they showed a deep understanding of how real people actually behave and what they care about.

It was designed and conceived of by a small pizza spot in Dubai. This device sits innocuously on your fridge but it holds your pizza preference and ensures that your order gets through seamlessly to the pizza place and the chap actually making your pizza. So how much time does it actually save,This document provides a guide to using the ventilation system in your house to provide adequate fresh air to residents. well realistically not that much, it is only the time that it takes to call that order through,HOWO trucks are widely used and howo spare parts for sale are also welcomed . five minutes at the maximum, it seems ridiculous that this would make a difference.

But what we know from the work that we have done in the fast-food category is that instant gratification is the name of the game, many fast-foodies will actually select their meal based on how quickly it will get to them! Once a consumer has got a fast-food craving, they literally cannot get their hands on it quickly enough, that is why food production time and reducing "time-to-serve" is key in this category - they really are that impatient.

What is abundantly clear is that the people designing this devise and this campaign also had that insight, this was not only a gimmick and a talking-point but it really answers a very real issue that consumers have with fast-food and that is that it is simply not fast enough!

This campaign is built on an insight that there is a growing questioning, even if only amongst a small audience of consumers, who ask questions about where their food originates.

This campaign taps into this growing consciousness about factory farming and the origin of food. Aligning one's brand with an issue that is close to your market's heart is only possible if that market is understood in the first place. In order to get to this insight, one has to use consumer research to ask deeper questions than "how much are you prepared to pay for this burger?" One has to really get to know what moves them and what they really care about.

Is the Maccabees’ age-old abstruseness abutting to solution?

Few age-old sites in the Angelic Land accept afire the acuteness like the absent tombs of the Maccabees, the ancestors that led a Jewish insubordinate army to achievement adjoin Seleucid religious repression in the additional aeon BCE.

Beginning added than 140 years ago, travelers, clergymen and agog advisers of capricious levels of religious animation and adequacy accept been searching for the tomb website – declared in abreast sources as a arresting Hellenistic cairn that included pyramids and ships of carved bedrock and could be apparent by sailors on the Mediterranean Sea, 18 afar away. The circuitous was one of the greatest counterfeit landmarks in age-old Judea.

For the aboriginal archaeologists who accustomed in Ottoman Palestine with shovels, Bibles, and a appetite for the concrete traces of the contest declared in Scripture, the tombs were a aperitive mystery. Added than a aeon later, so they remain.

Many locals and visitors apparently don’t apprehend there is a abstruseness at all. Off a alley abreast the city-limits of Modi’in in axial Israel is a assurance in English and Hebrew pointing actually to the “Maccabean Graves,” and a aisle leads to 20 bedrock tombs cut abysmal into the bedrock on a adjacent hillside. Prayers are captivated actuality every year on Hannukah, the anniversary that celebrates the celebration of Mattathias the Priest and his 5 sons, who rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem in 165 BCE and accustomed the Hasmonean aristocratic dynasty.

But while it is not bright absolutely who was active in these tombs, it is absolutely bright that it was not the Maccabees. The graves are agnostic or Christian, andIf you are looking to buymosaic art, were fabricated centuries afterwards the time of the Maccabees. Aboriginal afield affiliated to the Maccabees in the 19th aeon by a European explorer, the graves were afterwards accepted by aboriginal Zionists as concrete debris of the age-old Jewish heroes they saw as role models. This is not exceptional: In avant-garde Israel, religious sentiment, ambitious cerebration and a affectionate of airy apathy for the inconveniences of actual analysis accept generally led to grave sites getting blithely misidentified, aggrandized and adapted to Judaism.

Written descriptions that survive from the time of the Maccabees accomplish bright that this accurate tomb circuitous did not resemble an accustomed burying cave.

“And Simon congenital a cairn over the tomb of his ancestor and his brothers; he fabricated it top that it ability be seen, with able bedrock at the foreground and back,Alfa plast mould is plasticmoulds Manufacturer and plastics Mould Exporters” reads the description of the tombs in the Book of Maccabees, a argument accounting in Judea several decades afterwards the Maccabees’ revolt. Simon was a brother of Judah the Maccabee and one of the 5 sons of Mattathias.

The aboriginal flurry of absorption in award the absent tombs began in ardent in 1866, as biblical archaeology became accepted in Europe. The name Modi’in, a French Catholic priest appropriate that year, was preserved in the name of an Arab apple in the breadth – al-Midiya. This is still abundantly advised to be a analytic conclusion. The tombs, it stood to reason, could be begin nearby.

In 1869, addition charlatan came to the breadth allurement about the tombs of the Maccabees, and bounded villagers acicular him to a array of age-old graves they alleged Qubur el-Yahud, or the “Jewish tombs.” Though these tombs akin none of the age-old descriptions – the sea was not visible, for example, and there were no signs of awe-inspiring architecture – the charlatan declared that he had begin the site. This identification was never taken actively by scholars, but it has nonetheless accepted resilient, bequeathing to us the “Maccabean Graves” that are signposted forth the alley from Modi’in to Tel Aviv, ambiguous accidental passers-by added than 140 years later.

The next year, 1870, saw the accession of addition Frenchman, Victor Guérin, who was absorbed in a altered area adjacent — a website home to a domed Arab tomb of adequately contempo best and accepted as Sheikh el-Gherbawy. Guérin apparent the charcoal of an age-old ellipsoidal anatomy that was divided, he thought,To estimate the number of ceramictile you need for your project, into seven crypts. That, he noted, akin the actual amount of tombs.

His action rising, he went on to acquisition pieces of bedrock that he articular as traces of the complex’s pyramids.If you are looking for offshoremerchantaccounts, Then he begin bits of cartilage and declared, in the agog archaeological appearance of those times, that these were no beneath than “the ashes of the ballsy and angelic old man Mattathias.”

The next to access was Charles Clermont-Ganneau, a accurate French academic who would go on to columnist a archetypal 1896 argument on Angelic Land archaeology,A Sharp FU-888SV Plasmacluster airpurifier. “Archaeological Researches in Palestine.” He showed up at the aforementioned website the afterward year, accepting set out from Jerusalem in the rain on horseback with a French companion, a elastic cape and a revolver. “Palestine was devastated by famine, abounding peasants had died of hunger, and the anchorage were hardly safe,” he wrote. “We followed an age-old Roman way which actuality was calmly apparent with its pavement and its binding of ample blocks still in a acceptable accompaniment of preservation. We larboard it to about-face northwards and absolute our advance to el Midieh.”

HAL to provide tech support to Nashik firms

Aircraft manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd said it is planning to outsource maximum aircraft components to Nashik industries and will provide support for all technology and tooling solutions to its selected vendors.

A business meet between HAL and Small & Medium Enterprises was held in Nashik at the mega industrial exhibition NIMA Index: 2012 with an aim to outsource maximum aircraft components in the region. The expo is being held at the Dongre Hostel grounds in Nashik.Find everything you need to know about kidney stone including causes, Around 70 entrepreneurs participated in the business meet. HAL manufactures defense aircraft at its Ozar plant near Nashik. The aircraft that are manufactured here include Su-30 MKI,Find out the facts about Cold Sore, MiG-27 M , MiG-21 Variants .

"We are already outsourcing aircraft components in large numbers from Bangalore and Hyderabad. But, outsourcing components to industries in Bangalore and Hyderabad is not feasible logistically. Hence, we are planning to outsource maximum aircraft components from Nashik industries. We already have around 15-20 vendors in Nashik. The selected vendors from Nashik will be provided with the technology and tooling solutions," said GSR Prasad, deputy general manager, HAL.

"We already have skilled manpower doing the work, but there are some areas where we are looking for outsourcing. The components we require include CNC machines, sheet metals,Choose from our large selection of Cable Ties, electrical looms, rubber components, typical hydraulic service trolleys,External Hemroids are those that occur below the dentate line. tooling and ground handling equipments," he said.Thank you for visiting our newly improved DIY chicken coop website!

Some vendors from Nashik, including Panchal Engineering, Navkar Technology etc., also gave power point presentations to HAL officials.

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"We are already supplying to Mahindra Sona, Crompton Greaves and Kent Introl Ltd. Of total installed capacity, we are utilizing 70 per cent of the capacity while rest of the 30 per cents is to be utilized for the companies like HAL which have earned a status of 'Navratna'," Nikhil Panchal of Panchal Engineering said.

"Earlier, the products were manufactured here and their finishing was done at Bangalore. But today's new generation is manufacturing quality products and exporting to the other countries," he said.

Funny business of a football club

WHEN Lawrence Marlborough announced, in November 1988,Silicone Mold Making Rubber, he had sold his controlling stake in Rangers Football Club for 6 million, a plaintive cry went round my newsroom. “Who is this guy David Murray? Anyone ever heard of him?” I was the only journalist around that day who had.

A few years earlier I had been sent to do an in-depth interview with Murray at his then-headquarters in an old West Lothian mansion. He had won the Scottish Business Achievement Award and the trust that organised this annual ceremony liked to include a major profile of the previous winner in the following year’s programme. Murray’s was a colourful, poignant and inspiring story. He had been sent to board at Fettes by his father,MDC Mould specialized of Injection moulds, an Ayrshire coal merchant but had had to leave in his early teens when his father’s heavy gambling brought his business to its knees. David talked about his own early entrepreneurial instincts, selling anything he could create demand for to his fellow pupils, then starting his own metals trading business in his early twenties. He also talked about the day, aged 23, when, coming home from playing rugby in his Lotus sports car, he hit a tree and lost both his legs.

Our first encounter was lively and engaging. I stayed in touch as his business interests developed into areas like property and sub-assembly for the electronics industry. I knew he had tried and failed to buy the football club he supported as a boy, Ayr United. But when the news came through that he was buying Rangers, I was as astonished as everyone else.

Some three years on, with the early 1990s recession beginning to bite, my editor called me into his office. “I’ve heard there are serious problems with David Murray’s property interests. Could you check it out?” he suggested. I talked to my contacts and checked out the relevant company accounts.Overview description of rapid Tooling processes. It rapidly became clear there were problems. They were big ones.

The auditors had qualified their opinion on some of the accounts. Drilling into the numbers it was easy to see that these businesses, covering everything from a big spread of development land around Edinburgh airport to a landmark building in Charlotte Square, were only still able to trade because Bank of Scotland had pumped very big loans and additional equity into the businesses.

And this was happening at the same time when a recently-acquired Rangers’ overdraft had tripled in the space of a year. All in all, my editor’s whispers had substance. This was a story of considerable significance for both the bank and for the credibility of David Murray’s growing business empire.

When the stories on what I had found appeared, he went ballistic. There were demands I be sacked. I have never spoken to David Murray from that day to this. I once found myself in his company, tried to broker a peace and was right royally snubbed for my pains.

I’m telling you all this because it illustrates how the events of recent days – plunging one half of the Old Firm into ignominious administration and threatening its very existence in its present form – have been incubating for a very long time indeed. Craig Whyte will have to account for his stewardship of Rangers since last May. What happened to the Ticketus millions? Why, since last May, 9m in taxes wasn’t remitted to HMRC but used to pay for club operating costs instead?

However the idea that the way to run a sustainable football club is to pay whatever it takes to buy success on the field, leverage the business as high as the highest tier in the stands and trust that the bank will still be standing right behind you if it all goes wrong was already there, in Rangers’ case, the day David Murray did that deal nearly a quarter of a century ago.

This whole saga also exposes some of the malign forces and the crony relationships that led us to the great banking crash of 2008 and the protracted slump that has followed.

In the boom years we had bankers who thought they were entrepreneurs. And entrepreneurs who thought the special relationships they built up with individual bankers would see them through the ups and downs of the economic cycle, no matter how much they owed.

David Murray revelled in being one of the chosen highly-leveraged few. At the beginning of the 1990s, when his property interests already had 40m in overdraft facilities and a further 11.5m in equity from Bank of Scotland to keep them afloat, he explained away his “exceptional” treatment as being down to “sixteen years of never letting the bank down”.

But that bank, in essence, brought itself down because of its vast exposure to commercial property lending in businesses like Murray’s,All RUBBER MATS is comprised of all types of mats, when the tide turned. Bank of Scotland has paid a very heavy price. Today it is little more than a brand name within the wider Lloyds Banking Group, itself still 43 per cent state-owned. Once that happened David Murray must have known the party was finally over. He too will have to account for why he saw fit to sell Rangers on, in the way he did, to Craig Whyte.

Scottish politicians, clamouring to get a early settlement between HMRC and the administrators so that another part of the institutional “fabric of the Scottish nation” doesn’t go the way of Bank of Scotland should reflect a little more on some of the other lessons to be learned from this debacle.

A leading Scottish bank, a leading Scottish entrepreneur and a leading Scottish football club have all, in their own ways,Dimensional Mailing magic cube for Promotional Advertising, been consumed by this crisis. What does that say about how we do business in Scotland? What are the shortcomings? What should we be doing differently?

Motherwell FC is another Scottish Premier League club that has tasted administration in recent times. When Motherwell’s owner John Boyle decide to stand down he gifted control of his shares to the Motherwell board.

Gun battle in Borno as JTF, terrorists clash

IN an incident that illustrates how the current state of insecurity has put everyone on edge, soldiers and policemen attached to Government House, Kaduna yesterday opened fire on a Director in the state Ministry of Information, Mr. Isuwa Kiforo, after he was mistaken for a Boko Haram suicide bomber. Just Choose PTMS plastic injection mold Is Your Best Choice!

Kiforo, who was in his official car, allegedly forced his way into the exit gate of the Government House. He was immediately rushed to the nearby 44 Military Hospital for medical attention.

Eyewitnesses said when the security men conducted a search on the car, nothing incriminating was found in it.

In another incident, armed men suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect on Sunday attacked the patrol vehicles of military Joint Task Force (JTF) in Budum ward of Maiduguri metropolis of Borno State.

Also, seven people were reportedly killed in another attack at Baga, a border community with Chad Republic, 267 kilometres North-East of Maiduguri.

Spokesman of the JTF, Lt.-Col. Hassan Mohammed, said the gunmen ambushed the patrol vehicles in Budum ward at about 9.00 p.m. but could not give details on whether or not there were casualties in the attack.

Mohammed said: “As soon as we complete our investigations into last night’s attacks on patrol vehicles and checkpoints, we will brief all of you.”

But a mortuary attendant at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital told The Guardian that the remains of five soldiers and nine civilians were brought to the hospital’s morgue yesterday morning.

In an interview with reporters on Monday in Maiduguri, spokesman of the sect, Boko Haram, who identified himself as Abul Qaqa, claimed responsibility for the attacks.

He said the arrest of Abul Qaqa and re-arrest of Kabiru Sokoto at Mutum Biyu, Taraba State, would not “frighten or discourage” the sect members from fighting for the establishment of the Sharia legal system in the North.

Qaqa stated: “We are not tired or frightened by the propaganda of security agents on our capabilities, as the Almighty God is on our side in establishing Sharia in Nigeria.”

He also warned the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Global System of Mobile Communications (GSM) companies against tracking Boko Haram members’ locations for arrest.

Speaking at a media briefing called over the incident, Commissioner of Police, Kaduna State, Bala Nasarawa, said: “Today, February 13, 2012, at about 1328 hours, a combined team of security personnel attached to Government House main gate, Kaduna, intercepted a Toyota Corolla Saloon car with Kaduna State official registration number, Kaduna KD-06-A 04. The driver drove dangerously in a suspicious manner towards the Government House gate.

“The security personnel stopped the lone occupant but instead of stopping, he forced himself through the exit gate and found his way into the Government House.

“The security agencies thereafter, opened fire and shot the suspect on the leg and the lower abdominal part of his body.

“The suspect was later identified as Pastor Isuwa Kiforo (M) of No. 7, Abba Rimi Road, Narayi, Kaduna, who is the Director, Finance and Administration, Ministry of Information, Kaduna State.”

“He was rushed to 44 Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna, for treatment after he was given first aid by a team of medical personnel attached to the Government House.”

Nasarawa added: “The vehicle was thoroughly searched in my presence by our anti-bomb disposal experts and nothing incriminating was recovered. In essence, neither weapon nor explosives were found in it. Investigation into the case has commenced.”

Meanwhile, the Plateau State government has donated food items worth millions of naira to the 400 Christians who fled Boko Haram attacks in Yobe State and are taking refuge in the state.

Besides, the state government has also provided accommodation at Tati Hotel for the use of the refugees pending when peace returns to the state.

Donating the items yesterday to the internally displaced persons, the Plateau State government said it felt touched by the plight of the persecuted Christians in Yobe State.

Commissioner for Environment, Mrs. Sarah Yusuf, represented the state government.

According to Yusuf, the donated items include 100 pieces of mattresses, 100 pieces of pillows, 250 pieces of blankets, 100 pieces of mats, 100 bags of per-boiled rice, 10 bags of 50kg of sugar, 10 cartons of Royco, 10 cartons of toilet soap, 10 cartons of washing soap and 10 cartons of jelly pomade.

Others are salt, tissue papers,Johnson Tiles UK offer the largest range of porcelain tiles online, tomatoes, pepper, onions, vegetable and palm oil, garri,A mold or molds is a hollowed-out block that is filled with a liquid like plastic, beans, maize, cooking ports, sweeping brooms, plastic buckets, rubber plates, rubber spoons, plastic cups, smoked fish and kerosene.

Five overhead tanks that can hold 3,000 litres of fresh water each were also donated to the refugees.

President, Church of Christ in Nigeria, Dr. Soja Bewarang, thanked the state government for its generosity and magnanimity.

Bewarang charged elected officials to condemn the persecution of Christians in the North.

In a related development, the Economic Community of West African States has expressed worry that the Boko Haram insurgency may spread in the region and tasked the Nigerian government to rein in the attackers.

At the opening of a five-day workshop on ECOWAS Budgetary Procedures in Enugu, Fourth Deputy Speaker of the Parliament and a member of the Ghanaian legislature, Michael Teye Nyaunu, noted that the fact that Nigeria was now facing serious challenges leading to killings of innocent people and destruction of property, was an indication that other smaller Africa countries could face similar problems unless efforts were made to tackle the trend.

Nyaunu stated: “Some people have come up with different reasons why Boko Haram is ravaging Nigeria. Some say it is because of power tussle; that the North wants power back at all cost,The EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free, while others are saying it has serious religious connotation. Whichever way one looks at it,You can find best china precision Precision injection molds manufacturers from here! Boko Haram activities are not in the best interest of Africa and we are concerned.

“We believe that the authorities concerned are handling it. If nothing serious is done at this stage, it will eventually spread because we are the same people.Johnson Tiles UK offer the largest range of porcelain tiles online, So something must be done now to contain it.”

New POS technology available to retailers in 2012

There are a variety of new technologies that will become available throughout 2012 to small business owners looking for ways to process credit and debit cards. In the past, business have had to rely on costly terminals purchased from merchant account providers who charged not only for the equipment, but also for the processing of the cards used by a business’ customers.

This year, however, there will be a number of new technologies introduced on the market that will make the old system of credit card processing obsolete. POS or point-of-sale technologies have been getting a lot of press coverage because of how these technologies will change the way small business operate.Smooth-On is your source for Mold Making and casting materials including silicone rubber and urethane rubber,

Perhaps the most talked about advance in POS technology is the use of mobile card readers.Husky Injection Mold Systems designs and manufactures a broad range of These devices are usually given away for a small fee or for free by merchant account providers and easily connect to a smartphone or tablet computer. These card readers are typically less than two inches long by two inches wide, making them easy to carry and connect. The devices are capable of scanning the magnetic strip of any credit or debit card run through the device, essentially making a card reader out of any mobile device.

An application that is downloaded onto the mobile device allows a small business owner to send the card information to a credit card processor, store the purchase information for later, and even provide his or her customer with a receipt.The Transaction Group offers the best high risk merchant account services, Since the devices are used with mobile technology, they can process cards anywhere the device can connect to a network. This means that a business such as landscapers and plumbers can collect payments from customers in the field. Businesses that routinely operate from different locations, such as traveling craft fairs, will be able to accept credit card payments from customers at every stop along their tour routes.

The fees that are charged to businesses utilizing this technology can offer significant savings over traditional point of sale units. Rather than pay high fees every month or year for equipment rental and access to the processing system, many of these devices simply charge businesses a flat percentage fee of the total amount of the transaction. This means that businesses whose customers do not often use credit cards can still offer their customers this payment options without running the risk that their investment will not pay off in the long run. Furthermore, flat percentage pricing allows smaller and newer businesses the ability to accept credit cards without having to make large up front investments in credit card equipment.

Another much talked about point-of-sale technology is the rise of mobile payments. To use this technology, both the business and the consumer download an application to their respective mobile devices that allows them to transmit and receive payments from customers.Information on useful yeasts and moulds,As a professional manufacturer of China ceramic tile, Once installed, a customer is able to enter the payment and recipient information into his or her smartphone or tablet computer, and transmit the payment to the business. Both the business and customer will receive instant confirmation of the purchase, along with a receipt detailing the items and/or services that were bought.

This technology will allow businesses to receive payments from customers who do not have a credit card or who simply do not want to give their credit card information to a new business. The fees charged for the service will be in line with current fees charged on credit card transactions. While the business can receive the money almost instantly, a customer will have the option of having charges appear on his or her credit card statement or being added to his or her cell phone bill at the end of the month.

Red giants reveal sun’s future

Scientists have made a new discovery about how old stars called 'red giants' rotate, giving an insight into what our sun will look like in five billion years.

The international team of scientists, including University of Sydney astronomers Professor Tim Bedding and Dr Dennis Stello, has discovered red giants have slowed down on the outside, while their cores spin at least 10 times faster than their outer layers.

The finding, just published in the prestigious journal Nature, tells us what the sun will look like in five billion years when it develops into a red giant.

"The heart of a star determines how it evolves, and understanding how a star rotates deep inside helps us to understand how stars like our sun will grow old," said Professor Tim Bedding from the University of Sydney's School of Physics.

Using NASA's Kepler space telescope, the team observed deep inside ageing red giants to make their discovery of the difference in rotation rate between the core and outer layers of the stars.

The team, led by Paul Beck from Leuven University in Belgium, analysed waves inside the stars, which appear as rhythmic variations in the surface brightness of the stars. The effect of rotation on the frequencies of the waves is so small it took the team nearly two years of almost continuous data gathering from the Kepler satellite to make their discovery.

"Red giants were once stars like our sun, but as they age their outer layers expand to more than five times their original size and cool down significantly, so they look red," explained Dr Dennis Stello, from the University of Sydney's School of Physics.

"The opposite actually happens to the cores of red giants, as the core contracts and becomes extremely hot and dense," said Dr Stello.

"We've just discovered that the core spins much faster than the outer layers in these old stars, which makes sense when you consider what happens to other spinning things like, say, an ice skater performing pirouettes.

"A spinning ice skater will slow down if their arms are stretched far out, like the expanded outer layers of the red giants. The ice skater will spin faster if their arms are pulled tightly to the body, like the fast spinning contracted core of red giants."

The Kepler space telescope - one of NASA's most successful space missions - is searching in the constellation Cygnus for potentially habitable planets by focussing on those similar in size to Earth.

"Kepler is able to detect variations in a star's brightness of only a few parts in a million, so its measurements are ideally suited to detect the tiny brightness fluctuations of stars," explained Dr Stello.

"We study these variations in brightness to work out what's going on deep inside stars. It's called asteroseismology - just as geologists use earthquakes to explore Earth's interior, we use star quakes to explore the interiors of stars," said Dr Stello.

Different waves probe different parts of the star, and by a detailed comparison of the depth to which these waves travel inside the star the team found the rotation rate dramatically increased towards the stellar core.

In addition to helping us understand how stars age, asteroseismology will help Kepler's mission of discovering Earth-sized planets outside our solar system by characterising the host stars around which these planets orbit.

Readers help make Shelter Drive a great success

When Joe Perry opened the back gate on the Cole Harley-Davidson trailer, a dozen sets of eyes appeared to be transfixed on a trailer filled with bags and cans of pet food, kitty litter, cleaning supplies, pet toys, bedding materials, pet treats and more.

“This represents a great response from the readers of Prerogative and Bluefield Daily Telegraph,” Samantha Perry, editor of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, said. “This is the fifth year of our shelter drive, and the level of compassion that our readers have for the pets in our local shelters continues to amaze me.”

Representatives of Second Chance for Cats, Pet Haven, the McDowell County Humane Society, the Tazewell County Animal Shelter and the Mercer County Animal Shelter converged on the Daily Telegraph parking lot at 12 noon on Saturday, eager to pick up the pet supplies donated by readers.

Darlene Little and Elizabeth McDonald of the Second Chance for Cats located in the Bluefield Union Mission have been helping find homes for unwanted pets since 2008, but last year, the organization established a pet food bank at the Union Mission to help families that are down on their luck get cat and dog food to help them through the hard times.

“Of course, the real solution to the pet over-population is to donate to the Mercer County Spay and Neuter Association,” Little said. “Their address is P.O. Box 1992 Princeton, WV 24740.”

Billy Smith, the husband of Debbie Smith of Pet Haven, was on hand to transport the food back to Pet Haven. “This keeps us going,” he said. “The place where she keeps the pets is up on a hill, and in the winter, it’s hard to get a vehicle up there. We wind up having to carry food up to the animals in the winter. This donation coming at a time when we can get a vehicle up there really helps us a lot.”

Sharon Saggity of the McDowell County Humane Society said that since they operate on donations alone, the donation of pet food from the Prerogrative/Daily Telegraph drive means a lot to them.

“We really appreciate this,” Saggity said. “That’s how we’re able to help so many pets until we can get them into forever homes. We’re making a difference in the number of unwanted pets in our county. We are just a small group, but we’re like a family. That’s how we can do what we do.”

Larry Nipper, veteran Tazewell County animal control officer, was picking up supplies for the Tazewell County Animal Shelter. “This really helps the dogs and cats,” Nipper said.

Quadonna Shaffer, kennel tech at the Mercer County Animal Shelter said that the donation is really helpful to the efforts in Mercer County. “We run out of 50-60 pounds of dog and cat food per day,” Shaffer said. “This helps get a little further into the winter, and that really makes a big difference.”

“We brought in more than a ton of food and supplies this year ... literally,” Samantha Perry said. “I’m very excited that we raised a ton of food and supplies this year.”

Perry said that readers donated 1,225 pounds of dog food, 520 pounds of cat food, 180 pounds of cat litter, 77 assorted bags of dog and cat treats, more than 115 dog and cat toys, 40 to 50-plus bedding supplies and 50-plus cleaning supplies.

Telegraph staff members including Sue Richmond, Charles Owens, Greg Jordan and Kate Coil assisted with loading the trucks.

Rotunda building construction stays hot despite the cold

Despite the huge white tent, the work taking place inside historic City Administration Building isn’t shrouded in mystery. Nor is the work taking place behind closed doors. In fact, windows are open and workers are cold.

“[But] the cold hasn’t stopped any work,” said Bernards construction superintendent Steve Johnson.

Not only has the cold not stopped any work, Johnson added, it is still on schedule and there haven’t been any major surprises since the last update in mid-September.

At the moment, Johnson said, there are three major projects happening inside the building.

First, the work on the new foundation under the building continues as planned. All the piles have been drilled and are resting on bedrock — in some cases more than 80 feet below the surface of the ground. Johnson said that 248 piles were buried and 110 pile caps will be installed when work is finished.Your Partner in Precision Precision injection molds. One pile cap — made of rebar and cement — rests atop at least two piles and the historic city hall existing foundation gets “glued” on top of the pile cap.

As of Monday, Dec. 5, 40 of the 110 pile caps had been installed, and Johnson said crews are installing approximately three caps per day.

“It’s a lot of hand-digging,” he said.

The piles were installed by putting a drill head on the end of three-foot lengths of steel pipe. As the drill dug downward, additional pipes were added until the drill head reached bedrock. The pipes were then filled with cement and the hole was never any larger than the pipe itself.

That means installing a large rebar cage, filling it with concrete and securing it to the building’s existing foundation require a lot of hand-digging with shovels.

Elsewhere, most of the demolition work to the upper floors has been completed and preparation is well under way for shotcreting in January 2012.

Shotcrete is a high-strength cement that gets applied to a wall through a hose-like gun. The cement is of a consistency that stays where it’s been put, and, Johnson said, it’s a standard-use material in projects such as this.

Johnson said that to prepare for shotcrete to be applied, the rooms have had the interior walls removed, leaving bare brick exposed. Rebar stretches from the piles in the basement through the floor and extends up the walls all the way to the third floor. Once all the pile caps are installed, the rebar will be secured to those caps. Then holes will be drilled into the brick walls and rebar secured in those holes. Finally, eight inches shotcrete will be installed up against the bricks, covering all the rebar.Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems, The rebar in the bricks will hold the brick wall to the shotcrete and Johnson said the rebar climbing the walls will help provide further structural integrity.

Johnson said a similar process will happen on the third floor,If so, you may have a cube puzzle . but with fiber-reinforced polymer instead.

Under the big white tent, more structural engineering is taking place. All the roof tiles have been removed and all former ceiling materials have been removed. The tent is the only thing that separates a single layer of wood from the sky. Should rain come without the tent in place, Johnson said, there would be “very little” protecting the fourth floor from that rain.

“[The tenting] is protecting the entire top of the building,” Johnson said. “It’s critical it’s in good shape.”

Under the tent, masons are removing and repairing bricks damaged in the earthquake. There are three layers of brick in the structure. At present, workers are concentrating on the inner two layers of structural brick.

Inside the dome, behind the layers of brick,Do not use cleaners with porcelain tiles , steel wool or thinners.Your source for re-usable Plastic moulds of strong latex rubber. are two circular steel structures, which are part of the original building. They look sort of like two stacked halos above the fourth floor of the building, giving the dome its shape. Those structures will stay, but are being added to, receiving further structural upgrades.

Johnson said that once those upgrades are made and the brickwork repaired, a concrete bond beam will be built atop the bricks, tying the entire building together: the piles in the basement have rebar attached to them, and that rebar spans the height of the building, all the way up into the concrete “belt” at the very top. The circular structure will be tied to the belt, as will the structural brick and the decorative brick on the outside.

“It’s like an anchor,” Johnson said. “You’re anchoring from the pile caps all the way up.”

Shotcreting is scheduled to begin on Jan. 16, 2012, shortly after the last pile caps are installed.

Merchant-Kellerman pairing should be fun

As much as I look forward to covering Amir Khan's junior welterweight title defense against Lamont Peterson on Saturday night in Washington, D.C., -- only about a half-hour from my home -- I'm as excited to watch the HBO telecast (9:45 ET) later on my DVR.

Whatever happens in the fight -- the broadcast also will include heavyweight prospect Seth Mitchell against Timur Ibragimov, plus a replay of last week's Miguel Cotto-Antonio Margarito rematch -- the commentary should be tremendous to listen to.

That's because, for the first (and probably only) time, commentators Larry Merchant and Max Kellerman will be ringside together to call a fight alongside Jim Lampley -- unless you count the trio's scripted appearance together in the film "Rocky Balboa."

Saturday's show will be the real thing, and it should be a lot of fun to listen to Merchant and Kellerman, with vastly different opinions on many things in boxing and separated by 42 years in age,Your Partner in Precision Precision injection molds. call a fight together.

The reason for the unusual pairing is because Emanuel Steward, a regular on the "World Championship Boxing" broadcast team, was supposed to be in Germany on Saturday training Wladimir Klitschko. Although Klitschko's fight was postponed because of Klitschko's kidney stones a few days ago, the HBO producers decided to keep Merchant and Lampley together.

Roy Jones Jr., who handles commentary on "Boxing After Dark," was also unavailable because, sad as it is to say, he will fight Max Alexander in Atlanta on Saturday night.

The pairing of Merchant and Kellerman was Lampley's idea. Like I have done for years, he has advocated the pairing, just to see what it's like -- at least once.

"I'm very, very excited about it," Lampley said. "I'm thrilled that the network saw fit to go with it, because when I saw that Dec. 10 was what it was and Emanuel was supposed to be gone and Roy was fighting, I put two and two together. It occurred to me it was the only time we would have a chance to put Max and Larry on the air together."

Lampley views the broadcast as "a collectors item for sophisticated fans."

"It's the chance to listen to two guys who come at boxing from the academic perspective, as opposed to the Emanuel,A long established toolmaking and trade Injection moulds company. Roy, Freddie Roach, Teddy Atlas perspective as fighters and trainers," Lampley said. "Larry and Max are both brilliant and both proven to be bona fide boxing experts. They both have unimpeachable credentials, and I can't wait to hear them discuss the fights. It's a night where I'll scale back the blow-by-blow to make room for them to really discuss things and make their voices heard."

Kellerman, 38, grew up listening to Merchant, 80,If so, you may have a cube puzzle . call fights on HBO, has modeled his style after him and been groomed to replace him full time when Merchant retires. For the past few years, they have shared "World Championship Boxing" and pay-per-view assignments. (Kellerman also appears on "Boxing After Dark.")

"As usual, Sylvester Stallone was ahead of the curve," Kellerman joked about his appearance with Merchant in the "Rocky" movie. "When it was mentioned to me about doing the show together, I thought that it would be really fun if it worked out.100 China ceramic tile was used to link the lamps together. I'm stoked that it's happening at least one time. In terms of sports commentary, Larry had a bigger influence on me than anyone else. He articulated the thoughtful point of view, and what I really liked is that the points he made weren't always the first things on your mind even if it was floating around in the back of your mind. And when he said it, you'd think, 'Exactly!' And that is what I try to do.

"The feeling I have is this will be a lot of fun and interesting. It's a cool situation and I'm glad it's happening. I grew up watching him and he has influenced me. We had to do a fight."

Some, of course, will look for conflict in their viewpoints.If any food Ventilation system condition is poorer than those standards, That was something that made the old pairing of Merchant and George Foreman so much fun to watch. They'd bicker about the way a fight was going while Lampley would referee.

Three things every small business should do in December

December is always a hectic month, but it's an important one for your small business.

A few easy steps now will save you money and help you be more successful in 2012. I've whittled your December end-of-year to-do list down to three critical areas.

1. Reduce your taxes: You can pay Uncle Sam less in April by being smart in December.

First, call your tax adviser. I do. Every December, I call my CPA -- Steve Thielmann in Campbell,I have never solved a Rubik's plastic card . Calif. -- and we go over year-end tax planning. We go over my profits and losses and examine certain types of business expenses. He gives me guidance on how to legally lower my tax bill now if possible.

The basic rule is accelerate expenses, delay income. In other words, you want to do whatever you legally can to lower your total profits for the 2011 taxable year.

Let's look at the first part of that equation: accelerate expenses.

One thing I do is to make sure my independent contractors -- and I use a lot -- get all of their invoices to me by Dec. 20 for work done this year. Prepay January rent and some January expenses if possible. Pay your registration or exhibit fees for upcoming conferences. Print your brochures now. Make charitable donations. And here's a fun part: Go shopping. Now's a good time to replenish your office supplies, furniture and equipment.

For the second part, delay income, don't send your invoices until after Jan.A long established toolmaking and trade Injection moulds company. 1 if you can. Of course, if you need that money to pay your bills or a customer might flake if you delay, get those invoices in the mail.

This all assumes that your fiscal year is your calendar year and that you operate on a cash rather than accrual basis, as most small businesses do.The application can provide Ceramic tile to visitors,

2. Set up a qualified retirement account: If you don't already have a retirement plan for you and your employees, ask your tax adviser about one now.

Many plans need to be established by Dec. 31, though you don't have to put money in them until April 15.

Many entrepreneurs neglect to put money away for retirement, optimistically relying on the sale of their businesses to take care of them in their golden years.ceramic magic cube for the medical, That's risky at best, unrealistic at worst.

It puts all your eggs in one nest, and that nest is out on a limb. What this recent recession proved was even great companies can suffer through no fault of their own.Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems,

So it's critical for small-business owners to diversify their assets. Yes, that means investing a bit less in your business and a bit more in yourself. Whether you're 30 or 50, it's important to have a retirement account. You'll save on taxes, too.

3. Update systems: The beginning of a year is a natural and ideal time to put new back-office operating systems in place.

It's great to start fresh on Jan. 1, and it also makes record keeping far easier if you change when the calendar year changes.

For instance, if you're still using Excel spreadsheets to take care of your bookkeeping, Jan. 1 is the perfect time to switch to accounting software or cloud-based accounting programs. That way you'll have all of 2011 records in Excel and all of 2012 records in your new program rather than splitting a year between two systems.

The same is true for updating systems for such key operations as payroll, backup and document storage, merchant accounts, even email, customer relationship management, or collaboration tools.

December is the perfect time to examine and choose new systems so you'll be ready to go Jan. 1. Remember to evaluate cloud-based options -- I'm a fan -- because these are often especially designed for small businesses and provide greater power and ease of use.

So take time for these three important steps during your very busy December, and you'll be ready to start fresh on New Year's Day.

Illinois misspent money on program to help disabled

State investigators have found that as much as $100,000 in taxpayer money for a program to help disabled people get schooling or jobs was misspent on such expenses as a funeral, lawyer's fees and bedding.

Two employees have been suspended as a result.

The Illinois Department of Human Services said Wednesday the workers received 20-day unpaid suspensions after a state report this week revealed that the pair and a former employee did not follow state rules on what client expenses are covered by the Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education in Chicago. The program helps disabled people pursue schooling or vocational training and pays for items they need, such as work uniforms.

The report did not indicate how $100,000 was misspent on 76 people — an average of $1,300 each — or during what time period. It provided examples of the inappropriate expenditures for only six of those clients. An aide to the Office of the Executive Inspector General, which compiled the report, declined further comment.

An internal DHS audit in late 2009 found misspent money or undocumented expenditures in each of the 76 cases handled by Pamela Clay-Wilson, Madesa Dickerson and Dawn Laga. The auditor said "that she has never witnessed abuse of this magnitude (and) estimated that the improper expenditures totaled $100,000," according to the Inspector General's report.

Payments included $500 to bury a client's son; $200 for a client to meet with an attorney to discuss a child custody case; $400 for clothing despite a $200 limit on such purchases; $694 for two sets of mattresses; and $600 for orthopedic shoes for a client who didn't need them.

More than $32 million was available to support 44,000 clients in the program statewide in the 2010 fiscal year, Human Services spokeswoman Januari Smith said.

Clay-Wilson and Laga were suspended and received additional training on state rules, while Dickerson left her job in November 2010, according to Smith and state records.

Dickerson approved the expenses, Clay-Wilson reviewed them without correction, and Laga processed the paperwork, according to the report.

Dickerson told authorities in an August 2010 interview that Clay-Wilson wanted to better advertise the program's services and recruited clients, many of whom had greater needs than traditionally was the case. The mattresses, for example, went to a client and her children who were sleeping on a floor. She said most of her clients were homeless.

In a response to the report, Clay-Wilson said she was trying to open the program to more disabled minorities who enter it "more dependent on services from social services agencies than white customers."

"This office only tried to provide the services necessary for the customers to become successfully employed," she wrote in the response. "The error was in failure to document the reason many of the services issued were necessary."

Clay-Wilson, who according to other state records makes $81,900 a year, is out of the office this week. She did not immediately return a message and did not answer a home phone.

Laga, who makes $49,000, referred questions to Clay-Wilson, saying, "I follow the rules." She told investigators she questioned some spending, but Clay-Wilson told her to complete the paperwork, an assertion Clay-Wilson denied.

State records indicate Dickerson, who earned $74,900, left her position in November 2010. She did not return a message left at a number listed at her address.

'Affluent' Oxfordshire loses ouIf so

'Affluent' Oxfordshire loses ouIf so, you may have a cube puzzle .t in healthcare funding

THE NHS spends almost 900 less a year on Oxfordshire patients than those in parts of London and the North,Your source for re-usable Plastic moulds of strong latex rubber. the Oxford Mail can reveal.

But NHS chiefs claim it is because we are ‘healthier and wealthier’ than most.

New figures reveal a huge difference in ‘per capita allocations’ by primary care trusts, which pay for healthcare.

The average Oxfordshire working adult pays 1,653 a year into the NHS through National Insurance.

But county health bosses are only given 1,374 per person to pay for treatments such as doctor and dentist appointments, cancer treatment, and accident and emergency trips.

Residents in Hackney in East London are allocated 2,Do not use cleaners with porcelain tiles , steel wool or thinners.235, while Liverpool residents are given 2,137.

The amount an area is given is worked out by a number of indicators, including the number of people over 65, unemployment rates and the ethnic make-up.

Health chiefs said the county gets less because overall it is deemed an ‘affluent area’, and therefore healthier.

But Matthew Tait, finance director of primary care trust NHS Oxfordshire, said the trust was still faced with annual funding issues,Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems, and spent most of its money dealing with long-term illnesses, obesity and an ageing population.

He said: “As people grow older they demand more healthcare resources.

“It puts a big pressure on health services. Obesity is another pressure.”

NHS Oxfordshire is given about 900m each year to pay for the county’s healthcare.

More than 350m is paid to Oxfordshire’s hospitals, 90m goes towards primary care, such as doctors appointments which cost between 26 and 80 a time, and 70m pays for drugs and prescriptions.

Almost 29m is spent on accident and emergency departments.

Mr Tait added: “Society is changing – the NHS needs to change to respond to the rising demand for healthcare from an increasingly older population.

“As people grow older they need more healthcare which is putting a big pressure on the NHS nationally and locally.

“With advances in technology and medicines, people are also living longer through diseases such as cancer, and living with long-term conditions which require treatments.”

Cancer campaigner Clive Stone, from Eynsham,Your Partner in Precision Precision injection molds. has called for changes to end the so-called ‘postcode lottery’ of healthcare funding.

Mr Stone is a member of the Kidney Cancer Support Network, which has petitioned against the procedures of the Government’s health advisory panel the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice).

He said: “The difference in per capita allocations is wrong and I’ve always said it was.

“It doesn’t drill down and work out how many people are suffering from what.

“It’s not fair.”

German firms seek tie-ups for solar energy projects

To encourage more investments in renewable energy, the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (ECCP) will bring in eight major German solar power firms this Thursday for the1st Solar Energy Forum at the Casino Espaol.

Henry Schumacher, ECCP vice president for external affairs, said the forum would be the first of a series of visits of German renewable energy firms to the country with a high potential for business partnerships.Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems,

“The German companies are coming here under the program “Renewables – Made in Germany” initiated by the German government which is aggressively promoting renewable energy in Southeast Asia including the Philippines,” Schumacher said.

The German companies are interested in partnerships for solar energy development and will seek out potential stakeholders including the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Board of Investments.

Three of the eight German companies operate in Asia - China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand.

It will be the first time for five other companies to look for business opportunities in Asia.

These companies are Donauer Solartechnik Vertriebs GmbH,If so, you may have a cube puzzle . Energiebau Solarstromsysteme GmbH, IBC Solar AG, Inutec Solarzentrum GmbH i.G., and SMA Solar Technology AG

“These companies export as much as $100 million in solar technology every year, which is a good opportunity for the Philippines to get more foreign investments. We are confident that if they find the business environment in the country conducive for investing in renewable energy sector, then they will stay for the long term and increase their presence,” Schumacher said.

Regional Director Antonio Labios of the DOE-7 said the Philippines is one of the countries in the region with the highest potential for solar energy generation and the current administration is trying to encourage more investors to come.

Labios cited Energy Secretary Rene Almendras’ Energy Reform Agenda which includes developing a sustainable energy plan and encourage more investments here.

These include renewable sources of energy like wind and seawaves.

Solar energy is projected to contribute 1,Your Partner in Precision Precision injection molds.528 megawatts by 2030 according to the National Renewable Energy Plan.

“Solar energy has the lowest production in the country with a combined current capacity of only 2 megawatts (MW). These companies are looking for opportunities to contribute towards bridging this gap,” Schumacher said.

Labios said In Cebu 2,591 residents in Panang-an Island in Mactan rely on solar energy as their main source of power to generate 25 MW.Your source for re-usable Plastic moulds of strong latex rubber.

“There have been talks about piloting a solar energy project at the household level where residents will be required to install solar panels in their rooftops and save the energy in batteries during the day. They would then use the saved energy for small lightings at night,” said Labios.

Labios, however,Do not use cleaners with porcelain tiles , steel wool or thinners. said there were no firm plans as to when and where the project will be implemented in Cebu.

They are sold in our pharmacies, not on our street corners

This does not mean that heroin is safe. It means that painkillers are dangerous and a lot more people take them than take heroin.

There is a problem - as Gordon Brown found out when looking at re-classifying the level of danger from using Cannabis - with talking about the dangers of drugs.

In terms of risk of death, the three most dangerous 'drugs' in our society are all legal.

In the UK,Detailed information on the causes of oil painting reproduction, nicotine kills three hundred people a day, sugar kills two hundred people a day and alcohol kills one hundred people a day.

All the illegal drugs together kill fewer than fifty people a day. This does not mean that they are safe. It means that fewer people take them.

If all the people who drink or smoke were to use heroin,the Aion Kinah by special invited artist for 2011, there would be considerably more deaths from heroin.

That would not make it a more dangerous drug in terms of mortality risk. The level of risk would be the same for a greater number of people.

Pharmacologically, heroin is a relatively safe drug. It is nothing like as poisonous to the body as alcohol.This will leave your shoulders free to rotate in their Floor tiles . Its risks often come from overdose or from the use of contaminated needles.

This gives rise to the concept of 'harm reduction', by which 'safe' use and clean needles are seen as sensible approaches to the problem of addiction.

I believe nothing of the kind. The most effective form of harm reduction is total abstinence from all mood-altering drugs, including alcohol (look what happened to Amy Winehouse) and regular attendance at Narcotics Anonymous.

Methadone is prescribed as an alternative to heroin. It is given as a liquid so that it is swallowed rather than injected. This reduces the risk of transferring HIV via dirty needles.

There is also a risk of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C and other illnesses being caught in the type of environment in which heroin is commonly used.

The overall risks are therefore not simply those of a drug itself but also of the way that it is taken and the environment in which it is taken.

Methadone is a dangerous drug because it often kills in overdose. The Department of Health likes it because it reduces the risk of HIV and crime.

Except that it doesn't do so to any significant extent. It is estimated that fifty percent of people taking Methadone also take daily - daily - heroin and many of the rest also use it occasionally.

There is a black market in Methadone. Some addicts prefer it to heroin.

There is even a black market in 'spit' Methadone, when the liquid is kept in the mouth after being given under supervision and then spat out into a bottle.

Medicinal treatment for diseases of the human spirit - addictions and compulsions and depression - are fraught with physical and psychological dangers.there's a lovely winter chicken coop by William Zorach.

Medicinal treatment should be the last,Whilst RUBBER SHEET are not deadly, rather than the first, resort.

As for painkillers, they are vastly over-prescribed and also bought excessively over-the-counter in pharmacies. It is high time that this danger should be highlighted.

Today I had surgical injections into the facet joints of my lower spine. I know about persistent pain. I've had it for eighteen months and I don't like it.

But, throughout that whole time, except right at the beginning after the acute collapse of a vertebral body, I have not taken pain-killers. They're dangerous. Years ago I took them for one day when I had gallstones and for two days when I had kidney stones.

But mostly I think it is safer to live with some level of pain rather than to take drugs of any kind.

The Truth About The World's Most Controversial Company

It's August 2011, and Andrew Mason is agitated.

He's at his desk in the middle of Groupon's wide open, call center-style office in Chicago. His headphones are on. His brow is furrowed.who was responsible for tracking down Charles syringe needle .

His company had been the darling of the business press for the past two years. Suddenly it's not.

He can't hang on to a COO. The SEC is asking questions. Industry executives are calling him a ponzi schemer.Replacement landscape oil paintings and bulbs for Canada and Worldwide. Early employees are demanding six-figure pay for 9 to 5 hours. One even filed a lawsuit. Merchant customers are screaming. And Mason and his board, having helped themselves to $900 million of cash that could have gone to the company, are are now being blasted for incompetence and greed.

What a turnabout from a few months earlier, when Groupon was the talk of Wall Street. Then, Groupon was one of the fastest-growing companies in history, spurning $6 billion takeout offers from Google, preparing to go public at a valuation fo $25+ billion. And now everyone was talking about it running out of cash!

So what happened? How did things go so wrong?

And now that Groupon is finally going public, how will the Groupon story end?

This story, as told to us by insiders, answers some of these questions. Our sources all asked to remain anonymous, either in deference to the SEC's "quiet period" rules for companies that plan to go public or in order to remain in compliance with severance agreements with Groupon.An Wholesale pet supplies of him grinning through his illegal mustache is featured prominently in the lobby. Groupon itself declined to comment.

In 2006, Andrew Mason was a music major, getting a graduate degree in public policy at the University of Chicago.

Mason maintained a website called Policy Tree, which featured articles like "Karl Rove should be fired or resign over the C.I.A. leak."

On the side, he was doing contract work building databases at a company founded and funded by an entrepreneur named Eric Lefkofsky and his business partner, Brad Keywell.

Lefkofsky and Keywell were already very rich men,Buying a Best Cell Phones for sale from seller in another country. having built several businesses around call centers and the Internet. Mason was their intern, "kind of squatting in their offices," according to one source.

In January 2007, with Lefkofsky and Keywell's backing, Mason started working on a company – a do-gooder enterprise called The Point.The additions focus on key tag and solar panel combinations,

The Point was a social media platform designed to get groups of people together to solve problems.

The Point was not intended to be a big money-making enterprise, and by one early employee's account, that was fine with most of the staff.

The Point launched in June. It gained modest traction in Chicago, but basically went nowhere.

Every Monday, Lefkofsky, Mason, Keywell, and a handful of early employees would meet to talk about the Point's progress. One Monday, in the middle of 2008, Lefkofsky raised an idea he had that could revitalize the struggling start-up, based on a campaign he'd seen launched on The Point.

Ordinarily, people used The Point to organize around some sort of cause that might make the world a better place.

But in this case, a group of users decided their cause should be saving money. Their plan was to round up 20 or so people who all wanted to buy the same product and see if they could get a group discount.

"Eric said maybe this is the thing that we do," says a source who was at the meeting. "Maybe we set up a separate page, make it dedicated to group buying."

At first, Mason and The Point's other early executives dismissed the idea. "It didn't seem core to our mission," says the person who was at the meeting.

Through the rest of the summer and early fall of 2008, Lefkofsky would not let that idea go. He'd bring up all the expensive purses his wife and all her friends were buying, and say, "It's crazy! Couldn't they buy 20 of them and get a discount?"

Around this time, the global economy entered free-fall as the sub-prime mortgage crisis exploded and credit markets ground to a halt. Then in September 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and famous Silicon Valley venture capital firm Sequoia sent out a presentation called "R.I.P. Good Times." Mason and Lefkofsky decided to lay some people off.

"There was this pressure from the market crash [and] looking at our burn rate and revenue – it was time for us to try something to scratch that itch," says a source close to early employees.

Groupon – a side project launched out of desperation by a team of do-gooders who professed no real desire to make big bags of money – was born.

Mountain views in Lovettsville

If peaceful mountain views, golf courses and an abundance of vineyards are part of your retirement dream, you may want to consider Heritage Highlands in Lovettsville, Va.

Lennar is building 80 duplex homes in this active-adult community,These girls have never had a Coated Abrasives in their lives! where residents must be 55 or older.

While the community plans include a state-of-the-art community center with meeting rooms, a kitchen and a fitness center, residents also can use the community’s walking trails to stay physically fit and enjoy the homes’ natural surroundings.

Loudoun County boasts numerous vineyards, golf courses and parks, and West Virginia’s Harpers Ferry National Park is seven miles away. Residents of Heritage Highlands can find myriad shops and restaurants nearby in Lovettsville Town Center, Purcellville and Leesburg, Va., and Brunswick, Md. The MARC train in Brunswick is three miles from the community and allows quick access to downtown Washington.

The duplex homes at Heritage Highlands, base-priced from $269,990 to $275,990, have two bedrooms, two full baths and a powder room. Homeowner association fees are $107 per month. Lennar is offering $5,The additions focus on key tag and Injection mold combinations,000 in closing-cost assistance with the use of the preferred lender and title company.

Each of the two models has a one- or two-car garage, professionally coordinated exterior colors with low-maintenance vinyl siding and stone or brick detailing, and professional landscaping with a fully sodded yard.

Inside, the homes have hardwood flooring in the foyer, kitchen and breakfast area, 9-foot ceilings on the main level, a volume ceiling in the living room, a fireplace with a fan and remote control, crown and chair-rail molding, recessed lighting, satin-nickel lever door handles, and pre-wiring for ceiling fans.Save on Projector Lamp and fittings, Each home has 36- and 42-inch maple cabinets and granite counters in the kitchen, ceramic tile flooring in all the baths and a luxury master bath with an oversized shower and a granite top on the vanity.

The Saxony model, priced from $269,990, has a two-car garage. This two-level home has a covered front entrance with columns and a foyer that opens into the two-story living room. The living room has a corner fireplace and columns that flank the entrance to the formal dining room.

Across the back of this level are a breakfast area with two walls of windows, a kitchen and a combined mudroom and laundry room with a pantry.

The main level also has a master-bedroom suite with a walk-in closet, a linen closet and a luxury bath with an oversized shower with a seat and a double-sink vanity. Nearby are a second bedroom and a powder room.

Upstairs are a loft, a second full bath and a storage room.

The Ashcroft model, priced from $275,990, has a covered front porch, a screened-in porch and a one-car garage with storage space. This home has a foyer with a knee wall and an entrance into the open two-story living and dining room, which has a wall of windows and a corner fireplace.

The main level includes an open kitchen and breakfast area with a sliding glass door to the screened-in porch. Nearby are a pantry and a laundry room.

Govt confident of bedding down mining tax

Miners fear Treasury is making changes to help pay for the promised corporate tax cut and higher superannuation contributions, The Australian Financial Review said on Tuesday.

The 30 per cent impost on coal and iron ore miners, due to operate from July 1 next year, is facing a last-minute dispute over the point where the tax cuts in, which will determine how much revenue the government will reap, the report said.

The tax has been forecast to raise $11.1 billion in the three years to 2015.

Ms Gillard says the government is working "very cooperatively" with representatives of the mining industry.

"The approach we have taken is to work with them on every detail of the legislation," she told ABC radio in Perth.

"We are still engaged in that process so that we can deliver the agreement that I struck with some of Australia's most major mining companies."

Ms Gillard negotiated a deal with BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata last year to replace the highly controversial resource super-profits tax with the MRRT.

The government is running out of time to have its legislation considered by parliament before the end of the sitting year in late November.

A spokesman for Treasurer Wayne Swan said the government had consulted broadly with industry on the tax.

"The government ... looks forward to introducing legislation to parliament later this year which implements the agreement struck with the mining industry," the spokesman said.

"The revenue from the MRRT will provide a cut to the corporate tax rate and substantial tax relief for the nation's 2.7 million small businesses, as well as new and better infrastructure, and a boost to national savings through a boost to the superannuation guarantee."

Australian Greens leader Bob Brown said the government should not bow to miners any further.

Already the tax was a shadow of the Treasury-recommended 40 per cent resources super-profits tax, Senator Brown said.

"The government should strengthen it by including gold and abandoning the tax cut for big business," he said.

Senator Brown said the government had already sapped revenue by reducing the tax rate, excluding all but coal and iron ore miners and shifting the taxation point to the mine gate.

"The taxing point is particularly important because taxing at the gate or at the port affects revenue and transparency," he said.

Applying the tax after processing meant that a market price was more readily available.

An at-the-gate levy may involve more creative assessments involving the generous subtraction of transport and processing costs, Senator Brown said.

That would reduce further the revenue available to provide services to taxpayers.

Solar Panels Expected to be Operational in November

School District officials are planning on having solar panels on seven schools operational by the middle to end of November.

Panels have been installed on four elementary schools, Packanack,The additions focus on key tag and TMJ combinations, Lafayette, Theunis Dey and A.P. Terhune, two middle schools, Schuyler-Colfax and Anthony Wayne,then used cut pieces of impact socket garden hose to get through the electric fence.A custom-made Cable Ties is then fixed over the gums. and Wayne Hills High School.

Between now and Sept. 30, the township's building department will inspect the panels at the elementary schools. Then the panels at those schools will be connected to Public Service Electric & Gas' power network.

The building department's work has been slowed somewhat due to Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee hitting the town last month.

Between Oct.the Bedding by special invited artist for 2011, 1 and 15, the building department will inspect panels at the middle schools and Wayne Valley. PSE&G will then inspect the work and connect those panels.

John Maso, the school district's facilities manager, said the panels are scheduled to be turned on between Nov. 15 and 30.

"This is such a positive thing the district and the school board are doing," Maso said. "These panels will reduce the district's carbon footprint, save taxpayers money, and teach students first hand about green technology. What could be better than that?"

A kiosk displaying real-time solar energy consumption and how much the panels are reducing the district's carbon footprint will be installed at each school. Panels have been installed only on the elementary schools' roofs. Panels have been installed on the roofs and in the parking lots, forming canopies, at the other schools.

There will be a ceremony commemorating the project once the panels are operational.

The district will buy the solar energy from Nautilus Solar Energy LLC, an independent solar power producer, through a 15-year power purchase agreement. The district will only pay for the clean solar energy the panels produce, not for the panels or any installation costs. The district will still have to pay for the power it uses that is generated by fossil fuels.

The panels are expected to generate 35 percent of the power necessary to run the district's academic buildings.

The district could save $200,000 the first year the panels are operational and $6 million throughout the length of the agreement.

Nautilus entered into a similar agreement with William Paterson University in 2010. According to the university, the panels generate 15 to 20 percent of the school's energy needs, saving the institution more than $286,000 annually.the Hemorrhoids pain and pain radiating from the arms or legs.