No More Excuses! Go Big! | Extraordinary Business | Aepiphanni ...

No More Excuses! Go Big! | Extraordinary Business

5 Reasons to get off your duff and pursue the dream you have for your business.

What is the number one excuse business leaders have for not ?Going Big??? ACTUALLY DOING IT!!? You see, going big won?t happen over night, it doesn?t happen without a plan and some money, and thus, it doesn?t happen without YOUR commitment.? Business leader, you have to get off of your duff and do something about it.

Now?for clarity, going big doesn?t necessarily mean that you are going to build the next Facebook or some ingenious product that absolutely changes the way people do things and can not live without (i.e. the internet?), but rather, that you have a business that is sustainable, that doesn?t require your 24/7 presence that allows you to make life choices such as, ?when I am XX years old, I want to sell this thing and retire!??or work fewer hours, or take on a different role, etc?? The alternative is to work your whole life, live hand to mouth and never have an opportunity to enjoy life the way you want to.? Going Big is your solution.

Beginning with the first step ? knowing what the end will look like ? business owners need to sit down and figure out what the map looks like that will get them from point a to point b.? The reason for this is that growth doesn?t happen by accident.? Case in point: there was a restaurant in a local town that grew (in business) so quickly that they could not keep up with staffing requirements, allowed health requirements to slip and got shut down as a result.? While the business revenue increased, they didn?t think through what would happen if they grew exponentially.

On the other end of the spectrum, I worked with a company that wanted to expand operations to go into an industry that was a natural expansion of services.? Because his clients would purchase the item from him anyway, it was relatively easy to shift from having the vendor doing it to doing it himself.? The problem that he ran into was that while he invested in the tools and the staff to install the product, he didn?t have a real go-to-market strategy to sell enough product to fully justify the investment, didn?t? clarify his expectations and as a result, lost money on the investment for a very long time.

Five reasons to get off your duff and Go Big!

1. If you don?t do it, somebody else will.? That?s right.? Somebody that looks just like you, talks like you, walks like you but works better will do exactly what you are doing to the market you are after and put you out of business.? And they will Go Big!? The marketplace isn?t a playground; as much as we try to coexist, we have to realize that we must maintain our territory, every day.? It is far better to be on the offence then on the defense!
2. You need wiggle room in the event of (another) economic collapse.? I don?t even need to prove it to you?but when business slows down, it still needs to be enough to keep the doors open and the lights on.? You need to have enough foresight to know that if you cannot do your primary business, you still have other offerings that could sustain you until things get better.? Keep in mind that the Great Depression was 20 years.
3. Your business needs to continue if you can?t.? A buddy of mine?s father had a major heart attack.? Fortunately, he had the foresight to have a foreman on staff who could take over and run the business in the event that he was unable to.? This was planning on his part.? It didn?t happen by accident or at the last minute.
4. Obsolescence?!? As we have seen, even if you dominate a market, if you don?t move with that market (market taker) or create a new need for that market (market maker), you will be out of business?and it doesn?t matter how large your company is.? Does Blockbuster come to mind?
5. Grow or Die.? Believe it or not, customers love to see change and growth.? Don?t believe me?? Look at the cell phone industry.? It seems like every time someone creates the best mobile phone in the world, and you get it, a better one that has more bells and shinier whistles comes out that you have to have.? You don?t even think about the fact that you could buy a decent computer or wardrobe for the same (retail) price, do ya?? Look at restaurants, bars and clubs ? it is as though they have a shelf life, except those that reinvent themselves every few years.? Customers want to be part of the new, hip thing.

Going Big! requires a commitment to yourself, your market, your staff and your business.? It is not and should not be an overnight task.? It is something that you plan and execute over time so that you can build with staying power, hit the goals you have on your plan or re-evaluate and re-launch in the event that you don?t.

Build an extraordinary business.? Go big or go home!

Aepiphanni Business Consulting: The Business Strategy People is an Atlanta, Georgia based Operations Management and Business Strategy Consulting Firm dedicated to serving the needs of small to medium sized business leaders. We help business leaders DESIGN| CREATE | BUILD extraordinary businesses.? We support our clients with financial management, product and service production and delivery, outsourced services management, sales & marketing and business growth.? We provide them with a number of flexible solutions to help them reach their goals.

Join us for a 30-minute complimentary Coffee & a Consult, to learn more about Aepiphanni and how we might help you move your company from existing to extraordinary.

Source: http://www.aepiphanni.com/resources/blog/no-more-excuses-go-big-extraordinary-business/

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BlueWaterBmore: RT @chesapeakenet: Blue Water Baltimore is seeking a consultant for its upcoming strategic planning process. http://t.co/1gPrY4wD #jobs

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Source: http://twitter.com/BlueWaterBmore/statuses/229982191189364736

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Interview With Mr Michael Lu, Managing Director of Sono Restaurant ...

As part of my ?restaurant and food establishment? posts, Mr Michael Lu of Sono Restaurant has been kind enough to do a short interview about his business.

What made you want to start Sono Restaurant? I love Japanese food! It has become of the fastest growing cuisines in Australia, especially among the high-end and fine dining restaurants. It is the most popular cuisine of the moment. I was also presented with a good opportunity to purchase my first business at a very good price.I really like the Japanese restaurant industry and that is what appealed to me, and the growing trend for Japanese cuisine.

If you had to pick one thing out of your day, what?s the most exciting / favourite? A favourite part of my day is when I visit and walk around each of the three Sono Group restaurants, greeting all my happy customers and listening to all their positive comments about the good food.

Who is your ideal customer? Or perhaps, what?s the focus for your restaurant in terms of customers. Everyone is an ideal customer. The Sono Restaurant Group strategy is to cover all the market segments. This also helps the business when there is an economic crisis.

• The Sono Portside restaurant focuses on the high-end market.
• The Sono City restaurant caters for the middle market and the Nagomi Restaurant covers the bottom end of the market.

A balance with your customers is the ideal concept to have over the ideal customer. At Sono, we look to embrace everyone.

What do you consider your biggest weakness? I?am a perfectionist! Sometimes I take things too seriously and have extremely high expectations of myself and of my staff. I am very particular about the quality of the food and presentation that comes out of the kitchen. I have noticed, especially in the food industry, that you can be a perfectionist, but sometimes my expectations are set at too high a standard, even for myself and staff.

How are you improving on that weakness? I am trying to put myself in my staff?s shoes and look at my ?standards? from their angle and situation. I have realised that you need to be flexible and a little more understanding in business. I am also giving my staff more encouragement for their achievements and acknowledgement for reaching their standards.

What is your biggest strength? I never give up on anything. When I first bought the business, there were a few big problems at the start, so it was extremely hard work. Japanese restaurants are hard, as you need to hire authentic Japanese chefs, which is already a challenge. I was also young and the chefs were all around my father?s age. At first, no one really wanted to listen to me because of my youth and inexperience, but I kept improving and never gave up. The second restaurant we opened, Sono Portside, was even more complicated to set up, but I kept trying new things and never gave up. In some cases, people will give up when it gets to difficult but I found the more you persist, the better the results.

What?s the best part of running Sono Restaurant? Seeing happy customers enjoy the Sono experience and also satisfied employees. I am very happy if my employees are happy! Restaurants are labour intensive but if everyone is happy with the job then that?s extremely important to me. Basically customer and employee satisfaction and happiness are both equally as important.

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If you could change one thing about your businesses day-to-day routine, what would it be? We have a great routine set up and I wouldn?t change anything.

Any new specials you can tell your customers about? The Sono City store now has monthly specials, so customers will have a new special to try every month. The Sono Portside store has a new dessert menu, which has a combination of Japanese and Western inspired desserts. And of course the traditional Green Tea flavoured desserts.

If you had a chance to say one thing to a brand new customer, before they walk in the door, what would it be? Don?t be afraid of Japanese food. Try new things, you will be surprised!!? And most important, there is also cooked food in Japanese cuisine.

You can read about Sono Restaurant and contacts here?Sono Japanese Restaurant Portside Brisbane 2012

Source: http://www.marketingasmallbusiness.com.au/local-business-interviews/interview-with-mr-michael-lu-managing-director-of-sono-restaurant/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=interview-with-mr-michael-lu-managing-director-of-sono-restaurant

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Understand How You Can Get rid of Your Own Personal Finance ...

Dealing with individual funds is a crucial ability for virtually any grownup to ensure your income has been spent in the best possible way. Keeping financial institution statements and developing a spending budget, it is possible to get the most from your cash. Check this out article for more easy methods to efficiently take care of personal budget.

When it might be attractive to accept the assistance of someone that has become very successful by producing personal-help publications on how to resolve your finances, usually do not get caught in that trap. They are profitable at marketing textbooks, but that does not necessarily mean that this suggestions they may be providing you with is strong.

Should you not have great personal funds ensure that you will not make it a whole lot worse. For those who have less-than-perfect credit, for instance, usually do not try and get credit score you could not pay for. Also steer clear of trying to get bank cards, because this will hurt your credit score and you will be denied anyways.

It is crucial to ensure that you can afford the mortgage loan on the new prospective residence. Regardless of whether your family qualify for a huge financial loan, you could struggle to pay for the necessary monthly premiums, which in turn, could force you to must market your home.

Generate an current financial strategy. This will assist you to find out how you are doing in most areas of your finances. Overview any insurance coverage strategies, income taxes, property and pension preparing, assets, financial savings and recent obligations. Be particular inside your goals and be sensible. For more complicated fiscal planning, it is advisable to seek the assistance of a CPA.

Conserve as much money that you can each month. Using a solid level of financial savings readily available is extremely valuable in case there is any urgent matters. It will enable you to avoid taking out lending options or battling great deficits, like your automobile, simply because you can not afford to pay for what you needed in those days.

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Source: http://all-articles-directory.com/understand-how-you-can-get-rid-of-your-own-personal-finance-confusion/

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Cassidy: Google science fair answers and raises questions

Here's what a successful scientist looks like: Sabera Talukder is standing in an elegantly lighted hall at Google (GOOG), surrounded by peers from around the world, explaining how she designed a low-cost system to clean drinking water in developing countries.

One other thing: Talukder is a 16-year-old Los Gatos High School student.

"I had done it to really help people," Talukder says of her year-long project inspired by a trip to Bangladesh that led to her Pani ("water" in Bengali) Purification system. Talukder was one of 15 finalists last week in the Google Science Fair. The room was filled with answers to difficult questions: how to increase yields for subsistence farmers; how to help the hearing impaired enjoy music; how to tackle meth addiction; and on and on -- brilliant schemes by even more brilliant high school students from Swaziland, Ukraine, India, Malta, Spain, Canada, and the United States.

But I'd come in search of the answer to a different question: How do we get more kids more interested in science, technology, engineering and math? It's a question that has caused hand-wringing for years. The United States, the worry goes, is falling behind in training students to work the jobs of tomorrow -- and today for that matter.

No doubt there is more than one answer and

I'll explore some possibilities in this and future columns.

Certainly companies like Google, which will benefit from a better prepared workforce, have a role to play and its new science fair, like those hosted by Intel (INTC), Synopsis and others, is a good step. Sure a kid could be motivated to participate by the fair's substantial prizes. Among them are $50,000 and $25,000 scholarships; a trip to the Galapagos archipelago aboard National Geographic's Endeavour; internships at Google's Zurich research site, the Fermi and CERN particle research labs and Lego's headquarters and factory in Denmark; a classroom set of Google Chromebooks for schools back home and mentoring from Scientific American magazine staffers. (National Geographic, CERN, Lego and Scientific American are the fair's co-sponsors.)

But when I asked Talukder what pushed her to submit her project, she didn't mention any of the contest's awards. Instead, she talked about a trip last summer to Bangladesh, where her father grew up, and how she seized on problems caused by poor water quality there. She talked about a father she met. His children were violently ill, presumably from drinking impure water. He'd heard about her interest in water. Could she test his family's supply? Could she tell him whether water was making his family sick?

Talukder told me she didn't need to test it. She already knew. "It's all practically the same," she says of areas of the country with bacteria and parasite-laden water. Instead, she vowed to come up with an affordable system to purify it.

"And if it doesn't fix it," she says she told herself, "then I'm going to go back and try and fix it again."

Talukder came up with a solar-powered system that relies on filters, UV light and activated charcoal. She plans to deploy a few in Bangladesh this winter and will offer her design for free on the Web in the spirit of open-source design. It's a terrific story, but Talukder knows that she had a lot going for her when it came to being encouraged to dig into science. Her father, an electrical engineer, and her mother, an architect, always encouraged her and her sister to seek their own answers to their own tough questions. She attends a top-notch school and lives in an affluent town.

"I am very fortunate to be living in Los Gatos," she says. "And so I think to not help people, with what I've been given, would just be a crime."

And so what about kids on the fringes, kids who might not be getting nudged toward science, technology, engineering and math? How do we reach them? It turns out Talukder has some ideas about that, too. She's in touch with teachers at her elementary and middle schools. She'd like a chance to tell them that science and math are cool, says her father, Shah Talukder. She'd like to tell them that the disciplines are a means to an end that can go far beyond academic achievement. That's one way that kids who aren't thinking about science and the good it can do can be inspired.

"Not just her," Shah Talukder says, "but all of these kids. If they go back to the community, go back to the schools and explain what they're doing. Kids listen to kids."

And in fact, that's one thing Google is banking on, says Vint Cerf, Google's chief Internet evangelist and one of the science fair judges. Cerf, who was a key player in developing the Internet, says the Web has the power to link these brilliant kids with other kids.

"We want other kids to know that their contemporaries can accomplish these things," he says.

Think about it. Just maybe a kid armed with that knowledge will find a way to unleash his or her own scientific brilliance. A brilliance that without a friendly shove never would have been unleashed.

Contact Mike Cassidy at mcassidy@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5536. Follow him at Twitter.com/mikecassidy.

Source: http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_21173834/cassidy-google-science-fair-answers-and-raises-questions?source=rss_viewed

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Zara Phillips negotiates tough equestrian course as royal cousins spectate

Her cousins, Princes William and Harry joined an estimated 50,000 fans in Greenwich Park to root for Phillips as she negotiated her horse over 28 obstacles and a slippery course that claimed a dozen fallen riders.

By Nicole Winfield,?Associated Press / July 30, 2012

Zara Phillips, of Great Britain, reacts after riding her horse High Kingdom in the equestrian eventing cross-country stage at the 2012 Summer Olympics, on July 30, in London.

Charlie Riedel/AP

Enlarge

Zara?Phillips had a few things to celebrate Monday: Her first wedding anniversary ? and a penalty-free ride through the treacherous cross-country portion of the Olympic equestrian eventing competition that counted toward Britain's second-place finish going into the final round.

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Her cousins, Princes William and Harry, donned "Team GB" polo shirts and joined an estimated 50,000 less-regal fans in Greenwich Park to root for Phillips as she negotiated her horse over 28 obstacles and a slippery course that claimed a dozen fallen riders.

"The crowd was unbelievable!" Phillips said after she finished Day 2 of her Olympic equestrian debut. "I hope I didn't take any heads off on the way cutting corners."

Hers was one of the top three scores counted in Britain's second-place standings going into Tuesday's final show jumping round with 130.2 points. Germany led with 124.7 points and Sweden was third with 131.4. The United States was fifth with 155.2.

Phillips, a former world and European eventing champion who is 14th in line to the throne, said the only drawback to the raucous cheers was that she couldn't hear the timer ticking on her wrist. Timer or no, her under-the-limit ride added no further penalty points to her 46.1 score from dressage a day earlier and left her tied for 10th place in the individual standings.

Like golf, the low score wins in equestrian eventing.

Ingrid Klimke, part of the gold-winning German eventing team in 2008, was tied for first place in the individual standings with Sweden's Sara Algotsson Ostholt at 39.3 points. Mark Todd of New Zealand, who won individual gold in eventing in 1984 and 1988, was in third place with 39.5 points after incurring a slight time penalty.

Klimke, a skier when not riding, said she was behind midway and knew she had to egg on her horse Butts Abraxxas to keep the pace. "That's why at the first downhill I went like in skiing, felt like 'schussing' downhill. But at the nine-minute marker I knew we would make it," she said.

William and Harry watched from the main equestrian arena, joined by William's wife, Kate, and Camilla, the wife of Prince Charles. Kate wore a white blouse and navy blue jacket, keeping in line with the Union Jack colors the royal family has worn to Olympic events so far.

Seated alongside William and Harry were Phillips' other first cousins, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, the daughters of Prince Andrew.

Phillips' mother, Princess Anne, herself a former Olympian eventing competitor, watched from the grounds of the twisty, hilly course dotted with 28 fences, hedges and water obstacles in Greenwich Park, London's oldest royal park.

Phillips said her time ? well inside the 10-minute, 3-second time limit ? was particularly good given that her horse, High Kingdom, lost a shoe during the ride. That made it tougher for him to keep his footing and make the quick turns needed to complete the 5.7-kilometer (3.5-mile) course within the time limit.

"He did amazing," she said. "He really grew up and stepped up to the plate."

She mentioned that it was a special day for other reasons too: Last July 30, she married England rugby player Mike Tindall in the "other" royal wedding of 2011 that followed William and Kate's nuptials.

The thrilling cross-country portion of the three-discipline eventing competition is designed to test horse and rider endurance ? and guts ? and the course up and down the hills of Greenwich Park fit the bill. There were razor-sharp turns in between jumps, blind 2-meter (6-foot) drops and tricky combination fences ? each one designed with a very British story behind it.

The first few horses out Monday seemed to handle the course relatively well, but as the afternoon wore on a dozen riders fell from their mounts. The individual leader from dressage, Japan's Oiwa Yoshiaki, fell at jump 20, a steep 2-meter cliff with a deceptive second jump right after.

Other horses slipped on the slick grass, costing them time to regain their footing.

Phillip Dutton, from West Grove, Pa., said he decided at the last minute to put longer studs on the shoes of his horse Mystery Whisper, forcing his team to do some quick work.

"Those guys were like a Formula One pit crew," said Dutton, in 12th place.

Several of the riders who fell wore protective vests that inflated much like airbags upon impact. One of them, Hawley Bennett-Awad of Canada, was in the hospital under observation, but there were no serious injuries reported among the other fallen riders or horses.

Thousands of people lined the narrow course to watch the horses, getting an unusually close view of them and enjoying a festive picnic atmosphere on the grass. Some riders complained that their horses got spooked by their proximity, others said the closeness of the crowd actually kept their horses straight on the course.

The royals were watching the competition on big screens inside the main arena; the course came into the arena itself for the 16th obstacle, a tricky combination jump that's a miniature version of the Tower of London.

On Sunday, Phillips' grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, joined her mother in the VIP stands to watch her earn a respectable score in the dressage portion of her Olympic debut. After cross-country, she'll compete in show jumping Tuesday, the final portion of eventing. The big question is whether her grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II ? an accomplished equestrian in her own right ? will come to watch.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/asGOFD_31Ak/Zara-Phillips-negotiates-tough-equestrian-course-as-royal-cousins-spectate

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Free Legal Question: Criminal Law | New Jersey | My husband is on ...

My husband is on parole last year he was arrested for a crime he didn't commit. After months of dead end court hearings his bail was lowered to $50,000 and we were able to bail him out. A few days after being released he reported to parole, was assigned a new parole officer. Not once did they tell us he violated the terms of his parole, in fact they told us that he didnt. Yesterday his new parole officer sent him to a halfway house. Is that legal?

Source: http://www.lawguru.com/legal-questions/-/husband-parole-year-arrested-crime-733961702/

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Mass. dad shoots his 2 kids, 1 fatally, kills self

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) ? A man who had recently separated from his wife shot his two children, killing his 7-year-old daughter, before committing suicide, prosecutors said.

A family member called police Saturday night after finding the bodies of 41-year-old Daryl Benway and his daughter, Abigail, in the master bedroom of their two-story Oxford home, Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. said.

Benway's 9-year-old son, Owen, was found shot in the head in the kitchen and was taken to UMass Memorial Children's Medical Center in serious condition. Owen has been in pediatric intensive care, a spokesman for Early said Sunday. He said he had no additional information about Owen Benway's condition, and a hospital spokeswoman would not comment.

Benway's wife, Kelleen, returned home after the shootings, unaware of what had happened, and found a swarm of police cruisers and television crews, Early said. She was taken to the children's hospital, where authorities told her the fates of her children and husband.

Neighbors told the Telegram & Gazette that Daryl Benway's brother Shawn lived on the first floor of the home with his wife and mother. Shawn Benway called 911 to report the shootings, Early said.

Early said he couldn't speculate on a motive. He said the Benways separated weeks ago but were still married.

No restraining orders had been filed against Daryl Benway, and he had no criminal record, the DA said. He had a gun license that expired in 1999, Early said.

On Daryl Benway's Facebook page, his profile picture posted in December showed him with his family in front of a Christmas tree. He described the woman next to him as "my Beautiful wife Kelleen." Owen stood in front of him in a white dress shirt and red plaid tie, while brown-haired Abigail wore a black and white dress with a black hair bow.

Daryl Benway listed his place of employment as TJX Cos., which operates discount retailers TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods, as well as Ross Stores Inc.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-07-29-Dad%20Shoots%20Kids/id-6a9ab1a424d64e789930a6c1b66bad81

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Travel Insurance Tips for Planning Destination Weddings | Travel ...

When it comes to planning weddings, it becomes essential to consider location. Many brides and grooms decide that staying local is not what they want to do. Some opt for getting a smaller group of people together and jetting off to some remote destination and having a more romantic day. Others head to one of the tropical islands they have been dreaming about visiting. For others, just being near the coastline sounds good. No matter where you wish to be for your event, you will need to know how to pull it off.

When planning weddings, most planners will tell you that hiring a professional to do the work for you will not only make the event more successful, but it will also reduce costs overall. You will get more of what you want, less of what you do not, and you may spend less overall. Keeping this in mind, consider the following tips for planning your getaway.

- If you are bringing a group of people to celebrate your special day, ask the hotel for a sizable discount. Some facilities will give you a honeymoon suite at no cost if you book a certain number of additional rooms at one time. Others offer significant discounts.

- Be sure to inform everyone of your decision in advance. Friends of friends may be disappointed and some may not want to foot the bill. Let them know that is okay. At the same time, you may want to host an open house when you get back to celebrate with guests that could not make the trip.

- Choose a hotel and other accommodations that are affordable to everyone. Your sister may not have the budget to stay in a luxury hotel. Your in-laws may balk at staying anywhere with a high room rate. Be sure you choose something that is going to fit most people?s needs.

- With these weddings, it is often necessary to know the legalities involved. When you hire a planner, they can help with this. In short, if you are getting married internationally, you will need to know the rules of doing so before you decide to move ahead with the plans.

- When hiring a planner, you should hire someone that knows the area well. Do not bring along someone that is local to you. That will not help you when you are looking for a florist or a photographer in the area.

Weddings can be intimate and beautiful. They should be what you want them to be. To make that happen, consider what your goals are for having a destination concept and ensure that those who are helping you to plan it are giving you everything you need to pull it off the way you envision it.

Source: http://www.oewsv.org/tips-for-planning-destination-weddings.html

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Lodgefield Snap awaiting second hat-trick in the Greyhound Sales ...

Lodgefield Snap awaiting second hat-trick in the Greyhound Sales @ The Cross 525 ?

The three-year-old black bitch, Lodgefield Snap, is racing in the Greyhound Sales @ The Cross 525 right after achieving a back-to-back. Racing over the 525 yards flat distance on Friday, 27^th July are Black Causeway, Chester Lady, Barntick Petal, Bomb Proof and Night Time Hawk.

Hades Rocket?s three-year-old daughter has compromised on success very rarely and has raced at Harold?s Cross predominantly. Her first two races of the career were victories but she failed to set it as a hat-trick by claiming the third in line as a win.

On 23^rd May, 2012 she won the 15 Platter Package 525 at Harold?s Cross over 525 yards. The three-year-old took upon every chance for taking the lead and then finally won the race in 29.33 seconds after bursting into speed from the third spot.

She won by the margin of two and a half lengths and set Hondo Black as the runner-up.

Coming at terms with the third position was, Conors Freddy.

The two training sessions on 17^th August, 2011 and the other one 28^th October, 2011 got the black daughter out of, Lodgefield Dawn, the hat-trick. All the three races were at Harold?s Cross and all of them were over 525 yards.

She won the final leg of the hat-trick on 16^th December, 2011 in the Grade A1 Happy Christmas @ The Cross 525 Semi-Final. Leashing out from the first gate, the Traynor trained set into an early pace and led from the first position concluding the race in 29.06 seconds and winning by the margin of two lengths.

She set Kelmar Joe as the runner-up.

Her composure after striking the hat-trick kind of broke down as she failed in the next six races.? She shot back into form on 29^th June, 2012 in the Grade A3 Bet With The Tote 525 over 525 yards. The evening?s favourite got hold of the race in 28.86 seconds and defeated the runner-up, Gin Boy, by the margin of six lengths.

Her final victory until yet was in the Pick 6 Jackpot Starts Now 325 on 13^th July, 2012 at Harold?s Cross over 324 yards. She led up and rested the race in 17.64 seconds.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.

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Source: http://blogs.bettor.com/Lodgefield-Snap-awaiting-second-hat-trick-in-the-Greyhound-Sales-The-Cross-525-a175210

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Nigeria's floating slum targeted by authorities

In this photo taken Thursday, July 26, 2012, a child stand in front of his demolished stilt house at Makoko in Lagos, Nigeria. The teeming, floating Makoko slum rises out of the murky lagoon water that separates mainland Nigeria from the island that gave birth to its largest city, a permanent haze of smoke rising from its homes built on timber stilts. A government-led eviction last week that saw men in speedboats destroy homes with machetes there left about 3,000 people homeless and raised new fears among activists that authorities may try to wipe it out the area entirely. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

In this photo taken Thursday, July 26, 2012, a child stand in front of his demolished stilt house at Makoko in Lagos, Nigeria. The teeming, floating Makoko slum rises out of the murky lagoon water that separates mainland Nigeria from the island that gave birth to its largest city, a permanent haze of smoke rising from its homes built on timber stilts. A government-led eviction last week that saw men in speedboats destroy homes with machetes there left about 3,000 people homeless and raised new fears among activists that authorities may try to wipe it out the area entirely. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

In this photo taken Thursday, July 26, 2012, a woman paddles a canoe past stilt houses at Makoko in Lagos, Nigeria. The teeming, floating Makoko slum rises out of the murky lagoon water that separates mainland Nigeria from the island that gave birth to its largest city, a permanent haze of smoke rising from its homes built on timber stilts. A government-led eviction last week that saw men in speedboats destroy homes with machetes there left about 3,000 people homeless and raised new fears among activists that authorities may try to wipe it out the area entirely. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

In this photo taken Thursday, July 26, 2012, a woman paddles a canoe past demolished stilts houses at Makoko in Lagos, Nigeria. The teeming, floating Makoko slum rises out of the murky lagoon water that separates mainland Nigeria from the island that gave birth to its largest city, a permanent haze of smoke rising from its homes built on timber stilts. A government-led eviction last week that saw men in speedboats destroy homes with machetes there left about 3,000 people homeless and raised new fears among activists that authorities may try to wipe it out the area entirely. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

In this photo taken Thursday, July 26, 2012, a woman gestures as she smokes fish at her demolished stilts house at Makoko in Lagos, Nigeria. The teeming, floating Makoko slum rises out of the murky lagoon water that separates mainland Nigeria from the island that gave birth to its largest city, a permanent haze of smoke rising from its homes built on timber stilts. A government-led eviction last week that saw men in speedboats destroy homes with machetes there left about 3,000 people homeless and raised new fears among activists that authorities may try to wipe it out the area entirely. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

In this photo taken Thursday, July 26, 2012, a woman walks on ruins of her demolished stilts houses at Makoko in Lagos, Nigeria. The teeming, floating Makoko slum rises out of the murky lagoon water that separates mainland Nigeria from the island that gave birth to its largest city, a permanent haze of smoke rising from its homes built on timber stilts. A government-led eviction last week that saw men in speedboats destroy homes with machetes there left about 3,000 people homeless and raised new fears among activists that authorities may try to wipe it out the area entirely. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) ?

The Makoko slum floats on the murky lagoon that separates mainland Nigeria from the island that gave birth to its largest city, a permanent haze of smoke rising from homes built on timber stilts.

For some, Makoko provides an escape from the overcrowded neighborhoods of Lagos, a city of millions where families crowd into one-room apartments or sleep soundly in unfinished buildings. Others view the slum as an eyesore where the 100,000 residents dump trash, excrement and everything else into the brackish waters.

A government-led eviction last week that saw men in speedboats destroy homes with machetes there left about 3,000 people homeless and raised new fears among activists that authorities may try to wipe the community out entirely. While the government has pulled back from its demolishing effort, its own notice suggests it wants the entire community gone.

"We are just trying to survive," said Mirabelle Agbete as she drifted away in her canoe with her son. "This is unfair, we are human beings. How do you just throw out people without warning?"

Makoko is a sprawling community of bamboo homes and shacks built out of driftwood, close to the University of Lagos campus and visible to daily traffic that plies the Third Mainland Bridge, the link from the mainland to the city's islands. Those living in Makoko subsist largely as fishermen and workers in nearby saw mills, cutting up water-logged timber that's floated into the city daily. Some work jobs outside of the slum as gate guards and in other industries, though most live almost entirely within its watery boundaries.

The people of Makoko have created their own life independent from the state, with its own schools and clinics, however ill-equipped. Commerce goes on in its creek alleyways as women sell sizzling dishes and goods from canoes. Others sell videos and telephone airtime cards from the shacks just above the waterline, where a maze of wooden planks connects the homes.

Children who attend classes in schools on the water learn in English and French and speak various languages from Nigeria and neighboring Benin. Many residents in Makoko come from the French-speaking West African nation but have lived in the community for decades.

Waterfront villages remain common through Nigeria and Lagos itself grew out of one. However, Makoko's uniqueness and visibility has turned it into a poster child for urban poverty. It has featured in photo exhibits and documentaries around the world, something politicians and others have criticized for giving what they describe as a warped view of Lagos.

Authorities have gone in and evicted homeowners before from the area. However, this time, Lagos state government gave Makoko residents only three days to demolish their own homes and evacuate before they came in. Activists said one official told them the state wanted to remove homes near a power line because it was not safe for people to live there. But the government notice made no mention of the power line and ordered the evacuation of the entire waterway.

"The Lagos state government is desirous of restoring the amenity and value of the waterfront ... (and) improve the waterfront/coastline to underline the megacity status of the state," the government notice read.

If totally removed, the demolition of Makoko could leave at least 100,000 people homeless, said Felix Morka, the executive director of Social and Economics Rights Action Center, which works with Makoko residents. After a march by Makoko residents Monday, Lagos state Gov. Babatunde Raji Fashola asked them to return home, though some have nowhere to go. Since the demolitions started last week, many have slept in their canoes tucked in between their belongings. Some took shelter under the Third Mainland Bridge, while others moved out or found a place to squat.

"Many people are sleeping in my school," said Noah Shemede, the head teacher at Whanyinna Primary School. "We'll manage. In my house, I can take a few more people, the most important thing is that we stay together."

The authorities' reluctance to clarify what they intend for Makoko has sparked apprehension for the slum's remaining residents. Akin Ogunlana, the head operations of Kick Against Indiscipline, who was supervising the demolitions in Makoko, told The Associated Press he simply followed orders given to him by the state government. Adesegun Oniru, Lagos state's waterfront infrastructure and development commissioner, declined to comment.

The continued unease has already sparked violence. On Saturday, trouble started when authorities tried to demolish a building after officials reached an informal agreement about how they would target homes for destruction. A police officer shot dead community chief Timothy Hunpoyanwha, residents have said. The traditional ruler had only been trying to mediate between the authorities and angry youths, said Ewajane Osowo, the secretary of Ilaje CrayFish Fishermen Association.

Lagos state spokeswoman Ngozi Braide said a police corporal had been arrested over the fatal shooting, which remains under investigation.

The killing prompted Fashola to order a stop to the demolition exercise. He also said he was willing to speak with the communities to reach a compromise, but said Makoko would not be allowed to grow any further.

The lagoon "is the natural drainage that God has given us and we have to preserve it," the governor said at the time. "The only issue was the expansion of the community and the time to define the boundary is now."

Forced evictions recently have happened in unplanned neighborhoods around Abuja, Nigeria's capital, as well as in Port Harcourt, the largest city in the country's oil-rich Niger Delta. In Port Harcourt, authorities destroyed the Abonnema Wharf community which, by some estimates, was home to about 25,000 families. Amnesty International criticized that demolition, saying evictions should "be carried out only as a last resort."

But many in Nigeria, a country beset by government corruption and mismanagement, take a fatalistic view of their chances. Lawsuits over real estate languish for years in the country's overworked courts system. And those evicted often don't have the money to launch a legal challenge, instead focusing on the day-to-day struggle most face in feeding their families in a nation where most earn less than $2 a day.

"What can I do? It has happened, it has happened," said Abraham Mesou, a traditional ruler in the area who had to destroy a home he had lived in for more than 22 years. "We are fishermen but I don't pray for my children to be fishermen so they don't suffer the way we have suffered."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-07-27-Nigeria-Floating%20Slum/id-dd797fb588ed4dfe8f1534cea02af468

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For-Profit Colleges Pay Executives Based On Profit, Not Student Success, Report Finds

Top executives at major for-profit colleges take in millions of dollars in annual compensation -- primarily from taxpayer subsidies -? yet most of their pay is unrelated to student achievement, according to preliminary findings from a congressional investigation.

The report from Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, found that publicly traded college corporations calculate executive compensation "predominantly on the profitability of their companies rather than the success of their students."

"This is especially troubling given the billions of taxpayer dollars flowing into these institutions and the serious financial risks to students who go through these programs," the report concluded.

For-profit colleges receive much of their revenues from federal financial aid: student loans, Pell grants and military educational benefits. Yet students often fare poorly, dropping out in large numbers and defaulting on federal loans at double the rate of their counterparts at public institutions.

Cummings sent letters in December to 13 for-profit college corporations, seeking information on how the quality of education and student performance are tied to what he termed "lavish" executive pay at the schools. Chief executive officers at several for-profit education companies take in much more than presidents at some of the most prestigious U.S. private universities.

Todd S. Nelson, the former chief executive and now chairman of Education Management Corp., the nation's second-largest operator of for-profit colleges, took in more than $13.1 million last year. The highest-paid Ivy League president, Richard C. Levin of Yale University, received $1.6 million in compensation, according to tax filings.

In a preliminary report sent to Democratic members of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee on Friday, congressional staff found that "the single most significant measure for determining executive compensation at these schools is corporate profitability, including factors such as operating income, earnings, profits, operating margins, earnings per share, net cash flow, and revenue."

The report found that 10 of the 13 companies considered profitability for at least 70 percent of executive pay. The other three companies did not provide enough information to determine how student success factored into executive pay, according to the report.

For-profit colleges have increased revenues over the years by rapidly expanding their enrollments. From 1999 to 2009, the number of students attending for-profit colleges more than tripled, far outpacing the growth of traditional higher education, which grew by a fifth, according to an analysis of federal data from the Education Trust, a student advocacy group.

Although about 12 percent of college students nationwide attend for-profit schools, the sector is responsible for more than 45 percent of federal loan defaults.

In many cases, companies had executive compensation documents that made only "vague references" to student performance and "failed to indicate the specific extent to which these measures affect executive compensation," the report said.

At Career Education Corp., which owns the Le Cordon Bleu chain of culinary schools, 75 percent of executives' bonus pay was based on meeting profit goals, according to the report. The remaining 25 percent of executive compensation was based on "individual executive performance factors."

There were several optional criteria to determine an executive's performance at the company, including student graduation rates and career placement rates. But the company provided no details on whether those student performance goals were actually considered, according to the congressional report.

Nonetheless, all executives at the company reached 100 percent of their individual goals in 2010, the report found. Last year, the chief executive of Career Education Corp., Gary McCullough, resigned after an internal investigation found that the employees were artificially inflating job placement rates at some health and arts programs to remain in good standing with college accreditors -? and continue to be eligible for federal aid dollars.

A spokesman for Career Education Corp., Mark Spencer, acknowledged that the company used such a compensation plan for senior executives in the past. The company updated its compensation plan this year, he said -- a plan that now ties 66 percent of senior executives' potential compensation to student-focused goals unrelated to "any financial performance objective." The plan has not been released publicly.

A spokeswoman for DeVry Inc., Jennifer Dooley, wrote in an e-mail that "our first obligation is to our students, and our shareholders understand this." She continued: "They know that only by focusing on serving our students, and on delivering value over the long term, will we ensure our economic viability."

Representatives from 11 other companies mentioned in the report did not respond to requests for comment Friday.

UPDATE: 10:23 p.m. -- This article has been updated to include comment from a Career Education Corp. spokesman.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/27/for-profit-colleges-executive-compensation_n_1712126.html

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Romney's adventure abroad begins with stumbles

LONDON (Reuters) - By the end of presidential candidate Mitt Romney's first full day in London on Thursday, he had been the target of a verbal jab from the British prime minister and had been mocked by the city's mayor, who spoke before a cheering crowd.

So it is safe to say that Romney's trip - carefully choreographed to boost his image on an international stage - has not gone exactly as planned.

The Republican ruffled British feathers by appearing to suggest in a U.S. television interview on Wednesday that London was not ready for the Games, whose opening ceremony in the British capital is on Friday.

"It's hard to know just how well it will turn out," Romney, who led the Salt Lake City Winter Games in 2002, told NBC News of London's Olympic preparations. "There are a few things that were disconcerting," including the threat of a strike by immigration and customs officials.

The comments provoked an uproar in the feisty British media and drew a biting response from Prime Minister David Cameron, one of the government officials with whom Romney met briefly on Thursday.

Cameron, who was forced to deploy extra troops to bolster security at the Olympics to cover a shortfall left by a private contractor, defended Britain's handling of the Games and seemed to suggest that the challenge was significantly greater than what Romney faced at Salt Lake City's much smaller Winter Games a decade ago.

"We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world," the Conservative prime minister said during a news conference at the Olympic Park in London. "Of course, it is easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere."

London Mayor Boris Johnson cast aside diplomatic niceties when addressing a cheering crowd in Hyde Park, an Olympics venue in central London.

"I hear there's a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know whether we're ready," Johnson said, in a moment that could have been scripted as a commercial for U.S. President Barack Obama, Romney's opponent in the November 6 election.

"He wants to know whether we're ready," Johnson called out to the crowd. "Are we ready? Are we ready? Yes, we are."

The scene, and Cameron's remarks, put Romney in damage control mode at the start of a foray to Britain, Israel and Poland that is scheduled to be light on policy pronouncements and heavy on photo opportunities and fundraising.

Romney, who has made much of his record in helping to save the failing Salt Lake Games, predicted the London Games will be highly successful.

"We talked about the great progress that has been made in organizing the Games," Romney said after meeting Cameron in a Downing Street parlor where the arena for Olympic beach volleyball could seen out the back window.

"My experience as the Olympic organizer is that there are always a few very small things that end up not going quite right," Romney added. "Those get ironed out, and then when the Games themselves begin, the athletes take over."

DID HE SAY TOO MUCH?

Romney has traded on his Olympic stint in a political career that has included serving as the governor of Massachusetts. He often cites his Salt Lake City experience as a key reason why he has the can-do spirit to rebuild the U.S. economy.

His comments about the London Games followed what already had been an inauspicious start to his week-long overseas trip, designed in part to establish his foreign policy credentials with voters back home.

Romney had to disavow comments by an unidentified adviser who told the Daily Telegraph that Obama, the United States' first African-American president, had mishandled U.S.-British ties and that Romney better understood the "Anglo-Saxon heritage" between the two countries.

On Thursday, Romney also took the unusual step of acknowledging that he had met with the head of MI6, Britain's secretive foreign intelligence agency, when asked about his discussions with British officials about Syria.

Such conversations are not normally discussed publicly by government leaders.

"I can only say that I appreciated the insights and the perspectives of the leaders of the government here and opposition here as well as the head of MI6 as we discussed Syria and hoped for a more peaceful future for that country," he said.

Romney also is using his visit to raise campaign cash from Americans living in Britain, and plans to pull in about $2 million to add to his huge campaign war chest.

The Republican was careful to avoid criticizing Obama while abroad, but in his fundraising speech he did pledge to restore to the White House a bust of Winston Churchill that Obama sent back to the British government when he took office in 2009.

"I'm looking forward to the bust of Winston Churchill being in the Oval Office again," Romney said.

Romney's discussions with British officials, including Cameron, Labour Party leader Ed Miliband of the opposition, and others were dominated by the Euro zone crisis and its impact on the British and U.S. economies, a senior Romney adviser said.

Syria, Iran, Pakistan, Tunisia, Egypt and Afghanistan all came up during the discussions, but Romney would not talk about specific policy proposals to avoid any appearance of critiquing Obama, the adviser said.

Romney, who polls indicate is in a tight race with Obama, is due to leave London on Saturday for Israel.

(Editing by Jon Boyle, David Lindsey and Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/romneys-adventure-abroad-begins-stumbles-003319180--spt.html

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Understanding the 'why' behind your job ? Business Management ...

?A change agent,? write the authors of Who Took My Pen ... Again?, ?has the courage to see things that are and know they could be better, and to see things that aren?t, and work, dream, plan, and learn about them, in order to bring them into reality.?

One of the best ways to get an idea implemented is to first view the situation from your boss?s or the organization?s perspective. Is the idea feasible? Practical? Profitable?

One administrative professional, Nancy, realized that her team of legal administrative assistants knew little about the objectives of the 35 lawyers and paralegals they supported. Assistants performed transactions without understanding the ?why? behind what they were doing, nor did they understand how lawyer subgroups interacted.

So Nancy envisioned and pitched a two-year speaker series for administrative assistants, called ?Our Orga??ni??za??tion 101.? Once her boss approved, she created and ran the program.

The series?held in a small, in??formal conference room?allowed assistants to hear directly from the de?????partment vice president, man?aging counsel and other strategic leaders. For each speaker event, admins were tasked with preparing one question each.

Result? Assistants gained a better understanding of the business and the managers? roles. The lines of com??munication opened.

After the series had finished, the firm announced a change: Administrative support roles would need to be rotated, to accommodate other in-house changes.

Thanks to the speaker series, the assistants understood exactly the ?who? and ?why? behind their new assignments, which made the change a lot easier.

? Adapted from Who Took My Pen ... Again? Joan Burge, Nancy Fraze, and Jasmine Freeman.

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Source: http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/31388/understanding-the-why-behind-your-job

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Atlanta Immigration Lawyers Provide Immigration Legal Assistance

This article has been viewed 10 times.

The us immigration process can be a very complex and wearisome process and an Atlanta immigration lawyerspecializes in assisting persons so as to as quickly and as proficiently as possible. The immigration process is not designed to be easily maneuvered through without the assistance of a lawyer. The tedious process of moving to the United States ought to be handled through the know-how of an Atlanta immigration lawyer.

This sometimes costly and also precarious adventure must be handled by a professional who specializes in your immigration process and in the United States immigration laws and regulations. Individuals who attempt to deal with this process without the use of legal counsel are often entangled in too much paperwork and in years of legalities. In order to quickly and conveniently attain legal rights to live along with work in the United States you should hire an immigration attorney. The paperwork mixed up in the United States immigrationprocess is thorough and can be tough for those who speak British as their second vocabulary. Hiring an Atlanta immigration lawyer is equivalent to hiring a good interpreter who will work with you through the legalities from the immigration process.

The US immigration service is not really designed to assist the immigrant over the immigration process. The US Immigration Service is designed to uphold the U . s . States? law concerning immigration and individuals who count on their services on your own can be caught throughout legal loopholes that take many years to fix. Persons arriving in america are often prepared to walk through the immigration procedure alone through dependence on US immigration organizations alone; however, these kinds of agencies are not the foundation of help which they should rely on. Atlanta immigration law lawyers specialize in immigration legal guidelines and procedures and are competent in helping individuals walk through the immigration course of action from start to finish.

It can be precarious and costly to try to save money by addressing yourself in the place of employing an immigration lawyer. It is possible to avoid the pitfalls from the immigration process simply by hiring a competent immigration lawyer. Immigration law in america is one of the most challenging for you to interpret and realize as it is constantly modifying and being updated within the legal system. Within lawyer can actually conserve your funds in the long run. Walking with the immigration process without immigration lawyer is like walking in the dark without a flashlight.

For more information about immigration visit our website.

This article was prepared for you by DustinTCalho, one of our 'Authors'.
Visit this authors profile page and learn more about them & the articles they write.

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Source: http://www.article-i.com/computers/accessories/atlanta-immigration-lawyers-provide-immigration-legal-assistance/

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Temporary guardian sought for Jackson's kids

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A court-appointed attorney for Michael Jackson's children says a petition has been filed to appoint a temporary guardian.

Margaret Lodise, the guardian ad litem for Jackson's three children, says a petition to appoint Tito Jackson's son TJ as a temporary guardian has been filed in Los Angeles.

A request for an expedited hearing has been made, but it's uncertain a hearing will be held Wednesday. TJ Jackson is at a Los Angeles courthouse, along with attorneys for Jackson's estate.

The filing comes after days of turmoil in the Jackson family, with matriarch Katherine Jackson spending several days in Arizona out of contact with her grandchildren.

Katherine Jackson is the court-appointed guardian of her son Michael's three children, Prince, Paris and Blanket. The children have remained at the home they share with their grandmother in Calabasas.

The house was the scene of a family disturbance Monday that sheriff's deputies continue to investigate.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/temporary-guardian-sought-jacksons-kids-164508299.html

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SEC filings not clear proof of Romney CEO role

WASHINGTON (AP) ? When Bally Total Fitness filed a proxy statement with the federal government in April 2000 identifying its major investors, the list included Mitt Romney as "sole shareholder, sole director, president and chief executive officer" of Brookside Capital Investors Inc., a Bain Capital investment fund that effectively controlled 5 percent stock ownership in the national health club chain.

Romney was the undisputed owner of Brookside, a Bain management partnership. It had been used for years to oversee some of the private equity company's expanding investments and takeover deals, including the $1 billion acquisition of Domino's Pizza the same year. But other Bain partners also held voting power in the interlocking investment funds that the company used, along with Brookside, to exercise its stock ownership.

That complicated business relationship is at the core of the presidential campaign dispute over whether dozens of reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission show Romney's continuing role as CEO in the three years after he left Bain Capital in February 1999 to head Salt Lake City's Winter Olympics. Romney was named at least 39 times in SEC filings as sole shareholder and chief executive of Bain funds used in corporate takeovers and other investment deals, according to an Associated Press review.

Former SEC officials and other legal authorities familiar with securities law say such filings were legal formalities that reflected Romney's ownership stakes, not his actual management of the shares. Romney could have kept his management role during that period, they said, but the SEC documents are useful in establishing his "beneficial ownership" ? the voting power over stock holdings that he shared with his Bain partners.

The SEC's beneficial ownership statements have been required corporate filings since 1968, when a congressional act enforced their use to ward off the threat of surprise takeovers of public companies. The 1968 Williams Act ordered that any individual or company buying up more than 5 percent of a public company's stock needed to file a 13-D beneficial ownership statement within 10 days of the transaction.

The filings are used by the SEC, companies and investors as an early warning system to show the sudden accumulation of large stock stakes, said Brian J. Lane, a partner at the Washington law firm of Gibson Dunn and former director of the SEC's Corporate Finance Division, which oversees corporate filings.

After media reports cited Romney's SEC filings last month in raising questions about his role at Bain after leaving for the Olympics in 1999, Democratic Party officials questioned whether those documents were accurate. Stephanie Cutter, President Barack Obama's deputy campaign manager, said Romney was "either misrepresenting his own position at Bain to the SEC, which is a felony, or he was misrepresenting his position at Bain to the American people."

The Romney campaign objected to her comments. Cutter later said she was not accusing Romney of committing a crime, but she and other Democratic Party critics have continued to question his SEC filings.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sec-filings-not-clear-proof-romney-ceo-role-064959500.html

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Facebook Question: Should College Students Start Using Credit ...

July 26th, 2012

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This week, we asked our Facebook fans if they think college students should start using credit cards. We received responses on both sides of the argument. We?ve gathered a few of them to share here on the blog.

AGREE: College students should start using credit.

?Only if they?re taught how to use one properly. I have seen so many younger college kids have credit cards, use them, and then have to pay interest or late fees and they have no idea why.? Smalls S.

?Agree. I think it?s less about whether or not they are college students and more about whether or not they are responsible enough as individuals. However, I don?t agree with pushing credit cards on to them, as was the case when I was attending college. I could not go to the campus stores without someone trying to give me a freebie to sign up for a card.? Nita L.

?Agree. But parents should explain how it works and monitor. Credit cards can be used, but in a responsible way.? Roberta C.

?Agree, if a student has actual income. Yes, many college students (including me) make mistakes with credit cards, but college is about making your own decisions. That?s bound to come with mistakes!? Julie H.

?Yes, but they should also receive mandatory credit assessment so they can learn to use it correctly. The same way they can get a driver?s license after they pass a driving test.? Meg P.

?Sure, if they have a job and can pay their bill.? Brandon C.

?Agreed, college students should start taking responsibility by learning how to use credit and stay within their means.? Emmanuel E.

?Depends on the college student. I had a credit card in college and although I didn?t know much about finance, I knew enough to know not to spend what I didn?t have?unless there is an emergency. Now I have several years of credit card utilization under my belt, which is taken into consideration by credit bureaus (learned that from CK). Great decision on my part.? Sharron H.

?Yes, but we need to education kids about personal finance in high school.? Mike B.

?Strongly agree. These are college kids, why should we baby them? There are just as many adults dumb enough to spend more than they have in their bank account using a credit card. When I bought my first property, I had a great credit score, but couldn?t get the lowest rate because the average age of my account was way too short!? YourPFpro.com

DISAGREE: College students should NOT start using credit.

?Disagree!! Why would anyone want to saddle their children with an interest rate of 19.99% (which you know they do to college students)? Why not teach them to invest their money and save to buy instead of going into debt to buy things? When did instant gratification become the norm? Credit card companies are great at marketing a product and making it seem like you can?t live without one. We did fine before Diner?s Club came around and began pushing people to live beyond their means.? Kirsten G.

?Disagree. I think the students need to forget that. I worked in a bank that gave students credit cards in the 80?s? nothing but trouble and parents upset and many other problems because they didn?t make money to pay back the debt.? Linda J.

?I don?t care about anyone else?s college student. I didn?t get much in the way of education about credit, so when I got two credit cards with $1,000 credit on each and a Texaco Gas card with a $300 limit, I handled it all very poorly. Fortunately, 1995 was a few years ago. I hope to be able to educate my child or get her an education on matters of finance, so that she will have a better idea of what money and credit really are.? Clinton B.

?College students should start learning how to deal with money, without their parents fingers in it. THEN they can figure out what credit is for.? Liz G.

?I disagree. Too many stupid avenues to spend money on, coupled with less maturity and judgement.? Bharath S.

?Strongly disagree. Who needs student loans plus credit card debt? Perhaps a secured credit card. In either case, cash is king and it teaches delayed gratification.? IDropDebt

?Disagree. Back in the old days we worked and took every transferrable class at the community college because it was cheaper. I still got a college degree with no loans. I didn?t go to Harvard and don?t care.? Andy G.

What do you think? Should college students start using credit? Tell us in the comments!

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Source: http://blog.creditkarma.com/credit-cards/facebook-question-should-college-students-start-using-credit/

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International Security Company Selects AlertDriving

TORONTO?(BUSINESS WIRE)?AlertDriving, the global leader in web-based driver risk management solutions, is pleased to announce that it has established a long-term agreement with an international security company to provide a comprehensive global program to their fleet of more than 5,000 drivers in 13 countries. With this addition, AlertDriving further strengthens its leadership position in the?

Source: http://rambergmedia.com/international-security-company-selects-alertdriving/

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Osi?wishes players emulated Tebow

AP

As the NFL and its referees union rocket toward the playing of games without the usual game officials, a serious question is emerging regarding whether the players will submit to games officiated by folks replacing the locked-out men in black, and white.

?We?ll see what the decision is as we get closer to the day,? NFLPA president Domonique Foxworth told PFT Live on June 5.? ?Hopefully, they can figure this out in an amicable way as soon as possible.? I?m not sure what the decision is going to be from the Players Association when that day comes.?

That day is coming.? The preseason begins on August 5, only 12 days from now.

Though NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith has yet to disclose the union?s plans, it?s clear that he has concerns.

Asked to gauge his level of discomfort regarding the absence of the regular officials for regular-season games, Smith went off the charts.? ?On a scale of 1 to 10?? Twelve,? Smith tells Peter King of Sports Illustrated.? ?The officials are being asked to be first-responders on the field for player safety as well as to officiate the games.? How do you expect officials not used to doing games at that level to be able to step in and handle the job?? To use a [lockout] as a motivational tactic in negotiations . . . we find repulsive.??

While the Collective Bargaining Agreement contains a no-strike/no-lockout clause that prevents a work stoppage during the 10-year term of the deal, the CBA doesn?t expressly prohibit a sympathy strike, in which the players would respect the game officials? picket line.? The players could, in theory, boycott games under that principle.

The players also could refuse to work based on the argument that replacement officials create an ?abnormally dangerous? working condition.? And that wouldn?t necessarily be a frivolous claim.? As King points out, Division I conferences won?t allow their officials to serve as NFL replacements in 2012.? The conferences permitted officials to work as replacements during a 2001 lockout that lasted through the first week of the regular season.

?That means the replacements will come from lower levels of college football, some retired and/or dismissed college officials, and high schools,? King writes.

That also means the replacements will be something far less than the best of the best officials.? Thus, when the NFL specifically required game officials to monitor players for signs of concussions during the 2011 season, the league unwittingly set the stage for a showdown with players on whether replacement officials compromise player safety.

It would be easy for the NFL to simply remove that responsibility from the replacement officials, but the fact that the NFL gave those duties to the game officials in 2011 supports a claim that it?s now a necessary component of player safety.

It nevertheless would be risky ? and potentially very expensive ? for the NFLPA to call for a sympathy strike or a walkout based on allegations of abnormally dangerous conditions and later to lose in court on whether the strike/work stoppage was legal.? The players would be responsible for the losses incurred by the owners, which would be significant given the refunds to ticket purchasers and network partners.

Then there?s the P.R. fallout that would come from a player-initiated work stoppage, along with the question of whether the NFLPA would be able to persuade players to do something they ultimately refused to do in 2011:? sacrifice game checks.

Regardless of how this one plays out, the looming possibility of lost games will make fans who don?t currently care about the referee lockout change their tune.

Quickly.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/07/24/osi-wishes-more-players-would-be-like-tebow/related/

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Facebook's day of reckoning: 2Q earnings report

NEW YORK (AP) ? It's showtime for Facebook. Call it the second act after its rocky initial public offering two months ago. On Thursday, the company will take the spotlight once again for its first earnings report as a public company.

Facebook's fate hinges on its ability to convince businesses that the ads on its website and on its mobile application are effective. To do that, the world's largest online social network needs to keep its nearly 1 billion users logging on as often ? and for as long ? as possible, interacting with each other as well as with brands.

The release of its quarterly financial results will be Facebook's chance to prove to investors that it can continue growing revenue from the ads it serves on its popular social networking site.

It comes a day after Zynga Inc., which contributed to 12 percent of Facebook's revenue last year, reported disappointing earnings. Facebook's stock slid in after-market trading Wednesday, as did Zynga's.

Though there's a lot riding on Facebook's second-quarter earnings report, Wall Street analysts aren't expecting big surprises.

Why? Facebook effectively warned investors before its IPO that Wall Street's expectations were too high. In a filing issued a week before its IPO, Facebook said its mobile users are growing at a faster pace than the number of ads on its mobile platform.

As a result of that disclosure and others, many analysts reduced their estimates for Facebook's projected revenue and earnings.

On average, analysts are expecting Facebook to post earnings of 12 cents per share on revenue of $1.16 billion, according to a poll by FactSet. In all of 2011, it had net income of $1 billion and revenue of $3.71 billion, according to regulatory filings.

Facebook, the company founded by Mark Zuckerberg in a Harvard dormitory in 2004, takes another important step in its evolution into a multi-national company with thousands of employees. Facebook went public on May 18, a Friday that capped a disappointing week for the U.S. stock market. After months of hoopla, Facebook saw its stock land with a thud, its debut marred by Nasdaq glitches that delayed trading.

Company-watchers will be scrutinizing the way in which it conducts its first public financial release. Will Zuckerberg host the entire conference call with analysts? or simply say a few words before letting company's financial team explain how the quarter unfolded? Among the call's other likely participants: Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and finance chief David Ebersman.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter believes it's unlikely that Facebook will miss Wall Street's estimates. He added that the banks that led Facebook's IPO likely advised the company to beat expectations for its first public quarter, something that became more achievable once estimates declined.

Facebook makes the bulk of its money from advertising. Because people share so much about themselves on the social network ? from hobbies to birth announcements ? Facebook's bet is that it can offer highly targeted ads that people are likely to be interested in. The company also uses people's personal relationships to target advertisements. The assumption is that people will be more interested in products and services that their friends like.

A smaller chunk of Facebook's revenue comes from its payments service, the system third-party developers such as game company Zynga Inc. use to charge fees for games and other content on the cite. Facebook takes a portion of the money users pay, usually 30 percent.

Besides revenue growth, what Facebook says about user numbers will be important. Not just how many people use the site, but how often and for how long. Facebook has 901 million monthly active users and 526 million daily active users, according to its latest filings. Each month, 488 million users accessed Facebook using a mobile device.

Investors and analysts who follow the earnings report will want to hear how the company can make money from its fast-growing mobile user base.

"The specific challenge for Facebook is that it is only just now starting to try to monetize this mobile usage," Citi Investment Research analyst Mark Mahaney said in a note to investors. Facebook's current plan, he said, is to insert so-called "sponsored stories" ? ads into people's mobile feeds. The ads are based on friends' activities.

"But it is very unclear how this will play out, how users will react to changes to what has been an ad-free mobile experience to date, and whether these ads will be effective on mobile devices," the analyst wrote.

It's unclear if Facebook will offer its outlook for the current quarter and beyond. Not all companies do. Apple does, while Google Inc. doesn't and never has. If Facebook does provide a forecast, Pachter thinks it will be conservative. The company has no reason to anger investors who have already pushed its stock down 24 percent from its $38 IPO price.

Facebook will report its earnings on Thursday after the stock market closes. It will hold a conference call to discuss the earnings at 5 p.m. ET.

On Wednesday, the Menlo Park, Calif.-based company's stock closed up 89 cents at $29.34. It fell nearly 8 percent to $27.04 in extended trading after Zynga's report came out.

The stock has traded from $25.52 to $45 since going public. It has not risen above $38 since its first trading day.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-07-25-Facebook-Earnings%20Preview/id-836802ccc2b141e8b9c3dd1bc5270725

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