Borrow-short lend-long strategies have caused more pain and grief than nearly any play in the book. They are virtually guaranteed to blow up given enough time if the duration mismatch and leverage is too great.
For those who do not know what I am describing, a couple examples below will help explain. The first example is a look at "cost of funds" and guaranteed profits that banks can make. It is not a borrow-short lend-long strategy but will morph into such a scheme as I vary the parameters.
Inquiring minds investigating Citigroup's cost of funds note that Citigroup 5 year CDs yield a mere 1.5%. For this example, Citigroup's cost of funds is 1.5%, the rate it pays depositors. Here are a few snips from Citi's website.
Who said there are no guarantees in life?
Some things in life are a sure thing. Like a Citibank CD, which offers a guaranteed—and highly competitive—interest rate. You also get a wide range of terms, from 3 months to 5 years.
Citigroup has the gall to brag about "guarantees in life" when the "guarantee" in question is a complete ripoff. It's a ripoff because 5-year US treasuries currently yield 2.35%.
Anyone buying CDs at less than the treasury yield rate is a fool.
I will tie this together shortly, but first make note that the Northern Trust, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase offer even lower 5-Year CD rates.
Here are some rates courtesy of Bankrate.Com as of 2011-02-15.
According to Bankrate, national average for 5 year CDs is 1.61% and the rock bottom low is .95%. The site average is 1.98% and the top yielding 5-year CD yields 2.75%. Thus Citigroup's claim of competitive rates is absurd.
Although Bank of America makes no such claims, its CD rate is priced so preposterously low, that Bank of America must not even want to deal with them. Alternatively, B of A has an incredibly large pool of moronic depositors begging to be ripped off.
Anyone buying 5-year CDs from Citigroup, Bank of America, Northern Trust, or JPMorgan Chase is giving those banks a shot at guaranteed free money.
I am back from the Forbes cruise to Mexico and starting to deal with a thousand things, but first on the list is making sure you get this week's Outside the Box. And a good one it is. In fact, it is two short pieces coming to us from friends based in London over the pond.
Both of them have to deal with the unfolding crisis that is Europe, which is going to unfold for several years as they lurch from solution to solution. The first is from Dylan Grice of Societe Generale and reminds us why we should put no stock in what leaders say about a crisis. He has lined up the statements of leaders from one crisis after another. He finds a simple, repeating pattern. And shows where we are now.
The second is from hedge fund manager Omar Sayed, who I met last time I was sin London. A very bright chap and good guy. He offers us very succinctly four paths that Europe can take. Some of them are not pretty. It all makes for a very interesting OTB. I trust your week will go well.
The recent sequence of reassurances from various eurozone policymakers suggests we are in the early, not latter, stages of the euro crisis. Only an Anglo-Saxon style QE will prevent dissolution of the euro. Such a radically un-German solution will only be taken with a full acceptance of how serious the euro's problems are. But denial persists.
The dawning of reality hurts. Prodded and bullied along a tortuous emotional path by events unforeseen and beyond our control, we descend through three phases: the first is denial that there is a problem; the second is denial that there is a big problem; the third is denial that the problem was anything to do with us.
Today the Irish Government sold its citizens into debt slavery by agreeing to guarantee stupid loans made by German, British, and US banks. Those loans fueled one of the biggest property bubbles in the world. Ireland has since crashed.
Ireland applied for a bailout to help fund itself and save its banks, becoming the second euro member to seek a rescue from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen said he expects talks on the package to be completed in the "next few weeks." Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said the loan will be less than 100 billion euros ($137 billion), though he refused to give any further details at a press conference in Dublin today.
"A small sovereign like Ireland faced with an outsized problem that we have in our banking sector, cannot on its own address all those problems," Lenihan said. Ireland may not draw down on the entire loan, he said.
The Irish turmoil has also reopened tensions about the governance of the euro region after German Chancellor Angela Merkel last month called for bondholders to foot more of the bill of European bailouts. Her stance, criticized European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, sparked a bond market selloff.
Trichet is pissed about common sense statement by German Chancellor Angela Merkel about who should foot the bill. Actually, Merkel did not go far enough. When you make stupid loans you pay the price. Or at least you should.
But no! Trichet as well as the Irish Prime Minister seem to think that Irish taxpayers should bail out the Irish banks (which is in reality a bailout of German, and UK banks that made piss poor loans to Ireland).
DO BOND MARKETS FUND OUR SPENDING?
This idea that the United States is the next Greece persists. We saw it several times this week from various analysts and the regular pundits who continue to trot out this argument despite having been terribly wrong about their hyperinflation and/or default thesis over the last few years. I think it's very important that investors understand that the United States cannot default on its obligations in the same way that Greece, a US state or a household can. Why is it important to understand this? Because markets are psychologically driven. Regular readers know I am not the most optimistic prognosticator. Anyone who has read this site over the last few years knows that I have and continue to believe we are mired in a balance sheet recession. My outlook is not rosey, but it is not dire either. I do not believe doom is on the horizon and I most certainly do not believe the United States, as the sovereign supplier of a non-convertible floating exchange rate currency, will default on its obligations.
In addition to "It's different this time" and "Self sufficiency is an out-moded concept" one of the deadliest assumptions is "That can never happen here."
Morgan Stanley says what we have all known for some time. There will be government defaults of various types on debts which have become unmanageable.
As we see in a UK Telegraph story today, a report claims the Tories are placing the greatest pain in managing their budget gaps on the backs of the less well to do, presumably protecting their more well to do constituency. No surprise to anyone if it is true. And yet this may not be enough unless the economy recovers and the great mass of the public can regain some reasonable level of organic economic activity.
In the US the broad mass of consumer have been the economy's golden goose, and after decades of median wage stagnation, neo-liberal economic policies, and overseas military expansions and expeditions, that goose looks cooked.
But at the end of the day this soft class warfare, despite its vicious hypocrisy and pettiness, is all intramurals, as the real defaults and debt reconciliation will most likely be in the form of artificially low bond rates accompanied by devaluations in the Western fiat currencies. I have been trying to figure out a way that a selective default could be accomplished, but have not quite muddled through that yet.
On Tuesday, the 30-year fixed rate for mortgages plunged to an all-time low of 4.56 per cent. Rates are falling because investors are still moving into risk-free liquid assets, like Treasuries. It's a sign of panic and the Fed's lame policy response has done nothing to sooth the public's fears. The flight-to-safety continues a full two years after Lehman Bros blew up.
Housing demand has fallen off a cliff in spite of the historic low rates. Purchases of new and existing homes are roughly 25 per cent of what they were at peak in 2006. Case/Schiller reported on Monday that June new homes sales were the "worst on record", but the media twisted the story to create the impression that sales were actually improving! Here are a few of Monday's misleading headlines: "New Home Sales Bounce Back in June"--Los Angeles Times. "Builders Lifted by June New-home Sales", Marketwatch. "New Home Sales Rebound 24 per cent", CNN. "June Sales of New Homes Climb more than Forecast", Bloomberg.
"Sentiment may be slow to improve until companies start adding to payrolls at a faster rate, and the Federal Reserve projects unemployment will take time to decline. Today's figures showed income expectations at their lowest point in more than a year, posing a risk for consumer spending that accounts for 70 per cent of the economy.
Do sovereign debt ratios matter?
In the past few weeks I have been getting a lot of questions about serial sovereign defaults and how to predict which countries will or won't suspend debt payments or otherwise get into trouble. The most common question is whether or not there is a threshold of debt (measured, say, against total GDP) above which we need to start worrying.
Perhaps because I started my career in 1987 trading defaulted and restructured bank loans during the LDC Crisis, I have spent the last 30 years as a finance history junky, obsessively reading everything I can about the history of financial markets, banking and sovereign debt crises, and international capital flows. My book, The Volatility Machine, published in 2002, examines the past 200 years of international financial crises in order to derive a theory of debt crisis using the work of Hyman Minsky and Charles Kindleberger.
No aspect of history seems to repeat itself quite as regularly as financial history. The written history of financial crises dates back at least as far back as the reign of Tiberius, when we have very good accounts of Rome's 33 AD real estate crisis. No one reading about that particular crisis will find any of it strange or unfamiliar – least of all the 100-million-sesterces interest-free loan the emperor had to provide (without even having read Bagehot) in order to end the panic.
So although I am not smart enough to tell you who will or won't default (I have my suspicions however), based on my historical reading and experiences, I think there are two statements that I can make with confidence. First, we have only begun the period of sovereign default.
The major global adjustments haven't yet taken place and until they do, we won't have seen the full consequences of the global crisis, although already Monday's New York Times had an article in which some commentators all but declared the European crisis yesterday's news.
Just two months ago, Europe's sovereign debt problems seemed grave enough to imperil the global economic recovery. Now, at least some investors are treating it as the crisis that wasn't.
Here is an interesting pair of stories at odds with each other, the first article is about problem loans at Chinese banks, the second is about a rating agency mud fight.
Chinese banks may struggle to recoup about 23 percent of the 7.7 trillion yuan ($1.1 trillion) they've lent to finance local government infrastructure projects, according to a person with knowledge of data collected by the nation's regulator.
About half of all loans need to be serviced by secondary sources including guarantors because the ventures can't generate sufficient revenue, the person said, declining to be identified because the information is confidential. The China Banking Regulatory Commission has told banks to write off non-performing project loans by the end of this year, the person said.
The nation's five-largest banks, including Agricultural Bank of China Ltd., plan to raise as much as $53.5 billion to replenish capital after the sector extended a record $1.4 trillion in credit last year.
Local governments set up the financing vehicles to fund projects such as highways and airports due to limits on their ability to directly borrow money. The central government this year restricted borrowing on concern money isn't being used for viable projects.
The head of China's largest credit rating agency has slammed his western counterparts for causing the global financial crisis and said that as the world's largest creditor nation China should have a bigger say in how governments and their debt are rated.


Green coffee bean capsules give a huge boost to weight loss when taken daily. The initial research that has acquired everybody so excited checked 16 participants over a duration of 22 weeks, and also found that each had remarkably shed on average about 17 pounds.
Much more convincing proof was when Dr Oz himself conducted his very own research utilizing 100 ladies from a tv audience. The ladies who obtained green coffee capsules lost twice as long as those who received an inactive medicine.
The following gives all you need to find out about Dr Oz green coffee beans, clearing the rumors and questions lots of people in Trbovlje Slovenia are facing.
Dr Oz Green coffee beans have chlorogenic acid. The acid is vital to its numerous weight loss benefits since it indicates your liver to burn the saved fatty tissue FIRST. Additionally, it slows down processing of sugars into blood sugar, so there's less in your blood producing far more fatty tissue burning. Excess blood sugar doesn't turn to fat later on. By doing this there are prompt benefits in addition to long term ones.
This is precisely what accompanied some participants in a recently conducted research study on the green coffee bean extracts by Scranton University under Joe Vinson. Searchings for were revealed throughout the 243rd National Fulfilling of the longtime running American Chemical Culture (ACS).
When coffee is roasting, the outcome is exactly what many individuals in Trbovlje Slovenia appreciate throughout different times of the day. Nonetheless, when recently picked, pure green coffee is just unroasted coffee- coffee in its purest form- which might be the answer to all weight related problems available. Green coffee extract has actually been discovered to considerably minimize fat deposits absorption as well as fuel metabolic prices in the liver, both of which are vital in weight reduction.
Green coffee contains an organic chemical called chlorogenic acid. This chemical reduces the release of sweets in the blood stream, a process which also assists people in Trbovlje Slovenia in weight loss. Since chlorogenic acid increases thermogenesis (a procedure when body heat is created), fatty tissue is burned faster for power consumption. Additionally, since green coffee includes much more anti-oxidants compared to roasting coffee, taking green coffee supplements could additionally aid in lessening the production of fat cells in the physical body.
Chlorogenic acid prevails mostly in green coffee grains, nonetheless it is damaged during the cooking procedure that is used to make coffee cocktails we're all familiar with. It is essential that a procedure used in turning grains into quickly consumed pills does not utilize heat that harms the chemical framework thus significantly impacting amounts of chlorogenic acid that exists in a final product.
Some bogus retailers in Trbovlje Slovenia usage terms such as Pure Green Coffee Grain Extracts, however the term Pure suggests nothing here. There's NO POLICY guaranteeing exactly what Pure implies.
If you are reading any sort of green coffee testimonials and all they keeping doing is rave concerning just how much of a wonder it is, so take caution. Excellent vendors of supplements are sure to inform you the potential disadvantages or side effects. They'll also tell you the exact substances.
The key is guaranteeing you're getting a true top quality extract and absolutely nothing loadeded with unnecessary components which could in fact be hazardous. CHECK OUT THE TAG! The scammers cannot lie on a label. Dr. Oz will suggest an offer with:.
In a recent study that existed at the ACS's spring season nationwide conference which was in San Diego, sixteen overweight grownups took, low dosages of green coffee grain extracts, high amounts of green coffee supplements, as well as a placebo. Even though the study was little, results were striking. It concluded that Subjects taking full doses of the green coffee extracts shed about regarding 17.5 pounds.
Studies have actually proposed chlorogenic acid slows the absorption of fatty tissue during food consumption along with triggering metabolic rate of extra fats.
Green Coffee includes several parts. Every one of them could have the potential pharmacological effects. The secret to genuine long term weight loss is one essential energetic substance that's called Chlorogenic Acid discovered in green coffee grains.
Green Coffee Beans will certainly prevent fat deposits absorption. They additionally turn on fatty tissue metabolism which is performed in the liver. The Chlorogenic acids discovered in the Green Coffee Beans can be referred to as an all-natural phytochemical discovered in a quite vast variety of plants, all with higher concentrations of Green Coffee Beans.
Green Coffee Extract is been discovered to inhibit release of sugar into a blood stream, particularly after meals. This appears to truly help people in Trbovlje Slovenia slim down much faster. Chlorogenic acid can also generate body system weight loss through improving the body heat generated. Through this it leads to promotion of thermogenesis, natural burning of fat to produce energy.
Green Coffee Extract is additionally thought to lessen generation of fat deposits cells due to its superior antioxidant effects.
Typically, it is not advised to follow hype on weight-loss supplements, particularly weight-loss supplements that make grand cases like 4 day weight loss or dumbbell loss.
Green Coffee Extract is strongly thought by nutritional experts as well as health club trainers in Trbovlje Slovenia that a secret to weight loss is healthy diet and physical exercise. Nevertheless here is an astonishing incredibly food that provides results! This super meals, the green coffee bean, has been creating major media talk.
Green Coffee Grain extract really is an efficient weight loss supplement. Fortunately the appeal of this brand-new item in Trbovlje Slovenia incorporated with the simpleness entailed with internet retail business suggest there exist lots of scam companies that are functioning to make use of this sensational interest in using Green Coffee grains for weight loss.
It is essential currently to obtain an offer that is legit as well as true. The popularity of this green coffee extract is fanned by its track record to provide results.
Additionally, to motivate even more effective weight loss, make sure to exercise whenever feasible. Combining this with the green coffee beans will bring about results that will certainly stagger you.


Town and Country will be making their largest launch of exclusive new products at this years GLEE.
Following on from their successful new brand launch at Glee 2015, 2016/17 will be Town and Country's largest launch of exclusive new products in all product groups Gloves, Footwear and Children's gardening.
The company will be introducing many new innovative products and colour combinations, together with multiproduct purchasing options and gift items designed to stimulate the consumer.
During 2016/2017 Town & Country will be concentrating on traditional and fashionable designs, innovation and essential gardening products. Promotions will focus on value and new designs combining trend, colour, and proven sales together with eye catching displays to attract the consumers. Town and Country believe in the power of visual impact which connects the brand with the consumer.
Their 2017 year round promotional programme will play a key role in increasing turnover for their customers by 50-60% by a combination of innovative merchandising solutions, high volume selling products with attractive margins for the retailer.
One of the main focuses this year has been on encouraging children to spend more time in the garden. The first competition, "Design Your Own Gardening Glove", welcomed 545 entries from local schools across Leicestershire and the nationwide competition received 1865 of which there were three winners. These designs have been incorporated into the range and Town & Country is once again leading the way to encourage next generation into gardening.


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Revisiting Moscow Heat (2004)
Plot: A detective encounters a black-market arms dealer in Russia while investigating his partner's murder.
Alexander Nevsky stars alongside Michael York, Andrew Divoff, Adrian Paul and Richard Tyson in this love letter to old school action.
In Moscow Heat a retired diplomat and an LAPD detective seek justice, by pursuing a psychotic killer to Moscow. With the help of a Moscow police, they weave their way through labyrinth of the Russian underworld as time is running out.
Although this is very familiar in terms of story I like the idea that Moscow Heat is an unofficial sequel to Red Heat and every scene feels like a tribute to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Even the main antagonist (Richard Tyson) was the villain in Kindergarten Cop. Other references include a speedboat called Terminator and at the end Nevsky's cop asks Chambers (York) if he knows Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Richard Tyson was born to play villains and he never needs to try to look menacing; Moscow Heat is arguably one of his nastiest turns with a few brutal torture scenes involving some painful looking implements.
Adrian Paul is only really a cameo getting killed off early which is a shame as he has great screen presence and was one of the highlights of the film.
Michael York is a strange choice for an action picture but somehow it works as he plays Chambers as a rather pathetic and desperate character with Nevsky providing the muscle; York will always be Basil Exposition from Austin Powers to me. Still, he adds some British class as Chambers trying to find justice for his murdered son.
In terms of action we get regular shoot outs and explosions with one of my favourites being when Nevsky walks onto a boat with two guns gunning down bad guys as bullets dance around him.
Some of the acting is a little wooden at times but it's an action movie so it's meant to be and that's part of the charm; it's no secret that I love low budget action pictures so the elements other reviewers dislike are what I enjoy.
I think people forget what a lot of movies were like back in the 80's and 90's and this feels just like them especially with its awesome electric guitar infused music score.
Overall, Moscow Heat doesn't bring anything new to the genre but it has some fun set-pieces and awesome music making for a diverting and undemanding watch.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


♦ A "campana" is a "bell" so it's easy to see where the inspiration came from. Mounted on a zigzag structure for ceiling lighting and dangling with effervescent grace as pendant lighting, contrasted with their solo mission as individual wall lights, their versatility makes for attractive, amiable lumieres. It softly and warmly target the light wherever it is directed, in homes, shops, arcades, restaurants - in fact anywhere that demands the creative appeal of an elegant lighting.


The Blueberry Festival is an annual event usually held the last weekend of June.
Mile marker 13 on Burlington County Route 530.
DESCRIPTION: This is an all things Blueberry Country Festival with music stage, 40+ artists and crafters, blueberry baked goods, children's blueberry pie eating contest, wagon rides, blueberry picking, historic house tours, native plants, food vendors and children's activities in the birthplace of the highbush blueberry! Annual attendance is 5,000 – 10,000 from PA, NJ, DE, NY and more!
If you are interested in exhibiting at the festival, please contact us via email. We have one and two day exhibitor spaces still available! Handmade crafters, artisans, up-cyclists, antique dealers, food trucks and musicians are all welcome!
We are also in search of artists for our Artist Row in the festival. All media's accepted.


Enjoy this exciting Pinoy card game called Tongits. TongitsXtreme is played offline and is absolutely free!
In this app version of the game of Tongits, you play against 2 computer players. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) engines could be average or a hustler, a conservative or an aggressive player! They will challenge your analytical skills to the point of driving you to madness, leaving you in amazement of how brilliant they are.


In 2012 Brookfield Farm (http://brookfieldfarm.org/) of Amherst, MA received a USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Farmer Grant (www.sare.org) titled Evaluation of Inexpensive, Wireless Sensor Networks for Managing Small Vegetable Farms (project FNE12-748). This section summarizes the results and research from our project that can help other vegetable farms use wireless sensors.
Check out this video describing our project made by SARE in the fall of 2012.
Ruth Hazzard, Technical Advisor, Extension Educator, UMass Vegetable Program, Center for Agriculture, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.
at Brookfield Farm, in fields of strawberries, sugar snap peas, butternut squash, broccoli, peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, flowers, in a field house of tomatoes, and in the greenhouse, walk-in cooler and root cellar vegetable storage areas for both summer and winter.
We found that the sensors helped to prevent field and storage crop problems in time but perhaps more importantly we gained peace of mind by being able to easily check conditions on the computer or iPhone that previously would have required someone to check on them in person.
Our best results were with the temperature/humidity sensors later in the season. Because of delays in equipment delivery and construction we didn't get soil temperature, soil moisture, leaf wetness and weather station readings until too late into the season to be of much use. These sensors, at that time, required quite a bit of programming and construction including adding enclosures and wiring. Near the end of the project the same vendor issued a new version that eliminated that effort but it was too late to really use them in the growing season. However we strongly feel that such sensors can be useful for vegetable farming and are included in our recommendations below and look forward to further testing and use of the additional sensors.
We thank the USDA SARE program for funding this project and hope that this web site helps you decide how you might use wireless sensors. It doesn't take many frozen crops or overheated walk-ins or greenhouses to justify the initial expense for sensors. And the peace of mind you get by knowing at any time what conditions are removes one more source of stress in the very stressful job of growing vegetables. Good luck with your sensor deployment!
We plan to keep this site up to date as much as possible as the technology advances. If we have missed important vendors, consultants, developments, or technologies that should be included in this document please email us at lemanire@cox.net. If you take issue with any of our conclusions please let us know that too.


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From Useful Asset to Nonomissible Necessity: Significance of Cell Phones Amidst the Mobile Attachment Phenomenon
Book: Essay Database
Topics: Balances
Pages: 20 Words: 4917 Views: 150
From Useful Asset to Nonomissible Necessity: Significance of Cell Phones Amidst the Mobile Attachment Phenomenon INTRODUCTION Our wallets, our keys, our ID cards… these are just a few things we need to bring out with us everyday. Quickly joining the list in the past few decades is the young invention – cell phones. Ever since the cell phone became commercially available in 1983, and as it evolved from being the 790g, 25cm-high, home-phone-like DynaTAC to the multi-task all-in-one smartphone, with increasing portability, convenience and functionality, the cell phone has become a non-ignorable device in our lives.
With a cell phone, you can not only make a phone call, text and leave a voice message, but with advancing mobile and Internet connection technology, you can also take a photo, capture videos, send emails, listen to music, play games, read books, search for local information, shop and do many other more tasks. Some smartphones even enable us to pay electronic cash. Cell phone ownership among six-to eleven-year-olds grew 68% between 2005 and 2010 (Kelly); 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices for the three-month average period ending in April 2012 ("comScore Reports").
The fact that worldwide mobile phone subscriptions grew from 12. 4 million to over 6 billion from 1990 to 2011, penetrating about 87% of the global population ("Mobile Phone"), shows that this is not just a phenomenon specified at a certain age group, a certain nation or a certain class, but is universal. In fact, researchers Rideout, Foehr and Roberts wrote, "Cell phones are the last thing they touch before falling asleep and the first thing they reach for upon waking. " (qtd. in Baran and Davis 314) Cell phones are embedded into our daily life.
With the increasing use of cell phones in our lives comes the increasing dependence, attachment or some may even say, addiction with the device. We might be spending time with our loved ones under the magnificently beautiful night sky, yet our hands are tapping in text. We might be enjoying a meal in a restaurant with relaxing music playing in the background but our fingers and our eyes are still glued to our phones. As suggested by the title, this paper is interested in why and what contributes to people's attachment to their mobile phones.
This paper will examine the reasons behind people's attachment with their mobile devices with reference to various mass communication theories to illustrate the significance of a cell phone to its user on an individual level, on a community level and on a social world level. These analyses should be able to help us understand the cause of the phenomenon. To avoid confusion, it is stressed that the cell phones mentioned in this paper will be referring to smartphones, due to its comprehensive functionality. Before the analysis, however, the next section gives a brief description of how the situation of mobile affinity is currently like.
MOBILE ATTACHMENT: THE PHENOMENON People's attachment with their cell phones is there, right in front of our eyes, every day, everywhere. But how serious and widespread can that be? What does it mean by being attached to your cell phone? Various qualitative and quantitative studies have investigated into the phenomenon of mobile attachment, and though a bit exaggerated, these studies are able to give us a brief and accurate overview into how important are mobile phones to their users and how attached, dependent, or even obsessed some users are to their cell phones.
These studies highlight "an unmistakable portrait of a world collectively staring at a tiny display screen for hours and hours of every day"(Gilbert) and reveal that three signs may indicate mobile attachment: a sense of irrational, uncontrollable and urgent necessity to have the cell phone around, a sense of lost and hopelessness without it and a willingness to sacrifice to keep it. The sense of irrational, uncontrollable and urgent necessity to have a cell phone around is the most common feeling mobile-obsessed users feel.
Cell phone becomes a must-have in their daily lives. In Time magazine's large scale international poll conducted by its Techland section and published in its August 2012 issue, over 5,000 Americans, Britons, South Koreans, Chinese, Indians, South Africans, Indonesians, and Brazilians are interviewed, of which 84 % said that they could not go a single day without their cell phones(Gilbert). 29% of respondents of the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project describe their mobiles as "something they can't imagine living without" (Smith).
This sense of necessity also extends all around the clock. According to the aforementioned Time poll, 50 % of Americans sleep with their cell phones next to them like a teddy bear or a spouse (Gilbert). 40 % of respondents check their mobile phones even while sitting on the toilet (Gilbert). Not only does a cell phone has to be always physically around, the sense of necessity also comes in form of a psychological compulsion for users to check their cell phones at all times.
Referring to the Time poll, 20% of respondents check their phone every 10 minutes (Gilbert) and according to Pew Research Center, two-thirds of cell owners check their phones for messages, alerts or calls even when they don't notice their phone ringing or vibrating, with 18% of mobile users say they do this "frequently" (Smith). Mobile attachment also comes in form of the sense of lost and hopelessness without the device.
Esther Swilley, a Kansas State University marketing professor, vividly depicted this when she said, "that panicked feeling we get when the family pet goes missing is the same when we misplace our mobile phone" (Kansas State University). In fact, the fear that comes with the absence of a mobile phone is so prominent that a new special term has been coined for it during a study by the UK Post Office looking at anxieties suffered by mobile phone users: nomophobia (No-mobile-phobia) ("Nomophobia Is the Fear").
The same study found that nearly 53% of mobile phone users in Britain tend to be anxious when they "lose their mobile phone, run out of battery or credit, or have no network coverage". The study found that about 58% of men and 48% of women suffer from the phobia, and an additional 9% feel stressed when their mobile phones are off ("Nomophobia Is the Fear"). Attachment to mobile phones, or obsession in some case, can also mean a willingness to sacrifice or give up something just so one can have the device. Studies discovered these sacrifices are often life's pleasures or even essentials (Podolak, Erin).
A study commissioned by communications company TeleNav shows that a third of surveyed individuals are willing to give up sex for a week rather than go without their cellphone. Another 70% said they can give up alcohol, 63% are willing to forego chocolate, and 55% of people were willing to go without caffeine rather than have no access to their cell phone. Quite alarmingly, 22% of people even said they would be willing to go a week without seeing their significant other rather than go without their phone (Podolak, Erin).
The above studies are able to vividly exemplify the importance of mobiles to certain attached users and how the phenomenon of mobile affinity is like. With the evolution of ordinary cell phones to smartphones, together with advancing Internet connecting technologies, the mobile affinity phenomenon is ever more widespread and common and it is evident that this situation is worthy of investigation and analysis. The following sections will be analyzing why and what contributes to the phenomenon in terms of a cell phone's significance to its user on an individual level, on a community level and on a social world level.
MOBILE AND SELF A cell phone can mean a lot to its user but the most important role a cell phone plays to its owner is a representation and expression of identity, especially during adolescence. The significance of a cell phone is primarily centred on identity. A meaning making process occurs, in which the personal media becomes a symbol that shows how we present and perceive ourselves, as well as how others perceive us. Various concepts like product positioning and symbolic interactionism can explain the logic behind the identity-building process cell phones symbolize.
A cell phone is a medium is which we present ourselves. Which brand we use, which product model we use, what accessories we add to our phones, how do we customized our cell phones' wallpaper, screensavers etc…. With the abundance of choices available on the market, the individualization of mobile phones becomes a way for users to express and present their own identity. These things also contribute to how others perceive you and your identity. Through various marketing and advertising tactics like product positioning, cell phones are perceived as symbols with meanings that are beyond their actual functions.
Brands and models especially contribute to the meaning making of cell phones. Nowadays, the iPhone 5 is no longer just a phone. It is a symbol of chic, taste and wealth. This in a way can also explain the rapid replacement of cell phones and the quick turnover of mobile products. When the iPhone 5 came out, 2 million Apple fans pre-ordered the phone within 24 hours (Apple Inc. ), amongst which are people who bought the latest phone to replace the older 4S version. Not just because of the new functions, but also because of the meanings embedded in the symbol of iPhone 5.
With the emergence of a newer product, the meanings of the older product are transferred to the latest product and with meanings stripped away, the older version ceases to be a symbol. These meanings given to our mobile devices affect how others perceive us and how we present ourselves and create our identity. This is a prime example of symbolic interactionism, in which meanings are given to cell phones and cell phones as symbols in turn controlling our perceptions and our choices. A cell phone's significance in identity building is not only related to a cell phone's physical attributes, but also related to what is inside the cell phone.
A cell phone is like a memory artifact and a repository of memories and social connections, stored in form of phone numbers, photos and text messages (Vincent, 39-44). The phone becomes an icon of 'me, my mobile and my identity'—something that embodies our social and emotional life rather than just merely enabling it (Glotz, Peter, Stefan Bertsch, and Chris Locke, 11-23). In either ways, the cell phone is significant to its owner because it signifies his/her identity, hence creating a sense of emotional attachment towards it as if it is a part of self. On the other hand, the cell phone has grown to become a central piece of our daily lives.
Cell phone has become the one media object which we construct our lives around. It has transformed the way we perceive the world and has prompted a re-arrangement of the way we live our lives. With mobile functions like apps, we can do everything from shopping and finding local information to scheduling our whole day and exercising our brains and our bodies (Chang). Mobile phones have become the way people organize their lives (qtd. in Loechner). We are now interacting with the world in new ways through our cell phones. To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
To a man with a cell phone, we can say everything looks like an app or a search engine. When we wish to instantly acquire information, no longer do we seek for advice from experts or our opinion leaders, we search for answers on a search engine through our phones; when we wish to organize a meeting with a friend, no longer do we check our organizers in our bags. Our phone is our organizer. When you want to book a ticket for movies, use your local theatre's app; when you want to take up cooking, try a recipe app. Cell phones are not just penetrating our lives, they are shaping it.
Almost every part of our everyday lives now involves a cell phone. When we eat, we snap a picture of the food with our cell phone camera and write a review via a restaurant rating app. When we travel, we look for directions on the map app. Even as we sleep we use the cell phone alarm. We construct our lives around a cell phone and this media object structures our everyday lives, shapes our life experience and changes our perception of it. Through symbolic interactionism, a cell phone is given the meaning of being nonomissible in life and in turn affecting our perception of it when we treat it as a necessity. Cell phones become a must.
We need our cell phones. Our dependency and our reliance on these apps and functions our cell phones provide create the necessity to use it all the time, hence leading to an attachment to the device that we somehow could not help. With games, videos, music and other fun applications, cell phones serve yet another function – entertainment. Being a device that converges functions of multiple media, being a device that has the functions of telephone, radio, music player, book and computer all combined into a portable convenient handheld package, the cell phone is able to provide users any sort of entertainment of choice.
The use of mobile phone involves the engagement with more senses than any other portable computational device (Matanhelia). When you use mobile phones, you get a combination of sensory experiences of touch, sight and hearing. In fact, according to research, a majority of the cell phone users are attached to their phone because of its functionality as an entertainment device rather than as a tool that can communicate anytime and anywhere (Kansas State University).
It is therefore not a surprise that games are the most downloaded application for cell phones, according to app stores (Kansas State University). As compared to our comparatively monotonous and dull reality, the exciting entertainment world in a cell phone provides us an alternative world to which we can devote attention into and to get attached to, in turn leading to our detachment to real world. The attachment users feel towards mobile phones as an entertainment device can be explained through entertainment theories.
First, the theory of excitement and mood management can contribute to mobile attachment. Cell phones can provide us with entertainment media to regulate and control our moods. We can get selective exposure to an entertainment media of choice at any time and anywhere we need the mood optimization. When we feel down after receiving a test result, we can regulate our moods by listening to music on our cell phones on the way home; when we are bored, we can always switch to our cell phones which we constantly have, and get absorbed into the exciting orld of games, the stimulating world of videos or the relaxing world of music. On the other hand, the entertainments mobile phones provide give us a way to escape from reality regardless of our current physical location or time. This is illustrated by the concept of escapism as motivation to use mass media. By getting absorbed into the exciting games, music, videos world in our cell phones instead of getting through a boring lecture or facing piles of work, users can temporarily avoid reality and get themselves entertained, in turn regulating their moods.
Studies have proved this to be especially relevant to men, as they are the gender that is more likely to use their mobile phones to simply "escape", whereas women and seniors mainly use their cell phones to go online to entertain others and educate themselves respectively (Loechner). This exemplifies that reasons for mobile attachment can be very different with gender and age, as well as demonstrates that users have the agency to use what to do with their phones and can exercise control over when to get absorbed into the mobile place or remain focus on reality.
Regardless, the psychological relief, regulation, gratification and pleasure achieved through mood management or escapism by using cell phones as an entertainment device can eventually lead to the user's involvement and dedication in the mobile place rather than the reality and is certainly an underlying reason for attachment to mobile phones and detachment to real world. MOBILE, SELF AND COMMUNITY Scholars have previously identified the presence of three factors that contribute to the use of a household telephone – sociability, instrumentality and reassurance (Dimmick, Sikand and Patterson).
The case of cell phones can be similarly explained, but the sociability factor that contributes to use of cell phones is even more prominent. A cell phone means much more to its user than solely being a device to gratify his/her desires, for self-expression or as a life-organizing tool. In fact when we look carefully back to same of the basic functions of a cell phone, it is impossible to miss that functions like phone-calls, text messaging, or even the relatively new messaging applications such as Whatsapp, Wechat and Line etc. are there for another purpose – communication.
With connection to the Internet, possibilities of communicating and staying connected become even more endless. The connectedness a cell phone provides somehow gives users a reason for mobile attachment and this will be discussed in the section. Real life experience shows us that with advancing telecommunication technologies comes the shifting of normal face-to-face communication to the more convenient digital communication. The same happens with increasing cell phone usage. 91% of cell phone users of all ages use the device to socialize as compared to the 79% of traditional desktop computer users (Loechner).
Talking and texting over mobile devices account for the top two ways mothers communicate with their children (Baran and Dennis, 314). Cell phones function as a social connection device, especially among teens (qtd. in Banjo, Hu and Sundar, 1) Our whole community, our families, our friends or our daily acquaintances, has a whole socializing environment in the virtual phone space, on Whatsapp or Line, through texting. Through constant communication and socializing through cell phones, we know at all times regardless of the location we at, what time is it, that what is happening to our community.
A cell phone enables us to stay connected to our community despite separate and changing locations and different time. In a way, cell phones redefine time and space. Communication is no longer fixed in location and time. It contributes to the "death of distance", increasing "time-space distanciation" and "compressing time" (qtd. in Rettie, 2). What further differentiate cell phones apart from other new inventions like computers is that it is more instant and more convenient, hence more even simultaneously connected.
Despite the constant connectedness, it is essential for users to feel their presence in this phone space so that they feel the compulsion or desire to interact in the communication, or to at least pay attention to the communication, which in turn lead to mobile attachment. The concepts of presence and place are related (qtd. in Rettie, 6). But in a phone space where no physical place is involved, how can users get a sense of presence? The concept of frames helps to explain presence in the virtual mobile phone space. Frames organize our perception, constructs and make sense of our experiences.
After the virtual place of mobile phone is framed, the sense of place in determining presence is replaced by copresence and intersubjectivity (qtd. in Rettie, 8). A cultural framework, the possibility of negotiation both of actions and of their meanings, and the possibility of action facilitate the sense of presence (qtd. in Rettie, 8), hence leading to interaction and involvement in the framed mobile phone place. The sense of involvement, belonging and connectedness to the community will eventually lead to mobile attachment.
To view things in a different light, mobile attachment can be a product of the fear of being disconnected from the community. Lisa Merlo, an assistant professor of psychiatry in the University of Florida College of Medicine describes mobile phone attachment in that "It's not so much talking on the phone that's typically the problem…it's this need to be connected, to know what's going on and be available to other people… "(Braxton). With the wide and common usage of cell phones, one is almost expected to have a cell phone, and expected to communicate through a cell phone.
The situation has developed to such a degree that refusal or inability (i. e. lack of cell phones) to communicate through a cell phone will lead to missing of information or even isolation from community. This lead to a compulsion for users to keep checking their cell phones all the time, in whatever situations. With the overwhelmingly increase of functions in a cell phone, it is easy for one to forget that a cell phone is initially a device designed to facilitate communication between friends and family, in short our community, rather than a small portable "computer with phone functionality"(Garber).
Ironically, this desire for us to get connected with our community may mean the more time we spent communicating and connecting through the virtual place, the less we do in real life face-to-face situations. As we are diverted to cell phone interaction, absent presence is created in real life interaction (Rettie, 14). Nevertheless, mobile phone as a channel for communal connection and communication and a tool for enhancing the sense of belonging and involvement to a community is clearly a contributing factor to mobile attachment. MOBILE, SELF AND SOCIAL WORLD
With the vast amount of functions a smart cell phone can now provide, users are not only connected to their community. They are connected to the society, connected to the social world, connected to people they have never met before in real life. A good example to clearly illustrated of how connected we are to our social world via our phone is news consumption through our cell phones. Through connection to Internet and apps developed by journalism giants, we are connected to the world when we read about local, regional and international news on our handheld phones.
It must be stressed once again that cell phone provides the most timely and instant connection as information receiving and sending is not confined to a single location. No longer is the social world a mass society where individuals are atomized with civil inattention. The world is closer than ever and more connected than ever before, thanks to our cell phones. Being connected to the society and the whole world, usage of a cell phone to participate in the society becomes significant. The significance of cell phone under the context of the social world is largely dependent on the sense of participation.
This sense of participation can come in forms of using cell phones as a means for advocacy, as a medium to making collective decisions and as a way to react to social events. Cell phones serve as a means for advocacy. Nearly half of mobile users go online to advocate compared to only 41% of traditional desktop computer users (Loechner). Mobile phones offer users the chance to immediately respond to breaking news, whether it is a new piece of legislation or the latest ongoing development of a corporation or politician under siege (Loechner).
Users achieve this by activating support for a cause or position (67%), posting opinions on social networking sites (45%) and forwarding content on a cause (40%) (Loechner). Users can also participate in the society through their cell phones by joining a collective decision making process. Such practices are often witnessed in reality TV shows and talent shows like X Factor and America's Got Talent, where mobile users can participate in deciding the winner or who go through to the next round by voting via a text message. Cell phone users can also participate in the social world by reacting to social events via their cell phones.
Calling in to raise money for causes in shows like Po Leung Kuk Gala Spectacular (??????? ) and Tung Wah Charity Show(????? ) and donation to relief organizations via text to disaster victims like Haiti earthquake victims (Heath) are such examples showing the participation of social events through cell phones. These participating methods induce a sense of social belonging and strengthen social cohesion. Because of its relatively low significance to a user in inducing attachment to their cell phones, the significance of a cell phone in terms of providing a sense of participation will not be deeply discussed.
Despite its limited influence, the sense of participation in the social world may still be a reason to why people are so attached to their cell phones. CONCLUSION This paper aims at providing an analysis of the phenomenon of mobile attachment and examines the reasons contributing to the situation by focusing particularly on the significance of mobile phones to users in an individual context, in a community context and in a social world context.
The paper first starts by discussing the three behaviours signifying mobile attachment: a sense of irrational, uncontrollable and urgent necessity to have the cell phone around, a sense of lost and hopelessness without it and a willingness to sacrifice to keep it. After briefly looking into how attached people are getting to their cell phones, the analysis shows that mobile phones have the primary significance of defining our identity through self expression and presentation and determining how others perceive us. Cell phones have also become the central media object which organize our life and shape our life experiences.
It can at the same time serve as entertainment for mood regulation or escaping reality. On the other hand, mobile phone is a tool to stay connected and communicate with our community and to get a sense of belonging and involvement. It also enables the participation to the social world. All of these roles cell phone plays contribute to why people nowadays would feel so attached to their cell phones. However it is essential that we bear in mind that reasons for mobile affinity can be vastly different with different age group and gender.
The key that was stressed in this paper is that mobile phone is able to carry the above significance when other media objects like computers fail to do so is because of mobile's lack of limitation on location and time. As long as there is battery and as long as there is Internet connection, the cell phone, with its portability, convenience and mobility, provides us with an appealing platform to get attached to. A combination of the above mobile's significance or a switch between them in different occasions creates dependence, attachment or even obsession with cell phones.
Mobile phone nowadays has ceased to be just a useful device people use but has become a symbol with meanings and a nonomissible necessity. But ultimately, mobile affinity still depends on whether the owner views his/her cell phone or smartphone as a device that is more fun than it is functional or vice versa (Kansas State University). (4508 Words) WORK CITED Apple Inc. IPhone 5 Pre-Orders Top Two Million in First 24 Hours. Apple. Apple Inc. , 17 Sept. 2012. Web. 11 Dec. 2012. . Banjo, Omotayo, Yifeng Hu, and S. Shyam Sundar. "Cell Phone Usage and Social Interaction with Proximate Others: Ringing in a Theoretical Model. The Open Communication Journal 2 (2008): 127-35. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. . Baran, Stanley J. , and Dennis K. Davis. Mass Communication Theory: Foundations, Ferment, and Future. 6th ed. N. p. : Wadsworth, 2011. 314. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. . Braxton, Melissa. "Are People Emotionally Attached to Their Mobile Phones? " Web log post. Microsoft Tag. Microsoft Corporation, 10 Oct. 2011. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. . Chiang, Oliver J. "Apps And Videogames To Keep You Healthy. " Forbes 20 Jan. 2010: n. pag. Forbes. com. Forbes. com LLC, 20 Jan. 2010. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. . ComScore. ComScore Reports April 2012 U. S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share.
ComScore. com. ComScore, Inc. , 1 June 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. . Dimmick, John W. , Jaspreet Sikand, and Scott J. Patterson. "The Gratifications of the Household Telephone. " Communication Research 21. 5 (1994): n. pag. Sage Journals. Sage Publication. Web. 8 Dec. 2012. . Garber, Megan. "Maybe We Should Stop Calling Smartphones 'Phones'" The Atlantic. The Atlantic Monthly Group, 2 July 2012. Web. 11 Dec. 2012. . Gilbert, Jason. "Smartphone Addiction: Staggering Percentage Of Humans Couldn't Go One Day Without Their Phone. " The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost. com, 16 Aug. 2012. Web. 1 Dec. 2012. Glotz, Peter, Stefan Bertsch, and Chris Locke. "Introduction. " Thumb Culture: The Meaning of Mobile Phones for Society. N. p. : on Demand, 2005. 11-23. Print. Heath, Thomas. "U. S. Cellphone Users Donate $22 Million to Haiti Earthquake Relief via Text. " Washington Post. The Washington Post Company, 19 Jan. 2010. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. . Kansas State University. Making the Call: Marketing Expert Finds Attachment to Cellphones More About Entertainment, Less About Communication. K-State. edu. N. p. , 28 June 2011. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. . Kelly, Anne Marie. "The Kids Are Alright: They Have Cell Phones. " MediaPost. om. MediaPost Communications, 14 Jan. 2010. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. . Loechner, Jack. "Mobile Phones Organize Lives. " MediaPost. com. MediaPost Communications, 23 Feb. 2010. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. . Matanhelia, Priyanka. "What Makes Us Emotionally Attached to Personal Media? " Web log post. Priyanka Matanhelia's Research Blog on Mobile Phone Usage Amongst Youth. N. p. , 2009. Web. 2 Dec. 2012. . "Mobile Phone. " Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n. d. Web. 1 Dec. 2012. . "Nomophobia Is the Fear of Being out of Mobile Phone Contact – and It's the Plague of Our 24/7 Age. " Daily Mail. N. p. , 30 Mar. 2008. Web. 8 Dec. 012. . Podolak, Erin. "Study Probes the Depths of Cell Phone Attachment, Proves We May Have a Problem. " Geekosystem. Geekosystem, LLC, 8 Aug. 2011. Web. 8 Dec. 2012. . Rettie, Ruth M. "Presence and Embodiment in Mobile Phone Communication. " PsychNology Journal 3. 1 (2005):16-34. Kingston University London Research Repository. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. . Smith, Aaron. The Best (and Worst) of Mobile Connectivity. Rep. N. p. , 30 Nov. 2012. Web. 2 Dec. 2012. . Vincent, Jane. "Emotional Attachment and Mobile Phones. " Knowledge, Technology & Policy 19. 1 (2006): 39-44. Springer Link. Springer. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. .
Pre Lab-Relative Rates of Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution
Networking Security and Cryptography
Antifungal Agents
Research Paper for Jetblue
Topic: From Useful Asset to Nonomissible Necessity: Significance of Cell Phones Amidst the Mobile Attachment Phenomenon


Its a long weekend with family; it's time to packed up and spent time on the road for four hours. Anyway it's a Memorial weekend, no work until Monday. Hubby and I decided to spent an overnight at Atlanta Georgia and stayed at Best Western Hotel.
Atlanta Georgia is 4 hours drive from the place we're we stayed at. First thing in the morning we spent our day at Atlanta Zoo, then drove to World Coca-Cola tour, Georgia Aquarium and Centennial Park. We are surprised all is in the same area except the zoo. We parked for 5 bucks all day, its cheap huh! After a long day at Atlanta we decided to headed back home.Our feet is sore for all day tour but it pays all the attractions we visited;it has an own uniqueness and characteristic other than that little "m" had a good time. She was so excited especially in Atlanta zoo.
Mostly the Zoo atlanta is open all year round, and they are close on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day. In some unpredicted weather the zoo might close early.
During our tour the rates is below, and they have free parking.( Some might change the rates).
1. kids zone- where kids can play in the kids corner.
4. Rock climb ( you have to pay or buy a ticket).
5. you have to check out they have always an upcoming events.
6. the best animals I seen is the Panda.
Some Photos I took during visits in Zoo Atlanta.
One of the animals you can see in Zoo Atlanta.
Some interesting flower in Zoo Atlanta.
A yummy pizza where you can order on Wild Planet Cafe @ Zoo Atlanta.
Destin Beach in Florida is a world Class beach and fishing resort. We have 4 days weekend last month and we decided to drove to Destin ,Florida. We stayed at Sandestin Golf Beach Resort. During our stayed in Destin Florida I had the chance to see the white dunes, and it is really white, and I agree that Destin is a world class beach where you can see the emerald green waters.I never seen a white dunes that is really white only at Destin, Florida. There are lot things to do in Destin Florida. You can go for water sports, relax that's what we did, enjoy the ambiance of the resort, get some sun and of course enjoy the food or you can play golf.
1. Harbor Walk Village- where everything is there, the night life, the good restaurant.
2. You can go for Cruise.
3.Pelican Adventures- You can experience to see the real dolphin in this tour.
4. Big Kahuna Water Park-There are over 40 water attractions to choose, and the only water park so far in Destin, Florida.
The Lighthouse restaurant that we love to dine-in, Destin Florida.
The yummy food we ordered in Lighthouse restaurant in Destin, Florida.
Little "M" playing my drinks all the time we will eat.
After we ate, we decided to walk around the harbor in Destin, Florida.
R,G, M and Little "m" are enjoying the water.
During our stayed in Monte Carlo Resort in Batangas was not fun. It was a crappy day everyday. I'm glad people in Anilao, Batangas was really nice even though the staff in Monte Carlo Resort. The place is expensive of what we paid, well we don't have a choice, we are tired, and had jet log. We want to have a room and escape in Makati, Philippines until 3 days before we're going to our hometown.We don't research in internet or read some blogs about Batangas and that was our mistakes. If you are traveling in one place I would suggest read always reviews or blogs that gives you an idea if it is worth it or not depending of what you're doing.
Well we enjoyed in Monte Carlo resort we don't do anything just enjoy the ambiance of the resort, We go out and ate and go back and sleep or swim in the pool.We don't do any tours.
If you want to dive in some of the most spectacular underwater paradise Philippines,Anilao, Batangas is one of the perfect place for you. With easy access to some of the best diving in the Philippines and a full dive shop and instructors.
How to get in Monte Carlo Resort: It is only two or three hours away from Manila by bus, taxi or private car. Make sure if your hire a private car he knows the place you were going.
The weather during our stayed in Monte Carlo was all crappy.
M and R enjoying the pool in Monte Carlo Resort, Batangas.
We're ready to go back in our hometown.
Things to do in Anilao Batangas: Scuba diving, water sports, island hopping and more.
Pearl Farm Beach Resort in Davao Part 2. We went to the other facilities of Pearl Farm Beach Resort in Davao where all the villas are located. Boat transfer is included.
The cottage of Pearl Farm Beach Resort in Davao.
Bonding time with my life.
Another view you can see in Pearl Farm Beach Resort.
Yummy food is what i want more if I'm on holiday.
We went in Pearl Farm Beach Resort in Davao which is located in Samal Island Davao City, Philippines last December. We stayed an overnight in Pearl Farm Beach Resort in Davao.I heard a lot things about this resort and I want to visit. I'm glad hubby said yes to me and he told I will do all the planning about our vacation where we go, so I chose the Pearl Farm Beach Resort in Davao.
I'll be honest the place is expensive, well its a resorts what do I expect but it is beautiful but not the food. Well, we booked a room that is included the breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you are visiting the Pearl Farm beach resort in Davao if I were you don't go for a buffet, the food is not good as we're expected. We pay too much but the quality of food is below our expectation. If you order the food not in the buffet you can expect the food is high standard but of course you pay for the quality of food.
The room we stayed in Pearl Farm Beach resort in Davao.
One day staying in Pearl Farm Beach Resort in Davao I think is the best thing to do and I had enough and I don't like to go back again. It was a good experienced to visit the placed.Actually you have two option to see this resorts first go in Pearl Farm beach resort day tour, second is to book a room.
The advantage of getting a room,you can see the whole island in the night, the sunset and they have an activities in the night since its December, I don't know about other months. The staff are friendly and the place is clean. Things to do in Pearl Farm is go swimming in there infinity pool, watch the sunset, enjoy the panoramic view of the island, good for honeymoon, the place is quite and good for relaxation. Another top things to do in Pearl Farm Beach resort is the water sports like Jets ski, banana boat and you can go to other facility in Pearl Farm where all the Villas are located. Boat transfer is included.Of Course one of my best friend is camera so I took some photos of Pearl Farm beach resort in Davao and to be continued in Pearl Farm Beach Resort in Davao: ( Part 2).
At night in Pearl Farm Beach Resort in Davao.
Some of the foods we ate in Pearl Farm Beach Resort in Davao.
Beautiful flowers you can see in Pearl Farm Beach Resort in Davao.
To be continued in Pearl Farm Beach Resort in Davao ( Part 2).
Jack's ridge resorts and restaurants is famous to tourists who are visiting Davao City. Jack's Ridge is not only a place you want to stay and eat it has a panoramic view of Davao City, watch the sunset and eat good food.
Jack's Ridge Resort & Restaurant is located in Shrine Hills in Matina. In Jack's Ridge you choose to dine in at Taklobo Bar Restaurant Kai, Karlo coffee, Kool Kats Pool Bar and Piano BMW Penmar Hall.
Jack's Ridge is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the city of Davao. A combination of popular restaurants and bars , which offers a spectacular view of Davao City to help Jack Ridge attracted to tourist and local people.
I visited last year in Davao City and ring my friend who are currently working there. This is only good thing I like my friends in Philippines, I don't need to set up an appointment to visit them. I can invite easily without any problem. To cut my story short I talk to "L" and told I was in the area and wants to see her. She asked me we're I was staying and she will pick up me in their car,and we both decided to dine in Jack's Ridge restaurants. It was a short time for both of us. How many years we never see each other, lots of story to tell, and you know GIRLS... We enjoy the food the view, the sunset and of course taking pictures. You know what the band will go in your table and will sing and you can request a song you want. You just give them a tip after they're done. The only problem going to Jack's ridge is your transportation. It's hard to get taxi and its traffic especially where I was staying during the time.Lucky me she pick up and send in our hotel after our dinner in Jack's Ridge.
Anyway I want to say THANK YOU to " L" for her help arranging our transportation going to my hometown.
The pool in Jack's Ridge resorts and Restaurants.
How to go there: You can take a taxi, rent a multi cab.
Address: Jack's Ridge Resort and Restaurant Corp.
Boracay is one of the best place attraction in Philippines i would consider to go back again. Second day in Boracay I saw the beautiful islands. This time we decided to stroll the whole island from station 1 to station 3.
Everyday has a different sunset. Five days in Boracay I don't felt it's long. It is a tropical island where you can relax and enjoy the beauty of life.
Boracay has best hotels and resorts in the Philippines like Shangri la and Regency hotel. You can choose a hotel that is closer to the water. Restaurant serves authentic flavors from around the world so you don't have to worry about your food. Boracay nightlife is also nice. Bars and discos are located up and down the white beach of Boracay. In peak season Boracay serves a wide parties.


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Printing via Tablet and Traveling with Twitter
By Ann Hynek Published February 08, 2012 FeaturesFOXBusiness
Print from your wireless handheld device without the hassle of complicated cords. Verizon and RedBox are making strides to keep you entertained. It's now really easy to enjoy the highlights of Fashion Week without worrying about airfare. This great site collects all of Twitter's travel buzz. And JetBlue fliers will want to check out their new app.
Just Press Print
Wouldn't it be great if you could print anything from your iPhone or iPad, or even your iPod touch, without having to attach any cords or drivers, or spending a few Franklins? Well, now you can.
Kudos on this one goes to Canon (NYSE:CAJ), who just introduced two new AirPrint printers, adding to the three other models released last September. But these new ones come with an even better price tag, ranging an estimated $100 to $150. The PIXMA MX512 and the MX432 Wireless2 Office All-In-One inkjet printers come equipped with AirPrint. AirPrint allows anyone with an iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch to send their selected photos or documents to the printer, sans wires.
Verizon (NYSE:VZ) and Redbox (NASDAQ:CSTR) are joining forces, which means that soon there will be more video viewing options for the rest of us. Redbox will still carry its new-release DVD and Blu-Ray discs at convenient locations, while Verizon will be offering streaming video service via smartphones, tablets, and television sets sometime later this year.
Fashion Week from Afar
Those who would love to be a part of Fashion Week, but just can't make it to New York in time, have the option to see a big part of the festivities, for free. This year, YouTube and Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week are working together to bring the runway to web. More than 25 shows will be live-streamed here.
And, some big name brands will be streaming their collections via their websites and Facebook pages, so make sure you check in with them. The fun starts at 9a.m.ET sharp on Feb. 9.
Travel < 140 Characters
Looking for a new way to track insane travel deals? Find a cheap beach getaway or a ski vacation with a little help from Wanderlisting.
Wanderlisting scours Twitter to find the latest and greatest deals from airlines and bloggers, and posts them all in one convenient place. From Air New Zealand to Virgin America, Wanderlisting covers travel tips and deals from a multitude of sources, and helps you find travel-savvy Twitter-ers to follow, such as Sir Richard Branson himself. The site can be a bit overwhelming – there are so many travel resources out there – but you can set yourself free from tons of scrolling by seeing lists according to Popular Links, Newest Links, and Category. It's all the travel deals you could possibly need – in 140 characters or less.
A Long-Awaited App
Speaking of travel, JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) accompanied its website revamp with the debut of its very own app. You can now more easily book a JetBlue flight from your Apple handheld device, including the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. JetBlue fans can easily find and view their itinerary, flight status, and in-flight entertainment information on the app, and a new feature called "Pick Me Up," sends the person on the other end of your flight your itinerary with directions to the airport. Download it -- for free -- here.
Know of a killer deal or insane bargain? Email the goods to OnSale@FOXBusiness.com and share the wealth.


"Research released by the Australian Catholic University found that of 700 Victorian families surveyed living within 2 km of their primary school, 60% drove," Bicycle Network Tasmanian spokesperson Alison Hetherington said.
"While all families have pressures on their time in the morning, helping children ride or walk to school will deliver long-lasting benefits.
"Children who exercise before school have been found to be more attentive in class, improving their ability to learn.
"Building daily exercise habits also sets children up for healthier adult lives.
"Some two-thirds of Australian children don't get enough daily exercise that they need for good health.
"Parents can understandably be concerned about safety and reluctant to let children ride or walk on their own.
"Bicycle Network has produced a handy guide for parents to help them prepare children to travel independently and know when they are ready to ride to school on their own.
"The Ride2School Parent Portal also has tips for teaching children to ride including road safety advice," Ms Hetherington said.


Fri 1 Feb – Following the announcement last year of the UK Government's intention to replace Air Passenger Duty with a duty on a per plane basis, the Treasury has launched a consultation process. The Government believes a plane duty is a fairer basis on which to raise revenue from the aviation industry to pay for public services including public transport and the environment, and will also encourage the more efficient use of aircraft.
The consultation process will run for twelve weeks, closing on 24 April 2008, and the implementation of the new duty will commence on 1 November 2009. The consultation document puts forward a number of proposals for how it would operate, and issues under consideration include the basis of the duty, exemptions, general aviation, impact on the freight industry and administrative details.
· ensure that it is compatible with the UK's commitments under international law, including the Chicago Convention, bilateral agreements and EU law.
The basis of the duty will consist of both a measure that reflects the environmental impact of the aircraft and a measure of the distance travelled on the flight in question. The lead option favoured by the Government is to use the Maximum Take-Off Weight of the aircraft together with a banded system for defining the distance travelled, although it has also considered including factors such as NOx and CO2 emissions during landing and take-off. The consultation document does not consider the precise rates that would be applied and will only be confirmed once the basis of the duty is confirmed.
The duty includes all flights, including empty flights, with a de minimis weight limit of over 5.7 tonnes which therefore excludes light aircraft but does embrace air freight operations for the first time. The distance factor would be determined by a predetermined geographic band – three are proposed – defined either by membership of the European Economic Area (EEA) or the distance of the capital city from London. Aircraft under the 5.7 tonne limit will be subject instead to fuel duty on domestic flights.
The Government acknowledges that this could potentially result in large differentials in the duty between short and long haul flights and lead to market distortion through both operator and passenger changes in behaviour, for example through passengers choosing to fly to a destination through an intermediate hub.
The duty will apply to all flights taking off from the UK, with the duty point being the point of take-off. Whether and how this is passed onto passengers will be a commercial decision to be made by the industry, says the document. How the duty is collected is under consideration, with two options proposed: to be collected and accounted for by airports, or to be paid by the aircraft operators. The former is considered by the Government to be the simpler option.
The Government encourages responses to the consultation from industry bodies, organizations, companies and individuals from all parts of the aviation sector and "those with an interest in the important issue of aviation's impact on the environment".


text:
Quantum Information Seminar Series
Viv Kendon (3 - 4 pm)
Robert Scholten ( 4 - 5 pm)
Viv Kendon: Robust cluster state generation using ancilla-based systems
Robert Scholten: Quantum measurement in living cells, and hihg-coherence electron bunches from cold atoms
Viv Kendon Abstract:
Efficient generation of cluster states is crucial for engineering large-scale measurement-based quantum computers. Hybrid matter-optical systems offer a robust, scalable path to this goal. Such systems have an ancilla which acts as a bus connecting the qubits. We show that by generating the cluster in smaller sections of interlocking bricks, reusing one ancilla per brick, the cluster can be produced with maximal efficiency, requiring fewer than half the operations compared with no bus reuse. By reducing the time required to prepare sections of the cluster, bus reuse more than doubles the size of the computational workspace that can be used before decoherence effects dominate. A row of buses in parallel provides fully scalable cluster-state generation requiring only 20 controlled-PHASE gates per bus use. Similar efficiencies are obtained for other quantum computations, including a linear QFT, implying that qubus quantum computing is equivalent to the circuit model with unbounded fan-out.
Robert Scholten Abstract:
"Quantum technology" normally conjures thoughts of computation and communication, but also has exciting potential applications in new ways of measuring things at the nanometre, particularly for biological systems. The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defect centre in diamond is an especially promising single spin system for quantum measurements in biology. Our first experiments have demonstrated optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) of individual fluorescent nanodiamond nitrogen-vacancy centres inside living human HeLa cells, and measured their spin levels and spin coherence times while tracking their location and orientation with nanoscale precision. We have measured quantum coherence through Rabi and spin-echo sequences, and orientation with 1° angular precision, over long (>10 h) periods. Variations in the decoherence rates are linked to changes in the local environment inside the cells, representing a new non-destructive imaging modality for intracellular biology. While quantum-based imaging is an exciting prospect, even classical imaging is a vexing problem at the atomic scale, where there is enormous potential for example to determine the structure of bio-molecules. We have recently demonstrated a new source of high-coherence electron bunches based on photoionisation of laser-cooled atoms. With laser control of the cold atom cloud, we can shape the electron bunches, and because the electrons are so cold, they retain their shape during propagation. We have created "the world's most expensive TV", with a new bunch shape every frame – allowing the control needed to generate ultra-high-brightness bunches for coherent diffractive imaging at nanometer and femtosecond resolution.
Location: SB 142
For more information visit Institute for Quantum Information Science


This Hanna Barbera Grape Ape Pop! Pez dispenser measures approximately 5 1/2-inches tall x 1 3/4-inches wide and includes 1x sleeve of Pez candy. Comes packaged in a window display box.
Please note: This is a food/perishable item. Please do not return it to Big Apple Comics. Should there be a documented issue of shipping or handling damage to the sealed outer corrugated box packaging or a damaged or defective item sealed inside the box, we can refund the purchase price or ship a replacement (if available), but we cannot accept returns. Ages 3 and up.


Bakke asked Long questions about Sandy Blunt's criminal charges.
Bakke: Were the criminal charges related to promotional items provided to WSI staff?
Long: I don't have full knowledge.
Bakke: He was never accused of stealing?
Long: I don't know that.
Long: That's my understanding, yeah.
Bakke asked several questions about Long's human resources experience. Long said he'd worked at Midwest Business Systems and Contract America. Bakke noted that Long's employment application at WSI did not mention human resources. Long replied that he had overseen human resources at his other positions.
Bakke said Long had been terminated from his job at Cross Country. Long said he was laid off because of a reduction in the work force.
Bakke: They didn't tell you they thought you were not qualified to be the human resources manager and that you could transfer into a lower position?
Long: No. That's not accurate.
Bakke: In fact, they replaced you with someone else.
Long: No. They flattened the organization and moved someone else in.
Bakke then handed Long the Cross County employment termination notification. Under the item, is this person eligible for re-hire it was written no, possibly in a different role with less accountability. It said the main reason for leaving was that there was a more qualified employee that shifted into that position as HR manager.
Bakke then moved onto the issue of Dave Spencer having received confidential employer listing documents.
Bakke: You testified you believed inappropriate documents were provided to Spencer when he on sick leave. You do not know what data was given to him, do you?
Long: No, I do not know.
Tom Tuntland then began his redirect of Long.
Tuntland: Let's pick up at Dave Spencer. What did Blunt tell you regarding getting that data?
Long: He told me Dave wanted to start a company writing grants and that he needed contact information including voicemail and computer data.
Tuntland then moved onto the topic of the ITTP project.
Tuntland: Did you have anything against Doug Hintz?
Long: He's a nice guy. No. I was concerned about the project.
Tuntland then introduced emails that showed Long had brought his concern to the board. Board member Mandigo sent Long an email on October 3, 2007, "as to staffing of the team involved in ITTP, that is not a board concern. Successful delivery of bringing the project in in 2009 is."
Tuntland: Did Hintz get the position he wanted?
Tuntland moved the questioning into Billie Peltz.
Tuntland: Did you and Peltz have business meetings over lunch?
Long: Lots of people did.
Tuntland: You don't need a meeting to tell someone they're doing wonderfully. Is there anything romantic about that?
Tuntland then moved onto the topic of the Cross County termination memo.
Tuntland: It doesn't have your signature?
Tuntland: I noticed the box, "reduction of work force" was checked and crossed out. Were you told a more qualified employee was shifted to your position?
Tuntland: Were you told you could be hired in a lower position?
Tuntland: Were others laid off at the same time?
Long: Yes. They were terrible times.
Tuntland then moved to the WSI employee handbook and asked whether Long was familiar with the fraternization policy.
Tuntland: Anything in that fraternization policy that prohibits friendships?
Tuntland: It prohibits intimidate, romantic, or dating relationships between a supervisor and a subordinate. Were you intimate?
Tuntland: The second part deals with what is to be done if a romantic relationship develops. The persons reported could be reassigned.
Tuntland: Were you both asked if it was romantic?
Tuntland: Did you both deny that?
Tuntland: Anything in your personnel record about this?
Tuntland then moved to the complaint filed with Risk Management.
Tuntland: You didn't sign this?
Tuntland: Did you go to Risk Management?
Tuntland: Why did you go to Risk Management?
Long: The state auditor said if there were any problems on this issue, we were required to let Risk Management know.
Tuntland then asked questions about any complaints of Long's management style.
Tuntland: Cindy Ternes expressed dissatisfaction with you as her supervisor.
Tuntland: Are you aware Cindy had expressed dissatisfaction with others as her supervisor?
Tuntland: What kind of person is Cindy?
Long: Smart. High maintenance. She requires constant attention.
Tuntland then asked whether Long had applied for the University system's Chancellor position. Long said he had. Tuntland then brought out the copy of Jim's list which noted Chancellor position, did I have a future? He asked whether this reference was to the Chancellor position. Long couldn't say. Tuntland asked whether he remembered making that document. Long did not recall, nor did he remember leaving a notebook in his desk.
Tuntland: You did not provide this document to Mr. Bakke?
Tuntland: As a state employee, did you think you had the right to privacy in your desk?
Long: Of course not. It's public property.
Tuntland then turned to Chad Nodland.
Tuntland: Did you know Chad before the bruhaha with Sandy?
Tuntland: How were you introduced to Chad?
Long: John Halvorson said they had been roommates in college, but I don't really recall how I met him.
Tuntland: Do you remember if Halvorson introduced you?
Long: No. Just that Halvorson said he was a good guy.
On next to the topic of nepotism.
Tuntland: Were you concerned about nepotism?
Long: Yes. It's against the law.
Tuntland: Isn't there an exception when there's an urgent situation?
Tuntland: How long would an urgent situation last?
Long: A couple of weeks, maybe a couple of days.
Next onto the tape recording between Long and Peltz.
Tuntland: You don't know if that was an accidental recording?
Long: No. It's digital. It's like a cell phone. It's easy to just turn on.
Tuntland: How long will this digital tape record?
Long: 96 hours or until the battery dies.
Tuntland: Did you play that recording to Halvorson before you were suspended?
Tuntland: Did Halvorson discuss that conversation before you were suspended?
Tuntland: Do you recall if you talked with Risk Management before or after that conversation with Billie?
Tuntland then asked about the dummy email account Long had set up in the name of Brad Freeze.
Tuntland: Did you set up the account or did your wife?
Tuntland: You didn't want your name associated with what's being sent to the press?
Long: No. I was scared to death.
Tuntland: During discovery, Mr. Bakke asked you for that data.
Tuntland: Are the Brad Freeze emails not saved on your computer?
Long: No. It's gmail. It's saved elsewhere.
Tuntland: Did you forget your password?
Tuntland: Did you let Mr. Bakke know you would sign releases to allow gmail to give him those emails?
Tuntland: Did you offer to cooperate?
Tuntland: As a state employee, you do not have the expectation of privacy?
Long: Yes. One of the first things you are told is state equipment is state property including everything you write down.
Long: Same thing. State property.
Tuntland: You were asked about open records. Mr. Armstrong told you what it would cost to get the records?
Long: It was hundreds of dollars. I couldn't afford health care so I couldn't afford that.
Tuntland: Did you become aware the state auditor was asking questions about Dave Spencer's sick leave?
Long: I became aware the state auditor was asking questions about where Dave Spencer was at.
Tuntland: You told Blunt that?
Long: I told him that they were asking questions.
Tuntland then showed a memo from Billie Peltz to Camie O'Connor. O'Connor had worked in the finance department and cut checks. Long said she'd had concerns because her name was associated with certain checks.
Tuntland: It says, "Jodi and I (Peltz) reviewed the relocation policy and determined Spencer would not have to reimburse WSI for moving expenses."
Long: That's what it says.
Tuntland: Wasn't Spencer's payment part of the basis for Blunt's conviction?
Tuntland: Who did Jodi report to?
Tuntland then turned to questions about the Armstrong journal.
Tuntland: You were asked about your concerns that he was planning to use his position to derail the prosecution?
Tuntland then read from the journal, "In my role as Burleigh County Commissioner, need to determine what appropriate action I can take without jeopardizing my family and position."
Tuntland: Armstrong, he was communications executive at WSI and a Burleigh County Commissioner?
Tuntland: The Burleigh County Commission fixes salaries?
Tuntland then turned to questions about what's become known as Long's manifesto. He established Long had made some small changes to the document after giving it to Assistant States Attorney Cynthia Feland and that Tuntland had submitted the document to the States Attorney, not Long. He established the document had been provided to Mike Quinn at BCI also and that it had information that led to the conviction of Sandy Blunt.
There next was a discussion of FLSA exemptions which had to do with exempt workers filling out timesheets. Long was concerned that that would prove an employee was non-exempt which meant an organization would then have to pay overtime, fines and penalties. It could be criminal and could cause huge problems for an organization. Long had argued against exempt employees submitting timesheets and that was part of what was submitted to States Attorney and BCI.
Tuntland next asked about violations of the Veteran's Preference Law and established that Long thought Blunt's hiring of Hutchings and Nallie, who were friends of Blunt's, and who were making $150,000 per year, was a violation of the law, because veterans were not allowed to apply for those positions.
Tuntland then moved to Angela Scherbenske. Long said she had to leave because of ethical reasons, that she had been working in finance and felt she had been coerced into signing vouchers that she did not want to sign. Tuntland then produced an email from Blunt on the topic. Long said that Blunt thought it important to put it in black and white, that there were no problems with procurement. He said he had learned of these ethical problems not through Angela, but through her boss, Dave Sandy.
Tuntland: Did you know if the payment of promotional items was legal or illegal?
Long: I didn't know for sure. It seemed if there was a line, we should stay to the left.
Tuntland referred to emails which had been sent to legislators from Long. Long said that Blunt had a hand in every memo that went to the legislature, that Blunt would often write those memos himself.
Tuntland: You were asked to talk to Mike Quinn regarding the Blunt prosecution?
Tuntland: Did you think Blunt was coming back to WSI?
Tuntland: Was there an advantage to you in talking to Quinn?
Long: No, I didn't want to, but it was the right thing to do.
Tuntland: Were you trying to cover yourself so you would not get fired?
Long: That's ridiculous. All I had to do was play ball and I would be the golden child.
Tuntland: Wahlin and Forward, who were they reporting to?
Tuntland: Who assigned Wahlin and Forward to the investigation?
Tuntland: Halvorson was one of the suspects?
Tuntland: And their report was addressed to Halvorson?
Tuntland: Did you think it was wrong to let the suspects know what evidence you had?
Tuntland: But you had to give this information to Halvorson or you'd be fired?
Tuntland then established that Long had been certified as a professional in human resources before he started at WSI.
Next topic, the radio interview that Long had done with Joel Heitkamp.
Tuntland: Were you working at your office at WSI when you talked with Joel?
Long: He referred to my not working and getting paid.
Tuntland: You talked about being denied your performance evaluation. When would that have been?
Long: I was supposed to have been evaluated and receive a pay increase in December, but didn't receive either.
Tuntland: Regarding your termination at Cross Country, how much notice did you get?
Long: None, it was immediate.
Long: No. We had many meetings about the hard times and how there would be lay offs.
Bakke again resumed his cross examination. He returned to the issued of the Risk Management complaint. Long said that that report was not signed by him.
Bakke: The fact is, it was electronically filed, isn't that right?
Bakke: The reason it's not signed, if you file it electronically, you don't sign it?
Long: No, I'd sign it.
Bakke: Do you continue to tape record today?
Bakke: Did you turn over your tape recording of Peltz?
Bakke: The reason was, if you turned it over to Halvorson, you'd be fired immediately?
Bakke: About the gmail sent to northdecoder, are you aware we did try to get these records?
Bakke: That gmail sent legal objections, remember?
Long: I remember talking to them.
Bakke: We went to Nodland referencing those emails.
Long: I didn't know that.
Bakke: And he asserted legal objections, did you know that?
Bakke: We did try. Did you know that?
Bakke then asked questions about open records and established that Long had requested significant amounts of open records including records of card access when people would come in and out of the building, records of the current board, former board, executive staff, Tim Wahlin, Rob Forward. Bakke asked if Long understood that would require significant amounts of time. Long said, no, it would take five minutes on the computer. Bakke noted Long had requested all emails of executive staff and WSI attorneys, folders, subarchives, sent and deleted files.
Bakke: This could be thousands of documents, true?
Long: Kind of like you have with me.
Bakke: We have yours for one person, this is many.
Bakke: Emails from the office of the Attorney General, Office of OMB, there's 50 employees there, you cite no names, this is thousands of documents.
Long: It's easy to query this.
Bakke: Wouldn't you have to get names?
Bakke: There'd have to be redactions.
Long: You did it for Sandy Blunt.
Bakke: You're talking about many man hours, thousands of documents, no time limit, true?
Bakke turned to the Peltz memo regarding Spencer not being required to reimburse WSI for moving expenses. Long said he understood from Jodi Bjornson she felt pressured to write that memo.
Bakke: Isn't it good enough that an attorney put this in writing?
Long: Fair, but I did have alternative information from the attorney who wrote it.
Bakke: Regarding Cindy Ternes, you said she complained about all of her supervisors?
Long: She had problems with others.
Bakke: The only supervisor she had at WSI was you.
Bakke turned to the information given to Dave Spencer.
Bakke: Did you download 11 to 12 names of personal contacts from his computer?
Bakke: You don't deny it?
Long: I don't recall. I have a different context.
Bakke: If you have a different context, how can you not remember? Do you remember printing out that list and handing it to Halvorson?
Long: I don't recall that.
Bakke turned to the issue of Long's claim that Veteran's Preferences were not followed in connection with the hiring of Hutchings and Nallie.
Bakke: Were you at WSI before Nallie was hired?
Bakke: These were appointments. Is there anything wrong with that?
Long: Yes. Tag Anderson told me that it was improper.
Bakke then turned back to the issue of Angela Scherbenske and the email from Blunt asking whether Angela had alerted Long to any unethical procurement activities. He then showed Long's reply which said Long was never alerted to any unethical procurement activities.
Bakke: Did you ever investigate it?
Long: No, other people did.
Bakke: You never talked to Angela?
Long: Angela would have used her chain of command which was Dave Sandy. She would not have come to me.
Bakke then produced an email from Long to Scherbenske. In that email he tells her directly, "I need to know about anything unethical occurring at WSI. So I am issuing an order that you notify me of problems."
Long: I talked with her and told her she should go to Risk Management. She told me she was not comfortable with that.
Bakke: But there were people who advised Blunt about Scherbenske.
Long: She reported to Dave Sandy. Dave Sandy was in the same boat as everybody else, he was afraid.
Bakke: Why did you write to Scherbenske saying you gave her a direct order?
Long: Blunt told me to.
Bakke: Did anyone at WSI tell you you were terminated for making a whistelblower complaint?
Long: They wouldn't do that.
Tuntland concluded his direct examination.
Tuntland: Scherbenske would voice her concerns to Dave Sandy?
Long: Dave responded to Blunt with a very long email. He said there was no intentional violation of procurement rules.
Tuntland: Did Dave express to you that he was afraid of Blunt?
Long: Yes, that's why he left the organization. So did Tammy Dolan.
Tuntland: Were you afraid of Blunt because of his power?