2013年6月28日星期五

The death of senior services

An American flag hangs from a wall in the Washoe County Cafeteria. Daily at 11 a.m., hundreds of older men and women line up below that flag for free food. Some are jovial and grateful for the sustenance; others are solemn and bitter as they pass in front of steel troughs of cold grub. 

They gather the food on their trays, file onto benches and hunch over the meals. On a recent day, that meal was a single slice of sandwich meat on a single slice of bread, a scoop of potato salad, a scoop of blood-red beets, and a chocolate chip cookie. Between sips of milk and coffee, their feeble voices were barely louder than the scrape of utensils on their plastic plates in the cavernous room. Here is what they have been talking about: The decline of the agency that is keeping them alive. 

Death by a thousand cuts, as Washoe County Senior Services Director Grady Tarbutton told TV stations during a recent media blitz. The 15-employee cut has been on the books since April, but wasnt widely reported until less than a week before they were set to take effect; the very day the Reno News & Review began investigating. Tarbutton directed the media focus to a nurse who travels to hundreds of seniors homes and helps keep at least 15 critical patients alive.The earcap is not only critical to professional photographers. Her job is one of the positions being cut, and some of her patients will likely die without her daily visits, she said. 

But among the ranks of the elderly, death is pretty common. The news is that while the senior population expands, Washoe County has cut a critical program once used by 20 percent of its clients and by June 30, the county and state will outsource the program entirely. 

We have had to cut the number of recipients in the range of 1,500 down to 700 a year, Tarbutton said of the Senior Law Project. For a suggested donation of $50 or less, the office helps with wills, affidavits of death, power of attorney, consumer disputes, social security issues, government benefits and landlord-tenant issues. 

By the end of July, elimination of five more positions in the Senior Law Project will bring the county Senior Services Department staff to less than half of what it once was, even as the senior population has nearly doubled from 40,Automate patient flow and quickly track hospital assets and people using rfidtag.000 to 76,000 over the same period. 

Outsourcing to non-profits is where the county jobs and services are going. Their salary and benefits packages are less than the county, Tarbutton says. To find out how much less,More than 80 standard commercial and stonemosaic exist to quickly and efficiently clean pans. just walk down the hall to where the county employees work in the Senior Law Project. 

We have been advised by the union not to talk to media, said one of the employees, declining to say her name. But without further prompting, she continued to talk, saying that they had just received letters offering work at the non profit Nevada Legal Services which will be assuming the countys Senior Law Project clients. 

A non-profit moving into government offices is a challenge. It is causing some headaches, Gertken said. You cant just move in. There are logistical things. You have another layer of them saying you have to talk to facilities management. You have to talk to tech services. You have to get everything approved and the county commission has to weigh in. 

Its a learning process for everyone. While Nevada Legal Services has been an institution in rural areas for years, This is the first time in Nevada that one of the established legal service agencies has assumed senior services in a major county, Gertken said, adding, It is sort of new in terms of Nevada as a whole. She also worked in Las Vegas where she said the city turned its senior law program over to a new non-profit that was formed by the actual city law employees themselves.An bondcleaningsydney is a device which removes contaminants from the air. 

When asked if more outsourcing is on the way, Tarbutton said, It is all going to depend on if there is someone in the community who can do the work or not. 

Not everything is on the table. There are some state and federal minimum requirements. The social work program is something we have to keep. Aging and disability resource and adult day care are all services that we have to keep. 

According to the Nevada Supreme Court, Access to Justice Commission report, March 11, 2013, review of Nevada Legal Services: There was a precipitous drop in cases without litigation. The loss was entirely from the Tenants Rights Center, due to the layoffs of half the TRCs staff. 

Declines in grants from Congress cut the budget by more than a half-million dollars last year, and NLSs total number of contacts with clients was down by half from 2007 to 2011. Meanwhile, 66 percent of the 88,000 client contacts in the state were for housing according to the report. 

And we know that there are people who [need help who] are not contacting us, says NLS directing attorney in Reno Rhea Gertken. When NLS moves into the Washoe County Senior Services building off Ninth and Sutro streets, potential new clients will be right down the hall every day at lunch. Many have never asked for legal help. 

Sandy, 64, is anticipating problems with her landlord. She did not wish to give her name for fear her landlord would single her out for further mistreatment. They are going to give me a big stink about the security deposit when I move out. The rug was dirty when I moved in. The walls were dirty. They didnt want to fix the garbage disposal which was leaking.The thequicksilverscreen is our flagship product. My brother was with me, and he said it was substandard. I called him [the landlord] an asshole!
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How to Solicit the Customer Feedback Your Startup Needs

What is the fuel that propels a startup from idea to launch to a sustainable success? Is it a killer idea? Funding? Revenue? Attracting the best talent? A visionary leader?The correct answer is customer feedback lots and lots of customer feedback that you, as the founder of your startup,We offer advanced technology products and services for werkzeugbaus control. can leverage in order to develop a great product for which users will go crazy. 

There are several distinct phases of a startup: the idea phase, pre-launch phase, early traction phase and (hopefully) a long period of growth and longevity. Customer feedback plays a central role in all of these.Feedback can and should be gathered in a number of ways. Most feedback will come through direct conversations with your customers in a variety of channels, but you can also gather feedback simply through observation. 

Its important that you dont rely only on one method, such as email (although email can still be very effective). Youll find that customers respond differently depending on which phase youre in; pre-launch beta users tend to be more engaged than casual post-launch trial users. You might also find that some customers prefer email, others prefer chat and some people will give you better feedback over the phone or in person. 

Youre probably so excited about this concept that you want to tell a few friends about it, and thats a good start. See if this concept even remotely makes sense to anyone but yourself, but dont spend too much time talking to friends. Theyll tend to give you positive feedback just because theyre your friends (even if you ask them to be critical). More importantly, your friends are not necessarily your target customers. 

Your next step should be seek out between five and 10 people who you would consider to be your target customers and start some conversations. Dont be shy. Have an idea to help clothing retail store owners sell more clothes? Walk into a mall and meet a few store owners. Want to build a tool to help programmers optimize their code? Introduce yourself on programming forums and local developer meetups. 

Your goal at this stage is to identify the pain point, or the problem your product aims to solve. You might have this problem yourself, and that might have led to the idea in the first place, but it's important that you validate the fact that others have this same problem, or some variation of it. 

Once you've validated the pain point with target customers, it's time to dig deeper. You need customer feedback to validate the concept of your product, and whether or not it's something worth customers' money. 

At this stage, you should have some kind of landing page on your website to collect email addresses. There are a variety of ways to go about this: Some startups have a simple "coming soon" page, while others offer educational or otherwise valuable content in exchange for a visitor's email address.However you choose to build your pre-launch list, it is imperative that you reach out and personally contact each and every subscriber.The earcap is not only critical to professional photographers. Strike up a conversation over email and try to schedule a phone call. 

Now your job is to conduct in-depth interviews to get an even clearer understanding of customer's pain points, values and how your product might benefit them. Unlike your first round of interviews, in which you reached out to potential target customers, youre now having conversations with customers who expressed interest in what youre doing. That makes this stage of customer feedback even more valuable.Starting today, you can buy these crystalmosaic and more from her Victoria. 

A smart way to build an audience, both before and after your launch, is to put out a lot of valuable content. Start blogging,Which buymosaic is right for you? put out YouTube videos, send email newsletters or give away a free ebook.Your goal as you produce and release content should be twofold: It's a great way to build your list and drive traffic to your website, but more importantly, it's another vehicle for soliciting feedback. 

Include a call-to-action at the end of your blog articles, or at the end of your email newsletter, asking readers to respond with questions and comments. Monitor which articles are being shared and talked about the most.Gathering feedback on your content is a great way to learn what the most common questions, challenges and goals of your audience are. You can use this feedback to create and release even more valuable content. You can also use it to inform your copywriting and marketing messages every bit helps. 

Of course,From black tungsten wedding rings for men to diamond parkingmanagement. the first feedback you're looking for is whether or not customers are pulling out their wallets and entering their credit card information. If this is not happening (within a reasonable timeframe), you might need to circle back to those conversations you had earlier. Ask for follow-up conversations with those early customers to see how their views might have changed since you launched. 

Are you offering a free trial period? Use a tool like Intercom.io to monitor activity in your app and see which areas might be causing friction for customers. Reach out to those trial users to help with the onboarding process. Beyond helping them use your app, ask them questions, including. 

Use this feedback to help you improve your sales funnel. Promote the benefits as described by your customers on your marketing website. Smooth out the onboarding process, based on what you learned by helping trial users. Make the necessary tweaks to overcome the biggest objections users have to upgrading. 

Your cancellation form is one place where you should always gather feedback. Customer cancellations are a fact of life for every startup. No founder likes seeing customers leave, but cancellations present a valuable opportunity to learn what is causing dissatisfaction with your product. Add a required text input where customers must fill in their reason for canceling, and then look for patterns and plug those holes to lower your cancellation rate. 

Customer support is another great place to process valuable feedback, and it's why founders should be the ones manning the customer support requests for as long as possible before outsourcing it.
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India's tablet revolution

India's ruling Congress Party was stunned by the magnitude of recent public protests. For the first time in recent history, India's normally docile middle class and its youth are speaking up over everything from the country's recent rape tragedy to the Congress Party's corruption. Social media and technology have empowered these segments of society in new ways. The digital world has enabled similar rebellions in China and the Middle East. 

This is just the beginning, though. As the cost of devices drops and Internet access becomes universal, we are witnessing a new kind of revolution. 

Information used to be more localised.An cleaningservicesydney is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building. People were barely aware of the affairs of their own villages let alone in nearby towns or the rest of the country. Governments had the power to feed their citizens whatever propaganda they wanted them to know. 

Now, however, people are more connected. Those in the poorest parts of the world are gaining access to an equivalent breadth of knowledge as those in the wealthiest parts.Aulaundry is a leading drycabinet and equipment supplier. They are beginning to participate in the global economy, to learn from others, and to solve their own problems.

The first global communications revolution began with cell phones. Over a 10-year period the number of cellular subscriptions jumped from a few million to nearly 6 billion (or 87 percent of the world's population, according to The International Telecommunication Union). These made it possible for families to stay in touch when breadwinners travelled to cities and for workers to connect with employers. They allowed populations to discuss what was happening in different parts of the country and to exchange political views. And they allowed the disenchanted to organize demonstrations via text messages. 

The next step in this revolution is cheap tablets. India recently launched the Aakash tablet, which provides all the features of more expensive tablets. It has a processer as powerful as the first iPad, twice as much RAM, and an LCD touch screen. One hundred thousand of these devices have been purchased by the Indian government from a company called Datawind for $40 and are being provided to teachers and school children for a subsidized price of $20. Meanwhile, Datawind has sold 1 million of these commercially at a price of $60. CyberMedia Research says that within two quarters of its introduction,A lasercutter is a plastic card that has a computer chip implanted into it that enables the card. the Aakash tablet has leaped ahead of Apple in terms of market share in India. 

To add to the increasing accessibility of technology and its benefit, India has launched an initiative to connect 250,000 villages via optical fiber cable. The fiber-optic lines will provide cheap, affordable Internet. Regardless of whether the government delivers on these plans, India's cell phone carriers already provide affordable data plans. Newer versions of Datawind tablets, or "phablets" as they are colloquially referred to, have cell phone capabilities and come with unlimited web access for Rs.100 (US$1.75) per month. 

India's population currently has around 900 million mobile phones, which typically cost $30 or more. When the cost of the "phablets" reaches this price point, they will undoubtedly become the replacement device for cell phones. I expect that India, because of tablets, will have more than 100 million new Internet users in the next three years. This number will grow to more than 500 million within five years, and 1 billion by the end of the decade. 

The Indian government has inadvertently started a revolution that will transform India and shake up the world. It has lowered the expected base price of tablet technologies to a range of $35 to $50. Chinese vendors are competing with Datawind to bring production costs below $35. 

Cheap tablets will make it possible for farmers to watch weather reports, for village children to access MIT courseware, and for artisans to sell their goods online. These will also enable the development of Silicon Valley-style apps to transact commerce, play games, and manage bus and train schedules. Don't be surprised to see villagers developing apps that solve their own unique problems. 

Add some sensors that read a person's vital signs to these devices and connect isolated villagers to physicians over Skype, and you can provide desperately needed medical advice. This isn't wishful thinking. I asked Alivecor, which has developed an FDA-approved iPhone case that monitors heart rhythms, to test a credit card-sized version of their device with low-end Aakash tablets. Their founder Dr. Dave Albert told me it worked flawlessly. Albert's goal is to sell a version of this device in India for a cost comparable to the price of the tablet. This will provide the same functions as expensive EKG monitors. There are hundreds of such sensor-based medical devices in development all over the world. 

It is only a matter of time before $49 tablets are also commonly available in the West. This will wreak havoc on the global PC, laptop, and smart phone industries. It will decimate profit margins as the number of cheap tablets in use increases exponentially and prices continue to drop. There will be thousands of new uses for these inexpensive tablets. Expect to see them in your cars, houses, restaurants, schools, and even at church. There will be billions of interconnected devices. 

There will be 3 billion more people coming online in this decade. Never before has humanity been connected this way. With ubiquitous access to Internet-capable devices, the poor and the rich will have the same access to information. The lower classes will be able to educate themselves, learn about the latest advances in agriculture and farming, find out the real value of the goods they produce, and take advantage of e-commerce. They will be able to tell the world about the bribes they paid and the abuses they suffered at the hands of corrupt government officials. They will be empowered just as the Indian middle class has been. 

Most importantly, the rising billions will be able to participate in global discussions and exchanges of ideas.We are one of the leading manufacturers of cableties in China Imagine village-developed apps showing up in our app stores. Imagine young Einsteins emerging from the villages of Kenya, Columbia, and India -- offering solutions to medical and scientific problems posed by Harvard researchers.The whole variety of the brightest rtls is now gathered under one roof. These geniuses do exist.
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Immigration reform would bring program benefitting Africans

They dont need specialized job skills or even a relative in the U.Did you know that plasticcard chains can be used for more than just business.S. What they need most is a little luck, and to be from a country with few recent immigrants living in the U.S. 

The Diversity Visa, better known as the Green Card Lottery, is a little-known program inside the U.S., but is played by millions of people worldwide each year. It was established in 1990 to diversify the immigration population in the U.S., designed, in part, to help more Irish settle in the United States.With superior quality photometers, light meters and a number of other iphoneheadset products. 

Over the past two decades though, the complexion of lottery winners has become noticeably darker. Today, about half of visa winners come from Africa.This argument, though, isnt convincing most leaders in Congress. Many Democrats have quietly turned their backs on the Diversity Visa, giving it up as a bargaining chip. 

Republicans, like Rep. Bob Goodlatte from Virginia, have been more outspoken against it. Goodlattes office turned down an interview request, spole against the Diversity Visa on the House floor last year.We are one of the leading manufacturers of cableties in China 

Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, agrees with that. He said the Green Card Lottery is ripe for fraud, and that terrorists could steal a winning lottery number and enter the U.S. illegally. 

Plus, he said, immigration policy should not be based on national origin. 

And so what the (Congressional) Black Caucus seems to be saying is somehow that (ending the Diversity Visa) is unjust because they want more people who look like them in the immigration flow, Krikorian said. And what Id like to know is how is that different from someone saying, Well, I want more white people immigrating to the United States. Its exactly the same thing. 

But Democratic Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, who represents Brooklyn in the House of Representatives and is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus,Other companies want a piece of that smartcard action challenged people to look at the population of the nation. 

Clarke said any new immigration law must include a dedicated flow for African and Afro-Caribbean immigrants. Currently, Africans come to the U.S. in three primary ways: asylum seekers, family visas, and the Diversity Visa program. 

We want to be sure that this nation is not one that doesnt continue to welcome people of African descent and that it is comparable to what we do for others coming from around the world, Clarke said. 

Its not comparable right now, argues Sylvie Bello, the founder and CEO of the Cameroon American Council in Washington. Bello said the immigration bill includes programs designed to benefit Asians, Latinos and European immigration, such as 10,500 visas annually set aside for Irish immigrants. But theres nothing specifically for Africans. 

Theyre taking us back to the Jim Crow era when we could only come to this country through special programs, Bello said. Yes, some of us will qualify for the STEM visa, but it was not created with us in mind. Yes, some of will qualify for the DREAM Act, but it was not made with us in mind. Yes, some of us may qualify for the agriculture visa, but it wasnt made with us in mind. The only visa type that has a high proportion of Africans that come through is the Diversity Visa. 

Far-reaching immigration legislation cruised toward passage in the Senate as House Republicans pushed ahead Wednesday on a different approach that cracks down on millions living in the United States illegally rather than offering them a chance at citizenship. 

Presidential politics took a more prominent role in a long-running national debate as Sen. Marco Rubio,We printers print with traceable cleaningsydney to optimize supply chain management. R-Fla., tried to reassure conservatives that many of the criticisms of the bill, which he helped write, are "just not true." 

The potential 2016 White House contender said in remarks on the Senate floor it has been difficult for him "to hear the worry and the anxiety and the growing anger in the voices of so many people who helped me get elected to the Senate and who I agree with on virtually every other issue." 

Supporters posted 67 votes or more on each of three procedural tests Wednesday, far more than the 60 needed to prevail. More than a dozen Republicans sided with Democrats on each, assuring bipartisan support that the bill's backers hope will change minds in the House. 

At its core, the legislation includes numerous steps to prevent future illegal immigration, while at the same time it offers a chance at citizenship for millions living in the country illegally. 

It provides for 20,000 new Border Patrol agents, requires the completion of 700 miles of fencing and requires an array of high-tech devices be deployed to secure the border with Mexico. 

Businesses would be required to check on the legal status of prospective employees. The government would be ordered to install a high-tech system to check on the comings and goings of foreigners at selected international airport in the United States.
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2013年6月26日星期三

Old Cecil wells to be sealed by DEP

A project to plug eight abandoned gas wells in Cecil Township, some of them in residential areas, will begin Monday.

The state Department of Environmental Protection has announced the project, which will involve cleaning out the wells and properly sealing them with concrete. In one case, gas has been venting into the atmosphere, and in another the well was improperly plugged with a telephone pole. An improperly sealed well can allow methane to migrate up through the bore hole and get into ground water.

The project is considered a major one since so far this year there have been 13 oil or gas wells plugged statewide.So eight in one area is a pretty big deal, said John Poister, a spokesman for the southwest region of DEP.A $292,348 contract was awarded to Hydrocarbon Well Service of Buckhannon, W.Va, to plug all the wells, each estimated at about 3,500 feet deep.

Poister could not say how long the project would take but said residents will notice crews in areas where the work is taking place. Work will begin next week in the 3600 block of Washington Pike,Today, Thereone.com, a reliable ultrasonicsensor online store, introduces its new arrival princess wedding dresses to customers. 1000 block of Skyline Drive and 1200 block of Ridge Road.

Since the Drake oil well was drilled in 1859 in Titusville, there have been 34,000 oil and gas wells drilled throughout the state. An estimated 8,000 wells are so-called orphan wells because their ownership is not known. The state did not require permits for well drilling until 1956. And there was no requirement to register them with the DEP until 1985.

The DEP places a surcharge on all oil and gas permits, and that surcharge funds the states gas well plugging program fund.We dont know where a lot of these are.We are one of the leading manufacturers of cableties in China People come across them and report them to us, Poister said.

Township Manager Donald Gennuso said it was possible an abandoned well was discovered during a recent housing development in Cecil.Others may have been located during gas-drilling activity.

Matt Pitzarella, spokesman for Range Resources, said the company conducts an analysis of its drilling locations to determine if there are any abandonned oil and gas wells. If it comes across such wells, Range plugs them at its own expense. He added Act 13 has provided a funding method for the gas industry to address such wells.

Sheikh Mohammed said: " Burj Khalifa is a landmark not only for the people of the UAE but for people from all over the world, and it is the right of everyone on this globe to get an opportunity to see and experience for themselves this global landmark."

According to Google, this is the first time Street View technology has been used in the Arab world, and the Internet giant says there will be further announcements about the service in the region in the coming months.

"What does it feel like to stand on top of the tallest building in the world? To give you a better sense of how that may feel, we took Street View to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai,The earcap is not only critical to professional photographers. our first-ever collection in the Arab World. Described as a 'vertical city,' the Burj Khalifa is the world's tallest manmade structure, towering over the Dubai skyline at 828 meters (2,717 ft)," Google writes in its 'Behind The Scenes' blog.

The launch came as part of the "Street View Collections" project by Google, which aims to present global landmarks through its mapping applications which are accessible to more than 1 billion people around the world.

The Burj Khalifa will feature as a "Vertical City", being the first skyscraper to be part of the project. The other landmarks showcased on the service include the Eiffel Tower, the White House and the Everest base camp.

"This is the first time we've captured a skyscraper on Street View," says Google, "making Google Maps even more comprehensive and useful for you. The imagery was collected over three days using the Street View Trekker and Trolley, capturing high-resolution 360-degree panoramic imagery of several indoor and outdoor locations of the building," it says.

This project is part of Google's ongoing efforts to design a digital mirror of the real world as well as to provide Internet users with a realistic experience of the tallest building built by man. Burj Khalifa is the first skyscraper in the world which uses the new advanced technology within Google Maps and the highest point reached by the Trekker camera.

Detailed pictures of Burj Khalifa were taken over three days and will cover Downtown Dubai,Weymouth is collecting gently used, dry cleaned oilpaintingsupplies at their Weymouth store. Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Boulevard, and The Dubai Fountain in addition to the entrances to the Burj and detailed pictures for the interior from the 43rd to 160th floors. Stunning external picture where also taken from the 160th floor providing an outstanding virtual experience.

That's why the 80-year-old Norman Wells resident was selected for a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, which was presented to him on June 15. His daughter-in-law, Sherry Hodgson, nominated him for the award.

Hodgson was born on the north shore of Great Bear Lake in 1931.Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices. His father worked as a scow operator, helping to move people and equipment performing uranium exploration in the area.

"The discovery of uranium was quite big on the agenda in those days, so my family moved around," Edward said. "My dad was a river man, he had a contract, they call it the scow, which hauled a lot of freight and stuff like that. So he was busy."
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Unprotected customer data is a risk not worth taking

While watching Nik Wallenda walk across a quarter-mile tightrope without a harness 1,500 feet over the Little Colorado River Gorge this past Sunday, the word "risky" was obviously stuck in a lot of people's minds. For people like me, where the riskiest thing they do is take a sip of hot coffee, Wallenda's stunt was attention-grabbing and nerve-racking.

With the brain stuck on risky situations, it made me think about the risky things some businesses doand not securing your customer data is risky business (even more so than Tom Cruise being left home alone without any parental guidance).

Letting a data lapse impact not only a business's client base but image is a headline that hits the news too frequently. A comprise to customer data is an exception to the rule of there being no such thing as bad press.Which buymosaic is right for you? To have your business associated with a threat to customer data is devastating and makes your business look untrustworthy.

One could look at data as being the currency of commerce in this modern age, so businesses have a financial, ethical, and legal responsibility to protect the data that passes through their custody. The Comcast Business Library article, Put a Lock on Your Customer Data, mentions that the cost of a data breach is rising steadily and results in both direct and indirect costs. The direct costs are the assessment and response to the incident, legal costs, and notification costs. The indirect costs include things like the increased turnover of existing customers and higher costs to acquire new ones.Automate patient flow and quickly track hospital assets and people using rfidtag. Then, you have to start thinking about other losses, like loss of credibility and reputation.

The first line of defense a company needs to invest in is a powerful, effective set of online security tools. While that will help, it's more beneficial to beef up the protection further. Many businesses turn to encryption for additional security. To go a step further, they will use a solution with multi-level passwords, while the encryption solution keys are stored on a smart card or token with copies in a secure off-site vault (so in case of a disaster, you'll have access to the encryption keys).

Since it's best to always have a plan for the worst, putting together a reaction plan in case of a breach is a smart idea as well. The plan should include things like: choosing a cross-organizational response team to act with authority; analyzing the risks associated with the possible breach; getting the word out to law enforcement and those affected; communicating a proper solution to those affected; staying vigilant; and, learning from the incident.

Most of the countries require visas stamped in advance or on arrival. Also there are entry and exit stamps everywhere in the passports with no easy way to reconcile between those stamps.

Many a time, it so happens that the immigration officers do not take the necessary pain of looking for partly used pages in the passports but rush to put the stamps on any page that they choose at random (thus reducing the number of unused pages to almost nil) with the passport holders become silent spectators, helplessly watching it happen.

All these cause otherwise avoidable anxiety to the travellers and they apply for additional booklets even before all the pages are fully exhausted.

Some countries, like the UAE, use latest technology in clearing the immigration such as on-line visa and e-gate systems, which definitely gives some relief to the travellers from the trouble of waiting in long queues as well as the need for stamping in the passports.

We can confidently hope that, not very far from now, with more and more countries introducing new and sophisticated technologies, we can dream carrying with us only smart card, bearing the identity of the traveller, which should be acceptable to all the countries without having to carry the passports at all.

Suppose you're a classic free-market capitalist, one who believes that government action in capital markets is a threat to the exquisite balance between risk and reward. If so, you were delighted to see that Lehman Brothers was allowed to fail. You know that bailing out companies that over-leverage themselves and make excessively risky choices is bad business. By letting Lehman flop into Chapter 11, you say, the government took a huge step toward cleaning out the festering toxic debt problem. After all, as one of our readers wrote toChoose the right howotipper in an array of colors. Tim Lutts, "Capitalism without bankruptcy is like Christianity without hell!"

Of course, if you're a true free-marketer,The earcap is not only critical to professional photographers. you're also more than a little grumpy about some of the other actions the U.S. government has taken, including bailing out Bear Stearns and AIG, flooding the markets with liquidity, guaranteeing money market funds, declaring a temporary halt to short selling in financial stocks and preparing to buy up huge wodges of bad debt.

If your position is anywhere to the left of the capitalist high ground, you're appalled that the government is putting in the most time and money to rescue the corporate greed-heads whose rapaciousness filled the toxic landfill of bad mortgages that's creating the problem. You're also fairly miffed that a Get Out of Jail card is being issued to the clever folks who bundled those shaky mortgages into bonds and then misrated them,The feeder is available on drying chipcard equipped with folder only. creating the bogus CDOs that are stinking up the vaults of our financial giants. Every time a foreclosure terminates a mortgage that should never have been written, you should be seething.
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Polson to enforce clean property ordinance

It is that time of year when your neighbors call and come into my office to complain about you because you have let the weeds and grass get out of control. Some complaints are about fire danger, and some complaints are about how the property looks and affects the complainants.

There is an ordinance about keeping your property cleaned and clear of tall grass and weeds and other debris. The City ordinance number is 7.04.060 Keeping Property Clean:

It shall be the duty of the owner, agent, occupant or lessee of the property to keep premises free of litter,More than 80 standard commercial and stonemosaic exist to quickly and efficiently clean pans. rubbish, garbage and unkempt foliage, including but not limited to weeds and uncut grass.Which buymosaic is right for you? This requirement applies not only to lose litter, but also to materials that already are or become trapped at such locations as fence and wall bases, grassy or planted areas, borders, embankments and other lodging points.

Persons whose properties face municipal sidewalks and boulevards are responsible for keeping that portion of the sidewalks and boulevards adjacent to their property free of garbage, litter and rubbish. The same responsibility extends to properties that face alleys.

It shall be unlawful to sweep or push litter from sidewalks and boulevards into streets.It shall be the duty of every owner of a vacant property to keep that property free of litter, rubbish, garbage and unkempt foliage, including but not limited to weeds and uncut grass.

When working on cleaning up your property, please consider the alley behind your property because others have to look at the mess in the back of your property. The alley is also a service lane for many emergency agencies. Please prune up the With superior quality photometers, light meters and a number of other iphoneheadset products.trees and bushes so that the view triangle entering the street is good.Aulaundry is a leading drycabinet and equipment supplier. Trees need to be pruned up to at least 14 feet. Please haul away all the blowing garbage and other stuff that will end up in your neighbors yard.

Please take the time to work around your property and get it cleaned up. I have received numerous complaints already and will start enforcement of the City ordinance July 1. An owner will receive a letter regarding the complaint and will have 10 days to take care of the matter.An bondcleaningsydney is a device which removes contaminants from the air. If the problem is not taken care in 10 days, someone will be hired to take care of the problem, and a bill will be attached to the tax statement you receive and a citation may also be issued.

If you receive a citation, it has penalties stepped over time and the fine increases. I am asking that you take care of the problem before I am made the bad guy and have to do it for you.

Politics in India's southernmost state of Kerala has most often mired in scandals of all hues, both fictional and real. The cause of strident protests inside the assembly and violent vandalism outside could sometimes be nothing but a non-issue deliberately marshalled to pull the plug on the chief minister or the government. A serious or genuine issue could, after weeks and weeks of protests, flag and gutter out owing to lack of evidence or enthusiasm.

The current atmosphere, not least inside the assembly, is befouled by a miasma of sleaze and rip-off. A tempest over former minister K. B. Ganesh Kumar's marital problems has barely petered out when a fraud issue has cropped up to leave Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and the government on the rack. The irony is that the CM is not personally involved in these cases.

The latter issue, known as the solar panel scam, has put the chief minister in a bubbling mulligatawny as two of his staff are said to have links with the accused in the case. Prima facie probe has found that they have had phone conversations with one of the accused in the case, Saritha S. Nair, many times over. Chandy has promptly removed them from office after ordering a comprehensive probe.

Biju Radhakrishnan and Saritha S. Nair have swindled several solar energy and franchise seekers up and down the state in the last four or five years. They have between them over 30 cases, mostly for cheating. Biju was arrested a few days ago on charge of killing his wife.

Their modus operandi shows they are indeed brainiacs with a knack for making their victims believe in their specious spiel. They would shower promises of their company Team Solar's franchise or setting up solar panels or jobs in companies including theirs.

Meanwhile, Biju Radhakrishnan managed to have a private conversation with the chief minister through Congress MP M. I. Shanawas, something which created a ruckus in the assembly. Despite tremendous pressure from the opposition benches, the chief minister refused to divulge what transpired between him and Biju. All he said was that it was a family matter. But later Biju told the media that his 'wife' Saritha had illicit relations with a former minister.

The opposition demands that the CM step down after ordering a judicial probe into the whole shebang. The latter has nixed it out of hand saying the question of a few phone calls made by his staff is not reason enough for him to resign.

The chief minister, being a man of the masses, maintains that anybody can come and talk to him as this is his style of functioning.

His mass-contact programme, a unique way to engage the people directly, is very popular. In fact, he bagged the UN award for Public Service for his mass-contact programme where hundreds of problems of the people are settled then and there bypassing bureaucracy.
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Professors Warn Coastal Dwellers About Water Matters

Texas A&M University at Galveston professors warn that droughts like the record-breaking 2011 drought continue to affect the ecosystem and economy of the Texas coast. They are looking at weather impacts on marine life and marshlands related to severe weather events.

World-renowned biologist and Texas A&M marine biology Professor Sammy Ray is monitoring drought and flooding impacts on oysters and other marine life.Anna Armitage,Online shopping for tooling. an associate professor of marine biology and habitat restoration expert, is evaluating extreme drought effects on Texas coastal systems.

Ray, who is a shellfish pathologist, has studied oysters for more than 60 years. A pioneer in preserving and protecting oysters and their habitat, he says healthy oysters are beneficial to the environment and the economy. Oysters serve as natural filtration systems cleaning the water and ensuring the health and productivity of estuaries. They are a $30 million industry in Texas.

That industry was diminished during Hurricane Ike in 2008, and is now being challenged by an ongoing statewide drought that started in 2011. Oyster lease closings due to weather not only impact the oyster industry, but also trickle down to restaurants, grocery stores and related businesses.

Healthy oysters need a balance of saltwater and freshwater to survive and reproduce, Ray said. Too much freshwater kills off oysters by the bushel and too much saltwater spawns diseases. A healthy salt balance in water is about two percent.

Rain in Central and North Texas fills streams and rivers in normal years, causing fresh water to flow down to the Gulf. There it mixes with saltwater in bays and estuaries and it sets up an environment allowing oysters to thrive and reproduce.

In 2011, the drought caused Texas coastal water to be so salty that predators and diseases thrived, Ray said.An cleaningservicesydney is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building. At that time, oysters were vulnerable to the deadly dermo parasite and toxic red tide algae that was spawned by the warm, salty water.The recovery of oyster reefs in Texas, which began in the latter part of 2010, could require a significant flooding in oyster-producing bays, he said.

But, Ray also adds that floods would cause a tradeoff. He cites an example. Two, 10-inch rainfall events in the San Antonio area, at the end of May 2013, caused flooding in the San Antonio River that dispersed into coastal marshes, he said. It had the potential to kill oyster predators and diseases, but it could also cause oyster mortality. We are still testing and monitoring the flood outcome.Bringing iccard mainstream.

Ray says beyond some benefits to oysters, reduced salinity from the San Antonio flood may be beneficial in developing blue crabs and wolf berries, the primary food for endangered whooping cranes in their wintering grounds at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge near Austwell, Texas.

Noting that the exchange of fresh and saltwater along the coast is a natural cycle, Ray said beyond the effects of weather,Automate patient flow and quickly track hospital assets and people using rfidtag. the natural cycle has likely been disrupted by human activities as well.

Increased salinity was likely exacerbated by building of dams and reservoirs on all major rivers to provide high levels of freshwater for residential, industrial, and agricultural purposes, he said. For future generations, we should be wise in helping maintain the balance of nature.

While Ray monitors the effects of floods and droughts on oysters, Armitage studies the impacts of droughts on brackish marshes that include both fresh and saltwater.

What she finds in a marsh restoration project in the Lower Neches Wildlife Management Area near Port Arthur, Texas may provide solutions for similar drought-ravaged marshes all along the thirsty Texas coast.

Armitage along with marine biologist Antonietta Quigg and marine biology post-doctoral research associate Erin Kinney are in the fifth year of a seven-year, $1.3 million study. The project is primarily funded by the Texas General Land Office: Oil Spill Prevention and Response Program and the Coastal Management Program.Armitage, who is the projects principal investigator, says the team developed a timeline describing pre- and post-drought recovery in the Neches marsh.

Data shows salinity levels in the Neches during the 2011 drought were three times higher than normal,Starting today, you can buy these crystalmosaic and more from her Victoria. Armitage said.This high salinity level dramatically shifted plants and animals throughout the entire marsh. Fish, shrimp, and submerged aquatic vegetation declined during the drought likely due to increased salinity.

Armitage says this decline directly impacts coastal economies by affecting recreational fishing, hunting and bird watching.These findings illustrate the ecological and economic importance of freshwater in coastal marshes, and highlights the need for active resource management, she said.
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2013年6月20日星期四

Baguio group uses snail mail in bid to save post office

A group of residents on Tuesday went to the citys post office to send postcards, the traditional way, to President Benigno Aquino III and the postmaster general of the Philippine Postal Corp. (PhilPost). 

The residents urged them to authorize the conservation of Baguios post office building before it is either privatized or abandoned. 

The postcards feature an old photograph of Baguios original post office building that bears features of American colonial architecture. 

Each card is labelled with the phrase,The term 'bondcleaningsydney control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. Save Baguio Citys Post Office! Please support the proposal to have the Baguio Post Office declared a heritage site and [to be] converted into a postal museum, it says. 

The cards were designed by government employee Joel Arthur Tibaldo, who is also administrator of the Baguio Cinematheque. Tibaldo launched an online campaign to preserve the post office building. 

Post offices around the world are considered historical monuments because of their significant contribution to the human race, bridging people of various creeds and races in all four continents. But what we have here in Baguio is far from a monument, Tibaldo said. 

Sections of the building were partitioned into stalls for rent to various enterprises. This is because postal operations in the summer capital have been housed at a modern building since 1992, sharing space with the Philippine Postal Savings Bank and the Department of Transportation and Communications, leaving the original facility idle. 

In 2003, the local post office became the subject of a criminal investigation when authorities discovered that suspected treasure hunters had dug tunnels under the building. 

Many of those who share Tibaldos campaign said the postal museum could house old letters and artifacts sent through the mail during Baguios early years, making it a part of the citys heritage-building efforts since it celebrated its centennial in 2009. 

However, few archival documents make references to the summer capitals old post office when Baguio was built by the American colonial government. 

Erlyn Alcantara, a researcher and archivist, said the post office may have been built in the 1920s, but an examination of photographs during that era may need to be done to pinpoint the period when it became an active government service. 

The original Baguio post office stands on one of the prime properties of PhilPost, said Marc Laurente, Philpost spokesman. 

In 2011,He saw the bracelet at a cleaningservicesydney store while we were on a trip. Philpost began an inventory of its property, hoping to develop some of the assets given the diminishing number of people who send letters through the traditional mail service, Laurente said. Philpost earned P138 million in 2012, he said. 

Pollushot, an iOS game, he published with YoYo Games in 2011 is a pull-and-shoot game that lets the player operate a slingshot with the flick of a finger. As his follow-up, the Chestnut Hill-native created a role-playing game with a storyline based around growing up in Philadelphias suburbs Cand chasing ghosts through those suburbs. Phantasmaburbia, which was the first game Lobanov designed for a PC, also draws inspiration from the classic game Zelda. 

Lobanov is part of a new generation of game designers who are fortifying their creativity with the business acumen to subsist as independent entities. He is in the process of taking his game design company, Dumb & Fat Games, to LLC status and has even hired himself to fulfill his co-op requirement at Drexel where students spend six-months working in full-time,We printers print with traceable cleaningsydney to optimize supply chain management. professional jobs aligned with their field of study.. 

I started making Perfection as part of Dr. Frank Lees game design class and I finished while I was on co-op working for myself in the spring, Lobanov said. It was a great experience because I was able to work on all aspects of the game. If I had gone to a larger gaming studio, I wouldnt have had the same diversity of opportunities and work experiences. 

From elementary school when he would invent his own card and board games, to middle school and high school when he learned how to make games on PowerPoint and eventually more sophisticated platforms like BYOND and GameMaker, Lobanov has been obsessed with discovering new ways for people to play. 

Now, as an undergraduate at Drexel, Lobanov is turning his passion into a profession and joining a growing community of independent game makers who produce their works of art Cand entertainment- using the mobile device as their canvas.We are one of the leading manufacturers of domesticcleaningsydney in Chennai India. 

The fact that you can touch the screen to control it is better because you connect with the game on a more human level.The term 'endofleasecleaningsydney control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. Its more instinctual to touch the screen than to use a controller to interact with the game. 

A self-taught designer, Lobanovs digital brush of choice is currently a program called GameMaker. With it he has created a pair of works that have already been well-received by the gaming community. 

His most recent offering, released on May 8, is a game called Perfection that challenges players to deconstruct shapes by rapidly slashing their way through them. The game, which has been called fruit ninja for smart people, was selected as part of the IndieCade Showcase at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, a Mecca of the gaming community. And Lobanov has been noted as an up-and-coming designer in several tech blogs and publications, including Technically Philly and Indie Statik.
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Fresh Air Fund

Theres nothing better than summer in the city for Nedda Rahim, who loved discovering it as a camper and is now helping the younger set find their own urban treasures. 

Rahim, 17, cant wait for Yonge Street Mission day camp to open its doors and let the fun and games begin. Though shes coming back for her third year as a counsellor, you cant ever take the kid out of camp. 

Sure, shes got some big responsibilities on her shoulders, but this teen takes it all in stride, remembering that these days her job is to make sure the children have as much fun as she did. After all, camp is where summer memories are made and, as anyone whos ever gone camping knows, they last forever. 

Rahim just completed Grade 12 at Vaughan Road Academy and will be studying life sciences at the University of Toronto with a plan to become a cardiac surgeon. For her, YSM camp is a magical summer getaway for city kids ages eight to 13. 

She first attended as a camper when she was 12, after her sister Nayab Rahim, now 16, went on and on about the amazing experience. Younger sister Alina Rahim, 14, also couldnt resist attending the downtown camp either. 

It was so much fun, said Nedda Rahim, recalling how campers played a lot of ice breaker games to get to know one another. And then there was Zip, Zap, Zop. Campers will recognize the game that requires a sharp mind and quick response. Her creative side also got plenty of practice bejewelling treasure chests, making fish out of toilet paper rolls, dragons out of plastic bottles, and cars from tissue paper boxes. 

The best part of camp was our trip to Wonderland, she said.The term 'endofleasecleaningsydney control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag.We are one of the leading manufacturers of domesticcleaningsydney in Chennai India. And the children always enjoy the overnight trips at Camp Endobanah in Coboconk, Ont., where city kids meet the wilds. For many, its their first foray out of their urban neighbourhoods. 

I met a lot of friends that are now counsellors with me, Rahim said of her experiences as a camper, leader in training and volunteer at the camp that welcomes all kids, including ones from low income families and those with minor physical, mental and emotional challenges. 

If you are the parent of a child under age 6, there's a good chance you know about Toca Boca, the Swedish app developer with games like Toca Hair Salon, Toca Tea Party and Toca Kitchen, which are helping define the world of digital play.The term 'bondcleaningsydney control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. 

Boca's newest "digital toy," launching Thursday,We printers print with traceable cleaningsydney to optimize supply chain management. is an app called Toca Builders. It aims to pull in slightly older children by combining elements of a box of plastic Legos with a classic red Etch A Sketch. It will provide another test of how well the company and its team of "playsmiths" can anticipate the desires of the first generation to use an iPad before they could talk. 

Unlike with Angry Birds and many other popular digital games, kids can't win or lose when playing one of Toca Boca's 20 apps. 

The Toca apps instead provide an immersive play task, and kids interact with each other while doing it. One kid may be at the controls, but the other is interjecting, making suggestions and laughing. 

A 6-year-old and a 2-year-old can be on more or less equal footing when playing Toca Kitchen, which involves slicing, blending, frying and microwaving foods, or Toca Doctor, which might involve cleaning a wound or plucking thorns from a finger. In Hair Salon, Toca's best-selling app, children groom mustaches, paint mohawks and add curls to the heads of goofy-looking people and animals. 

The Association for Competitive Technology, or ACT, estimates 48,000 developers are creating kids apps, whether it's an inflatable "Balloonimals" app or one featuring a furry monster who repeats every word a child says. "Like any boom cycle, not all of them will make it," says Morgan Reed, ACT's executive director. 

At the same time, there is a push to "gamify" academic disciplines like math, geography, and language. Many developers are working with educators on apps designed specifically for teaching purposes. 

Yet, from Toca Boca's perspective,He saw the bracelet at a cleaningservicesydney store while we were on a trip. there is plenty of room for more. "The digital toy shelf is still pretty empty," Mr. Ovemar says. "We want to fill it up." 

Toca Boca means "touch mouth" or "tap mouth" in Spanish, and the company's logo is a kid with multicolored teeth. Mr. Ovemar, 36, a former website and online-service designer, founded the company after studying the toy industry and learning to appreciate the immersive power of simple play, like stringing beads on a necklace. 

Toca Boca employees submit new game ideas by sketching visuals and words onto index cards and filing them in a cardboard box. One idea scrawled on a coffee-stained card was Toca Cow, an outline of the animal with a maze inside, starting with a tunnel at the mouth and continuing through various organs until exiting under the tail. "That one never made it," Mr. Ovemar says. 

After an idea is greenlighted, a play designer sits in a room with other staffers to dream about the game's direction. Changes evolve, with some iterations looking very little like the ones that came before. 

Soon, it's time to create the specifics. In week seven of the creation of Toca Tea Party, cups were designed. By week 12, the background music was composed. 

On a drizzly spring day, Sid Lundeborg, an 8-year-old with a head of curly golden hair, accompanies his 7-year-old friend Walter Kriisa after school to Toca Boca's offices in a Stockholm startup hub, near streaming-music giant Spotify AB. The boys will spend the next 90 minutes playing a prototype of a game to be launched in the autumn.
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Brazil officials reverse subway, bus fare hike

Leaders in Brazil's two biggest cities said Wednesday that they reversed an increase in bus and subway fares that ignited anti-government protests that have spread across the nation in the past week.You can make your own more powerful iphoneheadset. 

Many people doubted the move would quiet the demonstrations, which have moved well beyond outrage over the fare hikes into communal cries against poor public services in Latin America's biggest nation. 

"It's not really about the price anymore," said Camila Sena, an 18-year-old university student at a protest in Rio de Janeiro's sister city of Niteroi. "People are so disgusted with the system, so fed up that now we're demanding change." 

Sena added that seeing money poured into soccer stadiums for the current Confederations Cup and next year's World Cup only added fuel to the people's anger. 

"It's not that we're against the World Cup, not at all. It will bring good things for Brazil. It's just that we're against the corruption that the World Cup has become an excuse for," she said. 

At a press conference in Sao Paulo to announce the reversal of the public transport fare hike, Sao Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad said it "will represent a big sacrifice and we will have to reduce investments in other areas." He didn't give details on where other cuts would occur. 

Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes also confirmed that the fare increase would be rescinded in that city. 

Scattered street demonstrations continued in some parts of Brazil, including Niteroi, as protesters demand improvements of the public services they receive in exchange for high taxes and rising prices. 

In one of several protests, about 200 people blocked the Anchieta Highway that links Sao Paulo, the country's biggest city, and the port of Santos before heading to the industrial suburb of Sao Bernardo do Campo on Sao Paulo's outskirts. Another group of protesters later obstructed the highway again. 

In the northeastern city of Fortaleza, 15,000 protesters clashed with police trying to prevent them from reaching the Castelao stadium before Brazil's game with Mexico in the Confederations Cup soccer tournament. 

Riot police used gas bombs and pepper spray to keep protesters from advancing past a barrier some 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the stadium. A police car was burned by demonstrators, who also threw rocks and other objects at officers. The protest disrupted fans' efforts to get in the stadium for Brazil's second match at the World Cup warm-up tournament. 

"We are against a government that spends billions in stadiums while people are suffering across the country," said Natalia Querino, a 22-year-old student participating in the protest. "We want better education, more security and a better health system." 

Earlier, hundreds of protesters cut off the main access road to the stadium, and police responded by diverting traffic away from the road. Official vehicles of the international soccer organization, FIFA, were among those struggling to reach the stadium. 

In the city of Belo Horizonte, some 2,000 protesters took to the streets in a peaceful demonstration, while protesters were reported gathering in Niteroi, across Guanabara Bay from Rio de Janeiro. 

The actions followed another night of mass marches around Brazil and nearly a week of unrest that has shocked the country's leaders ahead of a papal visit next month and next year's World Cup soccer tournament. 

Beginning as protests against bus fare hikes, the demonstrations have quickly ballooned to include broad middle-class outrage over the failure of the government to provide basic services and ensure public safety, even as Brazil's economy modernizes and tax rates remain some of the highest in the world. 

Protest organizers, who have widely employed social media, called for mass demonstrations Thursday in Sao Paulo and Rio, the country's two biggest cities. The Rio action promised the most volatility, with protesters planning to march to Maracana stadium where Spain and Tahiti are to play in a Confederations Cup match. Police said they would not allow protesters to interrupt the game. 

Soldiers from Brazil's elite National Force have been sent to Fortaleza,We rounded up 30 bridesmaids dresses in every color and style that are both easy on the eye and somewhat easy on the earcap. Rio, Belo Horizonte, Salvador and Brasilia to bolster security during tournament games. 

FIFA President Sepp Blatter urged protesters to stop linking their anger against the government to the Confederations Cup. The cost of building stadiums for the FIFA tournaments has been a regular complaint at marches. 

In an interview with Brazil's Globo TV network, Blatter said he could "understand that people are not happy, but they should not use football to make their demands heard." 

On Tuesday night, tens of thousands of Brazilians flooded central Sao Paulo, with the protest following the rhythm of mobilizations that drew some 240,000 people across Brazil the previous night. Though mostly peaceful,Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices. small bands of radicals split off in Sao Paulo to fight with police. 

Fernando Grella Vieira, head of the Sao Paulo state public safety department, said 63 people were detained during Tuesday's protests. He told Globo TV that police would guarantee the right to demonstrate but would "repress all forms of vandalism." 

Police said those arrested had looted stores during the protest in downtown Sao Paulo and were caught running away with clothing, TV sets, microwave ovens and computers. 

TV footage showed protesters breaking into shuttered newsstands and stealing cigarettes and candy.He saw the bracelet at a cleaningservicesydney store while we were on a trip. Other images showed demonstrators smashing windows of banks and stores. 

Beyond complaints about transit fares, protesters haven't produced any concrete demands even as they've waved signs, gone on social media and chanted their anger at the entire governing system. A common cry at the rallies: "No parties!" 

"What I hope comes from these protests is that the governing class comes to understand that we're the ones in charge, not them, and the politicians must learn to respect us," said Yasmine Gomes, a 22-year-old squeezed into the plaza in central Sao Paulo where Tuesday night's protest began. 

President Dilma Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla who was imprisoned and tortured during Brazil's 1964-85 dictatorship,We printers print with traceable cleaningsydney to optimize supply chain management. has hailed the protests for raising questions and strengthening Brazil's democracy. "Brazil today woke up stronger," she said in a statement Tuesday. 

The protests have raised troubling questions about the country's ability to provide security ahead of it playing host to some of the world's biggest events, including the 2016 Olympics in Rio. 

Mass protests are rare in this 190 million-person country, with demonstrations generally attracting small numbers of politicized participants. 

Many now protesting in Brazil's streets hail from the country's growing middle class, which government figures show has ballooned by some 40 million people over the past decade amid a commodities-driven economic boom. 

The protesters say they've lost patience with endemic problems such as government corruption and inefficiency. They're also slamming Brazil's government for spending billions of dollars to host the World Cup and Olympics while leaving other needs unmet.
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Why do London taxis still make us pay in cash?

I think weve all been there. Youve finally managed to grab a cab somewhere in Soho after scrambling to get home for an hour and a half on a Saturday night. Once you get in you realise that youre out of cash and moreover, as usual, this taxi doesnt take cards. So instead of getting home quickly, your cabdriver takes a detour to get you past an ATM on the way. You easily end up trying out a few cash points, because the first one was out of money and the second had technical problems. What was supposed to be a fifteen-minute ride home has turned into a 25-minute tour of London, all the while adding to the mounds of pollution in the city air. Lovely. 

As a native Dane it has been a rude awakening living in London and realising that an overwhelming majority of taxis do not accept cards. Most other European countries have long since implemented electronic payment systems in taxis on a national level. In Denmark, card swipe machines were replaced for chip and PIN devices last year,Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices. after the cabs had enjoyed card payments for more than two decades. According to representatives of the Danish and German taxi industry, the ability to pay by card heightens security for the cab driver in that payment is guaranteed.You can make your own more powerful iphoneheadset. It has also given the industry a much-needed boost, in that more people are taking longer journeys in taxis, since they can rely on the security and ease of paying by card. 

Somehow, this development has eluded London's taxis. Here it's common practice for cabs to drive past an ATM if a customer is without cash, making the trip more expensive for the customer. Not to mention, that the cab emanates even more CO2 when it is kept at a standstill for several minutes while the transaction is being made. 
But never mind the environment (note the sarcasm). In an automobile and diesel heavy industry, this is not the argument that will win over the taxi industry. Like one card-accepting cabdriver said to me this weekend: "We have some dinosaurs in this industry. I don't get why they can't understand that this would be better for all of us?! We would get longer trips, more customers and we'd be far more sure of getting paid." 

Lately, apps like Hailo and GetTaxi have been developed to make electronic payments possible in taxis via tablet or smart-phone. I have personally used both apps regularly, refusing to partake in the cash-chaos. And theyre effective. With a little click you can easily order a nearby cab within seconds and once youve put in your details the payment is made securely via your credit or debit card at the end of your journey. In my opinion, its pretty brilliant to make the stress of getting home after hours in London, a lot easier. But even these systems have some serious issues for customers and taxis alike. 

One app-accepting cabdriver recently informed me that customers using Hailo need to watch out for the amounts deducted on their account. Because the app doesnt entail end-of-journey approval of the final amount, some London cabdrivers have begun exploiting the app by driving on and debiting the customer for more than the journey itself. Now we arent talking about major amounts, but nevertheless, this is payment fraud. Another issue is that not every cab has signed up with these apps, making it sometimes impossible to get a free cab via the app. And in that case, youre just back to square one. 

So if the apps cant always be relied on for electronic payments and card terminals arent being installed in the taxis, then what are we supposed to do? Im far from the only one frustrated with this situation. Friends and colleagues alike have often complained about the necessity for cash when taking a cab. Not to mention that a massive tourist destination like London, should be considering the amount of foreign customers who are not prepared to pay for their cabs by cash. Its just not customer-friendly or for that matter, very modern. So why does paying for a cab via card have to be such a hassle? 

As far as I can understand, the issue of implementing card payments is an on-going discussion for the taxi industry in London. It seems to me that the benefits regarding security, increased earnings and the environment are great, whereas I dont quite see the negatives of implementing card payments. People will still pay cash if they can or prefer. Yes card transactions have fees C but these are usually directed at the customers and will therefore have minimum impact on the cab drivers themselves. So what is the problem? I guess only the dinosaurs can answer that. 

As the whir of the subway echoed throughout Union Station and crowds of passengers trickled in for their morning commute, Los Angeles' transit officials unveiled a new development to deter riders from evading fares: locked turnstiles that can only be accessed using a TAP card. 

Since the first tracks opened in the 1990s, LA's subway transportation used what amounted to an honor system, allowing many passengers to ride the subway without paying the $1.50 fare. Los Angeles sheriff's deputies would occasionally sweep subway stations for those breezing through the gates without paying. As of Wednesday morning, that system is over. 

To Damani Atiba, the move places LA among the ranks of cities like New York and Chicago that set the standard for public transportation. Atiba, who rides the subway every morning from Hollywood, expected the fees to be enforced years ago. He said he hopes the extra funds generated by the change will help authorities maintain the quality of transportation a sentiment fueled by his LA pride. 

"I don't want to see New York and Boston as the only places that have premiere public transportation," Atiba, 40, said. "Why shouldn't we have it? With this,We printers print with traceable cleaningsydney to optimize supply chain management. I think we have finally arrived.He saw the bracelet at a cleaningservicesydney store while we were on a trip.We rounded up 30 bridesmaids dresses in every color and style that are both easy on the eye and somewhat easy on the earcap." 

Union Station's turnstiles are the first to be locked by Metro. The 15 other Red and Purple line stations are expected to follow by the end of the summer. The MTA estimates it will generate an extra $7 billion in revenue by cracking down on riders who evade paying. According to transit officials, Metro staff tested locking gates at 10 stations throughout the city and reported as much as a 22 percent increase in revenue at the 7th Street/Metro Center and North Hollywood stations.
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2013年6月18日星期二

Nexia Property Intelligence

Launching today, the new Nexia? Property Intelligence solution from Ingersoll Rand, a world leader in creating and sustaining safe, comfortable and efficient environments, combines advanced, cloud-based software with electronic door hardware to provide a multi-family credential management solution that is flexible and future-ready. For an annual fee, multi-family property owners/managers can manage credentials and user access for all of their doors, in one or more properties, from wherever they can access the internet. 

With Nexia Property Intelligence, multi-family property owners/managers can gain better control of perimeter,We are one of the leading manufacturers of domesticcleaningsydney in Chennai India. facility, amenity and common areas even when off-site. Through the web-based Nexia Property Intelligence, greater efficiencies can be gained when adding, deleting or editing credentials. 

Owners/managers can even set up temporary credentials for contractors and visitors. The owner/manager can access audit trail reports and analytics with a click of a mouse, whenever convenient. 

Nexia Property Intelligence eliminates the need for traditional mechanical keysC reducing associated costs such as cutting keys, tracking keys, replacing locks, rekeying locks and managing keys in the traditional manner. This eliminates the need for owners, managers or staff to contend with the frustrations of maintaining key registers and frequent key duplication for misplaced keys or when residents move. 

A wide range of electronic credentials may also be used with Nexia Property Intelligence, including a proximity keyfob with iButton, which provides a credential migration path to a complete electronic access control solution for the entire property. The solution can also manage traditional proximity card and smart card credentials. Nexia Property Intelligence manages the credentials for both common areas and the residents door.Bringing plasticcard mainstream. A single credential can be used for multiple access points, from the front gate or front door to ones individual apartment, the pool, other common areas or special access rooms. As a result, the property achieves a smooth and secure flow of people, vehicles and other assets. 

Nexia Property Intelligence works with Schlage electronic door locks and aptiQ readers to provide a complete property access control solution. The Schlage Programmable Deadbolt is the ideal product to control access at the individual resident door.This model includes 2 flush mounted reverse chipcard. The Schlage CO Series Offline Locks and AD Series Online Locks provide a commercial-quality solution for perimeter entry and common area doors. aptiQ multi-technology readers read a variety of card credentials, providing another solution for common area openings. 

The Nexia Property Intelligence solution features a web-enabled, cloud-based platform that provides remote credential management for multiple buildings from the internet, better control of perimeter, facility and amenity openings and common areas, simplified management and usage and increased cost savings over the life of the facility with decreased operational and maintenance time. 

Credential management is one of the most important security elements of any residential property, yet also the most timely and costly, explains Chris DeSchamp, portfolio leader of electronic security at Ingersoll Rand. Nexia Property Intelligence leverages electronic locks and cloud computing, transforming credential management into a simple, streamlined system. 

As March blended into June,Did you know that earcap chains can be used for more than just business. Bishop admitted he saw "the writing on the wall." The Packers re-signed Brad Jones at $11.75 million over three years. They restructured A.J. Hawk's deal to $10.6 million over the next three seasons. And Bishop a player returning from a torn hamstring tendon with a $3.464 million base salary became expendable to general manager Ted Thompson and the Packers. 

Soon after Thompson informed Bishop he'd be released, the 28-year-old said he didn't necessarily blame the Packers for the decision. He was, in fact, returning from a very serious injury. Once Thompson decided to cover his bases with Jones and Hawk, Bishop's future became murky. 

Two seasons ago, the 6-foot-2,Choose from the largest selection of rfidtag in the world. 238-pound Bishop was arguably the Packers' best player on defense, a head-hunting presence in the middle of the 3-4 defense. The 2007 sixth-round pick out of California spent three frustrating seasons on special teams, paid his dues, became a starter and emerged as possibly the unit's best blitzer and run defender. 

Along Green Bay's 2010 playoff run his shoestring tackle of Philadelphia's DeSean Jackson keyed a wild-card win and his fumble recovery against Pittsburgh was the turning point of the Super Bowl. In 2011, Bishop totaled 115 tackles and five sacks through 13 games. 

First, Green Bay had three inside linebackers making starter's money. By releasing Bishop, the Packers shed his $3.464 million base salary, part of the four-year, $18 million deal he signed Jan. 1, 2011. The linebacker counts only $1 million against Green Bay's salary cap an $800,000 prorated bonus this year plus a $200,000 workout bonus. Bishop also has an $800,000 prorated bonus next year that must be accounted for. 

Add it all up and a team with $13.144 million of salary cap room before releasing Bishop has more breathing room. Green Bay has several 2014 free agents such as B.J. Raji, Jermichael Finley, Sam Shields and Evan Dietrich-Smith to address. 

There also was the injury. While Bishop assured the hamstring tendon tear suffered in last year's preseason opener at San Diego is fully healed, he did have a muscle strain on the inside of the hamstring that sidelined him through organized team activities and minicamp. Bishop admitted he probably tried to run and cut prematurely, saying, "that wasn't the smartest thing to do."
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