31 August 2009
discrimination?
Carrie Prejean sues over ouster as Miss Calif., claims religious discrimination...
2 hours, 26 minutes ago
By The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Former Miss California USA, Carrie Prejean, sued pageant officials for libel, slander, and religious discrimination.
Court records show Prejean sued California pageant executive director, Keith Lewis, and actress and former Miss USA, Shanna Moakler, in Los Angeles, Monday.
Prejean was fired in June by pageant officials, who cited missed scheduled appearances.
Prejean's attorney says that's not true, and his client was ousted because of controversial remarks in April during the Miss USA pageant that marriage should be between a man and a woman.
Representatives for Lewis and Moakler said they had no public comment yet, on the lawsuit.
Her lawsuit claims they told Prejean to stop mentioning "God".
Copyright © 2009 Canadian Press
31 Aug '09
Former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Denis Poroy, File
murdered?
Police to review Rolling Stones' guitarist death...
2 hours, 54 minutes ago
LONDON (AFP) - Police have said they will review the death of Rolling Stones' guitarist, Brian Jones, whose drowning in 1969 was ruled an accident, but sparked speculation he was murdered.
Sussex police say they will review new documents received from a newspaper journalist relating to the guitarist's death at his home, when he was 27.
"We can confirm Sussex Police received papers from an investigative journalist in relation to the death of Brian Jones," a Sussex police spokesman said.
"These papers will be examined by Sussex Police, but it is too early to comment at this time as to what the outcome will be."
The Mail on Sunday said journalist, Scott Jones, who is not related to the musician, had compiled 600 documents and handed them to the police.
Jones was a founding member of The Rolling Stones, and reportedly came up with the name for the band.
However, his influence on the band gradually diminished, as the dominance of frontman Mick Jagger, and fellow guitarist, Keith Richards, increased.
Increasingly drawn to drugs and alcohol, Jones quit the band a month before his death at his Sussex estate, in July 1969.
An inquest recorded a verdict of death by misadventure, after he was found in his swimming pool, but speculation has continued he was murdered.
The Mail on Sunday said a nurse who found his body said she saw his minder jump into the pool and "do something to Brian."
The minder has since died.
31 Aug '09
Late Rolling Stone guitarist, Brian Jones.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/File
wuffy wins book! YAAAAAAAAY!
Friday, 28 August 2009
A Fiery Roast with Author Danielle Thorne
Welcome to the Opening Day of Author Roast & Toast!
To get the event steaming, our brave premier author, Danielle Thorne, is ready to be anchored to the spit.
Come on out, Danielle!
Blindfolded Danielle, with hands tied behind her back, is led by two burly, bearded, rum-breathed pirates.
She struggles but they, guffawing at her feminine weakness, lift her bodily and set her on the plank.
Wind molds her gown against her small frame, pastes the mane of blond hair to cover her face.
"Thar ye go.
"Off wit' ye now."
Using the tips of their swords, the two prod her forward.
Slowly, tentatively, she inches down the creaking board.
Bare toes hanging off the end, she pauses, inhales a quavering breath.
A wave splashes over, drenching her from head to foot.
"This water's cold!" she screams, breaking free from her bounds.
Ripping off the blindfold, she yells, "Warm it up, me maties!
"Let's get this party a-roaring!"
We couldn't agree more, Danielle! :)
To start, we'll allow Danielle to introduce herself in her own words:
Danielle Thorne is the author of two 2009 novels: THE PRIVATEER, a 1729 historical about British privateering in the Caribbean, and TURTLE SOUP, a sweet, contemporary romance set between Atlanta and St. Thomas.
She is the 2009-2010 Co-chair for the New Voices writing competition for young writers, and active with online author groups, such as The Sweetest Romance Authors and Classic Romance Revival.
She lives with her four sons and husband, who is an air traffic controller, south of Atlanta, Georgia.
Danielle's soon to be released book is called Turtle Soup.
Blurb: Sea turtles may be endangered but after an encounter with marine biologist, Jack Brandon, nothing will stop Sara Hart from naming her deli, Turtle Soup.
When Jack takes a job at the nearby Georgia Aquarium, Sara finds the environmental poster boy at her door, hungry and carrying a chip on his shoulder.
Neither thinks the other has what it takes, until a scuba class reveals what lies beneath the surface.
It will take food, friends, and a little help from Mother Nature, to help them see that making a difference isn’t all numbers and glory.
It must begin with love.
Excerpt:
She came around the corner in response to the front door’s bell.
The girl from the airport, the one with his book, had hair piled up on top of her head, gold hoops hanging from her earlobes.
"Oh," she said, but something told him she suspected this moment would come.
He glanced down the street to the aquarium.
Turtle Soup?
He felt a flicker of ridicule.
A cloud of menace passed over her face.
"I didn’t expect to see you in here.
"Wouldn’t a place like this be against your principles?"
"Not unless you actually serve turtle."
"I cook clams," she said coolly.
"I’d use turtle if I could get a hold of it."
"They’re endangered, sweetheart."
She jerked back at his meaningless term of endearment.
"I hear they’re pretty tasty."
"Just because something’s tasty," he answered, glancing over the counter at her waistline, "doesn’t mean it’s worth the trouble."
(To be published by Awe-struck Publishing: www.awe-struck.net
Fall 2009)
All right!
Now the question to be answered is this:
What song does a turtle sing when he's swimming laps in a bowl of soup?
Danielle will choose her winner from all the entries and announce the lucky person here tomorrow morning.
You'll receive a copy of this wonderful book!
To get the event steaming, our brave premier author, Danielle Thorne, is ready to be anchored to the spit.
Come on out, Danielle!
Blindfolded Danielle, with hands tied behind her back, is led by two burly, bearded, rum-breathed pirates.
She struggles but they, guffawing at her feminine weakness, lift her bodily and set her on the plank.
Wind molds her gown against her small frame, pastes the mane of blond hair to cover her face.
"Thar ye go.
"Off wit' ye now."
Using the tips of their swords, the two prod her forward.
Slowly, tentatively, she inches down the creaking board.
Bare toes hanging off the end, she pauses, inhales a quavering breath.
A wave splashes over, drenching her from head to foot.
"This water's cold!" she screams, breaking free from her bounds.
Ripping off the blindfold, she yells, "Warm it up, me maties!
"Let's get this party a-roaring!"
We couldn't agree more, Danielle! :)
To start, we'll allow Danielle to introduce herself in her own words:
Danielle Thorne is the author of two 2009 novels: THE PRIVATEER, a 1729 historical about British privateering in the Caribbean, and TURTLE SOUP, a sweet, contemporary romance set between Atlanta and St. Thomas.
She is the 2009-2010 Co-chair for the New Voices writing competition for young writers, and active with online author groups, such as The Sweetest Romance Authors and Classic Romance Revival.
She lives with her four sons and husband, who is an air traffic controller, south of Atlanta, Georgia.
Danielle's soon to be released book is called Turtle Soup.
Blurb: Sea turtles may be endangered but after an encounter with marine biologist, Jack Brandon, nothing will stop Sara Hart from naming her deli, Turtle Soup.When Jack takes a job at the nearby Georgia Aquarium, Sara finds the environmental poster boy at her door, hungry and carrying a chip on his shoulder.
Neither thinks the other has what it takes, until a scuba class reveals what lies beneath the surface.
It will take food, friends, and a little help from Mother Nature, to help them see that making a difference isn’t all numbers and glory.
It must begin with love.
Excerpt:
She came around the corner in response to the front door’s bell.
The girl from the airport, the one with his book, had hair piled up on top of her head, gold hoops hanging from her earlobes.
"Oh," she said, but something told him she suspected this moment would come.
He glanced down the street to the aquarium.
Turtle Soup?
He felt a flicker of ridicule.
A cloud of menace passed over her face.
"I didn’t expect to see you in here.
"Wouldn’t a place like this be against your principles?"
"Not unless you actually serve turtle."
"I cook clams," she said coolly.
"I’d use turtle if I could get a hold of it."
"They’re endangered, sweetheart."
She jerked back at his meaningless term of endearment.
"I hear they’re pretty tasty."
"Just because something’s tasty," he answered, glancing over the counter at her waistline, "doesn’t mean it’s worth the trouble."
(To be published by Awe-struck Publishing: www.awe-struck.net
Fall 2009)
All right!
Now the question to be answered is this:
What song does a turtle sing when he's swimming laps in a bowl of soup?
Danielle will choose her winner from all the entries and announce the lucky person here tomorrow morning.
You'll receive a copy of this wonderful book!
most deadly...
America's deadliest jobs...
by Klaus Kneale, Forbes.com
27 August '09
provided by
27 August '09
provided by
You may have read news reports saying America's Main Streeters want revenge on Wall Street for the financial meltdown, recession, mortgage foreclosures, and lost life savings.
That hardly makes fields like finance and insurance hazardous to be in, though.
You're much, much likelier to get killed in other lines of work.
Recently released Department of Labor data show fishermen (and fisherwomen), and other workers in fishing-related professions, were the most likely to die on the job in 2008.
Of 39,000 fishing workers in the nation, 50 were killed, a rate of 128.9 per 100,000 full-time workers.
Rough seas, unpredictable deadly weather, and isolation during emergencies, all make the job more unsafe than any other.
It's no wonder the industry's perils have given rise to a popular documentary TV series, Deadliest Catch, and a best-selling book and hit Hollywood film, The Perfect Storm.
Go to Forbes.com to view the slideshow
(Opens new window)
That was 7.6% fewer than in 2007, and 13% less than in 2006, which marked a five-year high for workplace fatalities.
That's the good news in the numbers.
Logging workers and aircraft pilots have the second and third deadliest jobs.
Eighty-two loggers died last year from work injuries, some of them caused by falling trees and malfunctioning cutting equipment.
Ninety aircraft pilots died in crashes and other accidents.
Transportation incidents are the most common cause of fatalities, overall.
This year, 40.5% of the worker deaths, 2,053 of them, were transportation-related.
More than half were highway incidents, which have been the most common killer every year since the Labor Department started tracking workplace fatalities in 1992.
Equipment- and objects-related injuries came in a distant second, accounting for 923 fatalities, or 18.2%.
While putting in 57% of the total hours worked by Americans, men made up 92.7% of the workplace fatalities.
The relatively few women killed were more likely to die from on-the-job homicide, though: 26% of the female workplace deaths were murders, compared with only 9% of the male deaths.
"For several occupations with high fatality rates, including truck drivers and farmers, and several industries with high fatality rates, like construction and mining, men constitute a much larger part of the total employment," Stephen Pegula, an economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, explains.
"In addition, women are often employed in occupations and industries, like trade/nursing and leisure/hospitality, where homicides are more prevalent."
The construction industry suffered the largest number of deaths.
Its fatality rate per 100,000 full-time workers was only 9.6, less than a 10th of that of people in fishing, but that added up to 969 deaths in 2008, no less than 19.1% of all U.S. workplace fatalities.
What about those Wall Streeters?
People in finance and insurance actually had the lowest fatality rate of any occupation—0.3 deaths per 100,000 full-time workers, or just 24 people across the nation.
In Pictures: America's Deadliest Jobs
Go to Forbes.com to view the slideshow
cops re-charged?
Ontario's Appeal Court hears appeal in case of police corruption charges...
54 minutes ago
By The Canadian Press
TORONTO - Crown lawyers were arguing in court Monday against a decision that saw 30 counts of corruption against six former Toronto drug squad police officers thrown out.
The charges were stayed in January 2008 because the case took too long to get to trial - the six men were charged four years prior.
The Crown was before the Court of Appeal for Ontario Monday arguing the delay, due to various factors, was not unreasonable.
Crown attorney Ken Campbell says by not complaining about the trial date when it was set, the defense lawyers effectively waived their clients' right to take issue with that portion of the delay.
Campbell also attributed part of the delay to defense lawyers being unavailable and to some of the men changing lawyers.
The Ontario Superior Court judge who presided over the preliminary hearings placed much of the blame for the delay on the timing of disclosure from the Crown.
Copyright © 2009 Canadian Press
olg cleanup...
31 Aug '09
Finance Minister, Dwight Duncan, has cleaned house at the problem-plagued Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.
The troubled agency's entire board of directors has been replaced and McDougald has been fired as CEO, Duncan announced Monday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
Ontario cleans house at lottery and gaming corp., firing CEO, replacing board...
47 minutes ago
By The Canadian Press
TORONTO - Ontario's problem-plagued lottery and gaming corporation was overhauled Monday as the province's finance minister fired its CEO, and replaced the entire board of directors.
The auditor general was also brought in to review questionable spending at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., which included one executive charging taxpayers almost $500 for a nanny.
"This is the right step to take in terms of the public, and across government we need to make sure that we have rigorous accountability for all Crown agencies, boards and corporations," said Finance Minister, Dwight Duncan.
"We have been trying to create change in this place for some time.
"Frankly, I'm not satisfied with performance to date at OLG."
CEO Kelly McDougald was "dismissed with cause" and, as a result, will not receive severance, Duncan said.
Premier Dalton McGuinty will make an announcement in the coming days about a broader set of accountability initiatives, Duncan added.
The move comes after the government found questionable expense claims filed by executives, going back years.
They included the cancellation of a deposit on a Florida condo, by Michael Sharland, the OLG's former vice-president of security and surveillance, who took a paid leave of absence in 2007.
Another OLG executive charged the agency nearly $500 for a nanny so she could attend meetings, during a four-month period in 2006.
Other senior staff billed the agency for small items, like a $7 pen refill, a $1.12 cloth grocery bag, and a $30 car wash.
Duncan released two years' worth of expense claims, filed by OLG executives and senior staff.
He says the OLG board has been temporarily filled by senior bureaucrats until a new board is selected.
It's the second Ontario government agency to get a major overhaul in the last few months.
eHealth Ontario CEO, Sarah Kramer, and board chairman, Dr. Alan Hudson, left the troubled agency following shocking spending excesses by consultants and executives.
Opposition parties say the government is trying to avoid another political embarrassment in the wake of eHealth and before voters head to the polls in a 17 Sept. by-election.
The OLG has been dogged by troubles over the last few years, from questionable insider wins to botched scratch-and-win tickets and malfunctioning slot machines.
In March, OLG executives were read the riot act by Infrastructure and Energy Minister, George Smitherman, for buying foreign cars as casino prizes at a time when thousands of Ontario auto workers were losing their jobs.
Since then, the Ministry of Finance has taken over responsibility for the agency.
Duncan's announcement pre-empts a deadline set by the Ontario ombudsman for the OLG to crack down on insider wins.
Ombudsman, Andre Marin, had given the agency until early September to report back to him about cleaning up its act.
Unless the OLG could show him that "rampant fraud" was purged from the system, Marin said he was prepared to press the government to ban all retailers and lottery insiders from playing.
He imposed the deadline after a sweeping forensic audit, in February, revealed lottery insiders in Ontario won prizes totaling $198 million, over the past 13 years.
At the time, Marin said he was stunned by the "astronomical" sum revealed by the audit, and that the OLG still had a problem with dishonest lottery insiders that must be addressed.
The agency has been trying to rebuild consumer confidence and enhance security since Marin's 2007 report accused unscrupulous retailers of collecting tens of millions of dollars in "dishonest" winnings - and the lottery corporation of letting them get away with it.
All insider wins have been directly investigated by the police branch of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario since 01 Jan. 2008, and they have since laid several charges.
Copyright © 2009 Canadian Press
teens charged...
Two teens charged with second-degree murder in beating death of young volunteer...
2 hours, 20 minutes ago
By The Canadian Press
WINNIPEG - Two teens have been charged with second-degree murder in the beating death of a young volunteer.
Dakota Hunter, of Nelson House First Nation, was found severely beaten Saturday morning along a roadway on the reserve, and later died from his injuries.
Two 16-year-olds from the reserve were formally charged with his death this morning.
Colleen Hunter, Dakota's aunt, says he had been bullied before, but got involved in martial arts to defend himself.
She says the 17-year-old loved the sport, but wouldn't have used it to hurt someone else.
Hunter says her nephew helped raise money for cancer research, and was part of an aboriginal organization dedicated to eliminating violence.
Copyright © 2009 Canadian Press
more on murders... :(
31 Aug '09
In this photo released Sunday 30 Aug. 2009 by the Glynn County Police Department, Guy Heinze Jr. is shown. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Glynn County Police Department)
US man says, 'My whole family is dead', in frantic police call after mobile home slayings...
1 hour, 35 minutes ago
By Russ Bynum, The Associated Press
BRUNSWICK, Georgia - The frantic caller told authorities he had just come home to find several family members beaten to death, and another barely breathing, according to a police call released Monday following the weekend attack at a mobile home park in southeastern Georgia.
"My whole family is dead!" screamed Guy Heinze Jr., 22.
"It looks like they've been beaten.
"I don't know what to do, man."
When authorities arrived Saturday morning, they found seven people dead, and two clinging to life in the Southeastern state of Georgia.
Police have refused to say how they were killed or give a possible motive.
An eighth person died Sunday.
On the call, made from a neighbor's home, Heinze said his father, uncle, and cousins were among the dead.
He also pleads with an emergency operator to send help for one of two survivors whose face was "smashed in" but was still breathing.
Heinze says the survivor's name is Michael, and he has Down's syndrome.
"Michael's alive, tell them to hurry!" Heinze said.
"He's breathing!
"He needs help!"
Police Sunday said one man rescued at the scene, 19-year-old Michael Toler, had died at a Savannah hospital.
The lone remaining survivor was in critical condition, police said.
Police have said the killer was not among the dead or the last survivor.
The victims ranged in age from teenagers to adults.
Police have arrested Heinze, the caller, on suspicion of tampering with evidence, lying to police, and illegal possession of prescription drugs and marijuana.
He was jailed Sunday.
Asked if Heinze was involved in the slayings, Police Chief Matt Doering said: "I'm not going to rule him out, but I'm not going to characterize him as a suspect."
Police acknowledged they don't know if the killer was still out there, urging residents to be aware and cautious.
"The person or persons responsible for this still remain unknown to us," Doering said Sunday, adding the killer could have fled to another county or even another state.
"I cannot tell you if they are at large.
"I simply do not know."
The uncertainty has created fear among some in the town.
Resident, Toni Mugavin, said she wonders if she needs to sleep with a gun under her pillow, afraid the killer is still on the loose.
Mugavin expressed frustration with the lack of information about what happened.
"There's no manhunt, no suspect.
"Was it a murder-suicide?
"There's nothing specific they're telling us," the 50-year-old Mugavin said Sunday.
Earlier, Doering said it was the worst murder case he had ever encountered in his 25 years with the county that includes Brunswick, a city of about 16,000 people between Savannah and Jacksonville, Fla., along Georgia's southeastern coast.
The slayings happened in a mobile home park on the grounds of a historic plantation, nestled among centuries-old, moss-draped oak trees.
The park consists of about 100 spaces and is near the centre of New Hope Plantation, according to the plantation's Web site.
The 1,100-acre (445-hectare) tract is all that remains of a Crown grant made in 1763 to Henry Laurens, who later succeeded John Hancock as president of the revolutionary Continental Congress in 1777.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was conducting autopsies Sunday on four of the victims.
GBI spokesman John Bankhead said Glynn County police would be in charge of releasing any results, and Doering refused to comment on them.
He said autopsies on the remaining four victims would begin Monday.
Doering defended his vague statements about the case, saying he didn't want the public to know details that might compromise what he called a "tedious" investigation.
Still, the dearth of information has frustrated residents, said Mary Strickland, who owns The Georgia Pig, a popular local barbecue place.
"If it is a murder-suicide then let people know so they don't think there's some lunatic out there," Strickland said.
"We got a lot of people who panic and the more information you put out there, the better you make them feel."
-
Associated Press Writer Dionne Walker in Atlanta contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009 Canadian Press
disney and marvel comics...?
03 Jun '09
Stan Lee, comic book writer for Marvel Comics, waves at the crowd while signing autographs for visitors at the Activision booth during the Electronic Entertainment Expo or E3 in Los Angeles, 03 June 2009.
The convention runs June 2-4. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok (UNITED STATES BUSINESS)
Disney to buy Marvel for $4 billion...
46 minutes ago
By Paul Thomasch
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co said on Monday it plans to buy Marvel Entertainment Inc for $4 billion in a deal that would add characters like Iron Man, Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four to its entertainment empire.
Disney is striking the biggest media deal of the year so far -- one that will unite the Incredible Hulk and Mickey Mouse -- at a time when the media business is struggling to cope with spending cutbacks by both consumers and advertisers.
Marvel has a stable of wildly popular characters it brought to the big screen in home-run films like "Iron Man".
A sequel, "Iron Man 2" is due to hit the theaters next year, while "Thor", "Spider-Man 4", and the first "Avengers" movie are slated for a 2011 release.
For Disney, movies like those should help address a key area of concern among investors: How it can better reach more young males.
"This helps give Disney more important exposure to the young male demographic they have sort of lost some ground with in recent years," said David Joyce, an analyst with Miller Tabak & Co.
Disney Chief Financial Officer Tom Staggs told Reuters on Monday, "Marvel's audience is surprisingly broad.
"It transcends gender and age and has real potential worldwide.
"They skew a little more toward boys than many of our properties."
Indeed, Disney has long been a blockbuster brand with girls thanks to characters like "Hannah Montana", "Cinderella", and "Snow White", but has struggled to achieve the same kind of success with boys.
To do so, Disney agreed to pay $50 per share in cash and stock for Marvel, a premium of 29 percent to Marvel's closing stock price of $38.65 on Friday.
The deal has been approved by the boards of both companies.
Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own.
Marvel's shares shot up to $48.75 in early trade.
Disney approached Marvel a few months ago "to get to know them," Staggs said.
The overture began with a meeting between Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger, and Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter, and evolved into merger discussions over a series of meetings, Staggs said.
"We at Disney admired them because of their position and asset base," Staggs said.
"With conversations over time we came to believe in the value of a combination."
Shares of Disney, which will acquire ownership more than 5,000 Marvel characters, dropped about 2.3 percent in early trade.
The deal is expected to close by year-end, and is expected to add to Disney earnings in two years.
The acquisition came as a surprise, even though Iger had mentioned recently the company would consider acquisitions that bolstered Disney brands across international markets and on new technology platforms.
Citigroup analyst Jason Bazinet said in addition to bolstering their standing among young males, the deal could help Disney throughout its television, movies, and amusement park properties.
(Reporting by Paul Thomasch; Additional reporting by Franklin Paul, Gina Keating and John Tilak; Editing by Derek Caney)
save $$$...
New generation of coupons has shoppers clipping less but ringing up more deals...
By Sarah Skidmore, THE ASSOCIATED PRESSPORTLAND, Ore. - Electronic coupons, arriving by cellphone, Twitter, email, and Facebook, are helping generate an old standby's comeback and bringing in new, younger customers.
Many shoppers, especially young consumers like 30-year-old April Englebert, used to reject coupons printed in newspapers and direct-mail booklets as passe or cumbersome.
But Englebert, an accounting clerk in Portland, Ore., was so thrilled when she cut her monthly grocery bill from $500 to $300, mainly with electronic coupons, she recruited friends and co-workers to try them.
"It's awesome," Englebert said.
"There is a lot of free stuff to be had."
Coupon use had been declining since 1992 as consumers found less need for or some embarrassment in using them.
But as the economy worsened, frugal became cool, and their popularity grew.
Use of electronic discounts and coupons more than doubled in the first half of 2009, compared with the same period last year as overall coupon use rose 23 per cent, according to coupon-processing company Inmar Inc.
They now account for more than three per cent of all coupons used, up from roughly two per cent in 2008.
While they still represent a small part of the total coupons used, they have strong potential - growing quickly and providing a new way for shoppers to stretch increasingly tight budgets.
"It does take some significant outside forces for people to wake up and pay attention to the savings opportunities available to them," said Matthew Tilley, director of marketing for Inmar.
On a recent shopping trip to the grocery store, Englebert tucked a clutch of offers under her tattooed arm.
Besides the store's printed circular, there were manufacturers' coupons she'd received by email and coupons she'd bought on eBay.
Using in-store sales and coupons, she bought 14 items - including macaroni and cheese, meat, and other items - for a grand total of $5.98, saving $24.88.
Englebert said she spends about five hours a week hunting for coupons - checking her favourite blogs for the hot deals of the day, searching manufacturer websites for special promotions and finding groups on Facebook or through Twitter feeds among other tools.
She even hits eBay where something like a $5-off coupon may not be of any value to someone who isn't going to use it, but is worth the 99 cents she might pay for it.
Users can print digital coupons from websites or email, but many are entirely electronic.
They can be uploaded to a store's loyalty card or arrive on a cellphone as a promotion code or image.
There are also iPhone applications, handheld devices in stores and screens built into grocery cart handles that alert shoppers to deals in stores.
And retailers continue to try new formats.
Electronic coupons offer the same benefits for retailers as any discount program: driving consumer traffic, building loyalty, increasing sales and attracting new customers.
They also eliminate printing costs, reduce paper waste, can be updated more quickly and have higher redemption rates than their print counterparts.
And coupon aggregators such as Coupons.com and Cellfire say online coupon users tend to skew younger and more affluent than the traditional coupon user.
Cellfire, for example, says 60 per cent of its users are between 18 and 35.
But technological hurdles remain in syncing electronic coupons with checkout systems and in preventing counterfeiting and hacking.
Many Internet coupons are designed to limit customers to only two per computer, but some users try to find ways around that.
Newer coupons can have serial numbers or a user's name built in so any abuse can be tracked, said Charles Brown, co-chair of the coupon council for the Promotion Marketing Association, and vice-president of marketing for NCH Marketing Services.
But companies are still figuring out the new dynamics of managing the array of coupons and how fast they can spread.
Marsh Supermarkets had to halt a recent Facebook deal offering $10 off a $10 or more purchase as the coupon spread much further and faster through the social networking site than the Midwest grocer had intended.
"It just went everywhere. We did not anticipate that," company spokeswoman Connie Gardner said.
"We would not have issued it if we had known."
Most notoriously, KFC faced traffic jams and overwhelming demand this spring at several restaurants, and ultimately offered rainchecks to cope with unanticipated demand for free grilled chicken meals, offered in a coupon posted on TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey's website.
Overall, electronic coupons lack the reach of print because consumers must seek them out - as opposed to finding them in the mailbox or on the front step, Brown said.
Experts say both electronic and traditional print formats are likely to grow, though it will be a while before they match the all-time peak in coupon use of 7.9 billion in 1992.
In 2008, consumers redeemed just 2.6 billion coupons of all types.
"When airplanes were invented, trains didn't go away.
"When TV was invented, radio didn't go away," Brown said.
"Various medias work together and reach consumers at different times."
-
Put down the scissors: Coupons are increasingly available by phone, by email, online and in other digital forms.
Here are hints on how to stretch your budget with the latest generation of an old standby.
-SEEK: Deals are everywhere.
Rather than waiting for a coupon for your favourite cereal or toilet cleaner to show up, you can find deals when you want them online.
Dozens of websites searchable by retailer and product category do some leg work for you.
At www.coupons.com, www.retailmenot.com and many others, you just click on the coupon you want and print it out.
Yahoo's recently revamped http://deals.yahoo.com/ is similar but covers such a broad range it can be daunting to search.
You can even search and buy coupons on eBay.
Services like www.cellfire.com deliver the deals you choose to your cellphone or let you upload them to your grocery store loyalty card.
Also check the websites of companies that make your favorite products for direct offers, and check your favorite retailers' and grocers' sites, especially for deals on delivery or shipping.
-STUDY: Numerous websites and blogs are dedicated to the art of couponing, finding the best deals and learning new ways to employ them.
For example, www.Krazycouponlady.blogspot.com, which focuses on low-cost food shopping, outlines the policies of specific stores, highlights the best deals of the week, offers tips to beginners and encourages comments and questions from visitors.
New ways of using coupons can yield new results. For instance, if your neighbourhood store is having a promotion on your favorite type of yogurt, don't stop there.
Search online for store or manufacturer coupons (remembering to look by brand and maker as well as retailer) to combine with the promotion, then check your store's policies to maximize your savings.
-SIGN UP: Get your favourite stores' loyalty cards, which offer exclusive deals.
At some retailers, cardholders also get additional coupons at the checkout or in the mail based on their purchases.
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Mini 181...
***
Treaty...
Jess had spent years learning the complex issues of the Is culture, and teaching them of her own, before arriving at an agreement satisfactory to both sides.
Ice and snow were to be traded in exchange for paper and inks, the former to cool down human housing, the latter to enhance Is art.
Issues resolved.
~2009 laughingwolf
*****
dirty 30... 66
**
Troops...
Xylk was able to rally the forces in record time following their latest defeat at the hands of the enemy.
Bacteria had mutated several times, but were on the run.
~2009 laughingwolf
***
time...
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 |
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phoebus and boreas...
Phoebus and Boreas [*]
Old Boreas and the sun, one dayEspied a traveler on his way,
Whose dress did happily provide
Against whatever might betide.
The time was autumn, when, indeed,
All prudent travelers take heed.
The rains that then the sunshine dash,
And Iris with her splendid sash,
Warn one who does not like to soak
To wear abroad a good thick cloak.
Our man was therefore well bedight
With double mantle, strong and tight.
"This fellow," said the wind, "has meant
To guard from every ill event;
But little does he wot that I
Can blow him such a blast
That, not a button fast,
His cloak shall cleave the sky.
Come, here's a pleasant game, Sir Sun!
Will play?" Said Phoebus, "Done!
We'll bet between us here
Which first will take the gear
From off this cavalier.
Begin, and shut away.
The brightness of my ray."
"Enough." Our blower, on the bet,
Swelled out his pursy form
With all the stuff for storm—
The thunder, hail, and drenching wet,
And all the fury he could muster;
Then, with a very demon's bluster,
He whistled, whirled, and splashed,
And down the torrents dashed,
Full many a roof uptearing
He never did before,
Full many a vessel bearing
To wreck on the shore,—
And all to doff a single cloak.
But vain the furious stroke;
The traveler was stout,
And kept the tempest out,
Defied the hurricane,
Defied the pelting rain;
And as the fiercer roared the blast,
His cloak the tighter held he fast.
The sun broke out, to win the bet;
He caused the clouds to disappear,
Refreshed and warmed the cavalier,
And through his mantle made him sweat,
Till off it came, of course,
In less than half an hour;
And yet the sun saved half his power.—
So much does mildness more than force.
[*] Aesop and Lokman; also P. Hegemon
~Jean de la Fontaine
30 August 2009
more horrors... :(
US police arrest man who reported 7 dead, 2 hurt in mobile home; man was victim's relative...
41 minutes ago
By Russ Bynum, The Associated Press
BRUNSWICK, Georgia - Police said Sunday they arrested a family member who called police to report finding seven people slain in a mobile home, but the charges were drug-related, and police wouldn't say if the man was a suspect in the killings.
Glynn County Police Chief, Matt Doering, said Guy Heinze Jr., 22, was arrested late Saturday, and charged with illegal possession of prescription drugs and marijuana, tampering with evidence, and making false statements to police, in the Southern state of Georgia.
"He was a family member who came home and discovered the victims, at least that's what he told us," Doering told reporters.
Asked if police believe Heinze was involved in the slayings, Doering said: "I'm not going to characterize him as a suspect."
The chief also said police didn't know whether more than one person was involved.
Police have released few details about the grisly mass slaying in this coastal Georgia county.
Seven people were found dead, along with two critically injured survivors, Saturday morning, inside a dingy mobile home at a trailer park built on the grounds of a historic plantation.
Autopsies were being conducted Sunday by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
The two surviving victims remained in critical condition Sunday morning at a hospital, Doering said.
The mobile home park consists of about 100 spaces and is nestled among centuries-old live oak trees near the centre of New Hope Plantation, according to the plantation's Web site.
The 1,100-acre (445-hectare) tract is all that remains of a Crown grant made in 1763 to Henry Laurens, who later succeeded John Hancock as president of the revolutionary Continental Congress, in 1777.
Laurens obtained control of the South Altamaha river lands, and named it New Hope Plantation, according to the plantation's Website.
Police have not released the victims' names or said how they died, but Doering said investigators have ruled out those found dead or injured as having committed the killings.
"We're comfortable none of those nine were involved with this assault," he said.
Investigators were talking to neighbors about whether they saw or heard anything unusual at the home shaded by large, moss-draped oaks with an old boat in the front yard.
Police had not been able to speak with the survivors, who may be the only witnesses.
All seven bodies were tentatively identified and Doering said families of the victims had been notified, but he would not release any names or ages before receiving the autopsy results.
He had previously said he didn't know their ages, but some were older, while others were in their teens.
Lisa Vizcaino, who has lived at New Hope for three years, said after word of the slayings spread, the park was quieter than usual.
"Everybody had pretty much stayed in their houses," Vizcaino said.
"Normally you would see kids outside, but everybody's been pretty much on lockdown."
Copyright © 2009 Canadian Press
30 Aug '09
Brunswick Police Capt. Jack Boyet comforts a distraught woman at the scene where seven people were found dead at New Hope Mobile Park, off U.S. 17 near the McIntosh County line, Saturday, 29 Aug 2009 in Brunswick, Ga.
Seven people were found slain and two critically injured Saturday at a mobile home located on a historic plantation in southeastern Georgia, police said. (AP Photo/The Florida Times-Union, Terry Dickson)
major fupducks...
29 Aug '09
A tent is set up the far back yard of a home in Antioch, Calif., Friday, 28 Aug. 2009, where authorities say kidnapped victim, Jaycee Lee Dugard, lived. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Paul Sakuma)
Questions mount over how US kidnap went undetected
29 Aug '09
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Questions mounted Saturday, about how a California man was able to hide, for 18 years, a girl he kidnapped, and the two children she bore him, despite warnings from neighbors of something amiss.
As scores of police combed the home of suspects, Phillip Garrido, 58, and his wife Nancy, 54, Americans, and the world, were asking how police failed to act on tipoffs something suspicious was going on at their house.
Jaycee Lee Dugard was discovered, Wednesday, nearly two decades after the blonde schoolgirl was snatched outside her home in 1991, when she was just 11.
She had been confined in a makeshift prison of sheds and tents in what police have described as a "back yard within a back yard" at Garrido's home in Antioch, around 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of San Francisco.
On Saturday, police were searching the house in relation to a series of prostitute killings in the 1990s, as other bodies had been found close to where Garrido worked, the San Francisco Chronicle said.
On Thursday, police revealed Garrido, a convicted rapist and registered sex offender, had abused Dugard, now 29, and fathered her two daughters, now aged 15 and 11, who had also been kept in the compound.
The Garridos both pleaded not guilty on Friday to 29 alleged offenses including kidnapping, rape, and false imprisonment.
But many are questioning how the case went unsolved for so long, even after neighbors alerted police children appeared to be living in the complex of tents behind his home.
Police in Contra Costa County admitted Friday they had received a tip in November 2006, and failed to follow it up properly.
Sheriff Warren Rupf issued an apology, saying law enforcement officials were distraught over their failure to discover Garrido's crimes earlier.
"On 30 November 2006 we missed an opportunity to bring earlier closure to this situation," he admitted.
"I can't change the course of events, but we are beating ourselves up over this, and are the first to do so," Rupf said.
But other neighbors said they had no idea anything was wrong.
"It's kind of embarrassing to be here this long and not know what's going on.
"How could that go on, under all of our noses?," one neighbor, who gave his name only as Steve, told AFP.
New details suggested Garrido was able to cultivate a normal public persona, taking on jobs, and even allowing Dugard to interact with other people.
A man, who once hired Garrido for a printing job, told The New York Times on Saturday he had met, exchanged emails, and regularly spoken on the phone with a young woman who was introduced as Garrido's daughter, Allissa.
Ben Daughdrill said the woman never suggested she was being held captive, or tried to identify herself as Dugard, and she was the one who did the artwork.
Dugard was reunited with her mother and half-sister on Friday, but was struggling to come to terms with her ordeal, and experts say it could take years for her to recover.
Dugard was found after police reported Garrido acting suspiciously at the University of California, Berkeley, where, with two young girls, he was trying to hand out religious literature propounding claims he could channel the voice of God.
The pale, blonde girls were wearing drab sundresses, "like 'Little House on the Prairie' meets robots," university security officer, Allison Jacobs, told a press conference Friday.
"The younger daughter was staring directly at me, as if she was looking into my soul, with this eerie smile on her face," Jacobs said.
"I just got a weird, uneasy feeling."
Garrido was summoned to a meeting Wednesday, with his parole officer, who, having previously visited the home, found it strange that, in addition to his wife Nancy, he brought along two girls and a woman he called "Allissa".
Dugard's real identity emerged during the meeting, and Garrido and his wife, Nancy, were detained.
But parole officers Saturday defended their work, saying Garrido had worked hard to cover his tracks.
"This guy was definitely very elusive, very stealthy in what he was doing," said Gordon Hinkle, spokesman for the state parole agency, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
All rights reserved.
japan votes...
30 Aug '09
Japan's main opposition Democratic Party leader, Yukio Hatoyama, poses with rosettes indicating winning party candidates at the Democratic Party of Japan election headquaters in Tokyo 31 August 2009.
Japanese voters swept the opposition to a historic victory in Sunday's election, exit polls showed, crushing the long-ruling conservative party and handing the novice Democrats the job of reviving a struggling economy. REUTERS/Issei Kato (JAPAN POLITICS ELECTIONS)
Japan Democrats win landslide in historic election...
1 hour, 30 minutes ago
By Linda Sieg and Chisa Fujioka
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese voters swept the opposition to a historic victory in an election, Sunday, ousting the ruling conservative party, and handing the untested Democrats the job of breathing life into a struggling economy.
The win by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) ended a half-century of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and breaks a deadlock in parliament, ushering in a government that has promised to focus spending on consumers, cut wasteful budget outlays, and reduce the power of bureaucrats.
"The people are angry with politics now and the ruling coalition.
"We felt a great sense of people wanting change for their livelihoods and we fought this election for a change in government," said Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama, 62.
Hatoyama, the wealthy grandson of a former prime minister, is expected to name a transition team on Monday to prepare to take power.
Media projections showed the Democrats set for a landslide win, possibly taking two-thirds of the seats in parliament's powerful 480-member lower house.
That matched earlier forecasts of a drubbing for Prime Minister Taro Aso's LDP.
The ruling party loss ended a three-way partnership between the LDP, big business and bureaucrats that turned Japan into an economic powerhouse after the country's defeat in World War Two.
That strategy foundered when Japan's "bubble" economy burst in the late 1980s, and growth has stagnated since.
"This is about the end of the post-war political system in Japan," said Gerry Curtis, a Japanese expert at Columbia University.
"It marks the end of one long era, and the beginning of another one about which there is a lot of uncertainty."
Financial markets wanted an end to a stalemate in parliament, where the Democrats and their allies control the less powerful upper chamber and can delay bills.
However, bond yields may rise if a new government increases spending.
The Democrats will have to move fast to keep support among voters worried about a record jobless rate and a rapidly aging society that is inflating social security costs.
Media exit polls showed the Democratic Party had won around 320 lower house seats -- almost triple its 115 before the election.
The LDP slumped to just over 100 seats from 300.
LDP'S PERFORMANCE ITS WORST EVER
Aso said he took responsibility for the defeat, adding an LDP leadership race to pick a successor should be held soon.
Japanese news agency Jiji said the LDP's performance was the party's worst since its founding in 1955.
Support for the LDP, which swept to a huge election win in 2005 on charismatic leader Junichiro Koizumi's pledges of reform, crumbled due to scandals and a perceived inability to address the deep-seated problems of a shrinking and fast-aging population.
"It's going to be challenging for the DPJ to allocate money properly, but I think we should give them a shot," said 38-year-old restaurant owner Yasuhiro Kumazawa.
"If it doesn't work out, we can re-elect the LDP again in four years."
The Democrats have pledged to refocus spending on households with child allowances and aid for farmers while taking control of policy from bureaucrats, who are often blamed for Japan's failure to tackle problems such as a creaking pension system.
"The problem is how much the Democrats can truly deliver in the first 100 days.
"If they can come up with a cabinet line-up swiftly, that will ease market concerns over their ability to govern," said Koichi Haji, chief economist at the NLI Research Institute in Tokyo.
"Because hopes for change are so big, the disappointment would be huge if the Democrats can't deliver results."
DIPLOMATIC SHIFT
The Democrats want to forge a diplomatic stance more independent of the United States, raising concerns about possible friction in the alliance.
"The LDP is probably going to be missed more in Washington than in Japan," said Michael Auslin at the American Enterprise Institute, in Washington.
The party has also vowed to build better ties with the rest of Asia, often strained by bitter wartime memories.
Economic experts worry spending plans by the Democrats, a mix of former LDP members, ex-Socialists and younger conservatives founded in 1998, will inflate Japan's huge public debt.
The party has vowed not to raise the 5 percent sales tax for four years while it focuses on cutting wasteful spending and tackles the problems of a graying population.
Japan is aging more quickly than any other rich country. More than a quarter of its people will be 65 or older by 2015.
The economy returned to growth in the second quarter, mostly because of short-term stimulus around the world, but the jobless rate rose to a record 5.7 percent in July.
(Additional reporting by Tokyo bureau; Editing by Dean Yates and Rodney Joyce)
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