Four former employees have filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the Hewlett-Packard companies for age discrimination, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose.
The complaint, filed on Aug. 18 by former employees Donna J. Forsyth, Sidney L. Staton III, Arun Vatturi and Dan Weiland, names Palo Alto-based HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company as defendants. The lawsuit claims the tech company has shed thousands of older employees while aggressively recruiting much younger employees to replace them while it publicly sought to transform the company from an "old" company into a "younger" operation.
In 2012, HP instituted a Workplace Reduction Plan that allegedly targeted older workers, affecting tens of thousands of employees across the country, according to the lawsuit. HP's publicly stated goal under the plan was to make the company "younger."
Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company and chair of HP, Inc.'s board of directors, allegedly stated a goal to change HP's "labor diamond" into a "labor pyramid" or a "quite flat triangle" with large numbers of young people at its base, according to statements made at an October 2013 security analyst meeting. She has repeatedly made similar statements, according to the lawsuit.
To reach her goal, HP's senior management team allegedly provided managers across the country with specific numbers of employees to be laid off and specific numbers of requisitions for new hires with a distinct pattern: shedding the company of older, experienced workers and simultaneously hiring much younger workers to replace them.
HP's human resources department also allegedly distributed written guidelines requiring 75 percent of all external hire requests to be "graduate" or "early career" employees. Graduate employees are those who are about to graduate or who graduated from college within the previous 12 months. Early-career hires were persons who completed their degrees and had up to five years of experience related to the job, according to the complaint.
An internal document also showed an alleged campaign of stereotyping. Anyone born between 1930 and 1946 could be considered a "traditionalist" who moves "slow and steady" and seeks "part time work." Baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 were considered "rule breakers," and were thus undesirable, according to the document.
But millennials were considered considered highly desirable, with HP encouraging strategies for "integrat(ing) millennials into the workforce" and "educat(ing) managers and others on millennial characteristics," according to the lawsuit.
The companies allegedly adopted early-retirement programs under which employees older than age 55 who worked for HP for more than 10 years were encouraged to voluntarily phase out their employment.
Vatturi, 52, was hired in 2001 and worked on HP, Inc.'s internal systems to improve procedures in Palo Alto. In one instance, he saved the company more than $70 million through his ideas. He was one of the 0.5 percent of employees who received HP's top performance-review rating of "significantly exceeds expectations" in the company's employee ranking system, according to the complaint.
But shortly before his termination, HP moved him to a low-level data-collection position working with two young independent contractors located in India. He was terminated on Jan. 22, then he was replaced with graduate or early-career hires who were significantly under the age of 40, according to the complaint.
Another California employee, Staton, was working as a sales enablement specialist at Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company in Sacramento. Like Vatturi, his job performance met or exceeded expectations. But he was laid off in April 2015 at age 54 after being shifted to a team of new hires in their 20s. Several months later HP replaced him with much younger hires, according to the complaint.
The other two plaintiffs, Weiland, of Texas, and Forsyth, of Washington, were terminated at ages 63 and 62 respectively, after decades of employment at the companies. They were replaced by much younger hires under the workplace-reduction plan despite good performance reviews, according to the lawsuit.
Weiland was offered early retirement, but he declined. He was allegedly pressured by his supervisor, and when he did not take the offer, he was terminated through the workplace-reduction plan, the suite alleges.
The complaint alleges age discrimination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, California Fair Employment and Housing Act, California Business and Professions Code and under state public policy. The suit does not specify the amount of damages, but it seeks an injunction against HP's alleged discriminatory practices and to restore all members of the class-action suit to comparable positions from which they were terminated. Alternatively, it asks for compensation of pay and benefits for the period remaining until each person's retirement age.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise said in a statement that the company "has a longstanding commitment to the principles of equal employment opportunity and age inclusion is no exception."
"The decision to implement a workforce reduction is always difficult, but we are confident that our decisions were based on legitimate factors unrelated to age," according to HP.
I actually have no problem believing this bad behavior by HP is true. I would like to hear HP's defense on this.
Silicon Valley wants younger workers because their salaries are lower. Also, H1B workers tend to be younger and cheaper than US citizens. Cities need to worry about this trend because older workers are usually local residents. Hiring younger out-of-state workers to replace residents makes the housing crisis even worse.
" Baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 were considered "rule breakers," and were thus undesirable, according to the document. "
Happened to me. 20 years ago. Still happens.
Certainly not like nor comparable to race discrimination or gender discrimination, but nevertheless can be devastating to personal self-worth and future employability. Can make one rethink unionization for the professional (white collar) workplace.
A lot of "older" (age 30+) American workers are replaced by younger H1B foreigners, mostly because the foreigners are cheaper, but also because their visa is owned by the company, making it very hard for them to switch employers if they get bored with their current jobs. This has been going on for decades, but maybe discrimination laws are changing.
Not only putting locals out of work and aggravating an already existing housing problem, but also putting our water, sewage, and garbage situations into serious conditions (DEFCON 5 maybe?).
I am serious, this creates problems for the local people/cities/counties and the State!
It is only profitable for the corporations, their management and their stockholders, at everyone else's expense. Very typical of big business, and big government!
I can only wish the claimants GOOD LUCK, hoping they win.
The biggest problem with these situations, is that when the corporation's lose, the perpetrators get away Scot free, and get large bonuses, or a higher paying position at another big corporation! They should be held personally accountable for their actions, and have to pay much of the settlement out of their own pockets. Maybe this would make corporate management more sensitive to the results of their actions, when they are held to be accountable.
This is still going on in HPE. Open the lawsuit up to everyone. We are on our way out with the HPE/CSC so called "merger". They continue to recruit from colleges, send jobs overseas and hire H1Bs. Career folks, older, more experienced and higher paid are being let go.
I was an employee with 30+ years service when I took the 2012 early retirement offer. At the Division I was in Work Force Reduction occurred on a regular basis. Managers were allowed to hire only new college graduates as replacement.
I should have added, "Age discrimination is alive and thriving, almost everywhere!"
Laws and rules, and even corporate policy may say it is against the law to discriminate because of age, but the reality is, "Age discrimination is alive and thriving!"
I believe once you pass 50, and are laid off, or want to change jobs, unless you know somebody who can hire you, do not count on getting a job.
I can't count the number of jobs I have applied for, and never received a response. At these same companies, I have spoken with hiring managers, and asked if they thought I would be eligible for employment with their company, sometimes I would directly ask, "Based on what you see, would you hire me?" The responses are almost always something like, without a doubt, definitely, in a New York second, etc. They tell me to apply online, and they will get back to me within 24 hours. I never hear from them, so I know it has to be the age, as I have a clean history, clean driving record, have held a top secret security clearance for work, I am a college grad with BSBAdmin, and BS Information Systems degrees. I would be happy at any hardware store, or home depot, or . . .
Nobody wants you after 50. It's a line in the sand that was dramatic to experience. Impossible to prove. You make it to the final two candidates and are rejected at the last minute. Social security expects us to work until 70 but no one will hire us for the last 20 years!
In the last two downturns, I watched several mid-level execs get laid off from HP and Intel.
In many cases, this happened just as their kids were starting college at Berkely, UCLA, Stanford, Boston U, etc.
These poor kids had their college careers ended before they started.
Job Inflation is a registered user.
Companies go through life cycles. In the beginning, if they are successful they experience rapid growth. They hire lots of people who work hard and expect to get raises and promotions.
As the company matures, the growth slows and it is forced to look for ways to cut costs to fund R&D, expand into new markets and defend its market share from competition. When this happens, there are not enough resources to reward all the good employees who want to stay.
As the stagnation sets in, the internal culture turns septic as people compete for ever decreasing internal opportunity. The reality is also that the company does not need as many highly skilled and experienced people because the main business, supporting infrastructure and key processes have already been established.
Thus, executive management looks for ways to continue growth, reduce the size of the workforce and re-balance the mix of employees. They can acquire other companies with the resulting layoffs from overlap, off shore large parts of the company, focus recruitment on college grads or bringing in more H1-Bs or implement a GE strategy of constantly firing the bottom 10% to make room for stronger employees.
Sadly, all of those things make for a miserable career environment and very difficult to stay happily at one company anymore for 20 years.
only a very slow and covert rush.
+ immigration, legal and illegal, H1-B's and otherwise.
+ offshoring, jobs being moved overseas.
+ attacks on the government to defund and weaken its ability to stand up for citizens.
+ pitting minority group against minority group.
+ muffling the media so that people cannot realize what is really going on.
society ... for the worse.
whistle on what is going on.
too costly to remedy, leaving the same people in charge with even more power.
I was also recently laid off and believe it was possibly because of age and also for retaliation.
The current lay off happened recently. The very large percentage are in their 50s and 60s. Plus I believe nationality plays big also into the targeted layoffs. The replacements will be offshore now and less H1Bs.


No suspects have been named in the blast, which occurred in northeastern Myanmar's conflict-torn Shan state.
Demonstrators demand Myanmar’s recognition of Rohingya Muslims as citizens.
The immigration ministry is scrutinizing the names to ensure there are no militants among the returnees.
Fortify Rights and Amnesty International call on the government to look into cases involving missing Kachin villagers and murdered Karenni men.
Over 8,000 names are included on the list, which must now be verified by Myanmar authorities in Naypyidaw.
Rakhine state’s chief minister urges the group to work with the Myanmar government to help resolve the region's problems.
The two sides are trying to reach an agreement on wage and other contract terms.
The prosecutor offers to drop the case against the editor-in-chief of Myanmar Now if he makes amends with Buddhist monk Wirathu.
A spokesman for the Kachin Independence Army says the shutdown of the military stations won’t take place soon.
“We can’t wait for international media to come,” says Rohingya Vision TV co-founder.
An official questions the claims and says such reports undermine efforts to restore stability.
The legislation clears the way for US measures to punish troops who committed atrocities against the Rohingya.
Myanmar’s deputy information minister says the news agency violated media ethics when it published a ‘false’ report on mass graves in Rakhine state.
More than 150 villagers take up shelter in a monastery in Theinni’s Kaungai village.
Local officials show the facilities to prove they are ready to process Rohingya Muslims returning from Bangladesh.
“Genocide and ethnic cleansing” may have occurred in Myanmar, Zeid Ra-ad al-Hussein tells Indonesia conference.
The Myanmar government is trying to give the Muslim minority what it needs to remain in the country, a township administrator says.
The fighting has stymied development programs in Kachin and prompted chopper attacks in Shan.
Refugees, experts express concerns about possible devastation in Bangladeshi camps.
A spokesman says a locally appointed investigation team found no evidence of the claims.
List compiled from family surveys at refugee camps in Bangladesh was handed to U.N. special rapporteur last month.
Observers say current instability and unrest in Myanmar are cause for concern regarding personal safety.
It is unknown if the killing of Bo Bo Min Theik is related to a recent deadly crackdown on ethnic Rakhines in the township.


Michigan ElvisFest 2012, which was held July 13-14 in Ypsilanti’s Riverside Park, featured live musical performances by 11 award winning Elvis tribute artists, Elvis memorabilia, a classic car show and a trip for two to Graceland was raffled off with the proceeds going to the Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels program.
The festival began in Ypsilanti in 2000 and is the largest tribute concert in North America. The two-day concert is not a look-alike contest, but an event where Elvis fans can gather to enjoy music by the former king of rock ’n’ roll.
One of Michigan ElvisFest’s original co-founders and Elvis tribute artist Matt King, from Detroit, Mich., performed both days of the event and has been headlining public and private events since age 14.
When asked how he became a tribute artist, he said he dressed as Elvis for a Halloween dance where there was karaoke and people told him he looked and sounded like Elvis.
King said he felt good about his performance and thinks the crowd had a good time.
“It was good. I thought it was good. It was warm up there to say the least. It was hot, but I enjoyed it,” he said.
Eastern Michigan University’s Director of Media Relations Pamela Young was in attendance Friday, along with co-worker Media Relations Administrator Debra Johnson and Michael Andalaro, a graphic artist for EMU’s alumnus magazine The Edge.
“It’s the only place where you can find even Elvis glasses with sideburns on it and everything,” she said.
Young said she has liked Elvis since she was a kid and has even been to Graceland, but doesn’t consider herself a “raving” fan.
“I like the music. I thought he was a great musician,” she said.
Elvis tribute artist Chris Ayotte, a University of Michigan alumnus who grew up in Detroit, said he has always admired Elvis for his voice and his ability to inspire others through his music.
Ayotte said this was his ninth year performing at Michigan ElvisFest, but he has only been performing in earnest for the past six years.
“I’m very fortunate, because this is by invite only every year, that they would have me back,” he said.
Ayotte said when he and his brother were kids they took to mimicking the voices of U.S. presidents, singers and celebrities.
“For us it was about a compliment of a lot of different voice, but singing and hearing Elvis was something we just really tuned into. So it was a childhood love that turned into some sort of a singers dream,” he said.
Ayotte said he thought his performance went well and the crowd was receptive, but it was hard to perform outside in the heat wearing black leather pants and jacket.
Ayotte said he has a full-time corporate job, but enjoys performing on the side as a hobby.
“Thank god for the fans who still love Elvis, it makes our jobs cake,” he said.


Nancy McGowan is no stranger to volunteer work. The retired Independence school teacher volunteers with Fun and Crafts, a spin-off program of the Auxiliary. Fun and Crafts makes a variety of free items for Centerpoint patients and their families.
The group makes pillows for patients and stuffed animals for children of patients and blankets for every baby born. They also make “walker caddies” that are carrying pouches attached to walkers.
She also volunteers at Youth Friends, a school based-mentoring network program in the Kansas City metro area. McGowan also volunteers at various projects at Vesper Hall.
What do you do within the Fun and Crafts?
I make the tray favors. I make about 200 of those a month. It’s like a get well card for patients to let them know someone’s thinking about them. I spend about 15 to 20 hours making them.
What do you most enjoy about your volunteer work?
You get to help people and make a lot of new friends. I enjoy working with people and kids. That kind of keeps me connected because I used to be a teacher.
A teacher? Where at and how long?
I taught at William Yates Elementary for 29 years. I taught second grade for 27 years and two years in first grade.
Why do you think volunteering is important?
You have the opportunity to help a variety of different people. It makes you feel good. Really, it keeps you from sitting in front of the television and watching soap operas all day. That would drive me nuts.
I was so busy as a teacher for all those years. I could not have sat down and watched TV.
“I’ve got something going everyday,” she said.
Contact Larry Binnicker, director of volunteer services at Centerpoint Medical Center, at 816 698-7584.


With Anna Ford and John Humphrys.
With the Rev Dr Colin Morris.
Chris Langham , aka broadcaster Roy Mallard , offers an impression of four ordinary occupations. 1: The Mother Lynne Turner has one of the most influential jobs in existence.
Paul Lewis presents seven programmes which look at personal finance.
A four-part examination of how past generations have viewed the future. 3: 1984 and All That. Mark Lawson looks at how the ideas of novelists and film-makers have affected the future.
Robert Robinson meets six groups of people who share a way of life.
The American composer Steve Reich has been at the forefront of one of this century's musical revolutions - minimalism. From the simplicity of his Clappingto the complex patterns of Different Trains, his music has'found an audience worldwide. Lynne Walker talks to him about his influences.
The news of 50 years ago.
By Ernest Bramah , dramatised by Sue Rodwell. A blind detective tangles with suffragettes and the Bard. with Lynsey Baxter , Oona Beeson , Diedra Morris , Ian Armstrong and Robert Oates.
Anthony Minghella introduces the fifth of six international radio plays. This celebration of human foibles by David Ives was first broadcast by LA Theatre Works.
Death in Rome. Waldemar Januszczak picks five paintings which he regards as the most important in the world. His third choice is Caravaggio's violent and brooding The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew.
By the Marquis de Sade , translated by Edward Marielle and read by Charles Dance.


OFFICERS AT WORK: Footage shows law officers at medical clinic in western Little Rock where arrests were made in investigation of illicit prescriptions.
Law officers have been rounding up criminal suspects at medical clinics around the state this morning, the product of a joint federal/local investigation of bogus prescriptions for narcotics in four states.
A news conference is scheduled this afternoon by U.S. Attorney Chris Thyer, who'll give a summary of Operation Pillution.
UPDATE: Authorities announced that 22 doctors and pharmacists were among some 300 arrested following 15 months of investigation in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma for improper prescription and sale of such painkillers as oxycodone, hydrocodone and xanax. The probe targeted states where abuse of prescription drugs is high. At least one pharmacy, the Bowman Curve Pharmacy, and the KJ Clinic in Little Rock were among those raided today.
Here are all the local particulars on the operation.


SINGAPORE - In business, a well-written e-mail could mean the difference between landing a deal and leaving empty-handed.
To write well, executives and managers must first learn how to write simply, and effectively.
The Executive Edition masterclass is aimed at professionals, managers and executives who want to improve their English language skills for professional communication.
The masterclass is suitable for those who need to write in the course of their work, from e-mails to minutes, presentations and reports.
Ms Choy has over 30 years of experience in sub-editing, writing, visual journalism and training. She will guide participants on topics such as writing shorter sentences, avoiding common grammar and spelling mistakes, and how to craft better e-mails for work.
Learn the difference between "it's" and "its", and why you should not use phrases such as "close proximity" and "small minority".
"Concise writing that effectively gets your message across shows your boss, clients, colleagues and people you deal with that you have a clear mind and that you are considerate of their time," said Ms Choy.
The Executive Edition masterclass will also include a segment by SPH Information Resource Centre librarian Lim Yeong Yeong on advanced techniques for searching information online. Ms Lim has over 30 years of experience in research and also in training journalists on using resources for news reporting.
She will show participants how to better use Google to search for relevant information, and talk about local and global resources available for business research.
Students can learn techniques for better essay writing at the ST English Masterclass Secondary School Edition, organised in collaboration with The Write Corner. The Write Corner specialises in English and writing classes for kindergarten, primary and secondary students.
There will be two masterclasses conducted by Ms Louise Tay on Dec 2. Ms Tay, who teaches at the Write Corner, has a bachelor's degree in English linguistics.
She will cover topics such as using ST news reports to substantiate arguments in essays, and essay writing techniques for exams.
She said: "Some students may find the idea of following current affairs intimidating, but it need not be if they are taught the right approach to reading news, how to extract information and use it to write better essays.
Ms Tay will guide students on how to craft convincing arguments using facts from ST news articles and compose well-structured sentences, and techniques for writing effective introductions.
Each student masterclass will include a tour of the newsroom.


What’s been happening is NASCAR conducting more thorough inspections at its research and development center in North Carolina, and assessing midweek penalties for winners that failed. The sport had never stripped a driver of a win.
Kevin Harvick, for instance, won last fall at TMS, but his car failed inspection a couple days later. NASCAR handed a significant penalty, including losing an automatic berth into the championship finale, but he’s still recognized as the race winner.
That won’t be the case anymore, although it’s far from perfect.
NASCAR will conduct thorough post-race inspections at the track this season, a process that will take approximately 90 minutes, compared to sending the cars to North Carolina. However, in that 90-minute window, the Victory Lane celebration and post-race interviews will have already been conducted.
If a winning car fails inspections, the second-place team wins the race. By that point, though, the second-place team will be long gone from the track.
“That’s the downside -- you’ve had a false celebration in Victory Lane,” Gossage said. “But this falls squarely on the shoulders of the teams. They can not put themselves in any sort of position to be found breaking the rules. Before, it was embarrassing to fail inspection, but you kept the win.
The good news for Gossage is he’s at least had experience with false celebrations.
TMS’ first open-wheel race in June 1997 crowned Billy Boat the initial race winner and Boat went through the Victory Lane celebrations. Upon protest, it was determined that the race winner was actually Arie Luyendyk.
The race is best remembered for Luyendyk and Boat’s team owner, A.J. Foyt, getting into a scuffle on Victory Lane. But Gossage and TMS had to recreate a Victory Lane celebration with Luyendyk a couple years afterward for posterity’s sake.
Gossage would like to avoid such instances going forward, but overall felt this is the right step for NASCAR to take. The sport is unique in terms of post-race inspections, and it should handle it in as timely a manner as possible.
NASCAR is trying to liven up the truck series with what it’s calling the “Triple Truck Challenge.” The series announced a new bonus program that will award a bonus check for the winning drivers at TMS (June 7), Iowa (June 15) and Gateway (June 22).
Each race has a $50,000 bonus going to the winning driver. That amount goes higher if a driver wins multiple races -- winning two of the three nets a driver $150,000 total, and winning all three would net a total of $500,000.
▪ TMS is having a Daytona 500 watch party later this month at the track, and Gossage said the track has received a record number of camping RSVPs for the event. Admission is free and more information is available at the track’s website. The Daytona 500 is scheduled for Feb. 17.
▪ TMS’ first race weekend will be March 28-31, highlighted by the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 on March 31. Tickets to the Sunday race are available for as low as $49 for adults, and children 12 and under for $10.
▪ TMS announced plans last month to host the inaugural Ducks Unlimited Expo April 17-19, 2020.
▪ NASCAR announced its seventh-generation stock car is on schedule to compete in 2021. The Gen-7 car will aim to increase brand identity, NASCAR said.
The tough-guy actors were part of race weekend in Fort Worth. Norris' son, Eric, is a race car driver and Quaid was grand marshal for the Chase.
No one in NASCAR has more pressure on them than Chase Elliott. He’s just fine with that.


ISLAMABAD, March 23 (Bernama) -- Issues involving Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) need an in-depth review before any decision can be made, says Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He said the issues afflicting the national carrier was due to the approach taken by the previous government which did not make sense.
“MAB reduced its staff by 6,000 people but it also flew to fewer destinations. The ratio of personnel to the routes flown was still the same.
“We need to rethink about the airline. If there are any suggestions, including a takeover by the private sector, we will need to consider them,” he told Malaysian reporters following the conclusion of a three-day working visit to Pakistan today.
On March 5, national sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd reported a loss of RM7.3 billion in 2018, mainly attributed to losses incurred by MAB.
Khazanah is the sole shareholder of MAB after taking over the ailing airline in 2014. It committed RM6 billion to improve the carrier’s performance but the effort has failed.
It was previously reported that Dr Mahathir said the government was pursuing several options before making a final decision on the fate of MAB, whether to close, sell or refinance the airline.
Meanwhile, replying to a question on national car producer Proton’s joint-venture to establish a manufacturing assembly plant in Pakistan, the prime minister said it was better for Proton to enter markets like Pakistan rather than developed countries.
“When they (Pakistan) agreed with us to the proposal to manufacture our (Proton) cars, I felt it was a good thing. If they could produce military vehicles, I don’t think other types of vehicles would be much of a problem,” he said.
On Friday, Dr Mahathir and Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, witnessed the groundbreaking for Proton’s manufacturing assembly plant in the country.
The assembly plant will be built near Karachi, Sindh province, and it will be the Proton’s first plant in the South Asian region.


More cars are stolen on New Year's Day than any other day of the year.
Gonna sleep it off on January 1st? Car thieves aren’t.
It takes less time for a professional thief to break into your car, start it up and drive away as it does for you to walk into Dunkin’ Donuts and pick up a coffee – less than two minutes in some cases. And don't presume your wheezing clunker's immune; the most stolen vehicle of 2011, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, was the 1994 Honda Accord.
"We know that thieves never miss an opportunity to make a quick buck by stealing a car," says Joe Wehrle, president and CEO of NICB. "They work weekends, nights and holidays and ironically, they are particularly busy on New Year's Day and Labor Day."
Just how busy? 2,347 car thefts were reported on January 1, 2010, 200 more than were reported for the #2 busiest day for car thieves - Memorial Day.
“While Americans are enjoying the holidays and most have time off from work, we need to remember that holidays are just another day at the shop for vehicle thieves,” the NICB said in a news release.
As for the rest of the year, the following cars were the most stolen in 2011.
While there isn't any way to stop a crook who really wants your ride and has the tools and know-how to make it happen, the following tips can help your car become a less inviting target and slow down, discourage or actually prevent car theft.
Our natural inclination is to hide something we don't want anyone to steal, but for cars, visibility is the key to safety, say experts. Thieves prefer to work out of sight of people and electronic recording devices, so leave your car in a well-lit, populated area.
If you think this tip falls into the "duh" section of car theft prevention, try Googling the phrase "keys in ignition" or similar and you'll see many trusting souls leave the equivalent of a sign reading "FREE CAR!" hanging from their ignition switches on a daily basis.
Don't hide your keys anywhere within or outside the car.
Thieves know all the hiding places you do, and probably a few more.
Use a variety of methods to slow would-be thieves.
Car alarms are ubiquitous and often go ignored. When used in tandem with other theft prevention methods, though, they will make a thief naturally try to work faster, and if he comes across other security measures, he may give up altogether and move on. Apply the emergency brake, turn your wheels hard left or right and set the car in "park" or in gear, making it more difficult for you to be quickly towed.


LETHBRIDGE - All five starters reached double digits as the University of Great Falls women's basketball team defeated Lethbridge College 85-46 here Saturday.
The UGF defense held tough in a physical game, limiting the Kodiaks to 23 percent shooting throughout the game and acquired 18 steals. The Lady Argos also dominated the glass, out rebounding Lethbridge 56-39.
The defensive effort showed growth in an area the team is focused on improving early in the season, although they did give up too many open looks on the perimeter.
Offense is less of a work in progress for UGF and that showed again against the Kodiaks. Preseason All-Conference forward Nneka Nnadi led all scorers with 21 points off of 8-14 shooting. The junior added eight rebounds and two steals to her statistical totals.
While Nnadi was the team’s leading scorer, every Argo that played, scored and every starter finished with over 10 points.
UGF’s preseason All-American Erin Legal flirted with a quadruple-double. She finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds, six steals and six assists.
Overall, the Lady Argos finished with room for improvement in the shooting department, finished with a percentage of 40 from the field. They did manage to hit a third of their 3-point attempted thanks in large part to the 4-for-4 sharp shooting of junior guard Morgan Grier.
The win puts UGF at 4-0 on the year with the team having yet to play at home. It’ll be awhile still before they make to the McLaughlin Center on November 21, but before that, they’ll travel to a tournament Las Vegas, Nevada from November 13-15.
BILLINGS - Trisha Carlson had 11 kills and two aces, but the C.M. Russell High girls' volleyball team fell to Billings Skyview 3-1 here Saturday.
The Rustlers fell to 4-8 in Eastern AA play and 9-14 overall. Russell faces a playoff game next week, with a berth in the State AA tournament on the line.
Lindsay Anderson had 19 assists and Kiersten Evenson had 32 digs. Katia Michelotti had three blocks for CMR.
BILLINGS - Danielle Devlin had nine assists and four blocks, but Great Falls High dropped a 3-0 decision to Billings West here Saturday in Class AA volleyball play.
The Bison fell to 2-10 in Eastern AA play and 5-18 overall. Great Falls High plays host to Butte High Tuesday night at Swarthout Fieldhouse, with the winner advancing to another match later in the week that will determine a berth in the State AA tournament.
Brooke Ortiz had 13 assists and Hailey Little added 12 digs for the Bison.
CEDAR CITY, Utah - Montana Grizzly freshman Makena Morley of Bigfork claimed her first conference title Saturday morning when she led from start to finish to win the Big Sky Conference cross country championship at the Cedar Ridge Golf Course.
Morley becomes Montana’s first cross country champion since Sabrina Monro won back-to-back titles in 1999 and 2000. Morley took the lead just seconds into the race and held it to the finish line, covering the five-kilometer course in a time of 17:45.
Weber State’s Ellie Child, who ran a 17:55, was the only other runner to break 18 minutes.
“That girl made a statement today,” said UM coach Collin Fehr. “She was strong and determined. She wanted it, and she let everybody know from the start that she wanted it and that someone was going to have to do something really special to take it away from her.
Weber State’s women, ranked No. 27 in the nation, placed their top five in the top 15 overall to win their fourth title in the last five years. Morley was the only freshman in the top 14.
Eastern Washington finished second behind Weber State. Northern Arizona, Idaho and Montana State rounded out the top five.
Southern Utah’s men placed five runners in the top 10 overall to snap Northern Arizona’s eight-year run atop the conference. The Thunderbirds went 1-2 behind Hayden Hawks, who ran a 24:56, and Mike Tate, who finished in 25:01.
Southern Utah and Northern Arizona, which finished second, claimed 10 of the top 11 individual spots.
The Thunderbirds and Lumberjacks were followed in the team standings by Weber State, Eastern Washington, Idaho State, Montana and Montana State.
April 10, 2019, 1:22 p.m.
April 10, 2019, 4:23 p.m.


With Thanksgiving behind us, families are flocking to Whispering Pines Christmas Tree Farm in Milton to kick off the Christmas festivities.
Out with one holiday, in with the next.
Late Friday morning — less than 12 hours after the official end of Thanksgiving — families had already flocked to a Milton farm in search of Christmas trees.
"It's our family tradition that we set up and decorate the day after Thanksgiving," said Pace resident Heather Mason. "I try not to start too early."
Mason roamed around the wide open spaces of Whispering Pines Christmas Tree Farm for about 30 minutes with her husband, Tim, and their sons, Tristan and Caden, in search of their first live Christmas tree.
After spotting a tree that met their criteria of being being 6 to 7 feet tall, 9-year-old Caden went to work with a handsaw to bring down the family's find. Soon, Tristan, 16, joined his brother on the ground to give the effort a little more muscle.
The Mason men loaded the tree onto their truck and drove it to the entrance of Whispering Pines, where the tree was shaken down, measured and wrapped up so the family could be on their way.
Whispering Pines volunteers put the newly cut trees on the base of a ground-level electric machine, called a shaker, to rid the tree of loose branches, needles and critters that might have found a home.
After a dozen years of having artificial trees, Tim Mason suggested to his wife that the family go for a real tree this year. He said he was feeling nostalgic.
"I grew up with real Christmas trees," he said. "We're going to try it. It's the smell. You can smell them when you walk inside and it reminds me of growing up."
Tradition also pulled Cantonment residents Jonathan and Miranda McGallagher and their family to Whispering Pines. The McGallaghers, accompanied Friday by their children and in-laws, have been coming to Whispering Pines for more than a dozen years.
"It brings the real Christmas," said 12-year-old Reagan McGallagher.
Searching as a family for a live Christmas tree is part of Miranda McGallagher's family history, and on Friday they were joined by Miranda's sister, her husband and their 15-month-old daughter.
"We were brought up picking up a Christmas tree as a family," Miranda McGallagher said. "Walking around and looking and enjoying the trees and everyone deciding. This is my one day of the year, the day after Thanksgiving, is when all the Christmas stuff goes up."


SEATTLE, Sept. 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- NetMotion Wireless, a leading provider of mobile productivity and management software, announced today the launch of Locality, innovative software that gives organizations the insight and visibility needed to optimize their cellular data deployments.
The operations of many organizations rely heavily on public cellular data networks. Companies make large investments in devices, monthly service plans and application development to connect mobile field workers to mission critical applications over these networks. However, despite their critical role, there are no tools available to monitor and manage the performance of these cellular deployments.
Recognizing the need for a product that provides organizations with the visibility they are accustomed to when analyzing the performance of their internal wide area network, NetMotion Wireless developed Locality. By gathering performance and location data directly from mobile devices, Locality provides a continuously updated and customized view of a cellular deployment.
The police department in Mesa, Arizona is one of the first organizations to deploy Locality. The business intelligence gathered from Locality has enabled the department to improve the effectiveness of their officers by addressing connectivity issues.
"The important opportunity for us was having empirical coverage data," said Doug Scroggins, IT Architect for Mesa Police Department. "The reason why someone can't connect varies, and Locality can help us determine the causes of connectivity issues. We are confident the visibility gained from Locality has enabled us to improve worker productivity and decrease costs."
"We have over 500,000 users of our mobile VPN software today, most of whom are also very reliant on cellular networks for connectivity," said Bob Hunsberger, President and CEO of NetMotion Wireless. "Customers told us about the need for tools to solve performance and connectivity issues, monitor usage and keep track of cellular adapters. Up until now they have had to rely on cellular bills, internal spreadsheets and anecdotal information from end-users, which is why we created Locality."
For a free 30-day trial of Locality, click here and for more information on NetMotion Wireless, go to www.netmotionwireless.com or call (877) 818-7626.
NetMotion Wireless develops software to manage and secure wireless data deployments for organizations with mobile field workers. Our products address the unique challenges introduced by the use of wireless, enabling our customers to maximize their return on investment in workforce automation. More than 2,000 of the world's most respected organizations across multiple industries including utilities, healthcare, telecommunications, public safety, government, insurance, manufacturing, and many others use our products. Founded in 2001, the company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.


Use iTunes or iCloud to sync your Outlook calendar with your iPad.
Sync your iPad calendar, as well as your mail, notes, tasks and contacts, with Microsoft Outlook using iTunes or iCloud. To sync your calendar and other data with iCloud, download ]the free iCloud Control Panel applictation, then install the software on the same computer you use to manage your Outlook calendar. To sync with iTunes, obtain the latest version of the application from the iTunes download site and install the software to your computer you use to manage your Outlook data.
Connect the iPad to your computer with the USB data cable, then launch iTunes on the computer.
Click the “Device” option, then click the “Info” tab. Note that the Info tab only displays if you have contact or calendar data stored on the device or on your computer.
Click the check box next to the “Sync Calendars With” option, then click the corresponding drop-down box. Click “Outlook.” A list of your Outlook calendars displays below the drop-down box.
Click the “All Calendars” radio button to sync all Outlook calendars, or click the “Selected Calendars” radio button, then click each calendar to sync in the Selected Calendars list.
Check the “Do Not Sync Events Older Than” check box, then type the number of days worth of events to sync.
Click “Apply.” Your Outlook calendar data syncs with your iPad calendar.
Tap the “Settings” icon on the iPad Home screen to open the Settings menu.
Tap the “iCloud” icon to launch the iCloud app.
Tap the “Use iCloud” option to enable the service. The Apple ID prompt displays. Type the Apple ID you will use with your iCloud account. The iCloud Settings menu opens and lists all available data types you can sync with iCloud.
Slide the “Calendars” switch to the “ON” position to enable calendar syncing via cloud storage. Slide additional data types to “ON,” if desired. For example, you can also enable syncing for Mail, Contacts, Reminders, Safari bookmarks, Notes and other data types from this menu. ICloud is now configured on the device.
Download the iCloud Control Center from iTunes and save the file to your hard drive (see Resources). Click the EXE file to launch the installation process. Follow the on-screen instructions to install the control panel. Open the application, once installed. The Apple ID prompt displays.
Type the Apple ID and password you entered on the iPad. The iCloud Control Center syncing dialog box opens.
Click the “Mail, Contacts, Calendars and Tasks” check box, then click “Apply.” Your iPad is now configured to sync with your Outlook calendars on your PC.
ICloud syncing is dynamic, meaning that your configured data is automatically backed up to the cloud when your computer and device are connected to the Internet.
Information provided in this article applies to iTunes 11 and devices running iOS 7. Instructions may vary slightly or significantly for other versions of iTunes or iOS.
Blackburn, Randall. "How to: Sync an IPad Calendar With Outlook." Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/to-sync-ipad-calendar-outlook-76423.html. Accessed 18 April 2019.


(Reuters) - Acting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler, President Donald Trump’s pick to run the agency permanently, held nearly 20 times more meetings with industry representatives than with conservationists during his first two months on the job, according to a copy of his schedule.
The industry focus fits neatly with the administration’s efforts to reduce environmental red tape for companies, but could add fuel to criticism from Democrats that Wheeler - who is due to be confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate in the coming days - is too cozy with the industries he oversees.
During a Senate hearing on his nomination last month, Wheeler said he did not believe climate change was “the greatest crisis” and defended the agency’s moves under Trump to roll back Obama-era measures to fight global warming.


An In-N-Out restaurant in Lake Balboa is seen in this undated image from Google Maps.
An In-N-Out in Lake Balboa was put on lockdown following a strong armed robbery as police continued searching for the suspect Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Officers got a call about the robbery at the fast food restaurant located near Sherman Way and Balboa Boulevard at 10:46 a.m., LAPD Officer Sal Ramirez told KTLA.
Just after 11:30 a.m., Ramirez said the restaurant was still on lockdown as police continued searching for the suspect.
No other details have been released by LAPD.


The Cookoo is novel among smartwatches in that the watch bit is entirely separate from the smart part - all they have in common is the casing, which is claimed to be water-resistant to 50m. You set the mechanical analogue face manually, and the Japan-made movement is powered by its own battery. This cell is good for three years of time-keeping, claims ConnecteDevice.
The advantage is that the Cookoo still functions as a watch even when the Bluetooth-based notification system has run out of charge, or has been turned off, though it also means your watch can’t use an internet time server or your phone’s clock to stay in sync. I don’t like the fact there’s no date readout, and the minimalist, blue-on-black Swatch-style design won’t appeal to everyone, either. It’s not an overly large watch - the diameter is 44mm - but it is thick: 16.33mm front to back. It’s comfortable to wear.
Behind the hands sits a white-on-black LCD screen with a backlight that glows for a moment at the press of a button. Icons tell you when your Cookoo is connected to the phone by Bluetooth 4.0, when a call comes in, and when a Facebook post or tweet has been received by the phone. It’ll warn you your phone’s battery is almost out too, and notify you of alarms and calendar entries - though you’ll still have to look at your phone to find out what they are: there’s no caller ID or message readout, just the icon to tell you what kind of notification has been received.
There’s a coloured button on the side of the watch to acknowledge a notification and hide it. With a longer press it also enables and disables the notification beep and/or vibration. A third button powers down the Bluetooth link, whether you need to conserve power or you’re about to take a flight and need to switch off radio-spaffing gadgets. A second battery, for the Bluetooth system, isn’t rechargeable, but ConnecteDevice includes a spare in the box - it’s a CR2032, so easy enough to find if you need a fresh one - and it reckons each should last a year, less if you get lots of notifications or watch and phone frequently move out of range of each other.
A fourth button is customisable, though for now you have pick three out of four possible choices: find your phone; remotely trigger the phone’s camera shutter; check in on Facebook; and save your current location on a map presented by the companion app. The three actions are selected with short, medium or long presses of the button. It’ll also work as a media player remote control, though this disables the custom functions.
ConnecteDevice promises more custom button choices in future, but this is contingent on app updates. So far there’s only an iOS app, though an Android version is being considered, ConnecteDevice tells me. The app is clearly a work in progress: there’s no notification for incoming email or text messages yet, for instance, which limits the Cookoo’s utility somewhat, though ConnecteDevice is keen to talk to developers who want to support its gadget in their apps. With no alphanumeric display, you’ll still have to check your phone to see who texted or called.
And that’s the Cookoo’s fundamental flaw. It’s inexpensive and looks good, but for now it’s really just an alternative to your phone’s own bleeper and buzzer. The Casio G-Shock is less functional, but at least I can see who an email is from and choose whether I want to pull my phone out to find out more.
In addition to extending the Cookoo’s functionality, ConnecteDevice has some issues to fix too. All my Twitter mentions were registered by Cookoo twice. Then there’s the inevitable short range of a Bluetooth link - it’s easy to exceed it. The result: the watch bleeps regularly, and the phone makes an annoying cuckoo call - even with the ringer disabled. You can set the watch to just vibrate in this situation - which is what most other smartwatches do; they too suffer from limited Bluetooth propagation - but you can’t turn off the irritating cuckoo noise.
If you’re going to have to keep your phone close to avoid this, or to see who has just texted you, why bother with the watch at all? Unfortunately, ConnecteDevice has no compelling answer to that question.


Thanks to climate change, methane is rising from our oceans and into our atmosphere.
Increasing water temperatures in the Pacific Northwest are causing frozen methane trapped in layers under the seafloor – called methane plumes –to thaw, rise to the surface and enter our atmosphere.
This isn’t the first time warm water temperatures have forced methane to the surface. The frozen methane clusters appeared on the East Coast last year. In August 2014, it was reported that 570 methane seeps clustered in approximately eight regions. Compared to carbon dioxide, methane is about 25 times more potent.
The latest research into methane plumes off the Pacific Northwest comes from the University of Washington. Scientists observed 168 methane plumes over the course of a decade.
Frozen as is, the methane plumes are not dangerous to our environment. When they thaw and come to the surface, however, the methane bubbles become a powerful and dangerous greenhouse gas. At the rate these plumes are coming to the surface, our atmosphere could be filled with .1 million metric tons of methane per year, just from the plumes off the Washington coast.
In the past, scientists focused on methane plumes in the Arctic, as well as increasing water temperatures on the ocean’s surfaces. The recent data on methane plumes shows that deep water has had significant temperature spikes due to climate change.
Luckily, much of the methane is eaten up by bacteria or converted into carbon dioxide. But we can’t assume this will be the case forever, as climate change continually affects our planet from year to year.
“Current environmental changes in Washington and Oregon are already impacting local biology and fisheries, and these changes would be amplified by the further release of methane,” Johnson said.
Mankind is triggering another Permian extinction. There won't be any humans left (thankfully for Earth) but hopefully Earth will recover from this one. I'd estimate at least ten million years to get rid of the worst toxins, pollutants and radiation that humanity has blanketed the Earth with.
The Permian mass extinction that occurred 250 million years ago, also known as the "Great Dying," was triggered by a massive lava flow in an area of Siberia that led to an increase in global temperatures of 6 degrees Celsius. That, in turn, caused the melting of frozen methane deposits under the seas (the same volcanism was also thought to have triggered massive methane release from bacteria in the oceans) Released into the atmosphere, those gases caused temperatures to skyrocket further. All of this occurred over a period of approximately 80,000 years. The change in climate is thought to be the key to what caused the extinction of most species on the planet. In that extinction episode, it is estimated that 95 percent of all species were wiped out.
Methane's lifetime in the atmosphere is much shorter than carbon dioxide (CO2 lingers in the upper atmosphere an average of 100 years), but CH4 is more efficient at trapping radiation than CO2. Pound for pound, the comparative impact of CH4 on climate change is more than 25 times greater than CO2 over a 100-year period.
I agree with a number of previous comments--it's going to take alot of hard work, and it needs to start NOW if we are going to stop or even hope to reverse minutely any of this damage!!
Our future is looking more grim with each year. Population control would surely go a long way to help earth heal is what's desperately needed somehow.
Just a silly thought. Could any of this be tapped and used ? If it going to be there anyway, making use of it makes sense.


AMERICANS in search of spiritual nourishment turned their gaze in the 1990s to the Indigenous. To judge by first impressions, F. David Peat’s Blackfoot Physics is the modern version of The Tao of Physics, with Blackfoot metaphysics as the more spiritually mature system against which Western physics is to be referred and compared. Like Fritjof Capra, Peat argues that during this century physicists have been discovering a picture of reality that has remarkable resonances with what other cultures have been saying for thousands of years. Here the “other” is the “First Peoples of Turtle Island” – indigenous Americans’ description of themselves and their continent.
Yet Peat’s book is of a somewhat different stripe. While Capra used the parallels with Taoism to make physics more palatable, Peat uses his to plead for a more serious consideration of “indigenous science”. That is the heart of this book. It is not that Peat himself believes that Native American knowledge needs to be justified in Western terms, but rather, as he poignantly points out, that in the current intellectual climate it is difficult for indigenous people to get a serious hearing for their epistemological and metaphysical systems.
A theoretical physicist and the author of a dozen previous books on subjects such as quantum reality and chaos, for the past decade Peat has immersed himself in the indigenous cultures of America and has been organising dialogues between Western scientists and Native American elders. He was reluctant to write this book at all, because indigenous knowledge is so embedded in land, language, and lived experience that it does not lend itself easily to written explication.
For the Blackfoot and their cousins, knowledge is not something to be rashly bandied about but is an active power whose careless invocation could have unwanted repercussions. But Peat was finally convinced to write because so many Native American youth are turning away from their culture. Knowing that their traditional knowledge has parallels with physics, he was told by a tribal elder, might help to revitalise their pride in their own heritage.
Throughout these pages, we gain tantalising glimpses of an elusive alternative to the thing we know as “science”. Just as Peat has had to learn by sitting quietly and observing over long periods of time, so the reader is led gently into another world and asked to simply sit and observe. There are sections on “sacred mathematics”, on the concept of “a map in the head” and a fine chapter on languages and how they encode wildly different world pictures.
My appetite was whetted. I wanted to know more about the specifics of indigenous science: how is sacred mathematics used? In what way is time cyclic? But these are Western questions, and that is the problem. When confronted with wholly other ways of knowing it is not so much the answers that differ as the modes of inquiry. Above all, Peat’s book is an eloquent plea for a fair go for the modes of enquiry of other cultures.


Boundless and the open educational resources movement are threatening publishers.
The open educational resources movement that’s terrifying publishers.
Photograph courtesy Harvard University Department of Economics.
N. Gregory Mankiw is one of the most well-known economists in American politics. A Harvard professor, he chaired George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2003 to 2005 and served as a senior adviser for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. Many observers saw him among the top contenders to replace Ben Bernanke as chair of the Federal Reserve in a Romney administration.
But for hundreds of thousands of undergraduates, Mankiw is better known as the author of Principles of Economics, one of the best-selling college textbooks in America. Politics may have made Mankiw famous, but his book—list price: $293.95—has made him a very wealthy man.
The Internet has made access to many kinds of information more flexible and less expensive. Novels, films, songs, photographs—all manner of things can be gotten from a broad array of providers for low prices, or for free, in digital form. Creators and distributors of intellectual property have struggled to balance the erosion of old business models with opportunities to sell their products in new and interesting ways.
Yet the college textbook industry has not only managed to insulate itself from this trend—it has moved in the opposite direction, using digital content as a way to charge more money. Add-on software gets packaged with physical textbooks and often has an expiration date, undermining the resale market for books. Students and parents pay the price, which often gets added on top of increasingly onerous student loans.
Now a startup called Boundless.com is trying to change that with a service it calls “textbook replacement.” Over the last decade, a great deal of academic content has been made available on the Internet, for free. The open educational resources (OER) movement has produced high-quality texts, videos, charts, problem sets, and other useful content in a huge array of subjects. Some of the authors are college professors who want to share their work at a larger scale; others are sponsored by nonprofits promoting education in the developing world that embrace the ethos of the open Internet.
In fact, there’s so much open content out there now that sorting through it all can be daunting. Boundless curates OER and organizes it in a way that mirrors popular textbooks. So if you’ve been assigned to read Chapter 4 (“Principles of Supply and Demand”) of Mankiw’s book, you can simply head to Boundless and get free content that covers that same ideas and concepts, optimized for your tablet or e-reader. For students stocking up on textbooks for their spring 2013 classes, that sounds pretty appealing.
Naturally, the small group of major publishers that controls the lion’s share of the $7 billion textbook market is now trying sue Boundless out of existence. They don’t argue that Boundless actually copies what’s written in their textbooks, because it doesn’t. Instead, they argue that the order of chapters is sacrosanct—as if deciding to put “Principles of Supply and Demand” before “Elasticity” is so complicated and critical that it’s worth $293.95.
One of the litigants is Cengage, publisher of Principles of Economics. In the legal complaint filed with the court, the publishers explain, “The Research Papers in Economics project has ranked Dr. Mankiw as the 25th most influential economist in the world based on his academic contributions.” But if that really mattered, they would have no reason to sue Boundless, since consumers would be willing to pay a premium for Mankiw’s expertise.
In fact, publishers are simply protecting the rents they’re extracting from college students. The college textbook market is unusual in that the person deciding what people should buy—the professor—isn’t the one actually doing the buying. It’s akin to prescription drugs and suffers from many of the same excesses, with large companies vying to protect highly-profitable blockbuster products and employing legions of salespeople to influence the relatively small number of agents who decide what millions of consumers will buy.
The Boundless lawsuit highlights a critical aspect of higher education as constituted today: There are really two different higher education systems within the standard four-year curriculum, each with very different goals and underlying economic models.
In the first system, students take a broad range of standard courses. According to a U.S. Department of Education study, more than 20 percent of all credits earned by college graduates come in just 13 courses, including calculus, Spanish, biology, and intro to economics. These are essentially commodity courses, based on widely accepted concepts and information. No matter where you go to college, you’ll learn to conjugate Spanish verbs in more or less the same way.
In the second system, students take specialized upper-division courses often taught by professors with expertise in the subject. This is where students specialize academically, and where colleges really distinguish themselves in the depth and quality of education.
So it’s not surprising that textbook publishers have filed the equivalent of the Recording Industry Association of America’s infamous lawsuit against the first MP3 music player. That’s what you do when your rents are threatened: use them to hire good lawyers.
The amount of free, high-quality online educational content is sure to grow. At the same time, the rise of the global middle class is creating a surge in demand for low-cost education. The best place to be, economically, is in between the people who want all that content and the content itself. It’s not easy to make smart choices about which free textbooks, courses, and videos are right for a particular student.
The owner of Project Blue Sky? Pearson, one of the textbook giants suing Boundless. Even as textbook companies try to keep the age of super-expensive college textbooks going a little bit longer, they’re also trying to position themselves for the much better, less expensive future to come.


Earlier this week, a member of the Boca Raton Beach Club said Dardano and Kiffin have become fixtures on the club’s exclusive piece of the beach.
FAU has put up Kiffin at the swanky nearby Boca Raton Resort & Club while he looks for a house.
When reached at her office, Dardano played coy after admitting she and the coach were introduced by mutual friends.
They do, meanwhile, have plenty in common.
Both are just divorced and 41.
Dardano went to University of Southern California, where Kiffin coached until he was fired in an airport in the middle of the night on an airport tarmac in 2013.
And they both need what the other provides: a higher business profile for Dardano, who sells multi-million-dollar houses; and a semblance of stability for the coach.
After incidents like an infamous mystery-shrouded car crash in Tennessee in 2009, Kiffin drags behind him a reputation as a party animal and womanizer. A story about several appearances by Kiffin with the same lady might actually make news in college football circles.
We emailed Kiffin a request for comment but haven’t heard back.


Travel agents in Singapore will receive government funding to speed up their adoption of technology, such as developing mobile apps to give customers a better experience.
Instead of traditional travel agents coming up with the solutions and asking the authorities to help with the funding, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) will identify a range of technological fixes to common problems, and offer them to the agencies.
This initiative will be launched by the second half of next year, said Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, and Culture, Community and Youth Sim Ann yesterday at the Travel Agent Industry Forum.
Travel agencies also need help to upgrade their hiring practices, said Mr Steven Ler, acting president of the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (Natas), which organised the forum with STB.
In his opening speech, he said many agencies hire through print advertisements or via word of mouth, which may not lead to the right job applicants. He said Natas will launch a talent development platform by the end of next year, which will connect job seekers and travel agents.
Giving an update of the Travel Agent Roadmap, Ms Sim said more than 40 projects were funded by STB's business improvement fund (BIF) and experience step-up fund, both aimed at making travel agents designers of travel experiences.
Both funds financially support up to 70 per cent of projects that cost up to $500,000. Ms Sim added that five times as many travel agents were supported by either fund this year compared with last year, and encouraged more agents to apply.
>40 Number of projects funded by STB's business improvement fund and experience step-up fund, both aimed at making travel agents designers of travel experiences.
She cited Dynasty Travel, which is developing a mobile app with the BIF's help. The app will help customers make bookings, write reviews and contact the firm in emergencies, which will help it to tailor travel experiences and build customer loyalty.
The road map, initiated in August last year, aims to boost the travel agent industry via technology, business transformation and manpower.
Another firm benefiting from the drive to adopt technology is Quotient Travel Planner, which is creating a chatbot with tech firm Zumata for customers to access its services whenever they need them.
Its co-founder and director Lim Hui Juan said: "We're seeing a lot of clients requiring a quick response to certain situations, or wanting to tweak their experiences on the go, and that's something we think a chatbot can help with."
Ms Lim expects the chatbot to be ready within a year. "We think it's going to be fun to see if this new technology can really help us."
Ms Sim also announced the launch of the Business Transformation Playbook, which guides travel agents who want to adopt new business models through features such as a self-assessment kit.
She said: "The Government has been supporting our travel agents to grow and thrive in an increasingly competitive tourism landscape... but we also need our travel agents to join us in this journey.
"We encourage you (agents) to find out more about the road map's initiatives, seek out the opportunities that lie amid the challenges, and tap these resources to reach new highs."
The forum was held at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre.


University of Tennessee Medical Center reported four adult flu deaths for the 2018-2019 season.
Flu season is officially over at the University of Tennessee Medical Center.
That doesn't mean you can't still get sick with influenza. But the number and pattern of positive flu cases has declined enough that infectious disease physician Dr. Mark Rasnake, after reviewing the data, feels comfortable saying the 2018-2019 season is at an end.
Hospitals aren't required to report adult flu deaths, but Rasnake said UT Medical Center had four this season. Flu-related child deaths are reportable to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which said 86 have occurred so far this year. One of those was in Tennessee.
Flu season in East Tennessee typically ends in March, Rasnake said, and it did so for most of the rest of the state.
"We started late and ended later than usual," he said.
But the season was much less severe than last year's, in East Tennessee as well as in other parts of the country. Though it will be months before the CDC releases its analysis of how effective the 2018-2019 vaccine was, Rasnake said anecdotally, it seemed to be a much better match.
"We had very few cases of illness in our vaccinated staff this year," he said.
He also credited Knox County Health Department's in-school vaccination program with making an impact not only by keeping children from getting serious flu cases, but slowing flu's spread through the community.
When was peak for flu?
Last season, UT Medical Center's flu patients peaked in January, and by the end of March 371 patients had been hospitalized with Flu A, another 59 with less-common Flu B.
This year's peak came in February and March, and by the end of March 236 patients had been hospitalized with Flu A and 11 with Flu B.
Rasnake said most of the patients were in the population who are hospitalized with flu every year: the very old and very young, and those with other health problems.
The CDC characterizes Tennessee's current flu activity as "regional," but some nearby states — Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and George — still have "widespread" flu activity, the CDC said.
"Every year, the flu behaves differently," Rasnake said. "You never really know until it's over what each flu season is going to be like."


How do the visual images we experience, which have no tangible existence, arise out of physical processes in the brain? New research at the Weizmann Institute of Science provided evidence, for the first time, that an ‘ignition’ of intense neural activity underlies the experience of seeing.
In research recently published in the journal Neuron, Prof. Rafael Malach and research student Lior Fisch of the Weizmann Institute’s Neurobiology Department worked with a neurosurgeon, Dr. Itzhak Fried of Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, a distinguished team of medical doctors from the Center and Weizmann Institute students. They asked a group of epileptic patients who had had electrodes clinically implanted into their brains in preparation for surgery to volunteer for some perceptual awareness tasks. The subjects looked at a computer screen, which briefly presented a ‘target’ image – a face, house, or man-made object. This image was followed by a ‘mask’ – a meaningless picture for distraction – at different time intervals after the target image had been presented. This allowed the experimenter to control the visibility of the images – the patients sometimes recognized the targets and sometimes failed to do so. By comparing the electrode recordings to the patients’ reports of whether they had correctly recognized the image or not, the scientists were able to pinpoint when, where and what was happening in the brain as transitions in perceptual awareness took place.
This study is the first of its kind to uncover strong evidence linking ‘ignition’ of bursts of neural activity to perceptual awareness in humans. More questions remain: Is this the sole mechanism involved in the transition to perceptual awareness? To what extent is it a local phenomenon? By answering such questions, we might begin bridging the mysterious gap between mind and the brain.
Prof. Rafael Malach’s research is supported by the Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center for Neurological Diseases; the Carl and Micaela Einhorn-Dominic Brain Research Institute; the S. and J. Lurje Memorial Foundation; the Benjamin and Seema Pulier Charitable Foundation, Inc; Vera Benedek, Israel; and Mary Helen Rowen, New York, NY. Prof. Malach is the incumbent of the Barbara and Morris Levinson Professorial Chair in Brain Research.
The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, is one of the world’s top-ranking multidisciplinary research institutions. Noted for its wide-ranging exploration of the natural and exact sciences, the Institute is home to 2,600 scientists, students, technicians and supporting staff. Institute research efforts include the search for new ways of fighting disease and hunger, examining leading questions in mathematics and computer science, probing the physics of matter and the universe, creating novel materials and developing new strategies for protecting the environment.


SEVERAL INDIGENOUS and multinational power companies have shown interest in the proposed ultra mega thermal power project of 4000 mw to be established at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh.
The Power Finance Corporation, the agency appointed to shortlist private players for the project, has received 33 initial expression of interest (EOI) for the power plant coming up in Sidhi district.
Power, G-Global Investment House, GMR Energy, India Power Corp, Ispat Industries, Khanjee Holding Texas, Korea Electric Power, Lanco Kondapali, Madhucon Projects Ltd, NTPC Ltd, Reliance Energy Ltd, Sterlite, Suez Energy, Sumitomo, Tata Power, Torrent Group, and Tronoh Alco, Malaysia amongst others.
Other than these, companies like Neyveli Lignite, Mitsui of Tokyo, Larsen and Toubro Ltd, Jindal Steel, JP Associates, GVK Consortium have also submitted EoIs for Sasan project.
Ministry of Power also convened a bidder’s conference recently for these leading players to address their concerns about issues like fuel, water availability and environment clearances to enhance their confidence and reduce risk perception.
The payment security mechanism, the option of selecting technology and unit size, and technical and financial parameters for bidders were discussed at the meeting, but a final decision on many of these issues has not been taken, sources added.
Private developers have sought concessions, including tax benefits, a higher debt-equity ratio, an option to choose the unit size, mega power status and a payment security mechanism to ensure project viability.
Five private companies have been incorporated as PFC’s subsidiaries for executing each of the 4,000 MW projects and CEOs have been appointed for these companies. The five companies — Sasan Power Ltd (in Madhya Pradesh), Akaltara Power Ltd (in Chhattisgarh), Coastal Gujarat Power Ltd, Coastal Karnataka Power Ltd and Coastal Maharashtra Power Ltd — will be transferred to foreign or domestic promoters through a bidding process based on the least first year tariff quoted, Government officials said.
The projects, each of which is expected to cost around Rs 15,000 crore, have got a shot in the arm with the Ministry of Coal giving an `in-principle approval’ to allot coal blocks, officials involved in the exercise said.
State Governments have been advised by the Centre to provide necessary support to develop the projects, most of which are likely to be executed, using super critical technology units with a unit size of 800 MW each.
Projects, according to Government officials, will reap economies of scale and enable quick capacity addition, leading to cheaper power. The projects are likely to generate electricity at a cost of Rs 1.50 to Rs 1.80 per unit, they added.


SEATTLE — In its 17th year, volunteers filled stockings at Coast Guard Base Seattle during the annual “Coast Guard Family and Friends Holiday Stockings for Homeless Children” event, Dec. 8.
HSHC is an annual Coast Guard family and community organization that provides and delivers handmade holiday stockings, filled with new and educational gifts and toys, to homeless children living in shelters throughout the Puget Sound area. They have filled more than 32,000 stockings, to children ages birth to 17-years, in 102 shelters from Everett to Tacoma.
In 1994, Jan Maxson, the wife of a U.S. Coast Guard member, wanted to do something for the homeless children of New York during the holidays, so she decided to provide them with handmade stockings filled with toys. The first year, a group of volunteers donated 300 handmade stockings to children in shelters in Harlem, Lower Manhattan, and Staten Island.
In 1996, the Maxson family moved to Seattle, which allowed a new home for the HSHC project at Coast Guard Base Seattle.
HSHC is run by an all-volunteer board of 15 directors, primarily made up of the wives of retired and active duty Coast Guard personnel and friends. With the help of over 600 volunteers and the dedication of the year-round board of directors, they are able to raise funds, collect new gifts, sew stockings, and purchase toys and gifts to fill stockings for children during the holiday season.
The organization depends upon the ongoing financial support of its donors to continue to bring the holiday cheer to homeless child during the holiday season. For most of these children, one stocking is all they will receive for the holidays and their goal is to make it the very best gift possible.
The mothers and children of the shelter felt the stockings were an incredible addition to the tough holiday season.


After finding the biggest success of her career with last year’s Gravity, Sandra Bullock is looking to reteam with both George Clooney and Warner Bros. for a new project. Set up by Clooney and his longtime co-producer Grant Heslov three years ago, the drama Our Brand is Crisis is now moving forward, Variety reports.
Based on Rachel Boynton‘s documentary chronicling the involvement of James Carville‘s political consulting firm in the 2002 Bolivian presidential election, Bullock has signed on to star and David Gordon Green is taking the helm. Scripted by Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Men Who Stare at Goats), the project has officially been greenlit, so expect it to move forward fairly soon.
In other casting news, a switch-up has occurred for Brady Corbet‘s directorial debut The Childhood of a Leader. Set to star Robert Pattinson and Tim Roth, Juliette Binoche was once on board, but had to bow out due to scheduling conflicts. Variety now lets us know that Bérénice Bejo (The Past, The Artist) is set to replace her. Co-written by Corbet and Mona Fastvold, the film tracks the childhood of a post-World War I leader and production begins this fall.
The author adds, “I should probably say I’m kind of in awe of the fact that a director I’ve long admired wants to make it, and that there’s even a possibility this could actually happen.” We’d love to see the talented helmer return sooner than later, so hopefully things move ahead as planned.


Proof Research specializes in lightweight, accurate weapons using carbon-fiber barrels and stocks.
When it comes to high-end weapons, there's a new company in town that's changing the way people think about rifles.
Founded in 2010, Proof Research of Kalispell specializes in creating lightweight, accurate weapons using carbon-fiber barrels and stocks unlike anything else on the market.
While Proof Research may only be two years old, it is made up of four companies that have years of rifle-making experience, according to Rainey. Proof is actually a merger of Lone Wolf Riflestocks of Kalispell, Jense Fabrication of Missoula, ABS out of Lincoln, Neb., and Lawrence Rifle Barrels of Lewistown.
Although only one of the core companies was from the Kalispell area, lead investor Mike Goguen said it made sense to locate Proof in the Flathead Valley.
Goguen said he became involved in Proof while looking for a lightweight hunting rifle, and got more than he bargained for when his custom rifle was finished.
In addition to folding several manufacturers under the Proof umbrella, Goguen said the company still contracts out certain parts, such as trigger assembly and receivers, to local companies such as Defiance Machine.
With the four founding companies coming together to form Proof, the company needed a home in the Flathead. A new, state-of-the-art manufacturing, research and design facility was built on U.S. 2 between Kalispell and Columbia Falls. The grand opening was held Nov. 16.
Although the company had been producing weapons and courting larger contracts for the two years since its founding, Rainey said the owners and investors were very careful about making sure the business was strong before opening its doors to the public.
Currently Proof employs 29 employees, and Rainey said the company still is hiring. Goguen said there is great potential for job growth.
“It's a slow, measured growth that we're aiming for; we've got a tight budget and we have faced challenges every single day, but we're overcoming them,” Rainey said.
The barrels Proof manufactures are not completely made of carbon fiber, rather they are traditional steel cores, machined down and wrapped with carbon fibers. According to Rainey, this results in a lighter-weight, more effective barrel of the same or similar overall dimensions and strength as more traditional all-steel barrels.
Although the technology for carbon-fiber barrels may have been around for the last 20 years, the big problem to overcome was failure due to heat.
In a typical rifle, the heat of extended firing will cause the barrel to warp slightly, and this can lead to a “fairly large” dispersion pattern. This means that what started out as shots in a dime-sized grouping on a target can expand to shots that could completely miss the point of aim. In some weapons, like the fully automatic M249 squad automatic weapon used by the military, the heat is so detrimental that multiple barrels are carried to prevent jams and increase accuracy.
When carbon-fiber barrels first came on the scene, the heat dispersion was not much better than that of a standard steel barrel, and it wasn't until recently that the problem was solved by Advanced Barrel Systems.
“Heat causes failure, and failure causes death, and we want to prevent that,” Goguen said.
Many of the weapons Proof produces are for military and peacekeeping operations where accuracy matters most.
The other big benefit to carbon-fiber barrels and stocks is a significant weight reduction.
Rainey said that weight reduction can be very significant, whether it is for a soldier in the field or a hunter out for the weekend.
While much of Proof's focus is on filling larger contracts, Rainey said the company also makes high-end custom hunting rifles.
“We do steel and carbon barrels for high-volume manufacturing, and we supply barrels to some special forces and long-range weapon systems, but we also do an exclusive line of high-tech hunting weapons from 7 mm to .338. We can completely customize a weapon in about six to seven months,” Rainey said.
Despite starting as a custom firearms manufacturer, Rainey said Proof is capable of filling much larger orders.
Part of the manufacturing process includes quality control, and according to Rainey, each barrel is inspected inside and out to ensure there are no flaws. The facility also has a three-target, 30-yard indoor firing range for testing.
For more information go online to http://proofresearch.com.
Gov. Brian Schweitzer laughs after shooting an AR-15 during the open house for Proof Research.


Artist, AP Disagree Over Photo Credit, Payment An iconic image of Barack Obama gazing upward in hues of red, white and blue has been used on buttons, posters and Web sites. That image came from an nearly identical photo taken for the Associated Press by photographer Manny Garcia. Now that the image is just about everywhere, the AP wants credit and compensation. Artist Shepard Fairey argues it's legal to take someone else's photo and turn it into art.
An iconic image of Barack Obama gazing upward in hues of red, white and blue has been used on buttons, posters and Web sites. That image came from an nearly identical photo taken for the Associated Press by photographer Manny Garcia. Now that the image is just about everywhere, the AP wants credit and compensation. Artist Shepard Fairey argues it's legal to take someone else's photo and turn it into art.
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. You know that hope poster featuring the iconic image of Barack Obama gazing upward in hues of red, white and blue? That image came from a virtually identical photo taken for the Associated Press by photographer Manny Garcia. Now that the image is everywhere, including the National Portrait Gallery, the AP wants credit and compensation. Artist Shepard Fairey argues it's legal to take someone else's photo and turn it into art.


Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Thursday the group had acquired "precision missiles" despite extensive efforts by neighbour and foe Israel to prevent the Shiite movement developing this capability.
"It has been done. The resistance now owns precision missiles" as part of its weaponry, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address during the key Shiite commemoration of Ashura.
Israel this month acknowledged carrying out more than 200 strikes over the past 18 months in war-torn Syria, where Hezbollah fights alongside Israel's arch-foe and Shiite powerhouse Iran in support of the Damascus regime.
Late on Monday, an Israeli raid hit Syria's northwestern province of Latakia to prevent what the Jewish state said were deliveries of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah.
Syrian air defences downed a Russian military plane by mistake, killing all 15 on board.


Was it only two weeks ago that analysts at Berenberg Bank were telling us Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) stock was undervalued, and primed to deliver investors a 42% profit? Ah, the good old days.
Well, I hope you enjoyed them while they lasted, because today, we have a new view for you on Gilead Sciences stock -- and this one's not nearly as optimistic. Yesterday, analysts at Leerink Partners announced that they are taking the opposite view on Gilead, and downgrading the shares from outperform to market perform.
The news isn't all bad, of course. Leerink still thinksthat at $79 and change, Gilead stock costs less than it's worth. But whereas Leerink previously priced Gilead shares at $112 in value (42% upside -- just like Berenberg had predicted), the analyst's new price target of $94 per share suggests that Gilead stock is only about half as valued as we used to think.
Gilead Sciences investors may be sitting on a smaller profit than they thought. Image source: Getty Images.
Two weeks ago, Berenberg told us that it was placing a lot of faith in Gilead's marquee hepatitis C virus (HCV) business, using a series of groundbreaking medicines to not just treat the symptoms of the disease -- but actually cure it. In the face of entrenched competition from the likes of Merck (NYSE: MRK) and AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) Gilead built this business from the ground up into a $19 billion annual franchise over just a few years. Problem was, though, once you've cured a patient entirely, that patient no longer needs to buy your medicine, and this poses a problem with growing sales.
2. How bad will it get?
In Berenberg's view, declining sales of drugs such as Sovaldi and Harvoni are likely to fall by nearly half over the next three to four years, bringing in as little as $10 billion by 2019. Leerink's view, however, is bleaker.
As explained in a write-up on StreetInsider.com this morning, Leerink believes that "HCV revenues will decline faster, and farther, than we had previously estimated, and than consensus currently forecasts." How fast, and how far? The analyst predicts: "HCV revenue forecast is reduced by 17% in 2017, and then by 20-25% in later periods. This amounts to a $2-2.5bn cut in our expected sales for each year after 2017."
Extrapolating, this implies that $19 billion becomes $16 billion as early as next year. It could then fall to $11 billion by 2019, $6 billion by 2021, and -- well, you get the picture. Additionally, Leerink warns that "this lower forecast will inevitably be associated with margin erosion." So not only will revenue shrink, but the profitability of that revenue, as well.
3. Hold up a sec. Did you say "$11 billion by 2019"?
Indeed, I did. And that might actually be the good news here. If Leerink is saying that HCV revenue will decline to $11 billion by 2019, well, Berenberg already told us it thought revenue could fall to just $10 billion by that year -- but Berenberg still thought the stock was a buy on that prediction.
Moreover, Leerink's dire warning this morning assumes the stock will be collecting "$26 billion in total revenue" (that's HCV revenue, plus sales of Gilead's other drugs) by 2020. That's 20% below today's levels ($32.4 billion in trailing revenue from all sources, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence). It represents shrinking sales in a market where Merck and AbbVie are still growing. (Analysts posit long-term earnings growth rates of 6% for Merck, 16% for AbbVie.) But it's still more than the $24.9 billion in sales that Gilead booked in 2014, a year in which the stock traded broadly between the upper $60 range and well into the $110s.
The most important thing: value...or growth?
That actually doesn't sound so bad. Additionally, Leerink posits a 64% operating profit margin in 2020, which is roughly equal to what the stock makes today, and what it made in 2014 as well.
The risk Gilead stock owners face, of course, is that investors who happily paid well over $100 for Gilead stock when it was growing like a weed two years ago, may be less enthused at the prospect of paying for Gilead stock when its primary moneymaker is declining in sales. In fact, we may already be seeing this dynamic at play, with investors valuing Gilead at just 3.2 times trailing sales, versus 4.3 times sales for AbbVie, and 4.4 times for Merck.
This, then, is basically the decision investors must make today: Assuming the analysts are right, Gilead's HCV sales are in a long-term downturn, and the company has no chance of replacing those sales with new drugs, is it worth paying less than seven times earnings and free cash flow for the stock today, knowing that those earnings and free cash flow will both be less, a few years from now?
Berenberg says yes. Leerink says no. Check out each analyst's record on Motley Fool CAPStoday, and decide for yourself which one you think is right.
The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Gilead Sciences. The Motley Fool has the following options: short October 2016 $85 calls on Gilead Sciences. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


[ Academia ] [ Litigation ] [ Regulatory & Policy ] [ Transactional ] as a Relevant Course outside SLS for those interested in Media/ Entertainment/ Sports : Courses from the Communications Department focus on some of the services the media industries provide: information, news and entertainment. Students interested in the publishing or new media industries should consider taking 1 or more courses on journalism, broadcasting or other forms of expression that may require striking a balance between privacy and property rights, on the one hand, and the public interest, on the other. This course considers the development and influence of digital media.


Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. served as the 60th governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007. He is the author of the new book, Bet You Didn't See That One Coming: Obama, Trump, and the End of Washington's Regular Order.
The left-wing establishment’s gambits are blowing up in its face.
Bumptious as Trump may be, he has eliminated Obama’s mojo-destroying cringe.
Scorched-Earth partisan combat is tempting, but it ultimately backfires.
For all the coverage and discussion sparked by the Parkland shooting, the two sides of the debate have retreated to their respective corners.
Now that you’ve successfully completed four years of relentless indoctrination, you’re ready for the Resistance.
Where Have All the Liberals Gone?
Hard-left progressives have pushed most traditional liberals out of the Democratic party. It’s a great loss.
We should cool it with the "war" lingo.
Now more than ever, we must highlight the negative consequences of left-wing policies.
An extreme form of progressivism has seized the Democratic party and greatly harmed America. The election of a GOP president in 2016 is imperative.
Seven years into his presidency, Barack Obama’s willpower and ego have not made the world’s bad guys appreciate a newly dovish U.S. of A.


A girl’s hair is much more than what meets the eye. If a person’s eyes are the windows to his soul,his hair is often a reflection of his personality and journey through life.
This year’s Sunsilk Hair story explored the versatility of hair as a mode of expression. The global hair care brand partnered with hair and beauty expert Ramani Fernando to showcase how a hairstyle can impact a person’s mood and emotions.The event focused on four moods – joyful, confident, dreamy and brave – showcasing a total of 24 hairstyles to reflect these themes.


LOS ANGELES (CBS.MW) -- Entertainment producer and distributor Kushner-Locke posted a fourth-quarter loss Wednesday, citing a decline in film and television revenue.
Kushner-Locke said it lost $5.9 million, or 64 cents per share, compared with a profit of $178,000, or 2 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. First Call didn't have a consensus of analysts estimates for the media company.
Revenue fell 30 percent to $13.9 million from $20.1 million primarily due to the "timing of delivery and/or availability of films and television programs," the company said in a statement.
Kushner-Locke owns 80 percent of 1-800-U.S.SEARCH, which includes a Web site that provides a fee-based people-search service and other customized reference services. A very visible advertising campaign on syndicated television shows like "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy," and on several of the biggest online search engines, has played a large part in boosting the site's profile over the last year.
The campaign has also been expensive. The company took $3.1 million in net losses in the fourth quarter from U.S. Search alone.
The shares (KLOC) KLOC, -90.00% slipped 13/16, or 10 percent, to 7 3/16.
Kushner-Locke stock soared last month on the possibility that the company might spin off Search to the public. In a frenzied Internet market, the IPO proceeds could be enormous. See related story.


Catherine Grace Coughter Jackson, died on January 20, 2019 at her home in Longmeadow of natural causes. She was born in Springfield on January 17, 1921, a daughter of Peter R. and Grace Byrne Coughter. She grew up in Springfield and seasonally in her beloved Berkshire Mountain towns of Pittsfield, Lenox, and Lee. She was a graduate of Technical High School, and in retirement, attended college classes at the Learning in Later Life Program of Springfield College. As a young woman she worked in the offices of several Springfield industrial businesses including Pittsburg Plate Glass. For twenty-five years, she supervised and conducted the majority of banking activities of the Postal Workers Credit Union, which was to become The Pioneer Valley Credit Union. In 1958 she married Willard Dewhurst Jackson. They made their home in Springfield until his death in 1993. Every summer she visited Maine where she enjoyed the sea in the company of her sister, Jane Marie Coughter Corcoran. Mrs. Jackson was an active volunteer throughout her life. She served as a Gray Lady of the American Red Cross, visiting injured and disabled soldiers during and immediately after WWII, and later was a Hospice volunteer during the AIDS crisis of the 1980’s. A great lover of animals and beautiful places, she served at the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Laughing Brook Sanctuary. A niece Christine C. Cantwell of Portland, ME and nephew Peter Blaze Corcoran of Sanibel Island, FL survive her, as do two stepsons, Richard E. Jackson and his wife Judy of Naples, FL, and Stephen J. Jackson of Los Angeles, CA, two grandchildren, Christine von Nickel and Stephen R. Jackson, two great-grandchildren, and several great nieces and nephews. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on February 9, 2019 at 11:30 a.m. at St. Michael’s Church, 128 Maple Street, East Longmeadow. Burial will take place at St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Pittsfield at a later date.
"Though I never had the pleasure of meeting her in person, I feel as though I know her through the love of her step-son,..."


Read the first two chapters of Greg Bear's next Halo novel right now!
Greg Bear returns to the Halo universe with Primordium, out next week. But you don't have to wait until then to start delving into Bear's second installment in the Forerunner Saga. Tor.com has the first chapter of Primordium, and the second chapter is live over at Halo Waypoint.
A long time ago, I was a living, breathing human being. I went mad. I served my enemies. They became my only friends.
Since then, I've traveled back and forth across this galaxy, and out to the spaces between galaxies-a greater reach than any human before me.
You have asked me to tell you about that time. Since you are the true Reclaimers, I must obey. Are you recording? Good. Because my memory is failing rapidly. I doubt I'll be able to ﬁnish the story.
Once, on my birth-world, a world I knew as Erde-Tyrene, and which now is called Earth, my name was Chakas. . . .
Keep reading over at Tor.com and Halo Waypoint.


People in Hamilton claim the man sits in parking lots in his car, grabs binoculars, and stares at women for hours.
HAMILTON, OH (FOX19) – Though some Hamilton residents have said they've had enough with a man who sometimes follows young girls in the area, police say there is nothing they can do because the person has not committed a crime.
FOX19 is not using the person's name or showing their face, as that person has not been arrested.
People in Hamilton claim the man sits in parking lots in his car, grabs binoculars, and stares at women for hours. On Facebook, people have become so concerned that they've created a poster called "Creeper Alert."
Women have posted about their encounters and talked about being followed or watched.
Jeff Mobley says his daughter was followed. He took matters into his own hands, confronted the man, and told him to stop.
"He followed my daughter from Planet Fitness to home," Mobley said.
Mobley recorded his encounter with the man, who denied the allegations. The man told Mobley he lived in the same apartment complex as his daughter and was not following her.
Mobley said he also witnessed the man using binoculars.
"Listen, I'm not here to debate this with you," Mobley said in his confrontation with the man. "Stop following girls. What you are doing is wrong."
Jeff recorded his encounter with the man who denies the allegations. He told Jeff it's because he lives in the same apartment complex and he wasn't following her. Jeff said he also saw the man with binoculars staring at girls. He had enough and confronted him.
Hamilton police have also questioned the man regarding these allegations.
Again, no arrests have been made and no charges have been filed.