It's the secret to saving a marriage

I'VE discovered that the date, an ancient ritual involving two well-dressed people going out together for romantic purposes, is the Holy Grail for married couples with children. For those of you who have not yet experienced marriage and parenthood, let me explain. Marriage is about love and togetherness and all the other stuff they obsess about on the Disney Channel. But in real life, marriage is about compromise. Sometimes you get to do what you really enjoy.

And sometimes you get to do, um, other stuff. Right now some single person is saying, "Oh my God, his wife is going to kill him for writing that!" Married people? They're simply smiling, nodding and saying "Amen." How do I know? Because single people, bless their hearts, are still getting their way. The special person in their life isn't requiring compromise. Once the wedding happens, though, the mask will come off. Not necessarily because that new spouse is evil - well, sometimes it's because they're evil. But mostly, it's because genuine relationships require give and turquoise beads.

Maybe you liked to sleep on the right side of the bed, but now that you're married, you've discovered that your spouse likes that side, too. No biggie. You switch sides because you love them. About a month in, you discover another major difference: Your spouse is a morning person, while you are a night owl. Again, no problem. You're both willing to quiet down during your most productive hours because, well, your spouse is your Snookums, and you love them just that much.

Inside that first year, you discover that one of you is a little more, um, frisky than the other. One of you compromises, and that, boys and girls, is how children are born. Fast-forward five years. The two of you have been tired since the day your first child arrived. Now you've got several of the little buggers. Your sleep pattern is wrecked, you're grouchy more often than not, and for half a decade you've been compromising not only for your spouse, but also for the children. This, boys and girls, is how divorces are born. How do you avoid that fate? You go on dates. Lots of them. Because dates help you remember why you were willing to compromise in the first place. They remind you of what made you love Snookums enough to sign papers.

They help you to hold on to your sanity. So why do married couples neglect their duty to date? I can answer that in one word: kids. A few years ago, when Eve was old enough to realize what LaVeta and I were about to do when we dressed up in the evening, she began trying to sabotage our dates. It's not that she didn't want us to go anywhere. She didn't want us to go anywhere without her. The first time Eve faked a sniffle LaVeta fell for it hook, line and sinker, because LaVeta's a mom, and moms cancel dates for sick kids. The second time, we went out anyway, because I was able to convince LaVeta that Eve would be OK. By the third time, even Little Solomon was starting to become part of the scheme. We saw the pattern, and that's when we knew.

We could no longer give our kids advance warning about our dates. In a fit of desperation, I began to date my wife like I was Austin Powers - a poor man's parody of Bond . . . James Bond. I'd send her secret text messages: "Do I make you randy baby? Yeah, baby, yeah!" I'd swear restaurant personnel to secrecy: "No one must know we have reservations here tonight. Our children might find out! The big one's Dr. Evil, and the little one? He's Mini-Me." I was so convinced that secret-agent dating was the way to go that I'd pick up LaVeta wearing a bob haircut, a Nehru jacket and China beads, praying all the while that the kids wouldn't recognize me and start that infernal sniffling. OK, maybe I didn't wear the bob haircut - primarily because I don't have hair.

But make no mistake: I would've done it if it meant going out on a date with my Snookums. Unfortunately, I became less careful over the years. I fooled myself into believing that our children had accepted our need to date. This Saturday, while preparing to go to a high-school class reunion barbecue, I learned that that wasn't the case. "Haven't you gone on enough dates?" Little Solomon asked when we told him of our plans. He was alluding to the four days I recently spent with LaVeta while he and Eve stayed with relatives.

It was kind of uplifting and it supported what a friend was telling me about her own children’s expensive Catholic education, and their sense of being let down by leaders who have loudly professed their Christianity but make no effort to hold up its principles.

So expensive Catholic education is not just about social connections, a good university degree and a fancy car by the time you are 30. Principles manage to seep through. Hooray. Maybe the young will save the world after all.

Why is it left to a few high school students to shine a torch at wholly unchristian behaviour by adults who wear their religion like some kind of exclusive fashion garment that screams look at me look at me, god is my best mate.

I pick on Christianity because it is what I am familiar with. Having been educated by nuns at a time when only Catholics went to heaven, I still kind of expect that Jesus would demand a lot from the believers. At least you’d expect him to insist on some understanding of his teachings before he opened those exclusive gates to the likes of Abbott etc....

But it seems Christians of the Catholic sort are too busy doing other things to give much time to the moral compass. And other Christians are not much better. Everyone is just so busy these days.

It’s not that I have an enormous amount of love for disadvantaged humankind - I haven’t practised formal religion for 40 years so I don’t have to love anybody - I just want keepers of the moral high ground to do their job.

If you want to prostitute yourself for money and power that’s okay, but at least take off the religious habit and the rosary beads otherwise you look as wrong as a nun doing a bit of prostitution at the back of the pub in full religious clobber.

I hate god botherers who have no idea how hypocritical they are...the person that spews hate at all sorts of people, especially the usual targets - gays, Muslims, boat people etc - then puts on a beatific face to attend a church service or to tell you about the wonders of Jesus.

Read the full products at http://www.bestjewelrybeads.com/!

Jaguar’s F-type offers a sensational ride

It’s not such a bad thing that Jaguar’s newest offering comes with a sturdy grab handle, conveniently located on the passenger side of the centre console.

That it’s jovially referred to as a suicide handle is not something my passenger found quite so amusing, despite my best effort at a calming discussion about how the F-type sports car’s technology is so good it’s virtually impossible to unseat the beast, even while proceeding very, very quickly round some rather tight tree-lined bends.It’s not that I aim to terrorise passengers, although my mother would argue the contrary.

But decisions have to be weighed, and choices made. And when you’ve been given carriage of the iconic brand’s first sports car since the E-type, when the sun is shining, the wattle is in bloom and the roads are that stellar blend of isolated and curly, sometimes you have to sacrifice the passenger. Not literally, obviously – mine made it out alive, albeit extracting herself from the rather low-slung but surprisingly comfortable seat declaring: “I think I can actually see beads of sweat on my palms.”

The F-type has taken Jaguar four years to develop and is unlike anything you’d expect. Wide and short, the profile is sleek and agate beads, without any echo of other sports cars you see on the road. It takes a while to get used to the styling, but as much as I cringe at the suggestion, it’s a car a woman could drive without looking like a terrifying alpha-female.

The V8 model sits in roughly the same bucket as the Porsche 911 Carrera, the Audi R8 or the Aston Martin Vantage, and will set you back a little over $200,000. Its base (Jag say “foundation”) V6 model starts around the $138,000 mark, but the middle sibling, the V6S, is what I used to freak out my passenger on that sunny autumn day.The lighter V6 engine means weight is better distributed and gives a more even handling experience. All have whip-quick steering, and I didn’t mind the extra weight of the F-Types compared with others in the market.

Yes it’s a 3.0 litre engine against the V8’s 5.0 litre, and yes it’s “only” got 280 nags, while the big brother has 364 kilowatts, but when it gets down to it, the V6S gives a great ride in the city and importantly sounds almost as good.Hit the gas, push the tacho towards red and bask momentarily in the supercharged squeal of the engine. It makes you smile in the same way reaching the highest point on the rollercoaster does: adrenaline, satisfaction and expectation of even better things to come.

Ease your foot off the throttle and the engine noise detonates.Without being dramatic, do this somewhere like Sydney’s Lane Cove tunnel and there is no better feeling. I’m pretty sure I squealed. As did the driver in the Aston Martin sitting on my tail. And yes, it gave me a bout of “I’m actually surprised to be saying it but I like my car better than your car” smugness.

Jaguar uses a system which cuts fuel to three of the six cylinders in its S series engines as revs drop, then drip-feeding in petrol to generate hundreds of mini-explosions as the fuel and Beads factory.It’s probably the thing I like best about the F-type, but there are other features which kept me equally amused. Let’s not forget the air-conditioning vents that remain hidden in the dash to ensure more of the “cockpit” feel, rising like submarines only when you need air.

While it could be considered mere folly, the door handles are designed to sit flush so as not to ruin the car’s profile. Coincidentally, the system doubles as a deterrent for anyone thinking about carjacking.To that end, the boot has an illuminated internal toggle which releases the boot latch on the off-chance you, or one of the kids, gets stuck inside.I openly doubted how much use it would be, given a grown adult would probably have to be dismembered to fit in the “compact” luggage hold.

You read somewhere on your reading-machine that years ago Brian De Palma made a movie, Passion. Every muckety-muck at some film festival jeered it, and the movie vanished, and now, a lifetime later, it's been rediscovered, released at last, reappraised and roundly toasted and available for you to enjoy on your laptop or flatscreen or your reading machine, which nobody uses to read anymore.

Here's an early expression of concern that what we mostly see in our lives are screens, often screens showing screens, except for those moments when we're staring into cameras—you know, during sex. Here's paranoid sex-video stealing. Here's once outré bedroom gear—Eyes Wide Shut masks, a red-licorice strap-on, a string of anal beads as chromed and wide as trailer hitches—in a film that's less sexually explicit than most cable TV shows.

 Here's a familiar, bravura split-screen sequence recalling Dressed to Kill in its pairing of high art (this time ballet) and kinky stalking, but this time the effect seems less a new way of seeing than an acknowledgement of how we see already: With your web browser open, and the movie itself only taking up half of your device's display, your screen is already split. De Palma trisects it.

Here's '90s Cinemax After Dark's idea of lesbianism, and some sexy saxophone pillow music (from Pino Donaggio) that sounds like the tears of a Nagel print. Here are sumptuously lit corridors and staircases of the sort that are forever turning up in thrillers that aspire to the psychological (and Mel Brooks's High Anxiety), the kind where the architecture is meant to suggest a disoriented mind. And here at last—a little later than would be ideal—is a '70s De Palma murder, and then the wee brunette with the dry-crackle voice sinks into a drugged-out, wrongly accused plot recalling that Steven Soderbergh thing you saw on TCM last week, Side Effects, the one that ground that other girl with the dragon tattoo through something like the same pharmaceutical Hitchcockisms.

Read the full products at http://www.bestjewelrybeads.com/!

Banknado!

The Bible says that God spoke to Job from a whirlwind, asking him rhetorically if he could catch the giant sea creature Leviathan with only a fishing hook. "Can you make a pet of him like a bird," Job was asked, "or put him on a leash for your children?"The United States faces a task of roughly the same magnitude, that of taming this country's mega-banks. They're the sea monsters of the economy, waiting to lure entire nations into the depths, and regulators don't have much more to work with than a fishing hook.

Dodd/Frank's moderate prescriptions are being eviscerated by hack Republicans who've been bought off lock, stock, and barrel by the bankers. Other urgently-needed reforms are dismissed by leaders in both parties as "politically impossible": A restoration of Glass/Steagall. A financial transaction tax. Breaking up the too-big-to-fail banks.Politically impossible? They're popular with voters across the political spectrum. Why aren't they already the law of the land?

Here's why: Republicans are in Wall Street's hip pocket. As for the White House, this is from Ezra Klein's coverage of Lawrence Summers' candidacy for Federal Reserve chair: "the White House ... (is) getting feedback from fans of Summers, who are ... very present in the ranks of economic and Wall Street heavyweights who've worked or fundraised at high levels in Democratic administrations."The "banknado" metaphor may seem too flippant, too informal, given the gravity of the problem. But banker fraud's been described in dispassionate detail again and again. There have been countless expressions of fully-justified outrage at the amorality and immorality of Wall Street CEOs and their Washington enablers.

Nothing's changed. The evidence is overwhelming, the case is clear, but business goes on as usual.How many times can Wall Street's fraud be clinically described, its effects on the economy laid out on the table like an autopsy? How many times can practical solutions be proposed, only to be dismissed by bought-off politicians? How many times can bankers like Jamie Dimon be called out for crimes committed under their leadership, only to see them lionized once again in Washington and the mainstream media?

What is there to say that hasn't been said? Outrage marginalizes the outraged, giving policymakers one more excuse to dismiss their warnings and prescriptions.Online shopping for Business Work Card holder from a great selection of Office Products. It can also trigger a level of reader rage toward bankers that is sometimes disturbing.The goal is to change a broken system, not to trigger vengeful emotions toward individuals. Miscreant bank executives are simply responding to the incentives society has given them. Yes, they're behaving venally -- but as the fable of the scorpion and the frog says: It's their nature. Perhaps they would be better citizens and better human beings if we didn't reward them so handsomely for being so much less than that.with Wholesale Cheap Custom Keychain and promotional key tags.

And so Wall Street moves on, a whirlwind of razor teeth and predatory instinct. Bankers commit fraud, settle for billions paid with other people's money, then commit the very same crimes again. Why not? Their financial incentives encourage it.And who's stopping them? The writers and activists who catalog their crimes are marginalized as radicals, scolds, and bores. The ones who strike a "moderate" tone help perpetuate a climate in which their behavior continues unchecked.

If Wall Street's not reined in, it's only a matter of time before there's another crisis. What the government describes as a "recovery" is fragile at best, and includes ongoing depression for millions of people. There could be another banker-driven financial crisis at any moment.Our leaders stand motionless, one hand covering their eyes and the other outstretched for cash. Too many financial journalists are hypnotized by the charismatic glow of great wealth and power. Meanwhile the sky's growing darker -- and the forecast calls for sharks.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Americas largest and most powerful Muslim advocacy group, called Saturday for the Obama administration to condemn military attacks against the Freedom and Justice Party, the controversial religious party removed from power in a recent coup that the Obama administration is insisting was not a coup.

The administration reportedly fears that declaring a coup detat in Egypt would force the U.S. to suspend all of its assistance programs in the country,Soft Winbo Key Cover decorates your key in fashionable ways. which also help block weapons smuggling to Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

Despite the Obama administrations inaction, Egyptian military forces have instituted a shoot-to-kill policy to suppress protesters urging the return of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Morsi to power. Morsi, who fled Cairo during the military non-coup earlier this month, has been defiant in exile and Egypt hangs in the balance. 65 or 66 pro-Morsi protesters were killed Saturday by military forces near a sit-in at a Cairo mosque.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nations largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, today called on the Obama administration to forcefully condemn the killing of dozens of pro-democracy demonstrators by Egyptian security forces, according to a statement released by the group Saturday.

We join with those in Egypt and in the international community who are condemning the violence, including Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayyeb, who said he deplores and condemns the deaths of a number of martyrs who were victims of todays events, CAIR stated.

Condemnations came from across the political spectrum, including from Mohamed ElBaradei, who strongly condemned the excessive use of force. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said: I call on the Egyptian authorities to respect the right of peaceful protest, to cease the use of violence against protesters, including live fire, and to hold to account those responsible, CAIR stated.

Without a clear condemnation of the killings, we send the message that even more repressive measures may be taken against the demonstrators. The clearest indicator of our nations revulsion at the killings would be to suspend all American military aid until the violence stops and democratic freedoms are restored, CAIR stated.
Read the full products at http://www.winbogifts.com/products/ear-cap.html. Read the full products at http://www.winbogifts.com/products/usb-flash-drive.html.

For the love of music

When Janet Standeford was 7 years old, she would press her ear to her familys quiet radio, listen, and sing. She sang as a child, and learned to play accordion.Years later I picked up a guitar and its been an uphill battle since, she said with a laugh. I fell in love with the guitar. Now I hope to learn the electric guitar.

Though she usually plays 12-string acoustic guitar, she took advantage of the auction at the Blues at the Brewery music festival, and bought a six-string Gibson for $80.Standeford, who currently lives in Baker City but is in Klamath Falls working at Experience Works, decided to come to the Klamath Blues Societys annual event for the first time Saturday.

The festival has been at Veterans Memorial Park in past years, but this year moved to a more rural setting at Mia and Pias brewery between Klamath Falls and Merrill. Organizer Phyllis Faries said the new location worked well, with summer breezes wafting through in the afternoon.Online shopping for Business Work Card holder from a great selection of Office Products. The only challenge was shade. Canopies shaded people while they sat, but if they wanted to dance they had to do so in the sun.

Faries called the Blues at the Brewerys music lineup fantastic.Local band Nephilim started off the festival, followed by Central Point band Mercy. In between that set and the next, Jasmine Zangari, the Klamath Union High School grad receiving the blues societys scholarship this year, played a mash-up of Purple Haze and Sonata in E Minor by Bernhard Romberg on her cello. Last was the headliner, Cee Cee James and her band.

Faries compared James belting voice to Janice Joplin. The band performed at the Klamath blues festival in 2009. After placing in the semifinals of the International Blues Challenge in Nashville, James toured Europe and lived in Tennessee. She now lives in Grants Pass.Those who came to the festival came for the love of music, and the love of blues.I love blues, always loved the blues, said Pamela Thompson, of Klamath Falls. The beat. The rhythm. It makes you want to get up and move.

Fantastic bands, added Loren King, of Klamath Falls.For $9 you cant beat it, chimed in Van Johnson, of Malin.Music adds a lot of happiness, said Zangari, the KU grad who received the blues society scholarship. She will be going to Western Oregon University to study nursing.with Wholesale Cheap Custom Keychain and promotional key tags. Playing on cello, or singing, itll lift your mood no matter what age you are. Why do people listen to music? It makes them feel better.

A year later, more questions than answers remain. But the police investigation is closed, and aspects of Hughes' and Jackson's deaths will probably always be unfathomable, especially to those who knew and loved the young men.This much is known: A former classmate from Patrick Henry High School in Minneapolis dropped Jackson and Hughes off on an empty Summit-University street. He later said that he saw the handle of a gun in Jackson's waistband and heard a "pow" as he drove away. Police found Police believe Jackson killed Hughes. Jackson had untreated schizophrenia, "which most likely played a significant role" in what happened, said Sgt. Paul Dunnom, the lead investigator. "However, since he is dead, we will never know the answer to that question."

Jackson's family says they don't know what happened to Hughes. They were desperate to get help for Jackson, who was 22 when he died, and they think more treatment should be available to the mentally ill."He wouldn't take his medicine," Frances Jackson said. "I used to say, 'Let's break it up and put it in his orange juice,' " but they didn't because they didn't want to deceive him. Police found a 9mm handgun under Jackson's leg. A forensic scientist at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's laboratory determined that it was the one used to fire the bullets found in Jackson's and Hughes' bodies and the spent casings recovered on Fuller Avenue and Charles Street, a police report said.

DNA from several surfaces of the gun, including the trigger and muzzle, matched Jackson's. Neither Hughes' nor Ondieki's DNA was on the gun, a police report said. The gun, with an altered serial number, had not been reported stolen, a report said.One friend told police he'd "never seen Jackson with a gun and added 'nobody would give him a gun' and referred to Jackson's mental health," a police report said.

Dunnom said the gun's last legal owner was unknown; where and how Jackson got the gun wasn't the focus of Dunnom's investigation.Soft Winbo Key Cover decorates your key in fashionable ways. A check of a law enforcement database didn't match it to any other crimes, Dunnom said.Jackson's mother told police that her son's friends said the gun was given to her son and/or Hughes by a friend; she didn't know why, a report said.It wasn't the first time a gun had figured into Jackson's and Hughes' lives.

They were charged as teens in 2007 with having a gun in a Minneapolis park. Hughes said he'd bought it for $100 for protection, and Jackson asked to see it and put it in his own backpack, according to juvenile petitions.
Read the full products at http://www.winbogifts.com/products/silicone-bracelet.html.

Virus Causes Massive Shutdown

The entire computer network of a Cook County department was shut down for nearly two weeks last month after a virus infected the system, NBC5 Investigates and The Better Government Association have learned.The Cook County Department of Highway and Transportation is responsible for maintaining hundreds of miles of local highways. But it was the Information Superhighway which proved to be the departments recent undoing: NBC5 and the BGA have learned that someone C possibly a county employee surfing the Internet or using a flash drive from home C allowed a virus to enter the departments servers at its downtown offices in Chicago at 69 West Washington St. The virus quickly spread to all of the departments computers C both downtown and at remote sites -- renaming files and hiding legitimate work content.

Lafosse says it would be prohibitively expensive to track down where this particular virus started, or who might be to blame. However,Online shopping for Business Work Card holder from a great selection of Office Products. this episode has prompted county officials to discuss whether they should block outside portable drives, like USB and thumb drives, and improve monitoring and filters to prevent future problems, according to Kristen Mack, a spokeswoman for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, whose domain includes about 12,000 computers countywide C including those at the highway department.

But that may not be enough, according to technology security expert Carl Volkman. The Cook County virus was likely something called a drive-by virus C malware that anyone can get even when visiting a well-established website that seems totally safe, like a news site or a travel webpage.Drive-by is basically where the infection can come down without you actively clicking on something potentially harmful, Volkman says. You can get infected without doing anything proactive.

Its very weird to see how dependent we are on technology on a day-to-day basis, Lafosse said about the county virus. And to have that ripped from you is a shock to the department.In fact, hurricane season officially already started nearly two months ago, on June 1. On Monday evening, Graffiti Community Ministries, a Baptist church on E. Seventh St., held a seminar to help locals learn the basic steps to take before disaster strikes. Also participating in the program were representatives of the Project Hope Crisis Counseling Program, a community support and networking group formed after Hurricane Irene, and Ready New York, a campaign of the citys Office of Emergency Management.

The evening began with a discussion group facilitated by three Project Hope counselors from Henry Street Settlement on the Lower East Side, with 10 people from the neighborhood, who were all affected by Hurricane Sandy. They shared stories about their experiences, swapped cleanup tales, and talked about how they feel now.I saw water go up to 9 feet, she recalled. We had to replace the boiler in our building and all the electricity. Fortunately, we run the building ourselves. We had to spend all our money in our checking account for repairs.

Even after the replacement of the buildings vital services, the recovery process continued for a long time. There was mold to contend with, along with the loss of telephone and Internet service.Project Hope counselors urged community members to voice their concerns about future potential storms.Im still anxious about the building, said Mandel. The boiler is still in the basement, and were still very vulnerable. We have a good bunch of people in the building, but the weather, its not great, she added, with a laugh.

Mary Ting, a neighbor in Mandels building, explained that it took 14 years for them to renovate the buildings interior.Were sweat equity, and in that way, were always accustomed to doing, she said. We were down with candles right away [during Sandy], and that made us ahead of a lot of other places that were waiting for help.

Fred Seiden, and E. Seventh St. resident who has lived on the Lower East Side for 45 years, saw the water last Oct. 29 and panicked. He raised family photos up as high as he could, thinking the water was going to run into his apartment. The boiler in the basement and the buildings electrical wiring were destroyed.

In addition,Soft Winbo Key Cover decorates your key in fashionable ways. he said, The front wall holding up the building collapsed, and we worried the first week the first floor was going to fall.Workers were able to prop up the floor and rebuilt the wall.The group discussed flood insurance. Anne Edris, who owns a community-based business on Avenue C, and used all her savings for repairs, said she has pulled together with her neighbors to build a buttress to help protect against future flooding,Winbo custom keychain plus deter rodent infestation. She said she also wants a generator.

Now that people know what to expect when a hurricane hits town, water, flashlights, and candles should be high on everyones list. However, participants at Monday nights session still had concerns about communication, and the group brainstormed about what should be done during similar types of emergency situations such as having the city post fliers to disseminate urgent information.I dont think the city communicated with us really well, said Edris.For example, after Sandy, Avenue C residents were not supposed to drink the water, even after boiling it. Rather, they were instructed to drink only bottled water. Yet, no one knew this at the time.

Three months later, the Department of Environmental Protection sent letters telling us, Dont drink the water, Edris said. She and other people had felt sick post-Sandy from drinking the water.Seiden, who made copies of family photos to mail to relatives prior to the storm, worried about the general publics mentality.I wonder if well slide just back in complacency, he said. Thats why Im here, in case it happens again.

The counselors discussed the physical, emotional and cognitive aspects of disasters, and how to reacclimate oneself to the community and re-establish a sense of normal life.Victoria Nilsson, a coordinator for New York City Civic Corps at the Office of Emergency Management, talked about the practicalities of disaster preparedness. She travels to all five boroughs to train people for emergencies, doing one session per day.Weve had a huge focus on areas affected by Sandy, she said.

The citys emergency plan, which covers creating a support network, packing a to-go bag and a stay-at-home kit, is not only for hurricanes. Nilsson noted there are plenty of hazards in the city besides flooding, such as blackouts, fires, gas leaks, utilities, lack of public transportation, cell phone towers down, earthquakes, tornados and terrorism.
Read the full products at http://www.winbogifts.com/products/usb-flash-drive.html.

A hidden fairy tale in Turkey

In Turkey (and abroad), Cappadocia is world-famous. Ask an average tourist about one of the most beautiful places in Turkey and his or her answer will most probably be Cappadocia. Ask a Turkish citizen the same question and he/she would probably again name Cappadocia as one of the most fascinating and mind-blowing places in Turkey. They are right. Cappadocia is fabulous and intriguing.

The history, the way it acquired such a beautiful landscape full of fairy chimneys, the mystery of the tunnels that lead to underground villages; I am still surprised that not one big Hollywood director has made a movie about it because this is, without exaggerating, a unique place.

However, in Turkey there are more places that resemble Cappadocia and those places are without visitors. Maybe Im exaggerating, but you hardly find anybody there, thats for sure. One of these places is Kuledocia, not very far away from ?zmir,Winbo silicone bracelets while the other place I know is near Afyon. Most probably there are more of these fascinating places, but I have not visited them yet. Nonetheless, all these places are definitely worth paying a visit.

This time I want to tell you something about Karak?y, a small village about 50 kilometers from Afyon. It is one of those typical, stereotypical Anatolian villages. In writing this, I actually have to acknowledge that there is not something like a stereotypical Anatolian village. They are all special, different and unique. What Im trying to say is that, while entering the village, this place does not give you any clue about the hidden treasure in its backyard; all you see are the familiar one- or two-story high buildings.

While the number of visitors who go to Cappadocia may exceed 1 million, here in Karak?y, the local people are happy when they receive 10 tourists in a week. It is obvious that tourists have not discovered this place yet. The people are poor, there are no souvenir shops that sell original handmade souvenirs from China and there are no restaurants. So why bother going to Karak?y then?

The answer is simple. It is a gorgeous place. When I get out of my car, I am directly surrounded by a couple of children. Where they came from I have no idea. The funny thing is that in a lot of places in Turkey, the first ones to approach you are children. They are curious where you have come from and want to share the information they have about their village. Do not get upset by those children clinging on to you like a magnet on a fridge; on the contrary, try to make connection with them. They often have a lot of things to tell and, in spite of their age, are sometimes perfect guides who gabble the information they have learned at school.

I arrived at the worst time of the day, as you can imagine, as I came at around noon when the sun is high in the sky, generally creating a nightmare for photographers. But I was curious and let myself be guided by the young enthusiastic boy who invited a couple of friends to come along as well. I first had to plow through a field of, well, I do not know. It had been planted, was something agricultural but I didnt have any clue what it might be. Then there was a steep wall to climb and no path or stairs to make climbing easier. This was the perfect spot for me. I like to think of myself as an explorer; something that is extremely difficult in the era we are living in. Many times though, I ended up in a situation where I did feel like I was the first European visitor to actually walk through that village there or visit this festival here. That is the nice thing about Turkey. There is so much to see and do, and tourists rarely visit most of those places.

After climbing the hill, a landscape opened up in front of my eyes. Not just a landscape; this was an absolutely mind-blowing landscape. As far as the eye could see, thousands of years of erosion had left an indelible mark on this landscape. The soil is, I guess, from the same material as in Cappadocia.Therefore rain, wind and snow had had a chance to mould it into this fairy-tale landscape. I wouldnt have been surprised if suddenly some trolls or an ogre appeared before my eyes. Here, everything is possible.


The best time to visit Karak?y is early in the morning or during sunset; at that time, the sun, with its warm orange colors, will create long, dramatic shadows on the hills and the fairy chimneys. But if you are not so lucky, as I was, to be there at the right time, you may still get some help from the gods. On the day I visited this fascinating place, there were some nice clouds drifting above the landscape. It gave me the depth and even sometimes the soft light that I wanted for my pictures.Looking at the fairy chimneys,Buy Silicone IPAD Case at wholesale prices from leading Chinese wholesalers, I noticed that I could see all different stages of the fairy chimneys.

Because almost no tourists come here, the natural erosion is continuing. There are no shoes or off-road vehicles that can damage the soft stone layers. Therefore, I saw besides the old and characteristic fairy chimneys a lot of baby fairy chimneys. You can see the whole evolution of how the stone surface slowly transformed into those beautiful statues that dominate the landscape for thousands and thousands of years. Impressive, unique and one of those must have seen things from Turkey.

The FBI seized Merrills hard drive from his CMU office, in addition to the hard drive that contained child pornography.Additionally, the U.S.Our top picks for the Winbo Iphone Headset and gear, attorney agreed Merrill assisted the authorities in his prosecution by notifying authorities in a timely manner that he intended to plead guilty.

When a warrant was issued on Nov. 5 to search Merrills Mount Pleasant home and office at CMU, items seized and disposed of included all computers, laptops, iPads, VHS tapes, CDs, DVDs, hard drives, phones, media storage drives, knives, handcuffs, USB flashdrives, iPods and prescription pills, according to court documents.

Merrill was charged Nov. 8 in Isabella County with a four-count felony, consisting of one count of possession of sexually abusive material, one count of distributing or promoting child sexually abusive activity and two counts of using a computer to commit a crime, according to court records.

The investigation began when CMUs information technology staff noticed a large amount of data being transmitted from a single computer on the network.After tracking the source of transmission, IT disconnected Merrills computer from the Internet in hopes that the user would contact IT for support, according to an affidavit. After further inspection of his computer, an IT worker discovered images and videos of child pornography.
Read the full products at http://www.winbogifts.com/products/pocket-mirror.html.

Walking on clouds in Turf Valley

An all-brick Colonial-style home nestled in the golf course setting of Turf Valley in Howard County sold at the end of May for close to the sellers' asking price of $915,000.Just 14 years old and sitting on almost a half-acre of impeccable landscaping, the 4,340-square-foot home in the subdivision of Turf Valley Vistas spent just five days on the market, according to listing agent Bob Lucido of the Bob Lucido Team of RE/MAX Advantage Realty. And while its location spoke for itself, Lucido notes that the main reason for the quick sale was the right price.

"The house was spotlessly clean better than a model home," Lucido said. "It was perfectly staged, [and] the sellers did not cut corners. They priced it right and made it look like the best house on the block. The people who bought it were so impressed."

Little wonder. With its two-story entrance hall and a winding staircase rising to the open second-floor hallway, the flowing interior is the essence of elegance. The interior features a formal living room, dining room with tray ceiling, office and den, state-of-the-art kitchen, five bedrooms, four full bathrooms and a powder room. Other amenities include hardwood flooring and three gas fireplaces. The exterior, with a deck, patio and flood lights, backs to trees.
Im kind of sick of having to do this, but once again, theres a scolding, anxiety-producing article about how young women these days are doing sex wrong (which of course means too much with too many guys, always,Full service promotional company specializing in Custom USB flash drives. always, always) out there, and of course, its producing a massive amount of discourse based on a fundamental premise that no one questions but is just straight up wrong. That presumption is that womens choices exist in a vacuum, and that the only real factor of any importance in their lives is their choices. I complained about this yesterday at XX Factor: Men are erased from trend stories about women, because the fact that women are often reacting to mens choices makes everyone all uncomfortable, so must be ignored. So, for instance, the womans decision to opt out or lean out is portrayed as just one in a lovely buffet of choices, simply the result of an inherent female lack of ambition. The possibility that its because her husband either made it clear through his actions or outright told her that she will be responsible for the majority of domestic chores is ignored, even though in most cases thats exactly what happened.

The home at 2712 Heaven Wood Court also features a sunroom and an in-law or au pair suite. Accent moldings and bay windows are found throughout. The kitchen showcases a center island with granite countertop, breakfast bar and butler's pantry, six-burner stove and wine storage. The recreation room includes a wet bar. The interior rooms also have chair railings, crown molding, drapery rods and custom drapes. The basement is fully finished with a rear entrance to the outdoors. Security includes an electric alarm system.

When city council changed the zoning bylaws this past March, so that single-family homes can be built on 25-foot-wide lots in older neighbourhoods, concerns were voiced by the public and by community leagues.Anyone struggling to imagine the esthetics and feasibility of building a comfortable family home on such a narrow spot should see the house Louis Pereira designed and had built in 2010.

For me: I want to use writing and comedy to express truths about the human condition and to live a life filled with joy, passion, kindness, abundance,Winbo Luggage Tags humor, honesty and love. That's my actual mission statement. That is what I want. So when someone pisses me off, when I am tempted to go down a K-hole of distraction, I can ask myself: Will this benefit what I actually want? Usually, no. That short-term reactivity often derails you from the bigger goal at hand.

The home, with its two-storey facade in glass, was inspired by a number of Louis favourite design philosophies, including urban activist Jane Jacobs creed of eyes on the street. The couple admits this means the home can sometimes feel a bit exposed, but Louis has prepared for that. Dark but translucent manual roller shades are built into discrete pockets above every floor-to-ceiling window and door, so the family can escape the sun or enjoy instant privacy with the flick of a wrist.

The living areas seating looks modern, but was designed by some of Louis favourite Modernist architects long ago. Two black leather and chrome Barcelona chairs (a style introduced at the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition) are placed parlour-style, opposite a French Corbusier-style couch. A large, one-armed Arco-style light from Henrys Purveyor of Fine Things on nearby 124th Street hangs above the intimate setting.The rooms high-efficiency, wood-burning fireplace surround is a wall of walnut-stained maple panelling, and provides a warm contrast to the minimalist look. With one touch, Louis reveals hidden cupboards that line the seamless-looking wall and provide copious storage, including a large cubby for firewood.

The galley-style kitchen was designed to Giselles specifications. A white and charcoal Thermafoil material was used on all door fronts, drawers and side panels in reflective, high-gloss finish. The material was also applied as backsplashes, a less-expensive alternative to glass.Molded Soft PVC coaster with your custom design and colors. The couple chose subtle white, quartz countertops rather than busy granite. The cabinets are white Ikea Akurum, and are one of many flexible, organizational units Louis has included in the home. They complement the black-and-white Bosch double-wall oven, and the neutral grey, plank-like laminate flooring, which, with its reflective quality, could pass for ceramic tile. The couple says that the appliances easy-care high-gloss surfaces require less maintenance to keep clean than did their previous fingerprint-catching stainless-steel models. Since the home has few partitions, Louis used dropped ceilings over both the living room and kitchen areas to create a feeling of intimacy. The heating system is conventional, high-efficient forced air, so ducts had to be furred into ceilings and even the back portion of cabinets to accommodate the homes narrow figure.

Other than the small rear and front courtyards, there is no yard. How close this puts the home to the street reflects Louis idea that a neighbourhood can be a shared living space.Throughout the home, natural lighting is provided by high, long, transom-style windows. On the main floor, a hallway leads to the mud room and attached double garage, which Louis jokes could hold four Smart cars. For now, the new location with work and the childrens school a 10-minute walk or short drive away has enabled the busy family to downsize to a one-car lifestyle.

Upstairs, the same narrow strip houses the central laundry room and leads to the well-insulated, multi-purpose living space above the garage.Louis doesnt believe in outgrowing a home. Everything, including the large, shared childrens play space and bedroom, is designed for flexibility. Curtains serve as walls in the childrens space, which is designed to morph into two rooms at a later date.

Another hallway leads to the ensuite and master bedroom, where a 180-degree view of the streetscape reveals mature trees swaying outside the windows on all sides.This home functions much better for the family than their previous raised bungalow, says Louis, who jokes that its design description, the LG house (derived from a combination of the couples first initials), also stands for lifes good.
Click on their website http://www.winbogifts.com/products/iphone-headset.html.

First Impressions

While Micromax always tries to focus on delivering upgraded specifications at economical price points, this time it has taken a different course. With the Canvas 4, the company's key focus areas are the build and construction of the device and a differentiated user experience. Here's what we think about the device after having spent some time with it.

Micromax A210 Canvas 4 has to be the best Android device from Micromax in terms of the fit and finish. While the device is not completely made of metal, it does sport an aluminium frame that gives it a premium finish. It also feels more solidly built compared to other phones made by Micromax. We got a hands on of the White colour variant of the phone, though a Grey variant is also available.

The front of the phone is dominated by a 5-inch IPS display panel that sports a resolution of 720x1280 pixels. We were expecting the phone to feature a 1080p display and were a bit disappointed. Having said that, we found the display to be pretty decent, similar to the one we've seen in the Micromax Canvas HD. Colours look vibrant and images and text rendered sharply. Viewing angles were also good. We also found the touch on the display to be more responsive than the Canvas HD and other phones in the Canvas series. Micromax claims that one can even operate the phone with gloves on, due to the increased sensitivity of the smart card.

Just below the display, there are capacitive touch keys for Menu, Home and Back navigation functions. The sensor array and the 5-megapixel front camera are located above the display just adjacent to the chrome grill earpiece. The edges of the phone are bevelled when they meet the aluminium frame.

The Power/ Screen lock key is located at the right hand side, towards the top, while the Volume rocker sits at the left hand side. Both these keys sport a metallic finish and offer good tactile feedback.

Interestingly, the Canvas 4's aluminium frame also features small bands at the left, and at the top and bottom edges, similar to the ones we've seen on the iPhone 5 and HTC One. As per the company the frame also acts as an antenna, just like it does in the iPhone.

Coming to the Canvas 4's software, we'd like to point out that it runs Android 4.2.1, the latest iteration of the operating system, with some of its own UI modifications on top. The first thing that we noticed while using the handset is that there was no visible lag, at least with the set of preinstalled applications.

The Canvas 4 also boasts of some extra bells and whistles including a 'blow to unlock' feature - yes, that's what it's called. You can just blow some air on the phone's screen to unlock it. Just like some of Samsung's latest Galaxy smartphones, the phone features a pop-up video player, that lets users watch a video while doing some other task on a floating window, auto-pause videos when you're not looking at the phone's screen, answer phone automatically when you bring it your ear, flip to silent and preview other videos in the gallery while playing one, among other features. It also brings some new camera tricks such as multi-dimension Panorama and a photo solid mode for increased precision.

Micromax has also pre-installed a security software called M! Security, offering back-up, anti-theft tracker, and anti-virus features. Other bundled apps include Fone Clay to download themes, Hike instant messenger, Opera Mini, Spuul to watch movies, Kingsoft office suite, and Micromax' music and app download services.

Overall, the phone delivers a good package, incorporating a balanced set of software and hardware features, though features like blow air to unlock, appear to be gimmicky. Those hoping for a significant upgrade over the Canvas HD in terms of specs would obviously be disappointed, but Micromax has tried to pack in other things.

Tony Blackman, 47, was driving a 1997 Volkwagon Gulf north on I-95 near exit 12 when police said he swerved twice. He was pulled over at exit 12. While checking his car’s license plate, police learned it didn’t match the car. Blackman told police he didn’t know why that was the case, according to police. The plate was registered to a 1993 Nissan Sentra. It’s unclear who owned that car. Blackman was not charged with stealing a license plate. He also didn’t have a valid insurance card, police said.

Police detected alcohol on Blackman, and said Blackman admitted to drinking a few alcoholic beverages at a Stamford party. Police also found a lemonade and vodka drink in the passenger side door, police said.

While searching the vehicle, police also found a green leafy substance that was later determined to be marijuana, police said. They also found cigars. While processing Blackman at headquarters, Blackman removed his shoe and a plastic bag with more pot fell out, police said.

The pot weighted under a half-ounce and constituted an infraction charge. He was also charged with operating under the influence, improper use of a turn/stop signal, failure to drive right, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance, failure to insure a motor vehicle, failure to register a motor vehicle, and improper registration.

As you may already know, Micromax is currently the largest Indian smartphone maker. Sales of its Canvas series of smartphones has recently hit a 1 million milestone. Little wonder then, this domestic brand is giving Samsung a run for its money in the budget segment. One of the important reasons behind the company’s success has been its aggressive pricing. For instance, the Micromax Canvas 2 A110 delivers almost all the features of Samsung's GALAXY Grand at half its price. However, with the Canvas 4, the company has decided to test waters in the mid-range mobile space. I got a chance to play around with the phone at it's launch event, and here are my initial impressions about the latest Micromax handset.

Read the full story at http://www.smartcardfactory.com/smart-card-IC-card_c504!

Tim Kennedy vs. Roger Gracie Dissection

The influx of Strikeforce fighters continues at Saturday's UFC 162: Silva vs. Weidman from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, as former Strikeforce middleweights Tim Kennedy vs. Roger Gracie will each set foot in the Octagon for the first time. The bout is one of five penciled in for the featured card, which is captained by Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman and begins at 10:00 p.m. ET on pay-per-view.

Middleweight, along with Lightweight, was always a pretty happenin' division for Strikeforce. As he did in just about every fight league in which he fought consistently, MMA legend Frank Shamrock battled his way to the promotion's middleweight championship, becoming Strikeforce's inaugural 185-pound titlist. The four champions that followed behind Shamrock -- Cung Le, Jake Shields, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza and Luke Rockhold -- are all currently on the UFC roster and ranked in the Top-Ten of their respective weight classes; save Cung Le, who's erratic availability lands him at #15 in the Middleweight Meta-Rankings.

During his eight-fight stint in Strikeforce, Army Special Forces sniper Tim Kennedy (15-4) only fell to champions "Jacare" and Rockhold in championship bouts. Factor in a loss via cut in his MMA debut to Scott Smith and a 2007 decision defeat to Jason Miller on a HDNet Fights RFID tag, along with wins over Miller (in their first meeting), #12-ranked welterweight Robbie Lawler and consummate killer Melvin Manhoef, and it becomes apparent that Kennedy is well deserving of a UFC shot.

As is Roger Gracie (6-1), perhaps based on family lineage alone. Beyond the resounding reputation of his last name, Roger is the mean hombre who's unanimously cited as the best grappler on the planet by MMA and grappling folks alike. Of course, the weight of high expectations has been at play, as Gracie has yet to enjoy a "gimme fight" in MMA, having started his full-contact fighting career against Pride FC vet Ron Waterman (16-6), former Pride/UFC fighter and multiple-time King of Pancakes Yuki Kondo (53-27), former Pride fighter and UFC heavyweight champ Kevin Randleman and cagey veteran Trevor Prangley (30-9).

Despite being past the peak of their careers, just facing that list of opposition right out of the gate would normally be received as respectable, and beating them all would be impressive. Yet Roger submitted all four, three in the 1st round, and the combat sports audience treated it with an affirming nod, as if indicating, "That's what he's supposed to do."

That outlook is both a deep compliment to what the Gracie family has done for martial arts and somewhat of a loftily unfair standard to hold an entirely inexperienced fighter to.

As with all grappling virtuosos crossing over to MMA, Roger's wrestling and striking were well behind the curve, but the advancement he's shown with his boxing, entries and takedowns have been highly encouraging. Those improvements seemed to actualize the most after his TKO loss to Muhammed Lawal in Strikeforce, as we see a sharper and more comfortable and confident Gracie dismantle Keith Jardine (decision) and Trevor Smith (submission) en route to another pair of wins.

Kennedy is the type of opponent who will exploit the questionable aspects of Gracie's game. Really, he's like Gracie in reverse: he's a no-nonsense wrestler with excellent top control and submission defense, and typically fights like the bully of the bunch. Even in his losses, Kennedy has always fought tooth-and-nail to the end and has been impossible to control or push around. His boxing, while far from A-level, is quite a serviceable and reliable asset. His striking is basic but effective; he does nothing flashy but has enough of a grasp of overall technique to hold his own on the feet.

Kennedy's striking is usually a set-up for his bull-dozing clinch game or to grease the rails for takedowns and top control. And Kennedy's top game is virtually overbearing: he manages to keep a frenetic pace, switching between technical guard passing and pinging down short punches and elbows, while smothering his foe continuously. Of course, even though he's never been submitted, Kennedy has never faced a submissionist of Roger's caliber and will likely alter his standard game-plan slightly to account for his unparalleled grappling prowess.

I imagine his intention will be to engage Gracie on the feet with smart but aggressive bursts of strikes while using in-and-out movement, and still pursue clinch control and takedowns, only with the catch that he'll be extra cautious about diving into his guard and exploding for positional advancements. Instead, I expect Kennedy to reap the rewards of landing takedowns but vigilantly maintain good posture and be prepared to eject immediately to prevent Gracie from latching on and building a rhythm.

Roger's stand up has come along nicely, especially for someone with seven career outings. His somewhat clumsy plodding, low hand position and awkward punches have developed into a more comfortable style, a decent stance and snapping out punches while retracting his hands right back to his chin. He's even vaulted for a flying knee and pieced together some solid two- and three-punch combinations, all of which are greatly enhanced by his tremendous length.

Realistically, however, his striking is a bit of a liability. The advantage of his frame is balanced out by his lacking quickness and speed, both in his feet and hands. When he's able to shrink the gap and lock up a clinch, his upper body throws and trips have been effective, but Kennedy's strength, athleticism and takedown defense will make it a challenge for Roger to even tie up with him, much less force him to the floor. And while Kennedy's not a gunslinger on the feet, his striking is much more proven and complete.

What seals the deal for me is Kennedy's intelligence and Fight I.Q. This is a very unfavorable match up for Roger and the fact that Kennedy, a Jackson/Winklejohn rep, will be aware of and prepared for the imbalance makes him a strong favorite in my eyes -- even stronger than the tight betting lines reflect. Regardless of how astronomical his Jiu-Jitsu is, Roger basically has one way to win this fight: close range, score a takedown, submit. I would never consider those achievements impossible, especially for the world's alpha-grappler, but I just don't see them as likely against such a hard-nosed wrestler with exceptional smarts and anti-Jiu-Jitsu skills.

Click on their website http://www.smartcardfactory.com/smart-card-IC-card_c504 for more information.

At $99, you get what you pay for

After a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign that raised $8.6 million, the Ouya video game console finally arrived in stores and supporters’ living rooms last week after some unexpected development delays. I was fortunate to receive and spend a few days with the indie-developed console.With all the hype and fanfare preceding it, the affordable $99 console has plenty of promises to fulfill.

The initial setup was simple with the supplied HDMI cable and power brick. However, installing the controller’s battery was a mystery. The minimalist instruction sheet provided no clue. And I barely remembered Ouya’s Kickstarter video demoing the console.

I was afraid of tugging hard on the controller’s panels. Its build quality and plastic felt flimsy. Eventually the gray faceplates, held down by strong magnets, popped off, revealing cleverly concealed battery compartments.

The pseudo-Xbox controller rested comfortably in my palms, but my index fingers laid awkwardly on the bumpers and IC card, which wiggled and rattled. In the center of the controller is an excessively sensitive touchpad.

As a student and observer of design, I was disappointed by Ouya’s ubiquitous 3-inch cube and generic game controller.  Especially because it was created by design savant Yves Behar, who I deeply admire for his uniquely modern vision of everyday objects (Bluetooth devices from Jawbone, SodaStream Source, the original Slingbox and the beautiful Herman Miller SAYL chair).

Ouya proposed an ambitious plan to disrupt the video game industry, but physically on my entertainment center, it underwhelms next to my Xbox 360, PS3 and yes, the Roku.But more important for any gaming console is its video game library, and here Ouya really falls short.

Powering up for the first time, Ouya requires your personal information, including a credit card number. Driven by Android, Ouya has its own enclosed ecosystem where users can download freemium products or demos. The console currently has a handful of familiar titles found on both Android and iOS (Organ Trail, Bard’s Tale, Shadowgun) and a few exclusives (A Bit of a Fist of Awesome, Monocole Man, No Brakes Valet and TowerFall).

The “Apps” section awaits better digital entertainment apps. Currently there’s no official support from premium services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Instant Video.

Ouya’s hardware specs can’t compete with the Xbox 360, PS3 or your newly bought smartphone. Its nVidia Tegra3 mobile processor is already a year old. I won’t hold my breath for AAA-titles, such as BioShock Infinite, Crysis 3, and Call of Duty: Black Ops II, ported from this generation of consoles to to Ouya.

Ouya seems to foster retro, pixel-style games. Essentially, the console draws your attention away from your mobile device to the television. Deep Dungeon of Doom plays and looks great on both Ouya and my iPhone, where I originally downloaded the game. Canabalt gets a big screen facelift while preserving its pixel-art style.  But unfortunately, A Bit of a Fist of Awesome, a beat-em-up side-scroller, looks and sounds horrible with its oversized, pixelated creatures and backgrounds through a 48” HDTV and sound bar.

A woman called police June 30 when she noticed her credit/debit card was stolen. She thought it happened June 25 at Marc’s and listed off the fraudulent charges to the bank. However, it was determined her husband did most of the transactions. She then thought her wallet was stolen because she keeps a card with her debit password with her debit card and there are suspected fraudulent ATM withdraws. She told officers she couldn’t remember the last time she used it.

The car was spotted doing 30 mph in a 45 mph. When the officer attempted to pull the car over, the car began to swerve before pulling into the Timber Lodge parking lot. When the officer approached he smelled a strong odor of alcohol coming from the vehicle.

The driver, who said he and his wife were coming from a wedding, struggled to find his license. His eyes were bloodshot and glassy. He nearly fell over while completing sobriety tests and was placed under arrest for operating a vehicle under the influence. He registered a blood alcohol level of .21 percent. His wife had vodka in a silver bottle in the car and was cited for possession of an open container.

A woman said she was going to her mother’s barn and was not coming back June 22. Tenants took this to mean she was going to harm herself. The officer arrived and found a pill bottle with a plastic bag inside. The woman said someone stole her pills. Inside the bag there were 20 Percocet, which were seized as evidence. The woman was given a ride her mother’s house by a friend. The investigation is still pending. No charges at this time.

Click on their website www.smartcardfactory.com for more information.

There's More!

Tustin Ranch’s Ron Cummings, on camera in the studio of Sydney’s TVSN channel, is momentarily taken aback. “I’ve called to perv on Ron a bit,” the caller had just said in her thick Australian accent. Perv? It isn’t until later that someone explains to the skin-care entrepreneur that in Aussie slang, it’s a verb that means, “I think you’re hot.”

That itself isn’t so disconcerting, because, after all, Cummings is in the business of looking good. In his early 50s, he’s got the trim, athletic build that suits business casual attire, plus a lush mane of graying hair and a smile that gleams like fine china. But those details just enhance Cummings’ calling card—his skin—which looks almost preternaturally smooth and supple, even in a low-budget YouTube video. He’s a walking advertisement for the restorative powers of the products he pitches, especially as a guy who’s overcome the ravages of adult chickenpox.

But while Cummings enjoys the compliment, he prefers to keep the friendly caller chitchat to a minimum. This is a business where you get a few minutes of free TV time to reach millions of potential customers, in exchange for providing thousands of units of your product for the network to sell directly to viewers. All that matters is how often the phones ring, and how many units you move. That number is displayed on a studio monitor so that on-air pitchmeisters such as Cummings can see in real time how well (or badly) they’re doing.

“You’ll say something, and you’ll see the sales spike, and the producer will be saying in your ear, ‘Do that again!’ ” he says. And making the connection with viewers sometimes means wrestling the conversation away from a host who likes to control it, or a caller who just wants to talk. “You live and die by your sales per minute,” he says. “Nobody knows for sure how you’re going to do until you get out there. ... Sometimes, God bless ’em, they’ll ramble on and on. You can’t rudely interrupt them, but you realize that’s precious time going by.”

In no trade is the equation of time and money more apparent than for a TV pitchman such as  Cummings. His company, Newport Beach-based AminoGenesis Skin Care, has sold $30 million worth of products in the last two years during short, intense sales pitches on home shopping networks. He’s flown across the Pacific just to spend a few minutes selling one of his amino acid-laden rejuvenating preparations to an audience of presumably ruddy-complected, outdoorsy Aussie Shielas, hoping like hell they’ll call. The director talks into Cummings’ earpiece, pushing him through his gig while both keep an eye on that monitor’s second-by-second tab of units sold.

Cummings, who can make—or not make—tens of thousands of dollars in the time it takes most of us to find the remote control, is a man in the fast lane. When he founded his company 14 years ago, he was an ordinary Joe with an engaging smile who used his garage as a warehouse and peddled jars of cream from a cart in front of the Robinsons-May department store at Fashion Island, dreaming of being big enough to earn a spot at the cosmetics counter inside.

Millions of dollars later, Cummings has bigger ambitions. For the past several years, he personally has sold his wares on domestic channels such as QVC, the Home Shopping Network (HSN), and ShopNBC, and now is branching out into the global marketplace, from Turkey to Taiwan. In some countries, Cummings hires salespeople who speak the native language and trains them to mimic his carefully choreographed presentation, which he’s perfected down to the precise moment that they demonstrate the product. “It’s like a play,” he says. “They have to memorize exactly how it’s done.”

It’s an entrepreneur’s dream, he says. “Instead of hoping a salesperson at a store will know enough to tell your story to one customer, you’re able to go on yourself and tell your story to millions of people at once. ” But that high-stakes gamble also can be a potential nightmare of on-air glitches, inappropriate ad libs, and real-time callers with uncertain agendas.

Here’s how it works: A network typically invites someone such as Cummings to appear. The pitchman doesn’t pay the network for the airtime, but he does have to ship a large order of his product to its warehouse. Then he appears on camera to hawk his merchandise. If viewers like him and his product, they call and order it from the network, which then pays the company and keeps a cut for itself. Cummings only gets paid for the jars of skin cream sold; the rest are sent back to him, and he eats the shipping costs.

He went home demoralized, thinking that he’d blown his shot at the big time and knowing the network would return tens of thousands of dollars in unsold inventory. But he’d managed to move just enough units that the network execs gave him another try. Two months later, he went on at 3 a.m. for a six-minute stint. His numbers still weren’t good. “It seemed like the end of the road,” he recalls.

That’s why Cummings was startled to get a call from a product scout at HSN who saw potential in his early-morning debacle. The scout’s network wasn’t quite as stingy with its on-air time as QVC, and he figured that Cummings’ personable style—the one he’d developed working the kiosk at Fashion Island—might come across better in the network’s format. A few months later, Cummings again found himself in a green room nervously awaiting his 6 a.m. appearance. The 12 minutes went by in a blur, but when he returned to the green room, network executives hurried over to congratulate him. He’d sold $48,000 worth of skin cream, about $4,000 worth per minute—33 percent above target. The network put him before the camera repeatedly over the next two days, and on the plane home, a new reality began to sink in. He’d just sold $250,000 worth of products, and the network wanted him back in a couple of months.

But as Cummings quickly learned, TV pitchmen have precious little job security. Have one subpar outing, and you start hearing whispers that your numbers need to rise. There’s no malice to it. “When a person gets canceled, it can be a real downer for everyone involved,” he says. In the end, what matters is whether the public likes you. “You can be like a TV show that everyone [at the network] likes, but still gets canceled.”

Indeed, Cummings later had an HSN outing in which his sales inexplicably plummeted, and he found himself on the outside looking in. Fortunately, buyers at ShopNBC got wind that he’d just developed a new product, a wrinkle reducer called Gone in 60 Seconds. “By some strange bit of karma, I was getting yet another chance,” he says. This time he nailed it. Gone in 60 Seconds became one of the biggest-selling skin-care products in the network’s history.



Click on their website www.smartcardfactory.com for more information.

Mobile technology gains ground as settlement option

When a large corporate embarks on a mission to enhance visibility of cash, it does so with a view to freeing working capital and allowing for better cashflow forecasting. One way to achieve better cash visibility, as well as cutting down on operational cost, is to move payments from cash and cheques to electronic means.

Regardless of location, paper-based processing of payments and receivables is more expensive than electronic alternatives and puts the corporate at greater risk of fraud. One common solution that transaction banks will propose is the implementation of internet-based portals through which suppliers and customers can, respectively, submit invoices and initiate payment (through automated clearing house transfers, for instance). Yet, technological innovation is rapidly adding alternatives to these portals.

In many Asian markets, suppliers and distributors of a large corporate may not be inclined to register and utilize these portals, due to unreliable access to broadband internet or, for some, the lack of a bank account. Providing these business partners with alternative methods of digital payments becomes critical in reducing cheque processing.

Adds Gautam Jain, global head of client access at the bank: “Insurance providers could benefit if the agents were in a position to collect premium payments through mobile devices, rather than having to wait for checks to clear and display in the insurance provider’s accounts days later. From a geographical perspective, B2B mobile money solutions make sense in countries with large upcountry check collection processes”.

As a result, Standard Chartered has launched in one of its Asian markets a collections product via mobile, which caters to large producers with wide distribution networks. “At the moment, we collect the paper check and the courier goes to the central treasury where it is presented so the goods can be released,” explains Jain. “This is a relatively easy process to which we introduce the mobile. The courier now takes the image of the check, it goes to the system and we are eliminating around eight hours of the collection cycle because the process is all image-based on mobile.”

The case study demonstrates how mobile devices aid in the digitization of receivables, thereby shortening the collection cycle and yielding benefits to both producer and distributor. “From a client perspective,” Jain elaborates, “information is received much earlier, and hence the retailer can receive the goods faster, enabling him to turn around his inventory quicker. His working capital and inventory are optimized.”

The next stage in this evolution is achieved when a corporate’s numerous distributors make payment using their mobile devices from the start, eliminating the need to capture the image-based cheque on a mobile device. In India, the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation – more prominently known under its trademark Amul – receives a growing share of payments from its retail distributors through mobile-initiated transactions. Amul’s distribution comprises some 5,000 dealers and one million retailers. (See April issue, p40.) In order to avoid non-payment, Amul used to rely on receiving post-dated cheques in advance of shipment and thus incurred large overhead costs of storing cheques and managing clearance information.

As one part of the solution that Amul’s banking partner BNP Paribas proposed, starting last year distributors have been able to transfer funds to Amul using their mobile phones. Targeted especially at those smaller distributors that may not be able to make payments through India’s RTGS or NEFT systems on a regular basis, the mobile channel builds on the country’s Interbank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS) and allows secure access to bank accounts to facilitate fund transfer without a computer. Amul receives and confirms payment quicker and can release goods to its retailers faster. Remitters receive a so-called MMID (mobile money ID) that is known to Amul and thus allows for quick reconciliation. Typically, funds are credited to Amul within 15 to 30 seconds.

Initially conceived for private or consumer-to-business transactions, IMPS was successfully introduced in this FMCG setting to yield benefits to both parties. Arvind Ronad, senior executive product strategy and marketing at technology vendor Fundtech, has followed the evolution of IMPS and asserts: “We see IMPS poised for growth, and it is just a matter of time before it obtains a critical mass of active users and transaction volume. Corporates and their supply chains will start exploiting it once they become more aware of the capabilities and benefits.”

With arguably more relevancy to Asia’s mature markets, credit card-based solutions are an alternative way to digitize payables. Vendor payment is a central treasury function that incurs significant operational costs, especially when this is still based on distribution of cheques. Card issuers have proposed that their networks can deliver secure payments in a B2B setting, provided that suppliers accept card payments. In this business model, payments are typically made using virtual credit cards that the treasury issues to its suppliers; each card modified with a unique card number, expiration date and the amount due. The cards are sent as an image via e-mail or even mobile devices. The supplier then processes the payment like a regular credit card, knowing that the invoice is settled immediately.

Virtual card solutions so far have seen strongest pick-up in the travel and entertainment industry, observes Vincent Patru, head of commercial products for Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa (APMEA) at MasterCard Worldwide: “Web-based travel aggregators, for example, spend millions on reconciliation. Our virtual account number solutions works like a card but without the plastic. Whenever there is a trip generated on their platform, MasterCard will generate a unique 16-code number to the end provider, restricted for a certain amount, merchant and validity. One number for each transaction allows the client to link payment to one specific trip.”

In industries with such high volume of transactions, a portal solution would make limited sense. In terms of industries, the greatest opportunities lie beyond travel and entertainment corporations, believes Patru. “You can imagine this for the public sector where agencies can pay their multiple suppliers,” he maintains. “It also makes sense for insurers or hospitals. Paying their suppliers through traditional money transfers is a mess. Introducing the virtual card brings a lot of cost-saving.”

Patru is keen to point out the size of the market in general: “In Asia, B2B payments are the largest opportunity out there. Looking at Asia, the Middle East and Africa, B2B transactions account for roughly US$33 trillion and out of this the potential that could easily be handled via cards is about US$6 trillion. So far, this number stands at about US$350 billion, both plastic and virtual. It takes time to go after CFOs and treasurers to make them understand the benefits.”

Read the full story at www.smartcardfactory.com!

10 hot tech gifts for every kind of dad

Just say no to neckties, kids. We all know that gadget gifts are really what Dad wants this Father's Day. And the countdown is on. Dad's big day is just around the corner, and he deserves something he really wants — some really fun gadgets and gizmos he'll actually use around the house and on-the-go (and, yes, even on the golf course).

To help you choose, I put together a list of 10 of my personal favorite Father's Day gadget gifts and tech tools. They're perfect for all kinds of dads — from DIY Mr. Fix It Dads to Digital Dads who can't live without their techie toys, and everyone in between.

The new Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon – 27-inch Tabletop PC ($1,700) makes a great "splurge" gift for the early-adopter dad who always has to have the coolest new tech toys on the block. This multi-user tabletop PC, which doubles as the family's computing and entertainment center, was all the buzz at this year's Consumer Electronics Show — and for good reason. It's a jack-of-all trades desktop PC that stands up to be a large touchscreen for personal computing or lies flat to be a giant, tablet-like interactive device. I've been using it for the past two weeks, and I love it. It reminds me a lot of how record players, radios and even TVs once brought the family together around an entertainment device for an hour or so every night... so it looks like Dad might have to share.

If the Dad of your domain is an Android lover, he'll no doubt want to get his hands on the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone (about $250 with contract). It's packed with the latest hands-free features, including eye- and hand-gesture control, a 13 megapixel autofocus camera that snaps front and back photos (even at the same time!), a powerful 1.9GHz quad-core processor, a slick 5-inch, Full HD Super AMOLED display, and even works as a TV/DVR remote.

This one's for the digitally deft dad who always saves the day – and all of your family's most valuable (and confidential) digital data. Help him protect your family's smart card, videos and documents even better with a smart subscription to Backblaze Cloud Backup service ($50 per year). Backblaze has Dad's back 24/7 by continuously backing up all of your family's valuable files and documents to the cloud, ensuring they're recoverable should you ever experience an unfortunate major data loss or even computer theft.

Okay, yes, so this one's a tool gift, but it's not your typical one. It's a cutting-edge tech tool, and one with a quirky-cool name: the Flipout Tantrum Electric Screwdriver (about $160). It's an innovative electronic screwdriver designed to fit into extremely tight spaces because you can use it in 168 different tricky positions. The Flipout Tantrum stands up to just about any project Dad takes on and easily squeezes into tight spots that most traditional power tools can't get a grip on, hopefully reducing the chances that Dad will, yup, flip out and have a tantrum during a DIY project.

There are seemingly endless awesome choices available this year for the dad who likes to make a statement with his smartphone or tablet case. One of my favorites is the Q Card Case for iPhone 4S/4 by CM4 ($40). It simplifies Dad's busy life by doubling as a slick rubber iPhone protector and a wallet that stashes up to three credit cards or IDs, plus cash. Don't forget to slip a few bills in before you wrap it up for Dad. Trust me, it's just good gift-giving form.

There's also the idAmerica's Cushi iPhone5 Retro Camera Case ($25) for hipster dads who like to keep their gadgets extra safe — and looking extra retro cool. The Cushi case is a sleek, sophisticated — and protectively foam padded — case that makes Dad's iPhone looks like a blast-from-the-past camera.

For all those lovable but clumsy dads out there (you know who you are!), I give you the essentially everything-proof OtterBox Armor series ($65-$100), available to dutifully protect Dad's Galaxy S3, iPhone 5, iPhone 4, or iPhone 4s. OtterBox Armor smartphone cases are waterproof, drop-proof, dust-proof and crush-proof. Even the most accident-prone Dads probably couldn't destroy them, even if they wanted to.

This Auvio PBT 1000 Bluetooth Portable Speaker ($130) from RadioShack is music to the ears of the music-loving dad in your life, delivering exceptionally loud, crisp and rich-sounding music at an affordable price. Auvio's lightweight, 4-watt wonder block works with any Bluetooth-ready smartphone, laptop, tablet or MP3 player (including iOS and Android). And there's no need for Dad to dock or plug in his device to listen to music. Bonus: He can even use the portable speaker to take hands-free phone calls via speakerphone.

For the big kid in the family, the Sphero by Orbotix ($130) promises to deliver a ton of goofy fun. It's a durable robotic ball that you control with your iPhone, iPod, Android phone or tablet. How? By simply tilting, tapping or swiping your device, the ball rocks and rolls in all kinds of directions. You can play a bunch of fun family games with it, weaving the Sphero in and around DIY obstacle courses (which dads love setting up with their kids, hint, hint). Or Dad might feel inspired to use the Sphero to chase the family cat or dog around the house. A short charge on the small, portable charging unit delivers a full hour of unpredictable fun.

Sickened By Hepatitis A After Eating Frozen Berries

Geoff Soza was celebrating his 30th wedding anniversary in Yellowstone National Park when the 64-year-old man learned the hard way that his seemingly healthy breakfast habit of mixing thawed berries with Greek yogurt had exposed him to a national outbreak of hepatitis A.

Dozens of illnesses have been reported, and federal officials have recalled a frozen berry mix sold by Costco and Harris Teeter in seven states.

Soza, a semi-retired contractor, was resting at his Encinitas home this week after an ordeal that threatened to put him on a liver transplant list.

He hadn't felt right in the weeks before leaving for Yellowstone on May 29 – but his lack of appetite and disorientation didn't merit canceling the trip.

"I thought, `I'm getting something. I'm coming down with something' and I thought I'd just ride it out and live with it," he said.

His wife, Rita, said he doesn't complain much as "a very active, tough kind of person," but he seemed lethargic when they flew to Salt Lake City and rented a car to drive to the park.

On the second night of their trip, the Sozas called paramedics who examined Geoff and recommended he visit St. John's Medical Center. They didn't think a medical evacuation was necessary.

But general surgeon Dr. Michael Rosenberg halted the surgery, scheduled for June 1, because of Soza's elevated liver enzymes.

Symptoms include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, abdominal pain and jaundice – a yellowing of the skin or eyes. There is no specific treatment. The ill can feel sick for weeks – or up to six months – as their body heals itself.

Healthy and health-conscious, the Sozas always inspect their foods and select organic produce. They were surprised to learn that some of the fruit from Townsend Farms of Fairview, Ore., was from outside the United States.

The Centers for Disease Control said the recalled berries included products from Argentina, Turkey and Chile, in addition to the United States.

But the packaging convinced the Sozas the fruit was all-American because it bears the slogans "Grower. Processor. Distributor." and "Field to Farm to Family, since 1906."

"It was our distinct impression that these are raised under U.S. standards, especially organic food standards," Rita Soza said.

Geoff Soza said he chose the berries to have for breakfast for about 6 months. The Sozas are fairly adventurous eaters who like to experiment with new foods. Frozen berries were the last thing he thought would make him sick.

"I would have thought it would be from fish or something like that, but not ever from fruit, especially berries," Soza said.

Rita Soza said after she learned of the berries, she was upset by Costco's response, saying she unsuccessfully tried to call the number on her membership card for information – but she couldn't get a live person on the phone. She returned home to find a message on her answering machine Tuesday.

Costco Vice President for food safety Craig Wilson said the company contacted 240,000 members with information about the outbreak and received more than 10,000 calls over the weekend.

Some of those sickened by the berries have filed lawsuits seeking medical costs and damages, and at least one suit filed in Los Angeles this week seeks class action status. The Sozas say they haven't decided to take legal action.

If shooting an arrow at a target doesn’t break the ice, I’m not sure what will. If you’re thinking of asking a woman out on a date, why not shake things up and invite her to an archery range? Now the gussied-up, prissy ones may not take a liking to the bow and arrow, but the more adventurous ones will get a kick out of it. Archery isn’t the most common pastime, so this may be the first attempt for both parties. Dabbling in an unfamiliar activity together will encourage an unforgettable date. In this atmosphere, there’s opportunity for laughter, being a bit of a show pony, and conquering a challenge together. For this date, you’ll have to rise and shine a little early on a Saturday. Discover Archery classes are every Saturday at Texas Archery Academy at the Elm Fork outdoor range. You can go any time from 9 a.m. to noon and it costs $10 per person for 30 minutes. All equipment is included, so aim right and get a date.

How many people in Dallas-Fort Worth can say they went surfing on a first date? Depending on how involved you want to get on a “surf” date in the middle of Texas, I have a couple of options for you. With AquaShop Indoor Surfing at the Shops at Willow Bend, you can literally ride a huge wave on a surfboard in the Flowrider apparatus. But don’t bust out the bikini for this. The wave is pretty ferocious and speedy and will whip a two-piece right off. Another word of warning to the ladies: Don’t waste your hair spray or fake eyelashes on this date. They don’t stand a chance. It costs $20 per person for a 30-minute session. If you want something a little less wet, try City Surf in Uptown. It’s a brand-new simulated surf experience that will serve the same purpose and potentially leave you a bit less embarrassed than the Flowrider. Classes are $20 per person, and the schedule is online. City Surf also offers a free initial session, so what do you have to lose? Surf’s up!Read the full story at www.smartcardfactory.com!

Jennings offers hiking, flowers, even an endangered snake

It will be another two months before the rare, 20-acre prairie ecosystem of Jennings Environmental Education Center is in full bloom, but late spring is a beautiful time to hike the trails of the park's woodlands.

Sitting just 12 miles north of Butler and adjacent to Moraine State Park, Jennings encompasses 300 total acres, three-quarters of which is covered by dense forest. There are more than five miles of well-maintained and marked trails that run on either side of the Route 528.

An easy loop to follow begins behind the center at the Old Elm Trail, continues across Big Run and turns right onto the Black Cherry Trail. Turning right onto the Ridge Trail will take hikers into Moraine State Park, but the Black Cherry Trail continues on and turns left just before a power line cut. When it makes its way back to Big Run, the ruins of an old saw mill are visible on the other side of the creek.

According to center director Wil Taylor, the mill was constructed by the same person who built the nearby Old Stone House off Route 8.

“We had an archeological survey done recently and it was a saw mill/timber mill where they processed timber around 1870, 1880,” he said. “At that time in this area people were clearing the landscape and taking a lot of that timber to this saw mill to have it processed. It didn't last very long, and we don't know why. Either it wasn't very successful or it was just a temporary mill used as the area expanded.”

From there, hikers can continue on the Old Mill Trail left back to the center or extend it a bit more by linking into the Woodwhisper Trail.

Hikers can expect to see dense ground cover developing as the canopy closes in and skunk cabbage, cinnamon fern, interrupted fern and false hellbore thrive. Many of the spring wildflowers are sparse this time of year, Taylor said, but there are some still holding on, including jack in the pulpit, sweet cicely, purple phlox and wild geranium.

“As far as wildlife goes, the birds are nesting so there's a lot of nesting warbler action in the woodlands and over on the prairie side people can get nice views of the eastern bluebirds and swallows using the nesting boxes,” Taylor said. “It's also a fairly good time to see the massasauga rattlesnake.”

The Jennings prairie is one of the few places in Pennsylvania to find the endangered snake. Venomous but also reclusive, the small rattlesnake may bite if startled. Therefore, the people at Jennings ask visitors to the prairie to stay on the mowed paths and keep alert. Taylor said they've also started a snake reporting program and ask that if visitors do spot one that they fill out a card.

There is ample parking at the center, and it's worth stepping inside to check out some of the exhibits. The center provides a variety of educational programs throughout the year and serves 167,000 visitors, including many school groups. Even when there are no programs, visitors can stop in and observe bees as they come and go through an opening that leads from the outside to a beehive encased in clear plastic or view displays of some of the flora and fauna that inhabit the area.

Past programs have included maple sugaring, battling invasive species, wild edibles and spring wildflowers. The park will host Celebrate the Bloom on July 20 to showcase the blazing star, a prairie flower that is rare to Pennsylvania and for which Jennings was established to protect. The reserve is the only public and protected prairie in the state.

 But we're more interested in how good the new models' diesels are, as they're something of a novelty from these brands, if you can ignore the manual-only previous diesel RAV that sold in very small numbers and the existing Mitsubishi ASX diesel, also a manual-only prospect.

The RAV4 and Outlander couldn't be any more different to look at. The edgy, chiselled look of the Toyota makes it seem like a bigger, taller Corolla, though it doesn't look as big as it is, as the interior space, particularly its rear legroom, load space and overhead airiness is unexpectedly generous.

Sadly it doesn't offer extra chairs to make it a seven-seater, and neither does the Outlander in its base versions. When you do get the seven-seater versions the ease with which you can stow the seats completely out of the way means that even if you don't use them all the time, they're well worth having. Both second and third rows fold to create a flat load area which in VRX form is accessed through a powered tailgate. The cargo area is protected by a retractable and stowable blind.

A big bonus from the new RAV4s is its use of a hatch instead of a side-opening rear door, which opens up to a much bigger loadspace at 506 or 577 litres depending on if you have the Limited model which has a full-sized spare. There's also 100 litres under the floor. The Toyota may have the stowage space and underfloor volume, but its complicated load barrier is difficult to remove if you want to take awkward loads - we kept it in the garage refitting the two-poles, netting and shelf, only when we'd finished with the vehicle.

Both makers make much of the changes in their SUVs' interior quality and it shows. The Toyota has adopted the same soft, padded surfaces used successfully with its Corolla and Camry revamps and it provides a very special place to sit, with tonnes of seat and wheel adjustments, good seating and logical ergonomics except for the touch-screen. You have to learn to leave the touch screen alone to be honest as once the radio settings are in place the steering wheel buttons are better - and safer - to use. Connectivity was quick and simple and the model I drove with sat-nav left nothing on the must-have checklist.

One element of real class was the TerraCotta leather option which gives the dash as well as the car's seating a real dash of luxury and colour. That'll cost you nearly $63k, but you do get a tilt-slide glass and shade sunroof too. In for a penny, eh?  Click on their website www.smartcardfactory.com for more information.

Senior citizens struggle with mounting debt

It used to be that many Americans entered retirement having paid off their mortgages and most of their other debts. This should have been senior citizens' Golden Years.

Nowadays, more and more people over the age of 65 are struggling with mounting debt levels, fueled primarily by mortgages and credit cards. The average debt held by senior citizens has ballooned to $50,000 in 2010, up 83% since 2001, according to Federal Reserve data crunched by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

"They had more debt in their working years and they've carried it over into retirement," said Craig Copeland, senior research associate at the institute.

Much of this is due to an increase in housing-related debt. Families headed by someone at least 60 years old had the largest increase in average mortgage debt, in terms of percentage, between 2000 and 2012, according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve.

It's not because more older Americans bought homes, said Bill Emmons, an economist with the St. Louis Fed. Instead, they borrowed big against their houses. Some took out home equity loans, while others refinanced and took out cash, but also extended the term of their mortgages.

Money was easily available before the credit crisis in 2008 and it was cheap. Some senior citizens used the funds to make home repairs, pay for vacations or help their children, while others put the proceeds in the stock market, figuring they could make a lot more smartcardfactory.

Only 24% of homeowners over the age of 62 had mortgage debt in 1992, but that figure soared to 45% in 2010.

"Virtually everyone borrowed more because of availability and incentives," Copeland said. "Surprisingly, older people got the bug too."

Credit card debt has also become more pervasive among seniors. One-third of them are relying on plastic to cover basic living expenses, according to Demos, a public policy organization that advocates for lower- and middle-income Americans.

Some consumer advocates say that the increasing debt load among the elderly could pose big problems, especially since seniors are more likely to have growing medical costs and less likely to be still working.

"If people are relying on credit cards to pay living expenses, it's difficult to see how that turns around if they aren't earning additional income," said Amy Traub, senior policy analyst at Demos.

Increased debt loads have forced some seniors to keep working. Janice Jessup, 79, collects Social Security and also works as a real estate agent in Virginia Beach. But she says her Social Security checks are not enough to cover her expenses. So she's racked up more than $10,000 in credit card debt in recent years to get by and to fund her business.

Rimowa, a German company, introduced some of the first polycarbonate suitcases in 2000. The designs were a follow-on to their aluminum cases, which had been used to protect expensive equipment. Their plastic luggage used the same iconic design elements–a pattern of vertical ribbed grooves–that today’s suitcases are using.

I’ve used a Rimowa bag off and on for almost a year and like it for some trips. It’s a bare-bones design that’s basically an expensive plastic box with wheels and a handle, and has limited capacity. Their current version of what I’m using is the Rimowa Salsa Deluxe 21″ Cabin MultiWheel Hybrid, which retails for $595. The main difference is a change to the wheel design from two large to four smaller ones that allow easier maneuverability and the ability to push the suitcase along smooth floors.

While both the Rimowa and Torq are made of Makrolon, a high-tech grade triple-layer polycarbonate, their designs are quite different. The Rimowa is a simple, classic design while the Briggs & Riley looks more high tech with its complex shape designed to incorporate many new features. Both are high quality and come with long warrantees, 5 years for the Rimowa and a lifetime warranty for the Briggs & Riley.

According to the company, the Torq was in development for three years, much longer than most of its other products. They began with a clean sheet of paper to come up with a design that offered the most function, highest capacity and best performance. Wearing my design-engineering hat, that comes through loud and clear. The product wears some of its functionality in its looks and details, much as a Range Rover or Jeep stands apart from its competition.

Whereas other products have a 50/50 split between the bottom and top lid, the Torq has an 80/20 split that makes packing much easier. You can pack it on a luggage rack without the lid being opened 180 degrees. I found its capacity to be about 20 percent greater than the Rimowa.

One of the best features of the Torq is a large compartment that runs the full length of the front with padded pocket for storing a notebook and iPad, as well as other items that you may need to keep handy.