Monday, November 28, 2011

Vt. artist: I'll fight Chick-fil-A for my kale - Yahoo! Finance

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- A folk artist expanding his home business built around the words "eat more kale" says he's ready to fight root-to-feather to protect his phrase from what he sees as an assault by Chick-fil-A, which holds the trademark to the phrase "eat mor chikin."

Bo Muller-Moore uses a hand silkscreen machine to apply his phrase, which he calls an expression of the benefits of local agriculture, on T- and sweat shirts. But his effort to protect his business from copycats drew the attention of Chick-fil-A, the Atlanta-based fast-food chain that uses ads with images of cows that can't spell displaying their own phrase on message boards.

In a letter, a lawyer for Chick-fil-A said Muller-Moore's effort to expand the use of his "eat more kale" message "is likely to cause confusion of the public and dilutes the distinctiveness of Chick-fil-A's intellectual property and diminishes its value."

Chick-fil-A, which trails only Louisville, Ky.-based KFC in market share in the chicken restaurant chain industry, has a long history of guarding its trademark, and the letter listed 30 examples of attempts by others to co-op the use of the "eat more" phrase that were withdrawn after Chick-fil-A protested. The Oct. 4 letter ordered Muller-Moore to stop using the phrase and turn over his website, eatmorekale.com, to Chick-fil-A.

Muller-Moore, 38, of Montpelier, says he won't do that.

"Our plan is to not back down. This feels like David versus Goliath. I know what it's like to protect what's yours in business," he said.

So he has enlisted the help of Montpelier lawyer Daniel Richardson and the intellectual property clinic at the University of New Hampshire School of Law's Intellectual Property and Transaction Clinic.

"Bo's is a very different statement. It's more of a philosophical statement about local agriculture and community-supported farmers markets," Richardson said. "At the end of the day, I don't think anyone will step forward and say they brought an 'eat more kale' shirt thinking it was a Chick-fil-A product."

Chick-fil-A spokesman Don Perry said the company does not comment on pending legal matters.

Muller-Moore, who describes himself as a folk artist who earns a living working as a foster parent for an adult with special needs, said he started using the phrase "eat more kale" in 2000. A farmer friend who grows kale, a leafy vegetable that grows well in Vermont and is known for its nutritional value, asked Muller-Moore to make three T-shirts containing the phrase for his family for $10 each.

A few weeks later, the friend told Muller-Moore that people kept asking for the shirts. The phrase helped him get his silkscreen business going, which he later expanded through the Internet. Now, he prints "eat more kale" on hooded sweatshirts too. And he has the words printed on bumper stickers that are common throughout Central Vermont.

Five years ago, Muller-Moore said, he received a similar cease-and-desist letter from Chick-fil-A, telling him to stop using the phase. A pro bono lawyer traded a handful of letters with Chick-fil-A on his behalf. After the letters stopped, Muller-Moore assumed the issue had been decided in his favor and kept making the products.

But as his business grew, Muller-Moore decided to protect the phrase that became his unofficial trademark. He filed an application last summer with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to protect "eat more kale." The application is pending.

Vermont Law School professor Oliver Goodenough, who specializes in intellectual and property law, said the kale versus chikin fight reminded him of a case two years ago when a Morrisville micro brewer that makes a beer called "Vermonster" ran afoul of the Monster energy drink company. That case was settled when the makers of Vermonster agreed never to go into the energy drink business.

Goodenough said there was little likelihood consumers would confuse kale with chicken.

"This looks a bit like an example of over-enthusiasm for brand protection," he said. "There are (law) firms in the United States that take this over-enthusiasm for brand protection seriously and believe the more they can scare away the better. If folks aren't deeply committed to this and it's a funny byproduct, maybe they won't fight it."

Fashion Faceoff: Gwyneth Paltrow vs. Nicole Kidman | Runway - Yahoo! OMG!

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Archaeologist traces Pocahontas wedding site - Yahoo! News

Archaeologist William Kelso is certain he's discovered the remains of the oldest Protestant church in the United States, standing between two holes he insists once held wooden posts.

In 1614, Pocahontas was "married right here, I guarantee," Kelso told AFP at the Jamestown, Virginia archeological site southeast of the nation's capital.

Near the James River, on May 14, 1607, a group of about a hundred men landed on commission from England to form the first colony in the Americas.

"It's fantastically exciting and significant because Jamestown is usually depicted -- the whole early settlement depicted -- as it was carried out by lazy gentlemen who wanted to get rich quick, and go right back to England."

The area was carefully excavated to reveal several large post holes 6.5 feet (two meters) deep and the trace remnants of four graves.

Two other Protestant churches are thought to have been built before, but left no trace, and remains of a Catholic church were also found in Florida -- but Kelso is sure this one is the oldest left.

"Religion played a big role" in the community, Kelso said as he stood near the river where small fluttering flags marked the building's outline. Settlers "put a lot of work in the building of this big church, and that became very important for the colony."

Noting the size of the wood post's holes, Kelso said the church would have been able to support the mud and stud building's heavy roof.

According to surviving records describing the church kept by the secretary of the colony, what was built matches what can be seen today at the site. "I'm convinced because it's the right size," said Kelso.

The four graves also match with the four important members of the colony who would have been buried so close to the church. Kelso said there were a knight, two captains and Reverend Robert Hunt, the first cleric to come to the site.

Pointing out where Pocahontas, Chief Powhatan's favorite daughter, would have stood when she married an Englishman, Kelso marveled at the event's place in colonial history, allowing further settlements in what was then foreign, hostile territory for the European settlers.

"With that wedding, the Indians backed off and there was no more fighting," Kelso recalled.

The Indian princess, well known to American children, was popularized through an animated Walt Disney romance.

Renamed Rebecca, she was later to marry another Englishman, John Rolfe, before dying in England at the tender age of 21.

The next tasks for archeologists in the coming months will be to dig up the graves.

"We know the ages, we have baptism records," Kelso said, excited at the tantalizing possibility of confirming their identities with the study of bones, teeth and possibly markings from injuries still traced to the bones.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

How much crazier can Black Friday get? - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (AP) — Pepper-sprayed customers, smash-and-grab looters and bloody scenes in the shopping aisles. How did Black Friday devolve into this?

As reports of shopping-related violence rolled in this week from Los Angeles to New York, experts say a volatile mix of desperate retailers and cutthroat marketing has hyped the traditional post-Thanksgiving sales to increasingly frenzied levels. With stores opening earlier, bargain-obsessed shoppers often are sleep-deprived and short-tempered. Arriving in darkness, they also find themselves vulnerable to savvy parking-lot muggers.

Add in the online-coupon phenomenon, which feeds the psychological hunger for finding impossible bargains, and you've got a recipe for trouble, said Theresa Williams, a marketing professor at Indiana University.

"These are people who should know better and have enough stuff already," Williams said. "What's going to be next year, everybody getting Tasered?"

Across the country on Thursday and Friday, there were signs that tensions had ratcheted up a notch or two, with violence resulting in several instances.

A woman turned herself in to police after allegedly pepper-spraying 20 other customers at a Los Angeles-area Walmart on Thursday in what investigators said was an attempt to get at a crate of Xbox video game consoles. In Kinston, N.C., a security guard also pepper-sprayed customers seeking electronics before the start of a midnight sale.

In New York, crowds reportedly looted a clothing store in Soho. At a Walmart near Phoenix, a man was bloodied while being subdued by police officer on suspicion of shoplifting a video game. There was a shooting outside a store in San Leandro, Calif., shots fired at a mall in Fayetteville, N.C. and a stabbing outside a store in Sacramento, N.Y.

"The difference this year is that instead of a nice sweater you need a bullet proof vest and goggles," said Betty Thomas, 52, who was shopping Saturday with her sisters and a niece at Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, N.C.

The wave of violence revived memories of the 2008 Black Friday stampede that killed an employee and put a pregnant woman in the hospital at a Walmart on New York's Long Island. Walmart spokesman Greg Rossiter said Black Friday 2011 was safe at most of its nearly 4,000 U.S. stores despite "a few unfortunate incidents."

Black Friday — named that because it puts retailers "in the black" — has become more intense as companies compete for customers in a weak economy, said Jacob Jacoby, an expert on consumer behavior at New York University.

The idea of luring in customers with a few "doorbuster" deals has long been a staple of the post-Thanksgiving sales. But now stores are opening earlier, and those deals are getting more extreme, he said.

"There's an awful lot of psychology going on here," Jacoby said. "There's the notion of scarcity — when something's scarce it's more valued. And a resource that can be very scarce is time: If you don't get there in time, it's going to be gone."

There's also a new factor, Williams said: the rise of coupon websites like Groupon and LivingSocial, the online equivalents of doorbusters that usually deliver a single, one-day offer with savings of up to 80 percent on museum tickets, photo portraits, yoga classes and the like.

The services encourage impulse buying and an obsession with bargains, Williams said, while also getting businesses hooked on quick infusions of customers.

"The whole notion of getting a deal, that's all we've seen for the last two years," Williams said. "It's about stimulating consumers' quick reactions. How do we get their attention quickly? How do we create cash flow for today?"

To grab customers first, some stores are opening late on Thanksgiving Day, turning bargain-hunting from an early-morning activity into an all-night slog, said Ed Fox, a marketing professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Midnight shopping puts everyone on edge and also makes shoppers targets for muggers, he said.

In fact, robbery appeared to be the motive behind the shooting in San Leandro, about 15 miles east of San Francisco. Police said robbers shot a victim as he was walking to a car with his purchases around 1:45 a.m. on Friday.

"There are so many hours now where people are shopping in the darkness that it provides cover for people who are going to try to steal or rob those who are out in numbers," Fox said.

The violence has prompted some analysts to wonder if the sales are worth it, and what solutions might work.

In a New York Times column this week, economist Robert Frank proposed slapping a 6 percent sales tax on purchases between 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving and 6 a.m. on Friday in an attempt to stop the "arms race" of earlier and earlier sales.

Small retailers, meanwhile, are pushing so-called Small Business Saturday to woo customers who are turned off by the Black Friday crush. President Barack Obama even joined in, going book shopping on Saturday at a small bookstore a few blocks from the White House.

"A lot of retailers, independent retailers, are making the conscious decision to not work those crazy hours," said Patricia Norins, a retail consultant for American Express.

Next up is Cyber Monday, when online retailers put their wares on sale. But on Saturday many shoppers said they still prefer buying at the big stores, despite the frenzy.

Thomas said she likes the time with her sisters and the hustle of the mall too much to stay home and just shop online.

To her, the more pressing problem was that the Thanksgiving weekend sales didn't seem very good.

"If I'm going to get shot, at least let me get a good deal," Thomas said.

___

Associated Press Writers Julie Walker in New York, Christina Rexrode in Raleigh, N.C., John C. Rogers in Los Angeles and Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this report

Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore Tweet Their Thanks - Yahoo! TV

Friday, November 25, 2011

5 Reasons to Skip Black Friday Sales - Yahoo! Finance

This year's Black Friday deals are impressive: The coupon site Brad's Deals reports that at Best Buy, you can get a 42-inch LCD television for $200, a Blu-ray player for $40, and a Lenovo laptop for $180. But do those discounts really justify standing in line, in the cold, for hours on Thanksgiving evening, when you could be home watching a movie instead? (This year, many stores plan to open at midnight or earlier on Thanksgiving instead of in the early morning hours on Friday.)

[In Pictures: 10 Ways to Start Earning Extra Money Now]

Telling shoppers to avoid sales might sound hypocritical coming from someone who has reported on the best deals and discounts out there. But there are some very good reasons why you should turn and walk the other way rather than let yourself be sucked into holiday sale mania. Here are five of them:

Many discounts will continue long after Black Friday is over. While certain so-called "doorbusters" are available for a limited time only (and in limited quantities), many deals will continue throughout the holiday season. (And, in fact, some, such as free shipping at online stories, are often available throughout the year.)

The best deals are only available to a few people. Those doorbusters aren't available in endless supply, which is why people line up so early in the hopes of being among the lucky few to snag one. While stores vary in how many doorbusters they keep in stock, Best Buy's ad specifies that stores will sell a minimum of 10 Lenovos for $180, for example. Circulars featuring Black Friday ads often contain information on the number of doorbusters, which helps shoppers gauge how competitive the day will be.

When you do score a discount, it often just leads to more spending. If you've ever impulsively bought a muffin to go with your coffee, or surprised yourself by buying a whole new outfit when you meant to get only a shirt, then you will understand why research shows that shopping leads to more shopping.

Shopping can be broken into two phases, researchers say. In the first stage, people question whether they want to make a purchase. When they decide that the pros outweigh the cons, the "buying phase" takes over. "Once that happens, a roller coaster of shopping can begin," says Uzma Khan, assistant professor of marketing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and one of the study's authors. The researchers call the phenomenon "shopping momentum."

That means shopping sales can have the unintended consequence of leading to even more purchases, including ones that aren't on sale. Plus, many of the items that aren't doorbusters aren't even good deals, which is one reason shoppers should bring their smartphones and use them to compare prices on products before making purchases. (Certain apps, such as Pricegrabber's, make it easy to scan barcodes and see if a better deal is available elsewhere.)

[In Pictures: 10 Ways to Save on Food Costs]

Sales that get you to buy something you wouldn't have purchased otherwise are not good deals. It's just like the old joke: A woman brags to her husband about how much money she saved on a pair of shoes, and then he points out that she didn't save any money, she spent it, because she really doesn't need the shoes. The bottom line: Only take advantage of discounts when they're on items you would be purchasing anyway, even without the deal.

Frenzied buying almost never leads to smart shopping. One-day sales, midnight madness, and other sales techniques that spur quick decision-making tend to be disorienting and lead to over spending, says Kit Yarrow, consumer psychologist and author of coauthor of Gen BuY: How Tweens, Teens, and Twenty-Somethings Are Revolutionizing Retail. "They're training [consumers] to purchase even though they may not be ready," she says. "If people are buying for fear or anxiety that it won't be available, then they're less likely to make good purchasing decisions."

Here are some alternative ways to spend your Black Friday: Giving back or volunteering, eating turkey leftovers, and getting an early start on Christmas movies. Most of the discounts will still be there when you're ready to hit the stores.

Twitter: @alphaconsumer

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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

How I Happily Spent Over $5,000 in a Futile Attempt to Save my Dog - Associated Content from Yahoo!

My pug Drea was a petite 18-pound, feisty pug that made me laugh for 13 happy years until cancer consumed her. From diagnosis to saying goodbye, she lived seven months. This is her story.

Learning the Horrible Truth

Giving Drea a belly rub one night, I felt a hard substance. It wasn't there before and I was immediately concerned.

Our first visit to the vet was tearful. Upon examination, he told us Drea had something in her mammary glands and needed X-rays. I didn't have a good feeling about it, although Drea didn't seem concerned. She trotted off to the lab to show them what a movie star she could be.

The X-rays revealed small masses. A sonogram was needed for greater clarity. The initial visit was $125, X-rays were $285 and the sonogram was $420. The total was $830.

Scheduling the Surgery

Our vet was patient and kind to explain the options. He said that, although there were no guarantees, the tumors appeared to be small and self-contained. Therefore, Drea had a good shot at recovery - if everything could be successfully removed. It was not a hard decision; she was scheduled for surgery the next day at a cost of $1,182.

The vet was happy - the tumors were easily removed and not embedded in tissue. He hoped he got it all - but reminded us there were no guarantees. It was just a matter of seeing what happened in the next few months.

Making Hard Emotional and Financial Decisions

Unfortunately, we didn't get months. The pathology report came back as cancer and within five weeks, the tumors grew back - this time bigger and harder than the original ones. It was difficult to believe it could happen that fast - but, it did.

Monday, November 21, 2011

How to Stand out When Applying for a Job | Power Your Future - Yahoo! Finance

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U.S. News

by Miriam Salpeter

If you want to be in the top 20 percent of job applicants who get noticed and win interviews, you should be thinking about how to incorporate sales secrets into your job search strategy. John Kalusa is a nationally recognized writer who speaks about corporate sales, recruiting, and personal career management. With over 25 years of experience as a strategic recruiting, human resources, and sales and marketing management leader in start-ups and Fortune 250 companies, he's well qualified to comment on what the hiring manager wants to see.

"80 percent of candidates don't have a real chance of landing an interview because they don't do anything to set themselves apart from the crowd," says Kalusa. "After reviewing thousands of resumes and conducting nearly as many interviews, I'm amazed at how many people take an unfocused approach and send the same tired resume to every posting."

Kalusa reminds job seekers to identify their best, most unique qualities and to hone in on how they can solve the employer's problems. Do you need an incentive to make the extra effort to stand out? "Even though some statistics suggest there are 4.5 applicants per job, my own experience and that of my colleagues suggests the actual average is closer to 50-60 applicants per position, with some climbing into the hundreds," he says.

A forward-thinking job seeker needs to think like a sales person. Just as a company trains its sales and marketing people to identify and qualify prospects in order to argue why their company or product is the best suited to solve problems, "job candidates should view postings as a public bid for services and develop and execute their interview strategies like a sales process," he says.

Kalusa refers to this thinking as the "company of 1" approach, which he uses to coach job seekers. "I advise job seekers to think about the customer--the potential employer. Companies aren't in business to hire people. They are in business to provide value to their customer and seek to find people with the talent, skills, and motivation they can leverage to provide that value," he says.

One important part of selling yourself as a "company of 1" is knowing how to research your target organizations. "I'm constantly amazed at how little candidates (at all levels) actually know about the companies they are applying to when they sit down for an interview. Instead of being really prepared, they can only offer a snapshot of what they learned by visiting the company website. It's usually about a three-second quote, in the form of: "I know that _____ is in the _____ industry and makes/provides ____ to its customers," he says.

This sometimes comes across as: "I learned just enough to know that you are still in business, but other than that I didn't think enough of the opportunity to see if my experiences were really a fit, because I was just focused really on what was in it for me."

Whether you are applying for a position on the front line in a manufacturing facility or as the chief operating officer in the front office, Kalusa advises taking the following steps to set yourself apart:

Read about the company and the industry. Nearly everyone who applies will know something about the company. Go a step further and find out the details about the company and about the industry. Ask yourself what challenges the company is facing, and, more importantly, how will the role you are applying for affect those challenges or provide value?

You might be asking, "Why does it matter?" For example, if you know the company is in warehousing, and they have a reputation for having the best and most sophisticated distribution systems, think about the things that are probably important to them. Perhaps it is speed, reliability, and accuracy? During the interview, because you know a little bit more than the next guy, you could talk about your proven ability to get the job done and done right, or talk about your reliability or the different types of distribution systems you've used and how it will be easy for you to learn theirs.

Take a peek inside. Just like companies check their prospective customers out to make sure they are financially stable and not "hard cases with an attitude," so should you. If they are a public company, read about their finances and see how their stock is doing. Or go to Glassdoor and see if there are any postings from current or former employees. Do they talk about the company being a hard place to work or a collaborative environment where employees are valued? Do people feel like "cogs in the wheel," or do they feel like their contributions matter? Check out Twitter and Facebook, and see if they have a presence. What's being said? What's not being said? Are there articles about the company and their community involvement? Articles about less than positive activities? Better to know, so you can say no.

Find out who's who in the zoo. Go to their company website to learn about the top people. Follow up by visiting LinkedIn to investigate them and anyone else at the company. For most professionals, LinkedIn has become the de facto standard for posting a professional profile. You may be able to find valuable common connections or common professional or social interests of the people who will be interviewing or working with you. You may learn where they went to school and what books they are reading. You can also find and check industry or professional groups that they belong to, and see if there is any useful or interesting information available for you there.

Do your due diligence to stand out in a crowd, because it is a very big crowd. You'll likely be rewarded with interview opportunities.

Miriam Salpeter is a job search and social media consultant, career coach, author, speaker, resume writer and owner of Keppie Careers.

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8 Steps to Reversing Diabesity

I cannot speak for others, but I recently decided to cut out wheat and gluten products. The immediate cravings for carbs and the chronic hunger ceased! In addition, I had IBS and a dull burning pain on my right side that the doctors could not diagnose. I had this pain for about 10 years! Over the last several months, I requested several doctors to take a gluten test and I was blatantly told “NO”! In my opinion (and having a legal background) is a “failure to diagnose” issue. My pain is gone! My IBS – GONE! My cravings for carbs . . . GONE! I have lost about 10 lbs and my water retention has diminished considerably. I am not as exhausted and I do not have the severe brain fog. In addition, I also have less arthritic pain symptoms. I still eat carbs but focus on rice based products. While the FDA pushes fiber, fiber and more fiber, and all food products have wheat and gluten in them (from the obvious – breads, muffins, cakes, cookies, etc.) to soups, gravys, puddings, as well as cleaning products, body products and even Play-Doh and glue products! Whatever happened to the old expression: too much of a good thing isn’t good. I truly believe there are many, many people that have a gluten allergy that are going undiagnosed. This may actually be the root cause of obesity – based on the fact that what you are allergic to – you do crave! I recently read there is approximately 4-5% of the population that have a gluten allergy, and I think that number is far greater than we originally believed. Stay away from the carbs (substituting with rice and other based ingedients) and see what happens. I eat a bit of chocolate and can even have ice cream. I just stay away from the obvious wheat products and my hunger is so much more in control. Most of all – the pain on my side is gone!

Friday, November 18, 2011

Maine Kyokushin Karate 2011 Awards Night | Maine Kyokushin Karate

Mark Your Calendars!

All MKK students, family and friends are invited to our 2011 Awards Night!

When: December 21st

Time: Little Ninjas 5-6pm, Samurais & Adults 6:30pm

Food & refreshments will be served. All MKK students will receive an award. Additional awards include:

 

 

 

  • Students of the Year
  • Shihan’s Spirit Award
  • Sensei’s Spirit Award
  • Competitor of the Year
  • Instructor Awards
  • Black Belt & Beyond Awards

Holiday Concert - Paul Sullivan, Con Fullam and High School Music Department! | Western Maine Art Group

WMAG Christmas Party! | Western Maine Art Group

Holiday Concert - Paul Sullivan, Con Fullam and High School Music Department! | Western Maine Art Group

holiday concert

When: December 9th

Time: 7pm

Where: Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School, 1570 Main Street, South Paris Maine

Featuring the collaboration of Paul Sullivan, Con Fullam of Paiters, Poets & Players and the High School Music Department under the direction of Dennis Boyd.

Presented to you in collaboration with Western Maine Art Group and Oxford Hills Music, Art & Drama Boosters (OHMAD).

Tickets: Call (207) 739-6161 for ticket information. $10 donation per person with the proceeds to benefit both WMAG & OHMAD.

Paul Sullivan has enjoyed a richly varied and distinguished career as a composer and a pianist. As a soloist, with his trio, and as a member of the Paul Winter Consort, he has played concert tours in most of the United States and Europe, as well as Croatia, Israel, Costa Rica, and Japan. He has performed among the dunes of the Negev Desert, in Leonard Bernstein’s living room, and on the stages of many of the world’s finest concert halls. He has also performed with some legendary orchestras, such as the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy, the Boston Pops under both Arthur Fiedler and Keith Lockhardt, and several regional orchestras around the US.. As a jazz player he has worked in some of New York’s most prestigious clubs, including Sweet Basil, The Village Vanguard, and Bradley’s. He has played with a wide variety of jazz masters from Benny Goodman to Tommy Flanagan.

Con Fullam began playing out when he was 7 at school and church functions, appearing on his brother’s weekly radio show when he was 10, and forming his first band when he was 14. He has gone on to become a successful songwriter who is published by 4 of the 5 largest music publishing companies in the world, placing several songs on national and international charts. Commended by The American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers, he has been nominated for an Emmy, and composed music for two award winning movies and a multi-award winning series on PBS

More on Painters, Players and Poets

 

 

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Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Bradley Cooper Named People’s Sexiest Man Alive | OMG Now - Yahoo! OMG!

AP Statistics Tutorial: Variables

Suppose we flip a coin and count the number of heads. The number of heads could be any integer value between 0 and plus infinity. However, it could not be any number between 0 and plus infinity. We could not, for example, get 2.3 heads. Therefore, the number of heads must be a discrete variable.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Co-founder of social network Diaspora dies - Yahoo! Finance

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Thursday, November 10, 2011

Gail Rein | Western Maine Art Group

Artist Website: Gail Rein

Artist Biography:

I’ve always loved to draw and paint. And I’ve always loved horses. So its no surprise I started out drawing and painting horses, and ended up having horses and drawing and painting. Its been a doorway to a wonderful life.  I majored in art at Emmanuel College in Boston, during which time I spent many many hours at the wonderful Boston Museum of Art, a short walk from school. I was, and still am, enthralled by the incredible work of what we call the old masters.  The year following graduation I visited the European museums, followed by graduate work at the Museum School in Boston.  What I found enthralling about seeing in real life the works of art that I had studied in art appreciation classes, was that when I was actually standing in front of one of these famous pieces, I could feel what I call a life energy.  Its as if the painting had breath. Because of this, I was motivated  to try to capture the inner life or essence of my subject, and convey this through detailed realism.

My art, like my life, has been through many twists and turns.  After having been away from art for sometime, I find myself back with a greater energy and enthusiasm.  I am now drawn to a more “painterly” form of expression and am allowing myself the luxury of exploration.  I wish to pay more attention to my own particular way of seeing.  I am having fun, and this is the criteria for my new art.
Maybe you would like “the facts”.  Here they are.  My first competitive exhibition was at Boston City Hall, at which I won first prize, resulting in my work being published in Yankee Magazine.  I have been represented by Portraits Inc. in NY and by Portraits North in Boston.  My work hangs in the Circuit Court building across from the White House, in colleges and universities, and most importantly, in the homes of friends.
I wewelcome hearing from you and appreciate your visit.  Should you wish a seminar in your area, I would love an opportunity to share what knowledge I’ve gained. 

 

 

 

 

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Artists - Add Your Profile to WMAG! | Western Maine Art Group

Exhibiting Artists:

If you would like your biography, art and/or website listed, please email us the information. Please put “Artist Bio” in the subject.

Profiled artists must be up-to-date Exhibiting Members. Art pictures must be JPEG’s under 30kb’s.

‘Oops’: Rick Perry stumbles at CNBC debate | The Ticket - Yahoo! News

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Pregnant mom says sandwich arrest was 'horrifying' - Yahoo! News

HONOLULU (AP) — Nicole Leszczynski couldn't imagine that two chicken salad sandwiches would land her and her husband in jail and her 2-year-old daughter in state custody. But it happened five days ago, when the 30-weeks-pregnant woman forgot to pay for her snack while grocery shopping.

"It was the most ridiculous chain of events that happened," she said while sobbing Monday. "It's still hard to believe what happened."

Leszczynski, 28, and her husband Marcin, 33, were handcuffed, searched then released on $50 bail each. Their ordeal at the police station lasted a few hours, but their daughter Zofia spent the night away from her parents in a case that has sparked nationwide outrage and forced the Safeway supermarket chain to review the incident.

The family had moved to an apartment near downtown Honolulu from California two weeks ago. Still settling in, they ventured out Wednesday to stock up on groceries, took the bus, got lost, and ended up at a Safeway supermarket.

Famished, the former Air Force staff sergeant picked up the two sandwiches that together cost $5. She openly munched on one while they shopped, saving the wrapper to be scanned at the register later.

But they forgot to pay for the sandwiches as they checked out with about $50 worth of groceries.

"When the security guard questioned us, I was really embarrassed, I was horrified," she said. They were led upstairs, where the couple expected to get a lecture, pay for the sandwiches, and be allowed on their way.

But store managers wouldn't allow them to pay for the sandwiches, she said.

"I asked to talk to a manager and he said it was against their policy to pay for items that left the store," she said. "The security guard said we were being charged with shoplifting."

Four hours later, a police officer arrived and read them their rights. A woman from the state Child Welfare Services arrived to take Zofia away.

The pregnant mother said she tried to keep her composure until Zofia, who turns 3 in December, left the store. "I didn't want Zofia to be scared because she's never spent a night away from us. She didn't have her stuffed animal. She didn't have her toothbrush."

But as soon as her daughter left, "I got completely hysterical. I went to the bathroom and I threw up," she recalled.

A Honolulu police spokeswoman said it was procedure to call Child Welfare Services if a child is present when both parents are arrested. The store's management did not know the girl would be taken away, said Susan Houghton, a spokeswoman for California-based Safeway Inc.

The national supermarket chain said it was looking into the incident. "It was never our intent to separate a mother from her child. That was a very unfortunate consequence to this situation," Houghton said. "We understand the outrage. We are concerned about how this was handled."

Leszczynski called the incident "so horrifying, it seemed to escalate and no one could say, 'this is too much.'"

The couple was handcuffed and driven separately to police headquarters a few blocks away, where they were searched, had their mug shots taken and then released after paying bail. A police officer escorted them back to the store — which banned them for a year, Leszczynski said — where they picked up their groceries and walked home just before midnight.

"We basically stared at each other all night. We woke up at the crack of dawn and called (the state child welfare office)," Leszczynski said. While they waited, Leszczynski vented about the experience on babycenter.com and contacted a lawyer for help with being reunited with Zofia. At the lawyer's suggestion, they took their story to the media.

Zofia was returned after an 18-hour separation from her parents.

The couple is charged with fourth-degree theft, a petty misdemeanor, and has a court date on Nov. 28, according to the city prosecutor's office. The family hasn't decided whether it will pursue legal action against Safeway.

Houghton said the company will review the police report and store security footage before deciding whether to press charges.