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Sears Is Cheap (What Else Is New?)
Sears Holdings disappointed nearly everybody, including CEO Eddie Lampert, when it delivered a net loss on the recently ended quarter. As with many big-box stores, Sears is attempting to reverse current consumer trends and remain relevant in a new shopping paradigm. However, after it divested itself of its most prized possessions in the form of a spinoff, the real value behind Sears is not in its turnaround efforts, but its real estate -- a common thesis. In light of the fact that the company has a very appealing portfolio of land, does the recent dip in stock price create an opportunity for real-estate-hungry investors? Let's take a look.
It's good to have land!
Amid the many concerns investors and analysts have about Sears' future, liquidity nears the top of the list. While I would not dispute that the company's operating performance is weak and looks to remain that way for some time, I do not share the concerns over debt obligations. Part of this stems from the fact that Lampert is at the helm -- a master capital allocator, regardless of your opinions on his performance as chief executive. But more comforting than Lampert's presence is the real estate portfolio -- some 250 million square feet of prime real estate. Perennial cheerleader Lampert believes it is worth a total of $20 billion or more (implying $80 per square foot, on average). Even if he is wrong by... oh, let's say 57% (the difference between the company's enterprise value and the real estate value Lampert alleges), that still leaves the company with more than enough to cover debt obligations.
Still, though, operating performance has been weak. In the recent quarter, sales dropped more than 8 points to a loss of $279 million, or $2.63 per diluted share. Last year, the company brought in a net gain of $189 million. EBITDA went negative to a loss of $8 million, compared to $160 million in the year-ago quarter. Comparables dropped 3.6%, driven by unseasonably cool weather in the early spring. Investors should note that the company did have a lone, but still shining, star -- a 20% increase in Sears.com and Kmart.com sales.
It's a confusing situation for investors. Value-oriented pickers are likely salivating over the gross difference between market value and the real estate portfolio alone, but how does it come into play with the operating business -- where cash burn has sped up and the items within that valuable real estate seem to be gathering dust?
The stock may be experiencing a sort of reverse growing pain. As Lampert noted in the earnings release, closures of underperforming stores were responsible for $375 million in lost sales, with another $19 million due to foreign exchange rates. While it doesn't make for an appealing headline, the slimmer Sears will be able to leverage that real estate more effectively in the future.
The company is also looking to raise an additional $500 million, possibly via sale or merger. A writer at Investopedia noted that a J.C. Penney -Sears combination has more merits than most would imagine, though I am not sure that two wrongs make a right at this point. A merger of the two would create a real estate behemoth, trumping other department stores' square footage (combined) by a long shot.
Whether the company sells itself or not, its valuation remains incredibly low. Should price-conscious investors take the bait?
Better options
In short, I prefer both Sears Hometown and Outlets and Sears Canada for their stronger operating prospects, especially those of the former. Sears Hometown has a long growth runway for its appliance stores, and its ongoing conversion to franchise-owned stores makes for better gross margins, as well as shifts many up-front costs to the individual store owner. Sears Canada is in the midst of a major renovation -- pumping money into stores while shrinking employee count. Sears Canada trades at a fraction of one-year sales and will benefit from even a modest turnaround in store performance.
As it has been for some time, Sears Holdings is a bargain if the company can manage just a slight turnaround in its operating performance. There is little question that its real estate is being offered for a fraction of its value -- the market just seems to be waiting for that space to be better utilized. Still, the company's future is uncertain, and investors would sleep better looking at the Sears' spinoff and independently traded subsidiary. Read more on those stories here and here.
How does JCP look lately?
J.C. Penney's stock cratered under Ron Johnson's leadership, but could new CEO Mike Ullman present the opportunity investors have been waiting for? If you're wondering whether J.C. Penney is a buy today, you're invited to claim a copy of The Motley Fool's must-read report on the company. Learn everything you need to know about JCP's turnaround -- or lack thereof. Simply click here now for instant access.
The article Sears Is Cheap (What Else Is New?) originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Michael Lewis has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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2010 Idea Home: Smart Ideas for Eco-Friendly Decorating
Natural style
Idea Home: What's smarter than great design that cuts energy costs and helps the environment? When the Chicago Museum of Science + Industry invited Midwest Living® to redesign the interior of their award-winning, all-green Smart Home, we made real-world, responsible choices that are environmentally sensitive and preserve Earth's natural resources.
The home is open to tour at the museum through January 9, 2011. Click in the Related Links box below for information on tours, as well as for a downloadable resource guide and an interactive buying guide.
Your home: Whether you're building a home, remodeling your current home or just decorating a room, our lessons help your house go green, look great and run more efficiently, too.
A very Smart Home
Idea Home: This slideshow features the decorative elements that make the Smart Home live and look good. But there are a lot of behind-the-scenes aspects that set the groundwork for the home's eco-friendly theme. Construction of the Smart Home included the following energy-saving features:
— Modular prefabrication in a factory, which reduces wasted materials and speeds construction
— FSC-certified wood and fiber-cement board exterior
— Spray-in insulation, which is up to 50 percent more efficient than roll-in
— High-efficiency heating and cooling system
— CFL and LED lighting
— Insulating dual-panel, low-E glass windows and doors
— Water-conserving low-flow faucets and dual-flush toilets
— Rain water and gray water collection
— Wind turbine
— Solar roof panels
— Planted insulated roof
— Energy Star appliances
Your home: When upgrading or replacing systems in your home, check out green alternatives that might cost a little more now but offer substantial savings in the long run.
A natural direction
Idea Home: Earth herself inspired our redesign. Objects, images, forms, textures, materials and colors relating to nature fill the house. A coat tree made from a tree trunk and close-up nature photography introduce the natural theme at the front entry.
Your home: Choosing an overall style, look or theme up front naturally leads to coordinating and complementary colors, fabrics, furniture styles, accessories and more.
Responsible style
Idea Home: In the living room, a driftwood lamp, a wool rug, a fireplace that runs on denatured alcohol, and art highlighting threatened prairie grasses create a clean and natural effect. The fact that the furniture is made in the USA from sustainable wood, recycled steel, soy-base cushions and organic fabrics means this room is kind to nature and a reflection of its beauty.
Your home: Even small steps, such as noting the materials used in a home-decorating item, help you make eco-friendly choices. Our jazzy throw pillows are made from recycled scraps of cotton.
Connecting spaces
Idea Home: Sets of 12-foot-wide folding French doors open to allow breezes to cool the main level during good weather. Colors from the outdoors, such as earthy browns, mineral grays and stone neutrals, are on the walls. We used environmentally friendly zero-VOC paint throughout the house. Chandeliers made from painted twigs and outfitted with energy-saving GE LED bulbs continue the nature theme.
Your home: Create visual continuity by keeping one color scheme flowing through connected spaces. Here, a natural marble floor unifies the living and dining areas.
Nature's accents
Idea Home: A table/bench made out of wood salvaged from teardown buildings stays eco-friendly because it was finished with nontoxic water- and soy-base finishes. It provides an attractive display space for bits of nature: twisted tree roots, rock geodes and sculptural willow branches in a vase.
Your home: Look for natural items to use as accessories. Shells, pinecones, rocks, dried flowers, branches, sand in glass vases, etc. -- all add life to manufactured decor.
A second life
Idea Home: A 100-year-old burr oak on museum grounds fell over during a storm. We reclaimed the wood to make a striking cement-and-wood dining table top, along with a coffee table in the living room, headboard in the master bedroom and three "stump" tables in the lounge area.
Your home: Before buying new, consider giving a second life to existing materials, such as vintage furniture, salvaged building materials or wood from downed trees.
Eco-friendly kitchen
Idea Home: Our kitchen shows that eco-friendly choices can have style. These rich-color cabinets are made from sustainably harvested wood, formaldehyde-free particleboard and zero-VOC sealant. The countertops were made in Chicago from locally recycled glass. All Bosch appliances exceed Energy Star requirements.
Your home: When you replace an appliance, buy Energy Star-rated options. Energy Star products saved consumers nearly $17 billion on their utility bills in 2009, along with conserving massive amounts of energy.
Entertaining space
Idea Home: The open design of the kitchen and family room/lounge areas makes a relatively small space function like a large one. A roomy island divides the space and works as additional prep area or as a buffet when entertaining.
Your home: Choose versatile furniture for small spaces. Instead of a sofa, we chose two slipper chairs and a woven side chair for the flexibility in arranging furniture to accommodate entertaining friends or watching TV.
A TV with benefits
Idea Home: Not only is our flat-screen TV Energy Star-compliant, but it has a real-time whole-house energy tracker that identifies high and low usage periods of heat and electricity, offering an opportunity to control costs. It also tracks and stores data about energy (stored and used) supplied by the solar roof panels and wind turbine. A built-in cabinet under the TV offers extra seating and much-needed storage in this compact space.
Your home: Consider installing a programmable thermostat so you can preset heating and air-conditioning at low- and peak-need times during the day to maximize efficiency.
Moveable convenience
Idea Home: A rolling cart made of naturally finished, sustainably harvested oak stores kitchen overflow items and can easily be rolled onto the patio to serve as a buffet for outdoor summer entertaining.
Your home: When furnishing small rooms, make sure furniture can serve double-duty, by either being moveable or having additional function and/or storage.
Calming ambience
Idea Home: Soothing soft green on the walls, a sustainable bamboo floor and platform bed, organic linens, a renewable wool rug, and free-flowing natural wood headboard and nightstand create a relaxing retreat in the master bedroom.
Your home: Nature tends to calm and sooth us, so promote a good night sleep by decorating your bedroom with nature's colors and materials.
Natural accents
Idea Home: Grass-cloth wallpaper naturally accents one wall in the master bedroom. The dresser is sustainably harvested oak finished with Earth-friendly products. Our organic design continues with a lamp made from a slice of tree trunk, a free-form piece of root, and two photo prints of fern and tree leaves.
Your home: We took the color scheme of this room from the colors of the treetops outside its windows by drawing from leaf and bark colors. Find inspiration in one object or one element of nature, which will naturally lead you to color choices that work together.
A green bath
Idea Home: The clean lines and soothing colors of the master bath make this a retreat worth getting out of bed for. But its smart use of resources is a wake-up call to how great looks and eco-friendly choices work together. Dual sinks are made of concrete and recycled toilet porcelain; cabinets are FSC-certified wood; a dual-flush toilet saves as much as 25,000 gallons of water a year; and low-flow faucets and showerhead cut water consumption by 30 percent. The marble flooring was salvaged from renovation of a Chicago building. Even our wallpaper is green, with real dried magnolia leaves creating the pattern.
Your home: Install aerators on faucets to reduce water flow; this is a change just about anyone can execute. Even a small change like turning off the water when brushing your teeth saves 4 gallons of water each time.
Down to business
Idea Home: Recycled and recyclable furniture equips our home office, decorated in subtle neutrals. The desktop is (almost ironically) made from recycled office paper. The moveable file cabinets are made from locally grown sustainable wood and provide flexible office storage that can be rolled to where it's needed. And the chair is completely recyclable. Even our storage baskets are made with eco-friendly water hyacinth applied over recycled chipboard or rolled newspapers.
Your home: Be sure your computer and printer/fax machines are as energy efficient as possible. We connected ours to a Smart Tower that automatically powers down outlets when not in use, reducing standby power by up to 85 percent.
Child's play
Idea Home: In this room, stuffed animals and wall-size murals of endangered/protected species (polar bears and seal pups) bring attention to the effects of global warming and teach children how important it is to be environmentally responsible.
Your home: Create a safe environment for your children with choices like our bamboo chest, FSC-certified birch play table and papier-mache lamp base (all painted with low-VOC paints).
Sleepy time
Idea Home: Opposite the play area shown in the previous slide, our nursery/playroom includes a cozy sleeping spot. Organic bedding adds soft comfort to the bamboo crib. The nearby stool, cleverly crafted to look like a tree stump, is papier-mache painted with low-VOC white paint.
Your home: Art doesn't have to be expensive. We clipped polar animal photos out of a book and framed them in white for art in this playful room.
Nature bath
Idea Home: On one wall of this bath, a life-size mural of aspen trees in winter captures the feeling of standing in a forest. Warm-hue paint (zero-VOC, of course) and two tones of wood accents keep the scheme from going frigid. The simple but stunning countertop is made from 55 percent recycled glass.
Your home: You can go green even with your choice of accents. Here, we selected marble accessories and spun-bamboo towels.
Hobby space
Idea Home: Under the stairs, we carved out an area for a nature photography enthusiast. Side-by-side nightstands hold supplies and a collection of old cameras. An easel fits at the end, along with a chair, which of course has an FSC-certified wood frame, soy-base cushions and cotton fabric. To help keep the area bright, a full-length mirror leans in the corner and reflects sunlight that slices through the open-riser staircase. The mirror frame is made from lumber scraps destined for landfills.
Your home: Before you decide to move or add on to your house, think about ways you can use the existing space better. Here, we show how even a sliver of space can be outfitted to accommodate favorite activities.
Versatile outdoor living
Idea Home: A patio and trellis extending from the kitchen connect the detached garage to the house. A second modern see-through Clopay garage door on the "back" end of the garage opens to enlarge the patio entertaining area.
Your home: Think outside of the box when planning outdoor living spaces. Connect and expand usable space with trellises, fencing, pathways, simple decking squares, etc. Could your garage expand your outdoor living space?
Eco-smart landscaping
Idea Home: In addition to having a green roof garden, the Smart Home gardens contain eco-friendly features such as:
— Native plants: Proven Winner plants adapted to our climate that require little upkeep
— Water control: Permeable pavers, rain gardens and bioswales (shallow depressions in the ground) to ease water run-off; self-watering planters with reservoirs from Lechuza to help control water usage
— Rain gathering: Barrels to collect rainwater to irrigate plants
— Composting: An area to compost kitchen and yard waste
— Outdoor furniture: Pieces made from recyclable resin wicker and wood grown on managed plantations
— Maximizing space: Getting more green in a small space by using trellises, caged and staked tomatoes, container gardens, raised beds and vertical planters.
Your home: Whether choosing a plant or planning an entire garden, think about how your choices will affect care, water, fertilizer and yield (flowers or produce). Plants that require a minimum of care have a long-lasting positive effect on the environment.

subset: commoncrawl


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Iraqi Army Detains 16 Suspects; Insurgents Kill 15 Civilians
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Feb. 27, 2007 – Special Iraqi army forces detained 16 suspected militiamen during operations today with coalition advisors in Sadr City, and insurgents killed 15 Iraqis and wounded nine in a car-bomb attack in Ramadi yesterday.
The operations in Sadr City were targeting the leadership of several rogue militia cells operating against Iraqi civilians, officials said.
Iraqi forces targeted several individuals who allegedly control multiple illegal militia cells and direct and perpetrate sectarian murder, torture and kidnapping, officials said. The wanted individuals are reported to operate out of Sadr City and are linked to attacks on coalition forces and the supply of weapons and munitions that support continued violence.
Iraqi forces entered several secondary objectives during the operations, but caused only minimal damage, officials said.
In Ramadi, insurgents killed 15 Iraqis, including women, children and two police officers in a car-bomb attack near a mosque in a residential neighborhood yesterday. The attack, which also wounded nine people, occurred at about 6 p.m.
"I am mortified at the absolute lack of regard for the lives of the Iraqi people which has been displayed by al Qaeda in Iraq," said Col. John Charlton, commander of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division. "The murder of any Iraqi citizen is tragic, but to intentionally kill innocent children is proof positive that now more than ever, Iraqi citizens need to stand together with us in support of their local Iraqi security forces to stamp out this terrorist threat."
(Compiled from Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)
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(visited by Alan Stricklin)
22-Feb-2006 -- It had been a cool and foggy day, which is very unusual, for the past few days in North Texas. Due to some downtime at work I decided to do some geocaching and a confluence. This worked out well since the confluence was in the middle of the area of the geocaches.
It looks fairly easy to get to if you check out the maps. The only problem is that some of the roads do not go through as indicated on the maps. Since I was coming in from the south I tried to go around the east side of the confluence. Well that did not work since the road was a dead end and the confluence was 1.6 miles to the west.
So I went back to Whitt and went north on Whitt Rd. until I got a good East indicator on the GPS and then grabbed the next gravel road that went that direction. I passed the gate shown in the visit by the first visitor. About another quarter of a mile there was another gate and the GPS indicated about .32 miles to ground zero.
Since the gate was unmarked I did my version of superman and "bounded" over the gate and followed the road. This road is fairly new - Hunters Camp road. With this road and the ATV trail that got me within 300 feet of ground zero. Further hunters' walking trails literally took me to N33 W98. After a few moments of making sure everything was settled I took appropriate photos.
The trip out was even faster since there was no need to follow GPS headings. Total time on location was about 30 min.
A great walk and another successful confluence.


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Bob Vila Radio: Laying Tile
While you might consider laying tile yourself for moneysaving reasons, remember that the substrate, or what the tile is installed on top of, is just as important as the tile itself. A flexing floor or a wall that's not true to plane can lead to broken tiles and failed grout.
Listen to BOB VILA ON LAYING TILE, or read the text below:
Water-resistant backer board, not drywall, should be used under tile that will get wet. Whether it's backer board, plywood or concrete, the substrate needs to be sound, clean, and dimensionally stable. Surfaces need to be level or plumb and true to plane within a quarter-inch to every ten feet. Any cracks or voids can compromise even the best tile job.
Use a notched trowel to apply the adhesive, and use spacers if your tiles don't come on mesh sheets. The larger the tile, the larger the space should be between them. Some do-it-yourselfers will make the mistake of pushing tiles too close together to reduce grout lines. Without enough surface area, grout won't bond well and can fail prematurely, leaving room for leaks and water damage.
Bob Vila Radio is a newly launched daily radio spot carried on more than 60 stations around the country (and growing). You can get your daily dose here, by listening to—or reading—Bob's 60-second home improvement radio tip of the day.
For more on flooring, consider:
Bathroom Floor Tile: Which is Best for Your Bath?
Subway Tiles: The New Classics
Top Trends in Tile


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We strongly condemn the United States' Congress to approve the immediate disbursement of USD225 million to support Israel's missile defense system in the current crisis. This financial disbursement is inappropriate and uncalled for as it contradicts the role of United States as the supposedly neutral "peace-maker" in the Palestine-Israel conflict. This so-called "state action" has compromised the impartiality of the United States to mediate the conflict and consequently undermine the Oslo Accord.
We strongly urge the United States government to fully utilize its resources to mediate the conflict and find a strategic pathway towards a "two state solution" recommended by the United Nations resolution.
We condemn the justification for the allotment on the grounds of Israel's self defense. Based on current fatalities, there are more than 1700 deaths involving predominantly Palestinian civilians which certainly does not justify Israel's action on the premise of "self defense" as provided in the United Nations Charter. Israel's conduct in this war is an act of terror, a crime against humanity and an absolute violation to the core principles of the law of armed conflict, where the target should only be combatants, and not civilians!
To this end, we hereby demand the following:
1. For the United States government to urgently retract the approval as it contradicts the role of United States as an impartial peace-maker to the conflict;
2. For the United States government to disengage itself from the provision of any weaponry and ammunition to Israel on the grounds of self defense; and
3. For the United States government to mediate the conflict in finding the pathway for a two state solution line with the Oslo Accord.
4. The illegal occupation of Palestine and the aggression against the Palestinians by the Israeli state has to end.
We, Malaysians and denizens of the World, demand swift actions by the United States government to mediate peace in the conflict urgently.
Youth Chief
People's Justice Party (KEADILAN)
Member of Malaysian Parliament


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The recent report in the Birmingham News that Cotton's department store in downtown Ensley is closing after 90 years of business gives us the chance to think about Ensley's downtown district and its future (19th Street at Avenue F looking west, above). A reminder of Birmingham's industrial boom, the historic district was once a thriving node of commerce, entertainment, and business in the western part of the City. Its scale and density startles the visitor today: not only was it the center of a neighborhood of more than 20,000 people, but others from surrounding neighborhoods would visit to shop, dine, or attend a show. That all of this could flourish in a place only 7 miles out from Birmingham's city center testifies to the population base that was thickly spread within the city limits decades ago.
The former Birmingham-Ensley Land Company headquarters building (above at 19th Street and Avenue H) architecturally symbolizes the confidence real estate developers had in the area in the 1920's, when the Ensley Works were producing steel at full blast and employed thousands of workers. Today, more than 30 years after the last steel plant closed, less than 4000 people inhabit the neighborhood. This statistic, and similar ones in surrounding neighborhoods, means a commercial district designed for a much larger population now serves a much shrunken one. Despite its surface charm, no new paradigm has arrived to help fill the storefronts.
Part of the charm of downtown Ensley is the relative narrowness of certain streets, like 19th Street seen above in the early 1920's; note the streetcar tracks which allowed people to move between Ensley, adjacent neighborhoods, and central Birmingham and beyond. The streetcars stopped in the 1950's in conjunction with the spread of car culture across this country. Suburban flight and decline of heavy industry hollowed out much of Birmingham proper.
The West Precinct of the City of Birmingham Police Department (above, 19th Street and Avenue G)–while architecturally a creature of the 1960's with its suburban-style setback and sculptural massing–is in scale and expense a reminder of the importance of Ensley as a hub of the City's west side. Unfortunately this west side has seen its share of problems with crime over the ensuing decades. While much of this issue has improved, the perception still lingers, which of course can be equally as challenging for any neighborhood.
For a myriad of reasons, one by one many of the buildings in this district have lost their occupants. While the 10-story Ramsay-McCormick Building is perhaps the most famous empty building in the district, many other significant structures also cry out for new purpose (above, commercial structure at Avenue F between 19th and 18th Streets).
Some buildings in the district have found new purpose: the Volcano 'gentleman's club" (above on 19th Street between Avenues E and F) is an adult entertainment complex that joins a few other nightclubs, beauty salons, barber shops, and churches that have filled some of the buildings. This is hardly a recipe for a vibrant district of course. A more diverse mix is needed.
One long-time business that remains is Gilmer Drug Company (above, 19th Street between Avenues D and E), which although its posted hours declared it open on a Saturday afternoon, nevertheless appeared shut. Not a great sign for ongoing viability of any business.
This brings us to Cotton's (above, looking east on 19th Street from Avenue D). This somewhat old-fashioned, family-run "clothing department store" is the last retailer of note in the district. While sad it's closing after 90 years of service to Ensley, we should be grateful they managed to hang on as long as they did. They used to be in the middle of other retailers, theaters, offices, restaurants. When all those fell away, Cotton's remained, supported by a loyal clientele that continued to shop there even if they no longer lived close by.
For anyone interested in the history of retail and shop windows, it's worth traveling to Cotton's before it closes just to see the fantastic shop windows (above), that are arranged around a U-shaped outdoor passage so that you can "window shop" from dozens of different angles. This type of display was once common in downtown Birmingham and across the country, but it's very rare to see one survive today. The mannequins, the spatial quality, the views all add up to an urban experience that was once commonplace, and is now virtually lost. Not just here, but anywhere.
Whither Ensley? Organizations such as Main Street Birmingham have worked hard to identify possible rejuvenations; the new Birmingham Comprehensive Plan highlights Ensley (and the massive amount of adjacent, formerly industrial property) as a focus area. But time is working against us. The Ramsay-McCormick building, in its art-deco glory, stands open to the elements. Building after building along 19th Street is endangered structurally–and some have already succumbed: above on 19th Street and Avenue G all that remains of a historic structure is the steel frame of its storefront. Other entire blocks have been demolished and sit gathering weeds. So many other cities would kill to have this sort of authentic urban environment within their limits. I hope we can figure out a way to make this district thrive once again.
[thanks to Birmingham Public Library for the historic photo]


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SAN JOSE — San Jose State's inaugural season in the Mountain West Conference will feature a pair of Friday night home games, including the season finale against rival Fresno State on Nov. 29. The Spartans also close the season with four straight games against teams who reached bowl games last season.
The conference schedule opens against Utah State on Friday, Sept. 27. It's the second straight year the Spartans will open conference play at home against the Aggies.
Kickoff times and the broadcast schedule will be announced later by the conference. With both Friday night games, the Spartans are playing in the conference's only contest that evening, which could position themselves for a national TV broadcast on ESPN.
The key portion of San Jose State's schedule comes in November. The Spartans host defending Mountain West tri-champion San Diego State on Nov. 9, travel to Nevada on Nov. 16 and then host Navy on Nov. 23 before the finale with Fresno State, also a defending conference tri-champ.
All four of those opponents participated in bowl games last season.
SJSU has single home games in August, September and October before the three home games in November.
The season kicks off on a Thursday night when the Spartans host Sacramento State on Aug. 29. They play on the road at Stanford a week later and, following a bye, travel to Minnesota on Sept. 21.
After the home conference opener with Utah State, SJSU has back-to-back road games at Hawaii and Colorado State. The Spartans have another bye on Oct. 19 before hosting Wyoming on Oct. 26, which will be its first home game in a month.
SJSU plays at UNLV on Nov. 2 before beginning the challenging four-week stretch to close the season.
The conference championship game is Dec. 7 and will feature the champions of the West Division vs. the Mountain Division. It will be played at the home site of the team ranked highest in the BCS standings.
A spot in that title game could be on the line when Fresno State visits to close the regular season.
SJSU didn't play Fresno State last season for the first time since 1995, a year before the Spartans joined the Bulldogs in the Western Athletic Conference. The teams have met 75 times and SJSU beat Fresno State in the teams' last meeting in the 2011 finale.
Follow Jimmy Durkin at Twitter.com/Jimmy_Durkin
*Mountain West Conference game


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911 call reveals timeline of Maine toddler's disappearance
Ayla Reynolds last seen December 2011
The biggest criminal investigation in Maine's history started with a 911 call in which a father said his 20-month-old daughter was last seen about 10 hours before he reported her missing.
The Associated Press requested the 911 transcripts under the Freedom of Access Act after the state supreme court ruled they cannot be withheld unless police show how releasing them would harm an investigation.
In the call, Justin DiPietro told a dispatcher that he put Ayla Reynolds to bed at 8 p.m. on Dec. 16, 2011, and that his sister checked on her two hours later.
When asked if she could have crawled out of a crib, DiPietro answered "there's no way."
Ayla was reported missing at 8:49 a.m. the next morning and hasn't been seen since.
DiPietro was living in his mother's home in Waterville.


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De Wals P, Deceuninck G, Toth E, et al. Risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome following H1N1 influenza vaccination in Quebec. JAMA. 2012;308(2):175-181.
eFigure 1. Distribution of Confirmed Guillain-Barré Syndrome Cases in Quebec According to CDC Week, 2009-2010, and Exposure Status
eFigure 2. Distribution of Guillain-Barré Syndrome Cases According to Month in the Provincial Hospital Discharge Database MEDECHO, Quebec, 1990-2008
Customize your JAMA Network experience by selecting one or more topics from the list below.
De Wals P, Deceuninck G, Toth E, et al. Risk of Guillain-Barré Syndrome Following H1N1 Influenza Vaccination in Quebec. JAMA. 2012;308(2):175–181. doi:10.1001/jama.2012.7342
© 2023
Author Affiliations: Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Laval University (Dr De Wals), Public Health Research Unit (Dr Deceuninck) and Department of Pediatric Neurology (Dr Boucher), Quebec University Hospital, Quebec National Public Health Institute (Institut national de santé publique du Québec) (Ms Boulianne and Dr De Serres), and Department of Neurology, Enfant-Jesus Hospital (Dr Brunet), Quebec City, Quebec, Canada; and Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services(Ministère de la santé et des Services sociaux du Québec), Montreal, Quebec, Canada (Ms Toth and Dr Landry).
Context In fall 2009 in Quebec, Canada, an immunization campaign was launched against the 2009 influenza A(H1N1) pandemic strain, mostly using an AS03 adjuvant vaccine. By the end of the year, 57% of the 7.8 million residents had been vaccinated.
Objective To assess the risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) following pandemic influenza vaccine administration.
Design Population-based cohort study with follow-up over the 6-month period October 2009 through March 2010. The investigation was ordered by the chief medical officer of health in accordance with the Quebec Public Health Act.
Setting All acute care hospitals and neurology clinics in Quebec.
Population Suspected and confirmed GBS cases reported by physicians, mostly neurologists, during active surveillance or identified in the provincial hospital summary discharge database. Medical records were reviewed and cases classified according to Brighton Collaboration definitions (categorized as level 1, 2, or 3, corresponding to criteria of decreasing certainty in diagnosis). Immunization status was verified and denominators were estimated from the provincial immunization registry (4.4 million vaccinated) and census data (total target population aged ≥6 months, 7.8 million), with a total of 3 623 046 person-years of observation.
Main Outcome Measures Relative and attributable risks were calculated using a Poisson model and the self-controlled case-series method.
Results Over a 6-month period, 83 confirmed GBS cases were identified, including 71 Brighton level 1 through 3 cases. Twenty-five confirmed cases had been vaccinated against 2009 influenza A(H1N1) 8 or fewer weeks before disease onset, with most (19/25) vaccinated 4 or fewer weeks before onset. In the Poisson model, the age- and sex-adjusted relative risk was 1.80 (95% CI, 1.12-2.87) for all confirmed cases during the 8-week postvaccination period and was 2.75 (95% CI, 1.63-4.62) during the 4-week postvaccination period. Using the self-controlled case-series method, relative risk estimates during the 4-week postvaccination period were 3.02 (95% CI, 1.64-5.56) for all confirmed cases (n = 42) and 2.33 (95% CI, 1.19-4.57) for Brighton level 1 through 3 cases (n = 36). The number of GBS cases attributable to vaccination was approximately 2 per 1 million doses. There was no indication of an excess risk in persons younger than 50 years.
Conclusions In Quebec, the 2009 influenza A(H1N1) vaccine was associated with a small but significant risk of GBS. It is likely that the benefits of immunization outweigh the risks.
Quiz Ref IDGuillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a peripheral neuropathy with acute onset and is characterized, in its typical presentation, by rapidly developing motor weakness and areflexia.1,2 The disease is thought to be autoimmune and triggered by a stimulus of external origin.1,2 In 1976-1977, an unusually high rate of GBS was identified in the United States following the administration of inactivated "swine" influenza A(H1N1) vaccines.3 In 2003, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) concluded that the evidence favored acceptance of a causal relationship between the 1976 swine influenza vaccines and GBS in adults.4 Studies of seasonal influenza vaccines administered in subsequent years have found small or no increased risk.5 In mice, different influenza vaccines can induce antiganglioside antibodies that are associated with the development of GBS in humans.6 Extrapolation of results of animal studies to humans, however, is difficult. In a more recent assessment of epidemiologic studies on seasonal influenza vaccines, experimental studies in animals, and case reports in humans, the IOM Committee to Review Adverse Effects of Vaccines concluded that the evidence was inadequate to accept or reject a causal relationship.7
In the province of Quebec, Canada, a mass immunization campaign was launched in the fall of 2009 to control a pandemic caused by a new influenza A(H1N1) virus.8,9 Herein we report results of a population-based epidemiologic investigation ordered by the chief medical officer of health, based on GBS cases notified to public health authorities and others found in the MEDECHO provincial hospitalization database.
In Quebec, the mass immunization campaign started on October 26, 2009. The target population included all residents aged 6 months or older (total = 7.8 million). Pandemic vaccines were administered by the public health service only. All immunizations were recorded in a specific registry linked to the universal provincial health insurance database. By the end of the year, 57% of the target population had been vaccinated (4.4 million). The majority (96%) received the inactivated monovalent ASO3 adjuvant influenza A(H1N1) vaccine (Arepanrix, GlaxoSmithKline).
As a precautionary measure, the chief medical officer of health ordered an epidemiologic investigation of GBS in accordance with the Quebec Public Health Act.10 This meant that approval by an ethics committee was not required and that all records pertaining to GBS patients could be reviewed.
In early October 2009, all physicians in the province were informed that GBS had been included in the list of reportable diseases and should be reported irrespective of a patient's immunization status. In addition, all neurologists were contacted by mail twice a month from early October 2009 to mid-April 2010 and asked to report any confirmed or suspected GBS cases. In addition, a nominative list of admissions to any acute care hospital with a main diagnosis of GBS (International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision code G610) during the period October 2009 through March 2010 was received. The lists of patients reported prospectively by physicians and those retrospectively identified in the hospital admission database were linked. Medical directors of health care facilities in which these patients had been treated were contacted and archivists were asked to provide a copy of medical notes and results of diagnostic investigations, but patients were not contacted at this stage.
Quiz Ref IDAll patients' records were reviewed by a physician (G.D.) with the assistance of an adult neurologist (D.B.) and a pediatric neurologist (R.-M.B.). Reviewers were blinded to the immunization status of cases. Cases of GBS were classified into 1 of 3 categories (level 1, 2, or 3) based on the Brighton criteria of decreasing certainty in diagnosis.11 A fourth category (level 4) was used for cases with a diagnosis of GBS confirmed by a neurologist but with insufficient evidence to meet Brighton levels 1 through 3 definitions. The date of disease onset was determined for each case, based on the history of the earliest signs and symptoms related to the current neurological disease. Finally, the immunization status of each GBS case was verified in the provincial immunization registry, including the date of vaccine administration and the type of vaccine. Cases of GBS with disease onset between October 13, 2009, and March 31, 2010, were selected for statistical analyses.
The number of residents in the province of Quebec and their distribution by age and sex were estimated from census data as of July 1, 2009, provided by the Quebec Statistics Institute. The number of persons who had received a pandemic influenza vaccine by day of vaccination was extracted from the immunization registry. The number of persons not vaccinated was estimated as the number of residents minus the number of persons vaccinated. Based on observations made at the time of the influenza A(H1N1) vaccinations,3 GBS incidence rates in the exposed population were calculated using 3 risk periods: 8 weeks (56 days), 6 weeks (42 days), and 4 weeks (28 days) after vaccine administration. Incidence rates of GBS in the unexposed population were calculated by combining the incidence among persons not vaccinated and the incidence among those vaccinated and observed up to the date of vaccine administration and more than 8 weeks after vaccine administration. Age- and sex-adjusted rate ratios or relative risks (RRs) and their 95% confidence intervals were estimated using a Poisson model.12 Attributable risk per 1 million vaccine doses was computed as the number of GBS cases observed during a specific risk period multiplied by (RR − 1)/RR.12 For comparison of percentages, the χ2 or Fisher exact tests were used. Statistical significance was considered for P <.05 by 2-sided test.
The self-controlled case-series method, as described by Whitaker et al,13 was also used for estimating RRs. In this method, the analysis is restricted to persons who have been vaccinated and developed the condition under study. The method allows for the control of all permanent characteristics of patients in addition to seasonal variation in risk. Because a recent history of GBS may be a reason to decline influenza vaccination, the analysis was restricted to persons who were vaccinated before GBS onset. The incidence density of GBS during the risk period (≤8 weeks after vaccine administration) was compared with the incidence density during a reference period extending from the end of the exposure period to the end of the study period.
Several analyses were performed using different definitions of GBS cases and of the risk and reference periods. Seasonality was controlled for by using a dichotomous indicator variable representing the winter period (December 21, 2009–March 20, 2010) as opposed to another period, or a categorical variable representing each calendar month. A stratified analysis was performed to take into account possible GBS risk associated with the pandemic influenza infection, and 2 periods of vaccine administration were considered: up to November 28, 2009, when 20% or more of viral diagnostic test results were positive for influenza A(H1N1),14 or after this date. Another stratified analysis was performed according to existence vs no existence of a history of respiratory infection or influenzalike illness prior (<1 month) to hospital admission, as reported in the medical chart.
To exclude a possible bias related to selective recording of GBS cases with a history of vaccination, an analysis was restricted to cases identified in the hospital administrative database only. For this analysis, truncation of the observation period on March 17, 2010, was performed to exclude GBS cases possibly admitted late in March and discharged in April, after the date of closure of the hospital file on March 31, 2010. Statistical analyses were performed using SAS software, version 9.2 (SAS Institute Inc).
During the active surveillance period, 61 possible GBS cases were reported to public health authorities. Seventy-seven possible GBS cases were retrospectively identified in the MEDECHO hospital admission database. Thirty-seven cases were found in both sources, for a total of 101 cases. For all 101, medical charts were retrieved and analyzed. Eighteen possible cases were excluded: 12 cases with a final diagnosis other than GBS, 2 recurrent GBS cases, 2 cases with disease onset before October 13, 2009, and 2 other cases with onset after March 31, 2010. Thus, 83 cases were included in the analysis. The overall GBS incidence rate in the study population, representing 3 623 046 person-years of observation, was 2.3 per 100 000.
Of the 83 confirmed GBS cases included in the analysis, 42 had been immunized before disease onset (1-121 days after immunization) and all had received the ASO3 adjuvant H1N1 vaccine. For 25 cases, disease onset was 8 or fewer weeks after the vaccine was administered and they were considered exposed, whereas the 17 other cases were immunized more than 8 weeks before disease onset and were considered unexposed. Thus, for the cohort analysis, 25 GBS cases were considered exposed and 58 cases were considered unexposed.
The characteristics of GBS cases according to exposure status are shown in Table 1. Forty-nine cases were classified in the Brighton level 1 category, 22 cases in level 2, and 12 cases in level 4. The distribution of cases according to diagnostic category was similar in exposed and unexposed cases. The percentage of male patients was 69%. The median age was 49 years (range, 1-89 years). The percentage of elderly patients was higher in the exposed group than the unexposed group. The majority of patients (96%) were hospitalized; 25% developed severe paralysis of the lower limbs and were unable to walk at some point; and 17% developed respiratory distress syndrome and required intubation and/or assisted ventilation. Four patients died, all of whom were older than 60 years. Conditions occurring within 1 month before GBS onset as reported in medical records included a respiratory tract infection or influenzalike illness in 36% of cases, gastroenteritis in 18%, and trauma in 4%. A history of infection during the month prior to hospitalization was less frequent in exposed than in unexposed patients. The median interval between disease onset and hospitalization was 5 days (range, 1-34 days).
Of the 83 confirmed GBS cases identified during the 6-month study period, 56 (67% of total) occurred during a 12-week period from October 18, 2009 (2009 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] week 42) to January 9, 2010 (2010 CDC week 1). The cluster was mostly explained by cases occurring in persons who were recently (≤8 weeks) immunized (22/56). Details on the distribution of cases are provided in eFigure 1.
Results of Poisson models are shown in Table 2. Relative risks were larger than 1 for all selected risk periods and case definitions. Because a majority of GBS cases occurred shortly following vaccine administration, estimates were the highest and were statistically significant for the 4-week postvaccination risk period (RR, 2.75; 95% CI, 1.63-4.62 for all confirmed cases and RR, 2.26; 95% CI, 1.24-4.09 for Brighton level 1-3 cases). The number of GBS cases possibly attributable to vaccination ranged from 1.3 (Brighton level 1-3 cases; weeks 1-6) to 2.7 (Brighton level 1-4 cases; weeks 1-4) per 1 million doses (median, 2.0 per 1 million doses).
As shown in Table 3, an excess risk was observed only in persons aged 50 years or older. In this group, the age- and sex-adjusted RRs were 2.69 (95% CI, 1.51-4.80) for all confirmed cases and 2.85 (95% CI, 1.56-5.21) for Brighton level 1 through 3 cases during the 8-week postvaccination period.
Results of analyses using the self-controlled case-series method are shown in Table 4. In the base model with no covariate, all RR estimates were greater than 1 and the highest value was for all confirmed cases during the 4-week postvaccination period (RR, 3.02; 95% CI, 1.64-5.56). Estimates were similar when a different definition of the risk period was used (model 2), when seasonality was considered (models 3A and 3B), when cases were stratified according to the vaccination period (model 4), or when cases were restricted to those identified in the hospital discharge database (model 5). Risk estimates tended to be higher for cases with a negative rather than a positive history of respiratory infection or influenzalike illness (model 6).
In Quebec, a cluster of GBS cases was observed shortly after the start of the mass immunization campaign using an ASO3 adjuvant 2009 influenza A(H1N1) vaccine. Two different methods were used to assess the risk associated with vaccine administration, and different definitions were applied for GBS cases and the postvaccination risk period. All RR estimates were greater than 1 and statistically significant for the 4-week postvaccination period. The excess risk was observed only in persons aged 50 years or older. The number of cases attributable to vaccination was approximately 2 per 1 million doses.
The postvaccination GBS cluster observed in Quebec is unlikely to have been caused by influenza infection. The second wave of the 2009 pandemic peaked during the first week of November, 3 to 4 weeks before the peak of vaccine administration, which occurred between November 16 and December 6, 2009.8,9Quiz Ref IDIn the context of wait times in vaccination clinics, it is reasonable to assume that people who developed an influenzalike illness did not rush to get a vaccine as soon as they recovered. Also, people who received 1 dose of adjuvant H1N1 vaccine were rapidly protected.15,16 It is thus very unlikely that the rate of pandemic influenza infection would have been higher in the vaccinated portion than in the unvaccinated portion of the population. No GBS cluster was observed in November-December 2009 among unvaccinated persons. Also, RRs remained statistically significant when the analysis was restricted to persons vaccinated after the period of intense circulation of the pandemic virus.8,9
The association between H1N1 influenza vaccination and GBS was found among patients with a negative history but not in those with a positive history of respiratory infection or influenzalike illness. However, lack of power prevents any definitive conclusion for patients with a positive history. In our study, patients were not contacted and interviewed about influenzalike illness prior to disease onset. Information on respiratory tract and gastrointestinal tract infections was extracted from medical charts of GBS patients. Although consulted neurologists reported that collecting data on recent infections and immunizations is routinely performed in the evaluation of patients with suspected GBS, an information bias cannot be excluded. We cannot exclude the possibility of better documentation of respiratory tract infections in persons with no history of recent vaccination.
It is reasonable to think that people who are more likely to seek care for minor disease would also be more likely to get immunized. Such bias would underestimate the true RR when adjusting for reported infections. The risk associated with H1N1 vaccination may also be underestimated in our study if influenza infection plays a role in the etiology of GBS, as suggested in a few studies,17 and if pandemic virus infections were more frequent among persons not vaccinated than persons vaccinated, which is a plausible hypothesis.
Quiz Ref IDThe seasonal influenza vaccination campaign in Quebec was postponed and started in late January 2010.8 Seasonal vaccine uptake was very low compared with previous years.18 During the 2009-2010 winter, seasonal influenza viruses did not circulate highly, representing 2% of all isolates.14 Thus, seasonal influenza infection or vaccination is unlikely to explain the GBS cluster among persons vaccinated mostly in November 2010.8
In Quebec, seasonal variation in the incidence of GBS has not been marked in recent years, as measured in the hospital discharge database (eFigure 2). In our study, results were not modified when this factor was taken into account in the self-controlled cases-series analysis or when GBS cases were stratified according to time of vaccine administration.
The completeness of GBS case identification is an important element to discuss, as selective underreporting could bias RR estimates. Our study is based on 2 independent sources, and several measures were implemented to encourage reporting by neurologists during the period of active surveillance. The overall GBS rate was 2.3 per 100 000 person-years, which is higher than the rates between 1.1 and 1.8 that have been reported in other studies.2 Using the traditional capture-recapture method,12 we estimated that 15 Brighton level 1 through 4 (11 level 1-3) GBS cases could have been missed. Including those hypothetical cases in the unvaccinated group in the cohort analysis (the "worst-case" scenario) would not change the trend (RR for weeks 1-4, GBS level 1-4, 2.14; RR for weeks 1-4, GBS level 1-3, 1.70).
Inconsistent results have been reported from other studies on the association between 2009 influenza A(H1N1) vaccines and GBS. A few studies lacked the power to detect an association of the magnitude of a few cases per 1 million doses.19-21 Results of a case-control study in 5 countries in Europe are difficult to interpret because both adjuvant and nonadjuvant vaccines were used, vaccination coverage varied widely between countries, and case ascertainment was not standardized.22
In the United Kingdom, the majority of H1N1 vaccines administered in 2009 contained the ASO3 adjuvant, as in Quebec. Cases of GBS were identified using 3 independent sources, including neurologists, the GBS support group, and the Hospital Episode Statistics database.23 Information on seasonal and H1N1 influenza vaccination and on preceding infections was obtained from patients' family physicians. A large number of statistical analyses were performed using different methods to take into account uncertainties in the data set. Although the majority of risk estimates were higher than 1, none was statistically significant.
In the United States, results of the CDC's Emerging Infections Program showed a statistically significant association between nonadjuvant 2009 influenza A(H1N1) influenza vaccines and GBS using the self-controlled series method.24 The RR during the 6-week postvaccination period varied between 2.1 (95% CI, 1.2-3.5) and 3.0 (95% CI, 1.4-6.4) according to the definition of the reference period. The corresponding attributable risks were 1.5 (95% CI, 0.3-3.4) and 2.8 (95% CI, 0.6-7.4) per 1 million doses administered.
Quiz Ref IDResults of our study are consistent with the existence of a risk excess of about 2 GBS cases per 1 million doses in the 4 weeks following administration of 2009 influenza A(H1N1) influenza vaccine. In Quebec, the individual risk of hospitalization following a documented influenza A(H1N1) infection was 1 per 2500 and the risk of death was 1/73 000.8 The H1N1 vaccine was very effective in preventing infections and complications.15,16 It is likely that the benefits of immunization outweigh the risks.
Corresponding Author: Philippe De Wals, MD, PhD, Département de Médecine Sociale et Préventive, Université Laval, CRIUCPQ, 2725 Chemin Ste-Foy, Québec, QC G1V 4G5, Canada (firstname.lastname@example.com).
Author Contributions: Dr De Wals had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.
Study concept and design: De Wals, Deceuninck, Toth, Boulianne, Landry, De Serres.
Acquisition of data: Deceuninck, Toth, Boulianne.
Analysis and interpretation of data: De Wals, Deceuninck, Brunet, Boucher, De Serres.
Drafting of the manuscript: De Wals, Deceuninck.
Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: De Wals, Deceuninck, Toth, Boulianne, Brunet, Boucher, Landry, De Serres.
Statistical analysis: Deceuninck.
Obtained funding: De Wals, Boulianne, De Serres.
Administrative, technical, or material support: De Wals, Deceuninck, Toth, Boulianne, Landry.
Study supervision: De Wals, De Serres.
Conflict of Interest Disclosures: All authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Dr De Wals reports receiving research grants, honoraria, and reimbursements of travel expenses from vaccine manufacturers including GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Sanofi Pasteur, Merck, and Pfizer. Ms Boulianne reports receiving research grants from Sanofi Pasteur and GlaxoSmithKline. Dr De Serres reports receiving research grants from Sanofi Pasteur and GlaxoSmithKline. No other disclosures were reported.
Funding/Support: This study was funded by the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux du Québec and by the Public Health Agency of Canada-Canadian Institutes for Health Research Influenza Research Network.
Role of the Sponsors: The sponsors had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; or preparation, review, and approval of the manuscript.
Additional Contributions: We thank all the health care professionals in Quebec who participated in the data collection.


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Live In Manchester, by N-Joi, is as close as you can get to putting the sound and feeling of an old school rave on vinyl. This recording is off of my promo vinyl copy, that never had the picture cover. I always liked the picture cover though, so I grabbed an image of the cassette cover off of Discogs and put it up here.
I've also included a recording from a live N-Joi show that took place in Paris, France on October 24th, 1992. It's a different set list than the Live In Manchester show, and unfortunately not all of the tracks from this performance were commercially released.
N-Joi – Live In Manchester (Part 1)
N-Joi – Live In Manchester (Part 2)
N-Joi – Live In Paris (10-24-1992) @ Spasmes


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Downtown Lake Wales Restaurant Reopens
Brothers buy the closed Crazy Cuban Cafe and turn it into The Downtown Deli.
LAKE WALES | While Black Friday shoppers tracked down deals, the Stokes brothers unpacked Black Forest ham — along with other meats and cheeses.
Brothers Jason Stokes, 35, and Aaron Stokes, 33, recently bought and remodeled the old Crazy Cuban Cafe in Lake Wales, reopening it as The Downtown Deli on Monday.
"It was one of those deals where we just decided to do it," Aaron Stokes said.
The former restaurant had been closed for five months during the summer, he said.
When he and his brother learned it was for sale, they thought about it for two weeks, then bought it.
They have spent the past two months cleaning up what was left behind and refurbishing the place with fresh floor tile, interior paint and new equipment, Aaron Stokes said.
"I think it will go good. It looks completely different," he said.
Jason Stokes said they hope to create a New-York-style deli for the walk-to-lunch crowd in the Lake Wales historic downtown district around Center Street and Park and Stuart avenues — approximately a quarter-mile to half-mile radius.
Drivers are welcome, too, he said.
He said he thought about how far he would walk for a lunch, then catered to the 300 employees in shops and professional offices downtown.
The demand is there, Aaron Stokes said. Six people walked in for lunch on Wednesday, thinking the Deli had opened already.
Another three visited Friday morning, he said.
Regulars will notice the difference: Checkerboard floor, tan and green walls, and no aquarium or shelf full of knickknacks by the booths.
They did save the countertop and booths and added counter seating.
The building is fire rated for 42 people, Jason Stokes said, but they make the seating a roomy 36.
"We knew we couldn't make it look new," he said, "but we wanted to make it neat and clean."
Above the counter is a painted chalkboard with a handwritten menu, including a kids' menu.
Desserts aren't listed, but Jason Stokes said people need to ask about their fresh-baked dessert specials.
Aaron Stokes said they wanted to make the meals between $8 and $12, so customers can get a deli sandwich, drink and bag of chips for about $10.
Jason's girlfriend, Diana Sapp, said they had to keep prices reasonable because people in downtown Lake Wales do have fast-food options.
She calls herself their "inner voice" on cost and efficiency. The brothers call her their "chief financial officer."
She said Gainesville had two or three good neighborhood delis.
Jason Stokes also said, according to his research, that the local Publix Super Market sells 200 sandwiches per day.
"You have to compete, but you have to keep the doors open," he said. "There is a lot more to opening a restaurant than ordering up some meats and making sandwiches."
When asked if they will do delivery also, Jason Stokes said that's a possibility after a while.
"If it's cost-effective," Sapp said.
Serving hours for the restaurant at 120 Park Ave. are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Payment is by cash or card.
Takeout is available. Call 863-949-0123, email firstname.lastname@example.com or find it on Facebook at "The Down Town Deli."
[ Phil Attinger may be reached at 863-401-6981 or email@example.com. ]


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31 percent of Nevada workers want to leave their unions
Have you ever been trapped? Maybe you were stuck in traffic without A/C on a blistering summer day. Maybe an elevator door took three beats too long to open. Maybe you squeezed into clothes that were just a bit too tight and constricted your movements.
Being trapped is a terrible feeling. You feel stuck, isolated and miserable. And that's how many unionized workers in Nevada feel. Trapped in their union and wanting to leave.
The Nevada Policy Research Institute recently conducted a scientific survey of union households in Nevada that asked: "If it were possible to opt out of membership in a labor union without losing your job or any other penalty, would you do it?"
In Nevada, more than 31 percent of those in union households answered, "Yes."
What's astounding about that result is that Nevada is a right-to-work state. Employees are legally able to leave their union and stop paying all union dues without losing their job or any other penalty — not including union intimidation tactics, of course.
But while workers are legally able to leave their union, it's often difficult to do so in practice. That's because unions frequently include a "window" clause in the membership card a worker signs, restricting opting out to a few days a year. Some unions only allow you to leave around the anniversary of your joining. Others only allow their members to leave during a certain yearly timeframe.
For instance, Nevada's teacher unions only allow their members to opt out by submitting written notice to the union between July 1 and 15.
Last year, NPRI ran a small-scale information campaign to let teachers in Clark County know that they could opt out of the Clark County Education Association by submitting written notice from July 1-15.
The reaction was stunning. Teachers thanked NPRI for sharing that information. Hundreds of teachers wanted to leave CCEA, each for his or her own unique reasons, but didn't know it was possible or forgot because of the narrow and inconvenient drop window. Empowered by the information NPRI shared, more than 400 teachers opted out by submitting written notice and over 400 more simply left CCEA as they separated from the district and weren't replaced by new union members.
Some union members wanted to leave because of poor service; others didn't think the union represented their personal or political values; others were disgusted by a union boss "triple dipping" to boost his take-home pay and benefits to over $625,000 in one year.
Ironically, union leaders howled that NPRI was "union busting" and wanted to "silence the voice of teachers."
That's right, union leaders claimed that NPRI empowering teachers with information to make the decision about union membership that was best for them was "bashing teachers."
Of course, union bosses are the ones who want to silence the members who disagree with them — and force them to continue paying over $750 in dues a year.
It's not just in Nevada that a significant portion of unionized workers want to leave. Inspired by the results in Clark County, NPRI and the Association of American Educators spearheaded a coalition of 65 groups in 37 states that celebrated the inaugural National Employee Freedom Week, from June 23-29.
The purpose? To let workers around the country know about their options, even in non-right-to-work states, to opt out of union membership.
The coalition released a national poll that asked union households the same question we asked in our Nevada poll. Nationally, a third of union households said they would leave their union if they could do so without penalty. In many states, the results were even higher. In California, 36.5 percent would leave, 44.6 percent would leave in Utah, 34 percent would leave in Connecticut and 35.7 percent would leave in Florida.
Responding to news coverage of National Employee Freedom Week, even the AFL-CIO acknowledged on its blog that "every union member already has the freedom to leave his or her union, and keep in mind no one has to join a union to get a job — that's the law."
If you're a union member, you may have to submit your notice during a certain time, but you're still free to leave.
That's bad news for union bosses dependent on using the dues of unsatisfied workers to boost their salaries, but great news for 31 percent of Nevada's union households.
Victor Joecks is communications director at the Nevada Policy Research Institute. For more, visit http://npri.org. This article first appeared in the August 2013 edition of Nevada Business.


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Space-age design in Rose Center for Earth & Space at American Museum of Natural History. New York, NY.
Photo by Jim Steinhart © 2011, all rights reserved. (Ref: NYMU051)
Click an index below to see this photo among related images:
American Museum of Natural History & Rose Center for Earth & Space, New York
Captions List for History Museums of New York City


text:
Fortinet's FortiCare 360° Cloud Service Delivers Continuous Assessment of Enterprises' Network Security Posture
Increases Performance and Security Effectiveness with Automated Security Fabric Reporting and Actionable Fortinet Expert Recommendations
SUNNYVALE, Calif., October 27, 2016
John Maddison, senior vice president of products and solutions, Fortinet
"Misconfigured, suboptimized, and unpatched security components are the number one cause of security incidents reported globally, according to Verizon's 2016 Data Breach Investigations Report. Unfortunately, the critical process to consistently evaluate and optimize an enterprise's various security elements can be extremely time and resource intensive. Our FortiCare 360° cloud services solve these challenges – leveraging Fortinet's Security Fabric to reinforce enterprise IT teams with proactive security device assessments, complete with actionable recommendations from Fortinet security engineers."
News Summary
Fortinet® (NASDAQ: FTNT), the global leader in high-performance cybersecurity solutions, today announced the availability of its new cloud security service, FortiCare 360°. This support service bolsters enterprise and service provider IT resources with automated Security Fabric performance audits and security appliance health assessments, complete with actionable recommendations from Fortinet security engineers.
- FortiCare 360° services proactively and continuously analyze FortiGate and FortiWiFi appliance health to identify opportunities for optimization and highlight potential issues for rapid resolution.
- Automated network performance assessments are reinforced with monthly security environment audits that include personalized recommendations from Fortinet security experts.
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Advanced Support Services for the Fortinet Security Fabric
FortiCare 360° cloud services also include all the benefits of FortiCare 24x7 support, which offers around-the-clock technical support and rapid hardware replacement in the unlikely event of a hardware failure. Fortinet's FortiCare support services help customers design, implement and operate their Security Fabric infrastructure at maximum efficiency with the confidence that they are protected by the absolute best cyber defenses available.
Fortinet's Security Fabric has changed the way companies approach security with innovative communication between security devices that enables a unified and automated response to threats and helps streamline IT security operations.
Fortinet's FortiCare 360° Cloud Services are available for customers in the North and Latin American regions today. Customers in the EMEA and APAC regions will be able to purchase FortiCare 360° Cloud Services by the end of the fourth quarter of 2016. Please contact your authorized Fortinet distributor for additional details and pricing.
Additional Resources
- Please visit Fortinet's FortiCare Support and Services homepage for more details.
- Follow Fortinet on Twitter and LinkedIn, and Facebook.
- Join the conversation on the Fortinet blog.
About Fortinet
Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) secures the largest enterprise, service provider, and government organizations around the world. Fortinet empowers its customers with intelligent, seamless protection across the expanding attack surface and the power to take on ever-increasing performance requirements of the borderless network - today and into the future. Only the Fortinet Security Fabric architecture can deliver security without compromise to address the most critical security challenges, whether in networked, application, cloud or mobile environments. Fortinet ranks #1 in the most security appliances shipped worldwide and more than 280,000 customers trust Fortinet to protect their businesses. Learn more at https://www.fortinet.com, the Fortinet Blog, or FortiGuard Labs.
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Solutions for factories and high-volume repair facilities.
Factory solutions are the gold standard for high-quality and high-volume operations that make, repair and refurbish PCs and Android devices. They reduce out-of-box-failures and improve first-time-fix rates using the world's best computer hardware diagnostics.
PC-Doctor Factory is the complete diagnostic solution for PC manufacturers and assemblers, as well as service centers and repair depots. Designed for the rigorous demands of both manufacturing and service environments, PC-Doctor Factory streamlines processes from incoming inspection to final systems test using industry-leading hardware diagnostics and system information tools. PC-Doctor Factory dramatically improves product quality, reduces troubleshooting time, and substantially reduces cost.
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Improve the quality and hardware integrity of Android based products with PC-Doctor for Android. With today's technology, users rely heavily on Android mobile devices and it is critical that the hardware operates reliably. Hardware failures deplete revenues and damage brand reputation. PC-Doctor for Android helps ensure that a device is in working order and that actionable problems are quickly and accurately identified.
If you are a small OEM/system builder or an end-user, you may wish to explore our Toolbox product.


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Seedhub Media
Grow With An Expert SEO Company
Seedhub Media is a top SEO marketing agency in Brighton, UK. We help businesses thrive with Organic & Local SEO, Citations, Link Building, Google My Business & Reputation management, Website solutions and more. Our team is available to serve you Monday to Friday, 10 AM to 6 PM. Seedhub Media was founded in 2019 by industry experts Simon Kensington-Fellows, and Andreas Georgiades. The company provides expert SEO services to 350+ businesses in the UK and overseas. Our mission? Our mission is to help businesses increase their organic visibility, conquer most competitive keywords, generate more leads, and beat the local competition. Think of us as your own team of SEO experts, with years of industry experience.
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+44 1273 074970
About Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. Brighton is 47 miles (76 km) south of London.Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. The ancient settlement of "Brighthelmstone" was documented in the Domesday Book (1086). From about 1730 it developed as a health resort. King George IV spent much time in the town and constructed the Royal Pavilion there.
Neighborhoods in Brighton, East Sussex
Abbotsford, Baldslow, Benfield Valley, Brighton Beach, Brighton Palace Pier, Brighton and Hove, Brunswick Town, Chuck Hatch, Coldean, Elm Grove, Felpham, Furnace Green, Glyndebourne, Gossops Green, Hangleton
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text: Home UAE Abu Dhabi India Regulator Issues Notice To Etihad On Jet Deal The Abu Dhabi carrier may have to make a tender offer to buy the entire 25 per cent public holding in Jet. by Reuters February 16, 2014 India's market regulator has issued a show-cause notice to Etihad Airways, asking whether the Abu Dhabi-based carrier violated takeover rules in acquiring a 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued the notice to Etihad on Wednesday and asked for a response on why it should not make a tender offer to Jet public shareholders as part of takeover rules, said the source. Etihad has been asked to respond within 21 days, said the source, declining to be named as the information is not public. India's Economic Times and Business Standard newspapers on Saturday first reported about SEBI's notice to Etihad. Etihad declined to comment on the notice when contacted by Reuters, while Jet did not immediately respond. A SEBI spokesman in Mumbai also declined to comment. The notice comes after India's antitrust regulator late last year observed that the acquisition pact resulted in Etihad's "joint control over Jet, more particularly over the assets and operations of Jet". If Etihad fails to respond to the notice, it will have to make a tender offer to buy the entire 25 per cent public holding in Jet as per Indian takeover rules, the Business Standard reported, citing unnamed sources close to the development. SEBI had earlier cleared the deal with a caveat that if another regulator says the deal involves a change in control they will reopen the case, the source told Reuters. The stake sale, which was announced in April last year and was cleared by India's federal cabinet in October, is meant to help Jet break out of a pattern of losses in the domestic airline business. 0 Comments Share Tweet Share Share


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[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/SHOWBIZ/10/01/polanski.support.backlash/art.polanskiportrait.gi.jpg caption="The case surrounding the arrest of director Roman Polanski has both supporters and critics."]
Lisa Respers France
While several high-profile actors and directors have rallied around Roman Polanski, not everyone in Hollywood believes he should be freed and forgiven.
In the face of a petition signed by notables such as Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese and John Landis calling for the immediate release of Polanski following his detainment in Switzerland, a backlash is building against such support.
"I can't believe that Hollywood has separated itself so completely from American morality," said Paul Petersen, a former child actor and president of A Minor Consideration, which advocates on behalf of young performers. "It is yet another case of Hollywood being out of sync with most of America."
Polanski pleaded guilty in 1977 to having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, but fled the United States before he could be sentenced.
Filed under: Crime & Punishment
Those are probably the same celebrities who rallied to vote for Obama.
The trial was tainted with conspiracy and political overtones. Why is this so difficult to forgive? Because the crime is perceived as the "crime of the decade" pedophilia? Yes, horrible, but can we at least deal with this on a case by case basis instead of pull the trigger on the headline alone?
Roman Polanski's mother died in a concentration camp and he himself was a survivor of Hitler's evil.
If Hitler had escaped punishment for 30 years, wouldn't Polanski still want Hitler brought to justice?
Evil is evil and justice needs to be done.
At least some of Hollywood has sense and can see that no matter who you are or how rich and famous you are a crime is a crime and you need to pay for it. Glad to see some of them actually have brains and use them.
Anderson Cooper goes beyond the headlines to tell stories from many points of view, so you can make up your own mind about the news. Tune in weeknights at 8 and 10 ET on CNN.
Questions or comments? Send an email
Want to know more? Go behind the scenes with AC361°


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Via BillMoyers.com:
This week marks both the fifth anniversary of the fiscal meltdown that almost tanked the world economy and the second anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, the movement that sparked heightened public awareness of income inequality. Yet the crisis is worse than ever – in the first three years of the recovery, 95 percent of the economic gains have gone only to the top one percent of Americans. And the share of working people in the U.S. who define themselves as lower class is at its highest level in four decades.
More and more are fighting back. According to Robert Reich, Bill Clinton's secretary of labor: "The core principle is that we want an economy that works for everyone, not just for a small elite. We want equal opportunity, not equality of outcome. We want to make sure that there's upward mobility again, in our society and in our economy."
This week, Reich joins Moyers & Company to discuss a new documentary film, Inequality for All, opening next week in theaters across the country. Directed by Jacob Kornbluth, the film aims to be a game-changer in our national discussion of income inequality. Reich, who Time magazine called one of the best cabinet secretaries of the 20th century, stars in this dynamic, witty and entertaining documentary.
A professor at the University of California Berkeley, Reich is the author of thirteen books, including The Work of Nations, which is available in 22 languages; Aftershock and Supercapitalism, which were best sellers; and his latest, Beyond Outrage: What Has Gone Wrong with Our Economy and our Democracy, and How to Fix It. He appears regularly on television and radio – you can hear him on public radio's Marketplace – and blogs about politics and economics at RobertReich.org.
A full transcript of the show is available here.
The Robert Reich Film, 'Inequality for All,' Premiers Sept. 27th 2013, watch the trailer.


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I support jailed Saudi Manal Al Sharif's right to drive. I support her right to join the men on the roads in her country, a country that has one of the highest car accident fatalities in the world, like most of the countries in the region.
See, having spent big chunks of my life in the Middle East, I most importantly support Manal's right to drive well—to stop at traffic lights, to use her turn signal, to look both ways, to wear her seat belt, move a speed lower than your body temprature, to remove her child from the dashboard, and tell the other kid hanging half way out the window to sit back in his car seat. This I wish for all the male and female drivers in the Middle East.
Driving means respect for the lives of your fellow human beings with whom you are sharing the roads, and I don't see a lot of that from my steering wheel. It's why I sometimes envy the women here who are only allowed to have drivers. They don't have to grind their teeth while someone makes a U-turn out of the far right lane, they don't have to patrol narrow streets looking for a place to triple park their car, they don't have to drown out hundreds of randomly honking horns. Whenever they need to go somewhere, they just call their driver and he drops them right at the door. While the driver is negotiating the roads, a woman can make her phone calls, grade papers, and listen to her iPod, take a nap, answer her e-mails. Of course, some people do all this while driving, too, further making me wish I had a driver.
For some women, like me, a driver is s a luxury, for others a form of subjugation. However, living without luxuries is easer for most—but not all–women than living under someone else's control.
I too remember when driving was my form of emancipation. I turned 16 and just like every American-born 16-year old, the first thing I wanted to do was get what I was entitled to: a drivers license. The only problem was we were living in Beirut. That meant no testing center for eager American teenagers. However, I wasn't about to let a license get in the way of my right to drive. We were in the middle of war, I explained to my mother, so who really cared about licenses. I figured the soldiers and the militias patrolling the roads wouldn't be interested in my legality as a driver so much as what I might possibly have hidden in the trunk. My incessant droning on about this, with the support of my brother, who at 15, was little Datsun on the Corniche one Sunday morning and tossed the keys at me. "You can go up to the Rouche and back," she told me. "That's it?" I complained.
But in that short drive, I skidded to avoid a car going the wrong way and forced my way into the other lane. Actually, it wasn't another lane so much as a funeral procession, and I was right behind the hearse of a militiaman whose people didn't take to kindly to my nouveau driving. After my mother negotiated us out of the situation, explaining that I had too many American notions about being 16 in my head, she took her place behind the driver's wheel and said, "You think driving is some kind of way to get your entire family killed?" my mother shouted. "This is not a game."
Middle East roads are stressful, requiring vigilance and patience. Most women who have fought hard for their right to drive did so with vigilance and patience. I hope they remember that on the road, along with all the others, male and female, behind the wheel.
People should also remember that driving isn't just a right. For all its stresses, it is also a privilege. I remember a well-intentioned European asking a boy from Gaza if his mother drove. "No," he said. "That's a shame," the lady said, her feminist indignation not registering with the boy. "Yes, imagine one day if I could make enough money to buy my parents a car," he answered. Many women here—clerks, maids, nursing assistants–must say that, too, as they stand in the 120 degree weather, often more than twice a day, hoping that an empty and affordable cab will eventually stop to take them to their jobs.


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A Treasure Trove of Science Videos
As a Public Radio Nerd (PRN), I've long enjoyed Science Friday, the weekly NPR call-in show that brings popular science to the masses. Hosted by Ira Flatow, a certifiable nerd in his own right -- I've run across him in aquarium hobbyist message boards, and Mac nerd message boards -- the show carries the tagline "Making Science User-Friendly™." And I think it succeeds. But it also has deep nerd cred, including a Twitter feed, three podcast feeds, and a website designed by FlatoGraphics: presumably Ira's brother Carl, whose website prominently features an M.C. Escher reference.
But none of that is the point of this post. No, the point here is to reveal the most wondrous trove of SciFri Science Videos I've yet seen -- dozens of awesome science demonstrations, brief nerdy discussions, nature videos, and so on. Check out great stuff like Water Balloons in Space:
Or how about Bending Balloons into Giant Flowers:
There are even non-balloon-related videos. Here's another best bet -- Inside the Seed Vault:
Go check out the SciFri Videos for lots, lots, lots more!


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Juice Plus+ takes pride in choosing the best family farms & fresh ingredients for its products. Read about plant-based nutrition and how Juice Plus+ is made.
Juice Plus+ loves hearing from the community, so here are some results from a recent online quiz about our products' ingredients and our programs.
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Learn which omega vitamins are essential, which ones aren't, omega benefits and why you should add them to your routine today!
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Welcome to Briar Creek Township Police Department's web portal on the CRIMEWATCH Network. We ask that you use the information found on this site responsibly. Working in partnership with the community we can proactively prevent crime, support victim recovery and hold offenders accountable.
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Now you can receive alerts through email about crime and arrests in your local community. Click here to sign up for free.
CRIMEWATCH® and the Eye Design are registered trademarks of CRIMEWATCH Technologies, Inc. © 2023 CRIMEWATCH Technologies, Inc.
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Iran's crude exports to its biggest customer, Asia, fell by a quarter in 2012 and shipments this year are expected to drop by at least 12 percent under U.S. sanctions pressure, but ample alternative supplies will keep refiners flush with oil.
Asia's main oil buyers cut imports from Iran to an average of 1.09 million barrels per day in 2012, government and industry data shows, and planned cuts in term contracts for 2013 point to further reductions of at least 135,000 bpd.
However, experts say overall cuts would have to be deeper to secure further waivers from the U.S. sanctions that are aimed at forcing Iran to halt its nuclear programme and which have made shipping and paying for Iranian oil difficult, cutting overall exports by more than half in 2012.
From Asia, Iran lost $14 billion worth of oil exports for the year, according to Reuters calculations. Exports will remain under pressure this year as well as the United States lobbies Asian countries to further reduce purchases, even though Iranian exports last month rose to their highest since the EU imposed sanctions in July.
(Read More: Iran's Bark Bigger Than Bite on Oil)
An abundance of alternative supplies, mainly from the Middle East, of oil that is of similar quality to what Iran exports and stable prices mean Asian buyers will be able to easily make up for the loss in shipments from Iran.
"Thanks to the efforts of Saudi Arabia, growth of production in Iraq and the United States, I do not expect any major difficulty in terms of meeting global oil demand this year," said Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency which advises industrialised nations on energy policies.
The drop in Iranian exports "will not affect the market in a negative sense", he told reporters in Tokyo.
Almost all of Iran's exports flow to Asia.
Winners and Losers
Most Asian refiners have so far been unaffected by the lack of Iranian oil as they have complex processing facilities that allow them to switch from one type of crude to another. Only Sri Lanka was forced to shut its sole Iran oil-specific refinery.
A further reduction in Iranian exports may drive up costs if more and more buyers go after the same alternative crude, but that scenario is so far unlikely because of plentiful supplies.
(Read More: Iran in Position to Threaten Oil Lanes)
The top beneficiaries of Iran's reduced exports last year were Saudi Arabia, Angola, Iraq, Venezuela and Russia as these countries ramped up shipments to plug the shortfall from Iran.
Top exporter Saudi Arabia cut production by 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the final two months of 2012, partly because of the weak global demand outlook. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' latest report indicated world supply will comfortably outstrip demand in the first half of 2013.
"The reduction in Iranian supplies so far has not affected any of the major refiners in Asia," said Victor Shum, senior partner at IHS Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.
"Supplies are plentiful and, directionally, OPEC spare capacity is actually increasing because of the Saudi cutbacks to replace any Iranian supplies."
Cutting Shipments
Iran's biggest oil customer, China, reduced imports by 21 percent to 438,448 barrels per day (bpd) in 2012, while the deepest reduction was made by Japan, which cut 40 percent of imports to 189,076 bpd.
South Korea slashed imports by 36 percent to 153,400 bpd and India reduced purchases by 1.7 percent to 315,200 bpd.
(Read More: Iran Oil Revenue Shrinks as Sanctions Sting)
Japan's oil imports from Iran may be about 15 percent lower this year, capped roughly at 160,000 bpd, and may possibly be cut further, said Yasushi Kimura, the chairman of JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp, the country's top refiner.
China may reduce its purchases from Iran by a further 5 to 10 percent in 2013, industry sources said, which would amount to a reduction of 20,000-40,000 bpd.
India plans to cut oil imports from Iran by 10 to 15 percent in the next fiscal year, while South Korean refiners will cut imports of Iranian crude during the six months to May by about a fifth from a year earlier.
"If you ask me, can we cut more, yes we can cut more," said a senior official at a Japanese refiner who declined to be named because he was not authorised to talk to the media.
"And I believe Japanese refineries are configured to process other grades without cutting runs. As to why Asians import Iranian crude, it is because they are competitive."
(Additional reporting by Ramya Venugopal, Florence Tan and Randy Fabi in Singapore, Risa Maeda in Tokyo, Meeyoung Cho in Seoul, Aizhu Chen and Judy Hua in Beijing, Nidhi Verma in New Delhi; Editing by Miral Fahmy)


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Ahrefs API v2 has been discontinued
This documentation is for the legacy version of our API (v2), which you can no longer subscribe to. If you already have an active API v2 subscription, it will still work as before. Read about our latest API v3.
Integrations is designed for developers to build applications by using Ahrefs Index data. As a matter of fact, thousands of Ahrefs users probably have a thousand different ways to use our data. Therefore, we encourage developers to come and access our API for FREE, develop useful applications to cater to the needs of our Ahrefs users.
Our goal is to build an ecosystem to maximise our data for the benefits of both developers and Ahrefs users.
What you, as a developer, need to do is to prove the usefulness of your application to our customers and ask them to authorise it using a simple one-click procedure.
Ahrefs subscribed users have the right to revoke your application access anytime.
You, as a developer, get the right to sell your app to thousands of our users. We encourage you to place your app in our catalogue to enjoy the best exposure to thousands of Ahrefs users.
How to get started to build your first app?
|Step 1
|App Submission: Submit app with detailed description using Submit Application Form . Wait while your query is processed. We'll contact you in case we need to clarify any details.
|Step 2
|Integrating Authorisation into App: Once your app is approved, move to the next step of having authorisation integrated into your application with the help of OAuth2. More details on 2 variants of integrating the authorisation into your application here.
|Step 3
|Ahrefs API setup: Set up using Ahrefs API data in your app. More details in API Documentation.


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Yesterday we said "Happy trails!" to one of the classiest guys to ever lace up skates. After 20 seasons in the NHL (with the same franchise, no less), Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche called it a day. Sadness!
A native of Burnaby, BC, Sakic was chosen 15th overall by Quebec (NORDS!) in the 1987 NHL draft and made his debut with the team in October of 1988. The list of accomplishments over the next two decades would describe any hockey player's dream career: two Stanley Cups with Colorado (1996 and 2001), Conn Smythe and Lady Byng winner, member of Canada's Gold-winning men's hockey team at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, 16 straight seasons as captain for Quebec/Colorado, 8th all-time in NHL points scored (1,641)
It's a shame that Joe couldn't call it a career under better circumstances. His final season was plagued with nasty injuries and the Avalanche crumbled. We probably won't see him on the ice for the 2010 Vancouver Games. I'm keeping my fingers crossed hoping he'll be there in another capacity, and I don't mean ticket holder.
So enjoy our final tribute to the cuteness that is Joe Sakic – at least until he makes the Hockey Hall of Fame – after the jump.
The hair was indeed great, but is Joe's character that we will remember him for, on and off the ice: classy, stoic, hard-working, dignified. Of course, what everyone really remembers about Joe is not the clutch goals, or the awards, or the gold medal. It's the handoff – when Captain Joe accepted the 2001 Stanley Cup from Darth Bettman and handed it immediately to beloved championship-hungry veteran Ray Bourque. If you don't get the least bit choked up after watching the final 90 seconds of this, you are made of stone.
Thanks, Joe! We miss you already!