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Don Bohn
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Learn more about corporations VOTING to rewrite our laws.
Donald W. Bohn is the Vice President for State Government Affairs and a lobbyist for Johnson & Johnson.[1][2] Johnson & Johnson is an international health care company based in New Jersey. It was founded in 1886 and quickly expanded. Brands and products include: OneTouch glucose testing, Acuvue contacts, Listerine, Aveeno, Neutrogena, Neosporin, RoC, Band-aid, Tylenol, Splenda, Carefree and Visine. They also sell prescription drugs and medical supplies including Cordis and Ethicon.[3]
Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council
Bohn served on the Private Enterprise Board of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) as of 2011.[4]
|About ALEC
ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve "model" bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our ExposedbyCMD.org site.
Related SourceWatch articles
- ↑ Center for Responsive Politics, Lobbyist Profile: Summary, 2011: Bohn, Donald W., OpenSerets.org lobbying database, accessed July 8, 2011
- ↑ New Jersey Business and Industry Association, NJBIA Honors Johnson & Johnson With Award for Excellence, NJBIA News, trade association newsletter, October 19, 2005
- ↑ Company Description: Johnson & Johnson, Hoovers, accessed December 2009
- ↑ American Legislative Exchange Council, Private Enterprise Board, organizational website, accessed July 8, 2011
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Our Favorite Trail Running Shoes
Check out our Best Trail Running Shoes article to learn about our current favorite trail running shoes!
Pearl Izumi E:Motion Trail M2 Review
The Pearl Izumi Trail M2 ($125) has been a popular option for the bulk of the trail running crowd looking for an everyday trainer. Find out why in the follow in-depth review.
[Click here if you can't see the video above.]
Pearl Izumi E-Motion Trail M2 Review Transcript
The Pearl Izumi Trail M2 comes from the E-Motion line which was launched this year. The M2 stands for midfoot stability: the "M" is midfoot, "2" tells you the amount of cushioning. Previously on iRunFar, we looked at the Pearl Izumi Trail N1 (N = neutral, 1 = amount of cushioning). This is a slightly more stable, slightly more cushioned version of that trail shoe. It offers a dynamic offset in the heel-toe drop that ranges from 4 to 7.5mm, offers a seamless upper, and has some other great features. So what we're going to do now is get up close and personal and take a closer look at the Pearl Izumi E:Motion Trail M2.
We'll start off by taking a look at the outsole. On the bottom here, we can see we have a medium to low-depth tread pattern all the way across the bottom. We have both reverse lugs and standard facing lugs. So whether we're going uphill or downhill, we've got brakes or help with climbing. We can see some cut-outs here in the middle where the rock plate is. This rock plate is not super hard as you can get some twist in here, but it is definitely enough to keep things from poking through. Really, it's a general purpose outsole. It's going to work across a variety of different types of trails—groomed trails, technical trails—you're going to have enough down there that is really going to help you though in mud. And slop, it's probably not deep enough to help through that. But for the most part, it's going to get you through 90% of the trail conditions that are out there and should perform well across all of them. I also wore this on the road a fair amount and really felt good about the way that it felt. They didn't have enough lug there that it would interrupt when you're on a road section.
Next up, we'll move into the midsole. The midsole, at first glance, really looks like it's one piece and one kind of foam all the way around. But what happens as we get into this section right here in the middle, there are actually a couple of spots here where you can see a slightly different type of foam right here under the arch. You really have to look for it even with the bare eye, so I don't know that the camera will pick it up. Right in here there is a spot where this is actually a different type of foam. You can feel a seam back here and there is one up here. It's a slightly denser type of foam which is like a post but it's not significant. When you push your thumb in here, you can kind of feel the difference. It's going to be more dense here, less dense in the heel and the forefoot, but adding just enough pronation control—more of a fatigue post, I would say—to give you a little extra bit of stability or bounce back when your form falls down later on in a race. As we move through the midsole, it's a medium cushioning, I would say. It's above that minimal-type feel. It is firm. It is responsive, but there's enough there that it gives you just the right amount of cushioning without being too bloated and losing too much feel for the trail.
As we move up into the upper, this is one of the best parts of the shoe, I think. Pearl Izumi has been doing this for awhile now and I feel like they've really gotten it right on this shoe, at least for me. They have a seamless upper. As we look around on this upper, we have some welded overlays on here that are adding some structure and stability that are going to use our laces and attach at the top to really make a nice grip on the shoe. But as we move our hand around inside of it, there are very, very few seams. You can hardly feel any at all. They call it a seamless upper, so that makes sense. You'll notice a little bit of stitching, and there is going to be some stitching here where the tongue is going to attach. This is a non-gusseted tongue here which is a little bit of a let-down. It is a wide tongue and it is fabric so it's not large foam or anything like that, so I feel that it creates a nice seal inside of the shoe without letting debris in other ways. That tongue goes just below this, a quarter way down this part of the shoe on both the medial and lateral sides. Again, this is a seamless upper. You'll notice a couple layers of mesh here, so it's very breathable. My toes were able to move in it well.
Another thing I think is a nice improvement in this year's E-Motion line versus something like last year's Peak II was the amount of room in the toe box. This is a size 9. In the previous Pearl Izumi's, the toe box was very low and very narrow. I had to go up almost to a size 10 before I could really feel like it was comfortable and then I had way too much shoe hanging off the end. These, to me, fit true-to-size and because of the taller toe box and the mesh up here, it really lets your toes wiggle around. So there's a lot of room up front that allows your foot to expand as needed. Also, there is just enough protection. We have a toe bumper on the front and some kind of suede fabric here on the sides that are going to add extra reinforcement to keep punctures out. This is not hard so it's not going to really deflect everything. You do have a relatively good toe bumper here on the front that is going to help kick things off to the side if you connect with them head-on.
As we move to the back, we do have a heel cup in here. You can see where that starts as we push this down. It is a molded heel cup. Again, overall feel of this shoe: very good fit, very glove-like fit. This was not something that bothered me going uphill our pounding downhill. I felt like everything held in nice and tight. I didn't really notice anything too bothersome about it.
As we move around here and look at the laces, you can see they have these sausage link-type laces which are going to help the shoes stay tied a bit better. It creates these little gaps here where the laces interlocks with each other and gives a nice tight hold. If it does start to come loose, it unloosens slowly versus all at once which keeps you from tripping over your feet if it does happen to you. The ankle is slightly padded but not overly padded. It's definitely padded enough to provide security, protection, and comfort. Lastly, we're able to tighten that up and cinch that down very tightly as we can see that this piece of fabric from both sides links around back of the shoe so we can create that tension here and give us a little bit of extra security around the cuff. Again, this shoe felt great out-of-box, and has a good, secure fit for someone like myself. I was really pleased overall with it.
In closing, this is one of the best first-feel shoes that I've put on, maybe ever. It was one of those shoes that I put on and right out of the box had a great feel with the seamless upper and just really felt great on my foot. It offers a great midfoot wrap. It offers adequate traction. It offers just enough stability for someone like me who is not a fully neutral runner or is not able to run a lot of big miles in a neutral shoe. The dynamic offset just feels good. I don't know if it's a 7.5 or a 4mm, but I'm coming from running most of my miles in a 10mm drop trail shoe. I didn't feel like this put an extra load on my Achilles or made me do extra work for lack of a better term. It just felt right. So if you're like me and need a little bit of stability and a little bit more cushioning over the neutral or the minimal type shoes, go check out the new Pearl Izumi Trail M2.
If you have any questions or comments, leave them below the video and thanks for watching. We'll catch you next time.

subset: commoncrawl


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Tagged: really observing baseball
Survey of Adults' Perception of Baseball
I may have mentioned this is some other entry but here's the actual layout of the survey:
- This teacher actually watched as a kid but stopped in the 90's because of the McGwire and Sosa steroids issue. His answer was: he would like to see more integrity in the game, less money, and more teams made up of non-superstars.
- I actually never asked him question 1 because he mentioned in a class that he didn't watch sports. His answer was: An athlete should be gracious in both defeat and success. He repeated the same concept in different forms trying to get it just right. I have a feeling about what he meant. He was trying to get at that an athlete should not cry in defeat nor should he dance in victory. He should have grace no matter what the outcome. For example, if he loses, he should just walk off the field, comfort other teammates, and start preparing for the next game (professionally).
- He just thinks that professional athletes are a spoiled bunch. (Can anyone argue that this isn't true in New York?) His answer was: he wanted to see less athletes living the fast life (he gave the example of Derek Jeter but I hope he meant it in terms of attitude because has anyone seen his mansion:
- The player tries his best 7
- The player is a good teammate 6
- The player is a good role model 5
- The player is a leader 5
- The player is a hard worker 4
Sabermetrics (the explanation)
Many have read the phenomenon known as Moneyball by Michael Lewis. So then, many know that Billy Beane,
used statistics such as On-Base Percentage and Slugging Percentage to find undervalued players. What most people don't know is why. This is where the title "Observing Baseball" comes into play. I didn't get why either until I applied that knowledge to games that I watched. When one truly observes baseball, everything makes more sense.
But enough of the fancy words, let's get to explaining. I will list different Sabermetric statistics and show why they help to find the value of a player.
On-Base Percentage- For those who don't know, this statistics measures how many times a batter got on base over the total amount of times he appeared at home plate. This is as opposed to the common statistic of Batting Average. This statistics is obviously tilted more to the favor of hitters who walk a lot:
The advantage that it holds over Batting Average is that hitting goes through hot streaks and slumps, walks are a state of mind so they are a consistent source of base-runners. For example, Mark Teixera (is that right?) has a Batting Average of around .200 in the month of April but his On-Base Percentage always stays around .100 above his Batting Average and he helps his team in that way and is not completely dead weight. The idea behind it is: the more base-runners a team has, the more chances they have to score. To them, the only difference between a single and a walk is that the walk probably made the opposing pitcher throw more pitches and is even better than a single.
Slugging Percentage- If any of you had the following question about On-Base Percentage, "Mister, isn't there any value in the player that hits for extra bases, because you would still need four walks before you got three outs to score a single run and those don't seem like good odds to me," you would have a good point. Slugging Percentage is the Total Bases [(Singles*1)+(Doubles*2)+(Triples*3)+(Home Runs*4)] of a hitter over the number of At-Bats. This gives you how many bases a hitter gives you every At-Bat. This is how staisticians evaluate how well a hitter can hit for power instead of the scout's way of watching them. I personally like both but prefer the stats if you can get them because it helps to remove yourself as an evaluator and prevents instinctual decision. Moving on… this statistic prefers players who hit doubles, triples and Home Runs as opposed to singles. So:
Instead of this:
I don't feel like making separate categories for them but there are various statistics made out of combining the On-Base and Slugging Percentages. The simplest and most common is On-base Plus Slugging percentage which is just the two component statistics. The second is Gross Production Average which takes into account the Sabermetrician's thought that On-Base is 180% more important than Slugging Percentage so this is (On-Base*1.8)+(Slugging Percentage). The final hybrid is Runs Created, which is like a modified slugging percentage in which Walks are entered as Singles and the Total Bases are over Plate Appearances instead of At-Bats.
Range factor- Onto the fielding statistics. Range factor is less Sabermetric in the fact that it is a low tech version of UZR (more on that later). It can be affected significantly by luck. Now, Range Factor is the number of assists and putout a fielder has times 9 over the number innings that player played. It is meant to show how much ground a player can cover by using how many plays the fielder was involved in but does not account for the plays where the ball comes right to the fielder.
Ultimate Zone Rating- The high tech Range Factor, Ultimate Zone Rating divides the field into different zones and identifies how well a fielder got to balls hit in the different zones compared to the people at their same position that year and shows how many runs the fielder either cost or saved their team. This is the statistical measurement for fielding. All the other stats are just this stat derived in different ways. For example, Ultimate Zone Rating plus accounts for the player's home park. So a player in snug Fenway wouldn't get more credit than a player in a more spacious park like PETCO to name one.
Pitching Statistics- There are almost no individual pitching statistics. There are three types of Sabermetric statistics
1. Ratios per innings pitched- This includes the likes of ERA, K/9, BB/9, H/9, WHIP etc. These are just to see what a pitcher would do over nine innings using the numbers that stats already show. For example, what sounds better 10 walks over 22 innings pitched or 4.09 walks per nine innings pitched.
2. Defense independent or Park independent statistics- This would include DIERA which takes your defenses range or arm out of the equation. So this stops your right fielder's incredibly heavy feet from affecting your ERA if he doesn't quite get to a ball that turned into a double. It would also include ERA+ which takes your home ballpark out of the equation so a Rockie's pitcher can compare to a Twin's pitcher.
3. Component Statistics- This would be CERA which calculates what a pitcher's ERA should be by using his Strike-outs, Hits, Doubles, Triples, Home Runs, Hit Batters, and Walks. My only complaint about these is that they tend to favor pitchers that strike out a lot of hitters. So under this system a Trevor Cahill should do worse than Jonathan Sanchez every season. It discounts the fact that a pitcher can make a ball get hit softer and will then have less hits on balls in play than a pitcher who gets hit harder.
I hope this explains any questions you have about stats, and for the record, I haven't been lazy the past… what has it been, twenty days. It's just that nothing that important happened.


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It is getting closer to the day of the premiere of Starz Da Vinci's Demons, an unusual new show centered around the younger days of Leonardo Da Vinci, and Starz has released the new poster, above, to entice viewers to check out the show.
Da Vinci's Demons will premiere Friday, April 12, at 10pm ET/PT on the Starz network. It's the brainchild of David S. Goyer, who is credited with the story for The Dark Knight Rises and the upcoming Man of Steel. I attended a press roundtable for the show at last fall's New York Comic Con and found Goyer and his cast excited about the work they're doing, though they were careful to avoid possible spoilers, which made describing the show a little difficult.
Series star Tom Riley (Leonardo) described his character as a cross between Indiana Jones and Sherlock Holmes, while Goyer described his creation as a "historical fantasy." There certainly have also been hints of Leonardo's sense of fun, similar to Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark, in the preview trailer that Starz has been airing.
Mission accomplished. I'm intrigued.


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Video: car amplifier channels
How many channels do I need for my amp?
Heads up!Welcome to this article from the Crutchfield archives. Have fun reading it, but be aware that the information may be outdated and links may be broken.
One of the first steps in choosing an amplifier for your car audio system is to decide how you intend to use the amplifier, and thus how many channels it should have. This short video gives you a quick overview to help answer that question.
Check out all our entire selection of car amplifiers at crutchfield.com/amps.
Read video transcript
Zak: When you're shopping for an amplifier the first question to ask yourself is,
"How am I going to use it?"
"Am I going to power a sub or two subs?"
"One pair or two pairs of speakers, or maybe subs and speakers?"
Knowing this helps you make the first decision: which type of amp to buy based on how many output channels and how much power you need. So then let's take a look at the different types of amplifiers based on the number of output channels they have. Mono amps have one output channel. They're usually used to power subwoofers. And depending on the amp and the impedance of the subwoofers you can connect one, two or even more subs to just one mono amp.
Ken: 2-channel amps offer more versatility. You can use the two output channels to power a pair of speakers like the ones in your car's front doors. And most 2-channel amps can also be bridged. This combines the output of the two channels into a single channel. It's a great way to power a subwoofer.
Zak: 4-channel amps give you the most options. They're perfect for powering a couple pairs of speakers. You can also enjoy the best of both worlds by using two of the amp's channels to power a pair of full-range speakers in the front of the car while bridging the output of the other two channels to drive a sub. You'll get clean highs and powerful lows out of one package.
Amplifiers don't stop at four channels though. 5-channel amps let you power your entire system with just one amplifier. They have four channels for powering your front and rear speakers and a fifth, higher-powered channel for powering your subwoofers. Plus, a 5-channel amp takes up less space and it's easier to install than two separate amplifiers. A 5-channel amp is a good investment if you want to build a system that has a lot of flexibility and room to grow.
Ken: To see all the amps we carry go to crutchfield.com/amps and be sure to check out which wiring kits we recommend.
Zak: To learn more about choosing the right amplifier, go to crutchfield.com/ampguide.
Ken: And for personal, one-on-one help, call 1-800-555-9408.


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Metal-Fab provides complete and comprehensive venting solutions to the HVAC, Hearth and Plumbing markets. Founded in 1958 on the premise that offering better products and services would be the key to our success.
Metal-Fab continues to operate today as a privately held entity with the same core values that lead to success while creating steady, stable growth over the past six decades.
Customer needs are the highest priority at Metal-Fab that is why every customer receives a unique experience while choosing from a full line of high-quality venting products for commercial, residential and industrial applications.
Cutting-edge manufacturing systems, innovative designs, patent products, unmatched product quality, and a focus for detail have resulted in a leadership position within the industries Metal-Fab serves. Our constant product improvement process and experience in developing and engineer products for safe, efficient appliance operation sets Metal-Fab apart from the competition.
Corr/Guard® is tested and listed to UL 1738 for positive pressures up to 15" w.g., featuring a durable AL29-4C super ferritic stainless steel flue designed for extreme resistance to chloride ion pitting, crevice corrosion, stress corrosion cracking, and corrosion in moderately reducing environments. FCS Corr/Guard® incorporates an integral joint sleeve for easy joint alignment and aids in shingle condensate across the joint, preventing excessive joint corrosion and leakage. FCS products are manufactured with continuous laser-welded seams and casings, improving durability and reliability and increased efficiency.
Single and Double-Wall Positive Pressure Special Gas Vent engineered for venting today's high-efficiency natural gas-burning or propane-fired appliances, categories II, III, and IV as defined by the Standard for Gas-Fired Central Furnaces, ANSI Z21.47 and NFPA 54.
When venting gas appliances always consult the appliance installation instructions. Horizontal runs, elbows, offsets, vertical height, may be limited by appliance performance specifications.
Horizontal runs must slope a minimum of ¼": 12" (6mm-305mm). Neutral or negative pressure systems must slope upward – away from the appliance. The positive pressure within the vent may slope upward or downward. Provide condensate drainage where required.
Vertical runs are directional-specific and must be properly supported. Supports are required above every offset to prevent vertical loading on elbows.
Corr/Guard products are designed for use on today's highly efficient condensing appliances. UNS S44735 (i.e. AL29-4C), a Superferritic Stainless Steel was the first steel to successfully exceed the requirements of UL 1738, "Standard For Venting Systems For Gas-Burning Appliances, Categories II, III, and IV." It is considered the benchmark for condensing flue materials.
For use with high-efficiency category II, III, and IV natural gas-burning or propane-fired appliances including gas boilers, furnaces, booster heaters, pool heaters, unit and radiant tube heaters, and direct vent appliances.
Click to see Appliance Vent Categories
|Listing Standard
|Flue Material Specification:
0.015, AL29-4C Stainless Steel
|Casing Material Specifications:
0.018, Aluminized (Standard)
|Max Operating Temperature:
|550º F (288 C)
|Max Operating Pressure:
|15" w.g.
|Clearance to Combustibles ENCLOSED – VERTICAL @550ºF (288 C)
|Clearance to Combustibles UNENCLOSED HORIZONTAL or VERTICAL @ 550º F (288 C)
|Joint Connection:
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Instagram Thinks These 10 Photo Communities Are So Great Advertisers Should Copy Them
Late last year, Instagram made the much fretted-over decision to start introducing ads into users' photo feeds. The first few ad campaigns that we spotted–like the first one, from Michael Kors–looked very put together, but they also looked staged.
Earlier this week, however, Instagram took a big step forward in helping advertisers figure out what works on the social network by starting a "Tools and Tips for Marketers" blog. It also published a book "The Instagram Handbook For Brands," which profiles 11 companies that have been successfully posting very engaging content on the network.
The underlying message from Instgram: If you're going to advertise on Instagram, your ads should fit into our way of doing things and be beautiful.
The handbook also features ten popular Instagram hashtags that have grown to support strong communities. Instagram wants brands to check them out to get inspiration for how to build a community that is packed with collaborative creativity.
#chasinglight: Users notice (and capture!) the places where light hides.
#thingsorganizedneatly: Users capture a selection of related objects arranged, well... neatly.
#notfakesymmetry: Users photograph symmetry out in the wild.
#makeportraits: Users taking striking photos of their friends, loved ones, or strangers.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
See Also:


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Utah Registered Agent
A Utah registered agent is required by law for every formal business in the state of Utah. A registered agent receives all official paperwork from the State of Utah, they also receive any service of process a business may be served in a lawsuit.
In our Utah Registered Agent guide, we'll go over everything related to what a registered agent is, what they do, and how to pick one.
Recommended: Get a free year of registered agent services when you form an LLC with Northwest Registered Agent ($29 plus state fees).
What Is A Utah Registered Agent?
A Utah registered agent is an individual or business entity that acts as the point of contact for your business for:
- All communication with the State of Utah, such as the Utah Annual Report and certificate of good standing
- Receives all service of process for the business in any lawsuit
Every formal business in Utah eg LLC, corporation, etc is required by law to have a registered agent.
For more information on the role of registered agents, read our What is a Registered Agent guide.
For help forming your LLC, use our How to Start an LLC in Utah guide.
Can I Be My Own Registered Agent In Utah?
Yes, any owner or employee of a business can be its registered agent in Utah as long as they are over the age of 18, and have a street address in Utah.
You could also choose to elect a member of your LLC, or even a friend you trust, as long as the person meets these requirements too.
Though many businesses prefer to use a professional registered agent service. To learn more about the Best Registered Agent Services of 2023, read our guide.
Why Businesses Use a Utah Registered Agent Service
Many businesses choose to use a registered agent service when they form an LLC, here are some of the major reasons why:
A registered agent service maintains a compliance calendar and will remind you when annual reports or other filings are due, and help you file them.
This helps you to avoid fines and keeps your company in good standing, which is important to maintain your limited liability protection.
Legal complications, fees, or any other issues can arise if you do not respond quickly to service of process. A registered agent will scan your documents, share them with you online, and notify you when they are available.
If you work from home, or even a private office, and act as your own registered agent, your address will be published publicly on the Utah Business Name Search.
If you value your privacy, a registered agent service will use their own address in place of yours.
Receiving service of process for a lawsuit at your business can be a sensitive situation to have happen in front of your employees and clients.
To avoid having this issue a registered agent will receive any service of process and other documents at their office, and discreetly deliver them to you online.
If you are your own registered agent, you must be available at all normal business hours, every working day of the year.
Registered agent services run physical offices and have staff to cover those hours, so they can be available at those times
Hiring a registered agent service allows you to be more flexible in the hours and locations you work. So, take a vacation, work from home or the office, or travel the world, knowing they're around to take your paperwork.
Online Storage
A good registered agent service will scan your documents as soon as they are received, storing a digital copy of all your business documents and any service of process available on a convenient dashboard.
Typically, if you've used an LLC formation service, you will also use them as a registered agent. This means that a copy of your formation documents will also be available online.
Having all of this information, available as PDFs, is very helpful when you need to do things for your business, such as opening a business bank account, applying for a business credit card, applying for small business loans, and many more things that require a copy of your documents.
National Coverage
If you plan on expanding your business into other states like if you're hiring an out-of-state employee or opening a new sales office, a registered agent is necessary for your foreign LLC or other entity.
Most registered agent services operate in all 50 states and Washington D.C. Just pay a little extra for the new state you operate in, and they will deliver all those documents to the same online dashboard.
How Much Does a Registered Agent Cost?
The cost of hiring a registered agent service is typically around $50 to $300 per year. This is a small cost when you consider how much time it will save you — it's well worth the price.
Best Utah Registered Agent Service
Northwest is the best registered agent service based on overall quality and transparent pricing. Northwest offers a seamless user experience and best-in-industry customer service and privacy protection.
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How Do I Elect A Registered Agent In Utah?
In Utah, you will be required to elect your registered agent when you complete your LLC's Certificate of Organization. The Certificate of Organization is the main LLC formation document in Utah.
Electing a Registered Agent Online
To form your LLC online, create an account through Utah OneStop ($70 filing fee required). You'll gain access to all the resources you need to appoint a registered agent and form your LLC online.
Electing a Registered Agent by Mail
To form your LLC by mail, download the Certificate of Organization form ($70 filing fee required), fill out the required fields, and submit a physical copy to the Department of Commerce. Your registered agent's name and contact information will be requested in Section 3.
How Do I Change My Registered Agent In Utah?
To change your Utah registered agent, simply fill out a Registration Information Change form and submit it to the Utah Department of Commerce along with the $15 filing fee paid by check, money order, or credit card (online).
Utah has different change forms for different types of business structures:
- Corporation
- Limited Liability Company (LLC)
- General Partnership (GP)
- Limited Partnership (LP)
- Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)
- Business Trust
- Uniform Limited Cooperative Association
You can submit your completed form online or by mail:
Utah Division of Corporations & Commercial Code
P.O. Box 146705
Salt Lake City, UT 84114-6705
Overnight Mail:
Utah Division of Corporations & Commercial Code
160 East 300 South, 2nd Floor (or 160 East Broadway)
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Registered Agent FAQ
Do I need a registered agent in Utah?
Every U.S. state, with the exception of New York, requires all corporations and limited liability companies (LLCs) to have a registered agent. A registered agent may be called different names in different states, such as a resident agent, a statutory agent, or an agent for service of process.
What does "service of process" mean?
Service of process means receiving legal documents, such as a summons. A summons is an order to appear before a judge due to a pending lawsuit.
Does registered agent mean owner?
No. A business owner can be a registered agent, but a registered agent is not necessarily a business owner.
How to Become a Registered Agent in Utah
To become a registered agent in Utah as an individual or business entity, you must:
- Be over the age of 18.
- Have a street address in Utah.
- Have the business you're representing list your name and address on their formation or change of registered agent documents.
After this, the State of Utah will send you official correspondence for annual reports, service of process, and other compliance information for the business you represent.
What is a registered agent service?
A registered agent service is a company that agrees to receive service of process for an LLC, corporation, or nonprofit.


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By Jason Zweig | 6:05 pm ET Feb. 14, 2014
Image Credit: Christophe Vorlet
Think it's hard to get objective advice about saving money for retirement? Try getting objective advice about taking out money during retirement.
Everyone has a vested interest. Brokerages, mutual-fund managers and insurance companies all earn fees on the investments they promote to retirees. Somehow, they always seem to make their own offerings sound the best.
Perhaps the biggest prize as investors take money out in retirement: the rollovers, or transfers, from 401(k) plans to individual retirement accounts. Cerulli Associates, a research firm based in Boston, estimates that workers rolled over nearly $358 billion from 401(k)s into IRAs last year—and that between 2014 and 2018, another $2.1 trillion will follow.
It is vital to understand a financial adviser's potential conflicts of interest. Investors often ask how much their advisers are getting paid for selling specific products. It also is important to know who educated them in the complexities of retirement planning—something few investors think to ask.
Consider one firm that is prominent in this arena, Table Bay Financial Network of San Diego.
Table Bay trains certified public accountants and financial advisers on the ins and outs of the distribution and taxation of retirement assets. It pairs advisers with accountants who want to offer retirement planning to their clients. Table Bay also markets retirement products, including fixed annuities, to the advisers.
Table Bay is neither a distributor nor an investment adviser and it doesn't interact directly with investors, says the firm's president and head of marketing, Barry Bulakites.
The firm forgoes charging accountants and advisers for the training. Instead, it earns a share of revenue from annuities or other insurance products the advisers end up selling after learning about them through Table Bay.
"We believe that many Americans simply are oblivious to the fact that their IRAs and 401(k)s are tax-infested," Mr. Bulakites says.
"People are just drifting into retirement completely unaware of the ramifications of taxes on these accounts and on their heirs," he says. "The biggest thing we're trying to get to is not to have the client make a mistake and impact their retirement in a negative way."
Mr. Bulakites estimates that about 7,200 accountants have received some form of training from Table Bay; 200 to 300 of them, he says, work closely with the firm, including 57 who operate retirement-focused Table Bay affiliates called
America's Tax Solutions.
Meanwhile, more than 250 financial advisers "from sea to shining sea" do business with Table Bay regularly, Mr. Bulakites says.
One adviser recently forwarded me two emails he had received from Table Bay. The first offered a Maserati to advisers who sell at least $7.5 million in annuities in 2014 and a BMW, Range Rover or Porsche for at least $6 million in sales.
The second email linked to a flier for a seminar featuring an index annuity paying a 9% commission. The flier promised that the seminar would help convert "shoppers" and "plate-lickers" into customers, producing "HUGE commissions."
Could awarding Maseratis and other luxury cars encourage advisers to favor high-fee products that might not be ideal for clients?
"There's layers of compliance [at brokerages and advisory firms] that won't let an inappropriate product be sold," Mr. Bulakites says. "We're not the only one with offers like that. What this does is steer some of the business to us that would have been written anyway with those products."
He says that the firm has removed the flier with the term "plate-licker." That term, Mr. Bulakites says, is used among brokers to describe an investor who attends seminars not to learn about retirement strategies but simply "for the free meal."
Mr. Bulakites says he conducts approximately 250 training sessions a year for accountants and advisers. His biography on Table Bay's website says that he is "an innovator" in "the exploding retirement marketplace."
Mr. Bulakites's biography doesn't mention a settlement in 2008 with the Department of Labor, in which he consented to be permanently barred from serving as a fiduciary to a retirement plan.
Under the terms of the settlement, Mr. Bulakites denied any wrongdoing. The government claimed that he had misappropriated money from the retirement plans of a small company in Connecticut.
Along with a partner and a firm they co-owned, Mr. Bulakites paid $500,000 to the retirement plans to settle private lawsuits over the same case, according to him and court records.
Mr. Bulakites attributes the problem to a series of internal miscommunications at the client company about the retirement plan. "What was claimed never happened," he says. "No one ever proved that any money was missing or that we ever did anything wrong."
All this is a reminder that when you hire a retirement adviser, don't just ask what he knows. Ask who taught him what he knows.
Source: The Wall Street Journal


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text:
Select Works of the British Poets: In a Chronological Series from Ben Jonson to Beattie
J. Whetham & Son, 1841 - 807 pages
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Common terms and phrases
Adam angels appear arms bear beast behold bound bring brought clouds comes dark death deep delight divine dread Earth eyes face fair faith fall fate father fear field fire flame force fruit give glory gods grace ground hand happy hast hath head hear heard heart Heaven Hell hill honor hope kind king land leave length less light live look Lord lost mind morn Nature never night o'er once pain peace plain reason rest rise Satan seat seek shade side sight soon soul sound spirits stand stood strength sweet taste tell thee things thou thought throne till tree turn virtue voice winds wings
Popular passages
Page 146 - Go, lovely rose, Tell her that wastes her time and me, That now she knows, When I resemble her to thee, How sweet and fair she seems to be. Tell her that's young And shuns to have her graces spied, That hadst thou sprung In deserts where no men abide, Thou must have uncommended died. Small is the worth Of beauty from the light retired: Bid her come forth, Suffer herself to be desired, And not blush so to be admired. Then die, that she The common fate of all things rare May read in thee; How small...
Page 18 - Where throngs of knights and barons bold, In weeds of peace, high triumphs hold, With store of ladies, whose bright eyes Rain influence, and judge the prize Of wit or arms, while both contend To win her grace whom all commend.
Page 18 - Gently o'er the accustom'd oak ; Sweet bird, that shunn'st the noise of folly, Most musical, most melancholy ! Thee, chantress, oft the woods among I woo, to hear thy even-song ; And, missing thee, I walk unseen On the dry smooth-shaven green, To behold the wandering moon, Riding near her highest noon, Like one that had been led astray Through the heaven's wide pathless way ; And oft, as if her head she bow'd, Stooping through a fleecy cloud.
Page 17 - To hear the lark begin his flight And singing startle the dull night From his watch-tower in the skies, Till the dappled dawn doth rise; Then to come, in spite of sorrow, And at my window bid good-morrow Through the sweetbriar, or the vine, Or the twisted eglantine...
Page 362 - Lo, the poor Indian ! whose untutor'd mind Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind ; His soul proud science never taught to stray Far as the solar walk or milky way ; Yet simple nature to his hope has given, Behind the cloud topp'd hill, an humbler heaven...
Page 238 - The Lord my pasture shall prepare, And feed me with a shepherd's care ; His presence shall my wants supply, And guard me with a watchful eye ; My noon-day walks he shall attend, And all my midnight hours defend.
Page 364 - KNOW then thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is man. Placed on this isthmus of a middle state, A being darkly wise, and rudely great : With too much knowledge for the sceptic side, With too much weakness for the stoic's pride, He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest; In doubt to deem himself a god, or beast...
Page 19 - And may at last my weary age Find out the peaceful hermitage, The hairy gown and mossy cell, Where I may sit and rightly spell Of every star that heaven doth show, And every herb that sips the dew : Till old experience do attain To something like prophetic strain.
Page 17 - Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee Jest, and youthful jollity, Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles, Nods, and becks, and wreathed smiles Such as hang on Hebe's cheek, And love to live in dimple sleek ; Sport that wrinkled Care derides, And Laughter holding both his sides : — Come, and trip it as you go On the light fantastic toe ; And in thy right hand lead with thee The mountain-nymph, sweet Liberty; And if I give thee honour due Mirth, admit me of thy crew, To live with her, and live with...
Page 29 - Sing, heavenly Muse, that on the secret top Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed, In the beginning...


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ROAMS Robot uses off-the-shelf components to build 3D maps of an area
At a robotics conference, a vehicle called ROAMS demonstrated a cheap approach to mobile map-making.
ROAMS (Remotely Operated and Autonomous Mapping System) was created by researchers at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ, with funding from the U.S. Army. It uses several existing mapping technologies to build 3D color maps of its surroundings, and it was demonstrated at the 2009 IEEE conference on Technologies for Practical Robot Applications in Woburn, MA last week.
The system uses LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), which involves bouncing a laser off a rapidly rotating mirror and measuring how the light bounces back from surrounding surfaces and objects. The same technology is already used to guide autonomous vehicles, to make aerial maps, and in spacecraft landing systems.
A conventional 3D LIDAR system, which consists of several lasers pointing in different directions, costs over $100,000. The Stevens researchers created a cheaper mapping system by mounting a commercial 2D LIDAR sensor, which costs about $6,000, on a pivoting, rotating framework atop the vehicle. While the system has a lower resolution than a regular 3D LIDAR, it could still be used for low-cost architectural surveying and map making in military situations, the researchers say. "The prototype system is around $15,000 to $20,000," says Bilge Gebre, a research engineer at Stevens who demonstrated the device.
The system takes about 30 seconds to scan a 160-meter-wide area. A color camera also on the rotating frame provides color information that is added to the map later on. And the Stevens researchers developed a way to maintain the same resolution by automatically adjusting the scanning process depending on the proximity of objects. A human operator rides in a larger vehicle that follows the robotic one from up to a mile away, says Kishore Pochiraju, professor and the director of the Design and Manufacturing Institute at Stevens. Ultimately, says Pochiraju, "we want to leave this robot in a location and ask it to generate a complete map." Such a vehicle could, for example, drive into a dangerous area and generate a detailed map for military personnel.
"They're using a relatively low-cost system," says John Spletzer, an associate professor at Lehigh University who uses similar technology to create autonomous wheelchairs. "There's a lot of groups working on it; it's pretty interesting."
Nicholas Roy, an associate professor at MIT who develops autonomous and self-navigating vehicles, also notes that other research groups have developed similar technology. He says that the biggest challenges in autonomous map-making are identifying obstacles and sharing mapping between several robots.
Link to video


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Dozens of Plagiarism Incidents Are Reported in Coursera's Free Online Courses
Students taking free online courses offered by the startup company Coursera have reported dozens of incidents of plagiarism, even though the courses bear no academic credit. This week a professor leading one of the so-called Massive Open Online Courses posted a plea to his 39,000 students to stop plagiarizing, and Coursera's leaders say they will review the issue and consider adding plagiarism-detection software in the future.
In recent weeks, students in at least three Coursera humanities courses have complained of plagiarized assignments by other students. The courses use peer grading, so each student is asked to grade and offer comments on the work of fellow students.
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Students taking free online courses offered by the startup company Coursera have reported dozens of incidents of plagiarism, even though the courses bear no academic credit. This week a professor leading one of the so-called Massive Open Online Courses posted a plea to his 39,000 students to stop plagiarizing, and Coursera's leaders say they will review the issue and consider adding plagiarism-detection software in the future.
In recent weeks, students in at least three Coursera humanities courses have complained of plagiarized assignments by other students. The courses use peer grading, so each student is asked to grade and offer comments on the work of fellow students.
"I just graded my second batch of peer essays and was saddened to find one of them was lifted from Wikipedia," wrote one student in the discussion forums for the course, "Fantasy and Science Fiction."
Many students in the discussion expressed surprise that their peers would resort to fraudulent behavior in a noncredit course. Students who complete a course can get a certificate attesting to that accomplishment, but so far the courses do not count for credit at any university.
Still, some students argued that even in noncredit situations, stamping out plagiarism is important. "This cheating hurts everyone who is trying to take part in this class and learn with integrity," wrote one student in the discussion forums.
Meanwhile, professors teaching the courses say they are worried that some students are being overly zealous in hunting for plagiarism, and at least one student complained in the forums about being accused in error.
"An accusation of plagiarism is a deeply serious act and should be made only with concrete evidence behind it," wrote the professor teaching the fantasy course, Eric S. Rabkin, in a message to students posted on Monday. His letter, clocking in at more than 1,200 words, attempted to define plagiarism, underline its importance, and convey how complicated he felt the issue could be.
A 'Teachable Moment'
In an interview this week with The Chronicle, Mr. Rabkin, who is also an English professor at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, said he sees the plagiarism incidents as a "teachable moment." He said one student wrote him soon after he posted his letter and confessed to submitting a plagiarized essay, but the student said he had not realized that copying and pasting from other sources was wrong. The student asked that his essay be withdrawn and that he be disqualified from receiving a certificate, but Mr. Rabkin said he wrote to Coursera officials saying the student should be given a second chance.
A professor teaching a Coursera course about the history of the Internet, Charles Severance, wrote to his students this month about plagiarism as well, after several students reported in the forums that they had seen it in assignments they graded.
"If you see/suspect plagiarism—be kind and keep any of your comments about plagiarism short and to the point—do not criticize or flame the person—make sure your comments will help someone learn," he told them.
"If we really are trying to teach the world, including people from other cultures, we have to take a responsibility to educate people about plagiarism, not just vaporize people for it," said Mr. Severance, who is also a clinical associate professor of information at Michigan, in an interview on Wednesday.
Daphne Koller, a co-founder of Coursera and a professor at Stanford University, said she planned to look into how widespread reports of plagiarism are. "I don't have a sense of whether it's more frequent than in regular classroom environments," she said on Wednesday. She noted that Coursera makes students agree to uphold an honor code when they sign up for courses, but that, in the future, assignments will include reminders that all answers must be the students' original work.
"That would clarify to students what is and isn't appropriate behavior," she said. "That will reduce the incidents considerably, I hope."
She said Coursera officials would also consider adding a software system that could automatically detect suspected plagiarism, but no decision has been made on the issue. "It depends on how common this is," she said.
'Patchwork Plagiarism'
One Coursera student who witnessed plagiarism in a course is Laura K. Gibbs, who is herself a lecturer teaching online literature courses at the University of Oklahoma.
She enrolled in the Coursera course on fantasy and science fiction to get a better sense of how MOOC's work, since they've been in the news so much lately as a possible way to disrupt conventional higher education. She was enthusiastic about the reading list and the rigor of the course, which asks students to spend eight to 12 hours per week on reading and homework.
"I always tell students it's six to eight hours per week, every week, and I feel lucky to get six," she said. "I was really excited that this was trying to be an upper-division humanities course."
She said she was frustrated when she read discussion posts about plagiarism, and then saw evidence of it in one of the peer assignments she graded. "It's what at my university we'd call patchwork plagiarism," she said. "I'm naïve enough that I was really surprised by that."
She complained on her blog that Coursera and the course's professor had been slow to respond to the incidents. And she argued that Mr. Rabkin's message to students did not give her enough guidance on how to respond to what seemed like clear-cut instances of plagiarism.
Ms. Gibbs stressed that she is largely enthusiastic about Coursera and the idea of free courses online, but that "it's going to take an enormous amount of work to make it work."
She noted that she sees plagiarism by her University of Oklahoma students as well, but she can intervene in such incidents because she sees all the students' work.
Another faculty member taking a Coursera course, Steven D. Krause, said he doubted that peer grading could ever work without instructors' looking at all assignments. He said he uses the technique in his writing courses at Eastern Michigan University, where he is a professor of English and coordinator of the written-communication program, but he always looks over the peer grading and checks that the students are on track. "Usually there's some sort of norming by the instructors," he said.
"The idea that this could scale as a broad substitute for higher education is, I think, ridiculous," he added. "Content scales really well—you can put all kinds of stuff out on a Web site, and millions of people can look at it. But instruction does not scale, at least to those kinds of numbers."
But Mr. Rabkin, who is teaching the Coursera course on fantasy and science fiction, argues that peer grading can work in free courses, even without direct involvement by the professor. "Sometimes the professor's grade is wrong for whatever reasons," he said.
"I'm not interested in proving this could substitute for the University of Michigan," he added. "What I'm after is seeing if we have a way of capitalizing on a large group of people with smart software and a clever system that can make a community that has guidance and can teach itself."


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Jesse Murphy: My view from the sunny side
Little things in life typically go unnoticed, and the good things are easily forgotten in lieu of the bad.
I was reminded of this fact over the weekend as the wife and I headed south for a friend's baby shower. The kids had been dropped off at the grandparents' house, and we found ourselves with a rare opportunity to unwind.
The plan was for the men to handle the grill and spend some quality time. The women were to head to the baby shower for their discussions on how cute the outfits are and how handy Boppy pillows can be with newborns.
But things rarely go according to plan, and as we turned onto our friend's street, our car developed an intense knocking sound, followed abruptly with a complete shutdown.
Though my mechanical knowledge is limited, it was obvious that the car was in trouble. After spending hours on the phone trying to coordinate repairs, finding a wrecker and a rental car and formulating a plan of action, we were finally able to enjoy our mini-vacation.
During the execution of Plan B, I realized something unique and special –– that we were able to enjoy ourselves despite the circumstances.
Face it, we were stranded in Kansas, away from the children and without transportation. A situation that would have ordinarily carried high stress levels. But a minor tiff was the end of the disagreements about our scenario, and we actually had a good time.
On a day-to-day basis, it's easy to get lost in the murky waters of life. Taking a step back –– combined with a deep breath and some sensibility –– can make a huge difference during some of the worst situations.
I personally have a strong desire to control my surroundings, and I get uncomfortable in situations I can't control, along with many people. But sometimes you get a curveball, and you can't help but swing, even though it's way out of the strike zone.
It's during those moments that a man's composure, nerves and moxie are put to the test. Through the whole process of dealing with unfortunate situations, taking the time to focus on the positives helps to make or break the scenario.
I think that by the time we came to Plan C, I had another epiphany. When life gives you lemons, spray paint them gold and sell them on eBay.
Cars break down, kids get sick, work can be awful, but when it's out of your hands, you really have no choice. So why worry? I think stressing and worrying about things that you have no control over falls under the definition of insanity.
All we can do is just that –– all we can do.
Plan D unfolded, and as I loaded our luggage into a gracious friend's truck, I thought of all the things that happened over the weekend that I should be grateful for. I was able to spend time with great friends that I rarely get to see, I had a vacation with the wife, and most importantly, my whole family was safe and sound.
Those thoughts were enough to put a smile on my face. When the wife saw that smile, she smiled, too (even under the circumstances), and I knew that she understood.
Life is way more important than cars, and I don't mean in the sense of merely being alive. It's about enjoying life, and making the best of what's put on your plate.
Remember what is truly important when things don't go as planned, you may be pleasantly surprised the next time it all seems to be going wrong.
Jesse Murphy is a reporter for the Maryville (Mo.) Daily Forum. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com or found tapping into his piggy bank to fix the car.


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AHAVA has been the world leader in Dead Sea skin care products since 1988. They're famous for gathering the legendary healing minerals of the Dead Sea, and combining them with essential nutrients extracted from exotic vegetation that grows high in the Himalayan Mountains to produce a unique line of luxurious skin care products with ingredients proven to relax, nourish and re-vitalize your skin. Treat yourself and buy Ahava products for your face, hands, feet, or body, as well as special AHAVA products for sun protection, bath salts, Dead Sea mud, and much more.

AHAVA Products You May Not Be Familiar With

If you are into taking good care of your skin, then you have probably heard of the beneficial qualities of the minerals of the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea, which is the lowest point on Earth, at roughly 400 meters (1400 feet) below sea level, is characterized by a combination of very special conditions. The air pressure is quite high, UV radiation is very low, the air is low in allergens, and most importantly, the water and mud of the Dead Sea contain a unique blend of special minerals. The mineral rich waters and mud have been tested and shown to be very beneficial against various health problems, ranging from osteoarthritis to skin problems such as eczema. Many products make use of these substances, and you have probably heard of Dead Sea scrubs, Dead Sea moisturizers, Dead Sea hand cream and foot cream, and so on. However, there are so many Dead Sea skin products that you probably haven't heard about all of them. The world's best-known brand is AHAVA, which specializes in beauty products that are based on minerals from the Dead Sea, and it offers some unique products that you may want to try.

Ahava Anti-Wrinkle

One of these product lines are the AHAVA anti wrinkle creams: AHAVA Age Control and AHAVA Extreme. Judaica Webstore offers a wide range of anti aging products that will ward off any unsightly wrinkles or lines and keep your skin looking smooth and supple as you age. The anti wrinkle products of AHAVA help protect your skin from harsh weather conditions, air pollution and other damaging factors found in the environment. This line of creams and moisturizers helps the skin keep firm, young-looking and hydrated.

Ahava Makeup

The latest in innovative make up is AHAVA's range of makeup products, which includes a variety of different types you can choose from, based on your skin type and color and your preferred final texture. These include a light foundation, a rich foundation, compact powder and loose powder. AHAVA makeup products are made with Dead Sea minerals, natural pigments and special algae from the Dead Sea.

Ahava Sun Protection

Everyone should protect themselves from damaging UV radiation. This is why Ahava came up with a unique line of sun protection, body care and facial care products, which not only protect the skin from the sun but also nourish it and keep it looking beautiful and smooth. These include Sun Anti-Aging Moisturizer and Sun-Anti Aging Moisturizer Spray. Both are available at SPF 30 and SPF 50.


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MPV Club
100 Bayshore drive
P.O. Box 31065
Ottawa, ON, Canada, K2B8S8
Make the check/money order payable to: Alex Vakulenko
MPV Club is the best online resource for Mazda MPV and Mazda5 owners available to
date. The web site features tons of valuable technical information, maintenance
tips, and of course online forums. The site is constantly growing as is the
MPV/Mazda5 owner community. Despite the club's young age, it has proven to be very
helpful for all MPV and Mazda5 enthusiasts and future owners alike.
Making sure that the club's web site contains most accurate and up-to-date
information requires a lot of time and effort. And we want to make the site even
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If you like what you are getting on MPVClub.com, if you want more of
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Just click "Donate" button to the right and help us make MPV Club
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Alternatively, you can by a club sticker and provide your support this way.
Just go to MPVClub.com Shop and order your sticker
--= List of people who have
already donated to MPVClub.com =--


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GREAT BARRINGTON -- There are 1,860 steps from street level to the observation deck of the Empire State Building and David Allard has climbed them all, many, many times.
On Feb. 6, the 65-year-old Great Barrington resident will run up the stairs, two-by-two, to the 102nd floor for the 20th consecutive year as part of the annual Empire State Building Run-Up and will be submitting his feat to the Guinness World Book of Records.
"It's the most beautiful ending to a race because you have to run one last lap around the observation tower and you get to see all of New York ahead of you," he said.
As a child, Allard's mother often took him to the massive architectural wonder. It was one of her favorite places in the world.
Running to its top, some six decades later, Allard says he wishes his mother were alive to see how the building had become such an integral part of his life as well.
When Allard began running the race in the early 1990s, it was far more humble affair. Only 100 or so participants were invited.
But, when it was discovered that Chico Scimone, a man in his 80s, was competing, the event garnered the attention of the national media. Soon, there were more television cameras and crews than there were competitors, Allard said.
Conditions were cramped as is without the reporters. The width of the Empire State Building's stairwell is only 44 inches wide, so passing other runners quickly became an even more difficult challenge as more and more people wanted to run.
"It was a simple race at first, with a mass start that begins in the lobby," he said. "We all had to hit this tiny door and then begin our ascent. But a lot of people tried to go too hard, too fast and many ended up holding their chests, slumped to the side of the stairwell by the eighth floor. For me, I set a steady pace and held it."
Climbing so many stairs at such a pace, it's easy to imagine that people's legs would be the focus of training, but Allard said that isn't the case.
"It's a breathing race, not a leg race," he said. "It's all about holding a steady breathing pattern and using the handrails to carry your momentum."
Allard said the race is fairly quick. It takes him only 20 or so minutes to reach the top.
Although Allard is an avid marathon runner now, it wasn't always that way.
"I didn't start running until my daughter had joined the high school cross country team," he said. "I had never run a step in my life until then."
Since that time, Allard has run more than 50 marathons across the world, many with his son, daughter and his wife, Cindy, all of whom are accomplished marathon runners.
When David and Cindy Allard got married on Feb. 8, nearly two decades ago, he insisted on delaying their honeymoon until after he had run that year's race up the Empire State Building.
Even multiple back surgeries couldn't stop Allard from running.
"I guess it's habit," he said of why he continues to compete in marathons. "I like the tradition of it."
As for training, Allard said his routine isn't complex, but it's not easy either.
"Training is simple, it's all about just getting out the door," he said.


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Did you know that nearly 1400 fragrances were launched in 2012? Do we really need that many new artificial scents added to a market already saturated in stink? It's ridiculous and also kind of gross. As a comment on that, Dutch artists Lernert and Sander have collected samples of those fragrances and combined them to create one giant, 1.5 liter of a "unique perfume" they've named Everything.
Here's a video of them making the hand-blown bottle, an "enlargement of the classic sample bottle." Everything will be showcased in the French boutique Colette, March 1 - 9, in Paris, and visitors will have a chance to take a whiff. What do you think it smells like? Our guess is the inside of the Jersey Shore house.
Everything [Lernert and Sander via Jonnodotcom]


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By James Kwak
"Except where market discipline is undermined by moral hazard, owing, for example, to federal guarantees of private debt, private regulation generally is far better at constraining excessive risk-taking than is government regulation."
That was Alan Greenspan back in 2003. This is little different from another of his famous maxims, that anti-fraud regulation was unnecessary because the market would not tolerate fraudsters. It is also a key premise of the blame-the-government crowd (Wallison, Pinto, and most of the current Republican Party), which claims that the financial crisis was caused by excessive government intervention in financial markets.
Market discipline clearly failed in the lead-up to the financial crisis. This picture, for example, shows the yield on Citigroup's subordinate debt, which is supposed to be a channel for market discipline. (The theory is that subordinated debt investors, who suffer losses relatively early, will be especially anxious to monitor their investments.) Note that yields barely budged before 2008—despite the numerous red flags that were clearly visible in 2007 (and the other red flags that were visible in 2006, like the peaking of the housing market).
However, one thrust of post-crisis regulation has been to attempt to strengthen market discipline. This is consistent with the overall Geithner-Summers doctrine that markets generally work close to perfectly, and that regulation should mainly attempt to nudge markets in the right direction.
David Min (the lead rebutter of Wallison and Pinto's theory of subprime mortgages, which relied on a made-up definition of "subprime") has a new paper explaining why this is likely to fail. (The Citigroup chart is from the paper.) The remarkable thing is that market discipline not only failed to prevent banks from taking on ill-advised levels of risk, but also failed to even identify those risks until well after they were splashed all over the front page of the Wall Street Journal—like the credit rating agencies downgrading Enron mere weeks before it filed for bankruptcy.
Min identifies a couple of structural reasons for this failure—reasons that cannot be fixed simply by tweaking regulations here and there. One is that banks' primary funding sources—whether traditional depositors or other financial institutions engaged in repo transactions—are relatively insensitive to the degree of risk in the instruments they hold. Another is that the key form of market discipline on large banks seems to be that exerted by shareholders—and shareholders like risk, especially when banks are highly leveraged (because they can shift downside risk onto creditors).
Ultimately, one of Min's suggestions is that we simply cannot rely heavily on market discipline as a means of constraining risk-taking by financial institutions. This leaves us with relatively unfashionable tools like higher capital requirements and structural reforms (size and complexity limits). But that's not nearly sophisticated enough for the Geithner-Summers-Bernanke crew.


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If your purchase from a Harry Rosen store or harryrosen.com isn't quite right or you've simply changed your mind, you may return it for a refund within 30 days from delivery. Refunds will be issued to the original method(s) of payment.
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Licence key request
You have purchased a GigE vision camera from STEMMER IMAGING and you would like to receive the licence key for the Common Vision Blox CameraSuite (CVB CameraSuite)?
Request activation code:
Where do I find the camera MAC address?
You find the MAC address directly on your camera. It is usually shown in the following or similar form: 01-23-45-67-89-ab. It consists of numbers and letters from A to F.
You cannot find the MAC address on your camera?
Please contact our technical support team.
Where do I find the camera serial number?
- You will find the serial number directly on the camera and/or on the camera packaging. It consists of a combination of numbers and letters, e.g. U500737.
- Alternatively, you can generate a list of serial numbers of all connected cameras by using the "Isual" tool which is included in the CVB CameraSuite and can be found in the following directory %CVB%\Hardware\StemmerImaging\Utilities.
You cannot find the serial number neither on the camera nor on the
packaging and you cannot obtain it via the Isual tool?
Please contact our technical support team.


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Patrick agrees to photo ID on Mass. Electronic Benefit Transfer Cards
Supporters: Photos will help cut down on fraud, abuse
Gov. Deval Patrick said Thursday he would support a requirement that photo identification be placed on Electronic Benefit Transfer Cards used by welfare recipients, but asked lawmakers for a change in the proposal before he could sign it.
The amendment would require the state Department of Transitional Assistance, along with the inspector general and state auditor, to conduct a review after three years of the effectiveness of photo IDS on the EBT cards, which are used much like debit cards by people who receive cash assistance from the state.
Supporters of the photo ID requirement say it would help cut down on fraud and unauthorized use of the cards.
Patrick had previously said he was open to the proposed requirement, but also noted that the administration of former Republican Gov. Mitt Romney had determined when the cards were first introduced in 2004 that a photo identification system would not be cost effective.
Lawmakers who have been pushing for reforms in the EBT system attached the photo ID requirement to a spending bill that covers outstanding costs from the state fiscal year that ended June 30.
Patrick approved most of the provisions in the bill, including more than $55 million in reimbursements for snow and ice removal last winter; $13.6 million for the expense of holding the June 25 special election for the U.S. Senate; and $10 million for summer jobs for at-risk teens. He vetoed $7.3 million of what he called "non-essential" spending.
Lawmakers did not include funding to implement the photo requirement for welfare cards, so Patrick said he would ask the Legislature to set aside $2.5 million in a future spending bill.


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(Originally written April, 2006, and published in San Diego Reader Nov, 2012)
As much as we see globalization happening on every continent, I have seen a place as-of-yet unaffected.
Hyderabad, India, has yet to be conquered by McDonalds, Wal-Mart or Starbucks. You won't find much tourism there either. The stereotypical pale color of your Western skin makes you a walking target to all locals who walk the piles of rubble and dirt called streets. This is not a place for a pleasure tour.
Hyderabad is a place where sidewalks are for debris, not pedestrians; where streets are for dangerously commingling and commuting pedestrians, cars, trucks, busses, tractors and farm animals; where rivers of rickshaws buzz by, narrowly missing anything in their path as they fight for first in line. All forms of transportation carry well more than safe capacity as men, women, children and various body parts hang precariously out doors and windows – and off motorcycles whizzing by fully loaded with five passengers squeezed onto a banana seat.
The steady symphony of horn-honking eliminates any use of a radio. Forget about that morning coffee or tea. Just wrap yourself in a vibrant-colored cotton sari, slap on some flip-flops and take that open-toed trip to the office, dodging oncoming traffic. You'll have all the adrenaline needed to get you through at least the first half of your workday.
Well actually, it's more like work night. The next time you call that toll-free number when you have a computer problem that sends you to a guy with a strong Indian accent named "Joe," you'll know how he got to work for his night shift in a stark room full of muted cubicles.
It's noon your time, but it's midnight his time. Wearing a headset, planted in front of a computer, he represents the intense IT outsourcing being utilized by major American and global corporations alike. Those workers make one-eighth of what call center employees would make in the U.S., and they're just grateful to have a job – despite any ramifications due to the anti-social work schedule that goes against the nature of one's ingrained body clock.
In fact, this city is growing so rapidly, with more of its resources being tapped by global entities, that it looks like a war just ended. There are quite literally endless piles of rubble and dirt lining all (and I do mean all) the streets on both sides, making way for brand new rebar-and-cement-framed buildings going up absolutely everywhere in every direction. Their growth appears unsustainable and unorganized because there is no infrastructure in place to support and manage the virtually sudden boom.
It's a Third-World country in the truest sense – corruption, massive poverty, clashes of classes – with a culture centuries old and a population four times that of the U.S. with half the land mass.
Imagine that for a moment. Hyderabad is like multiplying the population of the U.S. by four and plopping all those people in an area like Tijuana, Mexico, to fend for themselves. Quite frankly, Tijuana is luxury compared to this place.
And it's HOT. Skin-melting, mouth-drying hot. The people all over the city digging holes and lifting boulders on construction sites have towels wrapped around their heads. There is no shade unless you're under one of the massive and abundant technology billboards plastered all over the city. And construction work isn't reserved for men. Women dressed in everyday wraps and flip-flops, with their specially formed hard hats that support a metal tray of rocks, walk hands-free from one rock pile to another, making hard labor look graceful.
As you travel along the main thoroughfare, there is no indication of a separation of classes. There are decorative mansions lining the streets where just outside their doorsteps, literally, are shanty towns where people bathe out of buckets and live in tents built out of tarps and sticks or in shelters of corrugated tin, all on top of dirt foundations in empty lots. The dichotomy of it all is mind-numbing.
There are also groups of people there referred to as "untouchables." These human beings stand, sit or lay on the streets with their tattered, worn hands extended, hoping for generosity but being ignored by the millions passing by. What sets these people apart from the homeless we know in the States is the fact that many of them are disfigured – skin where eyes should be, missing arms and legs, distorted feet. I learned that when children of untouchables are born, some parents disfigure them on purpose so they have a way to make money in the future.
I was distraught by the scene… depressed, uncomfortable. I felt guilty for having the shoes on my feet, the clothes on my back. I wanted to give money – a dollar to me is 10 dollars to them. They say not to do that because every time I did, I wound up surrounded by tens of ever persistent people wanting a piece of the action – touching me, pulling on me, overwhelming me. I'd escape, scared, to the safety of my traveling companions for protection like a coward. One needs time to acclimate to this environment. I needed more time.
Hyderabad elicits confusion. It creates feelings that are difficult to process. Their culture is both Hindu and Muslim, who don't usually intermingle in the rest of the world. They are a people of smiles and tribulations. Their growth is enormous yet chaotic. Their classes are very rich or very poor while living next door to each other. They're modern with the utilization of technology, yet completely traditional with almost all women wearing saris and herds of goats, cows, chickens or buffalo wandering the roadsides. There is an energy here that is unmistakable, a drive to survive, an anthill of human beings – and there is by far no other place like it in the world.


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Roger Ebert on El Topo
This is sort of totally random, but Roger Ebert just put up an excellent essay on El Topo on the "Great Movies" section of his website to commemorate its long-awaited release on DVD.
Since we here at the Neurophile are avowed fans of the works of Mad Genius Alejandro Jodorowsky, I felt sort of obliged to link to it.
Labels: dvds, el topo, jodorowsky, movies, roger ebert