text:
Fire danger continues to be high today as firefighters battle two wildfires northeast of Pagosa Springs.
"Conditions were not as bad Monday as they had been projected," said Pam Wilson, spokeswoman with the Durango Interagency Fire Dispatch Center. "We did not see the fire spread we were expecting."
An infrared flight today will determine the growth of the fires, but Wilson said that much of the action Monday was smaller fires around the perimeter of both fires that burned toward each other.
The Windy Pass Fire, 129 acres in size, was burning in a deep bowl filled with large, standing, dead spruce trees about three miles south of Wolf Creek Ski Area. Fire officials set up structure protection Monday at the ski area in the event the fire jumps out of the bowl and makes a run toward the ski area, Wilson said.
"Monday was going to be a lot of contingency planning – strategy planning on the Windy Pass Fire," Wilson said, because of that concern.
Additional firefighters were assigned to the blaze Monday, she said, but because it is burning in a sea of dead trees, it was unsafe to put firefighters too close.
On Monday, fire officials closed Lobo Overlook, a scenic overlook atop Wolf Creek Pass, and a number of trails or sections of trails, including a 25-mile section of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, from Elwood Pass to its junction with Middle Fork Trail. Other closures included West Fork, also known as Rainbow Hot Springs, Windy Pass, Treasure Mountain and Beaver Creek trails; Falls Creek and Wolf Creek roads; and West Fork Road from the West Fork Campground to the northern end of the road.
"It's just one of those fires that has a lot of potential to grow fast ... and we want to make sure no people are in harm's way," Wilson said.
Firefighters also were battling the West Fork Fire, which grew about 800 acres Sunday, to just more than 2,500 acres. The fire was burning at high elevation about 14 miles northeast of Pagosa Springs. The majority of the fire is burning within the Weminuche Wilderness. It made a run Sunday to the northeast, about two miles west of Beaver Meadows, a large grassy area, in the wilderness. The fire also moved into the Spring Creek drainage on the eastern edge of the fire.
The fire eventually will reach areas that are above timberline, but firefighters hoped to keep it west of the Continental Divide Trail and away from the Rio Grande National Forest. They were focusing efforts on the south side to protect private property and U.S. Highway 160, Wilson said.
Firefighters hope to get more containment today before a red-flag warning goes into effect at noon Wednesday and continues until 10 p.m. Thursday. The National Weather Service is issuing the warning because of extremely dry fuels and a forecast with winds up to 40 mph and a relative humidity of 7 to 12 percent.
About 220 people are assigned to the two fires, and transition to the National Incident Management Organization is expected to take place later today. Total cost for the two fires was estimated at $411,000 as of Monday evening.
Closer to Durango, the Lewis Mesa Fire, which broke out Sunday on Ute Mountain Ute land near the Montezuma-La Plata county line, was declared 100 percent contained as of 10 p.m. Sunday. It was 12 acres in size. Crews did mop-up work Monday, meaning they were be dousing any remaining hot spots.


text:
In S.F., Rick Perry compares homosexuality to alcoholism
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, speaking in San Francisco on Wednesday night, said the U.S. would better serve its diverse population by letting the states handle many economic and social policies, a point he perhaps inadvertently drove home when he compared homosexuality to alcoholism.
Addressing the Commonwealth Club of California, Perry argued the federal government should give up much of its policy-making power, letting states chart their own courses on issues ranging from business subsidies to abortion. He joked about his frequent habit of luring California companies to Texas and called the competition between the two states healthy for both, as well as the nation.
But as Perry eyes another possible presidential run, some of his comments illustrated the wide gulf that exists between blue California and red Texas - and within the nation as a whole.
'Reparative therapy'
The Texas Republican Party this month adopted a platform supporting access to "reparative therapy" for gays and lesbians, a widely discredited process intended to change sexual orientation. In response to an audience question about it Wednesday night, Perry said he did not know whether the therapy worked.
Commonwealth Club interviewer Greg Dalton then asked him whether he believes homosexuality is a disorder.
"Whether or not you feel compelled to follow a particular lifestyle or not, you have the ability to decide not to do that," Perry said. "I may have the genetic coding that I'm inclined to be an alcoholic, but I have the desire not to do that, and I look at the homosexual issue the same way."
The large crowd gathered at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins hotel on Nob Hill included many Perry supporters. But the comment still drew a murmur of disbelief.
Perry also said he would not support efforts to fight climate change that would "strangle" the economy, including putting a price on carbon dioxide emissions as California has done with its "cap and trade" system. He complained that people concerned about global warming had adopted an attitude of "You either believe this all the way, or you're a Neanderthal."
Perry argued forcefully for the use of fracking to tap oil and gas reserves, saying it had created a tremendous economic boom in his home state. He said California could enjoy the same prosperity by developing its own shale formation, the Monterey Shale, despite a recent federal government report that cast doubt on the amount of oil current technology can wrest from the formation.
On Cantor's defeat
"It's up to you to determine the course of this state, to decide whether you live in a regulatory state or one that emphasizes freedom and growth, whether you tap into your energy potential or develop only certain forms of clean energy," Perry said. "Those decisions should be yours. But I do know this - the fastest way to rev up the economy is for America to develop all forms of energy."
Finally, he attributed this week's stunning defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in Virginia's Republican primary to not spending enough time with constituents.
"Having been involved in elected office for 30 years now," Perry said, "it's pretty simple: Spend plenty of time in your home district."
David R. Baker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Twitter: @DavidBakerSF

subset: commoncrawl


text:
A Year of Mindfulness: 52 Weeks of Focus – Week 29
Acceptance. It's a big one this week, ACCEPTANCE. I am hopeful I'm not the only one who has this issue come up often. … But acceptance sure is a hard pill to swallow when you want and expect things to be a certain way. … Acceptance. I practice it each time I go to my mat. I can do this pose. I cannot do that at all. I wish I could go further in this pose. I wish I could relax more. Breathe. Choose to accept, to BE exactly as I am. I am accepting this situation as well. Perhaps life is giving me exactly what I need. Perhaps. What about you? How has the lesson of ACCEPTANCE been presented to you lately, and how well are you dealing with it?
I have been sucked into the black hole of the Kindle Fire, which is like tech-geek crack. The thing has not left my side or my sight the entire day, as I keep exploring and tweaking, and occasionally actually consuming content. (The Netflix app is fantastic: I watched the documentary, Blood into Wine, and I love that I can now load library books in a few clicks, and that I was able to use Calibre to port over my existing non-Amazon collection, and I've even downloaded my free library book of the month from Amazon—Bonk by Mary Roach, a science writer who makes me laugh out loud, also author of Packing for Mars). The Fire is also ADD inducing: As soon as I explore one thing, I remember something else that I wanted to look up, install, or configure, and I'm off doing that. I'm sure I'll have some pros and cons to list soon, because it's certainly not perfect, especially in the web browsing / Android apps / Google apps area, but there's plenty of time for that.
This work laptop seemed old before—and now it really seems dated—hot, clunky, and buggy. And yet, I'm returning to it to post my blog, because I can still type way faster this way. Maybe there's a more qwerty type keyboard that I can install on the Fire that will allow me to come up to speed, so to speak. Or, a foldable external keyboard for long posts, much like I used to have eons ago for my Palm Pilot. I loved that little keyboard! If I can find a way to type at a reasonable pace on the Fire, I'll be able to use it way more frequently than my laptop for non work, and even some for work.
As far as acceptance goes: I've had zero desire to blog about our Thanksgiving recipes and post the photos, for some reason. I think that's OK. I've accepted that things often don't go the way that I've planned or desired, but we are all here together for the holidays, unlike last year, so that is what is important. And I've also accepted that I'm not going to finish NaNoWriMo this year. I really haven't felt motivated to do it since about day one, and I kept trying to guilt myself into it for the first couple of weeks, but eventually I stopped beating myself up. Because the whole reason for doing it is for fun, and for personal growth, and I chose to make many other things a priority this month. Plus, I did it last year, so I know it's possible, and I know I'll probably do it again, so it didn't seem like quite as much of a challenge this year. It would have been good for personal reflection, but so would a regular writing habit. Daily blog posts are what I've been able to stick to in 2011, and I accept that.


text:
Not all grain is created equal, so how do you choose?
After reading up on your horse's gastric and digestive health, you now know how much your horse's diet can impact his overall health. But did you know that not all grain is created equal? It's true! Your horse's feed needs depend on many factors, including age, body condition, and workload. Take a look at the profiles below to see how different commercial feeds work for different horses.
Petunia the School Horse
Workload: Moderate Petunia is a six-year-old reiner who does lessons four days a week.
Body Condition: Average Like many Quarter Horses, Petunia maintains her weight well. However, as a lesson horse, she needs some extra calories to keep her going strong.
Top Pick: Nutrena SafeChoice Original is ideal for Petunia because it has the correct balance of nutrients with controlled starch and fat levels for an ideal, balanced source of energy.
Fred the Western Pleasure Horse
Workload: Light Fred is a 18-year-old western pleasure horse who works three days a week.
Body Condition: Cushing's Fred was recently diagnosed with Cushing's Disease after his owner noticed he was struggling to maintain his weight and muscle mass. However, because his body can't properly metabolize glucose, he needs to avoid non-structured carbohydrates (NSCs) like sugar and starch.
Top Pick: Nutrena SafeChoice Special Care provides a "safe" source of calories to help Fred maintain his weight and muscle, thanks to its low, controlled starch formula.
Juliet the Eventer
Workload: Heavy Juliet is a seven-year-old eventer in work six days a week, competing at Training Level.
Body Condition: Hard keeper A typical thoroughbred, Juliet always has trouble keeping weight on, and her intense workload makes it even tougher.
Top Pick: Nutrena SafeChoice Perform provides a higher concentration of fat and controlled starch than the Original formula. Juliet needs the extra calories, and fat is a cooler, "safer" source than loading up on NSCs. Plus, the added starch supports healthy glycogen levels for optimal performance.
Newt the Dressage Horse
Workload: Moderate Newt is an eight-year-old Morgan who does first level dressage four days a week.
Body Condition: Easy Keeper Newt is quite overweight (his body condition score is a seven!), but his hay alone isn't an adequate source of nutrients.
Top Pick: Nutrena Empower Balance is a ration balancer, meaning it offers a highly concentrated source of vitamins, minerals, and protein, without the calories, sugar, and starch of a traditional fortified grain. And because the serving size is 1–2 lbs of pellets, Newt thinks he's getting normal grain!
Learn more about these feeds at NutrenaWorld.com


text:
Managing Director & Senior Partner
At BCG, we can't think of our ourselves as having impact on an organization. It's about the people. To change a client organization, you must have an impact on individuals. They will be the army that drives transformational change.
Matt Aaronson leads BCG's Aerospace and Defense practice globally and is also involved with our Industrial Goods and Operations practices. He leads the firm's Career Development Committee in the Chicago office.
Since joining BCG in 2004, Matt has worked with clients on a range of strategic projects across the capital equipment and engineered products sectors. He now works predominantly with OEMs and suppliers in the aerospace and defense sector, and he specializes in driving large-scale transformational change programs.
Prior to joining BCG, Matt worked at Monitor Group.


text:
View more videos at: http://nbcmiami.com.
A Florida church service ended in tragedy Sunday afternoon when a man shot a woman multiple times, then killed himself outside the building, authorities and witnesses said.
Hundreds of congregants were exiting the sanctuary at Faith Center Church in the city of Sunrise just before 1 p.m. ET when the man began opening fire at the woman, possibly his ex-girlfriend, Sunrise police said.
"It was crazy. We just started running because a stray bullet doesn't know anyone," said witness and congregant Herrietha Gary. "I've never been so scared in all the days in my life -- just frantic."
Even though the armed assailant shot the woman several times, she managed to drive away, according to Sunrise police spokeswoman Officer Michelle Eddy. The shooting victim drove around the parking lot, where others found her, police said.
Read more news on NBCMiami.com
Also inside the vehicle was her 12-year-old daughter, but the girl was unharmed, police said.
The armed man shot himself at the crime scene, police said. He was taken to Broward Health Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, Eddy said. The wounded woman was taken to Broward Health, police said. Her latest condition wasn't available.
Their names haven't been released.
Sheltered in car
During the shooting, church leaders were ordering congregants back inside the church building, witnesses said. Other congregants already were in the parking lot.
Gary, the witness, said she thought she was hearing firecrackers, but a couple hiding behind a car warned her about the danger, she said. Gary said she was with her grandchild at the time.
"They were saying, 'Get down! Get down! There are gunshots!'" Gary said. "And I started hysterically screaming and running with my grandbaby.'"
Gary and her grandchild found shelter in her car and were unhurt, she said.
Congregant Daron Thompson said the shooting was "kind of strange."
"You think to yourself, 'Wow!' You know? I mean, you don't expect something like this to happen at church," Thompson said.
Faith Center Church at 5555 Northwest 95th Ave. -- also known as Faith Center Ministries -- drew a large turnout Sunday with a special guest speaker, congregants said. The church has a sprawling 75,000-foot facility, formerly known as Sunrise Theatre, according to its website.
Police still are investigating the shooting.
More content from NBCNews.com:
- Storm pounds Upper Midwest with heavy snow, wind
- Cops: 2 University of Colorado students fed pot brownies to classmates, professor
- 3 dead, 4 hurt in Central California shootings, chase
- Cyber-graciousness: Students set up Facebook sites for compliments
- On gay marriage, Supreme Court could rule small, or big
- Video: Officers suspect high speed, alcohol in deadly NFL crash
Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook


text:
I am stuck on a pseudo 3d script for Marathon because it keeps saying that I'm comparing Boolean to a value. I'm not going to allow you to download my log to tell me what everything is, But I will allow to you to download the script.
"Why, what are these delicious pfhoods you speak opfh?" you might ask. Oh boy, aren't you in pfhor a treat! Every time I play the games, I always pfheel, well, pfhake, not really existent, like a cardboard cutout. The reason is the way the player rotates horizontally, the pfhield of view makes the outer screen scroll abnormally, thus ruining the humane experience. So I did something no one else would do: I did the math. And the results are in, boys. It's time to pfheel the true 3d experience of Like a Record Baby.lua with some alternating pfhovs, some effects for extravision and snipervision, and the chase cam/3rd person experience will be multiplied as well. Only problems is, I don't know ipfh Aleph One will accept thousandths pfhor PFHOV degree, and I don't know ipfh postidle() will handle Screen() or the number opfh ORs... or ipfh the ORs are used correctly... anyways you can download the alpha script at http://sdrv.ms/1amJTjV or since it is in SkyDrive you can view and edit it directly in the cloud!


text:
I have known for a long time that there is noun called "catch-22" in English. In some cases, I really would like to use it but I'm not sure if it is a well known term.
AFAIK, it is used when you are stuck between two things. For instance:
You can't get a job without any experience and you can't get any experience without a job. It is catch-22.
How widely is "catch-22" used?


text:
Once upon a time there was a girl named Ash whose mother dies and father remarries a cold hearted woman. Soon after the wedding, he dies and leaves Ash alone with her wicked stepmother and stepsisters. To "pay her father's debts," Ash becomes her stepmother's servant and spends her days in drudgery.
Ash escapes to the Wood when she can where a beautiful fairy waits for her. She first saw Sidhean after her mother's death. He promises her that he she will come to stay with him one day. She wishes to be with him and leave her terrible life behind but he keeps sending her back.
One day, when she's walking through the Wood, she meets the King's Huntress, Kaisa, and it isn't long before she falls in love with her. When it is announced that the Prince is looking for a wife among all the women of the kingdom and there will be many celebrations, including a ball, Ash sees an opportunity to spend more time with Kaisa. Ash knows, however, that she can't go dressed as a poor servant girl. She asks Sidhean for a favour, but when a fairy grants a wish there is a price to be paid.
By now, you've probably figured out that this a retelling of Cinderella. ("Cinder"ella, Ash. Get it?) Unless you've lived in a cave your whole life, you know that Cinderella ends up with the Prince, or in this case, the Huntress. (There is a Prince but he's just a plot device.) So, that's not such a spoiler. You can see where the story is headed a mile away, it's just a matter of how you get there.
Ash must choose between two worlds: the fairy world and reality. The fairy world she only knows through stories she's heard as a child. The real world hasn't been very kind to her but now she has a reason to stay in Kaisa. I didn't understand why Sidhean kept sending Ash back when she asked to stay. Why?! What was his reason for this? That bugged me because it made no sense to me. I would have liked to have seen or learned more about that fairy world*. I felt sorry for Sidhean for spoilery reasons.
As for Ash, I'm not sure about her. She's somewhat enigmatic to me. She loves Kaisa but what are her feelings for Sidhean? Is she just spellbound by him?
I found Ash by Malinda Lo to be an interesting take on an old story and well written. Usually, fairy tale retellings end up annoying me but not this one. Although there are things I think could have been expanded on, I ended up liking it quite a bit.
*Lo has also written Huntress which sounds like it could offer more about the fairy world.


text:
There was a problem rendering this video - it may have been deleted.
Angry Birds All Levels is a series of 300 ink prints designed by Evan Roth that reveals every finger swipe motion and screen press required to clear all stage levels in the popular mobile game Angry Birds. Commissioned by the Science Gallery in Dublin, Ireland, this project is actually a part of his longer Multi-Touch Finger Paintings series that are created by performing routine tasks on multi-touch hand held devices.
Artsy Fart of the Day is a feature series dedicated to showcasing a colorful range of visual arts in digital and traditional mediums.


text:
Hollywood agents, that most despised of human specimens, of which I was one, are as indispensable as the rabies vaccine, which kills as easily as it cures.
'Hidden Talent: The Emergence of Hollywood Agents' by Tom Kemper
A history of the rise of 'that most despised of human specimens,' the Hollywood agent.
By Clancy Sigal
Hollywood agents, that most despised of human specimens, of which I was one, are as indispensable as the rabies vaccine, which kills as easily as it cures. Although in one form or another agents, as the middlemen brokers of human talent, have existed since the dawn of 19th century mass entertainment, they are a nearly perfect metaphor for a late-blooming capitalist economy. They don't make anything except spit and hot air. Or, as author Tom Kemper writes, giving it an academic polish, "agents serve in the commercial fabrication of individuality," selling "personality [as] a commodity" including, especially, their own commission-hungry personalities.
However loftily the business of agents is described — and Kemper is fond of euphemisms like "embedded field of routine transactional and social relationships" (I think he means schmoozing) — we in the movie business cannot function without a go-between as our link to the money. Indeed, as Kemper reminds us in his scholarly history of early Hollywood agentry from the 1920s into the early 1950s, one pioneer agent used to publish a "Sears catalog of stars" that listed his clients in a magazine bluntly titled "Link."
Kemper tells us that there was an "agent problem" right from the start. The Motion Picture Academy, itself no paragon of business ethics, accused agents of "racketeering, double-dealing, arrogance, failure to live up to obligations [and] semi-legal trickery" — and that was long before CAA, UTA, Endeavor, ICM and West Coast MCA had been invented.
Studios and their talent suppliers, the agents, had yet to figure out a true business model of how to live with each other on the backs of the people who actually made the movies: "The skirmishes between studios and agents . . . essentially erupted over stars . . . [that were] a studio's most visible assets." Agents connived in the most lucrative deals for their clients and themselves, and studio executives, under relentless pressure to maintain a 50-picture-a-year slate for theatrical release, connived right back. Cat and mouse, predator and prey, but which was which?
Even a loyal agent — as I guiltily know from experience — weighs "negotiations in terms of the relationship with his client and the long-term relationship with studio executives." You walk "a fine line between representing a client's grievances and alienating the producer." Kemper points out that "these steady relationships formed an almost conspiratorial syndicate between the agency and production executives." I like that "almost."
As studios matured, accommodation (and a form of industrial efficiency) came in the form of two temperamentally opposed uber-agents who ushered in the modern era. Kemper builds his book around the files and archives of neurotic, "taciturn and brutish" Myron Selznick, who pushed client Vivien Leigh into the Scarlett role in his older brother David's "Gone With the Wind"; and the "finely tailored," dapper, graceful-in-his-skin "career engineer" Charles Feldman. The angry, insecure Myron Selznick and the socially adept Feldman pretty much monopolized Hollywood's high-priced talent, including almost all the stars seen today on Turner Classic Movies.
Keep the money in mind. In one year alone, 1949, when a school teacher's annual salary was $1,400, Feldman, with a few phone calls, earned a $250,000 commission on a single deal.
Like many agents at the time, including me, Myron was an alcoholic; unlike most agents, "Charlie" Feldman was legally trained and could read a contract the way Einstein read an algebraic equation (which a lot of studio agreements resembled, then as now).
What both men shared, Kemper underscores, was a crucial Southern California family background in the movie business. The Hollywood agency racket was a deeply tribal phenomenon. (My boss, Sam Jaffe, head of his own agency, was the brother-in-law of Paramount mogul B.P. Schulberg, and Jaffe hired relations galore who hired their sons.) For years, New York-centered agencies like the band-booking MCA and stage-and-radio power William Morris failed to gain a foothold in Hollywood because they had no blood connections here. Then, choosing their moment, they rudely bought their way into Hollywood by corporate takeovers that squashed the char- ismatic, personality-driven, "one-stop powerhouse[s]" like Feldman, Selznick (for whom contracts were "a form of trickery") and Leland Hayward.
Reading Kemper's original and deeply researched study, I couldn't help thinking of Hollywood's golden oldie days. Then agents tended to be a colorfully mixed (mainly Jewish) bag. My colleagues were war veterans who included a furniture-removal man, a tennis bum, a secret-ops military officer, a former labor agitator, a trust fund baby — rich men, poor men, beggar men and thieves with some considerable wild, woolly life experience. Today's agents go to film, business or law school and come up through the mailroom, guzzle sparkling water instead of gin and work out at the gym. They are healthier, cooler, more handsome, less emotional and less angry and much, much more innocent about life.
A glaring omission in Kemper's book is the absence of any mention of Hollywood's then-current labor racketeer troubles, violent strikes, criminal conspiracies and the blacklist in which the agents played a key, and unheroic, role. Kemper's de-politicalization of what was, in fact, a lasting trauma for the entire industry one hopes he will remedy in a forthcoming history of talent agencies in a later period.
Sigal is a screenwriter, novelist and a former Hollywood agent whose firm represented, among others, Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Jack Palance, Joseph Cotten and Peter Lorre.
—from the Los Angeles Times, December 24, 1009


text:
One of the persistent mysteries of royal reporting is why anyone, anywhere, would believe anything that 'old school chum' Jessica Hay says about Kate Middleton.
Hay gives frequent interviews to an Australian magazine named New Idea, in which she makes random claims, the latest of which is that her mother Carole Middleton is going to act as nanny for the royal baby when it arrives in the summer.
Hay is the source of a variety of fake Kate stories, most notably she is the 'best pal' who claimed that Kate had posters of William on her bedroom wall at boarding school – a story categorically denied by Kate on air in her engagement interview - and Hay was also behind a bizarre story, subsequently withdrawn, that Kate had faeces smeared on her bedsheets at boardign school as part of a bullying campaign.
Miss Hay's story lacked credibility, to say the least, as Kate was not a boarder at the school in question.Royal sources previously said of Miss Hay: "She is not and never has been a friend. Many claims are just fantasies."
One can understand why the Aussie gossip mags may not be too troubled at repeating Hay's nonsensical claims. But is the Royalist being naive to wonder why on earth the supposedly more reputable LA Times - which is today running the 'Carole nanny' story - would do the same thing?


text:
Starting Your Own Nursery
Whether your business is big or small, you're looking to increase profits. While there are many ways to do this (add more clients, include more services), there is another avenue that may have not occurred to you. Ever considered adding a nursery to your business? It is becoming increasingly more common for landscape companies of all sizes to add a nursery to the existing business either to supply their own plant materials or to sell them to others. Or both.
Take a look at how two California companies (one large and one small) found it advantageous to start their own nurseries. Their reasons and methodologies have similarities, and differences. You may find that it'll work for you, too.
American Landscape Companies, Inc. in Canoga Park, Calif., has over 900 peak-season employees, some $60 million in annual sales, has five divisions, 12 branch offices and 275 distinctive orange trucks. It also has 100 acres in nursery land. The company has had its own nursery for 30 years.
Why? Jeff Strauss, general manager of American Wholesale Nurseries, Inc., the nursery division of American Landscape, says the nursery started when the landscape division had some plants left over from a job. A small nursery grew from that and "snowballed." Now it is a profitable part of the parent company, doing some $5 million in sales and employing 51 people in three locations.
"It gives us a little bit of an edge," Strauss says, "both financially and logistically." Although it grows only a small fraction of the plants for its parent company's landscape business, what it grows can be extremely beneficial to both the financial and installation aspects of the business.
"We grew thousands of trees when we landscaped Ontario Airport," Strauss says. Contract growing (for specific jobs) is one of the most beneficial elements of having a nursery. Of course, you can only implement this strategy when you have enough lead time (a year or two), but that's not uncommon with large, commercial jobs. In addition to the Ontario Airport job, the company has also landscaped Los Angeles International Airport, the Jurassic Park Ride at Universal Studios and the Reagan Presidential Library.
On those contract-grow jobs, the nursery division can give a definite price break to the parent company and avoid a search for certain plants that may be pricey elsewhere. That can range from trees to annual color. But that window of opportunity has to be there. Up to 35 percent of the nursery's plants go to American Landscape.
The other benefit is in easy accessibility to plants for any job the company has going. For example, Strauss says that he keeps a line of annual color growing year-round, and much of it goes to American Landscape jobs in Los Angeles County and surrounds. He can respond quickly to any demand, and he also trades plants with other nurseries to give the facility the capability to provide most any plant material.
But don't think of the nursery division as an afterthought of the company. It, in fact, is run as a separate and profitable entity of its own, and about half of its business is in sales to small to mid-sized landscapers, as well as gardeners who just come in to pick up a few flowers or shrubs. Another big part of his trade is to schools and municipalities.
The nursery has 65 acres of land in Simi Valley, 28 acres of growing ground in Moorpark and a small plot in Newhall, which also serves as a distribution and retail center. Both Newhall and Simi Valley sell retail — the nursery sells at three levels of wholesale as well, rewarding wholesale buyers with volume breaks. The nursery does about $5 million in sales annually.
Taking advantage of its proximity to urban Los Angeles, American pushes its retail trade. By selling on-site, it can beat the prices of the independent garden centers and compete with Home Depot and other large retailers on an equal footing.
"The margin is definitely there," Strauss says of retail sales, which bring him more than double the wholesale price for most items. Retail accounts for about 10 percent of his volume but about 25 percent of income.
Strauss is proud of his operation, and that it can be supportive of the parent landscape company and yet make a profit on its own. He grows what he calls a "one-stop shop" of plants, meaning that, if you want it, he will either have it or find it for you. That could be a flat of begonias, a one-gallon rosebush or a 48-inch boxed olive tree. He swaps plants with 16 other nurseries as needed, and often grows plants for other nurseries that have limited land.
Another benefit to American Landscape is that the nursery can also provide other services. For example, the nursery mixes and sells its own soils, and that can be of major value when landscaping a job. Strauss also has two semi-trucks that haul all the company's heavy construction equipment around the state — having 100 acres of land gives him that kind of space.
As far as accounting goes, the nursery operates as a separate entity with its own sales and accounting staff. Final accounting and payroll are done at American Landscape's Canoga Park corporate office. Strauss says it's a simple matter to charge the parent company for the plants it buys.
"It's all under one umbrella," he says, and it can be a financial boon to the company to have a thriving and profitable nursery in a year in which landscaping profits are more scarce. And vice versa.
Oakridge Landscape, Inc., on the other hand, has a tiny nursery plot on its property in North Hills, Calif. No wholesale, no retail. No sales at all. All the plants here are those the company — which has 125 employees and does up to $12 million in sales annually — uses in upcoming jobs.
Company president Jeff Myers says that the plot, situated on the company's 2-acre headquarters property, was established for nursery use soon after the company started up four years ago. They had a job landscaping Glendale Community College, and they had a lead time of more than a year. They decided to grow some of the plants themselves when they saw that the job required over 700 sizeable plants, most of them shrubs.
"There were some trees, too," Myers says. With that kind of grow-in time, the company made a decision to buy small-sized plant materials and grow them to the contract size. The savings were sizeable.
Typically under such circumstances, the company buys 1-gallon plants and grows them to 5-gallon size. A shrub that costs $2-plus in the gallon costs $5.50 in the 5-gallon. It's even more for trees. A 15-gallon tree costs the company about $32, and when that tree goes to a 24-inch box, it's worth about $110.
Multiply some variation of that by 700, and you see the kind of cost savings realized in having a bit of nursery ground available. Obviously, there are other costs, though.
"You have to buy a box, soil and the labor to shift it," Myers notes. Then the tree or shrub has to be maintained in a skillful manner for a year or two, and you have to have a skilled employee who does the transplanting to larger containers. Even after all that, the company counts a significant savings — which it can figure into the profit of the job. "Everything has to line up correctly before we'll do that."
The other use for the nursery space is for plant materials left over from a job or acquired in odd ways. Rather than having to cart them back to the original nursery for a refund, or disposing of the plants in some other way, Oakridge can keep them on hand for other jobs or replacements in their small maintenance division.
For example, he often bids a job based on on-center plantings. But often a sidewalk or other construction interrupts the plantings, and he has plants left over. "We do get some projects, smaller ones, where we'll use that plant material," he says. Without the nursery space, he couldn't do this kind of swapping. He will even design in certain elements specifically because he has the plants available at the nursery.
The company also lays a lot of turf — some 40 percent of its overall work is turf — and sometimes leftover sod is stored at the nursery. If a need for that sod comes up before it has to be disposed of, it can be pulled from the nursery.
What made this little nursery more plausible was the fact that Oakridge already had a small mulching operation behind the office, using plants taken from maintenance or demolition. And he has an employee who does the mulching, which doesn't take up all of his time. So the nursery came without the addition of another employee.
"There's a cost-savings there as well," Myers says of the mulching. He doesn't have to dispose of the plant waste, and he saves money on mulch that he uses as topdressing on jobs. Having a small nursery makes sense in the context of having ready space, employee and complimentary operations going on.
Don Dale is a freelance writer who resides in Altadena, Calif.
Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2020 Penton Media Inc.


text:
The first trailer for the animated feature Dorothy of Oz has been released. The CG-animated musical centers on Dorothy (Lea Michele) returning to the Land of Oz, only to find that the kingdom and its inhabitants are in grave danger from a wicked Jester (Martin Short). The low-budget film comes from the studio Summertime Entertainment, and the visuals are sadly a far cry from Pixar or DreamWorks Animation. That said, the colorfulness and strange cast of characters would have been a big pull for me as a kid so maybe this will play better to younger audiences. The film is almost reminiscent of the dark and twisted unofficial sequel Return to Oz, but with decidedly more singing/Broadway stars.
Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The voice cast also includes Dan Aykroyd, Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, James Belushi, Bernadette Peters, Hugh Dancy, Megan Hilty, and Oliver Platt. Dorothy of Oz will open sometime in 2013.


text:
A group of Aussies is taking its beef with McDonald's to the burger chain's Illinois home base.
At issue is a proposed 24-hour store with a drive-thru in the small Australian town of Tecoma, across from a local school. As of Friday more than 93,000 supporters signed a change.org petition opposing the opening, and the petition's author, Garry Muratore, led a small group to Chicago this weekend to personally deliver the signatures.
"If McDonald's wins this fight, it'll break our hearts," Muratore wrote in the petition. "This town, our special part of the world that we think deserves protecting, would be irreversibly changed."
Muratore argues the store's litter and traffic not only would compromise the beauty of the town, which sits near a national park and the Dandenong Ranges, but it also would send a bad message to Tecoma's kids.
"Every day, kids as young as five years old would need to walk past a giant advertisement for junk food just to go to school," he said, pointing out a survey of the town showed 9 of every 10 people in the area oppose the opening.
The fight has been two years in the making, going back to 2011 when the company filed a proposal to open the store. Since then Muratore's group has grabbed national attention for its protests and calls for action with messages like "No Maccas in Tecoma" and "Burger Off."
The group launched a crowd-funding campaign to raise the money for its travel to Oak Brook. They even took out a half-page ad in the Chicago Tribune preceding the visit.
McDonald's said it's been vocal with the Australian community about its plans and said it respects the group's right to peacefully express its views in Chicago.
"McDonald's Australia has followed due process every step of the way to build a family restaurant on a highway that already houses a number of food and service outlets. The area is appropriately zoned and we have an approved planning permit."
A spokesperson said in a statement that the new restaurant will bring 100 jobs to the town and will be owned and operated "by a licensee who is a member of the broader community, who has the best interest of his neighbors in mind. In fact, he already owns McDonald's restaurants in neighboring communities."
Muratore's group isn't deterred. They plan to "tell McDonald's US Corporate Headquarters in Chicago, including the McDonald's Board and major investors, that the bullying and intimidation needs to stop."
Australians In Chicago to Protest McDonald's
Group opposes 24-hour McDonald's in its small Australian town of Tecoma
A group of Aussies is taking its beef with McDonald's to the burger chain's Illinois home base.


text:
It's a trend seen since the emergence of craft: brewers christening their beers with inventive and catchy names that often play on ingredients, formulation or seasonal release. In the case of Dogfish Head's Wet Hop American Summer, it's all of the above.
And so when it came time to name its first year-round IPA, Sierra Nevada chose a similar path with its choice of "Torpedo," which takes its name from the brewery's innovative "Hop Torpedo" device, a dry-hopping mechanism that was specifically developed to brew the beer. According to Sierra, the "cylindrical stainless steel vessel harnesses the essential oils and resins in hops, without extracting bitterness."
Putting aside for a moment the technical aspects of its design, however, let's examine just how fitting the name Torpedo really is. Consider the explosive impact that the beer has had on the craft scene since its official debut in 2009: amid a plethora of IPA brands on the market, Torpedo has soared to become the number one selling IPA in off-premise retail accounts, according to IRI, a Chicago-based market research firm. The beer lands ahead of many well-known competing products, including Lagunitas IPA, Stone IPA and Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA.
Sales of Torpedo have been nothing short of spectacular, booming by over 50 percent in both 2011 and 2012, while sales are currently up 25 percent year to date in 2013. That's not all. Launched in February 2012, Torpedo's 16 oz. can package has proved to be a formidable addition as well. Last year, 4-packs of the brand accounted for over $1.2 million in supermarket sales, the sixth-highest total of all craft beer in cans sold in supermarkets, according to IRI.
Recently, we spoke with Joe Whitney, Sierra Nevada's Director of Sales, about the development and growth of Torpedo and the impact of the brand on an overall increase in sales and distribution of Sierra products. Whitney also offered up details on the brewery's foray into cans and why Sierra chose a 16 oz. format for Torpedo, as well as his take on the future of the package for the craft beer industry.
We've condensed the interview into an edited question and answer format:
Ray Latif: Sierra Nevada launched Torpedo about four and a half years ago, and the brand has consistently put up huge sales numbers for the brewery. To what do you attribute to the impressive growth?
Joe Whitney: We've been a hop-forward brewery forever, and we had a lot of IPAs and double IPAsÔǪ but there was nothing year-round for people. And we developed Torpedo. [Sierra Nevada founder Ken Grossman] literally drew it up on a napkin at a meeting one day, and said "There's got to be a better way to dry-hop that better utilizes and expresses hop flavor."
Then we tested it out in the market and put it out there just because we had the liquid and wanted to see if people liked it, and people went crazy over it.
Torpedo was sort of in and out of the market. We were testing the Torpedo device for about three years before we launched it. I think that sort of build-up created a fanaticism that when we actually launched it, we couldn't keep up with demand the first year. That was happening on a national level; people [were] finally getting a year-round IPA from Sierra Nevada.
At the same time there was an emergence of a lot of really successful and exciting craft brewers that just happened to [have] more hop-forward beers. Stone has been around for 10 or 11 years; Dogfish has been around longer than that.
You think of a lot of the emerging and rock star brewers, they've been hop-forward breweries. Russian River is there too, Lagunitas is there, and that's kind of where the excitement in the category is. I think in part because a lot of people that have been drinking a lot of craft beer for a long time have kind of landed on IPA.
RL: Over the past year, IPA has become the top-selling style for craft beer, and Torpedo is the fastest growing brand for Sierra Nevada. Can you speak to the convergence of the two?
JW: What happens with your palate is that you get used to that [IPA] flavor profile; there's just something about IPA that is just right. It's a big, meaty beer that's like "do you want steak or do you want fish?" The IPA drinker is the steak eater.
In terms of the go-to kind of beer, most beer aficionados, that I know of, have landed on IPA and stayed there. Because once you get used to that flavor profile, you want that as part of your drinking occasion.
RL: In January 2012, Sierra Nevada debuted a can package for Torpedo Extra IPA (as well as for its flagship Pale Ale). Obviously, the decision was a significant step for the brand. Can you explain the brewery's mindset before and after launching the new package?
JW: We started talking to wholesalers, and they weren't very excited about [cans]. The craft brewers that were in cans, outside of Dale's, nobody was having good success. Even when big players, like Blue Moon, came out with cans, distributors had a lot of confidence, and it didn't perform that well. So we were a little gun shy.
We [also] talked to people at bars, which is kind of where we happen to have focus groups. They said, "Quality beer in a can — that's an oxymoron. That can't exist." And it just never occurred to them that was a good idea, and it's something that literally, you have to put it out there for people, and then they think about it and it's nice when they're drinking and talking and all of a sudden in a minute and a half somebody thinks, "well, wait a minute, this would be great for the lake or the mountains or the beach or whatever it might be." It just wasn't in their consciousness.
I think one thing that really sold us was timing. Having those brands [Dale's, etc.] out there first, got people used to the idea of craft in cans. People were predisposed to the idea of craft beer in cansÔǪ and we get e-mails from people saying that they're exclusively drinking cans now. A lot of it is also mainstream domestic drinkers that have graduated their tastes, and now they're craft drinkers. But, they like cans.
It's opened a new occasion, because those guys were drinking PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon). Or they were drinking light beer because they're sort of establishment kind of people.
For example, if you go to a ski resort, PBR is kind of the beer. All of sudden you look and guys are tailgating at a mountain or a ballgame or whatnot and they've got craft beer, cause that's what they've got when they go to the bar. But the occasion of "we're going to have the barbeque" or be at the beach, had always been a PBR kind of occasion for them. Now they're bringing good beer to those occasions, and it's a boon for craft beer.
RL: How did Sierra Nevada decide on the 16 oz. can format and 4-packs of cans for Torpedo?
JW: So we thought there was a little bit of a risk doing cans in general, and we wanted to take a softer approach, which is why we only came out with two packages. There's a lot of folks that have really hit the market hard with a lot of packages. And then also that combined with our distributors not having good success with craft beer in cans, we had to pick the right packages and really support them well.
Torpedo isn't as big a volume product as Pale Ale. It's a bigger beer in terms of alcohol and flavor profile. And we were kind of going back and forth between 6-packs of 12 oz., or single serve, or 4-packs. We really didn't know. We just kind of took a chance. But, we were very careful not to put anything else into 16 oz. [cans], because we just wanted to have Torpedo get out there on its own and have its day. It seemed to be the right package. We're pretty happy with how it went.
RL: What's been the impact of the Torpedo can for Sierra Nevada's grocery and convenience store business?
JW: We all of a sudden we're able to get a new drinker in C-stores that we've never been able to touch with Torpedo. They really liked the cans. And I think that was a really neat thing, because a lot of those C-stores sell it as single-serve. The grocery guys tend to sell it as a 4-pack, and a lot of the C-stores prefer to do it as a single serve. And they've had really great success with it, which is something, truthfully, that we never even thought about when we were putting the package together. I think that just presented to a whole new drinker out there, which was really exciting to see. From a volume standpoint, it wasn't as big as what we saw with 12-packs, but I think when you look at long-term brand building, I think it was the biggest eye-opener.
RL: Cans represent about 10 percent of Sierra Nevada's overall sales. Do you foresee them becoming a more significant part of the brewery's business?
JW: I wouldn't see it like mainstream domestics, where half of what they sell is cans. At the same time, if you look at imports, cans are less than 10 percent for those guys; it has been forever. So it's really kind of an anomaly. When we were looking at the can scenario, you've got high-end beers that have been around forever [that] don't do much can business, and consumers have really adopted that. Yet we think there's an opportunity for cans. It was a little risky, and fortunately, it worked. I think we're going to land somewhere in the middle between where imports have sort of languished for years — around 8 or 9 percent — and mainstream, which is around 50 percent. And 20 or 25 percent is a real doable number.
The surprising thing for us about cans has been the number of on-premise accounts that have ordered cans. We had not expected to do any business on-premise. There's been a fair number of on-premise accounts that have gotten excited about serving cans, and I don't know if that was sort of the buzz that PBR created a few years back or what, but a lot of on-premise operators have jumped on cans. We don't push it. They just hear about it and order them.
Editor's note: This article appeared in the September issue of BevNET Magazine.


text:
Central Connecticut women's basketball senior Jaclyn Babe was named First Team All-Northeast Conference on Thursday morning. This is the second straight season that Babe has earned postseason honors from the NEC. Last season she was selected to the All-NEC second team.
Babe was stellar this season for the Blue Devils (16-13, 10-8 NEC) as she scored 447 points and averaged 16.0 points/game. Both marks improved upon the excellent numbers that earned her a second-team selection last year. Her 447 points are one more than she scored last season and Babe now holds the sixth and seventh highest single-season point totals in program history.
In addition to being a scoring threat for the Blue Devils, Babe also played terrific defense during the regular season. She posted an impressive 73 steals, which ties for the 10th best season total in program history. Babe also contributed 80 assists and a solid 4.0 rebounds per game.
Babe led the Blue Devils in minutes played with 964, despite missing a game to injury, and averaged a team-high 34.4 minutes per contest.
Babe also posted excellent shooting percentages during her final season. She connected on 42.9% of her shots from the field and an excellent 82.1% from the free throw line.
In just two seasons, Babe has scored 893 points for the Blue Devils. Along with her 191 points during two seasons at Duquesne, she has totaled 1,084 points as a Division I college basketball player.
Among her NEC peers, Babe ranked fourth in points/game (16.0), fifth in free throw percentage (82.1%), fifth in steals/game (2.61), sixth in minutes/game (34.4), 13th in field goal percentage (42.9%) and 13th in assists/game (2.86).
Last season, Babe became the fifth women's basketball player in CCSU history to earn a place on the All-NEC first or second teams. This year she becomes the fourth Blue Devil to earn first team honors from the conference and she joins Gabriella Guegbelet as the only players in program history to earn multiple first or second team All-NEC nods.
Babe and the Blue Devils enter the NEC Tournament as the #5 seed and will play at #4 Saint Francis U on Sunday, March 10, at 3 p.m. The game is available to watch live, free of charge, on NECFrontRow.com.


text:
Hello All!!
Hope all is well out there! Things are good here - Dustin is busy at work and we are working on fully adjusting to Brenna's no napping schedule in the afternoon (how I miss naps already - not that my daughter isn't always fun to have around - but an hour of really my own time in the afternoon was really nice to have - I haven't done any indoor biking at all since coming back to Germany - going to have to figure out how to get the rest of my exercise in every day). So, on our walk home today, we tried out my new shopping bag at the grocery store (I love it - I will defintely need to make more - maybe as gifts this year? they are awesome!) (it was funny at school when I picked Brenna up with the bag in my hand - she had to show the bag off to her teachers - they were a little like "whatever" (but they were good sports for the sake of my excited child) - and they are getting to know that I make stuff - the one teacher even asked if it was something I made :-). After lunch, we used our store purchases to make chocolate peppermint cookies (Brenna isn't impressed with them, but Dustin and I sure love them). Brenna had fun during our baking lining up the spices and playing with them (not sure if they were her kids/friends/puppets - she kind of lost me with her story line - but loved that she made a stage out of my one container and put all of her "stones" on top). (The dough I made was not kid friendly at all - the only thing she really could help me with was breaking open the eggs - what a bummer!). (Guess I missed my picture taking opportunity there - it would have been fun to see all the stuff she had on the counter all lined up - and her outfit was cute too - a pink heart shirt and pink tights (no skirt, just the tights for here at home)).
Well, I better get my German homework done! The upcoming school activites sound fun at school - they are planning a disco for the kids, a face painting day (that should be neat to see what Brenna comes home looking like) and a costume party (all for the week before Carnival). I really need to take my camera up to school and take some pictures of the cool decorations in the building - it is so festive inside with streamers, balloons, and ribbons :-) (I think there are more decorations for Carnival then there were for Christmas!)
Oh, I almost forgot - if you want a great laugh (and insight into my clearance shopping tendancies) - check out the posting by the Meanest Mom today (one of the links in my favorite sites). If you need some inspiration today, check out the NieNie blog - she really inspires me to try to be a better mom, a better person, and a better Christian (she is recovering from a plane crash that left her burned over 80% of her body and trying to care for her 4 young children - her belief in God and her love of family inspires people from all over the world including me).
Take Care!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Tuesday, January 26
Hello All!!
2 comments:
- heathmamagam said...
Oh, I'll take a shopping bag any old time, (I love getting samples of homemade objects!) or do I have the pattern directions you used?
Brenna, keep up that great imagination!!
- January 26, 2010 at 4:19 PM
- mikaysmom said...
Love to hear about how excited everyone gets for Carnival, it does sound like the biggest holiday over there! Hope that you get some great pictures when they do their week of fun! The cookies sound delish, I'm sure when Brenna is older, peppermint will be a better tasting treat. mikayla doesn't care for anything with peppermint-too spicy! Would love to see you make more shopping bags, makes me laugh thinking about our "train wreck" at Kroger while you were back in the states! Miss you!
- January 27, 2010 at 5:37 AM


text:
If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...
- Post No Evil: Content Moderation Decisions Are Always Trickier Than You Think
- YouTube Jacks Live TV Streaming Prices 30%, As Streaming Sector Starts To Resemble Good Old Cable
- Further Thoughts On Moderation v. Discretion v. Censorship
- 'The Sims' Becomes An Outlet For Would-Be Protesters Who Cannot Attend Protests
- Senator Thom Tillis Seems Really Pissed Off That The Internet Archive Bought A Record Store To Make Rare Recordings Accessible
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
Jezsik, 14 May 2007 @ 11:29am
Just imagine ...Isn't trying to keep content off a common site like youtube so they can build their own delivery site very much like trying to develop their own TV set in order to deliver their controlled content? Sounds kinda dumb, doesn't it?
Mind you, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Sony attempted this route! :-D
Rick, 14 May 2007 @ 11:38amSony did. It's called Blu-Ray.
Anonymous Poster (profile), 14 May 2007 @ 12:35pm
Re: Blu-RayHey, that's not fair. Don't kick somebody when they're down, yo.
Chris, 14 May 2007 @ 1:25pm
Re:I love my Blu-ray player (PS3) and the TV (Sony) that plays on it, and the surround sound (Sony) that enables me to hear it. Never had a problem with anything I bought from Sony :D
Sohrab, 14 May 2007 @ 2:06pm
Re:what does that even mean?
Monarch, 14 May 2007 @ 12:23pmNo it's like trying to build and own every transmit tower in the world, instead of syndicating with local television stations to show the network content.
squik, 14 May 2007 @ 12:34pm
all these analogies are lameCBS is merely carrying its broadcast strategy into the online space. They tried having their own portal and it didn't work for them. Now they are syndicating their content and will be inserting ads into the syndicated content. Don't expect CBS to stop issuing take down orders.
Old Guy, 14 May 2007 @ 12:49pm
CBS (maybe someone finally gets it)My broadband company (the evil Comcast) carries network programming on an on-demand basis. Guess which is the ONLY network who's shows are available on-demand.
JasonFason, 14 May 2007 @ 1:35pm
Re: CBS (maybe someone finally gets it)Agree. I actually watch more CBS shows now because I got caught up using evil-Comcast's On-Demand feature. But whatever TV sux these days and with the looming writers strike it's going to get worse (more reality TV and unscripted shows). I'm starting a garden and going to bed earlier, screw entertainment mediums and their ad dollars
Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased), 14 May 2007 @ 1:05pm
AdvertisingOf course, if you want greater control of your advertising (networks source of revenue) you would want everyone to go to one site to see your ads. If other sites are using your content to draw visitors for their ads, you sure as hell would want a cut of the ad revenue. Remember, it all comes down to money. Why should anyone else make money off your content? CBS will make a deal with YouTube to get a cut of the ad revenue and then they will get more exposure. That makes sense! But without an agreement, you're losing ad dollars because companies won't take ads with you or they will pay a lot less for the ad. I am no economist or ad specialist but that makes sense to me.
K-Sea, 14 May 2007 @ 3:10pm
Who's got the bandwidth and $$$I'm thinking CBS got their monthly statement from their ISP and noticed an exceptions increase in the fees associated with feeding your own content, that along with the additional server/network costs going into the project said F$#@ it... If you can't beat them, join them!
Thinkerati, 14 May 2007 @ 3:38pm
Nobody went because it was so poorly designed...Sure, I agree with everybody that it would be smart for all of the networks to make their content available via sources who specialize in getting it out and making it available to anyone.
However, part of the reason why CBS is making this move and the other networks haven't yet, is because their Innertube design is so crappy. Trying to watch shows on their site is often a frustrating, unsatisfying event. The feed sometimes would break off, or it would loop the same section of material again and again instead of going to the next part (forcing me to watch the same annoying commercial multiple times until I could get it to advance), or it would skip whole sections altogether. And the quality of the picture was extremely poor. Also, if you were halfway through a show and needed to leave and come back later, you couldn't come back and click on the part you wanted to go straight to, you had to watch the entire thing again to get to the part you wanted. Although there were a few things I liked about it (they were one of the first networks to let you pick which episode you wanted and went back further in episode availability), overall it was just plain poorly designed and built, and a big pain, so no wonder nobody went there...
Todd, 15 May 2007 @ 1:03am
I'm the stupid fcuking grammar douche@ #9
By "entertainment mediums" do you mean like The Ghost Whisperer or something?
Sanguine Dream, 15 May 2007 @ 6:05am
Now...if only Viacom would wake up and smell the coffee. I like the Comedy Central show "Halfway Home" but when I try to go to comedycentral.com to look at extra stuff and clips from episodes (I really like the one with Dane Cook) the site is ungodly slow. And instead of toughing it out and fishing for the clips (the site must have been done by a 13yr. girl whose resume was her myspace page) I just gave up. So if they would pull their heads out of their @ssess I would go looking for the extra stuff but since they insist on locking it down on such a horribly designed site I suppose I'll go without it.
Add Your Comment


text:
Sens. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, address the Senate Homeland Security Committee's 31-page report on the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi which criticizes U.S. intelligence sources and the State Department for not acting on a warning signs ahead of the incident.
A report released Monday by the Senate Homeland Security Committee lambasted the handling of security around the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in September when a deadly attack took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
In the months leading up to the Sept. 11 attack, there was a "rising crescendo" of evidence from U.S. intelligence sources and State Department personnel that the situation was becoming dangerous and unstable, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, one of the report's authors, said in a press conference on Monday.
"The tragedy is, however, that the reaction to the flashing red indicators was woefully inadequate," said Leiberman.
The 31-page report, "Flashing Red: A Special Report On The Terrorist Attack At Benghazi," paints a picture of a vulnerable outpost in Libya's second-largest city, where it was clear that the new post-Gadhafi government was unable to provide full protection to diplomatic staff.
Sen. Susan Collins, the ranking Republican member, said the congressional investigation found that "terrorists essentially walked right into the Benghazi compound unimpeded and set it ablaze, due to extremely poor security in a threat environment."
Collins said the State Department failed to take adequate steps to reduce the facility's vulnerability to a terrorist attack of this kind.
"While the Department and the Intelligence Community lacked specific intelligence about this attack, the State Department should not have waited for — or expected —specific warnings before increasing its security in Benghazi, a city awash with weapons and violent extremists," she said.
Both of the senators said the U.S. facility should have been closed, given the absence of sufficient security.
Esam Omran al-Fetori / Reuters
The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames, Sept. 11. Armed gunmen attacked the compound, clashing with Libyan security forces before the latter withdrew as they came under heavy fire.
The report noted that as the security situation deteriorated in eastern Libya in 2012, "the Department of State did not provide enough security to address the increased threats and did not adequately support field requests for additional security."
The congressional report follows a separate investigation by the State Department Accountability Review Board (ARB), which blamed State Department officials for "systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies" that led to "grossly inadequate" protection for the Benghazi facility. In response at the time, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said the problems highlighted by the ARB were unacceptable, "problems for which — as Secretary (Hillary) Clinton has said — we take responsibility."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in a hospital being treated for a blood clot, the result of a concussion suffered earlier in December. Collins said she hopes that after Clinton recovers, she will carefully review the congressional report and see if there are officials that "need to be held accountable."
Collins said that she did not see the tragedy as the fault of the Pentagon, but an indication that the Defense Department has insufficient assets to mount an effective response.
Among the report's recommendations:
- U.S. intelligence agencies need to "broaden and deepen their focus in Libya, and beyond, on nascent violent Islamist extremist groups in the region that lack strong operational ties to core al Qaeda or its main affiliate groups."
- If a host nation can't provide adequate security for a diplomatic facility, "the Department of State must provide additional security measures of its own, urgently attempt to upgrade the host nation security forces, or decide to close a U.S. Diplomatic facility and remove U.S. personnel until appropriate steps can be taken to provide adequate security."
- The State Department needs to establish a "mandatory process" to determine what security standards are applicable to temporary facilities, such as the Benghazi consulate, to ensure that they are "adequately protected."
"Flashing Red" was the final joint investigation by Collins and Leiberman, who is slated to retire on Jan. 2.
'Inconsistent' statements from the administration
As for the controversy over what the administration knew about the attack — and when — the report said officials in the State Department and the intelligence community were "inconsistent" in stating that the deaths in Benghazi were the result of a terrorist attack.
The candidacy of Ambassador Susan Rice to the post of Secretary of State was scuppered after allegations by Republican lawmakers that she misled the public about the attacks during an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press on Sept. 16.
The administration said Rice, the current U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, was repeating talking points provided by the intelligence community when she initially characterized the Sept. 11 assault as a spur-of-the-moment response to a crude, anti-Muslim film.
In her interview, Rice said that "what happened in Benghazi was in fact initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in Cairo, almost a copycat of — of the demonstrations against our facility in Cairo, which were prompted, of course, by the video."
Independent panel: 'Systematic failures' within State Department
In a letter to President Obama on Dec. 13 withdrawing her candidacy for the top diplomatic post, Rice said she wanted to avoid a "very prolonged, very politicized, very distracting and very disruptive" confirmation process.
For its part, the congressional report said Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had offered to provide the committee with a detailed timeline regarding the development of the intelligence community's talking points on Benghazi. "At the time of writing this report, despite repeated requests, the committee had yet to receive this timeline," the report notes.
More content from NBCNews.com:
- Officers' 'gut feeling' tracks down missing LA toddler
- Homicides plummet in NYC, leap in Chicago
- Snowstorm disrupts hundreds of Northeast flights
- Video: High profits seen in 'green rush' for legal marijuana
- At 1989 parole hearing, firefighter shooter wondered if he might kill


text:
U.S. Home Sales Rise 2.1 Percent In October
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. sales of previously occupied homes rose solidly in October, helped by improvement in the job market and cheap mortgages.
The National Association of Realtors says sales rose 2.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.79 million. That's up from 4.69 million in September, which was revised lower.
The sales pace is roughly 11 percent higher than a year ago. But it remains below the more than 5.5 million that economists consider consistent with a healthy market.
Superstorm Sandy delayed some sales in the Northeast, the Realtors' group said. Sales fell 1.7 percent, the only region to show a decline. Most of the drop was due to the storm, but those sales will likely be completed in future months, the group said.


text:
Shock resistant, long lasting and intense pigmentation FNUG nail polish.
Formulated without Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)
The Elegant Edge FNUG Nail Polish is highly shock resistant, it gives you this incredible lasting and flawless wear.
The delicate caviar it contains nourishes your nails thanks to its amino acids and essential minerals.
Rich in nourishing proteins and solidifying silica, it takes care not only of the beauty but also the health of your nails.
Its special formulation ensures high shine, long-lasting, intense color and what's more, easy application.
Apply a layer of base coat to unify the nail and form a protective film between the keratin of the nail and polish pigments.
Apply 2 layers of nail polish.
Apply a layer of Top Coat for a long lasting manicure.
Formulated without Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)


text:
The spring rains you've got this year completely wore out your old umbrellas, but hated to throw it away? well instead of tossing it into the recycling bin box here are a few ideas for recycling and reusing that old umbrellas.
Colorful Parking Canopy
Flower Holder
Artist Jean Shin Creates a Colorful Canopy Out of Orphaned Umbrellas. Broken umbrellas have been deconstructed, reassembled and sewing them together to create this shade-giving canopy for the Socrates Sculpture Park in NYC.
Twinkling Colourfull Umbrellas
Umbrella Art
Umbrella Ceiling Lamp
Umbrella Art
Umbrella Skirt
Handy Tote Bag
House Decor


text:
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The following responses are principally by Michael Payne and Preben Olsen, the two partners in the recently initiated Aardwolf Brewing Co., LLC venture to be located at 1461 Hendricks Avenue in San Marco. Both individuals are Jacksonville natives and graduates of Episcopal High School. Michael is well known locally for his craft beer brewing prowess. Preben is a recognized expert in the retail side of beer sales as well as his unorthodox beer related guerilla marketing tactics (to date for others) most evident during football tailgating events.
Metro Jacksonville: Can you provide a brief description of Aardwolf Brewing Company's plans for the planned Hendricks Avenue location?
Preben: Like most craft breweries nationally, Aardwolf's facility will consist of two components – the brewery itself where various styles of beer will be commercially produced in volume for distribution around the City – and a taproom allowing for on-site consumption. The taproom will operate as a bar and is being sized sufficiently to allow for special events, meetings, parties, etc. Wine will also be available for those not desiring to partake in the "craft beer experience".
Metro Jacksonville: Why did you select San Marco for this project?
Michael: The locale in general exhibits a lot of qualities that appeal to us and we can really see the potential for our brewery to become part of the San Marco neighborhood. The old "City of South Jacksonville" Utility building attracts us as well, with its history and atmosphere. As an original "Florida Ice House" from the 1920's – it just stands out as both an ideal and unique setting for the development of a craft beer brewery. My initial conversations with the building owners regarding its potential use as a brew-pub date back almost three years.
Metro Jacksonville: When do you anticipate brewing operations starting at the Hendricks Avenue site?
Michael: If things fall into place, sometime in late 2012. There is a substantial amount of work to be done within the building and since the time it takes to get a Federal brewing permit can vary drastically based on the number of applications in the queue nationally, it is really too early to try to nail down an actual opening date. The tap room however, will precede brewing operations and should ideally be open by mid-fall. At first we will serve craft beers produced by others.
Metro Jacksonville: Do you plan to bottle and distribute your products?
Michael: Initially, we will be selling draft beer by the keg through a distributer to commercial accounts principally in the Jacksonville area. After we are up and operational, we plan to eventually bottle beer. As we grow, distribution could become regional.
Metro Jacksonville: How will Aardwolf differentiate itself from a market with established players such as Bold City, Gordon Biersch, Intuition, Mile Marker, Green Room, River City Brewing, Engine 15, BJ's Brewhouse, and Brewer's Pizza, etc?
Michael: Jacksonville (like the national beer scene) has experienced a boom in craft breweries in the last few years, but we are really only scratching the surface locally when compared to well established markets in other parts of the country. At Aardwolf, we want to push the envelope in terms of beer styles and techniques that have yet to be seen in northeast Florida, while also firmly placing the quality of our beer and ingredients as our first priority. We are too far from actually brewing to reveal any more than that, but I like to think that when it comes to differentiating ourselves, the beer will eventually speak for itself. Moreover, the brewery's 2,500 sf taproom, located in the center of a 1920's brick ice house, will in itself be a unique addition to the Jacksonville craft brew scene.
The building Aardwolf plans to occupy was constructed in 1927 as an ice plant for Joseph Howe's South Jacksonville Utilities Company. The company would operate under several names, such as the Southern Service Company and Consumers Ice Company, until 1954. In 1954, the building became the home of the Moyer Marble & Tile Company, which remained on site until the early 2000s.
Metro Jacksonville: How difficult has it been to coordinate getting all the necessary permits, inspections, etc. with the City of Jacksonville? Do you believe that Jacksonville invests enough in its entrepreneurial economy?
Aardwolf: We are still in the rezoning process and therefore are not able at this time to administratively seek permits to construct. As a result, we cannot viably comment on that process.
Interesting question. With respect to the COJ encouraging its small business type entrepreneurial economy, we may have "missed it? but we have not seen any obvious avenues of assistance for which we may be eligible. It is something the City may want to consider since it's difficult to envision how the downtown can eventually develop in the manner desired being that much of the support infrastructure needed for company or residential relocation must eventually come from the efforts of the small business person/entrepreneur. One needs only to look at San Marco, Avondale, Riverside, etc. to understand what the "small business" contributes to the desirability of those areas of town as preferred places to live.
Metro Jacksonville: What has been your experience with the current City of Jacksonville rezoning regulations in regards to moving forward with your project?
Aardwolf: Currently we have found that our project necessitates a P.U.D. Unfortunately, that approach takes additional time. To date, the COJ Planning Department staff has aptly guided our consultant team as to how to best address the issues facing the redevelopment of an existing quasi-historic industrial building without having to be procedurally lumped in with the same siting regulations that control the typical new construction "strip-center."
The latter is something in our limited experience that the City Council may want to consider addressing by Ordinance. That is to say, new development and redevelopment can be (and usually are) different, but the City Codes do not allow for flexibility or rational interpretation based upon circumstances. One would assume that this issue probably has important relevance to the future redevelopment of existing older and architecturally significant buildings (like the San Marco Ice House, but downtown) – be they commercial or residential.
In addition to the City Planning Department staff, we have benefited greatly from the support, guidance and advice of the San Marco Preservation Society as well as District 5 Councilwoman Lori Boyer. The proposed brewery's credibility in the rezoning process has likewise been enhanced by having landlords who are both well-known and highly respected within the San Marco community.
Metro Jacksonville: When did you realize that your next career move would be the development of a brewery?
Michael: I went to school for ceramic art and pursued that career path for a few years, but eventually decided that it wasn't going to be something I could make a living doing. In 2007 I decided that my other passion, beer, was something I might be able to make a career out of and went to brewing school at the Siebel Institute in Chicago and the Doemens Academy in Munich. From there I went on to work at Terrapin Beer Company in Athens, Ga., and then helped start Brewer's Pizza in Orange Park. Opening this size brewery facility has been my goal for the last six years and everything I have done during that time has been with the intention of learning to brew the best beer possible. For me, this brewery is a dream that is finally being realized after years of effort.
Preben: After moving back to Jacksonville several years ago with a marketing degree from Auburn University, I quickly learned that the economy and demographics were severely limiting the job market options in my chosen field. Fortunately, I found a job at Grassroots in Five Points where the owners would eventually impart their love of craft beer to me. It's through the medium of craft beer sales I met Michael Payne. For the past 3 years I have been honing my skills and knowledge of the craft beer industry locally as well as nationally with thoughts of potentially someday seeking a regional marketing position for a craft brewery. Michael approached me about participating in the opening a local brewery nearly a year ago, and I haven't looked back since. Being able to market your own product, and being a part of the rapidly evolving City of Jacksonville beer scene is the best of all worlds…..
Metro Jacksonville: What is your vision for Hendricks Avenue and what role does Aardwolf Brewing Company play in that vision?
Preben: With the concurrent development of the San Marco Train Station across the street (a fortuitous unplanned occurrence), we believe that the brewery will contribute to the gentrification of an industrialized section of Hendricks Avenue left idle for a number of years. There is every reason to believe that the synergy of the two redeveloped sites bordering the Hendricks Avenue railroad crossing can only benefit the remainder of the area – both residential and commercial. The brewery taproom will provide a new complimentary night time destination in an area of Jacksonville already known for its outstanding restaurants and shops.
Metro Jacksonville: Where can we go to get updates and additional information on Aardwolf Brewing Company?
Preben: The Aardwolf website (under reconstruction) will be one source of information. We also intend to set up a Facebook Page.
Metro Jacksonville: How difficult was it to find small business financing in this market? Any advice for those seeking startup capital?
Michael: In all probability, acquiring startup capital from conventional sources – at this point in time – for this type of venture is not highly probable.
We were fortunate to have found private funding so that hurdle at least is one we were able to avoid.
Interview by Ennis Davis


text:
source: rilmara
The art of homemade popcorn is one that has fled with the simplicity of microwave popcorn. I remember fondly my mom popping kernels on the stovetop, then turning them into wonderful caramel corn in the oven. But from about middle school onward (and that was, oh, 20 years ago now), I don't remember even having popcorn that wasn't from a microwaved bag or the movie theater.
When I started being a little more aware of what we were putting into our bodies, however, I decided to bring stovetop popcorn back into my life. (Did you know there are PFCs in the lining of a microwaved popcorn bag, and one of the chemicals in the butter flavoring has been linked to Alzheimer's?) This way you can control your own ingredients, not to mention change the toppings to your liking! And it's a great snack to make with kids. Popcorn is a whole grain and has a lot of fiber, making it a healthy snack that seems indulgent.
Here's the recipe and then we'll talk about how your kids can help!
Stovetop Popcorn
- 1/2 c. popcorn kernels
- 1 T oil (I like to use coconut oil)
- optional toppings: salt, melted butter, Parmesan cheese, cinnamon, etc.
- equipment: a large stockpot, aluminum foil
- Put oil in stockpot and heat over medium on the stove. When the oil is melted (if it's a solid like coconut oil) or warm, add popcorn kernels.
- Cover stockpot with a layer of aluminum foil. Use a sharp knife to cut a few slits in the foil to let steam escape.
- Shake the pot every few minutes until kernels start to pop. While it's popping, shake continuously. When pops are 4-5 seconds apart, remove from heat.
- Season to taste and enjoy.
We like to sprinkle our popcorn with salt and then drizzle with a couple tablespoons of melted butter. For an even healthier snack, try a pinch of salt and a good sprinkle of nutritional yeast, which is full of B vitamins. (If you're nursing, it's also a galactagogue, increasing milk production!) Parmesan cheese is also tasty and is salty enough by itself usually.
My 4-year-old daughter will pour kernels into the pot and then help with toppings once the popcorn is cooked. An older child can do pretty much all of this by him or herself depending on his skill with the stove.
So pop some corn, pop in a movie, and your kids will think you're pretty much the best parent ever.
(Psst: you can also make chemical-free popcorn in the microwave with just a brown paper lunchbag, too!)
Do you make popcorn at home?


text:
Keith Richards is still living the "Life."
The 67-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist was awarded the Mailer Prize for DIstinguished Biography for her memoir, "Life," in a ceremony in New York.
"This is one for the books, if you get my drift, you hacks," the scruffy rocker joked as he took the podium.
U.S. & World
The day's top national and international news.
Former President Bill Clinton was on hand, and introduced Richards, calling him "my friend" and "a good guy." He also revealed that his late mother-in-law, Dorothy Rodham, was a big fan.
"Do you have any idea what it's like to have a 92-year-old groupie living in your home, a woman who lived and breathed for the Rolling Stones?" joked Clinton.
Richards worked the room while accepting the award, peppering his speech with his usual bawdiness. He did acknowledge his fellow nominees and winners, and touched upon his longtime battle with heroin addiction recounted in "Life."
"You've heard from some incredible people about some serious stuff," Richards said. "The only serious stuff I'm interested in I've given up."
The Mailer Prize is named after distinguished author Norman Mailer, who died in 2007. Other winners have included Toni Morrison, Orhan Pamuk, and Elie Wiesel.
Selected Reading: San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Newsweek


text: Welcome to the Samsung forum on CNET! Samsung worked with CNET to create a forum where people can ask questions and talk about all Samsung products and get help with everything from HDTVs, Smart TVs, home theater components, phones, cameras to monitors and printers. This forum is staffed by Samsung employees, but as we have seen in the past, often the most helpful answers come from CNET forum members themselves so please don't consider this just a Q and A with Samsung. This is a CNET forum and Samsung is here to be part of the conversation. Enjoy!


text:
10 - 14 May
The right instrument for mounting any tools on chucks. Adjustable to 90' and available with D=50, 58, 63 and 85.
With our last Catalog update introduced in 2016 we developed a new line of VHW drill bits with DLC coating for automatic boring machines. They ensure up to 4 times ...
Our extraordinary surface diamond coating is a DLC (Diamond-like Carbon) anti-friction cover (layer less than 1 micron) developed for large-scale industrial production, ...
The new solution by Sistemi helps both dust and chipwoods evacuation during Nesting and conventional CNC Routing operations.
Easy to assemble directly on the collet ...
the new shrink fit chucks are high precision toolholders which ensure more precision having less coupling thanks to its special tight on the shank tool by thermal ...
In our programme there are more than 1000 items available, with shank in mm. (6, 8, 10 and 12) or inches (1/2» and 1/4»).
The best quality for higher performance, either as standard or special item.
A very wide range of solid carbide router bits always ready in stock
A great variety of wooden works can be also processed with KLEIN router bits with interchangeable knives. Using these tools can be achieved a more efficient economy ...
TRIMATIC SUPER is an innovative tool and the only one of its kind, able to satisfy the demands of artisans and small industries that face the problem of securing ...
TRIMATIC are drilling jigs which allow making holes required in a single pass using a normal pillar drill or a portable electric drill and are dedicated to craftsmen ...
The sawblades KLEIN are made in Italy with the best material available on the market.
In our catalogue you can find a wide range of items for the cutting of wood ...
Drills and countersinks in HM or HS for various purposes.
High quality mortising bits together with hinge boring bits and plug cutters to complete the wide range of tools for woodworking
Using the KLEIN cutterheads can be produced a wide range of profiles.
Either standard or customized items the cutterheads can be used to produce grooves, rebates, tenons as well doors, profiles etc.
For planer machines.
With 18% W or 13% Cr can be also in HM or corrugated.
HM knives for all tools with interchangeable knives.
The electronic workstation is an instrument for checking all measures of a panel.
The workstation is precise, stable and user-friendly and can be used also in a ...
The DIGIT+ RF have a sender integrated in the calliper and a separate Master for receiving the data appearing on the display of the digital calliper and sent via ...
The modern technologies in wood processing require appropriate and precise measuring instruments for achieving higher quality standards.
Linear Gauges are necessary ...
The Preset P368 is an instrument to be used very easily and quickly, for checking and setting the length or radius of a cutting tool.
The Preset P368 has been developed ...
The Preset LEADER is the top of our range of measuring instruments.
It is provided with a high-resolution C-Mos Camera and a 17» Display.
The operating system ...
As a result of long experience in the production of special, high precision tools our Super Diamond Klein grinding wheels allow making quicker and more economically ...
A complete range of HS spiral bits, step drills, solid carbide router bits, tool-holders, sawblades and milling profile cutters for working ALUMINIUM and PLASTIC materials.
While setting a tool it is extremely important to tighten it appropriately.
If not effectively tight indeed a cutting tool could slide away from the tool holder ...
High performance DIA router bits, 2 - 3 times regrindable.
To be used on CNC machines for routing chipboard or MDF either veneered or raw.
STAINLESS STEEL TOOLHOLDERS have a special micro-shot peening treatment and are highly recommended when processing resinoid wood or composite materials and when ...
All types of chucks for boring machines:
Morbidelli, Scm, Biesse, Weeke, Vitap, Maggi, Griggio, Busellato, Masterwood, Detel, Grass, Schleicher, Ayen, Holzma, Mayer, Nottmeyer, Bilek
The complete set for the perfect wiping and maintenance of machine parts, chucks and spring collets.
«Mineral Material» is a material for decorative surfaces of great value, which meets the requirements of all public sectors because of its great resistance and porous ...
The new dowel drills for automatic boring machines XtraBore® coated dowel drills developed by Sistemi in order to put on the market an higher level of dowel drills ...
SISTEMI has always paid special attention to the demands of woodworkers and their issues in the woodworking. For this
reason, we have developed Trimatic 22,4: the ...
HOTBLOCK®: the new shrink fit chucks are high precision toolholders which ensure more precision having less coupling thanks to its special tight on the shank tool ...
The first model of Tornado® was introduced in the market in March 2014 experiencing a great success among worker and machinery operators due to its great results. ...
Stored items


text:
Toyota 4Runner Starter Carbon Brush 28140-26070
Supplier Details
Free Member (2011)
[ Guangzhou, GU, China ]
Business Type: Trading Company
Supplier has 2,219 products
Quick Details
Packaging and Delivery
Product Description
1,auto starter carbon brush
2.electrical carbon brush
3.competitive price
4.good quality
5.little smark and small noise
Basic Information
About Us
Sai Ding Auto Parts company,located in Guangzhou.China.We are specialize in manufacturing and developing in auto spare parts,such as parts in suspension system ,chassis system,electrical system,steering system,engine dynamical system,engine cooling system and sensors for all kinds of car models, which including Toyota ,Honda,VW,Nissan,Mitsubishi,Benz,BMW,Audi,etc.We are a company which in diversification strategy ranging from self-produced self-marketing ,import and export trading to mutual benefit trading and also for agency.We are your best partner, choose us ,benefit you!Tel Phone: 0086 020 87744119
Member History
Send Supplier a Message
Not a Member?
Already a member? Sign In