Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/209786810?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Thursday, March 29, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
ITIL For The Business User :: Multiverso Incognoscible
Since it was published the library has fast become a global, de facto standard for IT. Supplying IT managers with a strong, versatile and visible solution to handle technology service and align with the business is the key purpose of the ITIL. The effect of ITIL may be apparent in all areas of the IT functions in a business. As time passes ITIL drives an IT culture of proactive relationship with business which pinpoints and solves issues correctly the first time. The organizations that use ITIL can optimize cost containment while focusing on delivering value to their customers.
In the diagram which follows, we can observe how ITIL lies on robust identification of company strategy and goals; these identify the key processes that will be delivered, how they will be delivered, and metrics for baselining achievement.
The processes usually are delivered as services. According to ITIL explanation, a service is a method of providing value to a client by facilitating final results they wish to obtain without the client assigning the costs as well as risks of ownership. IT integration is therefore driven by service with company needs. Since Service Level Management recognizes service company and structures, it is possible to have a precise idea of process, control and responsibility.
The Service Desk, Incident Management and Request Fulfillment give user interface, while giving practical proof of value to the customer.
ITIL Foundation Practices
However, the service concept isn?t generally used by the common business user. He will be worried about the actual way it can affect him individually. For this reason, it is important to deal with services based on business user considerations, in business terms.
Business goals from an ITIL process perspective
Below are the results of recent research in which the business users were asked their main concerns.
Business Priority Business Concern ITIL Process
1 Getting a problem fixed the first time when a problem occurs.
Incident Management
2 Business critical systems need to work correctly consistently. Customer, contract, pricing information and financial need to interact and have a ???single source of truth???; i.e, information should be consistent throughout all views of the application.
That information should match the information that the user expects to see. Service Level Management
3 Does IT maintain my computer and network effectively applied? Configuration Management
4 Are the applications available 24X7 ? Does the help desk keep users on hold? Availability Management
5 Is IT always changing the applications I use, or the way I need to use them? Change Management
6 When something systematic goes wrong, how long is the business affected by it? Can someone else cover affected users? Continuity Management / Disaster Recovery
7 Can clients order what we have advertised (release management)? Does IT take the problems that business identifies seriously, and do problems get resolved in a timely fashion? (Do users seek work-arounds rather than contact IT for a problem?) Are the costs for technology assets appropriate? Release management, Problem Management, Financial Management
The significance of ITIL to the Business User
When an IT firm uses ITIL, the business user may be affected by the following three ways.
1. The Business user might be required by the IT department to collaborate with for the purpose of providing service to the business with corresponds with high-level business strategy and also daily business need.
ITIL Training , ITIL, ITIL
Source: http://dominbenito.com/2012/03/27/itil-for-the-business-user/
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Lakota school board scheduled to meet tonight | WestChesterBuzz ...
Lakota officials are expected to provide more details on what programs and what positions will be eliminated by next school year during the public portion of the Lakota Board of Education meeting at 7 p.m. Monday.
According Michael D. Clark of The Cincinnati Enquirer, cuts include 141 teaching, classroom specialist, school nurse and school staff positions, and nine school and central office administrators.
Overall, the school board approved $3.5 million in cuts to its administration, $390,000 to athletics, $2.7 million to high schools, $1.6 million to junior highs, $1.5 million to K-6 and $1.2 million in cost savings to its preschool program. Only $73,000 of the athletic cuts will be saved from the school?s general fund. Most of the athletic cuts are being done to combat a shortfall experienced this year due to lower participation rates caused by last year?s hike in athletic participation fees.
The cost savings of $1.2 million to the district?s preschool program involves a merger that allows Lakota to purchase its preschool services from Butler County Educational Services. The merger will affect an estimated 288 preschool students in Lakota?s three early childhood schools and is expected to eliminate around 17 classroom jobs by the start of next school year.
The $1.5 million in cuts to K-6 includes the restructuring of the delivery of art, music and physical education at the elementary level (grades 1-6). Instead of students receiving instruction in each special subject (art, music and P.E.) one time each week, students will receive only one of the special subjects one time each week for 45 minutes a day.
The $1.6 million in cuts to junior highs includes the change in school day from six and a half hours to six hours and the change to six bells.
The $2.7 million cut from the high schools also includes a shorter day ? moving back the current start time from 7:30 a.m. to 8:05 a.m. Dismissal will move back one minute from 2:39 p.m. to 2:40 p.m. It also lowered the number of credits needed to graduate, from 21 to 20.
The administration cuts include the elimination of about 50 jobs. Under the approved proposal, Lakota will cut one of its two assistant superintendents, two school building administrators and the dean of students at both Lakota East and Lakota West high schools.
Additional information on all budget reduction proposals can be seen at www.lakotaonline.com/budget.
Posted in: Board of Education, Levy news, News, Schools |
Source: http://westchesterbuzz.com/2012/03/26/lakota-school-board-scheduled-to-meet-tonight/
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Tuesday, March 27, 2012
I Found A House To Buy But Need To Sell Mine First ... - Realtor.com
Q: What are the benefits of using the seller?s agent as my own agent if I?m selling on a contingent basis? Is this ethical/legal? I have the perception that if we want to negotiate on the asking price for the new home, the agent won?t work as hard since it?s cutting into her commission. However, if she?s responsible for selling my home and the home I want to buy, then she?s motivated to sell both quickly to make a commission.
?Anonymous, Roeland Park, KS
A: Using the services of the seller?s agent for the home you wish to make an offer on- as your own selling agent for your current home could prove advantageous; as you implied. Certainly one would think his/her motivations to sell your home quickly could be in your favor. HOWEVER- unless KS laws and codes are different than where I am familiar- in MD- the seller?s agent may not also represent you as a buyer?s agent in said purchase. This is something you would need to look into. He/she may prepare a contract of sale for you- but you would be having him/her do so with the understanding you are an ?unrepresented buyer?- meaning his/her ?fiduciary duty? lies only with the seller- not yourselves. One would hope they would be ethical to all sides- but the agency needs to be understood. Ask him/her if KS law is the same- if so- you may want to entertain finding a good Realtor to both list your current property, as well as represent you as buyer for the home you would like to purchase. Good luck!
Jennifer Chaney is a Realtor? with Champion Realty In Stevensville, MD.
A: I don?t believe it would illegal, but if you are doing it to influence the Listing agent in regards to your negotiation position for the new home you are interested in, it is an ethics charge waiting to happen for the Listing Agent. Your question does illustrate the power of the Realtor in the negotiation process, but also the liability we face when we don?t represent the interests of our clients above our own.
Christic Henry is a Realtor? with Kingdom First Realty in Tallahassee, FL.
A: Yes, you can use the Seller?s agent to represent the sale of your house. Yes, it?s ethical. Additionally, the agent will be in an ideal position to negotiate to keep you in contract on the purchase, since she has an established relationship with the seller.
Having said that, the agent should be working just as hard to keep the contract together even when she is not representing you on the sale of your home. All agents want to keep the contracts solid and work to make it close with the existing parties; that?s how we earn our commission fastest. The agent will not want to start from scratch with a new buyer.
I recommend using the same agent for the very reason you pointed out? he/she is uniquely motivated to help you sell your home quickly for the sale of her current seller and to earn a 2nd commission by selling your home.
I hope this helps you feel more confident about your decision.
Denise Shur is a Realtor? with 1:1 Realty in San Jose, CA.
A: Thanks for asking such a poignant question. You pose something in your question that I think is a HUGE problem with public perception, and a problem with how real estate agents are compensated.
You assume the agent won?t work hard to get you the best price to buy her listing, some agents won?t even do that, that is called ?disclosed dual agency? and it is VERY difficult for an agent to handle both sides of the transaction because of the definition of Agency. I have done it numerous times, and I never think of my commission when I negotiate. I doubt any REALTOR I know would do that.
As for selling your home, it should not give you any advantage other than the agent will have first hand knowledge of our home and then be able to report back to the seller better while waiting on your home to sell.
I would perhaps use your Facebook page to ask your friends who they used as a REALTOR, and go with a recommendation. You should have your own representation, especially if you have any doubt of motivation of the listing agent.
Real estate agents do not get compensated until about a week after closing typically, I also don?t think that most people realize we do not get reimbursed for gas, wear and tear on our ars, or anyrhing else we do. Most real estate agents are 1099 Independent Contractors here in the USA, which means they also pay double social securitty.
Nothing is worse for an agent than when they spend a great deal of time focused on the specific needs of your client, while not showing any other potential clients the same properties because we won?t put multiple buyers into the same property, and the client fires them.
Motivation for most agents I know is good service, not the commission. If an agent is passionate, if she is good and if she is willing then you have a great agent to represent you.
Thanks for using Ask a REALTOR on Realtor.com.
Maya Paveza is a Realtor? with Coldwell Banker Preferred in Wilmington, DE.
A: A good Realtor ALWAYS promotes their client?s best interest first and foremost, well above the self-interest of a commission. Be diligent in selecting your real estate agent as that can be the difference between a smooth transaction and a horrific experience. Also, keep in my mind that in purchasing your new home, it would be in YOUR best interest to be represented by a Buyer?s Agent, not by the seller?s agent (he/she has a fiduciary duty first and foremost to the seller).
Alex Cortez is a Realtor? with Wailea Village Properties LLC dba/Island Sotheby?s in Kihei, HI.
Are you interested in having a qualified REALTOR answer your questions? Click through to Ask a REALTOR? now.
Are you a REALTOR who would like to answer consumer questions? Click through to become an Ask a REALTOR? participant.
Related posts:
- Should We Have The Seller?s Agent Represent Us As Buyers Or Get Our Own Agent?
- Who Pays The Realtor Fee If The Buyer And Seller Use The Same Realtor?
- What Percentage Of The Sale Price Do Realtors Charge?
- Are there Commission Reductions for Dual Agents?
- What Is A Buyer?s Agent Used For?
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Sunday, March 25, 2012
What are the structural differences in the brain between animals that are self-aware (humans, apes) and other vertebrates?
What are the structural differences in the brain between animals that are self-aware (humans, apes) and other vertebrates?
?Emma Schachner, Salt Lake City
Robert O. Duncan, a behavioral scientist at York College, the City University of New York, responds:
Self-awareness distinguishes humans from most other species. In psychology, self-awareness is defined as metacognition, awareness of one?s own ability to think. In humans, metacognition and other advanced cognitive skills, such as social intelligence, planning and reasoning, are all thought to depend on a region of the brain called the prefrontal cortex.
If we assume that the prefrontal cortex permits metacognition, then the answer is simple: species that fail to demonstrate metacognition tend to lack brain areas that resemble the prefron?tal cortex. But because this area serves many cognitive functions and is well connected to the rest of the brain, the region is probably not the sole locus of metacognition. In other words, the prefrontal cortex may be necessary but not sufficient for self-awareness. Some psychologists speculate that self-awareness may arise in animals with greater overall cognitive ability, larger brain size or a higher degree of connectivity among brain areas.
Identifying the precise structural differences that make some creatures self-aware and others not is quite challenging. Most important, it is difficult to pinpoint and compare subtle structural differences across species in the face of more dramatic differences in brain morphology. For example, dolphins and chimpanzees both demonstrate metacognition, but their brains look completely different.
Additionally, simply identifying which species exhibit self-aware behavior has proved tricky because no reliable behavioral tests for the trait exist. In 1970 Gordon G. Gallup, Jr., of the University at Albany, S.U.N.Y., developed the ?mirror test? to assess metacognition in chimpanzees. A chimp passes the test if it uses the mirror to inspect a mark that has been painted on its face. Although the majority of chimps pass, some do fail, causing certain scientists to consider the test unreliable.
The difficulties we have assessing self-awareness demonstrate that it is a complex trait and support the idea that no single brain area is dedicated to it. Overall, the prefrontal cortex may be critical for metacognition, but self-awareness most likely emerges when this region is highly interconnected with the rest of the brain.
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=743a783d7acfda7ce06dc83f694b96f6
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Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Just what are a few of the attributes of tea leaf | Life's Chit Chat
All the green tea ice cream ethnical circumstance maned since Malay herbal tea holy day is focused on the particular pouring, prep, in addition to toping of matcha. During fresh nights, matcha ?s also got to be utilized to dye in addition to flavoring diet want mochi in addition to green tea extract ice-cubes remedies, soba noodles and then a category ofwagashi (Malay sweetshop). Concoction of matcha are named poetically as chamei also by its facilities planting, keep and the join, and also by the particular delux the main one connected with a specific herbal tea seminar When a mixture is by its delux the main one of many herbal tea ceremonial function; it is called since preferred unique blend and also customer?s konomi.
Matcha is prepared right from tea allows who are shade-grown also familiar with catch the attention of gyokuro . All the earning of matcha begins a large number of weeks prior to obtain, even though the herbal tea timber happen to be made to help you forbid one on one direct sun light. This lowers development, shifts the particular allows straight into darkish colorings of environmentally friendly in addition to gets the deliver of aminos that create the having herbal tea nicer. The top herbal tea on their own happen to be hand-picked.
We have seen lots of humm on the market in relation to refreshment supplement not too long ago. People have looking on with regard to replacing great fat food and drink with low-calorie food and drink. The times anytime chilly flavored coffee was initially treasured gulp, nevertheless the times need adjusted and other people would like to gulp an item might be rejuvenating in addition to wholesome too. Ice cold green tea extract spot this is certainly actually common not too long ago.
Well, if you feel green tea extract spot that you might just have if it?s sizzling, then you are entirely wrong. There are various approaches you can make hot green tea extract, this is often probably the most rejuvenating products. This is the reason common articulations want A coffee house also have commenced pouring all of them. Should the temperatures are finding pleasurable it?s really difficult to back off right from oxygenated food and drink in addition to fizzy drinks that relax suitable for our bodies.
As reported by a large number of trustworthy investigators in addition to physiologists, an individual can feel better, advance his/her defenses to numerous diseases and expand his / her homemade chocolate ice cream life time if someone needs to gnaw on in addition to gulp the right way in addition to take precise alimentary merchandise. Furthermore a large number of health experts propose that honest stages of wholesome foodstuff in addition to products, which can be complete with nourishments who are functional for the anatomy of human body, can extended distance the maturing and also easily keep clear of certain illness. It is employed to become accustomed to many wholesome merchandise and see modifications they might bring to your own patient.
Scientific tests in many countries every get down to a thing and that is exactly, Tea is usually an low-cost consider gulp having a rather long selection of health rewards no one can just ignore. The health benefits on their own of green tea extract happen to be confusing! Having looked at the dangerous results chemical substance manure in addition to bug sprays, society might be little by little reverting back in natural ways of nourishment free of adulteration by just chemical compounds. All the ensuing develop has been said to provide a satisfied for longer in addition to richer flavor aside from currently being much healthier with regard to usage.
The green teas are very popular refreshment world wide. It really is respected in Indonesia and also it did start to take on west herbal tea fanatics previously. But not just these kinds of attractive leaves are mouth watering, a list of health rewards might be extraordinary. Green tea herb posesses a volume of issues that happen to be considered to be extremely balanced for everyone. This teas are discerning implementing nature?s methods with regard to pest management in addition to green insurance coverage. Tea is rooted in addition to cut down reported by lunar methods to help you plant the particular best head with the most arousing flavour.
Green tea herb is a kind of herbal tea crafted primarily considering the home made ice cream allows of Camellia Sine sis, that?s attended very low oxidation during the course of operating. Green tea herb hails from Chinese suppliers and contains come to be in connection with a large number of ethnicities in Parts of asia right from China within the Middle of the Distance. Recently, lovely more predominant in the western world , at which brown teas are ordinarily utilized. Several different kinds of green tea extract happen to be established in countries at which it can be evolved. These types of variations could vary extensively stemming from distinction raising disorders, operating in addition to growing point in time.
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Atom smasher hits highest energy levels yet
The world's largest particle accelerator has ramped up particles to higher energies than ever before, scientists announced Monday.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a 17-mile-long (27 kilometer) underground ring near Geneva, Switzerland, where protons are sped up to near the speed of light and then slammed into each other. The faster the particles go, the more energy they have.
In recent tests, LHC achieved energies of 4 teraelectron volts (TeV), a significant improvement over its current record of 3.5 TeV. Ultimately the machine, the most powerful of its kind, is designed to accelerate particles to 7 TeV, though to reach those energies, scientists are planning to shut down LHC for a refurbishment in late 2012.
After the successful tests, LHC will likely run particle collisions at 4 TeV starting in early April, officials said.
"Increasing the energy at which particles in the LHC collide allows physicists to probe new areas of physics," LHC officials wrote in a statement.
When particles collide inside the machine, they dissolve, converting their energy into new, sometimes exotic, particles. As Einstein's equation E=mc^2 tells us, energy can be converted into mass, and vice versa. Thus, the more energy the colliding particles have, the greater mass the resultant new particles may contain.
This is important because scientists are hoping to create never-before-seen particles inside the accelerator, such as the theoretical Higgs boson particle. According to the Standard Model, a theory that explains the workings of subatomic particles, the Higgs particle explains why all particles have mass; however, it has yet to be detected.
So far, the LHC and other accelerators have seen tantalizing hints that the Higgs is being created by these collisions, but not firm proof. With higher-energy collisions, researchers boost the chances that a rare particle like the Higgs will be created, and detected.
"By the time the LHC goes into its first long stop at the end of this year, we will either know that a Higgs particle exists or have ruled out the existence of a Standard Model Higgs," said Sergio Bertolucci, research director of LHC's home laboratory, CERN. "Either would be a major advance in our exploration of nature, bringing us closer to understanding how the fundamental particles acquire their mass, and marking the beginning of a new chapter in particle physics."
Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.
? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46801802/ns/technology_and_science-science/
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Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Utilisateur:DauneHector10 - Captaine's Wiki
De Captaine's Wiki.
Free Online Paid Surveys - Getting Paid To Do Surveys Online
Have you ever thought of making money online? For those who have, then you'll want to think about obtaining paid to complete surveys online. The short write-up right here will explain extra how it is possible to earn an revenue with these free online paid surveys. It's not vital for you to sign up with paid survey web sites. You may in fact join lots of of those free surveys web sites online to create additional money from property.
For those who have been searching about to produce money by means of online surveys, you'll want to know by now that online surveys are surveys conducted by businesses to understand no matter whether their items or solutions are in real require within a specific niche industry. Due to the fact of those surveys being able to give businesses clues to their demands inside the marketplace, they are willing to compensate you for the time in giving your accurate opinion on their merchandise and solutions.
There are several web-sites that you could join and start off finding paid to do surveys online. You can find also web pages that you will need to spend a sign up fee prior to you will be supplied the surveys to full. Prevent these paid web pages as they may be likely to become scams and would like to rip off your tough earn money. Due to the fact there lots of web sites that you could join free, there is certainly no have to have for you personally to join the paid internet sites.
The online surveys provided are frequently targeted at a particular niche industry. Moreover, other individuals are targeted at persons of certain age group as well as of a specific gender. Consequently, right after you've got joined the web-sites, start out to take those free online paid surveys which might be applicable to you.
Beware in the Scam Web-sites
Ahead of joining any internet sites to complete the surveys, you need to find that are the legitimate web-sites to join. As mentioned prior to, do not join corporations that require you to spend some money. Not merely that you are not paid at all for the surveys taken, you can lose your subscription fee too. For all those companies that are free to join, even if points do not operate out, at the very least you do not shed any money but only losing your time.
Attempt to get feedback from real persons who have joined the web sites to complete the surveys to make money. Web pages that happen to be genuine and legitimate normally have forums for folks to go over their encounter using the web pages they have joined to generate money. Do you homework initially ahead of joining any of those free web-sites simply because you don't need to waste your time in doing these free online paid surveys only to discover you'll not be paid in the finish in the day.
Make the smart choice these days and start out getting paid surveys online.
Source: http://wiki.rt74.eu/index.php/Utilisateur%3ADauneHector10
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How The New York Times Co. became a small business | Georgia ...
Perhaps for as long as the federal government has reported which of its contracts have been awarded to small businesses, critics have charged that many of those contracts have actually gone to large companies ? often very large companies.
Recently, the American Small Business League, perhaps the loudest of those critics, tried to outline the scope of diversion. The association issued a report that studied the 100 companies that won the most federal small-business contract dollars in 2011 and found that at least 72 of them either had too many employees or too much revenue to be? eligible for government assistance to small business. (S.B.A. size standards vary by industry and sector, but generally a company must have fewer than 500 employees or less than $7 million to be considered small.)
The federal government, the world?s largest buyer of goods and service, is obliged by law to try to direct 23 percent of its purchases to small businesses, though there are no penalties for failure. The government hasn?t reached that goal in years, and while recording a deal with a bigger business as a small-business contract ? whether by mistake or by fraud ? does not necessarily mean that a small company has been denied an opportunity, it does exaggerate the government?s contracting achievement. In the view of Elliott Rosenfeld, of the league, said that in turn undermined the case for stronger enforcement of contracting rules. And by inflating an agency?s sense of achievement, it could weaken the agency?s drive to award more contracts to small businesses.
S.B.A. officials, for their part, insist the league?s analysis is premature. This summer, the S.B.A. will release its own report on the government?s contracting efforts in 2011, said a spokeswoman, Hayley Meadvin, after spending months reviewing the records. ?By the time we release our fiscal year report, we have corrected these mistakes,? she said. ?We spend a lot time making sure our data is as clean as can be.?
Moreover, the league has been prone to sweeping accusations. The group called this latest report, for instance, ?strong evidence that large companies are the fraudulent recipients of the majority of federal small-business contracts every year.? But even if improperly coded contracts are as pervasive as the association claims, is it necessarily the result of fraud?
The Agenda decided to look at one large company, mentioned incidentally in the report, that won small business contracts in 2011, to try to find out: The New York Times Company. The Times was not among the league?s list of 100; it was identified as one of 55 well-known corporations that received small-business contracts last year when it sold $56,821 worth of newspapers to the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. ? 500 daily subscriptions for the 28 weeks school is in session, according to Carol D?Andrea, The Times?s circulation manager for sales to schools and colleges.
In the government?s record of the West Point transaction, known as a contact action report, The Times is described as having $3 billion in revenue ? and 10 employees. (Both figures were wrong: in 2011, the company?s revenue was $2.3 billion and the work force totaled 7,273 employees, according to the most recent annual report.) In a field labeled ?Contracting Officer?s Business Size Selection,? the document describes The Times as a ?small business.? Under government size standards, newspaper publishers must have fewer than 500 employees to be considered small.
Our inquiry began with a call to West Point. The contracting officer who approved the deal, Kathleen Judson, said in a brief interview that she had not designated The New York Times as a small business. ?The only way that could have happened is that it must have been prepopulated,? she said. ?Sometimes the fields come through on the contract action report prepropulated. I know The New York Times is a large company.?
Here?s where it starts to get complicated ? and government officials contacted by The Agenda offered little help in clearing up the confusion. S.B.A. officials spoke authoritatively about the agency?s efforts to correct contracting records, but referred our questions about how those records are created to the General Services Administration, which oversees the procurement infrastructure used across the government. The G.S.A.?s deputy press secretary, Adam Elkington, initially sent us to the Army for answers, then later promised to find us a colleague who could answer basic contracting questions. (He never did.) A spokesman for West Point, Frank DeMaro, wrote down our questions but did not answer them. Eventually, Daniel Elkins, a spokesman for the Army?s Mission and Installation Contracting Command at Fort Sam Houston, in Texas, fielded some of our queries.
This is what we know: every entity selling to the government must sign up with the G.S.A.?s Central Contractor Registration with a unique identification number, known as a DUNS number, from Dun & Bradstreet. The vendor supplies its annual revenue and employee headcount for the entire organization, which the S.B.A. uses to determine whether the entity is a small business. What complicates things is that companies must register each legal division, or any office with a separate location or address separately. The New York Times currently has at least three active contractor registrations. One of these was set up by Ms. D?Andrea and her colleagues in The Times?s Education Sales department in order, she said, to sell the subscriptions to West Point.
The Times is not identified as a small business in the Education Sales department?s registration. It turns out, though, that West Point did not use this registration to pay The Times. Instead, the contract refers to the DUNS number used by another registered Times Company entity, this one made by the TimesCenter, an event hall at the company?s headquarters on Eighth Avenue. In that registration, The Times did identify itself as a small business.
A Times Company spokeswoman, Eileen Murphy, said by e-mail that the employees who initially registered the TimesCenter were no longer employed there. But, she said, when the TimesCenter first opened, ?it was operated as an independent business, separate from The New York Times Company. It is possible that the small-business designation was one that fit at the time, but again, we do not know for sure.? Ms. Murphy said she did not know whether the TimesCenter was independently owned at the time or just operated as if it were. Today, she said, it is operated as part of The New York Times. Nor could she say whether, or why, a Times employee entered the inaccurate revenue and headcount figures.
At West Point, neither Ms. Judson or Mr. DeMaro have explained why Ms. Judson used the registration from the TimesCenter rather than the one from the Education Sales department. (In an e-mail, the Army?s Mr. Elkins said ?multiple actions between the N.Y. Times registration of DUNS numbers and contracting officer actions makes it difficult to identify the exact sequence of events.?) But Ms. Meadvin of the S.B.A. disputed the claim that the business size field was automatically filled in, saying, ?to our knowledge? it is ?the only field that is manually entered.? Mr. Elkington of the G.S.A. did not respond to our request seeking clarification.
In any event, government contracting officers like Ms. Judson are not supposed to rely on information from the Central Contractor Registration to determine whether a business is small ? the registration record says as much at the very top. Instead, they are obligated to verify size, or any other claims a company makes, with a separate database known as the Online Representations and Certifications Application, or ORCA ? which imports size information from the Central Contractor Registration. (Filling out this form, Ms. D?Andrea said, ?is worse than filling out your taxes. Just the password is 16 digits and you can?t have repeating letters and numbers.?)
However, while the Education Sales department submitted an ORCA form ? and did not claim small-business status ? the TimesCenter, the entity on the contract, never did complete the form. According to Mr. Elkins of the Army, ?Before the contracts were awarded, the contracting officer observed that there were no Online Representations and Certifications Application records for The New York Times.? The officer then tried to verify The Times?s size, Mr. Elkins said, by turning to yet another database, the Dynamic Small Business Search maintained by the S.B.A., ?using the DUNS that was initially provided by The N.Y. Times.? But, said Mr. Elkins, ?this procedure was improper and led to the miscoded award; the Army should have asked for this information from the N.Y. Times, rather than relying upon the D.S.B. search engine.?
But if a record for a Times entity existed in the Dynamic Small Business database last year, it is gone now, and this explanation raises additional questions. Which DUNS number did The Times provide to the Army ? the one that ended up on the contract, from the TimesCenter, or one from the education sales department? Moreover, if Ms. Judson knew The Times was in fact a large business, why would she conduct a Dynamic Small Business search in the first place? Finally, the actions described here suggest Ms. Judson did in fact have to manually enter the vendor?s business size in the contract, as the S.B.A. has maintained. (Mr. Elkins has not responded to requests for further explanation.)
As it happens, three other federal agencies have used the TimesCenter registration as the basis for contracts in recent years ? apparently erroneously, since these agencies were buying newspaper ads, not renting out an event space ? and in most of those contract action reports, The Times is described as ?other than small.? And yet, for one contract with the Securities and Exchange Commission, The Times was again deemed a small business. The contract officer in that instance referred the Agenda to the S.E.C. press office to set up an interview, which a spokesman has thus far declined to do.
And that?s as far as we have been able to get. We still can?t say with certainty how The Times ended up with a small-business contract. What we did find was a record-keeping system so complex that it invites confusion and error from all parties. ?We hear from our small-business members that navigating the federal marketplace is extremely confusing and complex,? said Molly Brogan, a spokeswoman for the National Small Business Association, an advocacy group based in Washington. ?Perhaps some level of simplification ? along with enhanced oversight and repercussions for those that knowingly miscode a large business as small ? would alleviate some of these issues.?
Things may improve this year, when the G.S.A. is to merge the two separate contractor databases into one as part of a bigger move to consolidate all of the different systems ? nine of them! ? that constitute the government?s ?Integrated Acquisition Environment.? According to Ms. Meadvin, the S.B.A. believes that eventually the system will operate the way the people at West Point seem to believe it already does: business size representations from ORCA will be among the data automatically entered into the contract action report.
But for now, small-business advocates bemoan a system that allows everyone involved to evade responsibility for their actions. ?The ?pass the blame? game you?ve seen from the S.B.A. and the Army is highly indicative of a lack of accountability by the federal employees whose duty it is to ensure that the contracting process is handled professionally and fairly,? said Mr. Rosenfeld of the league. ?The erroneous entry into C.C.R. by The Times is also an example of how a large company?s negligence can contribute to the problem.
?Contract error and mismanagement amounts to tens of billions of dollars? worth of contracts a year being diverted away from small business,? he added. ?With such faulty standards of oversight, accountability and transparency, we wonder how easy it must be to hide fraud in the federal contracting process.?
? by ROBB MANDELBAUM, The New York Times, Mar. 15, 2012; this article appears at http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/how-the-new-york-times-became-a-small-business.
Source: http://gtpac.org/2012/03/how-the-new-york-times-co-became-a-small-business/
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Monday, March 19, 2012
Apple cash-balance conference call live chat ? Join us!
We’re only minutes away from Apple’s cash-balance conference call, where Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer will discuss what Apple is going to do with their almost $100
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/JKFWOaGE6lA/story01.htm
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Sunday, March 18, 2012
Ramos-Horta out as East Timor heads for run-off
East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta has lost his bid for re-election, failing to make it to a run-off in the country's second presidential vote as a free nation, preliminary results showed Sunday.
The results pointed to a second-round showdown between the opposition Fretilin party's Francisco "Lu Olo" Guterres and former armed forces chief Taur Matan Ruak, an official from the election secretariat said.
Ramos-Horta, who shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring peace to his homeland, lagged in third place after more than 70 percent of votes were counted, official Luiz Fernando Valls told AFP.
"Guterres and Ruak will go through to the second round on April 16, based on this preliminary count," he said.
The shift to candidates with lower profiles on the world stage was "emblematic of the desire to move on from being an international cause", Michael Leach, politics lecturer from Australia's Swinburne University of Technology, told AFP.
It reflected the people of East Timor's desire "to move on from 10 years of international state building", he added.
Ramos Horta, a popular leader who survived a 2008 assassination attempt, said Saturday that if he was not re-elected he would have "to struggle to choose what to do".
The 62-year-old added that he had a long-standing commitment to a Western literary agency to write a book.
None of the 12 candidates who contested Saturday's election were able to garner more than 50 percent of the vote constitutionally required for an outright win.
The vote was the first in a series of key events for the poor and chronically unstable country as it enters a pivotal period.
In May, East Timor will celebrate 10 years of independence from Indonesia, and in June, voters will choose a new government in a general election.
At the end of the year the nation of 1.1 million people bids goodbye to UN forces stationed in the country since 1999.
The preliminary results showed Guterres on around 28 percent, Ruak on 25 percent, and Ramos on 18 percent, with 460,216 votes or about 73 percent of the total votes cast counted, Valls said.
Guterres, 57, who heads the opposition Fretilin party, which is synonymous with the resistance, lost the presidency to Ramos-Horta in a run-off in 2007.
Ruak, 56, who has campaigned in his camouflage fatigues, has vowed to introduce mandatory military service if elected.
He is in the run-off despite being accused by the United Nations of illegal weapons transfers in 2006, when rioting and factional fighting had the nation on the brink of civil war.
Around the country Sunday, Timorese people had their eyes glued to their television sets, watching the changing figures broadcast live by the country's electoral commission on state radio and television.
Everyone from shopkeepers selling traditional handicrafts in Dili's Tias market to candidates' spokesmen mingling with journalists was talking about who would emerge on top.
Votes were being counted by hand, some in remote areas with poor communications, and full results were not due until later in the week, according to election officials.
National election commission president Faustino Cardoso Gomes told a press conference earlier there were "some irregularities" during the election process.
"Some polling stations ran out of ballot papers, for instance in Dili and some other places, but all have been resolved," he said.
Thomas Cabral, head of elections secretariat overseeing the polls, said heavy rains during the elections had affected voter turnout and the transport of ballot papers in some cities.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ramos-horta-among-front-runners-east-timor-vote-044537097.html
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DHoppe ? Everything Regarding Blood Tests Intended For Sexually ...
Individuals that are sexually active could possibly be vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). STDs can display minor or without any sign and symptom, still can certainly seriously hurt your health and fitness. Consequently, routine sexually transmitted illness testing is very important for the good health of people who are sexually active with more than one partner .
You?ll find a lot of distinct tactics to check for sexually transmitted diseases. Numerous std testing involve a blood test. Several sexually transmitted diseases that need some kind of blood test for diagnosis are generally HIV, syphilis, hepatitis as well as the herpes virus. STD testing for various other illnesses, for instance gonorrhea, chlamydia, and Warts, is carried out by using a urine analyze or genital tissue sample.
A blood check for STD screening is performed at a health facility. A health care professional gets a blood sample from the patient, and delivers it to a lab to be assessed. For the herpes virus diagnosis, a blood check may not be definitive; additional tests might be required. In case a person?s blood check returns positive for a STD, he or she really should stick to the healthcare provider?s recommendations for treatment procedure along with inform his or her sexual companions.
Source: http://dhoppe.com/everything-regarding-blood-tests-intended-for-sexually-transmitted-disease/
Friday, March 2, 2012
Will My Views Really Have an affect on My Health and fitness ...
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While using Aon Hewitt 2011 Medical care Trend feedback survey, national medical treatment costs are actually projected to extend by 10% within 2012. This is normally what seriously makes a low priced health schedule.
Source: http://accentcoatingsusa.com/?p=463
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Thursday, March 1, 2012
'Silent House' Exclusive Clips: What Horrors Lurk Upstairs?
The first thing you?ll notice about "Silent House" is its striking visual aesthetic. With the swift advancement of camera technology over the last decade, pretty photography is more common than not in modern horror movies. But "Silent House" has a distinctive gimmick to separate it from its peers: the intimate perspective of Elizabeth Olsen?s character, [...]
Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/02/29/silent-house-exclusive-clips/
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Customer service app Tello raises $2.7M | VentureBeat
Tello, a mobile application service that connects consumers with businesses in order to improve customer service, received $2.7 million in funding today.
Through Tello?s app, customers can direct feedback straight to a vendor ? feedback about the business as a whole, an individual employee, or a specific experience, whether good or bad ? to help vendors refine problem areas and ultimately increase sales. ?The system promises to be more effective and open to possibilities than surveys. ?For example, if a disgruntled patron walks out of their neighborhood shop, they can log in to Tello and provide feedback immediately.
Currently, the masses flock to Yelp, Facebook, and Twitter to voice negative experiences and demand reimbursement. ?Tello says it expands on that trend by enabling users to request a response from managers. ?Tello?s aim is to connect both parties instantly and give business owners a real-time look into employee ratings, metrics, and more.
?As every savvy businessperson knows, the key to building a sustainable company is repeat business and loyal customers. ?A focus on listening to your customers and adapting your business goes a long way to achieving just that,? said chief executive officer Joe Beninato in a statement. ?Tello for business gives companies both big and small a scalable platform to monitor customer feedback and resolve service issues that can have a direct effect on sales.?
Tello first debuted its app at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in September 2011. ?It evolved over the last year and now equips customers to interact via text messages and a thumbs up/down system.
Beninato launched this Palo Alto-based startup in February 2011. ?Before Tello, Beninato started Presto, a venture-backed firm in collaboration with Hewlett-Packard.
This is Tello?s first round of funding, led by True Ventures, Bullpen Capital, and SV Angel. ?Other investors include 500 Startups, Felicis Ventures, Forerunner Ventures, Founder Collective, Lowercase Capital, Mark Goines, Naval Ravikant, Russ Siegelman, Shervin Pishevar, Tim Donmoyer, and Transmedia Capital.
Source: http://venturebeat.com/2012/02/28/tello-series-a-funding/
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