Hertz Opens 103 New Hertz Local Edition Locations; Now Operates From More Than 2,390 Neighborhood Locations
PARK RIDGE, N.J., Sept. 27, 2012 // PRNewswire // -- The Hertz Corporation (NYSE: HTZ) continues to add to its neighborhood market network with the opening of another 103 Hertz Local Edition locations in 22 states (listed below). These new locations are in addition to the 150 Hertz Local Edition locations opened in the second quarter, the greatest number of openings in a single quarter since Hertz began expanding into the local, neighborhood marketplace, bringing the number of Hertz neighborhood locations to more than 2,390. The openings are part of a Company-wide strategy to accelerate expansion in the off airport, neighborhood car rental market servicing the replacement, leisure and business customers.
Hertz's neighborhood operations continue to grow and the Company is increasing its investment to the demands of the local renter. Since the beginning of the year, Hertz has opened approximately 380 new locations. The off airport segment is strategically critical for Hertz and the Company is committed to developing new and expanded partnerships in the replacement market, offering customers pickup and delivery service, as well as growing leisure and business rentals.
Located in convenient, easy to reach locations, the openings provide Hertz customers with a full range of rental vehicles including compact through full-size cars and SUVs and offers special weekend rates. Rentals are also eligible to earn Gold Plus Rewards points, Hertz's customer loyalty program that has a wide range of flexible reward options. Rewards include points that never expire, 'AnyDay' rewards that have no blackout periods, easy online redemption, and a wide variety of car rewards. Pickup and delivery service and direct billing to insurance companies are also available. In addition, as with all Hertz corporate locations, vehicles are available for rental with unlimited mileage and all rate structures are honored, including one-way, inter-city rates.
Expanding market share rapidly in the $10 billion off-airport market, Hertz is opening major hub locations as well as co-locating with body shops, hotels and repair facilities to serve the needs of local customers. Off-airport rentals, which include monthly and multi-month rentals, have a longer average length of keep, which drives revenue per transaction. Serving the insurance replacement industry for more than 10 years, Hertz has more than 2,390 neighborhood locations nationwide, the majority of which offer pickup and delivery service as well as insurance replacement rentals, and is a recognized supplier to more than 193 of the 209 largest insurance companies.
The new openings are located in:
California Colorado Florida Georgia Illinois Maryland Michigan Missouri Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New York North Carolina Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania South Carolina Tennessee Texas Virginia Washington
About Hertz
Hertz, the largest worldwide airport general use car rental brand, operates from approximately 8,650 corporate and licensee locations in approximately 150 countries. Hertz is the number one airport car rental brand in the U.S. and at 119 major airports in Europe. Hertz was voted the Best Overall Car Rental Company in Zagat's 2012/13 U.S. Car Rental Survey, earning top honors in 14 additional categories, and the Company swept the global awards for Best Rewards Program and Best Overall Benefits from FlyerTalk.com. Product and service initiatives such as Hertz Gold Choice, NeverLost?, and unique cars and SUVs offered through the Company's Adrenaline, Prestige and Green Traveler Collections, also set Hertz apart from the competition. Additionally, Hertz owns the vehicle leasing and fleet management leader Donlen Corporation and operates the Hertz On Demand car sharing business. The Company also owns a leading North American equipment rental business, Hertz Equipment Rental Corporation, which includes Hertz Entertainment Services. To make car rental reservations or for more information, customers can call Hertz toll-free at 1-800-654-3131. Information and reservations are also available on the web at www.hertz.com.
Landsat satellites find the 'sweet spot' for cropsPublic release date: 27-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ellen Gray Ellen.t.gray@nasa.gov 301-286-1950 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Farmers are using maps created with free data from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey's Landsat satellites that show locations that are good and not good for growing crops.
Farmer Gary Wagner walks into his field where the summer leaves on the sugar beet plants are a rich emerald hue -- not necessarily a good color when it comes to sugar beets, either for the environment or the farmer. That hue tells Wagner that he's leaving money in the field in unused nitrogen fertilizer, which if left in the soil can act as a pollutant when washed into waterways, and in unproduced sugar, the ultimate product from his beets.
The leaf color Wagner is looking for is yellow. Yellow means the sugar beets are stressed, and when the plants are stressed, they use more nitrogen from the soil and store more sugar. Higher sugar content means that when Wagner and his family bring the harvest in, their farm, A.W.G. Farms, Inc., in northern Minnesota, makes more dollars per acre, and they can better compete on the world crop market.
To find where he needs to adjust his fertilizer useapply it here or withhold it thereWagner uses a map of his 5,000 acres that span 35 miles. The map was created using free data from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey's Landsat satellites and tells him about growing conditions. When he plants a different crop species the following year, Wagner's map will tell him which areas of the fields are depleted in nitrogen so he can apply fertilizer judiciously instead of all over.
A farmer needs to monitor his fields for potential yield and for variability of yield, Wagner says. Knowing how well the plants are growing by direct measurement has an obvious advantage over statistically calculating what should be there based on spot checks as he walks his field. That's where remote sensing comes in, and NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey's Landsat satellites step into the spotlight.
The Sensors in the Sky "Trip the Light Fantastic"
Providing the longest, continuous record of observations of Earth from space, Landsat images are critical to anyonescientist or farmerwho relies on month-to-month and year-to-year data sets of Earth's changing surface. Landsat 1 launched in 1972. The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), the eighth satellite in the series, will launch in 2013 and will bring two sensorsthe Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS)into low orbit over the Earth to continue the work of their predecessors as they image our planet's land surface.
Land features tell the sensors their individual characteristics through energy. Everything on the land surface reflects and radiates energyyou, your backyard trees, that rocky outcropping, and a field where a farmer is growing a crop of sugar beets. The sensors on LDCM will measure energy at wavelengths both within the visible spectrumwhat people can seeand at wavelengths that only the sensors, and some other lucky species, such as bees and spiders, can see.
OLI will measure energy in nine visible, near infrared, and short wave infrared portions, or bands, of the electromagnetic spectrum, and TIRS will measure energy in two thermal infrared bands. And that's what makes them such powerful tools.
Jim Irons, NASA Project Scientist for LDCM at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., says that the instruments will deliver data-rich images that tell a deeper story than your average photograph of how the land changes over time.
Wagner's mapa special kind of map known as a zone mapshows the difference between healthy and stressed plants by representing the amount of light they're reflecting in different bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. To display this information on his map, the visible colors of lightred, green, and blueare each assigned to a different band. Red, for example, is assigned to the near-infrared band that isn't visible to humans. Healthy leaves strongly reflect the invisible, near-infrared energy. Therefore green, lush sugar beets pop out in bright red on Wagner's map while the yellow-leaved stressed plants appear as a duller red. Wagner can use this map to track and document changes in his crop's condition throughout the season and between seasons. As a tool, this map supports and enhances his on-the-ground crop analyses with independent and scientific observations from space.
Different band combinations tell farmersand scientists, insurance agents, water managers, foresters, mapmakers, and many other types of usersdifferent information. Additionally, since the Landsat data is digital, computers can be trained to use all the bands to rapidly recognize and differentiate features across the landscape and to recognize change over time with multiple images.
"Therein lies the power of the Landsat data archive," says Irons. "It is a multi-band analysis across the landscape and over a 40-year time span."
Both OLI and TIRS use new "push-broom" technology, in which a sensor uses long arrays of light-sensitive detectors to collect information across the field of view, as opposed to older sensors that sweep mirrors side-to-side. The new technology improves on earlier instruments because the sensors have fewer moving parts, which will improve their reliability.
OLI will also be more sensitive to electromagnetic radiation than previous Landsat sensors, which is akin to giving users access to a new and improved ruler with markings down to one-sixty-fourth of an inch versus markings at every quarter inch. For Wagner, this means that next summer with LDCM in orbit, he will be able to better discriminate the degree of stress on his sugar beets, giving him a more finely tuned view of what his plants need across the field.
The View of the Field is the Right Fit for its Purpose
Each step of the way, OLI will look at Earth with a 15-meter (49 foot) panchromatic and a 30-meter (98 foot) multispectral spatial resolution along a ground swath that is 185 kilometers (115 miles) wide. TIRS will measure two thermal infrared spectral bands with a spatial resolution of 100 meters (328 feet) and cover the same size swath as OLI.
Different scale resolutionslow, moderate, and highdeliver different levels of detail in remote sensing images, and each has its purpose. The 30-meter (98 foot) resolution of the Landsat images Wagner uses allows him to see what is happening on his spread, quarter-acre by quarter-acre. He doesn't need a view so narrow that the high resolution image tells him who's sitting in the combine parked in his field, or a view so big that it shows him smoke from forest fires drifting over the North American continent with no detail on his farm.
The moderate resolution also means Landsat satellites are able to fly over the same piece of real estate more frequently than high resolution satellites. Once every sixteen days, Landsat 7 in orbit now or LDCM after it launches, will revisit Wagner's farm, and every other place on Earth, too, for global coverage. "We're looking forward to having a real quality instrument in space," says Irons, who is excited about having OLI and TIRS come online. He says the Landsat 30-meter resolution has been assessed in the scientific literature as being a suitable resolution for observing land cover and land use change at the scale in which humans interact with and manage land. The sensors will record 400 scenes a day, giving users 150 more scenes than previous instruments. Data from both of the sensors will be combined in each image.
The Legacy in the Landsat Mission is its Continuity
In daily operations on his farm, Wagner has used Landsat data in near real time. He's anxious for the launch of LDCM and NASA's newest sensors, OLI and TIRS, because not having the remote sensing data really puts him in a bind. A lack of current satellite data disrupts Wagner's understanding of what his plants need, what the soil needs, the long-term performance history of his place, and his budget.
For now, with his zone map in hand, Wagner adjusts his care for his sugar beet crop, allowing the plants to deplete fertilizer in the soil so he can change the bright red on the satellite image to the yellow of sweet beets in his field.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Landsat satellites find the 'sweet spot' for cropsPublic release date: 27-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ellen Gray Ellen.t.gray@nasa.gov 301-286-1950 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Farmers are using maps created with free data from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey's Landsat satellites that show locations that are good and not good for growing crops.
Farmer Gary Wagner walks into his field where the summer leaves on the sugar beet plants are a rich emerald hue -- not necessarily a good color when it comes to sugar beets, either for the environment or the farmer. That hue tells Wagner that he's leaving money in the field in unused nitrogen fertilizer, which if left in the soil can act as a pollutant when washed into waterways, and in unproduced sugar, the ultimate product from his beets.
The leaf color Wagner is looking for is yellow. Yellow means the sugar beets are stressed, and when the plants are stressed, they use more nitrogen from the soil and store more sugar. Higher sugar content means that when Wagner and his family bring the harvest in, their farm, A.W.G. Farms, Inc., in northern Minnesota, makes more dollars per acre, and they can better compete on the world crop market.
To find where he needs to adjust his fertilizer useapply it here or withhold it thereWagner uses a map of his 5,000 acres that span 35 miles. The map was created using free data from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey's Landsat satellites and tells him about growing conditions. When he plants a different crop species the following year, Wagner's map will tell him which areas of the fields are depleted in nitrogen so he can apply fertilizer judiciously instead of all over.
A farmer needs to monitor his fields for potential yield and for variability of yield, Wagner says. Knowing how well the plants are growing by direct measurement has an obvious advantage over statistically calculating what should be there based on spot checks as he walks his field. That's where remote sensing comes in, and NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey's Landsat satellites step into the spotlight.
The Sensors in the Sky "Trip the Light Fantastic"
Providing the longest, continuous record of observations of Earth from space, Landsat images are critical to anyonescientist or farmerwho relies on month-to-month and year-to-year data sets of Earth's changing surface. Landsat 1 launched in 1972. The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), the eighth satellite in the series, will launch in 2013 and will bring two sensorsthe Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS)into low orbit over the Earth to continue the work of their predecessors as they image our planet's land surface.
Land features tell the sensors their individual characteristics through energy. Everything on the land surface reflects and radiates energyyou, your backyard trees, that rocky outcropping, and a field where a farmer is growing a crop of sugar beets. The sensors on LDCM will measure energy at wavelengths both within the visible spectrumwhat people can seeand at wavelengths that only the sensors, and some other lucky species, such as bees and spiders, can see.
OLI will measure energy in nine visible, near infrared, and short wave infrared portions, or bands, of the electromagnetic spectrum, and TIRS will measure energy in two thermal infrared bands. And that's what makes them such powerful tools.
Jim Irons, NASA Project Scientist for LDCM at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., says that the instruments will deliver data-rich images that tell a deeper story than your average photograph of how the land changes over time.
Wagner's mapa special kind of map known as a zone mapshows the difference between healthy and stressed plants by representing the amount of light they're reflecting in different bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. To display this information on his map, the visible colors of lightred, green, and blueare each assigned to a different band. Red, for example, is assigned to the near-infrared band that isn't visible to humans. Healthy leaves strongly reflect the invisible, near-infrared energy. Therefore green, lush sugar beets pop out in bright red on Wagner's map while the yellow-leaved stressed plants appear as a duller red. Wagner can use this map to track and document changes in his crop's condition throughout the season and between seasons. As a tool, this map supports and enhances his on-the-ground crop analyses with independent and scientific observations from space.
Different band combinations tell farmersand scientists, insurance agents, water managers, foresters, mapmakers, and many other types of usersdifferent information. Additionally, since the Landsat data is digital, computers can be trained to use all the bands to rapidly recognize and differentiate features across the landscape and to recognize change over time with multiple images.
"Therein lies the power of the Landsat data archive," says Irons. "It is a multi-band analysis across the landscape and over a 40-year time span."
Both OLI and TIRS use new "push-broom" technology, in which a sensor uses long arrays of light-sensitive detectors to collect information across the field of view, as opposed to older sensors that sweep mirrors side-to-side. The new technology improves on earlier instruments because the sensors have fewer moving parts, which will improve their reliability.
OLI will also be more sensitive to electromagnetic radiation than previous Landsat sensors, which is akin to giving users access to a new and improved ruler with markings down to one-sixty-fourth of an inch versus markings at every quarter inch. For Wagner, this means that next summer with LDCM in orbit, he will be able to better discriminate the degree of stress on his sugar beets, giving him a more finely tuned view of what his plants need across the field.
The View of the Field is the Right Fit for its Purpose
Each step of the way, OLI will look at Earth with a 15-meter (49 foot) panchromatic and a 30-meter (98 foot) multispectral spatial resolution along a ground swath that is 185 kilometers (115 miles) wide. TIRS will measure two thermal infrared spectral bands with a spatial resolution of 100 meters (328 feet) and cover the same size swath as OLI.
Different scale resolutionslow, moderate, and highdeliver different levels of detail in remote sensing images, and each has its purpose. The 30-meter (98 foot) resolution of the Landsat images Wagner uses allows him to see what is happening on his spread, quarter-acre by quarter-acre. He doesn't need a view so narrow that the high resolution image tells him who's sitting in the combine parked in his field, or a view so big that it shows him smoke from forest fires drifting over the North American continent with no detail on his farm.
The moderate resolution also means Landsat satellites are able to fly over the same piece of real estate more frequently than high resolution satellites. Once every sixteen days, Landsat 7 in orbit now or LDCM after it launches, will revisit Wagner's farm, and every other place on Earth, too, for global coverage. "We're looking forward to having a real quality instrument in space," says Irons, who is excited about having OLI and TIRS come online. He says the Landsat 30-meter resolution has been assessed in the scientific literature as being a suitable resolution for observing land cover and land use change at the scale in which humans interact with and manage land. The sensors will record 400 scenes a day, giving users 150 more scenes than previous instruments. Data from both of the sensors will be combined in each image.
The Legacy in the Landsat Mission is its Continuity
In daily operations on his farm, Wagner has used Landsat data in near real time. He's anxious for the launch of LDCM and NASA's newest sensors, OLI and TIRS, because not having the remote sensing data really puts him in a bind. A lack of current satellite data disrupts Wagner's understanding of what his plants need, what the soil needs, the long-term performance history of his place, and his budget.
For now, with his zone map in hand, Wagner adjusts his care for his sugar beet crop, allowing the plants to deplete fertilizer in the soil so he can change the bright red on the satellite image to the yellow of sweet beets in his field.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Lots of people state that starting your home organization could be difficult, but that may be only accurate unless you learn how to begin a home-based business the right way. Just like nearly anything, you need to be well informed about commencing a home company in order to commence operating one. This short article features several tips about beginning your own house business.
Create an online webpage to your enterprise. Considering that so many people search on the internet to get items and discover new info, it is crucial that you have an area in which potential customers can understand your product or service and study regarding what your enterprise is information on. You can expect to attain much more folks online than you might have otherwise.
Have a everyday log of all the your small business activities. You will have to have information of everything you might have completed, specifically when it comes to taxation period. Having a complete day-to-day diary of all of the stuff you do can assist you in getting Internal revenue service away from your back again, and even glow light-weight on regulations and tax breaks maybe you have otherwise overlooked.
Acquire some cost-free business card printing printed out up once you can soon after beginning your home-based business. You ought to get the phrase out to as many individuals as is possible concerning your new business. Check with approval to depart some of your cards at different spots, like the doctor?s business office, bulletin boards, restaurants and retailers.
Discuss your experience! You began best porn site a home organization simply because you feel at ease ample with a product or service setting out on your own. A terrific way to increase your company in the marketplace is usually to reveal your expertise with other individuals. Compose your blog, offer free guidance as well as give deal with-to-experience displays about your neighborhood. End up being the specialist and buyers should come.
Create a confidant that one could speak with once your effort is acquiring heavy in your thoughts. You will encounter various nerve-racking issues that will cloud your thoughts to make it tough to target. Only once you vent and discuss your feelings and issues with somebody you have confidence in is it possible to get the tension from your imagination.
As the start of this post discussed, starting up your home enterprise can be challenging, but it is much easier if you are appropriately knowledgeable and well informed. Once you know the right steps to get started on a home company, it is not really so overwhelming. Apply the recommendations in the following paragraphs, and stay moving toward starting up your house organization
A column of smoke rises over Damascus, Syria, on Wednesday after two bomb blasts were reported.
By NBC News staff and wire reports
UNITED NATIONS -- Arab nations should intervene in Syria given the U.N. Security Council's failure to stop the civil war in the country, Qatari Emir Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani said Tuesday.
"The Security Council failed to reach an effective position. In view of this, I think that it is better for the Arab countries themselves to interfere out of their national, humanitarian, political and military duties and do what is necessary to stop the bloodshed in Syria," Sheik Hamad, speaking through an interpreter, said in a U.N. General Assembly speech.
Western powers have made clear they are opposed to direct intervention and the Security Council will not sanction action against the wishes of Russia and China. President Barack Obama on Tuesday?called again for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad?but provided no clear direction forward.
The Syrian conflict grinds on. Cities are under attack leaving them crushed by heavy shelling. NBC's Bill Neely reports.
Sheik Hamad suggested that bypassing the U.N. Security Council would enable a peaceful transition of power in Syria.
"We had a similar precedent when Arab forces intervened in Lebanon in the mid-'70s ... to stop internal fighting there in a step that proved to be effective and useful," he added.
'Senseless' torture and violence: Charity appeals for help for Syria's children
In 1976, an Arab League summit in Cairo authorized the deployment of an Arab peacekeeping force in Lebanon, according to the BBC.
NBC News
People resisting the army of President Bashar al-Assad in northern Syria cope with loss and prepare for fighting.
Qatar, along with Saudi Arabia and Turkey, strongly supports the mainly Sunni Muslim Syrian rebels, while Shiite Iran backs Assad, whose Alawite minority is an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
More international coverage from NBC News
Sheik Hamad further urged all countries that believe in the cause of the Syrian people to provide "all sorts of support" to Syrians until they gain legitimate rights.
Activists say that 27,000 people have been killed in Syria's uprising, which began as peaceful demonstrations for reform 18 months ago but turned into an armed insurgency fighting to topple Assad, with sectarian overtones that could drag in regional powers.
Obama denounces violence in Middle East, calls for tolerance and democracy
Meanwhile, state-run media said two massive explosions targeted the army command headquarters in Damascus on Wednesday, setting off clashes and a huge fire inside the building.
/
A look back at the violence that has overtaken the country
The rebel Free Syrian Army claimed responsibility for the bombings.
Press TV via EPA file
An undated handout television grab taken from Iran's state-run news network Press TV shows its correspondent Maya Nasser who was killed in Syria Wednesday.
"The Free Army hit the general staff building in Damascus' Umayyad Square and dozens were killed in the two powerful blasts," the information office for the FSA military council said in a statement. Syria's Information Minister Omran Zoabi had earlier said that the blasts caused only material damage.
The army said four guards were killed and 14 wounded in what it said were suicide attacks. No senior officers were hurt in the blasts, which shook the whole city just before the start of the working day, it said.
Iran's Press TV also said Wednesday that one of its correspondents was killed in Syria covering the twin blasts and gun battles in the Damascus.
Machine guns operated by motorcycle brakes? Get a glimpse at the rebels fighting against Assad's forces in Syria's mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya area.
Press TV identified the correspondent as 33-year-old Maya Nasser, a Syrian national.
More Syria coverage from NBC News
Syrian authorities accuse Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey of arming the rebels.
In July, Gulf sources told Reuters that Turkey had set up a secret base with Saudi Arabia and Qatar to direct vital military and communications aid to Syria's rebels.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More world stories from NBC News:
Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
There's a time for homestyle, irregularly shaped cookies, but there's also a time for perfectly round, same-shape every time cookies too, and all you need to make them the same shape and size every time is an old paper towel roll and your cookie dough, whether it's pre-bought or made from scratch.
This tip comes to us from the folks at Chow.com, and it's super simple. Just cut along the length of an old paper towel roll, then roll your cookie dough into a tube that's roughly the same diameter of the paper towel roll. Then, put the dough on a piece of plastic wrap, roll it up, and put it into the paper towel roll, squeezing it until it fits just right. Tighten it down with a couple of rubber bands, and you're all set. Put it in the fridge to firm up, or freezer for longer storage, and when you're ready to bake, slice it up in even pieces, put the individual cookie discs onto a baking sheet, and pop them in the oven. Check out a video of this tip in action at the link below.
Free Internet Marketing Ebooks ? How to Get Quality Instead of Junk
Every day more and more people find out that there are ways of making money on the Internet. No matter where they decide to begin their journey, very soon they get bombed and spammed with various offers and promises of small fortunes and financial independence. Truth is that making money on the Internet is not so easy as some people might say.
The biggest flaw is that there are many ?experts? and ?gurus? trying to sell their overpriced and expensive products to the, more or less, desperate audience. Anyone who has been involved in this business, one way or another, knows that there are a few people who make monstrous money from the Internet, few dozens of those who can be tagged as ?average? Internet marketers and money makers, and a vast majority of people who either end up with less money than they had when they started, or just give up thinking that it is impossible.
Yes, it often seems and appears to be impossible, although it isn?t. Everybody talks about setting up professional websites, building a list, running some PPC campaigns, optimizing sites for search engines and many, many other stuff that may seem logic, but also may not work for everyone. But, of course, everybody claims that only their method, strategy, tactics, whatever, works! Truth is that there are dozens of ways. That is because of the very nature of the Internet. So, how to find out what are those and which one would potentially work best for you?!
Well, the hardest and probably the not so clever way is to purchase every eBook you think could prove useful to your cause. If you want to engage in, for example, affiliate marketing, you could, for the sake of education and finding out how to establish your business in a proper way, buy every ebook, course, manual, training about affiliate marketing.
The only thing that is certain is that you will have a lot less cash in your pocket or on your credit card.
The unfortunate fact is that Internet marketing and making money online are two very under-served niches and markets. If you are reading this article, chances are that you have been scammed or ripped of in a certain way. Trust me, I have also!
Well, what are we going to do? I think it would be wise to stop for a moment and stop chasing every dream of stockpiles of cash and overnight riches. OK? You cool now? Good, keep on reading.
What we need is, of course, some basic knowledge. If you spent huge money on expensive products, courses and manuals, you probably have some idea or a general point of view what is necessary for a successful online business or a money making system, call it as you wish.
Still, you probably have a few gaps or holes in your knowledge about the certain problematics. Everybody does. That is not a shame. And if you are a total newcomer, who doesn?t have any idea or clue where and how to start, then read carefully.
You NEED those ebooks about Internet marketing and making money online. Maybe that word ?need? is a little exaggerated, but think of it this way. How much time did it take for other people, who now live entirely from their online income streams, to get to the level where they are now? I bet it took them many months, even years of hard-work, testing, thinking of new strategies, a few inventions now and then, probably a dozens of fails, before they finally realized what is the right way!
Now imagine yourself. You are now probably in the same situation they were in months or years before. You have 2 possibilities. You can try your own luck, follow your own ideas and hope that they will work. Alternatively, you can buy ebooks from established and reputable Internet marketers and pick a piece of their brain. Even better, you can get them for free.
Wonder how? Well, there are a few ways. There is one clever approach how successful or a little less successful marketers build their lists. It?s called Internet marketing giveaway. A group of marketers gather together in a JV (joint venture) and offer free products ? software, ebooks, video trainings, free memberships to various sites etc., in exchange for your e-mail address. They are usually time limited, something like 5-10 days. The downsides of such events are following:
1. The free products or items offered are often of low or no quality, with a few exceptions
2. Your e-mail will probably get tons of spam or just a little less spam messages promoting expensive ?get rich quick? and ?get rich overnight? products.
There are many sites offering a wide range of ebooks, from agriculture to young adult literature. There are always a few dozens of Internet marketing ebooks available to download, but since there aren?t so many available, chances to download something valuable and useful are even lower than in standard giveaway events.
Internet marketing forums are great places to get dozens of valuable tips, and, if luck is on your side, you can receive a few very useful ebooks or reports. I am speaking from my personal experiences.
However, it still may not be enough to satisfy your needs. That is why I decide to create a small and simple ebooks blog where, from time to time, I write honest and unbiased reviews of the ebooks I manage to buy or get for free. Not all of the ebooks are free, but I don?t even want you to buy. I really want you to download, if possible, all of the free ebooks I?ve linked to throughout my posts, and start building your online business, instead of chasing wild dreams.
But I want you to act, just reading them won?t make you money. That is one of the biggest mistakes I?ve been doing. I have literally swallowed tons of educational materials, but never transformed that into action. So, go there, link is located few lines below, download whatever ebooks you find useful, and start your Internet marketing career.
Personal recommendations
They say ? free is worthless! I say ? it?s not! Visit my ebooks blogspot [http://cheap-i-m-ebooks.blogspot.com/] where you can download various internet marketing and money making ebooks for free or at a very fair price.
They also say ? article marketing! I say ? article marketing and guest blog posting. Discover and use the huge impact of guest posting at other people?s blogs to your site?s search engine rankings!!! suggestions about ebooks he suggests.
Today you can set in motion a plan that will change your life forever! ?Forget everything else, Somehow find a way to?expose at least 2people a day to the DAY 1 opportunity! Just have them watch a video on your site, send them an e-mail, direct them to themilliondollarteam.com website.
If you do this and teach your people to do the same thing you can create the lifestyle that you always dreamed of, you can become debt free, you can set yourself free from the daily grind of Corporate America!
It is as simple as finding at least 2 and you can do it today if really want it! ?This is too simple!
Invite 2 people to the call tonight at 6 pm PST 712-432-3900 #9341494
This call will be done?every night during the month of September and probably will continue until the end of the year!
Montgomery County Community College is taking a proactive approach to improving its students? financial well-being with the help from CashCourse?, a free online resource from the National Endowment for Financial Education? (NEFE?). The College recently joined more than 550 other colleges and universities in the United States that are using this program to help students and recent graduates.
When students start college and live independently away from the guidance of their parents, they often make unwise financial decisions due to inexperience and lack of knowledge. ?Students need financial tools during their transition to adulthood to help them learn about saving, investing, filing taxes, paying off student loans and evaluating the financial aspects of job offers.
?CashCourse offers a reliable resource to help young adults develop financial know-how,? says Ted Beck, president and CEO of Denver-based NEFE. ?Through attention to the needs of today?s college students, this program will help young adults gain the financial savvy they need to succeed in life at college and beyond.?
CashCourse features unbiased content with no advertising and no connections to commercial entities. Using the input from college students, NEFE made the program easy to comprehend and use.
In addition to articles, the online resource features:
Worksheets, calculators and quizzes for students to use in the classroom or at home;
A ?Budget Wizard? tool to help students manage their spending;
An online dictionary of financial terms to help students understand the basics;
A credit module to educate students on the importance of managing credit cards and protecting their credit; and
Many resources for college and university professionals to promote and use CashCourse with their students.
?CashCourse is available to all employees, departments, students and recent graduates 24/7,? says Amy Hartenstine, director of CashCourse. ?We are proud that Montgomery County Community College has signed on to provide CashCourse to its students.?
NEFE is an independent nonprofit organization committed to inspiring empowered financial decision making for individuals and families. To learn more about NEFE, visit www.nefe.org.
To learn more about the CashCourse program, visit www.cashcourse.org/mccc.?
Like this:
Be the first to like this.
Posted in Student Success Initiative | Tagged Financial Aid, financial literacy, National Endowment for Financial Education, NEFE CashCourse | Leave a Comment
MARINA, Calif. (AP) ? In the Central California coastal town of Marina, a $7 million desalination plant that can turn salty ocean waves into fresh drinking water sits idle behind rusty, locked doors, shuttered by water officials because rising energy costs made the plant too expensive.
Far to the north in well-heeled Marin County, plans were scrapped for a desalination facility despite two decades of planning and millions of dollars spent on a pilot plant.
Squeezing salt from the ocean to make clean drinking water is a worldwide phenomenon that has been embraced in thirsty California, with its cycles of drought and growing population. There are currently 17 desalination proposals in the state, concentrated along the Pacific where people are plentiful and fresh water is not.
But many projects have been stymied by skyrocketing construction costs, huge energy requirements for running plants, regulatory delays and legal challenges over environmental impacts on marine life. Only one small plant along Monterey Bay is pumping out any drinking water.
From Marin County to San Diego, some water districts are asking themselves: How much are we willing to pay for this new water?
"We found that our demand for water had dropped so much since the time we started exploring desalination, we didn't need the water," said Libby Pischel, a spokeswoman for the Marin Municipal Water District. "Right now, conservation costs less than desalination."
Desalination plants can take water from the ocean or drill down and grab the less salty, brackish water from seaside aquifers. Because of their potential impacts to marine life, the California Coastal Commission reviews each project case-by-case.
There was great fanfare in 2009 when the last regulatory hurdle was cleared to build the Western Hemisphere's largest desalination plant in Carlsbad, north of San Diego.
At the time, it was proposed that the $320 million project would suck in 100 million gallons of seawater and be capable of producing 50 million gallons of drinking water a day. It was expected to come online by this year.
Since then, the plant owner, Poseidon Resources LLC, has been negotiating a water purchase agreement and is close to clinching a 30-year deal with the San Diego County Water Authority, a wholesaler to cities and agencies that provide water to 3.1 million people.
The compact is essential for Poseidon to obtain financing to build what has become a $900 million project, which includes the seaside plant and a 10-mile pipeline. The San Diego agency hopes the plant opens in 2016 and anticipates desalination will account for 7 percent of the region's supply in 2020. It estimates the cost is comparable to other new, local sources of drinking water, such as treated toilet water or briny groundwater.
Interest is still high, but "people are realizing that desalination isn't a magic fix to the state's water issues," said coastal commission water expert Tom Luster.
Water can be de-salted in different ways. Poseidon's project will use reverse osmosis. Other plants shoot ocean or brackish water at high pressure through salt-removing membrane filters. Because pumps must be used constantly to move massive amounts of water through filters, these facilities are extremely energy intensive.
Also, in many cases, desalinated water is pricier than importing water the old-fashioned way ? through pipes and tunnels. And it is cheaper to focus on conservation when possible: new technologies like low-flow toilets and stricter zoning laws that require less water-intensive landscaping have helped curb demand in communities throughout the state.
Desalination has been around for years in Saudi Arabia, other Arab Gulf states and Israel, which last year approved the construction of a fifth desalination plant. The hope is that the five plants together will supply 75 percent of the country's drinking water by 2013.
The process also has helped ease thirst in places such as Australia, Spain and Singapore. Experts say it has been slower to catch on in the United States, mainly because companies face tougher rules on where they can build plants and must endure longer environmental reviews. Poseidon, for example, is facing opposition by environmental groups over its proposed plans to build another facility in Huntington Beach. The company has received several permits for the Orange County project, but still needs approval from the coastal commission.
About six miles south of the ghost desalination plant in Marina, the mechanical whir coming from a nondescript cinderblock building in a Sand City industrial park is the only evidence that the state's sole operating municipal desalination plant is at work.
The $14 million facility has the ability to produce up to 600,000 gallons a day of drinkable water for the town of about 340 people. Sand City's plant now produces half that amount each day; a third is used by the city with the rest sent elsewhere in Monterey County.
City leaders hoped to develop the former military town into an artsy, Bohemian beachside destination. With no other possible water options, they turned to desalination. "We're just like Saudi Arabia. There's nowhere else to get water and we want to develop," said Richard Simonitch, the city's civil engineer.
It's not that easy in Monterey Peninsula, where regional water use from development has exceeded its yearly rainfall replenishment and desalination is one of the only options available.
Proposals have been fraught with mistakes, political infighting and scandal, and have cost Monterey area ratepayers tens of millions of dollars.
Earlier this year, state utilities regulators rejected Monterey County's desalination plan, citing problems with environmental review. The plan was also mired in alleged corruption by a county water official, who now faces criminal charges.
Still, desalination will be an important part of the Central Coast's future: the state ordered water suppliers to stop drawing from the Carmel River, its main source of the precious resource, starting in 2017. Even officials in Marina, with its shuttered plant, see a future in which demand will require their current desalination plant to resume operation and are planning another, larger plant to help make up for the expected water loss.
"Water politics in Monterey County is a blood sport," said Jim Heitzman, general manager of the Marina Coast Water District.
_____
Chang reported from Los Angeles; Elliott Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report. Jason Dearen can be reached on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/JHDearen.
TORONTO (Reuters) - The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment on Thursday approved Loral Space and Communications Inc's move to sell its satellite manufacturing business to Canadian rival MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd (MDA) .
A big hurdle remains though, as the $875 million deal still needs to win approval from U.S. anti-trust regulators, who last week asked for additional information on the proposed deal, a request some analysts believe could jeopardize the timing of the deal and the likelihood of its closing.
MDA hopes the deal, struck in June, will boost its position in the communications market and help it win business from both commercial and government clients.
SS/L, Loral's California based-subsidiary that MacDonald is acquiring, develops satellites used for television broadcasting, direct-to-home television services, broadband communications, military communications, wireless telephony and satellite radio, among other things.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, found no national security concerns with respect to the transaction, MDA said in a statement late on Thursday.
National security issues were a crucial concern four years ago when the Canadian government blocked the C$1.33 billion ($1.36 billion) sale of MDA's own satellite arm to U.S. rival Alliant Techsystems Inc .
At the time, Canada said it feared that the sale of the MDA unit would have led to the loss of crucial technology and hampered its satellite surveillance capabilities. It marked the first time that the country used the powers of the Investment Canada Act to block a foreign takeover of Canadian assets.
MDA's own bid for SS/L though appears to be up against more stringent scrutiny on the anti-trust front. The U.S. Department of Justice last week asked for more information about MDA's own satellite communications antenna and payload business, which is a significant component supplier to the satellite industry.
The request spooked investors and led to a sell-off in MDA's shares, which have fallen 14 percent in the last two weeks. The company's shares, which rose significantly after the deal was announced in June, closed Thursday at C$51.60 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
($1 = 0.9777 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Daniel Magnowski and Matt Driskill)
Ray Dalio, the manager of the world's biggest hedge fund firm, has achieved hedge-fund-mogul status. His success comes with certain trappings and pitfalls, Brown writes.
By Joshua M. Brown,?Guest blogger / September 21, 2012
A woman walks past an electronic stock board at the Jakarta Stock Exchange in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday. Ray Dalio is more than just a hedge fund manager, Brown writes.
Achmad Ibrahim/AP
Enlarge
Ray Dalio, with the winship of his hedge fund Bridgewater, has acquired a mystique of mythic proportions over the last year or two.? And with this success, the assets under management have followed.
Skip to next paragraph Joshua M. Brown
Joshua has been managing money for high net worth clients, charitable foundations, corporations and retirement plans for more than a decade.
Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition
And that unfortunate thing that happens with all managers who get really big, really quickly, has started to happen to him.
Here's a quick idea from a piece in Forbes about the wealthiest hedge fund managers in America:
The current king of the hedge fund industry, Ray Dalio, can be found in Westport Ct., where he lords over the world?s biggest hedge fund firm, Bridgewater Associates, with about $130 billion in assets. He scored spectacular returns in the 20% range last year at a time when most other hedge funds struggled. Dalio?s net worth is $10 billion. He has not been able to keep his winning streak going so far in 2012, with one of his most prominent funds down by nearly 3% through the first half of the year. Now at age 63, Dalio is ceding more responsibility and selling ownership stakes in his firm to his employees and clients. Also on the drawing board: A new $750 million headquarters that if it gets regulatory approval will be built by 2017 in Stamford, Ct., to accommodate more than 2,000 employees, nearly double the number of people currently working at the firm.
This is not to say that it's time to write Dalio off as an investment manager, but make no mistake - he is now more than just a manager.? He is now a hedge fund mogul, with all the trappings and pitfalls that come along with it.? It is interesting to note how this sort of thing becomes unavoidable, no matter who it happens to. The payrolls get bigger, there are more families depending on him to keep succeeding and obviously more investors.? Life gets harder, not easier, should he continue on in his current role.
Don't get me wrong, I'd trade places with him in a moment?
Source:?America's Richest Hedge Fund Managers (Forbes)
The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here.To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on www.thereformedbroker.com.
DETROIT (AP) - The Oakland Athletics avoided a three-game sweep, yet still came out on the losing end.
Seth Smith homered, doubled and drove in four runs, and the Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers 12-4 in a matchup of AL playoff contenders. But the wild-card co-leaders also learned they would be minus starter Brett Anderson for the remainder of the regular season.
An MRI revealed Anderson sustained a Grade 2 strain of his right oblique muscle on Wednesday night, when the left-hander awkwardly fell off the mound and exited after two-plus innings.
Anderson was 4-2 with a 2.57 ERA after six games while coming off Tommy John surgery. The A's revealed the extent of his latest injury after their victory.
"He's a guy that's got ace-type of stuff. It hurts to lose a starting pitcher," Athletics manager Bob Melvin said. "But we've lost a lot of starters in the last month and a half, three."
Melvin said he doesn't know about Anderson's availability for the postseason.
The team also is without Brandon McCarthy, who was hit in the head by a line drive, and Bartolo Colon, who was suspended for using a performance-enhancing drug.
Both clubs are in second place in their divisions, and Oakland is even with Baltimore for the wild-card spot.
The Tigers are two games behind the Central-leading Chicago White Sox.
Outscored 18-4 in the first two games, Oakland held down Miguel Cabrera to win the finale. Cabrera singled in four at-bats, and tops the AL in batting at .333.
Josh Donaldson hit a go-ahead single in a four-run sixth inning that made it 6-3, then had an RBI double to cap a six-run ninth that included Smith's three-run double.
"We're not the type of team to score a run here, a run there, two runs here. We're more of a big-inning team, more often than not," Smith said.
Pat Neshek (2-1) retired the only batter he faced and got the win.
Anibal Sanchez (3-6), who held Cleveland hitless for 6 2-3 innings in his last start, gave up six runs on six hits and two walks in 5 2-3 innings.
Smith hit his 14th homer, a solo shot in the fifth that made it 2-all. The Tigers retook the lead in the bottom half when Cabrera singled and scored on Prince Fielder's double.
The A's went ahead for good in the sixth. Brandon Moss hit a tying double with one out and after Chris Carter struck out and Smith was walked intentionally, Donaldson singled.
Phil Coke relieved and George Kottaras hit a liner that center fielder Austin Jackson misjudged, the ball sailing over his head for a two-run triple.
"It kind of knuckled. I was right there. It just took a left turn on me," Jackson said.
Kottaras felt fortunate.
"I knew I hit it good. I saw him coming in. I thought, `Oh no, he's going to catch it,"' Kottaras said. "Then when I saw it go over his glove. I was like `Great!' But then I thought, `I've got to keep running."'
Andy Dirks led off the Detroit sixth with a home run off Jerry Blevins.
Yoenis Cespedes hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to start Oakland's scoring in the ninth.
The Tigers threatened in the first against Tommy Milone, loading the bases before Delmon Young grounded into an inning-ending double play.
"We missed a couple opportunities," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "Delmon hit a ball right on the button in the first inning, double-play ball, he hit it right on the nose. We had a couple other opportunities. We had some chances."
Detroit broke through in the second to take a 2-0 lead on Gerald Laird's RBI single and Jackson's sacrifice fly.
Second baseman Omar Infante's throwing error on an attempted double play gave the A's a run in the third. It was his 10th error in 51 games since being acquired from Miami, along with Sanchez, on July 24.
NOTE: Detroit C Alex Avila is no longer having headaches, according to Leyland. Avila sprained his jaw when he collided with Fielder chasing a foul ball on Sunday. ... Cespedes was the designated hitter because of a bone bruise on the bottom of the outfielder's foot that has lingered for the last few days. ... Oakland OF Coco Crisp missed his second game because of an eye allergy. ... The Athletics travel to New York for a three-game weekend series. Jarrod Parker faces CC Sabathia on Friday night. ... Rick Porcello and the Tigers host Sam Dedundo and Minnesota on Friday night.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
advertisement
More news
Nationals secure playoff berth
??The Washington Nationals brought postseason baseball back to the nation's capital for the first time since 1933, clinching a playoff spot Thursday night with a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The field of intrastate online poker in Nevada grew larger Thursday, as two more companies were given the OK to operate in the state.
The Nevada Gaming Commission awarded licenses to the technology firm WMS Gaming Inc. and American Casino & Entertainment Properties, which owns Stratosphere, Aquarius and Arizona Charlie?s.
In July, WMS partnered with 888, in an agreement that would allow WMS to offer US land-based casino operators a chance to enter the online poker industry.
ACEP was approved as an operator of online poker, a distinction granted solely to brick and mortar companies, while WMS is licensed as a manufacturer.
Along with WMS and ACEP, Shuffle Master, International Game Technology, South Point Poker, Monarch Interactive, Bally Technologies, Global Cash Access, WMS and ACEP have received online poker-related licenses.
As soon as this fall, South Point Casino is expected to be the first to offer real-money online games in Nevada.
Meanwhile, PokerTrip Enterprises became the first licensed online gaming marketing affiliate.
President and CEO Jon Friedberg has said that his company would help players receive benefits with the Nevada poker sites if they signed up through his affiliate. PokerTrip Enterprises is the parent company of AllVegasPoker.com and ThePokerAtlas.com, which provide enthusiasts with information on brick and mortar poker rooms.
After the license was approved Thursday, Friedberg took to Twitter to thank the commission ?for the opportunity to contribute to NV?s continued leadership in gaming.?
LG Optimus G hands-on","date":"Wed, Sep 19, 2012 10:02 AM EDT","credit":null,"byline":null,"provider":"BGR News","photo_title":"LG Optimus G hands-on","pivot_alias_id":"lg-optimus-g-hands-photo-135531867","plink":"\/photos\/lg-optimus-g-hands-photo-135531867.html","plink_vita":"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/photos\/lg-optimus-g-hands-photo-135531867.html","srchtrm":"LG Optimus G hands-on","revsp":"","rev":"9b701280-0262-11e2-9fef-c36f39b13b04","surl":"http:\/\/l.yimg.com\/bt\/api\/res\/1.2\/nTmRelVCkRxEWFKhp_MmOg--\/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD01NjtxPTg1O3c9ODQ-\/http:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en_US\/News\/BGR_News\/BGR-IMG_4982.jpg","swidth":84,"sheight":56}]}); } }); Y.later(10, this, function() {YUI.namespace("Media.Article.Lead"); YUI.Media.Article.Lead.config = { playerUrl : 'http://d.yimg.com/nl/ynews/site/player.swf', autoPlay : 1 }; }); Y.later(10, this, function() {if(Y.Photos && Y.Photos.LightboxModule) { var lightbox97f4b41451fbd13c1829f80808a1681a = new Y.Photos.LightboxModule('{"spaceid":"7665149","ult_pt":"story-lightbox","darla_id":"","images_total":0,"xhr_url":"_xhr/related-article/lightbox/?id=ced486f5-f452-3b2a-baaa-3f848f680f30","xhr_count":20,"autoplay_if_first_item_is_video":true}',[],{"spaceid":"7665149","total":1,"photoby":"Photo By","xhrtype":"slideshow","slideshow_id":null,"slideshow_title":null,"slideshow_title_baked_html":null,"slideshow_desc":null,"slideshow_rev":null,"slideshow_plink_vita":null,"photos":[{"type":"image","url":"http:\/\/l3.yimg.com\/bt\/api\/res\/1.2\/WmHh0PXYp.rc1gtqrdm9yg--\/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00MzU7cT04NTt3PTY1Mg--\/http:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en_US\/News\/BGR_News\/BGR-IMG_4982.jpg","width":652,"height":435,"uuid":"43bd5d7a-ef45-3d8d-a6d8-5ab05b47df8e","caption":"LG Optimus G hands-on","captionBakedHtml":"
LG Optimus G hands-on","date":"Wed, Sep 19, 2012 10:02 AM EDT","credit":null,"byline":null,"provider":"","photo_title":"LG Optimus G hands-on","pivot_alias_id":"lg-optimus-g-hands-photo-135531867","plink":"\/photos\/lg-optimus-g-hands-photo-135531867.html","plink_vita":"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/photos\/lg-optimus-g-hands-photo-135531867.html","srchtrm":"LG Optimus G hands-on","revsp":"","rev":"9b701280-0262-11e2-9fef-c36f39b13b04","surl":"http:\/\/l.yimg.com\/bt\/api\/res\/1.2\/nTmRelVCkRxEWFKhp_MmOg--\/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD01NjtxPTg1O3c9ODQ-\/http:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en_US\/News\/BGR_News\/BGR-IMG_4982.jpg","swidth":84,"sheight":56}]}); } if(Y.Photos && Y.Photos.LightboxModule) { if (lightbox97f4b41451fbd13c1829f80808a1681a.checksupport() !== false) { try { Y.one('.lightboxc21e4d84e24286e246fb2ad40ab9a7cc').on('click', function(e) { e.preventDefault(); lightbox97f4b41451fbd13c1829f80808a1681a.slideShow(e, '43bd5d7a-ef45-3d8d-a6d8-5ab05b47df8e'); }); } catch (e) { Y.log('A lightbox instance cannot be bound.'); } } } }); Y.later(10, this, function() {new Y.Media.RelatedArticle({count:"2",start:"1", mod_total:"10", total:"1", content_id:"ced486f5-f452-3b2a-baaa-3f848f680f30", spaceid:"7665149" }); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {(function(d){ d.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(d.createElement('script')).src='http://d.yimg.com/oq/js/csc_news-en-US-core.js'; })(document); }); Y.later(10, this, function() { if(!("Media" in YAHOO)){YAHOO.Media = {};} if(!("ugcrate" in YAHOO.Media)){YAHOO.Media.ugcrate = {};} if(!("Media" in Y)){Y.namespace("Media");} YAHOO.Media.ugcrate.ratings_44b9c6847ccf1df96792976da166a90f = new Y.Media.UgcRate({"context_id":"854693e8-200c-4d95-bee8-6f2cdecb6f17","sCrumb":"","containerId":"yom-sentimentrate-44b9c6847ccf1df96792976da166a90f","rateDimensions":"d1","appLang":"en-US","sUltSId":"7665149","sUltProperty":"news-en-US","sUltCampaign":"","sUltPlatform":"ugcwidgets","sUltIntl":"US","sUltLang":"en-US","selfPageUrl":"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/fake-apple-stores-cause-chinese-officials-inspect-electronics-104203044.html?_esi=0&ugccmtnav=v1%2Fcomments%2Fcontext%2F6681d17f-c248-318c-a990-8505cf1957d4%2Fcomments%3Fcount%3D20%26amp%3BsortBy%3DhighestRated","artContentId":"6681d17f-c248-318c-a990-8505cf1957d4","sUltQstnTxt":"Do you plan on buying the new iPhone 5?","artContentTitle":"Fake Apple Stores Cause Chinese Officials to Inspect Electronics Retailers","artContentDesc":"Chinese officials are inspecting electronics stores in Kunming after it was revealed that the city has three fake Apple Stores. ","sUltBucketId":"test1","sUltSection":"sentirating","sUltBeaconUrl":"","sUltRecordPageviews":"1","sUltBeaconEnable":"1","serviceUrl":"\/_xhr","publisherContextId":"","propertyId":"2fcd79b5-b3a3-333e-b98e-722536a6698f","configurationId":"435db9ee-c55e-3766-b20d-c8ad3ff889d1","graphId":"","labelLeft":"No way","labelRight":"As soon as it\\'s available!","labelMiddle":"","itemimg":"http:\/\/l.yimg.com\/a\/i\/ww\/met\/yahoo_logo_us_061509.png","selfURI":"","aggregateRatingCount":"185199","aggregateReviewCount":"0","leftBlocksNum":"119457","rightBlocksNum":"65739","leftBlocksPerCent":"65","rightBlocksPerCent":"35","ugcrate_apihost":"api01-us.ugcl.yahoo.com:4080","publisher_id":"news-en-US","yca_cert":"yahoo.ugccloud.app.trusted_proxies","timeout_write":"5000","through_proxy":"false","optionStats":"{\"s1\":73768,\"s2\":10148,\"s3\":9011,\"s4\":10593,\"s5\":15937,\"s6\":65739,\"s7\":0,\"s8\":0,\"s9\":0,\"s10\":0}","l10N":"{\"FIRST_TO_READ\":\"You are first to read this. Share your feelings and start a conversation.\",\"SHARE_YOUR_FEELINGS\":\"You too can share your feelings and start a conversation!\",\"HOW_YOUR_FRIENDS_THINK\":\"Thank you for sharing your feeling on this article!\",\"PRE_SHARE_MSG\":\"Your Facebook friends on Yahoo! can see how you responded to this question. To share your response on Facebook, click on the Facebook share option.\",\"START_THE_CONVERSATION\":\"Start the Conversation\",\"THANKS_FOR_SHARING\":\"Sure, that's how you feel... But what do your friends think?\",\"POLL_HEADER\":\"SOCIAL SENTIMENT\",\"SERVER_ERROR\":\"Oops there seems to be some error, please try again later\",\"LOADING\":\"Loading...\",\"SHARE_AFTER_COMMENT\":\"Your response has been shared on Facebook.\",\"UNDO\":\"Undo\",\"UNIT_PEOPLE\":\"People\",\"NUM_PEOPLE_DISAGREE\":\"disagree with your opinion.\",\"READ_MORE_TEXT\":\"Read what they have to say.\",\"SLIDER_THUMB_WORDING_BEFORE_VOTING\":\"WHAT DO YOU THINK?\",\"SLIDER_THUMB_WORDING_VERB_BEFORE_VOTING\":\"DRAG\",\"SLIDER_THUMB_WORDING_THANKS_VOTING\":\"Thanks for voting\",\"NUM_PEOPLE_ANSWERED\":\" 185,199 people have answered this question\",\"ONE_PERSON_ANSWERED\":\" 1 person has answered this question\",\"TWO_PEOPLE_ANSWERED\":\" 2 people have answered this question\",\"NUM_PEOPLE_RATED__s1\":73768,\"NUM_PEOPLE_RATED__s2\":10148,\"NUM_PEOPLE_RATED__s3\":9011,\"NUM_PEOPLE_RATED__s4\":10593,\"NUM_PEOPLE_RATED__s5\":15937,\"NUM_PEOPLE_RATED__s6\":65739,\"NUM_PEOPLE_RATED__s7\":0,\"NUM_PEOPLE_RATED__s8\":0,\"NUM_PEOPLE_RATED__s9\":0,\"NUM_PEOPLE_RATED__s10\":0}","fbconfig":"{\"message\":\"undefined\",\"name\":\"undefined\",\"link\":\"\",\"source\":\"\",\"picture\":\"http:\\\/\\\/l.yimg.com\\\/a\\\/i\\\/ww\\\/news\\\/2011\\\/09\\\/27\\\/yahoo-tc.jpg\",\"description\":\"\",\"captionLeft\":\"undefined\",\"captionRight\":\"undefined\",\"app_id\":\"196660913708276\",\"redirect_uri\":\"\\\/_xhr\\\/ugcratefbredirect\\\/\"}","template_id":"LONG_SLIDER_SOUTH","obj_id":"ratings_44b9c6847ccf1df96792976da166a90f","opt_count":"6","opt_color1":"","opt_color2":"","template_html":"
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 27-Sep-2012
Share ] 
There's a time for homestyle, irregularly shaped cookies, but there's also a time for perfectly round, same-shape every time cookies too, and all you need to make them the same shape and size every time is an old paper towel roll and your cookie dough, whether it's pre-bought or made from scratch. 
