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Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:24:25 GMT

Is sacking people unethical?

With all the layoffs going on, it's worth asking whether managers ever ponder the ethical implications of what they're doing.

As the self-styled "ethics guy" Bruce Weinstein says, sacking people is an ethical issue because it impinges on the rights of others. ""No matter how strong the justifications for reducing the workforce are or seem to be, laying off loyal and productive employees is an upsetting experience for all concerned, and those on the receiving end face not just financial but psychological injury," he says. "Getting laid off compromises all of these things so managers should think of downsizing as a deep and painful trauma for those being let go, and not as a mere setback or reversal of fortune."

That means managers have to do it in a way that protects the dignity of the person getting sacked. He says they need to do it in person, not over the phone or by email, they need to ensure privacy is protected and they should also be honest without being brutal.

As New York Times blogger Randy Cohen says, redundancies have to have an ethical dimension. "Mass layoffs relegate people to the status of disposable objects," Cohen writes. "A company can mothball its welding robots (although I hear the new models can wake themselves up and contact some kind of killer robots of the future who will travel back in time and terminate us all). But people are not machines. Many ethical systems mandate that you do not treat a person like a thing. You must regard other people as full human beings with the same moral rights as you. And that must include the right to make a living."

The fundamental problem is that mass sackings are always reactive, responding to massive shifts in the economy. Not a lot of thought goes into the ethics.

The question is what can be to change this? Posted by: Bose      Read more     Source

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:53:30 GMT

Still standing

It was with a mixture of heartache and dread that I watched the weather forecasts call for rain in the Roundrock area as the last week passed. On Saturday and Sunday, I looked at the radar maps showing rainstorms directly over my part of the county. I had hoped that the dry week meant the man I spoke with would have had the chance to get out there to do the repair work to the dam and spillway, but he hadn’t called me, and I suspected that he hadn’t done the work yet.

We decided to go out to Roundrock on Monday to see what there was to see. I hoped we would see a repaired dam and a widened, re-directed spillway. I feared we would see a breached dam and an empty lake bed.

We didn’t see either.

What we saw was the status quo. Nothing had changed in the week we were away. The drive down was ominous though. We passed through several storms; the fields were flooded; the rivers were swollen. But the closer we got to Roundrock, the less rain appeared to have fallen. Certainly the woods were wet, and the tall grass we had to wade through in places soaked our pants, but overall it didn’t seem that the really heavy rains had fallen in the area in the preceding week.

The lake was down about half a foot, attributable to those leaks I used to loathe. I suspect that more water was drained off but that the rains that did fall had replenished some of what was lost. Even so, the leaks seem to have prevented the dam-topping flood I feared all week.

I had also worried (I seem to do that a lot) that when the man did come out with his big machines to push the dirt back up on the dam, he might not be able to see the valve cover or the valve drain outlet. He might bury them with all of the dirt he moved, or worse, he might break them by driving over them, causing an unstoppable draining of the lake. Thus my plan was to mark these two “delicate” parts of the dam so that he couldn’t miss them.

You see the fruits of my work above. I took this photo across the inland sea that is the pecan plantation these days. I hadn’t thought to take a picture of the two posts at the time I finished driving them into the ground, and by the time I “waded” across the soggy acre and remembered it, I wasn’t about to “wade” back again for a better shot.

What you see is the dam rising in the background. The exposed dirt in the top left corner is the eroding spillway. The exposed dirt in the top right corner is the eroding dam. The post on the right marks where the valve cover lies mostly buried in the flowing earth. The post on the left is just a best guess of where the outlet of the drain pipe is. We couldn’t find it. I think it is buried by the rocks and dirt that have washed off the dam. We dug for a while, in several places, looking for the pipe but never found it. So I drove the post in about where I thought it was, and a man on a dozer should be able to steer around the general area and miss the pipe (wherever it may be).

Had I been able to open the valve cover, and had I been able to open the valve, it might have been fun to see the water pressure bursting from the end of the pipe explode all of the rocks and dirt before it. But the ground we were standing on when we pounded the stakes quaked like jelly, and I had no intention of lying on my stomach in that muck to lean down into a buried barrel and reach for a valve that might not even open. Sigh.

Missouri calendar:

• Coyote pups begin emerging from dens.

Posted by: Roundrockjournal      Read more     Source

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:50:31 GMT

Take Better Wedding Photographs

One of the most fulfilling photo experiences I ever had took place years ago when I took pictures at a close friend's wedding.

The couple had a professional photographer, so I wasn't under any pressure to produce perfect pictures, but I was determined to do a good job as a matter of personal pride.

Well, whether or not my results would be categorized as "good", the pictures, and slides, yes it was that long ago, were fawned over and genuinely pleased the bride and groom.

That was my intended goal and I derived great satisfaction over the fact that the new couple treasured my pictures as much as the pro's.

So, here are a pair of websites where you can learn to take better wedding pictures which will help you improve all your photographic efforts.

Take a camera with you whenever possible, and look around, you'll find a picture somewhere.

Photo Source:www.villaantonia.com Posted by: Karen      Read more     Source

Wed, 13 May 2009 23:03:33 GMT

Realtor list

When targeting busy professionals who are constantly dividing their time between property and people, direct communication is key. Your marketing efforts may not be operating at maximum effectiveness and Data Depot is the answer to fulfilling your communications potential with a wide range of realtor lists and quality data at affordable prices. Data Depot guarantees impeccable service and effective products to get you started on the path to success. Try us today and discover what opportunities your business has been missing out on. Our realtor list provides you with the tools necessary to reach the specific customers your business needs to thrive. Data Depot’s arsenal of services is a comprehensive approach to effective marketing strategies.

For example, our Complete US Real Estate Agent List is packed with valuable information including data on 1,177,024 real estate agents, all accompanied by e-mail addresses. Searchable fields include company name, realtor name, phone, fax, address, email and web address. As a free bonus, Data Depot will also include 237,591 real estate offices with full contact information and 86,929 fax numbers. Our reasonably priced packages also offer features such as instant download, monthly updates, unlimited usage and the option to view in Microsoft Excel .csv format. With world class service and numerous resources at your disposal, Data Depot promises to enhance your marketing efforts with reliable results. Your return on investment and bottom line will both benefit from the highly targeted efficiency of our realtor lists.
Posted by: Newsgirl      Read more     Source

Sat, 02 May 2009 14:50:46 GMT

One more step to bank nationalization

While the Federal Reserve says most US banks are well capitalized and will be okay in these stress tests, chances are the public and investors will still have to confront the n-word. Nationalization is on its way.

Read carefully between the lines of this otherwise bland New York Time piece . According to that piece, experts assess that US banks might still need $1 trillion in capital. "As the dust settles from the shakeout on Wall Street, the 19 banks subject to stress tests are starting to divide into three groups: the strong that can weather the storm; the weak that will need new, perhaps significant, support; and the ones on the verge, whose fate will be decided by regulators."

The question is where those banks "on the verge" are going to get that money. Surely not private investors.

Earlier this week, I did a blog entry suggesting the US government was moving in the direction of nationalizing the banks via the back door. This is unfortunate. From one perspective, governments don't know how to run banks. From another, nationalization might well be the only way to fix the toxic assets. What's needed is a full and open debate, possibly even Congressional approval. Doing it by the back door to avoid that debate is wrong. Posted by: leon      Read more     Source

Sat, 02 May 2009 14:07:31 GMT

From Ideas to Reality

Nicole Wong at VentureBeat recently took a look at some basic rules to live by if you want to get your ideas (business of otherwise) off the ground. And excellent rules they are. She collected the rules by listening to presenters at a two-day conference - the 99% Conference.

If you're interested enough in entrepreneurial issues to be reading this blog to start with, you probably already knew rule number one: Engage in personal projects and things that you love. While that's a foundation for small business success, the second rule is perhaps more important to getting started in business: Share your ideas and listen to other people's.Often people don't share their ideas liberally because they're scared other people will either steal them or criticize them, Belsky said. But he and other speakers emphasized the importance of sharing ideas, and do so quickly - because debate helps you decide which are likely to gain traction. Talking about your ideas will also increase the chances you'll see them through, he said, since you'll feel accountable to the people you've shared them with."Belsky" is Scott Belsky, founder of Behance.

Wong goes on an talks about some other rules for getting your ideas off the ground in some detail.
Photo © technotheory
Posted by: Greg Cruey      Read more     Source

Sat, 02 May 2009 13:33:07 GMT

Does Wikipedia matter?

Laurent MR and Vickers TJ from the Faculty of Medicine, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium published an article about Wikipedia and its health information database.

OBJECTIVE To determine the significance of the English Wikipedia as a source of online health information.

DESIGN We measured Wikipedia’s ranking on general Internet search engines by entering keywords from MedlinePlus, NHS Direct Online and the National Organization of Rare Diseases as queries into search engine optimization software.

RESULTS Wikipedia ranked among the first ten results in 71-85 % of search engines and keywords tested. Wikipedia surpassed MedlinePlus and NHS Direct Online (except for queries from the latter on Google UK), and ranked higher with quality articles.

CONCLUSION Based on its search engine ranking and page view statistics, the English Wikipedia is a prominent source of online health information compared to the other online health information providers studied.

Believe me, I’m one of the biggest fans of Wikipedia. I’ve been working on medical articles in Wikipedia since 2004!

We are working hard and trying to put proper references into the medical entries there, though it will still take a lot of time to create a really comprehensive and medically reliable encyclopaedia.

But do the authors think pageviews and search engine rankings can indicate the real quality of a medical article? Is that a joke?

If I can manage to make my article climb up on search engine result pages by using SEO tricks and direct people to my site, it means my content is medically appropriate?

I tell you the answer, it is not!

Posted by: Bertalan      Read more     Source

Fri, 01 May 2009 02:37:14 GMT

Red Barn Pictures

Take a drive through rural America, and red barns are a common sight. All across the nation, barns have an important function on the farm. The barn is the place where farm animals were kept warm and safe; a dry place for crops to be stored for those long winter months.

Here are a variety of these magnificent farm buildings.

(thanks Cora) Posted by: Gerard      Read more     Source

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:40:15 GMT

Search Engine Marketing

There are a number of marketing tools present in the present market. However, my favorite amongst all of them is the Search engine marketing. Also known as SEM, this is the latest and most effective tool of marketing in the present day situation. SEM is a form of Internet marketing that has increased the visibility of my website. I was entirely ignorant of the expediency of it, and then I came across NuReach Global Internet Marketing Services. NuReach has broadened the hemispheres of my business. I must say that the company took special care and measures to promote my website.

With increasing globalization, it has become a fact that one can find numerous prospects online. Millions of people are searching for the products and services we provide. NuReach Global Internet Marketing Services has channeled the search of those million prospects towards my website. This has given me and my medium sized business tremendous opportunity to compete with the larger corporations. Thinking about it was somehow impossible for me before I came across NuReach Global Internet Marketing Services. They are the best social media services as well as a fine source of reliable and principled Search Engine Marketing and in So-Cal. They are the answer to your search for effective ways to promote your website and boost your site in the search engines. I can claim that you will they are dedicated on bringing results for you. I did not have to send my hard earned money on various campaigns that target people who are least interested the kind of products and services
I offer. Because, their highly effective search engines took my webpage to potential clients. The company has boosted targeted visitors and this has lead to conversations that finally matured into sales figures. They have augmented the chances of search engine crawls in my website. I have received maximum return on my investment. In addition to visibility and advancement in the Google PageRank, the incoming links to site has also increased. I have gained contacts of millions of potential customers worldwide.

Having my business grown and amplified, I recommend the search engine marketing of NuReach Global Internet Marketing Services, to all of you who are looking to increase search engine visibility of your page dramatically and approach numerous potential customers worldwide. This would help you save on your time and money on useless advertising. So get ready to increase the horizons of your business through NuReach Global Internet Marketing Services.
Posted by: Wilson      Read more     Source

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:36:49 GMT

DUEL PHOTOCAP: When Idiots Attack

In an effort to procrastinate from my real work, I decided to throw together this impromptu photocap of The Real World/Road Rules Challenge. I"m happy to report that the new season, titled The Duel II, seems to be off to an exciting start. CT threw his traditional pre-challenge punch, which got him sent packing back to Southie. Meanwhile, everyone else slutted it up in New Zealand, and when they weren"t exchanging bodily fluids, they were attempting to strategize with the most Byzantine set of plans that I"ve seen on reality TV. It made no sense, and if it did, I couldn"t follow it. Not that it really matters. When these kids aren"t hooking up or fighting, I tend to just zone them all out. Anyway, fun times after the jump.... Posted by: B-Side      Read more     Source

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:54:41 GMT

Sideways Photography

Sideways Photography.What got our attention to this post are the hilarious comments; well what do you think, can these be real? Or is this yet another shopped set? Whatever it is, but it looks interesting and it reminded us of our old post "Gravity, Think Again " where the whole room and the furniture and fixtures were arranged and fixed to get the needed effect. Check it out, we are sure you will appreciate the effort put in, all it takes is two days and it can be done in ten simple steps. Posted by: Venus      Read more     Source

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 03:59:07 GMT

30 Beautiful Pictures Of Animal Photography

Photographing animals can be a challenge and requires patience, determination and understanding of animal behavior so that you can expect how they will be likely to act or react and predict the moment for a good photograph.

Good exposure, color and blur settings in addition with proper shutter speed and focusing techniques are essential to produce stunning animal photographs. Posted by: Gerard      Read more     Source

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:54:51 GMT

Fusion IO Drive

Is the Fusion IO Drive a harbinger of doom for the humble hard disk? The product is based on what they call ‘ioMemory’ and apparently features some blisteringly fast performance figures. We’re talking orders of magnitude faster data throughput, folks. What with top end laptops now featuring solid state drives as standard and this level of technology offering incredible speed advantages of around 100x, all we’re really waiting for is the price efficiency curve to kick in and bingo, Winchester/Bernoulli tech is dead. Maybe. Keep your eye on this one for the future.

 Designed around a revolutionary silicon-based storage architecture known as ioMemory, the ioDrive and ioDrive Duo are the world’s most advanced NAND clustering technology designed for server based application-centric storage — giving you the power to dramatically improve both your application memory capacity and storage performance. The ioDrive increases performance such that every server can easily match the I/O performance of the world’s fastest enterprise SAN. Posted by: Redferret      Read more     Source

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 01:14:53 GMT

Gorgeous designer bags for frugal fashionistas

Beware! I'm going to rant.
Did you know that this country spends more than $6 billion on bags alone? I cannot help but wonder how so many women can continue to be psyched over designer handbags. Sure, they look cool, but they're also grossly overpriced. The cost of an original Gucci can leave you gasping for air. $2,500! You could feed a dozen people with that kind of money!

So, what's a woman to do? Go without a purse or a handbag? That's rather steep.

Tough times, they say, call for tough actions. But some tough actions can be sweet. Like this designer replica Gucci Tribeca from Highreplica. Great design, lovely color and quite roomy too. The flower and star motif gives off a whiff of magic. With its sturdy yet stylish strap, this handbag can easily become a working girl's favorite everyday bag. The bag earns brownie points for its versatility. Here is a style you can pair with almost anything. At the rate they're offering you, this designer replica is a steal!

On the other hand, if white is not your color, you could always choose a startling Prada Nappa in black leather. There's only one way to describe this beauty: understated elegance. Its girly ruffles are made for the most feminine of women, which makes it one of the classiest bags to carry. Although it's a replica, the bag has all the features of the real stuff: the rich sheen of quality leather, delicate stitches and the silky soft lining within.

If you love designer brand handbags, Highreplica is worth a see over. It has been selling quality replicas at reasonable prices for a few years now. Sure, these bags are not dirt cheap. That's because they are not bought carelessly from the by lanes of Canal Street where a bag is sold at $15, and resold at a higher profit. The bags you find here are handmade by designers who are nothing short of skilled craftsmen. These designer replica bags are costlier than cheap replicas because of the high quality of raw materials and craftsmanship used to manufacture them. You can really flaunt these and live with them for years - and shhhushhh…no one will ever know you're carrying a replica.

My point is: when you can get the same stuff at less than half the price, what's the reason to blow your bank account? Women, looking good never came so easy, or cheap! Check these out.
Posted by: Joslyn      Read more     Source

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:41:18 GMT

Eco-friendly Sodastream's Pure homemade soda system

A few years ago, we covered Sodastream"s Peguin, a homemade soda system. Last December, Sodastream released their newest model, the Pure. It still produces homemade soda in 30 seconds using reusable BPA-free plastic bottles and carbonators filled with CO2 gas. You can then drink it plain or add anything you want to make flavored carbonated beverages, like pomegranate-orange-ginger soda. Being able to control what goes into your carbonated beverages has obvious health benefits, by replacing or reducing sugar and corn syrup with real fruit juice and other natural ingredients.

Moreover, there are ecological reasons to make your own soda and sparkling water. The recent wave of attention over plastic water bottle was important, but soda and sparkling water seemed to get an easy out in the discussion. The average American drinks over 600 cans of bottles of soda and sparkling water each year, of which 55% aluminum cans and 66% plastic bottles fail to get recycled and end up in landfills. There is also the issue of imported sparkling water, which must often cross continents and oceans to get stores in the US.

The Pure uses one canister of CO2 to make 110 liters (30 gallons) of soda (without batteries or electricity,) which has a vastly smaller carbon footprint than transporting all those cans and bottles to the store and then into your home, not to mention all the material and energy that goes into creating those containers themselves. It"s rare that a product is healthier, reduces consumption, and allows for increasing ways for creative experimentation, but Sodastream has achieved it. Posted by: Sarah      Read more     Source

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:38:18 GMT

Talking Color Cosmetics with Trae Bodge

Earlier this week we took a break from Fashion Week shows and events to spend some time with Trae Bodge, one of the founders of 3 Custom Color Cosmetics, in their amazing studio (pictured left).

Not only is Trae a beautiful and personable makeup artist, business woman, (and mommy!), she is also extremely creative and one of the most knowledgeable people we have met about how the makeup industry works, what products women want and what will make every women look and feel their best.

We talked about how Trae and her partners created 3 Custom Color Specialists, some of the special projects that they have done, such as the collaboration with the Showtime television show "The L Word", and of course some of her favorite makeup tips and tricks she"s learned over the years.

Then we got to the really fun part for any beauty junkie like us -- viewing her line in person and using some of her newest shades and products! Trae asked me what beauty concerns I had, and what color combinations I usually used.

Trae at work custom blending shades in the studio

Then she recommended Mood Lighting Shimmer Creme in On Fire, Poppy Lip & Cheek Stain, sheer lipstick in Kit and the Concealer Foundation in #8. She also reminded me that the concealer foundation is just that - a concealer AND and foundation (3 Custom Color Specialists do not have a liquid or powder foundation product in their line). It can be applied with a damp makeup sponge all over the face or just in spot areas. It can also be mixed with your favorite moisturizer to create a tinted moisturizer. (I tried this and it works beautifully!).

Here are the products that Trae recommended in detail:

Mood Lighting Shimmer Creme in On Fire. It"s creamy, soft and very easy to blend. On Fire is a bronzed shimmer with a touch of opalescence. This was the perfect touch on my cheekbones and brow bones.



Poppy Lip & Cheek Stain - A bold warm coral - designed with makeup artist James Vincent of the Powder Group. (We LOVE James!). The shade added a beautiful sheer glow to my skin and the perfect amount of "pop"!

"Kit" Lipstick

This shade is from a new sheer lipstick collection inspired by the SHOWTIME® original groundbreaking series THE L WORD. Kit is a raisin shade with copper shimmer . Since it"s so sheer, it was a really flattering "my lips but better color".

Concealer Foundation

This versatile formula is appropriate for all skin types and is designed to provide the most effective coverage for redness and dark circles. Use in isolated areas with a Concealer brush or your fingers. This shade was a perfect match and the consistency was super smooth.

#8 Concealer, above

For full coverage all over the face, use with a dry sponge. For sheer coverage, use a wet sponge or blend with moisturizer.

It comes in a broad range of 10 shades, which can also be blended for the perfect match for those of you who don"t fall into a specific number.

All 3 Custom Color Specialist products are available online @ threecustom.com. Please click here to contact them about their custom blending and bridal services. Posted by: Palacinka Beauty      Read more     Source

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:33:41 GMT

Jenny Wicks Photography

So, redheads could be extinct within one hundred years. With no survival advantage to gingerism, it has been suggested that the gene may die out. Is that really the kind of evolutionary progress we want to see? Photographer Jenny Wicks has documented the increasingly elusive breed in a series called Root Ginger. Posted by: JJA100485      Read more     Source

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 05:34:19 GMT

In A Dream

In a Dream is a family film. The director is Jeremiah Zagar. The main character is his father Isaiah Zagar, an eccentric artist who over the past four decades has covered more than 50,000 square feet of Philadelphia with stunning mosaic murals. The murals chronicle his love for his wife, Julia, and hint at the darker corners of an outlandish imagination. The film took Jeremiah about seven years to complete. Posted by: JJA100485      Read more     Source

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:39:01 GMT

Chain Bottle Holder

The laws of gravity no longer apply. Up is now down and down is up. This cool wine holder clearly shows that the basic laws of physics have been broken.

Either that or this is in fact an optical illusion created by welded chain links that cleverly counter balance the weight of a wine bottle. Posted by: Gerard      Read more     Source

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:57:31 GMT

Personal solar tracking

The Solar ChumAlong solar tracking system is a solar charging panel that automatically track the sun just like those big expensive arrays you see in science fiction movies. It is also portable and lightweight which means you can take it with you on picnics or hikes to power up your absolutely must have electrical gadgets. The fact that the solar panel is always facing the sun means that you’ll receive optimum light for the cell charging, which makes us wonder just how inefficient conventional solar cells are when you plunk them down in the window. $399.00 complete with a 5W solar panel.

 ChumAlong is a device for orienting a solar photovoltaic panel toward the sun. As the sun’s position in the sky varies during the day, ChumAlong’s™ job is to make sure the Solar Panel is always pointing at the brightest point in the sky. Accomplishing this ensures that the solar panel can deliver it’s maximum output from available sunlight of the day. 30%-50% increases in efficiency can be obtained over conventional stationary methods! Setup takes only a few minutes and requires no tools. Posted by: Redferret      Read more     Source

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 07:31:11 GMT

Far From the Madding Crowd

Far From the Madding Crowd
Directed by John Schlesinger
1967, 171 minutes, United Kingdom
Warner Home Video

Adapted by Frederick Raphael from Thomas Hardy"s fourth yet first commercially successful novel (1874), Schlesinger"s lavishly sweeping epic arrives on DVD for the first time, extended by three minutes to include the film"s Overture, Entr"Acte, and a PETA-unfriendly cockfighting scene that was cut from the original American release. In her third outing with Schlesinger after Billy Liar and Darling, a perhaps never-lovelier Julie Christie headlines as Bathsheba Everdene, a strong-willed country heiress who coyly underestimates her power over men after becoming the sunny nexus of an orbiting love-quadrangle. Over the course of three hours, the seasons seamlessly change under the spectacular (and impeccably lit) Panavision lensing of director-to-be Nicolas Roeg, Malcolm Cooke"s poppy editing, Richard Macdonald"s classy production design, and Richard Rodney Bennett"s folksy score, all evoking the rural feel and pace of 19th century Dorset without the typically modernized tranquility of most Hollywood period epics. Posted by: ahillis      Read more     Source

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 03:00:54 GMT

Selected Works Of Anton Repponen

Selected Works Of Anton Repponen.Here are a few interesting design concepts by Anton Repponen.
About Anton Repponen:
Born in 1984 in Russia, grew and studied in Tallinn (Estonia). For the past 3 years he has been living and working in New York City and Stockholm. He is a senior designer at Fi and specializes in designing user interfaces, rich media websites, campaign sites, photo re-touch and more. Posted by: Venus      Read more     Source

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:57:59 GMT

Free "XnView" Graphics Program

Here's a free graphics program that also performs digital image file organization tasks among other things.

For a free program this one is surprisingly feature rich and it performs its operations quickly and without glitches.

Here's a page with a description of this program's features and many positive users comments on the free "XnView" graphics program.

Here's download page.

Take a camera with you whenever possible, and look around, you'll find a picture somewhere.

Photo Source:Pierre Gougelet Posted by: jim      Read more     Source