Ed Welburn receives Nicola Bulgari Award during grand opening ...


Photo courtesy LeMay ? America?s Car Museum

One of the highlights of the LeMay ? America?s Car Museum?s recent grand opening weekend was the presentation of the inaugural Nicola Bulgari Award to Ed Welburn, the vice president of Global Design at General Motors and a member of the America?s Car Museum board of directors for the last six years.

The Bulgari award is to be annually presented to individuals who make outstanding contributions to preserving America?s automotive heritage through education, restoration or collecting classic cars. Welburn was selected to receive the 2012 Nicola Bulgari award for his commitment to maintaining, perpetuating and sharing GM?s design heritage. Welburn maintains strong ties to the collector-car community by overseeing displays of GM?s Heritage Center vehicles as well as the Center?s concept cars and GM?s new models that are annually shown at the Amelia Island and Pebble Beach Concours d?Elegance. The GM Heritage Center currently houses more than 400 examples of GM design history.


Left to right: Nicola Bulgari, Ed Welburn and David Madeira, president and CEO of LeMay ? America?s Car Museum. Photo by Bob Gassen, courtesy America?s Car Museum

Saturday, June 2, brought the grand opening of the 165,000-square-foot, four-level museum to the public. Opening ceremonies were attended by car collector Jay Leno, Washington Lt. Governor Brad Owen and LeMay Museum president David Madeira. Harold LeMay?s widow, Nancy LeMay, was also in attendance; it was her husband?s idea and vast personal collection of over 3,000 vintage cars, trucks and motorcycles that spawned the concept and began to collect the funding to start the museum project in 1998.

Harold died in 2000, but his dream of creating a first class automotive history museum in the Pacific Northwest continued, culminating in the opening of the $60 million-plus facility this week. In addition to 15 permanent and seasonal displays,? the museum also has an educational center that will receive up to 100,000 school-aged children each year, encouraging them to learn about the history of the automobile and to become involved in America?s automotive culture.

The museum also has a 3.5-acre open field that will host concerts, car cruise-ins and the occasional drive-in movie as well as a theater, caf?, banquet hall and meeting facilities inside. The collection of vehicles on display is so large, NAPA Auto Parts opened a NAPA Auto Care Center at the museum just to service the 500-plus vehicles that are being shown. For more information about the museum, visit LeMayMuseum.org.

chimpanzee the lucky one pittsburgh pirates mariners mets shades of grey pittsburgh penguins

Expanding Your Business Franchise to a Second Location ...

There are many reasons for expanding your franchise to an additional location and one of the obvious reasons is the profit possibilities. You go into business to make money, and franchising is proven to be very profitable. So if you have one location that is going good, why not open a complimenting location?

You can build profits by promoting customer loyalty and thus grow your business. Do make sure, however, that both locations are convenient, provide great customer service and have the same commitment to quality.

  • Business growth is a great reason for opening a second location. New outlets can give you higher business potential, increase exposure, profitability and success. You may find that your first location does not have enough room to house your products or you may have customer requests to provide more convenient locations.
  • Having opened one successful franchise, you will be able to model after your success, and investors will be willing to give you more funds to open a second location. Investors will be highly motivated to reinvest and help you carry on your success and their money returns. They will also be excited about the potential higher profits. Building up your business is a very attractive perk.
  • As you build your franchise in other areas you will cause competitors to think through their ideas and possibly close up shop. Basically you are potentially reducing competition.
  • Customer service at one franchise should be carried out at the next franchise and customers will rave about your products and or services. Opening a second franchise will promote brand loyalty and returning customers.
  • Group purchasing can be taken advantage of if you have more than one location. You will be able to buy in bulk and which in turn saves money. You may also have the opportunity to take advantage of vendor discounts for higher purchases and distribution scheduling can be adjusted.
  • Dedicated distribution is a definite plus. As you open more sites, you may be given preferential treatment by distributors.
  • Advertising can be divided between two stores. This will give added incentives to advertising discounts, provide a high distribution and brand awareness, and will save you money in the long run.

Opening one franchise is a wise decision and will help higher your income. With guidance and help from your first franchise plus additional help from the parent company you will be able to model or mirror your second location and continue making profits.

To expand your business, do make sure, though, to have sound legal counsel in setting up your growth. Have an attorney draw up your franchise agreement package to make sure your business is in compliance with local laws. It?s better to be safe early on, than risk breaching any law.

VN:F [1.9.17_1161]

Rating: 3.0/10 (1 vote cast)

VN:F [1.9.17_1161]

Expanding Your Business Franchise to a Second Location, 3.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating

? Requirements of Franchise Ownership | Home | Due Diligence Process in Franchising ?

rock salt david letterman march of dimes james randi wargames blake griffin dunk florida primary

BASEBALL: Cherokee blanks Lenape, 3-0, in South Jersey Group 4 championship

CHEROKEE'S COLIN Perro throws a pitch in the South Jersey Group 4 championship game against Lenape.

View and purchase photos

[component:byline] -->

EVESHAM?The Cherokee High School baseball team fell just short in the Diamond Classic. And again in the race for the Olympic Conference American Division title.

But the senior-heavy squad wasn?t going to let opportunity pass them by again.

The Chiefs (23-5) got 5 1/3 innings of shutout ball from Colin Perro and took advantage of four Lenape errors en route to the 3-0 victory last Friday and their third South Jersey Group 4 sectional title in school history.

?I knew coming into the season we had a special group,? said Cherokee coach Marc Petragnani after the win.

After being held without a hit by Lenape starting pitcher Kevin Milley through the first three innings, the Chiefs? bats got to work in the fourth.

Shane Garrett got things started with a one-out single and eventually came around to score what would prove to be the winning run on a throwing error.

Jake Powell?s RBI single plated Jordan Glover to make it a 2-0 game.

Glover took care of the RBI all by himself his next time up, cracking a home run to left center, accounting for the game?s final run.

The Indians had their chances, but failed to convert time and again, stranding eight runners on base, including two in the sixth inning.

Perro was pulled amidst that Lenape rally in favor of closer Sean Kelly, who promptly struck out Niko Celia to end the Indians? threat. Continued...

?I have all the confidence in the world in him,? Perro said of the one they call ?the Iceman.? ?I knew he?d come in and shut them down.?

Kelly allowed a two-out single in the seventh to Tyler Mixon before retiring Pat Rodier on a comebacker to end the game and set off the celebration.

For Lenape, it was d?j? vu all over again. For the second straight year, the Indians (16-10) fell in the South Jersey Group 4 title game.

A six-game losing streak early on in the season led Lenape to the No. 12 seed in the tourney, but that didn?t stop them from upsetting No. 5 Millville, No. 4 Pennsauken and No. 9 Williamstown, before finally running out of gas against Cherokee.

?It says a lot about the character of the boys on our team,? said Lenape coach Phil Fiore of the Indians? playoff run. ?We just played one game at a time and we were focusing on giving ourselves the opportunity to play another day.?

It?s the Chiefs first title since 2005 and Perro knows that he and his fellow seniors wanted nothing more than to go out on top.

?I?ve been waiting for this for four years.?

The Chiefs met Manalapan (16-11) on Tuesday in the state Group 4 semifinals at Rutgers University in New Brunswick.

EVESHAM?The Cherokee High School baseball team fell just short in the Diamond Classic. And again in the race for the Olympic Conference American Division title.

But the senior-heavy squad wasn?t going to let opportunity pass them by again.

The Chiefs (23-5) got 5 1/3 innings of shutout ball from Colin Perro and took advantage of four Lenape errors en route to the 3-0 victory last Friday and their third South Jersey Group 4 sectional title in school history.

?I knew coming into the season we had a special group,? said Cherokee coach Marc Petragnani after the win.

After being held without a hit by Lenape starting pitcher Kevin Milley through the first three innings, the Chiefs? bats got to work in the fourth.

Shane Garrett got things started with a one-out single and eventually came around to score what would prove to be the winning run on a throwing error.

Jake Powell?s RBI single plated Jordan Glover to make it a 2-0 game.

Glover took care of the RBI all by himself his next time up, cracking a home run to left center, accounting for the game?s final run.

The Indians had their chances, but failed to convert time and again, stranding eight runners on base, including two in the sixth inning.

Perro was pulled amidst that Lenape rally in favor of closer Sean Kelly, who promptly struck out Niko Celia to end the Indians? threat.

?I have all the confidence in the world in him,? Perro said of the one they call ?the Iceman.? ?I knew he?d come in and shut them down.?

Kelly allowed a two-out single in the seventh to Tyler Mixon before retiring Pat Rodier on a comebacker to end the game and set off the celebration.

For Lenape, it was d?j? vu all over again. For the second straight year, the Indians (16-10) fell in the South Jersey Group 4 title game.

A six-game losing streak early on in the season led Lenape to the No. 12 seed in the tourney, but that didn?t stop them from upsetting No. 5 Millville, No. 4 Pennsauken and No. 9 Williamstown, before finally running out of gas against Cherokee.

?It says a lot about the character of the boys on our team,? said Lenape coach Phil Fiore of the Indians? playoff run. ?We just played one game at a time and we were focusing on giving ourselves the opportunity to play another day.?

It?s the Chiefs first title since 2005 and Perro knows that he and his fellow seniors wanted nothing more than to go out on top.

?I?ve been waiting for this for four years.?

The Chiefs met Manalapan (16-11) on Tuesday in the state Group 4 semifinals at Rutgers University in New Brunswick.

selena lamichael james lamichael james derrick rose acl earthquake los angeles unemployment

Insight: California's Brown set for fight over pension reform

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California's Democrat Governor Jerry Brown heard a clarion call for his party to take on state pensions in the overwhelming passage of retirement reforms by the second and third biggest cities in the state, San Diego and San Jose.

The message did not resonate as strongly in the statehouse where fellow Democrats rule, though.

In California, a reliably blue state, the pensions issue is set to trigger a fundamental struggle within the Democratic Party over what needs to be done and how fast - a struggle that could have national implications as some other states have worse pension funding problems.

The result may be that voters have to force any changes they want through the state's initiative process.

The liberal capital of the Silicon Valley, San Jose, voted on Tuesday to force employees, including police and firefighters, to pay sharply more for retirement or see a sharp drop in benefits.

More conservative San Diego by a similar margin passed a measure to put new employees on a 401(k)-style plan in which the city guarantees how much it will contribute to retirement plans, not how much retirees will get.

Brown, a restless and unpredictable politician with an independent streak, took the vote as a sign the state was ready to jump on his 12-point plan to narrow a pension shortfall estimated to be as high as half a trillion dollars in a state that has struggled in recent years to close budget deficits.

He would put new state employees on a plan that forces them to shoulder some financial market risk, raise the retirement age - to 67 from as little as 55 for many employees - and raise the financial experience of state retirement boards, among other things.

"The pension vote in San Jose, which is a more liberal city than the state as a whole, is a very powerful signal that pension reform is an imperative. It's really important," Brown said in a San Francisco Chronicle video interview.

"Right now, I want to lock this budget down. But people should have confidence that pensions and their reform are on the agenda, right at the top."

At least part of Brown's plan would need a statewide vote, however, and the governor has only three weeks to convince the legislature to put a measure on the November ballot - the deadline is June 28.

"I think there's a pretty strong case to be made for the need for the people to speak on this," said Marty Morgenstern, secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, which oversees state labor relations. The budget must be passed first, he said, but "I wouldn't rule out going to the voters through the legislature. ... It would have to be real quick."

DODGING AN EARTHQUAKE

California's Democratic legislators indicated they did not feel an earthquake coming from San Jose, though, and they are working on a different schedule than Brown.

While Brown emphasizes reform, other Democrats focus on eliminating tricks used to boost pensions - such as working more overtime to boost income in years when future benefits are assessed - and say taxpayer savings must be balanced with ensuring a fair retirement.

"It doesn't change a thing for me. My opinion is the same. We know we need to get pension reform done before the end of the legislative session and we will get it done," the head of the state senate, Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, said in an email statement from his spokesman.

Legislators are discussing a law, not a ballot measure for voter approval, said Warren Furutani, an assembly member who co-heads a joint committee that will craft pension legislation and send it directly to the floors of both houses before the current session ends in August.

He said he had not come to a decision on whether to accept the governor's "hybrid" plan to share market risk with retirees, and said there was a lot left to do, such as taking care of workers not covered by federal Social Security because of their state government jobs.

Brown is also pushing a temporary tax package that will go before voters in November, and he has argued that his party, which backs the plan, can improve its credibility with voters by moving on pension reform.

That does not fly with all his allies.

"My instincts tell me that it would not be a major boost," responded Dave Low, chair of the union coalition Californians for Retirement Security. Key proposals by the governor to raise the retirement age to 67 and introduce the hybrid plan are problematic, he said. And while citizen interest in pension reform has risen, it's still relatively low, he said.

Between the budget and competing issues, there might not be time for pensions. "The thing with Sacramento is there are a lot of urgent issues," he said in reference to the state capital.

The ultimate response by Brown could be to go straight to the people with a pension initiative, following the path he's taken this year with a tax ballot measure that avoids the legislature. Low argues that the economy may have improved enough by the time of the next election that pensions will not be as pressing an issue.

Backing a ballot measure in those circumstances would be a waste of time, he said: "I don't see why somebody would want to pour money into that rat hole."

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, a Democrat, does not expect his party to act. "I personally think they will not do anything. This will happen by statewide ballot initiative," he said.

Pension shortfalls are huge, but they only capture the attention of voters when costs start to hobble their government. The state's annual payments are growing from a reasonably small base, but in San Jose, a quarter of the budget now goes to retirement benefits.

Democrats and Republicans alike could not ignore that, Reed said. "In San Jose it was impossible to convince people that this was not a problem," he said.

(Reporting by Peter Henderson; Editing by Martin Howell and Todd Eastham)

golden globes 2012 red carpet golden globes red carpet nfc championship game martin luther king jr quotes martin luther king jr i have a dream speech packers score ricky gervais

Officials worry about creatures on tsunami dock

A man looks at the massive dock with Japanese lettering that washed ashore on Agate Beach Wednesday, June 6, 2012, in Newport, Ore. A nearly 70-foot-long dock that floated ashore on an Oregon beach was torn loose from a fishing port in northern Japan by last year's tsunami and drifted across thousands of miles of Pacific Ocean, a Japanese Consulate official said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A man looks at the massive dock with Japanese lettering that washed ashore on Agate Beach Wednesday, June 6, 2012, in Newport, Ore. A nearly 70-foot-long dock that floated ashore on an Oregon beach was torn loose from a fishing port in northern Japan by last year's tsunami and drifted across thousands of miles of Pacific Ocean, a Japanese Consulate official said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

People walk along the beach near the massive dock that washed ashore on Agate Beach Wednesday, June 6, 2012, in Newport, Ore. A nearly 70-foot-long dock that floated ashore on an Oregon beach was torn loose from a fishing port in northern Japan by last year's tsunami and drifted across thousands of miles of Pacific Ocean, a Japanese Consulate official said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

The surf pounds against the massive dock that washed ashore on Agate Beach Wednesday, June 6, 2012, in Newport, Ore. A nearly 70-foot-long dock that floated ashore on an Oregon beach was torn loose from a fishing port in northern Japan by last year's tsunami and drifted across thousands of miles of Pacific Ocean, a Japanese Consulate official said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

This photo taken Wednesday, June 6, 2012 and supplied by the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation, shows a large dock that washed ashore early Tuesday on Agate Beach, a mile north of Newport, Ore. The nearly 70-foot-long dock was torn loose from a fishing port in northern Japan by last year's tsunami and drifted across thousands of miles of Pacific Ocean, a Japanese Consulate official said Wednesday.(AP Photo/Oregon Parks and Recreation)

This photo taken Wednesday, June 6, 2012 and supplied by the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation, shows a large dock that washed ashore early Tuesday on Agate Beach, a mile north of Newport, Ore. The nearly 70-foot-long dock was torn loose from a fishing port in northern Japan by last year's tsunami and drifted across thousands of miles of Pacific Ocean, a Japanese Consulate official said Wednesday.(AP Photo/Oregon Parks and Recreation)

When the tsunami hit the northern coast of Japan last year, the waves ripped four dock floats the size of freight train boxcars from their pilings in the fishing port of Misawa and turned them over to the whims of wind and currents.

One floated up on a nearby island. Two have not been seen again. But one made an incredible journey across 5,000 miles of ocean that ended this week on a popular Oregon beach.

Along for the ride were hundreds of millions of individual organisms, including a tiny species of crab, a species of algae, and a little starfish all native to Japan that have scientists concerned if they get a chance to spread out on the West Coast.

"This is a very clear threat," said John Chapman, a research scientist at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Ore., where the dock washed up early Tuesday. "...It's incredibly difficult to predict what will happen next."

State officials organized a group of volunteers Thursday to scrape the dock clean of marine organisms, bag them and dispose of them inland, said Chris Havel, spokesman for the state Department of Parks and Recreation, which is overseeing the fate of the dock. Biologists have identified one species as a marine algae, known as wakame, that is native to Japan and has established in Southern California, but has not yet been seen in Oregon, he said.

While scientists expect much of the floating debris to follow the currents to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an accumulation of millions of tons of small bits of plastic floating in the northern Pacific, tsunami debris that can catch the wind is making its way to North America. In recent weeks, a soccer ball washed up in Alaska, and a Harley Davidson motorcycle in a shipping container was found in British Columbia, Canada.

How the dock float ? 165 tons of concrete and steel measuring 66 feet long, 19 feet wide and 7 feet high ? turned up on Agate Beach, a mile north of Newport, was probably determined within sight of land in Japan, said Jan Hafner, a computer programmer in the University of Hawaii's International Pacific Research Center, which is tracking the 1.5 million tons of tsunami debris likely floating across the Pacific.

That's where the winds, currents and tides are most variable, due to changes in the coastline and the features of the land, even for two objects a few yards apart, he said. Once the dock float got into the ocean, it was pushed steadily by the prevailing westerly winds, and the North Pacific current.

"If you have leaves falling from a tree ... one leaf will be moving in a slightly different direction from another one," Hafner said. "Over time, the differences get bigger and bigger and bigger.

"Something similar is happening on the ocean."

After it came ashore, the Japanese consulate was able to track down the origin of the dock float from a plaque bolted to it commemorating its installation in June 2008. Deputy Consul Hirofumi Murabayashi said Wednesday from Portland, Ore., that it was one of four owned by Aomori Prefecture that broke loose from the port of Misawa on the northern tip of the main island during the tsunami.

Akihisa Sato, an engineer with Zeniya Kaiyo Service, the dock's Tokyo-based manufacturer, said the docks were used for loading fish onto trucks. One of them turned up several weeks later on an island south of Misawa, but the other two remain missing.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to redouble its efforts to track the debris, saying something as big as the dock could pose a danger to ships at sea.

NOAA's tsunami marine debris coordinator, Ruth Yender, said if the Pacific were shrunk to the size of a football field, something like the dock would be the size of a human hair, making it very difficult to monitor, even from satellites.

The dock tested negative for radiation, which was to be expected if the dock broke loose before the nuclear power plant accident triggered by the waves, said Havel.

Chapman said the dock float was covered with masses of algae, kelp, barnacles, mussels and other organisms. One square-foot area weighed nine pounds.

"This is a whole, intact, very diverse community that floated across from Japan to here," he said. "That doesn't happen with a log or a thrown-out tire. I've never seen anything like this."

Of particular concern was a small crab that has run wild on the East Coast, but not shown up yet on the West Coast, and a species of algae that has hit Southern California, but not Oregon. The starfish, measuring about three inches across, also appears to be new to U.S. shores.

"It's almost certainly true that most of the things on this have not been introduced to this coast yet," Chapman said. "We're going to see more of these things coming."

Tom Cleveland, a housekeeping supervisor at nearby beachfront condominiums, said people curious to see it have been jamming up traffic at a beach parking lot.

"Everybody and their brother has been here looking at it and checking it out," Cleveland said. "Obviously, we knew things would be coming our way, but I didn't expect anything this size."

___

Associated Press writers Malcolm Foster in Tokyo and Ryan Nakashima in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Associated Press

harry morgan john lennon death john lennon death c.j. wilson mythbusters hanley ramirez blago

Retail Communications Technology: CST's new 'two-way radio plus ...

Communications specialist enhances capacities of new Motorola SL4000.

Call Systems Technology (CST) has launched a new system that integrates several different communications devices with the latest digital two-way radio technology. The result is a package that delivers what CST?s managing director, Eloise Sheppard, describes as a ?highly effective and flexible communications solution,? because it combines the ease of use, reliability and portability of two-way radios with the functionality of pagers and call buttons.

The system incorporates the latest Motorola SL4000 two-way radio. This compact, slim and tough radio offers crystal-clear digital audio yet is half the weight and size of a standard radio. Its capabilities are greatly extended by linking it to CST?s Genesis communications software package, which allows full use of all the radio?s data-carrying potential. For example, managers and staff can send text messages to SL4000 radios directly from computers, while their screens can also display critical alarms monitored and reported to it by CST?s Genesis system.

?Integrating with other communication devices, via CST?s Genesis software system, greatly enhances the SL4000?s capabilities,? says Eloise Sheppard. ?It creates a complete communications solution, improving a retail site?s safety, service and efficiency.?

The CST solution can also link the SL4000 directly to many other communications devices, such as lone worker alarms, personal alarms and wireless ?Call? buttons. For example, distributing call buttons around a retail store will allow customers or members of staff to send an immediate alert, or message, to the radio ? at the touch of a button. Typical applications include cashier-desk panic buttons, assistance buttons in changing rooms and service buttons in aisles or at information points.? The radio displays the location of the button that has been triggered, making it easy for staff to respond quickly.

Standard features include Bluetooth and intelligent audio, which adjusts to compensate for background noise. An option offers vibration for alerts. The SL4000?s safety features, which include a ?covert? mode that shields the display, LED lights and audible tones, make it suitable for security staff in sensitive environments.

Call Systems Technology

Tel: 0800 389 5642 or 020 8381 1338

Email: Click here to email this company

www.call-systems.com

travis barker get back on board rob lowe peyton manning what is sopa marianne gingrich ibooks author gabrielle union

Nordic start-ups follow Skype with low-cost calls

[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['Titanic', 7]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/titanic-anniversary/', ' ', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/b/4e/b4e5ad9f00b5dfeeec2226d53e173569.jpeg', '550', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]

[ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

crystal cathedral st. patrick s day brandon lloyd brandon lloyd celtic thunder fabrice muamba collapse prometheus trailer

Tigers?top Indians, avoid sweep

By NOAH TRISTER

AP Baseball Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 4:05 p.m. ET June 7, 2012

DETROIT (AP) - The inside of Casey Crosby's locker was drenched, and the Detroit left-hander's T-shirt was a bit wet too after the traditional beer shower celebrating his first career win.

"It was the best feeling in the world," the 23-year-old rookie said.

Miguel Cabrera homered, Brennan Boesch broke out of a slump with a pair of hits and Crosby pitched into the sixth inning to earn his first major league victory, helping the Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians 7-5 Thursday.

Cleveland nearly rallied from a 7-1 deficit but, with the Tigers leading by two, the Indians left the bases loaded in the seventh and two on in the eighth.

"It was a good series overall, but seven was just too many for us today," Cleveland manager Manny Acta said. "Our offense did a great job of battling back. We had a couple times where we just needed one more hit."

Detroit avoided a three-game sweep and beat the Indians for the first time in six meetings this year.

Crosby (1-1) allowed three runs and five hits in 5 1-3 innings. Jose Valverde pitched a perfect ninth for his 10th save in 13 chances.

Derek Lowe (7-4) allowed seven runs and nine hits in five innings.

Crosby is in Detroit's rotation because of an injury to Doug Fister, and he was sharper after a rough outing against the New York Yankees in his debut last week. The Tigers gave him plenty of support, scoring four runs in the first and three in the fourth.

"There's a lot of things going on in your debut. You've got family, you've got friends, you've got people congratulating you all the time," Crosby said. "This was a lot better. I knew it was going to happen, I knew what I was going to expect going into this start so it was definitely a positive thing."

Boesch's single in the first put runners on first and third with nobody out, ending a 2-for-38 stretch for the big right fielder. Prince Fielder, Delmon Young and Don Kelly hit RBI singles, and another run came home on a wild pitch.

The Tigers were a season-high six games under .500 coming into the game - a far cry from what was expected when the defending AL Central champions added Fielder in the offseason. They lost to Cleveland on Wednesday night in part because an error by Boesch led to three unearned runs.

On Thursday, Boesch's RBI double in the fourth made it 5-1, and Cabrera followed with his 13th homer of the year, a two-run shot that barely cleared the wall in right.

"I'm tired of talking about adjustments," Boesch said. "Hitting is not about some mechanical thing, it's just grinding out at-bats and doing what you can to help the team win."

The Indians eventually chased Crosby in the sixth and scored two runs that inning. Asdrubal Cabrera hit a two-run double in the seventh to make it 7-5, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland brought Joaquin Benoit in with two outs and men on first and third.

Cleanup hitter Carlos Santana drew a walk to load the bases, and Jose Lopez hit a deep flyball. Detroit's Quintin Berry nearly got turned around in center field but was able to make the catch.

With runners on second and third and two outs in the eighth, Benoit got Shin-soo Choo to hit a popup.

NOTES: Acta discussed OF Grady Sizemore's return from lower back surgery before the game. "I think the process has been slowed down a little bit, but we never had any timetable for Grady," Acta said. ... Fielder extended his hitting streak to 14 games. ... Cleveland's Michael Brantley extended his hitting streak to 15. ... Detroit RHP Brayan Villarreal relieved Crosby in the sixth and threw 15 straight strikes before finally missing the zone the following inning. ... Lopez was at third as a baserunner in the fourth when he was sent sprawling to avoid being hit by Shelley Duncan's foul line drive. ... Detroit is at Cincinnati on Friday night, with RHP Rick Porcello (3-4) starting against RHP Mat Latos (4-2) of the Reds. ... The Indians are at St. Louis on Friday night. Cleveland RHP Josh Tomlin (2-3) starts against RHP Jake Westbrook (4-5).

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


advertisement

More news
Long road ahead

CSN: Roy Halladay talks about the process of recovering from his injury over the next 6-8 weeks, and his desire to finish his career in Philly.

Tigers?top Indians, avoid sweep

DETROIT (AP) - Miguel Cabrera homered, Brennan Boesch broke out of a slump with a pair of hits and Casey Crosby earned his first major league win, helping the Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians 7-5 Thursday.

gi joe jason wu for target collection jason wu jason wu the patriot nick diaz vs carlos condit hall of fame

UN: Syria permits aid workers to enter 4 provinces

GENEVA (AP) ? President Bashar Assad's government has agreed to ease humanitarian access to four of the hardest-hit provinces in Syria, officials said Tuesday, even as the regime plunged into further international isolation by labeling a string of U.S. and European diplomats unwelcome.

The deal allows visas for an unspecified number of aid workers from nine U.N. agencies and seven other non-governmental organizations and cuts red tape blocking supply convoys from entering the provinces where at least 1 million are in urgent need of aid, said John Ging, operations director for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Ging said he hopes it will be "days, not weeks" for aid to be delivered to the provinces of Daraa, Deir el-Zour, Homs and Idlib, and urged Syria to keep up its end of the bargain.

"Today marks a step of progress, in that there is now an agreement with the Syrian government on the scale, scope and modality for a humanitarian response in Syria," Ging told reporters in Geneva after emerging from a closed-door session to discuss the dire humanitarian situation in Syria.

"Whether this is a breakthrough or not will be evident in the coming days and weeks and it will be measured not in rhetoric, not in agreements, but in action on the ground."

Syria's uprising began with mostly peaceful protests, but a brutal government crackdown with tanks, machine guns and snipers led many in the opposition to take up arms. The violence has grown increasingly chaotic in recent months, and it is difficult to assign blame for much of the bloodshed as the country spirals toward civil war.

Last week, Western nations expelled Syrian diplomats in a coordinated move over a massacre in which more than 100 people were slaughtered over one weekend in Houla, a cluster of small villages. The U.N. says pro-regime gunmen were believed to be responsible for at least some of the killings, but Assad has insisted his forces had nothing to do it.

On Tuesday, Syria barred a string of U.S. and European diplomats, saying they were "no longer welcome"

The countries targeted by the expulsion order have already pulled their ambassadors from Damascus, but the move was symbolic of how far diplomatic ties have disintegrated over the course of the uprising that began last year in March.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said Damascus has decided to take a "reciprocal measure" against ambassadors from the U.S., Britain, Turkey, Switzerland, France, Italy and Spain. A number of French, German, Canadian, Bulgarian and Belgian diplomats also are affected, Makdissi said.

Because of visa delays and hassles over customs clearances and how to distribute the supplies, the U.N. has struggled to deliver aid and it has largely trickled in through the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.

The U.N. launched the Syrian Humanitarian Forum, a gathering of diplomats to negotiate for access. Ging spoke Tuesday after chairing its latest session, where he said Syria's representatives also expressed support for the new plan.

Ging said many in need in the four provinces have been injured during fighting or have lost jobs or homes. More than 78,000 Syrian refugees were also being helped in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, the U.N. refugee agency said.

More than 2,300 Syrian refugees have arrived in Turkey since June 1, increasing the total number of refugees to 26,747, Turkey's disaster and emergency management authority said on its website on Tuesday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of sources on the ground, said Tuesday that 113 soldiers have been killed in clashes with rebel forces across the country since Friday. The figure was impossible to confirm independently, but the Syrian government confirmed nearly 80 soldiers had been killed over the past three days.

______

Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed to this story from Beirut.

valley fever project x the lorax lorax fisker karma super tuesday states shepard fairey

Electric skateboard accelerates faster than most cars

19 hrs.

Electric skateboards are becoming a cool, hip and now very fast way to get around town. How fast? The four-wheel-drive Trail Rider from Gnarboards can accelerate from 0 to 28 miles per hour in 1.9 seconds, which is faster than about 90 percent of road cars.

Other models ? the two-wheel-drive Commuter and four-wheel-drive Road Warrior ? are a touch slower, hitting the top speed of 28 mph in about 3 seconds.

All three have a typical range between 15 and 20 miles on a single charge, far enough for most city dwellers to e-skate into work, plug in for a two-hour recharge, and ride home at the end of the day.

That is, assuming riding an electric skateboard is street legal where you live and you have the skill to drive the thing, which Gnarboards creator Joshua Tulberg says takes some practice.

?Most riders end up on their butt the first time they try it,? he told Gizmag.?

A handheld grip controls acceleration and braking; steering is done with the body, just like riding a regular skateboard. A so-called ?dead man?s brake? stops the board should the rider wipe out and fall off, preventing a runaway skateboard from hitting a fallen rider or anyone else.

And falling is almost certain to happen, which is why Gnarboards recommends in a FAQ that all riders wear a helmet and full-body armor to ?prevent ?road rash?, torn flesh, broken bones, severe injury or death.?

For anyone brave enough to ride one, the $6,100 price tag for the Trail Rider seems like a worthy investment for a fun, fast and pretty green way to get around town.

For more details on the boards, check out?Gizmag?s coverage?as well as the?Gnarboards website. Eye candy for the curious is below.

--Via?Gizmag??

John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. To learn more about him, check out his website and follow him on Twitter. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

google project glass google goggles one tree hill projectglass stock act new york auto show khalid sheikh mohammed