February 28, 2011

I recently attended a conference that included the administrators of 20 non-profit organizations. The topic shifted to them discussing their internet presence and nearly all raised their hands when questioned as to whether they had a website/blog with roughly the same number indicated that they also used Facebook for marketing their organizations.

The topic of logo/branding came to light and it was common to send the instructor to their websites to see an old logo and their Facebook account to see the new logo.  This was not a planned occurrence, however nearly everyone in the room expressed their frustration about the inability to change their website layout. They all noted that Facebook simply makes it much easier and more convenient to control the few things that these administrators needed to do and as a result...

Written by Jo & Ray · Filed Under Real Estate 

Real Estate Assessments Up 2 Percent

February 28, 2011

The total taxable assessed value for all properties in the City of Falls Church as of January 1, 2011, is $3.1 billion, a 2% increase from January 1 of last year. The City plans to mail assessments for 2011 by Friday, February 4. Updated assessment information will be posted on the City website February 7.

Overall residential real estate values increased 2% over the last year. Single family homes values increased by 4%, townhomes remain unchanged, and residential condominiums had varying changes.

Overall commercial property values declined 1% since January 2010. The real estate value of multi-family apartments increased 1%, large office buildings are down 4%, and large retail properties are down 2%. The value of City hotels declined 7%.

As set forth in the Virginia Constitution, real estate is assessed at 100 percent of fair market value. The City’s Office of Real Estate Assessment calculates property value annually using mass appraisal techniques that are standa...

Written by Jo & Ray · Filed Under Real Estate 

April Stock Of The Month – Imperial Sugar

February 28, 2011

If you like a stock with a high risk/high reward profile, our stock of the month selection for April 2010, Imperial Sugar (IPSU) may be the perfect choice for you.

This company is trying to turn an unfortunate corporate disaster into a profitable future.

Two years ago an explosion at a Georgia Imperial Sugar refinery killed 14 employees and injured 40 others. Production at the refinery, which comprised about 60% of IPSU’s capacity, was suspended after the accident.

The Chemical Safety Board would report that the refinery explosion was preventable and caused by the dangerous accumulation of combustible sugar dust at the Port Wentworth facility.

Since the explosion, Imperial Sugar collected 345 million dollars...

Written by Jo & Ray · Filed Under Finance 

SEC hits Investment Managers with new Target Date disclosure requirements

February 28, 2011

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted 5-0 on June 16, 2010 to subject target date fund offerings to new disclosure requirements, aiming to improve the product transparency and knowledge of individual investors. Let’s look at the disclosure highlights as well as additional media and industry coverage.

Highlights of the disclosure requirements:

The following proposed disclosure requirements, impacting Securities Act rules 156 and 482 and Investment Company Act rule 34b-1, can be adopted after a 60 day public comment period. The public comment period provides for revision of the following based on feedback received by the SEC:

Fund Name and Target Date Asset Allocation

•If the fund name includes target year, the name would also have to be amended to include an allocat...

Written by Jo & Ray · Filed Under Finance 

Immigration and Adult Transitions

February 28, 2011

Almost 30 percent of the more than 68 million young adults aged eighteen to thirty-four in the United States today are either foreign born or of foreign parentage. As these newcomers make their transitions to adulthood, say Ruben Rumbaut and Golnaz Komaie, they differ significantly not only from one another but also from their native-parentage counterparts, including blacks and whites. The authors document the demographic changes in the United States over the past forty years and describe the ways in which generation and national origin shape the experiences of these newcomers as they become adults.

Rumbaut and Komaie point out that immigrant groups experience gaps in social, economic, and legal status that are even greater than the gaps between native whites and blacks. By far the most-educated (Indians) and the least-educated (Mexicans) groups in the United States today are first-generation immigrants, as are the groups with the lowest poverty rate (Filipinos) and the highest ...

Written by Jo & Ray · Filed Under Immigration 

New UK immigration rules update

February 28, 2011

There is one industry that is recession proof and some research actually shows that it does better when the economy is bad. I am referring to the billion pound education industry. British universities have been highly successful in attracting thousands of bright foreign students to the British Isles.

A BBC report in 2008 showed that fees from International students amounted to £1.7bn. The Universities are interested in attracting foreign non-EU students because they can charge them higher. In my case I paid approximately £10300 this year and the fees are increasing. Local and EU students only pay one third that amount. In other words I am paying for the cost of two local/ EU students. I don’t mind because a degree from a reputed British University is looked on favourably by employers all around the World (at least I hope so).

The Malaysian Government itself spends millions of dollars every year sponsoring the education of thousands of students in institutes of hig...

Written by Jo & Ray · Filed Under Immigration 

Of Snakes, Other Beasties and the Haunting Beauty of New 2: Reading “Darkness Becomes Her”

February 28, 2011

Power, knowledge and vengeance…these are the three key ingredients to Darkness Becomes Her, Kelly Keaton’s debut YA series. Keaton writes a strong YA novel about Ari Selkirk, a seventeen-year-old on a quest to find out anything she can about her biological family. As a former orphan and foster kid who grew up in the system, Ari is not anyone’s victim. This is a gun-toting teen, trained as a junior bail bondsman by her current loving foster parents, who most of all, is a survivor first, and shit-kicker later.

Her quest takes her to the boundary of The Rim and New 2. And later, directly into belly of the beast, New 2, that dark territory formerly known as New Orleans. Rebuilt into a strange land, governed by the Novem...

Written by Jo & Ray · Filed Under Entertainment 

Review: Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

February 28, 2011

The Iron Queen is the third book in the Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa. The series should be read in order as each book follows closely on the heels of the book before. From Iron Daughter we know that Meghan and Ash have been banished for refusing to renounce their love for each other.

Back in the real world, Meghan fears for Ash’s sanity and existence. How could he possibly survive, let alone enjoy, an existence permanently away from the Nevernever?

They’re attacked at her family’s home before she has a chance to meet with her family again by these creepy Iron Spider Hags that remind me a lot of the Greek Fates.

Puck finds them and joyfully explains he’s been banished too because he wanted to come see them.

Messengers summon them back to the Nevernever and they find that Oberon and Mab want Meghan to kill the Iron King and save their Courts from sure destruction.

Our favorite sexy fey, Grimalkin the cat, is back and as snarky as ever. With h...

Written by Jo & Ray · Filed Under Entertainment 

GoogleBot Caught Masking Around As An iPhone

February 28, 2011

Google has admitted to test a new Googlebot-Mobile type specific to iPhone.

One Webmaster saw the special Googlebot-Mobile show up in his log files and posted a thread about it at Google Webmaster Help. He said:

“I know Mr. John Mueller once said on twitter: Googlebot-Mobile doesn’t crawl as iPhone(as far as he knows). But I found a log like this: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS) (compatible; Googlebot-Mobile/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html”)

 Is there anyone who has ever seen it before? Is this a real Googlebot-Mobile?” 

JohnMu from Google confirmed that this can very well be a real Googlebot. John said: 

“We’re constantly working on expanding our systems and run numerous experiments over time. That looks like an experiment which we mostly did a while back. At the moment, it’s not something that we’re generally using when crawling, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see that or other ...

Written by Jo & Ray · Filed Under Marketing 

Google Bug Prevents Some Businesses From Verifying Businesses On Google Maps

February 28, 2011

A Google Places Help thread has several reports from business owners trying to verify their businesses in Google Places.

They want to verify their businesses so that the business can show up properly in Google Maps search results. The issue is, it does not appear to be working for all.

When some try to verify their business, they are getting errors. One said:

“I recently put on a question about the system error that won’t allow people top access their Google Place account page. (System Error: We’re sorry, but we are unable to serve your request at this time. Please try back in a few minutes ) on 02/14/11″

I’ve read through previous posts etc, but can’t find a solution. This only happened when the page was accessed from another location, could that be the reason that it happens to anyone?

Since that post, several others came in with the same issue.

Googler Brianna said Google fixed the issue last Thursday, the...

Written by Jo & Ray · Filed Under Marketing 

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