IPIP Blog

ARLINGTON, Va., Jun 27, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
Rosetta
Stone Inc.

/quotes/zigman/525896/quotes/nls/rst RST
-0.93%

, a leading provider of technology-based
language-learning solutions, today announced that its latest innovation,
Rosetta Stone(R) TOTALe Companion(TM) HD, an app for the iPad(R)
device that supplements and enhances the company’s comprehensive
language-learning experience, will be available to Rosetta Stone(R)
Enterprise TOTALe(R) (pronounced tow-TALLY) customers later
this summer.

Rosetta Stone Enterprise TOTALe allows employees to learn at their own
pace without a bricks-and-mortar classroom environment. The
comprehensive language-learning experience combines the proven Rosetta
Course(R) software with Rosetta Studio(R) practice
sessions and the Rosetta World(R) online community.

–
Rosetta Course. Where learners develop a foundation of
language, build a vocabulary and are encouraged to speak correctly.

–
Rosetta Studio. Where learners sharpen their skills online
through live, 50-minute sessions led by tutors who are native speakers.

–
Rosetta World. Where learners connect with others in an online
community to explore language through fun games and other inspiring
activities.

TOTALe Companion HD provides Enterprise TOTALe learners — including
executives and talent in sales, operations, engineering, marketing, and
employees who travel frequently for business — an innovative way to
enrich their language-learning experience. This app allows Enterprise
TOTALe customers to maximize their language-learning investment by
extending the solution to the widely popular iPad platform, without any
additional IT costs or support. TOTALe Companion HD can be used by
employees anywhere their iPad is connected to the Internet, enabling
more frequent and consistent usage, thus helping organizations achieve
results faster.

“The ability for organizations to provide their employees with language
learning on the iPad is a reflection of our commitment to deliver our
solutions across multiple devices,” said Mike Fulkerson, Chief
Technology Officer at Rosetta Stone. “Last year we enhanced our core
Enterprise product with interactive services, and now we’re expanding
that approach by allowing customers to learn a language on the iPad. The
convenience of the mobile platform further enhances employee
satisfaction and ultimately enables language-learning success.”

The new TOTALe Companion HD app is free to Enterprise TOTALe learners,
allowing them to

–
Practice speaking, listening and reading using Rosetta Course

–
Experience Rosetta Stone’s high-quality speech-recognition technology,
available in 20 languages.

–
Utilize a fully-integrated learning experience allowing them to sync
what they learn on their iPad with the complete Enterprise TOTALe
solution through a web browser on their PC or Mac(R) computer.

Access to TOTALe Companion HD is included in an organization’s purchase
of Enterprise TOTALe. TOTALe Companion HD can be downloaded from iTunes(R)
and the Apple(R) App Storesm. TOTALe Companion HD is
offered in 20 languages: Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese, Korean, Hindi,
English (American and British), Dutch, Filipino (Tagalog), French,
German, Greek, Italian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish
(Latin America and Spain), Swedish, Turkish and Vietnamese. More
information is available at RosettaStone.com/Enterprise.

Human-resource professionals can experience Enterprise TOTALe and TOTALe
Companion HD firsthand this week at the Society for Human Resource
Management (SHRM) Annual Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas (June
26-29).The Rosetta Stone booth is located at Booth 3327.

For more company information please visit pr.RosettaStone.com.

About Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone Inc. is changing the way the world learns languages.
Rosetta Stone provides interactive solutions that are acclaimed for
their speed and power to unlock the natural language-learning ability in
everyone. Available in more than 30 languages, Rosetta Stone
language-learning solutions are used by schools, organizations and
millions of individuals in over 150 countries throughout the world. The
company was founded in 1992 on the core beliefs that learning a language
should be natural and instinctive and that interactive technology can
replicate and activate the immersion method powerfully for learners of
any age. The company is based in Arlington, Va., with international
offices in the United Kingdom, Korea, Japan and Germany. For more
information, visit RosettaStone.com.

“Rosetta Stone,” “TOTALe” and other products and services referred to
herein are trademarks or registered trademarks or trademarks of Rosetta
Stone Ltd. in the United States and other countries.

Apple, iPad, App Store and iTunes Store are trademarks of Apple Inc.

SOURCE: Rosetta Stone Inc.

Media:
Rosetta Stone Inc.
Megan Richter, 703-522-9953
mrichter@RosettaStone.com
or
Investors:
Elizabeth Corse, 703-522-9970
Investor Relations
ir@RosettaStone.com

Copyright Business Wire 2011

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RST

Rosetta Stone Inc.

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June 28, 2011 4:04p

Dennis Howlett has been providing comment and analysis on enterprise software since 1991 in a variety of European trade and professional journals including CFO Magazine, The Economist and Information Week. Today, apart from being a full time blogger on innovation for professional services organisations, he is a founding member of Enterprise Irregulars and an investor in a European start-up. Prior to, Dennis was technology and tax partner in a British firm of Chartered Accountants for 10 years. Prior to that held various senior finance roles across a broad range of industries.

After one of Mozillas core employees said that the open source outfit is not concerned with enterprise customers – and likely never will be – Microsofts Internet Explorer team has jumped into the breach to proclaim its undying love for the enterprise.

With a blog post, Microsoft re-committed itself to providing support for Internet Explorer 8 and 9 until January 2020, taking aim at Mozillas insistence that it will not support preceding versions of Firefox as each new edition ships.

Microsoft IE director Ari Bixhorn said that hes perplexed – perplexed, I tell you – by Mozillas stance. [The] enterprise has been, and will always be, an important focus of ours, he wrote, pointing to Microsofts policy of supporting each version of IE as long as the latest version of Windows it runs on is supported.

The just-launched IE9 and the older IE8 run on Windows 7, and the enterprise edition of this Microsoft operating system due to be supported until January 2020. This is the outer-most limit of Microsofts support – a phase called extended. It is not mainstream support. You can read about the differences between the two here.

Earlier, Mozillas Asa Dotzler asserted that Firefox has never – and should never – care about enterprise customers on Firefox. Dotzler founded Mozillas Quality Assurance (QA) and Testing Program, and he was part of the original Firefox team.

Mozilla: Not in the business of business

Dotzler made the statement in response to corporate IT type John Walicki, who criticized Mozillas decision to kill support for Firefox 4 last week, just as it introduced version 5. Firefox 5 is the first version of Firefox developed under Mozillas new Google-inspired three month release cycle. Firefox 4 only debuted in March.

In a post to a website called Mikes Musings, Walicki said that when Mozilla announced the end of Firefox 4 support, he was about to press the button on moving 500,000 corporate users to the browser. The Firefox 4 EOL is a kick in the stomach, he said. He had spent months carefully testing the browser to ensure that thousands of web applications and add-ons ran on it.

Such testing is an essential part of rolling out new versions of any major piece of software inside a big business. This is why so many businesses are still clinging to really old applications like Microsofts IE6 – a browser that even Microsoft has been campaigning to kill.

But Mozillas man would not be moved. In a comment to Walickis post, Dotzler said:

Mike, you do realize that we get about 2 million Firefox downloads per day from regular user types, right? Your big numbers here are really just a drop in the bucket, fractions of fractions of a percent of our user base.

Enterprise has never been (and Ill argue, shouldnt be) a focus of ours. Until we run out of people who dont have sysadmins and enterprise deployment teams looking out for them, I cant imagine why wed focus at all on the kinds of environments you care so much about.

He was taken to task by the Mike of Mikes Musings – blogger Mike Kaply – for playing the market-share card. But Dotzler did not retreat. He re-loaded:

Years ago, we didnt have the resources. Today, I argue, we shouldnt care even if we do have the resources because of the cost benefit trade. A minute spent making a corporate user happy can better be spent making many regular users happy. Id much rather Mozilla spending its limited resources looking out for the billions of users that dont have enterprise support systems already taking care of them.

Dotzler made it clear that Mozilla is going to keep right-on releasing new versions of Firefox and end-of-lifing the version before. Not the kind of thing Mozilla fans want to hear when theyre working in the slow-moving world of the enterprise, where the pace of testing will likely mean that by the time youve finished, Mozilla has already killed the platform youve targeted.

Mozilla stands firm

As Walicki said in the comment that ignited Dotzler: Im now in the terrible position of choosing to deploy a Firefox 4 release with potentially unpatched vulnerabilities, reset the test cycle for thousands of internal apps to validate Firefox 5 or stay on a patched Firefox 3.6.x.

Mozilla is not distancing itself from Dotzler. Asked by The Register for a response, Mozilla released a statement it attributed to channel manager Kev Needham that talked in terms of how Firefox needs to evolve and how – by releasing small, focused updates more often – it can update and improve security and add new features.

Our development process is geared toward delivering products that support the Web as it is today, while innovating and building future Web capabilities. Tying Firefox product development to an organizational process we do not control would make it difficult for us to continue to innovate for our users and the betterment of the Web, the statement said.

Winston-Salem based BBamp;T

BBT
Latest from The Business Journals
Analyst: BBT could eye Synovus dealBBT leads in NC small-biz lending frequencyBank On Louisville program helps people understand, use financial institutions

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continues to lead all contenders in being North Carolina’s most active Small Business Administration

Small Business Administration
Latest from The Business Journals
Feds channel more contract money to small businessesGateway to Exporting opens for small businessesUnited BioChemicals growing in Niagara Co.

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lender through the first eight months of the federal fiscal year.

From October through May, BBT (NYSE: BBT) had written 162 loans for $20.9 million.

Walnut, Calif.-based Superior Financial Group, a non-bank lender, was second with 128 loans valued at $1.37 million.

Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo
Latest from The Business Journals
Wells Fargo, employees fined for unregistered activityWells Fargo, employees fined for unregistered activityWells Fargo, employees fined for unregistered activity

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(NYSE: WFC) finished third with 57 loans valued at $29 million, while SunTrust (NYSE: STI) came in fourth with 42 loans worth $15 million. Ohio-based First Financial Bank

First Financial Bank
Latest from The Business Journals
BBT leads in NC small-biz lending frequencyBBT leads Wells Fargo, Suntrust

Suntrust
Latest from The Business Journals
Coconut Grove Bank raises M, Frost largest shareholderBBT leads in NC small-biz lending frequencyCommunityONE making progress toward Bank of Granite merger

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in small biz lending frequency Daytons top employers add jobs in ’10

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rounded out the Top 5 with 35 loans worth $52 million.

The loan totals, compiled by SBA’s Charlotte district office, include both SBA 7a loans (818) and 504 loans (77).

Under the 7(a) program, the borrowers can use the proceeds to buy a company, fund it short term or expand it.

Under the 504 program, banks lend money in conjunction with designated certified development companies. The proceeds generally go for real estate and building purchases.

The eight-month lending totals for both types of loans is $315 million in North Carolina.

“The deal we worked out ain’t going to fly now,” Gilley said on the
recording made with a wiretap on his portable phone.

In narrating a phone conversation with lobbyist Jarrad Massey,
Gilley said he was “pretty upset” about Beason “backing out of the
deal.”

“You tell that (profanity) when you see him I’ll spend my last
(profanity) dollar getting his (profanity) unelected,” Gilley tells
Massey, who also cut a deal to testify for the prosecution.

McGregor is later recorded on a call telling Gilley to disregard
his earlier request to keep pursuing Beason.

“Hold off on talking to Beason,” McGregor said. “Lets wait until we
see if need him.”

In the call with Massey, Gilley also mentions his efforts to woo
former State Sen. Jim Preuitt, who represented the eastern portion
of Elmore County.

“I just talked to Preuitt,” he said, “and I believe he’s going to
come around.”

In another tape recording between Gilley and Sen. Harri Anne Smith,
the senator makes a request for campaign funding with, Gilley told
prosecutors, the understanding it was for her vote on bingo
legislation.

“We need another $400,000 to finish out the campaign,” Smith said.
“Anything you can help out would be appreciated.”

Gilley told Smith on the tape that he would get the full $400,000.
Gilley told prosecutors that, all total, he contributed in the
vicinity of $600,000 to Smith’s re-election campaign.

Gilley began his testimony Thursday in the gambling trial in which
he was originally a defendant and Acting US Attorney Louis
Franklin continued direct questioning all day Friday. Gilley
detailed his involvement in efforts to pass pro-gambling
legislation “by any means necessary.”

Gilley pleaded guilty this year to money laundering, bribery,
honest services fraud and conspiracy. A few counts were dismissed
in exchange for his testimony, Gilley said, but he still faces “20
or more years in prison.”

Gilley explained his decision to plead guilty and cooperate with
the prosecution.

“I changed my plea because I am guilty,” Gilley told the
jury.

Gilley described how he started in early 2009 “showing the color of
his money” in Montgomery by injecting “$200,000 into a multitude of
PACs (political action committees).” Through campaign
contributions, dinners and fundraisers, Gilley said he pressed
legislators to pass a bill.

Gilley worked for years, he said, to establish an entertainment hub
similar to Branson, Mo., using electronic bingo as a financial
foundation. He initially planned a “Little Nashville” development
near Enterprise, but soon shifted to Houston County, near Dothan,
for the Country Crossing development. Gilley said he “rolled
everything he had into it,” spending hundreds of millions of
dollars and racking up millions more in debt.

Gilley said he grew up admiring VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor
and “even dated his youngest daughter” when they lived in the same
Enterprise neighborhood.

After the pair sparred over which counties would be allowed to
continue offering electronic bingo, Gilley said they settled the
dispute by McGregor investing $5 million in the construction of
Country Crossing.

But McGregor’s take was to be substantial, he said, with the
gambling mogul demanding “14 percent of the gross.” When McGregor
saw plans for the $15 million bingo pavilion at Country Crossing,
he declared it “not big enough,” Gilley recalled, and McGregor
doubled the proposed size to 100,000 square feet. McGregor would
later extend a $2.8 million loan for Country Crossing, Gilley said,
and altered the terms of their agreement to give him 20 percent of
the facility’s revenue.

The agreement with McGregor meant he would “make a substantial
amount more money off the project than I or other investors if we
continued to operate,” Gilley said.

Gilley said he and McGregor spoke on the phone enough that “I
couldn’t begin to measure, multiple times a day on multiple
occasions,” especially as pro-gambling legislation made its way
through the Legislature in 2009 and 2010.

Gilley described a pair of “gaming summits” involving owners or
representatives of every gambling destination in Alabama. The
summits were held in the office of Paul Hubbert at the headquarters
of the Alabama Education Association. Attendees included McGregor
and Gilley, GreeneTrack owner Natt Wynn, Poarch Creek Indian
representatives like CFO Arthur Mothershed and a variety of
lobbyists including Jarrad Massey.

He also told how he used his Nashville connections to woo state
lawmakers and the public to support a constitutional amendment
deciding the legality of electronic bingo, which gambling opponents
equate to slot machines.

“I took a multitude of legislators to dinner with country music
celebrities,” he said, specifically noting Randy Owen of supergroup
Alabama, George Jones and Lorri Morgan.

Gilley also added extra context and information to recordings made
by State Sen. Scott Beason of a meeting of Gilley, McGregor and
Jarrad Massey.

“In so many words, we’re saying we’re going to contribute $500,000
to (Beason’s) campaign, me and Mr. McGregor,” Gilley said.

Earlier in the week, former state Rep. Benjamin Lewis testified
about his cooperation with the government. In more than a year of
cooperation from March 2009 to April 2010, Lewis only recorded 20
conversations, but captured Sen. Harri Anne Smith threatening that
Gilley would bankroll Lewis’s opposition if he voted against the
proposed constitutional amendment SB380.

Gilley admitted to offering Lewis a bribe to come over to his side
in 2009.

He offered “money for a yes vote,” Gilley said.

Gilley added he talked to McGregor before and after that meeting,
because “we were working in conjunction to tally votes.”

Lewis was hesitant to go against the wishes of two wealthy
supporters in Dothan who gave him $250,000 for his previous
campaign.

“I said ‘(Profanity), if we’d known your vote was on the auction
block, one of them probably could’ve written you a check for
$500,000,’” Gilley said he told Lewis.

Gilley told McGregor it would cost around $500,000 to get Lewis’s
vote, to which McGregor said “he was in full support,” Gilley told
prosecutors.

Defense attorneys dug into Lewis on cross examination, asking
whether his recent appointment by former Gov. Bob Riley to a
circuit judgeship in Houston County was earned by his cooperation
with the investigation. Defense attorneys accused each of the
cooperating legislators – Lewis, state Sen. Scott Beason, and state
Rep. Barry Mask – of working with investigators to further their
political careers.

Acting US Attorney Louis Franklin was still questioning Gilley at
press time Friday afternoon. Defense attorneys for McGregor and
Smith each seemed anxious to get to cross examination. There was
mention of “extramarital affairs” among the attorneys while the
jury was out of the courtroom, with Franklin asking Thompson to
prevent them from mentioning it without an obvious relevance to the
case.

Americas cities and suburbs lie in ruins. Gigantic motherships loom in the sky. Hideous extraterrestrial invaders skitter through the streets or clomp about in bio-mechanical suits of armor, blasting humans with lasers. Survivors eke out a precarious existence and strike back however they can.

Ive just described some or all of Independence Day, both versions of V, Steven Spielbergs War of the Worlds, and untold numbers of other alien invasion narratives. Tonight TNT contributes a new title, Falling Skies(Sunday, 9 pm/8 central), an eight-part miniseries from executive producer Steven Spielberg and creator Robert Rodat, who wrote Spielbergs Saving Private Ryan. But despite its pedigree, and no matter how mightily it strives to distinguish itself from its predecessors, the result feels redundant and half-baked.

When I popped in the screener DVD of tonights two-hour premiere, I felt a tremor of anticipation. Rather than rehash the familiar tropes of extraterrestrial arrival/invasion/occupation, Falling Skies starts its story six months after the creatures have arrived. We dont know what sort of monsters were dealing with or how bleak humanitys situation is. We only know that the human race (specifically America) has had the tar kicked out of it, that all of its institutions have collapsed, and that the usual network of associations that once sustained individual lives is gone.

As opening gambits go, thats a good one, and the opening sequence of tonights episode is a grabber: a nighttime horrorshow, with human soldiers and civilians wandering through bombed-out streets. The lucky ones manage to find hiding places. The unlucky get fried by laser bolts or abducted (or perhaps attacked; the chaotic point-of-view shots deliberately make it hard to tell) by the creatures, who suggest a fusion of the Creature from the Black Lagoon and some sort of giant crab or spider. (Theyre computer-generated, but their movements have the sinister, herky-jerky momentum of monsters from a Ray Harryhausen fantasy movie.)

Although I dreaded having to sit through flashbacks to the invasion and its aftermath, which I assumed would follow shortly, Falling Skies sticks to its guns and remains in the present. The calamitous past is a not-too-distant memory, and a hazy one. Nobody seems quite sure what happened or what the creatures are up to. We know only that they have sophisticated technology and that they use humans as slave labor by attaching grotesque biomechanical harnesses to their spinal columns; they look like enormous, bloodsucking centipede-leeches and — shades of the Alien movies — cannot be removed without killing the host.

The miniseries hero, Tom Mason (Noah Wylie), is a college history professor. (Tom Hanks character in Rodats Ryan used to be a schoolteacher. Hmmmmm.) Tom had to become a soldier to protect his surviving sons, the teenage Hal (Drew Roy of Secretariat) and the elementary school-aged Matt (Maxim Knight), and find his middle son, Ben (Connor Jessup), who was abducted by the creatures. The show is set in Boston, the script is filled with too-deliberate references to the American Revolutionary War, and the programs press materials make a big deal of the notion that Toms knowledge of military history gives him intellectual tools that the shows more physically capable, professional soldiers lack. (The motley collection of warriors and civilians that Tom is a part is calls itself 2nd Mass, which has a very 1776 vibe.) Much of the tension in the premiere comes from Toms clashes with Captain Weaver (veteran character actor Will Patton), a career military man who thinks protecting civilians is more a burden than an obligation. Theres a lot of (rather strenuous) discussion of the longstanding military-civilian tension that links Falling Skies with SyFys Battlestar Galactica remake. (The showrunner is Mark Verheiden, who worked on BSG.)

On paper, theres no reason why any of this couldnt have been engrossing, or at least tolerable. Alas, Falling Skies isnt a tenth as inventive or gutsy as BSG, nor is it as handsomely crafted and crudely exciting as any of the other alien invasion series I mentioned up top — even the dumb ones. With the start of each new scene and the introduction of each new character, it becomes increasingly obvious that we arent seeing a brazen re-imagining of a familiar, still somewhat disreputable subgenre, the alien invasion narrative, but a modest reshuffling of its elements and a slight rethinking of its cliches. Toms wife died in the invasion, and its only a matter of time before he gets something going with the 2nd Masss doctor, Anne Glass (Moon Bloodgood of Daybreak). Anne is there mainly to bite her tongue when Weaver insults civilians and curtails her ability to do her job, and to have theoretically stimulating but actually colorless discussions with Tom about the miniseries key themes. Toms son Hal is the standard impetuous teenage son who wants to go off and fight the enemy even though his wise dad advises caution. And so forth.

The filmmakers must have been at least half aware that Falling Skies felt recycled, otherwise they wouldnt have included so many metafictional moments in which the characters describe each other and their predicaments in terms of pop culture cliche. This tendency ramps up in the second half of tonights premiere and in next weeks episode, which centers on a conflict between the 2nd Mass and a scruffier, openly racist bunch headed by a long-haired wiseass thug named John Pope (Colin Cunningham of Stargate SG-1). After Pope captures Tom and other members of his roving scout unit and brings them to his headquarters, he sizes them up in language that sounds as if it could have come from a network executives script notes. Whadda we got? he crows, surveying his prisoners. Papa Smurf. Sexy freedom fighter girl. Strapping young man. Black, looks like a gangbanger … [A]n Oriental of some sort. The 2nd Massachusetts, how Revolutionary War! So what do you got, fife and drum, tri-cornered hats? Joss Whedon did this sort of thing brilliantly on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.But there the self-awareness was cheeky and delightful, a way of producing TV that was aware of itself as TV yet still satisfying as a story. Here it just plays like an apology for not having come up with more interesting characters.

Too much of Falling Skies feels that way. Its stuck between self-awareness and naivete, between playful invention and going-through-the-motions listlessness. After a while I started zoning out and fixating on aspects that the filmmakers surely did not intend to take center stage, such as the fact that the aliens are rotten shots and seem to have no high-tech surveillance capability (the heroes evade them by ducking behind walls and crouching in ditches, as if they were Marines hiding from Japanese soldiers in a World War II picture) and that the actors are almost all thin and conventionally attractive, in that boring, commercial TV way. (The men all have smooth faces and strong jawlines, and the women all have long hair and bouncy, natural curves; they all look like they just came from the gym.) Noah Wylie seems the only recognizably real person in a sea of types; for all his unforced decency, he seems stranded here, and he rarely gets a chance to haul out the dry, reactive sense of humor that made him so appealing on ER.

Plus, theres not enough of a sense of urgency. Imean really, shouldnt these characters be spending most of their lives hiding in sewer tunnels? Half they time theyre milling about in surburban cul de sacs in broad daylight. Falling Skies makes life after extraterrestrial invasion look like an endless block party, but with oatmeal instead of hot dogs, and no bounce house for the kids. And it feels politically disingenuous, like yet another blandly perverse attempt to envision inhabitants of the worlds dominant military power as scrappy underdogs, valiantly fighting for freedom against technologically superior foes. Cue fife and drums.

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–>

Those who believe they have had a paranormal experience need a place to talk about it without receiving ridicule. The curious need somewhere that they can ask questions and exchange information.

Thats why, says Robert Goerman, it was time for Encounters, the informal study group he is convening for one-hour sessions at 7 pm the third Thursday of each month at Borders at Pittsburgh Mills, Frazer. The next session is July 21.

Goerman hopes to objectively examine these encounters, these meetings of man and mystery.

The veteran investigative scholar of the unknown and unexplained says it never has been more challenging to do good research.

Paranormal bias knows that UFOs are alien vehicles, lake monsters are plesiosaurs, and that families of Big Foot frolic in the uncharted wilds of Ohio and Michigan, he says. Academic bias concludes, without serious investigation, that this is all nonsense. Belief is the enemy.

Computer consultant Ed Matthews of Plum says he has been looking forward to the meetings because pure skeptics like himself are graciously welcomed by Goerman.

His skepticism is one of his strengths by far. … I think it makes Robert a more effective researcher, because he is able to maintain an open mind to both sides of the subject, Matthews says.

Robert Zafaras of Murrysville, president of an electrical-contracting firm, admires Goermans dedication to serious research as he tried to weed out the truth from the imposters.

Goerman expresses it this way: I have debunked what needed debunking. I have questioned what needed questioning.

UFOs are mysteries to be studied

Teenager Robert Goerman was startled by what he recalls seeing from the Valley Heights area of New Kensington that night in the late 60s: A UFO hovering over the Allegheny River.

The image remains seared in his memory: very bright lights, very close, absolutely silent.

He did not report it. It was very frightening to me at the time. Wish I could see it now, he says.

The researcher of the unknown and unexplained does not personally assume that UFOs equate to alien visitors. He deals, he says, with observations, evidence and facts, not beliefs.

Genuine UFOs might be stranger than we can imagine, he says.

Less than three years ago, he experienced an incident in the middle of the night that, like his UFO encounter, remains a mystery.

I snapped awake to the presence of someone in our darkened bedroom, he says. As he prepared to speak, the shadowy figure fled toward and through a wall, knocking over books.

Whatever the thing was, it stepped or floated over the dogs dish on the floor in its path and did not disturb this very obvious obstacle, he says.

While many people might have thought it was a ghost, Goerman says, I dont assume to know what it was. I was awake and saw something that was both solid and not so solid. It was dark. I thought it was my wife at first. It was something that was real, yet not real, at the same time. It was unknown and unexplained, he says.

Perhaps these encounters with the unknown are just currently beyond our understanding, Goerman says. Maybe we simply have no context to explain what our eyes tell us, he says.

Goerman believes in God. I do not believe in ghosts, aliens or monsters. But something is being encountered by startled witnesses from time to time, he says.

ON A RECENT woods ramble, I passed by a black bear who eyed me from about 50 yards as I hiked along the trail. It appeared to be indifferent to my presence. I was pleased it didn’t approach me in the hope of mooching a sandwich or two.

That sometimes happens with bears that have come to associate humans with food — not humans as food, but humans as food-carriers.

They learn to see backyard bird feeders, trash barrels and campsites as sources of easy meals as they become habituated to humans.

Incidents over the years on trails, at campsites and in back yards around the state have shown that black bears can be opportunistic and persistent in their quest for food.

Unfortunately, those characteristics can also lead to their demise if they become used to humans and approach too closely, mess with unsecured trash cans or attempt to swipe campers’ food left within easy reach.

The sad adage A fed bear is a dead bear is all too true, as land managers and wildlife managers are pressed to dispatch emboldened bears that pose a threat to public safety.

We humans can help hungry bruins avoid such a fate by practicing a few easy steps to help keep bears from becoming nuisance animals.

Around home, be sure to bring in bird feeders before bears leave their winter dens and secure waste containers in a building or other enclosure out of a bear’s reach, and keep sweet-smelling items out of the compost pile.

In camp, be sure to hang all food, toiletries and other smelly items in sealed containers inside a bear bag, suspended at least 10 feet above the ground and five feet out from a branch that can’t support a bear’s weight. If car camping, such items can be stored in a closed vehicle. If you’re camping at a designated campsite that has a bearproof box, use it. Backpackers can also invest in bear-proof containers.

When camping, keeping a clean campsite is a first line of defense against hungry bears.

Cleaning up any spilled food is important. A fire pit should not be used to burn garbage or dispose of grease. It’s advisable to separate your camp-site’s cooking area from the sleeping area, and pitch your tent upwind of the cooking area. Wearing specific clothes when cooking that also go into the bear bag is another good idea. Campers shouldn’t sleep in clothes worn when cooking, nor should they cook, eat or store food inside their tent.

A poster prepared by the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department and US

Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services advises that if one encounters a bear: Remain standing. Maintain non-threatening eye contact.

Back away slowly, speaking in a soft, confident voice. Don’t run or climb trees. Report bear encounters to camp management.

An informational card distributed by New Hampshire Fish and Game notes, Normal trail noise should alert bears to your presence and prompt them to move without being noticed However, if you see a bear, keep your distance. Make it aware of your presence by clapping, talking, singing or making other sounds.

In a recent newspaper column, White Mountain National Forest Public Affairs Officer Tiffany Benna wrote, Wild bears have a natural fear of humans and will attempt to avoid people and developed areas But, she noted, a bear that has been successful at getting food from humansupplied sources will abandon natural foods and go for the ‘easy’ food. She notes that if people adopt correct behavior in bear country, that will help keep bears from changing their natural behavior, to the benefit of both people and bears.

Rob Burbank is the director of media and public affairs for the Appalachian Mountain Club in Pinkham Notch. His column,Outdoors with the AMC,appears every other week in the New Hampshire Sunday News.

It was an image that defined the new Andy Murray, an Andy Murray who had added physical strength and durability to the outstanding talent which had been evident from his earliest days on the international junior circuit. After hitting the match-winning serve against Richard Gasquet here three years ago, with the clock showing 9.30pm and Centre Court in near darkness, Murray rolled up a sleeve to show off his bulging biceps.

The Scots gesture was a celebration of all his work over the previous eight
months. Murray had lost the first two sets to Gasquet, who then served for
the match in the third, only for the Scot to launch a remarkable comeback in
front of a pumped-up crowd, finally clinching victory after nearly four
hours.

As Murray prepares to face the Frenchman again in the fourth round here
tomorrow, the memory is one to inspire the world No 4. It was the
first time I had come back to win from two sets to love down at a tournament,
Murray said.

RENO, NV, Jun 27, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) –
PPJ Enterprise (pinksheets:PPJE), a leader in proprietary
automated health care reimbursement cycle software (all specialties),
online health information digital systems software and practice
information management digital system software for health care
providers and general businesses, today updates its shareholders.

The Company has filed ‘Certificate of Change Pursuant to NRS 78′ with
Nevada Secretary of State on 6/22/2011 for Reverse Stock Split of 100
to 1 to be effective on 7/10/2011.

The Company has decided to retain Mina Mar Group to provide Global
investors Relation Services and in process of signing service
agreement.

The Company is in process of developing its Executive Team of
management to prepare the Company for moving up on to higher
Exchanges.

The Company will provide incentives post reverse split to all
shareholders as it was announced on June 9, 2011. In addition, the
Company will guaranty share value to be .01 at all times to the
effected shareholders of this reverse split, post reverse split if
share value drops below .01, all effected shareholders will receive
additional shares of the Company. Since the Company does not have
registered shares to issue, incentive shares will be issued under
U.S. Security and Exchange Rule 144. Restricted period is six months
holding period if the Company becomes a reporting company otherwise
holding period is one year.

The Company status with the OTC Markets dropped due to updated
Disclosure Statement and ‘Attorney Letter.’ The Company expects to
complete updated filing by July 5, 2011 and expects to be ‘Current’
with the OTC Market.

Forward-Looking Statements

“Safe Harbor” Statement under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains or may contain
forward-looking statements such as statements regarding the Company’s
growth and profitability, growth strategy, liquidity and access to
public markets, operating expense reduction, and trends in the
industry in which the Company operates. The forward-looking
statements contained in this press release are also subject to other
risk and uncertainties, including those more fully described in the
Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The
Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking
statements to reflect actual results, changes in risks, uncertainties
or assumptions underlying or affecting such statements, or for
prospective events that may have a retroactive effect.

Investor Relations
PPJ Enterprise
email: info@ppjenterprise.com
Tel: (775) 348-5735

SOURCE: PPJ Enterprise

mailto:info@ppjenterprise.com

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