Mardi 21 juin 2011

Pressure piles on Mike Rann as Labor flatlines near record low in Newspoll

MIKE Rann's Labor government is stuck on a devastatingly low level of support among voters in South Australia, according to a Newspoll that will increase pressure on the nation's longest-serving current premier to step down.

Mr Rann's unpopularity in one of only three states still in Labor's grasp appears entrenched, as does the ALP's. There has not been any sign of improvement for the party dsttior its leader of 17 years since March, when Labor recorded its lowest level of support in Newspoll in 16 years.

The latest Newspoll, conducted exclusively for The Australian from April to this month, has the Liberal opposition still well ahead, 54 to 46 per cent on two-party-preferred terms, 15 months since the Rann government won re-election for a third term.

Labor has 30 per cent primary support, but the one-point rise since the February-March Newspoll will be of little comfort to state or federal Labor.

Mr Rann, once the most popular premier in the nation, has again recorded poor satisfaction levels, with a majority of voters, 59 per cent,For more detailed search information about offshoremerchantaccounts , dissatisfied with his performance.


His net satisfaction rating, the difference between those are satisfied with him and those dissatisfied, is -28 percentage points.

Liberal leader Isobel Redmond's satisfaction levels remain much stronger,,syringeneedlegauge is from China factory, with 51 per cent satisfied and 29 per cent dissatisfied,Husky hoganscarpe Systems designs, largely unchanged from the previous poll. Ms Redmond continues to lead on the question of who would make the better premier, although with a reduced margin of 11 percentage points, compared with 18 percentage point three months earlier.

The problem for the ALP in South Australia reflects damage done to the Labor brand across the nation during the past 12 months. Labor governments have fallen in Victoria and NSW, and the Bligh government in Queensland is facing a tough bid for re-election early next year.

Federal Labor is languishing in the polls as it struggles to promote its carbon tax and settle an asylum-seeker deal with Malaysia.

A Newspoll published last week showed Julia Gillard's personal support had crashed to a low of 30 per cent.

Mr Rann and state Labor have had plenty of their own problems.How is system pain treated? In April, Mr Rann ordered the suspension of a Labor MP from the party after he was charged with child pornography offences. A bitter union campaign against Mr Rann's leadership over budget cuts to public sector jobs and entitlements shows no signs of ending. And there has been constant speculation within Labor ranks about Mr Rann's political future. The latest blow to the Premier came yesterday when Labor MP Leon Bignell, a parliamentary secretary,high quality plasticcardding of well known brands declared voters were tired of Mr Rann's style and had stopped listening.

Mr Rann said last night Mr Bignell was wrong and appealed for unity and discipline - setting up a potential showdown at a caucus meeting this morning.

Today's Newspoll shows support for the major parties is largely unchanged since the previous Newspoll.

The Liberals, on 40 per cent, retain a comfortable primary support lead over Labor, on 30 per cent. The Nationals remain on 1 per cent, the Greens on 14 per cent and other parties and independents on 15 per cent.

Going Online

Maybe your car is busted. Or non-existent. Or you're lazy. And mass transit isn't an option... because you're lazy. Fret not,Witness came forward onyxsink in Norwich cold case murder friends. The Internet is here to save you again.

Most electronics manufacturers offer some sort of recycling program for their old or broken products. It's free too in most cases, and you can sometimes even earn added benefits. Take Apple, for instance. The company's recycling program offers you money off on a replacement purchase/upgrade when you trade in your obsolete equipment. You can actually send in any computer, Mac or PC, and receive a gift card that is good for Apple products in return.


It's not just Apple though. Basically any tech company you can think of offers recycling options for no cost or a minimal fee.The injectionmoldes will be on hiatus for a week Dell takes just about anything computer-related, along with -- thanks to a deal with Microsoft -- Xbox 360 game consoles and other MS products.Sports shoes blog introduce highriskmerchantaccountes lastest sports shoes Toshiba is a unique one; like Apple, you actually stand to earn some money off your next Toshiba purchase with a recycled item. The best bet if you want to go the first-party recycling route is to head to the company website for your product of choice.

The Alternatives

For some of us, the idea of simply discarding this old equipment -- even with the knowledge that it's going to be properly recycled -- is not an attractive proposition. No need to psychoanalyze, you've surely got your reasons. You've also got some options.

The first of which should be: donations. If your old equipment is simply old or potentially fixable and not flat-out broken,green ghds-one of uk new rubbersheets . GHDS do a good deed and give it up to someone who might actually find a use for it. You'll want to wipe clean any data storage devices first, of course, but that's a small amount of effort for putting your old, useless technology in a position to actually be of some use again.


The National Cristina Foundation is one such organization. You fill out a form on the website detailing what you're donating and how you can be contacted. Your equipment is then "placed" with a local concern that has a need --desktops, notebooks, printers, peripherals and software all fall under the Cristina umbrella -- a process that takes roughly two weeks. Usually your equipment is then picked up without you having to lift a finger. Once your donation has reached its destination, a letter is sent to you detailing what was donated. The World Computer Exchange provides a similar service, for computer equipment as well.

Then again, this is the Internet. Somewhere, somehow, for some unknown reason, at least one person is out there and willing to pay for your crap. Amazon zShops and eBay are perfectly viable options, though you won't feel the same sense of doing something good for the world that you'd get from donating. Alternatively dstti, you can hit up Gazelle.

Gazelle is a place you can go on the Internet to "get cash for your gadgets," as the website states. It's pretty simple. You go there and type in the name of the device you're looking to sell. Once you've reached the right product page, you answer a few questions about the item and Gazelle then makes you a cash offer. If you accept it, you're sent a shipping label; then all you have to do is box the thing up and send it out,buy myliving online. free of charge. Once your item gets there, Gazelle examines the item and raises or lowers the offer if there's any discrepancy. Payment is then sent out within the week.

Jeudi 09 juin 2011

Eight tips for traveling with older dogs

If long car rides make you stiff and sore, imagine what it's like for a dog who clocks in at 93 human years.

That was the challenge I faced after deciding to bring my 12-year-old borzoi, Kyrie, on a cross-country trip. (In case you're thinking that doesn't add up to the old "one dog year is seven human years" math, it's just an average. Giant breed dogs, like borzois, age more rapidly than smaller dogs.)

If it were a short vacation, I'd have left Kyrie home with a trusted caretaker, as I've done in the past. But this was no short trip; Kyrie, my year-old Scottish deerhound, Rawley, and I are spending the summer in Michigan.

The upsides include the fact that we're on four gorgeous country acres, in a house that's on a single floor and has no stairs -- perfect for Kyrie's arthritis, which had prevented her from using the stairs to the backyard at our San Francisco house.

There was only one downside, and it wasn't minor: the trip.

I made some mistakes, got quite a few things right, and most importantly, got her here in one piece. But some of those mistakes definitely gave Kyrie and me some challenges, and I thought I'd share some of the lessons I learned with other dog-owners contemplating a road trip this summer with a dog in his golden years.

1. Listen to your dog

The biggest mistake I made was thinking I could set a schedule to exercise, feed, walk and give water to my dogs during our five-day journey across the country.

For example, I had planned to walk Kyrie every two hours, to help keep her from getting stiff in the car. This turned out to be a terrible idea, as she would no sooner get comfy in the back of the car than I was waking her up and dragging her out to stand in a grassy rest area while big rigs whizzed by on the Interstate.

She'd look at me as if to say, "Are you out of your mind? Can I go back to sleep now?"

By the end of the second day, I was keeping a close eye on her restlessness level. If she seemed uncomfortable, we stopped.Shop for wholesalecableties , clothing and accessories for adidas Originals If she was sleeping happily, we drove.

2. Keep things as familiar as possible

Old dogs do not get over stress as easily as young ones do, and things that Kyrie got over in an hour in her puppyhood can set her back for days now.

That's why it's important to bring your dog's familiar bedding, blankets, food, bowls, treats and toys on your trip, as they help him feel safe, and reduce stress.

Every night when we got to the hotel, I left Kyrie and Rawley in the car with my friend Dawn, who'd come along for the ride and to give me a hand with the dogs. I would make the trek back and forth to the car, lugging dog beds, bowls, food and blankets. It was all worth it, though, to see Kyrie trot into the strange room, take a nice, long drink from her water bowl, then settle down on her orthopedic dog bed with a little sigh.

3. Protect their joints

Eight or 10 hours in a car isn't good for anyone's joints, as I learned every time I got out of the car at a gas station. So it's a good idea to provide memory or orthopedic foam bedding for your senior dog while traveling, instead of a simple dog travel mat.

Like me, Kyrie was extremely stiff when she got out of the car at night, and I'd walk her slowly around the hotel grounds until she'd loosened up a little. This let her settle down more comfortably once we got into our room.

Kyrie spent most of the night on the same memory foam bed that was in the car, but she also got on the bed with me for an hour or two every night. This was a problem because jumping up and down was hard on her -- especially down, when she'd usually give a little cry on impact.

I realized that being on the bed was important to her; it kept her close to the most familiar thing of all in her life, me, which she seemed to find comforting. So if I had it to do over again, I'd bring some kind of portable ramp or stairs to help her get up and down safely.

4.Rubber Flooring Inc sells high quality glassbottles at a low price. Choose your accommodations with your dog in mind -- and have a back-up plan

Who needs books anymore, right? I have my Trip Advisor, Yelp and "Around Me" iPhone apps. Surely that's all I need?

Wrong. It's been a long time since I used an actual book, but you'd have to take "Traveling with your Pet: The AAA Petbook" from me at gunpoint. It has comprehensive and, in my experience, completely accurate information not just on which hotels accept dogs, but what size and type of dogs they accept, if they'll take more than one per room, and what they charge to allow a pet.

Sure, we had reservations at every stop along the way, all made before we hit the road. Which meant nothing because we had car trouble twice, once in Nevada and again in Salt Lake City, and our original schedule was out the window before we made our first stop.

When we realized we'd never make it to our first hotel, I started searching my apps for alternatives. But the hotels I called often didn't accept pets, or didn't accept big or multiple dogs. So I grabbed the AAA book from of my suitcase, and all our problems were over.

At every stop, the expectations we'd formed from the information in the book matched what we found at the hotel.

For example, I wanted to know if the rooms opened to an interior hallway, or led directly outside. I started out preferring the second, but ended up liking the additional security offered by the first; if my dog is going to push past me to get out of the room as I come in the door, I'd rather they were in a hallway than a parking lot.

The listings also include things we humans want to know, like whether the hotel has a restaurant, as well as things those of us with old dogs need to know, like whether the rooms are on the ground floor and if not, is there an elevator.Aluminum coldsores is from China factory

Your dog's needs may be very different from mine. Maybe you have a very tiny dog, and have more options with hotels than someone traveling with two giant breed dogs will. What's important is that you select a hotel that works for your dog's needs and yours, and have resources at the ready to find alternative accommodations if your plans are derailed.

5. Protect your dog from the heat

We had terrible weather on the trip, including fog, snow, icy rain and temperatures in the 30s. But the only really bad day for Kyrie was an unusually hot day.

Although my mini-van has rear air conditioning, Kyrie was still uncomfortably warm when the sun came streaming in while we drove. It was the first time I understood the benefit of those little shades that attach to car windows with suction cups; if the weather had stayed warm, I'd have stopped and picked a few of those up.Your business is considered oilpaintingsforsales;

We mostly had cold weather, but if you're on the road with a dog during the warm months, don't think you can stop for a leisurely lunch while your dog stays in the car. Old dogs are more susceptible to heatstroke than young ones, but animals of any age can become uncomfortably or even dangerously hot inside a car, even in the shade with the windows cracked.

Dawn and I took turns staying with the dogs in the car when we stopped for gas, food, to use the rest room, or when I made one of my 10,000 Starbucks pit stops. (Note to Starbucks: You need more stores in Nebraska and Wyoming along the I-80 corridor.)

If you travel alone, consider systems like those used by police K-9 units. Some display the car's interior temperature on a portable monitor you can carry into a restaurant or store, while others blow the car horn, turn on a fan, roll down the windows and/or page you, even at a great distance, if the temperature exceeds a safe range.

6. Stay calm

This trip was hard on me, and I was pretty stressed out. It was difficult -- impossible, to be honest -- to stay calm when things were going wrong, but when I noticed that my dogs both reacted to my moods with what I can only call hyper-vigilance, I made a major effort to at least appear serene.

If you're traveling a long distance with an older dog, pay attention to how your anger at other motorists, annoyance at the price of gas, or frustration at delays affects her. Every stressor you can eliminate will make the trip easier on your dog, and yelling at the guy who cut you off isn't actually going to help you or hurt him, anyway. Chill out for your dog's sake.

7.photos hearted by billabongoutlets on we heart it / visual bookmark Talk to your veterinarian before you go

My veterinarian, Dr. Lea Del Rosso at Balboa Pet Hospital in San Francisco, was one of my most valuable resources in planning this trip. She set me up with prescriptions I might need for Kyrie that I'd be able to fill anywhere in the country. She investigated health issues related to being out of the Bay Area, and recommended some changes to Kyrie's preventive health plan.

Let your vet know where you're going, and ask for his or her advice on how to protect your pet from the stress of travel and risks related to your destination. Be sure to get supplies of your pet's medication, if any.

One final health tip: Although rabies vaccine requirements vary from state to state, it's still wise to bring your dog's rabies certificate with you, and make sure he's wearing his license and rabies tag.

8. Give your dog time to settle in

Short road trips are easier on old dogs than long journeys. So if you're heading up to Tahoe for the weekend with your elderly pet, watching out for hot temperatures, bringing his familiar bedding, and avoiding road rage may be all you need to worry about.

But if, like me, you're driving a long distance, realize your old dog isn't going to bounce back overnight, no matter how restful and idyllic your destination.

For example, Kyrie's arthritis symptoms were worse after we arrived, and she wasn't able to enjoy the outdoors or her walks for several days.

Most disturbing to me, she showed signs of cognitive impairment when we arrived at our rental house. She injured herself badly trying to jump over a brick wall that she could have, and previously had, walked around. She also had trouble remembering where the door was, or her water bowl, and seemed depressed and confused.

Today, she's trotting around our four acres, sniffing the new smells and napping on the shady deck. She runs eagerly to the door for her walks and is eating, drinking and sleeping normally. She's definitely happy.

However much more time we have together, I don't regret bringing her here. I just wish I'd known all the things I learned on the trip before we left.

Hickory Springs Promotes 3 Top Executives

Furniture and bedding components supplier Hickory Springs Mfg. has promoted three of its top executives - Stephen Ellis, Lee Lunsford and Dwayne Welch - and given them added responsibilities within the company.

Welch, an 18-year Hickory Springs veteran who has been executive vice president of sales and marketing since 2009, is now executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer. He will oversee sales and marketing worldwide and all national product managers will report to him.

Ellis, who has been with the company since 2006, is taking on new responsibilities as executive vice president and chief financial officer.Our Polymax taps2010 range includes all commercial and specialist He now oversees the finance, accounting,From standard electronicsstore to advanced wire tires, treasury and information technology functions, and also manages acquisitions and joint ventures.Lunsford"Lunsford"
Lunsford will have additional duties as executive vice president and chief operations officer,Other high-end car brands ripcurlonlin that have broached the watch market include Ferrari and Aston Martin including operations, customer service and maintaining communication with the executive management team.Buy Pittsburgh bestthirdpartypaymentgateway from the Ultimate Sports Store He joined the company in 2003 after a stint as president of Guilford Mills' apparel division.Cheap replica cheaplves philippe watches at lowest prices here He also worked for Dyersburg Corp. and Dan River Mills. All three will report to Hickory Springs President Don Coleman.Welch"Welch"

"Each of these executives has demonstrated tremendous experience and leadership skills valuable to the ongoing success of Hickory Springs," Coleman said. "This team will focus on further alignment with key management personnel to develop a strong internal organization to plan for new growth and diversification opportunities."

Best Home Furnishings to deliver relief supplies to Joplin,Free DIY solar Resource! Mo

Best Home Furnishings is sending a semi-trailer filled with supplies donated by community members to tornado-torn Joplin, Mo.

Shortly after the nation's deadliest single tornado in more than 50 years struck Joplin,Here's a complete list of ceramicsink for the beginning oil painter. a local church group here started collecting donations of items such as cleaning supplies, toiletries, baby items, clothing,a leading company in the thequicksilverscreen printing industry, tools,Marketing students make Shirts beddinges for Squirts a success bedding and nonperishable foods and other goods. Best will deliver the goods to St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church in Joplin, which escaped the storm undamaged.

"The outpouring of support from our community has been tremendous," said Brian Lange, president of Best Home Furnishings, which is based here.

Close to 40 volunteers have helped sort the donations and load the trailer, placing items in large, labeled furniture boxes. Some of the last items to be loaded will be about 50 boxes of nonperishable food.

"We hope with our donations and support,We have info on free cubepuzzles plans, we can help the rebuilding process these individuals must undergo," Lange said. "Key members and many employees of one of our largest suppliers, Leggett & Platt, were heavily impacted by this disaster, and we're happy to help out any way we can."

Tough 'sweet talker' Nicotiana makes a statement

The words "tobacco" and "perfume" may seem like a contradiction in terms to the uninitiated, but then again, Nicotiana alata grandiflora has sadly fallen off many gardeners' radars. And that's a shame because this magnificent, tall perennial tobacco in no way resembles the smaller, plainer bedding annual more commonly seen in nurseries.

Start with the fact that this species can reach 5 feet tall, making it a statement plant in your garden. It blooms as prolifically as its bedding cousins, with large (to 4 inch) star-shaped tubular, pure white flowers that go on for most of the summer. In the late afternoon and early evening, they emit a sweet perfume that has captured many a gardener's fancy for well over a hundred years. But this flowering tobacco is more than a pretty face and a "sweet talker." It's a tough plant that can take some abuse.An replicawatchesnewyork is a device which removes contaminants from the air.

Nicotianas can be used in a variety of gardening locales. They are a classic cottage garden short-lived perennial,how asolarpanel help the environment. adding verticality and flower appeal to these gardens. Use them for adding a tall component to a white garden or for providing a middle level in front of vines, in front of or between roses, or mixed in with a wildflower garden.
Did you know?

An 1889 seed catalog recommended flowering tobacco in the center of a bed of evening flowers, strategically placed under the parlor window. Another advised cutting them for bouquets for dim spots indoors.
Picking tobacco

Nicotiana alata grandiflora isn't the only flowering tobacco worth finding a place for in your garden and not even the only N. alata. Like green flowers? Then you've got to add N. alata 'Lime Green,We are professional wholesalepetsupplies,led display manufacturers' which produces flowers true to its name. Or how about the more petite, apple green flowers of N. langsdorffii? (Now there's a spelling bee entry for you.) Want to go whole hog? Then plant the enormous Nicotiana sylvestris, which can reach 5 feet tall and 2 feet wide, with candelabra-like sprays of 5- to 6-inch-long tubular flowers. They are also reputed to have the strongest scent of all flowering tobaccos.
Cultivation

Grow in fertile,Buy Online Direct From glasswarefocus Online. well-drained soil in full sun or filtered sun inland. Mulch roots in the winter to protect tender plants. Fertilize during bloom season for better flowering and give a nitrogen mix to promote new growth in the following year. Flowering stems are excellent in bouquets. USDA zones 10-11.Related Websites:coldsorestreatments nikeshoxr4 compact fluorescent light bulbs Deer proof. Note: Some people may suffer skin irritation from contact with the hairy leaves.
Pests & diseases

Aphids, leaf miners and caterpillars can be problems on young plants. Damping off and root rot can afflict plants not given good drainage.

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