Sunday, April 24, 2011

The California Controller’s office reports that eleven state agencies have given US$13.3 million in pay and travel advances that have not been collected.

Governor Jerry Brown issued an executive order to recover uncollected loans by the agencies. A press release from the governor’s office states, “The Governor’s Executive Order seeks to recover taxpayer dollars by directing state agencies and departments to clear salary and travel advances within 30 days through an expense claim.” Any outstanding balance will be deducted from employees’ paychecks under the governor’s order after the 30 days.

Under California state law, state employees are permitted to receive advances for hardship, travel, and other circumstances. These advances cannot be collected by agencies after three years without the employee’s consent.

State Controller John Chiang said in a statement, “The state’s poor debt collection and accounting practices are fleecing public coffers at a time when vital public programs are being decimated by unprecedented budget cuts.” Chiang’s office expects there will be more money unaccounted for, including some from the California Highway Patrol (CHP). California state law mandates that anyone convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol is required to pay for the investigation. The CHP has not collected this money.

The California Department of Transportation, also called Caltrans, has the largest debt of the eleven agencies: $3.2 million. Cal Fire, or the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, “had an outstanding balance of $1.44 million as of June 30, 2008. An overwhelming portion of that balance was related to employee salary and travel advances,” according to a controller’s office audit.

Chiang’s office had informed former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger there were outstanding debts, but Schwarzenegger’s administration did not take action.

All eleven agencies have agreed to hand over any delinquent accounts to the controller’s office, who will collect these debts.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=California_employees_owe_state_US$13.3_million_in_unpaid_loans&oldid=4629244”
Posted in Uncategorized

Choose a remedial massage practice North Sydney

by

healthwise

Sports injuries are common, and sportsmen that attend a massage therapist regularly ensure that minor injuries are treated correctly before the becoming debilitating which will reduce their performance. Injuries that recur are injuries that have never been treated properly. common injuries that can be treated successfully use massage techniques include adhesions, tennis elbow, Achilles tendon, scar tissue, continuous strain injuries, shin splints, hamstring injuries, frozen shoulder, tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome and whiplash injuries. Remedial massage is not the same as aromatherapy, and is not used to promote relaxation; remedial massage increases mobility, vitality and performance levels. This type of massage therapy is mainly used to treat over exerted muscles. Remedial massage is equally effective for non athletes, although is mainly focused on athletes.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZBZTaZxrXQ[/youtube]

For instance people involved in accidents, remedial massage is equally effective. Age related debilitating conditions that were caused due to old injuries can also be successfully treated with massage therapy which will strengthen the area as well as promote better mobility. The word massage was derived from the Arabic word Mas h, meaning press softly as well as the Greek work Massein which means kneading. The oldest physical medicine known to man is massage and dates back to around 400BC to the early Chinese medical manuscripts. Records show that the father of medicine, Hippocrates advocated massage. Julius Caesar also received massage therapy for his neuralgia as did many other Romans.

Remedial massage practice North Sydney Eastwood

is one of the fastest growing practices in the health care field. A scientific therapeutic massage system was created in 1776 to 1839 by Peter Ling a Swedish professor, which is now known as Swedish massage. Remedial and other types of massage is manipulation of the body s soft tissue, ligaments, muscles and tendons. The most important tool is a massage therapists hands, which also is able to detect emotional and physical problems. A therapist palpates the body is order to determine the condition of the tissues as well as locate painful areas, and then will apply the correct remedial massage treatment. Massage is in line with the various body systems such as relaxing and mechanical actions. The mechanical action for example creates movement of the soft tissue and muscles by applying stretching and pressure movements that in turn clears out toxic deposits and acids, and also loosens stiff joints and breaks up fibrous tissue.

Various parts of the body are connected together by nerve and bone pathways, and relax mechanical massage is where the therapist presses into the meridians to promote the flow of energy. The reflex action is used to treat stomach ailments and by massaging the lower back alleviates pain in the legs.

James Ryker has over many years of experience in the field of health & fitness, provides the most appropriate solution for basic health needs like Remedial massage practice North Sydney Eastwood. You can do a close watch on trends in his field of expertise on healthwiseonline.com.au.

Article Source:

ArticleRich.com

Posted in Massage Therapy

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Ikeda Kanako, a 21-year-old senior student of the Meiji Gakuin University and the first daughter of celebrity surgeon Yuko Ikeda, was kidnapped at about 1225 (UTC+9), June 26, 2006, in Shibuya, Tokyo.

A bullet was fired and one officer slightly cut when police stormed a Kawasaki apartment to rescue the girl.

Kanako was dressed in a white light half-sleeved cardigan, blue jeans with a bistre belt made of leather, a spring green camisole and carried a bag of Vuitton when she was abducted at a bus stop.

She was found unharmed 13 hours later by Japanese police at a condominium located in Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa. The young woman’s make-up was not disordered; Kanako’s long brown fringe was not disheveled at all and she was wearing what she had been when she was kidnapped.

The kidnapping of Kanako was a big story in Japanese media in June, 2006. The story appeared in many newspapers as the front-page news on June 27, 2006.

Kanako and her kidnappers had been in touch with her mother using Kanako’s mobile phone. The effort to free her was helped greatly by a woman who witnessed the moment Kanako was taken; she wrote down the license plate of the van and other details.

Police traced mobile phone calls and were able to locate the van in Kawasaki where they detained two of the kidnappers as they went shopping.

One conspirator Li Yong, 29, from China, led the policemen to the apartment and tricked Kaneo Ito, 49, from Japan, to open the door. Ito managed to discharge one bullet before being restrained by an assistant police inspector, the first man in the room.

The other man involved in the kidnap of Kanako was Choi Gi Ho, 54, from South Korea. Kanato was freed unharmed.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested three men on suspicion of conspiring to kidnap a woman and hold her to a reported 300 million yen ransom.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Daughter_of_Yuko_Ikeda_kidnapped_to_ransom_in_Tokyo;_freed_13_hours_later&oldid=1765889”
Posted in Uncategorized

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Gabriel Amorth, the Roman Catholic Church’s leading exorcist, has suggested missing schoolgirl Emanuela Orlandi was kidnapped for sexual abuse at orgies attended by foreign diplomats and arranged by Vatican police. Orlandi was fifteen when she vanished in 1983.

Amorth, 85, who was appointed by the late Pope John Paul II, makes his remarks as Italian police try to determine if bones buried near the body of a mobster belong to Orlandi. Anonymous claims have suggested the tomb of Enrico “Renatino” De Pedis contains clues to her disappearance.

Investigators are examining bones removed from his burial site in the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare. Buried in a nearby crypt, the bones are thought to be centuries old but forensic tests are ongoing. One theory is Pedis kidnapped Orlandi to press Vatican officials over a financial dispute, with his onetime lover claiming her body was disposed of in a cement mixer.

Amorth refutes this explanation, and also an alleged “international dimension”; another theory is that the kidnapping was to try and secure freedom for Mehmet Ali Agca of Turkey, who shot at the pope in 1981. Orlandi’s vanishing “was a crime with a sexual motive” says Amorth. “Parties were organised, with a Vatican gendarme [policeman] acting as the ‘recruiter’ of the girls.”

He further told La Stampa “The network involved diplomatic personnel from a foreign embassy to the Holy See. I believe Emanuela ended up a victim of this circle”. “It has already previously been stated by [the late] monsignor Simeone Duca, an archivist at the Vatican, who was asked to recruit girls for parties with the help of the Vatican gendarmes.”

Orlandi has not been seen since she set off from the family apartment in the Vatican City, heading for a Rome music lesson. Orlandi’s father worked for the Holy See. Amorth is a controversial priest who lays claim to thousands of exorcisms and has criticised activities such as yoga and children reading Harry Potter books as spiritually harmful.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Top_exorcist_says_schoolgirl_was_kidnapped_for_Vatican_sex_ring&oldid=1834104”
Posted in Uncategorized

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Viktor Schreckengost, the father of industrial design and creator of the Jazz Bowl, an iconic piece of Jazz Age art designed for Eleanor Roosevelt during his association with Cowan Pottery died yesterday. He was 101.

Schreckengost was born on June 26, 1906 in Sebring, Ohio, United States.

Schreckengost’s peers included the far more famous designers Raymond Loewy and Norman Bel Geddes.

In 2000, the Cleveland Museum of Art curated the first ever retrospective of Schreckengost’s work. Stunning in scope, the exhibition included sculpture, pottery, dinnerware, drawings, and paintings.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Viktor_Schreckengost_dies_at_101&oldid=2584756”
Posted in Uncategorized

One a recent trip overseas I discovered just how useful a currency converter could prove itself, especially when negotiating contracts, hotel rooms, and even paying the restaurant bill.

While traveling this year I’ve converted my money into 4 different currencies and, if you’ve ever traveled abroad, you know you lose money every time you change your money from one currency to another.

In an effort to save my own financial skin, I turned to the Internet to help me figure out the best conversion rates ahead of time and gauge how much cash I’d actually need for each trip.

In the process, I discovered a veritable “buffet” of helpful and just plain cool converters and tools online.

They help you do everything from knowing your buying power abroad to what time to ask for a wake up call halfway around the world.

Currency Converter

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsCOjBXUlmA[/youtube]

Log on to and you can estimate the exchange of your currency into virtually any of 180 currencies in the world, including: U.S. dollars, Yen, British Pounds, Australian dollars, Euros, and more.

Simply enter the amount of money you want to convert, choose the currency you want to convert from and to, then click the button.

Instantly you’ll know the value of your money in another country based on the latest currency trading value available.

XE.com also offers a good FAQ section that explains how and why currency exchange rates vary along with information about currency markets.

XE.com gets their conversion data from a variety of sources around the world and, according to the site, updates their rates several times per day.

World Clocks

Log on to to find a wealth of tools to help you get a global perspective not only of local times and dates, but also local holidays and the best time to plan meetings.

From the home page a couple of links rate special attention.

The first, “The World Clock,” allows you to see the local time in most of the world’s capital cities.

You can select “Full World Clock” for an even more comprehensive list of cities and their local times around the world.

I found the World “Meeting Planner” the most useful part of the site for me.

It allows you to put in your current time zone location and then choose up to 3 additional cities around the world.

The site will then give you a list of times that represent the best times to hold a meeting over the net or via phone or teleconference.

You can then log on to the “Calendar” function on the site, select the country, and instantly see if any local holidays will conflict with your meeting or visit.

It even offers a handy little calculator that allows you to calculate the exact number of days, hours and minutes between two dates. I felt a lot older when I discovered that more than 13,000 days passed since the day I was born.

The site even allows you to see a live countdown to New Years day so you can time your champagne consumption accordingly.

Posted in Money Transfer

Thursday, October 29, 2009

File:El Maco.jpg

McDonald’s, the international fast food restaurant chain, will cease all operations in Iceland by the end of October.

The company blames the closure of the nation’s three outlets on drastically increased costs of importing its food ingredients, which mainly came from Germany. McDonald’s corporation says the current economic slump is to blame for rising costs, along with the “unique operational complexity” of keeping them open.

The restaurant, with its distinctive Golden Arches, began its Icelandic operations in 1993. Its outlets were operated by Lyst, a franchising company owned by Jon Gardar Ogmundsson. There are no plans to reopen any of the locations.

“[Stores have] never been this busy before… but at the same time profits have never been lower. It just makes no sense. For a kilo[gram] of onion[s], imported from Germany, I’m paying the equivalent of a bottle of good whisky,” said one Gardar Ogmundsson, the owner of the firm Lyst, to the BBC.

Lyst hopes to operate a new chain of restaurants, which will be supplied by domestic rather than imported food products.

McDonald’s, which operates in 119 countries globally, previously closed its sole retail outlet in Barbados in 1996 after only six months in operation, and withdrew from an additional seven countries in 2000 — including Bolivia — to reduce costs.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=McDonald%27s_restaurant_to_close_all_locations_in_Iceland&oldid=1541889”
Posted in Uncategorized

A compilation of brief news reports for Tuesday, January 13, 2009.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Wikinews_Shorts:_January_13,_2009&oldid=4398818”
Posted in Uncategorized

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

While nearly all cover of the 2008 Presidential election has focused on the Democratic and Republican candidates, the race for the White House also includes independents and third party candidates. These parties represent a variety of views that may not be acknowledged by the major party platforms.

As a non-partisan news source, Wikinews has impartially reached out to these candidates, throughout the campaign. The most recent of our interviews is Gaithersburg, Maryland’s Richard H. Clark (b. 1960), a senior software engineer and member of MENSA.

[edit]

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Wikinews_interviews_Richard_H._Clark,_independent_candidate_for_US_President&oldid=4560579”
Posted in Uncategorized

By C Swarens

Despite their status as the most popular pet in America, cats can still be difficult. With their sometimes aloof attitudes and unwillingness to tell us what they want, figuring out your cat can be tough.

When your cat, whether it’s an Abyssinian or a Turkish Van, starts misbehaving, it can cause serious damage. From ripped curtains to urine-stained bed sheets, a cat on the rampage is hard to handle. Unfortunately, many owners give up on cats with behavior problems, but there are steps you can take to help your cat grow through or out of them.

To learn how to stop your cat from misbehaving, keep reading for 4 key tips on how to understand your cat.

1. Take your cat to the vet for a complete physical.

Sometimes a behavior problem can actually be a physical problem. For example, a cat that’s urinating in strange places may be suffering from an illness or an infection.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NUlIMaJUL4[/youtube]

Your vet can also offer suggestions and advice for problems that are behavioral.

2. Check the house for environmental factors.

Sometimes the solution is simpler than you think so check around the house for environmental factors that could be wreaking havoc on your cat’s disposition.

For example, litter box problems are typically the source of rampant or improper urination. First, check where you’re keeping the litter box – is it next to a loud appliance or in a heavily trafficked area of the house? Just like you, your cat wants a private and quiet place to do its business. You can also try a covered litter box, which most cats, particularly longhaired cat breeds, tend to prefer.

Next, try switching out the litter that you’re using. If you’re using scented, try unscented and if you’re using non-clumping, try clumping. Some cats are just picky about their litter.

Finally, make sure the litter box is being cleaned frequently enough. Just as you wouldn’t want to use a dirty toilet, your cat also wants a clean litter box. Also, make sure there is at least one litter box per cat as cats prefer to have their own.

3. Look to your other pets.

Sometimes problems with other animals in the house, like an aggressive older cat or a constantly chasing dog can lead to behavioral problems. Much like the child who acts out after being bullied, your cat may be dealing with those issues in the same way.

Always introduce new animals into the house slowly, keeping them separated from one another, but still able to smell and hear each other. Once they’ve gotten acquainted, let them co-mingle. If you’re trying to deal with an existing problem, try using baby gates to keep your cats or pets separate from one another for a few days. This separation can help reduce anxiety.

4. Consult a professional.

Expensive and sometimes a last resort for many pet-owners, a pet behavior specialist may be able to help you and your cat work through your problems. According to the listings provided by the Association of Companion Animal Behavior Counselors (ACABC), a private behavior 1-hour consultation can cost anywhere from about $50 to $500, but most hover around the $70-$100 range.

About the Author: CS Swarens is the president of Find a Pet Online. 800 998-7065 For additional information on dogs, cats, birds, horses, and exotic pets visit the internet’s pet resource including pet classifieds at

findapetonline.com

. Research over 45 cat breed profiles at

findapetonline.com/cat_breeds_a_z.html

Source:

isnare.com

Permanent Link:

isnare.com/?aid=232029&ca=Pets

Posted in Bed Linen

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