America's coolest summer cottages

Courtesy Bob Coscarelli

A former camp, the Wandawega Lake Resort in Elkhorn, Wis., is a cluster of rental cottages done up with charming Americana touches like vintage Pendleton blankets, Boy Scout?issue axes and antique tennis rackets.

By Jen Swetzoff, Travel + Leisure

Remember when summer was endless? It smelled like pine needles and roasting marshmallows and felt like a splash of icy fresh lake water. Well, you can recapture those sensations at new bungalow cottages in Maine?without roughing it and without chintzy florals.

Hidden Pond?s cottages are part of a cool breed that prove an authentic, carefree vacation is still possible and can be even better than you remember, thanks to sophisticated twists. Whether as part of luxury resorts or as independent rentals, these rustic-chic cottages offer classic summertime activities alongside modern comforts and design. You can find them across the U.S. and often at affordable prices, especially when you tally up the included activities.

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Slideshow: See America's coolest summer cottages

If you want to swim in the Pacific Ocean and dine on fresh seafood, stay at Nick?s Cove, where the 12 renovated, cheerily-painted cottages all come with views of Point Reyes National Seashore, Calif. Go glamping in a cool A-frame cottage?with 16-foot windows, an oversize soaking tub and a floating staircase?in the private Far Meadow just outside Yosemite, and hike to your heart?s content. Or hide out in one of the 10 Midcentury Modern cottages at the Colony of Wellfleet, a former artists? retreat in a Cape Cod fishing village.

These homes away from home pamper guests with simple pleasures and an effortless sense of style and can be tailored to all kinds of getaways. Romantics will fall for The Prairie, a set of six cottages on a Texas homestead with ruffled bedding, chandeliers, flea market finds and taxidermy. Kids can sleep in a tepee next door to their parents? cottage at Dunton Hot Springs, Colo., or tackle the ropes course and archery at Wandawega, a former camp that opened its cottage doors in 2011, decked out with vintage Pendleton blankets and chandeliers of fallen antlers.

Some of the digs we?ve uncovered have TVs and Wi-Fi; many, like Wandawega, do not. Some have room service and spas?Hidden Pond?s Tree Spa treatment rooms are suspended eight feet above the ground?while others stick to hammocks and screened decks.

One thing?s for sure: these are all true getaways at tasteful retreats where you can slow down, unplug from technology (for a few hours a day, at least), feel the breeze in your hair and get sand or grass between your toes.

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Source: http://itineraries.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/07/25/12952902-americas-coolest-summer-cottages

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Addressing Abuse Within The LGBTIQ Community | Rooted In Being

In my city the champions of trauma are from the lesbian and gay community. ?Lesbians are the directors, advocates, counselors, crisis intervention workers, and loudest voice in the room when it comes to sexual violence. ?They are the ones on the frontlines training the police on domestic violence and how to respond sensitively and appropriately when they come across sexual violence and DV cases. ?Lesbians are on the forefront of the conversation about trafficking in my city, they head the coalitions ? they are the ones doing public outreach.

I have never had more meaningful group supervision meetings than when in a trauma agency. ?I was the minority at my agency, one of a few straight women within a majority lesbian agency. ?When we met we got real with each other about the intersections of race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and how it affected our interactions with each other, and with our clients.

What is it like for a gay man of color to counsel a straight middle aged white man? ?What baggage gets brought into the room, what stereotypes and preconceived notions are happening from both sides? How does class affect our treatment planning with a client? What does an openly lesbian counselor do when they have a homophobic client? ?Does race or sexual orientation trump a lesbian woman of color?s identification? ?How are we addressing racism in our agency? ?What are our thoughts on a transgender sexual violence survivor attending our woman only trauma groups? ?When a client asks for a white counselor or makes a racist remark, do we confront them on it or honor their requests/opinions? ?Do we allow someone with clear Schizophrenia to attend groups? ?How do we monitor medication management in a sensitive way? ?When a client is consistently dissociating in group do we ask them to stop attending?

These are the questions we asked, and arguments were had, tears shed ? and some of the most meaningful dialogues I have ever been a part of or had the opportunity to listen to ? happened.

As a majority lesbian run agency, I learned how we addressed LGBTIQ issues while also acknowledging the fact that we were not an agency that addressed LGBTIQ issues. ?If someone had issues specific to being a part of the LGBTIQ community, we had to refer them to an agency that addressed the community specifically.

There are no LGBTIQ agencies in my city that work specifically on trauma issues within the community.

And it is needed.

Many of our lesbian clients would disclose over the course of therapy that they never expected abuse to come from a woman. ?There is this stereotype that only men are abusive, and only men can give STD?s, and that this is not ?an issue? within the lesbian community. ?Many women who were out lesbians came to our agency dumbfounded that they had caught an std from their partner, or were being abused by their significant other. ?Clients would disclose that they never thought to use protection within a lesbian partnership.

Abuse is not a male issue only. ?It is also not a straight issue only. ?Research indicates that domestic violence among same-sex couples occurs at similar rates as domestic violence among straight couples.?

In trauma groups straight and LGBTIQ clients were taught about the same issues, because abuse is similar. ?A narcissistic abuser, whether male or female, employs the same tactics. ?Some researchers indicate that Borderline Personality Disorder?and Histrionic Personality Disorder is simply the female version of male Narcissism. ?Others state that Cluster B personalities are co-morbid within an individual, meaning a person with a Cluster B personality disorder can have the traits of each of the disorders in that category. ?The point being this: ?women can, and do, abuse other women.

With the new DSM V on it?s way, There will be no more Histrionic Personality Disorder nor Narcissistic personality disorder. ?Instead they are being lumped into the Antisocial/Sociopathic categrory.? I agree with this new designation, as many in the field agree that Narcissism/HPD can be interchangeable with sociopathy/psychopathy (which I have done on this blog myself, in my post about Narcissistic Abusers). ?This change in the DSM will eventually lead to our culture calling Narcissists sociopaths. ?Since we have already acknowledged this truth, it seems appropriate to me that this change in the DSM is taking place. ?I predict sexism will play out in men being diagnosed as sociopaths, and women being diagnosed as Borderline (we still are not sure if men and women truly present differently, or if bias in diagnosis is involved).

I just went on a tangent? Let me get back on track?

The point is that women have just as high of a prevalence of personality disorders that, in general terms, possess highly abusive traits. ?The lesbian community is not immune from this (nor GBTIQ communities). ?A pattern within sexual trauma, especially in male to female sexual violence, is that many times female survivors can have strong flashbacks and dissociation when interacting with men, and/or attempting a sexual relationship with a man. ?*Some* straight women dealing with the effects of sexual trauma find comfort, care, nurturing, and safety within the lesbian community ? and some gravitate towards lesbian relationships. ?What we then find in some lesbian communities is trauma survivors dealing with some pretty intense emotions, and bringing a lot of trauma and unhealed pain into their relationships with other women. ?The potential for abuse does not go unnoticed. ?Compound this one issue with women who have only been with other women, who are also navigating their own issues with abuse in their relationships (and the stigma attached to abuse in a same sex partnership) ? and we can logically say there is a need for more research/education/advocacy in how to best provide services.

With men, our field is just beginning to bud in providing trauma-informed counseling ? let alone counseling specific to gay male relationships.

As a community, how are we addressing the trauma needs of the LGBTIQ population?

Is it enough that we try to provide gay male counselors for gay male abuse survivors? ?Is it enough that we try to provide lesbian counselors for lesbian abuse survivors? ?Are there even enough LGBTIQ counselors who are trauma-informed and can meet the community need?

Are we addressing LGBTIQ specific trauma issues, concerns, and needs within our ?general? trauma agencies? ?Well, we are trying on an individual, case by case basis ? but it is hard to know if services provided are the most effective or competent when the research base that informs direct practice is lacking ? to say the least.

At the moment, in my city, trauma is treated in a general sense, with a ?treatment model? orientation of one size fits all. ?We can?t even say if this helps or harms the LGBTIQ community because we don?t have a large enough research base advocating one way or another.

There is a need.

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Source: http://rootedinbeing.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/addressing-abuse-within-the-lgbtiq-community/

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Hasbro Lazer Tag Single Blaster

By Will Greenwald

There is a difference between "laser tag" and "lazer tag." Laser tag is any toy or attraction that uses lasers or infrared beams to track hits in a gun battle-like setting. Lazer tag is Hasbro's brand of laser tag toys. Now that that's out of the way, I hope you can forgive the alternating of "laser tag" and "Lazer Tag" in this review. Hasbro has some new Lazer Tag laser tag guns that combine infrared beams with iPhone and iPod Touch-based augmented reality to make a laser tag game with multiple weapons, modes, and upgrades. The guns themselves are available for $39.99 (list) , or you can get a pair for $74.99 (list) . You can also use the free iOS app with your iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, or recent iPod Touch, but without a big plastic gun to connect to it, there isn't much to it.

The Blaster
The gun itself is a high-tech, brightly colored plastic pistol available in white with orange and grey accents, or yellow with grey and white accents. It looks similar to Hasbro's Nerf Vortex Vigilon pistol, but it doesn't shoot foam discs or darts. The device is powered by six AA batteries that fit into the butt of the gun behind a screw-locked door. There are two triggers in the finger guard of the gun, and a third reload button on the underside of the hand guard. The right side of the barrel holds the power switch and a switch that sets the gun to work indoors or outdoors, adjusting sensitivity to work under different lighting conditions. A large rectangular case on the butt of the gun serves as a mount for your iPhone ?or iPod Touch , with removable grey rubber sleeves for either device included with the gun. The gun comes with rubber sleeves for both devices, and it connects to them through the built-in 3.5mm audio cable; while it only works with the iPhone or iPod Touch, it doesn't use a 30-pin iPod connector and doesn't charge or get power from those devices.

You don't need an iPhone or iPod Touch to play Lazer Tag, but they're required for most of the interesting features. Without one, you can still play Lazer Tag, but the scoring and settings are done entirely through audio prompts and you can only use two weapons: a single-shot pistol and a machine gun. You also need someone else to play with if you don't have an iOS device.

The App
The Lazer Tag app for iOS adds a load of features to Lazer Tag, and integrates easily into the gun. With the app, you can assign multiple players to up to three teams, select and upgrade multiple weapons, and even play single-player games with the device's camera and augmented reality. While you can play the single-player mode using only augmented reality and the phone's camera without a Lazer Tag gun at all, you need the gun itself if you want to play multiplayer. The gun has multiple sensors and infrared emitters to both show your position on other players' guns and let you aim at them yourself. You just need to remember to turn the gun on when you start the Lazer Tag app; otherwise they won't work together.

The app worked without issue on the iPod Touch and iPhone 4, but coworkers who tried the app with the iPhone 4S saw it crash several times during a match. This is a big problem, because it can throw off the accuracy of matches since the guns aren't directly connected and put the action on hold while the app is restarted. Hasbro will hopefully release updates to the app in the future to improve stability.

The app's single player mode is a series of six shooting gallery levels that use the iPhone's camera to make aliens appear around you (on the screen). The regular trigger fires the gun, while the forward trigger raises a temporary shield to protect you from fire, and the underside button reloads guns with a tap and lets you select your weapon by holding it down. There are a handful of alien types, but the mode gets tedious pretty fast. Hopefully Hasbro will update the Lazer Tag app with multiple modes in the future, because the single player mode is currently only good for practice and to build up "energy" to buy and upgrade weapons. The weapons can be used in both single player and multiplayer mode, so if your friends haven't been playing as much as you they'll be at a disadvantage. To be fair, you might want to hold off on upgrading the pistol and make sure everyone only plays with the pistol.

Playing and Conclusion
Multiplayer with the Lazer Tag app is really fun, with the same shoot-shield-reload controls of the single-player mode. I played a two-on-two game with my coworkers in the PCMag.com Labs, and it was easy to set up two teams and start fighting. Because each app works separately, both starting and ending matches requires a cooperative effort. Players need to coordinate to press the appropriate team or solo button on the tap to start the match, and when the match is over players need to compare the hits they scored according to their apps (though the gun will audibly say if its player was knocked out).

Hasbro's new augmented reality Lazer Tag guns are a fun take on the classic laser tag format, but they're not perfect. Using the guns in combination with the iOS app adds a lot of variety to the game, but because nothing is connected you won't come close to the experience and balance of a fully-equipped laser tag arena. Most (or least, depending on your point of view) egregiously, the Lazer Tag guns don't actually use lasers; you have to approximate your shots without a pointer if you don't use an iOS device, and you have to use the on-screen crosshairs if you do. It feels like it's missing something without that bright red dot, but it's still good for injecting some action int a lazy afternoon. They're silly fun, and that's what matters most.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/ksQ4MA1tKr8/0,2817,2408099,00.asp

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Common Household Injuries and How to Prevent Them

Though we would love to think of our homes as incredibly safe, accidental injuries at home can and do happen often. If you take the right precautions, however, your home can be significantly safer for you and your family. Learn more about the most common household injuries that occur, and then learn steps you can take to prevent these common injuries from happening.

Falls

Falls are one of the most common causes of both home injuries and accidental home deaths. A variety of injuries can be caused by falls, ranging among minor scrapes, broken bones, permanent disability or death. Those most at risk for serious injury from an at-home fall are young children and the elderly. Falls can happen for any number of reasons, but there are things you can do to discourage dangerous falls in your house.

Start first with your bathroom and do what you can to make it a no-slip zone. Tubs and slick floors are especially dangerous, so you want to put down grip pads in the tub, install grab bars both in and near the tub, and make sure your floor mat is non-skid. For extra protection, you could install rougher flooring than the standard smooth tiles or linoleum most bathrooms have.

Around the rest of your home, you want to look for things like clutter, and other trip hazards. Remove clutter from the floor, and have designated spaces for items like shoes that are easy to forget about and trip over. Remove area rugs and throw rugs from your space if you can. These often have edges that flip up and create a tripping hazard. Put guard rails on your stairs if there aren?t any. If you have children, child-proof your home by blocking windows and stairs, and increase visibility for little eyes by leaving on night lights in each room and hallway.

Burns

Burns are another very common injury around the home. We most commonly encounter burns when we are cooking, but open flames, electrical shock, and even hot water are also causes. To prevent burns, it?s important to always be careful around hot surfaces, especially ovens and stoves. Always assume potentially hot surfaces are, in fact, hot until otherwise proven. Never force a plug into an outlet, and always have a certified electrician do any needed electrical work in your home. Keep pets and children away from candles and fireplace fires, and always extinguish any open flame completely. Turn your hot water heater down to around 110?F to discourage potential scalding.

Home fires are sometimes caused by unseen electrical flaws or by pests, so it is essential to keep a working smoke detector in your home at all times. Code routinely calls for a smoke detector in or just outside every bedroom. Check with your local code enforcement to find out what is required in your area. Test your smoke detector frequently. Early knowledge of a home fire is the best way to make sure you and your family are able to escape safely.

Cuts

Most cuts occur in the kitchen or dining room when we are using knives, but they can occur in other places in your home as well. The only way to avoid knife cuts is to always be careful when you are using a knife. Never look away from what you are cutting. Use proper cutting techniques, including curling your fingers away from the knife and cutting on a cutting board. Wear close-toed shoes when you will be doing any cutting, and if the knife falls, NEVER try to catch it. Supervise young children carefully around sharp objects, and keep knives and other sharp items out of reach of little hands.

Kitchi Joyce is the Director of Administrative Services for Southern Orthopaedics Specialists, a full service Atlanta orthopedic practice specializing in orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine. Southern Orthopaedics Specialists has multiple locations around the Atlanta Metro area where doctors, physicians and medical staff help patients live and perform at the peak of their physical ability. Decades of experience, education and research means that all branches ofAtlanta orthopedics are covered, from cartilage restoration to spine care and sports medicine. Learn more about Atlanta orthopedics at http://www.sos-atlanta.com/services/orthopaedic/.

Source: http://toddsblogs.com/healthandfitness/2012/08/14/common-household-injuries-and-how-to-prevent-them/

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The Queue: Pet battles

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.

Today's edition of The Queue is all about pet battles and the upcoming patch 5.0.4.

NunoMarce asked:

Regarding Companion Pets, I'm still in dark about what Pets I can and cannot put in a cage and sell. Suppose I've been stacking Mr.Grubbs from the Eastern Plaguelands, can I sell them once the xpack hits? What about Rep based pets, like the Tiny Sporeling? I was under the impression the only pets you couldn't sell were CE ones, but this has changed recently?

Wild pets, the ones you catch via battling, cannot be caged at all. If you want the best quality wild pets, you need to go out and catch them yourself, not just dump gold on them. Many of the pets you've learned via items over the years can be traded. Pets such as the Ammen Vale Lashling from the Argent Tournament can be caged and sold at your leisure. I don't have a complete list of those that cannot be caged/sold, but it's generally the ones with some supreme exclusivity such as collector's edition pets or other pets you simply cannot acquire multiple times. Of the pets in the game right now, well over 100 of them can be caged, sold, or traded.

As a few quick examples, I was just able to cage my Sinister Squashling, since it is an event item you can acquire repeatedly, but I was unable to cage Pebble because he is an achievement reward. Mojo was fair game because you can go get another one out of Zul'Gurub, but you cannot cage the Clockwork Gnome, since you can only get that once via archaeology.

demon.within.x asked:

are there going to be resistance like stuff in pet battles like in pokemon? (Ex. Fire is strong agents Grass and weak agents water)

Yes. I hope to have a clear guide to these strengths/weaknesses on the site before the expansion launch. I scratched the surface of the system in the guide to my first day of pet battles that I wrote a few weeks back.

Crazy_Drago1 asked:

Will we ever see an update to Karazahn? Maybe with a working "lower Karazahn" section? I know Blizzard likes to focus on new content instead of reusing old when they can. But Kara is likely one of the most popular instances in WoW and there are plenty of players who never got to experience it when it was new content. It's just not the same when you can blow through the instance solo as a level 85.

Probably. When? I don't know.

JCD1975 asked:

How much xp do you earn from pet battles? Is it a reasonable alternative for leveling?

You get very little XP from pet battles. The only XP you gain is via the few pet battle quests. The battles themselves give your pets XP. It isn't a leveling alternative; it's a secondary activity.

JeffLaBowski asked:

For us low-tech folks- How can you tell if you successfully downloaded the 5.0 patch? I saw my Blizzard downloader on my tool bar but it didn't look like anything was going on.

The easiest way would be to open your launcher, click the Info dropdown menu, and select Connection Info. It will tell you how much data you've downloaded, and if you're in the process of downloading, it will break down all of your P2P connections.

bookworm13 asked:

Will relics/totems go away in patch 5.0.4 of Mists? Just wondering when I should pull the trigger on disenchanting them to extract their delicious Maelstrom Crystal core.

Yep. They are all gray items of no value come patch 5.0.4, so if you're disenchanting them, do it the night before the patch.

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Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column. Leave your questions in the comments, and we'll do our best to answer 'em!

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Tags: featured, guide, mists-of-pandaria, patch-5.0.4, pet-battles, qa, question-and-answer, wow-answers, wow-daily-answers, wow-daily-questions, wow-guide, wow-player-questions, wow-q-and-a, wow-questions

Filed under: The Queue, Mists of Pandaria

Source: http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/15/the-queue-pet-battles/

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HCAD's Chief Appraiser Robinson, State Comptroller Susan Combs ...

Unless British Petroleum sells its Texas City Refinery at or very near the value?the complex is?listed on tax rolls of the Galveston County Appraisal District, three of the most important people in the property tax industry in the State of Texas are going to be revealed statewide as ones who sat back and did not do everything they could do to protect the public school finance system in Texas.

I have not included the chief appraiser in Galveston County in this mix because it would detract attention away from the three people in Texas who could do more and should do more to expose the degenerative impact that the phony issue of equity has had in giving the most valuable taxable property in Texas disproportionate benefit in a manner that rises to corporate welfare. Plus, Galveston County made a real effort to get to the bottom of this.?(More about that later in the column.)

While BP?s Texas City refinery is not within his jurisdiction, many other refineries are.? That?s why HCAD Chief Appraiser Jim Robinson belongs on this list.? He and his team have had several years to develop information exposing the impact of equity on these kinds of properties.? He and his team have had several years to forcefully communicate this information to the public, the jurisdictions of Harris County, and to the policy and lawmakers of Texas.

Rather, at this very moment, Chief Robinson and his team are fighting before the Attorney General of Texas to keep information presented at a public hearing an Appraisal Review Board protest hearing for Houston Refining held 2011 secret from public view.

Rather, at this very moment, Chief Robinson and his team are fighting before the Attorney General of Texas to keep information on how HCAD approached the issue of the equity value of refineries in the current tax year secret from public view.

Make no mistake about it.? The undervaluation of legitimately taxable property in Texas specifically involving refineries and major commercial properties such as Class A office buildings is driven by the Texas Legislature?s refusal to require sales disclosure information and its statistically goofy statutory definition of equity.

For no fewer than five years, HCAD?s team has been private moaners. However, when push came to shove, they were AWOL in the battle to protect the legitimate interests of all the other taxpayers who don?t have the resources to hire teams of lawyers, accountants, and consultants who breathe to live and live to spin reality with equal ease.

The other taxpayers of Texas should understand that Houston Refining came into an ARB meeting in Harris County in 2011 with a ?poster child? kind of presentation based strictly upon the standard of theoretical equity.? From inside the tent of HCAD, I was advocating that this hearing was the avenue to explain this issue statewide.? No deal!

As far as Comptroller Combs and PTAD Director Cartwright, their involvement reminds me of the old story about the role?played by the?chicken and the hog in breakfast.? The chicken participates in breakfast.? The hog is breakfast.

Let?s start with this premise in describing Combs and Cartwright.? They are not using the resources and power available to them to do what they could do to protect the interests of all taxpayers when it comes to these mega-value properties.

The Comptroller?s and PTAD?s so-called annual ratio study on the value of industrial property particularly?in industry-rich counties has the intellectual and professional substance of cotton candy.? Even on the high dollar commercial properties, these two state officials are not using the full resources to support appraisal districts who need the full power and resources of the State of Texas to have a chance to be successful against these powerful forces.

I talked about breakfast.? Think of it this way.? The central appraisal districts including HCAD are like the hog.? They are breakfast.? Appraisal districts are the ones that have to decide whether to spend a million dollars in a lawsuit against even one major taxpayer.? The notion of going to the courthouse against three or four or five or six becomes an impossible budgetary demand.

The comptroller and the PTAD director are like the chicken.? They sit and watch from a safe distance.? Then, about 18 months after the fact, they swoop in; lay an egg called the Property Value Study; and proclaim whether the appraisal districts did a good job in their Don Quixote struggle against these mega-value property owners who outgun them.

If Combs and Cartwright really wanted to maximize the legitimate property values of these major commercial and industrial properties, they would get out of the bleachers and get on the same field at the same time with the central appraisal districts.

The Comptroller?s and the PTAD?s ratio study of industrial properties including refineries is the?biggest rubber stamp in state governance.? Why won?t the Comptroller and the PTAD join this fight when it really matters?

The common denominator from a public policy standpoint is the public school finance system.? Susan Combs and Deborah Cartwright need to to do whatever they can do to muster full state support in accumulating the legal resources, the technical experts, and the extra cash that is needed to put the taxpayers of Texas on an equal battlefield with these industries who finance their efforts out of petty cash.

Back in 2007, in a moment of sheer, unmitigated public policy stupidity, the Comptroller of Public Accounts through its PTAD tried to punish Houston I.S.D. because the Comptroller thought the value of Class A office buildings in downtown Houston were dramatically undervalued.

The State created a scenario whereby the Harris County Appraisal District actually had to get in bed with owners and lawyers for the major downtown office buildings to fight the comptroller in order to defend lower values on many of these buildings.

It doesn?t get any dumber for the State of Texas to create a situation where central appraisal districts have to join with mega-value property owners in the battle to undervalue commercial properties and fight that fight against the State of Texas. What is so peculiar about the notion that the State and the central appraisal districts should join forces to protect the public school finance system?

It is long past time for the State to join forces with the central appraisal districts?BEFORE ?the battle begins and not afterwards. Susan Combs and Deborah Cartwright need to get the State of Texas to get in the ring before the fight begins.? Right now, they have grown comfortable to being engaged when the fighters are gone, the arena has emptied, and the rest of the taxpayers are picking up the tab for the consequences of their inaction or their indifference.

Galveston County made a genuine effort recently to fight for higher values on refineries.? And, when they looked around, the State was nowhere to be found.? That?s got to change.

Chief Robinson, Combs, and Director Cartwright have a decision to make:? change your strategies and fight this battle or get out of the way and let someone else have the jobs who will.

Source: http://georgescottreports.com/2012/08/14/hcads-chief-appraiser-robinson-state-comptroller-susan-combs-property-tax-division-director-deborah-cartwright-face-impending-humiliation/

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Motorola Mobility to slash 4,000 jobs

(Reuters) - Motorola Mobility, which was bought by Google Inc for $12.5 billion, will cut 20 percent of its workforce and shut nearly a third of its offices worldwide, a spokeswoman for parent company Google Inc said on Monday.

"Motorola is committed to helping them (the employees) through this difficult transition and will be providing generous severance packages, as well as outplacement services to help people find new jobs," the Google spokeswoman said.

The world's No.1 search engine agreed to buy Motorola Mobility last year, aiming to use Motorola Mobility's patents to fend off legal attacks on its Android mobile platform and expand beyond its software business.

Google had previously reserved its comments on Motorola Mobility's future but is now outlining the first steps to turn the company around, under which the ailing cellphone maker will lay off 4,000 employees.

One-third of the jobs lost will be in the United States, but the company has not specified where or what facilities would be affected.

Earlier the New York Times reported Google's plan and said it was looking to shrink operations in Asia and India, by not just exiting unprofitable markets but also stopping making low-end devices and focusing on a few cellphones instead of dozens.

Motorola Mobility, which has 94 offices throughout the world, will center research and development in Chicago, Sunnyvale, California and Beijing.

In addition to the planned cuts, Google has downsized Motorola Mobility's management, letting go 40 percent of its vice presidents, but has also hired new senior executives, the New York Times said.

(Reporting by Juhi Arora in Bangalore; Additional reporting by Alexei Oreskovic in San Francisco; Editing by David Holmes)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/motorola-mobility-cut-20-percent-workforce-nyt-062943131--sector.html

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