| Plowed under? Crop scientists on shaky ground
Reeves leads a team of seven veteran ag scientists at the sprawling, 1,180-acre facility in Oconee County, where for the past 71 years, federal researchers have puzzled over how the Piedmont region's producers can farm better without hurting the land, air and water. Those agronomists, hydrologists and soil scientists, along with more than 20 other staff members, now hope their home base isn't entering its own final phase, shuttered by federal budget cuts. USDA research dollars face an unprecedented $84 million blow next year under President Bush's new budget proposal, and the department has identified 11 of its 100 Agricultural Research Service stations that, worse comes to worse, will close. Those stations, of which the Campbell center is the only one in Georgia, will be in funding purgatory for months as Congress hashes out its final budget.
Sports goes for a six !
Or, will club identities come to replace national loyalties? After all, whoever pays the bucks gets the loyalty. Has cricket in India entered the age of sponsored gambling where its stake-holders are abdicating their responsibility and letting the 'free-market' forces take control of the sport? Will it only create a super-elite category of overpaid, arrogant superstars at the cost of domestic cricket? Will the new cricket corporate czars have any emotional attachment to the sport? Importantly, will substance become the first casualty of the hoopla and hype of the auctioning? Will it widen the gap between cricket and other sports? True, the BCCI and IPL promoters dismiss these fears as much ado about nothing. Why is everyone raving and ranting about the cricketers earnings? What about other sports like Golf, tennis and car racing.
GRAY TELEVISION GROUP, INC. LEGAL TERMS FOR WEBSITE USAGE
This Legal Terms for Website Usage does not cover the “Ask the Experts" advertising feature on this website. Please see the separate terms of use agreement on the Ask the Experts homepage. Gray Television Group, Inc. (collectively referred to as "GTGI"), provides this information to you, subject to the following terms, conditions and notices contained or referenced herein (the "Agreement"), which govern your use of websites on the Internet owned and operated by GTGI (the "Service"). This Agreement applies to all uses of the Service, including, but not limited to, posting of information to a user-created web page or comments to a blog, participating in chat rooms or in threaded discussions, or using e-mail or other features offered on the Service. The Service is offered to you conditioned on your acceptance without modification of the terms, conditions and notices contained in this Agreement.
Salmond: 'I'll quit if Budget falls'
But, with only a minority of the MSPs in the parliament, the SNP cannot be sure of getting its finance package through.John Swinney, the finance secretary, has made significant concessions in an attempt to secure the support of the Conservatives, the Greens and Margo MacDonald, the independent MSP.But the vote is still on a knife-edge and although Mr Swinney will make a series of last-minute concessions today to try to get the support he needs, none of the opposition parties was willing to commit their support to the Budget yesterday.A spokesman for the First Minister announced Mr Salmond's ultimatum after a meeting of the Cabinet last night.He said: "If the parliament decides it doesn't want it (the Budget], it would be entirely appropriate for the issues to be taken to the people."The view of ministers would be that this would be the right thing to do."If the Budget is rejected, Mr Salmond has the option of putting a motion for the dissolution of the parliament to the chamber.
Ask iLounge: February 22-28 Edition
Ask iLounge offers readers the opportunity to get answers to their iPod-related questions from a member of the iLounge editorial team. We'll answer several questions here each week, and of course, you can always get help with more immediate concerns from the iLounge Discussion Forums. Submit your questions for consideration using our Ask iLounge Submit Form. We reserve the right to edit questions for grammar, spelling, and length. .
Credit card use undiminished by credit crunch
Nearly one in eight Britons have at least four credit cards, with 28% of people applying for a new card over the past 12 months, research showed today. Around 13% of people have four or more credit cards, with 3% having five cards and 4% having more than five, according to MoneyExpert.com. However, just over half of people only have one or two credit cards, while 22% do not have one at all. The research also found that 28% of people had applied for more plastic during the past year, with 6% of adults applying for two new cards and 1% applying for three. Sean Gardner, chief executive of MoneyExpert.com, said: "The credit crunch hasn't finished the British love affair with credit cards yet, with millions of us still holding five or more cards.
Hornets' derby debacle
WATFORD's crisis of results at Vicarage Road plunged to new depths this afternoon (Saturday) after they crashed to a 4-2 defeat against Queens Park Rangers. The game was effectively over by half-time after the counter-attacking visitors had capitalised on some alarming defensive failings in the Hornets rearguard to race into a 3-0 lead courtesy of two Martin Rowlands goals, including a penalty, and a Damion Stewart header. A Damien Francis header at the start of the second-half, which had suspicions of an own goal about it, gave the Hornets hope, but Akos Buzsaky ensured it would be seven games without a win at Vicarage Road for the home side before Dan Shittu netted a late consolation. .
Intuit Completes Acquisition of Electronic Clearing House
The integration of ECHO's technology and operational assets is expected to help accelerate Intuit's growth and strengthen its expanding small business ecosystem that includes the fast-growing payments segment. ECHO's products and services will be available on a standalone basis and as part of Intuit's small business financial services portfolio.
About Intuit Inc.
Intuit Inc. is a leading provider of business and financial management solutions for small and mid-sized businesses; financial institutions, including banks and credit unions; consumers and accounting professionals. Its flagship products and services, including QuickBooks®, Quicken® and TurboTax® software, simplify small business management and payroll processing, personal finance, and tax preparation and filing.
Blog Central
WASHINGTON The Homeland Security Department will soon require advance information on private flights to the United States to prevent a terrorist from smuggling a nuclear bomb into the country. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday that the new regulations could eventually be expanded to include radiation scans at points in Europe and Asia for private planes flying to the U.S. Private aircraft have not undergone the intense screening given to U.S.-bound cargo and commercial flights. .
Changes to Google AdWords URL policy to be enforced from April 1
Google has officially announced that from April 1 2008, it will be enforcing its AdWords URL policy more strictly. While this display URL policy is already in existence, a recent blog post on the official Google AdWords blog has publicised the fact that Google will no longer be allowing certain exceptions to their policy guidelines. Its enforcement policy will apply to all advertisers, regardless of past approvals and will include redirects and vanity URLs.While the enforcement will not affect all advertisers, it is an important development for advertisers to be aware of. Anyone who does not comply with the policy guidelines risks disruption to their ads and the possibility of future disapprovals.Google told Barry Schwartz at searchengineland that its goal is to "have policies that are fair, consistent, and adaptable".
|
