whereto saarinen

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Talisman Energy beefs up board amid speculation of sale

CALGARY ? Talisman Energy Inc. has appointed new directors to its board amid speculation the company is headed for a corporate sale.

Talisman, which has cut staff and is looking to sell gas properties in British Columbia?s Montney region and Alberta?s Duvernay shale play, said at its annual general meeting this year it would add three new members to the board by 2014, bringing the total slate of directors to 13.

The company appointed TD Bank chairman Brian Levitt in February and has since added Tom Ebbern to the board, spokeswoman Phoebe Buckland confirmed in an interview. Mr. Ebbern, who joined the Talisman board in June, is chief financial officer of North West Upgrading Inc. and a former managing director, investment banking, at Macquarie Capital Markets. Talisman expects to make another appointment by the end of the year, Ms. Buckland said.

Investors are likely to interpret the recent appointment as potentially leading to a sale of Talisman, BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. analyst Randy Ollenberger said Friday in a note. He noted Mr. Ebbern, most recently a director at Nexen Inc., was viewed as playing a key role in that company?s sale to China?s Cnooc Ltd. last year.

Talisman chief executive Hal Kvisle has said the company is worth between $17 and $25 a share. On Friday, its shares were hovering around $12.

Ms. Buckland said Talisman is not currently pursuing a sale. The company is targeting between $2-billion and $3-billion of asset sales over the next 18 months as it shifts focus to properties in the Americas and Asia and tries to boost production of liquids-rich gas.

Source: http://business.financialpost.com/2013/07/19/talisman-energy-beefs-up-board-amid-speculation-of-sale/

elon musk fox mole manson bubba watson recent earthquakes fbi most wanted list stuttering

Thursday, July 18, 2013

About Golf Cruises | i Golf Travel News

In the cruise arena, golf?s importance has long been limited to in-port visits to local courses. But that?s not so true any longer. These days, the appeal of golf has so evolved that duffers are seeking out cruises for their onboard offerings, as well as the opportunity to sample a handful of different courses in different destinations while on a voyage.

Indeed, today golfers almost don?t have to get off the ship to play a few rounds. One of the most popular features ? and one which is particularly elaborate on some cruise fleets? newest models ? are state-of-the-art golf simulators. These allow passengers to play ?virtual? rounds at world class courses like St. Andrews. Onboard, there are driving ranges, putting courses, club rental operations and elaborate miniature golf set-ups. Cruise lines like Crystal feature year-round onboard pros who offer lessons, swing analysis and other services.

Other evolutionary trends we?re spotting owe a lot to the nature of cruising itself. Duffers can, on a weeklong trip, visit up to five different courses in five unique destinations ? all without repacking a suitcase or even lugging their clubs (you can rent them either onboard or at port o? call courses if you desire). And cruise line shore excursion staffers at golf cruise specialist firms like GolfAhoy http://www.golfahoy.com have become as full-service as their counterparts at resorts in setting up hassle-free rounds in ports around the globe.

For example, famed Mahogany Run on St. Thomas runs $140 ? $160 if you book your tee time directly with the club (don?t forget to add at least $40 for a taxi from the ship). Golf cruise companies like GolfAhoy typically charge $125 ? $175 for a round at Mahogany Run, but the GolfAhoy price includes transportation and possible extras ? like a course review with a Pro. In addition, GolfAhoy can sometimes get golfers into private or restricted-access clubs they may not be able to play on their own (at places like Teeth of the Dog in the Dominican Republic or Sandy Lane on Barbados).

However, not all golf experiences at sea and on land are created equal, and we?ll add the caveat that it?s a good bet to research your options before you leave for your cruise. GolfAhoy pioneered the golf and cruise concept back in 1988 and they?ve built strong relationships with the golf courses that appeal to cruisers over the past quarter century. GolfAhoy reservations 877.415.5442 or www.golfahoy.com/reservations

And check out our picks for best offerings, these are based on both holes-in-one and lots of bogies.

Best Overall Destination ? Bermuda

Why? For the simple fact that Bermuda has more golf courses per square mile than anywhere else in the world. And the fact that most ships that visit Bermuda will spend as many as four days out of seven at the island, gives golfers a chance to sample a variety of courses. If you want to experience more than one course in Bermuda, your best bet is Norwegian Cruise Line, which is just about the only line to sail the traditional, New York-based Bermuda cruises that spend four days in port.

Best Destination for Golf Course Scenery ? Scotland

Sure, U.K.-based travelers could fairly easily make the trek, on land, to Scotland. But isn?t it nicer to take a cruise that lets you play in various ports with absolutely no hassle about changing hotels? Silversea offers itineraries that call at Edinburg and its shore outings offer the option to organize a private tour for you and your mates to a nearby course.

Best Line for Beginners ? Carnival

Some golfers simply take the game too seriously, and there?s nothing worse than being a beginner out there to have fun and finding that faster players are pestering you to play through. Though they head to some of the world?s best courses, the ?Fun Ships? don?t take golf too seriously.

Best Line for Low-Handicappers ? Silversea

Those with time and money seem to earn low handicaps more readily than blue-collar hackers, so it only makes sense that Silversea welcomes a high percentage of low-handicappers. Silver Links 365 is available on Silver Shadow and Silver Whisper. Each ship has golf-driving cages, and scheduled events include complimentary clinics, demonstrations and putting contests. On land, the line offers escorted golf excursions in more than 100 ports to some of the world?s top and toughest courses.

Best Line for Onboard Services ? Crystal

Crystal offers a lot of golf shore excursions at plenty of upscale clubs. It also supplies onboard golf pros year-round on all three ships. The line is offering passengers the chance to play golf up to five times and to enjoy the final day of this year?s British Open. Crystal is also offering three other golf-focused itineraries in the Mediterranean, Canary Islands, and the maritime coast of Canada and New England. Travel with an international group of discerning golfers on a New Zealand and Australia GolfAhoy Golf Cruise Crystal Symphony 14 Days V4203 Feb 02 2014. Book Now Fares from: DELUXE $6,635 VERANDAH $9,210 SUITE $15,105 http://www.golfahoy.com/golf-spa-cruise/new-zealand-and-australia-golfahoy-golf-cruise-crystal-symphony-14-days-v4203-feb-02-2014

Best Small-Ship Experience ? Go Barging

This barge operator specializes in getting you into those nooks you otherwise wouldn?t reach via bigger ships because its luxury barges, which hold between 12 and 20 passengers, trawl inland waterways. Go Barging offers itineraries through France?s Canal du Midi, Upper Loire, and Provence. Remember to pack your golf clubs, though.

Best Line for Golf Widows (and Widowers) ? Celebrity

Celebrity ships feature some of the finest spa facilities afloat and, in partnership with GolfAhoy offer a ?Guilt Free Golf? program. Non-golfers can get special spa packages and pricing when their golfing half books a golf cruise with GolfAhoy Cruise Planners.

The knowledgeable golf cruise agents at GolfAhoy Cruise Planners, 877.415.5442, know the ships and golf courses you?ll play at. They represent all cruise lines, river boat barge outfits and offer a courtesy golf cruise customization service. Visit www.golfahoycruiseplanners.net to pick your cruise and let GolfAhoy make your golf shore excursion arrangements.

By Lynn Seldon ? Features Writer, Cruise Critic

Source: http://www.igolftravelnews.com/articles/716-about-golf-cruises

lisa vanderpump Dancing With the Stars 2013 NIT Bracket March Madness 2013 bracket March Madness 2013 selection sunday NIT Tournament

Nissan resurrects Datsun in India

HONG KONG (CNNMoney) -

Datsun is back from the dead. But only in India.

A new ultra-cheap Datsun model was unveiled Monday in New Delhi as part of parent company Nissan's push into emerging markets.

The car will be the first to carry the Datsun badge since Nissan mothballed the brand in the 1980s.

The new five-door hatchback is called the Datsun Go, and it will go on sale early next year in India. The car will be priced below 400,000 Indian rupees ($6,680 dollars).

While full details about the car's performance and technical specifications were not immediately available, the Go will with have a 1.2 liter engine and five-speed transmission.

The car is designed to compete against other low-cost options in developing markets, where growth for private transport is accelerating.

"We see significant opportunities in these growth markets, where demand for cars is increasing and will continue to do so," Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said Monday.

Ghosn said other new Datsun models will be unveiled this year in Indonesia and Russia. A move into South Africa will start in 2014. The carmaker has given no indication it plans to revive the brand in North America.

Nissan models are most often aimed at middle-class buyers, while the company's Infiniti brand attracts wealthier consumers. The revival of Datsun should help Nissan pursue lower-income customers.

The ceremonial debut of the new model in New Delhi had a youthful bent. The presentation featured a neon-clad dance troupe and music that sampled from a popular Daft Punk song.

Datsun was founded almost a century ago in Japan, and became part of Nissan in the 1930s. The automaker entered the U.S. market in the late 1950s, and eventually made a splash with models like the iconic Datsun 240Z sports car.

Source: http://www.kjct8.com/news/money/Nissan-resurrects-Datsun-in-India/-/194312/20977126/-/at8yma/-/index.html

Ashton Eaton London 2012 basketball London 2012 Slalom Canoe Alex Morgan Misty May Treanor Marvin Hamlisch Megan Rossee

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

AT&T follows T-Mobile US with more frequent device upgrades

By Sinead Carew

NEW YORK (Reuters) - AT&T Inc customers will be able to upgrade phones once a year instead of waiting two years under a new option that involves monthly device payments as AT&T defends itself against challenges from T-Mobile US.

AT&T's latest offering, which will not require upfront device fees, comes as the No. 2 U.S. mobile provider strives to regain the market share it has been losing to market leader Verizon Wireless, and to fight back against tougher competition from smaller rivals like fourth-ranked T-Mobile US.

Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc, is also expected to launch a similar offer in August, according to a Droid Life blog report. Verizon Wireless declined to comment.

Shares in T-Mobile US fell 3.8 percent and shares in No. 3 U.S. mobile provider Sprint Corp fell 3.6 percent after the news on Tuesday.

AT&T's offer, which will be available July 26, appeared to be a direct response to T-Mobile's announcement last week that its customers can now upgrade smartphones as often as twice a year.

AT&T will charge customers $15 to $50 per month, depending on the device, on top of monthly service fees under the new offering, which does not require a long-term service contract.

By excluding upfront device fees in its plan, AT&T is hoping to trump T-Mobile US, which still requires an upfront payment.

T-Mobile US Chief Marketing Officer Mark Sievert called the monthly phone installments a "trick" to get more money out of customers because it is not changing its monthly service fees.

"If you're going to charge separately for the phone like they're doing then you need to reduce the price of the service. Otherwise you're paying twice for the same phone," Sievert said in an interview.

AT&T typically pays hefty upfront subsidies to phone makers so it can offer customers device discounts and tie them into two-year contracts. It then recoups the cost of the phone over the span of the contract through its service fees.

AT&T and T-Mobile, which tried but failed to merge in 2011 due to regulatory opposition, are grappling to snare each other's customers in a market where most people already have smartphones. T-Mobile has been directly marketing against AT&T in recent months.

Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche said in a research note that AT&T's new option should be positive for the company.

"T-Mobile has clearly been seeing success with its version of this plan," Fritzsche said, adding that much of T-Mobile's success "has been at the expense of AT&T."

But since both companies will depend on resales of traded-in devices to help recoup their costs, Citi analyst Michael Rollins worried that they may lose money if there is a lot more availability of second-hand phones.

"The risk to AT&T and T-Mobile US is that the continued increase in supply for a secondary market for used devices could reduce the resale value and increase the cost of this program to any of the participating carriers," Rollins said.

NO UPFRONT FEE, NO SERVICE PRICE CHANGES

Customers under AT&T's new plan would not have to commit to a service contract but would have to sign a 20-month installment agreement. However, a customer who trades in a phone and starts a new installment plan before 20 months would not have to make the remaining monthly payments.

For example, an AT&T customer buying the Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S4 would pay $32 per month for 20 months for the device along with a monthly service fee and have the option to trade in the phone after 12 payments.

AT&T customers willing to wait two years for an upgrade can still follow the company's traditional policy, which involves buying the device at a sharp discount with a monthly upfront payment in exchange for committing to a two-year contract.

In comparison, T-Mobile US does charge an upfront fee for the device on top of $10 per month to sign up for its Jump branded upgrade option, and installments of up to $20 per month as well as its monthly service fee.

Smaller rival Sprint, which was recently bought by SoftBank Corp, declined to say if it would also follow its rivals with an upgrade policy change.

Spokesman Doug Duvall said "the driving force behind the upgrade policy remains balancing customer wants and needs with economic feasibility."

AT&T shares closed up 33 cents, or 0.9 percent at $35.88 on New York Stock Exchange, where T-Mobile shares fell 97 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $24.37. Sprint shares fell 24 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $6.48, and Verizon ended up 32 cents, or 0.64 percent, at $50.28, also on NYSE.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/t-follows-t-mobile-us-more-frequent-device-220055901.html

Golden Globes homeland homeland Miss America 2013 Aaron Swartz Gangster Squad school shooting

Sharknado Sequel: Confirmed! Coming to New York!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/07/sharknado-sequel-confirmed-coming-to-new-york/

Players Championship 2013 rod stewart derrick rose nate robinson lena horne klay thompson kate upton

Idaho biologists serve overseas to help protect troops

by Karen Zatkulak and KTVB.COM

Bio | Email

KTVB.COM

Posted on July 15, 2013 at 7:54 AM

Updated today at 3:37 PM

BOISE -- A group of biologists from Idaho have returned from several challenging and dangerous missions to the Middle East.?

Each took part in a national program to reduce the number of deadly and damaging bird strikes to U.S. Air Force aircraft.

21 biologists from across the country have participated in the program, which began in 2009. Three of those biologists are from Idaho.

WHAT?THEY?DO

Scott Stopak, George Graves, and Todd Grimm work for the United States Department of Wildlife Services in Boise. Grimm is the department's state director, Graves is the assistant state director, and Stopak is a wildlife disease biologist. All three are used to spending plenty of time behind a desk.

However, their new mission was much different, because each completed a four-month tour in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

Stopak and Graves each went overseas twice, with one clear mission -- reduce the number of aircraft bird strikes, or "airstrikes."

Stopak served his tour of duty in Kandahar, at one of the busiest runways in the world.

According to Stopak, airstrikes happen when birds or other wildlife interfere with the flight path of military aircraft. He says birds can severely damage a place, and can also cause deadly accidents.

"The threat of loss of life is definitely a real concern, and that's part of the reason we are there," said Stopak.

The role these biologists is to remove that threat by studying the animals, their migration, and their habitats. Afterward. they work to move the wildlife threatening the aircraft to another location.

"What we are trying to accomplish is to minimize the damaging bird strikes or the catastrophic bird strikes," said Stopak.

SERVING?THEIR?COUNTRY

Both Stopak and Graves admit they volunteered for the program because they wanted to serve their country. Both men were also never enlisted in the military, but felt the desire to make serve any way they could.

Graves told us how he never served in Vietnam, but always regretted it.

"Ever since then, I felt guilty, and felt like I should have gone and served my country, like my grandfather and my father had/so that was one of my main reasons for going, to make up for lost time," said Graves.

Stopak had a similar desire. He says preventing aircraft damage from dangerous wildlife could mean saving the lives of military members.?

"Hopefully, use my skills to get them home safe, and protect our troops while they're there that's kind of why I volunteered to do it," said Stopak.

Stopak says he also learned more about those risking their lives every time they take off.

"The reward of seeing the troops go outside the wire, it gives you a different appreciation of what we have here," said Stopak.

He says the hardest part was living in a war zone where death was a daily danger.

"Walking around the corner and seeing a flag at half mast that means you know someone lost their loved one and some family will be grieving over that and that tears your heart out every time," said Stopak.

But no matter the risk, all three men were grateful for the chance to use a biology background to help protect the people who protect us.

"It's about our troops and if I can do anything to help those guys out I will," said Stopak.

PROGRAM?IS?WORKING

Stopak says the program is working. At the airstrip in Kandahar, he says the airstrikes decreased more than 40 percent in a year and a half.

Graves volunteered at a base in Bagram. He says the airstrikes in his area dropped 60 percent.

Both men say they would return again for a third tour, if needed.

Source: http://www.ktvb.com/news/Idaho-biologists-serving-overseas-to-help-protect-our-troops-215501841.html

empire state building prince harry Hurricane hunger games Joey Kovar Expendables 2 Pussy Riot

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Flight delays a problem in China

Australian News.Net - Sunday 14th July, 2013

Australian nickel mining company Poseidon Nickel has laid off a number of mining contractors due to a current shortfall in work across the industry. The Australian nickel explorer said the company would also bring its previously planned six-month drill program at its Mr. Windarra project to a temporary halt. Poseidon made the announcement after reporting a 121% increase in Probable nickel ...

India faces import restrictions in US

Australian News.Net - Sunday 14th July, 2013

The government of India has blamed prohibitive costs for the quantity of fruit shipped from the country. Fruit quantities have not climbed significantly, despite an agreement with Washington, in which it was agreed the US market would take Indian mangoes if they were irradiated to cut the risk of fruit flies and stone weevil. Talks on how the irradiation treatment will work on all forms of ...