US toy retail giant Toys ‘R’ Us files for liquidation in United States

Author: Admin 06 19th, 2022 in Uncategorized No Comments »

Thursday, March 15, 2018

This morning, United States-based toy retail giant Toys “R” Us filed for liquidation with United States bankruptcy court. The company had about 735 stores in the country which may be closed as a result of the liquidation.

The motion came after the US holidays, after which the company said its revenue fell short of expectations. Toys “R” Us was seeking cooperation with its Canadian business to leave 200 stores open, the court papers said. The company said it would be unable to realize an earlier goal to leave as many as 400 stores open.

The papers filed in the court indicated that the United States holiday sales produced revenue US$250 million short of the expectations. In the report to the court, Toys “R” Us blamed in part its weakened e-commerce business. It wrote, “The stark reality is that the debtors are projected to run out of cash in the U.S. in May 2018.”

Toys “R” Us chief executive officer Dave Brandon said, “This is a profoundly sad day for us as well as the millions of kids and families who we have served for the past 70 years.”

Toys “R” Us said it was preparing to sell its businesses in Asia and Central Europe, including Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

In September 2017, Toys “R” Us filed for bankruptcy in the US and Canada, and a judge allowed a US$2 billion loan.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Bain Capital Partners, and Vornado Realty Trust purchased Toys “R” Us for US$6.6 billion in 2005. According to CNBC, the company had US$4.9 billion in debt at that time, which made it difficult for the company to adapt to the changing market.

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Ab Glider Give You Double The Calorie Burn

Author: Admin 06 19th, 2022 in Steel Manufacturer No Comments »

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ab GliderAchieving a fit and healthy body is one achievement that many dream of. But with limited time to fit in a gym schedule busy people are trying to find ways they can gain a level of fitness in their own free time at home. A product that has recently come onto the market is the ab Glider. This newly designed piece of fitness equipment will certainly save you from going to the gym and will help you attain an excellent level of core fitness in the comfort of your own home.How Does It WorkUnderstanding how the ab Glider works and its unique two motion capability will give you a better appreciation of this machine. The ab Glider is primarily designed to offer workouts for the abdominal muscles. But because it offers two degrees of motion it gives you the benefit of both the circular burn and arc crunch to exercise and maximize your core development. These two motions will help you engage more muscles, getting a better cardio workout and burn up to twice as many calories as other similar but single motion machines.Built To Work And LastThe ab Glider comprises a curved track supported by two sets of legs that are attached to circular, wide spread feet for stability. Under the ab Glider track there is a strong handle support which terminates two handles. Each handle has a rubberized handle grip to ensure that you always have a firm grip while you exerciseThe ‘Glider’ itself is like a cushioned or padded seat with two sections to kneel on as you perform your workout. Your workout can be either ‘vertical’ where the track is aligned with the handles and you can perform an ab ‘crunch’ moving to and fro towards and away from the handles. Alternatively rotate the track 180 degrees and lock it in this position at right angles to the handles for a circular burn routine.More Than Just An Exercise MachineOther items supplied with the ab glider include are an LCD monitor, an eight week diet plan and two DVD programs. The LCD monitor lets you keep track of your progress, diet is important for real fitness and the DVD’s will show you how to use the ab Glider correctly.Easy To AssembleAssembling the ab Glider will generally take you less than an hour even if you only have basic mechanical skills. The unit has a strong and sturdy steel frame and its track is built to last a lifetime. The instructions suggest that you may need two people to assemble it. But some folk who have already assembled it suggest that you can do it by yourself.Be Sure To Watch The DVD’sThe majority of purchasers have found the ab Glider to be very easy to use and with the correct posture on the machine you will definitely feel the work out for your Abs. Make sure that you watch the DVD’s and understand the correct posture and positioning. Some users who felt that the machine was not up to scratch subsequently found that correct positioning made a significant improvement.A Few Issues But!There have been some other complaints about the ab Glider from a few less than satisfied purchasers. Factors such fixed handle bars rather than adjustable ones, finding the knee cup or knee pads to be uncomfortable and having the knees slip on the pads being the most mentioned. Some folk over five and a half foot tall found the lack of adjustable handle bars a limitation But even some of those who noted these short comings were prepared to give the ab Glider a five star rating if these minor changes were made.The majority of feedback for the ab Glider has been very positive. It would not be going to far to say that the ab Glider is ideal for people who want to gain in core strength and lose some excess weight. It gives you a really good workout with both its Circular Burn and Arc Crunch motions.Beats Competitors On PriceThe equipment is also very well priced when compared with its competitors which only exercise you in one motion direction – either circular burn or ab crunch. In fact it is about 30% cheaper than the popular Ab Circle Pro and over 60% cheaper than the Ab Coaster. With it its lower price and 100% money back guarantee the ab Glider certainly warrants close consideration by anyone looking to improve their core strength and body shape.

Boston Cyberarts Festival opens with Hotel@MIT gala

Author: Admin 06 19th, 2022 in Uncategorized No Comments »

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Cambridge, Massachusetts —The 2005 Cyberarts Festival, which runs through May 8, 2005, opened with a gala at the Hotel@MIT, a hotel near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The gala, which took place in a series of function rooms on the third floor of the hotel, started at 6:00 p.m. and ran past its stated end time of 9:00 p.m. The event featured food and drink, as well as computer art from a variety of artists whose work will be featured in the festival.

Local Wikipedia contributor Samuel Klein displayed a customization of Daniel Wunsch’s rcbirds program, which converts Wikipedia recent changes feeds into a series of bird calls and other sounds from the open-sound peep project, differentiating edits by the anonymity of the user, the name and namespace of the article involved, and the user’s contribution history. Different types of edits produced different bird calls; once or twice during the evening, conversation was briefly interrupted to undo vandalism signaled by the stream of sound.

Martin Wattenberg, a researcher at IBM’s local research lab, who has also developed software to visualize the history of changes to Wikipedia pages, exhibited his visualization of the decision tree of a computer playing chess, described jokingly as “Tiny Blue.”

Other presenters included Newbury Open.net’s new Boston Music Project .

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Volunteers endure bed-rest study

Author: Admin 06 18th, 2022 in Uncategorized No Comments »

Tuesday, March 22, 2005Volunteers began a 60 day bed-rest marathon on March 19 to study simulated weightlessness effects on women astronauts. The study, Women International Space Simulation for Exploration(WISE), is conducted at the MEDES Space Clinic in Toulouse, France.

The 12 women, selected from 1600 applicants hailing from France,Great Britain, Germany, Finland, The Netherlands, Poland and the Czech Republic began the study after a 20 day screening for baseline comparison data as the study progressed.

The women will conduct all activities from eating, bathing, and reading while lying in hospital beds tilted headfirst at a six degree angle. This particular position, called head-down tilt bed rest was determined from previous studies to remove the vertical load of gravity on the body, inducing changes similar to what astronauts in a genuine weightless environment experience [1].

Long term exposure to weightlessness creates a number of physiological and psychological problems in astronauts such as:

Reduced capacity for physical exertion
Muscle atrophy
Affects of confinement and isolation
Impaired circulatory function

A total of 24 women will participate in the study. A second group of 12 will join in September.

Three groups of eight women each will be studied over the course of the two campaigns of bed rest. One group will serve as a control, receiving no specific treatments, the second will exercise, while the third will receive nutritional supplements.

The study is designed to fill in gaps of knowledge on the differences between men and women during extended weightlessness. It also aims to develop countermeasures for reducing the debilitating effects of long spaceflights.

Participating agencies in the study include the European Space Agency, NASA, the French Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

[edit]

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New Zealand suicide rate decreases

Author: Admin 06 17th, 2022 in Uncategorized No Comments »

Tuesday, August 1, 2006

A new report released by the New Zealand Ministry of Health titled “Suicide Trends” shows that the suicide rate in New Zealand has decreased 15% since its peak in the late 1990’s, but the attempted suicide rate is increasing.

There were 12 deaths per 100,000 people between 1983-’85. 16.7 deaths per 100,000 people between 1996-’98. And 14.2 deaths per 100,000 people between 2001-’03. But there were 73.1 attempted suicides per 100,000 people between 1995-’97 compared to 82.5 in 2002-’04.

Jim Anderton, Associate Health Minister, said “It provides some comfort to see the long-term trend still appears to be heading in the right direction, with a continued decline or levelling off of self-inflicted deaths but there is no room for complacency.”

The suicide report also shows that:

The 25- to 34-year-old age group has the highest suicide rate
Between 2000-’03 Maori has the highest suicide rate
Men were less likely than woman to go to hospital for attempted suicide because more men died from suicide.

The New Zealand Government has put NZ$10.3 million towards direct suicide prevention. New Zealand News agencies are banned by law from reporting suicide deaths.

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Understanding How Your Water Softener In Jacksonville, Fl Works

Author: Admin 06 16th, 2022 in Audio Visual System No Comments »

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Florida has some of the highest levels of calcium carbonate in the groundwater on the east side of the United States. Using a water softener in Jacksonville, FL is the best possible way to ensure you do not have to deal with all the complications of hard water. These can include damage to your appliances and plumbing system as well as all the cleaning issues it causes.

The Importance of Treating Hard Water

There are different types of options in a water softener in Jacksonville, FL for any type of residential or commercial use. The most common types of systems use sodium chloride (salt) or potassium chloride, in pelleted form, to remove the “hard” minerals, which are often calcium and magnesium.

It is important to use a quality water softener system to avoid layers of these minerals, which is known as hard water scale, from building up in your washer, coffee maker, dishwasher, hot water heater, and in the plumbing system. Eventually, this scale can build up enough to restrict water flow and will require replacement of the appliances or a full replacement of your plumbing system, which is extremely costly.

How a Water Softener Works

A water softener in Jacksonville, FL can be added to your cold water intake line into the home. The system is comprised of a mineral tank, which is filled with beads that are made of a material known as polystyrene, a type of resin-like material. These beads have a negative charge, and calcium and magnesium have a positive charge.

As the water enters into the mineral tank of the water softener in Jacksonville, FL, the calcium and magnesium cling to the beads. They are effectively swapped for the slightly positive charge of the sodium that coats the beads.

Once the beads are saturated with the positively charged calcium and magnesium, the tank will need to regenerate. The timing of this is based on the number of days in a cycle, through a meter, or by manual regeneration. When the system regenerates salty brine from another tank flushes the magnesium and calcium out of the system, replacing it with another layer of sodium.

Choosing the right company and water softener in Jacksonville, FL is important and should be based on the volume of water used in the home as well as the type of regeneration system you wish to use. These systems are very low maintenance and are highly effective in eliminating the problems caused by hard water throughout the home.

Leaked online: UK Home Office non-disclosure agreement with ID card companies

Author: Admin 06 15th, 2022 in Uncategorized No Comments »

Saturday, December 6, 2008

The Non-Disclosure agreement for companies working with the UK Government on the National identity card has been leaked on WikiLeaks. The document states, among other things, what rights the Government has to search the properties of companies involved and the obligations on the companies to keep information secret.

Section five of the document states that if a company fails to comply with the agreement, or in other cases at the “sole discretion” of the Home Office, the government may search the property, records and computers of the company. The anonymous individual who leaked the documents has stated that “no search warrant or judicial oversight would be required,” to carry out the search.

The leaker also states that individuals working for the company may have their computers searched “without any suspicion of a crime having been committed,” although the document does require that these searches may only take place “for the purposes of ensuring that all National Identity Scheme information and associated copies are secure in accordance with this agreement or have been destroyed permanently or removed from their possession.

Section two of the document requires that the document is secured in accordance with policy set out by the government, and requires that the information is only disclosed to those who need to have access as part of the identity card programme.

Section four of the document states that it shall be liable to the government for any breach of the agreement, and that, except for obligations required by the Official Secrets Act, the requirements shall no longer apply 25 years after the signing of the agreement, which took place in 2007.

The individual leaking the document has stated that he did so “to bring attention to the manner of construction of the ID scheme and the highly secretive approach being adopted by the UK government.”

Despite the criticism of the scheme, the Home Office has stated that the cards are required to “help protect people from identity fraud and theft,” and “disrupt the use of false and multiple identities by criminals and those involved in terrorist activity.”

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Wikinews interview with America’s Got Talent finalists Celtic Spring

Author: Admin 06 13th, 2022 in Uncategorized No Comments »

Thursday, August 31, 2006

This exclusive interview features first-hand journalism by a Wikinews reporter. See the collaboration page for more details.

Irish American dance and fiddle band Celtic Spring was recently a finalist in America’s Got Talent. Talent was a NBC television series search for America’s next big talent, featuring singers, dancers, magicians, comedians and other talents of all ages. The series was hosted by Regis Philbin, and judged by former tabloid editor Piers Morgan, singer Brandy, and actor/singer David Hasselhoff.

The mother of the family, Mary McCauley Wood, talked to Wikinews about their group’s performances and the America’s Got Talent experience.

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Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch to be auctioned off

Author: Admin 06 12th, 2022 in Uncategorized No Comments »

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Neverland Valley Ranch, owned by Michael Jackson, is to be sold at auction on March 19, 2008, unless Jackson pays over US$24 million.

Financial Title Company, the trustee of his Santa Barbara County, California, home and amusement park, has foreclosed on the property. They notified Jackson of the foreclosure and sale on Monday. Jackson had only just recently paid an overdue property tax bill of $600,000.

The court filing, addressed to Jackson, says, “You are in default of a deed of trust … Unless you take action to protect your property it may be sold at a public sale.” Fox News published the filing.

The foreclosure includes the ranch and all possessions on the property, inside or out.

The foreclosure auction will take place in front of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse in Santa Barbara. Jackson has until then to pay $24,525,906.61 he owes the title company.

In 2006, Jackson refinanced previous loans that had been bought up by Fortress Investment Group. The $300-million loan was secured with the aid of Sony Music Entertainment. However, the Neverland property was not part of that deal.

Jackson has not lived at Neverland since June 30, 2005, when he moved to Bahrain after a rape charge and subsequent acquittal.

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The Choice To Own A Beautiful Kitchen

Author: Admin 06 12th, 2022 in Kitchen Home Improvement No Comments »