Dwindling Rainbow

4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review

Most gaping maw of a budget deficit (state level): Governor Tim Kaine projects the state will come up nearly $3 billion short for the 2009 fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2010.

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Worst news for UVA: Kaine’s latest cuts hack another $12.4 million out of the university’s state funding, bringing the total cuts to $23 million– 15 percent of the $160 million UVA expected to receive.

Worst news for state employees: At least 2,600 of them are looking at layoffs and the ones who keep their jobs won’t be seeing a raise until at least 2010.

Boldest efforts to staunch the fiscal bleeding: Kaine proposes releasing non-violent offenders 90 days early and increasing the cigarette tax from 30 cents to 60 cents a pack.

Best tobacco ally: Attorney General Bob McDonnell, who’s running for governor in 2009, argues against raising a tax during a recession, and contends in a statement, “Another huge increase in the cigarette tax would potentially threaten a Virginia industry at a perilous time, while increasing the tax burden on many Virginia citizens and small businesses when they can least afford it.”

Worst local budget news: Albemarle teachers join the list of those who can forget about a raise. Superintendent Pam Moran proposes a budget that’s $2.2 million less than last year as the county grapples with its own gaping maw of a $7.2 million deficit. And city schools learn they’re state funding shrinks $1.88 million.

Sharpest contrast: Charlottesville City Council ponders what to do with an extra $5.7 million at a December 15 meeting. The Daily Progress reports a conflict over a $2.1 million 2008 surplus and $3.6 million in unspent funds, with staff wanting to save the surplus or give it back to departments, and suggesting council only has discretion over reserves. Councilor Satyendra Huja is quoted as saying, “If that’s our only purpose, we’re wasting our time.” Mayor Dave Norris says council is in charge of the entire city budget.

Best numbers for Tom Perriello: His 745 lead over 5th District incumbent Virgil Goode shrinks to 727 during a district-wide recount, and a three-judge panel December 17 proclaims Perriello officially the winner of the seat held by Goode for six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Latest ballots: The judges rule against counting 70 military ballots that arrived after the 7pm Election Day deadline.

Grimmest accidents: Maurice Jean Clos Versailles, 64, is identified as the victim of the December 11 explosion and car fire on Gordonsville Road, and investigators say the cylinder of liquid petroleum gas he carried was the cause. Jonathan Michael Browne, 27 had been missing for two weeks when his pickup truck is discovered upside down in a pond December 15 in Orange County. Police believe his truck slipped off a gravel road, rolled and came to rest upside down in the pond.

Longest vandalization rapsheet: Albemarle police arrest four suspects for damaging three dozen vehicles December 8-9 in northern Albemarle, as well as for the $5,000 or so vandalization of the Forest Lakes North clubhouse November 19. Christopher Ronald Herring, 20, is charged with one count of felony vandalism and three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in the clubhouse incident. WINA reports.

Biggest cockfighting raid: Loudoun County authorities seize 500 chickens from two farms December 14 and 14, the Washington Post reports.

Eleventh most corrupt state: Virginia’s 332 officials convicted of crimes since 1998 edges the Commonwealth toward the top 10 of corruption, according to a New York Times ranking.

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How to raise VC funding: Tips from a professional VC negotiator

venture capital funding is capable of wonderful-charging innovation, financing weighty-potential start-ups at their most dangerous stage. of course there are clear pros and cons to seeking venture funding. how do you be versed if the venture capital (vc) route is the right one? what does it take to raise vc funding in the course of your start-up? especially today, raising money is not an easy act, nor is venture funding ever after the best solution. i had lunch with j-f gauthier, founder and managing partner of vc negotiators to get answers to these and kin questions. in 1995, at the start of his fruitful career, gauthier ranked #1 negotiator abroad of 810 in his harvard negotiation program. since then he has worked many angles of the business world, as ceo, advisor, banker and more. today, he works with entrepreneurs to raise money and pass favorable terms with vcs. gauthier contends that unless you are an experienced banker and negotiator, all entrepreneurs can good from guidance when seeking funding. he shared with me some guidelines that can allay the process.

Echoing a sentiment I’ve heard from many, including Wired’s Daniel Roth, Gauthier posits that while there are very tough times ahead for all businesses, now can be a good time for a business to get started and for innovation to happen. Start-ups who “make it through (the recession) will be rewarded with reduced competition. Starting a business now is smart if you can survive through the recession as there will be funding available in a year and a half or so and little competition.”

Things to consider as you determine your funding needs

Are you sure you want VC funding?

Only a few businesses fit the VC profile by nature. And the reverse is also true: getting venture capital fundamentally changes the nature of your business. VCs fund companies that are aiming for explosive growth, i.e. have a real chance to achieve $100M in revenue within 3 to 5 years. They gain a certain degree of control of the business that some find undesirable. Entrepreneurs should ask themselves if they really want this: “Is my company shooting to be a billion dollar business?” and “Do I want VCs as my business partners?” Gauthier explained. “The VC becomes your husband or wife. Are you sure you want to get married?” Ironically, the average length of a venture capital relationship is longer than the average marriage in California.

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If so, invest in thorough research and preparation Gauthier notes that the biggest problem entrepreneurs face in obtaining funding is lack of experience and insight into what VCs are looking for. Entrepreneurs are a rare breed of individuals who are often highly confident in their skills, and for good reason. However, excellent entrepreneurs are rarely excellent at raising VC financing. Negotiating skills aside, it can be hard to even get your foot in the door; Bill Burnham posted a helpful list of steps to getting a meeting with a VC. Determine your goal and objectives, and how you’re going to get there This starts with the need your idea solves and your solution to it, but also with your vision, strategy and operational plan. And only once these fundamentals are in place should you define whether you need funding, how much, and as importantly, from whom.

Understand what a VC firm is looking for Educate yourself on what VCs are looking for and how your vision meets their criteria. Gauthier describes a fundamental rift between an entrepreneur and a venture capitalist that interferes with smooth dealings: “The biggest problem is that entrepreneurs don’t know what VCs really want. Even if they pour lots of hours into their presentation, it’s usually not quite what the VCs are looking for. This is because what an entrepreneur cares about is not what will get the VC excited about the idea, so it’s hard for an entrepreneur to speak to a VC. Venture capital firms are excited about an idea only if it has a huge market potential and there is a pretty clear path to making a lot of money with it. Meanwhile an entrepreneur is passionate about the idea itself and all the technical details, and believes, often blindly, that it inevitably means it will make a lot of money?without having a realistic path to get there.” In most cases, to get venture capital, you must convince the VC that your business fits a big need in the market that many people are ready to pay lots of money for, or millions of people will be ready to pay some money for. Emotions are critical The reality is that “If you can’t excite a VC in first 5 minutes of your presentation, they will most likely neve …

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Someone’s Shooting Up Dallas, Police In Standoff

Herbie

this fair in: police in dallas, texas bring into the world been in a standoff since 9pm local time with a handcuff they believe drove west from garland, texas through the northeast dallas area shooting drivers along lbj highway at rush hour. two people were killed and two left wounded in the spree. “for whatever sensible, this myself is upset with something or someone and he’s taking it gone on innocent victims universal down the approach, and that’s very creepy,” said dallas oversee sgt. gil cerda. george lopez, (not that one), was the before all dupe shot and killed in his two-door nissan in garland, a suburb of dallas. witnesses say the shooter is a balding, 40-something, deathly white male driving a tan, ford f150 pickup. the second-best fool killed was a 42 year-old, out-of-state stuff driver about to park his rig and fly home to be with his family for the holidays. the third victim was a 40-something rubbish driver who radioed his promptness as he was being shot and was left with minor wounds. 2 killed after shots fired at 4 drivers in garland, northeast dallas [dallas morning news] police in standoff with dallas shootings suspect [dallas morning news]
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Damages - 3 New Clips

3 new clips from the 2nd season, premiering january 7th on fx.”i want to destroy her”"what’s in the box?”"patty’s nightmare”

Tyler gaffney

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Oymyakon - The Coldest Permanently Inhabited Place On Earth

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Oymyakon/Ojmjakon/Oimyakon (map) is the coldest permanently inhabited place on earth. The lowest recorded temperature here is 71.2 degrees Celsius. According to Wikipedia this is the lowest officially recorded temperature in the northern hemisphere.

The village has a population of around 800 and is located 690 meters above sea level and lies in a valley between two mountain ranges (the reason for the low temperatures). The name Oymyakon means “non-freezing water” because of the natural hot spring close to the village.

The temperature this week is pretty low and the temperature tomorrow is a chilly -63C which based on the stats at Wikipedia equals the record low for December.

There aren’t a great deal of images and videos on the net (here’s an account of a trip in 1996) but here are two video reports, one from Sky News and the other from RTL.

It’s interesting how the school children only get a day off when the temperature drops below -52C yet over here a light dusting can cause widespread disruption. And even though the RTL report is not in English check out the shirt that breaks in two.

Sky News

RTL

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US’s Fastest Female Motorcyclist Leslie Porterfield (Photos)

leslie porterfield is usa’s fastest female motorcyclist, and was clocked at 234.197 mph on her suzuki hayabusa. pore over more on leslie porterfield and see more photos secondary to. thirty-two-year-dusty leslie porterfield is officially the fastest female motorcyclist in the usa. the 2002 hayabusa she rode was modified by scott horner of head’s up demeanour and rhys griffiths of …

WILL SMITH DONATES THOUSANDS TO SCIENTOLOGY

will smith claims he’s not a scientologist. that’s out of the ordinary considering that a unfledged report on his forgiving foundation’s tax return shows that the seven pounds actor donated $122 500 to the cult’s infamous church. he also gave a combined $122,500 to the church of scientology, broken into these donations: $67,500 to the new york rescue workers detoxication …

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Alexanyan Calls Bail “Cynical”

We’ve done a fair amount of blogging about the case of the terminally ill former Yukos general counsel Vasily Alexanyan, who after spending years in prison under no charges and subjected to essentially fatal medical blackmail, was recently given an opportunity to be released on bail - but only by paying the Russian government a staggering $1.8 billion bond. Today the Associated Press reports that he is understandably not too happy about that:

Press connects

Ill former Yukos executive denounces bail request

The gravely ill former executive of the dismantled Russian oil giant Yukos says the $1.8 million bail for his release from jail is “cynical.”

Vasily Aleksanian, who suffers from AIDS and tuberculosis and has almost lost his eyesight, has been jailed since 2006 on embezzlement and money-laundering charges.

The 36-year old U.S.-trained lawyer said in Wednesday’s statement that the bail granted by the Moscow City Court earlier this month was a “cynical derision of law and common sense.”

Yukos, once Russia’s largest oil producer, was broken up and sold off in auctions ordered by the state.

Criminal cases against jailed Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his executives are widely regarded as Kremlin revenge for Khodorkovsky’s political ambitions.

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WFP - Kick off Your Shoes, Let’s Get Barefoot!

the holidays are always great for wine food pairing. a all of new foods and wine seem to appear on the store shelves and scream at you to pay attention. barefoot frothy is just such a wine. it seems that i never noticed it before … or maybe it was not in any way stocked before.anyway, i am a sucker for sparkling wines and this just caught my eye one day … let’s devote it a struggle! i bought the brut cuvee in hopes that it Compra levitra would be very, really dry … in other words not sweet. in this case, while it was indeed a pleasant tasting sparkling wine, i was a touch disappointed. it had wonderful bubbles, but was a bit too sweet-scented for my taste.we paired our cocktail hour bubbly with some “party mix” that aunt patti had made just before she left to go north to the colder climes. the barefoot animated paired nicely with it movies for download and made for a terrific pre-dinner snack.as for the lively, yes, i would sidestep it again, but only to couple with an appetizer … it was honest too sweet-smelling as a bracket unassisted.wine food pairing makes long-lasting decision … lol. cheers!

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Tip Junkie Realty (Shameless Plug)

**attention! broke disown needs sister to dodge into her town. want help!**i be this is a shot in the dark, but i learned a while ago not to underestimate the power and influence of a blogger. {{wink}}

remember last week when i had to take a couple sick days? satisfactorily, 2 weeks ago today, i ruptured a disc in my behindhand and have been in severe pain ever since. i’ve been dubbed “the broke back”.i got a cortisone epidural injection and it seems to finally be working and i’m on my style to a painful recovery. surgery averted, for now. i still have sever pain in my left leg and ankle. i see the surgeon again on tuesday and i’ll know more then.

Bernard madoff.

we’re always up to something {{giddy}}my favorite {{only}} sister, lisa, came up to help jason and me last weekend and gave me some remarkable news. her husband is getting a unfledged hire and they’ll be moving into my metropolis! {{scream with delight}}

college station, texasnow, they accept to vend their house. which obviously, is going to be tough prearranged the briefness. there’s nothing i wouldn’t do to help my sister, who has been there as far as something me every time i needed her and is my first friend!

yep, even a shameless plug on why you should obtain her fabulous house. {{begging}}

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please steal her house so:* i can have my best friend & sister close by. she’s amazing at landscaping, painting, and any project that requires a aphorism and tools. {{wink}}* 2 sisters who fought growing up and are currently best friends can subsist in the same diocese and have those bonding moments they missed short on growing up.* i (who have 3 boys) can help raise lisa’s daughters. genuinely, we’re expecting my tom-boy sister to have all girls.* my boys can be close to their favorite aunt.* i can accumulate free in the flesh training since i’m going to need intense physical therapy to substantiate my go to prevent this from happening again.

college station in castlegatelisa has blameless taste and she did some hard-seed negotiation with the builder Generico cialis and customized the abode with tons of upgrades:* a wonderful big bloc porch* tile throughout the council* strident ceilings* extra storage room in the garage* the biggest marble shower you’ve endlessly seen in the quell bathroom* pantry and a remuneration “chantry” (closet-pantry)* crown molding* upgraded doors* upgraded fixtures* open and bright floor expect* huge backyard* upgraded snitch* fully landscaped front yard complete with running fountain {{it’s fabulous}}* hardly new, built in 2007

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Featured Blogger: Girl, Outnumbered

new to sits? welcome!! go read this to congregate started.so we’ve made it over the hump together, but we’re one day closer to christmas. a moment ago restrict breathing and commenting and you’ll be juuuuuuust fine. today’s featured blogger is popsy, outnumberedtiffany: i’m an outnumbered girl at my house too! michelle is such a eccentric blogger. i love her “no working while at urge a exercise day”.heather:uhm…yeah, i’m sorry but dave matthews is my boyfriend. a concert with dave and some crows. the honouring week ends with a bangwe have no idea what the title of this post means, but it sounds vastly happy! oh frabjous day! callooh! callay cialis rezeptfrei!who is the brave soldier here? the itty-bitty patient or the momma? a brave soldier’s fracasand, as always, when you see this:

Brian stann

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