Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmssYacn66A

28-05-2012 11:03 Bride Letitia's Wedding Surprise Performance of Love You I Do Sunday May 27, 2012

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Letitia's Wedding Surprise Performance of Love You I Do - Video

Date: Monday May. 28, 2012 8:11 PM ET

OTTAWA A veterans advocate has complained to the privacy watchdog about an internal report that largely exonerates federal bureaucrats who spread around his personal medical information.

The Veterans Affairs investigation into Sean Bruyea's case has revived questions about how seriously the Harper government has treated breaches of privacy of ex-soldiers.

Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart concluded almost two years ago that the use of Bruyea's medical information in two 2006 briefing notes to former veterans minister Greg Thompson broke the law.

However, an outside report commissioned by the department found no "malice" or "fault" in the actions of bureaucrats and senior department officials.

The report noted that Bruyea's medical information was stitched into several other notes that were not part of the privacy commissioner's investigation.

Bruyea, who described the report as a whitewash, says his privacy was violated once again because the consultant had full, unfettered access to the briefings.

He says no one from Amprax Inc., headed by a former senior bureaucrat Alain Jolicoeur, contacted him for either permission to view the material or for input into the report.

"I certainly ... never would authorize an individual like Mr. Jolicoeur who has an extensive background as a senior bureaucrat which places him in a conflict of interest in assessing whether his peers broke the law," Bruyea said in his letter to the privacy commissioner.

"In authorizing this investigation and releasing unprecedented large amounts of my personal information to Mr. Jolicoeur, it is apparent that senior officials grossly and flagrantly broke privacy laws in order to solicit a report which would justify their breaking of those same laws in the first place. (Veterans Affairs) has crudely attempted but failed to justify the unjustifiable."

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Veterans advocate revives privacy war

By Lucas Sullivan

The Columbus Dispatch Monday May 28, 2012 6:45 AM

Bill Megla shoves the joystick of his electric scooter forward as his cloudy blue eyes peer out from under a dark baseball cap with the letters POW on the front.

There are 3,000 American flags to the left and right of Megla, 86, but all he focuses on is the Freedom Wall, a World War II memorial near the southwest corner of County Line Road and Cleveland Avenue in Westerville.

The wall has 530 gold stars, each of them representing many service members who died or went missing in WWII. It is part of Westervilles Field of Heroes, a Memorial Day tradition where full-size American flags can be dedicated to personal heroes as well as to those who served in the military.

I saw a lot of them get killed, Megla said as he turned away from the WWII wall. I lost my best friend during the war. He took a mortar round, and that was it.

Megla was a first scout in the Armys 9th Infantry Division in 1943. He joined as a second scout, he said, but was promoted when the first scout was severely injured. His duties were straightforward: Stay 100 to 200 yards in front of the line and warn of danger.He was captured by German soldiers during a firefight in Blaimont, Belgium, in 1944 and spent eight months as a prisoner of war before being released. He was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his performance during combat and for injuries he suffered as a prisoner.

Yesterday in Westerville, the former owner of a replacement-window shop couldnt travel 10 yards without someone stopping him and thanking him for his service.

Thats what is so great about this place the stories, said Walter Lundstrom of Westerville, who dedicated flags to his heroes: his wife, Gail; his mother, Anna; and his late father, Olov. Obviously, losing your life or limbs for your country is another level of sacrifice. ... There are also heroes still in our own lives that we can honor.

In its fourth year, the Field of Heroes is the idea of Larry Jenkins, a member of the Westerville Rotary Club. About 1,000 of the 3,000 flags will be dedicated to someones hero, he said, and the rest serve as a memorial to all those who died during combat.

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Westerville military memorial allows honoring personal heroes, too

By Tom Gibbs - May 27, 2012 | Tickers: COH, LVMUY.PK, RL, TIF | 0 Comments

Tom is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinions of our bloggers and are not formally edited.

The luxury goods sector has been a rather mixed bag since the industry initiated its rebound from post-2009 trough levels. Top lines in most of the industrys niches leather goods, watches/jewelry, upscale apparel, etc. have generally increased year-over-year, yet continued spending on operational rightsizing, rather volatile prices in raw material markets, and a slight pull back in consumer confidence levels have translated into a less-than-robust jump in company profits.

Undoubtedly one of the most disappointing performers as of late has been jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF), which hit a new 52 week price low following the release of its Q1 2012 filing. Coming off a relatively weak performance in Q4 2011, the corporation posted:

The saving grace for the jewelry retailer was its increased penetration into emerging markets, yet despite the continually increasing sales in Asia/Pacific and Japan (sales increased 17% and 15%, respectively, for both markets in the quarter), Tiffany has released weakened full year 2012 sales and earnings guidance.

Even with the correction in price during trading on Thursday the stock closed down 7.7% but fell by as much as 10.7% in intraday trading there are several signs that Tiffanys has not yet reached the bottom.

Jewelry Market is Slowing

It would be one thing to say that tweaking Tiffanys own operations amongst a generally improving jewelry market will yield improved performance in the near future. It is more troubling to note the reality: stagnated growth in Tiffanys industry, following a swift rebound from mid-recessionary lows, implies that most performance improvement will come from market share gains in an extremely fragmented competitive landscape.

MasterCards recently released SpendingPulse report, which tracks retail sales across all payment forms, has shown that the jewelry market has taken the largest hit among all generally slowing luxury good sales. Following a meaningful 13.0% and 6.7% jump in Q4 2011 and Q1 2012, respectively, luxury sales as a whole slowed to a more manageable 1.8% increase in April. Sales in the jewelry category experienced much less robust improvements in each of the comparable periods: 7.4% increase in Q4 2011, 5.3% increase in Q1 2012, and a 3.7% decrease this past April.

The data holds up when comparing Tiffanys recent performance with other players in the broader luxury goods industry:

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Tiffany Poised to Continue Fall

Former Major League player David Segui testified in Washington on Thursday that Roger Clemens' personal trainer told him he had saved needles he said he had used to inject Clemens with performance-enhancing drugs, Reuters reported. Segui was testifying on behalf of the prosecution in Clemens' perjury trial, and he said Brian McNamee, Clemens trainer, told him in a telephone conversation in 2001 that McNamee had saved the needles as evidence to satisfy his wife, who was leery of McNamee's relationship with Clemens. "He mentioned that the relationship between Brian and Roger had put stress on (his) married life," Segui said, according to Reuters. "He said she had raised the idea of keeping evidence ... he mentioned that he kept darts (needles) to get his wife off his back." Segui has admitted he used steroids obtained from Kirk Radomski, who had testified earlier that he mailed human growth hormone to Clemens' home. Testimony from Segui is an attempt to boost the credibility of McNamee, who is being painted as a liar by defense attorneys. Clemens, 49, is being tried on federal charges that he lied in 2008 to the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Oversight and Government Reform when he said he did not use performance-enhancing drugs. Also Thursday, FBI forensics expert Pamela Reynolds testified she had found evidence of steroids on medical waste from the 2001 injection McNamee had turned over to authorities.

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Segui testifies McNamee said he kept needles as evidence

May 25, 2012 - 18:03 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - In New York, where audiences are treated to regular performances by star musicians, there is excellent music-making in abundance. Yet for all the virtuoso playing - however enjoyable it may be - it is still rare to hear an artist communicate with the level of searing intensity that Sergey Khachatryan achieved in his sublime interpretation of Bachs Partita for Solo Violin No. 2 at Alice Tully Hall on Wednesday, May 23 evening, Vivien Schweitzer says in a music review on the New York Times.

A performance of a Bach partita or sonata for unaccompanied violin also presents a rare opportunity to see a violinist completely alone onstage, in this case without even a piano or music stand in the background, Ms. Schweitzer says.

Khachatryan has recently recorded the sonatas and partitas; the cover of the disc features him shrouded in darkness, eyes raised piously and hands pressed together above his instrument. This was certainly a deeply spiritual performance, personal and soaringly expressive. As soon as Khachatryan began the opening Allemande, you could sense how intently the audience began listening, as he achieved the all-too-uncommon feat of seducing a rustling, coughing crowd into silence.

The concluding Chaconne - the approximately 15-minute movement that consists of a series of 64 variations on a stately four-bar, triple-meter dance theme - has entranced listeners for centuries.

Ms. Schweitzer reminds that in a letter to Clara Schumann, Brahms wrote: On one staff, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings. If I imagined that I could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excitement and earth-shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind.

There were moments of plaintive beauty when Mr. Khachatryan played the monumental Chaconne, and equally heart-wrenching moments during the Sarabande. His sweet-toned approach is not the Baroque purists aesthetic, but not a note or phrase seemed ill advised, she says.

The performance after intermission proved equally intense. Khachatryan was joined by his sister Lusine Khachatryan, a gifted pianist, for an exciting rendition of Beethovens Kreutzer Sonata, whose tumultuous dialogue and seething drama inspired Tolstoys novella of the same name. Such a sense of danger pervaded this fiery interpretation that you could easily imagine the jealous husband of Tolstoys story reacting in fury after hearing his wife performing this passionate music with another man. The drama continued with the encore, the soulful, turbulent Introduction and for violin and piano (1957) by the Armenian composer Edvard Mirzoyan.

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NYT about Sergey Khachatryan: personal and soaringly expressive

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Cotys proposal to acquire Avon has inspired a renewed interest in direct selling as a distribution channel bringing up questions about its profitability and prospects.

New market report Corporate Strategies in Direct Selling 2011 drawn up by Euromonitor International provides a thorough examination of the channel through a series of case studies of the leading direct sellers strategies, focusing on emerging market penetration, flexible approach and product and sales model innovation.

Report Highlights:

Products mentioned include: baby and child-specific products, bath and shower, colour cosmetics, deodorants, depilatories, fragrances, hair care, mass cosmetics, men's grooming, oral care, oral care excl power toothbrushes, premium cosmetics, sets/kits, skin care, sun care.

Data covered include: market sizes (historic and forecasts), company shares, brand shares and distribution data.

Report Details:

Title: Corporate Strategies in Direct Selling 2011 Published: May, 2012 Pages: 56 Price: US$ 2,000.00

http://marketpublishers.com/report/consumers_goods/retailing/corporate_strategies_in_direct_selling_2011_euromonitor.html

Report Contents:

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Beauty & Personal Care Direct Selling Strategies Reviewed in New Topical Study Published at MarketPublishers.com

MONACO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Monster, the global leader in the development and manufacturing of high-performance headphones, is dramatically raising the bar for headphone sound and style at this years Monaco Grand Prix, introducing three ground-breaking new models that deliver an astounding new level of audio quality, while providing high style that boldly positions headphones as a fashion accessory. The companys offerings include the upcoming Inspiration, Monsters first over-ear, noise canceling headphone, as well as the elegant over-ear Diamond Tears Edge. In alliance with Diesel, the iconic lifestyle company, Monster is offering VEKTR, a trendsetting personal listening solution. Each new Monster lifestyle headphone has been expertly engineered to deliver a powerful music listening experience, combined with stunning new designs that allow users to express their individuality and style. Monster will showcase and demonstrate its upcoming headphones at a May 25th press conference at the MC Bay Hotel.

Noel Lee: The Creative Mind Driving Monsters Next-Generation Style & Sound Monster founder and Head Monster Noel Lee, who was recently honored with the prestigious Plus X Lifetime Achievement Award, is the audio expert responsible for the dramatically enhanced sound quality of the companys new headphones. After engineering and tuning the acclaimed Beats by Dr. Dre headphone sound, Lee has gone on to redefine the quality of the personal listening experience in recent years, establishing Monster as the clear world leader in advanced, high-performance headphones. The debut of Inspiration, Diamond Tears and VEKTR reflects his ongoing mission to redefine headphone sound and bring back great audio performance for all digital music listeners.

Noted Mr. Lee: Since 1929, the Monaco Grand Prix has been known around the world as an event that signifies the pinnacle of glamour and prestige which is precisely why we chose this event to preview our new line of headphones. As a company dedicated to better-sounding music, Monster creates products that elevate the music listening experience. Powerful, accurate audio reproduction is always at the forefront of our product creation, accompanied, of course, by style and design. With Inspiration, Diamond Tears and VEKTR, we are giving music lovers everywhere an opportunity to explore new horizons in audio performance, with bold new designs that set the stage for a new era of personal sound and style. The Cannes Film Festival is happening at the same time as the Monaco Grand Prix, so be on the lookout for stylish and high-profile people wearing the newest Monster headphones around town, both at the Grand Prix and the film festival. Were Monsterizing Monaco!

Inspiration: Serious Audio. High Style. Over 30 years in the making, Inspiration headphones are born from Monsters tradition of passion for music and innovation. The first-ever Monster over-ear noise-cancelling headphone, theyre ideal for sophisticated listeners, frequent travellers and anyone who wants to enjoy a new point-of-view in luxury personal audio that blends next-generation sound with streamlined design, total comfort and premium customization. Most importantly, thanks to Monsters leading-edge sonic enhancements, Inspiration headphones bring out more of the truth behind every great recording. This pure and powerful music reproduction is combined with a trendsetting fashion-forward twist interchangeable headbands in a variety of different colors, textures and materials. The bold new concept in headphone design lets users express themselves by changing headbands, transforming the entire look and feel to suit style preferences for any day, mood or occasion.

By combining their advanced audio performance with style-forward design and customization, Inspiration lets users express exactly how their music moves them. Designed for both men and women, they feature a unique angled plush earcup, in addition to their super comfortable, extra wide interchangeable headband.

Diamond Tears: Sound with the Clarity of Diamonds Monsters Diamond Tears headphones are fashion that is both seen and heard. They feature Monsters world renowned audio engineering for a truly unique and powerful personal listening solution. The Diamond Tears sound is pure Monster rich, powerful audio that is super detailed and accurate across all frequencies, so music sounds the way the original artist intended it to be heard. Best of all, the design is as incredible as the sound. The ultimate fashion statement, Diamond Tears are for those who are BOLD, who want to stand out and be noticed. Their pillow soft ear cushions let you listen for hours in total comfort, with perfectly fitted noise-isolating earcups that keep the world out and your music in. They also feature Monsters ControlTalk Universal; with an integrated high-grade microphone and answer button that lets users their music and answer phone calls without having to reach into their pocketbook, backpack or pocket. From admiring looks, to incredible music reproduction, Diamond Tears will make a forever lasting impression.

VEKTR: Expertly Blending the Worlds of Fashion and Great Sound. VEKTR on-ear headphones provide users with a comfortable, premium-quality listening solution that expertly blends the worlds of fashion and great sound. In addition to their dramatically enhanced audio performance, they offer a strikingly different cosmetic, with a sharp faceted look thats completely unlike traditional round on-ear headphones. Featuring a distinctive diamond-cut Diesel logo on each plush ear cup, VEKTR headphones provide a unique sound experience: the combination of enhanced audio performance and unique visual design engages the senses and adds a new level of self-expression to the music listening experience.

The Monaco Grand Prix is held each year on the Circuit de Monaco. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigious automobile races in the world alongside the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans (with which it forms the Triple Crown of Motorsport). The circuit has been called "an exceptional location of glamour and prestige."

Press members visiting the Monaco Grand Prix should contact: Mary Manabat Barker, EU Marketing Coordinator, Monster Europe Ltd. E-mail mmanabatbarker@monsterproducts.com

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Monster Brings Unprecedented Audio Performance and Style to Europe with the Introduction of Three Stunning Headphone ...

By Tom Gibbs - May 21, 2012 | Tickers: COST, SWY, SVU, KR, WMT | 0 Comments

Tom is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinions of our bloggers and are not formally edited.

The grocery industry is abuzz thus far in 2012 as discretionary consumer spending has continued to increase and many shoppers begin to emerge from the emergency saving habits that have developed over the past several-year recessionary period. Many of the sectors primary players -- including Kroger (NYSE: KR), Safeway (NYSE: SWY), Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), and Costco (NASDAQ: COST) -- have enjoyed increasing top lines from mid-recession trough levels as a result of consumers spending more per shopping visit on more discretionary and higher-margin items like pre-made foods and wines/spirits.

The same cannot be said about Supervalu (NYSE: SVU), which has experienced a near 20% revenue decline and has lost 90% of its stock value over the past five years. On the surface, the grocer appears to be an entity that most would not touch with other investors' money short interest represents more than 40% of the float, the corporation has an extremely unattractive debt and pension obligation balance, and performance metrics (on square footage basis) continue to falter while competitors continue to enjoy year-over-year improvements.

Despite the poor performance over the past several years and the huge strides Supervalu must take to restore confidence in its brand, the gross beating that the stock has taken since recent 2007 highs has created a unique value-focused opportunity for patient, long-term oriented investors. The recent upgrade from Longbow Research from neutral to buy with a price target of $8 (64% appreciation from todays price) suggests that others believe that the wheels are already in motion for a turnaround.

Why is Supervalu a buy at current market valuations?

A Plan is Outlined

An investment in Supervalu is not based on hopes that the grocer can boost its top line and operating margins to average peer levels. Due to the pessimism surrounding the stock and the weak outlook expectations (as the short interest implies), Supervalu simply needs to show some improvement to begin driving stock price appreciation.

The corporation has, most importantly, identified one of the primary turnaround points for operations and has outlined a reasonable plan to begin experiencing improvement. In order to re-build consumer loyalty and drive store traffic toward historic levels (comparable store sales have declined for the past 15 consecutive quarters), Supervalu is using these approaches:

Cash Flow Positive

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This Grocer Presents a Super Value Opportunity

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire -05/22/12)- Atlantis Computing, the leader in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) storage and performance optimization solutions, today announced that Washington Trust Bank, the largest independently owned full-service commercial bank in the Northwest, has deployed Atlantis ILIO as part of its VMware View 5 desktop virtualization deployment to enable employees to access their virtual desktop from anywhere using Wyse thin clients and zero clients, iPads, personal computers or repurposed corporate PCs.

"For us, VDI is really for our knowledge workers because they require mobility," said Christopher Green, vice president, IT Infrastructure Systems, Washington Trust Bank. "VMware View and Wyse cloud client computing solutions allows our mobile users to access their virtual desktop from anywhere they have an internet connection, over Wi-Fi or through the 3G devices that are provided to them."

When Washington Trust Bank first deployed VMware View with traditional SAN storage, the testing and pilot achieved a high level of success. However, as the deployment of virtual desktops grew, Washington Trust Bank sought ways to accelerate the desktop performance during times of peak usage, such as morning logons, when employees began their workday.

"Our employees needed to have performance on par with a physical desktop," continued Christopher Green. "If we are going to pass users off to a new technology, the expectation is that it will be better than the old."

Upon further investigation of their existing desktop virtualization environment, the team at Washington Trust Bank sought out solutions to optimize and accelerate the storage IO traffic for peak usage periods.

"One school of thought was to add tons of storage processors and SSDs; but that increased our CAPEX cost and minimized our ROI," continued Green. "Using Atlantis ILIO with VMware View however enabled us to achieve all the management benefits of the desktop virtualization solution while providing the best end-user experience."

Using Atlantis ILIO 3.0 with VMware View 5, VMware ThinApp, Dell Servers, and Wyse P20 PCoIP zero clients and Wyse R90L7 thin clients enabled Washington Trust Bank to deliver high performance desktops at the lowest desktop TCO, thereby meeting the requirements of end-users, IT and the business. The VMware View deployment uses VMware High Availability (HA) and Distributed Resource Scheduling (DRS) with Atlantis ILIO to ensure the continuous availability of virtual desktops.

To watch the Washington Trust Bank video case study, visit http://www.atlantiscomputing.com/washingtontrustbank

To register for a live Webcast "Washington Trust Bank VDI Best Practices for Mobility, Storage & DRS" on May 31st at 9AM PDT, visit bit.ly/wtbankwebinar

Quotes from Atlantis Computing, VMware and Wyse:"Washington Trust Bank is one of several examples of how customers benefit from Wyse cloud client computing solutions," said Ricardo Antuna, senior vice president, Business Development and Alliances, Wyse Technology. "The combination of Atlantis Computing, Dell, VMware and Wyse solutions bring unprecedented value to our customers by enabling alternative computing models."

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Washington Trust Bank Goes Mobile With VDI Using VMware View, Wyse, and Atlantis Computing