Workers at Bain-owned plant appeal to Romney to save their jobs

(Reuters) - As Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney faces a withering attack over outsourcing and layoffs by his former firm, Bain Capital, employees at a Bain-owned company are appealing to Romney to stop their jobs being shipped overseas.

Romney has played no part in Sensata Technologies Inc.'s decision to move its auto-sensor business to China. But he owns millions of dollars worth of Bain funds that hold a controlling stake in the Massachusetts-based company.

The planned closure of its plant in Freeport, Illinois, could create further headaches for Romney, who is struggling to divert attacks by President Barack Obama and his campaign that portray him as a job killer who does not understand ordinary Americans.

While Obama is way ahead in polls in Illinois and the factory closure would not affect the presidential race there, it is the kind of incident that could feed his campaign's portrayal of Romney as insensitive to job cuts by big business.

In their most effective line of attack, Obama and his fellow Democrats have featured Bain-owned companies that went out of business or laid off workers in negative ads against Romney that are hurting his approval ratings in swing states.

The plant's employees are calling on Romney to use his influence with former Bain colleagues to keep the plant open.

The workers signed a petition asking him to help, and the Freeport City Council passed a motion on Monday urging the candidate to step in to save the jobs.

"If he wanted to, all he needs to do is call up the management of Bain Capital and say, 'Look, don't do this,'" said Tom Gaulrapp, who has worked at the factory for 33 years.

Romney does not know about Sensata's plan to transfer the business to China by the end of the year, his campaign said.

"Gov. Romney is not familiar with this issue and has not been involved in the management of Bain since 1999," said Romney campaign spokesperson Amanda Henneberg.

The jobs at the Freeport plant have been on the chopping block for more than a year.

Sensata bought the business in January 2011 with the intention of moving it closer to the Chinese auto-parts manufacturers that buy the bulk of the company's sensors, which monitor everything from oil pressure to engine temperature, according to a spokesman.

INVESTMENT IN SENSATA

Anyone who owns a mutual fund or retirement account may benefit when a U.S.-based company decides to boost profits by moving operations overseas.

As a major investor in Sensata, Romney could gain from an outsourcing move that is likely to cut costs and increase the company's presence in emerging markets.

Romney owns at least $7.8 million in eight Bain funds that collectively hold 51 percent of Sensata's shares, according to a disclosure report he released in June.

Romney earned between $1.4 million and $9 million in 2011 from dividends, interest and capital gains from those funds, which also invest in other companies, the report shows.

Presidential candidates are only required to list a rough estimate of the value of their assets, which accounts for the wide gap in the estimates of his earnings.

It is not possible to say how much Romney has made from Sensata directly because private-equity firms typically do not release detailed financial statements.

Sensata struggled during the global recession of 2008-2009 but has turned a profit lately. It predicted in April it would earn between $2 and $2.20 per adjusted share for the 2012 financial year.

The company's share price has risen from $18 at its initial public offering in March 2010 to close at $26.56 on Tuesday, outpacing the Dow Jones Industrial Average by nearly twice as much in percentage terms.

According to The New York Times, Romney negotiated a retirement agreement with Bain Capital in 2001 that paid him a stream of the company's profits through 2009. It also gave him the right to invest in new Bain deals.

Romney has not managed his investments directly since 2003, when he set up a blind trust under Massachusetts law when he became governor.

Romney and his wife Ann own between $18.76 million and $59.3 million in Bain funds, according to his most recent financial disclosure form. The actual value could be much higher because disclosure requirements are loosened for investments that are owned jointly with a spouse; several funds are listed only as worth more than $1 million.

Obama and his fellow Democrats charge that Bain invested in companies that shipped U.S. jobs overseas while Romney was in charge in the 1990s.

They also say that Romney's proposal to eliminate taxes on U.S. companies' overseas earnings would encourage businesses to create jobs abroad, rather than in the United States.

"He made money investing in companies that have been called pioneers of outsourcing," Obama said at a rally in San Antonio on Tuesday.

Romney allies say that current tax law is driving companies to set up shop overseas. Republican Senator Rob Portman, a possible vice presidential pick, pointed to companies like Eaton Corp. that have moved their headquarters to take advantage of low tax rates in countries like Ireland.

"Because of tax policy we're fighting at a disadvantage," Portman said at the Reuters Washington Summit last month.

Independent fact-checking organizations say there is no evidence that Romney was directly involved in offshoring decisions when he headed Bain.

Still, Democrats' attacks have prompted some voters to re-assess Romney. A Rasmussen Reports survey on Monday found that 41 percent of people said Romney's business experience was a reason to vote against him, up from 33 percent in May.

Americans are now equally divided on the issue, the poll found.

FOCUS ON RETURNS

As an investment firm, Bain is primarily focused on maximizing its returns, not boosting employment.

Bain Capital says it has created hundreds of thousands of jobs in it 28-year history. The Boston-based firm says revenues have grown at 80 percent of the more than 350 companies in which it has invested. Well-known companies like Staples Inc. reached success with Bain's help.

Sensata was created in 2006 when Bain bought Texas Instruments Inc.'s sensors and controls business. The company now employs 11,400 people worldwide. Almost all of its products are manufactured outside the United States, in countries such as Mexico, China, Bulgaria and Malaysia.

Sensata bought the Freeport plant as part of an acquisition of Honeywell International's auto-sensor business in late 2010. The 170 jobs there were at risk from the start of the purchase.

"The decision was made as part and parcel of the acquisition. If we'd been forced to keep the facility we probably wouldn't have bought the business in the first place," Sensata spokesman Jacob Sayer said.

Bain declined to comment on the factory closure.

In their first meeting with their new employers when the deal was completed in January 2011, workers at the plant were told their jobs would be eliminated by the end of 2012.

Chinese workers have since been brought in to learn how to operate the equipment. The first batch of layoff notices went out last week, Gaulrapp said.

(Additional reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Editing by Alistair Bell and Jim Loney)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/workers-bain-owned-plant-appeal-romney-save-jobs-221325738--sector.html

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Tips On How To Find The Best Vacation Deals

Finding the vacation you want, and not breaking the bank, can be a real challenge. With rising fuel prices, airfares continue to rise as well. There are many vacation providers out there, but how do you know that the price is the best on the market?

One place to start your search would be an online discount travel site. These sites offer vacation deals from many providers, and give you a chance to compare the packages in one place. This gives you a good overview of what variety is available, the destinations you can choose from, and the hotels and amenities that are included. Many online discount travel sites also offer price guarantees, that if you see the same trip advertised at a lower price, they will match it and sometimes even add a further discount. Others offer price drop protection, so that if your itinerary drops in price after you book and before departure, you will be credited the difference. This takes a lot of the stress out of planning, knowing that you are not overpaying for your vacation deal.

Some of the best vacation deals are last-minute sell-offs. Vacation providers will sell empty seats at a lower price as the departure date approaches. It is better for them to fill those seats at a discount than to fly at less than capacity. Also, some online travel sites have arrangements with vacation providers that provide a discount in exchange for bulk purchases. You benefit from these arrangements by purchasing your vacation deal through them.

When looking at last-minute vacation deals, be flexible. If you know that you can take off in the next few weeks, keep your eyes on these vacations. You will be amazed at how little your vacation may cost. Plan your vacation for shoulder season, or off-season. For sun destinations, you will find lower prices in the spring or summer months. If you just want to get away, not necessarily escape winter, visit Cuba or Mexico in August and enjoy the savings.

Another option to a vacation package is to book a flight to your destination, trying to fly mid-week for the best fare, and book a cheap hotel at the same time. Booking flight and hotel together is almost always less expensive than booking them separately. Again, online discount travel sites have arrangements with hotels to offer rooms at a discount when booked through their sites. They have a variety of hotels on offer, and you can usually find a cheap hotel to stay in while you are away. Many sites offer reviews by others who have stayed there, so you can have a good idea of the accommodation before you arrive. Their feedback gives you impartial opinions on the experiences of real people.

Cheap hotels are sometimes just as comfortable and reliable as more expensive, without some of the frills. Finding the vacation you want and not breaking your travel budget is easy when you do your research and take advantage of the offers available on travel discount websites.

About the Author:
Great vacation deals as well as cheap hotels are available on flightnetwork.com to enjoy your vacations with your family with new experience.

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Tips-On-How-To-Find-The-Best-Vacation-Deals/4043474

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Should We Have Automotive "Right To Repair"? | Humble Mechanic

We have talked about ?Dealership repair vs Aftermarket repair? many times before. One thing that I didn?t touch on is the ?Right to Repair? issue. This is legislation aimed at forcing auto manufacturers to provide more repair information and tool to the aftermarket. This is going beyond the how to information.

Based on the legislation, it seems that ?Right to Repair? is trying to get information on the control modules in the car. You can read the legislation here. This comes from the ?Right to Repair? site.

While the problems experienced by independent technicians are wide ranging, the following are three major issues now faced by independent repair shops in attempting to obtain the information and tools needed to work on today?s and tomorrow?s vehicles:

• Codes needed to reinitialize vehicle computer systems are not made available. Independent shops often are able to perform many repairs only to be stymied at the end when they cannot obtain the code to reinitialize the vehicle?s computers and thus complete the repair. Absent entering the code, in many cases the car owner would not be able to restart the car following the repairs.
• Information provided to new dealers is more effective than what is provided to independents. A great deal of diagnostic and repair data is provided to car company franchised dealerships over ?hotlines? that are not accessible to independent repair shops or consumers. Information available through these dealer-only networks provide valuable diagnostic assistance for hard to solve problem and might also have information regarding safety related repairs that need to be completed, but which an independent shop and car owner might not be aware of until a technical service bulletin or recall is released, a process that can take months if not years.
• The growing use of telematic systems by car companies will permit critical marketing and repair information to flow wirelessly using cell phone technology to the dealer, leaving the independents out of the loop. While telematics will provide extensive benefits to car owners, it also will be used by car companies and their dealers to tie the customer to the dealer long after the new car warranty has expired.

As I see it, the aftermarket wants to have full access to all of the control modules and their information. Anything from coding modules, to advanced diagnostics. It will also include the information that we get from VW technical help line.

The truth is, most of this information is already out there. Think about all the information that is in repair manuals like Alldata, Chiltons, Mitchell and so on. Most if not all of the information needed to repair modern cars is out there. It is just a matter of PAYING for it.

We can take VW for a great example. If you buy VCDS (an aftermarket diagnostic software for VW and Audi) you can do just about everything with anything we can do with the dealer scantool. You can also buy the rights to adapt new keys and control modules. That would allow anyone to perform just about repairs on VWs. Like I said, the channels are out there, it is just a matter of finding and paying for them.

So what is the solution?

Well, to me the solution is really easy. If an aftermarket wants to play, they need to pay. It might be a matter of buying the proper diagnostic equipment and tools. The funny part about that is, it will increase the cost of doing business with an aftermarket shop. Tool and repair manual companies can have the information available shortly after a new car comes out. Well within the warranty period. If an aftermarket shop wants to do advanced electrical diagnosis, then it is up to them to buy the proper equipment.

What would happen if car makers were forced to GIVE the information away? Would it give you more options on getting your car fixed? Yep! Would, at some point, raise the cost of buying that new car? Maybe.. Remember that the costs will always roll down hill to the customer. I don?t care what side of this you are on, NO ONE can argue that.

I will be keeping my ear pretty close to this one. With that said, what do you guys think? Do dealers have ?unfair? advantages? Please keep in mind the word ?UNFAIR?. I really would like to know your thoughts on this.. Post it up in the comments.

Source: http://humblemechanic.com/2012/07/17/should-we-have-automotive-right-to-repair/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=should-we-have-automotive-right-to-repair

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Class of 2012: 5 Europe grads face rocky future

Athina Prassa in Athens mastered English in four years studying at a private university. It's a skill that may not help her much as she hunts for work while hard-right thugs roam her blighted neighborhood.

Lucy Nicholls in London graduated from fashion school brimming with optimism. It took just a week for real life to step in: She fell victim to a scam that left her broke and desperate for work.

Rafael Gonzalez del Castillo in Madrid has pulled countless all-nighters to win a degree in his passion, architecture, just as Spain's building bust has littered the country with abandoned buildings.

Moira Koffi in Paris left her widowed mom in Normandy for "bohemian life" at the Sorbonne. Now the communications grad is heading into the real world.

Lutz Henschel in Berlin graduated near the top of his class with a degree in electrical engineering in Europe's top economy. Since January he's sent out nearly 40 applications, and is still chasing his dream of working in renewable energies.

Meet AP's Class of 2012: five talented and vibrant university graduates who face a rocky future as they emerge from the cocoon of student life and head into the worst economic crisis Europe has seen since the end of World War II, one that threatens to engulf an entire generation.

They're excited. They're scared. They're full of hope. And full of uncertainty.

The Associated Press will follow them over the next 12 months as their lives unfold in the crisis ? through text, photo and video dispatches, as well as webcam diaries and tweets straight from the graduates themselves.

Their drama will play out amid the somber realities of Europe's financial crisis, with profound implications for the future of young people everywhere. After all, the European Union is this interconnected world's biggest economy, and it's struggling badly.

Austerity is eroding an envied way of life. Long-cherished certainties about cradle-to-grave welfare are evaporating. As leaders scramble to extinguish one debt fire after another, the futures of ordinary people grow dimmer.

And a parallel crisis of demography is developing as the population ages rapidly, creating even more of a burden on this generation of young people who are finding it so hard to carve out a future.

Those twin crises will challenge Lutz as he leaves his studies in Europe's strongest economy, even with its low youth unemployment rate of 8 percent.

They will haunt Lucy and Moira in Britain and France, where more than a fifth of all young people are unemployed.

Athina and Rafa worry they'll have to move abroad to survive. In Greece and Spain, youth unemployment is above 50 percent.

"I don't think this time is suitable for fulfilling your dreams," Athina says. "That can happen later."

This is the AP Class of 2012:

ATHINA PRASSA, 22

"Want to see my fridge?" Athina asks a visitor.

She's a natural optimist but it's hard to keep up the cheer as she gazes at the lonely milk carton and container of butter on empty shelves.

"There are days," she says, "where I forget what it's like to eat meat."

Athina left her family home on the island of Lemnos four years ago to study at the private Hellenic-American University in Athens. Her parents were able to pay for her studies but not much more. It meant she ended up in a crime-ridden neighborhood notorious for its extreme-right thugs, where she lives rent-free in an apartment owned by her godmother.

Her parents sent her 100 euros ($120) a week at first, then cut it back to half that when they couldn't afford more.

Now she's on her own.

"My parents can't send me money anymore to live here," she says. "I'm really scared about the future."

She longs to work in Athens but is worried the crisis will force her to leave Greece.

She says the hard times, brought on by years of profligate spending in Greece, have taught her some valuable lessons: "It's funny, but I think the crisis has turned me into a better person, because I definitely hate money right now. ... I see how people go crazy about money."

She despises the anti-immigrant Golden Dawn party that roams her neighborhood.

Through all the turmoil, Athina still holds onto her dreams. She wants to work in fashion. She wants to backpack around Europe. She wants to visit America.

And she still manages to have fun with her friends in Athens ? which she calls "a jungle" ? by taking advantage of the beaches and free concerts and art exhibitions.

At a recent gallery event, Athina stood staring at a photograph of a demolition site. Spray-painted over it in red was one word: FUTURE.

LUCY NICHOLLS, 22

Lucy sits against a backdrop of rose-patterned wallpaper emblazoned with the word "Wish," the name of the fashion magazine that's her graduation project.

She's presenting it at a London show called RAW to launch Middlesex University fashion grads like herself, exuding a mixture of confidence and jitters.

The fashionista with artsy glasses and bright red hair has paid a Lithuanian company 2,000 pounds ($1,550) to print 500 copies of WISH, which she's planning to ship to customers.

She concedes her optimism verges on the "cocky."

But she also has a dose of realism: "I'm going to need money very soon. Luckily the magazine is going to bring in a tiny, weeny little bit ... But I'm going to need a job pretty soon, that's for sure."

A week later, disaster strikes: The printing company has gone bust and disappeared with her money.

Now she's broke and needs a job fast: "I realize because of this catastrophe with the magazine I need work now. I really, really need to be making money."

The setback doesn't keep her down for long: She's picked up some freelance photography work for a London PR agency that's helping her pay the bills. Meanwhile, she has revamped her resume to wade into her first real job hunt.

Lucy says her teachers didn't prepare her for life: "We don't get told anything about industry or the real world. We didn't ever get told about what jobs were really out there."

Half-English, half-French, Lucy comes from a rural town in Surrey, south of London. She says her father warned her about how hard life can be: "You have to be prepared to be living off beans."

Fluent in French, she says she could try Paris for a while ? but things aren't much better there, and in any case she sees her future in the British capital.

"I've been told by everybody London is where it's at, London is where you've got to be."

RAFAEL GONZALEZ DEL CASTILLO, 24

Rafael ? or Rafa as everyone calls him ? is a budding architect in a nation that's gone through one of the worst building busts in modern times.

He loves his field. He loves Spain. But he fears his future lies abroad.

Like millions of other young Spaniards trapped in the nation's devastating economic spiral, he says he'll jump at any opportunity for rewarding work ? be it in Sudan, Chile, Alaska or Mongolia.

He just presented his final project ? a design for urban greenhouses and terraced farmland on the marshy banks of a river ? at Madrid's Polytechnic University. If it's approved by a jury, he'll officially be an architect in October.

Then what? A stroll through the wasteland.

The construction industry was crushed by the implosion of a real estate bubble in 2008. It's ground zero of Spain's economic crisis, with more than 1 million jobs lost in that industry alone.

Rafa, however, keeps on dreaming.

An actor in the university drama troupe, he talks a mile a minute with charm and eloquence, gushing enthusiasm for his chosen profession. He loves his studies so much he'd do it all over again ? despite the doom that hangs over the industry.

Rafa refuses to believe that after a five-year journey through one of Spain's most demanding schools, what awaits him is the edge of a cliff and a plunge into the dead-end jobs in bars or supermarkets that many of his fellow college grads are taking up to get by.

He breaks into this riff: "Since I was little, they told me, 'when you get to middle school, you will fail some subjects.' I did not fail. 'When you get to high school, your grades will go down.' They did not. 'When you get to university, you will fail.' OK, I have failed a few subjects, but I got by. So I do not want to be told again that there is not going to be any work. I simply do not believe it.

"It all depends on me."

Gonzalez is not angry about his plight. He says everybody in Spain is to blame ? consumers hooked on loans, banks that threw around the money, politicians who sat back and watched it all inflate dangerously.

"In the end," he says, "it is all of us at least a little bit."

MOIRA KOFFI, 22

Moira worries if she'll have a job when she gets back from vacation in Greece.

She worries about how she'll live in Paris once she has to leave student housing.

Above all ? following big gains by far-right parties in France, Greece and elsewhere ? the African-French communications grad worries about a racist wave engulfing Europe: "It's like the 1930s again. I don't get why people can recreate this atmosphere of hate and fear. It's crazy."

Moira just handed in her thesis at the Sorbonne, capping three years of study.

She started out as a journalism major, but switched to corporate communications when crisis hit in 2008.

"I wanted to be a journalist, but then I heard about everyone who couldn't find jobs," Moira says.

But by the time she graduated the downturn had expanded, and now half of France's new graduates have no work.

"Can it get any worse?" she says with a wry laugh. "Well, maybe if the European Union explodes."

Moira has had time to come to terms with the crisis. Its start coincided with her move to Paris four years ago. Leaving her widowed mother teaching school in a small town in Normandy, Moira made her way in the capital as countless young students have before her, counting her centimes and enjoying "la vie boheme" ? bohemian life.

The Sorbonne helped her find a short-term apprenticeship at a public relations agency, where she handles social media campaigns.

The four-day-a-week job ends in September. She wants to stay on, but there are no guarantees.

Moira budgets carefully, keeping expenses to around 600 euros ($750) a month. She goes out less than she did when she first moved to Paris, taking up hobbies like dressmaking and baking muffins. Her most recent creation? A "beautiful and classy" black dress. It's nearly finished after six months of work.

LUTZ HENSCHEL, 27

Lutz picks up his diploma in a soaring hall adorned with a sculpture of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. He savors a glass of champagne. Listens to the music.

With a masters in electrical engineering in Germany, Europe's most successful economy, he knows his prospects are brighter than those of millions of other university graduates across the continent.

But since finishing his studies in January, Lutz has sent out nearly 40 applications and been through about 15 interviews, only to keep hitting a brick wall.

"At the beginning I felt disappointed because I believed that I was the reason for the rejections," he says. "But now I think that a lot of companies have too high expectations."

Even facing a shortage of skilled workers, elite German companies have been notoriously unwilling to hire students straight out of university. Lutz sees himself trapped in a Catch-22: "They expect a graduate to have specific knowledge and experiences which I think is impossible to have right after graduation."

The Berlin native who teaches karate on the side dreams of a job in renewable energy.

This month he took a six-hour train journey south for an interview with German engineering giant Bosch.

Two days later, it was an hour-and-a-half train ride north for an interview with a German-Danish company that builds wind farms.

He's confident that the latest interview went well: He got to talk to real engineers, not just HR reps.

"It's a little bit discouraging at first, because everyone is saying, 'you are sought so much, you're an electrical engineer, everyone wants you,'" Lutz says. "But then you get out, and it's not true."

On the eve of the launch of Class of 2012, Lutz's fortunes turn. He sends out this tweet:

"I got my first official job offer! I will stay in Berlin, building elevators."

Developing electric circuits for elevators is a far cry from Lutz's ambition of making the world a better place through green technologies, but it's a start.

"How awesome," he tweets.

___

This story was reported by Efty Katsareas, Theodora Tongas and Elena Becatoros in Athens; Cassandra Vinograd and Tom Rayner in London; Greg Keller in Paris; Daniel Woolls and Hernan Munoz Ratto in Madrid; Kerstin Sopke and David Rising in Berlin. It was written by Joji Sakurai in London.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/class-2012-5-europe-grads-face-rocky-future-103458282--finance.html

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Idaho farm hosts 'weed dating' for singles

BOISE, Idaho (AP) ? For one night a year, a neighborhood farm in northwest Boise turns into a respite for singles who are tired of the same old dating scene.

A poster board planted at the entrance of Earthly Delights Farm in late June advertised "Weed Dating," with a heart-stamped arrow guiding visitors to a sign-in table, where they were each assigned a number and invited to sample beer provided by a local brewer.

The farm is among a handful across the country offering an unconventional form of speed dating. Typically, speed daters meet at a bar or restaurant and switch conversational partners every few minutes, in hopes of finding someone compatible. With weed dating, this rapid-fire courtship takes place on the farm, with singles working together in the fields.

The payoff for their toil? A chance at romance.

Joe Peraino, 27, met his previous girlfriend while weed dating at the Boise farm last year. They were together for nine months and found that few others couples could top their account of how they met, said Peraino, who has since relocated to South Carolina.

"It's a pretty fun story, because it's not like a known thing, weed dating. A lot of people are like, 'So, were you on a pot farm?'"

Casey O'Leary, 33, owns the Earthly Delights Farm and first heard of the idea from a farm in Vermont. Farms in states that include Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio have also advertised similar weed dating events. O'Leary organized her first weed dating last year for about 20 people, including some friends and interns on her farm.

More than 40 men and women showed up for this year's weed dating.

"I feel bad if we don't have the right people for the right people," O'Leary said before addressing the crowd. "We're all weirdos, in general, people, we're all weirdos right? So like, it's just a matter of if the right weirdos show up."

In her role as matchmaker, O'Leary shook a small tambourine to catch everyone's attention and reassured those who had already started to eye each another that everybody would be paired up with everybody over the course of the evening.

With ages ranging from early 20s to early 50s, O'Leary also provided a small disclaimer.

"Obviously, there are some matches that probably are not appropriate, age-wise, and that's OK," she said. "We're all adults, so just have a good time."

Here's how it works: Each of the ladies will be assigned to a specific row, with more instructions to follow after "we get you into the beds," O'Leary said, prompting nervous snickers that erupted into laughter as the tension eased. The women were given a crash course in how to identify a weed versus a vegetable or fruit, and then instructed to pass that information along to the men, who rotated from each bed every three minutes.

"Please don't pull out our crops. This is a working farm," O'Leary said before sending them off.

With the dating in full swing, O'Leary moved between the neat rows of lettuce, strawberries, eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes. She said she likes the idea of helping gardeners and people with similar interests find each other. But seeing people weed her farm is also nice.

"I'm not a hookup coach, I'm a farmer," O'Leary said, her sinewy hands and dirt-incrusted fingernails proving her point.

Amy Johnson, 29, a Spanish elementary school teacher, heard about the event last year but couldn't make it.

"It's one of those life experiences that I might not always be able to get so why not take advantage of it this year?" Johnson said. "I'm not much into dating, like speed dating or like, online dating. But it's always fun to meet new people."

Weeding is actually one her favorite activities, she said, adding: "Last year I was joking that if I would have weeded with my ex-boyfriend, we probably would have never gotten together ... He was not a very good weeder."

Brian Cox, a 47-year-old artist and musician, came looking for a new way to meet people.

"The typical speed dating, it's just kind of awkward," Cox said. "But this is just beautiful, because it's like outside, it's very organic. Literally."

Joe DeGano, 46, a sales and marketing manager for a company that manufactures clutch components for motorcycles, said he was there "to meet chicks, to fall in love."

But for the more-reserved, the farm provided numbered mason jars that corresponded with the numbers assigned to each participant, just in case any of the weed daters were too shy to approach someone directly and wanted to instead leave a note.

That was how Peraino, an intern at the farm last year, communicated with a woman named Jenn at last year's event.

He described himself as somewhat shy, but at weed dating he found himself surrounded by people with similar interests. There were activists, gardeners, and outdoor enthusiasts.

"What I find is if you go to bars, you don't really know what people's interests are," he said. "You can't really walk into a bar and complain about climate change or peak oil without having people look at you weird. That would probably scare off a lot of people."

___

Jessie L. Bonner can be reached at www.twitter.com/jessiebonner

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/idaho-farm-hosts-weed-dating-singles-225551921.html

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Hamas chief attends Morocco ruling party conference

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hamas-chief-attends-morocco-ruling-party-conference-155311547.html

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NBA Summer League: Watch Out for the Cavaliers

With four first round draft picks in the past two years the Cleveland Cavaliers are the envy of many teams who are rebuilding. While much of that centers around the seemingly sure stardom of Kyrie "Uncle Drew" Irving, there are a couple of other players who you should be excited about.

Youngsters Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson have very high ceilings and need to gain confidence for next winter through strong performances this summer.

Old man Tyler Zeller will be expected to provide a strong presence in the paint as the Cavaliers would love for him to be able to become a long-term partner in the middle with Tigger.

I can already sense that due to Kyrie Irving's leadership, confidence and competitiveness the rest of the young guys are going to follow his lead this summer and really try to win this thing. Irving probably does feel a bit slighted that he's not on the USA Olympic team although he probably shouldn't quite be just yet (as hard as that is to believe.)

Based on his performances with the USA Select team and his challenge of Kobe Bryant to a game of one-on-one you can tell the man is excited to lead this group of Cavaliers this summer to make a name for himself and earn more respect around the league.

When a franchise gets a superstar they have a great chance to win rings. When they get a humble superstar then even more special things can happen.

It's exciting to see the passion Kyrie Irving consistently has as it seems so far as if he is going to help get the best out of the rest of his teammates through leading by example first off and then vocally.

The exciting future of the Cavaliers truly begins on Sunday as this pretty much is going to be the main core of the team since we won't be picking top 10 again anytime soon.

Let's enjoy these five summer league games as the best player in the summer league takes the Cavaliers to five straight wins and brings along some of the other young guys with him.

Source: http://www.fearthesword.com/2012/7/14/3156967/nba-summer-league-watch-out-for-the-cavaliers

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