Brides in golden years spare no expense

So when she tied the knot last year, she spared no detail. She walked down the aisle in a flowing ivory gown with a long veil and lacey bolero jacket. Ten flower-toting bridesmaids and seven groomsmen were in the wedding party. And after the ceremony, 100 guests dined on beef tenderloin, clams casino and a three-tier vanilla cake.The cost, including a fireworks show during the reception, was $45,000.

Heller-Wells wasn't some blushing new bride, though. When the retired registered nurse, 64, wed her husband, Clyde, a small-business owner who is 65, it was her second time at the altar."I met my Prince Charming. He swept me off my feet," says the Clearwater, Fla., widow whose first husband died in 2003. "We're hoping this will be the last marriage. Why not celebrate?"

Only a few years ago, it was considered in poor taste for a bride over age 55, particularly if she had been previously married, to do things like wear a fancy wedding gown, rock out to a DJ at the reception or have the groom slip a lacy garter belt off of her leg. But those days are gone: Older couples no longer are tying the knot in subtle ways.

The trend in part is being driven by a desire to emulate the lavish weddings of celebrities of all ages. But it's also one of the results of a new "everything goes" approach that does away with long-held traditions and cookie-cutter ceremonies in favor of doing things like replacing the first husband-and-wife dance with a group reenactment of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video. That's left older couples feeling less self-conscious about shelling out serious cash to party like their younger peers.

"The rules are out the window ... whether it's what you're wearing or the cake you're serving," says Darcy Miller, editorial director of Martha Stewart Weddings, a wedding magazine. "Sixty is the new 40 and that is reflected in the wedding."

Couples age 55 and older made up just 8 percent of last year's $53 billion wedding business. But that number has doubled since 2002, according to Shane McMurray, CEO of turquoise beads, which tracks spending trends in the wedding industry.

It's in part because more couples are marrying in their golden years.In 2011, women ages 55 and over accounted for 5.2 percent and men in that age range made up 7.9 percent of the more than 2.1 million marriages performed in that year in the U.S., according to Bowling Green State University's National Center for Family and Marriage Research, based on analysis of census figures. That's up from 2001 when 2.6 percent of new marriages performed were among women in that age group; for men, it was 6.6 percent.

And those older couples spend more. That's because they're usually empty nesters who don't have the same worries as their younger counterparts: They aren't saving for their first home, for instance, and they aren't burdened by huge student loan debts they must worry about paying off.

As a result, older couples dish out about 10 percent to 15 percent more than the cost of the average wedding, which was $25,656 last year, down from the pre-recession peak in 2007 of $28,732, according to The Wedding Report.

That's meant big business for companies that cater to brides and grooms-to-be. Zaven Ghanimian, CEO of Simon G. Jewelry, which sells engagement rings and other jewelry to about 900 small stores across the country, says men in their late 50s and older have been investing more on engagement rings. A few years ago, they were spending $1,500 to $2,000; now, they're shelling out $4,000 to $8,000.

And at David's Bridal, the nation's largest bridal chain with 300 locations across the U.S., business from older couples has doubled in the past two years, compared with modest growth for the younger age group, says Brian Beitler, the chain's chief marketing officer. And while older customers represent only two to three percent of overall sales, the company expects that figure to keep growing.

And they're a lucrative bunch. David's Bridal, which is based in Consohocken, Pa., says older brides spend about $700 to $800 on gowns, including accessories like necklaces. That's higher than the $500 to $600 that customers in their twenties and early thirties typically spend.

But older brides aren't just spending more, they're spending differently. For instance, in the past, older brides tended to stick with special-occasion dresses, but now they want more traditional wedding gowns."She's our dream bride," says Catalina Maddox, fashion director at David's Bridal. "She wants everything that the 25-year-old bride wants, but more."

The trend is so prevalent that David's Bridal is looking at ways to better connect with the older China beads. In fact, its store in Danbury, Conn. recently held a bridal fashion show at a nearby nursing and rehabilitation facility; the event was a hit with the residents, the store says.

"It really sparked something," said Jenna McNamara, the assistant store manager at David's Bridal in Danbury, Conn., which has noticed residents in nearby retirement homes as customers for either weddings or commitment ceremonies. "We realized this was something huge."

Terry Hall, fashion director at Kleinfeld's, the New York City bridal salon that has the nation's biggest selection of designer bridal wear under one roof with more than 1,000 designs, also has seen a change in attitude in the last year or so among the older set. He said business from that group has doubled.

Hall says Kleinfeld's older clients are spending $4,000 to $7,000 for a gown. That compares with the average purchase of $3,500 for the under-30 set.

"They used to be subtle," Hall says. "Now, they're saying, 'Who cares? It's my day.' They want the dress."That's especially true for older first-time brides.

At 64, Yolanda Royal, who lives in Irvington, N.J., is preparing for her first wedding next July. After living with her partner for 20 years, he popped the question in May. The couple plans to spend about $11,000 on the reception for about 100 people, but for Royal, it's all about the dress. After that's secured, the other details will fall in place, she says.

Royal, a nursing attendant, was at David's Bridal in the Manhattan borough of New York City with her 41-year-old niece on a recent Friday, trying on white wedding gowns that had small trains. Royal, who says she wants something "sexy," tried everything from off-the-shoulder to strapless designs.

"For my wedding, for my day, I want the dress I want," says Royal, who did not want to give details about the gown she settled on because she wants to surprise her future husband. "I really don't think about age. I think age is something that people shouldn't think about. It's all about your life and the way you feel. I feel good about myself and my life."

That's not to say that some brides planning big weddings aren't getting any pushback from their friends or relatives. For instance, Joan Hunter, a 76-year-old widow for 33 years, is planning a big wedding with her fiance Guido Campanile, an 87-year-old widower, for October.

The couple is spending $10,000 on the reception, which will be held at a wedding hall. They are planning to have 10 people in the wedding party, including her two grown sons, ages 56 and 54, who will be giving her away, and her 5-year-old great grandson who will serve as the ring bearer. The couple also hired a DJ and a florist who is creating a floral arch.

But when Hunter first told her sons of her plans, they thought she was "crazy." They wondered why she wasn't just eloping to Las Vegas. "I told my kids that this may well be my last big party," says Hunter, who lives in Rosemead, Calif. "I'm really young at heart. I just wanted to do something that everyone would remember."Still, the older bride has limits. She plans to throw a bouquet and is considering wearing a garter belt, but she will not be wearing white. Instead, she's planning to don a taupe gown she purchased at David's Bridal.

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Meet 7 Women who redefine Independence

I still remember that post her accident and the subsequent treatment at AIIMS, Arunima tried to meet me several times, but I was travelling. The day I reached Jamshedpur, she called again and said she would come to meet me the next day. I didn’t take her seriously. How would she get the tickets so soon? But she reached. That was the day, I realised how focused she was.

When we met, she told me she wanted to climb Everest. I was stunned! Sometimes I still can’t believe it. I told her, by setting such a goal she had already climbed her first Everest.

I asked her to come for the Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF) outdoor leadership program. We tried to create a motivating, positive and supportive atmosphere for her. It didn’t happen overnight. In the beginning, the team held her hand and took her up and jewelry findings. Later we trained her with load, increasing it gradually. Then we taught her to walk on ice and finally took her to 13,000 feet to test her physiology on high altitudes. It took one year for her to prepare.

The journey wasn’t easy, but she converts every problem into an opportunity. If she found  something difficult, she would want to do it again. Looking at her zeal and courage, we presented her details to our MD and sponsored her Everest climb. I also told the MD of the company we had tied up with in Khatmandu that he should not show her pity, but understand what she is made of and support her. She dragged herself physically, but did it.

Mom never lets people know of her worries. We grew up in a very protective environment. Only when I was around 10 years old, did it register that things were amiss. I learnt of my fathers’ addictions even later, around age 16. My sister and I didn’t see the rough side, but when you’re living at your maternal grandmother’s house, and your dad’s fine through the day (he used to drop us to school every morning), but you’re kept away from him in the evening, you know something is wrong.

Mom’s focus was on fending for the family and ensuring that we move up in life. Her day started at 4 am, so in a lot of ways our grandma mothered us. Mom started a business with jams and crystal beads wholesale. Later she put up a small kiosk selling tea, coffee and snacks at a marina in Chennai. Then came the first major turning point for her — getting a contract from the National Institute of Port Management. She had to be there full time, because footfalls ranged from hundreds to thousands.

Every day we saw her getting tougher and tougher. Realizing the kind of ordeal mom was going through for us, our bond with her grew very strong. Today, when I’ve joined the business and deal with skilled labour, I often ask her, ‘How did you handle these people?’ I guess her strength lies in her straightforwardness; she’ll tell you things to your face if she thinks something’s wrong. At the same time, she easily senses if you’re not fine and will act on it.

I was always interested in the food industry, but knowing the kind of struggle it requires, she didn’t want me to pursue it. Moreover, inspired by travel tales of the navy officers I met, I joined the navy, and worked for a Norwegian company. During the time I was away, my sister and she grew very close. She wouldn’t tell me she missed me, but managed to find a way to reach me even on the ship. I was the only person aboard to get a call every week. When my sister and her husband expired due to an accident, soon after their wedding, mom went completely out of line. She stopped going out for three to four years. It was difficult to see her that way, and watch twenty years of her hard work go unattended, so I decided to take it up. When I made mistakes, she advised and corrected me but didn’t resume work.
FICCI came to us at this point of time; the award was a complete game changer. A regular person just works to make a living, not to get media limelight, but the award made mom recognize her own achievement. Colleges invited her to speak on entrepreneurship. Seeing that so many people looked up to her, she realized she that shouldn't get bogged down. She became active again. Now, she doesn’t micro manage because she wants me to grow, but advices me and monitors things from time to time.

But Suzy fought every odd that life threw at her. People who stayed around her before the accident were now out of sight. Suzy didn’t lose hope. She focused on ‘what next.’ Confidence and optimism led her to the path of becoming one of the most successful stock traders in the Asian market, in 2005. Today, Suzy runs a very successful celebrity talk show, conducts motivational lectures for NASA scientists, is a TED speaker and runs an NGO (Shraddha) for spinally injured children. She has adopted two children whose parents died of spinal injury. Coming from a middle-class background, she may not have the luxuries of life but she has peace of mind.

'Is baar beta paida karna, sab theek hoga (this time, make sure you give birth to a son then everything will be sorted)’ is what my mother-in-law said when she first, heard I was pregnant with Pooja. God had already blessed me with a daughter so my family didn’t want a girl child again. When Pooja was born in 1985, no one visited us, in the hospital, for three days. I didn’t have a change of clothes for Pooja or for myself. Finally, on the tenth day, my husband came to take us home. But, clearly, we were not welcome. He would often tell me to get rid of Pooja; send her to an orphanage. I had to choose between my husband and Pooja. I chose my daughter. ‘This girl will make me proud,’ is what I told my husband while parting ways.

With Rs.82 in my pocket, I began a new life in Mumbai with Shubhra and Pooja. I would cook some food, leave two glasses of milk and lock them up at home before stepping out to office.  In the need to give the best to my daughters I decided to leave them back in Mumbai with my mother and move to a better-paying job, in Goa. Often, Pooja would call, cry over the phone and ask me to come back to Mumbai. When I moved back to India after 4-5 years, I was happy to see Pooja grown up into a strong-minded and independent girl. I remember, in school, when her friends would ask about her father, she would simply say, ‘he’s away on the ship.’ Pooja has never questioned me about her father. She would share her feelings, her insecurities with Shubhra, who was an anchor to her.

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Cyberattacks on rise as credit

It's a sad fact of modern American consumer life. Every time we swipe a piece of plastic at a gas station, grocery store or anywhere else, we're vulnerable to virtual pickpockets.Increasingly, credit and debit card numbers have become commodities sold by cyberthieves who harvest them from banks, businesses, restaurants and retailers.

"The sophistication of these attacks is unprecedented," said G. Mark Hardy, president of National Security Corp., a Tampa, Fla.-based cybersecurity consulting firm.Last year, targeted attacks on businesses jumped 42 percent, according to security software firm Symantec. Attacks spiked 31 percent among companies with fewer than 250 employees.

In recent years, restaurants, grocery stores and even the city of Sacramento, Calif., have had their computer systems hacked or compromised.It's part of a shift from mass attacks by computer viruses, worms and other cyberthreats to more pinpointed, targeted infiltrations, say online security experts. The attackers, often located overseas, "find this method more effective because it allows them to fly under the radar and avoid drawing widespread attention to their malware," Brian Burch, vice president of consumer and small business marketing at Symantec,Buy Silicone IPAD Case at wholesale prices from leading Chinese wholesalers, said in an email.

Small businesses are frequently targeted because they often lack adequate security practices, said Burch. Additionally, because small firms often partner with bigger organizations, cybercriminals "sometimes use them to gain access to a larger company."Typically, thieves who steal the data from retailers and other targets aren't the ones who use it to rack up fraudulent charges. "There's an underground ecosystem for the sale, transfer, purchase and exchange of stolen credit card and debit card information," said security expert Hardy.

Retailers that process credit card transactions must follow the industry's safe-practices guidelines, known officially as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards. The so-called PCI guidelines require retailers who accept credit and debit cards to maintain a computer network firewall, employ tough passwords and take other precautions.Retailers who don't comply face fines of up to $100,000 per month and can be held financially responsible for fraud investigations and compensation to victims.

Unfortunately,Our top picks for the Winbo Iphone Headset and gear, said Hardy, retailers can do all the right things but still get attacked."It's like wearing your seat belt, putting your kid in a car seat and having air bags in your car," said Hardy. "You can still be hit by someone driving through a red light."Under PCI standards, retailers can't hold onto a card's PIN, the three-digit security code or sensitive information stored in a card's magnetic stripe. In any card transaction, the company's software must automatically delete that information.

Companies can, however, keep a card holder's name, account number and expiration date, such as when they ask your permission to retain the information for automatic payments, subscriptions and the like.While the PCI standards are considered a good starting point, there are additional layers of software and computer security precautions available, say computer security experts. Among them: Change default passwords so they're not easy to guess, restrict the use of PCs involved in processing card transactions so that employees surfing the Web don't unwittingly pick up computer viruses, and train cashiers to look for plastic devices stuck into card readers to steal information.

Students and young adults with only small incomes would do well to avoid credit cards. It might be better to opt for a debit card that is linked to a transaction account. That way, you will spend only the money you have and incur only minimal account-keeping fees.

Credit cards can be convenient, especially when travelling overseas and making purchases online. And a credit card can be good to have in case of an emergency. But unless credit cards are used wisely, they will be very expensive. For starters, foreign purchases will usually have a foreign transaction or currency conversion fee of 2 per cent to 3 per cent. And then there are the eye-watering interest rates charged on late payments.

Those interest rates on credit cards can be more than 20 per cent a year if the debt on the card is not paid off in time. Usually, the marketing for the cards will say the cardholder has up to 55 days to pay off the card without being hit with interest.What is not well understood is that with most cards the whole debt has to be paid off by the due date to avoid interest. In other words, even if part of the debt is paid off by the due date, the interest will apply to the entire debt.

Regardless of whether the whole debt is repaid, the card requires a certain minimum amount of the debt to be paid off each month.There are penalties in failing to pay the minimum. The interest could be charged back to the purchase date and the interest-free period could be cancelled on further purchases.

You should also be aware that paying for a taxi or booking a flight with a credit card is likely to incur a surcharge. Paying by debit card sometimes incurs a smaller surcharge or no surcharge at all.For those who get into trouble with their credit cards, the credit-card companies have a ready solution: the balance transfer offer, where a card has a low-interest or interest-free period on the balance that is transferred.

Sources said that the government is moving in this direction with a view to modernize the distribution system as well as check the misuse of permits by persons other than those for whom they have been issued on health and various other grounds.

"It was seen that very often people other than the permit holder would approach the licensed outlets with permits like ration cards and take away the liquor. This meant that the liquor was being consumed by someone else instead of the person for whom it was meant. Secondly, the introduction of smart card and biometric system will help in streamlining the inventory records and monitoring the regular sale Custom Winbo silicone bracelets and Silicone Wristbands,of liquor," said an official.

He disclosed that quite often, instances of pilferage by lower rung staff deployed at sales outlets also come up. The system will help check this practice.

At present there are around 50,000 registered liquor consumers in Gujarat. These include around 20,000 ex-servicemen who procure their quota from the CSD canteens in defense establishments. The remaining 30,000 civilian permit holders obtain their quota from the licensed outlets.

There are 26 licensed outlets in Gujarat and majority of them are in the four big cities of Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot. "In fact these outlets are in only 11 of the 26 districts of the state. The permit holders residing in the other cities have to travel inter-district to get their quota," said the official.
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Barclaycard paves the way for rate rises

Just days after the Bank of England's new Governor, Mark Carney, indicated that the Bank Rate would remain low for the forseeable future, Barclaycard has written to some of its customers changing their terms and conditions.Cardholders with rates that "track" the Bank Rate have been told that from September 1 they will instead be "put on variable interest rates".

In other words Barclaycard's link with the key rate - which has fallen by more than five percentage points since the onset of the banking crisis - has been broken, giving the card issuer freedom to increase its rates at will.It is not clear how many of Barclaycard's total 10m customers are affected, but those whose contracts include the tracker term are expected to be longstanding customers who have held chip card for five years or more.

The lender says those affected are a "minority". Barclaycard will not disclose the rates these borrowers pay, though it is expected they are lower than the rates charged to other cardholders, and The Telegraph is aware that in some cases the tracker rates are as low as 10.5pc. This is unusually low for a credit card rate. The majority of Barclaycard accounts available to new applicants today come with an interest rate almost twice as high.

There is no explanation of why the change is being made, although the letters do point out the alteration comes "at a time when the Bank of England's Base Rate is at an all-time low." The Bank Rate plunged from 5.75pc in mid-2007 to 0.5pc in March 2009 where it has since remained.

Barclaycard declined to say how many customers were implicated but told The Telegraph: "We are simplifying the way we calculate interest on some of our Platinum cards. These will move to a standard variable rate, which is how the vast majority of our interest rates are calculated. We wanted to ensure the best for our customers and so have chosen to introduce these changes at a time that will be most beneficial to them. The switch to the standard variable interest rates reflect our existing rates and the new rates are, in some cases, lower."

Tracker rates on both credit cards and mortgages, agreed before the precipitous plunge in the Bank Rate, have become a nightmare for lenders who have sought to wriggle out of their "tracking" obligations wherever contracts permit.Bank of Ireland UK is the latest lender to become embroiled in this controversy: earlier this year it increased the "differential" by which the mortgages of almost 13,000 borrowers tracked the Base Rate.The Financial Ombudsman Service is currently considering whether this was fair.

Barclaycard's move comes as rates on plastic are drifting up more widely. Moneyfacts, the data compiler, says average long-term card rates - aimed at mainstream borrowers - reached an all-time high in April this year, at 19.1pc. They have since dropped back fractionally to an average 18.9pc, Moneyfacts's Rachel Springall said, though the trend is "in the upward direction."

But while rates are going up, card issuers are competing more aggressively to attract new customers - by offering either low, ongoing rates for those who want to manage balances down over the long term; or by offering extended 0pc deals.

"Today, if you look at the best deals, you've either got a low borrowing rate with no added perks, or you've got a long interest-free period followed by a high revert rate," Ms Springall says. She cites Sainsbury's Bank's Cashback Low Rate card as an example of the former charging 7.8pc. An example of the interest-free offers is Tesco Personal Finance's deal charging 0pc for 18 months, followed by a revert rate of 16.9pc.

Credit cards remain hugely popular and widely-used in Britain, although total borrowing on plastic has been reducing. The latest annual statistics from the UK Cards Association, the sector's trade body, published last month, said outstanding borrowing on credit cards "has fallen from a peak of ￡67.4bn in 2005 to ￡55.1bn at the end of 2012." This represents about 4pc of the country's total personal borrowing of ￡1.4trillion, it said.

I sincerely do not believe I have ever read anything more completely tone-deaf in my life. Does this guy seriously think that it’s easy for a homeless person to just go into McDonald’s or whatever and apply for a job? Does he think it’s easy for anyone to get a job? Especially someone who doesn’t have a home or a change of clothes? Who doesn’t have an ID or a Social Security card or a place of residence? Who can’t bathe? Does he think people are homeless on purpose, because it’s just so luxurious staying in a homeless shelter? Does he not think these people are real human beings?

Organizations like the one Kessler’s son are working for actually help homeless people get jobs. They provide working wardrobes, which give homeless people things to wear for job interviews. They teach literacy and job skills. They help them get back on their feet. Homeless shelters do not cause homelessness anymore than cancer research causes cancer.

Kessler snidely calls these kids “Generation G”– for “Generation Guilty,” because the silly things feel, for some reason, that because they have been born with plenty, that they should go out and do things for others who were not so fortunate. Not so, says Kessler. They’d be doing much more for the world by taking on a job at Jamba Juice, he believes, because trickle-down economics.

Really? Massive wealth? Maybe for hedge fund managers, but certainly not for the rest of us. The rest of us have been in a recession… a recession that was, by the way, partially caused by freaking hedge fund managers! Also, not every “Woodstocker” was Jerry Rubin, who ditched his radical past to become an awful yuppie in the 80′s– and was, quite frankly, pretty awful before then, anyway. I happen to be well acquainted with a quite a few baby boomers who were way too busy actually working for social justice to go to Woodstock. Those people still care, and are still working towards making the world a better place.

I have a dare for people who believe the things that Kessler believes. Don’t shower or change your clothes or brush your teeth or hair for a week, go into a McDonald’s or a Walmart and try to get a job without giving them an ID, SS card or place of residence. Then, tell me how that goes for you, and tell me why we do not need organizations to help these people.


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Bill Haas pulls away to win at Congressional

Bill Haas made the long walk across a makeshift bridge and under the grandstands to the 18th green for the trophy presentation, high-fiving kids along the railing and raising his cap to thousands of fans who cheered as they saw him coming.

His victory Sunday in the AT&T National was even sweeter when he compared it with all the times he failed."As many times as I've choked and hit bad shots and I've been nervous and it hasn't worked out - I was feeling all those things today - and to hit good, quality golf shots down the stretch is such a good feeling," Haas said. "I wish I could explain it. It's amazing."

His golf spoke volumes.Haas pulled away from a crowd of contenders with three straight birdies, two good pars and one good hop. It led to a 5-under 66, giving him a three-shot win at Congressional over Roberto Castro and putting him into distinguished company on two levels.

Haas has won at least one PGA Tour event in each of the last four years, joining Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Justin Rose. And he kept the pedigree of champions at the AT&T National on a day when a half-dozen players were trying to win their first PGA Tour event. In the seven-year history of the tournament, Rose was the lowest-ranked player to win. He was No. 35 when he won at Aronimink in 2010. Haas started the week at No. 29.

Haas is honest to fault, which explains why he is too hard on himself. He talked about how he "threw up on myself" at Riviera when he lost a three-shot lead in the final round, and he twice used the word "choke" in describing past failures.

"That's terrible to say that 'I choke' and 'I throw up on myself,' but I'm just honest that I did that," he said. "But go from there. How do you get better? Don't do it again, you know? That's my best smart card. Just don't do that again. Today, I didn't do it. I think it makes it that much sweeter, too, when you can remember the times you stunk."

He made only one bogey, making good on his pledge Saturday to clean up his card after a third round that included a triple bogey on the 11th hole.

As many as six players had a share of the lead at some point until Haas rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 8. Worried about a splotch of mud on his ball, he hit his approach to just inside 12 feet for birdie on the par-5 ninth, and then hit a 5-iron to 10 feet for another birdie on the 10th.

Haas led by at least two shots the entire back nine, though he never allowed himself to think about winning until he stood over a 3-foot par putt on the 18th hole and realized he had three putts to win."I just kept the ball in front of me," Haas said. "Nothing too crazy."

The 31-year-old won for the fifth time in his career, and this was the first one with Tiger Woods on the property - not to play, but to hand out the trophy. Woods sat out this week with an elbow injury and won't play again until the British Open, though he was impressed with what he saw."He played beautifully today," Woods said. "He handled his business through the tougher stretch of holes and pulled away."

Castro, part of a four-way tie for the lead at the start of the final round, made Haas work for it."He didn't make any mistakes, and the birdies on 9 and 10 were big," Castro said after his 69.The other leaders fell away. Andres Romero had a double bogey on the fourth hole and shot 75. James Driscoll didn't make a birdie in his round of 74.

Jordan Spieth, the 19-year-old from Texas who needs a win to become a PGA Tour member and be eligible for the FedEx Cup playoffs, started his day by holing out from a fairway bunker for eagle and chipping in for birdie to tie for the lead. He dropped a shot at No. 11 - the hardest hole at Congressional - about the time Haas was on his critical run of birdies. Spieth had a 69 and finished sixth, pushing his earnings for the year over $1.1 million.

Castro bogeyed the opening hole, and that was his only mistake. He was one shot out of the lead at the turn, couldn't match birdies with Haas at the par-3 10th, and then stuck with him the rest of the day."It helped that Roberto played so well," Haas said.

Haas, who finished on 12-under 272, never allowed himself to think about winning, even after he seized control around the turn. Congressional wouldn't let him. Even though he made 15 birdies on the weekend, he remembered the triple bogey on the 11th hole Saturday that temporarily derailed him.This time, he found the fairway, hit onto the green, took two putts for par and exhaled.

Haas saved par from a bunker on the par-3 13th with a 6-foot putt that swirled 360 degrees around the cup before falling, and then picked up an unlikely birdie on the 14th when his 9-iron was drifting toward a mound covered with shaggy rough to the right of the green. It hopped off the mound to about 10 feet, and he went from a possible bogey to a birdie when he made the putt.

He made one more birdie with a wedge that checked up a foot from hole on the par-5 16th, and Haas was on his way.The biggest struggle after that was hoisting the silver trophy of the U.S. Capitol over his head in the stifling heat of the closing ceremony on the 18th green.

Haas was still smarting over losing a three-shot lead in the final round at Riviera, making five bogeys in a seven-hole stretch in the middle of his round. He had the 36-hole lead at the Memorial until a 76-71 weekend.He was solid on Sunday at Congressional, and the win moved him to No. 7 in the FedEx Cup standings with the playoffs about two months away. That's important to Haas, who won the FedEx Cup in 2011 and failed to qualify for the Tour Championship last year.

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Unboxing and early impressions

After today's news that many retailers had quickly sold out of the "revolutionary" Ouya, it seems that I was one of the lucky ones to get my hands on this cheap little gizmo that has high hopes of tackling the big boys on the block, Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft. For those of you interested in the console, but still on the fence about getting one, or if your local Target store managed to sell out before you could grab one, below you'll find some of my first impressions on this new console.

Sliding off the Ouya's cardboard sheathe and decorative bit of orange plastic bearing the words "and so begins the revolution," the first thing that strikes you is just how tiny this console is. At about 2 cubic inches, you can easily hold this thing in the palm of your hand, and it's perhaps the first system that's both outweighed and outsized by the controller. There are AC adapters bigger than this thing. It's definitely a sleek little thing, all sharp edges and shiney bits of dark plastic. I'm hopeful that the old addage "good things come in small packages" holds true with this.

The controller has a decent weight to it, but seems a bit bulkier than what I'm used to. The bottoms of the controller's "handles" don't taper off to an as smooth finish quite as quickly as the 360 or PS3 controllers. More "stubby," really. It sports fairly tight analong sticks, and has the exact same shape layout as a 360 controller, but easy enough for most gamers to pick up and figure out. There's almost a valley of sorts created by the angle of the shoulder buttons, which will probably take some getting used to.

Instead of offering a battery pack or wire to keep the controller going, the Ouya controller has an interesting spot to hid the batteries. The left and right handles can be easily pried off, and it's there that your double A's belong, no spring loaded covers seen in so many toys or TV remotes.

By no means am I a tech guy, so I loathe the idea of fiddling about due to an inherent fear that if I screw it up, I probably won't be able to fix it. That was one thing I loved about the HDMI option for the 360 or PS3, it required an easy change to your TV/monitor's video settings, and a single plug, and you're all set up. Upon unboxing the Ouya, I was happy to see that an HDMI cord came standard. I think most gamers have made the jump to higher end televisions, and most TV's today support HDMI, so points for that.

But the cable itself is only a miserable 3 feet long, making your desired placement for this thing somewhat impractical at times. With certain tv's (such as my own), the HDMI input is on the side, and God help you if your tv is set up in such a way where the wall outlet, power strip, or whatever you used is on the other side. The power cord for the Ouya isn't much longer, so the chances are good you'll have some wires criss-crossed over other wires. A small complaint, but an issue nonetheless.

Installing the Ouya is a breeze. It seems a bit lengthy, but awful memory retention give me no real basis for comparison, so I could just be talking out of my butt. Besides, there's a nice bit of entertainment as you're entertained by humorous messages in place of the standard "loading," phrases like: preparing to televise the Revolution, tasting rainbows, being awesome in space, bending genres, etc.

The video signal had a tendency of dropping out randomly, but the issue seemed to go away once I used a different HDMI port. I suppose it was a problem on my end, but looking at various message boards, it seems as though other owners are reporting having similar issues.

My biggest issue I had with the Ouya is that I had to monkey around a bit with the settings of my TV in order to get sound from the games. Initially, the only time I could get any sound was when I selected some of the basic tones from the default notifications menu. Again, this seems to be a problem that others are experiencing, and the same methods I took didn't always work. Even after fixing the issue, there still seems to be a bit of an audio delay. This is a big strike against the system, as playing something like Dub Wars, folks are seriously losing out. Suggested audio settings in the game's manual would be a big help for this, but are not provided. From my limited experience, I will say that the audio seems to work fine, provided your TV's is not set for "Game Mode." Go figure...

There was also a small issue connecting to my online network, but it was quickly resolved. Again, this is crucial as an online connection is basically the only way to do much of anything, provided you'd rather just transfer files back and forth from a SD card.

I'd be willing to look the other way on some of these issues if this was a real "working out of the garage," kind of deal, but if you recall, the Ouya set a Kickstarter record, managing to not only make their original $950,000 goal in the campaign's first 24 hours, but an additional $50,000 on top of that by the end of the day. By the time the campaign was over, they had brought in over $8 million, so they certainly had the capital to figure this out before launching. Still, it's early yet, and the kinks could likely be ironed out with an online update.

This is supposedly one of the Ouya's biggest strengths, as every game the system has to offer is either free, or has a demo available. But at the same time, that's also one of its weaknesses. With the Ouya still in its infancy, a lot of the games aren't quite as polished as perhaps they would be had they been developed to bigger name consoles. Upon starting up certain games, you begin with the BUY NOW prompt already selected, meaning you can rack up a big bill very quickly if you're not careful. This isn't the fault of the Ouya team, but rather, the game's developers, so be careful.

A great number of games/apps offered by the console are ones you've no doubt seen on Facebook, Vector and Chrono Blade spring to mind. I've only jumped into a few of the games that greet you after following the main menu's "Discover" prompt, and played some noteworthy titles, but none of them have yet to really grab me. The Xboxes have their Halos, and Nintendo its Marios, but there's yet to be a true exclusive for the Ouya. Square Enix put out a remastered version of Final Fantasy III, but that's about as close as it gets.
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Learning to love the ‘mobile wallet’

But today the proliferation of media channels means brands have more options for making their loyalty schemes available to consumers in the places that are most convenient for them.

At loyalty brand Nectar, marketing director James Frost says: “We have seen the user base of our Nectar mobile app grow by 70 per cent in the past year, 40 per cent of the statements we send out are electronic and we believe loyalty is going to be critical to companies that want to win the mobile wallet war.”

He says the brand’s aim is to create an experience for the customer whereby “they can live out the Nectar journey end to end on a mobile device”. The main features involved in achieving this include paperless coupons and location-based targeting.

In the case of the former, a coupon is sent via the Nectar mobile app and the customer is prompted to accept it; having done so they will automatically have it applied to the purchase the next time they use their Nectar membership when shopping. Nectar’s location-based communications, meanwhile, work by reminding consumers of live offers in nearby stores that are Nectar partners.

In both cases the customer benefits from being freed from the constraints of a physical voucher, while Nectar benefits from being able to use personalised ‘push’ marketing that, in theory at least, is seen as helpful by the recipient.

Similarly, Game’s new director of insight and loyalty Fred Prego recently told Marketing Week (MW 13 June) that the video game retailer’s app is now fundamental to its reward programme, for example offering a store locator function and the recently launched ‘accolades’ initiative. Accolades are awarded for carrying out actions such as trading in a game for the first time.

But that’s not all the app does. Prego adds: “Not only does it add tools for the customer, it also helps us gain an insight into each customer and how they are using the app, through which we are listening, monitoring and talking to them, and launching new functionalities they need and have been asking us for.”

Mobile devices are now crucial to loyalty, according to Mark Stevenson, managing director of mobile network O2’s Priority loyalty scheme. He calls them “the remote control to our customers’ lives, which allows us to have two-way conversations encouraging engagement and building loyalty with an ongoing interaction”.

As with Nectar, one of the O2 Priority scheme’s main selling points is location-specific offers, or Priority Moments, which the brand has developed with strategic agency Cherry London. They include exclusive deals on retail vouchers, cinema tickets and music gigs.

Stevenson explains: “We knew when we launched Priority Moments it was ‘go big or go home’ – O2 had to offer its customers something they couldn’t get anywhere else. At the heart of Priority Moments is location-based technology and valuable customer insights, as well as the sequencing of relevant experiences and rewards, which enable us to reach and excite over 23 million customers, wherever they may be.”

Mobile, then, is clearly the key way many brands’ loyalty programmes are evolving. But it is not the only one. The full list of channels that O2 Priority uses to communicate is long and varied, according to Stevenson. As well as mobile communication via the app, instant messaging and text messages, Priority also connects with consumers through email, 460 high street retail stores, contact centres with around 3,500 staff and brand experiences such as O2 ‘angels’, who give out free lunches from Upper Crust kiosks at train stations.

According to founder Chris Boyd, hotel booking site PointsHound negotiates both with loyalty programmes and companies selling hotel room inventory to offer deals; but it is the ability to earn more loyalty points than usual on their favoured scheme that is PointsHound’s main attraction.

Boyd explains: “The selling rate is going to be the same you see on any other online travel agent because we compete based on the points offer we’re passing through.”

If the site has negotiated a deep discount on a room price it will still mark this up to the general market rate and instead pass the discount on to consumers in the form of loyalty points.

The most crucial change in the evolution of loyalty marketing has barely begun to take effect, though. Again it relates to mobile, and more specifically the growth of mobile payment services. ‘Mobile wallets’ developed by banks and credit card providers, as well as internet players such as Google and PayPal, are shifting the point-of-sale from the checkout to the mobile screen while offering that space as a new point of engagement for brands and their loyalty schemes.

As Nectar’s Frost notes, “If you make a mobile wallet just an easier way to pay, that’s fine and some people will want it, but we believe bringing loyalty and offers into a mobile wallet will accelerate the journey. A slick experience would be: as you pay, loyalty points are awarded and offers for your next shop appear in your wallet.”

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Inexpensive or top dollar?

Do you pay a little or a lot for your sunglasses? As with most things in a free enterprise system, there are items that run the gamut of price points and feature sets — and sunglasses are no exception. So, with this mission in mind, the Daily News took to the streets in the long days of the sun, to see what some Midland residents look for in their sunglasses purchases.

Bonnie Gregg said she prefers to buy what she considers moderately priced sunglasses. The pair she had with her as she played cards with friends at the Midland Mall food court were purchased from Elder-Beerman. In between hands of pinochle, Gregg pointed to a large potted plant that stood near the food court. A lone pair of sunglasses sat unnoticed on the rim of the planter with no owner in sight. “That is why I don’t spend a lot on sunglasses. I would lose them,” she said with a laugh. “I would probably pay more for sunglasses if they were prescription, though.”

“You can buy a pair and a spare,” said Midland resident and fellow card player Vicki Leigeb of the inexpensive sunglasses vendors she sees on her trips to Florida. “I can leave a pair in every vehicle if I want. You can’t do that with expensive pairs of sunglasses.”

Although Leigeb golfs a couple of times a week no matter her locale, she feels little need for sunglasses when out on the fairway. “I have golfed for 40 years,” Leigeb said, “and I have never worn sunglasses while golfing.” She said that a visor is all of the protection she needs, but she does wear sunglasses while driving.

Rebecca Eimers of Clio was visiting a friend in Midland and enjoying the nice sunny day, and offered her philosophy on sunglasses purchasing. “I buy cheap ones,” the 20-something said with a laugh. “I break them all of the time. But I lose them more than I break them.” Eimers said her spending limit on a pair of sunglasses is “no more than $10.” Besides the replacement value she puts on a pair of sunglasses, Eimers had a valid point on why she limits her spending ceiling on the accessory. “If you buy cheaper sunglasses, you can buy more pairs to go with what you are wearing,” Eimers said.

Friend Haleigh Bentsen of Midland agreed with Eimers’ philosophy. “I buy mostly cheap ones, too,” Bentsen said. “These are more expensive than I would normally buy,” she said, pointing to the mirrored aviator style sunglasses holding back her hair. “I generally lose them,” she said, “so I don’t pay a lot for them.”

Friends Jake Vickery and Kyle Koerner said that they both own a pair of Oakley sunglasses. Vickery recently replaced a broken pair of the same brand, and Koerner said that he would do the same. “I wear them for baseball and I would buy them again,” he said. Oakley eyewear can range from $110 to well over $300 a pair.

Mindy Murphy has an interesting perspective on sunglasses, their cost and the benefits realized from purchasing a more expensive brand. Murphy sells eyeglasses and sunglasses for a living as the store manager at Traverse Vision in the Midland Mall. With over eight years experience helping customers see and look better, Murphy has a definite opinion on how people should look at investments in their eyewear. “In my opinion, you definitely get what you pay for when it comes to sunglasses,” Murphy said. “Nicer sunglasses are serviceable. You can replace parts that break or wear on most brands. The more inexpensive kind are disposable.” Another feature that favors the nicer brands of sunglasses is that they can often be fitted with prescription lenses.

Murphy went on to say that she finally made the leap to a more expensive pair a couple of years ago, in this case, a pair of black Liz Claiborne’s. “I treat them better because I know they cost me more. But if you are a person who loses their expensive smart phone all the time, you probably don’t want to pay a lot for sunglasses,” she said with a laugh. Murphy added that most customers who invest in expensive sunglasses usually treat them with more respect than the those on the lower end of the price spectrum. “I have had customers buy their first pair of really nice sunglasses from us and they tell me they treat them more carefully,” she said.

“You don’t need to spend $300 on a pair of sunglasses to protect your eyes,” said Scott M. Buckingham, OD of Mid-Michigan Eye Care. Buckingham said that although expensive sunglasses are usually nicer than their cheaper alternatives, they offer more than just pride of ownership. “You will get better optical quality from nicer lenses and better frame materials,” Buckingham said.

He went on to say that ultraviolet radiation (UV) protection is offered at some level in most sunglasses sold today. “It used to be that cheap sunglasses would offer little UV protection, but in this country all sunglasses, even the cheap ones, are required to have a certain level of UV protection in them,” he said. “Even the pair that can come in a Happy Meal are required to have that protection.” Buckingham said that long term exposure to UV could cause cataracts, retina damage or other vision-related diseases. Simply put, if you are outside, you should wear sunglasses, Buckingham said.

Choosing a pair of sunglasses can be a difficult operation for some. The sunglasses must afford proper ultraviolet radiation (UV) protection, they may offer some eye protection from foreign debris, they must be comfortable and, above all else, they must look cool. Not surprisingly, this is usually the criteria for the proper selection of perhaps the most vital summer clothing component.

Sunglasses styles follow trends like anything else. One popular trend for eyewear for the ladies is the oversized, dark framed style that covers up much of the wearer’s face. Popularized by the likes of Paris Hilton, Snooky and countless other ladies, this style of sunglasses seems to be a requirement for any diva, whether she be professional or just make-believe.

“It’s weird because sunglasses trends usually last around a year, but this style has been hanging on for a while,” said Mindy Murphy, manager of Traverse Vision, located in the Midland Mall. Murphy has seen many trends in eyewear for both men and women, but she said the larger style for ladies has not outlived its service life just yet. “The styles are going bigger and larger. More bolder styles with big plastic frames and big bows,” Murphy said. She said that manufacturers like Liz Claiborne, Kate Spade, Marc By Marc Jones and Juicy Couture offer that type of style with no shortage of customers.

Murphy said that in her experience, men seem to be a bit more conservative with their sunglasses purchases. “Guys usually stay with the classics, but they are also buying a lot of Maui Jim’s,” she said. The brand offers many classic and contemporary styles, but Murphy said the company offers much more than meets the eye. “These are probably our best buy in the shop,” she said, adding that their combination of lens polarization and wrap around frame styles are popular with outdoor sports people who need the most out of their sunglasses. In the simplest terms, polarization in eye glass lenses is a process that allows the wearer to better see through the glare or sheen of surfaces like snow, water or even glass.

Although styles continue to evolve in to the latest iterations, it is the classic, proven styles that always survives. Whether it can be considered flattery or flat-out imitation, there are styles of sunglasses that endure no matter what the generation or style climate of the time. The Ray-Ban Wayfarer model and its clones is one such example.

Ray-Ban became a company in the late 1920s when the then U.S. Army Air Force, the precursor to the current Air Force, needed a way to increase the vision comfort levels of its pilots on missions. A pair of lightweight sunglasses with green lenses were created by Bausch & Lomb and after some tweaking, the classic Aviator style was born around 1936. Based on the success of its product, Bausch & Lomb created a separate division to make sunglasses, its new product line. Thus, Ray-Ban was born.

Although its Aviator line of sunglasses continues to remain quite popular, another iconic model from the company has been the Wayfarer. Created in the mid 1950s, this model of sunglasses differs significantly from the Aviator with its heavier plastic frame and a footprint that reminds many of they style of eyeglasses worn by the likes of Buddy Holly. The silhouette of the Wayfarers and its legion of copies remain a quickly recognizable artifact of generations gone by, only to be discovered again by the latest group of fashionable eyewear seekers.

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Home From College

The sense of pride you get when you watch your child graduate from high school is hard to describe. You smile from ear to ear, thinking about all the sacrifices you made and all the late-night homework sessions you shared with your kid to reach this crowning moment. The feeling is quite exhilarating, but soon after the graduation ceremony is over and you are done patting the graduate on the back, the realization that you will have to pay for your child's education for the next four years is truly a buzzkill.

The only good thing about the new arrangement is that even though the parents are footing the bill for college, the kids are actually out of the house most of the year, but like a bad sequel to a dreadful horror movie, they do come back. It's summertime, folks, and your college-aged kid has returned with a vengeance, bringing dirty laundry and a whole new attitude. He or she has experienced the outside world as a semi-adult, and now you are faced with a brand new assortment of issues with your kid that you did not have before. Here are a few things to look out for in the next three months.

One of the first things you notice is that the food in your refrigerator disappears a lot faster than before. Strangely, you never actually see the food get eaten because it is gone by the time you get home from work. You have to give them credit for leaving the scene of the crime without a trace of evidence.

Leftovers are always the first victims. Of course, there is lunch meat, hot dogs, peanut butter and jelly, Hot Pockets, and plenty of bread to choose from in the kitchen, but, no, that is not what they want. They want that piece of pizza or hunk of lasagna from the night before that you have been thinking about all day at work. There is nothing worse than coming home with pizza on the mind only to find an empty plastic refrigerator bag where that piece of pizza used to be just sitting there in the fridge, mocking you. It gives me chills of anger just thinking about how many times that has happened to me. I never thought I would see the day where I literally had to tell my kid, "Hey, that (fill in the blank) is mine. Do not touch it!" It is survival of the fittest around here, and I am forced to pull the Dad card. Don't judge me, and I won't judge you for doing the same.

I'm a college graduate myself, so I understand how important the summer break is to a student. College students work hard all year and they just want to kick back and have a good time. Staying out to the wee hours of the night partying with friends and sleeping until the following afternoon may seem like the perfect schedule to the student, but to the average parent, that can turn into a problem real quick. My suggestion is to allow the student a few days to indulge in this type of schedule in the beginning of the summer break. Let your kid have a good time, but at some point, let him or her know that sleeping until two in the afternoon is not acceptable.

Nothing in life is free, and that includes living with your parents. Most parents will not charge their college-aged kids rent; however, that does not mean that those same kids don't pay for their room and board in other ways. In my house, chores are synonymous with paying rent every month. My logic is this: if you don't do your chore, that's the same as not paying your rent. If you are not paying your rent, you will be asked to leave the premises. Sounds harsh, doesn't it? It may be, but I believe it teaches your semi-adult the art of responsibility. I have had a few meetings with my son about this, and each time, he has gotten pretty close to being escorted off the property. The result is he's starting to take his chores a little more seriously now. Bless his heart.

This is not up for discussion in my house. Getting a job is a requirement for several reasons. My job is to cover the basics -- roof over your head, food on the table, you know, the usual stuff. If my kid has the audacity to ask me for drinking money, he is definitely going to get the death stare. Besides that, he needs gas money, club money, date money, clothes money, and the ever popular I-don't-want-to-eat-what-Mom-is-cooking money. All these things are important to a college student; therefore, if he or she plans on having any fun this summer, they are going to have to finance that fun themselves. On top of the financial advantages of having a job, your child might be lucky enough to score an awesome internship that will look great on a resume or could possibly be a steppingstone for a future position with that particular employer.

Okay, we get it. The kid went off to college, lived like a semi-adult in the dorm, and was somewhat independent. I use the term "somewhat" because technically, the kid is still on your payroll because you are paying the tuition plus room and board, but I digress. Here's the thing: when they come home for the summer, they are living in your house. If they are living in your house, they have to follow house rules, plain and simple. However, house rules should probably be age-appropriate. In other words, you can't give a college student an 11 pm curfew. That's not going to work and it isn't practical, but that doesn't mean that some type of curfew is not in order.

The curfew is not just for the parents, as most would probably assume. It is beneficial for the college student as well. I have watched enough hours of the Investigation Discovery channel to know that it is always a good thing to tell someone where you are going to be, how long you are going to be there, and when you plan on coming home. This way, if you come up missing, you at least have someone out there looking for you. My son is 18, so we give him a 2 a.m. curfew, but that may change the older he gets. Ultimately, it's important for parents to negotiate a decent compromise with your college student in regards to curfew.

So, is it possible to coexist in the same house with your kid who is on the cusp of becoming an adult? Sure it is! There's a fine line between making room for your child's independence and keeping things under control in your household. The key, of course, is communication. The best thing to do is have an upfront discussion with your son or daughter about the rules of the house. Be open-minded and flexible without giving up control of your home. Remember, you were once in their shoes. If you keep that in mind, it will be much easier to walk that line successfully. Good luck!

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1964 Lebanon Rams

"What we did was play a lot of touch football on the field using rolled newspapers and tie them together to make a football," he said of his early start. "I was one of the younger kids in the area, so I was always playing, whether it was football, baseball or basketball, with guys who were several years older than me. That was a big help, because I was used to playing with guys who were bigger and stronger.

"There was a softball team, Mick's Cab, that played games at Brandywine, and I was the batboy. When they broke a bat, they put a nail in it and gave it to me, so I thought I was rich with all these bats."

Through the years there were many who thought Shiner's future would lie in baseball, he admitted.

"Yeah, a lot of people thought I had a better shot at a baseball career than in football, including Frank Kuhn, who was my football coach at Harding and high school baseball coach along with Harry Matala. To this day, Frank still says I was better at baseball.

"One of the reasons I went with football was because in minor league baseball you made about $50 a month and traveled in old buses. Match that against a scholarship to Maryland University to play football, and of course go to a class every now and then."

 He continued, "I probably was a better baseball player than football player in high school, but when I got to Maryland in order to compete with the guys they had, I had to get a lot better. Al Davis, who was the backfield coach for San Diego at the time, told me I could play in the NFL, and I wondered what he was talking about, and it wasn't until my senior year I realized I could end up in the NFL.

"I couldn't play baseball at Maryland because of football's spring practice. Unless you had a signed legal document saying you were allowed to play both, it just didn't happen."

Obviously, there were many highlights in his high school, collegiate and pro career, and he mentioned the following two in particular.

"One of the highlights for me at Maryland was 1961 when we beat Penn State 21-17 for the only win in the series. I had played some before that game, but that was my first start. We had seven offensive starters that ended up playing in the NFL for a total of more than 50 years. Penn State had just as many, if not more, who played in the pros. There were a lot of very good football players on the field that day. Four of our five starting linemen played in the NFL, plus we had Gary Collins and Tom Brown as receivers.

 As to the best of his six NFL stops, the 70-year old Shiner laughed and immediately replied, "The most fun was with Atlanta because the people in the South live for football. If you played for the Falcons, you were it! Norm Van Brocklin was the coach, not the easiest guy to play for, but I learned a lot from him.

"I got a lot of starting time with Pittsburgh, then my second year I was hurt and they were 1-13, but I knew with the personnel it was a team that would get better. I was traded to the N.Y. Giants and later joked that being 1-13 was the best thing that happened because the Steelers drafted .

 "Years ago the clubs had a county league with the Elks, Eagles, Orioles, Red Men, Lincoln Republican and Myerstown Goodwill all had lanes. I think the only places going now are the Eagles, Orioles and St. Gertrude's. I rolled at all of those places at some time. The clubs were the harder places to score in, so guys starting going to the public places because you could score higher."

He continued, "Every place was different because it depended how they oiled the lanes, and maintained them. If they took care and had a real good line on the lanes it was a lot easier to score on. If they broke down too quick, the ball would hook too much. Then you had trouble."

Stoudt was by no means the only local bowler who was around who put up good numbers in those days. There were Clarence "Noot" Marks, who is 78 and like Stoudt still bowls, Dick "Daddy" Miller, "Boop" Leahy, Mike Bruder, Jim Kearny and By Robertson.

"Other than the county tournaments, where we got cash if you were on a winning team, you got a trophy for a win, and at some time I think I had about 130 or so sitting around collecting dust," Marvin said with a laugh.

Right now, Bud is down to bowling once a week, but when they have 55-and-over tournaments he goes and hasn't really slowed down yet. "At Berks Lanes in Shillington I'm averaging 218. Back in the day I'd average between 225 and 232. As of now I have 21 300 games, with the biggest win was when I went to London in 1975 and won the FIQ World Championship.

"The only thing now as I get older my knees and back get sore, but it goes away, and this year will be my 54th at the ABC tourney in Reno, Nev." When questioned about how equipment in the game has changed and why there seems to be so many 300 games, he quickly replied, "We used to get a 300 once or twice a year. Now they get one every week. The pins used to be all one solid piece, but now they're laminated in pieces and I think are top heavy, so when you hit them they fall over easier. That's part of why there are more 300 games.

Zim 'voters' roll in hands of suspect Israeli company’

As crucial presidential and parliamentary elections loom in Zimbabwe, a secretive Israeli-based company – accused of manipulating past elections in the region – is alleged to be involved in managing the Zimbabwean voters’ roll.

Eddie Cross, a Zimbabwean opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) MP who has proved to be well informed on security matters in the past, told the Mail & Guardian that he had been informed by security sources that the company, Nikuv International Projects, is working on the roll at Defence House, the headquarters of the Zimbabwe Defence Force. The MDC also alleged that Nikuv was a front for the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, although it offered no evidence to support the plastic card.

It is unclear what Nikuv’s involvement in this coming election is but it specialises in population registration and election systems.

Cross said the source told him that the company is working under the direction of Daniel Tonde Nhepera, the deputy head of the Zimbabwe’s dreaded internal security arm, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).

Another Zimbabwean intelligence source confirmed to the M&G the allegation that Nikuv is working on the voters’ roll “with the CIO”.

In the run-up to the disputed 2008 elections, Zimbabwean opposition parties accused the company of assisting the Zanu-PF government to manipulate the roll in favour of Robert Mugabe. Suspicions of election-rigging were heightened when Zimbabwe’s electoral commission took five weeks to release the results of the election. The MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, calculated that he had won much more than 50% of the votes in the first round of polling but, when results were eventually published, he was credited with 47.9% against Mugabe’s 43.2%, forcing a run-off.

A campaign of violent intimidation led Tsvangirai to withdraw from the second round, leaving Mugabe in power.

The Israeli embassy in Pretoria took the unusual step of issuing a statement at the time, denying that  Mossad was involved in any way in the elections.

But now an amaBhungane investigation has found that top executives of a Nikuv associate company, ISC International Security Consultancy, have an Israeli intelligence background  and Nikuv has been linked to other cases of collaboration with the Zimbabwean security services as well as to questionable tenders in the region.

In Zambia, where Nikuv was brought in to manage and computerise voter registration, the United National Independence Party (Unip) accused the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) of trying to rig the 1996 election with the company’s help. Unip eventually boycotted the poll.

The Zambian opposition also accused Nikuv of landing the contract without proper tender procedures. The process was allegedly managed by the office of Vice-President Godfrey Miyanda rather than the electoral commission.

The Zambian High Court found that the registration process was flawed but that there was no evidence that a majority was built in for the ruling MMD. Nevertheless, the Nikuv roll was later scrapped.

AmaBhungane understands that Nikuv’s offices in Lesotho were raided in March, apparently in connection with an identity document contract awarded last year in controversial circumstances. It had previously won an open tender to supply passports in Lesotho.

Its first Zimbabwean contract appears to have been a $15-million deal signed in November 1994, reportedly to computerise the ministry of home affairs, the census office and the election system. The deal was backed by the Israel Foreign Trade Risks Insurance Corporation.

The company website says that Nikuv was formed “by a group of professionals with an accumulated experience of 45 years in the field of population registration and election systems in Israel”, adding that it was initially a subsidiary of the Formula Group, one of Israel’s largest software groups. On its website Nikuv lists offices and numbers in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola and Botswana, but the phone numbers for South Africa and Angola are out of date and those in Zimbabwe and Botswana ring unanswered.

AmaBhungane managed to contact the man who appears to be running the company’s project in Zimbabwe, Ron Asher, who has been in the country since 2011. But he refused to disclose anything about the company’s activities in Zimbabwe, declining even to give the physical address of its Harare office. He referred all queries to the Nikuv head office in Israel.

The head office is on the second floor of a large unmarked building of concrete and darkened glass, buried deep in the industrial zone of Herziliya, north of Tel Aviv. It is listed alongside about 10 other companies in the building’s reception area – including Defence Technological Security Ltd – and appears to have a head office staff of about 20.

When a reporter from the Guardian visited it on amaBhungane’s behalf, the receptionist said the entire staff were in a “big meeting” and could not be disturbed.

Nikuv Israel confirmed receiving detailed questions from amaBhungane on March 7, including a question about whether it is working on the Zimbabwean voters’ roll under the direction of the CIO. It had not replied at the time of going to press a month later.

Why Businesses Must Be Open to Cultural Evolution

Back in the the days of skinny ties and cigarette breaks, corporations were used to the idea of a "dictatorial management structure"; one where you had a big boss, who surrounded himself with lots of slightly smaller big bosses, who ran the company. Known by many as the "old boys club", this group would have full say over whatever happened in the company. Employees were supposed to worship the ground they walked on and the coffee mugs they sipped from, and fear their collective ability to hire or fire whomever they wanted. But today's modern business is much more social, and today's employees are more dynamic and innovative than their 1950's counterparts ever were. So why then, are so many of today's companies lead by corporate big-wigs who still believe that employees have no direct effect on the company's success?

Culture - an overused buzzword typically spouted off by large companies as a way of garnering a sense of teamwork and cooperation in an organization. It is meant to be a word that gathers people together, like one big happy family; sharing, helping, all towards a common goal. Culture is a way of thinking, a mindset that says "hey, we're all in this together" (cue the guitars and lyrics to Kumbaya). But the grim reality is that today's employees are all too familiar with the tongue-in-cheek tactics that companies use to get employees be "part of the team". Workers today want real action and real plastic card. They understand that they bring so much to the table that they want to be seen and heard, rather than become "part of the herd".

Workers today are smarter, more flexible, more thoughtful and more creative. Corporations need to leverage these traits, not cover them up with mindless surveys and questionnaires. A smart company will actively seek out talent within it's own doors, and more that talent where it has the most impact. The days of taking a random employee and plugging them into a position are long gone, and so should the mentality be.

Don't be shocked when you look around and see the culture in your company desperately trying to evolve. Chances are, it's you or one of your cohorts who is actually stifling evolution in your organization. See culture for what is really is - a calling card that invites your organization to allow its employees to do great things, to be their best, and to generate real momentum that drives any company towards success. These are not buzzwords - they are your company's path to success.

Environmental leaders from around the world gathered in Roone Arledge Auditorium last Thursday to discuss water issues, with the ultimate goal of illustrating what they consider one of the most pressing natural dilemmas.

Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute, said that scientists need to find solutions to the issue of humanity’s dependence on groundwater, as well as the disasters caused by the increasing prevalence of droughts and floods.

“This is one issue we haven’t adequately attended to yet,” Sachs said. “It’s a new world, and it’s a dangerous world. Humanity is the driver, but our hands are not on the steering wheels too steadily.”

Against a backdrop of maps that marked countries with red-tinted dry-zones, panelists attempted to address how to provide fresh water to the Earth’s nine billion people.

“There are many things that could be done that are not being done,” Mark Cane, professor of earth and climate sciences at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, said. “I have no doubts that there are at least some technical solutions to these problems.”

However, Cane noted, these problems tend to get attention only when they become urgent. “In the end, what does it take to get the will to put these solutions into place? And one idea is that it unfortunately does not happen until it is more of a crisis,” he said.

The panelists suggested reducing the use of water for energy by developing more efficient technology, reducing costs of kiosks that deliver water to rural communities, and a smart-card technology system that places an extra cost on liters of water once a certain limit is passed as potential solutions.

Much of the forum discussion centered on the role of water as a resource in the market economy. Richard Sandor, chairman and CEO of the firm Environmental Financial Products, proposed that water conservation credits could give farmers an incentive to use water more efficiently.

Sachs pointed out, however, that balance is key in economizing water.

“You have to think about what would happen when the price is too high,” he said. “If you reflect seriously on the statement that ‘water is life,’ turning water into a marketed commodity is a pretty grave offense, and markets do not solve that problem, as they tend to ignore the lower-income bracket.”

Tebby Ralefala, a student from Botswana, attended the conference as part of the Resolution Project, a nonprofit that promotes social entrepreneurship by initiating social venture challenges.

Ralefala, who presented a project about water preservation earlier this week at Columbia’s Earth Summit, said that Thursday’s conference allowed her to think more critically about her work.

“I am going to do more research on what I hadn’t known about other parts of the world and how dry it is getting,” Ralefala said. “I want to see how I can take some of the ideas that the panelists proposed and relate them to Africa and Botswana. There may be a possibility to eradicate the problems that they may face when it comes to drought.”

Simon Lim, an associate at the Cleantech Group, which focuses on developing clean technology and other sustainability IC card, believed that the conference offered viewers an opportunity to learn about the latest innovations and thinking in water conservation.

“Clearly there is a lot of innovation needed, whether with new models or new approaches in technology, business, community, or leadership,” he said. “Sustainable development is a great and growing field. We especially trust students to help lead the way to implement the solutions that are going to be needed in the years ahead.”