Soy to the World

0 Comments | Seven Days, Feb 21-Feb 28, 2007 | by Kelley, Kevin J

A Hardwick company takes on tofu

The field-and-mountains logo has been designed. The recyclable plastic bottles have been ordered. The stainless-steel machines – some imported from China, others purchased secondhand from local food firms – stand ready in the new Hardwick factory.

All that remains is for Todd Pinkham and Andrew Meyer to actually start producing and selling their company’s organic soy milk and tofu. Following a long and risk-rich prelude, the Northeast Kingdom entrepreneurs are about to discover whether there’s a profitable market for alternatives to the state’s signature dairy products.

Pinkham, 37, established Vermont Soy 11 years ago as a kitchen-sink tempeh-making venture. “One winter day,” Pinkham recalls, “my wife and I were looking through catalogues and saw an ad for tempeh culture. That seemed like an interesting possibility.”

The inspiration for building a business on fermented soybean cakes came from Organic Cow of Vermont. Founded in 1990 and later absorbed by the Dean Foods conglomerate, the Tunbridge milk company proved there was money to be made in switching from conventional to organic dairy farming. It started a statewide trend. Pinkham, a Johnson State College graduate, had worked on a Johnson farm that was one of Organic Cow’s early suppliers. “I saw from Organic Cow that it was possible to find a market for something a lot of people said wouldn’t be viable,” Pinkham explains.

He and his wife, Meg Treadwell, started small, culturing five pounds of tempeh a week for sale at Hardwick’s Buffalo Mountain food co-op. This initial incarnation of Vermont Soy eventually grew to supply about 30 restaurants and food services around the state.

Freshness and local sourcing were the selling points that enabled Pinkham’s product to compete with Lightlife Tempeh, a market leader based in Massachusetts. Pinkham and Meyer plan to play the same artisanal angles as Vermont Soy tries to shoulder its way onto shelves now stocked with Silk brand soy milk, which is also owned by Dean Foods.

“It will taste better than anything you’ve ever had,” declares Meyer, who compares mass-marketed soymilk to Kraft American cheese and his own product to the cheeses hand-crafted at Jasper Hill Farm, just up the road in Greensboro. The 36-year-old Hardwick dairy farmer served for seven years as agriculture policy expert to Senator James Jeffords. “Everything depends on your philosophy and the tools you use,” he adds
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Inside today 26.07.10

0 Comments | Evening Standard; London (UK), Jul 26, 2010

Dine at top restaurants in London from Pounds 10 See page 31 (Terms apply) Business Connaught Interest rates to shares fall 80% stay at record in funds crisis lows until 2014 PAGE 32 PAGE 32

COMMENT 14-15

LONDONER’S DIARY 16-17

STARS 30

TV & RADIO 38-39

GAMES & PUZZLES 40

LETTERS 41

Today on standard.co.uk Why Gordon Brown won’t ‘do a Mandy’ standard.co.uk/waugh Paul Bettany dons the dog collar for latest role standard.co.uk/video

DOWNLOAD OUR FREE APP AND READ THE STANDARD WHEREVER YOU ARE Visit your phone’s app store and search for ‘London Evening Standard’. Available for: iPhone, Nokia, Android, BlackBerry and WindowsMobile

DISTRIBUTION ASSISTANCE AND HOW TO GET IN TOUCH: Free helpline: 0800 141 2629 www.standard.co.uk/findme help@standard.co.uk Newsdesk: 020 7938 7161 Email: news@standard.co.uk Pictures: yourpics@standard.co.uk

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These can range from the very small tabletop ones to the larger concrete fountains with flowing waters. Some fountains are even mounted onto the wall. There are many themed fountains available but some of the more popular ones feature mermaids, children, or animals.

4. Wind chimes. It is not only the visual elements that are important. Sound plays a big part in creating a wonderful backyard experience. Check out several different kinds of wind chimes to get a feel for the variety of sounds they produce. Different materials will produce various sounds. Popular choices are wood wind chimes, metal chimes, or ones made of glass.

5. Large pots with flowering plants. Another inexpensive way to spruce up your yard is by adding a few well placed plants in decorative pots. Look for bold colors and big plants. A visit to your garden store will give you some ideas for displaying these plants.

Adding just a few of these ideas to your backyard will give it some extra style!

Dee Marie is a freelance writer for http://www.DKTSHopping.com.
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When I first began playing the piano and improvising, there were times when the music just wouldn’t flow. No matter what I did, I couldn’t make it go any further. Blocked and frustrated, I wondered why this happened. One minute I would be in flow and enjoying the process of playing the piano. The next, I would find myself trying to come up with material

I soon realized that the more I tried to “come up” with something, the more blocked I became. The solution to this particular problem is simple, yet many find it to be frustrating in itself.

The answer is simply to walk away. That’s right! If you’re playing the piano and it just won’t come anymore, I suggest getting up and finding something else to do. Why? Because you can not force play! It’s that simple. And that difficult because we want to get back into the “groove.” But getting back to this place requires you to ease up a bit.

You see, the creative process is somewhat similar to meditation. Meditation can’t be forced or willed into working.
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DID HITMEN Google DAD’S MURDER? Security expert issues warning over internet

0 Comments | Sunday Mercury (Birmingham, England), July 11, 2010

Byline: MATT LLOYD

A DAD-OF-TWO may have been murdered in his Midlands home after killers used Google Street View to plan the attack, a security expert claimed last night.

Businessman Richard Deakin, 27, was shot dead after two masked men burst into his house in Chasetown, Staffordshire, moments after his wife left to take their young children to school.

Now a security expert has claimed the gunmen could have used internet tool Google Street View – which offers detailed photographs of the house and its alarm system. Michael Fraser said: ”This murder has to have been planned – you can’t just break in and shoot to kill. On Street View you can get all the information you want.” FULL STORY: PAGES 8-9

CAPTION(S):

GUNNED DOWN: Richard Deakin was shot dead in his home

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Make friends, influence people: Lawyers and social networking

Daily Record (Rochester, NY), Jul 7, 2010 by Denise M Champagne

Not all lawyers are late to the social networking party.

Increasing numbers are finding a variety of ways to use the medium as a tool in the practice of law.

“On the personal injury side, the lawyers who represent people who have been sued are searching for information from the people doing the suing to see if what the plaintiffs are actually doing matches what they say they cannot, or contradicts what they say they cannot do,” said Eileen E. Buholtz, an attorney with Connors & Corcoran PLLC who does a lot of insurance defense work. “If he says he can’t fish, he can’t hunt, he can’t run, he can’t play basketball, you would search the social network sites to see if his page shows him fishing, hunting, running or playing basketball. That kind of thing.”

An electronic social network is a group of people socializing on websites such as Facebook, one of the most commonly used. Members communicate in writing and by sharing photos and links to other sites they like.

An unrestricted site allows anyone to view what’s been posted
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Sunset Park Place sponsor of insurance information program for

0 Comments | Telegraph – Herald; Dubuque, Iowa, Jun 27, 2010

Sunset Park Place Retirement Community in Dubuque has been named an official sponsor for the Senior Health Insurance Information Program, a service of the state of Iowa. Volunteers will provide free-of-charge counseling and information to people with questions about Medicare, Medicare supplement insurance, long-term care insurance and claims filings.

The program does not recommend insurance companies, plans or agents. The volunteers, trained by the Iowa Insurance Division, answer questions and provide impartial information.

Sue Lemon will coordinate the program, located at 3730 Pennsylvania Ave. Appointments are required.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, call 563-583- 7939.

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A.M. Best Places Ratings of Michigan Insurance Company Under Review with Negative Implications

Business Wire, July 20, 2010

OLDWICK, N.J. — A.M. Best Co. has placed under review with negative implications
the financial strength rating (FSR) of A (Excellent) and issuer credit
rating (ICR) of a of Michigan Insurance Company (MIC) (Grand
Rapids, MI). The ratings will remain under review pending regulatory
review, approval and the completion of A.M. Bests analytical process.
The ratings being placed under review with negative implications
indicates that they either will be downgraded or affirmed, depending
upon A.M. Bests view of the level of support to be provided by MICs
new parent, Donegal Group Inc
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Jaguar XJ to help drive Sisma Auto sales

0 Comments | New Straits Times, Jul 28, 2010

SISMA Auto Sdn Bhd, the sole importer and distributor of Jaguar cars in Malaysia, expects to maintain its sales this year, partly helped by the launch of the new Jaguar XJ.

The company doubled its sales to about 100 units in 2008 and managed to maintain the sales figure last year despite the global financial crisis. This year, it expects to sell about 100 units as well.

“In the luxury car segment, you usually see a huge increase during the launch year, and a decline significantly the following year.

“That did not happen in our case,” said Sisma Auto director Syed Khalil Syed Ibrahim in a Business Times interview in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Syed Khalil expects sales to come from both existing Jaguar customers as well as new Jaguar owners, in which the ratio is about 50:50, helped by sporty, styllish and contemporary designed models, including the new Jaguar XJ.

“The new XJ is a thoroughly modern interpretation of the quintessential Jaguar … It is the most emphatic statement yet of Jaguar’s new design direction.

“It has also redefined automotive luxury. Sleek, sporting and sophisticated, it is a spacious four door saloon with the sex appeal of a sports coupe.

“It is equipped with Jaguar’s proven technologies and its elegant contemporary design looks after the comfort of both driver and passengers,” said Mick Razza, Jaguar’s director of overseas operations, visiting from the UK for the launch.

The new XJ, which retail price is expected to be below RM1 million, has several key features including a panoramic roof, new ultra-efficient Gen III engines, air suspension, top-of-the-range 1200W Bowers & Wilkins sound system, Active Differential Control, quick-ratio power steering and more.

The actual retail price of the new XJ is expected to be available within one to two months.

The new Jaguar XJ was launched in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

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Now, however, you may be considering taking a Colostrum supplement, and wondering how it differs from standard herbal remedies, in the way it works to benefit your body.

The primary difference is that herbal remedies and dietary supplements contain plant-based nutrients, which work by nourishing or stimulate the body to produce the results that are needed. They simply help the body produce nutrients of its own. Colostrum, however is an animal based nutrient that not only helps the body produce its own life giving immune and growth factors, but actually supplements and replaces them as well.

The works very well, given the fact that the immune and growth factors contained in bovine colostrum are virtually identical to those in the human body.
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