California girl sells lemonade to fight child slavery, raises more than $100,000

By Lisa Fernandez, NBC Bay Area

Vivienne Harr has already been garnering headlines for selling lemonade for 365 consecutive days ? including on Day 173 at New York City?s Times Square. She's raised exactly $101,320 that she donated to a nonprofit dedicated to ending child slavery.

Now, the 9-year-old girl Fairfax, Calif., girl is going pro.

She's said a temporary goodbye to her lemonade stand. That's because this summer, she began rolling out her mother?s recipe for organic, Fair Trade, ?tunnel pasteurized? lemonade and shipping it to 70 mostly locally owned, organic shops in California and Oregon. On Friday, her commercially available lemonade debuted at Woodlands Market in Marin County's Kentfield.

?I love telling people about my story,? Vivienne told NBC Bay Area on Friday. ?I love selling lemonade.?

Among the many things that set Vivienne?s lemonade apart (notwithstanding that it was created after she sold lemonade for an entire year without taking a day off starting last June, that she donates the profits to charity, and that it is now a commercial product sold at stores) is that customers are now being ask to pay what they want for the bottles of pink juice.

?I ask people to give what?s in their hearts,? she said.

There have been sporadic ?pay what you want? commercial enterprises throughout the country, including the now-defunct Panera Bread?s turkey chili venture to raise food insecurity awareness that has now fizzled out.

But Ayelet Gneezy, an expert in ?pay what you want? studies at the University of California, San Diego said what Vivienne is doing is very unusual.

?I?ve never heard of this before,? Gneezy said. ?It?s very impressive.

Gneezy, and Leif Nelson, her colleague at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley,? found that overall, the majority of people will choose not to buy something if it is a pay-what-you-want pricetag. But those who do choose to do so, will pay more than the asking price.

Since Tuesday, when Molsberry Market's in Sonoma began selling Vivienne?s lemonade, owner Joe Molsberry said that about 40 of 100 cases have sold. Some people paid $20 a case and others paid $50. The suggested donation is $2.99 a bottle. No one has so far tried to abuse the system and walked off with a case for a penny. And what's so amazing, Molsberry said, is that newcomers are visiting the store? just because they've heard about Vivienne's story.

And this is a story that rises far above sales of? lemonade and what customers will pay for it. It?s about the girl ? and the family ? behind the sweet-tasting juice.

Vivienne, soon to be a fourth grader at Cascade Canyon Elementary School, and her family were visiting Sonoma last May when the young girl saw the book ?Slavery? by Lisa Kristine, a journalist who photographs slaves across the world.

An image of two Nepalese boys with giant rocks strapped over their foreheads grabbed Vivienne?s attention, and she wanted to do something about ending their plight. ?Maybe we could sell lemonade?? was the simple question Vivienne asked her parents, Alex, a stay-at-home mom, and her father, Eric, a triathlete, author and co-founder of Resonate Social, a successful digital marketing company.

They didn't say no.

?We?re sort of this out-of-the-box family,? Harr said. ?We didn?t discount it. We went all in.?

Which meant that for 365 days starting in June 2012, the family ? including now-3-year-old brother, Turner ? took to the streets ? once, even flying to New York after an invitation from Mayor Michael Bloomberg ? to sell lemonade. It was Vivienne?s idea to have people pay ?what was in their hearts? because, she says, ?it?s a giveness, not a business.?

Vivienne gave the first $101,320 to Not for Sale, a Half Moon Bay nonprofit that tries to eradicate child slavery, and other smaller donations to the Nepal Youth Foundation, Free the Slaves, LeTot Center in Dallas, United Way, and the Mayor?s Fund in NYC for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

The family?s promise is that when they start to make a profit from the bottled lemonade, half will go to five charities, and the other half will go toward salaries and production costs. Harr said he was able to secure about $800,000 in investor funding to launch the company this summer.

Harr since left his company and has become the CEO of Make a Stand Lemon-Aid, and the full-time business partner of his daughter ? a ?fiercely compassionate? girl who cried when bees drowned when she was little. He said the family isn?t particularly devout or religious, though they do occasionally attend church. But he said they all now feel that their lemonade business is sort of divinely inspired, or at least, that this was their fate. In fact, the family is poised to meet the two Nepalese brothers who inspired Vivienne in September.

As for now, Vivienne is having a typical summer, playing with her brother, Barbie dolls, and of course, drinking lots of lemonade.

?It?s low in sugar, it tastes so good,? she said. ?I drink it all the time.?

Read more at NBCBayArea.com.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663306/s/2f8566ba/sc/8/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A80C0A30C198533810Ecalifornia0Egirl0Esells0Elemonade0Eto0Efight0Echild0Eslavery0Eraises0Emore0Ethan0E10A0A0A0A0A0Dlite/story01.htm

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SmackDown Results: Christian def. Randy Orton and RVD in a furious Triple Threat World Title No. 1 Contender?s Match

HOUSTON ? As three of WWE?s top Superstars battled it out for the right to face World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio at SummerSlam, CM Punk dazzled Fandango with the power of Straight Edge, a stunning turn of events helped decide the Divas Title Match and Damien Sandow showed Cody Rhodes the true value of ?Money.?

Several weeks ago, newly crowned Raw General Manager Brad Maddox gave WWE Champion John Cena the opportunity to choose his No. 1 contender at SummerSlam, paving the way for The Champ to create a highly anticipated clash between himself and Daniel Bryan.

Photos: Guerrero laid down the law?

After SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero offered the World Heavyweight Champion the same chance, Alberto Del Rio tried to name Ricardo Rodriguez as his No. 1 contender. But, The Queen Diva swiftly rejected the titleholder?s feeble attempt at a summer siesta ? instead creating an explosive blue brand Triple Threat Match to determine his SummerSlam opponent: RVD vs. Randy Orton vs. Christian for later in the night!

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Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/2013-08-02/results

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China and the Desperation of Dire Predictions

By Russell Leigh Moses

The consequences of China?s collapse will be even worse than the Soviet Union?s.

So proclaims the provocative headline of commentary from the official Xinhua news agency?that spread widely on major Chinese news sites on Thursday (in Chinese) and has since become the subject of much teeth-gnashing on Chinese social media sites.

The essay, which warns that China faces poverty and misery because of the destabilizing activity of its growing population of microbloggers, hits at the heart of the ideological divide in China and suggests conservatives are growing increasingly anxious about the direction Chinese president Xi Jinping might take as he looks to reform the Communist Party.

Pointing to economic and political turmoil in post-Soviet Russia as evidence of the dangers of embracing political reform too soon is nothing new in China, but the Xinhua essay, penned by one Wang Xiaoshi, paints an unusually dire portrait of China?s neighbor to the north. According to Wang, the Russia that resulted from the demise of the USSR ? the one where ?people truly awakened to ?democratization? and ?universal values of happiness?? ? discovered that ?GDP had fallen by half; access to the sea achieved through the centuries was gone, along with a fleet that aged, corroded and finally fell into a pile of scrap metal; where new domestic oligarchs plundered state assets; Russians lined up on the street in supply shortages; and veterans had to sell their medals in exchange for bread.?

That level of misery and misfortune, or worse, is what China faces because the country?s social media users have embraced similar values to those that led to the collapse of the USSR, according to Wang. ?Every day,? he writes, ?microbloggers and their mentors in the same cause pass rumors, fabricate negative news about [China?s] society, create an apocalyptic vision of China?s imminent collapse, and denigrate the existing socialist system ? all to promote the European and American model of capitalism and constitutionalism.?

The eventual aim of these netizens and their purported sponsors, Wang continues, is ?to incite social unrest in China, and nakedly use the masses as cannon fodder in the process.?

Social media users immediately on Wang?s analysis and proceeded to shred it, arguing that many of the figures he cited were false and many of his quotations of Russian personages were misattributed.? Some netizens wondered (in Chinese)?where Wang had been all these years, given that the world had seen other regimes recently collapse, with the lessons more about ?conquerors and dictators and their failings? than some capitalist conspiracy (in Chinese).

Among the critics was Chinese intellectual Yu Jianrong, who argued that China?s failings needed to be discussed first, especially ?the widening gap between rich and poor produced by unrestrained predatory crony capitalism on the population,? as well as an unconstrained public authority ?[guilty of] flagrant violations of the rule of law? and the subsequent ?loss of social morality.?

Interestingly, Wang?s commentary actually first surfaced online over two weeks ago,?to little fanfare. This time, with help from the party media, it went viral, which means that someone sponsored its reemergence.?It?s very likely that Party conservatives opposed to Xi?s reforms composed this essay?or at least compelled its reappearance.

Indeed, the momentum that those reforms have already marshaled in the media and Party ranks must unnerve conservatives greatly.? They?ve seen former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin throw his support to Xi.?And this week, they watched as Xi elevated six senior military officials to the rank of full general (in Chinese), further consolidating his grip on the military, a traditional conservative power base.

Anti-reformers have to be concerned about being outmaneuvered at an upcoming Party plenum in October, and at possible meetings before that at the summer resort of Beidaihe, where we can expect to see Xi and his colleagues continue to try to ?put political power in a cage.? ?Netizens aren?t buying into the nostalgia and dread that conservatives are selling; there?s every reason to believe that many of them see Xi?s reforms as worth defending.

Wang?s essay is clearly an effort by conservatives to jumpstart a debate about the new direction of the Party?and possibly, the nation. But if they really want to impact the debate, they?ll have to do better.

Russell Leigh Moses is the Dean of Academics and Faculty at The Beijing Center for Chinese Studies. He is writing a book on the changing role of power in the Chinese political system.

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Like China Real Time on Facebook and follow us Twitter for the latest updates.

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2013/08/02/chinese-politics-and-the-desperation-of-dire-predictions/?mod=WSJBlog

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Berlusconi says need justice reform or elections

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's center right must push for reform of the justice system or seek new elections, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told lawmakers from his People of Freedom Party, according to a source at the meeting on Friday.

"If there is no reform of the justice system, we are ready for new elections," he told the meeting, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

On Thursday a court upheld a conviction for tax fraud against Berlusconi, threatening both his position as center-right leader and the stability of Italy's fragile coalition government.

(Reporting by Antonella Cinelli, writing by Naomi O'Leary)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/berlusconi-says-justice-reform-elections-174833022.html

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Delta athletes head to Canada Games

The Canada Summer Games begin next week in Sherbrooke, Que. with eight Delta athletes representing B.C. and our community. The Delta Sports Council gave a send off to the athletes Tuesday in Ladner at Delta Gymnastics.

Pictured from left: rowing brothers Maxwell and Aaron Lattimer, beach volleyball sisters Megan and Nicole McNamara, basketball star Ryan Cowley, soccer players Jasmine Mander (right), Sessen Stevens (centre) and Alessia Azermadhi (cutting the cake) with softball coach Gord Collings.

Source: http://www.bclocalnews.com/sports/217963771.html

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Dems hit GOP on immigration in top critic's home

AMES, Iowa - The Senate's second-ranking Democrat says House Republicans should support legal status for young people who were brought into the country illegally as minors.

Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois made a strategic visit to Iowa Friday to highlight House GOP resistance to a Senate-passed immigration bill. The Senate measure would heighten border security and provide a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants living here illegally.

Durbin joined Iowa Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin at a forum in a college town represented in Congress by Republican Rep. Steve King.

King fiercely opposes a path to citizenship for immigrants now here illegally. Republican leaders denounced King's most incendiary remarks. But some Democrats paint him as a symbol of GOP resistance.

Harkin said Iowans are compassionate and don't use hateful language to characterize people.

Source: http://www.kvoa.com/news/dems-hit-gop-on-immigration-in-top-critic-s-home/

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Secured Loan Calculator | Koplak.Co.Uk

Article Secured Loan Calculator: A free loan repayment calculator allows you to calculate and break down monthly repayment figures for a secured or unsecured loan. Before deciding to apply for a loan some homeowners find it useful to understand the approximate cost of borrowing in terms of the monthly cost and the interest which is being charged. This is especially useful for homeowners who work to a monthly budget by knowing what their outgoings are such as household bills and mortgage payments versus income received.

Simply put, they are a loan only available to property owners (or mortgage holders), where the lender can forcibly sell your house to get its money back if you can't repay. The 'secured' bit means the lender gets 'security' not you, as if there are problems, it can repossess your home.

When we normally talk about personal loans from a bank or building society, these are unsecured, which means there's no automatic link to your home (so non-homeowners can borrow this way too).

Sadly it is becoming more common that for those in financial difficulty even unsecured lenders can get what's called a 'charging order' on your home. This effectively means they have a call on the money from the sale of your house.

This doesn?t automatically mean it can push repossession though, there?s another court stage they?d need to go for and the courts are much more reticient to grant it on charging orders. Yet even with this, it's much more difficult for lenders to take your home if its unsecured.

Why would anyone want a secured loan?

- Easier to obtain. Unsecured loans are almost always cheaper for those with decent credit scores, but secured loans provide lenders with, well? security, so they're more willing to lend to poor credit scorers.

- Big borrowing is possible. The maximum unsecured loan is ?25,000 yet secured loans can be ?75,000.

- Borrowing over a longer period. Secured lenders prefer loans to last longer to help offset hefty set-up costs, usually from five to 20 years. Unsecured lending is usually one to seven years. Borrowing for longer does reduce the monthly repayments, but substantially increases the total interest repaid.

- Credit Card Balance Transfers. Credit cards are ?unsecured' and, used correctly, the cheapest borrowing possible, especially when shifting debt to new Balance Transfer offers. Also read Cheap Credit Card Loans.

- Unsecured Loans: Cheaper and less risky for those who can get them. Full details: Cheap Personal Loans.

- Check Credit Reference Files: Those rejected from unsecured lending without an obviously poor credit history should check their information held by the credit reference agencies Equifax, Experian and CallCredit isn't erroneous. Full details: Your Credit Rating.

- Use savings: The interest paid on savings is usually far less than interest charged on borrowing, so paying off debts with savings makes sense. Traditional logic does say always have an ?emergency cash fund'. I disagree. After paying off debts, don't cut the credit cards up, lock them away strictly in case of a substantial emergency. If no emergency happens you're quids in, and can then start a cash emergency fund. If it does, use the cards and you're no worse off than when you started, and you've saved substantial interest costs in the meantime. Full details: Pay Off Your Debts With Savings.

Checklist before considering a secured loan

Credit Card Shuffle: It's possible to cut the interest rate on existing debts even without getting new products. Many credit cards allow existing customers to move other debts to them at special rates. Correctly shifting balances and prioritising repaying expensive debts first creates substantial savings. Full details: Credit Card Shuffle.

Budget & Reduce Outgoings: Massive MoneySaving is possible on everyday spending by moving to better products. See the Money Makeover and The Money Diet for ideas. Budget effectively to allow quicker and easier debt repayments with the Budget Planner.

Remortgage: Mortgages are simply a special type of secured loan with cheaper rates. Borrowing the money on your existing mortgage, or remortgaging to a new cheaper deal is a valid option, but isn't always correct. Mortgage debts are paid off over a long time, and 5% over 20 years is more expensive than 10% over five years. Plus you may be forced to increase your life assurance and other associated costs if mortgage debts increase. Those without flexible mortgages (which allow quick repayments) may sometimes be better off with a secured loan. Full details: Find the Best Mortgage, Remortgage Guide.

Debt Counselling: For those consistently struggling with debts and meeting repayments, free personal help is invaluable. Do it as quickly as possible, the longer you leave it the worse it gets. Avoid commercial debt management companies.

Getting a secured loan cheaply and safely

- How much to borrow?

Get a handle on your existing debts first; list them on a piece of paper. Once you know the secured loan rate, draw a line across the page where this fits in. The secured loan should only be considered to pay off the more expensive debts above the line.

Don't feel all debts should be consolidated into one. This is a common secured loan sales pitch, yet in isolation it serves no real purpose. Remember, if you're repaying a higher rate or for longer, they make more cash.

- You're converting a fixed rate into variable rate debt

While most unsecured loan interest is fixed for the life of the loan, secured loan rates are usually variable and can shift both with UK base rates and for the lenders' own reasons ? check the terms.

If you're considering converting fixed rate debt such as a standard personal loan into variable rate debt, always ask ?could I afford the repayments if rates increased??. If not, don't do it. Don't throw surety away. Some secured loans offer rate fixes, but usually only for a limited period; and do always check there are no penalties for paying off your existing debts early, something common with unsecured loans.

Finally, don't borrow more than you need. Disgustingly some lenders tout, ?why not borrow a little more for a holiday? You deserve it.? Don't do it. Never treat secured loans lightly, take as little lending as possible.

And most importantly if you think you won't be able to make the repayments, don't even start down this route, it isn't worth it - see the free debt cousellors instead.

- How long to borrow for?

Budget to work out the maximum realistic amount you can commit to repaying, use the Budget Planner to help. Don't underestimate or it'll take longer to repay, costing more interest; and don't overestimate or you may overstretch yourself, risking your home. Careful planning is crucial.

*****

Tips:

What is a secured loan?

A secured loan is a loan in which the borrower pledges an asset (e.g. a car or property) as collateral for the loan.?

What is an unsecured loan?

Unsecured loans are monetary loans that are not secured against the borrower's assets. These often take the form of credit card debt, personal loans, bank overdrafts, credit facilities or corporate bonds.?

What is a balloon payment?

A balloon payment is a large, lump-sum payment made at the end of a long-term loan. It is commonly used in car finance loans as a way of reducing monthly repayment figures. Be aware that once you reach the end of your loan period, that balloon amount becomes payable.?

What is APR?

APR stands for Annual Percentage Rate and is an important factor in determining the overall cost of a loan. You can use APR to compare different personal loan offers. When you arrange a loan with a finance company, their offer can include extra fees associated with the loan. The APR figure takes all of that into account, giving you an easy percentage interest rate to allow you to compare and shop around.

APR Guide:

6.7% ? 19.9% - Not missed any payments on credit or your mortgage in the last 6 months

20% ? 58% - Not missed any mortgage payments in the last 3 months and no defaults on credit/loans

56.7% ? 91.9% ? Had one missed mortgage payment and no defaults on credit/loans in the last 3 months

109.5% ? 153.6% - Have defaults or CCJs and missed mortgage payments

What is the Effective Annual Rate?

The effective annual rate is the actual interest rate that you pay on a loan if the loan is affected by compounding. This loan calculator compounds interest on a monthly basis. For information on interest rates and APR, see our article What Is APR? How Does APR Differ From Standard Interest Rate?

What is the Formula For This Loan Calculator?

This loan calculator uses the following formula to calculate loan figures:

Monthly payment = [rate + rate / ( (1+rate) ^ months -1) ] x principal loan amount

UK?s cheapest secured loans

What is a secured loan?

By taking out a secured loan, you are borrowing money that is secured against your assets, usually your property. So it?s wise to consider very carefully before going down this route, as you could lose your home if you cannot keep up the repayments. Always make sure that the cheapest secured loan you find in the UK does not become a very expensive one.

Why choose a secured loan?

Secured loans are a tricky market, where many lenders are only willing to work through brokers. To ensure you have a good chance of finding the cheapest secured loan available to you in the UK, uSwitch works with a broker to widen the secured loan possibilities available to you. This broker has been carefully selected to ensure you receive the highest level of service.

Comparing all the secured loans to the find the cheapest

The UK secured loans market is full of pitfalls for the novice or the unwary, as it?s full of lenders who run the whole gamut from highly reputable merchant banks to those who are little more than loan sharks. But don?t worry, because this is where uSwitch.com can help. Once you?ve identified your cheapest secured loan by using our secured loans calculator we will then refer you to a broker that we have vetted.

Is the cheapest secured loan the right one for you?

Before searching for the cheapest secured loans in the UK, you need to be honest about your loan requirements. For instance:

- Will you take a secured loan from a lender you have not heard of?

- How much can you afford to borrow and pay back?

- What happens if you want to pay back your loan early?

Once you?ve understood and assessed your circumstances against these pointers and you are prepared for some questions about your assets, you?re ready to go on to next stage.

Apply now for your cheapest secured loan

It?s easy. Just go to our secured loans comparison service and when you find your cheapest loan in our results, click on ?Apply? to start your loan application.

Source: http://www.koplak.co.uk/2013/08/secured-loan-calculator.html

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