Worldwide Supply Appoints New Inside Sales Account Executives

Experienced inside sales professionals to manage existing accounts as well as prospect new clients for the rapidly growing recognized leader in the secondary networking hardware marketplace.

Franklin, NJ (PRWEB) January 03, 2013
Worldwide Supply, the recognized leader in the secondary networking hardware marketplace, today announced the appointment of Melissa M. Montgomery-Pascual and Alexander A. Pascual to the roles of Inside Sales Account Managers.
With over twenty years of experience in sales, this team will be tasked with growing Worldwide Supply’s existing accounts as well as prospecting new relationships. "We’re excited to have two very dynamic, seasoned sales professional join our team as we expand our reach into new business segments and strive to continue growing market share with current clients," says Jay VanOrden, CEO of Worldwide Supply.
Prior to joining Worldwide Supply, Melissa Montgomery-Pascual held a Senior Account Executive position with Network Hardware Resale. She also is owner of Melimarmonte, a successful line of Women and Children’s luxury garment and accessory fashions. She holds a BA from the University of Arizona, Tucson. Alexander (Ace) Pascual comes to us from Planet Solar, Inc. where he held the position of National Sales Manager. Ace also has significant networking experience from his tenure at Network Hardware Resale. He holds a BA from the University of Arizona, Tucson.
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About Worldwide Supply
Worldwide Supply is a recognized leader in the secondary network hardware marketplace, providing and buying networking and telecommunication equipment to, and from, companies globally. Some companies sell used networking gear to Worldwide Supply. Others may be searching for items ranging from used cisco routers to optics transceivers and beyond.
Headquartered in northern New Jersey, and with offices in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina and Texas, Worldwide Supply provides a full line of certified pre-owned and new-surplus networking and telecommunication products from major manufacturers such as Cisco, Juniper, Arris, Calix, Extreme and Motorola.
Worldwide Supply backs the products it sells with an industry-leading lifetime warranty.

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Wiccan Spells Online: PsychicTarot.us Puts the Power of Wicca to Benefit

The new metaphysical services marketplace, PsychicTarot.us, has announced the creation of their online platform allowing users to tap into the power of Wiccan spell craft and practitioners to sell their services. Followers of Wicca can list their services for sale to the public and people interested in the benefits can shop amongst the listed gigs.

Santa Barbara, CA (PRWEB) January 03, 2013
The new age services community and marketplace, PsychicTarot.us, today announced the launch of a section dedicated to Wiccan spells. Users of the site can list their beneficial spells for sale to the public and earn money with their talents, while shoppers can compare and purchase from their favored practitioner. The website will allow buyers to request enchantments (white magic only) from real Wiccans to benefit their health, wealth, happiness and other areas of their life.
"The Wiccan community is vibrant and active, we are proud to create this opportunity for people to earn money, have fun, and connect with people interested in their talents," stated Irina Shayk, representative for PsychicTarot.us. "People can list their spells or rituals for $5 and up to $50, and are limited only by their creativity."
For those who aren't familiar with the Wiccan religion, Wikipedia defines it is as a modern interpretation of several ancient pagan religions. It is often referred to as witchcraft because the adherents of the religion believe in the casting of spells to change nature and people's behavior.
According to the site, Wicca is centered around the worship of the masculine and feminine aspects of nature as represented by the moon and the sun and personalized as the moon goddess and the horned man. There are many different branches of Wicca, though many of them have as one of their cores beliefs the ideal of "An ye harm none, do what thou wilt", which derives from an ancient pagan proverb.
In a recent New York Times witchcraft report detailing the success of a local Goddess shop, the belief system is quite popular and there is a demand for the spells. PsychicTarot.us intends to connect these business owners with a global market online.
"The popularity of movies that portray the occult over the past few years have really increased the number of people who are interested not only in Wicca, but in many aspects of metaphysical pursuits. Science in many ways is simply catching up to ancient wisdom," added Ms. Shayk.
PsychicTarot.us provides a few suggestions for people who join and wish to list their services:

Love spells
Prosperity spells
A spell for good luck
Spells for continued or improved health
Success spells
Starting as low as $5, prices are reasonable for someone new looking to dabble, while more in powerful services can be listed for as much as $50 to the public. Whether one believes or not in the power of a Wiccan enchantment, the new online marketplace is sure to be great fun for visitors and professionals alike.

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ListedBy’s Stephan Piscano Perspective Featured In REI Voice Magazine’s 2013 Market Predictions

Feature projects outlook from ten prominent U.S. city, state and national real estate industry leaders and city executives.

Napa, CA (PRWEB) December 31, 2012
ListedBy (http://www.ListedBy.com), the first free online real estate marketplace and social network with live bidding public real estate auctions and ‘Best Offer’ functionality today announced that its CEO and Founder Stephan Piscano’s outlook for the real estate industry has been featured by REI Voice Magazine (http://www.reivoice.com) as part of its 2013 Market Predictions feature.
“2013 could be your last opportunity to realize huge returns on investment properties,” wrote Piscano, for REI Voice 2013 Market Predictions. “We started telling all of our partners, clients and investors at the end of 2011, that 2012 would be the last opportunity to see deals like we had been seeing for the last 3 years, and I personally told all those close to me that we would look back at 2012 and ask, how much did we capitalize on it?”
Opinions and forward outlook from ten high profile experts in real estate make up this year’s predictions. The article covers perspectives at the city, state and national levels, and features thoughts from prominent insurance, asset management and real estate investment senior managers as well as REALTOR® council, county assessment and city economic development executives.
Continued Piscano: “I believe that interest rates remaining low, combined with lack of inventory, combined with the potential for rapid inflation will cause the market to continue to rise in 2013 and beyond. There will still be exceptional investment opportunities. It will be several years before the market is fully recovered but this year could be your last opportunity for a while to capitalize on the unreal 23% ROI (Return On Investment) type of investment properties for a while. Investors will start seeing more types of real estate investments take place such as owner-carry-financing, due to the millions of Americans who have damaged credit but still may have solid income or in some cases even be multimillionaires who are tired of buying everything cash and want leverage.”
ListedBy also published The 2013 Real Estate Market, a forward looking opinion on the market based on two possible economic scenarios for the coming year. The article can be viewed at http://blog.listedby.com.
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About ListedBy
ListedBy is the first free online real estate marketplace and social network with live bidding auction and ‘Best Offer’ functionality. Buyers, sellers, real estate professionals and service providers join ListedBy to network and to list, research, buy and sell real estate assets in a collaborative, transparent environment. ListedBy is headquartered in Napa, and is privately funded. For ongoing news, please visit http://www.listedby.com/about.
ListedBy, LB Social and the ListedBy logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of ListedBy, LLC and / or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Third party trademarks and brands mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

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Canada spending growth sluggish in November, Mastercard says

(Reuters) - Canada's holiday shopping season got off to a slow start in November with retail sales rising only 1.3 percent from the previous year, compared with 4.2 percent growth a year earlier, according to data released by MasterCard on Thursday.
Still, the shopping season was still young in November. MasterCard Advisors, the payment company's research and consulting division, found that in recent years, holiday shopping peaks from December 20 to December 22.
"Many Canadians may have gotten an early start with Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year, but it's still a very young phenomenon in Canada," Senior Vice-President Richard McLaughlin, said in a release.
The Friday after U.S. Thanksgiving is the unofficial start to the holiday shopping season south of the border, and in recent years retailers have imported Black Friday sales to Canada.
Some also promote online sales the following Monday.
Canada's online retail sales continued to grow in November, increasing 26.4 percent.

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Chevron to buy stake in Kitimat LNG from Encana, EOG

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Chevron Corp said on Monday it will enter the Canadian liquefied natural gas business with the acquisition of the 50 percent stake in the Kitimat LNG project held by Encana Corp and EOG Resources Inc.
Chevron will take Encana's and EOG's 30 percent stakes in the LNG-export project for an undisclosed price as the No.2 U.S. oil company looks to jumpstart North American natural gas exports.
It will also buy the two companies' interest in a pipeline serving the project, at Kitimat, 650 kilometers (400 miles) north of Vancouver, and will pay $550 million for a half stake in 644,000 acres of exploration lands in the Horn River and Liard shale-gas fields owned by Apache Corp.
Apache will then pay Chevron $150 million to raise its stake in the British Columbia project and associated lands to 50 percent, netting the U.S. independent oil and gas producer $400 million from the transaction.
Analysts say the addition of a deep-pocketed partner increases the likelihood that the multi-billion dollar Kitimat LNG -- the most advanced of a handful of gas-export facilities slated for British Columbia's northern coast -- will be completed.
"With Chevron involved it will happen sooner than it otherwise would have," said Michael Dunn, an analyst with FirstEnergy Capital.
Though no price was given, Robert Morris, an analyst with Citi Research, estimates that Encana and EOG each received about $450 million for their stakes and the exploration lands.
Kitimat LNG was last year awarded Canada's first LNG export license by the National Energy Board, allowing it to export 10 million tons of LNG per year. The project is slated to begin shipping gas to Asian markets by 2017.
Other Canadian LNG facilities are planned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Malaysia's Petronas, BG Group Plc and others, making British Columbia a rival to the U.S. Gulf coast, where nine projects have been announced and one, Cheniere Energy Inc's, Sabine Pass project, is already under construction.
Chevron has existing LNG projects in Australia, Africa and South America. Adding the Canadian operation will let it tap high-priced export markets and escape a domestic gas market that remains depressed because of burgeoning production from shale gas fields.
"This investment grows our global LNG portfolio and builds upon our LNG construction, operations and marketing capabilities," George Kirkland, Chevron's vice chairman, said in a statement. "It is ideally situated to meet rapidly growing demand for reliable, secure, and cleaner-burning fuels in Asia, which are projected to approximately double from current levels by 2025."
Encana said the sale of its stake was consistent with its plan to focus on its core natural gas business and that the deal will reduce its future capital commitments while EOG will now focus on U.S. crude oil production.
The acquisition is expected to close it the first quarter of 2013.
Chevron shares fell $1.00 to $108.71 by early afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange while Apache fell $1.35 to $78.65 and EOG dropped 72 cents to $122.83
Encana shares were down 51 Canadian cents at C$19.62 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

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Ontario government imposes new contracts on teachers

TORONTO (Reuters) - Ontario's government said on Thursday it will impose labor contracts on tens of thousands of teachers in Canada's most populous province as part of its controversial push to reduce a large budget deficit.
Education Minister Laurel Broten announced contract terms covering some 130,000 teachers that included a broad wage freeze, a reduction in the number of sick days and limits on the number of sick days teachers are allowed to cash out when they retire.
Ontario's Liberal government, which holds only a minority of seats in the provincial parliament, managed to reach tough new deals with other teacher groups and its doctors but failed to come to terms with the larger group of elementary and secondary school teachers.
The showdown led many teachers to drop extracurricular activities and take other job action such as one-day strikes.
The new deal will save the province C$250 million ($253.79 million) in 2012-13 and C$540 million in 2013-14, the government said in a statement. In addition, the government will realize one time savings of C$1.1 billion from changes to the sick day policy.
The new contracts will expire in August, 2014.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, who announced late last year that he would resign once the Liberals elect a new leader in January, pledged last March that the government would reduce its C$14 billion deficit by holding the line on public sector wages.
The government passed a law last fall covering its public sector workers that froze wages, cut sick days and limited their right to strike. The legislation, which sparked furious opposition from labor groups, set the bargaining deadline for last December 31.
Ontario's teachers are among the highest paid in Canada, a country where educators rank as some of the best compensated in the world.
Credit rating agencies have repeatedly warned Ontario that tackling its deficit would require tough austerity measures.
Healthcare and education make up about 70 percent of Ontario's spending, with wages and fees accounting for more than half of the expenses.

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League, players continue to talk as deadline looms

The National Hockey League and locked out players appeared closer to a new labor deal that would salvage a partial season after Wednesday's midnight deadline passed without the union filing a disclaimer of interest and dissolving.
With the lockout reaching its 110th day, negotiations began under an NHL Players Association (NHLPA) threat to decertify, freeing individual players to file anti-trust lawsuits against the league.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters that the union never played the disclaimer card during any negotiations and that both parties and a U.S. mediator would be back at the bargaining table at 10 am ET (1500 GMT) on Thursday.
"The word disclaimer has yet to be uttered to us by the players association," Bettman told reporters as he left meetings at the league's Manhattan offices. "When you disclaim interest as a union you notify the other side.
"We have not been notified. It has never been discussed so there is no disclaimer."
While one deadline passed, another is looming large on the horizon, Bettman having set a January 19 limit for the puck to drop on a shortened 48-game schedule.
With the clock ticking, both Bettman and NHLPA chief Donald Fehr could agree on one thing - that much work needs to be done if there is to be a season.
"If you have a river to cross you have to build a bridge or do something else if you are going to cross the river," said Fehr, deflecting any questions about the disclaimer of interest. "We've moved closer on some issues but work remains to be done."
The two sides have spent three days in New York exchanging proposals and counter proposals and appeared to inching slowly towards a deal.
PENSION ISSUE
The back-and-forth diplomacy continued on Wednesday, with brief meetings in the morning and a longer session that began at 8 pm stretching into Thursday morning.
There have been indications the two sides are close to agreement on major issues - such has how to split $3.3 billion in revenue - contract lengths and revenue sharing but they remain far apart on others.
Player pension plans and how they are funded has suddenly popped up as the hot topic along with where the salary cap ceiling should be set.
The league wants a cap locked in at $60 million while the players are believed to be seeking something in the $65-67 million range.
"It's been a long day with lots of meetings both internal and with the players association, and the process will be continuing tomorrow morning," Bettman said.
"There has been some progress but we are still apart on a number of issues, but as long as the process continues I am hopeful.
"On some issues we agreed, on some we moved towards each other and on some we said 'no'. I think that applies to both parties."
Players have been locked out since mid-September and the league has cancelled games up to January 14, more than 50 percent of the regular season which was scheduled to start in October.
The dispute is the NHL's fourth work stoppage in 20 years and first since a lockout forced the cancellation of the entire 2004-05 season.

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NHL negotiations go late. No union disclaimer

 Hockey players are sticking together as a union for now and are working long and late hours with the NHL to try to reach a new collective bargaining agreement to get the game back on the ice.
The sides met in small groups throughout the day Wednesday and then held a full-scale bargaining session with a federal mediator at night that lasted nearly five hours and didn't wrap up until about 1 a.m. Thursday.
They planned to get back at it less than 10 hours later.
The biggest detail to emerge from Wednesday night's marathon talks was that Donald Fehr is still the executive director of the players' association, which passed on its first chance to declare a disclaimer that would dissolve the union and turn it into a trade association.
Last month, players voted overwhelmingly in favor of giving the union executive board the right to declare the disclaimer, but that permission expired at midnight Wednesday. The disclaimer would allow individual players to file antitrust lawsuits against the NHL.
Fehr wouldn't address the issue at all, calling it an "internal matter," but NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said all the union would need to do is inform the league that it was taking the action for it to happen.
"The word disclaimer has yet to be uttered to us by the players' association," Bettman said. "It's not that it gets filed anywhere with a court or the NLRB. When you disclaim interest as a union, you notify the other side. We have not been notified and it's never been discussed, so there has been no disclaimer."
Even though the deadline expired, a new vote by players can be held anytime to restore the authorization.
"All I can tell you about that is the players retain all the legal options they have always had and we don't talk about legal matters," Fehr said.
The thought was that the union wouldn't take action Wednesday if it saw progress was being made. Neither side would characterize the talks or address what, if any, movement toward common ground was reached.
Both the league and the players were tightlipped about how many things still need to be worked out and what topics are keeping them apart. But the discussions went well enough for the NHL and the union to agree to the mediator's request to start talking again at 10 a.m. Thursday.
"I'm not going to get into the details," Bettman said. "There's been some progress but we're still apart on a number of issues. As long as the process continues I am hopeful."
Bettman has told the union that a deal must be in place by Jan. 11 in order for a 48-game season to be played beginning eight days later.
The night session Wednesday began shortly after 8 p.m. EST. The sides also met for about an hour during the afternoon when the union gave its latest proposal to the league, a response to the NHL's counteroffer on Tuesday.
Neither side said much regarding Wednesday's discussions, but it is believed that the pension issue has become a major stumbling block.
"The pension plan is a very complicated issue," Bettman said. "The number of variables and the number of issues that have to be addressed by people who carry the title actuary or pension lawyer are pretty numerous and it's pretty easy to get off track.
"That is something we understand is important to the players."
The union's proposal Wednesday makes four offers between the sides since the NHL restarted negotiations Thursday with a proposal.
A small group meeting on the pension issue was held Wednesday morning before the players' association presented its offer. A deal can't be done without a resolution on pensions.
The league presented the players with a counteroffer Tuesday night in response to one the union made Monday.
The lockout reached its 109th day Wednesday, and Bettman has said that the league told the union a deal needs to be in place by next week so a 48-game season can begin on Jan. 19. All games through Jan. 14 along with the All-Star game have been canceled, claiming more than 50 percent of the original schedule.
Fehr believed an agreement on a players-funded pension had been reached before talks blew up in early December. That apparently wasn't the case, or the NHL has changed its offer regarding the pension in exchange for agreeing to other things the union wanted.
The salary-cap number for the second year of the deal — the 2013-14 season — hasn't been established, and it is another point of contention. The league is pushing for a $60 million cap, while the union wants it to be $65 million.
In return for the higher cap number players would be willing to forgo a cap on escrow.
"We talk about lots of things and we even had some philosophical discussions about why particular issues were important to each of us," Bettman said. "That is part of the process."
The NHL proposed in its first offer Thursday that pension contributions come out of the players' share of revenues, and $50 million of the league's make-whole payment of $300 million will be allocated and set aside to fund potential underfunding liabilities of the plan at the end of the collective bargaining agreement.
Last month, the NHL agreed to raise its make-whole offer of deferred payments from $211 million to $300 million as part of a proposed package that required the union to agree on three nonnegotiable points. Instead, the players' association accepted the raise in funds, but then made counterproposals on the issues the league stated had no wiggle room.
"As you might expect, the differences between us relate to the core economic issues which don't involve the share," Fehr said of hockey-related revenue, which will likely be split 50-50.
The NHL is the only North American professional sports league to cancel a season because of a labor dispute, losing the 2004-05 campaign to a lockout. A 48-game season was played in 1995 after a lockout stretched into January.

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UPDATE 1-NHL-League, players continue to talk as deadline looms

* Deadline to start season looming
* Lots of work remains to save season (Adds detail, quotes)
Jan 2 (Reuters) - The National Hockey League and locked out players appeared closer to a new labour deal that would salvage a partial season after Wednesday's midnight deadline passed without the union filing a disclaimer of interest and dissolving.
With the lockout reaching its 110th day, negotiations began under an NHL Players Association (NHLPA) threat to decertify, freeing individual players to file anti-trust lawsuits against the league.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters that the union never played the disclaimer card during any negotiations and that both parties and a U.S. mediator would be back at the bargaining table at 10 am ET (1500 GMT) on Thursday.
"The word disclaimer has yet to be uttered to us by the players association," Bettman told reporters as he left meetings at the league's Manhattan offices. "When you disclaim interest as a union you notify the other side.
"We have not been notified. It has never been discussed so there is no disclaimer."
While one deadline passed, another is looming large on the horizon, Bettman having set a Jan. 19 limit for the puck to drop on a shortened 48-game schedule.
With the clock ticking, both Bettman and NHLPA chief Donald Fehr could agree on one thing - that much work needs to be done if there is to be a season.
"If you have a river to cross you have to build a bridge or do something else if you are going to cross the river," said Fehr, deflecting any questions about the disclaimer of interest. "We've moved closer on some issues but work remains to be done."
The two sides have spent three days in New York exchanging proposals and counter proposals and appeared to inching slowly towards a deal.
PENSION ISSUE
The back-and-forth diplomacy continued on Wednesday, with brief meetings in the morning and a longer session that began at 8 pm stretching into Thursday morning.
There have been indications the two sides are close to agreement on major issues - such has how to split $3.3 billion in revenue - contract lengths and revenue sharing but they remain far apart on others.
Player pension plans and how they are funded has suddenly popped up as the hot topic along with where the salary cap ceiling should be set.
The league wants a cap locked in at $60 million while the players are believed to be seeking something in the $65-67 million range.
"It's been a long day with lots of meetings both internal and with the players association, and the process will be continuing tomorrow morning," Bettman said.
"There has been some progress but we are still apart on a number of issues, but as long as the process continues I am hopeful.
"On some issues we agreed, on some we moved towards each other and on some we said 'no'. I think that applies to both parties."
Players have been locked out since mid-September and the league has cancelled games up to Jan. 14, more than 50 percent of the regular season which was scheduled to start in October.
The dispute is the NHL's fourth work stoppage in 20 years and first since a lockout forced the cancellation of the entire 2004-05 season.

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FDA Moves on New Food Safety Rules

The FDA proposed new rules today that would require US food distributors to implement additional measures to combat food-borne illness. The guidelines are aimed at improving food handling in both the agriculture and manufacturing sectors after a series of recent disease outbreaks in peanuts, cantaloupe, cheese, and leafy green vegetables that killed scores of Americans.
Food safety organizations welcomed the new rules after a long delay.
“Under the old rules, we’ve been reacting to food contaminations after they happened,” Ami Gadhia of Consumers Union said in a statement. ”The goal here is to prevent deadly outbreaks before people get hurt.  We’re anxious to dive deep into these proposed rules so we can review and comment on the details.”
One rule would require growers, manufacturers and distributors to develop formal plans for preventing contamination, including techniques for cleaning equipment and keeping animals out of crops. Mandatory contingency plans for outbreaks would also be required of businesses, to be approved by the government. The rule would apply to both foreign and domestic suppliers, provided their goods are bound for US consumption.
Another rule proposes enforceable safety standardization in the production and harvesting of produce.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 3,000 Americans died last year from food-borne illnesses, with an additional 130,000 hospitalized.
In an effort to stave off industry protests Food and Drug Administration officials stressed the rules would be implemented on a risk-based scale, with higher emphasis placed on foods intended to be eaten raw. For example, fresh tomatoes bound for supermarket produce aisles would be held to much stricter standards than beans intended to be cooked and canned.
The FDA estimates it will take roughly a year for the government to move toward implementing the rules, including a 120-day period for public comment. After adoption the largest agriculture businesses will have two years to comply, and small-scale producers will have extensions well beyond that time frame.
Most American food distributors are already in compliance with many of the regulations set out today, but many are voluntary and the government believes stricter enforcement could have prevented deaths from recent highly publicized outbreaks. For example, during the 2011 listeria outbreak in cantaloupes federal investigators found dirty processing equipment and standing pools of old water on the floor of the Colorado farm that produced them. The contaminated produce was linked to 33 deaths.
But these measures are part of the Food Safety Modernization Act, a sweeping series of regulatory changes to the industry that have been tied up in the Obama administration for well over a year. As the first major overhaul of the FDA in decades, President Obama signed the legislation into law with modest Republican support from Congress two years ago to the day, with a one-year deadline to see its first policies put into practice.
Speculation of political motivations at work cropped up during the delays, fueled after the rules were hung-up at the Office of Management and Budget in the review process. Some industry watchers suggest the administration may have sought to deny Republicans an additional talking point during an election year by tabling new proposals.
Pew Research reports there have been 15 major outbreaks regarding FDA-related products since the FSMA was signed into law, resulting in 40 deaths.

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