Summer movie preview: Over the top
From sequels and remakes to talking dogs and 3-D man-hunting piranhas, studios are pulling out all the stop to attract moviegoers.
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CSNews Exclusive: OTP Opportunities Abound
April 28, 2010 – NEW YORK — With the tough economy as a backdrop to increased taxation and regulation of tobacco products, convenience store retailers need to focus on the lucrative segments of the tobacco category — other tobacco products (OTP) — and satisfying those customers’ needs, according to Convenience Store News ‘ “Growing Tobacco Profits” Webinar held yesterday.
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Munson: Stanton’s men welcome Maj with a song
Stanton, Ia. — May isn’t May in Iowa until the men of Stanton say so.
Best of Boulder 2010: Retail
Here`s a news tip: Sex has gone mainstream. So if you’re feeling a little freaky, there isn’t a better place to hang out than Fascinations. Don’t be embarrassed either, because the people hanging out in there are just as freaky as you.
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Saginaw County business owners and residents learn specifics about Michigan’s smoking ban
Business owners sound off after the Saginaw County Department of Public Health hosted the first of two presentations today about the State’s new smoke free air law.
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Pine Nuts: Mark Twain’s other woman
EDITOR’S NOTE: Portions of quotes and the poem in this column from Sam Clemens about Isabel Lyon have been edited slightly from their original versions. Noted Twain scholar Laura Skandera Trombley has written a book – a scintillating book about an obscure woman’s relationship with the world’s first global celebrity. She was his private, very private, secretary … was there more going on here …
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The art of growing tobacco and leaves and rolling cigars has been around for thousands of years. The knowledge has been passed down from generation to generation. A father gives his son his first stick as a passage into manhood and acceptance or they teach their daughter how to roll or smoke a fine crafted stick. Families have been hand rolling and producing some of the finest smokes and the business and industry has become a family one. A lot of sticks you see are named after the families and sell the most in the industry. Here are some famous cigar families.
A well known brand and family is the Fuente family who makes Arturo Fuente cigars. The company is run by grandson, Carlos Fuente Jr. and his two daughters. The family has been making hand rolled sticks since 1916. Arturo grew up in Cuba and learned how to cultivate tobacco with his father. He then learned how to hand roll and immigrated to Florida to roll sticks in America. He continued to produce the finest of cigars. His son Carlos followed suit and lived in the cigar factory with his parents. He was literally born into the industry and learned from his father. He then passed on his knowledge to his son Carlos Jr. Carlos Sr. moved the family to the Dominican Republic where they have a famous tobacco plantation where the best tobacco and leaves are cultivated.
One of the oldest American cigar families is the Newman Family. J.C. Newman started hand rolling cigars in 1895 and the brand has had continued success. His mother paid him to be an apprentice and learn all about the industry in Chicago. He hand rolled sticks for another company until he was laid off, and then his entrepreneurial spirit kicked in and started his own company. J.C.’s story is truly one of the American Dream. He was an immigrant who started and maintained one of the most successful American cigar companies. His two sons joined the business after serving time in the military. Their sons also entered the business, so three generations of Newman men were running the operation.
Years down the road after the two companies had their own success; the Newman and Fuente families joined forces and produced top selling premium cigars. The Newmans have also bought and sold other names; yet work closely with the Fuentes. Not only do both families hand roll some of the best sticks, they also share their success with a charitable organization they founded. They founded the Cigar Family to showcase their talents and the charity is called the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation.
Arturo del Rio, aficionado, of Famous Smoke Shop which sells premium . Famous Smoke Shop offers cigars, humidors & cigar accessories at unbeatable prices. For more information, visit
Trying to quit smoking is not easy, learning the exact reason why you actually smoke is often critical to the success of the project. If you discover the exact reason why you are smoking it can make it so much easier to actually determine how to find the success that you need, in to quit for good. Simply trying to quit for reasons that do not pertain to your situation will leave you upset and frustrated. You are likely to feel as if you are nothing more than a failure, and your overall situation is not likely to be impressive at all. However, if you take the time to discover why you specifically smoke, you will be surprised at just how much easier it is to stop.
Many people smoke for a wide range of reasons. They can range from something as innocent as smoking when you are depressed, stressed or when you just want a quick pick me up. The idea that smoking a cigarette will make your projects go away is an innocent idea, but in reality, it is completely incorrect. Typically, what is actually beneficial is the fact that you are able to take a few brief moments out of your life to see exactly what is going on. One such example is those who work at a stressful job, looking forward to your next cigarette break is often going hand in hand with trying to break away from the stress for a few brief moments. Learning how to cut down the stress at work can be very helpful to cutting down the number of cigarettes you need as well.
Other reasons that many people smoke is due to being under the impression that they will not be able to smoke. This comes back to the old idea that you are never hungry at night except for the night before a medical test when you are not allowed to eat after 8p.m. Suddenly that very night you are positively starving and think that your doctor is punishing you badly for some reason. The same thing happens to smokers. If you are going somewhere and you think you will not be able to smoke, the urge to smoke may be much stronger. This often has nothing to do with actually needing or even wanting to smoke. It is nothing more than a mental game that we play with ourselves.
Many smokers find that they are only interested in smoking if they are bored. Having nothing to do leads to idle hands, which can easily create problems. Learning how to keep yourself busy is not easy, but trying to avoid boredom can often go a very long way in the battle to stop smoking. Taking the time to create a schedule for yourself that you can keep, without leaving too much down time is important. If you pack your schedule with too much, you will create stress, which could cause you to smoke even more, if you have too much free time you could become bored which can also lead to smoking more. A properly balanced schedule will ensure that you are productive without stressing.
A final consideration that you need to take into account is getting plenty of sleep. Many people smoke because they need a pick me up in the middle of the day. Finding yourself in this position is not good. Avoid staying up excessively late whenever possible. Even going to bed early once a week can add up to reducing the sleep shortage that you are experiencing. As lives are increasingly busy, it is quite easy to forget how important sleep really is. This can create a huge need to do something, almost anything to actually stay awake. Avoid smoking and ensure that you are getting the rest you really need. This simple step alone can help you to cut your smoking by as much as half if you are dedicated to getting the sleep that your body really needs to survive.
Attractions: April 22
Area attractions run on a rotating basis as space allows.
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Letter Box
In a recent speech, President Obama expressed surprise that Tea Party protesters were cursing his name in their protest marches instead of thanking him for the 2009 income tax cuts included in the so-called “Stimulus Bill” passed by the Congress and signed by the president last year.
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Letter Box
Wednesday April 21, 2010 Thank you, Mr. President, for cutting our taxes Editor of the Reformer: In a recent speech, President Obama expressed surprise that Tea Party protesters were cursing his name in their protest marches instead of thanking him for the 2009 income tax cuts included in the so-called “Stimulus Bill” passed by the Congress and signed by the president last year.
Do you want to learn how to dance salsa? If you do, you’re certainly not alone. Salsa is one of the many forms of Cuban dance that are incredibly popular, these days. In fact, around the world, in places like Italy, Spain, Egypt, Brazil and Cuba, ballroom dances, such as the salsa are gaining mass popularity. So, whether you want to learn how to dance salsa to get exercise or just have fun, here are some things to get you started.
As mentioned above, it is one of the common forms of Cuban dance. Other steps include the cha-cha, rumba and mambo. What makes salsa dancing unique, though, is that it is famous for being one of the sexiest forms of ballroom dancing.
Salsa dancing has an interesting history, too. It evolved from the rumba or son, traditional Cuban dances of the 1950′s. The end of the communist revolution prompted the birth of such traditional dances. Many of the dances in Cuba are similar, because they all evolved from the same places. No matter what, though, you can’t deny that salsa dancing and other traditional forms of Cuban dance are integral to the Cuban culture.
If you want to learn how to dance salsa, there’s no substitute for an actual visit to Cuba. There, you can visit the clubs of Havana and learn many salsa dancing techniques.
Of course, not everyone can go to Cuba, so you can learn dancing online or take a class in a ballroom dance studio if you want to learn some basics. There are many styles of salsa dancing taught all over the world, so it’s not difficult to learn a bit about it, but the original version should really be enjoyed in Cuba.
The great thing about salsa dancing is that it’s easy to learn the three basic dancing steps. Unfortunately, gaining mastery over the entire process can be very difficult. If you can manage to devote enough time to it, though, learning how to salsa dance can be a very rewarding experience.
If you learn to salsa dance, it can really help you to get into better physical shape. If you’re bored with traditional exercises, don’t worry. Salsa dancing is far from boring. You’ll find yourself feeling healthier and stronger in no time, when you learn to salsa dance.
Of course, it is also a great social activity. It can really help you to make new friends and enjoy common bonds. Salsa dancing is a couples’ activity, after all, so you can find a partner who enjoys it as much as you do. You can keep each other motivated and enjoy the process together.
So, Cuba is not just known for cigars and coffee anymore. It is a Cuban craze that’s sweeping the world.
Unlike many wedding customs, it’s not so hard to get to the bottom of the origin of the bachelorette party. It’s a fairly recent innovation, the result of the cross-breeding of the traditional bachelorette’s tea
with the idea of the bachelor party, with a bit of the even-more-traditional bridal shower mixed in.
The idea of the bridal shower goes back, perhaps, thousands of years; experts attribute it to the need for dowries. In European culture, it was expected that women would begin married life with a dowry – a gift of money or tools (or both) that would allow the new couple to set up their new household together. But women who lacked adequate dowries would be “showered” with gifts by sympathetic friends, which would enable the wedding to go on as planned.
The bridal shower was traditionally, and still is, a fairly staid affair, with older woman friends of the couple or of the bride’s family invited, and the bride-to-be accompanied by her mother. (Increasingly, as traditionally gendered divisions of labor continue to break down, men are involved in the showers as well – after all, if the man will do part of the cooking and cleaning, he has a stake in knowing what presents are received!) They serve a much-needed function, but they may not have the let-your-hair-down appeal of a last night out with the friends of your single years.
The bachelorette’s tea offered some of the peer-to-peer intimacy that may have been lacking in bridal showers, but still – a tea? The highly formal, characteristically Victorian custom of the tea ceremony holds great appeal for many people, as the recent popularity of tea shops and books on tea attest. Still, as women began to learn about the wild shenanigans historically associated with bachelor parties, over the last several decades, they decided they wanted in.
The Bridesmaidaid website compares them to Title IX, the 1972 law that mandated equal federal funding of boys’ and girls’ educational activities. Just as Title IX ensured that girls’ soccer teams and afterschool math programs would receive the same budgetary consideration as boys’ did, allowing young women to attain similar achievements, the new bachelorette party allows women to compete with men in pre-wedding-night partying. As the website’s anonymous author puts it: “Bachelorette parties are like the Title IX of weddings: they’re supposed to make the girls equal to the boys. If the groomsmen can take their boy out for a night of debauchery, so can we, right?”
Bachelorette parties have indeed become associated with bachelor-party-style antics, as illustrated by pop culture and personal anecdote alike. A memorable scene in the movie The Forty-Year-Old Virgin, in which the title character’s friends attempt to set him up with what they expect will be a can’t-miss romantic prospect – a drunken bridesmaid encountered at a bar, where a bachelorette party is underway – affirms the stereotype.
But this custom has changed with time, like its twin, the bachelor party. Bachelor parties have their own Bacchanalian reputation to live up to, but gradually they’re toning down somewhat (while remaining fun). Drinking has been moderated and honoring one’s future bride is a priority; in fact, sometimes the fiance’ and her friends show up, and the party becomes a celebration of marriage, rather than a lament for lost bachelorhood. These combined bachelor-and-bachelorette parties are sometimes called stag and does parties.
One custom that isn’t changing at bachelorette parties is the ritual smoking of cigars. In fact, with the increase in the popularity of cigars over the past fifteen years, lighting up a stogie at a bachelorette party is often encouraged! After all, one feature of the new popularity of cigars has been the fact that women are more often found, today, among the new smokers of cigars. At least half a million American women smoke cigars, according to a 2002 estimate by the Cigar Association of America. That number makes sense in a country where – according to demographic research by Cigar Babes, a nonprofit organization for women cigar smokers’ women make 85% of buying decisions, start 70% of new businesses, and 50% of the products classified traditionally as “male.”
Cigars, then, remain a staple bachelorette party gift. For those of you planning a bachelorette party, here are some cigar basics:
1) Choose good cigars. (A wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime event!) well-made, hand-rolled, long-filler cigars from a quality cigar outlet or online store. The better the cigar, the better the taste, and the more permanent the memories.
2) Speaking of taste: the outer wrapper (which gives the cigar its outer color) generally tells you how the cigar tastes. Darker outer wrappers mean sweeter taste; tan- or lighter-colored cigars are drier.
3) How to smoke: Cut off the cap of the cigar, then, using a wooden match or a butane lighter or other full flame (not a paper match), turn the end of the cigar in the flame a full 360 degrees until every part of it is lit. Don’t inhale – this isn’t a cigarette! Pull the smoke into your mouth and taste it thoroughly without allowing it into your lungs. Remember, it’s about the taste.
provides you the opportunity to build your own sampler of the finest cigars that include cigar brands like Montecristo, Romeo & Julieta, H Upmann, Macanudo, Cohiba, Partagas, Gurkha and many more. Choose from more than 1200 different cigars! Other cigar products include cigar humidors, cigar boxes, and cigar accessories like Zippo Lighters.