Barns & Noble Credit/Debit Readers Hacked

 Barns & Noble CC Readers Hacked and Bug implanted to steal Credit/Debit Card  Numbers and PINS...

Barnes & Noble is warning its customers to check their credit and debit card statements for unauthorized transactions after discovering someone tampered with its card readers in 63 stores across the country.  

See store list at bottom of this article

Only one device was tampered with in each store, affecting fewer than 1 percent of card readers in Barnes & Noble stores, the company said in a news release on Wednesday.  The company disconnected all of the devices at its 700 stores after discovering the tampering on Sept. 14.  

The FBI asked Barnes & Noble not to disclose the breach last month, for fear of compromising the investigation.

The criminals apparently planted bugs in the devices to get customers’ credit card and PIN numbers, Barnes & Noble said, calling the tampering a “sophisticated criminal effort.”

The nation’s largest bookseller is working with federal law enforcement authorities as well as banks, payment card brands and issuers to identify accounts that may have been compromised.

But as a precaution, Barnes & Noble said debit card users who shopped at affected stores should change their pin numbers.

B&N insists its customer database is secure.

The company also stressed that the breach involved only purchases made in a store using one of the tampered devices and that transactions on Barnes & Noble.com, Nook devices and apps were not affected.

If this could be done at B&N, then why not Wal-Mart, Kroger, Costco, Target, etc, I would suspect that Barnes and Noble are not the only retail chain hacked.

Here is the list of affected stores:  If you feel you might have been a victim, call your local FBI office as they are investigating this as "organized" crime.

Store Address	City	State	Zip
4735 Commons Way	Calabasas	CA	91302
2470 Tuscany Street Suite 101	Corona	CA	92881
2015 Birch Road Suite 700	Chula Vista	CA	91915
313 Corte Madera Town Center	Corte Madera	CA	94925
5604 Bay Street	Emeryville	CA	94608
810 West Valley Parkway	Escondido	CA	92025
1315 E. Gladstone Street	Glendora	CA	91740
5183 Montclair Plaza Lane	Montclair	CA	91763
894 Marsh St Bldg G	San Luis Obispo	CA	93401
2615 Vista Way	Oceanside	CA	92054
72-840 Highway 111 Suite 425	Palm Desert	CA	92260
27460 Lugonia Ave	Redlands	CA	92374
1150 El Camino Real Space 277	San Bruno	CA	94066
10775 Westview Parkway	San Diego	CA	92126
3600 Stevens Creek Blvd	San Jose	CA	95117
11 West Hillsdale Blvd.	San Mateo	CA	94403
9938 Mission Gorge Road	Santee	CA	92071
40570 Winchester Rd	Temecula	CA	92591
4820 Telephone Road	Ventura	CA	93003
1149 S. Main St.	Walnut Creek	CA	94596
470 Universal Drive North	North Haven	CT	06473
100 Greyrock Place Suite H009	Stamford	CT	06901
60 Isham Road	W. Hartford	CT	06107
18711 NE Biscayne Blvd	Aventura	FL	33180
333 N. Congress Avenue	Boynton Beach	FL	33436
152 Miracle Mile	Coral Gables	FL	33134
1900 W International Spdway	Daytona Beach	FL	32114
2051 N. Federal Highway	Fort Lauderdale	FL	33305
12405 N Kendall Drive	Miami	FL	33186
11380 Legacy Ave	Palm Beach Gardens	FL	33410
14572 SW 5th St Suite 10140	Pembroke Pines	FL	33027
11820 Pines Blvd	Pembroke Pines	FL	33026
5701 Sunset Drive Suite 196	S. Miami	FL	33143
700 Rosemary Ave Unit #104	West Palm Beach	FL	33401
1441 West Webster Avenue	Chicago	IL	60614
1130 North State Street	Chicago	IL	60610
5380 Route 14	Crystal Lake	IL	60014
20600 North Rand Road	Deer Park	IL	60010
728 North Waukegan Road	Deerfield	IL	60015
1630 Sherman Avenue	Evanston	IL	60201
1468 Springhill Mall Blvd	W. Dundee	IL	60118
170 Boylston Street	Chestnut Hill	MA	02467
96 Derby Street Suite 300	Hingham	MA	02043
82 Providence Highway	East Walpole	MA	2032
395 Route 3 East	Clifton	NJ	07014
55 Parsonage Road	Edison	NJ	08837
2134 State Highway 35	Holmdel	NJ	07733
4831 US Hwy 9	Howell	NJ	07731
23-80 Bell Blvd.	Bayside	NY	11360
176-60 Union Turnpike	Fresh Meadows	NY	11366
1542 Northern Blvd	Manhasset	NY	11030
160 E 54th Street (Citicorp)	New York	NY	10022
2289 Broadway	New York	NY	10024
33 East 17th Street (Union Square)	New York	NY	10003
555 Fifth Ave	New York	NY	10017
2245 Richmond Avenue	Staten Island	NY	10314
230 Main St	White Plains	NY	10601
97 Warren Street	New York	NY	10007
100 West Bridge Street	Homestead	PA	15120
800 Settlers Ridge Center Drive	Pittsburgh	PA	15205
1311 West Main Road	Middleton	RI	02842
371 Putnam Pike  Suite 330	Smithfield	RI	02917
1350-B Bald Hill Rd	Warwick	RI	02886

Col Robert E Lee leads Marines 10-18-1859

US Marine Corps History

On this Date, October 18, 1859                                                                      via Wikipedia (mostly)

President James Buchanan orders US Marines to capture John Brown at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia.

Colonel Robert E. Lee, US Army

The Raid was led by a Rising Star in the United States Army (COL.  Robert E. Lee)!!

John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry (also known as John Brown's raid or The raid on Harpers Ferry; in many books the town is called "Harper's Ferry" with an apostrophe-s.^[1]) was an attempt by white abolitionist John Brown to start an armed slave revolt by seizing a United States Arsenal at Harpers Ferry in Virginia in 1859. Brown's raid was defeated by a detachment of U.S. Marines led by Col. Robert E. Lee. John Brown had originally asked Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, both of whom he had met in his formative years as an abolitionist in Springfield, Massachusetts, to join him when he attacked the armory, but illness prevented Tubman from joining him, and Douglass believed that his plan would fail and thus did not join.^[2]

In 1794, George Washington selected Harpers Ferry as the best site for the second of two United States Federal Arsenals. The first site selected – for the Springfield Armory in 1777 – was a hilltop in Springfield, Massachusetts, next to which John Brown lived during his formative years as an abolitionist. In 1825, the soldier John H. Hall was contracted to manufacture his famous rifle, the M1819 rifle, at Harper's Ferry.

October 18

Illustration of the interior of the engine house immediately before the door is broken down

Lee first offered the role of attacking the engine house to the local militia units on the spot. Both militia commanders declined, and Lee turned to the Marines. On the morning of October 18, Col. Lee sent Lt. J.E.B. Stuart, serving as a volunteer aide-de-camp, under a flag of truce to negotiate a surrender of John Brown and his followers. Lee instructed Lt. Israel Greene that if Brown refused, he was to lead the marines in storming the engine house. Stuart told Brown that his men would be spared if they surrendered. Brown refused and Stuart signaled to Lt. Greene and his men. Two marines armed with sledgehammers tried in vain to break through the door. Greene found a wooden ladder, and 10 marines used it as a battering ram to knock the front doors in. Greene was the first through the door and with the assistance of Lewis Washington identified and singled out John Brown. Greene later recounted what happened next:

"Quicker than thought I brought my saber down with all my strength upon [Brown's] head. He was moving as the blow fell, and I suppose I did not strike him where I intended, for he received a deep saber cut in the back of the neck. He fell senseless on his side, then rolled over on his back. He had in his hand a short Sharpe's cavalry carbine. I think he had just fired as I reached Colonel Washington, for the Marine who followed me into the aperture made by the ladder received a bullet in the abdomen, from which he died in a few minutes. The shot might have been fired by some one else in the insurgent party, but I think it was from Brown. Instinctively as Brown fell I gave him a saber thrust in the left breast. The sword I carried was a light uniform weapon, and, either not having a point or striking something hard in Brown's accouterments, did not penetrate. The blade bent double."^[10]

The action inside the engine house happened very quickly. In three minutes, all of the raiders still alive were taken prisoner and the action was over.

[edit]October 19

Robert E. Lee made a summary report of the events that took place at Harpers Ferry. According to Lee's notes Lee believed John Brown was insane, "...the plan [raiding the Harpers Ferry Arsenal] was the attempt of a fanatic or mad­man." Lee also believed that the African Americans used in the raid were forced to by John Brown himself. "The blacks, whom he [John Brown] forced from their homes in this neighborhood, as far as I could learn, gave him no voluntary assistance." Lee attributed John Brown's "temporary success" by creating panic and confusion and by "magnifying" the number of participants involved in the raid.^[11]

[edit]Aftermath

John Brown wrote his last prophecy on December 2 of 1859.

Colonel Lee and Lt. Greene searched the surrounding country for fugitives who had participated in the attack. John Brown was taken to the court house in nearby Charles Town for trial. He was found guilty of treason against the commonwealth of Virginia and was hanged on December 2. (This execution was witnessed by the actor John Wilkes Booth, who would later assassinate President Abraham Lincoln.) On the day of his execution, Brown wrote his last prophecy, which said,

“I John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty, land: will never be purged away; but with Blood. I had as I now think: vainlyflattered myself that without very much bloodshed; it might be done.”

Four other raiders were executed on December 15 and two more on March 16, 1860.

John Brown was the first white man to use violence in an attempt to end slavery. This first use of violence by a white man scared many in the South, leading the Southern state militias to begin training for defense against further raids and, consequently, to the militarization of the South in preparation for a Northern invasion.^{[citation needed]}

The first Northern antislavery reaction to Brown's Raid was one of baffled reproach. William Lloyd Garrison called the raid "misguided, wild, and apparently insane." But through the trial, Brown transformed into a martyr. Henry David Thoreau, in A Plea for Captain John Brown, said, "I think that for once the Sharp's rifles and the revolvers were employed in a righteous cause. The tools were in the hands of one who could use them," and said of Brown, "He has a spark of divinity in him."^[12] Though "Harper's Ferry was insane," wrote the religious weekly the Independent, "the controlling motive of his demonstration was sublime." To the South, he was a murderer who wanted to deprive them of their property. The North "has sanctioned and applauded theft, murder, and treason," said De Bow's Review.^[13][14]

[edit]Casualties

[edit]John Brown's raiders

John Brown in 1859.

Killed

• John Henry Kagi (Shot and killed while crossing a river. First buried in common grave at Harpers Ferry; reburied 1899 in a common grave near John Brown at North Elba, New York...)
• Jeremiah G. Anderson (At age 26, was mortally wounded and killed by a Marine's bayonet during the final assault on the engine house. Body claimed by Winchester Medical College as a teaching cadaver; last resting place unknown.)
• William Thompson (First buried in common grave at Harpers Ferry; reburied 1899 in a common grave near John Brown at North Elba, New York.)
• Dauphin Thompson (Killed in the storming of the engine house. First buried in common grave at Harpers Ferry; reburied 1899 in a common grave near John Brown at North Elba, New York.)
• Oliver Brown (At age 21, being the youngest of John Brown’s three sons to participate in the action, he was mortally wounded on the 17th inside the engine house, resulting in a death the next day. He was first buried in common grave at Harpers Ferry; reburied in 1899 in a common grave near John Brown at North Elba, New York.)
• Watson Brown (At age 24, was mortally wounded outside the engine house while carrying a white flag, trying to negotiate with the responding militia, resulting in death two days later. The body was claimed by Winchester Medical College as a teaching cadaver which caused the college to be burned by Union troops. Reburied in 1882 in a grave near John Brown at North Elba, New York.)
• Stewart Taylor. (First buried in common grave at Harpers Ferry; reburied 1899 in a common grave near John Brown at North Elba, New York.)
• William Leeman (Shot while trying to escape across the Potomac River. First buried in common grave at Harpers Ferry; reburied 1899 in a common grave near John Brown at North Elba, New York.)
• Lewis Sheridan Leary (At age 24 being a free African-American, was mortally wounded while attempting escape across the Shenandoah River. He was stationed in the rifle factory with Kagi. Alleged to be buried at John Brown gravesite at North Elba, New York. Cenotaph memorial in Oberlin, Ohio.)
• Dangerfield Newby (At about 35, being born into slavery [despite father being white and not his master], had permission to move to Ohio along with his mother and siblings, but when he tried to attain freedom for his wife and children, the owner refused, leading Newby to join Brown’s raid. He was the first raider killed [body was mutilated]. His ears, for example, were cut off by someone in the crowd as souvenirs. First he was buried at Harpers Ferry; reburied in 1899 in a common grave near John Brown at North Elba, New York.)

Captured

• John Brown (also wounded) Hanged December 2, 1859 in nearby Charles Town.
• Aaron Dwight Stevens (shot and captured October 18. Hanged March 16, 1860 in Charles Town. First buried in New Jersey; reburied 1899 in a common grave near John Brown at North Elba, New York.)
• Edwin Coppock (At age 24, he shot and killed Harpers Ferry mayor Fontaine Beckham during the raid. He was later executed at Charles Town on December 16, 1859 and was buried in Salem, Ohio.)
• John Anthony Copeland, Jr. (At age 25, being a free African American, joined the raiders along with his uncle Lewis Leary. He was captured during the raid and executed on December 16, 1859 in Charles Town. The body was claimed by Winchester Medical College as a teaching cadaver. The last resting place is unknown. Cenotaph memorial in Oberlin, Ohio.)
• Shields Green (At about age 23, Green was an escaped slave from South Carolina; captured in the engine house on October 18, 1859 and hanged December 16, 1859 in Charles Town. The body was claimed by Winchester Medical College as a teaching cadaver. The last resting place is unknown. Cenotaph memorial in Oberlin, Ohio.)
• John Edwin Cook (Escaped into Pennsylvania but soon captured. Hanged December 16, 1859 in Charles Town. Body sent to New York.)
• Albert E. Hazlett (Escaped into Pennsylvania but soon captured. Hanged March 16, 1860. Buried at Eagleswood Mansion in Perth Amboy, New Jersey;^[15] reburied 1899 in a common grave near John Brown at North Elba, New York.)
• A.D. Stevens (Buried at Eagleswood Mansion in Perth Amboy, New Jersey; disinterred 1899)

^[15])

Four raiders escaped and were captured about six months later.

Escaped and never captured

• Barclay Coppock (Died during US Civil War.)
• Charles Plummer Tidd (Died during US Civil War.)
• Osborne Perry Anderson (Served as an officer in Union Army, and penned a memoir about the raid.)
• Owen Brown
• Francis Jackson Meriam (Served in the army as a captain in the 3rd South Carolina Colored Infantry.)

[edit]Others

Civilians

• Hayward Shepherd (African-American B&O baggage handler; killed.)
• Thomas Boerly (Townsperson; killed.)
• George W. Turner (Townsperson; killed.)
• Fontaine Beckham (Town mayor; killed.)
• A slave belonging to Col. Washington was killed.
• A slave belonging to hostage John Allstad was killed.

(Some claim the two slaves voluntarily joined Brown's raiders, others say Brown forced them to fight. Regardless, one was killed trying to escape across the Potomac River, the other was wounded and died in the Charles Town prison.)

9 other civilians were wounded.

Marines

• Luke Quinn (Killed during the storming of the engine house.)
• Matthew Ruppert (Shot in the face while storming the engine house.)

Living Proof by Clebe McClary, USMC Ret.

www.clebemcclary.com

Patrick Cleburne "Clebe" McClary was raised on a 10,000 acre plantation in the South Carolina Low Country. Young Clebe grew up hunting, fishing and excelling at sports. After fulfilling his dream of becoming a college coach, Clebe had plans to marry a beautiful Southern belle. Life was very good. But only weeks before the wedding (March 26, 1967), Clebe witnessed a startling event on a college campus that changed the course of his life forever: the burning of an American flag by students protesting the Vietnam conflict. Dismayed by the lack of support for the country he loved, Clebe resigned from his coaching position and volunteered for duty in the Marine Corps.

Completing Officers Training School in Quantico, Virginia, First Lt. McClary said goodbye to his bride and became platoon leader of the 1st Recon Battalion in Vietnam. 

On his 19th recon patrol, deep in hostile territory, Clebe and his unit engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. Suffering devastating injuries, which included the loss of his left arm and left eye, Clebe continued to lead his men. Clebe's valiant battle with the pain and disabilities that followed is nothing short of amazing. He spent over two years in military hospitals, undergoing over 30 major surgeries and countless hours of physical therapy.

Since then Clebe has used his powerful story of courage, determination and strength to motivate audiences the world over.

Selected Awards:                                         
 The Silver Star
The Bronze Star
Three Purple Hearts
Personalities of the South
The Audie Murphy Award
The J. Frank Grimes Award
The American Legion Award
The Texas Man of Valor Award

Signing his book "Living Proof"

   

        

Sgt Dakota Meyer, USMC Living Medal of Honor Awardee

Shaleplayusa.blogspot.com

DUG EAGLE FORD OCT 14-16, 2012

12:00 pm

Networking Luncheon and Keynote Speaker: Honoring America's Armed Forces Sergeant Dakota L. Meyer is the first living marine to receive the Medal of Honor since 1973 and one of the youngest recipients ever. He addresses inspiration, motivation, courage, leadership and belief in oneself and doing what is right. Join him in celebrating how America's armed forces protect freedom and human rights around the world. Sgt. Dakota Meyer, Medal of Honor Recipient, U.S. Marine Corps (ret'd)

SERGEANT DAKOTA MEYER, USMC

Medal of Honor Recipient

“Because of your honor, 36 men are alive today. Because of your courage four fallen American heroes came home.”  President Obama

Sergeant Dakota L. Meyer is a United States Marine Corps veteran and the recipient of the 

Medal of Honor,

 the military’s highest honor, for his actions during the Battle of Ganjgal, which was part of 

Operation Enduring Freedom in Kunar province, Afghanistan. Meyer is the first living Marine to 

have received the medal since 1973 and one of the youngest. Humble and soft-spoken, Meyer insists 

that he is not a hero, and that any Marine would do the same thing. He addresses inspiration, 

motivation, courage, leadership, believing in yourself, doing what is right, and what happened that 

day in Afghanistan. 

The Attack. On September 8, 2009, in a remote eastern Afghanistan province, three U.S. Marines, a 

U.S. Navy corpsman, and Afghan soldiers were missing after being ambushed by 50 insurgents, an 

attack which Meyer – then a corporal – and Staff Sergeant Juan Rodriguez-Chavez heard over the 

radio. Defying orders, Meyer told Rodriguez-Chavez that they were going into the “killing zone” to 

help. Rodriguez-Chavez jumped into a Humvee and took the wheel; Meyer manned the gun, and 

they headed into the area known to be inhabited by insurgents and under enemy fire.

Through five successive missions over the course of six hours, Meyer helped save the lives of 13 

American and 23 Afghan troops. Meyer also found the bodies of the four missing men, and, with 

the help of some friendly Afghan soldiers, he moved the bodies to a safer area where they could be 

extracted. All told, Meyer evacuated 12 friendly, wounded troops and provided cover for another 24.

He suffered shrapnel wounds to his arm, and, despite his heroic efforts, he did not expect to survive 

the battle. “I wasn’t really thinking I could die, it was just a matter of when,” said Meyer. “I never 

thought I was going to come out…[but] that’s what Marines do.” He was only 21 at the time.

The Award. During a ceremony on September 15, 2011, President Barack Obama awarded Meyer 

with the Medal of Honor. Obama stated that Meyer is incredibly down-to-earth, saying that when he 

tried to tell him that he would be receiving the award, Meyer didn’t take the call. Meyer was working 

a new job in construction and asked the president to call him back another time. Obama jokingly 

recounted that Meyer said, “If I don’t work, I don’t get paid.” The president called him back during 

his lunch break and thanked him for taking the call. “

Dakota is the kind of guy who gets the job 

done,” Obama stated. He and Meyer had talked over beers the day before the award ceremony. 

Meyer was also inducted into the Hall of Heroes at the Pentagon and honored with a parade at 

Marine Corps Barracks in Washington, DC.

Currently, Meyer is partnering with the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation to raise $1 million by

the Foundation’s 50th anniversary on May 28, 2012. He has also issued the “Dakota Meyer 

Scholarship Challenge to America” to match his efforts and raise an additional $1 million to “honor 

Marines by educating their children.”

Updated WMS 11/11

Marine Carries Amputee Across Tri Finish Line

US Marine Carries 11 Yr Old Amputee Across Triathlon Finish Line

http://www.newsherald.com/news/health/triathlon-triumph-1.27120?tc=cr full story here

VALPARAISO — Ben Baltz wasn’t excited about competing in yet another triathlon last weekend.

It was his third in the last few months. While he likes bicycling, running isn’t his favorite activity, especially if he can’t win doing it.

The 11-year-old had completed the 150-yard swim and three-mile bike ride in Sunday’s Sea Turtle Tri on Pensacola Beach, but about a half-mile into the run, he knew something was wrong.  

Marine Pfc. Matthew Morgan carries Ben Baltz across the finish line at the Sea Turtle Tri on Pensacola Beach

“It (the leg) wobbles,” Ben said Wednesday at his home in Valparaiso.

Moments later, the screws on his prosthetic leg came loose and he went down.

What happened next, though, has captured the attention of the nation.

In the moments Ben was debating whether he could hop or maybe crawl the rest of the mile, a man named Matthew Morgan, a Marine who had volunteered to help at the youth event, stepped in.

“(Morgan said) ‘You need help?’ and I said, ‘Sure,’ and he picked me up and carried me,” Ben said.

For the next half mile, Ben held onto Pfc. Morgan with one arm and his prosthetic leg with the other.

Ben said he and Morgan didn’t really speak after their first exchange, but more Marines gathered around and sang a cadence.

As they reached the end and the crowd started roaring, Ben said he felt grateful for the help, but a little frustrated and embarrassed that he couldn’t complete the course on his own. 

Freedom of movement is one thing Ben has gotten used to since he was fitted with a prosthetic leg in the summer of 2009. His lower right leg was removed the year before when he was 6 because of a type of bone cancer called osteosarcoma.

Until Sunday, his most spectacular leg malfunction came during a soccer game that he finished by taping it together with duct tape.

As news of his latest malfunction spreads, first on CNN’s website and then elsewhere, Ben remains mystified about why everyone is so interested in talking to him, especially since he didn’t finish the race on his own.

 “He has no idea what the big deal is,” his mother Kim Baltz said with a laugh. “He honestly does not. He thinks it’s the Marines.”

According to John Murray, one of the co-founders of Team MPI, which organized the Sea Turtle Tri and helps athletes train for triathlons, no one even knew what had happened to Ben until an announcer spotted him and told the crowd.

“It was kind of a build-up in a way as more and more people became aware,” said Murray, who was standing at the finish line with his wife. “There wasn’t a dry eye in the place. … I was just overcome by emotion.”

Ben’s father, JC, seems to be having the easiest time processing Ben’s skyrocket to fame. He says a shared moment just before the race seemed to almost foreshadow his son and the Marine inspiring a nation with their actions.

JC and Ben were on the beach tossing a football when JC pulled out the bag of Dove dark chocolate candies he always carries and offered his son a piece. 

Never one to turn down candy, the STEMM Middle School sixth-grader accepted the chocolate and found an inspirational message inside the wrapper his father had never seen before, despite constantly having it on hand.  

It read, “You’re exactly where you need to be.”

US Marine Creates "Heroes" Vodka

US Marine Veteran Creates "Heroes" Vodka

 Sitting at Local VFW  

written by Bill Briggs NBC News Contributor

Heroes Vodka • American-Made • Owned by a U.S. Veteran

heroesvodka.com/

                   

  

                  

Travis McVey, USMC Veteran,
Continues to Receive Spirits Awards

Between sampling and selling his first batch of Heroes Vodka, Marine veteran Travis McVey concocted a catchy marketing slogan.

“Some people drink to forget. We drink to remember,” McVey said in a phone interview this week, referring partly to two friends, Marine buddies killed in the line of duty.

“I was sitting at the VFW on (a recent) Memorial Day with some other veterans. I was looking at the bar,” McVey said. “I was thinking: No one has ever really marketed a veteran-owned spirit company. And what better name than ‘Heroes?’ Everybody has served, but the guys who didn’t come back are true heroes to me. I wanted to create a product that would be in honor of their service, something that people could raise their glass to and give a toast.” 

The first vodka made by a veteran for veterans hit stores last February in Tennessee, where McVey lives. For distribution, he partnered with Nashville-based Lipman Brothers. This fall, Heroes became available in six more states, including New York and Georgia, and the company plans to expand into New England and the Pacific Northwest. A portion of the profits will be used to help ex-service members, McVey said.

In addition to winning several spirit-industry taste awards for its self-described “slightly toasty and roasted” flavor, Heroes offers an intriguing business test case. Veteran entrepreneurs – McVey calls them “vetrepreneurs” – aim to tap an ultra-loyal, 22 million-member veteran community to shop their services or push their products, including: wild salmon, a "defensive driving" school, appliance repair, a barber shop and, now, vodka.

“Veterans are going to give me a first look” for their next vodka purchase, said McVey, 42. “But that’s also because veterans are known for their quality of service. It’s who we are, and how we’re trained. So, yeah, veterans will give another veteran a shot. That’s just what we do.”Veterans buy from veterans: That’s the hot saying in ex-military financial circles, particularly with hundreds of thousands of former service members unable to land jobs. That patriotic consumer base has convinced more than 3 million men and women who have served the country to launch small businesses, reports the National Veteran-Owned Business Association. The group uses a two-word logo and mantra: “Buy veteran.”

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/10/14323986-vodka-by-a-veteran-for-veterans-and-other-cocktail-lovers    For Complete Story....

Man Dies After Roach Eating Contest

Oct. 11, 2012...........UPDATE.................Acute Allergic Reaction suspected in Roach Eating suspects death.  Roaches are not toxic, However, they give off many allergens.

Ed Archibald Downing some BIG OLD NASTY ROACHES

Man DIES after ROACH Eating Contest

Ed Archibald, 32 Dead Roach Eater

A Florida man died Friday night after consuming "dozens of roaches and worms" during a contest held by a pet store, police report.

Edward Archbold, 32, collapsed after winning the repulsive contest at Ben Siegel Reptile Store. Archbold, who was competing for a free python, was stricken outside the Deerfield Beach business, according to the Broward County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators reported that Archbold "wasn’t feeling well and began to regurgitate" shortly after the contest's conclusion. "He had consumed dozens of roaches and worms," a sheriff’s spokesman noted.

Archbold was pronounced dead after being transported to an area hospital. An autopsy was conducted, and the Broward County medical examiner is awaiting test results to determined Archbold's cause of death.

Archbold is pictured above in a mug shot taken in 2004, following his arrest for disorderly conduct and indecent exposure (for which he was convicted).

The roach-eating contest was part of the reptile store's October 5 "Midnight Madness" sale. Contestants had four minutes to devour the most discoid roaches, which can grow up to three inches long.

Discoid Roach (up to 3" long)

 "Oh yeah, any vomiting is an automatic DQ," the store cautioned in a Facebook post prior to the revolting competition.

Another promotional piece referred to the upcoming event as "the soon to be infamous 'Eat Bugs For Balls Contest.'" The python for which Archbold competed is known to curl up into a ball as a defensive reaction.

In a Facebook update yesterday, the store stated that, "Although we just met Eddie the night of the sale, we all liked him right away. All of us here at Ben Siegel Reptiles are sad that we will not get to know Eddie better, for in the short time we knew him, he was very well liked by all."

Asked about the python won by Archbold, the store reported on its Facebook page that, "The snake is being held in his name and is full property of his estate."