Isabella

Since spring, I have been fighting infestation on my tomatoes on my patio potted in large planters. I can see aphids on the top, spider mites all over and whiteflies from the middle to the botton. I tried rinsing them and Neem oil but they come back. I threw away several tomatoes since spring as they were just eaten, got rid of that soil, disinfected planters, got new soil and as soon as they are a foot tall, infestation starts despite Neem application immediately. Do you have any recommendations as to how I can get rid of these insects? My newest tomatoes that I planted just two weeks ago in new soil and disinfected planter already have spider mites and whitefly eaten leaves and they were sprayed with Neem when planted and a week later too. Thank you.

With all the lies, changing of positions, avoidance, and serious problems, I wonder who will rush to profit first - domestic staff, security, confidantes, employees, or friends? That "behind the scenes" book can be worth fortune! And many books were sold exposing prior administrations.

Yesterday, when I watered at sunset, there was a first ripe tomato on my tomato plant. Today, the ripe tomato is gone, and there are just a few pieces of red tomato skin and some tomato seeds about a foot away from the plant, on my concrete patio.

What kind of animal or pest can be eating my tomatoes? My garden is enclosed with a 6 foot wooden fence. My plants have no worms or other pests on them (checked daily). I live in Southern California.

Thank you for your help!

The owner of mailbox stopped notifying me in any way about boxes (after receiving about 10 boxes in the past three months that I picked up promptly), and now I have to stand in line ask if something came in (no notification in my mailbox at all). Moreover, sometimes I find out that two packages were delivered in one day, and were there when I was picking up, but she gave me only one and I have to go back and ask for the second one. Plus she always asks intrusively what's in the packages. I don't like shopping in person and prefer shopping online, and my boxes are usually from well known department stores and well known bookstores.

Can I complain to someone about this? I still have prepaid 3 months but receiving boxes there is so mundane and sometimes I get packages so late that I would rather drive to UPS and FedEx at the end of the day than face the intrusive unhappy owner. Plus her inquiries about what I got make me quite uncomfortable - even my relatives and my mailman, UPS or FedEx guys never asked, but she does. I think this is wrong. This is a stand alone privately owned mailbox. Thank you.

California has the highest taxes and highest cost of living, has very high unemployment, and is flooded with illegal immigrants with many "sanctuary cities." They all talk about raising taxes and costs of living go out of the roof. I would like to move to a more "common sense" state. Do you know of any stable state with low taxes, lower cost of living, and less illegal immigrants? Thank you!

if our economy recovers immediately once he is out?

I find it interesting that they discourage citizens to sign ANY petitions at all as they call it "the gateway to identity theft." But the signature gatherers only have name and address, and any dumpster diver can get the same info, and likely much more, from all the discarded junk mail. If people do not sign petitions, it will be hard to put propositions on the ballot for voting, and all we will be left is legislature, which is extremely left and liberal here in California, only going for "tax and spend."

These ads are "supported by organized labor" - is there some proposition for which currently signatures are being gathered that is anti-union?

I wonder if they decide to reverse their stand and encourage people to sign when there is a pro-union proposition on the table.

old shredders that could run for an hour without overheating. My first shredder that I bought in early 1990s, strip cut, was able to run almost all day without breaking down. But when I started buying cross cut shredders, if they run continuously for 2 minutes then they shut down "for precaution," also they overheat after running for about five minutes on and off, and although manual said that cooling period is 20-30 minutes, sometimes it takes two hours for it to come back to life. And they broke within a year or two, just past warranty. The shredders I purchased were about $200 each, and with so little run time.

Why the shredders nowadays overheat so easily? How come the old shredders were able to run and run like the Energizer bunny without breaking down, and these one break so easily? Is there any reliable shredder in the $200 range that lasts longer (runs and overall life)?

It seems awkward that with technology advances, we are actually moving backwards as the shredders are less efficient than before.

I appreciate your help understanding this.

I have heard that Georgia's law is more stringent, yet there is little heard about it versus what was in the news about Arizona. Are we facing again "selective news" by media, quite frequent recently?

In the past economic cycles - and I recall that one in the 1990s - after the real estate boom the prices went down to just slightly over where they started, and economy started expanding again. In this recession, housing prices were in the bubble, nearly tripled or quadrupled those from late 1990s, and now prices are still at least double of what they were when the boom started.

Do you think that the government is actually hurting the economy by trying mortgage modifications? Most people in the program fail anyway, and many got houses with the "exotic" loans or refinance deals that would not be approved absent subprime mortgage. Instead of getting out and getting on with life, then trying again when they have more money for downpayment, they are being artificially held in those houses trying to make still large payments. While it is tragic when someone loses a home, many of the subprime deals in the 2000s were done with little to no down payment at elevated prices. Do you think the government should stop these modifications so that the housing market can bottom down and then new buyers come in and hire contractors, buy new furniture, etc., and spend on their new houses thus boosting the economy?

Also the extended unemployment benefits - everything, especially technology, changes every day. Do you think that providing unemployment benefits for two years is actually beneficial? Shouldn't they provide vocational retraining instead as some of these jobs will not come back anyway? I don't think that anyone out of a job for two years can even get their former job without learning new things as everything progressed in two years, and if hired, they would be paid less than those who were working as they have a gap? What do you think?

My view of these two programs is that they provide a Band Aid that covers a wound without actually providing a cure for the infection, and the person will not get healed unless the infection is treated, so they both actually hurt the recipients while providing hope for something that may never come true.

Are they prepped with some anti-fire protection that would wash away? Or is it cheap fabric that would badly shrink? And when did the graduation clothing in the USA become "disposable only"? It would be much easier to get the wrinkles out when the item is washed instead of spending hours on ironing it.

Thank you for your help.

I do not play games, but sometimes there are pages for a cause and when clicking on Join, a box pops out asking my permission to share my information. Even a friend birthday calendar asked me for permission to share information. And that's not something I feel comfortable doing.

Who is my information shared with? What type of information is shared? How long is it shared? Is it only with that site or with all similar sites? There is not much explanation on Facebook. And all the talk about Facebook's gross disregard to user privacy makes me think twice before clicking "I allow."

Currently I am "app-less" - I would appreciate your help.

If there are any restrictions, do you know where I can find them for specific states?

Thank you.

I am sorry if I am suspicious but I have never heard about anything done so fast. The medical examiner usually takes several weeks to complete tests so I guess no autopsy was performed. And while disposal at sea explanation may sound justifiable, a body buried that way can never be exhumed for further testing...

What would people think about George W Bush if our troops killed Saddam Hussein and disposed of his body within 24 hours at sea?

The story may have similar overall subject, but sometimes a couple years passed by and things changed so the initial comments do not make any sense any more. Why do they want to show an article with 10,000 comments, out of which only a handful pertain to the current issue, instead keeping all comments fully related to a specific new release?

It makes me reluctant to put any comments there as I have no idea where my comments will end up at the end and whether they will be republished for centuries to come.

If anyone has some insight as to the reason Yahoo does this, I would appreciate your help.

qui a joué Hammonds?

I admit, I have never worn jeans with holes as I never found anything appealing in them. I did not mind if some teens or people in early 20s wore then causally on time out, not to work. However, now I see women in their 50s going to work in those jeans (my neighbors), and I saw store clerks in some stores, in 30s and 40s and yes, 50s, wearing those jeans - and these were total rips from groin to ankles, with very large holes.

My company has a policy of no torn jeans on casual Fridays, so if anyone tries, they are sent home to change, fortunately.

For those that wear torn jeans - what do you see in them? Why are they appealing to you?

And to all - do you think they look attractive on people over 30, 40, 50, and do you like seeing a woman over 50 with jeans ripped from top to bottom in a business like a store, front reception, etc.?

I just don't get it and do not think they look good for business or good on anyone with a bit or more of extra weight.

A columnist last week compared Mr. Obama to Hamlet, trying to make a decision to please everyone and never making one timely. Since he became our president, there was a number of people in foreign nations seeking democracy, yet we respond only as to not to offend the dictator, who ultimately prevails as the rebels get no help from anyone. In Lybia, I think the UN resolution was way too late and Qaddafi regime will quash them too.

In my eyes, United States always stood for those who were oppressed. We do not have to send troops - just acknowledgment would many times help as other nations would help. Yet Mr. Obama even bowed to the Saudi price, where human rights are so violated, and he tries to keep peace with China despite their human rights violations.

Is it, as one of the cartoonists posted this week, that with this presidency, America has lost its greatness?

What is he waiting for?

Even during the campaign, when Russia attacked Georgia, it took him 3 days to respond and he is now still a friend with Putin although Russian troops are still in Georgia.

Can we recover when he finally leaves?