Put down the pica pole I like grid-based design. But it spurs these little left brain / right brain arguments in my head. Like, is art a necessary part of web design? Or, should good design make you think? And, are complex visual relationships more compelling than clear visual balance? The left brain says no. Order is easier to consume. In [...]
I like grid-based design. But it spurs these little left brain / right brain arguments in my head. Like, is art a necessary part of web design? Or, should good design make you think? And, are complex visual relationships more compelling than clear visual balance? The left brain says no. Order is easier to consume.
In most cases, I’m okay with this. It still bothers me, though, to see design become predictable. Good and bad work alike seems increasingly glued to a strict 12-column, 960px grid.
It reminds me of print.
Newspapers, books, catalogs, comics, and even magazines are predictable. So much so, that readability is no longer the driving force behind each design, it’s the expectation itself.
That expectation is absent from much of the web. Designers are free to experiment with new techniques and formats. New visual relationships and balance. New art.
So, as much as I appreciate all the CSS(grid)frameworks and best practices championed around the playground, I like to think a well-planned design doesn’t have to conform to an expectation. The new doesn’t have to follow the old.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not blaming the grid. I’m just advocating a little thing called moderation. Let’s keep it sexy.
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lone man. Lone Man No. 6, Oregon Beaches - 2008 Copyright 2008 - Cole Thompson I have long admired the work of Cole Thompson, a local artist/photographer. Recently, I have been in touch with Cole, and we chatted briefly. In any case, he added me to his email newsletter; of which the latest contained the following beautifully written short: I [...]
I have long admired the work of Cole Thompson, a local artist/photographer. Recently, I have been in touch with Cole, and we chatted briefly. In any case, he added me to his email newsletter; of which the latest contained the following beautifully written short:
I stood overlooking a small cove on the Oregon Coast, it was 700 feet below me and only one footstep separated me from that sheer drop. I was alone and pondering the most expansive ocean and sky I had ever seen. At that moment, I was the Lone Man.
Silently, a young man on a bicycle joined me. We stood there together, no words necessary, comfortable in our silence. Eventually we spoke and I met a unique individual.
He came with only two spare inner tubes.
He was riding his bicycle from the Arctic Circle to Guatemala, he expected the ride to last 7 months. He had the clothes on his back and two saddle bags on his bicycle.
He stopped every few days to recharge.
He is a therapist who works with troubled youth. He teaches them about responsibility and consequences by taking them camping in the wilderness where, if something goes wrong, there is no one to blame but yourself.
He is from Michigan.
He prefers not to tell his kids what they shouldn’t do in their lives, but would rather show them what they can do, by example.
He drank my Pepsi.
He felt that video games and television are bad influences on kids, that it causes them to miss out on life experiences.
He is engaged to a therapist back in Michigan.
We talked about how people rarely experience silence, with only their thoughts to be heard. And when they do, they are uncomfortable with it and inundate themselves with the noise of television, iPods, video games and movies.
We ate cherry flavored cranberries.
We discussed how people spend very little time alone, meditating, praying, thinking, pondering or whatever you’d like to call it.
We stared at the ocean.
I don’t know his name, but at that moment, he too was the Lone Man.
Cole
I found the story very humbling and powerful. It is true that we don’t spend enough time alone, regenerating, unwinding, staring towards the distant horizon just pondering life. I am on a path to get back to this sense of self through my own photography. Being on the side of a quiet dirt road, tripod set up, with the sky dimming… I don’t always realize it at the time, but I look back at those moments with fondness; wishing to be out there more often.
phase one. I have decided to give up the fast-shooting ergonomics of 35mm and head to the slower and bulkier medium format world where image quality is paramount; speed, weight, and convenience are secondary. My years with Canon were good, and I have a lot of great photos taken with them, but it was time to move on. [...]
I have decided to give up the fast-shooting ergonomics of 35mm and head to the slower and bulkier medium format world where image quality is paramount; speed, weight, and convenience are secondary.
My years with Canon were good, and I have a lot of great photos taken with them, but it was time to move on. The Canon lenses just aren’t up to snuff to deliver the detail needed for their new 21mp bodies, never mind the future 1DsV rumored to hit 30-40mp. Canon also has a mess with their quality control. Having to buy three and four copies of one lens to find one that is sharp and does what it should is unacceptable. The only thing I’ll miss about my Canon is the do anything versatility and durability.
In any case, I am so far very pleased with my move to the Mamiya/Phase One system. The body is a Mamiya AFDIII, with the Phase One P30+ digital back. The P30+ captures 31.6 megapixels, with 12-stops of dynamic range and true 16-bit color depth. Compared to Canon’s 8-9 stops of dynamic range, and only 14-bit color depth, the difference is significant. A MFDB (medium format digital back) also lacks an anti-aliasing (AA) filter over the sensor which increases sharpness, and the lens quality is much improved over the vast majority of 35mm format lenses.
So what does this this actually mean? It means that I have taken the technical quality of my photography to a whole new level. My images will be sharper, bigger, have better color, and have greater dynamic range. Perhaps just as important, working with a MFDB forces you to slow down, think about your composition, set things up on a tripod, double check that exposure and focus. So not only will the technical image quality aspects improve, so will the photographs themselves.
Just for fun, you should check out the “extreme” videos Phase One has posted on their site. They stick one of the backs into an oven and dry ice, and proceed to shoot with it. In another video, they park a full-size Jeep on the backs. Pretty amazing.
corn stalks. Shot the other morning when things were fogged in. Both are roadside not far from Wellington, CO.
Shot the other morning when things were fogged in. Both are roadside not far from Wellington, CO.
fall medley. Shot roadside while out on a quick test shoot the other night.
Shot roadside while out on a quick test shoot the other night.
poudre rock. Shot up the Poudre Canyon the other day while out getting used to the Phase One. The rock face image below loses it’s imposing power at this smaller size. I have to say that I am most impressed with my new camera system. The full-size image is just amazing. Stay tuned for close-ups from some [...]
Shot up the Poudre Canyon the other day while out getting used to the Phase One. The rock face image below loses it’s imposing power at this smaller size. I have to say that I am most impressed with my new camera system. The full-size image is just amazing. Stay tuned for close-ups from some other images.
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Top 9 Web Apps in your Sidebar Firefox and Opera browsers allow you bookmarking option to open in sidebar. For Firefox, bookmark, then in properties, check “load this bookmark in the sidebar”. Opera users, just check “Show in panel” for the same result. The sidebar ultra-handy view is great for a number of web applications: Google mobile view: no doubt, you’ve seen this [...]
Firefox and Opera browsers allow you bookmarking option to open in sidebar. For Firefox, bookmark, then in properties, check “load this bookmark in the sidebar”. Opera users, just check “Show in panel” for the same result.
The sidebar ultra-handy view is great for a number of web applications:
Google mobile view: no doubt, you’ve seen this on your phone; with search, maps, iGoogle, youtube, calendar … what’s not to love;
Gmail mobile: in case you don’t have it in 9 other places already;
Google mobile Reader: personal preference will tell you quickly rather you prefer your reader here or its regular spot;
Google mobile Notebook: if you’re a researcher or web-clipper of any magnitude, the notebook belongs in your sidebar;
Slippery Slopes #5: Impossible Recent wisdom from 7-yr-old boy: Lots of things are impossible … right before you do them. ���
Recent wisdom from 7-yr-old boy:
Lots of things are impossible … right before you do them.
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Tiny Twitter: it’s good. portable. Twitter. From Tiny Twitter – Tiny Twitter is just what you are looking for and it will work on ANY Java enabled device (that’s a bunch & includes the CrackBerry) and ANY Windows Mobile Pocket PC or Smartphone (they’re pretty cool). If you like Twitter, but wish there was an app out there to allow you to tweet [...]
Tiny Twitter is just what you are looking for and it will work on ANY Java enabled device (that’s a bunch & includes the CrackBerry) and ANY Windows Mobile Pocket PC or Smartphone (they’re pretty cool).
If you like Twitter, but wish there was an app out there to allow you to tweet from you cell, look no further. Web Worker Daily comes through again, and shows us just the ticket:
“On my Windows Mobile phone the interface is crisp and clean and Twhirl like. I can see and browse through my timeline and tweet, reply or direct message easily. Options let me choose how often it checks for updates which is great with the ever changing API limits that Twitter seems to be imposing.”
What’s not to love?
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Virtual Assistant Job Leads and Hints on Applying for Jobs Posted Here If you’d like to know more about these job openings or any job posts you find here, click the links. Virtual Paralegal for Jones and Associates Virtual Data Input Assistant for Jones and Associates Virtual Assistant for a Cool Guy � Please DO NOT ask me to email you the details about any of these job openings. Follow the [...]
When Does a Browser Become an OS? there’s much hub-bub about the new google chrome being a threat to ie… wait, no.� it’s a threat to firefox and opera and safari.� afterall, it’s a browser.� or even worse, it’s not even a threat to ie6 much less windows! and then, you have the guys who are saying that it’s a threat to windows.� [...]
and then, you have the guys who are saying that it’s a threat to windows.� they, of course, are right, tho none of them have really articulated why it’s a threat to windows.� there’s some “google os!” talk, but no one really lays that out.� it’s kind of a tricky thing to explain it, really.
and, you know me…� i’m here to make things that are hard to explain simple!
so, why is chrome a threat to the traditional os?
1) it has the web.� duh.� the primary activity people do on their computers these days is surf the web.� commerce, entertainment, news — chances are most of your computer-ing day is spent in a browser.
2) it has installed applications.� they’re just now called plugins.� (especially chrome’s new compiled, accelerated javascript!)� and, with google’s new sandboxed, tabbed-process, compiled, hardware-accelerated, non-traditional-browser-windows, non-crashing uber application thing, you have an os.� developers can now have their plugin fire up in an entire, stand-alone tab — erm. excuse me.� an entire, stand-alone “window.”� that means, you have local, “applications” that are “installed” and run in an “os”.� so, imagine a “microsoft word” plugin that runs in the browser.� they can do this where other browsers can’t because each tab is a separate, multi-threaded, hardware accelerated process — just like in a real os.
3) true write once, deploy anywhere.� just like today’s adobe flash player is very, very write once, deploy everywhere type of thing, so too will be plugins.� this is EXTREMELY true with these new-fangled compiled javascript applications chrome allows for.� think about that last bit mixed with #2 above.� so, there will only be ONE application that needs to be written and everyone — no matter if they’re on a mac, windows, linux, whatever — can use it.
4) the flavor of traditional os underneath won’t matter anymore.� just like the bios and drivers and all the other computer plumbing underneath your traditional os doesn’t matter, windows, linux and osx won’t matter.� nobody (other than the occasional SERIOUS nerd) cares about all that stuff because they don’t actively use it.� it comes pre-installed on their computers and worst case, they have to click some sort of “update reminder” thing.� windows, linux and mac will all become boring middleware that the average person doesn’t care about.� because, as #3 above states, they just get their full applications as plugins that work on every single traditional os.
still having issues visualizing all of this? just read back through that comic book and where they talk about a tabbed browser bar think “windows task bar” and where they talk about plugin, think “installed windows application like outlook or word”.
we are on the very cusp of a brave, brave new internet os enabled world and it has nothing to do with any of the profit centers up in redmond.
m3mnoch.
I Like the Word Asynchronous okay. i wanna talk a little bit about where this whole web+games thing is going. and, when i say games, i really mean synchronous activities in virtual worlds. after all, aren’t games about people playing together? isn’t playing together generally a synchronous activity? so, i guess where i’m going is that there’s this convergence happening. it’s [...]
okay. i wanna talk a little bit about where this whole web+games thing is going. and, when i say games, i really mean synchronous activities in virtual worlds. after all, aren’t games about people playing together? isn’t playing together generally a synchronous activity?
so, i guess where i’m going is that there’s this convergence happening. it’s the crossroads of synchronous (games, virtual worlds, chat) and asynchronous (web, blogs, email) communication. right now, the biggest poster boy for this convergence is twitter.
lemme explain.
if you ask anyone who doesn’t tweet (wow — that’s an unfortunate term) what twitter is, you get some variation of “it’s for people who like to post status updates about them doing everything from going to the bathroom to what they’re having for dinner.” those folks don’t understand what twitter really is.
twitter, for the uninitiated, is a giant, a/sync, partially scattered, on-going conversation. it’s like globally distributed chat where anyone can join the conversation. i did the “a/sync” thing because, in practice, twitter is asynchronous since you’re basically posting to the web, however, in terms of usage, it’s synchronous.
it’s a giant pool of global — and i really mean global — real-time chat.
now, before all of you twitter pros nod off, here’s where i’m going with this: there’s going to be a twitter-like convergence between virtual worlds (aka mmos) and the web. and not the kind you’re thinking of.
this is not — i repeat — not necessarily going to mean playing wow in a browser. as cool as that would be, it’s really just a shoe-horn fit, i think. it’s fantastic (beyond awesome, actually) for accessibility, convenience and acquiring new players, but i’m of the opinion that once people are hooked on the service, they’d like both a dedicated, sexy client to play in (say, from home) as well as a thin, portable web-based client to play in. (*looks over shoulder* shhhhh… from work, for example.)
“that’s neat and all, but… duh! ever heard of habbo hotel, noob?” you say.
stay with me for a minute here. trust me.
one of the things that third party applications and services are doing for twitter is posthumously rebuilding conversations for others to follow, catch up on, or in any other way use that data. they take data that was being generated in real-time (ala synchronously) and assemble it for asynchronous consumption. so that, for every 5 people who were able to participate in the conversation in real-time, there could be 500 people who can play catch up and get engaged in the conversation later on.
follow what i’m saying? there’s basically a long tail for synchronous communication. you know what another name for that is?storytelling.
yes. the convergence between virtual worlds and the web is going to be about storytelling. and not just any old storytelling. automated, threaded, and collaborated storytelling.
in other words, real-time twitter conversations are to gameplay as next-day twitter conversations are to storytelling. it’s an asynchronous reassembly of originally synchronous content.
now, more on how this ties in to the term “social media” later….
m3mnoch.
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Boat charter fishing oscoda ADF&G, Sport Fish Division Home Page … Sport Fishing Survey Results. Sport Fish Run Timing Charts. (...)
ADF&G, Sport Fish Division Home Page … Sport Fishing Survey Results. Sport Fish Run Timing Charts. Salmon Industry Restructuring Panel … Source: www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us
Delaware Division of Fish & Wildlife A fishing license is required to fish in the non-tidal waters in Delaware. … Gamefish and General Freshwater Fishing Restrictions … Source: www.fw.delaware.gov
Fishing at Great Smoky Mountains National Park yourself from planning a great fishing adventure in the Great Smoky Mountains … Fishing … also offer a beginner fly fishing school as well as advanced … Source: gorp.away.com
NMDGF State of New Mexico Department of Game and Fish: Providing New Mexico and its … Trout fishing on the renowned. San Juan River in northwestern. New Mexico. … Source: www.wildlife.state.nm.us
Fishing Works Guide to fishing regulations, tackle, boats, guide services, weather, and more. Source: www.fishingworks.com
Reel-Time Online resource for saltwater flyfishers. Source: www.reel-time.com
Fishing in Arizona Fishing … prefer lakes, streams, creeks or urban fishing, a year long season and a wide … Sport Fishing Education. Economic Impact. Sign up for AZGFD … Source: www.gf.state.az.us
Fishing Where to fish, how to fish, when to fish, for both freshwater and saltwater species … Fishing Access Sites Constructed by NYS Dept of Transportation. Back to … Source: www.dec.state.ny.us
NJDEP Division of Fish & Wildlife - Fishing in New Jersey Up-to-date information about fishing and fish management programs, stocking … Accessible Sites for People with Disabilities. Children's Fishing Derby Program … Source: www.state.nj.us
TMETC acquires 50.3% stake in Miljø Grenland/Innovasjon Tata Motors’ UK subsidiary, Tata Motors European Technical Centre plc, has acquired a 50.3% holding, at an acquisition cost of Kroner 12 million (Rs.9.40 crores), in Miljø Grenland/Innovasjon, Norway, which specialises in the development of innovative solutions for electric vehicles. The balance of shares will be retained by the existing shareholders who will continue to [...]
Tata Motors’ UK subsidiary, Tata Motors European Technical Centre plc, has acquired a 50.3% holding, at an acquisition cost of Kroner 12 million (Rs.9.40 crores), in Miljø Grenland/Innovasjon, Norway, which specialises in the development of innovative solutions for electric vehicles. The balance of shares will be retained by the existing shareholders who will continue to be associated with the venture........Continue reading TMETC acquires 50.3% stake in Miljø Grenland/Innovasjon.
Petrol prices to be cut if crude fall to $61 India’s crude oil import price has dropped to the year’s lowest but a cut in petrol and diesel price may happen only if crude falls to USD 61 per barrel as rupee depreciation has partly offset the gains. Oil firms were supposed to break-even on sale of petrol.........Continue reading Petrol prices to be cut if [...]
India’s crude oil import price has dropped to the year’s lowest but a cut in petrol and diesel price may happen only if crude falls to USD 61 per barrel as rupee depreciation has partly offset the gains. Oil firms were supposed to break-even on sale of petrol.........Continue reading Petrol prices to be cut if crude fall to $61.
Intraday calls for 16-10-08 Markets likely to see a huge gap down opening. If markets show recovery later during the day, buy: State bank of India and Punj Lloyd. Trade minimal. Recommend NseGuide to your friends
Markets likely to see a huge gap down opening. If markets show recovery later during the day, buy: State bank of India and Punj Lloyd. Trade minimal.
Intraday calls for 15-10-08 Markets likely to open weak. Short sell: S Kumars Nationwide and Unitech. If markets show signs of recovery later during the day, buy: Bharti Airtel Recommend NseGuide to your friends
Markets likely to open weak. Short sell: S Kumars Nationwide and Unitech.
If markets show signs of recovery later during the day, buy: Bharti Airtel
Intraday calls for 17-10-08 Buy Lanco Infratech at 154, target: 164. Stoploss: 151 Buy HDFC Bank at 1097, target: 1130. Stoploss: 1090 If markets later during the day show weakness, short sell: Essar oil Recommend NseGuide to your friends
Buy Lanco Infratech at 154, target: 164. Stoploss: 151 Buy HDFC Bank at 1097, target: 1130. Stoploss: 1090
If markets later during the day show weakness, short sell: Essar oil
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Warning on rigging bids in building industry Deneys Reitz Associate Rosalind Lake, discusses the recent investigations carried out overseas by the UK Office of Fair Trading into bid-rigging in the industry.
Walking a fine line Deneys Reitz Associate, Brent Botha discusses two ASA decisions.
Warning on firing workers in prison Deneys Reitz Director of Labour, Sibusiso Gule, discusses how firing an employee who fails to come to work, is not as straightforward as it seems.
Galveston’s collaborative efforts facilitate recovery The Port of Galveston is easing back up to full strength, following substantial damage inflicted by Hurricane Ike. Recovery efforts have been speedy, in part due to quick action by the Port’s Board of Trustees in giving Port Director Steven Cernak temporary emergency authority to spend up to $55 million on repairs.
Etihad Crystal cargo goes self-handling in Thailand Etihad Crystal Cargo, a division of the United Arab Emirates’ national airline Etihad Airways, has introduced self-handling in Thailand, in a move aimed at benefiting the airline’s growing presence in the rapidly expanding Far East cargo market.
Progress continues on DP3 Progress on the Deltaport Third Berth Project (DP3) is going well as work continues on the marine works portion of the project. Port Metro Vancouver is responsible for the marine works construction for DP3. The marine works mainly involve the creation of the land and berth structures, including the new tug basin that is already in operation. The terminal operator, TSI Terminal Systems Inc., is responsible for the installation of terminal infrastructure such as drainage, water, paving and lighting. The new berth is on schedule to be operational in the autumn of 2009. As areas of the landfill are completed and preloads removed, Port Metro Vancouver is turning over the areas to the terminal operator. TSI recently awarded its first contract for the installation of underground services on the first area handed over by Port Metro Vancouver.
Evergreen, Yang Ming, Cheng Lie commence new intra-Asia service Evergreen Line commenced a joint service with Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. and Cheng Lie Navigation Co., Ltd. covering key ports in North/Central China, Hong Kong, Philippines and Java. The purpose of the new service is to provide customers with a competitive service network linking these key ports.
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Co-Working: Home Office Sickness Solution? Laura Spencer has re-focused the spotlight to co-working with her Is Co-Working the Next Stage of Telecommuting. Co-working is one working trend that allows telecommuters or home based workers to temporarily work with others ala old office setting. Co-working is known to solve one of the most popular setbacks of working from home - isolation. Due to [...]
Happy Administrative Assistant Day! To both offline and online admin assistants, popularly known as virtual assistants (Yay! Me!) - Happy Administrative Assistant Day! However, I can’t celebrate it fully because I’m not being a good virtual assistant these past few days and even weeks - thanks to my really bad online tools, (Can I call them online tools, when Internet [...]
LinkBee Lets You Make Money from Your Short (You Know) I’m back! (sort of..) Regular posting of jobs for those who’d like to work from home will resume soon… In the meantime, here’s one new way to make money from links. *LinkBee is this new link-shortening service that lets you earn from those short links! How? Sign up for a LinkBee account and then create short [...]
I watched the debate last night with people who support my candidate. They all also happened to be mediators, so they understand concepts like confirmation bias --the tendency to search for or interpret new information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions and avoids information and interpretations which contradict prior beliefs. It is a type of cognitive bias and represents an error of inductive inference, or as a form of selection bias toward confirmation of the hypothesis under study or disconfirmation of an alternative hypothesis.
I've been Twittering (shoot me! this is addictive behavior). But all behavior has it's "up" side. The "up" side to following my Twitter network's running real-time commentary of the debate was the exposure of my own (and my friends') confirmation bias. I have both McCain and Obama supporters in my network and it was as if the two groups were watching entirely different debates. And they were.
Because nothing is objective. Let me repeat that. Nothingis objective. Everything we hear, see, touch, smell and taste is filtered through our entirely personal experiences, the collective or "received" reality of the society (micro or macro) in which we live, and interpreted based upon those experiences, which are further complicated by universal cognitive biases and particular core beliefs (our "operating principles").
If nothing is objective, there is no truth beyond that which one has faith in. ("faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.")
Yes, I know, the scientific method. But you and I don't test our beliefs, opinions, perceptions and conceptions by the scientific method. We hear, we see, we smell, we taste, we touch and we respond. We opine. We believe we are right.
So I said to my friends in the middle of the debate, "we're an example of "confirmation bias" and they took issue with me. And I let it go because I wanted to listen more than to impose my own view of our collective experience. And I was Twittering, lord help me, with some people who didn't share my bias.
I missed statements made by McCain entirely. It was if I hadn't even heard them. I was listening to confirm that which I already believed, which means I screened out what didn't fit my view of McCain or Obama and highlighted those statements that confirmed my existing beliefs.
This is what happens every time you try a case to a jury. It's why the little "g" god of the market place created jury consultants. It is also what happens everytime you try to settle litigation. Litigation raises confirmation bias to holy writ. Which is why the little "g" god of the market place created mediators. Why? Because the client has filtered his opening story through his own subjective experiences, which we, the litigators, devote ourselves to proving by cherry-picking the facts that conform to those experiences and disputing all those that don't. By the time the parties and their counsel get to me, they're often in different galaxies. And I need to help them remember, or realize for the first time, that their opponent has woven the disparate facts of "what happened" into an entirely different story, and has done so without "lying" about those events. Just as importantly, the parties come to understand that a jury might well "buy" their opponents tale as the "right" one.
Here's the more important point to getting a better deal: your opponent is often nearly as interested in your acknowledgement that his version of the events might be as accurate as yours as he is in "winning" the case. When (or if) the parties clear this hurdle, they can get down to serious horse trading, benefitting both.
So, forget the pundits. If you believe your guy "won" last night, it's probably equal parts a measured opinion and a peculiarly subjective experience, one that you do not even know you've tailored to fit your own view of reality.
I like Obama because I believe he acknowledges this from time to time. Not always. But often enough to make me feel comfortable with him in a White House. Am I right? How could I possibly be? We won't know anything until one of these men moves from campaigning to governing.
Lord help us all.
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SYSTEMS Blogger Lounge: Wir sehen uns in München. In der SYSTEMS Blogger Lounge treffen sich die Blogger, die sich bei der Systems 08 als Gastblogger registrieren. (Es gibt UMTS-Zugänge, eine hoffentlich kuschlige Lounge in Halle B1 (glaub ich) und wer unbedingt ins Pressezentrum muss--- das geht auch .
Währed alle anderen sich in den Ausläufern der Berlin Webweek suhlen (die ich dieses Jahr extra 'ausgeplant' hatte, da ich mit Serbien, CCH08 und den Barcamps in Stuttgart und dem München (PLus Commclub München, plus Blogworkshop München) eh kaum zu Hause war im Oktober), werde ich die Systems bei der Betreuung der Bloggerlounge unterstützen. Vom 21.-24.10.
Hätte es ein Patent auf "Feuermachen durch Reibung" gegeben, wäre die Menscheit ausgestorben.
Hätten die Evangelien unter Copyright gestanden, wären die Kreuzzüge ausgefallen. (OK, ich mein, ehm, ja. you get the idea.)
***
In meinen letzen Vorträgen habe ich immer mal über die Meilensteine der Internetkultur (Netz, nicht Web) geredet: Usenet, Netikette, http und Hypertext und das Web, IRC und... Creative Commons. Und die Creative Commons Foundation sammelt aktuell wieder Geld, um ihre arbeit zu finanzieren. 500.000 Dollar bis Jahresende sollen gesammelt werden. Und dieses Video erklärt, worum es bei CC geht: Um eine Kultur des Teilens:
Beim arcanmp München haben wir zu obigem Thema 1.5 Sessions gemacht (die 2. war dann doch nicht so übermäßig besucht, mündete aber in eine Disksussion über elternportale und -communities im Netz und führte zur gründung des obigen Blogs.
Die Mindmap, die vor allem bei der 1. Diskussion entstanden ist, gibt es hier als PDF. wer die *.mm-Datei für Freemind möchte, dsagst bitte einfach in den Comments Bescheid. Danke.
Die Comments hier und dort sind natürlich auch offen für eure Kommentare zu - Kids & Medien (von Vorlesen bis WoW) - Eltern/Väter/Müttercommunities - alles andere Digitale & Kids & Family
Und das Tag ist: #elternzwonull (bisher gibt es auch nen Friendfeedraum...)
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The Advertising of Yesterday Part XVIII We have all heard the phrase, "You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl." Salem was obviously attempting to work this into their "You can't take the country out of Salem" campaign. As a stand alone concept, this 1970 ad in Outdoor Life falls horribly short. An A is given for effort though. Here is a 1970 TV commercial from the same...
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Mind Control Via Wireless Did you ever see the episode of Star Trek - The Next Generation called "The Game?" It's the one where they discover this new game and it gives you a sense of euphoria when you win? To make a long story short, everyone gets addicted to the game and an alien race tries to take over the Enterprise. Two things are learned by this. (1) I am a closet Trek fan and (2) addiction to anything can be...
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Saturday Contest Reminder Just a reminder that all contest entries must be in by the 15th. Last time the winner received her ad on over 45 different blogs. Make sure you get entered and good luck.
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Texting Really IS Taking Over! Last week I wrote about how much people are texting. A recent survey by Nielsen Mobile confirms my worst fears. People are texting MORE than they talk on the phone. You see, I knew it! It is some kind of mind control from the pod people. They will soon be here to get us when we sleep. The survey reports that "In the second quarter of 2008, the average mobile subscriber sent or received 357...
AdSpace Contest - Round 2 Here we are again. Last month we had over 1200 entries in the contest. The winner, NotJustAMama.com ended up with her ad on over 45 blogs. This is the second go-round of the The AdSpace Contest and I'm proud to announce that I am once again one of 10 co-hosts. The idea is simple and easy: Get as many entries as you can (it's very easy to enter) before October 15th. The more entries you get,...
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The Different Presentations Of A Pantone One thing that always seems to crop up when we are designing a corporate signature package and a color plan for a company is the different presentation that a single Pantone color can have. Once your logo is designed and you decide on a color plan for your identity, you need to understand that different printing processes and paper stocks will have an effect on the way the color looks. ...
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The Front Fell Off The Oil Tanker On August 19th 2007, an oil tanker off the coast of Australia split in two, dumping 20,000 tons of crude oil. Senator Collins, a member of the Australian Parliament, appeared on a TV news program to reassure the Australian public. This actual interview is so funny, you'd swear it was a Saturday Night Live or Monty Python skit. I didn't know that they weren't allowed to make oil tankers...
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You Better Catch The First 9 Seconds I've seen this anti-smoking commercial from the Truth group a handful of times and I always seem to miss the "truth statement" at the beginning. Which obviously leaves me wondering, "what the heck did I just see." I think that the commercials are well done and have the best intentions, but they fall short in a big way. If you don't catch...
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Paul Stamatiou dreaming Hmmm - I had a dream last night that Paul Stamatiou published a book and I was holding a brand new copy. Way too much time with NetNewsWire I think… FunShare This
Hmmm - I had a dream last night that Paul Stamatiou published a book and I was holding a brand new copy.
Bash Copy Fun Did you know that these two commands are equivalent in bash? $ cp filename filename-old $ cp filename{,-old} productivity, ProgrammingShare This
Did you know that these two commands are equivalent in bash?
Does Your New Title Mean You Just Got Fired Wil Schroter: Try replacing the world “strategy” with “I’m about to get fired.” Here is how your new title now reads “Senior Vice President of I’m About to Get Fired”. Boy, that might not even fit on your new business card, but it won’t matter, because you won’t be around long enough to hand one out. BusinessShare [...]
Try replacing the world “strategy” with “I’m about to get fired.”
Here is how your new title now reads “Senior Vice President of I’m About to Get Fired”. Boy, that might not even fit on your new business card, but it won’t matter, because you won’t be around long enough to hand one out.
Basic game-play styles... I think that there's basically just the three gameplay styles, and they break down something like this:
In A World Where...
This Is A Tale Of...
Your Challenge Will Be...
And so different interests are described by those different hooks; some people want to know what the challenge will be and how they'll overcome obstacles for their ultimate reward. Others want themes of import: betrayal, family loyalty, wanderlust, revenge, true love... Some of us are all 'let a hundred flowers bloom' for expressing 'In a world where..."
The Simulationist heartbreaker is to speak "In A World Where..." in such a way that the theme of the Tale and the Challenge contain the seeds of their own expression...
oh, good A bit of a weight off my mind, really, considering some of the options...
You’re St. Justin Martyr!
You have a positive and hopeful attitude toward the world. You think that nature, history, and even the pagan philosophers were often guided by God in preparation for the Advent of the Christ. You find “seeds of the Word†in unexpected places. You’re patient and willing to explain the faith to unbelievers.
eat more rage -- it puts a fire in your belly! When you're a sysadmin by practice (irrespective of title), you find that God gives the gift of rage every day. It is a fire which may come down and consume all at any time. the fire staves off despair, and throws the followers of falsehood (vendors, spammers, misbehaving hardware) into confusion and panic.
Today's occasion for rage is the TO DO function of Ybghf Abgrf, synced with a Cnyz, via Ybghf RnflFlap. Now, a TO DO list is surely not rocket science. In fact, it's probably one of the earliest functions of the "personal" computer: A stored list, ordered and sorted to push work from the brain to the machine. Practically what the jolly things there for, what?
But no. Despite running mucho $LOCALCURRENCY to rent ("license") and operate, and having the proprietary Ybghf RnflFlap software widget to wrangle the oh-so-elaborate TO DO from Cnyz-speak to Ybghf Abgrf -talk, the list, viewed in the utterly krep! client view so characteristic of Ybghf Abgrf, is trashed. Imagine chavs ransacking a house for spare change to buy pot or some alcoholic swill like Bud Light, and you'll have a picture of the TO DO list's end state: disordered, messy, inverted, garbage from months ago strewn across the screen. Let's just say I don't go for that white trash trailerpark look.
Obviously, this list, besides being useless to me in this state, is utterly unsuited to being printed out and used for a discussion with my unP-HB about my work tasks and priorities. Bah.
So... How about the native Cnyz software that should work with the gadget? Yeah, I bet you think you're clever. Fear not: Ybghf RnflFlap now intercepts all TO DO data, and diverts it from the native software, leaving the Cnyz software with a list as old as the day you installed RnflFlap. Unless you're daft enough to present the boss with a list that says you've tracked nothing (or done nothing) the last 5 months, it's Ybghf Abgrf holding you hostage. Kill it! Kill it with fire!
On a Tuesday following the Monday where the car died, forcing us to push it out of the middle of the apartment complex parking lot (uphill, of course!) until I could return to climb into the hood and scrub the battery terminal until the happy sparks returned, and in which I spent all morning talking about how we (werk) are likely going to hand off the mega-project of our org's data revamp to a (thankfully rather clueful) contractor, giving me a serious case of envy... Yeah, the rage is your friend. The fire is fuel, it keeps us warm as night closes in...
Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.
-- William Morris
project muddle, as we say... So many of you, dear readers, are familiar with what piscis and I casually call "project muddle". And since she's the superior communicator, I'm going to let her do the summing-up from her point-of-view. (Apologies to those for whom this is redundant.)
On to the muddle project: ...went to a second meeting with ACME and Paul to try and hammer out what our plans are for the future. It was a really good meeting.
We have been struggling with how to stay with ACME and not live out of our car. Now we opened up that struggle to the ACME leadership team, to see what their take was on all of this was. Beyond the numbers, we wanted to see if there was a need for us to stay, a way which I could help (since I would be new to the team) and how to work out the logistics and timing. With Tobo on the way, we were very emphatic that we need to have a plan in place and a few benchmarks which will be go/no go lines both for us and for ACME. We can't be dead wood, but we also can't hang out on a wing and a prayer. Well, not on a wing at least.
After a loooong talk (we got out just before six), we had a plan in place, with benchmarks, dollar amounts and action items. It still needs to be finalized and approved by the whole leadership team. The plan as it stands is we would become full time members in the next year or two. Full membership is defined as having enough prayer and financial support to meet an agreed upon monetary amount that ACME needs to support us. Our current support is minimal, so we will need to do a lot of work. (called deputation)
In faith that the plan will be approved by the rest of the leadership team, Paul and I will be going through a number of psych, medical, and financial batteries, as well as theological questions in the next few weeks. We will be attending the candidate course which is the last 2 weeks of October. In November, we will hear back from the leadership team about whether the plan is still viable on their end. Which means we would move forward and go before the board, hopefully to become appointees.
Paul and I are willing to try it. This is our last shot to try to keep Paul in a position where he is called vocationally to be. If it doesn't work (see: go/no go lines) than Paul will be leaving ACME and finding an IT job that will cover our expenses. That probably will not be in Denver, since one of the struggles we are having right now is the cost of living out here. We're planning on staying for the birth, but after that we will be on the move as soon as Tobo is portable again. (what is that, 18?)
Obviously this is a lot to consider. As always, we would appreciate any prayers you can send up about this, for us, the leadership team, the board, and Tobo. Little does he/she know how crazy his/her parents will be.
And she's only mostly kidding about living out of the car. But where'd be put the spawn? Good thing we have the pickup as well...
Anyroad, we welcome comments, via the handy-dandy "EMAIL" link above. As we go down this road, we might switch everything over to a shiny public-facing cooperative blog, but we'll just see. But e-mail me!
Pray for us now, and in the many hours of our death to self to come...
Thanks for your prayers. More details to come, of course.
* = translated, this means we're appointed to be members of the Mission.
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Obama takes his campaign to the XBox 360 There have been several stories on the incredible use of virtual media by the Obama campaign. All their campaign events have been streamed live on his site, they use Twitter to keep people informed about them, they launched their own iPhone application - and they're not done yet. The Obama campaign is now advertising in a very popular video game for the Xbox 360. The game, called "Burnout: Paradise", features an open world which you drive, race, trick, and... There have been several stories on the incredible use of virtual media by the Obama campaign. All their campaign events have been streamed live on his site, they use Twitter to keep people informed about them, they launched their own iPhone application - and they're not done yet. The Obama campaign is now advertising in a very popular video game for the Xbox 360.
The game, called "Burnout: Paradise", features an open world which you drive, race, trick, and crash your way through in any way you see fit (you can get details about the game here). It features billboards (a lot of which you can crash through) that companies are able to buy advertising on, just like real billboards (In fact, I believe Dodge has already done it for this game). This in itself represents an incredible way of reaching an audience of millions of (generally) younger people.
Here is a screenshot taken by an Xbox 360 gamer of the billboard which the Obama campaign has paid for. At first, most people didn't believe it; they thought it was somebody's clever Photoshop job. But then Electronic Arts (the makers of the game) confirmed that the Obama campaign has indeed paid for advertising within the game. Brilliant.
In-game advertising is not a new concept, but for a political campaign to be savvy enough to realize this opportunity exists and take advantage of it is really impressive. I really believe as video games continue to move to take advantage of the power of social networking, this is the type of advertising we will see a LOT more of. And therein lies a tremendous opportunity for Organic.
The challenges for this type of advertising will be game-specific - how can advertising be blended in without having it stick out like a sore thumb? Gamers are very, very passionate about their hobby, and while they will instinctively reject a really obvious marketing ploy, they will also applaud those that are done in a clever yet non-intrusive manner. Sounds like a heck of a fun project to me!
As in-game advertising opportunities continue to grow (and they will!), I think we will see a lot of VERY cool opportunities to show off our Exceptional Experience abilities.
We Are The Creators Of Worlds Little Big Planet is one of those games that defies explanation. On Friday, Eric Diem wrote, "I can't find the words to describe what a unique experience this game produces, so I figured it would just be easier to bring in my PS3 in so everyone can check it out." So he did, and the impression that he left on the office was monumental. Jeff Bossardet confessed to me, "It is gorgeous. I have never been a gamer. For...
Little Big Planet is one of those games that defies explanation. On Friday, Eric Diem wrote, "I can't find the words to describe what a unique experience this game produces, so I figured it would just be easier to bring in my PS3 in so everyone can check it out."
So he did, and the impression that he left on the office was monumental. Jeff Bossardet confessed to me, "It is gorgeous. I have never been a gamer. For many years now I have thought that it may be advantageous, as an interactive professional, to understand the gaming world from a users perspective. I think I have found my gateway drug I mean game...Little Big Planet."
Why were we all so excited? Little Big Planet isn't just a game. It is a way to make games, mold games, and share games. The only limits are that of human imagination.
In its simplest form, Little Big Planet is a platform game, but it is a game that teaches you how to create your own levels. It provides you with different materials and all the tools you need to turn those materials into moving, changing, and logical objects. These objects can be set to react to different changes in the environment or actions of the players. The result is the ability for every player with patience and practice to create entire video games of their own.
But that is just the tip of the iceberg. The social element of the game is another side to the revolution. All worlds can be "published", which means they are open for the entire community to play. Those worlds can be rated, tagged, and shared. And, if the world creator so chooses, they can give the objects they create (villains, tools, etc) as gifts to other players to use in their levels.
Some see this all as a bold move in consumer-generated gaming, and others see it as opening the door to other greater deeds in co-creation. But everyone agrees it is a HUGE step forward for the industry. Just look at this guy who defied game-makers expectations and created a working calculator. Prepare to be amazed:
Marta Strickland
ThreeMinds Weekly Digest 10.10.2008 It's hard to pay attention to the news of the web industry this week. I've seen digests on other blogs become shorter and shorter. Right now, everything else going on in the world seems more interesting, scary, captivating, devastating... But if you were paying attention this week, you would have seen an underlying trend, and that is this... social media is growing up. What's Been Happening This Week? The Playful But Powerful Google Google had a few unserious moments...
It's hard to pay attention to the news of the web industry this week. I've seen digests on other blogs become shorter and shorter. Right now, everything else going on in the world seems more interesting, scary, captivating, devastating...
But if you were paying attention this week, you would have seen an underlying trend, and that is this... social media is growing up.
What's Been Happening This Week?
The Playful But Powerful Google Google had a few unserious moments this week. It introduced two joke features, an audio preview for YouTube comments and "mail goggles" for G-mail that prevent users from drunk e-mailing by forcing them to do math problems.
But as an ongoing trend, Google continues to be an innovator and a magnifying glass into online culture. They are implementing high-definition imagery and textual advertising into Google Maps. And, ReadWriteWeb had a great article on how one can use Google trends to analyze America's reaction to the debates. Popular campaign words, such as "maverick", saw a huge spike during the debates, as viewers at home everywhere in this nation turned to Google for a true definition.
The Social Network War Is Coming To An End, Or Is It? It may happen in the next month folks. A battle that has been raging for more than a year might come to a close. As for the first time in US history, Facebook is set to overtake MySpace in traffic numbers. What could this mean? Will Facebook become MySpace like everyone fears?
Better question.. do we even need Facebook? The up-and-comer, Ning, just announced that it has hit the half a million mark with over 500,000 niche social networks. Maybe Facebook and MySpace are they the Netscape and AOL of the 2.0 world? They started the trend, but will fail to innovate quickly enough, as more nimble companies grow in popularity.
Enterprise Embraces Social While Everything Else Falls Despite reports that half of social media campaigns will flop, there is more and more enterprise dollars being invested in the space. As risky as it may seem, it is far more risky to do nothing. We have 93% of consumers saying they want brands to join them in the space. And we also have compelling statistics to show that their purchase behavior and brand opinion is being shaped by social media experiences.
The good times are over. RIP. Things are about to get a lot more serious.
Marta Strickland
A Canadian Perspective On Elections Tonight is the 3rd and final debate for Obama and McCain in the hotly contested US run for the White house. Grueling primaries, surprise running mate announcements, VP debates, mud slinging, name calling. No wonder its easy to overlook the fact that the Canadian public voted last night to elect a new government. Well not really new, kind of the same as last time, but a couple of changes. In America, each candidate has the best interest of the...
Tonight is the 3rd and final debate for Obama and McCain in the hotly contested US run for the White house. Grueling primaries, surprise running mate announcements, VP debates, mud slinging, name calling. No wonder its easy to overlook the fact that the Canadian public voted last night to elect a new government. Well not really new, kind of the same as last time, but a couple of changes.
In America, each candidate has the best interest of the entire country at heart, in Canada we had one candidate who's key platform is to have Quebec separate from the rest of Canada. In America debates are held behind podiums, or in town hall fashion, in Canada, 5, yes 5 hopefuls say around a table and discussed the country and how they would be the best choice. Oh yea, we also hold debates in both official languages on separate nights though. In America, the VP is a crucial part of the process. The right VP can win an election, or garner momentum, or get you featured on SNL, In Canada, there is a deputy prime minister, but they get picked by the winner, no say by the people who gets to take over should the big guy go down.
In America, its either red or blue, in Canada, it could be red or blue, or orange, or green or what ever the independent chooses. In America, its winner take all, In Canada, its winner takes some, the official opposition takes some, the others take some too...
In case you were wondering, the elections results are shown in this flash app. Canadians went to the polls yesterday and re-elected the Conservative party to a minority government. Which means, if the other parties want to, they can force another election by a vote of non confidence over anything from; senate reform, to economic policy or even where to put an embassy in a foreign country.
Vito Greto
This Is Our Web, We Are The Creators... Content creation. It is undeniably the one of biggest and most powerful characteristics of Web 2.0. Ever since the web became a platform, developers have been providing the tools for consumers to be the creators of: Video Music History Social Networks ... even Applications It's become easier and easier for us to create powerful things. Creation is not limited to an elite few, it's available to everyone. And as each week passes, the lines between developer/programmer and common user...
Content creation. It is undeniably the one of biggest and most powerful characteristics of Web 2.0. Ever since the web became a platform, developers have been providing the tools for consumers to be the creators of:
It's become easier and easier for us to create powerful things. Creation is not limited to an elite few, it's available to everyone. And as each week passes, the lines between developer/programmer and common user blur even more. With each week, we are becoming creators of something new and exciting.
So this week, I will be taking a quick look at some tools that have launched recently and some trends that are gaining momentum. What could you be the creator of tomorrow?
Marta Strickland
We Are The Creators Of News Now this might seem like a given. After all, we have had consumer-rated news sites like Digg for a few years now. But I am talking about something more than consumers choosing what news articles they find relevant at any given time. I'm talking about tools that empower us to create news in an easy and powerful way. Earlier this year, CNN launched iReport, a consumer-generated news site that claims to be "Unedited. Unfiltered." I would have to agree...
Now this might seem like a given. After all, we have had consumer-rated news sites like Digg for a few years now. But I am talking about something more than consumers choosing what news articles they find relevant at any given time. I'm talking about tools that empower us to create news in an easy and powerful way.
Earlier this year, CNN launched iReport, a consumer-generated news site that claims to be "Unedited. Unfiltered." I would have to agree considering that the top story according to Google today read Ketchup assassinated. That was probably a fluke, because most of the top stories have to do with the election.
What is great about iReport is that it turns individual citizens with a camera, time to investigate, time to write, and decent basic reporting skills into actual journalists. But, what about something even easier than that, what about something even more integrated into our everyday lives and common citizens?
Well, look what is going on at election.twitter.com. This is a place where our chatter is becoming news. Yes, it is only reading the dialogue of people using Twitter, and yes, it is only focused on the election, but I think this is the beginning of something big. When I want to find out the newest hot items in the upcoming election, THIS is where I go. The site analyzes the firehouse of constant conversation and looks for instant trends that are peaking. It's the consumer-generated headlines in an ongoing news story.
Just imagine what this could be if they started creating portals for energy, the economy, foreign policy, disasters, health, fashion... as more and more people use Twitter, we're not just going to be writing articles anymore, we're going to be creating the headlines.
I'm not at all surprised, but I want to generalize this idea. In fact, just last week at IBM's IMPACT meeting (it's gathering of more than 6,000 SOA customers in Las Vegas), I had a discussion in one of the sessions I chaired about how common it was for lots of something new to be used in an organization with no formal knowledge of its existence. We've seen that with LANs, PCs and servers (back in the early client-server days).
In this case, he was reporting that one of his good customers was not planning (on the C-level) to use MSQL (Sun's new Open Source Software acquisition)because they feared it would be too unruly. A member of his entourage, however, reported to the customer that more than a thousand copies of MYSQL had been downloaded by the customer's developers and it turns out that it's a very popular development tool at that customers (and, I would guess, elsewhere).
Some of the best new ideas happen from unexpected directions.
That isn't bad -- as long as the experimenting doesn't violate any organizational standards in a way that causes something to break. We want to allow for the flexibility to try new things, but we still have to make sure that we do it in a secure environment where we can look back -- next month or in five years -- and know what we did. Just some fairly simply documentation helps here -- and someone to oversee the experiments in new technology (not to prevent them), so there's some sense of what's going on.
I read a great post on Jonathan Schwartz's blog today (http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/). Jonathan is, of course, the CEO of Sun Microsystems and his blog is often the cause of much amusement and some enlightment.
There’s some discussion over at Game Politics about this cleverly targeted Tobacco Free Florida anti smoking ad that utilizes a 3D first person shooter type game to get the message across. Pretty smart, I think. You?
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Do You Evaluate The Investment You Make In Learning? Running workshops for organisations about marketing and social media, I always take the time to read the feedback from delegates so that I can understand what has worked well and what I need to improve the next time. With an increasing focus on value for money, I was not surprised to see some feedback from [...]
Running workshops for organisations about marketing and social media, I always take the time to read the feedback from delegates so that I can understand what has worked well and what I need to improve the next time.
With an increasing focus on value for money, I was not surprised to see some feedback from a recent workshop about the investment that people made in the workshop. For the first time ever, the organisation I was delivering a programme for received feedback that the cost of the event was too expensive - yet they have held their workshop pricing the same over several years.
The increasing number of training and workshops that are being provided for less than €100 or even free I am sure has altered peoples perceptions of what is value for money when it comes to events and workshops.
However this feedback did get me to reflect on how we as delegates evaluate how effective a programme has been in terms of the return on investment.
Is our view only taken as a snapshot in time at the end of the event when we are asked to complete an evaluation form?
Why don’t we review the effectiveness of the workshop or training several weeks or even months later when we have implemented what we have learned and understood how that learning has made us more effective, able to deliver new solutions to clients, attract more clients or even charge more for our services and products?
I know one person who attended the workshop in question and within a week of the event they had attracted more business partners and more customers by implementing just one of the strategies covered - so of course their perception therefore was that the workshop was of great value.
Attending events, conferences and workshops which cost not just money but are an investment of our time can help us steer a course during times of uncertainty - but only if we take action and implement what we have learned then evaluate how effective that is.
So whether it be a free teleclass, a paid for workshop or an expensive conference, if you have attended an event in the last 90 days, what could you implement from what you learned that could bring you greater success in the year ahead? What support and resources do you need? When will you take action?
At the end of the 90 days, why not reflect then if the event was worth it when you truly know the return on your investment?
6 Ways to Raise Morale and Improve Motivation Welcome to new subscribers from the National Association of Educational Procurement annual conference. My session on “How to Raise an Issue, Prove Your Point and Communicate with Confidence & Clarity” also addressed how to prevent “knowledge blockage”. But knowledge isn’t the only thing being blocked these days - so is morale and motivation. It’s a timely topic, since the DOW just saw its [...]
Welcome to new subscribers from the National Association of Educational Procurement annual conference. My session on “How to Raise an Issue, Prove Your Point and Communicate with Confidence & Clarity” also addressed how to prevent “knowledge blockage”.
But knowledge isn’t the only thing being blocked these days - so is morale and motivation. It’s a timely topic, since the DOW just saw its biggest one day gain ever, jumping 936 points after news that governments will shore up the global financial system.
Emotions are catchy and news that people in power are willing to work together to make things better carries a lot of emotional weight. It doesn’t take much to make folks feel hopeful, including:
1. Keep that end in mind. Before the kids and I left Rochester NY to move to Colorado, we had a house to sell. As is typical in many negotiations, one side wanted more concessions than the other was willing to give and our buyers wanted way more than we thought reasonable. My Dad, who was (and still is) our Realtor, offered a few words of hope during a particularly gloomy point. He said, ”It’ll work out. You both want the very same thing; you want to sell that house and they want to buy it!”
Eureka! The fact had narrowly escaped me! Those few words lifted my spirits and before long, we’d ironed out our differences and closed on the deal. It surprised me how quickly I saw the situation in a new light by focusing on the fact that each side wanted the same results.
Point: Whatever result you’re striving for, keep that goal uppermost in your mind. Place it front and center so you don’t get distracted by the proverbial thorns that tug at your clothes along the path. It’s easy to get bogged down and allow little irritations to make you feel the situation is hopeless when it’s really not.
2. Put on a happy face. Did you know that regardless of whether you’re a bus driver in New York, a stockbroker in London or a tribesman in Papua New Guinea, our facial expressions in response to emotions like fear, anger, disgust are the same? Studies by folks like Paul Eckman prove we convey a lot of meaning in what fleetingly flits across our faces. (Apologies. Some of this is just for me.) So, if facial expressions are universal and body language experts can interpret nuances in seconds or less, why is it people don’t realize the impact a happy, positive expression has on others? And also the opposite. Perhaps we don’t realize how quickly people can read our faces and draw conclusions from a furrowed brow, downcast eyes and lethargic movements.
Point: If you want your folks or families to feel happy, jump start the process by looking happy first! Not artificially, in that cheesy, fake, pasted-on-smile kind of way, but in a “let’s put our best foot forward” approach. If you look defeated, they’ll feel defeated. If you look hopeful, they’ll feel hopeful.
3. Front-end load signs of appreciation. When my son was in the Air Force, he worked out on the flightline and not unlike servicemen and women around the world, he put in some grueling hours. During one of our phone calls, he told me it was getting really hard to keep up the schedule. But then he added, “But it’s easier to take when our Chief stops by. He tells us ‘thank you’ and ‘good work’ and all. He probably learned that in a leadership school somewhere, but I don’t care. It still makes us feel better. It makes it easier to come back and do it all over again the next day when you know somebody appreciates it.”
Point: Criticism feels like it weighs NINE times more than one positive stroke in most people’s minds. The more you can front-end-load ways of recognizing folks, the easier it will be for them to take the critiques when you have to hand them out. Strive for a nine-to-one ratio of positives to constructive criticism.
4. Remember, what’s good for the goose isn’t necessarily good for the gander. During an executive coaching session, one young lady said, “I can take feedback. I tell my employees all the time that all they have to do is come to me with their concerns and I’m happy to listen to them. Even if they want to tell me I’m doing something wrong - I can take it!”
Point: SHE may be able to TAKE the feedback, but others aren’t necessarily ABLE to GIVE it. Just because they don’t approach her with their concerns, doesn’t mean they don’t have them. Most likely, they don’t feel confident they’ll be listened to or their concerns will be taken seriously. She may need to make herself more available, initiate low-threat conversations and ask open-ended questions (starting with ‘how’ and ‘what’) in order to get folks talking.
5. Get down in the weeds with ‘em. We started a new sales program for our customer service reps when I was a call center supervisor, oh so many moons ago. On every inbound phone call, they were to ask the customer two “soft sell” questions hoping to upsell on products and services. (Similar to, “Would ya like to biggee-size that drink?”) For customer service folks, being cross-trained in sales was a bitter drink to swallow. (Pun intended) Despite the incentive program we put in place, there was still resistance.
What made it much, much easier and a whole lot more fun, was when our leadership team took turns on the phone asking customers those same questions. Not only did folks get a kick out of it, but it helped our team managers learn the nuances, objections and obstacles our reps faced as they implemented the new program.
Point: Seeing is believing. If you’re willing to get down in the trenches and take a turn now and then doing exactly what THEY do, you’ll gain ‘brownie points’ and a better understanding of the process. You’ll also gain their respect.
6. Self-deprecating humor gives you a strategic advantage. It’s okay to poke a little fun at yourself now and then. Here, allow me to go first…
Laura decides to try horseback riding, even though she has had no lessons, nor prior experience. She mounts the horse unassisted and the horse immediately springs into motion. It gallops along at a steady and rhythmic pace, but she begins to slide from the saddle.
In terror, she grabs for the horse’s mane, but cannot seem to get a firm grip. She tries to throw her arms around the horse’s neck, but she slides down the horse’s side anyway. The horse gallops along, seemingly impervious to its slipping rider.
Finally, giving up her frail grip, Laura attempts to leap away from the horse and throw herself to safety. Unfortunately, her foot has become entangled in the stirrup; she is now at the mercy of the horse’s pounding hooves as her head is struck against the ground over and over.
As her head is battered against the ground, she is mere moments away from unconsciousness when………. to her great fortune…..
Fred, the Wal-mart greeter, sees her dilemma and unplugs the horse. (And you thought all they did was say Hello!)
Point: There! Now it’s your turn. See if you can get the hang of the occasional self-deprecating remark or hijack a joke without going too far and slipping over to the dark side. (Kinda like the saddle) You’ll lighten the mood at work or at home, it won’t compromise your position or professionalism and folks will breathe a sigh of relief when they realize that thank goodness, you’re human after all!
And just because I’m on a roll today and found this in my archives of funny stuff, let’s close with this:
Forest Service Comment Cards: actual comments (supposedly) left on Forest Service registration sheets by backpackers completing wilderness camping trips:
- “A small deer came into my camp and stole my bag of pickles. Is there a way I can get reimbursed? Please call.”
- “Escalators would help on steep uphill sections.”
- “Instead of a permit system or regulations, the Forest Service needs to reduce worldwide population growth to limit the number of visitors to wilderness.”
- “Trails need to be wider so people can walk while holding hands.”
- “Ban walking sticks in wilderness. Hikers that use walking sticks are more likely to chase animals.”
- “All the mile markers are missing this year.”
- “Found a smoldering cigarette left by a horse.”
- “Trails need to be reconstructed. Please avoid building trails that go uphill.”
- “Too many bugs and leeches and spiders and spider webs. Please spray the wilderness to rid the area of these pests.”
- “Please pave the trails so they can be plowed of snow in the winter.”
- “Chairlifts need to be in some places so that we can get to wonderful views without having to hike to them.”
- “The coyotes made too much noise last night and kept me awake. Please eradicate these annoying animals.”
- “Reflectors need to be placed on trees every 50 feet so people can hike at night with flashlights.”
- “Need more signs to keep area pristine.”
- “A McDonald’s would be nice at the trailhead.”
- “The places where trails do not exist are not well marked.”
- “Too many rocks in the mountains.”
Hey, let’s hear it for our hard working Forest Service folks! They sure earn their pay!
Laura B., writing from 6711 ft. above sea level!
Posted in Change and Reinvention, Communication, Family and Parenting, Humor, Motivational stories, Positive attitude, Relationships, Self confidence���Tagged: comment cards, confidence, Forest Service, Humor, morale, Motivation���
portaPuTTY is a modified version of PuTTY that stores configuration and session data in flat files instead of the Windows registry. This is especially useful for running portaPuTTY from a USB drive or for moving commonly used sessions from computer to computer.
Hear the Enterprise RoR Susan Scrupski recently wrote about how the likes of Tim Bray feel that Ruby on Rails is a great option for the enterprise. I couldn’t agree more with Tim. I’ve been working closely with the framework in recent times and also built some demos with it back in my consulting days. [...]
Susan Scrupski recently wrote about how the likes of Tim Bray feel that Ruby on Rails is a great option for the enterprise. I couldn’t agree more with Tim. I’ve been working closely with the framework in recent times and also built some demos with it back in my consulting days. Once I got over the differences between Java and Ruby I began to see the magic of how Rails makes it easy to build web pages, REST services and interact with databases. A decent programmer can stand up a Ruby on Rails app much quicker than he can a Java or .NET app. Period.
There are concerns, however, over RoR’s ability to scale. Last year, Alex Payne, developer at Twitter, was asked “How has Ruby on Rails been holding up to the increased load?”. One of the things Alex said was “All the convenience methods and syntactical sugar that makes Rails such a pleasure for coders ends up being absolutely punishing, performance-wise”. In other words, “magic” = “slow”.
But these are issues that can be solved with conventional measures. David Heinemeier of loudthinking.com points out:
I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: There’s nothing interesting about how Ruby on Rails scales. We’ve gone the easy route and merely followed what makes Yahoo!, LiveJournal, and other high-profile LAMP stacks scale high and mighty. Take state out of the application servers and push it to database/memcached/shared network drive (that’s the whole Shared Nothing thang). Use load balancers between your tiers, so you have load balancers -> web servers -> load balancers -> app servers -> load balancers -> database/memcached/shared network drive servers. (Past the entry point, load balancers can just be software, like haproxy). In a setup like that, you can add almost any number of web and app servers without changing a thing.
Ruby on Rails faces the same scalability issues as other frameworks. The solution to the problem, then, becomes relatively standard. Share session information, load balance web servers, load balance application servers.
And let’s face it, enterprise applications will never need to contend with as many users as a web site like Twitter does. The largest organizations have hundreds of thousands of people. Not millions (and viral web sites need to scale to millions).
Given the speed of development and agility of the framework, I Ruby on Rails apps will increasingly disseminate across next generation enterprises - enterprises looking to implement Enterprise 2.0.
How to start marketing your small business Marketing your small business can be an exciting and nerve-wracking time for any new business. Competing against larger companies is enough to make any small business go out of business quickly. How can you begin marketing against larger companies...
Made It I safely arrived in Colorado last night. It’s been 1 year since I’ve been in the US. I immediately noticed how festive the US is around the holidays. Carols were playing in the LA airport and people said “merry christmas” to me. This doesn’t really happen in Australia, where if they said it they’d prefer “happy [...]
I safely arrived in Colorado last night. It’s been 1 year since I’ve been in the US. I immediately noticed how festive the US is around the holidays. Carols were playing in the LA airport and people said “merry christmas” to me. This doesn’t really happen in Australia, where if they said it they’d prefer “happy christmas” instead. It’s also pretty cold in Denver (at least compared with how hot it’s been in Melbourne this past few weeks). And I had my first Chipotle burrito since last December for dinner tonight.
What I’ve noticed immediately is that most blog and twitter updates now happen throughout the day. In Australia it was like reading the newspaper, where when I got to work most of the blog posts and twitter updates from my US counterparts had been completed already, so I’d spend 20 minutes or so catching up on the “news”. Now my reader constantly has updates. I’m not sure which way is better actually.
Anyway, I’m hoping to visit more conferences now that I’m in North America and meet some of my blogging friends in person. I might look into heading to the FASTForward conference this year to get me going.
It’s good to be back.
Why They Might Run and Hide from Enterprise 2.0 It’s been an interesting transition for me back to industry. “Industry” is the term consultants use to describe normal jobs with normal companies - the kind where people bring their plants to work and setup pictures of people they know in their cubicles. The kind where people wake up on Monday morning, drive [...]
It’s been an interesting transition for me back to industry. “Industry” is the term consultants use to describe normal jobs with normal companies - the kind where people bring their plants to work and setup pictures of people they know in their cubicles. The kind where people wake up on Monday morning, drive to work, work, drive home and do the same thing every day until Friday. It’s been three months, and I’m starting to acclimate to this routine way of living.
When I started I came in guns ablazing with a consultant’s mindset. “What, no data warehouse, no sweat. We’ll implement a master data management strategy and breathe life into dying data. And let me tell you about this nifty little thing called Enterprise 2.0. It’s going to revolutionize the world, man. Ever heard of SLATES?”. Sarcasm aside, people had actually heard about Enterprise 2.0 and were actually keen on the idea. But seeing things from the other side I’m starting to think Enterprise 2.0 will be overwhelming for many.
Here’s the logic: Enterprise 2.0 assumes that, within corporations, there are a lot of unsung heroes who’s voices are muffled by a thick wall of bureaucracy. These under-utilized knowledge workers are in dire need of a platform through which their ideas can transcend old-fashioned hierarchical structure so that their potential can be fully realized. Enterprise 2.0 promises meritocracy.
Sweet.
But consider alternative reasoning: Good workers are already very busy. Their managers already know they’re good and are filtering a saturating set of inquiries and non-critical disturbances into a trickle. Trickles enable concentration, and concentration is needed for people to do good work.
So why in God’s name would a very busy person want to put himself in a position to be even busier by seeking corporate-wide recognition for his bright ideas? He’s already well compensated. He’s already highly regarded. Why make life harder?
Good workers might run and hide from Enterprise 2.0 (and bad ones might embrace it).
newthinking.bearingpoint.com My former employer, BearingPoint, has recently launched newthinking.bearingpoint.com, a Wordpress-powered blog seemingly open to all employees. This is a bold move as consulting companies typically guard their intellectual property with an iron first. But BearingPoint has been a leader when it comes to transparency. MIKE2, BearingPoint’s information management methodology, launched in 2005 [...]
My former employer, BearingPoint, has recently launched newthinking.bearingpoint.com, a Wordpress-powered blog seemingly open to all employees. This is a bold move as consulting companies typically guard their intellectual property with an iron first. But BearingPoint has been a leader when it comes to transparency. MIKE2, BearingPoint’s information management methodology, launched in 2005 and is “open source”, meaning it’s free for all to consume and contribute to, even competitors. The value to doing this is that BearingPoint capitalizes on the IM market taking business from rivals who would otherwise charge for the information that is free on MIKE2. And, while open, IM methodologies are complex to implement, and clients will be quick to select BearingPoint as their implementation vendor.Kudos to Nate and Jay, who must have played a huge role in getting thiew new blog rolled out. And check out this post from my buddy Sean (who’s getting married next month). Sean is an up and coming Enterprise 2.0 star at BearingPoint. I’m glad to see the new school is starting to have an impact on an otherwise traditional organization.
Update: It looks like Paul Dunay, Global Director of Integrated Marketing at BearingPoint, is the man responsible for newthinking.bearingpoint.com.
Web 2.0 and Risk I wanted to share a great quote from a Gartner Analyst responding to CIO criticism of Web 2.0: “Security is not about zero risk it is about managed risk. Accept there will be a few security failures. “No risk means no reward. Stop talking about all the bad things that can happen and talk about what these [...]
I wanted to share a great quote from a Gartner Analyst responding to CIO criticism of Web 2.0:
“Security is not about zero risk it is about managed risk. Accept there will be a few security failures.
“No risk means no reward. Stop talking about all the bad things that can happen and talk about what these technologies enable”…
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More Joel On Software The book is out. I am nowhere near finished, but it reads like his blog does. Good stuff. Most of it is from his blog, but it is still worth having, if only for the ease of finding a random post to read. Available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Also Borders and other quality bookstores. [...]
The book is out. I am nowhere near finished, but it reads like his blog does. Good stuff. Most of it is from his blog, but it is still worth having, if only for the ease of finding a random post to read.
Wave Of Spam There is currently a wave of spam comments and trackbacks. Thankfully, Akismet catches almost all of them. It puts them in a queue for me to review. Because of the large quantities, I cannot review them all. If your comment does not appear, it probably got marked as spam and thrown away. That’s life when someone [...]
There is currently a wave of spam comments and trackbacks. Thankfully, Akismet catches almost all of them. It puts them in a queue for me to review. Because of the large quantities, I cannot review them all. If your comment does not appear, it probably got marked as spam and thrown away.
That’s life when someone sees a way to make easy money. Maybe there should be a refundable commenting deposit, to chase away some of the scammers and spammers.
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Business Plan The U.S. trade deficit declined 3.5 percent in August, the government reported, and is expected to shrink further as a severe economic slump depresses demand for oil and other goods. YouTube said it would start offering full-length episodes of some television shows on its sprawling Web site. If you [...]
The U.S. trade deficit declined 3.5 percent in August, the government reported, and is expected to shrink further as a severe economic slump depresses demand for oil and other goods.
YouTube said it would start offering full-length episodes of some television shows on its sprawling Web site.
If you want a good deal on business plan , visit our website now for the most comprehensive and helpful resources available. Learn all the fine points that will help you come out on top. You will find the best public relations and Ideafisher that business plan can provide.
business plan is one of the most popular and fun brainstorming around, and we are a hotspot for enthusiasts and the curious alike. Visit our website and learn about a bunch of cool script writing and even links to similar websites.
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Using PLR Articles To Increase Your Back Links Search engine optimization, or SEO, is an important part of your online marketing effort. Using PLR articles to generate unique content is an inexpensive way to drive more traffic to your site. You can customize this content by rewriting it in your own style. Using the correct keywords is an important way to extend the [...]
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is an important part of your online marketing effort. Using PLR articles to generate unique content is an inexpensive way to drive more traffic to your site. You can customize this content by rewriting it in your own style. Using the correct keywords is an important way to extend the reach of your campaign. These are the elements to remember when you are looking to maximize your SEO by using PLR Articles.
While SEO is crucial to your success, getting your site in the top ten on the search engine results page seems to be elusive. Many have made a lot of money selling products, programs and ideas on this very topic. However, one thing has consistently shown results and that is to publish unique, targeted articles that direct visitors back to your site. This is also a great way to create free back links to your site, which will also help maximize your SEO.
Placing rewritten PLR articles on your site is another great way to boost your SEO. Search engines will rank your site more highly if you have unique content that changes on occasion. This is also the kind of technique that will turn visitors into repeat visitors. By customizing your PLR articles with keywords and your own prose, you can both increase interest in your site as well as capture positive attention from search.
Whether you use PLR articles as website content or to drive traffic to your site, keywords are the crucial element. Resist the natural temptation to just insert your keywords as much as possible into your articles. Think about where they should natural fall in the article so that it flows well and makes sense. Not only do you want to attract search engine spiders to your site, but you also want to keep your readers engaged. SEO is not an end unto itself. The point of SEO is to drive traffic to your site and thus make money. You do not want to undo all your hard SEO work by having visitors leave your site when they encounter an unreadable article. Take some time to look at the sites that rank high for your keywords. Learn from what they do well without just copying them.
There are many people willing to sell you their solution to online marketing. Who�s to say what will work best for your needs? However one consistent producer is the use of PLR articles to maximize your sites� SEO. Both affordable and effective, if approached thoughtfully these can be strong tools in your arsenal.
Keyword Research - A Necessary But Worthy Evil If you want to rank well in the search engines, then you absolutely must understand how to do market research and build your keyword lists. Why? Because keyword research determines your market’s profitability and competition. If you skip this stage, you could wind up doing a lot of work following dead ends. There are some markets [...]
If you want to rank well in the search engines, then you absolutely must understand how to do market research and build your keyword lists. Why? Because keyword research determines your market’s profitability and competition.
If you skip this stage, you could wind up doing a lot of work following dead ends. There are some markets that just are not worth pursuing. You don’t want to end up chasing a market that isn’t profitable.
You need to decide what the market is looking for and bring yourself to the market. Many small business owners do just the opposite. They come up with a product or service they think the market needs and then try to go after and convince the market of their product value. There are plenty of markets available that will suit your tastes. Once you find the market that you want to reach, then you will build your keyword or key phrase lists.
In this article, I assume that you already have a target market in mind. Therefore, I will give you a high level overview on how to do proper keyword research. I’ll start with the benefits of keyword research.
The Benefits of Keyword Research
What are the benefits of doing proper keyword research? Listed are four benefits of the power of keyword research:
1. It drives traffic to your site; just by simply using the words your target audience uses in their searches.
2. It helps you write more effective copy (sales copy) for your website; knowing what terms to incorporate into your copy helps your target audiences identify with your side immediately.
3. It helps with content development; it helps you create content that your target audience needs and avoids wasting your time on irrelevant topics.
4. It helps you understand your target audience better: you will know how and what your target audience is searching for.
5. It helps you measure the size of your market: just by determining the number of searches, you can target huge pools of untapped potential and avoid many pits.
6. It helps you to develop and diversify revenue streams: by using keyword research that exposes and employs popular keywords, you can be inspired to innovate and create new product and service ideas.
7. The bottom line: the results of keyword research are that your website copy, business strategies, and online marketing will be successful a great majority of the time.
Keyword research is the foundation to proper linking. Why is this important? Sometimes we assume we know what our audience is searching for. This is a common mistake many professionals make. They assume that since they are an authority on a topic they should know what their audience is searching for.
The only correct way to know what your audience is searching for is to do proper keyword research. What you think your audience needs or is looking for may be completely incorrect. I can guarantee that you will be surprised by the keywords your audience searches on to find your topic.
95% of websites are caught in the trap of bad keyword selection. High correlations of the keywords you use on your website and the words your target audience uses in their searches actually moves the website toward the audience and attracts many more targeted visitors.
Keyword links + keyword content on your site + keyword searches = solid search engine traffic.
Building Your Keyword Lists
Step One. Understand Your Target Audience
To start an effective keyword list, consider your potential customers’ motivations and intentions. What kind of questions will they ask? What are they trying to accomplish? What problems do they need solutions to?
Step Two. You Must Understand the Types of Buyers and Your Target Audience
There are two types of buyers. The first type of buyer is the logical buyer. They will normally ask “how” and “what” questions when considering purchases.
However, 70% of all buyers are emotional buyers. These types of buyers are normally more spontaneous and concerned with the user experience and end results when considering a purchase. They asked the typical question, what’s in it for me?
Step Three. Think Like Your Target Audience.
Remember, most of your buyers are emotional buyers. So, use the emotional slant to convince this type of buyer. Use emotional keyword anchors in your text. For example, if you had a website about running shoes, an emotional buyer is interested in the “best” running shoe or the “healthiest” running regime. They wouldn’t necessarily want to know the benefits of running shoes. They want to know what’s in it for them.
Step Four. Think Broad and Wide for Your Target Audience
Start with a broad list of keywords around your topic. Make sure they are specific enough to fit your target audience. Include terms that match closely with your visitors’ intent in relation to what you sell.
Note: traffic costs money! Think about quality not quantity. Your conversion rate is the most important factor. You don’t just want traffic, you want converting traffic!
Step Five. Prioritize Your Keywords Based on Conversion
If you don’t have conversion data, you’ll have to make your best guess as to which search terms you think will convert the best.
Consider these points:
1. Make your product or services’ intention clear. Don’t hide what you’re trying to sell.
2. If your keyword phrase is “blue high top basketball shoes”, make sure a visitor can buy “blue high top basketball shoes” on your site. Better yet, make sure you link to a page about those shoes.
3. Consider your ability to present value. How does your product present value?
4. Consider the amount of traffic you will generate using your keywords. If you’re using a cheap hosting provider, you may want to switch to something that can handle higher traffic counts. It’s frustrating to have a website go down because you can’t handle the traffic. This is something that you have complete control over. Make sure you don’t ruin your first impression by having a website crashes more often than not.
5. Consider the probability of conversion. If you are highly niched and know precisely what keywords or keyword phrases your target audience searches for, then use your highly niched keywords.
If you don’t know what the probability of your conversions will be, then you need to track this metric. There are several analytical tools that you can use to track this information. Don’t skimp. Make sure you know this information.
Keyword Research is Vital
The most important step you can take in marketing your website is keyword research. You not only need to know the keywords you want to get ranked for but also which keywords are converting the best for your website.
It makes no sense to drive a large amount of traffic to your site and not be able to stay in business because the conversions just aren’t there. So, focus on quality NOT quantity. Start with your best keyword/phrase and begin your linking campaigns. Move down your keyword list, each time promoting and linking with the next keyword phrase.
In time, your site will not only move up in search rankings but move up based on the keywords that YOU chose. Don’t fall for the myth that more traffic you get the better. Take control of your traffic and get ranked well for the keywords and phrases that are most profitable your business.
Jerret Turner, LinkAcquire.com CEO, can help you build one way links for better search engine rankings.
The Areas of Improvement in Catalogs Catalog printing does a lot for businesses and commercial establishments. Catalogs are a salesperson and business owner’s best friend. Without catalogs, an ordinary salesperson might find it too problematic and troublesome memorizing different specifications for different products without a single source. Clients too might find it a bit difficult to look for items which are not [...]
Catalog printing does a lot for businesses and commercial establishments. Catalogs are a salesperson and business owner’s best friend. Without catalogs, an ordinary salesperson might find it too problematic and troublesome memorizing different specifications for different products without a single source.
Clients too might find it a bit difficult to look for items which are not housed by common stores. Without catalogs, it would certainly be a bit too tasking for both the clients to buy and for business to sell. Just imagine, without catalogs as a reference, potential customers would largely be in the dark about your latest offers and newest product line.
Catalog printing makes it possible for you to create catalogs that organizes and compiles all your products and product information along with it. You can have print catalogs you can send out to your loyal clients and other interested parties who are in your mailing list.
Also, catalog printing allows you to create a catalog with 96 pages and even more for custom printing. Again, that’s 96 pages composed of 92 inside pages and 4 cover pages.
Print catalogs are printed using offset printing with four color process printing that makes your catalog designs into wonderfully, colorful prints. This makes the image or photos of your products more life-like too.
Pictures become more detailed and painted in accurate, tantalizing colors that are more appealing to clients who can be motivated to purchase such products. Also, it helps them identify the products better.
Catalogs are truly functional pieces that can promote your products and sell them. Make catalogs that are not only useful to your business operations, but to your clients as well. Send out high-quality catalogs and expect no less than the response you’ve dreamt of.
While print catalog services provide you the means to obtain such quality prints, here are more great ideas to help you build an engaging and interesting catalog design and content.
1. Strike a balance As a business owner, not everything that you know in your business is exactly interesting to your clients or customers. There are some facts about your products or business which clients may not appreciate too well.
You need to carefully balance information that are useful to your clients and information which can only be useful to you. It does not go to say that certain facts and figures are not appreciated, but make sure that these are significant for your readers, as clients and product users as well.
2. High Resolution Make sure that the photos you are using have high-resolution, for all else, you risk of printing blurry images. While part of the printing services’ of a printer is to review files, you still have to provide them the right photo with at least a 300dpi or you’ll be further delaying your print project. You might even trouble yourself with re-sending files again and again.
3. Eliminate Communication Barriers Photos are very enticing. This is a fact that has been explored by advertisers for a long time. But visuals alone cannot sell a product. Text and other information are needed by your customers.
When including text or content to your catalogs, make sure you check everything twice. Typographical and grammatical errors are communication barriers that interrupts reading and interrupts the flow of thoughts as well.
4. Layout Observe just how much picture and how much text you can put in a single page without making it look too busy or crowded. Too much of everything can be overwhelming. It might tire your reader before you know it.
Catalog printing is your access to great looking catalogs. Online printers are more than able to print volumes of consistent and colorful catalogs for your needs, whether it’ll be for corporate use or commercial one. Their online sites too can ably give you more ideas on how to make your catalogs more striking and effective.
Contact a professional catalog printing company now and be on your way on creating impressive catalogs.
Owen loves to read and talk anything under the sun. From current events, magazines, social life, metro lifestyles, traveling etc. Not a born writer but experience could make a difference. He also loves to eat especially travel in different places. Going to beaches and mountains really completes his life. For more inquiries kindly visit catalog printing
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First female Master of Safmarine vessel South African Louise Angel (29) has become the first woman to take command of a Safmarine vessel. She is also the youngest Master in the Safmarine fleet, which comprises 19 owned and 39 chartered vessels.
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Diamonds Versus Pennies - Nuclear Fission Versus Chemical Combustion An good friend just sent me a letter (yes, it was digital, but not your typical email ) that included mention of a topic important to both of us, but somewhat difficult to explain. Ted mentioned that most nuclear advocates do not spend enough time t...
Green Ink: Cheaper Oils Good, Except When Its Not Crude futures rebounded to $73 early Friday after OPEC moved up its emergency meeting and pledged to cut output, Bloomberg reports. Most analysts say a cut of 1 million barrels per day is the minimum OPEC must do to stabilize prices; Qatars oil minis...
Good News for Ethanol as Corn Dips and Pipeline Test a Success Corn prices settled below the $4 mark Wednesday for the first time since last October. December corn, the front-month contract, fell 23 1/4 cents to $3.88 per bushel. In the past month, corn prices have fallen $1.74 (31%) due to the rapid decline in ...
Wise Energy Use Stocks: Metering and Energy Use Managment This is a continuation of my look into which companies in the Wise Energy Use index seem to have the financial strength to survive a prolonged slowdown. I generally liked the efficient lighting companies in the index, but wasn't thrilled by any...
Malaysia-Based Genting Group Takes Small Stake in Venters Synthetic Genomics The Star. Malaysia-based Genting Bhd is acquiring one million shares of US-based Synthetic Genomics, Inc (SGI) for US$8 million from founder Dr. J. Craig Venter. One of Genting s subsidiaries is collaborating with SGI on the sequencing of the palm ...
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus Demonstration Project Launched in Alabama A research team led by the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and coordinated by the Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) has begun aproject to design, manufacture, demonstrate, and evaluate a hydrogen fuel cell transit bus that...
Clemson University to Lead $1.2M Cellulosic Ethanol Project Clemson University will lead a $1.2 million bioethanol research project to find the best way to produce plant-based fuels in South Carolina and the region. The US Department of Energy awarded the grant to Clemson, which will collaborate with DOE s ...
BMW Group Electric MINI to Debut at LA Auto Show in November The MINI E. The zero-emission MINI will sport a plug logo in Interchange Yellow. Click to enlarge.The BMW Group will introduce its battery-electric MINI E (earlier post) at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November. BMW says that it will deploy a fleet o...
USDA May Use Rural Development Money to Assist Corn Ethanol Plants Des Moines Register. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) may use rural development money to assist ethanol plants that have suffered losses in the volatile corn futures markets. Some plants are under pressure because they ve been speculating...
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Positively Speaking is Two Years Old! It’s hard for me to believe, but this month marks the second anniversary of my 5 Minutes for Mom monthly column, Positively Speaking. To celebrate the milestone, I’ve written an article which outlines all the columns I’ve written, organized by Developmental Asset category. Fun! Please go check it out here. Would you like [...]
Wizz Air Ukraine Announce New Flight Routes The low fare airline Wizz Air Ukraine have announced that they are to begin flights from Kiev Boryspil to Dortmund and to Cologne in Germany. It has also been announced that thyey are to operate flights from Lviv to Dortmund and Luton Airport in London. The new services will begin to operate on the 15th of [...]
The low fare airline Wizz Air Ukraine have announced that they are to begin flights from Kiev Boryspil to Dortmund and to Cologne in Germany. It has also been announced that thyey are to operate flights from Lviv to Dortmund and Luton Airport in London.
The new services will begin to operate on the 15th of January 2009 with an Airbus A320 being used - the second the airline will take delivery of in January 2009. (more…)
Kingfisher Airlines Puts New International Flights Around a month since initiating its international service, Kingfisher Airlines has put on hold its international expansion plans, including a Mumbai-London flight planned for later this month. Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman of UB Group which owns Kingfisher Airlines, was quoted in the media as saying that the airline’s international operations were under review in the face [...]
Around a month since initiating its international service, Kingfisher Airlines has put on hold its international expansion plans, including a Mumbai-London flight planned for later this month.
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman of UB Group which owns Kingfisher Airlines, was quoted in the media as saying that the airline’s international operations were under review in the face of the global slowdown, and consequently new international routes were also under reevaluation. (more…)
National Mall and Reflecting Pond - DC During our family’s recent trip to Washinton DC, we witnessed beautiful views of the memorials and monuments, on a bright and hot day. Here we waited for our turn to ascend the Washington Monument. This view is toward the Capitol building. This is the exact opposite view - toward the WWII Memorial Fountain, the reflecting [...]
Airlines Charge All Passengers for Checked Bags A bunch of airlines recently announced that they’re now going to start charging all passengers for checked bags. This is in addition to charging extra for food, drinks, movies and lap dancers. OK, just kidding about the lap dancers. That’s in first class only. The point is that everyone’s up in arms about these extra charges. [...]
A bunch of airlines recently announced that they’re now going to start charging all passengers for checked bags. This is in addition to charging extra for food, drinks, movies and lap dancers. OK, just kidding about the lap dancers. That’s in first class only.
The point is that everyone’s up in arms about these extra charges. But is this really such a big deal? I’m not a fan of the airline industry either. I don’t like paying more for a flight to Pittsburgh than to London during the week. (more…)
Note: After crunching the poll numbers that will be in this blog, I have realized there's a fair chance that some of my readers might be personally insulted by this entry. This is not my intention. I fully admit that the point of it is to advocate a view, but I also would welcome comments from creationists if they feel that my conclusions about their motives are in error.
According to fairly recent polls, 49 percent of the American public believes the theory of evolution, against 48 percent that does not. It's not entirely clear what this poll means, because people may interpret "Do you believe in evolution?" in different ways. However, I think it can be taken at face value, because a different poll had been taken a few months earlier asking if human beings evolved, and it offered more clarity in its choices, including a choice "humans evolved under God's direction." From the same link, this other poll found that even with the choice of theistic evolution, 55 percent believed that there was no evolution involved in the human species. I think it's safe to conclude that this country is roughly split down the middle.
Now, why? Why is the concept of evolution--and with it, scientific ideas such as the age of the Earth and the beginning of the universe--so controversial that fully half of the country won't believe it?
There is a disturbing trend in some parts of the political "blogosphere" to denigrate, insult, and attack not just politicians and national figures, but also ordinary people on the other side of the aisle. It's part of the polarization of America, no doubt, but all it's accomplishing is to increase hate. You never win anyone over by calling them stupid. We are a thinking species, and whatever the idea may be, no matter how mind-blowing it may seem, the person holding it has a reason for doing so. It may be a reason they're not consciously aware of, and it may be flawed, but they have some reason for believing as they do. To disregard this fact sends the signal that you are not interested in hearing what they have to say--that you've decided that they're stupid. I am not going to play that ugly game. Continue reading "What Makes a Creationist Tick?"
Hi Mountain Seasonings Welcome Hi Mountain is the major producer of Jerky Cure and Seasonings for people making jerky at home. Each blend is an Authentic Wyoming Recipe and is faithful to western traditions. With several blends to choose from you can't go wrong with Hi Mountain's Jerky Cure and Seasonings. We don't make jerky - we make your jerky better!
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Virtual Worlds = The Present and Future Of Online Social Communities I can't even say virtual worlds are the future of social communities, but rather the present. Virtual worlds have proliferated among internet users younger then 18 here in the US and especially internationally. Sites such as Gaia Online, Cyworld, Habbo Hotel, Barbie World, Webkinz, and Club Penguin blow social networks ...
RSVP to TECH Cocktail Now Available Let the flood gates open. TECH Cocktail RSVP registration is now available. If you missed the story on what TECH Cocktail is, or why I am helping organize it go here. Here are the details: When: September 6th, 2007 Where: Tequila Rain by Fenway (Boston) What: ...
Join me and Viximo at Virtual Goods Summit in SF This Friday you can find myself and a good portion of the Viximo team at the Virtual Goods Summit in San Fran. I'll be speaking on a panel with a great lineup titled "What Users Want — Branded and User-Generated Virtual Goods." You can get a 10% discount by using ...
Beef Jerky, Turkey Jerky, Alligator, Venison, Buffalo, Rattlesnake,... We have jerky from alligator to turkey. We carry only the best cuts of quality meats. We have done all the work for you,we have searched the United_States for only the best tasting jerky and put it all under one roof for you.
Hi Mountain Seasonings Welcome Hi Mountain is the major producer of Jerky Cure and Seasonings for people making jerky at home. Each blend is an Authentic Wyoming Recipe and is faithful to western traditions. With several blends to choose from you can't go wrong with Hi Mountain's Jerky Cure and Seasonings. We don't make jerky - we make your jerky better!
20 smart companies to start now Asking venture capitalists for great startup ideas is a little like asking Curt Schilling what pitch he's going to throw next. When we posed the question to dozens of VCs and investors around the country, more than a few indignantly shot back, "Are you out of your mind?"
What’s It #8 - the remote control for a concrete pumper truck Ed was right on the money with is no surprise since he managed a much larger construction project than my farmhouse. So, the answer is the “remote” is run by “the kid” and controls the “pumper” to accomplish the “pour” … + + =
Ed was right on the money with is no surprise since he managed a much larger construction project than my farmhouse. So, the answer is the “remote” is run by “the kid” and controls the “pumper” to accomplish the “pour” …
+ + =
Radiant floor heat using Wirsbo PEX All of the radiant floor heat tubing went in over the past several days. The process consumed 6000 feet of tubing. The system used is from Uponor and is called Wirsbo (pronounced wee urs bo). I have no idea where they got their names. The system uses PEX - “an acronym for crosslinked polyethylene. Polyethylene [...]
All of the radiant floor heat tubing went in over the past several days. The process consumed 6000 feet of tubing. The system used is from Uponor and is called Wirsbo (pronounced wee urs bo). I have no idea where they got their names. The system uses PEX - “an acronym for crosslinked polyethylene. Polyethylene is the raw material and the X refers to the cross linking of the polyethylene across its molecular chains” - now that’s a mouthful. To be completely accurate, it is hePEX which has and oxygen barrier specific for radiant floor heat systems where the liquid is in a closed loop and circulates round and round and round and … you get the idea.
It’s pretty interesting stuff. The Wirsbo allows plumbing connections with no solder and flux as with traditional copper plumbing and no crimp connections with traditional plastic tubing and no glue as with PVC. The Wirsbo PEX has some “memory” meaning it can be stretched out a little and it will return to it’s original diameter. A few pictures (most are courtesy of PexSupply.com) will make this easier to follow …
+ + =
The ring is slid onto the end of the tubing (a very snug fit) and the expander tool is inserted and cycles through a flare/contract motion to stretch out the tubing. Once the tubing just pushed up to the collar, it is removed from the tool and quickly slid onto the T-fitting. The result is the final image. By the way, these T-fittings are only temporary. All of the lines are single, unbroken sections that begin and end in the utility room. All of the “loops” are connected by the T-fittings and pressurized with water so the tubing is weighted and it is easy to identify any leaks or damage during the rest of the concrete floor construction. Once the floors are finished, the T-fittings are cut out and all of the lines are connected up to distribution manifolds. (I write about that once we get to that phase.)
In the final installation, a water/antifreeze solution will flow through the entire radiant floor. For reliability, the tubing can have no splices. So the entire floor is made up of segments or loops that start and finish in the utility room. The length of a loop is determines by the heat loss of the circulating liquid and this is determined by a combination of the thermal transfer of the tubing into the concrete as well as the volume of concrete. All of the loops for a given zone (the floor has been divided into 7 zones) must all be the same size and since all of the zones use the same tubing and are embedded in the same thickness of concrete, all of the loops must be the same length +/- about 3%. For my construction, the loops are about 220 feet each.
The fun comes into play when you consider that all loops start and end in the same place and are all the same length and one bit of tubing should be approximately ten inches away from another. A lucky run has the loop run a uniform zig-zag and just make it back. There are very few lucky runs. Most runs exit the utility room and run out to a far wall and back and then out and back again only to be a bit too long or too short. So, the last bit is undone and then zig-zagged to arrive back at the starting point with minimal slack.
The following picture shows the radiant tubing finished with the exception of one room. The system was not pressurized or filled with water at this time so the tubing is “floating” a bit. In the center of the picture is where the utility room will be. The large black tubes run underground and will connect to the geothermal wells. The large “fan” of tubes is the Wirsbo PEX all connected with T-fittings so it can be pressure tested. The gray tubes in the lower right are for the electrical lines from the panel to the utility room.
We like to think we are fearless -� eager to explore unknown lands and soak up new experiences, but the fact is we are always terrified. Maybe the terror is part of the attraction. … at the end of the day, isn’t that what you’d rather hear about ? If you’ve got one drink [...]
We like to think we are fearless -� eager to explore unknown lands and soak up new experiences, but the fact is we are always terrified. Maybe the terror is part of the attraction. … at the end of the day, isn’t that what you’d rather hear about ? If you’ve got one drink and one friend and forty-five minutes, smooth rides make for boring stories. A little calamity … that’s worth talking about. - James Parriott or Jenna Bans or Marti Noxon or Mimi Schmir or Stacy McKee or Zoanne Clack
The Next Net 25 It's getting crowded on the Web 2.0 frontier, but we highlight the newcomers most likely to strike gold in 2007.
“The book” More than a few of my friends have suggested I write a book. I am not so sure. However, while I may be skeptical, I am not so quick to be dismissive. There may be a book in me and there may not. What I do know is I nearly always bite off more [...]
More than a few of my friends have suggested I write a book. I am not so sure. However, while I may be skeptical, I am not so quick to be dismissive. There may be a book in me and there may not. What I do know is I nearly always bite off more than I can chew and I spend the next moments doing everything I can to not let other down and in the same breath not let myself down. It’s what has let me do so many different things but it is also what leaves me with a constant sense that I have not done a good enough job.
So, could I possess the great American novel - who knows. Perhaps the answer is yes. Perhaps the answer is that I will find that great American novel in someone else and my role is like “boiling chips” - to provide the proper environment for water to take on energy, boil, and escape as steam.
Did you know that the fundamental tenant of mass - that it can be neither created nor destroyed - also might apply to green thumbs, creativity, trust, humility, and perseverance. If you add all of any one of these together from every person on earth, you get a fixed quantity. If someone stops trusting, then somewhere else, someone will have started to trust. If someone gives up hope, there will be a reciprocal increase in hope in someone else. There are documented rare cases where the two bodies transferring one of these properties actually come in contact with one another. But, unlike nuclear material, when hope and no-hope collide, there is the a moment of energy that is converting in hope rather than the other way around. … Perhaps that is all to metaphysical. Lets try something else - OLIVES.
Olives are a very flexible fruit. Yes, fruit. They complete a martini, soften bread, and, with sufficient quantity, can run your automobile - the result of which would make most Italians swoon. Olives, like people, come in many shapes, sizes, colors, and originate from many regions. Unlike, people - at least throughout most of the modern world - olives are food. The olive is referenced in the old testament and in Homer’s Iliad. It is hard to say just how old it is. The real question is when did it go from being just a plant, to being a crop. I guess the same could be asked of coffee. Personally, I would never have thought to take a bitter bean and heat it up, crush it, and then soak it in hot water. But then if people did not experiment, no one would have found the results of water, barley, hops, and yeast. So, back to olives. Someone found it growing wild and was lucky enough to encounter the tree when the olives were ripe. It was centuries later that someone experimented with olives and Gin.
I suspect that wealth is another one of those things that is neither created nor destroyed. What I can’t figure out is how, like the swirling mass surrounding a star just before it goes super nova, wealth can implode like it does. And it does it on a fairly regular basis. Fortunately, people still know how to get their hands dirty. Unfortunately, some people can’t actually produce anything but more dirt. If there were some way to convert filth (aka pollution) to dirt (aka a medium for growing plants)� we might be able to turn things around. At the very least, we could grown more olives. One can hope.
The hijack-proof truck You can't go far wrong in a truck equipped with an Astrata box. The device, half the size of a cigarette pack, can be wired into anything that moves - truck, car, shipping container - to head off nearly every conceivable type of disaster.
New England does have the best foliage I took a quick road trip to the North East (USA) this past weekend. It was too many miles and too little time but the friends, the food, and the foliage made it worth the effort. I ended up taking the “Parkway Grand Prix” route up through New York and Connecticut. This is the [...]
I took a quick road trip to the North East (USA) this past weekend. It was too many miles and too little time but the friends, the food, and the foliage made it worth the effort. I ended up taking the “Parkway Grand Prix” route up through New York and Connecticut. This is the narrow, windy and sometimes fast run along Route 15 starting at the Hutchinson River Parkway, the Merritt Parkway, and the Wilbur Cross or Cross County Parkway. It definitely replaces the extra espresso in getting your blood flowing and heart racing ! The scenery was spectacular and reminded me that New England does have some of if not the best foliage. Unfortunately, it is a bite like the calm before the storm because fall foliage is the precursor to the New England Winters. I don’t miss those !
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Disney's ClubPenguin now Penguins at your house might not notice, but ClubPenguin's moving into the Disney igloo. "Disney said it would pay $350 million in cash for the website aimed at 6-to-14-year-old kids. As much as $350 million more will be added if the Canadian company's founders reach profit targets through 2009," the Los Angeles Times reports. Here's the Associated Press on this development.
More global-socializing data Once you get past Tagged.com's and Facebook.com's amazing growth figures this past year (774% and 270%, respectively, with Bebo in third place at a respectable 172%), the worldwide membership of these sites is a little less jawdropping. But that international appeal probably explains a lot of these sites' growth. Friendster hasn't grown as much, but 88.7% of its members are in the Asia/Pacific region,...
Hacks in social sites What I mean is, hackers (not malicious ones) have something to say about social-networking sites. Thousands of them gathered at two conferences in Las Vegas this past week, the Associated Press reports. Here's the important part: Hackers are seeing intruders in social-networking sites who "commandeer personal Web pages and possibly inject malicious code." They look for flaws in sites' code that allows...
'Means streets' of cyberspace Most people online are "kind and supportive" and respectful community members, but there are some really nasty corners of the social Web, and Janet Kornblum zooms in on the why in a USATODAY article. She quotes Silicon Valley tech forecaster Paul Saffo as saying there are two ways to stand out among the online masses - to be really clever or really mean - and it's a lot easier, unfortunately, to be...
Canadians' digital connections They're "fast becoming a culture of technological chatterboxes," the Toronto Star reports. A recent national survey of nearly 1,100 Canadians by Angus Reid Strategies found that only 18% of people in Canada do not own a cellphone but, at the other end of the spectrum, 18% couldn't live without their mobile phone. As for email, 64% check it at least daily, and 31% "can't resist the temptation" to check...
Facebook & ID theft This is something for social networkers to be on the alert about: computer security and social engineering on social-networking sites (social engineering is what phishers and identity thieves use to trick people into making themselves and their devices vulnerable to hacks and ID theft). The latest warning signal concerns Facebook, which recently announced it's becoming a social-networking platform...
Music downloading unabated And I had thought file-sharing growth was tapering off. "Illegal music downloading is at an all-time high and set to rise further," The Guardian reports, citing the 4th-annual digital-music survey by Entertainment Media Research. Forty-three percent of respondents said they're downloading illegal songs, up from 36% last year and 40% in 2005. Meanwhile, fear of being caught has lessened. "This year...
Videogame tournament on TV Watch out, Masters and March Madness. This week CBS Sports broadcast the World Series of Video Games, held in Louisville, Ky., last month. Reporting the day before the series aired (Sunday), the New York Times says that "viewers flicking channels looking for a ballgame or golf tournament may instead encounter a couple of young guys rocking out on plastic guitars, or some (literally) disembodied digital...
Sex offenders in MySpace: Some context Last week Larry Magid and I co-wrote a commentary that ran in the San Jose Mercury News Sunday. Hundreds of news outlets worldwide had picked up the story that MySpace has deleted the profiles of 29,000 registered sex offenders. The news may have been shocking to a lot of parents of teen social networkers, so we felt parents deserved some perspective on this. Here's a slightly condensed version of...
Beef Jerky, Turkey Jerky, Alligator, Venison, Buffalo, Rattlesnake,... We have jerky from alligator to turkey. We carry only the best cuts of quality meats. We have done all the work for you,we have searched the United_States for only the best tasting jerky and put it all under one roof for you.
Online TV: The Boris & Friends Show! A few months ago Ronnie Overgoor told me he had plans for his own Internet Television station. He also wanted to know if I would be interested in having my own talkshow on his station. Well, you can imagine I didn’t hesitate to join his effort. Yesterday BlueShots.TV officially launched and you can watch my first [...]
A few months ago Ronnie Overgoor told me he had plans for his own Internet Television station. He also wanted to know if I would be interested in having my own talkshow on his station. Well, you can imagine I didn’t hesitate to join his effort.
Yesterday BlueShots.TV officially launched and you can watch my first talkshow right here. My first guests were Robert Gaal from Wakoopa and Pieter van der Does from Adyen.
Hope you enjoy the show. I had a lot of fun making it and I hope it shows…
The Flying Boat Imagine an entrepreneur, lets call him Jack, talking to his partners: “Let’s cross the ocean together! We could do that! We could discover undiscovered countries and become rich! All we have to do is build a boat. We are qualified, experienced and motivated. Jim, you have experience with the open sea and know how to navigate. [...]
Imagine an entrepreneur, lets call him Jack, talking to his partners:
“Let’s cross the ocean together! We could do that! We could discover undiscovered countries and become rich! All we have to do is build a boat. We are qualified, experienced and motivated. Jim, you have experience with the open sea and know how to navigate. Bob, you know about construction and materials, and I would be an excellent skipper because I know how to motivate people and set a course. Let’s just do it!”
And so they do. After months of hard work, they have a good looking boat. It is a bit heavy and during the construction process they had to sacrifice some of the more interesting features they had planned for lack of money or resources. Bob found some bugs in the hull but thinks these will disappear once they start sailing.
Unfortunately, they do have one serious problem. They spent all their money on the boat, and forgot to plan for food. They know the entire trip will take a few weeks so they need to bring plenty of water and food. Fortunately, Bob has a rich Uncle, and they decide to ask him to invest in their plan. They prepare a few sheets that guarantee a nice return on investment for Uncle Bob should he decide to invest.
One fine morning Uncle Bob comes walking up the pier to inspect the boat and talk about financing their trip. The boys are nervous and are waiting next to their vessel with their hats in their hands. Uncle Bob, an experienced entrepreneur who became rich from selling office furniture, looks at the ship approvingly and then turns to Bob and says:
“Why didn’t you build an airplane?”
Bob is speechless. He looks at his partners for help but they seem to just stand there - staring into the distance - as dumbfounded as he is. They all seem to realize it that instant; if the only goal was to cross the ocean, an airplane would have been a much more efficient way of doing it!
But there they are, standing at the end of the pier next to a shiny new boat, with no supplies, with their hats in their hands.
After Uncle Bob leaves, the three partners retreat to the nearest bar for an emergency meeting, and a few beers. Deep down they understand that the obvious thing to do, the only sensible thing really, is to forget about the boat, start all over and just build an airplane.
But Jack was looking forward to the trip and his role as skipper, and Bob spend so much time polishing the hull, and Jim has learned everything there was to know about currents, ocean navigation and the weather that they just can’t bring themselves to even suggest doing that.
So they decide to take what they have, and adapt to the new circumstances. They take all the components from the old plan and try to apply them to the new plan. This is what they ended up with:
OK - again I will be in Tulsa, Oklahoma from Thursday 7/17/08 through Friday 7/25/08. I go to Tulsa often to check on my properties, my Clients properties, and to look for more great deals. If you would like to meet me there for an Investor’s tour please contact me. Due to my tight schedule this month I will not be [...]
I will be in Tulsa, Oklahoma from Thursday 7/17/08 through Friday 7/25/08. I go to Tulsa often to check on my properties, my Clients properties, and to look for more great deals. If you would like to meet me there for an Investor’s tour please contact me.
Due to my tight schedule this month I will not be hosting the usual Rich Dad Cash Flow game. I expect to resume next month on August 30th (check here for details)
Remember that I do free investment analysis for any deal my Clients or Friends are considering. It’s critial to have a neutral set of eyes on a deal before you commit to it. If you do not understand a deal well enough to explain it to someone else, then you need to get more information before you put any money into it.
Eric Haggin 925 336-6462 7/11/2008
“Mobile” Homes As an Investor and as a Realtor I know the value of information and communication. I am posting this from an iPhone and haven’t needed my office computer all day. It’s great for me to be freed from the office. I see this as a potentially significant shift in how business is done. I find that my [...]
As an Investor and as a Realtor I know the value of information and communication. I am posting this from an iPhone and haven’t needed my office computer all day. It’s great for me to be freed from the office.
I see this as a potentially significant shift in how business is done. I find that my office is much less important than my access to the information at my office. I am a successful real estate Agent and I own multiple investment properties, all of which I can monitor from anywhere in the world.
There is still much to do, I need to re-format and redesign some of my systems to fully take advantage of the new paradyme. It’s a lot of fun and is truly beneficial to myself and my Clients.
Viva la Revolucion! We bought 15 iPhones in San Francisco last year for all our friends. Last Friday Patrick and I went to the T-Mobile store and bought iPhones. They didn’t have them in stock so we will have to wait for a few weeks before we actually get them. There are several reason why you could get [...]
We bought 15 iPhones in San Francisco last year for all our friends. Last Friday Patrick and I went to the T-Mobile store and bought iPhones. They didn’t have them in stock so we will have to wait for a few weeks before we actually get them. There are several reason why you could get an iPhone but I want to talk about one reason in particular in this post. By buying, using and developing for the iPhone right now you can participate in the start of a new era in computing.
Yep, I’m serious. The other reasons for wanting an iPhone are valid too and apply to me too. It is the mother of all shiny objects, a great tool and a nice phone and you just want one as soon as you hold one in your hands. But besides that the iPhone platform is also clearly the start of something new. And I want to be a part of that.
Early Apple computers (before the Macintosh) had serial ports and something called a Game Port. It could be used for digital and analog input and output and was very powerful. People would buy an Apple I or Apple II and hack around with these ports to build exiting stuff like printers or home automation tools. Back then it was clear to people that you could build practicably anything with these machines if you had some basic hard- and software knowledge and that was an extremely exciting prospect.
Now we have the iPhone. A lot of people are complaining about the closed character of the iPhone but I see it differently. Sure, things could improve a lot. The NDA should go and the App store should work more transparent and all that. But look at the possibilities for a moment and you will realize just how empowering this little computer is!
The early Apple computers had serial ports that let people do anything with their computers which was cool. The box itself could do a few basic things which were exciting but still fairly limited. Now look at the iPhone: developers have access to the Internet, the GPS chip and all the motion sensors. The touch, tilt and move interface is all there waiting for you to take advantage of. All you have to do is come up with an application that uses a few of these, freely available, technologies and built it.
Better yet; you don’t even have to worry about setting up an eShop, coming up with license fees, promotion, illegal copies or how to make your invention available to users. The App store handles everything for you.
So what you have is a phenomenon with unlimited possibilities, free tools to build applications, an app store that handles distribution, promotion and security and millions of eager users who can’t wait to play with your products, and pay for them too.
It is not often that a revolution takes place where you get a chance to participate. It happened, and is still happening, with the Internet and now it has just started with a new platform called the iPhone.
I just couldn’t resist becoming a part of that.
Free-Investing class-Monday May 19th It’s time for another one of my classes that I teach to local Realtors. “Real Estate Investing for Realtors” You are invited to attend. My goal is to help other Realtors serve their Investor clients. It’s been my experience that most Realtors have only very superficial knowledge about Real Estate Investing. I am changing that. In this class we [...]
It’s time for another one of my classes that I teach to local Realtors.
“Real Estate Investing for Realtors”
You are invited to attend. My goal is to help other Realtors serve their Investor clients. It’s been my experience that most Realtors have only very superficial knowledge about Real Estate Investing. I am changing that. In this class we talk about:
Market cycles
Needs evaluation for the Client
Market analysis (Cap rates, demographics,etc.)
Property analysis (valuation, due diligence,etc.)
Questions/Answers/Conversation
This is a FREE class open to any Realtor, and any of my Clients/Friends/Invitees (I present it so I make the rules)
You do not need to be a Realtor, if you are interested in rational real estate investing you are invited to attend.
It’s best to email or call to RSVP but it’s ok to just show-up.
When
Monday May 19th - 11am~1pm (it’s ok to leave early if necessary)
How I’m proved wrong by being right Often people tell me their ideas looking for criticism or confirmation. They will pitch me an idea and I will give feedback. I enjoy the process and always try to really put energy into wrapping my head around an idea. Lately I have been experiencing an interesting side effect of giving feedback during pitches; the opposite [...]
Often people tell me their ideas looking for criticism or confirmation. They will pitch me an idea and I will give feedback. I enjoy the process and always try to really put energy into wrapping my head around an idea.
Lately I have been experiencing an interesting side effect of giving feedback during pitches; the opposite of what I’m predicting happens because of what I am predicting.
What happens is that someone will casually pitch me a rather simple and raw idea. I think about if for a minute or so and, sensing a lack of real determination in the person pitching it, realize that the idea will never take off. I explain my thoughts and pessimistic view of the idea to the person doing the pitch. He or she feels slightly disappointed and maybe even insulted a bit.
A week passes by and this person comes back to me with more determination. He or she pitches their idea one more time and again I will respond negatively. Of course I will sense the entrepreneurs more determined attitude towards the idea but I will still see some major flaws. But by highlighting them I will maybe just inspire the entrepreneur to find solutions and become even more determined.
So, in both instances I am right that the idea won’t work. But by explaining this I change the situation and the chances of the idea working out.
I could of course simply say ‘Yeah, that will work’ to any idea I’m being pitched. But besides being impractical it would also probably have an adverse reaction and doom the project.
I don’t mind being wrong and I wish everybody all the wealth and successful projects in the world so there is no problem there. But what should I do when someone I like comes to me with an idea I really don’t think will work out?
Basically it is a small example of the Hawthorn Effect. The basic idea here is that people change their behavior when they know they are being observed.
What I’m wondering about is what I should do with this information. By influencing people I end up contradicting myself and I like being right about stuff. So, what is your advice?
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Pay: Box Office Manager and Deputies and Cashier Staff Temporary Staff - Winter Wonderland, Hyde Park We require: Box Office Manager Box Office Deputies Cashier Staff A Box Office Manager plus Deputies is being sought to manage the busy temporary box office and token booths for Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. Duties will include: Managing a group of 40 - 60 staff (20 on site at any one time). Overseeing ticket sales to ensure accurate and efficient sales processes are in place. Management and reconciliation of ticket stock. Completing periodic sales reports and reconciling end of day sales via use of the Ticketmaster system. Creating rota for box office staff to ensure all days / shifts are adequately covered. Management of Guest list. The Deputies will provide a supporting role, covering the role of Manager in his / her absence. You will have relevant experience in a box office environment, ideally with a good working knowledge of the Ticketmaster system, although Ticketmaster training will be provided. Good Customer service skills are required. Cashier Staff A small team of cashiers are needed to work in the temporary finance office at Winter Wonderland, Hyde Park. Duties will include: Collation of revenues from ticket booths and reconciling to tokens issued. Preparation of daily collection of income for G4S. Ensuring the token redemption for fairground operators is accurate and efficient. Completing daily income / expenditure spreadsheets. Previous experience of working on box offices / festivals would be preferable, but accuracy and reliability are key to this role. Staff will be needed from mid-November 2008 until 5th January 2009 and the event is open from 10am until 10pm every day except Christmas Day. The roles will be on a shift basis covering the hours of 9am until 11pm
We'd like to take this opportunity to thank Diane for her many contributions to Blawg Review, having now hosted four outstanding presentations -- #43, #94, #130 and #181. Behind the scenes, in her role as a Blawg Review Sherpa, Diane has made contributions to many other issues of Blawg Review, too. So, speaking for myself and all the other Blawg Review hosts she's helped along the way, we'd like to say thanks a bunch and give you this extra little bit of link love to show our heartfelt appreciation.
Tomorrow I'll start my day by reading, and giving my own readers a head's up on what looks to be one of the best Blawg Reviews of the year by the best ADR blogger ever.
(totally unrelated photo; just getting my iPhone photos from Paris in the mix)
But what a Blawg Review Diane has given us. Thank goodness it's Columbus Day or I'd be short-changing my actual work-work by reading #181 half the day and its links the other half of the day. And don't expect Diane to limit herself to mediation. Most of us are also lawyers, after all, so she also covers the best legal posts of the week on the topic of the law, legal practice, life as lawyers -- the "whole catastrophe" as Zorba said.
I watched the debate last night with people who support my candidate. They all also happened to be mediators, so they understand concepts like confirmation bias --the tendency to search for or interpret new information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions and avoids information and interpretations which contradict prior beliefs. It is a type of cognitive bias and represents an error of inductive inference, or as a form of selection bias toward confirmation of the hypothesis under study or disconfirmation of an alternative hypothesis.
I've been Twittering (shoot me! this is addictive behavior). But all behavior has it's "up" side. The "up" side to following my Twitter network's running real-time commentary of the debate was the exposure of my own (and my friends') confirmation bias. I have both McCain and Obama supporters in my network and it was as if the two groups were watching entirely different debates. And they were.
Because nothing is objective. Let me repeat that. Nothingis objective. Everything we hear, see, touch, smell and taste is filtered through our entirely personal experiences, the collective or "received" reality of the society (micro or macro) in which we live, and interpreted based upon those experiences, which are further complicated by universal cognitive biases and particular core beliefs (our "operating principles").
If nothing is objective, there is no truth beyond that which one has faith in. ("faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.")
Yes, I know, the scientific method. But you and I don't test our beliefs, opinions, perceptions and conceptions by the scientific method. We hear, we see, we smell, we taste, we touch and we respond. We opine. We believe we are right.
So I said to my friends in the middle of the debate, "we're an example of "confirmation bias" and they took issue with me. And I let it go because I wanted to listen more than to impose my own view of our collective experience. And I was Twittering, lord help me, with some people who didn't share my bias.
I missed statements made by McCain entirely. It was if I hadn't even heard them. I was listening to confirm that which I already believed, which means I screened out what didn't fit my view of McCain or Obama and highlighted those statements that confirmed my existing beliefs.
This is what happens every time you try a case to a jury. It's why the little "g" god of the market place created jury consultants. It is also what happens everytime you try to settle litigation. Litigation raises confirmation bias to holy writ. Which is why the little "g" god of the market place created mediators. Why? Because the client has filtered his opening story through his own subjective experiences, which we, the litigators, devote ourselves to proving by cherry-picking the facts that conform to those experiences and disputing all those that don't. By the time the parties and their counsel get to me, they're often in different galaxies. And I need to help them remember, or realize for the first time, that their opponent has woven the disparate facts of "what happened" into an entirely different story, and has done so without "lying" about those events. Just as importantly, the parties come to understand that a jury might well "buy" their opponents tale as the "right" one.
Here's the more important point to getting a better deal: your opponent is often nearly as interested in your acknowledgement that his version of the events might be as accurate as yours as he is in "winning" the case. When (or if) the parties clear this hurdle, they can get down to serious horse trading, benefitting both.
So, forget the pundits. If you believe your guy "won" last night, it's probably equal parts a measured opinion and a peculiarly subjective experience, one that you do not even know you've tailored to fit your own view of reality.
I like Obama because I believe he acknowledges this from time to time. Not always. But often enough to make me feel comfortable with him in a White House. Am I right? How could I possibly be? We won't know anything until one of these men moves from campaigning to governing.
After eight years of catastrophic Republican misrule—in the midst of economic crisis and rising unemployment, in a nation plagued by ruinous energy costs and inflation, bank failures, and staggering public and private corruption—an eloquent, charismatic, intelligent Democratic candidate was locked in a statistical tie with a doddering old hack whose primary argument for his claim to the most powerful office on earth is that he was shot down over Vietnam and tortured for five years. Indeed, this remained the case even after McCain demonstrated beyond all doubt, in his impetuous selection of a ludicrously unsuitable vice- presidential candidate, that he lacked the good judgment that is the primary qualification for the job. If the Democratic Party loses this election, then it should forever concede the presidency.
Ouch! I read this magazine for the same reason I watch Fox News. To upset my own comfortable ideologies. That's the trouble with us liberals -- we're always fretting about being fair, when, according to Harper's Roger Hodge we're just a big bunch of conflict-avoidant pussies.
Conflict in politics is not a metaphor, and as with any fight, the audience is likely to get involved. That is the essence of politics. A campaign that decides in advance that voters are tired of negative campaigning, that they are sick of partisan attacks and will respond only to positive messages, has stupidly left the field of battle. The people who truly dislike political combat are presumably among the 95 million who do not vote. Senator Barack Obama, a sophisticated and intelligent man with sophisticated and intelligent advisers, promises to change Washington, to eliminate the tone of partisan rancor, to foster a new spirit of brotherhood and cooperation. Poor lamb, he wishes to lie down with lions. But the Kingdom has not come.
The answer?
Attack!!
Unfortunately, the sovereign voter can do little, on his own, to remedy the situation, especially if he happens not to live in Florida or Ohio. Yes, he can make a campaign contribution, a slightly more effective form of voting, but unless the Obama campaign decides to wage a more creative and destructive war, casting monetary ballots remains an empty gesture. (Of course one can also join the battle personally, perhaps by repeating the rumors about John McCain’s Alz heimer’s meds or the Sarah Palin sex tape.) Ultimately, we return to the problem of political will, to the Democratic Party, to the commitment of its party bosses to prevail, finally, in this election.
We can hope for change, that the Republicans will make some fatal error, or that Obama’s party will fight hard enough to persuade a decisive number of “low information” voters that John McCain is not only a liar but a menace to our children’s future. Recent precedents, however, are not encouraging. The Republican Party lied its way through eight years of criminal misrule while Democrats mostly just cowered in a back room. Now, faced with a clumsy deception about whether Sarah Palin sought an earmark for a small town in Alaska, Obama exclaims, “Come on! I mean, words mean something, you can’t just make stuff up.” Oh, yes, Barack, we can.
In the same issue that suggests we dirty our hands by calling John McCain a liar and the Bush administration's "misrule" criminal, we read that Obama is a detached blank screen upon which voters can project any quality they like (or dislike) because . . . well . . . his mother was lonely and so is he:
Obama wants to believe in the common good as a way of providing a fullness to experience that avoids the slide into nihilism. But sometimes I don’tknow if he knows what belief is and what it would be to hold such a belief. It all seems so distant and opaque. The persistent presence of the mother’s dilemma—the sense of loneliness,doubt, and abandonment—seems palpable and ineliminable. We must believe, but we can’t believe. Perhaps this is the tragedy that some of us see in Obama: a change we can believe in and the crushing realization that nothing will change.
This is usually the point at which my own McCain-supporting mother breaks in with "honey, you know, you can think too much." And after years, decades really, of finding this refrain irritating, I finally agree with her about the thinking part if not about her taste in Presidential candidates.
Like the Obama caricatured in this month's Harpers as an ineffective dreamer as intent on replacing his deceased mother's lack of faith with liberal-Christian-do-gooding as Oliver Stone suggests "W" was intent on finally pleasing Daddy, I simply choose to have faith in the stated values of the Democratic party. I continue to believe that over time, we can do better as a nation through consensus and problem-solving, collaboration and compromise, than we can by adopting the tactics of the world's strong-arm leaders and disciples of discord.
The Good News
Assuming that the guy I think Obama is -- highly educated, articulate, and idealistically dedicated to serving the common welfare -- actually exist on the political scene (and I will not give up this faith any more readily that others would renounce their own religions) I believe them to be riding the bow-wave of transformation. I have staked my professional life on this faith in my fellows' ability to work toward the common good, abandoning the extremely lucrative practice of legal battle in exchange for the far less financially rewarding practice of collaborative negotiated conflict resolution.
Who are the real cowards here and who the heroes? People who refuse to negotiate face-to-face "without pre-condition" ("we won't discuss settlement unless they're willing to put $10 million on the table first") and without the protection of several layers of legal counsel? Or those who are willing to test the rectitude of their "position" by sitting across a table with their opponent to frankly discuss their mutual role in whatever commercial or personal catastrophe flowed from the intersection at which their (mis)fortunes collided?
So I will continue to brave reading Harpers (which discourages me) and risk the challenge to my world view of Fox News commentary (which so often enrages me) on the off-chance that my religion -- tolerance; compassion; collective effort; empathy and the like, has more staying power than the religion of hate; discord; and, denial.
And I will also continue to believe that none of us could ever possibly be right.
The first thing we mediators are taught (after digesting the imperative to "be conscious") is that people in conflict need to be in an atmosphere of hope and safety to be able to: (1) recognize the point of view of another; (2) be accountable for his/her own "part" in the dispute; and, (3) generate creative solutions to bust past impasse.
Perhaps the good times are in fact dead. And certainly someone thinking of forming the umpteenth "Web 2.0-widget-to-grab-audience-and-find-advertisers" ought to pause to think whether they really have some kind of defined competitive advantage that can translate into a sustainable business.
But real customers continue to face real problems. And as always, innovators who figure out different ways to solve those problems--and make money doing so--will have opportunities to create new growth businesses. In fact, the creative destruction unleashed by a crisis always opens up opportunities for innovation.
As a simple example, consider a New York based startup called On Deck Capital, Inc. As described in Monday's Wall Street Journal, the company loans money to small businesses. Instead of relying on individual loan officers to pour over episodic financial information and make decisions, the company has an algorithmic approach that uses software to analyze a company's day-to-day activities in a non-obtrusive way to assess credit worthiness. Its loans feature higher interest rates than loans from most banks, but lower than alternative sources.
The company launched in May, and has already distributed $10 million in loans. It has suffered very few defaults. The current credit crisis and hesitancy of many banks to loan to even the best-run small businesses creates substantial opportunity for On Deck to extend its model.
Llssez le bon temps roulez!
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Helion’s Ashish Gupta: How I Became An Entrepreneur Ashish Gupta is co-founder of Helion Venture Partners, a India focused venture capital firm with a $140 million venture fund. Ashish is an entrepreneur turned investor and is one of the few investors...
Life, People and Ideas: Connecting Indian diaspora across the world.
Desconectados Nuestro amigo Alejandro Ferrada -parte del equipo de ITSur- se contactó ayer conmigo para contarme una historia de lo más mona. Sucede que el jueves pasado, Alejandro se quedó sin servicio de telefonía e Internet. Como cualquier cristiano, llamó a su proveedor -Telefónica- donde con la diligencia que les caracteriza le infomaron que se tomarían al [...]
Nuestro amigo Alejandro Ferrada -parte del equipo de ITSur- se contactó ayer conmigo para contarme una historia de lo más mona.
Sucede que el jueves pasado, Alejandro se quedó sin servicio de telefonía e Internet. Como cualquier cristiano, llamó a su proveedor -Telefónica- donde con la diligencia que les caracteriza le infomaron que se tomarían al menos 3 días hábiles para reflexionar en cómo resolver su predicamento.
Hasta aquí (tristemente) nada raro. Sin embargo al conversar con sus vecinos nuestro héroe se percató de que no era sólo su casa a la que Telefónica suspendió el servicio, sino a todas las casas del sector Los Pioneros en San Pedro de la Paz. Algo así como unas 470 viviendas.
Angustiado porque tras una semana, una veintena de llamados y amenazas de quemarse a lo bonzo la empresa continúa sin darse por enterada, Alejandro encontró el origen del desaguisado: irresponsablemente, Telefónica instaló el conmutador dentro de uno de los edificios, el que tras una desaveniencia con su administración fue dejado sin energía y -por ende- a todo el sector sin comunicaciones.
Lindo como suena ustedes se preguntarán por qué Alejandro y sus vecinos no se cambian a otro proveedor. La respuesta es simple: no hay otro. Telefónica es el único que llega a su sector, pese a ser densamente residencial.
Ahora, fuera de la conclusión obvia de que la calidad del servicio de Telefónica sigue sin quitarnos la capacidad de asombro, es interesante como este caso demuestra un triple-pack de cómo algunas cosas no pueden dejarse al arbitrio del mercado:
1) ¿Y… dónde quedó la competencia?
Cuando pregunté al subsecretario Bello el mes pasado por qué no se avanzaba en la desagregación de redes (explicada burdamente como el subarrendar los cables a cualquier proveedor), nuestra autoridad espetó que no es necesario pues en Chile la concentración de Telefónica alcanza “sólo” al 60% y hay una “activa competencia”.
Honestamente, ¿cuántos sectores conocen ustedes donde sólo hay dos, uno o ningún proveedor? Sin ir más lejos cuando viví en Santiago, a sólo cuadras de Plaza Italia, mi única opción era Telefónica (que además se negaba a proporcionarme una línea porque no tenía 3 meses de residencia).
¿No sería más lógico que todas las redes sean “subarrendables” y se abra la competencia a todos los proveedores de forma efectiva? ¿Por qué se insiste con tanta vehemencia en concentrar el mercado en un puñado de empresas?
2) ¿Y… dónde está la punta de mis pies?
Telefónica es la evidencia de cómo las megaempresas se despersonalizan al punto de no verse la cola. No sólo su caos organizacional le impide responder en un tiempo razonable (incluso a las empresas tardan más de una semana en enviar una simple cotización), sino que su centro de atención está declarado uno de los 5 lugares más infernales para trabajar en Chile.
Peor aún, empresas como Telefónica tienen tan claro su volumen de clientes y, más todavía, de clientes forzosos, que simplemente no les importan.
Según averiguaciones internas del propio Alejandro, un contacto en Telefónica le confesó que la empresa estaba muy al tanto de lo que sucedía pero que “por 300 casas no iban a mover un dedo”.
Además, ¿para qué hacerlo?… no se van a ir a ningún lado.
3) ¿Y… dónde quedó la estrategia-país?
Finalmente, uno no puede dejar de preguntarse cuán extraviados estamos como país si no tenemos una legislación que tome en serio a Internet.
Nuevamente fue el secretario Bello quien afirmó durante la presentación del Barómetro Cisco que no era necesario declarar a la red un servicio público pues “no tienen la misma importancia”.
Ciertamente no podría ser como el gallego que prefiere que le corten la electricidad a Internet (ja), pero es una contradicción a todos los discursos oficiales el que se declaren los servicios digitales como claves para el desarrollo y no tengamos todavía un modelo que asegure la calidad y continuidad de los mismos.
Sólo el mes pasado y gracias a nuestro buen senador Fernando Flores la ley que se tramitaba al respecto en el Congreso pasó a hibernar nuevamente, sin contar el fracaso del ISP de la Educación porque el único oferente -exacto, Telefónica- no estaba dispuesto a garantizar el ancho de banda que se le exigía.
¿Y qué hacemos mientras quienes nuestro trabajo o educación depende de la fiabilidad de Internet? Pues seguir esperando como Alejandro. Desconectados.
Flower Silliman on Baghdadi Jews of India Flower Silliman is a third generation Baghdadi Jew, who was born and brought up in Calcutta, India. During World War II, Flower’s family sent her to study in a Christian school in Nagpur and...
Life, People and Ideas: Connecting Indian diaspora across the world.
Los abusos de la SCD explicados en video Para todos quienes les da flojera leer. Corrección a mi mismo: la SCD no se queda con los 190 millones por derecho de autor del concierto de Madonna, sino con “sólo” el 20% por gastos administrativos, es decir, 38.4 millones de pesos. Así da gusto facturar.
Para todos quienes les da flojera leer.
Corrección a mi mismo: la SCD no se queda con los 190 millones por derecho de autor del concierto de Madonna, sino con “sólo” el 20% por gastos administrativos, es decir, 38.4 millones de pesos.
Así da gusto facturar.
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St. Louis Post Dispatch Endorses Obama This endorsement marks a watershed moment in this Presidential election. I lived in St Louis County for eight years. It is an extremely conservative and racially divided community. This is a moment that is similar to the time when Barack won the Potomac Primary.Virgina and Maryland had long been bastions of southern racial hate. That [...]
This endorsement marks a watershed moment in this Presidential election. I lived in St Louis County for eight years. It is an extremely conservative and racially divided community. This is a moment that is similar to the time when Barack won the Potomac Primary.Virgina and Maryland had long been bastions of southern racial hate. That was the moment I realized Obama was going all the way to the White House.I predicted his win after that primary. And now St Louis, of all places, has their leading daily newspaper backing a black for the highest office in the nation.
It is about change. People have changed attitudes about racial matters. I remember being in San Diego for a football game. I saw a young white boy wearing a James Harris football jersey, I was shocked. Today white people proudly wear, jerseys of many black stars. Who among us that were around when OJ ran through airports for Hertz, did not do a second look. Today we have blacks in jobs that have become commonplace, that at one time were all white. TV news readers, cops, CEOs, Quarterbacks, head coaches, leading politicians, etc.
All of that is wonderful and noteworthy, but when a conservative city’s leading paper endorses Obama, I sense a desperate fear of more of the same and the mess we are in. Read this editorial taken from the Post Dispatch to see a wonder analysis on why Barack is the best man for the job.
Nine Days before the Feb. 5 presidential primaries in Missouri and Illinois, this editorial page endorsed Barack Obama and John McCain in their respective races.We did so enthusiastically. We wrote that either Mr. Obama’s message of hope or Mr. McCain’s independence and integrity offered America “the chance to turn the page on 28 years of contentious, greed-driven politics and move into a new era of possibility.” Over the past nine months, Mr. Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, has emerged as the only truly transformative candidate in the race. In the crucible that is a presidential campaign, his intellect, his temperament and equanimity under pressure consistently have been impressive. He has surrounded himself with smart, capable advisers who have helped him refine thorough, nuanced policy positions. In a word, Mr. Obama has been presidential. Meanwhile, Mr. McCain, the senior senator from Arizona, became the incredible shrinking man. He shrank from his principled stands in favor of a humane immigration policy. He shrank from his universal condemnation of torture and his condemnation of the politics of smear. He even shrank from his own campaign20slogan, “Country First,” by selecting the least qualified running mate since the Swedenborgian shipbuilder Arthur Sewall ran as William Jennings Bryan’s No. 2 in 1896. In making political endorsements, this editorial page is guided first by the principles espoused by Joseph Pulitzer in The Post-Dispatch Platform printed daily at the top of this page. Then we consider questions of character, life experience and intellect, as well as specific policy and issue positions. Each member of the editorial board weighs in. On all counts, the consensus was clear: Barack Obama of Illinois should be the next president of the United States. We didn’t know nine months ago that before Election Day, America would face its greatest economic challenge since the Great Depression. The crisis on Wall Street is devastating, but it has offered voters a useful preview of how the two presidential candidates would respond to a crisis. Very early on, Mr. Obama reached out to his impressive corps of economic advisers and developed a comprehensive set of recommendations for addressing the problems. He set them forth calmly and explained them carefully. Mr. McCain, a longtime critic of government regulation, was late to recognize the threat. The chief economic adviser of his campaign initially was former Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, who had been one of the architects of banking deregulation. When the credit markets imploded, Mr. McCain lurched from one ineffectual grandstand play to another. He squandered the one clear advantage he had over Mr. Obama: experience. Mr. McCain first was elected to Congress in 1982 when Mr. Obama was in his senior year at Columbia University. Yet the younger man’s intellectual curiosity and capacity - and, yes, also the skills he developed as a community organizer and his instincts as a political conciliator - more than compensate for his lack of more traditional Washington experience. A presidency is defined less by what happens in the Oval Office than by what is done by the more than 3,0 00 men and women the president appoints to government office. Only 600 of them are subject to Senate approval. The rest serve at the pleasure of the president. We have little doubt that Mr. Obama’s appointees would bri ng a level of competence, compassion and intellectual achievement to the executive branch that hasn’t been seen since the New Frontier. He has energized a new generation of Americans who would put the concept of service back in “pub lic service.”Consider that while Mr. McCain selected as his running mate Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, a callow and shrill partisan, Mr. Obama selected Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware. Mr. Biden’s 35-year Senate career has given him encyclopedic expertise on legislative and judicial issues, as well as foreign affairs.The idea that 3,000 bright, dedicated and accomplished Americans would be joining the Obama administration to serve the public - as opposed to padding their resumés or shilling for the corporate interests they’re sworn to oversee - is reassuring. That they would be serving a president who actually would listen to them20is staggering. And the fact that Mr. Obama can explain his thoughts and policies in language that can instruct and inspire is exciting. Eloquence isn’t everything in a president, but it is not nothing, either. Experience aside, the 25-year difference in the ages of Mr. McCain, 72, and Mr. Obama, 47, is important largely because Mr. Obama’s election would represent a generational shift. He would be the first chief executive in more than six decades whose worldview was not formed, at least in part, by the Cold War or Vietnam.He sees the complicated world as it is today, not as a binary division between us and them, but as a kaleidoscope of shifting alliances and interests. As he often notes, he is the son of a Kenyan father and a mother from Kansas, an internationalist who yet acknowledges that America is the only nation in the world in which someone of his distinctly modest background could rise as far as his talent, intellect and hard work would take him. Given the damage that has been done to Ameri ca’s moral standing in the world in the last eight years - by a preemptory war, a unilateralist foreign policy and by policies that have treated both the Geneva Conventions and our own Bill of Rights as optional - Mr. Obama’s election would help America reclaim the moral high ground. It also must be said that Mr. Obama is right on the issues. He was right on the war in Iraq. He is right that all Americans deserve access to health care and right in his pragmatic approach to meeting that goal. He is right on tax policy, infrastructure investment, energy policy and environmental issues. He is right on American ideals. He was right when he said in his remarkable speech in March in Philadelphi a that “In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world’s great religions demand: that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother’s keeper, Scripture tel ls us. Let us be our sister’s keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.” John McCain has served his country well, but in the end, he may have wanted the presidency a little too much, so much that he has sacrificed some of the principles that made him a heroic figure in war and in peace. In every way possible, he has earned the right to retire. Finally, only at this late point do we note that Barack Obama is an African-American. Because of who he is and how he has run his campaign, that fact has become almost incidental to most Americans. Instead, his countrymen are weighing his talents, his values and his beliefs, judging him not by the color of his skin, but the content of his character. That says something profound and good - about him as a candidate and about us as a nation
We’re On The Move! Big changes again over this past month. We’ve moved into the Exist offices in Ortigas and look to be kicking off a new phase in our team’s development as a real technology lab. I’m pretty excited about how it’s all coming together, although I can’t really talk about some of the finer details until everything’s [...]
Big changes again over this past month. We’ve moved into the Exist offices in Ortigas and look to be kicking off a new phase in our team’s development as a real technology lab. I’m pretty excited about how it’s all coming together, although I can’t really talk about some of the finer details until everything’s been finalized.
What I can say is that I’ve started coming into the office every day, something which I had serious doubts about during the weeks leading up to all this. One of my defining personality traits characteristics, I think, is a predilection for New Stuff though, and this sudden change of environment is about as New as it gets. Just the act of getting into the car at 8am every day has been a personal feat, although I have to say that I’ve been enjoying it a lot more than I expected. (The work, not the driving-to-work.)
Prior to October, the team and I were in the office twice a week at the most, and only about 4-5 hours at a time. Now we’re suddenly pulling full 8-hour days. (Last Friday, I was there for 12.) Granted, the new office is a lot spiffier than the old one, and I suppose the fact that there are lots of new people to talk to and get to know has a lot to do with it as well. Anyway, exciting times for all.
We’ve been working on a new labs project that should be ready for release in a week or so. (It isn’t a 24-hour app, as you can probably guess.) We’ve actually got 3 apps in the oven at the moment, but because of the transition, we haven’t been able to focus on them. Also, we’re hoping to really put some serious time on to Octales, and get that over the line and into a real public beta very soon.
Legalities: No more small print Companies will need to review their standard contracts, terms and conditions as the new Consumer Protection Bill targets companies that use unfair, unreasonable or unjust contractual terms. Director, Aslam Moosajee discusses.
Ebook websites - Adolix Releases eCover Engineer 5.5, the Latest Version of Their Cover - PR.com Unexplained Weight Loss Unhealthy Diet Urban Workout Dvd Vegan Diet Vegan Diets - Adolix Releases eCover Engineer 5.5, the Latest Version of Their Cover - PR.comAdolix has just announced the release of eCover Engineer 5.5. The program allows users to generate cover designs for everything from eBooks to pizza boxes. Springfield, MO, June 03, 2008 –( [...]
Adolix Releases eCover Engineer 5.5, the Latest Version of Their Cover - PR.com Adolix has just announced the release of eCover Engineer 5.5. The program allows users to generate cover designs for everything from eBooks to pizza boxes. Springfield, MO, June 03, 2008 –( PR.com )– Adolix software has just announced the newest
Ingot Mold and Metal Casting Molds How To’s Just Released - PR Inside Metal Casting Zone has just released a new Forum section of their website that has all of the informative questions and answers on Metal Casting Molds, Ingot Molds, and other Cold Molds. This is part of a new forum on the metal casting community
Sender E-mail - DailyTech Amazon’s Kindle reader gets an infusion of book titles. After announcing in April it replenished its supply of the Kindle eBook reader , Amazon announced the Simon & Schuster Inc. book publisher will release more than 5,000 additional titles for the
Amazon Weaves Tale of Digital Short Stories - TechNewsWorld No digital rights management software is needed to read the stories, which Amazon said will lead to a “frictionless viewing experience.” The works are copyrighted, however, leaving open the possibility of infringing activities by users, such as
Investment Techniques for Volatile Markets - Hedge Fund Manager - Onlypunjab.com Helping Hands eBooks announces the publication of its new eBook Invest and Grow Rich - NOW, Everyone’s Guide to POWER INVESTING in 2008. This eBook is focused on providing ordinary investors the knowledge and the means to earn extraordinary results
Recently in Portable Devices Category - MobileWhack.com We first laid our eyes on the Samsung SGH-F480 and its new TouchWiz interface back in MWC 2008. We were promised a April/May release date and true to their word, Samsung has announced that the 5-megapixel shooter is now headed to Europe. No word on
Featured PRFirm - PRWeb You do not need any permission to link to any of the pages on this site. Limited copyright is granted for you to use and/or republish any of the press releases on this site for any legitimate media purpose as long as you reference PRWeb as the source
Jewelry Casting and Jewelry Making Supplies How To’s Just Released - PR Inside Metal Casting Zone has just released a new Forum section of their website that has all of the informative questions and answers on Jewelry Casting, Jewelry Making Supplies, and other Jewelry Tools. This is part of a new forum on the metal casting
Moving the goalposts The updated Road Accident Fund and Medical Schemes discussed by Director David Kapelus of Deneys Reitz
Legal Era The enactment of new legislation promises to usher in a new era for local consumers.Director, Donald Dinnie explains.
Ebooks - NewPage Announces Preferred Media Partnership With the Hewlett-Packard - MSN MoneyCentral Vegetarian Diet Vegetarian Diets Vegetarian Weight Loss Vicky Entwistle ‘Wow’ Weight Off Workout Vinegar Weight Loss - NewPage Announces Preferred Media Partnership With the Hewlett-Packard - MSN MoneyCentralMIAMISBURG, Ohio, June 4 /PRNewswire/ — NewPage Corporation announced today that it has signed a preferred partner agreement with the Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) to expand the capabilities [...]
In Korea, put business cards on table - Baltimore Sun Jeffrey Jones knows all too well the hazards of committing a misstep in business card etiquette in Korea’s corporate world. Jones, a longtime Seoul resident and attorney with the Asian country’s largest law firm, Kim & Chang, recalls one negotiation
Apple seals iPhone deal with Softbank - Daily Telegraph Japanese mobile phone operator SoftBank has agreed a deal with Apple to sell the iPhone in Japan for the first time, executives confirmed on Wednesday. It’s the strongest indication yet that Apple will be unveiling a 3G version of its coveted handset
For poor, a gaping digital divide - Chicago Tribune Paula Marie thought computers were just for important people. So she never logged on to the Internet or Googled anyone. “I didn’t even know how to use a mouse,” she said. Desperation three years ago forced Marie, 54, to jump across the “digital
DailyLit Offers Free Harlequin Romance Novel - PR Newswire MAMARONECK, N.Y., June 2 /PRNewswire/ — DailyLit ( www.dailylit.com ), the leading digital publisher and service that allows entire books to be read via short email/RSS installments, has released a front list Harlequin romance novel that is part of
Full Description - Reuters SOFTBANK CORP. is a Japan-based company that provides digital information services.The Company has six business segments. The Mobile Communication segment provides cellular phone services and sells attached cellular phone terminals. The Broadband and
CORRECTING and REPLACING Shutterfly Hires Geoffrey Weber as VP of - Forbes Shutterfly, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFLY), the leading Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service, today announced the appointment of Geoffrey Weber as vice president of Internet Operations. Mr. Weber will be responsible for leading all
Blind patrons rely on library - Detroit News CLINTON TOWNSHIP — Louis Souvigney can’t just hop into his car and drive to his local library to check out books like most people. The 79-year-old from Macomb Township is visually impaired, like hundreds of others in Macomb County. So he’s come to
Restock the Bar: Kansas City Barbeque If you have memories of the Kansas City Barbeque in San Diego, you have certainly been told by now that a fire gutted the building Thursday. From SD Union-Tribune: The fire broke out about 2:15 p.m. in the restaurant on West Market Street, located across the street from the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel towers and near [...]
If you have memories of the Kansas City Barbeque in San Diego, you have certainly been told by now that a fire gutted the building Thursday. From SD Union-Tribune:
The fire broke out about 2:15 p.m. in the restaurant on West Market Street, located across the street from the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel towers and near Seaport Village. It initially created so much smoke that clouds of it could be seen billowing behind Petco Park, where the Padres were playing an afternoon baseball game.
But (assuming you’ve been there) remember the memorabilia that lined the ceiling and walls? What if you could be a part of re-building that much of the KC BBQ? Because if you have not heard the great news, Martin & Cindy are rebuilding.
Let’s Restock the KC BBQ. Do you have a cap from your ship or squadron, an old picture of friends in the barbeque? Why not take part in restoring the KC BBQ. What kind of place would it be without the ton of little things that created the physical atmosphere.
Here is the location/contact information for KC barbeque in the interim, but I’ll try to contact Martin & Cindy to see how we can help, and just where we can deliver “Restock the KC BBQ” items.
Stay tuned (and start checking your closets and attic for what you’ll send) and if you have a memory of the Kansas City Barbeque, please share it (as well as anything helpful to the Restock effort) in the comments below.
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Slippery Slopes #7: Hard Work There is just no substitute for hard work. Well, other than – a head start; bias in your favor; a trust fund; plagiarism copy and paste; working for your uncle; rebuttable presumptions; sub-contracting; being a president’s kid; and that whole ‘rather lucky than good’ thing. ���
There is just no substitute for hard work. Well, other than –
a head start; bias in your favor; a trust fund; plagiarism copy and paste; working for your uncle; rebuttable presumptions; sub-contracting; being a president’s kid; and that whole ‘rather lucky than good’ thing.
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Kansas Gambling Law is Constitutional Per the Kansas Supreme Court’s press release of June 27, 2008: RE: Case No. 99,957: State ex rel. Stephen Six v. Kansas Lottery and Ed Van Petten The state Supreme Court today upheld the constitutionality of the 2007 Kansas Expanded Lottery Act (KELA). The Court, in a 22-page unanimous opinion authored by Justice Eric S. Rosen, said [...]
Per the Kansas Supreme Court’s press release of June 27, 2008:
RE: Case No. 99,957: State ex rel. Stephen Six v. Kansas Lottery and Ed Van Petten
The state Supreme Court today upheld the constitutionality of the 2007 Kansas Expanded Lottery Act (KELA).
The Court, in a 22-page unanimous opinion authored by Justice Eric S. Rosen, said that “while the state is not the exclusive owner and operator of all aspects of the lottery enterprise under KELA, the state owns and operates the enterprise itself and owns and operates key elements of the lottery,” thus complying with 1986 constitutional amendments.
A summary of the opinion is here, or read the full text.
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SoloSmallTech Thank me later. Sam is writing SoloSmallTech, and while the name says so much, I’m going to tell you all you need to know. Here are the categories in SST’s sidebar: - Be More Productive - Go Paperless - Online Marketing - Presentations - Save Money So, go there. Prosper. (You’ll be glad you did.) ��� [...]
Thank me later. Sam is writing SoloSmallTech, and while the name says so much, I’m going to tell you all you need to know. Here are the categories in SST’s sidebar:
Top 9 Web Apps in your Sidebar Firefox and Opera browsers allow you bookmarking option to open in sidebar. For Firefox, bookmark, then in properties, check “load this bookmark in the sidebar”. Opera users, just check “Show in panel” for the same result. The sidebar ultra-handy view is great for a number of web applications: Google mobile view: no doubt, you’ve seen this [...]
Firefox and Opera browsers allow you bookmarking option to open in sidebar. For Firefox, bookmark, then in properties, check “load this bookmark in the sidebar”. Opera users, just check “Show in panel” for the same result.
The sidebar ultra-handy view is great for a number of web applications:
Google mobile view: no doubt, you’ve seen this on your phone; with search, maps, iGoogle, youtube, calendar … what’s not to love;
Gmail mobile: in case you don’t have it in 9 other places already;
Google mobile Reader: personal preference will tell you quickly rather you prefer your reader here or its regular spot;
Google mobile Notebook: if you’re a researcher or web-clipper of any magnitude, the notebook belongs in your sidebar;
Slippery Slopes #6: the looping jingle Upon requesting a Slippery Slopes guest post from a friend, I immediately received the following response: I can never think of things on the spot like this… I do know, however, that if you get a crappy song stuck in your head, start singing Aerosmith’s, “Sweet Emotion” and voila! the other song will disappear. That’s like my [...]
Upon requesting a Slippery Slopes guest post from a friend, I immediately received the following response:
I can never think of things on the spot like this…
I do know, however, that if you get a crappy song stuck in your head, start singing Aerosmith’s, “Sweet Emotion” and voila! the other song will disappear. That’s like my best discovery ever.
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Slippery Slopes A lot of people have told me washing their car makes it rain. If that were true, it seems like it would rain more. What are they trying to hide? ���
A lot of people have told me washing their car makes it rain. If that were true, it seems like it would rain more. What are they trying to hide?
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Walnut Valley Festival - Winfield If you are unfamiliar, the Walnut Valley Festival is underway in Winfield, Sep. 17-21. In their own words The Walnut Valley Association was formed in 1972,with its sole purpose to produce the Walnut Valley National Guitar Flat-Picking Championships Festival, also known as the Flat-Picking Championships, currently known as the “Walnut Valley Festival” or simply “Winfield” to [...]
If you are unfamiliar, the Walnut Valley Festival is underway in Winfield, Sep. 17-21. In their own words
The Walnut Valley Association was formed in 1972,with its sole purpose to produce the Walnut Valley National Guitar Flat-Picking Championships Festival, also known as the Flat-Picking Championships, currently known as the “Walnut Valley Festival” or simply “Winfield” to the long time attendees.
Evolving from 2 days in 1972 to its current 4-days the 3rd weekend of September annually, it endeavors to produce “family fare” entertainment on 4 stages simultaneously, a large quality, juried arts and crafts fair, workshops, and acoustic instrument contests. What began with 10 acts and 2 contests now boasts over 40 acts and 8 contests, including one international contest, 5 national contests and 2 Walnut Valley contests.
The contests are a major part of the festival. Along with the National Flat Pick Championships and the National Finger Pick Championships, the Walnut Valley Festival hosts the International Autoharp, National Mountain Dulcimer, National Hammered Dulcimer, National Bluegrass Banjo, Walnut Valley Old Time Fiddle, and Walnut Valley Mandolin Championships. Over the course of years, the contests at Winfield have attracted more than 3,000 contestants from all 50 states as well as many foreign countries including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, England, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Caledonia, Switzerland, and Wales. Well-known Winfield winners include Mark O’Connor of Nashville, Tennessee, who has won or placed in more Walnut Valley Festival contests than any other contestant. Mark won the National Guitar Flat-Picking Championship in 1975 and 1977, and also won the Walnut Valley Fiddle Championship in 1974 and 1977. Alison Krauss of Nashville, won the Walnut Valley Fiddle Championship in 1984 and Steve Kaufman of Alcoa, Tennessee, is the only three-time winner of the National Guitar Flat-Picking Contest, having won in the years 1978, 1984, and 1986 respectively. (Tennessee has consistently produced the most winners over the years.) Other Winfield winners include Mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile, the Mandolin Champion in 1993 and Dixie Chick fiddler Martie Erwin Seidel in 1987 and 89.
Festival attendance has been between 11,000 and 15,000 annually …
While other events are keeping me local, I cannot attend. However comma. I have just found a live stream on Front Porch Radio. If you’re timely, you are sure to enjoy.
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Clio: More Terms of Service Lawyers read contracts. It’s akin to swearing like a sailor … just part of the deal. And having heard everyone’s doing it, the FutureLawyer has begun scrutinizing terms of service agreements himself, before checking the “Accept” box for installations. Like a healthy early-adopter, he found a well-recommended beta service, and thought he would give the [...]
Lawyers read contracts. It’s akin to swearing like a sailor … just part of the deal. And having heard everyone’s doing it, the FutureLawyer has begun scrutinizing terms of service agreements himself, before checking the “Accept” box for installations. Like a healthy early-adopter, he found a well-recommended beta service, and thought he would give the free trial a shot.
I can appreciate his hesitation as he launched into registration. I’m thinking he’s thinking, “what kind of language will be in the terms of service to give me comfort that I can entrust these people with my day-to-day practice, my livelihood, and ultimately, even my good standing with the state bar.” But, I nearly digress.
So, there’s Rick, excited about trying out this new software as a service (Clio, by Themis Software), and he takes a few moments to scan the terms for how well he might be protected in the event something goes wrong. Then he comes across just what he’s not looking for (what’s a good antonym for glee). In his words, here are
[j]ust a few of the gems on the hit parade: “1. You expressly understand and agree that Themis Software shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages, including but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses (even if Themis Software has been advised of the possibility of such damages), resulting from your use of the API or third-party products that access data via the API. 2. Abuse or excessively frequent requests to Clio via the API may result in the temporary or permanent suspension of your account’s access to the API. Themis Software, in its sole discretion, will determine abuse or excessive usage of the API. Themis Software will make a reasonable attempt via email to warn the account owner prior to suspension. 3. Themis Software reserves the right at any time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, your access to the API (or any part thereof) with or without notice.”
What does the FutureLawyer do; how should he react? The suspense is killing you. You’ll have to read the punch line at FutureLawyer. (You didn’t think I would mooch his ENTIRE post, I hope; but here’s a hint: it ends with sarcasm.)
And for those following a now-stale thread on these premises: know that neither Erik Larson nor anyone at Adobe has lived up to their “we’ll get back to you” promise regarding the new Acrobat.com terms of service. You’re stunned. I know. Apparently, we gave way to more recent posts showing up on the Google Finance page for ADBE. (Yes, I would feel bad if I suspected they just paid us a little lipservice while shareholders were watching.)
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Slippery Slopes #5: Impossible Recent wisdom from 7-yr-old boy: Lots of things are impossible … right before you do them. ���
Recent wisdom from 7-yr-old boy:
Lots of things are impossible … right before you do them.
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Can You Plan For Everything ? Hi Everyone, It has been a while since I was last here. All the planning in the world cannot prepare you for illness. Yes, I have had a really bad dose of flu. I don’t mean a bad cold or a few sniffles either. I mean real honest to goodness flu. The can’t get out of [...]
Hi Everyone,
It has been a while since I was last here. All the planning in the world cannot prepare you for illness. Yes, I have had a really bad dose of flu. I don’t mean a bad cold or a few sniffles either. I mean real honest to goodness flu. The can’t get out of bed type of flu when it is really difficult to lift your head off the pillow. I still feel ragged around the edges and my limbs are still sore but I am on the mend.
So things have piled up and they are well behind. Lots of things that needed to be done that just did not get done. Obviously, some of these things just did not matter sufficiently and will get planned into the forward plan and a short exercise in prioritisation will attend to the rest.
I feel very calm and relaxed about it all because I know that after a few very busy days the status quo will resume and all will be well again.
Do I now feel under pressure to catch up. A little but I also know that I am recovering from real flu and the body needs time to recover. So one day at a time and I will delegate more to my husband until I am back to full strength.
It will really help you focus upon what is important in the grand scheme of things.
I’ll be back soon.
Cheers
Julie
Time Saving Tips Hi Everyone, Please submit your time saving tips here so that they can be shared with others who are struggling to make ends meet with their 24 hours per day. Get the help you need from: www.manageyourtime.org and see what a difference a well organised, well ordered life can do for you. Work hard and play hard. But do [...]
Hi Everyone,
Please submit your time saving tips here so that they can be shared with others who are struggling to make ends meet with their 24 hours per day.
Get the help you need from: www.manageyourtime.org and see what a difference a well organised, well ordered life can do for you.
Work hard and play hard. But do get the balance right.
Julie
Manage Your Time And Achieve More Hi Everyone, I talked before about setting goals so I hope you did some goal setting for the short, medium and longer term. Make your goals very specific and measurable otherwise how will you ever know whether they were achieved or not. Make them too vague and you will always achieve what you set out too [...]
Hi Everyone,
I talked before about setting goals so I hope you did some goal setting for the short, medium and longer term. Make your goals very specific and measurable otherwise how will you ever know whether they were achieved or not. Make them too vague and you will always achieve what you set out too but you will be fooling yourself and your goals will be nothing more than a complete waste of time.
Time is not something we should waste and like some of the other resources that we have at our disposal (water, fresh air etc) our time will eventually run out. Yes we will die. We know that that is inevitable and yet so many of us continue to waste what little time we have left to us.
10 hours per week is 520 hours per year. Just think what else you could achieve with all this extra time at your disposal.
We never know what is around the proverbial corner so none of us know just exactly how much time we have left.
Make sure you cram as much into your time as you possibly can.
Until the next time !!!
Julie
How To Manage Your Time Ok Folks, I take it you are all too busy to send me your time savings tips !!! Please take a few moments to post your best time saving tips here as they will help other readers. Don’t forget that you can get help with your time management skills or lack of them at: www.manageyourtime.org Life is short and [...]
Ok Folks,
I take it you are all too busy to send me your time savings tips !!!
Please take a few moments to post your best time saving tips here as they will help other readers.
Don’t forget that you can get help with your time management skills or lack of them at: www.manageyourtime.org
Life is short and you need to ensure you make the best use of your time as is possible.
Cheers
Julie
Get Your Priorities Right………The Answers Hi Everyone, In the time available you would get time to: Try and save human and animal life and Call the fire brigade The order in which you did these two things would indicate whether you thought/cared more about your house than your loved one’s !!! I’ll leave you to ponder that over the weekend. Have a relaxing couple of days and [...]
Hi Everyone,
In the time available you would get time to:
Try and save human and animal life
and
Call the fire brigade
The order in which you did these two things would indicate whether you thought/cared more about your house than your loved one’s !!!
I’ll leave you to ponder that over the weekend.
Have a relaxing couple of days and I’ll be back on Monday.
Julie
Who Needs Goals ? Hi Everyone, Setting goals is an important part of life and without them we neither know what we are trying to achieve nor how we are going to achieve it. Some prefer to keep their goals in their head, that way no one will know whether they have failed. These people have a fear of failure. So [...]
Hi Everyone,
Setting goals is an important part of life and without them we neither know what we are trying to achieve nor how we are going to achieve it.
Some prefer to keep their goals in their head, that way no one will know whether they have failed. These people have a fear of failure. So much can be gleaned from mistakes errors and failures that we should readily accept that we cannot always succeed. We can only learn from our mistakes and become better people.
If you do nothing else today make sure you write down your goals.
What are they for this week.
The next six months.
What do you want to achieve this year.
Next year.
Where do you want to be in 5 years time.
And don’t worry having goals will not rob your life of spontaniety. Goals will inject optimism and a positive mental attitude. Goals can also ensure that you lead a balanced lifestyle rather than just concentrating on your career for example. There needs to be time dedicated to playing too !!!
Making time and room for everything in your life requires thought and dedication.
I Need To Know……. Hi Everyone, How often do we say: I Need To Know ? I say it all the time and I’m not too sure what I used to do before GOOGLE. Anyway, at some point today I was wondering about the origin of the phrase………a stitch in time saves nine. I googled it and got some very wierd and wonderful [...]
Hi Everyone,
How often do we say: I Need To Know ?
I say it all the time and I’m not too sure what I used to do before GOOGLE.
Anyway, at some point today I was wondering about the origin of the phrase………a stitch in time saves nine.
I googled it and got some very wierd and wonderful results, some of which I can assure you had absolutely nothing to do with time management !!! Call me narrow minded but I still cannot work out what the phrase has got to do with sex. Have you noticed how most searches end up finding sex or religion. Made me wonder whether I should have called this blog: Time Management Solutions For All God Fearing Sexy People !!! I’d probably get more visitors and comments.
Anyway, here is something I can show you without blushing:
A Stitch in Time Saves Nine
That old proverb isn’t just about sewing, oh, no. Proverbs 17 contains a choice morsel with a similar application:
The beginning of strife is like releasing water; therefore stop contention before a quarrel starts.
Another folk proverb along these lines is about ‘nipping it in the bud.’ That is, the best time to deal with an issue is before it becomes an issue.
OK, that is that sorted.I had now set myself off thinking about other sayings.
To Kill Two Birds With One Stone. Here’s one woman’s explanation of what it means:
The saying is “kill two birds with one stone.” It is used when someone does one thing and it solves two problems. For example, I live about 40 minutes from the nearest grocery store, so when I go for food, I also make a stop at Walmart for the things I need. While I am out, I kill two brids with one stone. The person may or may not mean to solve two problems, they may have only thought about one outcome, but when a second thing happens because of the thing they did or said, and it is one that they like, they can say that phrase. I hope this helps.
Strange too how Walmart crops up a lot !!!
And in Italy they say: “Prendere due piccioni con una fava”. The translation word by word is:
“To catch two pigeons with one bean”. Isn’t that great. It made my afternoon.
Ciao until tomorrow
Julie
Get Your Priorities Right Hi Everyone, This can be a useful test to really see how your attitude and approach to time management has changed. Imagine that your cherished home is constructed of wood. It catches fire and you have at most 11 minutes to rescue items form your house that you really need to save from the fire. Consider what you would [...]
Hi Everyone,
This can be a useful test to really see how your attitude and approach to time management has changed.
Imagine that your cherished home is constructed of wood. It catches fire and you have at most 11 minutes to rescue items form your house that you really need to save from the fire.
Consider what you would do first and then next and so on.
The answers you give will confirm whether you have got your priorities right, whether you are realistic in what can be achieved in the time available and whether you are getting better at setting your goals.
Sidepost: Devin Harris gets PWNED in UK This video was circulating in the net for about a week now and since I wanna try posting a video in HooPH’s new layout I decided to post this one. (Oh God I hope I’m not gonna suck posting vids again) Anyway, this all started when a guy named Stuart Tanner played New Jersey Nets Point [...]
This video was circulating in the net for about a week now and since I wanna try posting a video in HooPH’s new layout I decided to post this one. (Oh God I hope I’m not gonna suck posting vids again)
Anyway, this all started when a guy named Stuart Tanner played New Jersey Nets Point Guard Devin Harris in a one on one game in the streets of London. Game starts and Stu puts up a beautiful up and under move on Devin and then went on and gave Harris a little bit of “streetballin’” as most of you would call.
It was posted by Greg Tanner of Basketball 24/7 apparently he was Stuart Tanner’s brother and was the one who video’ed the mini game.
When I posted the clip of my brother (Stuart Tanner) playing Devin Harris in a one-on-one, I thought it’d get maybe 50,000 views from ballers here in London and people who visit basketball247.co.uk
How wrong I was.
ESPN got hold of it, and it all went crazy. It was apparently on SportsCenter last night, ESPN want to interview him, it’s been on every news website on earth (pretty much). Yahoo featured it on their front page….and the Ball Don’t Lie article alone has attracted more than 2,000 comments.
But a lot of these comments show that loads of people have taken the whole thing wrong.So let me please dispell a few myths:
NOT A HUSTLE Firstly, this was not a hustle. We went to the court dedication event to cover it for Basketball 24/7. It was never anyone’s intention for Stu to play - that’s why he was dressed like that. However, when Stu saw Devin so close to him, he wanted to go against him…and Devin was a GREAT sport for accepting. He is a seriously nice guy.
FREE THROW NOT DELIBERATELY MISSED Stu did NOT deliberately miss the free throw. He wanted to start with the ball.
SPECIAL NEEDS?? There were quite a few special needs kids at the court for the photo opportunity…however, there’s no way Devin could have thought Stu was one of them!
TRAVELLING??? On Stu’s first made shot, he did not leave his feet. He stopped quickly, pump faked (staying on the floor) and shot.
CARRYING?? I didn’t see Stu carrying any more than Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury or any number of NBA players do.
BETTER THAN NBA? Please, please, please do not for one minute think that Stuart believes he is better than Devin. He and everyone else knows that Devin is in a whole different league (literally!!) Stu is just a kid who loves the game…but due to some fairly serious health problems in recent years (he has the same condition that forced Dejuan Wagner to retire) hasn’t made much noise. Not that the NBA would ever have been possible anyway!
NOT THE FIRST TIME Worth noting though, this was not the first time Stu has embarrassed an NBA baller. Years ago he got Tony Delk. And fellow south Londoner, Luol Deng, once told me that Stuart is the only English guy he’d pay to watch play!
Stuart and I would like to thank Devin for being such a good sport. It was just a bit of fun which some people are taking WAY too seriously.
I’ll be putting a clip up in the next few days featuring some of Stu’s old moves…as the world seems to be wanting more!
Oh and for Devin Harris?
SYDMAN’S POWER RANKINGS (OCT 4 – 12, 2008) WELCOME TO BIZAARO-WORLD! For a week-old season, the Philippine Cup has played a lot of games. A mean, with games played in awkward dates (Thursday and Saturday to speed things up), I think we can expect the conference to finish before even establishing itself. Nonetheless it has been a smoking start for the league. [...]
WELCOME TO BIZAARO-WORLD!
For a week-old season, the Philippine Cup has played a lot of games. A mean, with games played in awkward dates (Thursday and Saturday to speed things up), I think we can expect the conference to finish before even establishing itself.
Nonetheless it has been a smoking start for the league. There a new faces, new look, and a new channel to keep ‘dem hoop-goers glued to their sets. First of all, let me bring you the…
SIDE DISH: TOP ROOKIES: 1. MERCADO (RoS): (see Power Rankings) 2. DILLINGER (TNT): (see Power Rankings) 3. NORWOOD (RoS): 8.5ppg, 7.0rpg, 3.5apg, 1.0spg, and 1.5bpg 4. CUSTODIO (SMB): 12.0ppg, 4.0rpg, 3.0apg and 1.0spg 5. RODRIGUEZ (RB): 10.0ppg, 5.0rpg, 1.0apg and 1.0bpg
If this keeps up, we could be seeing the most talented rookie batch since the ’93 Draft! Larry Rodriguez could be the draft’s biggest steal while Bonbon Custodio is the second leading scorer of a franchise that boasts a lot of big named players. The biggest surprise is the Rain Or Shine rookies where alongside TY Tang, are the major reasons why their team is at the top of the standings.
To the Power Rankings, you might seem to notice that most of the top guys are either down the standings or nonexistent altogether. This is because there are certain players debuting on the list. These players defied the odds and proved that they could become dangerous once they get out of the bench. Some are old-timers while others are young players that yearned for exposure. Of course, the top of the crop have the best of the league. So get ready for the first installment…
TEAM LEADERS (points, rebounds and assists per game)
ROS: PPG - MERCADO (20ppg); RPG - LAURE (7.5rpg); APG - MERCADO (4apg). GIN: PPG - HELTERBRAND (23.5ppg); RPG - MENK (11rpg); APG - ARTADI (5apg). ALA: PPG - DELA CRUZ/FERRIOLS (10.5ppg); RPG - MILLER (9rpg); APG - MILLER/TENORIO (5.5apg) TNT: PPG - CARDONA (20.7ppg); RPG - CAREY (11.3rpg); APG - ALAPAG (4.3apg). SLR: PPG - WILLIAMS (20.5ppg); RPG - WILLIAMS (12.5rpg); APG - ESPINO (6.5apg). SMB: PPG - HONTIVEROS (13ppg); RPG - WASHINGTON (8rpg); APG - WASHINGTON/PINGRIS (5apg). PUR: PPG - RAYMUNDO (21ppg); RPG - RAYMUNDO (11.5rpg); APG - RAYMUNDO (2.5apg). RED: PPG - ESPINAS (14.5ppg); RPG - ESPINAS (10rpg); APG - BAGUIO (3.5apg). COK: PPG - TAULAVA (17ppg); RPG - TAULAVA (11.5rpg); APG - CABAGNOT (5.5apg). AIR: PPG - DE OCAMPO (17ppg); RPG - DE OCAMPO (11.7rpg); APG - ARBOLEDA (4.3apg).
If you think the leaders you see here are weird, then wait ’til you see the Power Rank!
GAME STARTS NOW!
25. RYAN ARANA – ELASTO PAINTERS With his looks and playing style, he seems to be RoS’ Poorman’s version of James Yap. Unlike the Big Game though, he made the list. With the Painters’ surprising start, he has been getting stellar numbers with 16ppg, 3rpg, and 3apg a game.
24. JAY WASHINGTON – BEERMEN He is the only player getting 30 minutes and the only player who made the list for SMB. While this was a drop from his last season, the newly-transferred forward checks in with 8.5ppg, 8rpg, 5apg, and 1.5spg.
23. JAY-R REYES – ELASTO PAINTERS In his third season, the ex-UP Maroon has finally the support he longed for. Relegated to man the post with the comfort of kickout options, he is norming 15ppg, 6rpg, and 1.5bpg a game.
22. CYRUS BAGUIO – BARAKO With their lack of known superstars, Sky-rus is getting the heat from other teams. The Bulls, currently winless, seriously needs his scoring more than ever. He is clawing his way to reach stat heaven though with 12.5ppg, 4.5rpg, 3.5apg, 2.0spg, and 1.5bpg.
21. PETER JUNE SIMON – GIANTS With James Yap struggling in his first game, Pistol Pete carried the slack for him. During the blowout loss to SMB, Simon was the only one that wasn’t playing listless. A major contributor, he is getting 18.5ppg and 4.0rpg a night.
20. ARWIND SANTOS – EXPRESS From an almost-MVP season, Spiderman chalked up dismal numbers to start the season. Actually he started the season with an elbow drop to Sol Mercado but he has since returned to deliver 14ppg, 7.5rpg, and 1.0bpg.
19. JARED DILLINGER – TROPANG TEXTERS When the second pick plays well, his team wins and when he plays sour the same thing happens for their team. Clearly he is one of the cornerstones of their future with 16.3ppg and 5.7rpg in 3 games for the Texters.
18. WILLIE MILLER – ACES Do not be deceived. After a low scoring game against the Tigers, Miller should be lucky that he even made the list. But to give him credit, while he only scored 3 points in that game, he ended the same game with 10 boards. In 2 games he owns 10 points, 9 rebounds and almost 6 assists in 2 games of action.
17. NELBERT OMOLON – REALTORS A forgotten man in their debut, Omolon exploded for 24 points against Talk N Text in their second game. If there’s a player that could squeeze his way with limitless maneuvering, it had to be this guy. In two games he scored 16ppg, 5.5rpg, and 1.5spg.
16. NIC BELASCO – TIGERS A legit threat inside the shaded area, what terrifies his foes is his ability to drain the trifectas. St. Nic is generous in dishing out pain to his opponents. Unfortunately enduring the worse scoring game of the Tigers since the PBA’s FIBA rule application hardly helped matters. He gets 13ppg and 9.5rpg a night.
15. JR QUINAHAN – EXPRESS When given the playing time, he will erupt. This is why Baby Shaq has transformed into a force at Air21. Without an inside presence, he is reigning on a team cramming to get a win in 3 games. The UV Lancer is netting 10.3ppg, 9rpg, 2.7apg, and 2.0bpg.
14. EDDIE LAURE – ELASTO PAINTERS Who thinks this is funny? If he was still under Tim Cone, maybe this is. However, he is now a Painter, and with a rejuvenation of sorts scored 20 points – the highest ever for the former MBA MVP in almost four years. In two games he has hit 13.0ppg, 7.5rpg, 1.5apg, 1.5spg, and 1.0bpg.
13. JUNJUN CABATU – KINGS Welcome to la-la land. Perhaps this is because all teams have played merely two games, but come on. This second generation star was another discard from last season’s Alaska roster that got signed because of the Gins’ lack of size. He was just what the doctor ordered… his career-high 23 markers proved big against Air21 and his 15.5ppg, 5.5rpg, and 2.5apg is making heads turn.
12. PAUL ARTADI – KINGS We hate Jong Uichico for benching Sunday Salvacion. However, we love the coach for bring the A in Artadi’s game. After a great showing in the 2008 Fiesta Cup, his three’s have been a signal to roar for the Ginebra faithful. He currently leads the Kings in assists with 5.0apg to go with his 14.5ppg, 4.0rpg, and 1.5spg.
11. HARVEY CAREY – TROPANG TEXTERS Continuing the saga of bizaaro-idols, Carey made the most out of Ali Peek’s absence to deliver the goods for TNT. If you saw his game against Air21, then you probably experienced his awesome 16-point, 20-rebound finish. As it stands he gives the Texters 10.7ppg, 11.3rpg, and 1.7bpg.
10. DENNIS ESPINO – REALTORS The Menace almost had a triple-double against TNT. This happened by sheer accident though because the refs were too strict in giving him those post-up moves he usually does (blame the new dribble before pivot scheme). Nonetheless, the wily veteran is getting 12.0ppg, 8.5rpg, and 6.5apg a night.
9. GABBY ESPINAS – BARAKO The biggest oddity in the rankings, Espinas bloomed as a Bull. It helped greatly when Cyrus Baguio got the pressure of being constantly hounded as the only player manning Red Bull’s offensive. In two games he has produced 14.5ppg, 10rpg, and 1.5bpg after debuting as a star only to languish at the sidelines.
8. MAC CARDONA – TROPANG TEXTERS With the oddities out of the way, we proceed on the league’s elite. The DLSU star still shares time with Renren Ritualo but he gives the latter headache in getting the nod for Chot Reyes. An explosive scorer, the fourth year stars is claiming is the league’s third top scorer with 20.7 points to go with 5.0rpg and 3.0apg.
7. SOLOMON MERCADO – ELASTO PAINTERS His entry to the team solved an important facet for the Rain Or Shine offense – their lack of backcourt scoring. Taken from Alaska in a blockbuster deal, the 2008 fifth pick produced 29 points in a gracious start for a team that hardly gave competition to the other ballclubs. In two games he soared with 20 points, 5 caroms, and 4 dimes.
6. ASI TAULAVA – TIGERS He continues to be the main man for the resurging Tigers. Yes, given he made a costly mistake that handed TNT a victory, he is still the rebounder demigod of the league. Age is showing, but this is not making him a burden, not after claiming 17 points and 11.5 rebounds in two games for the softdrink franchise.
5. RYAN REYES – REALTORS His ability to shoot the lights out makes him dangerous. But like critics see, his ability to be a defensive menace proves even greater. His solid contributions proved enough in yielding TNT their first loss in the tourney. He continues to create panic with his 15 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.5 steals a night.
4. JAYJAY HELTERBRAND – KINGS Minus Mark Caguioa, Helterbrand is thrust to score a bucket-load of points. While he has yet to make damage in the passing department, he currently leads the league in points with 23.5ppg, 4.5rpg, 3.5apg and 1.5spg. While we could praise Cabatu and Artadi for making impact contributions with injuries to their big men, it is still Helterbrand that is making things right for the Gins in their 2-game win streak.
3. RANIDEL DE OCAMPO – EXPRESS With Air21 messing up their season, De Ocampo is proving to be the team’s most consistent player. Leading the team in points, rebounds and blocks, the St. Francis alum is taking over with 17 points, 11.7rpg, 4.0 assists and 0.7 blocks. I am sure though that his teammates would make solid contributions in the course of the tourney.
2. KELLY WILLIAMS – REALTORS The MVP. The force to be reckon with. The Realtors folded in a sorry loss against the Gins where he said he played the game tight. In the first half of the TNT game he lacked promise. But when the second half came he EXPLODED by scoring 21 of his 25 points to pull out a victorious battle for Sta. Lucia. Machine Gun Kelly is wielding in 20.5ppg, 12.5rpg, and 3.5apg so far.
1. KERBY RAYMUNDO – GIANTS Finishing first on the list is the Kid. The major catalyst in their come-from-behind victory over Red Bull, the superstar slotman is not complaining at the attention he creates. Last season’s Mythical team member erupted with 21 points, 11.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.0 blocks in two games for the Giants. Yes, we saw Purefoods getting mauled by SMB in their second game but expect that forgettable game to never happen again with him asserting his presence to dominate the low block.
If you think these calculations are not credible then you go to the PBA website, here are the steps of making sure I had it right. Step 1: Add their points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks and average it. Step 2: Total the five top statistical figures. Step 3: Then minus the sum of the five stats with the quotient of the sum of the five stats with their playing time. Why? Because for example, James Yap, the guy that didn’t made the list gets 14.5ppg, 2rpg, and 1spg in 37.5 minutes per game. Simon plays 28.5 minutes a night but he gives the Giants more contributions than what Yap produces.
The win-loss records would factor in the next game.
Till then, SURF PORN!
Doubting The Prince, Vince Hizon Year 1995 was the year when the Gins passed up on Kenneth Duremdes in favor of slumbering EJ Feihl. It was also the year when the Vince Show started for Ginebra coming from Purefoods. The slow moving EJ Feihl coupled with the Gins not so hidden desire to tank 95 season gave the players a lot [...]
Year 1995 was the year when the Gins passed up on Kenneth Duremdes in favor of slumbering EJ Feihl. It was also the year when the Vince Show started for Ginebra coming from Purefoods.
The slow moving EJ Feihl coupled with the Gins not so hidden desire to tank 95 season gave the players a lot of oppurtunities to twist and bend the plays. This allowed the likes of Vince Hizon to somewhat look like they were on crocs mode. This was most noticeable in the games the Gins were routed. Vince Hizon fired every open threes that was available.
During this dark Ginebra days, when victories are hard to come by (in 95, Gins were salivating on getting Marlou Aquino), we were not big Vince Hizon fans. Though we’re diehards, we were sarcastically shouting like crazy for Vince to shoot every time he had the ball. Maybe, Vince was influenced by another trigger happy guy, Jayvee Gayoso.
But later on, we and others began to appreciate Vince’s game. 1996 up to 1998 (the last of Jawos season), he showed he’s got the passion and the game to back up his looks. Tim Cone certainly would have enlisted him in that 98 Centennial Team had he not been injured.
Some of his trademarks.. the reverse layup even though the direct layup is available… His booming threes… The fastbreak running dribble behind the back special. Two of which, on display in this video, 2:02 mark…
He turned to an efficient player, yun nga lang, he was the favorite of Jojo Lastimosa. Jolas scored about 1254 points on him. (His buddy, the defensive stopper Dudut Jaworski, armed with 6 fouls, should have been the man assigned to cover Jolas.)
But you know what, despite being more of an offensive player, Vince most memorable PBA career highlight is one defensive play — The block on Dindo Pumaren.
It was a blessing in disguise that MBA snatched him up and that my guess is, he only wanted to play for Jaworski. I did not see Vince Hizon playing aging, missing & slowing. All I remember about Vince Hizon are goods times (96 - 98). I erased the 95 season from my memory.
I doubted Vince capability then and he proved me wrong.
Same goes, with his TV job. Early on, I dunno if Vince can pull it off, well, It looks like he can. I watched the delayed telecast of RB and RoS shine, and Vince looks & sounds comfortable doing the game. In Filipino, hindipilit. A lot of former players who tried the booth are not natural. Vince is.
Maybe, me judging his TV resume via Sports Unlimited, is wrong. Hard to really excel if you’re a Dianne Castillejo assistant co-host.
The only knack on Vince now is, sometimes, he’s still overly english-slang and difficult to understand for lay-Filipinos. And to add, his better half (pun intended) Patricia, is still ahead of him when in comes to basketball coverage. (BTW, Patricia is Vince’s official photographer out there.)
On court, he scored. In the TV booth, looks like he can too.
PBA ASTIG RANKINGS (08-09) Week 1 - Kings of the Court If you’ve been reading HooPH for some years now, you’ll know that this is not my original idea. Our Hoops “Astig colleague” Bionix is the innovator of the “Astig Rankings” and since he’s been inactive as of late, I’m going to do the “Astig Chores” for now. See? I love putting up the Astig word. [...]
Without his partner Mark, Jayjay needs to produce more to keep the Kings winning.
If you’ve been reading HooPH for some years now, you’ll know that this is not my original idea. Our Hoops “Astig colleague” Bionix is the innovator of the “Astig Rankings” and since he’s been inactive as of late, I’m going to do the “Astig Chores” for now. See? I love putting up the Astig word. Hehehe
Anyway, to avoid the accusations of being biased, I’ve created a formula of sorts to determine the outcome of my rankings. Here it goes..
Three things to remember when ranking 1) Scoring System (Or astig points as I would like to call it)
10 points always goes to the number 1 ranked team in last week’s astig rankings and so on. So that means the lower you are in the Astig rankings last week, the lower the astig points you get. Example
Rank #1) Team A = 10 Astig Points Rank #10) Team J = 1 Astig Point And so on. 2) Formula
W = + Astig Points L = - Rank number
Example
If team a beats a number 1 ranked team then loses to the number 4 ranked team, the formula will be..
Team A = (Astig Points of Number 1 ranked team - 4 points) Team A = (10 points - 4 points) Therefore
Team A = 6 Points.
3) Astig points WILL BE carried over as the weeks progress.
Get it? Any more questions? Flaws? or additional things that will make the rankings better? POST IT IN THE COMMENT BOX! (And please, be nice :D)
So without further a do, your first set of the Astig Rankings this conference.
1) Barangay Ginebra - 15 Astig Points (with wins over Air 21 [+5] and Sta.Lucia [+10])
Barangay Ginebra reigns over the Astig rankings this week with wins over the defending champs SLR and their nemesis last season, Air 21. Take note, they did it without Mark Caguioa, Rafi Reavis, Billy Mamaril, Junthy against SLR and Eric Menk against Air 21. How do they it? A little bit of great coaching, a little bit of great coaching, a hundred percent of heart and thousands of supporters.
2) Alaska - 10 Astig Points (with wins over Coca Cola [+3] and SMB [+7])
As expected, Alaska would be one of the leaders in this season. In the past week, Alaska defeated powerhouse SMB and Coca Cola in two tough tough games doing it through tough defense and distributed scoring.
3) Rain or Shine - 7 Astig Points (with wins over Air21 [+5] and Red Bull [+2])
With a new system, a new set of players and a renewed set of goals for the veterans, Rain or Shine looks good early in the season. As I’ve said in my previous post, they’re going to continue to win lots of games and lots fans if they continue to play that way.
4) Talk and Text - 7 Astig Points (with wins over Air21 [+5] , Coca Cola [+3] and a loss against SLR [-1])
Just like the old days eh? At one time they’ll look unbeatable at another they’ll look like a tomato can, that’s for this week of course.. I wonder if Coach Chot can change that pattern.
5) San Miguel - 6 Astig Points (a win over Purefoods (+9) and a loss against Alaska (-3)
This year’s powerhouse could be having the same old problems they had last year. Who’ll have the ball at crunchtime? Who
youtube, calendar … what’s not to 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my timeline and tweet, reply or direct message easily. Options let me choose how often it checks for updates which is great with the ever changing API limits that Twitter seems to be imposing.”
. 
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Susan Scrupski 
It’s been an interesting transition for me back to industry. “Industry” is the term consultants use to describe normal jobs with normal companies - the kind where people bring their plants to work and setup pictures of people they know in their cubicles. The kind where people wake up on Monday morning, drive to work, work, drive home and do the same thing every day until Friday. It’s been three months, and I’m starting to acclimate to this routine way of living.
My former employer, 
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Nuevamente fue el secretario Bello quien afirmó durante la presentación del Barómetro Cisco que no era necesario declarar a la red un servicio público pues “no tienen la misma importancia”.
The fire broke out about 2:15 p.m. in the restaurant on West Market Street, located across the street from the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel towers and near Seaport Village. It initially created so much smoke that clouds of it could be seen billowing behind Petco Park, where the Padres were playing an afternoon baseball game.
The state Supreme Court today upheld the constitutionality of the 2007 Kansas Expanded Lottery Act (KELA).
