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Welcome to Day 1, Module 1 of our 5-Day MLM Success Bootcamp
How to generate free leads for your network marketing business and get paid even when people do not join your team.
97% of the people who join a network marketing business never make a profit. 97% of the people never made more money than it costs them to stay active in the business. They never make enough money to cover their monthly autoship.
Why is that? Have you ever thought about that question?
Why do MOST people fail at network marketing?
The answer is critical to your success… Because until you know WHY most people fail, chances are…
You will find yourself literally doing the same things that is causing the majority to fail… or… you'll find yourself NOT DOING what is necessary to ensure your success. Either way, you lose.
Let's talk about that.
7 Major Roadblocks to MLM Success
Let's talk about the 7 most common reasons why most honest, hardworking, sincere people never make any money in network marketing and what you need to do about that to put the odds of success in your favor. Plus, when you know the reasons WHY most people will continue to struggle in this business, then you can easily brand yourself as the leader people are looking for because you can now show them exactly how and why they are having challenges. Make sense? Okay.
#1 – Starting a business for emotional reasons.
Most people never make any money in network marketing because they joined the wrong company for the wrong reasons. Meaning they didn't approach the business from the standpoint of making an informed BUSINESS DECISION… they got caught up in the emotional aspects of the presentation or relationship involved and joined for emotional reasons. Get in now – ground floor opportunity! Only the people at the top make all the money so get in now and you'll get massive spillover from your upline. We'll build the business for you! (Which, if that WAS true if a company… line of sponsorship… or turnkey system really COULD build a business for you… why would the need you? Right?!)
Another emotional reason might be because the company is endorsed by a well-known actor, doctor, or business leader. But the bottom line is "who cares" – just because Donald Trump or Winnie the Pooh endorse the company, products and comp plan doesn't mean it will be easier to build a business than it would be without them. Are THEY going to market your business for you? Of course not!
Another emotional bait piece that is used quite often is the low cost of joining. It's only $29.95 to join and $10 per month to stay active and this means not only does everyone need to be IN… everyone can afford to be in. You'll get rich overnight. Can you see it? Oh my gosh… you better sign up right now!
Or perhaps the most dangerous of all, you sign up under in your warm market (a family member, friend or co-worker) as a favor… or out of guilt… or because of the emotional need to reciprocate somehow.
So instead of taking a good, hard, honest look at the business from the standpoint of building a profitable business – signing up for emotional reasons, regardless of the reason, is one of the biggest reasons the MAJORITY of people will never make a dime through MLM.
#2 – Low Upfront Commissions
The second reason is because the compensation plan has no room for a marketing budget – meaning the company does not pay enough upfront commissions to make advertising and marketing your business a viable solution – so you are literally FORCED to use nothing but free marketing and advertising methods which, more often than not, either don't work or don't work well enough or fast enough to launch your business into momentum.
For example, did you know the average cost of getting a business opportunity lead by any number of direct marketing methods is between 4 and 12 dollars per lead? So let's crunch the numbers. Let's say the business you are involved with costs only $149 to join and it pays a nice $50 sign up bonus when you personally sponsor a new person. Which seems reasonable so you decide to run a card-deck advertising campaign which costs about $1,200 to reach 25,000 people. Now the average card-deck response is about 1% but let's TRIPLE that that just for fun – so you can expect 750 to respond to your ad for a cost of about $1.60 per lead which is really, really inexpensive.
Now the average lead-to-sale conversion rate is about 1.5% – on the high side – but let's triple that again just for fun. So you are looking at potentially sponsoring 22 people.
22 x $50 = $1100 in sign up bonuses – which is pretty good actually because you are only upside down and out-of-pocket a $100. You spend $1200 to earn $1100 – BUT if any actually duplicates on your team you'll be smelling sweet.
But let's keep it real here and realize we TOTALLY FUDGED the numbers. We were playing with a lead cost of only $1.60 per lead and, in the real world, you will be lucky to produce a good lead for under $4 – and… at $4 a lead… the entire house of cards comes tumbling down.
So take a close hard look at your compensation plan. Is there room for a marketing budget in the real world? If not, then you might be advised to find another business if you really want to make any real money. Tragic, but true.
#3 – Lack of Marketing Skills
The third reason most people will never make money in network marketing is that they lack marketing skills. In fact, the problem with network marketing, in general, is when you set out to sign up new people – you are asking these new people join a business that REQUIRES sales and marketing skills to make money (because nothing sells, no one make money!) – and the majority of these people have ZERO marketing experience. ZERO… and then we wonder why our business isn't growing.
Think about it. You decide to approach your neighbor Jim about your opportunity because he seems like a sharp, capable, success-oriented guy. Now Jim's been working for the phone company for the past 30 years but you he just might be interested so you hit him up. And sure enough – he joins! and immediately asks you what he is supposed to do. So what do you say? You parrot back exactly what you have taught – make a list Jim of everyone you know… family, friends, and co-workers. Old teaches and kids from your childhood. Everyone. Call 'em up and sign em up.
So Jim does that (probably not, but let's pretend) – so Jim calls everyone he knows and signs up his buddy Fred. So tomorrow Jim comes knocking on your door. Okay, I did that. I contacted everyone I know and signed up Fred. NOW, WHAT DO I DO? Now, what do I do to take my business to the next level?
And you are going to tell him what? What would be your answer to the "now what" question?Once you have exhausted your warm market, now what? Click To Tweet
And because MOST people have no clue – which is all about sales and marketing – that's it. Their network marketing career stalls out. So if YOU are really serious about taking your business to the next level – to make a profit and live a lifestyle most people only dream about – understand that you MUST MASTER the art and science of sales and marketing. Plain and simple.
#4 – Lack 0f Cash Flow
Another big reason why most people will not ever build a profitable network marketing business is that they have no cash flow. Meaning you don't have a steady stream of income coming in to cover your expenses and to FUND your marketing efforts. Because the reality is, unless you get very lucky early on in your career and sponsor a heavy hitter, it will take a good 3-5 years or longer to build a nice executive residual income. 3-5 years… and without cash flow to cover the cost of doing business, most people don't have the extra resources to cover them for the long run. So the KEY is to create and market using FUNDED PROPOSALS so you can get paid even when people do not join your team. And we'll be talking a lot more about this in the modules ahead and, as you'll discover, there really is a way to create multiple streams of income NOW – so you can stay in the game long enough to create a quiet fortune.
#5 – High Attrition Rates
The 5th reason that prevents most people from making money in MLM is high attrition rates – which is the number of people who quit – which, on average, is 80-90% per year. So this means if you go out and sign up 100 people today… on average, 365 days from now, you will have about 20 of these people still active on your team. This means the goal is to build your business large enough to overcome the attrition rate – which may mean you have to build very big, very fast to get enough FUEL to keep the fire burning. Now…
Meaning, think of it this way. If it costs you $100 per month to stay active in your MLM and you get a 30 day supply of vitamins for that $100… ask yourself this question. If you did not have the promise of getting paid, would you spend $100 per month for vitamins from this company? If not… your business will see a high attrition rate because, again, MOST… the MAJORITY of people will not ever make any money in network marketing because of all the reasons we discussed. And if they are not making any money – and they wouldn't pay for those products, at that price, from that company under normal circumstances – they will quit their autoship. 80-90% of the time.
So if you are currently in a company where you would not buy that product, at that price in the normal market – again, you might want to serious reconsider trying to build a profitable business with that company, because you could be looking at a very steep uphill battle with the odds definitely stacked against you.
#6 – Lack of Leads
Lack of leads is another big reason why most people do not enjoy success because when you really break it down to the money-making activities in network marketing – there are only three things you really need to do to make a fortune. You need to expose your products, service and business opportunity to new people on a regular basis, guide them into a simple presentation – follow up and enroll them. That's it. Simple as 1, 2, 3. Connect, direct and enroll. So the million dollar question is: where are you going to get your leads? How will you find new people to present your opportunity to on a consistent basis over an extended period of time? Lead prosperity LEADS to prosperity… but the opposite is also true. A lack of leads results in a lack of results.There are only 3 things you need to do to make a fortune in MLM. Connect. Direct. Enroll. Click To Tweet
So the million dollar question is: where are you going to get your leads? How will you find new people to present your opportunity to on a consistent basis over an extended period of time? Lead prosperity LEADS to prosperity… but the opposite is also true. A lack of leads results in a lack of results.
#7 – Lack of an MLM Marketing System
The final reason why most people will never make money in network marketing is they do not have an MLM marketing system in place. A tried and true, proven network marketing system that is designed to generate leads on a consistent basis… sift and sort through those leads by qualifying for interest, desire and financial ability… present, close and train. Because think about it – most of us already have full-time lives. We have a full-time job or career, full-time kids, full-time chores and full-time responsibilities. Yet we somehow need to create a full-time income working part-time in our spare-time. Which is literally IMPOSSIBLE unless you learn how to leverage your time and resources by utilizing a proven system.
So there you go…
The 7 biggest reasons why most people fail to build a profitable network marketing home business. The good news is by simply learning what we have learned here today – you have now greatly increased your odds for success. Because if you find yourself in any of those critical categories… now you know what to do about it and why.
And now that we know what NOT to do… it's time to find out what we should be doing. Because success leaves clues. Great big, giant footprints in the snow.
So tomorrow, day two, module two – we'll dig a little deeper in to "how to guarantee success when a failure is no longer an option for you."
See you tomorrow.
Live Happy, Stay Young, Inspire Other!
PS – Back in 2011 I joined this proven MLM Marketing platform. In the first 30 days, I earned over $4,500 and generated a ton of free leads. Now it is your turn. Click here to check it out…


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- 1.deep respect for someone or something.
Friday, 13 March 2015
Reverence - My thoughts
11 comments:
I'm so sorry for your loss. He sounds like such a great person. #embracehappyReplyDeleteReplies
Thank you, he really was lovely - he'll be missed by the whole townDelete
What a wonderful man he was, and clearly so sadly missed. But I think your tribute to him is spot on, as he's made a mark, and so now will others. Thanks for sharing with #WotW xReplyDeleteReplies
Thank you Jocelyn xDelete
- Anonymous13 March 2015 at 20:23
Sounds like a nice man. Condolence. Smiling at people, making their day better is really something that is special this days. #wotwReplyDeleteReplies
Thank you Pixie, a little smile really does go a long way xDelete
He sounds like such a wonderful man. What a shame....It sounds like he will be missed xReplyDeleteReplies
Thank you Kim, I think he will be - over 6000 people turned up for the walk xDelete
Spooky, as I've just read about this man in the Daily Mail. The story made headlines, saying 6000 people turned out for the walk. It goes to show that all people want is sincerity over heroics. A smile and a hello doesn't cost a thing, but can mean a lot.ReplyDelete
Hi Debbie - I know I can't believe that it was even picked up by the National press. I don't think he would have had any idea he touched so many people.Delete
What a lovely tribute, for a lovely reason. Being pleasant to people isn't hard, good on him for keeping a smile going xReplyDelete

subset: commoncrawl


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It's official: my sister, Courtney, and I just signed up for the 40th Annual Brookings Marathon on May 16. It's time to get in shape, and fast, as we gear up to run 13.1 miles. While the task seems daunting, I have several friends that have tackled similar races, including BEEF's Managing Editor, Alaina Burt, NCBA's Daren Williams and 2007 National Beef Ambassador, Chris Molinaro.
Aside from wanting to get in good running shape, Courtney and I are really inspired to help spread the message about incorporating beef into a healthy lifestyle. Like many before us, the best way to do that is to run and wear a beef shirt. For example, Chris Molinaro runs with a "Team ZIP" jersey to promote beef, and Daren Williams sports a "Beef, It's What's for Dinner" jersey in his triathlons. In addition, beef enthusiasts share their running experiences at a cool blog called Team Zip. Check it out!
If you don't already know, BEEF is now on Twitter, and I will chronicle my progress as race day gets closer. Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?
If you aren't on Twitter, you can follow these updates on the right side of the BEEF Daily Blog, or you can get these updates here. In addition to tweeting and blogging about this event, I'm looking for some fresh ideas to get media traction on this event. What are your thoughts? I'm excited to hear your ideas. In the meantime, I better hit the road and get running!


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'Nitro' Hackers Steal Chemical Company Secrets
Security firm Symantec has uncovered a string a cyber attacks targeting the chemical industry, but the intent of the hacks appear to be corporate espionage rather than the actual procurement of chemicals.
Between July and September, hackers sought to collect intellectual property from chemical firms, including design documents, formulas, and manufacturing processes. "The purpose of the attacks appears to be industrial espionage, collecting intellectual property for competitive advantage," according to Symantec, which nicknamed the attack campaign Nitro.
As a result, the hackers are not tied solely to the chemical industry and in months past have also targeted human rights-related NGOs as well as the motor industry, Symantec said. In all, 29 companies in the chemical sector and 19 in other industries were targets of the Nitro hacks, but there are likely more.
"These 48 companies are the minimum number of companies targeted and likely other companies were also targeted," Symantec said in its report. "In a recent two week period, 101 unique IP addresses contacted a command and control server with traffic consistent with an infected machine. These IPs represented 52 different unique Internet Service Providers or organizations in 20 countries."
Specifically, the hackers went after Fortune 100 companies focused on chemical R&D, companies that develop advanced materials for military vehicles, and those that produce manufacturing infrastructure for the chemical and advanced materials industries.
But despite the complex subject matter, the means by which the Nitro hackers actually obtained the data appears to be a good, old-fashioned email scam. The attackers usually spoofed someone inside the company to send out bogus meeting invites with malware attached or emails with a "necessary security update" attached.
Both emails, which were sent to 500 people alone at one company, contained PoisonIvy, a common backdoor Trojan developed by a Chinese speaker, Symantec said.
"When the recipient attempted to open the attachment, they would inadvertently execute the file, causing PoisonIvy to be installed," the report found. "Once PoisonIvy was installed, it contacted a C&C server on TCP port 80 using an encrypted communication protocol. Using the C&C server, the attackers then instructed the compromised computer to provide the infected computer's IP address, the names of all other computers in the workgroup or domain, and dumps of Windows cached password hashes."
With that information, the hackers could then infect other computers that had not opened the emails. Most were on the hunt for machines with administrator credentials or access to valuable intellectual property.
Security firm Sophos warned companies to be vigilant. "Malware cannot access the Windows cache of passwords, which almost always has admin credentials included, if it does not have administrative rights," Sophos' Chester Wisniewski wrote in a blog post. "Simply restricting permissions would be enough to stunt the spread of an attack like this."
"Blocking suspicious attachments, using proactive detection technologies and educating users could all stop this type of attack from succeeding," he continued. "If you weren't one of the victims, this is a great lesson on what you should be doing to protect against the next attack."
Symantec found that most of the infected machines are located in the U.S., U.K., and Bangladesh, but they are located throughout the world. Twelve companies in the U.S. were hit, Symantec said.
Who is executing the attacks? Symantec said Nitro traced back to a virtual private server (VPS) in the U.S., but the owner was actually a man who lived in the Hebei region of China, who Symantec nicknamed Covert Grove. "[But] we are unable to determine if Covert Grove is the sole attacker or if he has a direct or only indirect role. Nor are we able to definitively determine if he is hacking these targets on behalf of another party or multiple parties."
The report also said that other hacker groups have started targeting the same type of companies via PDF and DOC files. It's unlikely that the various hackers are working together, Symantec concluded.
The news comes the same day as a report from Enterprise Strategy Group, which found that of the 244 security professionals polled recently, 59 percent were "certain" or "fairly certain" their organizations had been the target of an advanced persistent threat (APT) attack. Another 72 percent said they were likely to be targeted in the future.
For more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius.


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Mark your News Calendars for June 17: First Results from 2001 Census to be released, Jun 2002
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Media Alert... News Diary Event........ Media Launch...
Attention: News Editors and Chiefs-of-Staff
The first results from the 2001 Census will officially be released back to the community on Monday, June 17, 2002 at 10:30am (EST) by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
What's on offer:
National launch - a national launch is being held at the ABS Data Processing Centre, 45 Jones Street Ultimo, Sydney on Monday, June 17, 2002 at 10:00am sharp (EST). Public attendance is strictly by invitation only.
The Australian Statistician, Dennis Trewin will release the first results with social researcher and author, Hugh Mackay as special guest speaker. Special presentations will be made to key organisations who rely on these census results to plan for Australia's future.
State/Territory media events - in conjunction with the national launch in Sydney, a separate media event will be held in every other capital city as per the table below. Public attendance is strictly by invitation only.
Vision Opportunities - Besides the speeches, interview prospects and special presentations, file footage showing data processing, census form destruction and census collectors at work will be distributed to media. High resolution images of the same are available on request.
Media information kits - A comprehensive information kit will be available at the national launch and all other capital city events. A vast array of detailed 2001 Census results down to local areas will be available on the ABS website (www.abs.gov.au) from 10:30am on June 17 as well. The website will be highly useful for suburban metropolitan print and non-metro media who are seeking local stories.
The 2001 Census was held on August 7 last year and is a comprehensive snapshot of Australia. It provides a primary source of information used by a wide range of government and non-government organisations alike in planning for the future.
This is a major national, state, territory, regional and suburban news story. The ABS looks forward to assisting your coverage. We will remind you of events and state contacts closer to the time.
Document Selection
These documents will be presented in a new window.


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DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at email@example.com or 410-430-5349
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest
Contact Publisher Joe Albero at email@example.com or 410-430-5349
Thursday, July 03, 2014
"These individuals have a proven record of achievement and possess the expertise and experience worthy of the people of Maryland," Gov. O'Malley said. "I'm proud to appoint diverse, highly-skilled candidates who represent the best Maryland has to offer, and I'm confident in their ability to move our State forward."
Some of the individuals appointed include:
Catherine J. (Cassie) Motz, Esq. – University System of Maryland Board of Regents. Ms. Motz currently serves as Executive Director of the CollegeBound Foundation. Formerly, she served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Deputy Legal Counsel to Governor Martin O'Malley. Ms. Motz earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in History from Dartmouth College and her Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School. She is President of the Baltimore Outreach Services Board and Secretary of the Baltimore KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) Charter Schools Board.
Eleanor M. Carey, Esq. - Morgan State University Board of Regents. Ms. Carey is a Partner with Synergies Consulting Group. As an attorney in private practice, she conducted major public investigations of financial and educational institutions. Ms. Carey also served as Deputy Attorney General of Maryland from 1979-1987, Senior Counselor to the Governor from 1995-1998 and President of the Governor's Workforce Investment Board from 1998-2003. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Wellesley College and Juris Doctor degree from the University of Maryland School of Law. A member of the Governor's Pre-K to 20 Commission, she is President of the Baltimore Efficiency & Economy Foundation and has been admitted to the Circle of Excellence of Maryland's Top 100 Women.
Dawn Kirstaetter - Board of Trustees of Residential Boarding Education Programs. Ms. Kirstaetter serves as Deputy Mayor of Health, Human Services, Education and Youth for the Baltimore City Mayor's Office. Prior to joining the Mayor's Office, she served as Chief Operating Officer for Associated Black Charities, as a consultant for her own firm of Kirstaetter & Associates and as Executive Director for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington. Ms. Kirstaetter received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from Georgetown University and a Master of Social Work degree from Clark Atlanta University. She is a board member for the Maryland SPCA and Planned Parenthood of Maryland.
Monica Johnson, Esq. - Chair of the State Open Meetings Law Compliance Board. Ms. Johnson is currently a professor of Business Ethics at the University of Maryland University College. She previously served as the Chief Procurement Officer and Fair Practices Officer for Prince George's County Government and as Assistant Secretary for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. She earned her B.S. Degree magna cum laude in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park, an MBA from John Hopkins and her law degree from Boston University Law School.
Wanda Martinez, Esq. - Member of the State Open Meetings Law Compliance Board. Wanda Martinez is an attorney with Rismiller Law Group, LLC and formerly served as Special Counsel to the Montgomery County Office of Child Support Enforcement. Ms. Martinez is a graduate of the New York University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a Juris Doctor degree from The Columbia School of Law, Catholic University of America. She also serves as President of the Government Public Safety and Administration Cluster Advisory Board.
Mamata Poch, Esq. - Member of the State Open Meetings Law Compliance Board. Ms. Poch is currently an Offset and Industrial Trade Manager for Northrop Grumman. Prior to this position, she served as an International Trade Analyst for Northrop Grumman. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Penn State University and her law degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law. She was awarded the Corporate Global Trade Management Award for Performance in 2013.
Katrina Dennis, Esq. - Maryland Transportation Authority. Ms. Dennis is a Principal with the firm Kramon & Graham, P.A., where she specializes in employment law, personal injury matters and contract disputes. Ms. Dennis is a cum laude graduate of the University Of Baltimore School Of Law and the University of North Carolina with a B.A. degree in Psychology with honors. Ms. Dennis was recognized as one of the "Rising Stars" in Maryland Super Lawyers for 2013 and 2014, and The Daily Record also named her as one of Maryland's Leading Women in 2013.
Martin G. Knott, Jr. – Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund (MAIF) Board of Trustees. Mr. Knott is President and CEO of Knott Mechanical, Inc., Co-Founder and Vice President of Wye River Technologies, LLC, Co-Founder of Revere Strategies, LLC and Principal and Founder of Center Maryland. He also teaches coursework at the McDonogh School. Mr. Knott received his Bachelor of Science degree in Entrepreneurial Studies at Xavier University.
Maria Harris Tildon, Esq. - Board for the Chesapeake Employer's Insurance Company. Ms. Tildon currently serves as CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield's Senior Vice President for Public Policy & Community Affairs. Prior to joining CareFirst, Ms. Tildon was Senior Vice President of External Affairs for The Century Council. Ms. Tildon received her Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from Boston University and her J.D. degree from The American University, Washington College of Law. She serves on the Board of the Directors for The Leadership Greater Baltimore Committee and was named as one of Maryland's Top 100 Women for 2010 by the Daily Record.
John P. Coale, Esq. – Chesapeake Conservation Corps Program Board – Mr. Coale is a retired attorney having run his own private practice of law until retirement in 2006. His practice focused on tort law representing plaintiffs in environmental cases including victims of environmental negligence, plaintiffs in tobacco related lawsuits and workers in unsafe working environments. Mr. Coale received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maryland and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Baltimore School of Law.
Oscar Ramirez, Esq. – Chesapeake Bay Trust Board of Trustees. Mr. Ramirez is a Principal at the Podesta Group. He previously served as Special Assistant and Chief of Staff to Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA), Deputy Chief of Staff to Rep. Al Green (D-TX) and Legislative Director to Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA). He served two terms as President of the Congressional Hispanic Staff Association and was named by Washington Life Magazine as one of "Washington DC's most influential movers and shakers under 40". He sits on the Board of Advisors of Voces Verdes, a national coalition of Latino leaders who support sustainable environmental progress, and the Maryland League of Conservation Voters. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Arts degree from The George Washington University and a Juris Doctorate from George Washington University.
Janet S. Owens - State Board of Elections. Ms. Owens formerly served as Anne Arundel County Executive, Judge of the Orphans' Court for Anne Arundel County, Director of the Anne Arundel County Department of Aging and Director of the Anne Arundel County Housing Authority. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from The George Washington University, a Master in Education degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and was a Doctoral Candidate in Educational Management at the University of Massachusetts School of Education. Ms. Owens serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees for the University of Maryland at Baltimore Foundation.
Trisch L. Smith – Maryland Public Broadcasting Commission. Ms. Smith is Senior Vice-President at Edelman, a communications firm. Prior to joining Edelman, Ms Smith was an account manager at Widmeyer Communications and interned in the public relations departments of The American Red Cross and WUSA channel 9. She is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and has served as vice-chair of the board of the National Black Child Development Institute and is a trustee at Ebenezer A.M.E. Church. Ms. Smith received a Master of Arts degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Maryland at College Park and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Morgan State University.
Nicholas E. Johansson, Esq. – Maryland Economic Development Commission. Mr. Johansson has been an attorney with Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, LLP since 2004. Prior to that, he served as an attorney for the Baltimore City Solicitor's Office. Mr. Johansson earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from the University of California at Berkley and his law degree from the George Washington University Law School. For several years, he served as Board President of the Albemarle Square Townhouse Condominium Association. He is the author of several articles on Elder Law issues.
The Honorable Thomas Ward – Chair of the Baltimore City Board of License Commissioners. Judge Ward is a retired Judge from the Baltimore City Circuit Court, having served for 14 years on the bench. He attended Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pennsylvania, earned his Bachelor of Science degree at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, earned his legal degree at the University of Maryland School of Law and attended The Johns Hopkins University Graduate School. He is also a graduate of infantry school & airborne & glider school from the U.S. Army and is a former reporter for The Baltimore Sun. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Baltimore City Historical Society and author of numerous conservation articles published in newspapers and magazines throughout the U.S.
Dana Petersen Moore, Esq. – Baltimore City Board of License Commissioners –Ms. Moore is the owner of Petersen Moore LLC, in Baltimore MD. She has been Counsel at Venable LLP, Baltimore and a partner at Whiteford, Taylor and Preston, LLP, Baltimore. Ms. Moore has served on the Trial Courts Judicial Nominating Commission for Baltimore City, the Maryland Appellate Courts Nominating Commission, the Bates College Board of Trustees and Mother Seaton Academy and the Elijah Cummings Youth Program in Israel. She chaired the Baltimore City Board of Ethics and chaired the leadership program of the Greater Baltimore Committee. Ms. Moore earned her degree in English Literature from the Bates College and her Juris Doctorate from the Washington and Lee University School of Law.
4 comments:
Entrenching his cronies in places where they can do the most damage..,.
- July 3, 2014 at 7:32 AM
God Almighty. How many boards, commissions, and offices does it take to run this state?
They (our "leaders", but not "your guy", of course) create these medusa's to reward their cronies who have bribed them (you can call them "campaign contributions" if it makes you feel better...) or to whom they owe a favor and can't pay them them back in cash.
Keep cheering. Your guy is changing this tentacled mess as we speak. Right??
- July 3, 2014 at 11:20 AM
Roguettes & Rogues Gallery!
- July 3, 2014 at 11:25 AM
Nice to see a bunch of Democrats get their payoff for serving the machine. Good for them!
- July 3, 2014 at 2:10 PM


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These flower paper lanterns from the Crafty Nest are a simple Do-It-Yourself that I think you'll love!
Step 1: Begin placing the fake flowers around the paper lantern using a hot glue gun.
Step 2: Hot glue a pom pom ball into the center of each fake flower.
Step 3: Insert the cord and hang!
You can get creative and use any kind of fake flowers you want to match your color scheme. How fun are these lanterns?!?


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Enterprises must guard against a wide range of threats including the evolution of extortion attacks, hardware vulnerabilities and increased international tension that could further destabilize the digital commons. Security teams must watch for emerging operational technology risks, resource constraints and government regulations. Explore the Security trends for 2019.
Emerging threats to your digital business
Organizations need to increase their visibility across the expanding IT landscape. Success means understanding how digital transformation fundamentally remakes your business and the threats being introduced by new technologies, platforms and partners. It also means gaining more control and being able to detect and respond to threats faster — even in the midst of complex, large-scale change. Read the full report.
Top trends in 2020
Information security and operational risk converge
IoT and machine learning are requiring new levels of cyber resilience.
Extortion evolves
With cyber blackmail on the rise, enterprises need playbooks for dealing with extortionists and must test these plans regularly.
By the numbers
The frequency and severity of attacks is expected to increase in 2019. For a quick view of the factors affecting the threat landscape, view the Security Trends infographic.
GDPR's ripples spread€20m
potential European Union fines per GDPR violation
Criminals get smarter90%
increase in malware attacks against businesses
Workforce diversity1/10
ratio of cyber security jobs held by women in the industry
AI in counterintelligence31%
Projected growth of artificial intelligence in security sales
Related information
Learn more from DXC Technology's security experts on how to safeguard your enterprise.
Each year, DXC CTO Dan Hushon share's the top digital trends. Explore the 6 digital trends for 2020.
DXC in security
DXC is a technology-independent advisor with 4,000+ security professionals worldwide and security operations centers (SOCs) on five continents. Find out why the world's largest organizations rely on DXC for industry-leading managed security services.
Explore DXC Technology's security services and solutions.


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Friday, August 31, 2012
The Great Catsby Event 9/1 ~ 9/15 ,So Many Winners!
The Great Catsby Giveaway Event hosted by Parsimonious Pash and co-hosted by Bloggity Blog and Saved by Grace!
We all are so excited to bring you this huge cat event chalked full of great prizes for everyone who owns a cat! There will be multiple winners in this giveaway... totaling 27 winners!!! This giveaway really is meant for all of you crazy cat owners out there who are like all of us bloggers bringing you this giveaway as well as the companies sponsoring it! So, here we are spoiling your cats just like we spoil ours!
The Prizes:This giveaway is open to US Residents 18+ and will run from September 1st-September 15th.
Zaines Toys who sponsored a 50.00 prize pack, KV Supply and Newmans Own Organics Premium Pet Products please be sure to thank them my visiting my reviews and their sites Where you can purchase any of their items directly from them! Zaines, KV Supply and Newmans Own Organics Premium Pet Products.
All you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Winners will be verified for their entries and will be given 48 hours to respond to their notification email before a new winner is chosen.
Good Luck Everyone!!!
Posted by Unknown at 6:00 AM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: Bloggity Blog, Cats, events, facebook, Giveaways, Kitties, Parisimonious Pash, Pets, Rafflecopter, Saved by Grace, The Great Catsby Event
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Oh The Amazing Places to Dream Upon~
Oh to dream of far away romantic places with crystal blue water that you can see the amazing floor of the sea and all of life's creatures that live below. That is a dream vacation to me, but wait there are so many more places in this huge world to see too! Or maybe just to study about, a geography lesson with my kiddos and learn where these cool places are? Sharing them with my kids might just be a dream come true too
Where do you want do go? Imagine your bucket list vacation spot, where would that be? Leave a comment and tell me.
Where do you want do go? Imagine your bucket list vacation spot, where would that be? Leave a comment and tell me.
Source: themetapicture.com via Leslie on Pinterest
Posted by Unknown at 7:30 AM 2 comments: Links to this post
Labels: #homeschool, #pinterest, #Technorati tags, beautiful pictures, blog hops, blogging, bucket lists, dream vacations, geography, photography, vacations
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Wandering Wednesday Blog Hopping
Are you a hopper? Come on over to Pardon My Poppet with me and enjoy the Wandering Wednesday Blog hop. Meet new friends and see some other fantastic blogs.
Posted by Unknown at 12:08 PM 1 comment: Links to this post
Labels: #kids, blog friends, blog hops, blogging, pardon my poppit, Triberr moms
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
15 Grammar Goofs~That Make You Look Silly
A great reason to tell your older children why we have to learn correct grammar, this infographic tells all.
There is nothing like being on Facebook with your teen and noticing that he/she has posted a status update with misspelled words and bad grammar. Epic Fails~
This was a great refresher for myself, I love to write and blog, but not always using the best wording or grammar to get my words across.
There is nothing like being on Facebook with your teen and noticing that he/she has posted a status update with misspelled words and bad grammar. Epic Fails~
This was a great refresher for myself, I love to write and blog, but not always using the best wording or grammar to get my words across.
Source: growwithstacy.com via Leslie on Pinterest
Posted by Unknown at 8:06 AM 4 comments: Links to this post
Labels: #homeschool, #Technorati tags, English, facebook, grammar, infographics, lesson planning, Pinterest
Monday, August 27, 2012
Life as a Homeschool Mom
Worth a re-share, homeschool moms would mostly agree with her.I know I do, happy healthy homeschool kids are all that matters at our house! It is not an easy task, never fault yourself for your choice, just keep going one day at a time and you will be amazed at the results!
Life as a Homeschool Mom
Author: Heather from UnionCountyMommies "The Mommies Network"
Original Post April 15, 2011
If I were to meet you on the street today, I would introduce myself as Heather, stay-at-home/homeschooling mom of my daughters who are six and three. You would ask me my thoughts on the public school system and about my choice to keep them home, then about my method of teaching, and the curriculum I use. I would smile and say all the right things. I would tell you just how much I love it, how passionate I am about being their teacher, and how confident I am that this is the right choice for my family.
But that wouldn't really be the truth.
You see, more often than not I have no idea what I am doing. I second guess every decision. Homeschooling was never something I imagined myself doing, so I wonder how I got to this point, and what I was thinking. And some days I allow myself to dream about that big yellow bus pulling up in front of my house and taking my children away for the next six hours.
I love my girls dearly, of course. But the days are long, and the weeks are hectic. And I rarely get a few minutes to think, let alone have a conversation with another adult. We have days that we wake up early, get dressed and into our school room right away. And then we have others where I realize we are still in our pajamas at noon and I haven't even opened a workbook, or answered a single question.
Guilt and fear are par for the course in motherhood, but in my life they are exacerbated by being primarily responsible for my children's education. I believe that right now they learn so much through play, and have a natural curiosity to explore the world around them. But secretly, I worry that I am not smart enough to teach them all they need to know. I question whether my methods really are the best. And I'm afraid that I am doing them a huge disservice by not exposing them to a more structured learning environment.
As I start asking myself questions, I become riddled with the fear that while homeschooling is what I want for my girls, I might not be cut out for it. But then...something miraculous happens.
My youngest daughter will count to twenty, correctly read the letters off a sign as we pass by, and ask for her mountain of books at bedtime. My oldest daughter will flawlessly name the planets, sound out letters, and proudly find Italy on the world map. They will ask for more rhyming games, and sight words. They will demand just one more sheet of school work. They will run to their dad when he walks through the door, eager to tell them what they learned about that day. And they will beg to have school on Saturdays, Sundays, and Holidays.
And in those moments, I realize that something is working!
So a more accurate representation of the truth is that I am a stay-at-home/homeschooling mom of two. It is harder than I expected it to be. I don't know if I am making the right choices all the time. But my children are learning! And they are loving it!! And that hunger for knowledge is exactly what I wanted to instill in them all along.
Amen sister!
Sunday, August 26, 2012
7 Secrets To Success......plus the best secret!
What do you consider success in life?
Just look around you and be amazed at what you might see.
And Pray, Trust God for your success in life always
The Best secret!
Posted by Unknown at 6:34 PM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: awareness, beautiful pictures, blessings, chipsofftheoldblock blog, determination, God, prayer, sucess
Friday, August 24, 2012
Algebra problem of the week...
Please feel free to share in comments and follow.
Posted by Unknown at 12:41 PM 1 comment: Links to this post
Labels: #Moms, Algebra, attitude, back to school, facebook, homeschool fun, homeschool lesson, homeschool moms, homeschooling, math, Pinterest
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Why do you stay home?
Here are my top reasons for homeschooling my children:
- When God tells you to do something you Do It!
- Prayerfully sought out answer
- We tried traditional school and did not like it at all (for our kids that is)
- Due to family illness, we were able to spend more time with my father as he was dying with cancer.
- We get to go visit grandma when we want to and not just on school breaks
- I know what they are learning!
- Can teach biblical principles and apply to our lives
- We have prayer in school
- We sleep late, mom works as a nurse and does odd shifts
- Field trips can be as simple as a drive to the grocery store to learn
- We learn 24/7 365 days a year no matter the weather
- We school all year round so we can take more breaks
- We can take a day off for fun if we want to.....anytime!
- Healthy options for meals and cook at home
- Kids are less affected by external distractions
- No meds needed anymore for ADD
- I have learned all of their learning styles and work around them.
- Done with work in way less time
- Can school anywhere in the house, even snuggled up on the couch or bed.
- Bring your pets to school everyday :)
- Show and tell everyday
- Cooking dinner can become a math lesson very easily
- Our home repairs and renovations become lessons easily
- Tv can be tailored into science and history learning
- I have an addiction for school supplies
- I love books
- Teaching my kids is an honor
- My husband gets to help and teach too.
- We all learn new things daily
- We get to learn and eat our work ie counting M & M's
- No bullies!
- No dress codes or expensive uniforms
- No wasting time, lining up, waiting on other kids that don't behave, lunch lines,etc
- They are living in the real world, dealing with real life problems that happen in our household everyday. Critical thinking skills and problem solving daily.
- My teen and I have had some really deep discussions about life,love and the world,that we may not have had if he was at school all day long.
- Many many more,I could go on and on!
Posted by Unknown at 1:47 PM 4 comments: Links to this post
Labels: #Moms, #pinterest, blessings, determination, family time, homeschool, homeschool moms, kids, parents, reasons I homeschool
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
The Great Catsby Event~ Join Me
Got Kitty Cats? Come on and join us! Some Awesome Prizes!We are still taking sign-ups for this giveaway! Add a prize and join for free or pay 2 for 2 links!!
Prizes are over $500 and more keep being added!
This is going to be a HUGE giveaway!!! Bloggers can sign-up either by paying $2 for two links or by offering a prize to be included in the giveaway! This can be anything that has to do with cats!!! This is going to be THE event for cat lovers everywhere!! The Giveaway will be open to the US only.
You are asked to please share this giveaway around and get your friends in on this great giveaway! You will also be asked to post a teaser about the giveaway. There will be some information given to you for ideas for a teaser post! Everything will be posted in this group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/300319993390222/ so please send a request to join.
So far the prizes include, but are not limited to:
World's Best Cat Litter RV $9.99
Litter Robot RV $360
Soft Claws kitty claw covers RV $18.95
2 Cat Toys from Ace Furniture RV $25
1 Cat Bed from Ace Furniture RV $12.99
Newmans Organic Cat Stuff
Mr. Chewy $25 Credit
Cat Collar from Whitney
Double Cat Feeder Bowl and Silicon Mat from the Martha Stewart Pets Collection
$25 for Tails to Scales PetSupply
$25 to KV Vet Supply
Toys from Zainies
1 Bag Vita Catnip, 2 Pawbreakers
Litter Robot RV $360
Soft Claws kitty claw covers RV $18.95
2 Cat Toys from Ace Furniture RV $25
1 Cat Bed from Ace Furniture RV $12.99
Newmans Organic Cat Stuff
Mr. Chewy $25 Credit
Cat Collar from Whitney
Double Cat Feeder Bowl and Silicon Mat from the Martha Stewart Pets Collection
$25 for Tails to Scales PetSupply
$25 to KV Vet Supply
Toys from Zainies
1 Bag Vita Catnip, 2 Pawbreakers
The Giveaway will run from September 1st-15th.
Posted by Unknown at 6:30 AM 2 comments: Links to this post
Labels: Cats, Giveaway, Giveaway Opportunity, Kitties, Love Cats, Prizes, Sign ups and tagged Cat, signups by Parsimonious Pash
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
No Bake Energy Bites
Yummy to our tummies! these are super easy to make, cheap and they travel if you are in a hurry, running out the door. Try these "No Bake Energy Bites" for a snack or breakfast to get your day going. You can adapt this recipe to your family's liking.
Source: gimmesomeoven.com via Lee on Pinterest
Recipe and photo credit: gimesomeoven.com
No-Bake Energy Bites Recipe
- 1 cup (dry) oatmeal (I used old-fashioned oats)
- 2/3 cup toasted coconut flakes
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup ground flaxseed or wheat germ
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Stir all ingredients together in a medium bowl until thoroughly mixed. Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls of whatever size you would like. (Mine were about 1″ in diameter.) Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.
Makes about 20-25 balls.
Ali's Tip:
Substitution ideas can abound for just about any of these ingredients! Feel free to substitute in your favorite nut butter (almond butter, sunflower seed butter, etc.) for the peanut butter. And you could also add in some wheat germ in place of some or all of the flaxseed. I would caution, though, against substituting agave nectar for the honey, as the honey's thickness helps hold things together.
Some other fun substitutions for the chocolate chips (or an addition to them) could include:
- chopped dried fruit (apricots, dates, raisins, etc.)
- dried berries (cranberries, cherries, etc.)
- chopped almonds, pecans, walnuts, or sunflower seeds
- other chips (butterscotch, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, M&Ms, etc.)
- other grains (different kinds of oatmeal, rice cereal, etc.)
Update: Many of you have asked about substitutions for other ingredients. The joy of these bites being "no bakes" is that this recipe is super flexible. If you end up needing to omit one of the dry ingredients (such as coconut or flax), just add in some extra of whatever other dry ingredient is remaining (for example, the oats). If you feel like your energy bites are too dry, add in extra honey or peanut butter. It's also not required that you refrigerate these, but I find it helps them stick together much better. And for some reason, I love things like this a little bit chilled. Enjoy!!
Source: Slightly adapted from Smashed Peas & Carrots.
Posted by Unknown at 10:21 PM 2 comments: Links to this post
Labels: energy bites, family time, foodies, frugal, homeschooling moms, moms, no bake cookies, no bake treats, Pinterest, recipes
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Saturday blessings
Posted by Unknown at 8:53 AM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: #homeschool, #kids, #Moms, #pinterest, #Technorati tags, beautiful pictures, blessings, feelings, friends, God, gratitude, inspirational, inspirational women
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
The First thing you should learn with your homeschoolers
Learning your children and their style of learning should be one of the first things you learn before you start homeschooling. Our very first year of homeschooling I found this out the hard way, it took me all year long and part of the next year to learn that all 3 of my children learned Totally different! Even if you are a parent of a child in a traditional school , you will find that homework and completing classroom assignments will be much easier if you know that your son or daughter learns by "hands on" and not visually, or that they learn better when running around in circles and not sitting very still in a seat. Imagine if you could tell a classroom teacher at the start of the school year what kind of learner you have, so she/he can tailor some of the lesson plans around their needs maybe (if they are actually willing)
As a homeschooling parent of course we are blessed to teach our kiddos at home. We can set up a classroom like a traditional school if that is how your child will learn better, or have class on the couch surrounded by a zoo of stuffed animals, dolls or race cars if that is what works for your child!
The info-graphic below is an example of the types of learners we may encounter in our family. Do you recognize any of these learning styles in your children?
As a homeschooling parent of course we are blessed to teach our kiddos at home. We can set up a classroom like a traditional school if that is how your child will learn better, or have class on the couch surrounded by a zoo of stuffed animals, dolls or race cars if that is what works for your child!
The info-graphic below is an example of the types of learners we may encounter in our family. Do you recognize any of these learning styles in your children?
Source: thehappyhousewife.com via Leslie on Pinterest
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Thursday, May 1, 2014
Monster Mash and Face It
Did you have an imaginary friend when you were a child? I sure did and her name was Mary Ann! So meet Mary Ann, actually one of the stamps from Monster Mash from The Alley Way Stamps and her imaginary friends from their fun Face It stamp set. I often wonder what happened to Mary Ann?
13 comments:
What a fun card Tammy. I just love the background.ReplyDelete
Another fabulous fun card Tammy, such great images, I love the colours and gorgeous hair.ReplyDelete
Sue xx
What a fabulous fun card,love it.xxxReplyDelete
such a cute monster Tammy - brilliant card xxReplyDelete
I love this Tammy it made me smile!ReplyDelete
Kevin xx
Such a fun card Tammy!!ReplyDelete
Big XXX Heidy
Lol - this has made my day! Absolutely fantastic card and I love the sentiment. xReplyDelete
You already know I LOVE THIS!!! The hair is the most creative and cutest thing I've ever seen! Mine even used to be about that color too!ReplyDelete
Isn't she adorable...love the do!!! Her friends in the background are adorable, too...this is sooo cute and fun!!!!!!ReplyDelete
Hahahahahahahahahaha! I can't stop grinning! So seriously CUTE!!ReplyDelete
Cup of tea all over the computer screen, choking and crying----- Guess that means I LOVE IT! Drop Dead Fred was one of my favorite movies BTWReplyDelete
Super fun! Love the sentiment and fun colors. Hugz!ReplyDelete
OHHHH...love that hair!!!! Mary Ann may be hanging out with those missing socks...ReplyDelete


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The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Boards are keen to raise awareness of Safeguarding, how to report cases of abuse and neglect against children and adults at risk of abuse and neglect as part of a local Safeguarding Awareness month.
Abuse can happen anywhere, by anyone, some signs of abuse and neglect are obvious, others are hidden and members of the public can help by spotting signs of neglect or exploitation of children they see regularly, or noticing signs of self-neglect in an adult who has care and support needs, perhaps someone who is frail because of age or poor health.
Behavioural signs of adult neglect can include: becoming quiet and withdrawn; being upset or angry for no obvious reason; looking unkempt, dirty or thinner than usual; sudden changes in character such as appearing helpless, depressed or tearful; physical signs such as bruises, wounds, fractures or other untreated injuries; the same injuries happening more than once; not wanting to be left by themselves or alone with particular people; being unusually light-hearted and insisting there's nothing wrong.
Behavioural signs of child neglect can include: poor appearance and hygiene - they may be smelly or dirty, have unwashed clothes or seem hungry; health or development problems - such as untreated or repeated injuries, poor muscle tone, thin or swollen stomach, tiredness or faltering weight or growth; housing and family issues - living in an unsuitable home, being left along for a long time, taking on the role of carer for other family members.
Dr Russell Wate, Chair of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Boards said: "After over 25 years working in safeguarding, I have seen the absolute trauma that happens when we don't protect our children and vulnerable adults.
"We must do everything we can, not just as professionals. but also members of the public, to safeguard children and adults at risk. The Safeguarding Boards are the glue that holds agencies together to make this happen, by challenging agencies, and by listening to children, young people, adults and their carers, who tell us their experiences and how we can do better. Safeguarding is everyone's business, we must do this together."
Here in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough we have many dedicated professionals who work hard to protect children and adults at risk, from abuse and neglect.
Prior to 2017, there were separate and well established Children's and Adult Safeguarding Boards in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, but in 2017 these Boards joined together to be more efficient and effective.
The boards are made up of statutory partners from Cambridgeshire Police, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group and the local authorities, as well as other members from key agencies such as the emergency services, health services, education, organisations who work with offenders, care providers and the voluntary sector.
Their aim is to work in partnership to safeguard children and adults at risk from abuse and neglect and they use external inspections including Ofsted and Peer Review to confirm they are effective, with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough having been cited as good.
Throughout this month, agencies across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough will be working to raise awareness of safeguarding. There will be events for professionals and members of the public – such as at local Hospitals, and information will also be available at local libraries, which will be promoted on social media.
In the meantime, if you have any concerns about someone, please contact your local authority:
- For Cambridgeshire call 0345 045 5202
- For Peterborough call 01733 747474
- If someone is in immediate danger call 999.
- If contact is made early enough, it might be possible to prevent harm and exploitation of a child or adult from taking place
You can find out more information on our website: www.safeguardingpeterborough.org.uk.


text:
The massive adoption of electric mobility requires the deployment of a dense and meshed recharge infrastructure throughout the country. It also requires the development of roaming for charging services. Roaming is the ability of a subscriber of an e-mobility operator to easily access the infrastructure of any other infrastructure operator as he travels.
Read more
French Association for Roaming of Electricity Charging Service (AFIREV) was created on march 2015 by 7 major actors of e-mobility.


text:
Senior Consulting Projects
Benefits to the Client:
Following are the Senior Consulting Project deliverables to the client:
- A thorough, professionally written report with detailed analyses and specific recommendations. The document will include problem definition, substantial fact-based analysis, recommendations, and implementation suggestions.
- An oral presentation to the client of the team's findings, including thorough discussion and any needed follow-up.
- A Client Satisfaction Survey will be requested from the client, at the end of the semester, as an assessment of the team's work.
Client Selection Criteria:
- The business problem or development opportunity described in the project application must be challenging to an experienced manager and must also draw on the skills and knowledge acquired by students.
- The scope of the project must allow it to be realistically completed within the senior project's sixteen-week time-frame and must match the skills and capabilities of the consulting team.
- The company/organization must designate (a) an executive-level project champion who can manage the client's internal resources required to complete the project; and (b) a key contact person who will serve as the primary day-to-day interface with the student consulting team. A committed and active client liaison assures a positive outcome.
- The organization is required to share their internal financial, product, and market data required for project completion. Each student signs a confidentiality agreement.
Client and Student Team Expectations:
- Clients should expect to have weekly contact with the student team. That communication may be in the form of an email, in-person meeting, or a phone call. Student teams will keep the client updated weekly on the status of the project, as well as what's coming up, so that both parties can be prepared.
- Clients must understand that the students' time on the project is limited. Most students are taking between 15-18 hours and many work part-time or full-time jobs as well. This project is one class of perhaps 4 or 5 classes the students are taking per semester.
- Students are considered as consultants for the client. Students should not be asked to do anything that an employee would do, such as counting inventory, making sales calls, etc.
- Do not ask students to do anything inauthentic or unethical, such as pretending to be a customer and going into a competitor's business.
- All students sign and are bound by a confidentiality agreement that outlines the information provided by the client is not to be shared, and is used only in the performance of their specific project.
- Clients are to provide students with requested information in a timely manner. The more detailed information the client provides to their student team (including financial statements), the better the job the students can do in performing an organizational and industry assessment, and in making recommendations for the client.
- The information requested by the students is often tied to a deliverable in the class with a due date. Timely receipt of the information from the client will assist the students with staying on schedule to complete the project. Student teams need to respect the time constraints of their clients, and provide sufficient notice, with expectations on due dates for information requested.
- As part of the research to be conducted, the student team will be developing and administering a survey. The students may ask for your input on key areas of interest to you for developing survey questions that are most relevant to helping your business. Students may also ask for your assistance in distributing the survey through an email list, your website, FaceBook page, etc. in order to reach more respondents.
Types of Projects:
All Senior Consulting Projects should be completed in a framework that considers the impact on a company's position and competitive strength in the marketplace.
Below are examples of past projects:
- Business plan for a new venture or product
- Marketing plan and associated financials for a new product or service
- Study evaluating the feasibility of establishing a business or new location
- Strategic analysis of how to combat reduced market share from competitive entry
- Reorganization plan following massive corporate downsizing
- Short and long term business plan
- Analysis of emerging technology
- Business plan to guide the development & implementation of a new strategic business unit
- A plan for the development & implementation of a direct marketing customer database
- Development of a strategic, financial, and information system for an existing small business
- A plan analyzing the feasibility and implementation issues of an advanced engineering training program
- Analysis of major financial decision on whether to go public
- A plan for analyzing outsourcing decisions
- Feasibility and market analysis
- Environmental Industry Analysis
- Strategic growth plan
About the Process:
The Senior Consulting Project course in the Foster College of Business is a 16-week project completed by a team of four to six students. Depending on the size of the class, anywhere from 12 to 25 projects might be completed during each semester. There are two semesters each year. Project applications are submitted throughout the year and are reviewed on a rolling basis. Project selection is a two-stage process: The Consulting Project Committee provides an initial assessment of the projects to the business faculty; the approved applications are then presented to the business students, who make the final selection. Successfully chosen projects are a true collaboration between the student team and the client. In this regard, the committee gives greater consideration to projects that challenge the student teams to apply a range of program concepts and analytical frameworks. More meaningful projects also tend to include a primary data component in the form of a survey or series of interviews or focus groups.
Please be advised that the number of applications received, generally exceeds the number of projects needed in a semester.. Consequently, even strong applications may not initially be selected. In those instances, the application will remain "active" and be presented to student teams the following semester.
Some company projects are deemed less suitable as a Senior Consulting Project but may still be a good fit for one or more classes or programs within the Foster College of Business at Bradley University. Those applicants will be contacted for additional opportunities.
Purpose of a Senior Consulting Project:
- To provide students with an authentic, real-world business problem or opportunity for analysis and recommendations. This business consulting experience allows students to apply their skills and experience by identifying relevant issues, analyzing alternatives, and making recommendations.
- To support local businesses by offering the consulting services of a team of four to six talented students who combine their business experience with the lessons learned during their Bradley education. This assistance benefits client organizations by contributing to improved strategies and enhanced operational effectiveness.
The Senior Consulting Project is the capstone class for all Bradley University business majors. The program is designed to provide business students with an opportunity to apply all of the skills they have developed during their time at Bradley to a real world business situation. Bradley's senior consulting program has been in existence since 1972.
Small teams of four to six students from a mixture of disciplines (Accounting, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Management and Leadership, Management Information Systems, and Marketing) are brought together to serve as consultants for a local firm. The student team works directly with a point of contact, from the company, and is advised by one of the University's business professors. The project lasts a full semester (16 weeks) and culminates in an oral and written presentation of recommendations from the students to the client.
The semester begins with the student team meeting their client at a pre-scheduled "Meet the Client Night" event. The students then develop the project scope. This process familiarizes the student team with the industry and current trends and practices occurring within it. Following the definition of the project scope, the students perform the industry or market assessment.
Applicants may propose any type of business-related project, as long as it contains specific deliverables. Some common projects include developing marketing plans, feasibility studies, and conducting customer surveys.
Contact Information
Bradley University
Foster College of Business
Turner Center for Entrepreneurship
Illinois Small Business Development Center
1501 W Bradley University
Peoria IL 61625
(309) 677-2992 office
(309) 677-3386 fax


text:
This year is going to be a busy one for comic book fans. DC Comics will give us Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and will later introduce us to the "worst heroes ever" in Suicide Squad. On Marvel's side, the Marvel Cinematic Universe will continue its expansion with Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange; as for the characters not under Marvel Studios' wing, the X-Men will face one of their biggest threats in X-Men: Apocalypse and the Merc With a Mouth will get his solo movie in Deadpool.
Deadpool is, without a doubt, one of the most anticipated movies of the year, making it to Screen Rant's Top 5 of Most Anticipated Movies of 2016. Some very lucky fans recently got the chance to watch the full movie during a fan event, receiving positive reviews and reactions from fans. While fans are usually the ultimate judges, it's inevitable to wonder what Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld thinks about the final product.
During one of those surprise screenings in Los Angeles, Liefeld told fans the Deadpool we will see on the big screen is the best version of the character ever. Seems like the long wait for this movie will be completely worth it.
Liefeld said:
"This is my second time seeing it and it was even better than the first time. That sounds like something Deadpool would say. But, here's the deal: twenty-five years worth of Deadpool. This movie comes out twenty-five years to the day we published him at Marvel and you couldn't get a better gift if you're a Deadpool fan and I have seen twenty-five years of stories come and go – and Rhett [Reese] and Paul [Wernick] will tell you – back in 2009 I freaked out when I read the screenplay because Deadpool has never ever been better than he was in that screenplay and when I saw this movie six weeks ago I was like, 'How much of this script will carry?' and what you just saw is the best version of Deadpool I have ever experienced in my life."
Liefeld went on to praise Ryan Reynolds, Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese, Tim Miller, Simon Kinberg, T.J Miller, and the entire team, adding he "wouldn't be up here taking the shots and droning on Twitter and encourage you guys not to give up the fight if this movie wasn't as great as it is." He concluded by calling the movie "fantastic."
Wade Wilson, a.k.a. Deadpool had a rough debut on the big screen back in 2009 in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Fans of the mouthy mercenary were highly disappointed in his appearance in that movie, but rumors about a spinoff with Ryan Reynolds attached to reprise his role started circulating right away. After the test footage was leaked and received positive feedback not long ago, Fox finally green lit the project.
It's not easy for an artist to see a character of his creation in the hands of another person and watch what becomes of it, so knowing that Liefeld is pleased with what Fox, Reynolds, and Miller did with Deadpool is the ultimate seal of approval fans, cast, and crew needed.
Deadpool opens in theaters on February 12, 2016, followed by X-Men: Apocalypse on May 27, 2016; Gambit sometime in 2017; Wolverine 3 on March 3, 2017; and an untitled X-Men film on July 13, 2018. The New Mutants is also currently in development.
Source: Comicbook.com


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I put out genius 1.0.7 yesterday. I'm feeling under the weather a bit, so essentially that's the only productive thing I've accomplished.
July 30, 2009
July 27, 2009
1057 unique IPs
So 1057 downloads of my diffy qs notes from distinct IP addresses. I guess that also counts the crawlers, but last I checked they are only a very small subset, so definately over 1000 human downloads anyway. That's not bad I guess. Not one person yet got the bound version from lulu, so I am most definitely not getting rich off of this book. I am actually very surprised that it got to 1000 so quickly. I was really expecting far less by now. I figured I'd have hard time figuring out which downloads were from the students in the class, but obviously it is now such a small percentage (between the time I made the final version available on zinc (jirka.org) and the time of the final there were about 40 downloads and there were like 65 students in the class, I guess many of them had older version of the notes already and did not bother to download the newest one).
I assume that most of the downloads are students looking for an extra source of information. If this is true, there should be a spike in downloads come September. I think this is a reasonable theory since my page comes up pretty high when searching for "edwards and penney differential equations free download" (I've seen searches exactly like this in the logs:) I guess my notes are not exactly what these people are looking for but I guess it helps.
July 24, 2009
more git learning
So I spent some time I could have spent hacking on genius by reading about git. I think I somewhat understand the way the thing works. What exactly the commands do still remains an enigma and it seems very hard to figure out how to do simple things. Problem is that there is too many states that your changes are in. They are in a dirty tree, then they are in the index (staged?) then you commit them to your local repository then they are published to the main repository.
The bottom up article is pretty good for understanding what's going on, though many times I'm asking myself "why? why would I ever care?" Git is written by a control freak obsessed with metadata of the changes to the code rather than the changes themselves. For example, it is now easier (though not by much) to split a set of changes into two commits. I think that is not something I have ever ever done, so I can't mentally justify the added complexity. Git seems like a project that should have been done by somebody doing his phd thesis.
In my view, the fewer branches your project has the more chance you have of understanding what state your code is in. The problem is that changes to code are NEVER local, no matter how good of a programmer you are. Just like every chess book tells you to watch the entire board when making a move, so should every programming book. That's why you don't want too many branches and essentially often apply changes that were done to the tree in when it was in a different state. Such patches should be hand checked and hand applied! Git does too much magic like this, plus it by default starts branching the tree whenever you sneeze. Making a new branch should be the last resort unless you have a lot of free time.
My other issue is that it is pretty difficult to get started with git properly, especially on a large project where there is little opportunity for error. That means the startup time for a newcomer is far higher. If this was implemented to make sure more new people join gnome, I think it is seriously misguided. People who are already familiar with git are probably sufficiently at easy with the free software community that they will easily get started. People who just want to fix a few problems in the code and send back patches are going to be overwhelmed by new complexity.
July 23, 2009
another git rant
I've been attempting to read some git docs. But it's not going well. Unfortunately the online documentation and tutorials read just like if you took a math book, stripped out all the definitions and just included the theorems. Since I am not familiar with what the words mean I can't understand what it's doing. There seems to be no "starting point" for git. Every place in the docs seems to assume you know the other parts of the docs and most of all that you know the terminology. I don't know what refs is, I have no clue what's the difference between merge and rebase, and in no place does it tell you what those things are working on. I have not yet figured out if I am supposed to commit first before rebasing (or merging or whatever I am supposed to do) or if I should first pull, rebase (or in some other order) then commit then … Oh I forgot add … then push. Something that was possible to do with two commands in cvs or svn.
The only thing I find out by reading docs or online posts about git is that distributed vcs is great, centralized is bad, cvs sucks and I should change my "workflow". Besides the fact that after this adventure I hate the word "workflow". Why should I change the way I work just to make a piece of software I want to stay out of my way to stay out of my way and not mess up my code. I've seen many posts to criticisms of git basically say that I will at some point really like git. That is not coming. I've never felt this resentful against cvs. There were a few times I felt cvs could have done something better, but I understood how cvs works from the absolute beginning without needing to really read anything about it. I have read quite a bit about git, but I still have only a vague idea of how it works and that kind of scares me, since it is supposed to take care of my code. At this point I'm being calmed only by the fact that there are tarballs of my code somewhere safe and I could always take a tarball and start from scratch.
Simplicity is a virtue! Not something to avoid at all costs. Perfect solutions do not exist. Plus I am sure that at some point something else will become the in-vogue religious thing of how to handle code. Then everyone will say "this git thing sucks, we all now use frmgtnfut now, get out of the dark ages" and "frmgtnfut" will be even worse documented but will probably add another buzzy adjective in front of (or instead of) the "distributed". I should stop being logical, maybe I should just get with the times and start singing the git hare hare git git hare hare songs … Do I need to send some money somewhere to join this cult?
July 22, 2009
genius scoping rules
I've been recently hacking on fixing up the genius scoping rules. In particular, I solved a design issue by adding local variables. That is variables that are only visible in the current context. That way, functions passed as arguments need not see the internals the functions that call them. I was originally going to change the way lookup worked. I think the most natural rule would be to see variables that you could see when you were defined. So each function would save the context in which it was defined and then somehow "jump back to it" for the purposes of lookup. The problem is that I can't figure out an efficient implementation of this idea. Especially with deep recursion this turns out to be deadly. So I implemented the local variables which are rather easy. That is if you have
function f(g,x) = (
local a;
function h(x) = x+a;
a = 2;
will return 12 and not 11. That is the function h will overlook the a and only see the a that was defined globally. An advantage of this approach is that it's completely compatible. The only places where I've made incompatible changes were places where the current engine was buggy (for example it would keep substituting variables if a function was passed up again, though that is unlikely to happen much).
Also I have to rant about git. I tried reading up on it, since it seems that it is rather easy to screw things up with git. I consider myself not an extremely stupid person, but I still do not have a complete understanding of git. Mostly it seems like git does one million things that I will never ever use, nor would I ever dream of wanting to do, but it is very easy to do those things by mistake. It seems that what was previously simple (like merging changes) is now very complicated with lots of commands needing to be issued at the right order etc… Just the whole idea that there are now two types of commits (local and remote) seems absurdly idiotic to me. The fewer versions of the code there are the less chance for stupidities.
I said before git seemed like vcs masturbation. I have to revise this statement. Masturbation, while serving no purpose, is supposed to be fun. Using git instead of cvs or svn is not fun, it is painful (that could be fun for some people).
Maybe I'm just bitter today since I spent about half an hour trying to find a mistake caused by = instead of == in an if statement. Oh well, I think at least I'm pretty much done. The beast passes all current tests. It remains to document the new stuff and write more tests for the local stuff and then release. … Enough hacking … time to go do some math instead.
July 21, 2009
new gob
Made the gob 2.0.16 release today, see http://www.jirka.org/gob.html.
I was thinking a bit why things I did were not popular when I did them, yet then later I see the same idea done in a different way and people suddenly think it's cool, even though their previous arguments could have been easily recycled. I think it's because I did not manage to put enough buzzwords into my projects. I unfortunately called gob a preprocessor. Had I called it a new technology leveraging the gobject programming paradigm within existing project environment allowing refactoring and whatever other in-vogue nonsense is currently a popular word.
So along comes Vala which is a cool project and it does precisely everything that everyone told me gob should not do. Yet, somehow … hmmm … I think Vala is cool. I wish them luck in "marketing" it.
Another thing I screwed up marketing was pong. I unfortunately mentioned "auto-generated" somewhere and suddenly nobody even looked t what the thing did. Everybody was fine with glade automatically connecting your signals, but pong connecting widgets to gconf was evil for some reason. I bet the reduction in memory footprint which could have bee achieved by letting pong do what every app does miserably with its own code would be easily measurable.
Enough ranting … I just feel sort of sad if I see nonsense being solved (the desktop being turned into an inconsistent flash app for example) while actual problems aren't being solved for decades. This is not a new disease. I mean we had gtk themes long before we had any sort of printing support. I guess this is part of the problem why I got bored working on software, the priorities are all screwed up.
July 19, 2009
After being pissed off one last time by thunderbird I switched to gmail. Importing mail was not as easy as it could have been, but once it's all set up it's not bad. Plus no more having to set up thunderbird everywhere (especially sending mail was always problematic). It almost feels like gmail UI is more responsive, plus it has vi like keys for moving around so I feel like almost back home in mutt. The only trouble is the overzeleaous spam filtering. But for the account where that matters (uiuc) there is already good spam filtering done.
I guess that's one more thing I do to get on RMSes bad side.
July 6, 2009
Franken …
I read so much complaining by republicans on how terrible it is that Franken got elected because he's "too left wing" or "too liberal." Bar one socialist senator, it is hard to find actual left wingers in congress. There's just center-right (democrats) and far-right (that other party).
July 5, 2009
675 unique ips
So 675 unique IPs have downloaded my Diffy Qs notes pdf. Not too shabby for 8 weeks I guess. Considering these are differential equations, so not the typical idle time browsing. On the other hand, not one person paid the $15 for the bound copy 😦 But now I have my NSF grant (thanks to Obama's bailout I suppose) so it all works out.


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The Screen Rant editorial team is back with episode one-hundred forty of the Screen Rant Underground podcast.
Join host Ben Kendrick, fellow SR editors Rob Keyes, Anthony Ocasio, and Kofi Outlaw as we review Wally Pfister's Transcendence, discuss the possibility of an X-Men/Amazing Spider-Man movie crossover, and offer ideas for Mrs. Doubtfire 2.
Screen Rant Underground is available on the iTunes Music Store or Stitcher Radio but if you're not near your home computer, check out our latest episode in the player below.
Also, Screen Rant Underground is an EXPLICIT podcast. We don't go out of our way to say controversial things or use explicit language but it does happen - so use discretion when playing the podcast at work and around young, or sensitive, ears.
Screen Rant Underground: Episode 140 - Transcendence
We review Wally Pfister's Transcendence, discuss the possibility of an X-Men/Amazing Spider-Man movie crossover, and offer ideas for Mrs. Doubtfire 2.
[0:00] News: Final 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' Trailer: Wolverine's Team vs. The Sentinels, 'Amazing Spider-Man 2′ Features Post-Credits 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' Scene, and Fox Developing 'Mrs. Doubtfire' Sequel with Robin Williams.
[52:50] Rants and Raves: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Titanfall, Under the Skin, and Dom Hemingway.
[1:29:34] Review: Transcendence (read our full written Transcendence review).
[1:49:44] SPOILERS: Transcendence.
[2:16:43] Twitter Handles and Contact Information.
[2:18:40] Game Rant News Brief.
Hosts: Ben Kendrick, Rob Keyes, Anthony Ocasio, and Kofi Outlaw.
Last Week's Official Box Office Battle Reader Winner (Rio 2 opening): Sal reports that Gracey and Insufferable Deadpool both tied with a perfect 15 each. However, Insufferable Deadpool is the official winner by virtue of the tiebreaker.
Opening in theaters this week (Wide):
- Brick Mansions - 2,400
- The Other Woman (2014) - 3,000
- The Quiet Ones - 2,000
Opening this Week in Theaters (Limited):
Use the comment section below to continue our various discussions by weighing in with your own thoughts - or just to let us know what you think of the show.
Also, don't forget to vote in our weekly Screen Rant Underground poll:
[poll id="792"]
We release one episode a week every Monday and while host Ben Kendrick as well as Rob Keyes, Anthony Ocasio, and Kofi Outlaw are standard fare on the podcast, we also welcome guests from a diverse group of industry professionals.
Subscribe to the Screen Rant Underground at your online digital store of choice:
If you don't use iTunes or Stitcher Radio you can still say up to date with new releases by bookmarking the Underground RSS feed - or keep an eye on the site for future Underground episode posts.
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Music by Omarie B. Williams (@OmarieWilliams)
Make sure to check out ScreenRant.com and GameRant.com for entertainment news, reviews, and editorials.


text:
Rockbox mail archiveSubject: Re: Wma to Mp3 conversion results?
From: Chris Holt (amiga2k_at_cox.net)
Date: 2003-10-25
On Fri, 24 Oct 2003 15:29:08 -0700 (PDT), scott wrote:
I agree with your proposal with one exception. I do believe that
I would definetly recommend using software that uses the LAME codec, and
Page was last modified "Jan 10 2012" The Rockbox Crew


text:
Now that the city has acquired the additional section of abandoned railway from Iowa north to Chicago it's time to come up with a plan for the improvements.
The Nampa Parks Department presented the preliminary design to the Nampa Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee at it's meeting on October 12th and now is seeking additional input from the public at an open house to be held on November 2, from 5:30-7:00 pm at Sherman Elementary School, 1521 E. Sherman Ave. They included plenty of parking on the south side of Amity as well as a playground but they sincerely want to hear your additional thoughts and ideas, so take advantage of this open house. If you are unable to attend you can still be involved by visiting the City of Nampa website for detailed information, click on and enlarge the images below, or download the full PDF FILE HERE. Then, post your comments and questions below or email them directly to email@example.com.
Nampa Parks and Recreation would love to hear from you! Once the plan is approved the city will begin completing improvements, probably in phases, as funding is available through various grants and other sources.
2 Comments on Stoddard Pathway Extension
Once again testing the akismet anti spam


text:
I promised this a week ago, but here it is: so, so easy, and such a cool manipulation! I came up with the idea myself, but putting it all together was strongly influenced by a technique Ajaire Parello shared on her blog, Call Ajaire, for a Project Run and Play entry. Amazing technique, Ajaire! I'm trying yours next!
This weaving is probably easier if you have a type of loom set up, but I don't - so I went high tech and used invisible tape to hold the ends in place! ;) I always have plenty of that on hand for all the patterns I tape together!
All you need is a fat quarter (or more or less, depending on how big your project is), some tape, your sewing machine and matching (or contrasting!) thread, and some type of stabilizer. Ajaire, in her technique, used a water soluble stabilizer. I didn't have any on hand, but I did have embroidery backing! It worked great, and no soaking is needed. It's very thin, so it doesn't affect the overall thickness of your finished piece much, but if you're concerned about that or you don't want anything left on the back, go get yourself some water soluble stuff! :)
First I cut the whole piece of fabric into half inch strips. I cut them all in half, so I'd have smaller, easier pieces to work with - but again, your strips really depend on what you're using your weaving for.
I used a very scientific method to determine how many strips for "warp" and "weft" - called "splitting the pile of strips in half, roughly". Using the strips from one pile, I laid them all down on my ironing board (I really recommend using a table or desk - more space to work on!) one after another, just touching but not overlapping. Then I took a looong piece of tape, and taped down the ends of the strips.
Then all you do is channel your inner elementary school student - remember weaving paper placemats?? Fold back half the strips, starting with the second one down and skipping every other strip. Make sure they're neatly pulled back.
Then I took a strip from the other pile and laid it down vertically, and folded the strips back over it. Don't let your fabric shift around or you'll end up with wonky weaving (unless that's what you want. I won't judge.)
All you do now is pull back the opposite strips - start at the top and skip every other again, meaning the ones you just put back in place. Put down another vertical strip, and fold them back over.
Lather, rinse, repeat. This technique is very repetitive, and can get old after a while if you're doing a large piece - but it's a great way to pass some time if you want a quiet activity to do! (Or enlist your kids to do it for you ;) )
Once you have the piece the size you want (or run out of strips - mine just happened to come out just right) you need to apply something to the back to hold them in place for stitching. I should mention, you could do this all upside down - you might get a slightly different look, but it won't matter. Or you can use a piece of thin cardboard and flip the whole thing over, like I did. Then iron on your stabilizer or embroidery backing.
I don't know why I don't have pictures of these steps - I'm a terrible tutorial maker.
You can stitch all over your weaving with any design, or follow the rows to make a grid. I like how the grid makes the edges of the weaving pop in between the rows, just a little. It's a neat texture effect!
I cut the basket for the baby carriage on my mini quilt out of my weaving. Use it for applique, quilts, or do a huge one and make a skirt out of it!


text: Do you ever get jealous of fictional characters? I find myself envying Zoey Deschenel's wardrobe in New Girl, and that Wonder Woman can roam around with a lasso of truth in some killer red boots. I also get jealous of real people- random friends on social media I see who seem to be having amazing time connecting with friends, and… Read more →


text:
Innovative modular building solutions for the education sector
posted: 24th Feb 2016
Given the steady rise in pupil numbers and the pressures this puts on schools to offer places, Jackie Maginnis of the Modular and Portable Building Association discusses the benefits of modular and offsite build as a possible solution to the ongoing problem.
In light of the recent media coverage around the education sector, it is no secret that the majority of UK schools are struggling with high demand for school places with a lack of additional facilities available in most areas.
Speed of delivery is a very important part of the requirements.
The modular and portable building industry has been around for many years and is available to provide low cost, sustainable solutions to the education sector.
Modular buildings can be manufactured with ultra quick lead times and supplied as an extension or an 'add on' to meet peaks in demand. Structures are available as either a permanent or temporary option at cost to suit the client's needs. Modular also presents other fundamental benefits, making modular a sound choice for schools that require an expansion or an upgrade. Other such benefits include energy compliance, meeting the latest regulations and the ability to create complete bespoke design solutions.
Flexibility, design and build
Given the limited amount of space available in the majority of existing schools, modular buildings provide an instant advantage to those who desperately need a cost effective and bespoke solution to utilise all the space available. Modules can also be used as a temporary or permanent measure, which in some cases provides options for a fully functional school buildings to be removed and reused if required.
Modular units are thoroughly planned and designed to suit specific user requirements, buildings are also created offsite in a factory, which enables urgent school buildings to be delivered faster resulting in minimum disruption.
Educational Building Regulations
Modular buildings are constructed to the latest standards and are fully compliant to all building regulations, encompass Part L energy efficiency; this means modular build also presents lower carbon emissions. Members of the MPBA are able to produce the required Energy Performance Certificates, so a customer can be certain of the energy rating for a building.
Education like many other sectors of construction today will be looking to resolve its future requirements in the most efficient and cost effect option as possible. Looking for more efficient ways of delivering a project on time, improving quality and measuring carbon emissions, reduction of waste on site coupled with reducing unnecessary labour costs. These can all be achieved with modules built off site in a controlled factory environment. Volumetric buildings where possible are delivered to site in a virtually finished state.
Key drivers for the use of Modular Volumetric Buildings include: sustainability; reduction in on site waste – controlled factory waste; and reduction of carbon emissions.
Given the fact that modular buildings have been a major contributor to the construction industry since the post war years, there is still a tendency for many to regards the process of offsite construction to be a new and unknown quantity with many associated risks. Many still look to the traditional construction as a safer bet.
The old fashion procurement practice with its low levels of productivity, often poor quality finishes, most certainly more material waste and on site control, over run on contract periods and in turn costs.
Traditional construction methods struggle to deliver high levels of performance and require a high degree of accuracy, this is much more achievable in a factory controlled environment.
Times have changed
Modular Building companies today can offer all the elements to deliver a Turn Key Package without the need to absorb expensive procurement costs which can be ill-afforded in today's market place.
Today the subject of 'old cabins' remains in people's minds, the fact is that designs have moved on. What is most frustrating is that there is an industry sector out there that has the answers but no one seems to want talk to us direct.
Albeit there are still some old buildings out there surely that is testament to the fact the buildings can stand the test of time‑way beyond the expectations of old.
Think what can be achieved now modern technology companies are offering a 60-year design life. Buildings are available to buy new, buy recycled, or hired and can be can be designed to fit into difficult locations and tailored to suit the client's budget. There is without a doubt an issue as to how the needs are met to suit all applications – is there a need for standardisation or a bespoke design for specific applications.
The modular industry is fully aware of the difficulty in filling 'space' on many schools where improvements are required-what fits-where it fits and how it fits is critical.
If there is a requirement to create a new building, decide early, embrace with the designs of modular building solution – do not design a fait accompli. Engage with the MPBA: its advice is free. Engage with a modular builder, this will enable the architect at an early stage to see how best to manufacture the building being designed and how to get the best out of construction which should create a cheaper and faster solution that suits everyone.
Most modular builders are happy to act as the principle contractor, so when developing a new scheme where the bulk value is modular go direct.
Today the education sector can get all of its requirements met; there is no need for the process to be complicated. Buildings can be designed as standard or bespoke with everything undertaken by the supplier. Good examples of buildings can be found on the MPBA web site, where members have detailed many cases where they have fulfilled a need. There are also case studies in the Industry News sector, where you can see many examples of good quality and professional educational buildings.