text:
Blog about fun facts (facts of the day, every day), travel, life in Spartanburg South Carolina, video game reviews, movie reviews, TV shows reviews, anime, politics (I'm a Democrat), atheism and agnostic thought, and much more.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Fact of the Day: Eastern Capital
21 comments:
Very interesting! I didn´t know this.And Tokyo and Kyoto has the same letters but changes the order. Kisses:)ReplyDelete
quite interestingReplyDelete
I guess they like to be literalReplyDelete
So interesting informations!xxReplyDelete
Yes, that makes sense!ReplyDelete
Adam, you must do really well when playing Trivial Pursuit!ReplyDelete
Happy Sunday. ☺
I love your blog! It's great :) You are amazing! Feel free to my blog :)) Maybe, you follow my blog ? ♥ (If you like it)ReplyDelete
Kisses ♥♥♥
Interesting fact!ReplyDelete
Again something new I learned of Tokyo. I also didn't see this small temple when we were there.ReplyDelete
Yes indeed, 'toh' means 'east' in Japanese while 'kyo' means 'capital city'.ReplyDelete
Fascinating and I would love to visit Tokyo one day.ReplyDelete
yep, it's a relatively modern capital.ReplyDelete
I would like to visit Japan some day :)ReplyDelete
You'd think I'd know that (don't tell my mom)! Thank you for reminding me.ReplyDelete
I didn't know that. But now I do. In fact, from now on I've always known it.ReplyDelete
You can see this movie. To be honest, there are many good and bad reviews. I like this movie, especially I like these special effects and costumes :)ReplyDelete
Thanks so much for sharing, Adam, great post.ReplyDelete
Hi Adam!ReplyDelete
I enjoy your blog so much! You go in so many directions in a short week!
Congrats ~ definitely belatedly ~ on your third anniversary with Daisy!
You posted on a number of issues that are so important to me. Like separation of state and religion. It certainly doesn't seem like we have made much progress since Pres. Munroe's days. Could we please embrace tolerance as a nation?
And don't even get me started on the Florida recount. I try not to fall into the what-ifs ~ but we would be in a very different place right now if Gore had won!
Jason Collins coming out was a brave stance. I hadn't heard the number 98 story ~ but I certainly remember in gut-wrenching detail the story of Matthew Shephard's murder ~ which was horrendous!
Thank you for all your informative posts, but especially thank you for speaking out on important issues.
And the test! OMG ~ as a teacher and as a scientist, it made my skin crawl! I volunteered in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science's fossil lab for well over a decade, and the curators and others who dealt with the public were always having to deal with Creationists. They liked to come and try to bait anyone who stood for science over religion. That test was unbelievable!
Have a great week!
Sometimes names are so simple.ReplyDelete
another great thing to know about japanReplyDelete
Tokyo is one of my favorite cities in the world!ReplyDelete


text:
Ree Reyes returns! Six months after her Geekomancy debut, Pearson's one-woman nerd army takes on a new challenge: Hollywood. Author Michael Underwood stopped by to share the origin story of Celebromancy, talk about why having a bisexual main character was so important to him, and what's next for Ree.
Things are looking up for urban fantasista Ree Reyes. She's using her love of pop culture to fight monsters and protect her hometown as a Geekomancer, and now a real-live production company is shooting her television pilot script.
But nothing is easy in show business. When an invisible figure attacks the leading lady of the show, former child-star-turned-current-hot-mess Jane Konrad, Ree begins a school-of-hard-knocks education in the power of Celebromancy.
[mantra-pullquote align="right" textalign="left|center|right" width="40%"]GIVEAWAY!
To celebrate the release, Underwood is offering a copy of Celebromancy with a pair of promotional Celebromantic sunglasses – magic powers not included. Enter by telling us in the comments below what gets your geek going. Contest is open to fans in the U.S. or Canada. Winner will be chosen at random on July 30th, and contacted via e-mail. [/mantra-pullquote]
Attempting to help Jane Geekomancy-style with Jedi mind tricks and X-Men infiltration techniques, Ree learns more about movie magic than she ever intended. She also learns that real life has the craziest plots: not only must she lift a Hollywood-strength curse, but she needs to save her pilot, negotiate a bizarre love rhombus, and fight monsters straight out of the silver screen. All this without anyone getting killed or, worse, banished to the D-List.
Hollywood Jane: The spotlight (pun intended) in this book is on Celebromancy – was it a different process creating the rules of this magical system than when you created Geekomancy?
Michael Underwood: With Celebromancy, I had the advantage of having already blocked out a whole magic system for this world already (and enough of others to make them work for supporting characters). For the new style, I wanted to take a contrasting dynamic (fame rather than fandom) and create a system that literalized the metaphors associated with fame, especially contemporary flavors of fame. People being famous for seemingly no reason became one of the effects that the style can produce. In addition, I made a nod towards the pandemic of Photoshopping in the fashion/celebrity industry by letting Celebromancers create magical illusions in real time to make themselves look uncannily beautiful. I rounded the style out with attention-grabbing-and-maintaining powers, and so on. Celebromancy is a more focused style than Geekomancy, but also has very wide-reaching (and somewhat insidious) power. But I wanted to make sure that Celebromancy wasn't explicitly 'bad,' as I'd tried to make Geekomancy not explicitly 'good.'
I feel like there are so many ways to go with Celebromancy – Twitter turned out to be a key tool for Celebromancers in this novel, and I imagine YouTube has its own sect. I'm sure you'll explore the labyrinth of Geekomancy in the future, but have you considered writing a guide to the other 'Mancies'?
I feel like there's a careful balance for me as the writer here – if I tip my hand too much right away, I limit myself in the future. The magical styles the readers learn about are limited to those that Ree's aware of, which gives me flexibility to dribble out new styles over the course of the series to keep things fresh.
Now if a company wanted to license rights to produce a Geekomancy RPG, then that'd be a whole different matter. *winks at RPG industry*
Celebromancy actually explains a lot of the crazy, random stuff that famous people do – did you find yourself delving into the TMZs of the world, looking for tabloid-fodder that could be attributed to a ritual gone wrong?
I took a few discrete dives into the celebrity gossip world, just to see how crazy things got – but sadly, I didn't really have to do too much, since the celebrity gossip world is all around us – it's in supermarkets, on TV, and plastered all over the internet. As a movie/TV fan, my browsing and media exposure is always brushing right up against celebrity gossip, even when I don't want to. And that tension between focusing on the properties and the characters (Geekomancy) vs. focusing on the stars (Celebromancy) made for a great opportunity to expand Ree's world organically without seeming like it'd completely abandoned what I was focusing on in the first book.
One of the biggest inspirations for the story in Celebromancy was the public story crafted as the rise and fall of Lindsay Lohan – a child actress who made the transition into being an adult star, and in the years following, has had a huge amount of drama around and in her life, which I saw as largely being due to living in the spotlight, with the intense and somewhat reprehensible scrutiny associated with being a famous woman in Hollywood. I took the tale-type of her public narrative (which is all I know, because I've never met Ms. Lohan, and can't pretend to know what her life's been like) as a major inspiration for Jane Konrad, asking 'so if this happened in a world with Celebromancy, how would it work, and what would the 'real' reasons behind things be?
What's your favorite Celebromantic tool?
Ooh, good one. I made Celebromancy a bit less prop-intensive than Geekomancy, so I'd say that my favorite tool would be a heavily marked-up script. A Celebromancer focused on giving the best performance they can, which will give them more power, which they can use to be an even better performer – that's the kind of writer I try to be, always using what I learn and the support I get to further my craft. Plus I have a thing for heavily marked-up manuscripts. It shows attention, detailed reading, and deep engagement with the text.
At the start of Celebromancy, Ree has gotten her big break as a television writer. When you finished Geekomancy, did you know you were going to throw Ree into the deep end of filmmaking while she was still finding her footing as a Geekomancer?
I had a vague inkling about Celebromancy as a style, but I didn't decide on that as the title and central focus of book two until Geekomancy was fully revised and submitted. That's largely due to the fact that my editor pulled off the awesome feat of getting Geekomancy fast-tracked to publication in order to feature it at SDCC in 2012, so I had to do everything for that book on a very accelerated schedule.
After book 1 was submitted, I went back to the notes about sequels I'd sketched out in my car before talking to Adam (Adam Wilson, my editor) for the first time, and was deciding between Celebromancy and Bromancy as the focus styles for book 2. I was initially going to have Bromancy be the second story, but in talking with Adam, he advised me to try Celebromancy, since he thought it'd be a more organic progression – the ideas I had for Bromancy were very theory and activism-driven, as in Ree Reyes vs. The Patriarchy!, and Adam was right – I would have banged my head on the wall trying to come up with an appropriate Ree story using Bromancy. Celebromancy was still hard to write, since I was challenging myself on several levels in one book, but flowed more organically out of the story of Geekomancy.
So basically, yay Editors!
She also has to deal with a suddenly complicated love life that includes a movie star, one of her best friends, and a Steampunk man-out-of-time. Tell me something about the process of writing a love "rhombus" around a bisexual geek girl.
This was one of the challenges I set for myself. I'd enjoyed building up the romantic tension between Ree and Drake in Geekomancy, but didn't think either character was ready for the two to get together. And when I was developing Jane Konrad, I decided that one of the ways to complicate the story for Celebromancy and to tie Ree's magical, screenwriting, and personal lives all together in a deliciously tangled way would be to become romantically involved with Konrad just as Priya and Drake connected through their shared interest in Steampunk.
It was also important to me that in writing a character that identified as bisexual, that she would necessarily have love interests who were both male and female. Ree's sexual orientation also let me avoid the 'woman forced to choose between two men, each of whom define her identity in a different way, until she picks one to control her life' trope which I've seen sometimes with love triangles.
The "love rhombus" as I call it is a delicate one, since it includes the secrecy and guilt of keeping the magical world a secret from one of her best friends, the ambivalence of being romantically interested in her strongest ally in the fighting evil and monsters and things™, and so on. By making the whole situation ridiculously complicated along several lines of characterization, I gave myself the ability to put Ree into an escalating series of difficult situations, and help drive the story along.
I believe delivering Celebromancy was part of the deal when you sold Geekomancy – did that put on much added pressure while writing, or affect the storyline in anyway?
For me, the validation of selling the books was actually a huge help in writing Celebromancy more quickly than I'd written Geekomancy. It also helped that I'd already laid out the rules of the universe, developed the setting of Pearson, and that I knew most of the characters, Ree most important of them all.
There was definitely added pressure – especially as people started responding to Geekomancy – now I wasn't just writing for a vague 'people who read urban fantasy', I was writing for an existing audience, people who'd already connected with the characters. That really became a factor during revisions, but I tried to use that connection with readers as a boost rather than as a limiting factor. I'd gotten great response to Drake, so I felt confident bringing him back as a major character.
My biggest concern was beating the sophomore slump – which is said to effect novelists, musicians, and possibly everyone in the artistic world. When you're unpublished, you have all the time in the world to write. But when you sell the completed book one and a not-even-a-gleam-in-your-eye book 2, suddenly you have deadlines, expectations, and you have to either suck it up and do the work, or admit that maybe you weren't ready to become a working professional. There are many writers who have difficulties with deadlines, for many (mostly good) reasons. I was glad to have a very supportive editor, agent, and partner, as well as friends and my reading community, and managed to stay ahead of schedule with Celebromancy, which was a huge relief.
Are there more Ree Reyes books in your future? I'm hoping Bromancy is next.
Bromancy is still waiting for me to figure out how I want to make it into a good novel's worth of story. But the Bromancers will definitely be back.
The next Ree Reyes story is currently titled Fortress Grognard, and it's going to be a shorter story – the draft I just submitted was about 40K words (about half the size of either of the first two books). This one takes place over one Saturday night at Grognard's Games & Grog, when nearly every single conceivable thing at Grognard's goes wrong, one after another. Eastwood makes a return, as does Lt. Abigail Wickham, and of course Drake (he's washing dishes). Grognard is there, being Grognard (aka surly). It was awesome fun writing all of those characters in claustrophobic proximity and under lots of pressure – I basically put everyone in a bad situation and the characters' relationships with one another made it very easy to just tap away in playing out their arguments. Hurray for intricately interconnected characters almost all of whom are very pronounced personalities! They make my life easier.
You can download Celebromancy (I get thanked in the acknowledgments!) through Amazon or Google Play, and I hear there's a really awesome audiobook version on Audible.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Our Success Stories
"Our goal was to engage each and every customer in a unique way; Zoho Campaigns has helped us achieve that."
How The NetMen Corp doubled their repeat business with Zoho Campaigns
The NetMen corp is an experienced graphic design company based out of Florida, United States. Offering best-in-class design services to over 9,000 marquee clients, the NetMen Corp's main endeavor was getting closer with customers by offering them unique experience.
Engaging each and every customer in a unique way by sending newsletters relevant to them and also building a brand identity on Social media.
To find a simple and user-friendly email marketing software that will seamlessly integrate with CRM and social media channels at a reasonable cost.
They used Zoho Campaigns to,
Nurture leads and customers
They could easily pull all contact data from their CRM system into Campaigns and follow up with the leads and nurture them with better content.
Offer a personalized experience to customers
They handle close to 500 projects per month and workflows helped them segregate customers based on services offered and send newsletters related to them. Also, they were easily able to identify potential customers for cross-selling other services.
Take their brand to a larger audience
A larger population of their customers had good presence on various social media platforms. Social Media Campaigns helped them take their brand to a larger audience and build a strong relationship with customers online.
Measure results of their efforts
They were able to see which part of the world their customers are from, measure open and click rates of their campaigns, and tailor the campaign content to suit their customer needs.
Manage campaigns on the go
Regardless of the location, they were easily able to add contacts to the lists and send campaigns using the Zoho Campaigns mobile app. It also helped them share reports with the respective teams and do a collaborative study on the results.
- Increase in the percentage of repeat business from 20% to 40%.
- Increase in engagement and loyalty.
- Increase in Brand visibility.
More About The NetMen Corp:
The NetMen Corp has been in the design business for over 10 years and has helped hundreds of companies develop their brand by offering logo design, marketing materials, packaging and illustration services. The company takes great pride in creating the most innovative designs while providing an exceptional customer service.
"The software allows for tailoring messages and campaigns to select audiences, to increase awareness, support engagement and ultimately drive more sales."
About the company: Noxilizer Inc.
Founded in 2004, Noxilizer, Inc. is a provider of an advanced, room-temperature nitrogen dioxide (NO2) based sterilization technology. With a flexible, advanced technology that sets them apart, Noxilizer's goal is to drive awareness of NO2 technology, a clear understanding of its advantages, applications for its equipment and services and overall acceptance of the technology globally.
Noxilizer is committed to personalized, customer-centric selling and utilizes Zoho CRM to help manage their sales activities. Additionally, the company augments direct sales activities with email marketing. Using Zoho Campaigns, they're able to reach out to industry decision makers with professional looking communications and reinforce their key selling points.
The challenge before Zoho Campaigns
Typical of most fast growing start-ups, Noxilizer is challenged with availability of resources and scalability. As a result, their choice of CRM software needed to address these challenges and provide effective solutions.
Why Zoho Campaigns?
After researching several options, the team selected Zoho CRM, noting it was an intuitive, affordable and flexible offering. Most importantly, it offered the ability to grow as their organization grew. Noxilizer later added Zoho Campaigns for outbound marketing, a seamless integration.
How do they use Zoho Campaigns?
The team at Noxilizer primarily uses Zoho Campaigns for sending ongoing communications to their customer and prospect database. The software allows for tailoring messages and campaigns to select audiences, to increase awareness, support engagement and ultimately drive more sales.
How do they benefit from Zoho Campaigns?
As a vehicle for their email marketing strategy, Zoho Campaigns offers easy to manage, personalized communications to large audiences. Zoho Campaigns has also allowed the team at Noxilizer to gain insight into which of their messaging resonates with their audience. Through customer surveys and reporting tools, Noxilizer crafts and refines their messaging to deliver messages that matter to decision makers.
With Zoho CRM, they can successfully store and manage their leads for personalized selling. And with Zoho Campaigns integration, they can deliver the information customers are seeking.
Would they recommend Zoho Campaigns?
"For a start-up organization, Zoho CRM and the integration with Zoho Campaigns have proved to be great tools. It is intuitive–allowing new users to jump right in with relatively little training. It is cost-effective for a small number of users and offers scalability as our organization grows."
More about the company
NO2 technology offers many advantages over traditional sterilization methods and is ideally suited for temperature and pressure-sensitive medical devices like prefilled syringes, drug delivery combination products and polymer implants. Noxilizer sells sterilization and decontamination equipment to pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device manufacturers and also offers contract sterilization services at its Baltimore, MD facilities.
"We have a distinct pathway from freemium to premium customers that works and is getting better every month through Zoho Campaigns reports, analytics and application."
About Venue10
We, at Venue10, offer a places-of-interest marketing platform via our website and mobile applications, allowing customers to make free reservations at restaurants and other venues of their choice whilst taking advantage of unique offers.
What challenge were you facing before using Zoho Campaigns?
Getting our database of Potential Venue customers to subscribe to Venue10, allowing us to activate our email newsletter-marketing program, and also having the process linked to a CRM program that was flexible, agile and simple to work with, and finally affordable.
How is your business different after using Zoho Campaigns?
We have a distinct pathway from freemium to premium customers that works and is getting better every month through Zoho Campaigns reports, analytics and application. We are also becoming Zoho junkies - adopting CRM, Sales IQ, and reviewing other integrated services.
What advice would you give to other Zoho users?
Education – training, practice, re-training, education, and practice – you have to get and be committed to the service, and ensure others understand what it does and how it can help.
More about Venue10
Our business process is to list suitable places of interest from the restaurant, bar and meeting places communities that gives the customers an immediate, centralised reference point, and allows the venue owners to claim their listing and upgrade to the direct reservation platform at an annual fixed fee.
We have presented on our website 230,000 places of interest, and have a further 1.8m places of interest to be published in 2015-2016, making Venue10 the world's largest targeted listing for table and group reservations across the UK, Europe, North and South America, Australasia and Capital Cities in the rest of the World.
We are starting on our commercial journey after 2 years of development, and we are confident that we have the right solution today.
"It is much easier to use email lists on Zoho Campaigns than any other company like MailChimp or Constant Contact."
What's DesignIt4Free all about?
Designit4free.com is a full service printing and graphic design service specializing in creative and unique business cards. We also do banners, brochures, postcards, flyers, tri-fold brochures, plastic business cards, metal business cards, die-cut special shape cards, folding business cards, EDDM mailing, logos, websites, search engine optimization, social media optimization and more! There isn't a printing or design job that we can't handle!
Who is your target audience?
Our target audience is businesses with a need for unique marketing materials that stand out. We help businesses stand out against their competitors. We have a wide range of customers, but some of our best customers are Real Estate agents and companies, Dental and Doctors offices, general contractors, wedding DJs and party event planners, event rental companies, car dealers, boating and yacht dealers, fitness studios, chefs, restaurant, salons, psychics, welding companies, oil field companies and many more!
How do you use email marketing to target them?
I use email marketing sparingly because I know it is annoying to spam my customers with too many emails. I use email marketing for general stuff like: letting them know about specials or promotions I have going on, and wishing my customers a happy holiday. I will only send out email campaigns once or twice a month, just enough to keep my company fresh in my customers minds.
How has using Zoho Campaigns helped your business?
Zoho campaigns has made it easy to send out well designed eye catching generalized emails to my customer base and it's much easier to use email lists on zoho than any other company like mail chimp or constant contact.
I really liked your Thanksgiving Twitter post. How do you find our template editor?
I use a combination of email templates and Photoshop to make my campaigns. I try to switch it up to see what type of campaign gets the most views. I will toggle between doing mostly text campaigns and other campaigns that are more visual based. For the thanksgiving campaign, I used Photoshop to create a custom image with nice thanksgiving graphics that matched one of your standard thanksgiving campaign templates, I inserted my own custom graphic and deleted anything from the template that I didn't need. Then I put my contact info at the bottom and linked my social media to the provided buttons. The whole thing took about 15 minutes to complete. Then I just had to schedule my campaign to be sent so my customers wouldn't be eating their thanksgiving dinners or entertaining families, so I figured 3:30pm would be a good time to schedule the campaign to be sent and it was very successful!
Would you recommend Zoho Campaigns to others? If yes, why?
Yes, because the email templates are easy to customize, the analytics are great so you can see who is reading your emails and how many times they viewed your email, so you can see which customers have the greatest interest in your campaign.
"Quality, tailored content that would normally have taken several minutes to complete gets automatically sent out regularly, without me even having to think about it. Zoho Campaigns is an integral part of our sales and marketing process here at NDPL."
About NDPL and your target audience.
As a dental stem cell bank, NDPL is dedicated to providing an excellent, trouble free opportunity for consumers to save a unique and valuable stem cell found in their teeth. Additionally, we aim to educate the public and dental professional communities about the potential applications of these cells in treating a wide range of diseases and injuries. We are also committed to ongoing stem cell research, and plan to expand our research and development department to generate pioneering research advancements in the field of therapies involving Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs). Through our research and development, our goal is to assist the medical community in medical treatment of the general public.
We have a few target audiences. One group is parents of children who are just about to start losing their baby teeth, and another is young adults and parents of teenagers who will be having their wisdom teeth taken out. Another target audience is dentists—primarily family dentists and oral surgeons.
How do you grow your subscriber base? Do you use our sign-up forms?
Yes, one way we grow our lists are by offering digital content behind a form, such as our infokit, or a newsletter subscription. Other ways include tradeshows, dentist outreach and education, CE courses, and social media. And yes, we use Zoho Forms!
How do you use email marketing to reach out to them (the type of campaigns you send them)?
We use Campaigns for regular email campaigns, but definitely lean heavily on the program for automation. We have a variety of contact types (customers, dentists, leads, etc), and the various contact types in Zoho CRM will sync into specific subscriber lists in Campaigns. From there, I built out customized Autoresponder campaigns that deploy a series of educational and marketing emails at specific time intervals from subscription, and associated them with the appropriate subscriber list.
To a lesser extent, I use Workflow emails, but usually for regular event emails (holidays, etc). I use good ol' regular campaigns for things like quarterly newsletters, or emails about price discounts, or upcoming events.
Have you used any other email marketing software before? If yes, how did the shift to Zoho Campaigns happen?
The switch to Zoho Campaigns was a bit of a 'no-brainer' for me, as I use Zoho CRM and SalesIQ. But in the same breath, it was not a task of high priority for me, because we were using Mailchimp, and I was pretty pleased with their product. However, after doing a head to head analysis of Mailchimp and Campaigns, that was all I needed to make the switch.
How has using Zoho Campaigns helped your business?
Zoho Campaigns is an integral part of our sales and marketing process here at NDPL. With respects to time savings, automating email communication like this literally saves us hundreds of work hours per year.
With Campaigns we can automatically send customized messages out to subscribers under whatever conditions we choose. For example, we have a list for clients who have enrolled, but have not yet sent back their tooth. In CRM we have data fields for these clients like 'extraction date', 'dentist office', and 'tracking #'. Using those fields and merging the data into the email content with merge tags, I can send out a highly customized email to the client two days before their upcoming extraction. The result is an email sent to our client that looks like I personally sat down and sent them a very personalized message. Quality, tailored content that would normally have taken several minutes to complete gets automatically sent out regularly, without me even having to think about it. We've done this for several standard pieces of communication, and the time savings has really been pronounced.
Another benefit is subscriber list health. With proper segmenting, we've essentially eliminated all misdirected (and therefore likely unwanted) email, which of course helps our open rates and engagement. With customization of content, we're able to connect personally with our subscribers, which also leads to strong open rates, and keeps them engaged and clicking throughout our email series.
What do you think about our new interface and what's your favorite Zoho Campaigns feature?
The new interface happened right as I became quite adept at using Campaigns, so that was a bit of bad timing! But after hanging out in the old interface for a month more, I switched over to the new interface. It's nice! I'm a fan of the UI improvements.
Your word of advice for email marketing beginners.
Always be reading, learning, analyzing, and aiming to grow as a content creator. If you're not swimming, you're sinking!
"Zoho is an amazing platform. And I tell everyone about it."
What's Channel Happy Hour all about?
The Channel Happy Hour is a site devoted to the latest IT Channel news and, of course, the Channel Happy Hour Podcast. A show devoted to bringing you all the Channel news for the past week.
The major IT news of the day is analyzed from a unique channel perspective. We also make an effort to have quality guests, particularly channel chiefs from companies trying to spur adoption of emerging technologies through the channel.
After all, where there is a mystery there is profit. Incumbent vendors like to focus most of their efforts on legacy technologies. But these days IT is all about disruption. End users are driving adoption of innovative new technologies at unprecedented rates. That creates an opportunity for channel partners to add products and services to their portfolio much earlier in their lifecycle. That's important cause the earlier a channel partner gets engaged; the more money there is to be made.
Who is your target audience and how do you grow your subscribers count?
We grow our audience mostly by the interviews and articles we do. By interviewing top industry professionals, they use their companies social media to spread the word about the Channel Happy Hour. And, yes. We use a sign-up form integrated with Zoho Campaigns and Zoho CRM.
How do you use email marketing to target your audience (the type of campaigns that you send)?
Every week we publish 5 to 15 articles and record 2 or 3 podcasts. We use campaigns to send out a weekly newsletter that highlights the top stories and podcast of the week.
How has using Zoho Campaigns helped your business?
It very much helps us drive traffic to our website, and thereby helps our advertisers.
What's your favorite Zoho Campaigns feature and why?
The seamless integration with Zoho CRM.
Would you recommend Zoho Campaigns to others? If yes, why?
Absolutely. Zoho is an amazing platform. And I tell everyone about it. Keep up the good work.
"Zoho Campaigns is one of the effective ways to efficiently communicate our strengths to customers."
1. Tell us about Kyoyuprinting
Founded in 1971, Kyoyuprinting is a commercial printing and publishing company headquartered at Shinjuku Ward. The company believes that the printing idustry is like a service industry and fulfulling customer requests quickly is the key to success.
2. How do you grow your subscriber base? Do you use our sign-up forms?
We use the integration between Zoho CRM and Campaigns to grow our subscriber base. We feed the subscriber details into CRM, and the sync we have created automatically transfers the data to Campaigns.
How do you use email marketing to reach out to them (the type of campaigns you send them)?
We regularly send email newsletters to our subscribers and increase our engagement with them.
4. How has using Zoho Campaigns helped your business?
Zoho Campaigns has helped us deliver timely information to our customers. We send new products/services announcement emails, thank you emails to buyers, oder notification emails, and so on. We have been able to nurture our prospects well with Zoho Campaigns.
5. What do you think about our new interface?
The new UI is a whole lot easier compared to the old UI in terms of usability.
6. How do you use our social campaigns feature?
We mainly run Twitter campaigns. The advantage of Zoho Campaigns is that it makes it possible for us to scehdule social posts.
7. What's your favorite Zoho Campaigns feature and why?
I like social campaigns because it is really effective for us.
8. Tips on how to use Zoho Campaigns for a printing company.
Zoho Campaigns is one of the effective ways to efficiently communicate our strengths to customers. If you are in the printing industry, we recommend sending emails themed around technology and solutions to your subscribers. For example, special processing ink / paper introduction etc can be content.
"Zoho Campaigns is affordable and scalable. It helps me manage my connections and stay in touch with my prospects on a regular basis."
How did the idea of LinkedIn Mentoring come to you? and how long have you been in the coaching business?
Many years ago, I started my professional life as a teacher and, in many ways, coaching is just an extension of that first love. I started my own business, which included coaching, 6+ years ago. After a few years, I decided to focus exclusively on my most popular offering, LinkedIn coaching. So many people were struggling to use LinkedIn effectively and needed help.
Who is your target audience? and how do you grow your subscriber base?
My target audience: Busy, smart professionals who need to focus on their business and not waste a lot of time learning to use a social media tool to brand themselves online. Though some are job seekers, most are concerned about representing themselves well online.
I build my business largely through my speaking engagements. I do a drawing and the cards they enter into my drawing are then used to enter their information into Zoho. I also have sign-up forms for complimentary consultations and a newsletter on my website. Signing up for either a consultation or my newsletter automatically adds them to my Zoho CRM.
How do you use email marketing to reach out to them?
New online leads receive an automated welcome and follow-up email if they haven't taken action to sign up for a consultation. My entire list receives a newsletter every two weeks with tips about using LinkedIn more effectively.
How has using Zoho Campaigns helped your business?
My regular newsletter has created a regular stream of contacts setting up coaching appointments for themselves or reminding them to refer me to a friend or colleague who needs my assistance.
Would you recommend Zoho Campaigns to others? If yes, why?
Zoho Campaigns has worked well for me. It's affordable and scalable and reasonably easy to use. It helps me manage my connections and stay in touch with my prospects on a regular basis. It also allows me to measure results and make improvements.
What would be your one LinkedIn-success advice for budding entrepreneurs and professionals?
Make sure your LinkedIn profile is client-focused – how you're going to help them, e.g. "Transforming LinkedIn Profiles for Results
"After using Zoho Campaigns, we have seen an increase in the website traffic."
About the company:
Polarity partnerships is a California based consulting firm that helps individuals, professionals, and businesses scale up their potentials using the concept of Polarity Thinking™. With a mission to "Promote a higher quality of life for individuals, organizations, and the planet through Polarity Thinking™, the company offers a variety of online certification courses, including strategic development, leadership development, and organization development.
The challenge:
The company receives a lot of email, phone, and online enquiries about courses being offered, on a day-to-day basis. They also get many online registrations for different courses. That's a lot of data for a small team to manage! So, they wanted a CRM to organize their data, and after research they narrowed down to Zoho CRM. After gathering the data in their CRM, they also wanted to engage all their contacts in different ways. That's when they started looking for a email marketing software that will smoothly integrate with their CRM, make managing data easier for them as well as help them reach the right audience with the right message.
The solution:
They initially used Constant Contact for email marketing. After using it for a while, they realized the need for a simple and easy-to-use email marketing product that will seamlessly integrate with the existing CRM and not just be a mass mailing tool but add more value to all the data they had. Zoho Campaigns was their obvious choice, for it integrates well with their CRM system, and also has all the tools to help them reach and engage the right target audience at the right time.
Here is how Polarity Partnerships uses Zoho Campaigns:
Integrating Zoho CRM with Zoho Campaigns:
They use the integration between the two products to their advantage by creating as many custom fields as they want, and pull all the relevant data from CRM into Campaigns.
Designing and distributing content:
The company usually sends a lot of video tutorials and webinar information on email. When they send important information, they also use A/B testing to test subject lines and email content to see which version brings more open rates. This way they understand their audience's behavior to tailor future campaigns.
Reaching out the right people:
Polarity Partnerships handles a niche audience, and the content they send needs to be really specific and useful. The company uses workflows to segment the contacts and group them based on the recipients' preferences and just send what the audience wants from them.
The Result:
- Increase in website traffic.
- Increase in the number of contact requests.
- Managing data has become so much easier.
- Better understanding of the audience and demand pattern.
"Zoho Campaigns has been really profitable for us. Our campaigns have achieved very good response rates."
Tell us about Bright Owl Copywriting & Communications
At Bright Owl, we specialise in writing marketing and advertising content for various small and medium-sized businesses. We offer a wide range of copywriting services which every business needs - from website and social media content to printed marketing collateral.
How did Zoho happen?
First, we started off with Zoho CRM as we found it to be the perfect fit for our business. Then we started using Zoho Campaigns, as email marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach our target audience.
Were you using any other email marketing software before? How did the shift to Zoho Campaigns happen?
Yes, we were using MailChimp before. We wanted an email marketing service which would easily integrate with our CRM software and hence, the move.
How do you use Zoho Campaigns?
The majority of our contacts come from networking. We attend a lot of business events and use the Zoho card scanner to scan the business cards we collect and the data is automatically sent to our Zoho CRM. We pick a particular list of contacts, e.g. leads from the CRM, and send out targeted campaigns.
How has using Zoho Campaigns helped your business?
Zoho Campaigns has been really profitable for us. We generally post our campaigns using the email tool and our LinkedIn campaigns have achieved very good response rates. Plus, the scheduling feature in Zoho Campaigns has made these tasks much simpler. We are able to reach the right audience at the right time.
Would you recommend Zoho to others? If yes, why would you do that?
I'm already doing it! I would love to recommend Zoho to others because the products have great functionality, the systems are very user friendly, and the best part is the customisation on offer. What's more, Zoho is always improving their products; their customer service is second to none.
"The Zoho Campaigns support team has been really excellent and there is a great "can do" ethos in the team."
How did the idea of 2020 Webvision come to you? And what is the company all about?
I had my own web design business here in the UK and I realised that there was no independent source of advice regarding building successful websites. I set up 2020 Webvision to fill this gap. We do not provide design or programming services and if we recommend a service it is on the basis of merit –no commissions are paid to us. We are now advising business' with a view to producing rapid growth of their online objectives and appear to be succeeding.
Who is your target audience and how do you grow your mailing list?
Our target audience are small to medium size business' with perhaps a small in house team or external provider that lack the breadth of understanding required. We are able to offer top level advice without the need for full time employment. Our mailing list grows by offering marketing updates and friendly advice on how to avoid the many "too good to be true" offers in the market place. This allows our audience to grow as so many people forward it to friends and colleagues because it is of value.
How did Zoho Campaigns happen?
I researched a partner for e-mail marketing for a client and Zoho Campaigns came out well ahead of the opposition and now I use it myself and many of my clients.
How has using Zoho Campaigns helped your business?
My mailshot is critical to maintaining my business on the "tip of the tongue" of thousands of subscribers. When they have an issue they remember the newsletter and a new client results.
How has your experience with our support team been?
Really excellent. There is a great "can do" ethos in the support team and they give straight answers to straight questions.
Would you recommend Zoho Campaigns to others? If yes, why would you do that?
Certainly I would, and I have. For all the reasons I give above.
As a serial entrepreneur, what advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?
Keep asking yourself what does my visitor/reader need. Then question your answers. We all fall into the trap of assuming we know. Seldom is this the case.
"Zoho Campaigns is one of the best email marketing software I have ever come across. It's amazing to use, and I am very much impressed with the report system, and it's user friendly as well. Thanks, Zoho."
Tell us about Infonet Institute.
Infonet Institute is one of the oldest and leading institute located in Dubai, we do management courses for working professionals, we do consultant job for corporates, and train candidates for IELTS, CMA, CPA, CIPS.
Who are your typical target audience?
Working Professionals in almost all fields except IT, like for ex: Finance, Supply Chain, Procurement, Sales & Marketing, Human Resource, and so on. People who are looking to migrate to Aus, Newz, Can, UK. On PR. Corporates who are looking for training and development.
How did you choose Zoho Campaigns?
I have worked as a marketing specialist in the past. So, I have experience with some of the email campaign webmasters. I knew Zoho for a long time, but I recently started using it myself.
What's your favorite Campaigns feature? Reasons for it.
The Report system in Zoho Campaigns, It's really good, and it can be used to fine tune our own database.
How was your first campaigns experience? As in, was sending your first email campaign easier using Zoho Campaigns?/h3>
It was really good. To be more frank, the UI is amazing. Also, the report system is perfect for any marketing man. Definitely it's easier to use Zoho than any other.
"Zoho Campaigns utilizes a straightforward interface for efficient usage, and the subscriptions suit the company's needs, whether it's a small business, growing, or an established conglomerate."
Tell us how email marketing fits a unique industry as yours.
The aesthetic medicine industry is rapidly growing. Reacting to the market is a key point for our business, and email campaigns provide a wide reach and they are cost effective—either stand-alone or alongside other marketing mediums.
Do you follow any email strategy while using Zoho Campaigns?
Due to the nature of our business we have to implement a quick turn-around on promotions—this keeps us competitive and ensures our customers are getting the best up-to-date offers; the same theory applies to our email campaigns. When the offers change, we strive to let our customers know, especially if they are only for a short period. On the technical side, our marketing team make sure the design corresponds to our print and digital materials for consistency and lots of QC on the content is done before its signed off. The campaign is then rigorously tested on all devices and email clients and finally we make sure our lists are current.
Is there a challenge you faced, and did Campaigns help you resolve that?
When GDPR came in early in 2018, a lot of changes occurred in email marketing. Having had some issues with new subscribers and lists, Zoho were very supportive and helped to get us sending email campaigns again in good time.
Why would you recommend Zoho Campaigns?
Zoho Campaigns utilizes a straightforward interface for efficient usage, and the subscriptions suit the company's needs, whether it's a small business, growing, or an established conglomerate. After the campaigns are sent, the reports are easy to interpret, and managing subscribers/lists is simple and quick. One downside is the lack of variety in fonts available for the campaigns.
Any advice/tips for fellow email marketers?
- Know the optimum time to send out your campaign and consider different time zones.
- Make your campaign responsive to different devices (height may work whereas padding might not) as more people are checking emails on phones than ever before.
- Compatibility checking of your campaigns on multiple devices and email clients.
- Animated GIFs don't work in all the email clients
- Have the right subject line.
- Provide the information and promotions your customers need or won't want to miss.
- Make good use of lists as some promotions might not be suitable for everyone.
- Try, and keep a copy of your blacklists.
- Don't over send.
"I get good open rates – usually around 20+% for the 'personal' emails. Zoho Campaigns helps tremendously."
Tell us about your business and your experience with Zoho:
We, at BI Ready, sell a range of Business Intelligence and Data Warehouse Automation solutions, and other information management tools. I am actually a big fan of Zoho and have been for many years (first using it back in 2010). I use Zoho Campaigns to reach over 4000 subscribers on my mailing list, Zoho CRM to track my opportunities, and Zoho Social to reach my social audience.
Who is your target audience? and how do you grow your list?
My target audience is IT managers. I've been in this space a long time, and so already had a huge list of contacts. More recently, I have been adding to my list via Zoho Campaigns forms on our website, by offering whitepapers primarily as a means to get people to sign up.
How do you use email marketing to reach out to them?
I have two approaches. Sometimes I send an email that looks just like a personal email sent from Outlook. Other times I'll send a more 'newsletter'-type of email. I get good open rates – usually around 20+% for the 'personal' emails. I also like how Campaigns will post our emails onto Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn – they get a lot of interest too.
How do you use our advanced features like workflow automation and autoresponders?
I use Workflow Automation to help me build sub-lists from my main lists. For my purposes, it's a kind of segmentation on steroids. Segmentation is good, but Workflow lets me create more complex rules with ease. Autoresponders are great for reminding my leads about other things for them to see on our website. For example, if they sign up to receive a whitepaper, then the autoresponder will send an email offering them links to our other whitepapers over a period of time. It's the best way to make regular but non-salesy contact with our prospect. It builds trust.
How has using Zoho Campaigns helped your business?
Zoho Campaigns helps tremendously. When I send a campaign, I'm more intrigued not only by those that clicked, but by those that opened many times and didn't click! A quick follow-up phone call to those prospects has often resulted in a sale!
Would you recommend Zoho Campaigns to others? If yes, why?
I always recommend Zoho Campaigns to customers and peers. It's very easy to use and the support has always been fantastic.
Your advice for others in the BI and Data Warehouse solutions business. And tips on how to use Zoho Campaigns for their business.
Well, my advice would be for anyone really: Get under the hood! Zoho Campaigns contains a lot of excellent features not found in other email campaign engines, and if they are there, you must pay a lot extra to get them! Zoho Campaigns actually offers exceptional value.
"We were having trouble communicating with and engaging our customers post sales. Zoho Campaigns has helped us solve this."
About the company: Interactive Fitness
We build the world's coolest exercise bike. If you've ever been bored with exercise then the Expresso bike is the answer. Expresso is a fully interactive exercise bike with steering, shifting and real terrain so you feel in the pedals the terrain on your screen. You can race yourself, your friends and compete in worldwide cycling events each month.
As a business, we believe that exercise should be fun instead of boring. We believe in engaging people in their workouts instead of distracting them. We believe technology should connect people through Team Cardio rather than encouraging isolated activity. We build products for people who think like us.
The challenge before Zoho Campaigns
With our bikes, we provide worldwide challenges each month where riders from around the globe can compete. We were having trouble communicating with and engaging our customers post sale. Zoho campaigns has helped us solve this.
Why Zoho Campaigns?
Because we use Zoho CRM to manage our sales and we needed tight integration with CRM and our proprietary database.
How is their business different after using Zoho Campaigns?
Our communication with our customers is dramatically better. Our customers are more engaged and more happy than they ever have been before. Our riders are more happy and healthy!
Advice for other users
Try out Zoho Campaigns. You'll love it.
"Zoho Campaigns is a user-friendly and cost-effective email marketing solution. It has all the features to run your B2B email marketing campaigns."
About Nispana:
Nispana is one of the leading business intelligence solution providers based out of Bangalore, India. The company helps global corporate buyers, governments, industrial experts, and solution providers respond to the micro-and-macro level challenges and opportunities created by worldwide business drivers.
Nispana and Zoho Campaigns:
Nispana conducts conferences, summits, and exhibitions across Asia, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. They were on a look out for a simple and cost-effective email marketing product to reach out to their target audience. After analyzing various email marketing products, Nispana found Zoho Campaigns to be the perfect fit.
Here's how Nispana used Zoho Campaigns and achieved above-the-industry standard open and click-through rates:
Defining the target audience: Their target audience is industry stake holders with whom they closely work to develop a sustainable business practice. After getting all the contacts into Zoho Campaigns mailing lists, they create separate segments based on the industry type of the contact and the event being conduct.
Adding value with relevant emails: Based on their audience's engagement levels, they send highly targeted emails that cover marketing articles, best practices, interview videos of subject matter experts, and complimentary downloadables, etc.
Automating the follow ups: They use autoresponders to send automated follow ups based on the response of their audience to their previous campaigns.
Gaining insights from campaign reports: After every campaign, they analyze the reports to understand the audience and make their next campaign better.
The result:
Achieved average open rate of 19% and click-through rate of 2%, while the industry best average open rate is 15% and click rate is 1%.
Improved engagement with the audience through regular follow ups.
"Salesforce may be a sports car. But I trust Zoho's family of modules for getting back and forth to work without any worries. Zoho is a solution that works."
About BHM Healthcare Solutions and your target audience.
BHM provides behavioral health and medical review services and performance improvement consulting to health plans, providers, ACOs, TPAs, workers' compensation, and other insurers nationally. BHM works with clients through web-based services with very little face-to-face interactions. Our clients include 6 of the 10 largest health insurance companies.
How do you grow your subscriber base? Do you use our sign-up forms?
Our website does use sign-up forms, though a majority of our leads come from sales rep work and list experts.
How do you use email marketing to reach out to them (the type of campaigns you send them)?
Branding emails with practical news in a newsletter and targeted emails. This year, we added very targeted, personalized emails to small groups (by region and company) pushing a specific message with a personal follow-up from a rep.
How has using Zoho Campaigns helped your business?
Zoho Campaigns allows full integration and control of our content through email channels. The features of any mainstream email program combined with a full service CRM gives our sales representatives the Lead level e-marketing activity. Encouraging content-based interactions often begin the client journey and Zoho Campaigns+CRM tracks the activities through the entire process.
What do you think about our new interface?
Cleaner, though with any change I needed some re-education on some tried and true tools I found invaluable.
What's your favorite Zoho Campaigns feature and why?
Integration with CRM. Two years ago we relied on MailChimp and Zoho CRM with a third-party database (Cazoomi) update service. The potential for import crashes and mixed data was a constant concern. The feedback to the Lead/Contact records was a mess and encouraged the sales reps to overlook the marketing activity because it was poorly formatted (due to the third-party process). The real, everyday benefit is improved connectivity between Marketing and Sales giving Sales access to more information allowing a higher level conversation with clients.
How has our support team been?
I can't say enough of your support team. Whether through emails, phone, or (my favorite) chat access, your service personnel get to the heart of any issue (complex or very basic). Reaching out is as easy as connecting with my own corporate satellite office. BHM headquarters in Tampa, FL, yet all of the marketing and sales personnel are spread throughout the US. Your staff solves transition hiccups and integration challenges. Once, your team flawlessly performed a joint interface meeting working out the issue live.
"My favorite thing about Zoho Campaigns is their terrific support."
Tell us about your business and your target audience -
I am the author of Compassionate Souls -- Raising the Next Generation to Change the World, and I speak nationally about the intersection of social justice, sustainability and health. I also publish a free emailed newsletter, The Feast Lawrence News, several times each month, which I distribute using Zoho Campaigns' regular email campaign. My target audience is health consumers, environmentalists, justice advocates and parents, whom I seek to inform of critical information that they can use immediately to improve their lives. I use Zoho Campaigns' email sign-up form on the front page of my JoAnnFarb.com website to grow my customer base.
How has using Zoho Campaigns helped your business?
Recently a local community group invited me to present a program at their venue and I notified my email subscribers of this event, and it turned out that a majority of those who attended were people who found out about the event via my Zoho Campaign.
How has using Zoho Campaigns helped your business?
Recently a local community group invited me to present a program at their venue and I notified my email subscribers of this event, and it turned out that a majority of those who attended were people who found out about the event via my Zoho Campaign.
What do you like the most about Zoho Campaigns?
My favorite thing about Zoho Campaigns is their terrific support. Several times when I had challenges, I have quickly been able to discuss them with a REAL LIVE HUMAN BEING -- who understood my need and helped me to solve my problem. I also appreciate that while many platforms are increasingly making decisions about WHAT sorts of health information users are allowed to share (and censoring information that does not support the interests of certain large industries) Zoho is not doing that.
THANK YOU Zoho for providing this service to the community and for supporting democratic values including freedom of speech.


text:
Deborah Griffin – 'The Pig Show'
Solo show of new & recent works
Opening Thursday 7pm October 7th 2010
Resistance Gallery 265 Poyser St, Bethnal Green, E29RF
From her performance roots in the punk-rock tradition of the anarchist-social-realism of playwright Chris Ward's Wet Paint, and James Charlton's Fireworks theatre companies in the 1980s, Deborah Griffin achieved iconic status on the London fetish scene from the late 80s throughout the 90s primarily with her cutting-edge and genre-defining work with photographer Trevor Watson.
Their collaborations, with Deborah centre-stage as model, muse and partner-in-crime with her edgy sexually and politically-charged character-play, documented this embryonic scene at a crucial defining stage of its development in a myriad of published books, magazine front-covers and fashion spreads, and has simply come to define what many people think of when they hear the word 'fetish'.
'Cover Star of Skin Two Magazine'
The same confrontational politic and exhilarating sense of fun and transgression now informs her current sculptural, installation and image-based art-work.
Deborah Griffin first exhibited at Resistance Gallery in 2008, in the inaugural group show 'Resistance Rising' and again in the 'Iconography Of Mask' show curated by Jason Atomic and Garry Vanderhorne in 2009, where she exhibited a mask made from the ashes of her own recently deceased father.
'God Is Dad With A Mask On'
October 2010 at Resistance Gallery sees 'The Pig Show', Deborah's first solo show which unveils five major new works alongside a number of previously exhibited pieces. Amongst the new works will be large installation-based sculptures, image-based work and paintings, thematically linked to the complex, paradoxical and hypocritical relationship we as humans have with animals, primarily pigs.
'Pretty In Pig'
'Go Ask Alice'
Pigs have historically been the brunt of many a joke and intellectually regarded as a kind of benchmark definition of where 'animal' ends and the far more elevated and upright 'humanity' begins. English philosopher John Stuart-Mill in his 'Utilitarianism' (1836) wrote "...Better to be a discontented Socrates than a contented pig".
The relationship between what it means to be all-too human or fall fowl (sic) to our basest animal predisposition was never more explicitly laid at the trotters of our pig-cousins than by George Orwell in 'Animal Farm' (1945) "The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which".
'Working on a new piece'
The British Police have since their inception been referred to as 'The Pigs", the feminist movement in the 60s and '70s expended much energy exposing "Male-Chauvinist-Pigs" in society, as did left-wing movements worldwide throughout the century with "Fascist Pigs".
Urban myth has long had it that, according to a variety of cannibal sources, human meat tastes "a bit like pork".
Exhibition opens 7pm Thursday 7th Oct till Wednesday 27th Oct.


text:
Babalola, A (2006) sees the concept from admission of Nigerian College merchandise in developed international locations universities. Herman is a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and has labored in training because the 1990s, serving for thirteen years as a teacher and 4 as a principal. Vote for me this April and lets curb our spending and improve our scholar's education. If in case you have questions in regards to the specific procedure, please verify with one of many board members or a district workers member prior to the start of the assembly.
Nearly all of these adjustments are being made on the suggestion of the Missouri School Board Association (MSBA) in an effort to keep district insurance policies in compliance with state and federal legislation, and to accurately mirror present district practices in coverage.
To that end, the Board shall inform itself of the way wherein its insurance policies affect student performance, the tutorial program, and of the style wherein its insurance policies are being carried out. Which ever way you may view standard of schooling, for you to conclude whether the standard is falling or not, you will need to take into accounts all of the aforementioned variables together with attaining educational targets.
Ms. Fouberg received her B.S. in secondary training from Northern State University in 1963, followed by her masters in education, specializing in steerage and counseling, from SDSU in 1968. Dr. Schallenkamp retired as the ninth President of Black Hills State College in June 2014 after over 40 years in larger schooling.
American children are suffering due to the inadequacies of the individuals involved with the educational system. These policies shall be consistent with state legislation, guidelines, and regulations of the State Board of Training and directives of other constituted authorities.


text:
|Archived February 20, 2019
New USGS Web Sites About 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami
Recently posted World Wide Web sites present some of the results of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) studies of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
"The December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami: Initial Findings on Tsunami Sand Deposits, Damage, and Inundation in Sri Lanka" presents initial findings from USGS scientists Bruce Jaffe (Santa Cruz, CA) and Robert Morton (St. Petersburg, FL), who were members of a Sri Lanka International Tsunami Survey Team (ITST) that collected data from January 9-14, 2005, to improve the understanding of the December 26, 2004, tsunami (see related Sound Waves article, USGS Scientists Study Sediment Deposited by 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami). The primary goal of the Sri Lanka ITST was to assist Sri Lanka through the team's scientific expertise, especially in developing new techniques for disaster mitigation and prediction. In addition to describing the team's initial findings, the Web site offers clear explanations of common terms in tsunami science, the methods used to gather data during post-tsunami surveys, and the importance of the types of data the team collected. It includes photographs from about a dozen of the areas where Jaffe and Morton took measurements to document the tsunami and the sand it deposited onshore.
"Tsunami Generation from the 2004 M=9.0 Sumatra Earthquake" presents an overview of the earthquake that triggered the tsunami, seismological aspects of tsunami generation, and a visual simulation of the recent tsunami's generation and propagation created by USGS scientist Eric Geist. The site describes the tectonic setting where the tsunami-generating earthquake occurred, explains how earthquake characteristics affect a tsunami's intensity, compares the recent earthquake with other tsunami-generating earthquakes, and briefly discusses the techniques and assumptions used to create computer models of the tsunami. Computer models are important tools used to predict tsunami intensity, both for short-term emergency notification and for long-term coastal-zone planning. Three animations of the Indian Ocean tsunami can be viewed on the site: one near the epicenter off northern Sumatra showing the first 33 minutes of propagation, a second showing the first 66 minutes of propagation across the Bay of Bengal from a view looking northwestward, and a third showing propagation across the Bay of Bengal from a view looking southeastward.
in this issue:
cover story:
Flood-Response Teams Document Effects of Hurricane Charley
Geologist Invited to Map Tsunami Impacts in the Maldives
Mapping Oyster Beds In Apalachicola Bay
USGS Research Vessel Helps Secure Super Bowl
Tsunami Web Sites
Smith Director of National Wetlands Research Center
Stewart Receives Gulf Guardian Award
|Archived February 20, 2019


text:
St. James Park6pm
San Jose Jazz takes music to the streets! SJZ Boom Box presents Bay Area vocalist and songwriter Jessica Johnson.
Jessica is authentic and…
Restaurants / Nightlife / Hotels / Attractions / Lifestyle / News / Events / Places / Giveaways / Jobs
© 2019 SanJose.com: A City Guide by Boulevards.All rights reserved.
Add Your Business
List Your Event
Places to Stay
Advertise with us | Contact us | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Site Map


text:
Comcast customer complains company invades his personal space by reading public messages
A Comcast customer in Pittsburgh is not amused that Comcast cares. As Twitter user gpk3, he wrote "Comcast sucks," causing Frank Eliason, Comcast's Customer Outreach manager who keeps tabs on Twitter to respond "Welcome to Twitter. How can I change your perception?" The customer was not amused, accusing Comcast of invading his "personal space." And by "personal space" he seems to mean "messages publicly available to the world on the Internet," causing a few Twitterers to come to Comcast's defense. The person I feel sorry for isn't Eliason, though he has to put up with a lot representing the company. No, it's Comcast shareholders, who are actually surrendering some of their hard-earned monopoly profits to pay someone to use Twitter.


text:
Jhai Coffee, Laos
Located on the Bolaven Plateau in Laos, 2454 families, in 64 villages, make up the Jhai Coffee Farmer's Cooperative. In 2011, JHAI Coffee House was founded to support the cooperative by selling Jhai Coffee to locals, tourists & backpackers. We partnered with JHAI Coffee House to roast this coffee in the USA and offer it to you!
"The Lao word 'Jhai' means heart, and truly there couldn't be a better word to describe this coffee. Lao people lead with their hearts and our roasting team and I are proud to share this rare coffee with you."
– Tyson Adams (Founder, JHAI Coffeehouse)


text:
|Archived February 20, 2019
Winter Science Planning by the SeaNortheastern Coastal Ecosystems and Resources Workshop
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)'s Northeastern Coastal Ecosystems and Resources Workshop, a large science-planning event, was held on January 7 and 8 in Narragansett, RI. Approximately 75 people participated, including representatives from all USGS disciplines (geography, biology, water, and geology), regional executives, program coordinators, and team chief scientists.
Representatives also attended from outside agencies and organizations, including the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the University of Rhode Island (URI), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Battelle, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sea Grant program (MIT Sea Grant). Peter August served as host for the meeting, which was held at the scenic University of Rhode Island Coastal Institute facility overlooking Narragansett Bay.
Daytime sessions focused on the development of integrated approaches to addressing overarching coastal themes for the Northeast region, and an evening poster session and cabaret gave participants a chance to share their regional research. The workshop participants provided input to the development of an integrated science plan that uses existing USGS capabilities and identifies those that are needed from outside collaborators.
The steering committee selected three "big issues" as the science framework for the workshop. These issues had been identified as critical scientific needs in several previous regional workshops. Addressed within each issue were the primary threats to coastal ecosystems and resources, the stressors arising from those threats, and consequent ecological responses. The issues were:
The meeting kicked off with inspiring presentations by the following invited speakers: John Farrington, Vice President for Academic Programs and Dean of WHOI; Scott W. Nixon, Professor of Oceanography at URI's Bay Campus; and Arthur Lerner-Lam, Associate Director for Seismology at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. After the presentations, participants broke into rotating discussion groups to address the three "big issues." Breakout-session facilitators then summarized results for the entire group and gave these summaries to a writing team. The writing team will develop a 10-page science plan by May, summarizing the meeting and identifying specific priorities for future coastal science in the region.
Special thanks go to facilitator Susan Russell-Robinson, host Peter August, the breakout-session facilitators, the organizing committee, and the entertainers of the evening, Estuaries Cabaret.
in this issue:
Congressional Briefing on Gas Hydrates
Volcanic Ash and Aviation Safety
International Deep-Sea Corals Workshop
Northeastern Coastal Ecosystems and Resources Workshop
Shinn Wins 2002 Shoemaker Distinguished Achievement Award
Coastal and Marine Scientists Win 2002 Shoemaker Product Excellence Awards
Behrendt and Poag Elected AAAS Fellows
Marine Geophysics Pioneer Honored
Celebrating Careers of Five Retirees
Manheim Lectures on Trends in Scientific and Technological Innovation
San Francisco Bay Earthquake Hazards
Effectivenes of Marine Reserves in Central California
Human Influence on Diatom Productivity and Sedimentation in Chesapeake Bay
|Archived February 20, 2019


text:
We are no strangers to 3D building projection shows here at Geek. But needless to say they never get boring. Just take a large building, a powerful projector, a computer, and a little imagination and you can make a building appear to come to life.
Today's example of a 3D building projection was filmed a few months ago in Kharkov, Ukraine during a festival celebrating the Independence Day of Ukraine. The building used for the show was the Kharkiv Regional Institute of Public Administration Building. And as you will soon see, it is still amazing how a simple projector can make large 3D objects seem to do the impossible.
Read more at the LG Blog, via Stupid Videos


text:
Grilled Cheese, 30 Ways
Whether you like it simple with just cheddar or fancy with tons of add-ins, this classic grilled cheese recipes will cure whatever ails.
Whether you like it simple with just cheddar or fancy with tons of add-ins, this classic grilled cheese recipes will cure whatever ails.
"The baking method is great when making several sandwiches. I used Swiss cheese and included the optional fried egg. Delicious!"
"Using mayo is such a neat trick! I now use this method every time. The outsides turn a beautiful, crunchy, toasty brown."
"I can't believe I never thought of this before! It is so good, and it's ready in under 5 minutes."
-Lucky Clover
"Holy cow, was this good! It's really worth the extra time to make the garlic spread."
"The paprika butter, Manchego cheese and peppers made this sandwich unforgettable."
Two childhood favorites are mashed together to give you a fun and delicious grilled cheese.
"I loved this sandwich. The garlic and Italian seasoning add wonderful flavor."
"These made for a nice quick lunch. I made them on my George Foreman grill and substituted ham for bacon."
Refined and rich, this grilled cheese mixes sweet, salty and umami in all the right ways.
"This was such a nice change from plain ol' grilled cheese. I loved the flavors of the pepperoni and Dijon mustard."
-Halcyon Eve
What do you get when you combine chicken wings with a classic grilled cheese? You get this unbelievable sandwich that you'll want to make time and time again.
"These sandwiches were awesome. The white wine and balsamic vinegar really give them that extra dimension."
"This sandwich did not disappoint! I used used cold bread and room-temperature cream cheese for easier spreading."
"These were delicious. I had Swiss cheese on mine. They're very quick and easy."
"This was really different and really good. I loved the flavor that the oregano added."
"This made for a fabulous lunch. I loved the cumin with the avocado, and heating the sandwich up slowly was the perfect way to melt the cheese."
"I love this sandwich, a signature dish at Denny's. Like most things, it is much more economical to make at home — and even, dare I say, better!"
"My husband went crazy for this. I would absolutely make this again."
-tara portee
"These came out great — the bread was perfectly toasted. I don't think I'll go back to the old way no matter how many people I'm serving."
-kelli harris
"This is the perfect blend of textures and flavors. It's hot, spicy, cheesy and very satisfying."
-Baby Kato
"This was delicious! I loved the combination of ingredients. I used smoked Gouda."
"This is wonderful. I love the addition of the red onion — it really adds a nice flavor."
"This is one of the best paninis I've ever made! The combination sounds odd, but the result was incredible."
"Who doesn't love a good old-fashioned grilled cheese sandwich with a twist? We used Monterey Jack and sliced mozzarella."
"Delicious! l couldn't find fig preserves, so I just pureed some figs. I would cut these into pieces and serve them as an appetizer."
"This was an outrageous sandwich. We all loved it. This would also be great melted as a hot cheese dip for crackers."
"I've made bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches before, but I've never grilled them. This is much better."
"I am not a veggie lover, so I was surprised when I loved this. It's a great way to add vegetables to your diet while still enjoying your favorite comfort food."
-CharissaEve Boyd
"These were wonderful tossed in a salad. I'm looking forward to trying these little beauties with soup."


text:
by dan gerstein - © the wall street journal 2005
if the democratic chieftains in washington really want a window into why heartland residents are tuning out our party, they should stop huddling with loopy linguists from berkeley like george lakoff and just start reading frank rich's commentaries in the new york times. there they will find a perfect distillation of the arrogance and narrow-mindedness that typifies the cultural thinking of our elites -- and turns off red-state voters. in the view of mr. rich and his acolytes, freedom in our culture has been "under attack" ever since 9/11. indeed, mr. rich has argued that this attack is being led by "new puritans" who want to "stamp out" all that is "joyously vulgar" in american culture and who are fomenting a "government war against indecency" to get the job done.
once you get past the absurdity of mr. rich's hyperbole -- vulgarity, joyous or otherwise, is hardly in retreat -- the implications of this mindset and the battle lines it establishes are clear. on one side are the forces of freedom, tolerance, diversity, modernity; on the other those of repression, intolerance, conformity and zealotry. and if you're not exactly enamored of watching titillating stunts and ads at the super bowl with your six-year-old, you're part of the tv taliban.
in this, the cultural elites are guilty of the very sin of silly oversimplification of which they frequently (and rightly) accuse conservatives. not all parents who are concerned about the avalanche of crud crushing their children every day are obsessed with spongebob's sexual orientation. nor are they seeking to shred the first amendment. most are just looking for a little cooperation from the captains of culture to make the hard job of raising children in a fully-wired universe a little easier.
as a regular consumer of provocative entertainment, i find the attitude of democratic elites obnoxious, as well as intellectually flimsy. it is more than possible to enjoy "pulp fiction" and recognize that it is inappropriate for younger viewers who can't grasp the context. in much the same way, it is more than possible to set some voluntary boundaries for protecting children without sacrificing the ability of adults to consume adult-oriented material.
one can only imagine how insulting our elitism is to the average mother in the exurbs of georgia or colorado who might be uncomfortable with open talk of threesomes on "friends" at 8 p.m. well, actually, we don't have to imagine too hard, not after john kerry openly embraced hollywood and went on to lose married women voters by a margin of 55% to 44%.
but there is a more damaging irony at work here. the democratic elites have convinced themselves that they are taking a stand against cultural tyranny. that's how some women have rationalized their indifference to the misogyny of several hip-hop artists. but the reality is that it is those who cry "censorship!" the loudest who are the ones trying to stifle speech and force their moral world-view on others. that may seem counterintuitive, but think about it. what is at issue is not the right to express oneself politically or artistically, or to consume controversial works in one's own home. it's the cultural environment we all share, what gets said and done in the public square for all to hear and see, and whether that common space should be governed by some social (not legal) norms and standards.
how could that not be an appropriate subject for public debate in a democracy, particularly one as committed to free speech as ours? how, at this moment of mass media proliferation, could we afford not to talk about such an omnipresent force in our society, especially given the powerful role the electronic culture plays in children's lives? indeed, a study released last month by the kaiser family foundation found that young people are exposed to eight-plus hours a day of media content.
but that is not a discussion the entertainment industry or its democratic defenders want to have. in fact, most of the time they actively work to squelch it. their first move usually is to deny that the culture has any influence on attitudes and behavior. when that ludicrous proposition gets dismissed, the free-speech shields are instantly raised, as are the bogus bogeymen -- like the lone congressman who wanted to ban "saving private ryan" from prime time.
part of this response is clearly motivated by profit margins. but it also flows from a profound aversion to making moral judgments. and that's the nub of the values problem for democrats today. we don't hesitate to judge people's beliefs, but we blanch at judging their behavior. that leaves us silent on big moral issues at a time of great moral uncertainty, and leaves the impression that we are the party of "anything goes." even worse, it creates a "values vacuum" that gets filled by the spongebob gaybashers of the world. in ceding this ground, we not only reject millions of voters who are hungry for moral leadership, we repudiate our own legacy. how did progressives move the country to enfranchise women, outlaw racial discrimination, and protect the environment? we cast those issues in terms of "right" and "wrong." so why recoil from those tools now?
we are also putting ourselves, in this case, in the uncomfortable position of siding with giant corporations over small children. remember the crusade the progressive community led against big tobacco's use of joe camel to lure kids? that same outrage was largely missing on our side a few years ago when the federal trade commission revealed that the big studios were focus-grouping r-rated slasher movies with nine-year-olds to lure them into the theaters.
the solution to this cultural conundrum is not to go overboard and mimic the "happy days" conservatives, whose latest misguided and unconstitutional plan is to regulate cable content. nor should democrats go looking for cynical sister souljah moments. we should just try to mix a little courage with common sense. for starters, when a foul-mouthed entertainer calls the president of the united states a murderer at a fund-raiser for you, resist the urge to say later that they represent the heart and soul of america.
or better yet, follow the lead of hillary clinton, who is making the progressive case for cultural responsibility better than anyone. cynics tried to dismiss her recent speech on the issue as pre-presidential positioning. but the fact is that sen. clinton has been strong and steady in her advocacy for overwhelmed parents ever since coming to washington. she's been smart, too: she does not demonize cultural producers, overstate the extent of the problem, or let parents off the hook. she frames the culture's influence as a public-health issue as much as a moral one, and cites research showing the potentially harmful effects of screen sex and violence. and she is honest about the limits of that research, which is why she has joined with sen. joe lieberman in introducing a bill to fund more studies of the electronic media's impact on children.
at the same time, sen. clinton is not afraid to make clear statements of right and wrong. in recent comments, she forcefully condemned the sequence in the lurid video game grand theft auto in which a player scores extra points for having sex with a prostitute and then stomping her to death. it says something sad about the democrats that such a statement could be read as a sign of guts. but it does say something important that one of the left's leading icons is the one stating it. come to think of it, maybe all that needs to be said about our values vacuum to harry reid, nancy pelosi and howard dean is: lay off lakoff and hire hillary.
mr. gerstein, an independent consultant, was communications director for joe lieberman and a senior strategist for his presidential campaign.
source url