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Seducing the Undecided (Guerrilla Marketing Tactics)
At several points in this site, I've mentioned the "Heart Attack" Seminar Registration Curve. In this article, I'm going to focus exclusively on that issue and some techniques for avoiding it. You've heard some of these ideas before in different contexts, but they're worth repeating and emphasizing. Trust me.
The "Heart Attack" Seminar Registration Curve
People who have never done seminars before often experience an incredible amount of anxiety and stress. The major stress relates to the rate at which the registrations come in. They come in slowly at first and then dramatically pick up within two weeks or less of the seminar date, depending on the length and location of the event.
I call it the "Heart Attack" curve because the novice seminar promoter often freaks out waiting for the registrations to come in. Sometimes you get as much as 50% or more in the last several days before the date of the seminar.
Events like bootcamps that require travel and hotel reservations generally fill up sooner than shorter events. I also like the idea of promoting to people in the last two weeks or so and sending them to a site called www.site59.com. This site allows people to make lastminute travel and hotel arrangements at discounted prices. Using this system may encourage some people to come at the last minute.
Using Bonuses to Seduce More Buyers
I also like to load a lot of bonuses into the seminar seduction routine. I will give people all kinds of bonuses for registering before a specific date. These would include things like consulting time with me over the phone, free special reports, an eBook or two and a discount coupon to attend other seminars and events.
I try to make these bonuses very appealing. I also try to make most of them digitally deliverable so I have virtually no cost but my time. Even when I offer people 30 minutes of my time over the phone as a bonus, only one in 20 will take me up on it. Sad, but true. Consulting time on the phone has a very high perception of value, but a very low use rate. What a great bonus.
Bonuses are something you must make sure you deliver on. I have never done a seminar where someone hasn't mentioned something to me about the bonuses they receive for attending. Don't forget to make good on your promises.
I sometime like to send them separately and a few days apart. This way people think they have gotten even more value than they really have.
Offer One-on-One Consultations as a Premium
Another very effective way to get people to sign up for your events is to offer them consulting time before, during or after the event.
It makes for a long day, but it can dramatically increase enrollment. People get to sit at the feet of the master (you) one-on-one for 20-30 minutes to get their individual questions answered. I would only recommend you do this in conjunction with a high priced event or seminar. Why give away your time unless you have to? For many people this will be what gets them to register.
Try to get these consultations scheduled before the event. If you have more demand than you can accommodate on-site before the seminar, arrange to give them the same amount of time (or slightly more) over the phone in the days leading up to the event.
Putting Customers on a Hot Seat They'll Love!
Hot seats are a great concept that you should definitely use when appropriate. Here's how they work. You set aside time, usually towards the end of the session (or day), to bring a certain number of people up in front of the group. I usually have each person come up for about 10 minutes.
You ask them to briefly introduce themselves. Then you ask them to share with the group their biggest problem that relates to the topic of the seminar. Hopefully they share a business and not a personal problem! You (along with the other "experts" if you're doing a bootcamp) then give them your best suggestions. Allow other audience members, for a short time, to offer their suggestions. Jump in if they get too far off track.
This works extremely well because it allows you to answer specific questions from individual members of the group. It significantly increases the value of your event. It is as close as you can get to giving people individual assistance during the seminar itself.
The beauty of the hot seat concept is that it isn't just the people on the hot seat who benefit. Many of the questions raised and answered will be helpful to other members of the group.
Whenever I do an event of two or more days, I always make the hot seats a bonus. I restrict the reservation of the hot seats to the first 20 people who would like to do them.
If I myself were attending an event where they had hot seats I would sign up immediately to make sure I got to be on the hot seat. Not everyone feels the same way. Many of your attendees are deathly afraid of getting up in front of the group and baring their souls.
There are, however, many people who feel like I do. For them, the opportunity to be on the hot seat will encourage them to register early. It always has that effect on me!
Offer the hot seats to the first X number of people who sign up and want them. When you run out, tell people that you'll put them on a waiting list for a hot seat. Make sure they understand that you aren't guaranteeing that they will get one. They only get their chance if someone doesn't show up or a participant decides not to do theirs.


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Elon Musk does not set out to solve small problems or dream up average ideas. He is a visionary whose career has been defined by manifesting outrageously ambitious (some may even say absurd) concepts into reality, from Tesla, to SpaceX, to any number of other smaller ventures he's had his hand in over the years. But of the many grand ideas he's proposed, it's the Hyperloop -- essentially a futuristic train that could catapult people at supersonic speeds across the country in a matter of minutes -- that people seem to think is doomed to fail.
And yet, according to a tweet Musk posted on Thursday, he just got the "verbal" go-ahead from the government to move forward with a plan to create an underground Hyperloop along the Eastern Seaboard that would be capable of traveling between New York City and Washington, DC, in just 29 minutes.
Whaddya think about that, Megabus?
Ever Heard of Pon De Ring Donuts?
Musk implied that he got approval from someone to build the tunnels between New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and DC, and followed up to clarify that the there would be entry and exit elevators for it somewhere within the center of each city.
Of course, this sounds downright bonkers when you simply consider the sort of infrastructure required to make this happen -- not to mention the fact that a fully functional Hyperloop doesn't even exist yet, and it is still very much a theoretical mode of transportation. Reactions on Twitter seemed to be an equal blend of "holy shit" and "yeah, right."
Bloomberg reported that this so-called "govt approval" came from inside the White House, though it's unclear exactly what sort of approval this means for the future of the project. In a follow-up tweet early Friday morning, Musk clarified that while it marked a go-ahead on a federal level, there's a whole lot more to be done before anything is formally approved.
Oh, and it's still unclear exactly what this Hyperloop system would be used for -- whether it would just be for cargo or equipped for passengers as well. Musk references The Boring Company, which is the venture he launched in December of last year after proclaiming he wanted to dig a tunnel under Los Angeles in order to avoid rush-hour traffic jams. According to the Frequently Asked Questions page on The Boring Company's website, it describes a vision for the future in which it'll be transporting everything from cars, to cargo, to people on sled-like containers.
In any case, don't expect lightning fast commutes between major cities anytime soon. Even with formal approval, this sort of project will take years and years to construct and test. But at the same time, don't dismiss the project entirely. Elon Musk lives for this sort of impossible challenge, and his track record speaks for itself.
h/t TechCrunch
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subset: commoncrawl


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North Korea appears finally to be off the hook for a large cyberattack against US and South Korean websites a year ago that severely annoyed its southern neighbour.
Almost four dozen US and South Korean sites were targeted by botnet traffic from 4 July 2009, including the Treasury Department, the Federal Trade Commission, the Secret Service and South Korea's defence and foreign ministries, which saw some hit with routine denial-of-service and others defaced.
Nobody had the foggiest idea who carried out the attacks but the rumour mill came up with the mischievous North Koreans as the most likely sponsors, partly because off the implied level of organisation that such a large-scale attack would require.
North Korea was never been formally blamed for the attacks and the impression of its involvement dates from statements made in the attack's aftermath by South Korean officials to parliamentary officials. Korean language used in some of the defacements hinted at the time at possible North Korean link.
According to an Associated Press article quoting unnamed sources inside the investigation, experts now consider this unlikely and rate South Korean provocateurs the more likely culprits, but even this is surmise.
As many in the security industry have pointed out, such denial-of-service attacks are now part and parcel of life on the Internet and count as relatively crude measures of the damage that can be done by a group or state against another country or organisation.
"Poke at any of these international incidents, and what you find are kids playing politics," said celebrity security blogger, Bruce Schneier in the aftermath of the attacks.
"Last Wednesday, South Korea's National Intelligence Service admitted that it didn't actually know that North Korea was behind the attacks: 'North Korea or North Korean sympathizers in the South' was what it said. Once again, it'll be kids playing politics," said Schneier.
There is cyberwar and there is now also cyberwar hype. Separating the two is not easy.


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It turns out to have been a definite understatement. The collection of "odd birds" we met there, and at subsequent Anglican parishes, ranged from the mildly odd to the truly eccentric. In nearly all cases, the eccentricities were charming and endearing. Sometimes, they were quite comical. And they made me feel, too, that in Anglicanism, someone as odd as myself might even fit in.
This effect is probably natural for the Via Media church ... as Anglicans, we are "neither fish nor fowl". Were it not for the freight with which modernity has loaded the word, I would be tempted to say that we are "queer".
St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica, opined that each angel constitutes his own unique species.
And this brings me to my hypothesis, which is purely speculative, and which I offer without proof:
Every Anglican constitutes his own species.As I said, I offer no proof. But you must admit, it explains a lot!


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Our selection of loose leaf teas is offered for quality and appeal to the palate. Begin with a traditional Earl Grey or International Breakfast, then adventure to something a little more daring such as Blood-Orange Smoothie, Cinnamon Plum or our ever-popular Blueberry Black.
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I have been reflecting upon a wonderful metaphor/phenomenon that has been occurring in one of the groups I've been part of. Switchbacks, the food source that keeps on giving and sometimes over feeds me.
Visioning Elderhood
Can you imagine yourself older? Can you imagine yourself as an Elder? Do you even want to?
Sport – A Poem on Frailty
There is a tension between respecting frailty and preventing frailty. One of our recurrent themes has been to highlight how important it is to respect frail patients.
ELDER POETRY INTERLUDE: Forgetfulness
Now and then on Thursdays, particularly when I need some extra time, I will post a poem I like related to aging. Today, it is from Billy Collins – Forgetfulness The name of the author is the first to go…
Robert Frost's "Reluctance" — A Poem for this Season of the Year… and Life?
I'm often amazed and humbled by the erudition of the other members of my Parkinson's support group. At last week's meeting, the discussion prompted one of the members to recite from memory the last stanza of a poem by Robert Frost….
Thanksgiving Poem Celebrating Aging
WHEN you are old and gray and full of sleep
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
A Poem to Consider
I'm headed off on vacation for two weeks. Hope to post some photos from la belle France, but meanwhile, here is a remarkable poem to chew on while I'm away. It was written by David Hollies, who began to lose … Continue reading →


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A warm welcome to
Carlton Road Academy
Welcome to Carlton Road School, a popular and over-subscribed academy based in the heart of the community. We pride ourselves on working in partnership with parents/carers and the community to offer a comprehensive, broad and flexible curriculum to pupils of all abilities.
We place great emphasis on providing a caring environment for your child, supporting them in their personal development meeting all their needs, as well as ensuring that each and every child reaches and often exceeds their academic potential.
Mrs. T Brown
Head of Academy
Latest News
Date: Wednesday 6th November
Time 9.30am or 1.30pm
Is your child starting in Reception in September 2020?
Please come and look at our OUTSTANDING facilities
including our NEW outdoor provision and to speak to
our staff


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Some problems have been reported with zero-point variations across the field of view, mainly in the X-direction on the detector. We have done various tests, some of which appear to be affected and others that don't, but in general our test data seem to indicate this is not a problem with the camera itself but with flat fielding. Specifically, flat fields might be different when pointing towards or away from the sun when taking the flat fields and/or when taking them close to sunset/rise or closer to astronomical twilight, or at different angles of the rotator. However, to short this out properly we need flat fields at different times and with different set-ups, but existing flat fields are general taken under very similar circumstances. Some specific tests are needed.
A script that can be used during twilight and automatically takes a (set of) flat field exposure(s) at a proper light level has now been full documented and incorporated as a sequencer script. We plan to develop the option to take (sets of) flat fields for a series of filters which incorporates this script, and which could make taking flat fields during twilight largely automatic.
Following the analyze of the ALFOSC focus measurements (see below), we now plan to concentrate on the seeing measurements. The main objective will be to see if the telescope and instrument works well and what defines the best circumstances (e.g., if the site ports are open, at which wind speed, from what direction). This should indicate how we might improve things and optimize the telescope more, while this might also indicate what to expect given certain circumstances which could be used to assist in scheduling (queue-mode) service observations.
Thomas Augusteijn 2009-01-15


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Pascal is our dark blond model who likes to assist in showing men that the woman are more power full. She is our naughty, very passionate teaser. She likes to flirt to make your visit more fun.
Pascal likes teasing her gentleman in her seductive pretty lingerie , cupping your hands over her soft cleavage and trailing your hands down her firm soft body. She is eager to partake any fun with her companion.
Pascal is available for companionship dates as well as your date for an hour, she is however also available to accommodate you on your trips around Mauritius.
Pascal is available 24 hours for out calls to the most luxurious resorts in Mauritius.


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BEAMS Arts Festival 2014
Taking place on Saturday 20 September 2014 from 5-10pm, the BEAMS Arts Festival to be opened by Lord Mayor Clover Moore and hosted by the Chippendale Creative Precinct will once again immerse the laneways of Chippendale with 350 creatives working across a kaleidoscope of colour, light, movement and sound generating a veritable feast for the senses.
Last year's festival boomed onto the Sydney cultural calendar with over 10 000 people in attendance and a dizzying array of visual and performance artists, actors, animators, artisans, architects, bespoke crafters, comedians, designers, dancers, entertainers, musicians, poets, production companies, creative contemplators and creative agencies.
The program for 2014 will deliver a profusion of talent across many disciplines with a focus on the high calibre of creatives coming together to create a street party like no other. This year will also see a greater involvement with over 120 exhibits from our most exciting and cutting edge Sydney talent.
The BEAMS Arts Festival is revitalising the creative community and re- imagining the possibilities of the city through collaborative imagination. For one bright night Balfour Street and the 8 surrounding laneways of Chippendale will be filled with the most daring works and
performances from Sydney's creative community. This year's theme is UTOPIA, with BEAMS embracing works that open up new dialogues about the future of Sydney's urban landscape.
Exhibited at BEAMS 2014 is a spectacular selection of established high profile creatives and exciting new emerging talent working across: visual and site specific installation; multi-media and interactive works; film, projections and digital projects; light and animation; performance and dance; live music, creative workshops and outdoor dining.
Included in this year's program are installation artists such as John Wright and Vincent Buret who also featured in this year's Sydney Vivid Light Festival, Julia Kennedy Bell who's large-scale, vibrantly coloured paper installation will astound and amaze festival visitors and the Studio Artists, a working division of Studio ARTES who are an independent, not for profit organisation offering creative programs to adults with disabilities. Their hanging light nests will shine beams of light through the trees.
Jan Cleveringa will be pushing the boundaries of light installation with 30,000 fluorescent light tubes while Viera Sofanova's 3 meter wide dream-catcher, capturing dreams and imaginations alike, will hang above the heads of diners seated at the 40 meter long communal dining table, graced with Isobel Dunworth's glowing light box installation.
Included in this year's program is landscape architect, Mike Horne and lighting designer, Donn Salisbury. The duo will be illuminating the Central Park water feature, changing and shifting in a variety of coloured experiences. Inspired by the contemporary urban landscape,
Penelope Cain explores spaces within the city with potential for ruptures that allow the unreal or imagined to bleed into the controlled everyday life. Castle in the Sky a site-specific installation will send the audience into a fantastical castle filled with unexpected places and visions of utopia. Constructed from a tent, Zoe Edema inspires a space where fantasy and fun can be explored.
Showcasing amazing architectural installations, the internationally renowned Laboratory for Visionary Architecture or LAVA is hitting the streets of Chippendale. Fusing elements of nature and technology,
LAVA offers both an entrancing coral cave to investigate and dynamic light sculptures of Origami Tigers prowling above the BEAMS crowd.
Other works from our own Chippendale Creative community, will feature our most talented creative agencies such as Invisible Artists, James Hackett Animation, Reborn Creative Agency and Lightwell whose exhibits will astound with their interactive media projects.
This year's program will see musicians performing consecutive sets on the main stage whilst others roam laneways providing acoustic entertainment that will contribute to the homegrown vibe of the festival. The main stage festivities will begin with a set from indie roots duo Jack and Elmo, followed by electronic duo Ataractic and self- described rock and roll (with a touch of country and pop) artist Forster Anderson. Solo artists such as Benjamin Bleyerveen will also be showcased, along with BATTERIE, who's audience can expect to hear an individual style of music representative of pop, electronica and acoustic sounds.
As the festival streets fade into darkness, solo acts will transform into bands with Lana Rita producing soulful jazz tunes and Frieda's Boss bringing Jamaica's dancehall scene to the Chippendale area - believing that music should be felt rather than heard. The night will be concluded with a set by Gang of Brothers who impressed the crowds of last year's festival with their funky take on rock. With Lucy Lowe's hauntingly beautiful voice, Botch House's minimalistic approach to pop and local DJ John Cawley's innovative balcony set scattered across the festival footprint, there is sure to be something that will appeal to the diverse tastes of all festival-goers.
Included in this year's culinary program is a smörgåsbord of gourmet food served up by Chippendale's own array of excellent eateries and bars. Headlining the culinary component of the festival and recent winner of Time Out Food Award's Restaurant of The Year, is Chippendale eatery Ester, experts in heart-warming, wood - fired, modern-Australian cuisine. Run by Billy Kwong's former head chef
Mat Lindsay, Ester's rustic Modern Australian grub is a festival highlight not to be missed by the foodies.
You will not be able to resist the Agapé Organic Restaurant Food Truck's tapas and spelt pizza, or the deliciously inventive vegetarian options from the Veggie Patch Van, which is a vegetarian's dream. Tsurus Japanese cuisine, consisting of satay sticks, steamed
buns, pandan pancakes and so much more will ensure you will not leave the night hungry. Represented by BEAMS silver sponsor The Old Clare Hotel, Clayton Wells will showcase cuisine teasers from his upcoming restaurant Automata, which is set to open on Kensington Street in Autumn 2015. Wells hopes to bring even more diversity to the already creative hub of Chippendale, with BEAMS being a great place to kick-start this project.
Inspired by owner Katya Ginsberg's London roots, The Chip off the Old Block will serve a delightfully refined array of all your trusty English pub grub, including the signature fish and chips presented in a paper parcel and cones of specially selected mixed nuts. Shortlisted for the 2014 Eat Drink Design Awards and described by Concrete Playground as a "great first date spot", The Chip provides diners with unshelled walnuts and pecans, their very own nutcracker and a pack of playing cards to encourage social conversation under intimate down lights.
If that assortment of delectable food fails to make your stomach growl, we also have Ribs and Burgers, a concept brand fusing hearty gourmet food with the classic butcher bistro dining experience.
Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks will also provide authentic Taiwanese food such as crispy chicken and seafood tempura.
Finally, for those with a sweet tooth, Brickfields, Chippendale's neighbourhood bakery, combines artisan baking with the finest local ingredients to produce exceptional breads, cakes and pastries, whilst local real estate agent Greencliff will bedazzle crowds with ice cream to help cool the madness and excitement that is BEAMS Arts Festival 2014l!
The level of interest and the number of works submitted for this year's BEAMS Arts Festival have skyrocketed exponentially. This is a huge testament to the success of the festival's previous years and the willingness and passion of the Chippendale community and the wider Sydney creative community to see events like BEAMS continue to grow.
Festival founder and Director Nicky Ginsberg says, "This festival is all about celebrating Sydney's abundant creative community, while supporting local Chippendale creative minds and businesses, bringing art out into the streets and making it accessible to everyone, from all walks of life. We can't wait to share the standout pieces and performances with our local community and beyond".
Mark your diaries for Saturday 20 September, when Chippendale will once more BEAM art, light and life on Sydney's cultural nightlife.


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- Lalalanelson
- 6 years ago
Hey all,
I have been waiting for my Boyfriend or Best Friend to propose for a year, and while I know some of you have been waiting SO much longer, I'm starting to get really frustrated. Tonight at dinner I brought it up and asked what he was waiting for. He said he wanted to wait until this summer because I will be done dental school then. So I asked him what the difference was, is he going to love me or want to be with me more once I'm graduated? He just said, "no that's just what I want." So I pretty much cried the whole way home from dinner. And then when he ran into the house after we got out of the car I thought maybe he was going to get a ring?! But then of course he just had to pee.
I'm just so frustrated. It's not like he can't afford the ring, or that we have issues we need to work out. He's just set on waiting until I'm done school. I honestly just don't see why you would want me more when I'm done school. At this point I'm almost fed up with waiting and ready to move on. I love him so much and want to spend my life with him, but I feel like one of those girls who their Boyfriend or Best Friend doesn't appreciate…
Any advice please?


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THE DOCTORS discuss the latest hair loss treatment options. Platelet Rich Plasma therapy is now being used in conjunction with Low Level Laser Hair Loss Treatment.
Laser Light Hair Therapy May Help Fight or Even Reverse Balding
LASER LIGHT THERAPY FOR HAIR LOSS. It's the newest and most advanced hair loss treatment for men and women, but we're not talking about a pill or a shampoo. It's a low-level laser that stops hair loss, and in many cases even stimulates new hair growth.
New hope for women with hair loss and thinning hair
Today more women than ever are experiencing hair loss and thinning hair — and at a younger age. Dale Schuckert discusses the latest breakthroughs in hair loss treatment with Angela Stribling.
The doctors: getting to the root of female hair loss
Dr. Craig Ziering shares some insight on what causes one in four women to lose hair and what can be done to effectively combat female hair loss and thinning hair.
You Don't Have to Accept Your Hair Loss.
LIVE LIFE ON YOUR OWN TERMS. Now it's easier than ever to get expert advice and answers to your particular hair loss questions and concerns. Our caring, confidential approach to hair loss treatment provides clients with the ability to make a fully informed decision on which hair loss treatment options are best for their particular type of hair loss and lifestyle.
At Trichological Associates in Alexandria, Virginia (Washington, DC), we specialize in hair loss restoration and prevention for both men and women. Our revolutionary Revage Laser Hair Therapy treatment programs involve no surgery, no drugs, with absolutely no side effects.
If you are experiencing the devastating effects of hair loss and would like to learn about the latest treatment options that are available to you, please call us at (703) 914-4247 today.


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- Tildas Town: add a technique (7 Aug)
- Creative Corner: polka dot (7 Aug)
- Simply Magnolia: anything goes (14 Aug)
- Magnolia-licious: anything goes (12 Aug)
- Just for Fun: anything goes (30 Aug)
- LadyBug Crafts: Say with Flowers (30 Aug)
02 agosto 2013
Tilda with Tulips!
13 comentários:
- Gir Guerreiro disse...
Uma gracinha!! Bjk
- 2 de ago. de 2013 23:15:00
- Márcia Kamano disse...
Lindo Vivi! Adorei o vermelho!
Bom final-de-semana!
beijos carinhosos
- 3 de ago. de 2013 00:56:00
- Unknown disse...
This is such a cute card ,I love the layout ,colours and the image is fab
Thankyou for joining us at Just for Fun's 1st challenge and good luck
Hugs Susan JFF DT Member
- 3 de ago. de 2013 06:58:00
- elaine's crafts disse...
Gorgeous, the image, the colouring, everything about is beautiful! Thanks for joining our first challenge at "Just For Fun!"
Elaine xx
- 3 de ago. de 2013 08:57:00
- Louise disse...
Gorgeous card, such beautiful colors love your masking technique. Thanks for joining us at Tilda's Town for our challenge
hugs Louise
- 3 de ago. de 2013 09:21:00
Vivi, I can see the love that you poured into this card !!! Oh my goodness -- it's gorgeous !!
The masking & walkway are perfect --- the colors so beautiful !!
I bet you didn't know that my fave flowers are: tulips & hydrangea !!!
This would make any friend smile -- the details are fab!
:)) :)) :))
- 3 de ago. de 2013 16:52:00
- Unknown disse...
Lovely card. Fabulous masking, thank you for joining in over at Just for fun Seema JFF DT
- 3 de ago. de 2013 19:10:00
- Claudia Ventura disse...
Que doçura de cartão!
Amei este carimbo!
- 3 de ago. de 2013 21:33:00
- Lillian A disse...
Oh, so pretty - love the border and pin and your coloring and choice of paper are awesome!
- 4 de ago. de 2013 20:29:00
- Marie Richardson disse...
Beautiful card hun i especially love the roses down the side looks so pretty.
Thanks for joining us over at Just For Fun this month. Good Luck
Marie (DT Member for JFF)
- 5 de ago. de 2013 07:23:00
- Fran disse...
Fantastic card, love the image , thank you for joining us at the Just for Fun Challenge Blog , Fran (DT) xxx
- 5 de ago. de 2013 07:58:00
- Lisa Walsh @ www.papercraftbusiness.com disse...
Hi Vivi,
Just popping over to Congrat you on being the winner over at Simply Magnolia :) I wanted to come & see your design, which btw is wonderful. Love your colouring & the colour combo you have used. I'm sure that Gail absolutely adored it :) Thank you so much for sharing. Hugs, Lisa.
P.S Would love for you to come, visit & like. Why not enter the DT Call? :)
Dreamtime Designs: www.etsy.com/shop/DreamtimeDesigns
Blog: http://dreamtimedesigns.blogspot.com.au (Blog Candy)
Facebook: www.facebook.com/DreamtimeDesigns
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DreamtimeDsigns
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/LisaWDesigns
Dreamtime Designs Craft Challenge: http://dreamtimedesigns.blogspot.com.au (DT Call)
- 13 de ago. de 2013 00:20:00
- Cheremane disse...
Simply adorable... Thanks for joiining the Just for Fun 1st challenge hope to see you back again soon.
- 13 de ago. de 2013 13:13:00


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SG2015: The Power of Savings Groups
Built on a foundation of commitment savings, Savings Groups (SGs) provide basic financial services, social support, and a platform for learning and testing new ideas to poor people worldwide. With nearly ten million people—mostly women and young people—participating in some form of Savings Group, it is a highly effective, scalable, and sustainable instrument for engaging the 'unbanked' poor. Savings Groups are also proven to serve as an entry point for other development efforts, including food security, health, and women's economic empowerment.
As Savings Groups have grown in popularity, the community is broadening to include practitioners that employ Savings Groups as part of coordinated development activities. SG2015 will welcome a diversity of new actors, including private entities, commercial banks, mobile service providers, and practitioners from other allied sectors such as health.
SG2015 represents a community of stakeholders committed to accelerating innovations through knowledge sharing and collaboration. With support from a number of the leading organizations that have championed Savings Groups, this community has come together twice before (in 2011 and 2013) to collaborate, share best practices, and increase the impact of Savings Groups worldwide. The community convenes again for SG2015: The Power of Savings Groups, taking place in Lusaka, Zambia.
Specifically, the conference looks to achieve the following objectives:
- Exploring innovations and technology enhancements to Saving Groups' operations.
- Promoting Savings Groups as a catalyst of broad development that engages cooperation across a growing and increasingly diverse community of SG supporters
- Articulating coherent strategies that both maintain program quality and facilitate increased scale.
- Educating participants about new models and processes for linking Savings Groups to formal financial institutions.
- Developing a research agenda to expand the evidence base for SG-related strategies.
You can register here, or email email@example.com for more information.
|Region / Country
|Global, Africa /
|Related Resources
Conference website
|Savings, saving groups


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Tips to Help a Toddler With Brushing
Practicing good oral hygiene is important for kids, especially when their teeth first start to come in. Unfortunately, actually brushing those teeth is easier said than done. These tips can help their brushing go a lot smoother, helping avoid those fights before bed.
Create a Tooth Brushing Station
A helpful technique to get your kid to brush their teeth is to give them choices. That's why you'll want to make a tooth brushing station where your kid has control over what they are using to brush their teeth. Purchase some toothbrushes with their favorite cartoon characters on them, and toothpastes that are different flavors. By giving them the choice about what toothbrush and toothpaste to use, they will be more excited when it comes to brushing their teeth.
Brush With Them
Modeling for your child is a great tool for when you want them to learn how to do something. Even though you are not ready to brush your own teeth when they are, it helps to model the proper brushing behavior with them. If they see you brushing, they are going to try to use similar techniques so that they can brush just like mom and dad.
Use A Tooth Brushing Song
A kid may not understand how long they need to brush their teeth, so use a tooth brushing song that you'll play each night. They keep brushing, and when the song is over they can stop.
Search your favorite online music store for the phrase "brush your teeth," and you'll be sure to plenty of songs to pick from. You may even see your child dancing each night while brushing their teeth before bed.
Use Children's Mouthwash
If your child is not doing a great job brushing, mouthwash can be a good way to rinse away bacteria in hard to reach places. Before you use mouthwash, even the safe kind designed for children, have them practice rinsing with water. Once they demonstrate that they can spit out the liquid and not swallow it, they'll be ready to use a mouthwash.
Do a Teeth Inspection
You can also tell your child that you need to do a teeth inspection afterwards, which gives you an opportunity to brush their teeth for them if they didn't do so great themselves. List the various foods your kid ate during the day as you brush their teeth, telling them that you see things that they missed so that they try better next time they brush.
For more information, contact a business such as Dr. Jerry F. Maymi & Associates.


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Television shows seldom get computer stuff right, so I shouldn't be surprised. But then I heard this humdinger on CSI New York during the 1 minute I was watching it. After I simultaneously guffawed and snorted in derision, I changed the channel.
Posts Tagged 'stupidity'
GUI interface for VB to track IP addressesPosted: 29 December 2008 in Uncategorized
Tags: csi new york, stupidity, television, visual basic
Indeed not!Posted: 12 February 2008 in Uncategorized
Tags: humor, indeed.com, jobs, stupidity
It doesn't inspire confidence in a jobs posting site when you get results for job salaries like this:
I must admit, I am surprised. I thought for sure being a Republican paid better than raping people, or at least paid the same. Time travelers have an unfortunately low salary. Obviously, they are too stupid to realize they could be hocking artifacts from the past for millions. Oh well.
StupidFilterPosted: 13 November 2007 in Uncategorized
Tags: comments, machine learning, nlp, stupidfilter, stupidity
Now here's a great idea. StupidFilter is an open-source project with the goal of rooting out and destroying stupid comments in blogs, wikis, YouTube, flickr, and just about any place morons are allowed to voice their opinions. Pulling this off would allow me to read the comments on Flickr without wanting to rip my eyeballs out. No longer will I gag when I accidentally allow myself to glance at the comments on a YouTube video. Yes, the world will be a better place.
The best part will be the complaints by users who are no longer able to leave comments.
"Yo I tired like 333 tiems to comemt and can't!!!111 watfxup?!?!"
Hat tip.
You have no soulPosted: 9 November 2007 in Uncategorized
Tags: cmu, food drive, humor, righteous anger, soulless bastards, stupidity
We are screwedPosted: 9 October 2007 in Uncategorized
Tags: bees, biology, bumblebees, environmentalism, fatalism, global warming, honeybees, pollinators, stupidity
Not only are honeybees disappearing, but bumblebees are going the way of the dinosaurs too. Bumblebees pollinate roughly 15% of crops, which are worth about $3 billion dollars. While there isn't a definitive cause yet, the National Academy of Sciences has reported that a combination of habitat loss due to housing developments, intensive agriculture, pesticides, pollution and disease are contributing to a worldwide decrease in pollinators. I wonder how long before global warming is added to that list?
A couple of quotes caught my attention from the article in Discovery News:
"We have been naive," said Neal Williams, assistant professor of biology at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. "We haven't been diligent the way we need to be."
"We are smart enough to deal with this," said Laurie Adams, executive director of the Pollinator Partnership. "There is hope."
Well, I hope Laurie Adams is right, but I don't have much faith in the intelligence of mankind. Pollinating insects are one of those things that most people don't even realize we depend on. Probably given the choice, many people would rather do without bees altogether, except for the honey they make. I know I've said something to the effect of "I wish all bees would die" after getting stung. I hate it when trite sayings like "be careful what you wish for" come true. Why didn't my wishes for no mosquitoes come true instead? I suspect they will only continue to flourish.
Don't wash windows – become a prostitutePosted: 29 August 2007 in Uncategorized
Tags: dumb laws, gypsies, italy, politics, rome, stupidity, weird news
A friend of mine sent me an odd story about how Italian police officers are now spending their time: stopping the heinous crime of washing your car windows at a stoplight. At first, I thought, well that's a bugger-all odd thing to be concerned about (I always think to myself in incorrect, bastardized British slang). Then it became clear:
"Foreigners are also blamed for much of the street crime in a relatively safe country. Most people wielding sponges on street corners are Romanian gypsies, often young women and children."
And there we have it. The gypsies. For as long as there have been gypsies, the good people of Europe have shunned them. And now they have found one more way of making their lives that much harder. Anyone caught committing this godless act (window-washing) is subject to confiscation of the tools of the trade (sponge, rag, dirty water), fines, and imprisonment. The magnificent mayor of Rome justified these draconian regulations:
"People must realize that behind the window-washers there is exploitation of minors, which is a crime. Like prostitution this is a racket that must be smashed."
I can just see him banging his fist down on a podium as he says that last bit. So now window washing is on the same level as prostitution, which is exactly what these gypsies might have to resort to if they want to eat.
Surprise! Everest kills old people better.Posted: 16 August 2007 in Uncategorized
Tags: everest, media, mountains, old people, statistics, stupidity, weird news
Mt. Everest, that bastian of adventure that draws thrill-seekers and wall street brokers with nothing else left to accomplish alike, is three times more likely to kill people over 60. No kidding. Actually this shouldn't be as obvious as it seems to be, since apparently old people adjust to higher altitudes more quickly and have more experience. So why do they die? Who freakin knows. Thanks to Wired's less-than-completely-informative-article, I'm in the dark. They hint at the proliferation of older people in these expeditions, but really shouldn't that have been adjusted for in the statistics?
However, there is an up side. Fun facts:
- 1.5% of climbers under 60 die attempting Everest
- 5% of climbers over 60 die
- 31% of climbers under 60 make it to the top
- 13% of climbers over 60 make it to the top
Just something to consider if you're old and seeking to conquer the world's tallest mountain.


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My review of Ian Davidson's Voltaire: A Life is now available at 3:AM.
Archive for May, 2010
Cultivate Your GardenMay 31, 2010
Speak for EnglandMay 31, 2010
The Manchester Evening News has taken up a campaign. Not about the chronic shortage of social housing in Manchester. Not on behalf of the many many workers in the city who are paid below the living wage. Don't be stupid. The MEN has its priorities. It's been fighting for the right of binmen to display England flags from their wagons.
It appears that the council contracts out its bin collection to a firm that won't let its workers fly the flag for health and safety reasons. But the super soaraway MEN has scored a victory: 'But after the Manchester Evening News contacted the Town Hall, the council persuaded the company to change its policy.' Hurrah!
You'd think the MEN would stay out of political disputes, having got every political call wrong over the last decade – it backed the smoking ban, backed ID cards, backed the Manchester c-charge and predicted a Lib Dem Manchester landslide in the general election. But the issue goes beyond the MEN's brand of regional dog-whistle journalism, for every World Cup is followed by stories about how the politically correct elite are banning England flags, as sure as night follows day.
It's said that Ophelia Benson has the worst job in the blogosphere. I think that Anton Vowl has to be a contender for that title. He spends his free time reading and arguing with the British Tory press, which in recent months has become completely unhinged. Naturally the flag ban folk myth is all over the place at the moment.
Anton makes many good points. (Why do people only want to fly the flag when there's an international tournament on?) Many pub landlords do ban flags and football colours, all year round, World Cup or no World Cup. This is not because they are multicultural ideologues who are terrified of offending Muslims. It is because they are businessmen who want to keep paying the mortgage.
The fact is that flags attract arseholes who like to intimidate and hurt other people. They attract morons who cannot get through a night without ruining someone else's. And a pub full of arseholes and morons is not going to attract many customers.
This is why upper middle class journalists who write flag ban columns would never in a million years go into a pub with guys in football colours drinking in the beer garden.
We liberal-left types aren't meant to call morons morons when they're being moronic; we're meant to imagine that if people are wilfully ignorant, or don't want to find out about things, or lack the curiosity to challenge what they've been told, that it's somehow our fault, and we should reach out to them, even though they won't believe us, for fear of alienating them. Do you know what? I try to bend over backwards as much as I can bear to, but fuck that.
I am a patriot and I love my country. Although football's not my thing, I hope we win this tournament and I will probably watch a few of the games. That said, flags attract arseholes. It's not fair – but it's the way the world works.
Naturally, we can't say that, so the whole thing has accumulated into yet another facet of the rich mythology of the white Briton with a chip on his shoulder. Go on Facebook, read the comments of any newspaper website and it's a seething cauldron of entitlement and grievance.
I would be happy to see the St George's flag everywhere I go. But I also wonder how English identity came to be defined by victimhood, self-pity, riskless defiance and synthetic outrage. Come on, people. Is that all we've got?
I display the St George's cross in a gesture of heroic resistance against the politically correct WordPress elite.
Succour: The Dream is Over!May 30, 2010
A lot of people have been asking me about Succour magazine. Here's what's going on as I understand it.
The magazine grew out of Exeter University's creative writing programme in 2005. It was produced down south with regional editors in several other cities. I came on board in 2006 as Manchester's regional editor. I managed to get it in a couple of Oxford Road outlets and put on a few nights. Over the next four years I headhunted Manchester fiction writers and poets for the magazine. During that time my managing editor secured a national distribution deal which meant that I didn't have to do the admin/finance side and could concentrate on finding new talent.
The magazine was originally funded by Exeter uni. That money ran out in 2008 and since then we've had no public funding. Borders went smash in January this year and that pretty much killed our distribution. Around that time I was told that Succour would go from a print magazine to an online magazine and that the May issue would appear online. We're now almost into June and the website hasn't been updated. The contact page appears to have been removed and the ME isn't returning my emails.
I can only conclude that Succour is dead.
Apologies to anyone who has made submissions and is wondering what the hell's going on. I'm not sure myself. It seems that we had a pretty good run but the recession has finally caught up with us. Succour may return in some form in the future and I will let you if and when this happens.
One of the reasons I started this blog was to create a point where writers and poets could browse magazines for submissions. I add stuff to the 'Magazines' section in the sidebar as often as I can and would be grateful for any suggestions.
Like Icarus, we soared close to the sun, on frail wings of vanity and wax. 'Even as his mouth was crying his father's name, it vanished into the dark blue sea, the Icarian Sea, called after him.'
Virtue Writes WhiteMay 29, 2010
My review of Claus Hant's Young Hitler: A Non-Fiction Novel is now available at 3:AM.
Classic Books: The CollectorMay 25, 2010
There's a scene in Stephen King's Misery where Paul Sheldon, romance novelist held crippled and captive by psychotic fan Annie Wilkes, considers asking her whether she has read John Fowles's first novel before very wisely deciding against it. I read The Collector recently, and it's clear that King's book owes a great deal to it: he has reversed the genders but it's still a two-man tale of possession and obsession. Miranda is a butterfly: Paul Sheldon is a rare bird that came from Africa.
Miranda's captor is an entomologist who has moved on to living specimens. The analogy is obvious but effective. The collector of the title is used to dead artifacts of beauty pressed onto pages, and can't handle the real thing, flying around and alive. Miranda is a resourceful and spirited captive, banging against the bars of her cage. She seduces the kidnapper as part of an escape attempt, but he can't perform with a living being, preferring to masturbate over photographs of his naked victim. Frederick Clegg's preferred creative form is significant, and contrasted with art student Miranda's drawings. 'When you draw something it lives,' she tells him, 'when you photograph it it dies.'
The collector is like the pornographer in holding stillness above motion: it's the nature of the pornographer to dehumanise both subject and audience in inverted art. I reviewed a book by a psychotherapist in which the author discusses a patient so addicted to online porn that he could no longer have sex with real women. 'It's a nasty, shameful little room that many of us are hiding in,' the addict says. 'Time to come out, boys.'
Despite his wealth and youth, Clegg will not be leaving this room any time soon. He'll always sacrifice the risk of abandon for the security of control. While he has no qualms about assault, drugging and kidnap, he is prim when it comes to sexuality; Miranda keeps expecting a rape that never happens. He insists to us that he is not 'just after her for the obvious.' (Again, I'm reminded of Annie Wilkes, who slaughters and dismembers her way through Misery but who disapproves of smoking and has no cursewords stronger than 'cockadoodie'.) Clegg's propriety isn't just sexual. He has a very clear idea of what is done and not done, based on his lower middle-class upbringing by a couple of maiden aunts (a bad sign in literature, as Saki and Wodehouse can tell you).
Clegg is not eccentric. He is relentlessly, terrifyingly normal: the desert of the real, the scorched earth of the conventional. Annie Wilkes is a retired nurse and occasional farmer: Clegg is a council clerk who lucks into a big pools win. He knows his wealth won't open doors. 'It was no good throwing money around,' he says. 'You could see them saying, don't kid us, we know what you are, why don't you come back where you came from.' He kidnaps Miranda because he knows she would cut him dead in conversation. When she's gone, Clegg reflects that he started too high: 'I could never get what I wanted from someone like Miranda, with all her la-di-da ideas and clever tricks.'
The book was published in 1963, but the delineations between the hedonistic bohemians and the resentful, workaday mediocrities are just as stark now as they were then. The story is not just a battle between the upper and lower middle class, but between the cosmopolitan and the provincial: city, art and materialism versus the old poisons of tribe, faith and flag.
Miranda sums him up in a rant:
You despise the real bourgeois classes for all their snobbishness and their snobbish voices and ways. You do, don't you? Yet all you put in their place is a horrid little refusal to have nasty thoughts or do nasty things or be nasty in any way. Do you know that every great thing in the history of art and every beautiful thing in life is actually what you call nasty or has been caused by feelings that you would call nasty? By passion, by love, by hatred, by truth. Do you know that?
This is why Miranda is wrong to give Clegg the nickname of Caliban. Caliban had passion. Clegg only has rules, and in some way it's him who's the collected, impaled and writhing against the cork.
The Electric ComplementMay 23, 2010
My review of Graham Robb's Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris is now available at 3:AM.
The Daily Mail Sings the BluesMay 19, 2010
Say what you like about Alastair Campbell, he has made a great effort to demystify and destigmatise mental illness. We have come a long way and have a long way to go. I mean, I know Janet Street-Porter's column appeared in the Daily Mail, and to read that newspaper is to invite an insult to your intelligence. But to paraphrase Sick Boy, should we let this bullshit filter into the culture unchallenged?
I'm not personally offended by the article: as you may know, my mental problems were based around anxiety rather than depression – although I can get days where the very sky seems to ache with poignancy, and a happy-looking cat or chick-lit novel brings the presentiment of tears. But I do object to the general rightwing contention that any illness that doesn't have volcanic physical effects is nothing more than a benefits scam.
Mental illness, Street-Porter says, is an Islington thing, 'an affliction which seems to be the prerogative of the chattering classes':
If you're a black South African woman growing up in a township, or a mum in a slum favela in Rio, or a supermarket shelf-stacker in Croydon, or one of the band of low-paid female workers who go to work at 3am to clean the offices of the wealthiest and most powerful people in Britain in the City of London, you probably aren't afflicted by depression. What you're more likely to be suffering from is poverty, exhaustion and a deficient diet.
This misses the point spectacularly because mental illness – like most illness – hits the working class hardest. You will not get a suspicious look by talking about your panic attacks or crying jags in a Salford pub. Most likely there will be a sympathetic hearing and similar stories. When I lived there the waiting list for CBT was three months long and every fifth person you met was on Prozac. This is because sickness is exacerbated by poverty. The catastrophic mental health of the City's immigrant workers is almost as much a scandal as their disgraceful rate of pay.
There's a class myth that only the liberal intelligentsia suffer from existential angst whereas the earthy labourers simply get on with the job in hand. The prejudice hurts the working class because it suggests that they are chemically immune from the confusion and pain caused by abstract thought and feelings, which are available only to the whining bourgoisie who can afford BUPA healthcare.
Hence: 'Stress has become so acceptable, the last government decided that the NHS would make counselling available for a whole variety of mental illnesses, from stress to depression to panic attacks and low self-esteem, totally gratis.' For a 'provocative' personality, Street-Porter is a little coy here. The implication is that we should take mental healthcare out of NHS funding. Should we, or not? Come on, Janet!
I do get offended when I think of all the people I've known who've had to live with these debilitating conditions, good friends who've struggled in postcode black holes under the disapproving gaze of family and peers. Again, I know that Janet Street-Porter is one of those figures who have carved a name and career from the complete lack of humanity and self-awareness. But on the strength of this piece, she should go back to topless darts.
Update: Campbell has responded. It is a really good piece. Read it.
I assume, from the unsympathetic tone, she has never experienced depression. If she had, then even for the generous cheque she no doubt received, she would have thought twice before setting out an opinion as misguided as it is offensive to anyone who knows the reality of depression.
Much that appears in the media really doesn't matter. But people who suffer from mental health problems will often say the stigma attached to them is worse than the symptoms. Articles like hers reinforce that stigma and taboo, which in turn create shame and a sense that real problems cannot be addressed.
First, let me try to give her some insight into depression. I had a pretty heavy nervous breakdown in 1986, and I've had depression on-and-off ever since. With the help of friends and family, sympathetic bosses, a good GP, a psychiatrist, sometimes medication, I have learned to manage it better than I did once.
At its worst, it is like an invisible dark force that first approaches, then envelops, then appears to fill every waking thought. You can escape via sleep, but you wake and find your eyes won't open, you lack the energy to brush teeth, shave, speak, think anything other than thoughts of emptiness and despair.
When it's bad, my partner Fiona says it is like living with somebody from a different planet. When you get into that mode it's very dangerous and corrosive. People ask, 'what's wrong?' and you don't really know. 'What triggered it?' and you can't answer that either. One thing you do know, there is no way you would wish to have it.
Once you've had it, there are few worse experiences than knowing that dark cloud is coming back. The cause of Janet Street Porter's ire – whether real or synthetic – is the fact that women like TV presenter and Mirror columnist Fiona Phillips, actress Emma Thompson and writer Marian Keyes have spoken out about their experiences. Like them, I've chosen to 'bare my soul', as Porter puts it, in print and on film because I feel that openness about psychosis and depression may help counteract the discrimination and stigma surrounding mental health.
When I had my breakdown, I took comfort from reading and hearing about others who had been through it and got out the other side. So when Mind, and later the Time to Change campaign asked me to speak out, I was pleased to.
Mental health problems can happen to anyone just as cancer can or a broken limb when you fall down the stairs. They don't respect status, wealth or profession. And, hopefully, we can make it easier for others to feel they don't have to hide that they've had mental health problems.
Men in particular find it tough to come forward. Big boys don't cry, and all that. It goes some way to explaining why men are just as likely to experience depression as women, but half as likely to seek support. So when Janet Street-Porter says: 'The idea of feeling sorry for a bloke with low self-esteem is, frankly, risible,' I wonder if the fact that out of every four suicides, three are men might cause her to reconsider. Probably not. But reasonable people might.
Glover's MistakeMay 18, 2010
The first comparison that comes to mind for Laird's novel is Peep Show without the comedy. There are riffs on metropolitan art and observational digs at its protagonist's fossilised routine, but all in all the comedy is absent, leaving only the darkness. This isn't as bad as it sounds. Combined with Laird's lush descriptive powers and sense of place, the absence of lighter moments clears the way for a journey into the cave of an empty mind.
The plot, as Harry Ritchie says, is straight out of slushpile lad-lit; a genre that you'd think would be more successful, given the vast reservoir of male inadequacy from which it can draw. The narrative is almost exclusively localised around David Pinner, a balding, overweight teacher entering middle age. David isn't the sympathetic loser the description implies but something close to sociopathic: 'searching not for things to love but a place to put his rage.' His greatest fulfillment comes from his anonymous blog, on which he lays into contemporary film and art. He feels lucky to live in a time that suits a personality predicated towards hatred. 'It was only since he'd begun teaching himself and had made his own students laugh that he'd realised misanthropy could be taken for wit, and found some semblance of pleasure in anger and cynicism.'
David's ossified libido is awakened by his encounter with Ruth Marks, an American artist he remembers from university. He inadvertently introduces Ruth to his flatmate Glover, a naive and goodlooking barman with whom Ruth begins a passionate relationship. An attractive female blogger called Singleton comes into David's life just as he is making headway in his sabotage of Glover's wedding. At this point you're braced for a conflict between settling scores and moving on. But Singleton is never a real love interest, just another victim of David's passionless and casual stalking. He's too far gone to be open to anything else.
David's desire for revenge is driven by his conviction that Glover and Ruth are the beautiful people, the shining ones: 'They are anointed with luck. They don't make it. There is no effort.' It's a total misreading of their characters, and a testament to his fundamental lack of empathy. Glover and Ruth are both damaged and confused people, lost souls who find each other by chance – only for the matchmaker to choke off their future before it begins.
The reason David fixates on Ruth is that she gives him some time and comfort when, as a student, he breaks down after one of her lectures. The memory provoked when she reappears in his life, of a point before it was too late, provides his motivation for revenge. The book made me think of the following passage from Simone Weil:
When the 'I' is wounded from outside it starts by revolting in the most extreme and bitter manner like an animal at bay. But as soon as the 'I' is half dead, it wants to be finished off and allows itself to sink into unconsciousness. If it is then awakened by a touch of love, there is sharp pain which results in anger and sometimes hatred for whoever has provoked this pain. Hence the apparently inexplicable vindictiveness of the fallen towards their benefactors.
This paragraph formed the basis for Jonathan Coe's excellent novel A Touch of Love, and I was also reminded of it when I read Jenn Ashworth's A Kind of Intimacy.
Towards the end of Glover's Mistake, David finds a poster-parable in Glover's room, that one about walking on the beach with God, and the man asking why the tracks sometimes dwindle to one set of footsteps: those, God replies, were the times when I carried you. In his mind, David corrupts the parable so that the single pair of footsteps belong to Glover alone. But it could apply to David himself, who has not just resigned himself to solitude but actively chosen it: 'For this next passage in his life there would only be a single set of footprints in the sand, awaiting the sea's deletion'.
For David Pinner, this will be nothing new.
Exorcism for Change!May 17, 2010
You're probably aware that Conservative high-flier and demon-purge charity campaigner Philippa Stroud failed to win her Tory target seat of Sutton and Cheam in the recent election.
Not to worry! She has been made a special advisor at the DWP.
I look forward to some interesting policy announcements from that government department.
Perhaps long-term jobseekers will need to submit to an exorcism if they are to continue drawing benefit.
Maybe new incapacity benefit claimants will be subject to a medical test involving a ducking stool and a pond.
And I wonder if being demonically possessed means that you count as two people under housing benefit rules?
And you thought the Flexible New Deal was bad!
I warn you not to be ordinary. I warn you not to be young. I warn you not to fall ill. I warn you not to get old.
– Neil Kinnock, June 1983
A Marketplace of CompassionMay 15, 2010
My review of Linda Polman's War Games: The Story of Aid and War in Modern Times is now available at 3:AM.
Update: An alternative view from Conor Foley.


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Required for a premises processing game animals for human consumption in either the domestic or export market. A game animal is an animal harvested in its natural habitat eg it is not husbanded.
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Finding a unique and functional craft for kids to create can seem daunting. A homemade lighthouse made of terracotta pots and a solar light is a piece of art that has a purpose. Kids work on their cooperation skills as well as broaden their artistic horizons, all while creating something they can be proud to display to others. This one-of-a-kind lighthouse allows kids to work together creatively and take pride in their work.
Prepare a work station for the children. Place drop sheets or newspapers on a large table as well as the surrounding floor. Have each child wear old clothes or a painting smock.
Collect three terracotta pots in three different sizes; small, medium and large. Ensure they fit one on top of the other. Place the large pot upside down on the ground and stack the medium pot upside down on large pot. Set the small pot upside down on the medium pot. Each pot should slightly overlap the one underneath it. Unstack the pots when you are certain they fit together properly.
Fill empty yoghurt containers with water-based varnish. Give each child a sponge brush and have them apply two coats of varnish to each pot. Assist them if they need help. Allow the varnish to dry.
Fill empty yoghurt containers with white, acrylic paint. Give each child a medium-sized paint brush and instruct them to base-coat each pot with the white paint. Have them apply two coats and allow each to dry.
Use two pieces of painter's tape to tape off one wide stripe on each pot. Allow the children to take turns painting between the two pieces of tape with the acrylic paint colour of your choice. Red and blue are common colours for lighthouses. Allow the paint to dry.
Have one of the children paint the door of the lighthouse in the bottom centre of the largest pot. Have him use a fine-tipped paintbrush and black acrylic paint. Instruct the children to paint small round windows in various places on all three pots using fine-tipped paintbrushes and black acrylic paint. Assist them if needed. Allow the paint to dry.
Have the children apply two more coats of water-based varnish to the pots and allow them to dry for 24 hours. When they are dry have the children carefully stack them one on top of the other starting with the biggest pot and working to the smallest.
Let the children help you insert a standard solar light in the top of the lighthouse tower. Terracotta pots come with a hole in the bottom of them for plant drainage. This hole is the correct size for a solar light post to fit inside. Secure the solar light by applying silicone where the light meets the pot.
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Posted on August 22, 2017 in Home & Business Services
You cannot even think how stressful a disorganized shifting of house can be. But an organized way of shifting can cut down a lot of stress from your head. You will require a pre planning of the removal process.
Though you will be hiring removalists from Hunter Valley for lifting your stuff, still it can get way more irksome. Following are some points to be kept in mind for an easy and organized shifting on the day of moving.
- Keep your phone's battery full. Keep your phone with you at all times. The furniture removals you are hiring can call you anytime for any problem. If you do not receive their call then it can result in a lot of chaos. Another good tip is to give them a substitute phone number to contact you.
- You must take care about the parking area the removal truck is going to require. Heavy weighted trucks tend to crack roads and that is why professionals will never park their truck on every road. You will need to save a generous area strategically by parking cars in a different way.
- For accountability reasons you should never load your truck with treacherous items, like combustible items, poisons etc. You must separate these unsafe goods before the removal team arrives. You must always transport them yourself.
- According to many state laws, a removal team is not allowed to disconnect or reconnect any of your electrical appliances. You will need to do that prior to their arrival.
- Wreck all your beddings and gym equipment to save your time and of your removal company. A good tip is to dismantle all the nuts and bolts and put them separately for helping professionals in a proper packing.
- After you disconnected your washing machine from water and electric supply you will need to lower the hoses to drain all the water in them; but do not lose the washers.
- Empty your fridge and freezer as much as you can by consuming the food stored in it. Drain out the condensation tray at the back of your fridge. A great hack for getting a nice refreshing smell is to put a few drops of vanilla in it.
- The potted plants in your home and the outdoor furniture are nice places for spiders to make web. Before the arrival of your removal team, be sure to clean all the untidy spider webs and kill the spiders. You will also need to empty the ceramic clay pots to avoid any breakage or cracks in the pots.
Posted on August 18, 2017 in Commercial & Residential Services
Carpet tiles are preferable for that places which have comparatively a high traffic, such as offices, schools, commercial spaces and so on. The one and only reason to use carpet tiles instead of ordinary one is that they are flexible and stay the same for years. Besides, this type of carpet tile gives a floor the perfect look of a carpet.
Apart from commercial area, one can also use this type of tile for house. And the best part about it is its texture. On the other hand, a nylon carpet tile is available in several sizes and that is why people can use it for various purposes. So, here are some benefits of carpet tiles for commercial flooring.
Productivity: One of the primary benefits of installing carpet tiles for commercial space is that it enhances the productivity level of employees. Does it sound impossible? But, it's definitely not. When customers visit to a company, the first thing they notice, how much decorated the place is? And carpet tiles always provide customers a warm welcoming walking-floor like commercial vinyl floors. So, your customers are impressed and they will also praise your employees for their services. And hope you know, how little praising can enhance the productivity of your employees.
Low maintenance cost: Another benefit of installing carpet tiles is that it is less expensive. So, choosing carpet tiles for flooring means showing prudence. When you go to buy carpet tiles, you will be surprised by hearing the price of per square fit tile. It is less expensive than laminate and wood. So, most of the commercial areas during renovation are choosing carpet tiles nowadays. On the other hand, while installation you also need not to pay high charge.
Easy to maintain: If you buy carpet tiles, then you need not worry for cleaning service because carpet tile cleaning is one of the easiest works. The tiles can be cleaned only with a sweep of vacuum cleaner. On the other hand, carpet tiles can be easily removed. So if you find one old or discoloured, then you may change it without calling a replacement company.
People want them: While most of the offices remain uncleansed because of the lack of time, commercial spaces with carpet tile flooring look more clean and clear. Sweeper need not to spend huge time to clean the area and as it is easy to clean so the office looks clean and fresh. Therefore, clients are attracted to the company.
Posted on August 16, 2017 in Cleaning Services
Keeping and maintaining the cleanliness in a work place is something that is essential. This has to be taught to every worker and it could be first started from each and everyone's table itself. If a person can think to clean the environment and the background that he is working, there will be no such a big deal in maintaining the good hygiene in an office. In many countries, senior officers even give points, remarks and allowances for keeping an office clean and especially to the best cleanest worker among the rest of the workers.
These programs and projects are conducted because they should be taught and given practice of the importance in keeping their background clean. When a place is kept clean they can avoid so many risky diseases and so on. Therefore it will be a benefit for the workers as well. Moreover when an office is kept with proper standards and quality it is an overview and a refection for the clients who are visiting the office premises as well. Therefore every worker no matter what post they hold should be able to conduct in a manner that is essential and beneficial for everyone's health.
However for certain instances, especially for an instance where the building being repaired, rebuilt or arranged in a particular structural manner it is then important to think of a commercial cleaning procedure because those have to be cleaned and re arranged with the help of skilled and experienced people. There are services as such especially for work place cleaning and so on and these services can easily be found through online searching. Their contacts and addresses are saved and displayed in many websites pertaining to this subject matter.
When finding office cleaners one should be able to find a person who has pre experiences, who understands on how to use the particular equipment and things as such. They should be a set of people who has an idea, understanding and knowledge as to how things should be arranged according to the background and theme of the house. Not everyone has this sensing benefit when it comes to designing and interior decorating. Therefore the correct person with the right attitude has to be chosen by the people. Furthermore there are many people who recommend these types of people as they have performed very well in previous years. Therefore every office in the world has to consider this as one important thing they do for the state they are living


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Editor's note: A digital version of this article first appeared on Forester Network's website in March 2014.
Colocation and cloud-computing company LightEdge Solutions has succeeded in the data center business largely because of one key reason: The company's data centers are reliable. The power at these centers never goes out.
And this is thanks to a series of backup power systems on which Des Moines–based LightEdge relies, many of them redundant.
Providing this backup protection is costly. But LightEdge's customers expect reliability. Most of them can't afford to be without access to their data for even seconds. This means that even the shortest of outages at LightEdge's data centers can cost LightEdge customers.
"Even outages of the smallest amount of time are now unacceptable for a growing number of businesses," says Jeff Springborn, chief operating officer of LightEdge. "Having data go offline is just not an option for so many clients today. Keeping the power on all the time is what they expect."
This trend is not a new one. But it's an important one, that's providing a boost to the backup and emergency power business. And it's a trend that doesn't look likely to slow any time soon.
That's largely because so many mission-critical businesses—everything from data centers to financial institutions to hospitals—can't ever be without power, even for seconds. At the same time, more businesses are questioning the reliability of the public power grid. They're investing in backup onsite power solutions as a safety net in case the public grid suffers an outage.
Then there are the worries left over from natural disasters such as 2012's Hurricane Sandy, the superstorm that decimated huge swaths of the eastern United States. Businesses are more likely today to invest in mobile emergency power systems to protect themselves from oncoming storms, say manufacturers in the onsite power industry. And this, too, is a trend that doesn't look ready to slow any time soon.
"Awareness of the need for emergency backup power is certainly increasing," says Rich Thompson, marketing director for commercial and industrial power products for Waukesha, WI–based Generac Power Systems. "There is an understanding that the reliability of the public power grid is not where it needs to be. There are pockets of the country with a raised sense of awareness and urgency for backup power."
And, Thompson says, it's not just data centers and medical providers that are looking at boosting their backup power capabilities. Increasingly, businesses of all sorts are no longer tolerating power outages.
"There are businesses that are worried about brownouts in the summer when there are too many air-conditioners running at the same time," he explains. "Even a brownout of just 20 seconds is enough to make a cash register, a gas pump, or anything without an uninterruptible power supply in it come to a hard stop and need a reboot. That costs money and time, and it is happening across the country more than you might think."
Of course, knowing that they need backup power is one thing. The true challenge for companies and building owners lies in choosing the right backup power system for them, whether they are interested in permanent onsite solutions or entering into an agreement with a provider of rented mobile power equipment.
Going Underground
LightEdge Solutions is heavily invested in backup power systems. And this will be the case in the company's latest data center to be built in the SubTropolis Technology Center in Kansas City, MO. This is an interesting location for a data center, as SubTropolis is built underground. The entire SubTropolis facility—a business park—is built in a former limestone mine. It offers more than 5 million square feet of space.
Hunt Midwest Real Estate Development broke ground in September on the first phase of the SubTropolis Technology Center. LightEdge Solutions will be the first tenant of this center when it opens its 60,000-square-foot data center sometime in the first quarter of 2014.
The technology center will be a sturdy one: It features a hardened limestone infrastructure that is six times stronger than concrete. But Springborn with LightEdge knows that what really matters is how sturdy the center's power system will be. And the good news for future clients is that LightEdge will boast a highly redundant—and reliable—backup power system for its new data center.
The data center will rely on the public grid for its power in normal times. But when an outage occurs on this grid, the data center will switch over to a battery stack that can power the entire center for up to 20 minutes. This will give the center's generators time to warm up. Once they are ready, they will power the center. And LightEdge can rely on these generators indefinitely, as long as they keep the fuel trucks coming. The generators each have enough power to run for 36 hours.
The center will also be protected by redundant power. If one generator fails, a backup power feed on a different line will kick in, starting another backup generator.
"These are the steps that IT guys are looking for," says Springborn. "If we don't offer this sort of redundancy, our competitors will. Not all centers offer this redundancy. But we have to if we want to attract the type of clients we are seeking. That is what they are looking for, and they will find it elsewhere if we don't provide it."
LightEdge works with clients in the health care and financial sectors. Most of these clients have from 50 to 1,500 employees. "They are clients with mission-critical needs," says Springborn. "They might have a website or app that always needs to be up and running. So they want to work with a data center that does have the type of redundancy we offer."
A Growing Trend
David Matuseski, technical counsel with the critical protection group of Cummins Power Generation, says that the demand for emergency and disaster backup power is only growing as the number of businesses that can't afford to be without power, for even minutes, continues to increase. And this is a trend that Matuseski says isn't about to slow.
"There has definitely been a steady increase year over year," he says. "And there seems to be much less tolerance for businesses or organizations being out of power. You can see that in almost any market. You can even see it in the residential market. From the biggest levels to the smallest, you can see it. Even in the smallest market for us, residential, there is an increased desire for people to keep their houses backed up. That has become a big market for us."
Much of the increased demand stems from economic reasons, as businesses—whether manufacturers, data centers, or financial institutions—can't afford to lose power even briefly. Such outages can cause expensive delays for manufacturers. And they can cause data centers or financial institutions to lose customers. It's why emergency backup power has become a necessity in these businesses.
Jim Crouse, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Chatsworth, CA-based Capstone Turbine Corporation, says that more companies in the coming year will take a longer look at their backup power sources. The reason? These companies don't want to lose either money or customers.
"It's happening everywhere, from data centers that are storing data, to telephone systems that can't be without power for even seconds, to manufacturers who, when production goes down, lose the material in process," says Crouse. "Look at the manufacturing example. When manufacturers lose power in the middle of a process, the material in that process can be destroyed or damaged. That costs them money."
"People don't want to deal with downtime in their plants or factories," says Matuseski. "And in the data center industry, downtime can be a disaster. The same thing holds for health care and water treatment. In health care, you can't go without power for any length of time. People's comfort—even their lives—relies on having a powered building.
"And when it comes to data centers, it's very much a financial issue. You do not want to lose money in the data center world. And if you don't want to lose money, you
can't handle having power off for any time. There is a huge financial payback for data centers associated with having extensive power systems that can fully power their buildings in an outage or emergency."
Some customers want even more. They're not just looking for backup onsite power systems. They also want to generate at least some of their power off-the-grid, even during non-emergency moments. The reason for this? Savings. Those building owners who invest in onsite power generation, and power all or some of their facilities by generating their own power, can dramatically reduce their annual energy bills. They also gain more control over their power, something that gives them, in turn, more control over their businesses' bottom lines.
Finally, by generating at least some of their power onsite, these businesses reduce their carbon footprints, a positive for the environment.
"There are many reasons driving the increase in the backup power business," says Crouse. "It's not just one thing."
Another factor driving this trend? The problems with the public power grid. Few businesses feel confident that their public power grid is reliable enough. That's partly because utilities are struggling today to come up with the funds necessary to replace aging infrastructure.
"If you look at the electrical grid, the peak investment in it occurred in 1993," says Crouse. "The average transformer and transmission system in the United States is about 25 years old. The investment required by utilities to maintain and modernize the utility grid is huge. Many utilities won't be able to make this investment. The grid is only set to become less reliable as time goes on, absent a significant investment not being planned today by utilities."
A Mobile Mini-boom
Manufacturers are seeing an increase in demand for mobile emergency power, too, says Matuseski. Part of this is a result of Hurricane Sandy.
Matuseski points to the coastal areas of the country, places that have suffered through several hurricanes and other powerful weather events. Business owners in these parts of the country might work with big-box rent-a-generator services, he says, to order a generator set once meteorologists spot a large storm heading toward them.
"Their goal is to get quick-connected," says Matuseski. "They might not have backup power systems permanently onsite. But they will make arrangements to have one delivered for storm abatement. They'll make arrangements for a last-minute delivery."
But government regulations are playing a role, too, Thompson says, in the increased business that the manufacturers and renters of portable backup power systems are seeing. Many businesses today are required to have emergency backup power plans. And these businesses often turn to the traditional mobile solutions to meet these requirements, renting out mobile power equipment that is trucked to their sites when a bad storm or weather event is heading toward them.
This approach, though, is not always the most efficient, Generac's Thompson says. Businesses have to rely on someone to get their mobile power solutions to them on time. Someone has to be at the business to plug in the power source and make sure it switches on when needed. None of this is easy when severe weather is hitting an area. And it's why many businesses eventually switch from mobile solutions to more permanent backup power solutions once they've dealt with the difficulties of such equipment.
"It happened after Sandy, and it happened after Katrina. The first adopters go for a switch and a mobile unit," says Thompson. "Over time they realize the difficulties that come with that approach. People who have suffered through multiple bad events will eventually go with a more permanent backup power solution."
This bodes well for the future of the backup power industry. Thompson predicts that many companies will soon invest in mobile solutions to meet tougher federal regulations. Eventually, these same firms will make the move to more permanent backup solutions, he says, something that will provide a sizable boost in the sale of backup generators and onsite systems.
"When businesses are told that they have to do something, they usually go first with the easiest alternative," says Thompson. "They will learn, tough, after going through multiple events, that it is easier to provide that backup power without having to rely on mobile solutions. Generally, owners learn that the second time through a severe event."
Finding the Right Solution
But just because more businesses need backup power doesn't mean that these companies know the right questions to ask or the right factors to consider before investing in this technology. Changing this situation is a matter of education, a task that the manufacturers of onsite power systems have to take on if they hope to continue growing their industry.
Matuseski points to several questions that building owners need to ask before choosing an onsite emergency backup system. The first? What size backup system does a facility need? And the answer to this question doesn't depend solely on how large the facility is.
A building owner, for instance, might want to provide backup power to just a portion of a facility as a way of keeping most of the core processes running long enough for the public utility grid to return to life. "Customers need to understand their loads," says Matuseski. "They need to understand how much of their facility they'll need to back up. Knowing this will help guide them when they are trying to determine what size of a generator or system they need to purchase."
Then there's reliability. Every business owner wants a backup power system or generator that works when called upon. But there are certain options that are more reliable than others.
The challenge? The most reliable of options are generally the costliest. And in today's rough economy, many businesses struggle with the thought of investing the large amount of upfront dollars high-end backup power systems can require.
The key, then, is for the manufacturers of this equipment to educate their clients about how quickly they can pay for themselves. As with most decisions in the business world, it all comes down to return-on-investment.
"It turns into a return-on-investment question," says Thompson. "When companies ask why they should get a backup generator, we have to tell them that even if their power is out for just five or six hours they'll have lost more money than they would have spent on a backup power solution. The backup power pays for itself quickly. It has a short ROI period."
There are many businesses that are required by government regulations and codes to have adequate backup power systems. Selling to this group of businesses is, of course, little challenge. As Thompson says, these businesses know that they have no choice but to invest in backup power.
What is more challenging are the more than 21 million businesses across the country that aren't required to have backup power systems. The key to growing the onsite power business rests in educating the owners of these businesses on what a smart financial move backup power can be, Thompson says.
"It can be difficult depending on the business or organization," says Thompson. "When we talk about home standby power, that is an emotional decision that homeowners make. It's all about peace-of-mind and protection. For businesses, the decision comes down to dollars and cents. They might be on a budget cycle where they can't make a significant upfront investment. Their cash flow might not be where it needs to be."
How best to reach these customers? Thompson says that the key is to illustrate for them just how big of a bite not having adequate backup power can have on their bottom line profits each year.
"How much does a business lose when its power is down three hours, five hours or a whole day?" says Thompson. Businesses need to factor in the soft costs of power outages, too, he says.
"There are disgruntled employees and customers," says Thompson. "There are all sorts of other costs that they often don't take into consideration. If you are shut down for a day, you are still paying your employees. Your customers might not come back again. They might leave your business and find somewhere else to shop for your product. These are all important costs that have to be part of the equation."
Matuseski from Cummins agrees that once businesses understand the ROI associated with backup power systems, they are more likely to invest in them. And the good news for this industry, and for the business world in general, is that a growing number of commercial users are getting the message that backup power is a sound financial investment.
"I think we'll see demand only continue to rise for backup power," says Matuseski. "Unless the world of business changes—and I don't think it will—you will see more businesses that have no tolerance for being out of power. You'll have more businesses that want to invest in backup power systems to keep their facilities running."