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This is a pre-made item and is only available in this size and fabric choice.
This brocade is made with a large amount of gold metallic thread so it shines like crazy in the sunlight and nothing can compare to its beauty in candlelight.
Figure flattering cut, fancy epaulets, picadils and sturdy grommets make this brocade bodice unique in it's quality.
The front closure is reinforced with coated metal boning and the neckline is a little higher in the front than the Barmaid's bodice. The fabric is Metallic brocade. The bodice of the dress can be tightened in the back for a better fit like the Irish Dress. Wash on gentle cycle or hand wash and drip dry.


text: A casting call to find a national spokesperson for Boys & Girls Clubs of America? Not necessary. Denzel Washington is made for the part. The Academy-Award winning star of blockbuster films such as Training Day, Philadelphia, Malcolm X and Crimson Tide, and director of Antwone Fisher, grew up in the Boys & Girls Club of Mount Vernon. While several childhood friends ended up in prison, Washington chose a different path, and he credits the Club as being a steadying influence during tough times. Washington's support is rooted in powerful, personal experience. "When it comes to Boys & Girls Clubs," he says, "I know what I'm talking about."

subset: commoncrawl


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Incubate New York City: Government Funded Incubators for Economic Development (Print Section)
by Lara McCaffrey
The recession of 2008 threw tens of thousands of Americans out of work and left college graduates scrambling to find a niche in the U.S. job market. Among the millions facing a harsh new economic reality was Khalid David, 26, who finished Columbia University's civil engineering program in 2010 with very little in the way of viable job prospects.
"I graduated in a tough economy," said David. "Eventually, I just picked up my business plan and decided to create my own job."
The result was Bunkershill Construction, a construction company made up of David and his father. The company hires and coordinates subcontractors for small interior renovation projects in New York City. Though most of his jobs were in Harlem, David worked out of his home basement in Westchester County. City office rent was too high. David had little experience in running a business when he suddenly became the owner of one.
"Honestly, it was birthed out of necessity," said David.
David was lacking the proper space and environment to work although the business plan was there.
In the entrepreneur circles at Columbia, he kept hearing about incubators. After visiting a few, he decided he needed to be in one to start his business. He felt like it reflected the modern way of conducting business: efficient and lean. One of the incubators he considered was the new government funded Harlem Garage on 118th Street.
Incubating development
The Harlem Garage is one of 25 incubators set up with funding from the New York City Economic Development Corporation. In 2009, under then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the development corporation embraced the idea of incubators, which were popular in tech-centric Silicon Valley, California but few and far in between in New York City.
The city's first incubators were in tech-savvy West Brooklyn and lower Manhattan neighborhoods like Chelsea, Flatiron or "Silicon Alley," where they help entrepreneurs with work space, financial support, mentorship and business classes.
Since 2011, though, the city has begun to fund incubators in some of New York's poorest neighborhoods. The choices are "driven by a specific need or a specific neighborhood," says Carly Chase, senior project manager at the NYCEDC. "So industries or neighborhoods we feel are right and will benefit from an incubator and where the private sector is not leading the way so we can fill that gap."
The first of these incubators was HBK Incubates, a kitchen incubator in East Harlem. Now, there are 6 in areas that are lower income and not known as high tech. The recently established Harlem Garage, Harlem Biospace and Sunshine Bronx incubators are located in some of these areas. The NYCEDC recently announced plans to open an incubator in Jamaica, Queens, another area not normally known as being business savvy. Chase said the three incubators the city has funded in Harlem are "one small part of a larger strategy in Harlem to boost the development that was going on there."
Khalid David feels an affinity with Harlem. Not just because his friends and clients live in the neighborhood but because the neighborhood's history makes him feel proud of his own Caribbean roots. "The Harlem Renaissance represented something culturally,artistically to the entire world of blackness, blackness in African-American and Caribbean," says David. To him, Harlem Garage represents "black tech."
It began in Batavia
The first small business incubator was developed in 1959 with the formation of the Batavia Industrial Center in Batavia, New York. Joe Mancuso opened the incubator after Massey-Ferguson, the largest company in Batavia, closed down. His intentions were to spur economic development as unemployment in Batavia rose to 20%. He took over Massey-Ferguson's vacant building and rented it out to tenants including a winery, a charitable organization and a chicken company. Jokingly, Mancuso started calling the building "an incubator" because of the chickens. The name stuck and Batavia Industrial created thousands of jobs over the years. It's still open today.
The Batavia incubator did not start much of a trend for several decades, said Dinah Adkins, president emerita of the National Business Incubator Association (NBIA). Little information was available about incubators until the NBIA was created in 1985, as a trade group aimed at fostering the growth of incubators.
In the 1980s, the notion of using incubators to foster economic development began to grow. Government economic development corporations put up funding for some incubators, and by the 1990s they had become a popular development tool in California.
In the Northeast, as factories closed or moved to Sunbelt states, some abandoned factories were converted into incubators, said Adkins.
But incubators had a checkered history. Some that were hastily developed in the 1980s failed in the 1990-1991 recession in the United States. The dot com boom of the early 2000s spawned another round of incubator startups – only to see many close at the start of 2005.
Incubators didn't reach New York City until 2009. By 2011 there were 900 business incubators nationwide, and that number jumped to 1250 in 2012. One of these is the Batavia Industrial Center.
Successful incubators usually have sponsorship from big institutions like universities and economic development corporations, said Adkins. About a quarter of the incubators in North America have startup help from government economic development offices – like the NYCEDC, which made grants to start Harlem Garage, Harlem Biospace and Sunshine Bronx, three of the city's incubators in lower-income neighborhoods. But regardless of who puts up initial funding, incubators must become self-sufficient, said Adkins.
Incubators for entrepreneurs
Harlem Garage, one of Khalid David's first choices, opened its doors early November 2013. Desks fill the wide open space, conference rooms with glass panels line the walls and a small lounge area is tucked upstairs in a corner of its tall ceilings.
David had reserved a workspace at the Garage, but before he moved in he decided to go with another incubator that he says had a few things the Garage didn't have. One was an established community. Also in Harlem, the Harlem Business Alliance (HBA) started in 1980 and had deep roots within the Harlem business community. The actual incubator space opened March 2013 after bidding and losing the RFP the Garage won.
Secondly, the HBA's size appealed to Khalid. The HBA's small size also made David feel like he was getting more one-on-one attention from mentors.
The interior design also appealed to him. "As a builder, aesthetic appeals to me a lot," says David. "I feel like someone really took the time to create a space that feels comfortable, where you can get work done and inspires creativity."
Although the Harlem Biospace, the Harlem Garage and the Sunshine Bronx call themselves "incubators", they say they are not incubators by the "traditional" definition. Traditional incubators have been known as shared offices that offer entrepreneurs workspace, mentorship, classes, and equipment in exchange for equity.
The NYCEDC intended for the private sector to follow suit and start their own incubators.
"And I think that's worked very, very well in Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn and now we're trying Harlem," says Carly Chase. "That's something we're certainly trying to do in hopes that the private sector follows and in the neighborhoods of Staten Island, Harlem and now we're trying our hand at Jamaica."
The incubators in Harlem and the Bronx are significant because those areas lack resources for entrepreneurs.
For the Harlem Garage, it's the lack of commercial space in Harlem. David Rotbard of MicroOffice, the shared space company that owns the Harlem Garage, says that most entrepreneurs renting space did so to be locally based. Before the Harlem Garage, he says, many Harlem entrepreneurs found themselves working out of their homes.
Joe Carrano, community organizer at Sunshine Bronx, says his incubator offers space for Bronx entrepreneurs to stay local as well as affordable rent space. The Sunshine Bronx, owned by shared office company Sunshine Suites, offers the cheapest shared space rent in New York City according to Carrano.
The Harlem Biospace, the first wet lab shared workspace in New York City, also tackles the issue of lofty New York City real estate prices. A wet lab is a lab where chemicals are handled in liquid or volatile states with direct ventilation and special piped utilities. Executive director Matt Owens says that in addition to all the expensive equipment the high rent in the city puts a bigger financial strain on budding biotech companies.
These incubators give Harlem and Bronx entrepreneurs a network and collaborative work space. Carrano says a center for business collaboration has never existed before in the Bronx.
Rotbard says that people came to the Harlem Garage for this kind of collaborative atmosphere. "People want to be around other creative energies," he says.
Carrano says the offices of Sunshine Bronx were designed to encourage collaboration. The 11,000 square foot incubator located in an old currency factory building in the South Bronx has plenty of open space, conference rooms and a large lounge.
Like Sunshine, the Biospace also set up in an old factory building. Inside an old candy factory building, the Biospace occupies an L-shaped office space on the first floor of the building with a courtyard area out back for people to take breaks. There's a shared wet lab bench and lots of desk space.
Running an incubator is challenging
Although potentially good for small businesses, it's hard to run an effective incubator. "Running an incubator is challenging and there's not a lot of money in it," says Catherine Barnett, executive director of Project Enterprise. Getting one started requires sufficient financial backing. Project Enterprise is a non-profit that provides training and access to capital to entrepreneurs that have trouble acquiring it.
To start an incubator, the NYCEDC provided the grant to start and invited proposals. For the Harlem Biospace incubator, it chose the proposal put forward by co-founders Sam Sia and Christine Kovich, who got $626,000 to start the business. Harlem Garage's creators won a $250,000 startup grant from the city, and so did the founders of Sunshine Bronx.
Sometimes annual subsidies are given to incubators but this is very rare. Dinah Adkins of the NBIA thinks that this isn't the best financial position to be in because governments usually lose interest in supporting an incubator yearly.
Carly Chase says that the NYCEDC is in constant conversations about whether or not the NYCEDC would continue to fund a struggling incubator. First of all, the network is so new it's hard to say whether or not an individual incubator has proved its value. In most cases, the NYCEDC expects these incubators to be self-sufficient within three years.
However, Carly Chase says there was an instance in which the NYCEDC found value in providing funds to their first incubator. The Verick Street Incubator needed money to move to a new location at the end of their three year mark and the city decided to lend them a hand.
"I think it's very much a function of what the private market is doing and how the incubator is doing and seeing if we can actually continue to help or not," says Chase.
Are they benefiting the city?
Harlem and the Bronx are economically depressed areas that need jobs. Joe Carrano from the Sunshine Bronx realizes this and has decided to try to raise up the neighborhood through the incubator and on his own time.
Sunshine has established an internship pipeline with Monroe College in the Bronx and Baruch College in Flatiron. Currently, there are a few interns at Sunshine Bronx businesses recruited from the pipeline. Carrano has hired a few interns in the past to help with incubator management.
In his spare time, Carrano volunteers with the non-profit Knowledge House teaching computer skills to children in the Bronx.
Besides getting the community ready for technical jobs, the businesses in the incubators have to be doing well enough to hire from the community. Carrano says he's working with the businesses in the incubator so they can grow.
Robert Seamans, a professor of economics at New York University, says that incubators' purpose is to give entrepreneurs a place to work and resources, not necessarily create jobs within the community. "The more of these different objectives that we have the more it is to satisfy all of them and i think in order to be really effective you just sort of have to pick one and stick with it," says Seamans.
What government policy should do, Seamans says, is provide easier access to capital and resources to get businesses off the ground.
The NYCEDC filled a gap when setting up the Harlem Biospace he says. The biotech industry is one that requires a lot of capital."To the extent that we want to encourage more startups or more small businesses that are focused on biotech or medical devices or something I think that–one of the ways to do that is have a space where an investment has already been made in the infrastructure that biotechs would need," Seamans.
However, Seamans isn't convinced that incubators are the best way to provide more access to capital yet. "Presuming the problem has to do with a lack of entrepreneurial or innovative small companies in small areas," Seamans says. "Is an incubator really the best way to get capital or just sort of help out these sorts of small businesses. I wish i could say 'yes for sure it is' but I don't necessarily believe that it's not. But i haven't seen any evidence one way or another."
Obstacles to overcome
Khalid David ended up not moving into the Harlem Garage although he considered it for a long time. However, David says Harlem Garage "really has the bones to be a good incubator."
"The Harlem Business Alliance has been in the community for a decade and who provides a lot of support around businesses," says David. "It just made me feel like I could get one on one attention, be in an environment that I could really thrive and have a whole group of people that's committed to helping businesses grow whether I was here or not."
Reggie Stutzman, a pastor who rents an office space from the Sunshine Bronx says he's seen people rent from Sunshine and stay there and not really hire very much from the community. "But when you come into a needy area and you're trying to create jobs and so forth you have to think internally and externally…" says Stutzman "So time will tell. Jury's out. I'm not sure."
"Well it's very much an experiment," says Matt Owens about the Harlem Biospace's potential success. It turns out this could be the case for other city funded incubators. Since these incubators have just began, their role in economic development is hard to tell.
Despite the further developments needed, maybe New York City won't be known just as the center of big business, but the center of all business in the future.
My project was developed from a story I first attempted to execute in Ann Cooper's reporting class Fall 2013. As I was writing the story, I kept feeling like the story was a lot longer than 800 words. Professor Cooper agreed and I expanded the project to a 2,500 word article and 8 minute audio piece.
Originally, I was going to report on a conference the Harlem Business Alliance was hosting to educate Harlem business owners on the importance of technology in the business world. This organization was birthed in the 1980s for the purpose of economic development within the neighborhood of Harlem.
After looking into other efforts to bring resources to Harlem entrepreneurs, I discovered the Harlem Garage incubator and the Harlem Biospace incubator. I learned that these are part of a much larger effort to help entrepreneurs in New York City. The Garage and Biospace are some of 25 incubators set up with initial funds by the New York City Economic Development Corporation.
I decided to expand my research from the neighborhood of Harlem to the South Bronx where another incubator was recently set up. At this point I wanted to research how these incubators might possibly help alleviate poverty in these low income neighborhoods, provide jobs and provide resources for entrepreneurs.
I interviewed managers of the three incubators and entrepreneurs that worked in these spaces to find out more about the inner workings of these spaces. I wanted to know what programs worked and what did not. I also questioned them about their relationships with the surrounding neighborhoods.
I connected with young entrepreneur named Khalid David who was planning on moving into the Harlem Garage. I kept up with his journey for several months. He eventually backed out of the Garage and decided to move into the Harlem Business Alliance incubator. This space opened March of 2013 after not winning the RFP that Harlem Garage won. Understanding David's reasoning for picking the Harlem Business Alliance over the Harlem Garage informed my research on what it's like to be in these incubators.
Incubators are a fairly new concept in the business world in general so information on them isn't readily available. I had a hard time finding an expert character to give me an overall understanding on how these spaces work and how they can be used for economic development. Eventually, I acquired interviews with Dinah Adkins of the National Business Incubator Association, Carly Chase and Ian Fried of the NYCEDC, and Robert Seamans of NYU's economics department. Conversations with these people informed my research.


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Recently I was made aware of a firefox browser plugin called PPC Webspy and decided to take a look at it. At first it had a lot of promise, the sales video showed quite an amazing plugin that brought up competitors keywords they are bidding for on adwords as well as where they ranked for those keywords.
Now this is very useful information and on its own is worth its weight in gold for any advertiser looking to compete with a site on certain keywords, now you can bid exactly 1cent over the highest bidder and get loads of clicks without having to pay through the nose for them.
For publishers there is another side to the same tool in that this plugin will allow you to scope out a niche and find out what keywords are pulling in the most clicks and at exactly the price they are paying for those clicks. Having this capability is great as you can now tailor your content to the highest paying keywords which will bring in sub-niche specific search traffic but higher paying ads overall as well so it is a double benefit.
When testing this tool I found it to be on the whole well constructed and didn't notice any un-expected behaviour when using all of its functionality. I simply cannot understand where this software finds the information, it is really quite unbelievable how it manages to provide all of this data and at a really quick speed.
?All in all this is a very valuable tool for anyone that pays for clicks through the adwords (or similar) network or alternatively makes their money by showing adsense (or similar) network ads on their websites. If you want to double your PPC efficiency you will want to try out this tool.


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In summary
This solution covers the entire spectrum of Islamic finance, helping banks, whether conventional or Islamic, to meet their specific needs and offer new products that respect Islamic banking principles.
Key advantages
- Sharia compliant finance solutions.
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- Designed with Islamic finance experts
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In detail
Sopra Banking Software offers solutions and services that cover the entire spectrum of Islamic finance. Both Islamic and conventional financial institutions can rely on us to meet their specific local, and regional needs, and to help them develop their activities. The strength of our dedicated teams lies in their cross-disciplinary implementation, delivery, integration, and support skills, combined with a detailed knowledge of Islamic banking principles.
Sopra Banking for Islamic Banking covers the entire spectrum of Sharia complaint finance: Islamic investments, Islamic deposits, Islamic trade finance, Islamic treasury and Islamic capital markets. The structuring of Islamic financial products on an international scale has seen a significant evolution, driving international organizations to standardize these products. However, countries' regulatory frameworks and local contexts require specific adaptations to Islamic financing in its practical application. Therefore, Sopra Banking helps Islamic financial institutions meet several challenges, including the need to innovate and develop structured products that respect Sharia.


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It's Tuesday. Or at least I think it is, if I'm doing the math right.
It's one of the things I most relish about our now-traditional week of Thanksgiving on the Oregon coast: the blessing of losing track of time and date, surrounded by family, and the calming influence of sand and waves and salt air.


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We are a family of five who enjoy traveling. Our desires are bigger than our budget, so we had to figured frugal ways to visit as many places as possible, which usually involves camping! Sometimes we go on other types of trips, but we'll be writing about camping and other outdoors activities because it's our favorite way to see the world.
We have also enjoyed getting to know our relatively new hometown of Indy by bike, as there are tons of great trails around here.
Kristin is the main contributor to this blog and a master trip planner. She's a former French teacher, and spent a few years traveling Europe on a shoestring. Andy is our family's coach, sportsman and handyman. Our children are Noah (13), Joshua (7) and Selah (5).
The picture above was taken about a year ago and is one of our favorites, but if only you knew how dirty and sweaty we were! We had just done climbed Mt. Adams, near one of our favorite camping spots in the Adirondack Mountains. It's our toughest hike to date!


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I'm slowly stocking my Etsy shop back up with NEW items for 2017 and I'm super excited about it. Lots more to come in the next few days so be sure keep checking back!
If you're in Relief Society...I've got TWO different printables for you to choose from this year!
My bookmarks were such a big hit this past year that I've made em again....this time with a quote from Gordon B. Hinckley! {How excited are we that we'll be focusing on his teachings this year?!? He's an all time fave.}
These tags come with a set that says HAPPY BIRTHDAY at the bottom and a set that is left blank for you to write in whatever you'd like!
My next Gordon B. Hinckley quote comes with Happy Birthday tags if you care to use them. One set says 'from your Relief Society presidency' and the other set is left blank.
You don't even have to attach these tags to ANYTHING!
Put em in a card and mail em off..
Stick a magnet on the back for your fridge....
The possibilities are endless.
Lastly....we can't forget about the Young Womens organization.....
In need of birthday gifts this year?
Fill up a basket with all different kinds of candy bars and attach one of these tags to each one. Let the girls choose out their favorite candy when their birthday week rolls around.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Be sure to stop by my blog on Monday for my FREE January 2017 Visiting Teaching handout!!!


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Tomero Reserva
Pinot Noir 2013
Varietal composition
100% Pinot Noir
Traditional winemaking methods were used, including a three-day cold pre-fermentative maceration. Fermentation took place in cone-shaped French oak casks at 25 °C. Pumping over and manual punching down were carried out to maximize maceration.
Tasting notes
Colour: Red with medium to low intensity typical of the variety.
Aroma: Red fruits aromas, cassis and blueberries with some cherry notes on the back.
Mouth: Elegant, subtle and long entrance. At the end some spices and smoky notes appear thanks to its oak time.
Year 2013
This wine was aged in new French oak barrels for 15 months, then bottled and stowed at 12ºC for 6 months before being put on the market.
More than 5 years.
Technical data
Alcohol: 14.5%
Total acidity: 5.0 g/l
Sugar: 1.8 g/l
Ph: 3.7


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Addison Clark is a full-service marketing agency in Richmond, Virginia. Whether you're looking for a marketing strategy, a new website, search engine optimization, or great graphic design, we've got you covered. We deliver more than just flashy creative or catchy taglines. We deliver business results. That's what makes us measurably different®.
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text:
We R Memory Happy Stitch Twine
Built for sewing, enhanced for crafters. This hybrid sewing machine is designed for crafting and multi-media projects. Easily sew fabric, paper, felt, faux leather and more! Engineered for thick floss, baker's twine, metallic threads and more. Features multiple stitches for sewing and paper crafting, increased motor power for multi-media projects, and an alignment guide for straight stitching.


text:
Latest BCI Score
Dove House Hospice are a charity providing excellent care for people in the local community with life-limiting illnesses.
Their services are available to anyone over the age of 18 who has an illness that can no longer be cured. Care is provided for patients with cancer, neurological illnesses, heart diseases, respiratory diseases, HIV/AIDS, and many other illnesses.
The hospice is set in beautiful gardens and provides a 'home from home'. They help by providing physical, social, psychological and spiritual support delivered by a multi-professional team who embrace the family and significant others throughout the patient's illness.
All services are provided free of charge. The hospice has to raise more than £7 million every year to run, with the majority of this coming from funds raised in the local community.
Dove House Hospice is located in Hull and led by Chief Executive Anna Wolkowski.
Learn more about the 8 factors of workplace engagement here
At least 40% of senior managers are women
At least 10 weeks' full pay or generous alternative
Male : Female:
Earning £35,000+:
UK sites:
Average Age:
Staff Turnover:
Number of responses in region: 162
Regional BCI:
Regional Awards:
Pos: 13


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- Gift cards. Similar to cashback deals, some credit cards might run a promotion to offer complimentary gift cards to new customers, usually for an affiliated store or brand. To be eligible, you usually have to apply during the promotional period and may need to enter a promotional code online.
- Discounted purchases. Some credit cards may offer you a discount on specific transactions. For example, a frequent flyer credit card could offer 10% off flight bookings made with the affiliated airline during the promotional period.
Depending on the credit card, you may be able to take advantage of more than one of these offers at a time. For example, a card that offers a 0% balance transfer rate could also have a discounted annual fee for the first year, while a card with bonus points may also offer 0% interest on purchases during the honeymoon period.
How to compare credit card introductory offers
While introductory offers can sweeten the deal when you sign up for a credit card, you should also look at the ongoing features of the card. Thinking about the following factors will help you find an introductory offer that suits your needs in the short-term and a credit card that fits your circumstances in the long-term.
Interest rates
- The promotional interest rate. Depending on the card, the promotional offer may have a low or 0% interest rate. Usually, the lower the interest rate, the more savings you'll make. However, you should also weigh up the promotional interest rate with the annual fee and the length of the promotional offer to determine which card offers the most savings.
- The length of the introductory period. With low purchase rate or balance transfer rate offers, it's important that you calculate how much you'll need to pay each month to repay the entire balance before the promotional period ends. Otherwise, any remaining balance will collect the standard interest and begin to counteract your savings.
- The promotional offer end date. These offers are only available for a limited time, so you will need to apply before the end date to take advantage of them. Check the terms and conditions to make sure any offers you want are still available before you apply.
- The standard interest rates. If you have a card with a low or 0% purchase or balance transfer deal, the standard interest rates will apply to any balances remaining at the end of the introductory period. These rates are generally much higher than those of the introductory offer, so considering them before you apply will help you avoid any nasty surprises when the promotion ends.
- Standard annual fees. If you get a reduced or waived annual fee offer, make sure you check the standard annual fee so that you know how much you will have to pay after the first 12 months. If you only intend to use the card while the waived annual fee is in place, make sure you know when the standard annual fee will apply and close your card before then to avoid paying extra.
- Other fees and charges. As well as the annual fee, the card may come with other rates and fees such as balance transfer fees, cash advance fees, foreign transaction fees, and late payment costs.
- Interest charges. If you have to meet a minimum spend to earn bonus points or redeem your introductory offer, remember that these purchases will typically collect interest. This is why it's important to ensure that the spend requirement fits within your budget, otherwise the interest costs could easily outweigh the value of the points or bonus offer.
Rewards and extras
- Spending requirements. Some cashback and bonus point offers to require you to spend a minimum amount in an introductory period of a few months. It's important to check before you apply to make sure you can afford to take advantage of the offer.
- Standard rewards points. As well as the bonus points, make sure the regular rewards program (including the earn rate and how you can redeem your rewards) suits your spending behaviors and rewards goals.
- Complimentary extras. Additional, ongoing perks such as international travel insurance, extended warranties, and concierge services can bring more value to the card that you choose. However they can also attribute to higher annual fees, so check whether you can take advantage of features before you apply.
Mistakes to avoid with credit card offers
While credit card introductory offers can help you get more value from your card, there are some mistakes to avoid to ensure the card costs don't outweigh the benefits of the offer. Here are some of the common mistakes cardholders make and how you can avoid them:
- Ignoring the offer terms and conditions. Introductory offers have specific eligibility requirements you have to meet, so make sure you understand the fine print before you apply.
- Wasting the promotional offer time period. To avoid wasting a valuable offer it can be a good idea to take advantage as soon as possible. For example, paying off your debt as soon as possible with a 0% balance transfer offer.
- Not looking at the ongoing features of the card. While introductory offers can give you short-term benefits, the standard features of a credit card determine its ongoing value. Always check these features before you apply for a credit card to decide if it's worth it for you.
- Not checking the end date of the offer. To get a specific credit card offer, you must apply before the end of the promotional period. Regularly comparing credit cards can help you stay up-to-date with all the offers available when you're considering a new card.
- Not using the card after the introductory period. If you decide you don't want the card you applied for after getting an introductory offer, you could end up paying more credit card fees on a card you're not using. Make sure you consider this before you apply, choose an appropriate card, or cancel the account if you no longer want to use it.
Introductory offers have the potential to provide you with more value when you get a new credit card. While almost anyone can benefit from these deals, the value they provide really depends on your individual circumstances.
It's also important to remember that these benefits only last for a set amount of time before reverting to the standard features of the card. So being aware of how credit card offers work and considering both the introductory offer and the ongoing card features means you can choose a card that offers you value now and in the future.


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FlashMate™ Lights Up Winter Matings
David Cole would be the first to admit farming in Northland is not an easy job at the best of times, and choosing to mate cows in winter for autumn calving doesn't make things easier.
While autumn calving brings some real advantages for the Dargaville farmer, matching cow demand to the region's seasonal grass growth patterns, there is an Achilles' heel that comes with it.
"And for many people considering going to autumn calving, or doing it already, that is getting good submission rates at mating, and a good tight calving pattern," says David.
The shorter colder days of winter with lower sunshine hours can compress a cow's heat period, and make detecting whether she is even on heat or not a difficult job.
For David that means he has spent 20 years of autumn calving enjoying ideal ground and weather conditions at calving time, but struggling with a downside that means submission rates stall around 70-75% in the first three weeks, short of the desired 90% target.
Just how difficult it is to detect all those cows that actually are on heat is highlighted when it is considered against the combined experience of David and his manager Aaron.
"Between us two old guys we have got 50 years of experience in detecting cows on heat at this time of year, and even we can struggle to pick them all up."
That difficulty is what puts many farmers off switching to autumn calving, despite how well suited it is to Northland weather conditions.
For David herd submission rates are lower than he would like and they flow through to a six week in calf rate that sits in the 60% range, short of the national target of 78% in calf within six weeks.
To try and improve his herd's submission rate through better detection of heats in winter David decided to try the Gallagher FlashMate™ Electronic Heat Detectors this winter.
Flashmate is a standalone heat detection unit that attaches to cows to monitor their heat behaviour. It identifies positive heat behaviour which causes it to flash red for 26 hours, ample time to identify the cow, draft her off and ensure she is inseminated.
Once inseminated, if no further riding activity occurs within 25 days the unit flashes green indicating probable conception and continues to do so unless she has another heat, in which case it will flash red again.
Eight weeks down the mating track David is convinced he has picked a technology solution that has already paid for itself.
"I do my own AI and I know the Flashmates have detected eight cows that were definitely on heat that we would not have detected ourselves, given the tail paint was not indicating they were on heat. Out of 220 cows, that is significant."
David is confident this will be the first season he comes close to achieving a 75% six week in-calf rate, and is hoping to achieve a reduced empty rate as well.
"Our aim over the past few years has been to try and push that empty rate down to near 10% but we have just not been getting there – I feel this season we will be."
Flashmate's ability to operate over multiple heat cycles meant its cost was easier to justify than "one heat" alternatives that require renewing after each heat event.
"We have had a handful of cows that the Flashmate flashed green 25 days after mating, only to have them come back on heat again and flash red, being easily detected a second time around."
These "phantom cows" are often easily missed and considered in calf - until scanning reveals otherwise.
"We have got a few cows coming up to their third mating, and the Flashmate is still detecting and flashing red for them when they do."
He says Flashmate retention rate has been excellent, with only 12 coming off his 220 cows over nine weeks of mating.
"We found most of them still flashing in the paddock, and it was not hard to match them back to the cows on heat."
Applying the Flashmates was achieved easily during milking, with new glue re-applied to them as cows came in on heat.
For David the Flashmate has provided not only greater accuracy in detection, but even greater reassurance given he only uses AI without any bull follow up.
"Aaron has said he hopes we are going to use the Flashmate next year, this is the most relaxed mating period he has ever had. It can be hard to quantify, but it's peace of mind when the flashing is so visual, they just draw your attention, you can't miss it.


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Will LTFS be integrated with backup software?
Since it was announced last year, a number of products have emerged that support the LTFS (Linear Tape File System) open-standard format. But, one question that's been kicked around a lot among SearchDataBackup.com staffers is whether the spec would be integrated with business-class backup products. According to senior executives at IBM, one of the LTO Technology Provider Companies, integration will happen, but they do not currently have a timeframe for that integration.
"We are in discussions with a lot of the backup software vendors," said Sanjay Tripathi, director of data protection and retention for IBM storage. "So yes, the plan is to integrate it. And even if they don't integrate it, we are creating an asset management layer or working with other vendors that have an asset management layer for them to be able to move the data."
"There can be varying degrees of integration," said Lee Jesionowski, chief architect for IBM tape automation. "Meaning built-in native as the way [backup software] talks to tape or that it is just another file system target. There's nothing concrete to share there, but we are having conversations about that as well."


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In what is being called the 'robbery of the century', a priceless 12th-century manuscript has been stolen from the Santiago de Compostela. The Codex Calixtinus, which contains a kind of travel guide to the famous pilgrimage way of Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain, was found missing from the cathedral's archives on Tuesday. It is believed that the manuscript may have been removed on Sunday, but the theft went unnoticed for days.
On Tuesday afternoon an archivist found the safe which held the Codex unlocked (with the key still in the locking mechanism) and the manuscript missing. Church staff spent hours looking for the manuscript before calling in the local police at 10pm that evening. Dozens of police experts have since been examining the cathedral for any evidence and reviewing the video from five security cameras. Unfortunately, none of the video cameras was trained onto the area where the safe was kept.
During a press conference held today, José María Díaz, Dean of the Cathedral, said only himself and two other people had access to the safe. He added that none of the other documents and objects kept in the safe were removed.
Speculation about the thief/theives includes the possibility the organized crime was involved. Because the manuscript is so well-known, it will be impossible for it to be sold on the open market. This leads to the possibility that the theft was arranged for a particular buyer. The manuscript might also be used like a type of currency, to be traded among organized crime figures, similar to expensive art. "We do not know if it's been stolen by a collector or a band of professionals. What we can do is offer our full cooperation to the police," the Dean said.
The Codex Calixtinus comprised five books and two appendices, and was created on the orders of Pope Callixtus II (1119-1124). The work provides advice for pilgrims following the Way of St. James to his shrine in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia. It also includes sermons, reports of miracles and liturgical texts associated with Saint James, and polyphonic musical pìeces.
"This piece is irreplaceable and priceless," said Juan Manuel Díaz de Bustamante, a medieval historian, told El Pais. "It is not the first Codex Calixtinus, but it is the oldest and best conserved one."
"The best thing that could happen is that the person who now has the book is aware of the priceless value of this codex, because then we can be sure that it won't be mistreated", a high-ranking police officer said.
Sources: El Pais, Catholic News Agency, See more sources at Medieval News


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Tis the season! I've posted previous about an arts round-up via Arts Journal and now that the Holidays are upon us you finally have to time to complete all that arts reading you've been putting off. So sit back and relax with your favorite holiday treat and read up on stocking stuffers, masterpiece literature, community symphony orchestras, the origins of Tintin, the language of "occupy" and the new cute internet sensation (hint… it's wee face will toast your heart's gooey interior and watching it learn to walk with make you die via "squee")
Why You Shouldn't Buy Stocking Stuffers: Do you suffer from the The Presenter's Paradox?:
It's Christmas morning, and you open a box to find a cashmere sweater. The sweater feels plush and expensive, and you feel grateful. But then, underneath the sweater, you find a packet of Hershey's kisses. Technically, you have been given more, but now the sweater may seem a little less exciting. Why?
What's the definition of a great book?: How can you tell a masterpiece? Read lots of good books:
What is a masterpiece? Crime and Punishment. Hamlet. To His Coy Mistress. Ulysses. Madame Bovary. How does one know this? By having read a hell of a lot. Something only stands out from a crowd when there is a crowd to stand out from. This is one of many reasons to read as widely as you can: not only is it more fun and more edifying, it helps you to make distinctions between the quality, and the qualities, of one thing when you set it against another. One element of our experience of reading is inescapably comparative.
Colorado Symphony to revamp concerts, emphasize community focus: What does a 21st Century Orchestra look like? Do you agree with CSO:
In short, the CSO plans to undergo nothing less than a complete culture change that rejects music-making offered with "little thought as to whether it truly was of interest and relevancy to a large part of the community" and plays up relaxed, consumer-friendly performances that meet audiences on their own terms and in their own towns.
Tintin's Father, Nobody's Son: My little brother and I grew up reading Tintin. It was one of the few comics we could find in English when we were on trips to India. We loved every politically incorrect moment. Especially Snowy.. "Whooahhh!"
In Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin, adapted from the comic books that have enthralled generations, the intrepid boy reporter joins forces with the perpetually soused skipper Captain Haddock to unravel the mystery of Haddock's birthright. But Tintin himself has no origin. He simply exists, with no ties to past or future generations, a fate that his creator might have wished for himself. The Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, better known as Hergé, became an international celebrity thanks to the success of Tintin's collected adventures, which have sold more than 350 million copies worldwide. But he showed little taste for the spotlight, and still less for those who wished to poke into his past.
What if We Occupied Language?: One of the most incredible things about language is its every changing and evolving meaning as we grow and change culturally. Meaning is defined by all of us as participating members of society. This article explores how the word "occupy" has changed and grown within the Occupy Wall Street movement. Worth the long read especially the exploration of language-based racism:
In this sense, Occupy Wall Street has occupied language, has made "occupy" its own. And, importantly, people from diverse ethnicities, cultures and languages have participated in this linguistic occupation — it is distinct from the history of forcible occupation in that it is built to accommodate all, not just the most powerful or violent.
Sloths are the new kittens: This article needs no explanation. Look at its face:
So what's the reason for the sloth's sudden popularity? Is it because our LOLcats have run out of things to say? Or is it because their mellow, blissed-out faces and perpetual laziness appeal to a nation of go-getters? Said Cooke in a Q&A with the Village Voice: "I think there is a bit of the sloth in all of us. Any animal that is as mellow as the sloth has to be admired. And the babies are so vulnerable and awkward, they are basically cute crack."


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A sweeping look at Jazz, a true American art form, detailing a sequential history of the medium and focusing on, among many others talents, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bennie Goodman, and Billie Holliday. With Ken Burn's Jazz, the composition is on par per usual but suffers again from the lack of engaging commentators, here pack of pompous snobs, and what's drawn out over the course of 19 redundant, pretentious hours could have been told more effectively in less than half.
** out of ****


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The long-standing expectation for a legal instrument such as a framework convention (as discussed in the first part of this two-part blog) is not the only dimension which needs to be examined with a certain amount of urgency. The technical environment which would enable and facilitate the right legal framework also needs to be discussed and determined as a matter of urgency. For some people the concept of "one internet" seems to be a holy grail, or is it a holy cow? Some advocate that one must ensure the existence of "an un-fragmented, interconnected, interoperable, secure, stable, resilient, sustainable and trust-building Internet" [1]. One is compelled to ask why un-fragmented? Are there not some types of fragmentation which could actually be healthy and certainly healthier than what we have at present? Would a certain amount of fragmentation not possibly make the internet even more trust-building, not to mention "more interconnected, interoperable, secure, stable, resilient, sustainable" ? Fragmentation does not necessarily mean internets walled-off at national boundaries or parallel universes which are not accessible to all, though some have mistakenly or deliberately linked these concepts. For a long time before Brazil, Angela Merkel and others had awoken to the possibility of networks separate though connected to the currently US-dominated ones, there has been a quiet discussion on "parallel Internets that would be run as distinct, private, and autonomous universes." as extolled by Crews in 2001[2] when he popularised the term "Splinternet". While technically a parallel Internet could be distinct and autonomous, it does not necessarily need to be private: indeed it could be just as public and just as accessible as other parts of the Internet.
A separate set of rules could however possibly be applicable to those internet users accessing this parallel Internet. These rules could include technical standards as well as, for example, higher standards for privacy, free speech vs. defamation, and protection of intellectual property rights. Ten years down the line Crews was still advocating the utility of parallel internets: "One Internet is probably not enough. Instead, owned Internets-proprietary "Splinternets" where prespecified ground rules regarding privacy and other governance issues replace regulation and central planning-may be superior. What matters most is not necessarily the Internet as it exists today, but Internet technology. Physically, parallel Internets could be up in short order." [3] He continues to see advantages in this approach: "At some point, the benefits of tailored, owned networks capable of harmonizing issues of privacy, values, access, and participation outweigh the costs of regulation, endless governance fights, and the costs of inherent insecurity on a nonowned Internet from which criminals and hackers can't be excluded." [4]
Crews may have popularised the term "splinternet" but he was not the first to conceive of parallel internets or parallel universes in cyberspace. Four years previous, in 1997 Paul Sagawi had used the term "Balkanization of the internet". Now some people have since turned balkanization into a "dirty word" but let's see what Sagawi was saying all of 17 years ago: "This balkanization of the Internet into multiple interconnected network families, each with a distinct user community and differentiated capabilities, means that the flat pricing regime that has encouraged wasteful use and discouraged responsible network engineering will soon be gone. Instead, users will be charged for what they use. Gone, too, will be the painfully slow response times, the lost messages, and the network outages that have become all too common on today's Internet. Users will get what they pay for - even if they have to pay a lot. [5] "Sagawi's vision of the inevitability of the abandonment of a "one internet" communal model and the splintering into "multiple interconnected internet families" may not have come to pass within the time-frame that he may have predicted in 1997 but is it an idea , in part at least, whose time has come? Angela Merkel seemed to think so – though for different reasons - when in her weekly podcast in February 2014 she declared "We'll talk with France about how we can maintain a high level of data protection," and "Above all, we'll talk with European providers that offer security for our citizens, so that one shouldn't have to send emails and other information across the Atlantic." [6]
It may be useful at this stage to clarify that the term "parallel internet" may be slightly misleading, certainly from a technical point of view. It does not mean that there exist two or more different Internets working in a way where these "internets" are not connected to each other or closed off to each others' users. It would be more correct to think of the Internet being organised in different parts which can co-exist in parallel but where every single site must by definition continue to have a unique address. Perhaps a useful way to think of parallel internets is to think of it in terms analogous to the way geology developed on planet Earth. The present Internet is like the one big land-mass, the supercontinent we call Pangaea that dominated the Earth's surface 300 million years ago. A hundred million years later Pangaea started to break up leading to the separate continents that we have today. Yet, even today, many of the continents remain interconnected and it is still possible to walk or more feasibly drive or cycle across from Africa through Asia to Europe. In the same way the Internet may conceivably be divided into three or more interconnected "continents" which exist contemporaneously but where the climate may be different and where the laws and customs may likewise be different. What would also be different is that in this brave new virtual world personal and state geography is not fixed and both individual citizens as well as entire states may freely decide in which "cyber-continent" they may wish to locate themselves. They would be able to contract themselves into their preferred cyber eco-system either through a framework treaty or convention (states) or by an ad hoc on-line contract (for individual netizens) similar to the dozens of on-line agreements that compel millions of citizens to tick boxes every day to signal their consent. This process would be pretty much instantaneous and, once consent is given that one accepts to be bound by the laws of that part of the Internet, transparent.
If Merkel and Hollande were to agree and sway the majority of other European leaders, then would the new European parallel Internet be given only a technical dimension or would a legal framework also be used to facilitate the governance of the new technical realities? It would not be surprising if this would be a discussion and venture where the UK will be pointedly ignored, excluded and isolated because of its membership of the Five Eyes and the Snowden revelations as to the extent to which GCHQ has been in bed with the Americans busily spying on a bunch of European neighbours. In this scenario, the bulk of the Europeans would go their own way and – again – the UK would be left out in the cold. Call it "virtual Schengen" if you like, or "Schengenet" or whatever but in essence it would be a large parallel cyber-universe with the potential of having at least 500-800 million users. Why that much? Because the EU would be very careful to open up its parallel cyber-universe to the rest of the world and certainly, in the first instance, to the other European countries outside the EU. The European parallel internet would not only be for the Europe of the 28 – i.e. the EU but would be targeted for much of the Europe of the 47 – all those members of the Council of Europe who would want to buy into the concept. In that context it is easy to see that the Europeans may also be keen to keep up their track record of creating a legal framework which would ensure that European values and fundamental human rights are properly protected in this part of cyberspace built and run to European standards.
As Jan Kleijssen has pointed out "The Council of Europe would offer an appropriate framework to facilitate a more thorough discussion on this [the creation of a convention]. In recent years, the Council of Europe has carried out its continent-wide mandate to protect and enhance human rights, democracy and the rule of law also as regards the Internet. Our 47 member states have developed a series of Conventions, open to all states, to protect people against cybercrime, combat the sexual exploitation and abuse of children, fight counterfeit medicine, as well as the protection of personal data. We have also developed a range of political principles, policy standards, practical tools and opportunities for multi-stakeholder co-operation, which are helping governments, the private sector and civil society to protect and respect and uphold the values of our Organisation."
This is not as far-fetched as it may seem at first glance. It is indeed thanks to the Council of Europe (CoE) that we today have the only international treaty governing some activities in cyberspace, the 2001 Cybercrime Convention, a treaty to which even the US is a signatory, since like many other CoE treaties it is open to any country around the world. The Council of Europe has the international credibility to attract signatories far and wide outside Europe and a framework convention pushed forward under its auspices could conceivably attract Brazil, India and several other emerging large countries which would be important to have on board to increase critical mass. And, as several corporations and politicians in the USA know only too well, critical mass there will be. No large multinational or indeed any upwardly-mobile SME would be able to ignore such an on-line marketplace which is an eighth or a seventh of the world's population. Yes, users of that part of the Internet may have to mind their Ps and Qs and yes, the privacy and data protection regime may be stricter and possibly a bit more restrictive and yes, the data centres would need to be under European jurisdiction if not actually located on European soil. The investment in technical infrastructure would make a parallel investment in the legal infrastructure an attractive proposition especially if that creates transparent, predictable rules about how and when lawful interception, monitoring and surveillance could be carried out and by whom.
A new Internet treaty in the form of a frame-work convention may be used to achieve either of two different realities: we can take the Internet exactly as it is today and use a new treaty to codify values and establish governance measures and remedies in areas like surveillance, privacy, defamation and personal dignity. Or else we can have another treaty, equally multilateral but with the objective of regulating and establishing values and remedies for only part of the current Internet, that part which would be defined by technical parameters which would mark it off as being the European cyber-continent or an Asian cyber-continent or a muslim cyber-continent or a Catholic cyber-continent. The treaty would contain or reflect the defining characteristics of that particular cyber-continent thus reducing uncertainty and establishing clear jurisdiction for fundamental values which would enjoy a higher level of protection through a well-defined system of safeguards and remedies including affordable on-line dispute resolution.
Even if, by way of example, we were to here restrict our attention to a discussion of how a new treaty could be created to facilitate the operation of a new European "cyber-continent" (Schengenet?), it is important to note a number of key points about such a new framework convention for part of cyberspace. Firstly, this should be understood in the original sense made explicit by Mathiason and Mueller, i.e., after the Cybercrime Convention, it would be the second in "a set of authoritative agreements".7 It would be the next piece in the jigsaw puzzle that is formal internet governance. Secondly, since it would be part of "a set of authoritative agreements", I would not expect it to cover everything that needs to be governed on the Internet but only those parts on which a good number of countries could agree about at present. For this read the burning issues of privacy, lawful interception, mass surveillance, data protection, dignity, defamation and free speech with a couple of other fundamental values thrown in. Thirdly, I would not expect it to be the only legal dimension of an EU parallel cyber-universe. Individual internet users would be able to access this part of Cyberspace even if their country of residence would not have yet ratified a Council of Europe treaty and in such cases one may expect a reliance on the law of contract: before entering the space the user would, at no financial cost, tick a box – and thus sign a contract which would signify his or her acceptance of playing by European rules and subject to the jurisdiction of the designated courts. Fourthly, as the promise – to some it will be a threat – of parallel Internets and/or a new European-sponsored Internet treaty looms closer, and a number of politicians are awakened by corporations and voters to new realities on the Internet, it would not be surprising to see competing as well as complementary efforts to create the next Internet treaty...and the most competitive low-cost parallel Internet.
At this moment in time technically we already have at least two Internets in the two Internet protocols which are working behind the scenes in most people's computers i.e. IPv4 and IPv6. They follow distinct protocols with different addressing systems but in most cases, for the average user, they are brought together by the browser in a way which is very often automatic and easy to use. Indeed, with a well-developed browser the user may often not even know whether a site is being accessed via IPv4 or IPv6. Will we be seeing the next generation of browsers cater also for parallel Internets enabling netizens to travel seamlessly from one parallel internet to another? Will they be doing so in the context of one or more new Internet treaties? We're in for exciting times and the MAPPING project www.mappingtheinternet.eu promises to be charting some of these waters during the next four years. For some it will be sink or swim.
[1] http://content.netmundial.br/contribution/panel-on-global-internet-cooperation-and-governance-mechanisms-contribution-to-netmundial/204
[2] Clyde Wayne Crews, http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2001/04/43216
[3] Clyde Wayne Crews http://www.cato.org/publications/techknowledge/one-internet-is-not-enough
[6] Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2014/02/angela-merkel-backs-eu-internet-to.html#35UVyjqJgaPcXHxO.99
Professor Joe Cannataci holds the Chair in European Information Policy & Technology Law and is Co-Director STeP - Security, Technology & e-Privacy Research Group, Department of European and Economic Law, Faculty of Law, University of Groningen, The Netherlands. He is Head of Department of Information Policy and Governance, Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences, University of Malta, and Adjunct Professor at the Security Research Institute and the School for Computer & Security Science at Edith Cowan University, Australia. With a background of over 25 years of working in data protection law and cybercrime, he is currently scientific co-ordinator of a number of inter-disciplinary collaborative research projects in the fields of security, surveillance, smart surveillance and internet governance. This article is written in a purely personal capacity and does not necessarily reflect the views of the institutions to which he is affiliated or the projects he leads or is otherwise involved in.


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Artwork via: x̸e͟no͝punk̶
After such a long silence, I've got to cover more than two months of an ever forward moving music landscape. Therefore a double edition with the most essential and guiding releases, 22 in total. I tried to balance between saving text and doing justice to the music.
1. Elysia Crampton presents: DEMON CITY (Break World Records)
If there is anyone I could call my all-time favourite artist, it would be the experimental sound collage artist and inspirational Latinx trans revolutionary Elysia Crampton. She describes her newest album as an epic poem. I had the opportunity seeing it live a couple of months ago at Progress Bar Amsterdam, where Elysia opened the night with a powerful performance, combining music with live recited poetry and engaging visuals of videogame dungeons, technofuturist sci-fi impressions and historical and present recordings of indigenous Bolivian people and their struggle for justice. The poetry, part of the theatre production 'Dissolution of the Sovereign: A Time Slide into the Future' paints a post-colonial sci-fi setting in which the citizens of NON have destroyed the oppressive structures of today's world and have built their own high-technological future, linked back and forth with the queer-indigenous history of Bartolina Sisa, leader of an indigenous uprise in 18th century Bolivia which was brutally knocked down by the colonisers, and her body cut into pieces.
The performance was one of the few times where I had a truly transformative emotional experience on the dance floor (the other times being Kamixlo and Total Freedom). I have no other words for it than crying tears of fire, bringing to the surface resevoirs of emotions and aspects of existence that'd otherwise remain buried under solid rock layers of colonial oppression. The Demon City is the metaphor for the excavation of the voice of dispossessed and queer trans indigenous people and, as Crampton explained in her talks session before the club night, breaking the imposed binaries of identity, to which queer trans people of colour are condemned worldwide. The collaborative project is a defining elaboration of the conceptual 'severo' style: "an ongoing process of becoming-with, made possible by the family-networks and communities that have inspired and sustained our survival and collective search for transformative justice." Contributions are by Why Be, Rabit, Chino Amobi and Lexxi and released on the Break World Records label, which also signed James Ferraro, Goth Money, Sagan Youth, Hot Sugar and Teengirl Fantasy.
The melancholic-epic leading track 'The Demon City' with Rabit, most striking in the Severo style's approach of transforming theatrical kitch into something hyper-meaningfull
The energetic Dummy Track, featuring a diablada-like percussion beat, served as a pre-released teaser for the album
Lexxi's wavy, crystalline, emotional club tune Red Eyez is a bridge between The Demon City and his own EP 5TARBO1
2. Erelitha (STAYCORE 117)
The Stockholm based label and collective STAYCORE 117 is a unique initiative, supporting young, innovative minded producers with an intimate, family-like community that is gradually extending, online but especially IRL. ERELITHA is the follow-up of last year's Summer Jams 2K15 compilation with which the label put itself on the map. As Dinamarca explained to The Fader, instead of the geographically excluding concept of 'summer', ERELITHA is thematically built around the concept of capturing lightest possible light. This reflects both in the music, which strongly draws from saccharine bright retro-rave sounds, and in the equally impressive artwork by Jonna Mayer, which transforms a sulfuric surface lake of Titan or Io into a mysterious cotton-candy wonderland.
The compilation involves contributions from Staycore's core members like Dinamarca, Toxe, Mechatok and Mobilegirl, but also from close affiliates like Zutzut (NAAFI), MM (Her Records), Pininga, RESLA and Oklou (TGAF) – who's crystalline futuristic dancehall/afrohouse track is my absolute favourite track of the whole compilation! – as well as the (relative) new names jackie and the promising talent Don Sinini.
3. WWWINGS – CHIMERA (Purple Tape Pedigree)
Over the last year, much has been written already in the major music mags about the mysterious formation made up of LIT INTERNET (Kamchatka, Russia), LIT DAW (Ukraine) and LIT EYNE (Siberia, Russia). They combine net-art flavoured 90s angelic tribal tattoo, stock photo and black metal aesthetics with intense cybernetic-ambient-club music, communicate via the encrypted messenger service Telegram and have never met in person. Very cyberpunk and very post-internet avant-garde. Musically, they occupy the middle ground between the abstract, industrial side of avant-garde club and the more dark melodicness found in the heirs of ambient-trap and witch house. After their debut EP 'Angelysium' last year and their follow-ups '3000' and 'META' (Infinite Machine), they are back now with aNEP on the New York based avant-garde label Purple Tape Pedigree.
WWINGS have found their unique place on the music spectrum. They keep moving forward, but always make sure the combinations are balanced. Between rhythmical and abstract, percussive and melodic, ethereal and dark, experimental and danceable. Chimera is no exception. Perhaps, the word Chimera, which means hybrid, is even symbolic for this persistent, unique duality they incorporate. We'll never know. They notoriously deny that their music has any rational or even abstractly sensible concept or narrative behind it apart from their inspirations drawn from life in different parts of the post-Soviet part of the world and from life on the internet. Also check out their even fresher release 'PHOENIXXX' (Planet Mu).
4. OnlyNow – Hollow EP
It is already a year ago since OnlyNow, an experimental side project of bass alrounder Kush Arora, debuted with one of last year's most underrated works: a breathtakingly forward looking self-titled EP combining subtly dark, cinematic cyberpunk ambient with organic percussive rhythms derived from African and Afro-diasporic styles like kuduro, tarraxo and gqom. Now, a summer later, he pushes his sound even further with an again self-released EP including a special feature on the music magazine XL8R. On top of the elaborated ethereal and dramatic soundscapes, polyrhythmic percussion patterns and industrial noise, this EP adds a strong melodic element. This makes 'Hollow' not just a vivid conceptual submersion into an Octavia Butlerian technofuture that could resemble Elysia Crampton's, but also incredibly engaging on the emotional level.
5. Siete Catorce & Stas – Fata Morgana EP (BABYLON)
There are collaborations that are a very logical result of how scenes and movements develop. Like-minded producers that release on the same labels or have a similar approach to sound. And then there are collaborations that seem to come more or less out of the blue. This joint EP by Mexican experimental and ruidosón OG Siete Catorce and the Hungarian tropicalist Stas is one of the latter category. Even though Siete Catorce seems to be extending his focus towards Europe with an EP via te Porgtuguese global bass imperium Enchufada and Stas has toured Mexico earlier this year together with the Kumbale crew, this collab was not at all obvious. And the not-so-obvious is precisely where the good things happen, because Fata Morgana EP – what's in a name – is as unexpected as it can possibly get. 'Fantasma' is best described as psychedelic DnB, whereas 'Espejismo' navigates the middle ground between future bass, avant-garde club and dark trap. And then there is Stas with a recognisably percussive flip of 'Fantasma' and Siete Catorce with an even more mystical rework of 'Espejismo' that draws in elements of afrohouse, techno, club, cumbia and ambient.
On a side note, it is also interesting to watch the aesthetic development of the Babylon label, which started off pioneering with minimalist lino print style monochrome designs and is exploring a more post-internet leaning style since a year now but in a refreshingly unique way.
6. 2y (This is Kuduro)
Exactly a year ago, the enigmatic but impressively active kuduro channel and label celebrated its first year of existence with a compilation that we also included in our 8th essential roundup. There are many reasons why This Is Kuduro is an incredibly exciting label and an example for what is lacking so often in music in this age of post-bandwagon cyber-deconstructionist grinding mill culture. 'This is Kuduro' is extraordinary in its commitment to supporting both continuity in a genre as a consistent genre and at the same time diversifying the sound within the genre instead of recycling one template as well as building a persistent community around a genre from all over the world, smoothly integrating global bass producers with people from the original kurudo scene. On this compilation you hear Nazar's dark-industrial sound alongside housy grooves from 2Pekes (Portugal) and Neki (Serbia), festival-EDM bangerism from Round2 (USA) and the unmistakably Lisbon batida flavoured beats from Dj KappaJota (Portugal), Dj Mika (Portugal) and EdiCerelac (Portugal).
Where 'This is Kuduro' is a beacon of consistence continuity against the relentless grinding mills of internet, KABLAM's music is cyber-deconstructionism in its most magnificent form. Categorisable, if possible at all, not as club music but rather as experimental electronica or even as avant-garde 'classical' music, her soundscapes draw in drums from genres like hardcore, club, baile funk and reggaeton blended with sampled pop and classical references and eery everyday sounds, which together create a throat-gripping cinematic ambient sound collage that is a powerful, confrontational mirror for our times. In this sense, the Swiss, Berlin based sound artist KABLAM can be called the Western counterpart of what WWWINGS do for the post-soviet world, yet employing an even broader range of elements combinations and vibes. And where Elysia Crampton's collages are outspokenly explicit narratives about the struggle for justice and WWWINGS' are outspokenly random, KABLAMs approach is somewhat in the middle. While feminist, anti-fascist and anti-capitalist anger about the world's state of being is always a driving force, in her music it remains implicit and observing, making the listener feel along but on a deep, subconscious level. The title 'Furiosa' is illustrative for this: an allusion to the inspiring fearlessness and decisiveness of the protagonist and anti-patriarchy freedom fighter from the 'Mad Max: Fury Road' film.
The album mix takes you on a Mad Max-like trip through our own world. Furiosa knows the direction and the mission, you as listener don't, but you trust her and that takes the fear away.
8. Pirata 3 (NAAFI)
Pirata 3 is the third in a series that intend to bridge the bleeding edge avant-garde with the known and familiar, in home country Mexico, in Latin America and also worldwide. This translates into the most unreal mashups of reggaeton, pop and baile funk with hard hitting industrial drums, weird sounds and futuristic synths. Next to established NAAFI members like Lao, Paul Marmota and ZutZut, Imaabs and HiedraH Club de Baile's Tayhana, but also the forward looking duo Santa Muerte, Mexico City cumbiaton OG Dj Bekman, enigmatic avant-club project Traxmatik and the Brazilian trainblazer Pininga, all of whom have worked with NAAFI before and now firmly embedded in Latin America's most exciting, ever extending club music family.
9. Metaljackets – Bulletproof EP (Selegna Records)
Metaljackets is the new duo project of urban-eclectic & bass producer INDISA, whom we've supported several times during the heydays of moombahton, together with EDM bangerista SVNCHZ. With this debut on Munchi's Selegna Records label, a label which is selective with its releases, they have aqcuired a solid place in the spotlights. 'Bulletproof' marks an important turning point in the relationship between the Dutch urban-eclectic scene, American EDM and the passionate under-stream remnants of the early '10s global bass scene. Where the loud festival sound pushed by Mad Decent used to be the almost irresistable magnet force for producers in the global bass family of genres, producers are now returning more towards to the sound of the undergrounds beneath the hypes of the bygone years. And the Dutch scene is doing this together with movements from other parts of the world, more integrated than ever before.
In a time where what Metaljackets describe as "pop-bow", varying from Justin Bieber to Major Lazer to Drake, reigns supreme, and cyber-deconstructions reign the avant-garde, a growing number of producers is gradually moving back to the original genres that have fed into today's sonic landscape. Don't mistake this movement for nostalgia or a lack of innovation. On the contrary, by broadening the sound scope while doing justice to the coherence of genres and avoiding homogenisation, much of this sounds refreshingly new. Much of it is still sitting quite close to festival EDM, with the combined explosiveness of DnB and hardstyle accompanying the persistent punching Dutch-kick tresillos, but it is the notable realness breathing through every vibration on this album that makes all difference.
10. Loyalty XIX – CELICA (Total Trax)
Loyalty XIX, whom I believe is also the owner of the Total Trax label, is a relatively new name and certainly one of the most recognisable pioneers of the avant-garde club movement in Spain. In my experience, one of the characteristic features of the avant-garde club movement, especially when compared to a movement like future-bass/futurebeats, was the tendency towards crude productions, using old vsts that create a subtle retro cyberfuture feeling and DIY/bedroompunk flavoured minimalistic mastering and demo-esque track structures. I must add that this does not at all apply to every artist affiliated to this broad and diverse movement, but on the whole it was characteristic enough to wonder what the industrialistic, cyborgian sound would sound like when combined with the crispy, widely reverbed epicness found in much of the more mainstream corners electronic music. Loyalty XIX' debut on the Spanish avant-garde label Total Trax is a hint direction. It takes the essence of the cybernetic club formula that has been gradually developing over a long time, but in a way that seems to polish and crystallise it into a blockbusterised version of itself. 'CELICA', a reference to the 2006 Toyota sports car as a car to choose in a racing game, is an incredibly powerful experience that, no matter how danceable still, feels like a immersive, haptic gaming experience from beginning to end.
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Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Vintage Tool Tote ~
51 comments:
- Pinky at Designs by Pinky said...
I love it....and the shoe carrier too! LOVE your demijohns, I only have one (:( You can never have too much ironstone!!!! XO, Pinky
- August 21, 2012 at 5:15 PM
- ℳartina @ Northern Nesting said...
You can never have too much ironstone! Love the toolbox and it's pretty display! Great shots of your dining room!
- August 21, 2012 at 5:19 PM
- Sunflowers With Smiles said...
Love your toolbox with the itonstone and your collection. Too!
- August 21, 2012 at 5:33 PM
- Kim @ Savvy Southern Style said...
Too much ironstone?? Never! Nice tool box and great price. I found an old shoe cart the other day with six shelves, but the price was almost $500 so not happening.
- August 21, 2012 at 5:37 PM
- chateau chic said...
Your tote is perfect for storing your ironstone. Never too much!! And the tote looks great on top of your shoe rack.
Mary Alice
- August 21, 2012 at 5:56 PM
- kathee said...
OMG Marcy it's about time! I've missed you! Love that tool box, all the ironstone and the RARE size of your shoe rack! I just found two of them for me...love displaying with them! Talk soon girlie...xoxokathee
- August 21, 2012 at 6:00 PM
- michele said...
i love these rustic gems!
come visit soon!
- August 21, 2012 at 6:04 PM
- Anajá Schmitz said...
Amei essa caixa de ferramentas. Meu marido tem uma e não quer me dar pra fazer um vaso de flor.Ficou lindo como porta pratos.
Tenha uma ótima semana.
- August 21, 2012 at 6:22 PM
- Sarah said...
What? Can one have too much ironstone? I certainly don't think so!
The tool box is a great idea for storing these plates. Looks right at home in your lovely dining room.
- August 21, 2012 at 6:37 PM
- Susy said...
Love the tool carrier ~ it can be used for so many things. And I agree, you can never have too much ironstone. It all looks great! Fun to find you on FB (:
- August 21, 2012 at 6:42 PM
- Jane@Cottage at the Crossroads said...
Your toolbox toting your ironstone is gorgeous. And no, one can never have too much ironstone!
- August 21, 2012 at 6:56 PM
- Abby said...
I love your tool carrier! There can never be too much ironstone! Everything looks great!
- August 21, 2012 at 6:59 PM
- Ribbonwood Cottage said...
That looks great~! I love it. I have one and you have given me some good ideas for using it! Great blog too.
- August 21, 2012 at 7:07 PM
- THE FARMHOUSE PORCH said...
I love everything here, but I'm really digging that mirror with the old frame! I have a really huge old one just like that, I may have to borrow your idea!
- August 21, 2012 at 7:12 PM
- Alison @ The Polohouse said...
Gorgeous, Marcy!!!
How are you my BFF?
I love that carrier and NO! you do not have too much ironstone.
I will let you know when you do, which will be .....
- August 21, 2012 at 7:15 PM
- Deserae said...
Love your little tool carrier....it looks great filled with all your ironstone pieces!!!! Too much ironstone? Never. gonna. happen!!!!! LOL
- August 21, 2012 at 7:16 PM
- Kelly said...
I don't have a tool caddy like that one. I really like yours. They can be used in so many ways. I can't wait to see your dining room reveal with it's new color!
- August 21, 2012 at 7:18 PM
- Amy Kinser said...
Love your tool box, but totally love that old shoe cart. I really would love to have one of my own. Your DR is beautiful.
- August 21, 2012 at 8:28 PM
- PCovi said...
Nice, Marcy! Great combo. Hang on to those dishes...you'd cry if you got rid of them.
- August 21, 2012 at 8:42 PM
- Angie said...
Gorgeous! I love the way your ironstone looks in your hutch, too!
- August 21, 2012 at 9:01 PM
- Stephanie said...
Your shoe cart is awesome! And a girl can never have too much ironstone!
- August 22, 2012 at 4:04 AM
- Kathy @ Creative Home Expressions said...
What a great size that tote is! I think they look wonderful filled with dishes and silverware. It suits your dining room, too.
- August 22, 2012 at 4:38 AM
- Number Fifty-Three said...
You have a beautiful dining room! I have a very similar tote filled with white plates, but I love how you added in silver, too. I'm now following and can't wait to explore more of your projects.
Have a great day!
- August 22, 2012 at 5:45 AM
- Shenita @ Embellishments by SLR said...
I love this! There's no such thing as too much ironstone!! I love how you've accessorized the tool tote and made it a functional piece in your dining room. Awesome!
- August 22, 2012 at 10:35 AM
- Decor To Adore said...
Oh I love the rustic elegance!
- August 22, 2012 at 10:54 AM
- Olive said...
Your plumbers box is splendid filled with ironstone.
- August 22, 2012 at 12:39 PM
- Lou Cinda @ Tattered Hydrangeas said...
What a GREAT find Marcy! And you an NEVER have too much ironstone....not EVER! Beautiful room....can't wait to see the reveal!
Lou Cinda :)
- August 22, 2012 at 2:12 PM
- Anne said...
Nope I don't think you can ever have too much ironstone! Love your tote!Perfect on your vintage shoe rack.
- August 22, 2012 at 4:20 PM
- Inspired by you said...
I bought a similar tool tote from the flea market at the beginning of summer. It has been sitting in my garage because I just couldn't figure out what to do with it. I must use your idea (if you don't mind). I have ironstone plates hidden away without a place to display. What a clever use of your tote!
- August 22, 2012 at 6:44 PM
- Shelia said...
Lucky you! I love your tool box and you've filled her up with lots of prettiness! Never, never! You can never have enough iron stone! It all looks lovely.
Be a sweetie,
Shelia ;)
- August 22, 2012 at 7:12 PM
- Amy Chalmers said...
love the tool tote...I have one by my front door with all my garden tools in it..its a double decker tool tote!
- August 22, 2012 at 7:50 PM
Oh Marcy, I truly love your style and home!!! Your dining room is fantastic!
If you ever tire of your tool tote and antique shoe rack, let me know, I would be happy to take it off your hands! :)
Have a beautiful night.
- August 22, 2012 at 8:41 PM
- Noble Vintage said...
so good to see you back!! :)
I smiled seeing your tool crate- I just sold one this summer in my space. I used it as a flower box! I love the way you displayed your ironstone in it- great idea. I've sold a few of those ironstone pieces recently too. Love it!
- August 23, 2012 at 8:40 AM
- thistlewoodfarm said...
What a cool piece! I love it! And no....you can never have too much ironstone :)
- August 24, 2012 at 3:04 PM
- Art and Sand said...
I love the wooden tray on the dining room table & of course your tool box.
- August 25, 2012 at 4:53 PM
- Unknown said...
Oh that's just gorgeous - have to be on the lookout for one of them now -
a new obsession lol - and your runner is beautiful!
Your newest follower - would love to have you come by for a visit and follow back when you can
- August 26, 2012 at 10:01 PM
- Little Leslie said...
I love the ironstone in the tool box. It's a great way to store and show part of your collection. I'm going to steal your idea and put my old toolbox and ironstone in my booth. I think it will be a hit. thanks,
by the way, love the cart too.
- August 27, 2012 at 9:19 AM
- Sue said...
Love your tool carrier full of ironstone,Marcy! It's a great look in the dining room. :-)
- August 28, 2012 at 4:41 PM
- Courtney ~ French Country Cottage said...
So charming! Sharing at the party tonight- thanks for linking up at Feathered Nest Friday!
- August 30, 2012 at 7:04 AM
- Kadee Willow said...
I have fallen so in love with ironstone.. it just seems getting harder and harder to find the vintage pieces. To set them in the toolbox was utterly charming! A great way to display the "overflow"! I plan on clicking on your tutorial link for the burlap runner as the color and texture create such a wonderful ambiance for your room! Nicely done! I have now become your newest follower and if you get a chance, drop on by my blog. I would love to have you over!!!
- August 30, 2012 at 2:09 PM
- Leena Milligan Lanteigne said...
I love your little shoe cart and tool box! I have a couple tool boxes like those. I don't know exactly what it is about them, but I really like them! They're great for planting flowers in! Found your blog through Courtneys' link party and will now be following and looking forward to reading more fun posts and admiring more great pics! Feel free to come see me at pinkcherubmoon.blogspot.com. Hugs, Leena
- August 30, 2012 at 5:56 PM
- Cindy said...
I am a new follower, you have a GORGEOUS house and you show if off beautifully on your blog. so glad I found you!
Hugs, Cindy
- August 31, 2012 at 10:02 AM
- Katie Mansfield said...
I am a new follower. Found you through French Country Cottage.
I love your ironstone. You can never have enough!
- August 31, 2012 at 3:17 PM
- Lee said...
Looks lovely. I love the idea.
- September 2, 2012 at 6:35 AM
- Lou Cinda @ Tattered Hydrangeas said...
Hey Marcy! I mailed your package Friday and they said you would get it tomorrow (Tuesday). Hope it is what you wanted :0. Have a great Labor Day! We were at the lake yesterday and it was beautiful! Today it is raining cats and dogs. It will be a good day to get stuff done INDOORS!
Lou Cinda :)
- September 3, 2012 at 5:27 AM
- thistlewoodfarm said...
So happy to see you back! I hope you had a wonderful break with your family! I can't believe you found that for only $15!
- September 9, 2012 at 9:01 PM
- Unknown said...
Your home is beautiful!! I have been on the lookout for a tool box, but haven't run across one yet. Love yours and how you have it displayed. Gorgeous! Returning the follow. :)
- September 19, 2012 at 8:30 AM
- Liz @ Quirky Vistas said...
What a beautiful home you have! The burlap table runner with the fringe is wonderful, along with all the lovely white dishes. Too many? Is there such a thing? Well not from the outside looking in. You have a gorgeous style. Thanks for stopping by Quirky Vistas to leave me a comment and follow! I can't wait to see what else you have been up to. Love your site!
- September 25, 2012 at 3:52 AM
- Liz @ Quirky Vistas said...
Thanks for stopping by Quirky Vistas and for checking out my project and taking the time to comment!
- September 27, 2012 at 6:07 PM
- Liz @ Quirky Vistas said...
Thanks for stopping by Quirky Vistas and for checking out my project and taking the time to comment!
- September 27, 2012 at 6:07 PM
- Unknown said...
nice info
- February 19, 2013 at 5:14 PM


text:
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