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Is it safe to buy a used laptop or computer?
In a word, no. Though many people have found inexpensive used computers that work just fine, the world of used laptops and computers can be a difficult one to navigate. People just looking for a good deal can often be swindled out of their money.
Customers are attracted to the low initial cost of purchasing a used laptop. Often, however, savings are exaggerated. Used computer retailers will compare a product's price with its initial sale value, not its current suggested retail price, thereby inflating the cost-effectiveness. Additionally, maintenance costs and the potential of earlier replacement often makes the actual value of buying used far smaller than retailers may have customers believe.
Used laptop retailers sometimes offer warranties that can give a false sense of security to customers. As a general rule, if the manufacturer's warranty is no longer valid, the new warranty is probably less than reliable. Retailers who offer warranties sometimes do not have the resources or infrastructure to be able to offer the support customers need when dealing with computer problems.
Remember, it's being sold for a reason. Sometimes, that reason can be that the old owner just wanted an upgrade, but this mentality is much rarer with computers than with cars. The computer could be slow, infected with a virus, or have damaged hardware and you might not realize this until it's too late. Buying a used laptop or computer is a gamble when it comes to computer safety.
What are some of the dangers of buying a used laptop or computer?
Many computer retailers sell "refurbished" laptops that were originally shipped with some sort of defect. If you are purchasing these under warranty from the manufacturer, the chances are slim you'll end up with a product that's still defective. Even slimmer are the odds that you'll be unable to get your money back in the case that it is. However, beware when buying refurbished laptops through a third party. Their warranties are less reliable and often leave customers with an inferior product and no way to be compensated or helped.
If the laptop is not refurbished, but simply used, follow the same advice. If you can buy a used laptop from the manufacturer, the chances of it being infected with a virus or being unable to support your use of it are pretty low. If it's under manufacturer warranty then you have an entire customer service organization of experts available to help with maintenance issues. If used laptops are being sold through a third party, however, a whole slew of problems may await you with little hope for a solution.
Battery life may be weak or practically nonexistent. The computer could be infected with malware or spyware. Other problems can include the computer having low or nonexistent memory. The computer's hardware could also be damaged. The screen may occasionally malfunction.
These are only the basic problems. Customers buying used laptops have reported strange problems, such as increased sensitivity to temperature changes, strange sounds emitting from their laptop, and screen stuttering. Sometimes, USB ports and CD/DVD drives have been known to malfunction.
But the real kicker is that if you buy a used laptop through a third party, you might get inferior or zero support when dealing with these problems.
What should I look out for when purchasing a used laptop or computer?
First and foremost, look to see who the warranty is from (if there is indeed a warranty package offered). If there's no warranty, don't buy the computer. If the warranty is from a third-party retailer, look very carefully at the specifications of the coverage. Better yet, don't buy it: Third-party retailers often lack the expertise or resources to make their coverage worthwhile. This has given many buyers an unfortunate false sense of security.
If the warranty is from the manufacturer, as always, you should be careful you know what the warranty specifies. But manufacturers may be able to come through where a third-party retailer cannot.
If you aren't buying the laptop from an online retailer and can see it in person, check everything you can. Examine the screen (one of the most expensive parts of the laptop), the keyboard, the USB ports, the CD/DVD drive, the audio output and input, the Ethernet port and the battery's life and accessibility. Batteries are one of the first things that need to be replaced on used laptops, and if you can't access the battery, you can't replace it.
It's often difficult to access a laptop's user history and even tougher to verify it. If you do choose to buy a used laptop, it might be extremely helpful to have a computer technician or expert run a complete diagnostic scan of your computer immediately upon purchase. A professional might see what you can't.
Am I better off buying a new computer or laptop?
Usually, yes. With so many affordable options from top manufacturers such as Lenovo, the risk you run by purchasing a used laptop is often too high to justify buying a used laptop. With a new laptop, you receive not only brand-new equipment, but also service and support as part of the accompanying warranty.
Buying a used laptop doesn't only cause headaches. It might not even end up being financially feasible. The maintenance and repair costs that may be incurred due to viruses, malware, spyware and hardware malfunctions can add up quickly. Also, because used laptops have a shorter lifespan, you may have to pay to replace the laptop sooner.
When you factor the benefits of buying a new laptop together with the potential hazards of buying a used laptop, you will probably find that you're better off purchasing a new computer or laptop.


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Tag Archives: Schools
Help One Now
Meet Naiderson. My sons and I watched this video together.
I do not want them growing up not knowing the needs that exist around the world. I'm also trying to instill in them biblical principles.
God teaches us not to forget the poor or the orphans. (James 1:27)
I'm trying to serve in any way I can which is why I am now a Help One Now blogger.
This is all voluntary. I do not get paid to blog for any organization. I do this on my own accord as a way of giving back and helping in some small way.
God has given me the gift of writing and I want to sow it back to Him.
The Lord seems to be reminding me lately about the necessity and importance of children receiving an education.
I just finished reading and reviewing a book called Creating Room To Read by John Woods which is about the importance of education. Mostly, children living in poverty around the world who do not have access to books or schools.
Help One Now is helping children in Haiti which Unicef reports the education statistics are very bleak.
When we watched the video of Naiderson, we were very sad. After the earthquake in Haiti, it left children like Naiderson without schools.
I've learned by John Wood and Nick Kristof that children receiving an education is one of the ways to break the cycle of poverty.
In the days ahead, I will be blogging more about the work Help One Now is involved in and how you can get involved or help.
If you are moved to give, just click on the photo above to donate towards this cause. Any amount will be helpful and appreciated.
Posted in blogging, children, faith, Missions, prayer
Also tagged Dan Miller, Education, Haiti, Help One Now, orphans, Poverty, Unicef
6 Comments

subset: commoncrawl


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(Wired) -- Apple could soon be the target of an antitrust investigation by either the Federal Trade Commission or the Department of Justice, according to numerous press reports, with the feds focusing on its new policy requiring developers to write iPhone OS apps using only Apple-approved programming languages.
The rule would effectively prohibit developers from using third-party code to create iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch apps that can easily be converted into apps for competing platforms including Android, Windows Mobile and Palm's Web OS.
Apple's new policy also prohibits third-party analytics tools from being inserted into apps, which could make it impossible for competing ad networks to serve advertisements on the iPhone OS. Incidentally, Apple just introduced its own in-app ad platform iAd. This is another point of concern for antitrust authorities, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Not a single source cited in these reports has spoken on the record about the matter, and the FTC and Justice Department declined to comment to us about the state of any such investigation. Both agencies have dealt with technology antitrust issues in the past, and according to the New York Post, which broke the story, they plan to decide which will investigate in a matter of days (the FTC never announces that it is investigating).
Microsoft famously faced a long antitrust case starting in the '90s. That case centered on the company's monopoly over the desktop. It started the FTC and later shifted to the Justice Department, which successfully pursued Microsoft in court.
Apple has long considered itself a computing rebel -- the anti-Microsoft -- famously, the destroyer of Big Brother in a Superbowl commercial. Now, Apple faces the threat of action from regulators, who see it as "The Man" using its market power to quash competition.
As in the Microsoft case, the feds' potential investigation against Apple would look at two key issues: whether Apple's developer policy has an anti-competitive effect on the market, and whether the company has justifiable business reasons for imposing those restrictions, according to Washington-based antitrust expert and Howard University law professor Andrew I. Gavil.
Basically, Apple can enforce whatever rules it wants on its own devices until it begins to dominate a market. Being the dominant player and even a monopolist isn't illegal, but at that point, a company must provide the feds with a compelling enough argument that its restrictive policies does more good than harm.
Presumably Apple will argue -- as Jobs did in an open letter regarding Adobe Flash last week -- that banning third-party software development tools prevents buggy apps and in some cases, allows developers to make use of new features faster, because they don't have to wait for third-party developers such as Adobe to make them available in the programming tool. That, Apple thinks, outweighs any collateral damage the policy causes to its competition and, by extension, consumers.
With over 85 million iPhone OS devices in circulation, Apple dominates the MP3 player market, some of the smartphone market and a small -- but growing -- percentage of mobile computing (because the million unit-selling iPad competes with netbooks, laptops and so on).
When it comes to the burgeoning mobile OS market as a whole, Apple finds itself in a situation similar to that of Microsoft, when its domination of the desktop -- and in particular, interweaving its browser so closely into the OS that users couldn't uninstall it -- drew antitrust concern.
It may not be immediately clear how Apple forcing developers to use only its SDK to develop apps for its platform hurts competing mobile platforms, but our conversations with countless iPhone app developers indicate that most write their code first for the iPhone, then for Android, and after that, for BlackBerry, Palm, Windows Mobile, Symbian and the rest -- assuming they even get around to those platforms at all.
Partially due to that phenomenon, Apple counts over 200,000 apps in its App Store while the others lag behind.
If developers were to write their apps in an open standard such as HTML5, which is capable of rendering simpler apps on multiple mobile operating systems -- or in other programming languages that could be automatically converted to the iPhone OS format, a practice currently banned by Apple -- competing mobile platforms would become more attractive simply due to offering a similar panoply of apps.
By requiring its developers to spend time coding natively for iPhone OS devices that they could be spending writing code that works across multiple platforms, Apple leverages its dominance and wrings a competitive advantage, something even Apple supporters acknowledge.
Although the iPad is the current belle of the web and people think of the iPhone as the core device of Apple's aptly named iPhone OS, Gavil says the iPod Touch represents Apple's biggest current vulnerability to such an antitrust suit.
That's because it dominates the MP3 player market and competes with all other players, unlike the iPhone, which is tied to AT&T, and the iPad, which is new, and probably won't gain much overall market share in its vaguely defined space, where it "competes with everything from laptops to Kindles."
Then, there's iTunes: a crucial link of the iPhone OS ecosystem that could spread anti-competitive advantages, since it's the only way you can add music or applications to Apple's mobile devices (without voiding the warranty).
If you own an iPod Touch, you're more likely to choose an iPhone or iPad, because you don't have to pay for the apps again or learn new software. And it was a similar bundling approach (Internet Explorer with Windows) that got Microsoft in so much hot water in the '90s.
It remains unclear whether the feds are actually investigating or whether the series of leaks are simply a way for the feds to signal to Apple that they are watching and don't like what they see.
The FCC used a similar approach last summer when Apple rejected the Google Voice app for the iPhone. That scrutiny pushed Apple and AT&T to allow apps using VoIP onto the iPhone, without the feds actually having to do much more than send a few letters.
In other words, the current noises about antitrust might just be bureaucrat-ese for what the comedian Jon Stewart said about Apple's tactics in pursuing its lost iPhone 4G prototype.
"Apple -- you guys were the rebels, man, the underdogs. People believed in you. But now, are you becoming The Man? Remember back in 1984, you had those awesome ads about overthrowing Big Brother? Look in the mirror, man! ... It wasn't supposed to be this way -- Microsoft was supposed to be the evil one!"
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Copyright 2011 Wired.com.


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Fed Watch: A Lackluster Start to the New Year
Tim Duy:
A Lackluster Start to the New Year, by Tim Duy: Incoming data has tended to disappoint. While weather impacts are taking part of the blame, I tend to think that part of the blame should fall on overly optimistic interpretations of data patterns at the end of 2013. In particular, the recently downwardly revised GDP numbers were less than spectacular abstracting away from inventory effects:
Looking at real final sales, I see slow and steady, or even a modest softening, not magic acceleration. Similarly, aggregate hours worked never signaled a dramatic change in the pace of activity (unless, of course, one suspected productivity was exploding):
Slow and steady is also the underlying message of the most recent Beige Book:
Reports from most of the twelve Federal Reserve Districts indicated that economic conditions continued to expand from January to early February. Eight Districts reported improved levels of activity, but in most cases the increases were characterized as modest to moderate. New York and Philadelphia experienced a slight decline in activity, which was mostly attributed to the unusually severe weather experienced in those regions. Growth slowed in Chicago, and Kansas City reported that conditions remained stable during the reporting period. The outlook among most Districts remained optimistic.
Also note that domestic demand will appear disappointing as long as trade is supporting the GDP numbers:
The swing in the contributions from net exports means that a smaller increase in domestic demand is necessary to boost overall GDP.
The latest data disappointments were the weak ADP report suggesting a just 139k private sector NFP gain in March and a similarly weak reading on the service side of the economy from ISM. Bill McBride notes that the ADP is not exactly a great predictor of the preliminary employment numbers. Very true. At the same time, however, they are generally consistent with the underlying trend in labor markets over time. As such I do not discount them entirely. In this case, the ADP report may also be confirming the softness seen in the ISM services report, particularly in the employment component:
One important anecdote:
- "The Affordable Care Act is creating significant financial uncertainty to healthcare organizations. With little warning, the negative impact on revenue has been unprecedented." (Health Care & Social Assistance)
See also Matthew Boesler at Business Insider. I think this was already evident in the pace of health care hiring, which has slowed to a crawl:
There will be two ways to view this story. In the near-term, it will be a negative given the constant support the sector has provided for employment over time. In the long-term, this might be an optimistic sign that the focus of the industry is turning aggressively toward achieving productivity gains. Higher productivity is an important to containing health care costs (it has been estimated that productivity growth was negative between 1990 and 2010), but will depress the demand for labor in the sector. This process may already be under way.
Inflation remains below target:
Headline inflation has edged up, but remains well below 2%, and core inflation does not show signs of acceleration:
My baseline expectation for monetary policy is that recent softer data makes little difference in the tapering plans. The Fed wants out of asset purchases and can always fall back on the "progress toward goals" excuse to pull the plug on the program. Moreover, as I said earlier this week, I believe Fed officials will become increasingly nervous about the inflation outlook as unemployment approaches 6%. They want to be done with asset purchases before they have to worry about raising rates. Weak data, particularly if it passes through to the unemployment rate, will have more of an impact on the timing and pace of interest rate hikes than tapering. With this in mind, it is not surprising that rates have sagged since the beginning of the year:
Monetary policymakers anticipate the first rate hike will be sometime in 2015. The exact timing is dependent on the evolution of activity and the fear of overshooting. At the moment, the Fed's expectation of around 3% growth looks optimistic. But even the sub-par growth to date has been enough to drive down unemployment. This opens the door to the possibility that the Fed raises interest rates despite sub-par growth. This depends, however, in a large part on Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's opinion. In today's swearing-in ceremony, Yellen said:
I will also continue the work of helping repair the damage done by the financial crisis to the economy. Too many Americans still can't find a job or are forced to work part-time. The goals set by Congress for the Federal Reserve are clear: maximum employment and stable prices. It is equally clear that the economy continues to operate considerably short of these objectives. I promise to do all that I can, working with my fellow policymakers, to achieve the very important goals Congress has assigned to the Federal Reserve.
That sounds like she is not worried about overshooting in the least. My suspicion is that she will need to see real evidence that labor market slack has evaporated in the form of faster wage growth before she begins to worry of overshooting. This suggests Yellen's expectation of the first rate hike is deeper in 2015 than some of her colleagues.
Bottom Line: Data disappointment in part is driven by excessive optimism. In any event, data are not sufficiently disappointing to derail the Fed's tapering plans. Unless activity lurches sharply downward, I think the tapering process is pretty much on autopilot. It is now all about interest rates.
Posted by Mark Thoma on Wednesday, March 5, 2014 at 12:57 PM in Economics |
Comments (15)


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#9/15 North Carolina (16-5, 4-3 ACC) at #6/6 Duke (18-4, 6-1 ACC)
Monday, Feb. 8, 2010 at 7:00 PM
Durham, N.C. • Cameron Indoor Stadium (9,314)
One of the biggest rivalries in college sports will resume on Monday, Feb. 8 as sixth-ranked Duke (18-4, 6-1 ACC) women's basketball will host ninth-ranked North Carolina (16-5, 4-3 ACC) in Cameron Indoor Stadium at 7:00 p.m. The game will be aired live nationally on ESPN2 Big Monday with Bob Wischusen (PBP) and Stephanie White (Color) calling the action.
Fans can also hear the Blue Devils on the Duke ISP Radio Network at www.GoDuke.com with Steve Barnes (PXP) and Morgan Patrick (Color) on the air. Duke is currently ranked No. 6 in both the Associated Press and the ESPN/USA Today Division I Coaches Polls, while North Carolina is No. 9 in the AP and No. 15 in the coaches poll.
Immediately following the Duke/UNC contest, senior Joy Cheek will be recognized for reaching the 1,000-point mark on Jan. 29 against Florida State.
Noting Duke...
Duke has notched a 129-10 record at Cameron the last 10 years ... during the first 11 games of the year, Duke only took five charges, but over the last 11 contests the players have taken 14 (Allison Vernerey - 4, Karima Christmas - 4, Shay Selby - 3) ... the Blue Devils are the only team in the ACC to have beaten a ranked non-conference opponent this season (No. 3 OSU and No. 25 JMU) ... the Blue Devils hold a 790-380 points in the paint advantage on the year ... Duke has been listed in the top 25 of the AP poll for 200 straight weeks, which is the longest current streak in the ACC and third nationally.
A Look At North Carolina...
North Carolina enters the contest on Monday with a 16-5 overall and 4-3 league mark. The Tar Heels have lost two straight games in league play to Florida State and Miami. So far on the season, UNC is 2-4 in road games and are 1-2 in ACC road contests.
Leading the Tar Heels on the year has been Italee Lucas (16.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, 38 treys), Cetera DeGraffenreid (13.2 points, 112 assists) and Chay Shegog (8.6 points, 5.8 rebounds). Head Coach Sylvia Hatchell is in her 35th season as a head coach and 24th year at UNC.
The Series With North Carolina...
The Blue Devils and Tar Heels will meet for the 77th time on Monday with North Carolina leading the overall series 45-31. Duke has won 18 of the last 28 games.
As of late, it has been a series of streaks since 2000 -- Duke won 12 in a row, UNC won five in a row, Duke won two in a row and UNC won four in a row before the Blue Devils won the last meeting in Cameron Indoor Stadium. In games played in Durham, N.C., the Blue Devils own a 18-13 overall record and have won nine out of the last 12.
Duke and UNC will play each other for the first time since Feb. 21, 1997 when the two squads are coming off losses. North Carolina won that contest, 81-61. The first time they played after coming off losses was on Jan. 29, 1981 as the Tar Heels won 77-65. The last Duke win with both teams coming off losses was on Feb. 15, 1989 with a 58-56 victory at home. UNC holds a 7-1 advantage all-time when both teams are coming off losses.
Blue Devil Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie will face North Carolina for the eighth time over her 18 years as a head coach. McCallie has a 1-6 record against the Tar Heels. She lost two of those contests while as head coach at Maine. McCallie's squad faced North Carolina in the 2000 NCAA Tournament in Santa Barbara, Calif., and fell 62-57 on March 18. The Black Bears also lost, 68-52, on Dec. 28, 1996 on a neutral site. Since joining the Blue Devils, McCallie has notched a 1-4 mark.
Storylines/Other Blue Devil Notes...
- When Duke is the higher-ranked team in the series with UNC, the Blue Devils own a 18-9 record. UNC owns a 19-5 record when it is ranked higher. The higher ranked team has won 37 of 51 games.
- The Blue Devils will look to avoid back-to-back ACC regular season losses on Monday for the first time since the 1999-2000 campaign when Duke fell to Virginia and Maryland.
- Junior Jasmine Thomas will go up against her former AAU teammate, Chay Shegog. Thomas is from Fairfax, Va., while Shegog is out of Stafford, Va., and they played for the Fairfax Stars.
- Duke has won 11 straight ACC games in Cameron Indoor Stadium, which dates back to the 2007-08 season.
- In three out of the last five games, Duke has registered only one double-figure scorer, which was Jasmine Thomas. In those games, the Blue Devils have notched a 1-2 record with the victory coming at Maryland (other games were UConn and BC).Even though senior Joy Cheek has struggled shooting from the field recently, she has been making up for it on the boards as she has averaged 7.0 rebounds the last six games. She pulled down 11 boards at Miami, had 11 at Maryland and posted nine against Florida State in that stretch.
- Over her first three years at Duke, senior Bridgette Mitchell registered eight double-figure scoring games, while this year the 6'0 wing has collected eight games with double-digit scoring.
- In her three years at Duke, junior Jasmine Thomas has increased her field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage, free throw percentage and scoring each year.
- During the month of January, junior Karima Christmas struggled with a finger sprain on her right pointer finger. This happened in practice following the Temple game and she reinjured it at Clemson on Jan. 7. She scored in double-figures only one time in January.
- Senior Keturah Jackson has a career high with five three-pointers made in a single season. Over her four years, she has hit 10 treys. She hit her fifth of the year at Boston College.
- To show how tough Duke's schedule has been this year, the Blue Devils went up against eight undefeated teams this season -- Connecticut (17-0), Ohio State (8-0), James Madison (7-0), Stanford (7-0), Western Kentucky (3-0), Georgia Southern (1-0), Houston Baptist (0-0) and Texas A&M (0-0).
- In three years at Duke, Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie has notched four victories against top-five ranked teams -- #3/3 Ohio State in 2009-10, #3/4 Stanford in 2008-09, while knocking off #4/3 Rutgers and #5/4 Maryland in 2007-08.
- Duke is currently ranked No. 6 in the latest RPI by Jeff Sagarin -- Connecticut (107.84), Stanford (100.81), Nebraska (98.89), Tennessee (97.64), Notre Dame (96.98) and Duke (95.31). The next closest ACC school is Florida State at No. 14 (88.73).
- Junior Jasmine Thomas has hit 43 three-pointers in only 22 games this season. As a freshman, she hit 24 in 35 games and as a sophomore she hit 28 in 30 games.
- Junior Krystal Thomas has moved into eighth place on Duke's all-time blocked shots list with 111. She is 19 blocked shots shy of seventh place all-time on the Blue Devil charts.
- The Coach P Radio Show will next take place on Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 6:00 p.m. The show will be stationed at Satisfaction Restaurant in Durham at Brightleaf Square. Make sure you get there early to secure a seat.
- Follow DukeWBBSID on and CoachPDuke on Twitter to get the latest updates on Duke women's basketball. Also, join the "Official Duke Women's Basketball Group" on Facebook to get the latest video, pictures and more. Join both now as they are free! You can win free prizes each week on both Twitter and Facebook so make sure you follow closely.
What Happened Last Time We Met...
Jasmine Thomas scored 19 points and Abby Waner hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 45.8 seconds remaining in overtime to lead No. 10 Duke past No. 9 North Carolina 81-79 on March 1, 2009, in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Karima Christmas had 18 points, Carrem Gay added 15 points and 12 rebounds and Bridgette Mitchell finished with 13 points for the Blue Devils (24-4, 11-3 ACC), who snapped a four-game losing streak to their most hated rivals in dramatic fashion, won for the fifth time in six games and clinched the No. 3 seed in this week's ACC tournament.
Rashanda McCants had 24 points to lead the Tar Heels (25-5, 10-4). They shot 45 percent but slipped to the No. 4 seed in the league tournament because they couldn't overcome 33 turnovers.
And Waner - who had missed 14 straight shots during her final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium - cashed in on the most important one.
Joy Cheek stole Cetera DeGraffenreid's pass to the block and hustled up court before dishing off to Waner in the left corner, and the senior swished a 3 to put Duke up 78-76.
Thomas, who scored eight points in overtime, hit two free throws on Duke's next possession and Christmas added a foul shot to make it a five-point game with 10.8 seconds left.
Duke Players Vs. North Carolina...
Over the last three games against UNC, junior Jasmine Thomas has averaged 15.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.7 steals. She has notched double-digit scoring in three consecutive games (16, 10, 19). In the last contest, Thomas hit 8-of-17 field goals, had four rebounds, three assists and two steals. She scored 10 out of Duke's final 16 points in the second half/overtime to give the Blue Devils the victory.
In the last game against the Tar Heels, Bridgette Mitchell notched a career best 13 points as she hit 6-of-10 field goals. Junior Karima Christmas is coming off posting 18 points, seven rebounds, two steals and two assists in 27 minutes.
Home Sweet Home...
Duke has registered a 10-1 overall record at home this season and are outscoring opponents by a 21.1 margin in those contests. The Blue Devils are averaging 4,331 fans at home this season, which ranks second in the ACC.
The Blue Devil defense is holding the opposition to only 35.9 percent shooting, forcing 23.1 turnovers and pulling down an 11.7 rebounding margin.
Jasmine Thomas is averaging 17.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.4 steals at home this year, while hitting 40.7 percent of her three-pointers. At home against ranked opponents, Thomas is averaging 20.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals. She has hit 9-of-19 treys for a 47.4 percentage.
Cheek Nets 1,000 Points...
Senior Joy Cheek became the 25th player in Duke history to register 1,000 career points on Jan. 29 against Florida State. She has appeared in 123 games and missed only one in her career, while playing in 110 straight contests.
Cheek will be recognized immediately following the Feb. 8 home contest against North Carolina for reaching the milestone.
Junior Jasmine Thomas is also approaching 1,000 points as she is 58 shy of hitting the milestone.


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CIA's Lost Magic Manual Resurfaces
Source: wired.com
At the height of the Cold War, the Central Intelligence Agency paid $3,000 to renowned magician John Mulholland to write a manual on misdirection, concealment, and stagecraft. All known copies of the document — and a related paper, on conveying hidden signals — were believed to be destroyed in 1973.But recently, the manuals resurfaced, and have now been published as "The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception."
Topics include working a clandestine partner, slipping a pill into the drink of the unsuspecting, and "surreptitious removal of objects by women."
This wasn't the first time a magician worked for a western government. Harry Houdini snooped on the German and the Russian militiaries for Scotland Yard. English illusionist Jasper Maskelyne is reported to created dummy submarines and fake tanks to distract Rommel's army during World War II. Some reports even credit him with employing flashing lights to "hide" the Suez Canal.
But Mulholland's contributions were far different, because they were part of a larger CIA effort, called MK-ULTRA, to control people's minds. Which lead to the Agency's infatuation with LSD, as David Hambling recounted here a few weeks ago:
In the infamous Operation Midnight Climax, unwitting clients at CIA brothels in New York and San Francisco were slipped LSD and then monitored through one-way mirrors to see how they reacted. They even killed an elephant with LSD. Colleagues were also considered fair game for secret testing, to the point where a memo was issued instructing that the punch bowls at office Christmas parties were not to be spiked.
The Boston Globe has put together a great visual summary of some of Mulholland's best tricks for the CIA: the shoelace pattern that means "follow me"; the hidden compartment to smuggle in an agent; the best ways to appear dumb and non-threatening. Because there's no better misdirection than appearing to be a fool.
Article from: Wired.com
Images: BostonGlobe.com
Richard Hamlin - Mind Control, Mk-Ultra & Satanic Ritual Abuse
Robert Duncan O'Finioan - Super Soldier
Military Use Of The Occult, Remote Viewing
Stewart Swerdlow - Montauk Project & Mind-Control


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Can you guess what tea this is? :-D |
For a long time, I have been thinking what "tea" should be in my life. Obviously, it's a beverage. It has also been adopted as the central subject of my free writing (I mean blog haha...). It's a source of explorations in history, culture and science. It's a hub to connect with friends. It's a subject of business (I'm not only buying, but also selling it). It could also be a subject of academic work (by the way, my partner and I are looking for an interested publisher to work together on an English translation of a great tea book, full of information and pictures, written by Dr. Wan Xiaochun, a leading tea scientist in China. I've planned to write something to introduce the book.).
To me, the question is, how should "tea" be ranked in the priority list of my life, and how should different aspect of "tea" be prioritized? And here are some of my thoughts.
1. Tea is not the most important thing in my life. I am crazy about tea. That's bad enough already, and I'm kind of glad that I'm not dependent on tea. I don't feel every day of my life has to include tea. Whenever I can have tea, I'm happy. But there were many times that I had to give up tea for days, or many consecutive days, for family, for work, or for back country camping - I naturally don't think much of tea when I don't even have a proper toilet :-p
2. Tea is fairly important in my life. Tea study is one of the major entertainments in my life (I hope this doesn't sound too nerdy...). Tea blogging and a series of activities affiliated to it are a lot of fun that I don't want to give up easily.
3. Tea business could be a little more complicated. But as long as I control it instead of letting it control me, I believe I can maintain a tea business in an enjoyable way.
4. A puerh producer I like very much often says his philosophy is, "Action comes prior to perfection." I like it very much. There are a lot things that we want to do but keep postponing, partially because "we are not ready yet", "it's not the best time yet", or "it's not good enough yet." But "doing" itself is an approach to get closer to good, better and perfect. A Tang dynasty art collector once said, "If we don't do fruitless things, how could we fill our life anyway?" So, although I feel I wouldn't have as much free time to do my tea stuff, and wouldn't be able to get closer to perfection in foreseeable time, I would keep going anyway. I will have to slow it down a bit, and have yet to figure out some practical solutions for my tea life, but it's not time to stop, yet!


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This article is more than 1 year old
Promotes illegal content, legislator claims
Google has been sued by Nassau County Legislator Jeffrey Toback who claims the search giant is promoting and profiting from child pornography, going so far as to suggest that child porn is part of its business model, according to reports.
Newsday reports that Toback filed his lawsuit with the Nassau State Supreme Court as a private citizen, with no county funds. It claims that Google "makes its money, in part by facilitating deviant criminals in the procurement, transfer and marketing of illicit and patently illegal material, including child pornography and other obscenity that is banned under federal and state law".
OUT-LAW has not had sight of the complaint, but the crux of it appears to be that sites hosting illegal material are found by searching on Google and even advertised through sponsored links from which Google makes money.
ZD Net quotes Google spokesman Steve Langdon who explained Google's policy to remove child pornography from Google's products, including its search engine, upon finding or being made aware of it.
This approach is consistent with both US law and UK law. In short, search engines are not obliged to actively police the content to which they provide access; but they must respond quickly when they receive notice of illegal material.
Copyright © 2006, OUT-LAW.com
OUT-LAW.COM is part of international law firm Pinsent Masons.


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Is the number 2.14159 (here rounded off to 5 decimal points) a fundamentally meaningful one? Add one, and you get
π = 3.14159 = 2.14159 + 1.
Of course, π is a fundamentally meaningful number, but you can split up this number in infinite ways, as in the example above, and most of the different terms have no fundamental meaning. They are just numbers.
But what does this have to do with climate? My interpretation of Daniel Bedford's paper in Journal of Geography, is that such demonstrations may provide a useful teaching tool for climate science. He uses the phrase 'agnotology', which is "the study of how and why we do not know things".


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Imagine a mosquito-borne virus that has already infected millions of people in recent outbreaks in South and Southeast Asia, the islands of the Indian Ocean, Africa and northern Italy. Although seldom fatal, it causes highly painful arthritis-like symptoms that can linger for months or even years. It's capable of adapting to spread through a mosquito species common in much of North America. And no vaccine or treatment exists to protect humans from its effects.
The scenario may sound like something dreamed up as a training exercise by public health authorities, but the virus is all too real. Called chikungunya, from an East African tribal word describing the contorted postures of its pain-wracked victims, the pathogen has been the focus of intense scientific interest ever since a 2006 outbreak on the island of La Reunion in the Indian Ocean infected about 266,000 people, killing 260 of them.
Now, researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Purdue University and Bioqual Inc. have developed an experimental vaccine for chikungunya virus and successfully tested it in monkeys. Described in a paper appearing in the March issue of Nature Medicine, the vaccine is composed of noninfectious "virus-like particles." Although coated with the same proteins that enable chikungunya to pass through cell membranes, the vaccine particles lack the proteins that chikungunya uses to replicate inside cells. They look like chikungunya to the immune systems of rhesus macaques, however, which respond to exposure by generating antibodies that defend the monkeys from infection by the real virus.
"This vaccine did an excellent job of protecting the macaques from chikungunya," said UTMB professor Stephen Higgs, one of the paper's authors. "That it worked so well in a primate model is good news -- these macaques are quite similar to humans in their response to chikungunya, and we badly need to develop an effective human vaccine for this virus."
To create the virus-like particles used in the experimental vaccine, the researchers used genetic engineering techniques to produce the structural proteins that produce the spiky, roughly spherical exterior possessed by chikungunya viruses before they have entered a cell. The proteins then assembled themselves into harmless balls that resembled particles of Sindbis virus -- a relative of chikungunya and a fellow member of the alphavirus genus, which also includes a number of insect-borne viruses capable of causing dangerous encephalitis in humans.
Serum drawn from rhesus macaques injected with the virus-like particles contained substantial levels of antibodies that inactivated chikungunya virus. Two groups of macaques were then inoculated, either with virus-like particles or with a sham solution containing no vaccine. When the researchers challenged the monkeys by injection with chikungunya 15 weeks later, they found that the vaccine had completely protected the animals from the virus.
Dr.Gary Nabel, director of the NIAID's Vaccine Research Center and corresponding author on the Nature Medicine paper, said that the vaccine's effectiveness against chikungunya had led his group to plan follow-up investigations into whether the same approach would work against other alphaviruses, such as Western and Eastern equine encephalitis viruses (both responsible for periodic outbreaks in the United States), and Africa's o'nyong-nyong virus.
Other authors of the Nature Medicine paper included Wataru Akahata, Zhi-Yong Yang, Wing-Pui Kong and Srinivas Rao of the NIAID Vaccine Research Center; Hanne Anderson and Mark G. Lewis of Bioqual Inc., Rockville, Md.; and Siyang Sun, Heather Holdaway and Michael Rossmann of Purdue University. The Intramural Research Program of the NIAID Vaccine Research Center supported this investigation.
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Materials provided by University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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This article is more than 1 year old
Military sat supplier buys UK crypto disc firm
Belt and braces
US satellite comms firm ViaSat last week bought UK secure hard drive maker Stonewood for $20m in cash and stock.
Stonewood, based in Wareham, Dorset, makes encrypted hard drives with management capabilities which it sells to governments and the military. Its main products include the FlagStone and external Eclypt Freedom encrypted hard drives.
ViaSat hopes the acquisition will help it to sell hard drive products in addition to its existing line of military-grade secure satellite systems. Stonewood's products are certified for sale to the US military but are yet to gain traction in the US. ®


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Breaking news about the UFC on FOX and TUF 18 Finale fight cards...
UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis has been forced out of his title defense Dec. 14 on FOX due to an injury. His fight with Josh Thomson has been postponed.
The flyweight title fight rematch between Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez has now been moved to Dec. 14. It was originally slated to be the main event of the TUF Finale on Nov. 30. It will now serve as the FOX 9 main event in Benavidez' hometown of Sacramento.
Gray Maynard and Nate Diaz will now headline the 11/30 card in a three-round lightweight contest.


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Four animal rights activists were in a provincial courtroom Thursday (Sept. 3) in their first hearing for break-and-enter and mischief charges linked to a large protest at an Abbotsford hog farm last year.
Dozens of fellow activists lined up at 9 a.m.outside the courthouse in Abbotsford in support of Amy Soranno, Jeff Luke Rigear, Roy Makoto Sasano and Nicholas Steven George Schafer.
RELATED: Four activists face charges linked to 2019 Abbotsford hog-farm protest
The four ultimately now face 21 charges, with Soranno herself facing five counts of break and enter and two counts of mischief. They will next appear at Abbotsford Provincial Court on Nov. 2.
Soranno spoke to media outside of the courthouse and stated that she and the others gathered are upset because they say Excelsior Hog Farm should be the ones facing charges.
"Excelsior Hog Farm was caught committing criminal animal abuse," she said, claiming video footage shows workers shocking pigs in the face with electrical prods and many other abusive behaviours. "And what consequences did they face - there were none. The industry abuses animals within communities and there is zero oversight on farms. The industry regulates itself and that should concern anyone who cares about transparency and accountability."
The BC SPCA investigated the original claims of animal abuse submitted by Soranno and her group, but in May of 2019 they said there is not sufficient evidence to support the recommendation of charges to Crown counsel. The case was reopened in August 2019, but the same decision was made not to pursue charges. That decision was one of the reasons why a similar gathering of protestors occurred at the Abbotsford SPCA at 9 a.m.
A press release added that protestors believe BC SPCA has not held Excelsior Hog Farm accountable for their proven criminal animal cruelty and the charges are partially due to the SPCA turning in whistleblowers, despite assurances of anonymity and with no warrant from the police.
The group also believes that the BC SPCA is working with the police and the factory farms, rather than on behalf of the animals. An online petition calling for charges against Excelsior has gathered more than 30,000 signatures, but the BCSPCA has closed the file.
RELATED: BC SPCA says no charges against Abbotsford hog farm
"The system is failing animals unimaginably," Soranno said. "Excelsior Hog Farm has clearly committed several instance of animal cruelty, but they are still regarded as one of the best in the industry. And if such immense suffering is the norm on the so-called best hog farms, then we encourage the public to consider what happens at the worst of them."
Speaking outside of the BC SPCA, Sasano said this case is an important one for both people and animals.
"We're going to be using this case to bring even more and more attention to the injustice that happened at Excelsior and what happens to animals around the world," he said. "When this is done, we will have Excelsior's feet over the fire, we're going to have the BC SPCA's feet over the fire because they're not doing their jobs. We're going to have the entire system and the Abbotsford PD exposed for their part in protecting animal abusers and going after us - the people trying to protect the animals."
RELATED: VIDEO: One person arrested at protest at Abbotsford pig farm
Last year, dozens of activists stormed a Harris Road hog farm to protest what they said was the inhumane treatment of animals at the site. More than 60 people rushed into Excelsior Hog Farm in late April 2019, with dozens sitting "in solidarity" with pigs.
The protest took less place than a month after PETA released hidden-camera footage which it said showed horrific conditions of animals at the farm.


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What is Readers' Theatre?
Do you want to use oral reading without it becoming boring? Try Readers' Theatre! This is a simple method that presents
literature in a dramatic form. It involves oral
dramatic reading in groups of one kind or another. You need nothing more than some scripts and a
few basic hints about the implementation of the strategy. You can
adapt the scripts from stories, obtain many scripts in
book form, or download hundreds that
are free online (more on this below). Readers' Theatre allows repeated reading without monotony and boredom. We have known for some time that repeated reading improves fluency and comprehension. The work of LaBerge & Samuels (1974) on automaticity in reading was one of the earliest studies to present evidence for its effectiveness, but in recent times Young & Rasinski, (2009) and Vasinda & McLeod (2011) have reminded us of the benefits in helpful papers. Many teachers have had great results with this simple method in their classrooms. It can be used regularly on a weekly basis (e.g. one day per week) or it can be used intensively for a block of 8-10 weeks. Research suggests that just 10 weeks of Readers' Theatre can lead to significant gains in reading fluency and comprehension.
Key Elements of the Strategy
Above: Children Reading (courtesy of 'Mom It Forward') |
- Readers' Theatre does not require any props or costumes, although
sometimes children will enjoy having one item to identify their part,
such as a hat or simple object or piece of clothing.
#2 -
Children can sit in a circle facing one another, sit on stools facing an
audience, or secure their script on a clipboard and hold it in one hand
allowing them to move their body and make basic gestures as they read
dramatically.#3 - Make sure that all participants have their own script that clearly identifies their character. You might also allow them to underline, add phrase marks, or circle punctuation as appropriate. You can allow children to share a character or you can have multiple narrators to allow greater participation.
#4 - Try to have varied parts, some more demanding, and others less demanding. This allows children of varying abilities (and even ages) to participate together.
#5 - Encourage children to practise their parts before trying to perform as a group.
#6 - A good pattern to use in introducing Readers' Theatre is to spread it over a week. On day 1 hand out the scripts to all children and explain how it works. Some teachers have the whole class working on the same material, but my preference is to see 2-3 groups used, allowing children of varying abilities to be 'stretched'. On day 2 take the groups one at a time for turns reading the script. This is effectively just round robin reading to help familiarise them with the script and story line. On days 3 and 4 allocate characters and practice. Allow children to try different parts in lesson 3 before making final choices. On day 5 perform the plays by each group for the whole class.
#7 - If you need more guidance Laurie Henry has four excellent lesson plans that show how Readers' Theatre can be introduced for the first time (here).
#8 - While literature is most commonly used for Readers' Theatre, poetry, history and biography also work well.
Readers' Theatre Scripts
As I said above, there are many resource books that contain scripts, but there are also hundreds of scripts available FREE and online. Here are some of the best resource sites:
'Dr Young's Website' with almost 200 scripts (HERE)
'Teaching Heart' has a section on 'Reader's Theater Scripts and Plays' (HERE)
'Aaron Shepard's Free Scripts' (HERE)
'Timeless Teacher' site (HERE)
Some quirky science scripts on 'Adrian Bruce's Free Educational Resources' site (HERE)
'Stories to Grow By' Scripts (HERE)
One of the largest collections of Reader's Theatre scripts is at 'Dr Young's Website' where you'll find almost 200 scripts ready to use at school or at home. Some are simple like 'The Three Billy-Goats Gruff', while other are more complex like 'Sadako and the 1000 Paper Cranes'. There are some wonderful scripts here including 'Bad Case of Stripes', and classics like 'Chicken Little', 'Cinderella', 'Hansel and Gretel' and the 'Magic Porridge Pot'. Great scripts for children aged 6-10 years.
Aaron Shepard also has some good general tips on Readers' Theatre, including scripting, staging and reading (HERE).


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One of the films included on Shout Factory's new Magoo on TV boxed DVD set is the 1970 NBC special, Uncle Sam Magoo, sponsored by Maxwell House coffee. Unlike Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, it wasn't Lee Orgel in the driver's seat this time but Hank Saperstein. It was Saperstein's idea to do a patriotically themed special with Magoo and, in an effort to capitalize on the previous success of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, he enlisted Orgel to produce it. Lee reassembled some of the old team from Christmas Carol including designers Lee Mishkin and Tony Rivera, director Abe Levitow and background artist, Bob Inman. Others from Christmas Carol who contributed were Marty Murphy on storyboards, Steve Clark as sequence director, animators Hank Smith and Xenia DeMattia, background artist David Weidman and composer Walter Scharf.
Unfortunately, the look of the film isn't nearly as consistent as previous Magoo entries like Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol or even The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo. Animation design had changed a lot in the years between Famous Adventures and Uncle Sam Magoo and the design of the show feels caught squarely between the two trends. Inking cels had disappeared in favor of the faster and cheaper process of Xeroxing drawings onto cels and a certain smoothness was lost in the character delineation. Some projects benefited from the new look, others merely looked cheap. Hand inking had a way of making weak animation drawings look palatable while the raw graphic nature of the pencil line Xeroxed onto cels had a way of highlighting weaknesses. While it wasn't entirely objectionable in this film, the Xerox line look did take some of the elegance out of the UPA TV look.
Beyond the surface delineation, however, there are other design issues. The look of the characters vary, from broad cartoon styling to a more representational look, and the sequences within the film, having been done by several different artists working as freelancers, don't always tie together well for the same reasons. One area that seems to be more consistent is the color styling, which was keyed by only one artist, Bob Inman, in pre-production.
Below are some of Bob's thumbnail keys for the special.
Original art from the special is available at Van Eaton Galleries, to see it click here.


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Bugs Britannica.
London: Chatto & Windus, 2010. Quarto, dustwrapper, colour photographs and illustrations. WAS $85. A richly-illustrated cultural guide to Britain's insect life, seen through the eyes of writers, musicians, artists and naturalists - from the great Tudor naturalist, Thomas Muffet (father of Little Miss Muffet) to Irvine Welsh's talking tapeworm in..... More


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Courtesy Johnson Controls
Johnson Controls is scheduled to begin production of battery packs this spring at its advanced battery plant in Holland for a German company's 80-horsepower all-electric outboard boat motor.
The company, Torqeedo, will use Johnson Controls' Li-ion automotive battery packs to power its award-winning 80-horsepower electric boat motor called Deep Blue.
"With our leading battery expertise, we helped our customer combine two distinct technologies — the large outboard engine and electric motor — making the Torqeedo Deep Blue system a real game-changer," said Holger Jetses, vice president and general manager for Johnson Controls Power Solutions' Original Equipment group, EMEA. "In bringing this innovative product to the marine market, we are helping to provide a cleaner, quieter and more economical boating experience for users."
Johnson Controls modified its Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) battery, making the product waterproof and resistant to salt water, for Torqeedo's marine application.
"The collaboration between Johnson Controls and Torqeedo gave birth to a new battery solution. It's the first time ever used in the marine industry," said Christoph Ballin, Torqeedo's CEO. "By integrating the high performance automotive batteries for use in boats and ships, Torqeedo is pleased to bring this truly unique product to market."
Earlier this month, Torqueedo's Deep Blue received the 2013 Innovation Award at the National Marine Manufacturers Association conference in Miami. The motor was also the overall winner of the prestigious 2012 DAME Award at the world's largest marine equipment show, METS, in Amsterdam in November. The awards jury praised Torqeedo's groundbreaking research and development, citing Deep Blue as "truly original." There were 115 marine industry innovations from 25 countries submitted in the METS competition.
Torqeedo was founded in 2005 in Starnberg, Germany, and makes a range of outboard motors ranging from 1 to 80 horsepower.


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BEIRUT (AP) — Gunmen attacked a pro-government TV station Wednesday near the Syrian capital, killing seven employees in the latest barrage of violence as world powers prepared for a high-level meeting that the U.S. hopes will be a turning point in the crisis.
Invitations to Saturday's gathering in Geneva were sent by special envoy Kofi Annan to the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council — including Syrian allies Russia and China — but not to major regional players Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The absence of those two countries, as well as the lack of any appetite for international military intervention, could make it difficult for the group to find the leverage to end the bloodshed in Syria. An effort by Annan to broker a peace plan failed earlier this year.
Diplomatic hopes have rested on Russia — Syria's most important ally and protector — agreeing on a transition plan that would end the Assad family dynasty, which has ruled Syria for more than four decades. But Moscow has rejected efforts by outside forces to end the conflict or any plan to force regime change in Damascus.
The United Nations said Wednesday that the conflict, which began in March 2011 as part of the Arab Spring that swept aside entrenched leaders across the region, is descending into sectarian warfare.
President Bashar Assad has so far appeared largely impervious to world pressure and he has warned the international community from meddling in the crisis, which has seen a sharp escalation in violence in recent months. He said this week that his country is in ''a genuine state of war,'' an increasingly common refrain from the Syrian leader.
Assad denies there is any popular will behind the uprising, which is in its 16th month, saying terrorists are driving a foreign conspiracy to destroy the country. Activists say more than 14,000 people have been killed in the violence.
An Associated Press photographer said the attack on the Al-Ikhbariya TV station in the town of Drousha, about 20 kilometers (14 miles) south of the capital Damascus, left bloodstains on the ground and bullet holes in the walls. The attack heavily damaged five portable buildings used for offices and studios.
Al-Ikhbariya is privately owned but strongly supports the regime.
''What happened today is a massacre,'' Information Minister Omran al-Zoebi told reporters. He blamed terrorists — the same term the government uses for rebels.
The rebels deny they target the media. Activists blamed the attack on elite Syrian troops who defected from the regime Tuesday. The allegation could not be independently confirmed.
Several other staff members of the TV station were wounded in the attack, which happened just before 4 a.m., an employee said. He added that the gunmen kidnapped him along with several station guards. He was released but the guards were not.
The employee, who did not give his name for fear of retribution, said the gunmen drove him about 200 meters (yards) away and he then heard an explosion from the station.
''I was terrified when they blindfolded me and took me away,'' the man said by telephone.
Hours after the attack, the station was still on the air, broadcasting news of a rally in a Damascus square by people protesting the raid.
Earlier this month, two Al-Ikhbariya employees were shot and seriously wounded by gunmen in the northwestern town of Haffa while covering clashes between government troops and insurgents.
Much of the violence that has gripped Syria in the uprising has been sanctioned by the government to crush dissent. But rebel fighters are launching increasingly deadly attacks on regime targets, and several massive suicide attacks this year suggest al-Qaida or other extremists are joining the fray.
On Wednesday, the U.N. gave a grim assessment of the crisis, saying the violence has worsened since April, when the cease-fire brokered by Annan was supposed to go into effect. There also were signs the bloodshed is descending into sectarian warfare.
''Where previously victims were targeted on the basis of their being pro- or anti-government, the Commission of Inquiry has recorded a growing number of incidents where victims appear to have been targeted because of their religious affiliation,'' a panel of U.N.-appointed human rights experts said in a report released in Geneva.
Sectarian warfare is one of the most dire scenarios in Syria, which for decades managed to ward off the kind of bloodshed that has long bedeviled Iraq and Lebanon.
Sunnis make up most of Syria's 22 million people, as well as the backbone of the opposition. But the Assads and the ruling elite belong to the tiny Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, which has bred deep resentments.
Several notorious attacks during the uprising appeared to have sectarian overtones — including the Houla massacre in May, when more than 100 people were killed in a collection of villages in central Syria.
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, who heads a U.N. panel conducting an international investigation of allegations of human rights abuses in Syria, called the country a ''crime scene.''
He said the probe into the Houla massacre concluded that forces loyal to the regime ''may have been responsible'' for many of the deaths. Investigators have said pro-regime, Alawite gunmen known as shabiha were believed to be responsible for at least some of the killings.
Houla leans toward the opposition, and most of the victims were women and children who were slain in their homes, the report said.
''The manner in which these killings took place resembles those previously and repeatedly documented to have been committed by the government,'' Pinheiro told the U.N.'s top human rights body in Geneva.
A final position on who was responsible for the massacre would require more work, Pinheiro said. But he said interviews conducted by the commission ''indicated that government forces and shabiha have committed acts of sexual violence against men, women and children.''
The U.N.'s deputy envoy for Syria, Jean-Marie Guehenno, told the Human Rights Council that the violence has ''reached or even surpassed'' levels seen before the April 12 cease-fire.
Fayssal al-Hamwi, the Syrian ambassador in Geneva, said the allegations against the government are ''quite fantastic.'' Calling the council meeting blatantly political, he said he no longer wished to participate and strode out in protest.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she has ''great hope'' that the Geneva meeting can be a turning point in the crisis.
Annan ''has developed his own very concrete road map for political transition'' from the Assad regime, Clinton said. ''We believe it embodies the principles needed for any political transition in Syria that could lead to a peaceful, democratic and representative outcome reflecting the will of the Syrian people.''
Annan, who represents the U.N. and the Arab League, said he sent invitations to Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar, and the European Union.
The absence of Iran and Saudi Arabia is significant because they support opposing sides of the conflict. Iran is one of the regime's top allies, and Saudi Arabia backs Syria's opposition. Annan gave no reason for not including the countries, although the U.S. has been adamantly opposed to Iran taking part.
Iran's U.N. ambassador, Mohammad Khazaee, said the way to resolve the Syrian crisis is ''cooperation among everybody, especially the major players in the region, based on a fair approach on the issue.''
Russia, which along with China has twice protected Assad's regime from U.N. sanctions and continued to provide it with weapons, has argued that the West should raise pressure on the Syrian opposition to sit down for talks with the government. Moscow has argued that the Syrians themselves must determine the country's future and warned that it would firmly oppose any document urging Assad to step down.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said the Geneva meeting ''should be aimed at mobilizing resources that foreign players have to create conditions needed to start an all-Syrian political process, not to predetermine its direction.'' He warned against using the conference to ''justify any future unilateral actions.''
The meeting comes also at a time of regional tensions. Syria shot down a Turkish military plane last week, saying it violated Syrian airspace.
Turkey denies that, but both sides have appeared keen to avoid escalating the matter. On Wednesday, al-Zoebi, the Syrian information minister, told Turkish TV that Syrian forces may have mistaken the plane for an Israeli aircraft. Syria and Israel are enemies.
Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut, John Heilprin and Frank Jordans in Geneva, Matthew Lee in Washington, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.


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Chicago drug maker AbbVie is a big step closer to slashing its tax bill: Its U.K. takeover target, Shire, said it would recommend accepting a new, higher bid.
That would enable AbbVie (ABBV) to switch its home base to the U.K. and pay a lower rate of tax.
The latest bid of £31.4 billion pounds ($54 billion) is the fifth since early May, and is 35% higher than the original offer.
AbbVie thinks it can achieve a "competitive tax domicile" by moving its base to the U.K., where the rate of corporate tax will be just 20% beginning next April. That's down from 26% in 2011. The U.S. rate is 35%.
Related: More companies bail on U.S. for lower taxes
The merged company would keep its operational HQ in Chicago and would continue to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
But crucially, Shire (SHPG) shareholders would own about 25% of the new company, meeting one of the conditions U.S. authorities have set to prevent companies simply moving overseas to escape higher taxes.
Relocating to the U.K. is not as simple as opening an office in London and telling authorities your tax base has changed.
Related: U.S. companies should pay U.S. taxes
A U.S. company can only really move to a more tax-friendly nation through a process known as "inversion," where acquisition activity leads a foreign partner to own more than 20% of the stock in the merged entity, among other requirements.
Shire said Monday there was still no guarantee the deal will go through. But if it does, AbbVie will have succeeded where its much bigger rival Pfizer (PFE) failed.
Pfizer offered more than $100 billion to buy AstraZeneca (AZN), and made plain that "significant" tax savings were one of the main drivers of the failed takeover bid.


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May 8, 2011
Dr. Steve Pieczenik Tells The U.S. Shadow State: "Cease And Desist" Acts of State Terrorism And Acts of Deception
Related Articles:
Dr. Steve R. Pieczenik Says America Needs A Second American Revolution
American Patriot Dr. Steve Pieczenik Says The War On Terror Is A Fraud, And Bin Laden Died Long Before May 1st, 2011
Top Government Insider: Bin Laden Died In 2001, 9/11 A False Flag
Terrorist Hunter: General Under Wolfowitz Told Me 9/11 Was False Flag
Dr. Steve Pieczenik's Must-Listen Interviews on The Alex Jones Show:
May 3, 2011: Part 1: Part 2: Part 3: Part 4: Part 5: Part 6: Part 7.
May 4, 2011: Part 1: Part 2.
May 5, 2011: Part 1: Part 2.
May 6, 2011: Part 1: Part 2.
Dr. Steve Pieczenik is not your average Joe. Trained as a psychiatrist at Harvard University, Dr. Pieczenik is an expert in psychological warfare, regime change, counter-terrorism, and other national security related fields, so when he says that 9/11 was an inside job that was committed by high officials in the Bush administration, that the war on terror is a huge scam, and that President Obama and the intelligence establishment in Washington are lying about when and how Osama Bin Laden died to advance secret political and foreign policy agendas then you better stop what you're doing and listen.
What Dr. Pieczenik reveals about the U.S. government is not new, but it makes a big difference when he says it because he is an authoritative voice who worked in several administrations and he has a lot of gravitas. Even if you don't believe 9/11 was an act of state terrorism and that the official announcement of Osama Bin Laden's death is further proof that the war on terrorism is one big government psyop that is directed against the American people and the people of the world you still have to listen to what Dr. Pieczenik has to say because of his extensive background in government and his dedicated service to America. He can't be dismissed as a crazy nut, and he is not a regular government official who is mouthing off on a radio show. His job was to track down terrorists and enemies of the United States so he knows what he is talking about. When he says that the real terrorists who did 9/11 were in the Bush administration then you better take him seriously.
The Tom Clancy character "Jack Ryan" is based on Pieczenik's life, career, and many accomplishments. Yesterday I saw the 1994 film "Clear and Present Danger," starring Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan, and I was amazed at how much the movie is true to life. In the film a covert team of U.S. soldiers are betrayed and left behind in the jungles of Colombia by senior officials in the White House. Ryan is kept out of the loop by the President but he learns about the betrayal and goes to Colombia to rescue the team. When he comes back to Washington he goes under oath and exposes the double game played by senior government officials.
U.S. presidents and the CIA are masters at playing the double game. The publicly stated rationale for U.S. action in South America in the 1980s had to do with fighting terrorism and fighting the drug war, but, as journalist Gary Webb reported in the 1990s, the CIA is the biggest drug dealer in America, so the real reasons for U.S. involvement in Colombia, Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries are not altruistic but completely criminal and evil. The U.S. military is used to rape and occupy nations, and terrorize their populations. "The United States is without any serious competition leading the world in international terrorism," said former CIA officer John Stockwell in May 1982.
It is not a matter of conspiratorial opinion or a fringe view to say that the United States government is the leading terrorist state today, and has been since the end of World War II. And like all terrorist states, it is a private terrorist state that serves private interests, which means America is being raped and pillaged too. The establishment of the private Federal Reserve Bank in 1913 by a cabal of global bankers guaranteed the destruction of America's constitutional republic and the slavery of the American people to a financial and corporate elite which operates above every nation and above the law. The most profound point Dr. Pieczenik made on the Alex Jones show was when he said: "We have a country without a military and a military without a country." The U.S. military is used as a mercenary force to serve the interests of global bankers and oligarchical corporations. These alien and traitorous forces are working for the destruction of America, and the enslavement of all mankind.
On September 11, 2001, U.S. state terrorism was inflicted on the American people, and most likely not the last time. America has been under a state of emergency since 9/11. Indeed, the whole world is under a global state of emergency. The rights and freedoms of the people in America and the West have been taken away and a global technocratic-scientific police state has been covertly established to repress dissent as more and more people lose their jobs, savings, and homes because of the greedy machinations of the plutocratic sociopaths in power.
In his interviews on the Alex Jones show, Dr. Pieczenik directed his fury at President Obama, the White House, and the intelligence establishment for constantly deceiving the American people and staging fake events for their own political purposes. Like the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany and other authoritarian states of the past century, the hijacked United States government is only able to politically engineer everyday reality, control public opinion, and indoctrinate the people because of the cooperation and complicity of the mass media.
But millions of Americans and people around the world, including Dr. Pieczenik, have had enough. The politically staged announcement of Bin Laden's death nine years late is a slap in the face. Barack Obama is a shameless professional liar just like George W. Bush. These people are sick and twisted in the head, which is why they do what they do. Obama told CBS's "60 Minutes" that the fake killing of Osama Bin Laden on May 1, 2011 "was the longest 40 minutes of my life." Clearly, he is just making stuff up as he goes along to sound authoritative and masculine. I have absolutely no respect for Obama. He is a traitor, a war criminal, and a demented deceiver. And he's not even good at lying. He has gone totally overboard in his statements on Osama Bin Laden and his administration can't keep the story straight.
"People always overdo the matter when they attempt deception," said Charles Dudley Warner, the 19th century American author who co-wrote "The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today" with Mark Twain. Most authoritarian leaders like Barack Obama and George Bush are not good at lying to the people, and they occasionally slip up when they lie. Obama can't function mentally without a teleprompter because he can't speak with an authentic and natural voice. He is a political surrogate for Wall Street, the military-industrial complex, the CIA, and other dominant cliques in Washington. His job is to lie to the people and lie to the press. The press's job is to repeat his lies, demonize government critics and heretics who question government, and thus make accountability and justice unattainable. This leaves the people to fend for themselves, to take on the job of the government and the press by forming self-sustaining communities, arming themselves for protection and security, and exposing acts of state terrorism and acts of deception by the government in order to inform the rest of the people.
Since the current political leaders and government officials in the United States, Canada, England, and other Western countries cannot be trusted in the event of an economic and societal collapse, a major war, or a major breakout of disease, the onus is on the people to change their governors and drastically reform the political culture. It is a daunting task, but with individuals like Dr. Steve Pieczenik on board, it is not impossible. We may need a few miracles to get through this difficult period in history, but looking up to God will not solve anything. The responsibility ultimately falls on the people to make the correct judgments and make the right choices.
You can listen to Dr. Steve Pieczenik on Coast to Coast AM with George Noory on Tuesday, May 10, 2011. Don't miss it.


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Astoria: The "Sophia Loren" pie at Michael Angelo's II on 23rd Avenue near 29th Street is said to blow away the neighborhood's pizza competitors, and with the not-so-innovative toppings of mozzarella, tomato, basil, and sauce. [Joey in Astoria]
Carroll Gardens: Lucali overwhelmingly won an albeit mini-poll for the hood's best pizza parlor. [Bergen Carroll]
Chinatown: The owners of new restaurant U-Choose Express on Mott Street have decided to decorate their space with an old sign from fifties diner Lonnie's Coffee Shoppe that was uncovered during renovation. [NYT via Lost City]
East Village: After only five months American Grill is giving up the ghost. Did its blintzes really fail to lure 4 a.m. drunks away from Odessa, was it flat-screen overdose, or just the constant reminder of Kiev's death by gentrification that did the mod diner in? [Eater]
Hell's Kitchen: Artisanal Premium Cheese Center is hosting a sake and cheese tasting on December 5 to "showcase the lovely synergies that superior Sakes and exquisite (Artisanal Premium) Cheeses share." [Artisanal Cheese]
Midtown East: They may be hoisting their sign today, but the 2nd Avenue Deli probably won't open until January. [Eater]
Midtown West: Bruni's first impression of Brasserie 44 (after, he notes, Rob and Robin's) : It looks Scandinavian. [Diner's Journal/NYT] Sangria 46 at 338 West 46th Street will feature a different sangria each day for the twelve days before Christmas starting on December 13 with three-berry rosé. [Grub Street]


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When it comes to clean energy and sustainability, solar looks to be a shoo-in one day for the "green" Hall of Fame. Today, more and more sports teams, sports leagues and sports organizations are embracing the advantages of solar energy.
At Lincoln Financial Field, the Philadelphia Eagles have 2,500 solar panels installed. Photo credit: NRG Solar
On Monday, the National Hockey League (NHL) released a new sustainability report, saying, in part, "We believe it's important to invest in clean, renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar and hydro in North America. Supporting clean energy will help achieve long-term benefits for our business, such as price stability."
The report went on to add: "In addition to pursuing reduction measures, five NHL arenas now supply a portion of their power needs for the facility by using on-site solar power or lower-emission energy sources, such as biogas-fueled fuel cell technology."
One good example of this growing trend are the Stanley Cup champions, the Los Angeles Kings, who play at the world-famous, multi-purpose Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. Far away from the view of fans, the Staples Center has 1,727 solar panels on its rooftop. Today, this state-of-the-art, 364-kilowatt photovoltaic (PV) system provides up to 20 percent of the facility's energy needs on a non-game day and a portion of the power it needs when the puck is dropped for the opening faceoff.
Clearly, solar has become a fan favorite. From San Jose to Winnipeg and Tampa Bay to Montreal, communities that embrace professional hockey are embracing solar energy, too. We commend the NHL and Commissioner Gary Bettman for their ongoing commitment to renewable energy and a cleaner environment. They recognize, like so many others, that clean, affordable and reliable solar energy creates thousands of new jobs on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border, pumps billions of dollars into our respective countries' economies and helps to significantly reduce pollution. We're proud to share our "green team" colors with the NHL and look forward to being part of a winning "power play" that benefits both of our great nations as well as the environment.
But hockey isn't alone in the solar spotlight. Earlier this month, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS)–home to the greatest racecar event in the world, the Indy 500–installed the largest solar-powered system of any sporting facility in the world. That's right–the world! IMS boasts a 9.6 megawatt (MW) PV system, employing 39,312 solar modules, bringing new meaning to that famous Brickyard saying: "Start your engines." Clearly, solar is off and running at the Indy 500, lapping all other forms of renewable energy.
Major League Baseball and the National Football League have "drafted" solar systems, too. At Lincoln Financial Field, the Philadelphia Eagles have 2,500 solar panels installed; the San Francisco Giants have 590 solar panels at AT&T Park; the Boston Red Sox are currently heating nearly half of their hot water with solar thermal panels; and the St. Louis Cardinals are producing 32,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of solar energy per year at Busch Stadium.
Today, solar is the fastest-growing source of renewable energy in America. But guess what? You can also make a persuasive case that we are actually #1 overall. According to a recently-released report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) natural gas and solar ran 1-2 in new capacity installed in the first half of 2014, with 1,555 MW of natural gas coming online and 1,131 MW of solar. But if you add in the 457 MW of distributed generation solar added (and in the first quarter of this year alone!)–something FERC fails to take into account–solar topped all other forms of energy with at least 1,588 MW of new installed capacity.
So quietly, without anyone really noticing, solar is now leading the energy Super Bowl at halftime. How will the rest of the year turn out? Let's just say that I like our chances a lot, and I'm betting on the home team!


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Rendering by Michelle Morelan, 2010
Interior Design by Lefevre Interiors and Greet Lefevre of the Blog Belgian Pearls
For this tutorial, we are working from photo. This office/library designed by Greet Lefevre has deep shadows and fine liner work, because of the panelling, which also requires some lighting and wood graining techniques. Don't be afraid of dark shadows; they will give your drawing dimension. And be a little looser in applying your colour and pen weights- that's the charm of a hand drawing.
Also, sometimes a gesture of an object is better than too much detail. Just like Interior Design, you read it as a gestalt, not as individual objects.
#2 Greet's Office from Schematic Life on Vimeo.
You can watch it in full screen mode by clicking the arrows beside vimeo :) It's recorded in HD, so keep the HD on.
Thanks Greet!!


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JEN BUCKLEY signed LIMITED EDITON PRINT of my original Running Hare
JEN BUCKLEY signed LIMITED EDITON PRINT of my original Running Hare
Hare watercolour print.
Contemporary LIMITED EDITION PRINT (you will receive one of 250) of my original watercolour painting on 320gm acid free archival quality water-colour paper. Printed using epson ultra chrome inks for maximum longevity, each one is highly collectable. Supplied in a sealed cellophane wrapper, unmounted ready to be mounted and framed in a mount and frame of your choice. The print comes complete with a signed and numbered certificate of provenance. The print is signed and numbered in pencil on the front .
What is Giclee print? - ' Fine Art' Giclée Prints are the highest grade of digital art prints with high levels of colour accuracy compared to originals. Produced on premium quality, acid-free, archive grade watercolour paper; Fotospeed (natural textured,bright white), 320gsm, 100% cotton, using Epson UltraChrome Inks to ensure pigment quality meets Fine Art Trade Guild quality guidelines, guaranteed for 75 years.
Artwork copyright ©2016 Jen Buckley


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Game Description
Track a missing detective through the jungles of Central America in Enigma Agency: The Case of Shadows. Who knows what ancient evil is lurking in the shadows? Become immersed in a world of mysticism, secrets and ancient curses. Interesting locations, an adventurous plot and mini-games await you in the jungle.
-Unique Puzzles
-Breathtaking adventure
-Gorgeous hand-painted scenes


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Top 10 Rooftop Bars
The 10 Best Luxury Drinking Holes In The World
Page 1 of 8
So many rooftops, so little time to enjoy the thousands around the world that have been converted into trendy nightspots with comfy sectional seating, pools and restaurants. It seems that every major city has a rooftop bar scene, and they're a must for any hotel claiming to be an arbiter of cool.To narrow it all down, we've chosen the 10 best. Some are coveted A-list hangouts demanding key-card access or a VIP pass. Some are thoughtfully designed. Or they're on the rooftops of the world's highest buildings. Still other bars were chosen for their killer views — and we don't just mean of the waitresses.


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Bangalore, India
What does a Guru want from you? Just your heart, isn't it? So dedicate your heart to the Guru, and be free!
Giving your heart to the Sadguru means that you feel that 'My Guru belongs to me, and is taking care of everything'. Just have this faith.
See, the mind can get clouded with doubts and a million other thoughts. At first you doubt yourself, then you doubt the others around you, and then you doubt the whole world around you. This doubt slowly consumes your mind.
Doubt is responsible for having destroyed so many happy families. So just drop the doubt. Having total faith in the Guru means just this –'My Guru belongs to me', and walking confidently in life with this unshakeable faith.
Just believe that - I will get everything that I deserve, and no power can stop that from happening. The One who is giving will give me everything in abundance. Whatever is mine by merit of my karma will surely come to me.
You know, this whole life will end in the blink of an eye. Just look back and see, some 30 to 40 years have just passed by in an instant! So why be troubled about the few 20-30 years more to come? That too will pass by easily.
You will spend half of that time just sleeping. The remaining 10-15 years will be spent in eating, travelling and spending time with your family and friends. So life will come to an end in the snap of a moment. Life is running at such an amazing speed. Just wake up! Realize that you are already surrendered to the Divine.
Do not ask, 'Oh, how should I surrender myself to the Divine?' Just take it for granted that you are already surrendered to the Divine. That's it.
There is no point in asking, 'How do I surrender? How do I create or feel that belongingness with the Divine?' There is no way to create that belongingness. You should just feel that 'I already belong to the Divine', that is it. Finished! Do not question that even once.
I feel, we should give this lesson to all the newlyweds also. They should understand how a husband and a wife should interact and be with each other.
Do not go about policing each other. Do not ask your spouse, 'Do you really love me?'
You should not ask such questions to your spouse, even if a doubt comes in your mind. Instead you should ask, 'Why do you love me so much? You love me so much more that what I really deserve'. Then your love grows.
Demand destroys relationships. Any demand on any one person will destroy that relationship. Got it? Do not demand.
You are here on the planet only to give and contribute, not to take. When you take this step, you will see that whatever you need will simply come to you. This is the law of Nature.
When you have this belief that you are here on this planet to give and to serve, you will find that you will receive ten times more of whatever you need or desire. Then whatever it is that you desire, you will get it in abundance.
You should not get stuck in small petty things like 'I want that person's attention', etc. Do not settle for such small things.
If a beggar approaches you, and asks for alms, what do you usually say? 'Please move ahead', isn't it. You only invite that person to a party who is already prosperous and has everything. Nature also acts in the same way.
Who do you invite home to dinner? You invite someone whose (heart) and stomach are full, isn't it? So you should bear this in mind and not go running after small trivial things like a rat.
It ruins your peace of mind, and you end up disturbing others around you also. In fact the entire environment gets spoiled because of that.
Just observe this, if a person comes and sits next to you, or if you sit next to someone who goes on complaining about something or the other, and finding faults in everything, do you feel like sitting with them? No! You feel like running away from them that very instant.
You would want to feel uplifted in someone's company, isn't it? Who in the world is bothered about how many medicines you have had, or how much your leg is hurting? Or how your neighbours are troubling you? What is the use of telling such stories to others?
See, life is a mix of everything. There are both pleasant and unpleasant times, and it goes on. Do you think that everything will happen as per your liking only?
Will everyone keep praising you all the time? No, sometimes some people may insult you as well. You have to listen to that also. What is so disappointing in that? It is nothing. Be strong and brave.
Life is like a river, and when a river flows, sometimes it is clear and pure, and sometimes some garbage, like dry leaves, twigs and branches also falls into its stream. Life is like that. Such things keep happening in life from time to time.
When you spend too much time in the company of certain people, some problem or other does arise. The more limited and narrow we make our world and our life, that much more our troubles and difficulties will increase in life. So do not stay stuck in your narrow limited view of life, and the world.
Now by this I do not mean you leave your home and your responsibilities. Many people misunderstand such things. They think, 'Gurudev has said to not get entangled in my limited world', so they abandon their duties and responsibilities towards their families. No, this is not right.
Once I was at Paris airport and was passing through airport security. There were a lot of people seeing me off, some 200-300 people. Now this one lady came; she must have been in her late 60's. She came to me and showed me a ring on her finger, and asked me, 'Is this necessary?'
I just saw the ring with a stone on it and said, 'No, it is not necessary'. And then I left for New York.
Two days later her husband called me and asked me, 'Gurudev, why did you ask my wife to divorce me?'
I replied, 'I would never say such a thing'. He is a 75 year old man, married for 45 years.
He said, 'No Gurudev, you told my wife that marriage is not necessary, so she has decided to divorce me. My wife said you have given her this advice'.
Oh God! You know, people want something else but they want it to come from my mouth! And both are my devotees. So I told him, 'No, you need not do that at all'.
We so often get caught up in small things. Instead, you should think that if someone comes and sits next to you, they should feel uplifted. You should fill their heart with joy and happiness. This is what you should do. But we end up doing the opposite.
Even at home, when a man comes back from work and is exhausted, his wife will complain and taunt him by saying, 'You did not do this, this is not right, that is not good', etc. So he ends up facing problems at work and also at home.
Ladies also have a similar problems. They work the entire day in the house, and if the husband comes back home in the evenings and does not share a few nice words with her, how will she feel? If he just sits reading the newspaper, or stays on the phone for business, then the wife also feels troubled. There needs to be understanding from both sides. But the main thing is, do not make demands or place conditions for things from your side.
You should have this firm resolve in your mind that whoever comes to me should only go back happier and lighter, no matter what our own condition may be like, because you know that God, or the Guru is there to fulfil all your needs and any lack that you may have, for God and the Guru are one.
You should only think of giving to whoever comes to you. This is the feeling that you should have from within. Remind yourself that 'I have but One Master, and everyone else are my children whom I have to serve and nourish, come what may!'
See, life is so short. So be happy at all times and spread that happiness to everyone around you. That should be our aim. Then everything will come to you.
Had this been a question from someone from Kerala, I would have given some suggestions to the son-in-law. In Kerala, it is the son-in-law who stays back at his wife's house with her family, and not the other way around (referring to the matriarchal system of lifestyle in Kerala).
In Kerala, the son leaves his own home and not the daughter. It is also the case in Meghalaya and Tripura.
But this is right. The son-in-law should not stay like a guest in the house. He should have that belongingness with his in-laws and live harmoniously with everyone around.
I feel that the sons-in-laws today do not behave like this. Yes, this used to happen one generation back. In some families, the son-in-law used to stay a bit aloof from his wife's family. Nowadays I don't think that is the case.
See, as a daughter, your mother has scolded you so many times and you have also fought with her when you were growing up, but you never felt hurt. But if your mother-in-law does just 10% of that, you feel so hurt and start burning from the inside.
Your mother and mother-in-law are of the same age and belong to the same generation. So you should see them both as equals, and take whatever they tell you in your stride.
If you had a fight with your mother one day, the next day you would quickly patch up and sit with her as if nothing had happened, isn't it? The same thing you should follow with your mother-in-law also. This is what I say, you should win everyone over with love and service. And be happy and full of enthusiasm always. What else do you need?
Did you get what I mean?
See, you will be able to grasp all this if your mind is free and open, and if you are willing to receive. If your feelings are positive, and if you are willing to receive, then there is so much for you to take. If your mind is closed and entangled in small petty things, then even if you take ten dips in the River Ganges, nothing will come out of it.
When you become hollow and empty, then you can receive so much more.


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Your task today in the 31 Days to Building a Better Blog project is to ask your readers how you can improve your blog.
At least once a year I like to write a post on my blogs inviting my readership to comment on a number of areas of my blog. These include:
- Content (topics covered, post length, types of posts, post frequency, depth of exploration of topics etc)
- Design (navigation, colors, fonts etc)
- Blog Features (RSS feed, blog tools etc)
- Community (how it could be enhanced)
While some blog readers will give you this feedback from time to time whether you ask for it or not – others like to wait to be asked and many wouldn't even give it any consideration until they are asked.
Why Survey Your Readers?
There are two main reasons why this exercise is worth doing:
- Blog Improvement – the most obvious benefit of asking readers to review your blog is that you find out what they like and don't like about it so that you can make improvements
- Reader Participation – asking this question draws readers out of their lurking state to make a comment or send an email. In doing this you actually create users who take a little more ownership of the site and who feel like they are being valued and listened to
How to Survey Your Readers
A few more tips that I've found helpful when running reader surveys
- Determine What You Want to Know First – I find that these reader surveys are more effective when I have some sense of what I want to find out first. While simply asking 'how can I improve' might get some good responses – having some ideas on possible future direction for your blog can be helpful in forming the questions that you ask readers. Use this process to test possibilities. For example in a recent reader survey at DPS (see link below) I asked if readers would be interested in buying a 'best of… ' type ebook to test whether this might be something that I could develop down the track.
- Ask Specific Questions – all some of your readers will need from you to give good feedback is an invitation to do so. However other readers will need a little guidance and asking some specific questions will give them the framework to give you the type of feedback you want. So ask a mixture of general questions (like – 'tell me what you think about my blog' and very specific ones (like 'do you like video post?' or 'would you like a forum?').
- Set 'Rules' – you'll notice in the two examples that I give below of the most recent times I've asked readers for feedback that I've set some 'rules' in place. The reason I do this is to attempt to get readers thinking positively and constructively about the feedback that they give. Comments like 'this site is crap' don't really help you improve your blog – so encourage your readers to make suggestions and be constructive.
- Set Good Expectations – the other thing it is worth doing is giving readers a sense of what you'll do with their feedback. If you intend to respond to each comment, tell readers that that is your intention. If you can't respond to each suggestion then tell that. This will save you pain later when readers email to ask why you didn't get back to them.
- Be Willing to Hear Critiques – don't ask for feedback unless you are willing to hear it (and not just the glowing praise). The whole point of this exercise is to find things you can improve upon – as a result you'll hopefully have some of your blog's weaknesses identified. If you're not in the headspace for this type of feedback simply don't ask for it.
Examples of Reader Surveys
If you'd like to see how I do this – I recently gave readers opportunities to comment on my main two personal blogs at How Can I Make ProBlogger More Useful to You? and How Can We Improve Digital Photography School.
So put together a reader survey and post it on your blog. I tend to do it simply as a post and let the resonses come in via comments or email – but you might also want to use an actual survey tool (although I find the response rate to using these is lower). Once you've done it I'd love to hear about how you found the process.
What did you learn? What would you do differently next time? Did readers respond? What tips would you give others wanting to do reader surveys?
Another Example
For another example of how do this check out this recent post over at Copyblogger in which Brian asks readers to tell him what Copyblogger means to them. It's a great question because not only does he learn a lot but readers are responding in ways that cement their readership as they're telling each other what they like about the blog.