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The encroaching famine in Somalia, Northern Kenya and Ethiopia is fighting for space in the western media. Poor farming methods, lack of infrastructure and negligence by local governments have meant that the area is pathetically equipped to deal with drought. However the regions involved are also part of some of the fastest growing economies in the world. How come that food security is still so poorly guarded? An essay by Emma Cardy Brown of Cardy-Brown & Co Ltd.
East African Growth
African populace and GDP growth has been well documented. East Africa in particular is looking forward to strong economic development accompanied by increasing population and literacy. Africa has the highest rate of people living in rural areas in the world but urban centres are attracting more people and the middle class is increasing.
The combination of population, urbanisation and GDP growth are common denominators to successful emerging markets which has seen per capita consumption drive forward throughout the BRIC's.
Domestic Protein Demand
Kenya's population has doubled over the last 25 years, to about 40 million people, and rapid population growth is set to continue. Kenya's population will grow by around 1 million per year – 3,000 people every day – over the next 40 years and will reach about 85 million by 2050. The East African Community (EAC) represents a current population of 80 million, all demanding an improvement of not just the quantity, but also the nutritional value of their food, i.e. increasing protein levels in diets.
At a time of impending food crisis on the Somalia/Ethiopia/Kenya borders – figures are being released showing Sub-Saharan African demand for food is expected to reach US$100 billion by 2015 double levels of 2000. Currently the sub-Saharan continent imports 45% of its rice and 85% of its wheat.
Meanwhile in the urban hubs of Dar es Salaam, Kampala and Nairobi increasingly western diets demand quality meat, e.g. poultry, which in Nairobi is currently more expensive than beef. Kenya is home to a number of food and agricultural companies benefitting from increasing urban middle classes. Their business model is viable because they can serve a multi-million customer base, which has increased by 25% over the last 10 years and which continues to grow rapidly. Kenchic, Kenya's largest poultry producer is riding the wave of increasing chicken and egg consumption supplying both retail and butcheries as well as having a strong presence on the high-street in the form of fast food restaurants.
The industrialised meat industry is striding to improve its efficiency – coping with the local challenge of access to quality feedstuffs such as soybeans and maize. Feed additives in the form of vitamins and phytase are arriving but only in the industrialised commercial arena. Better performing genetic stock is being sourced from industry leaders such as Aviagen, Genus.
Inefficient food production
There is a growing awareness by food companies that these urban hubs are increasingly centres of a new wealthy middle class. Global companies are starting to wake up to Africa's significance; Kentucky Fried Chicken, Coca Cola, Charoen Pokphand are all 'casing the East African urban joint'.
The critical challenge to unlocking the potential in the region is to improve basic food stuff production efficiencies. Too much of the regions basic commodity food stuffs such as maize and oilseeds are produced by inefficient subsistence farmers who are entirely at the mercy of the weather and only have access to inefficient farm inputs.
Export potential
Crop production in East Africa is constrained by a shortage of appropriate seeds. Research for appropriate maize, rice and wheat lines is underway at Syngenta, Pioneer and Monsanto. In the long term seeds developed for the region with increasing crop yields create a better food supply providing the farms are there to plant them. The region also struggles to produce soybeans due to the short day light hours in East Africa. Soybeans are the most efficient protein provider for livestock feeds and as such a critical cog in the food-production wheel. Work is being done to develop lines of soybeans which can cope with short day light hours.
Industrialised farming and associated accompanying investments could transform Africa's food security situation into a major exporter of commodities. A key to developing the agricultural production levels in East Africa is farm inputs; fertilizers, genetics (plant and animal) crop protection chemicals, infrastructure (irrigation, routes to market etc). Replacing subsistence crop raising methods with high performance farming technology would ensure Africa realises its agronomic potential.
Brazilian example
A similar progression as seen in evolution of the Brazilian farming capability which led Brazil to become an agricultural powerhouse is needed in Africa. The critical factor which distinguishes East Africa from Brazil is the high density of small holders. Brazils cerrados were largely deserted - this is not the case in East Africa – a partnership between industrial food production which engages small holders is inevitable however challenging.
Natural resources & Technology to meet regional demand
Someone described agriculture in Africa to me as 'heart breaking' and indeed the part about access to land and dealing with local authorities is exactly that. Teams of professional farmers with access to top seeds, fertilizer and crop protection method are being denied the opportunity to change Africa's farming profile because of local governance. Land ownership/leasehold is an emotive subject following a chequered history which has left behind a convoluted process compounded by corruption. There are examples where industries have evolved and flourished in Africa. Cut flowers in Kenya, cassava chips in Ghana, tilapia production in Malawi, coffee in Tanzania are examples of commercial agribusinesses.
Production centres
Within East Africa new dynamics between the trading community are showing signs of evolution. Kenya no longer has an abundance of good farm land with water, but does have a strong labour force and economy. Kenya is subsequently evolving into a processing centre, utilizing its strong logistics capability that has been borne out of its coffee, tea and horticultural industries. Tanzania and Uganda, have the opportunity to become a production centre.
Tanzania has been slow to realise its farming potential due to the inefficiencies of its land title process. Growing pressure from the World Bank will proactively encourage Tanzania to speed up the establishment of industrial farming. Given its endowments of land, climate and labour East Africa should have a strong comparative advantage in agriculture.
The economy of this corner of Africa is buoyed by the off shore oil and gas exploration. UK operator BG Group made two discoveries in the Rovuma Basin off Tanzania's southern coast in late 2010, which lifted the country's proven gas reserves to 212.3bn cubic metres. Seventeen companies, including industry majors ExxonMobil, Statoil and Petrobras, are exploring 31 licensed blocks in Tanzania. Oil and gas has brought wealth to those nations fortunate to enough to have discovered it – it will be the source of economic growth for East Africa.
Access to finance
The critical limiting factor to the development of farming in the region is access to financing. Despite the banking industry's rapid growth in the region a pitiful amount of banks' portfolios goes towards food and agribusiness. According to industry sources less than 5% of East Africa's banking portfolios is represented by agriculture. In Tanzania agriculture represents less than 2% of banking portfolios.
Drawing more comparisons to the evolution of Brazilian agriculture – now a bread basket to the world; Brazilian growers are well financed not only by banks but also the major input suppliers and commodity processors. Growers can access capital to pay for their top notch farming inputs and machinery before planting – these loans are secured against the promise of resulting crops. In Africa such access to capital is not available prior to harvest; a grower can only access financing once his barn is full. So how is that farmer supposed to fill his barn if he can't afford the seed to plant? The financing of planting has existed in Africa – in Zimbabwe – where agricultural production was strong and efficient and there was faith in the farmers by the banks. With the tragic demise of agriculture and the disappearance of the professional farmer the availability of that funding has vanished. Political risk as seen in Zimbabwe has shadowed foreign direct investment in African agriculture.
Across Africa small banks have been formed over the last 2 decades to focus on financing agriculture. Most of these entities failed. Their exposure to small scale agriculture was too concentrated, all their eggs in many tiny uneconomical baskets with no collateral. Few of the projects they financed had the critical mass to make them viable. The banks were also in many cases hi-jacked by politicians eager to dip into the available funds. Agriculture is characterised as capital intensive with narrow margins – for these specialised banks agriculture was a fiscal drain.
So what kind of financing is happening in African Agriculture?
Today donor backed funds such as AgDevCo and the African Enterprise Challenge fund – are increasingly supporting small holder agriculture. The projects are small with a focus on impact rather than financial gains. The investments are often classed as 'patient capital'. This money aims to support the development of small-holder farming enterprises and groups in targeted areas of Africa.
There are also purely charitable entities teaching subsistence farmers to be more market orientated such as Farm Africa. Both the patient capital funds and charity entities focus on commercialisation of small holder agriculture. It is not about "giving a man a fish so that he can eat for a day nor teaching a man to just fish for himself" – they are trying to teach the man to fish to feed himself, his family and then to sell a bulk to his local village. The question is can these small scale units really change the face of food security in Africa?
Industrialised farming
Perhaps large scale farming has gotten itself a bad name - especially foreign backed projects. The label 'Land Grab' has certainly been pinned on Chinese, Middle East and Korean backed projects. Certainly African nations are dealing with an influx of Chinese interest; most of Tanzania's roads have arrived courtesy of Chinese convicts. However it is industrialised farming which has the best potential to change Africa's food security situation. Production per square hectare will always be highest when top inputs/technologies and infrastructure/irrigation systems are available – and these happen with scale. Companies providing those inputs will be far more inclined to develop their 'African offering' if agriculture in the region is viable.
Investment funds
A growing number of investment funds have woken up to the potential of African food production. It is a strong investment story – with such strong local demand, high commodity prices (e.g. rice prices in Africa is on average 20% above global trading prices) and abundant resources – if you can make good agriculture happen you are going to win. The rewards can be both monetary and humanitarian.
The commercial investment funds developing industrialised agriculture in the region include; SilverStreet Capital, Phatisa Group, African Agricultural Capital, Emergent, Africa Century and Lions Head Capital – to name but a few. These groups are striving to develop food production in the region at varying points in the supply chain. The projects have a combination of critical scale, good management and access to technology. These projects have the potential to not only win strong financial gains but also to make a relevant change in food supply across the region and beyond.
East African resilience
The basic dynamics of the East African area are extremely promising but country- and political risks remain foremost in investors' minds. The higher the risk level the greater the prospective returns should be. Investors have stated that unless a project can deliver over 25% in return on investment then dealing with the 'African risk' is just not worth it. The East African economy has shown itself to be highly resilient to the factors which are shaking the west's economic ground. 2009 saw major growth across the region where as other emerging markets were struck down – e.g., Brazil and Russia. Trade flows between East Africa and Asia as well as the Gulf countries, underpins the sub-region's solid growth. The intensity of these trade relations varies across individual East African Countries, with Tanzania exporting about 25% of its exports to Asian and Middle Eastern markets in 2009.
Africa risk is neither economic nor based on bureaucracy - Africa risk is basically referring to governance. Access to financing will ultimately make the leap to industrialised agriculture feasible in Africa. This requires the development of 'faith in the system' a key to winning foreign direct investment into food production. Debt availability is also key – the African banks are searching for ways to securitize their lending to food producers – much easier to do when dealing with large scale agricultural projects with clean land title and an asset base to include buildings and machinery – harder to do for half an acre and machete.
Notes on the author: Emma Cardy-Brown is the founder of the agribusiness consultancy Cardy-Brown & Co Ltd. The company seeks to support commercial food and agricultural development in emerging markets and has successfully aided companies in all continents of the world. Emma's professional background includes management positions at Rabobank, Syngenta and Monsanto as well as years working on the family beef operation in Mato Grosso, Brazil.
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If you are looking for my giveaway post, scroll down or click HERE!
Good morning! Just quickly popping in to share a card I actually made a while back for Stamping Royalty. It didn't win obviously - but I still really like it!
I think it is the combination of rustic and gold elements that I love! I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment from MFT with gold Zing embossing powder on PTI rustic cream cardstock and rounded the bottom edges. Stamped another word and some stars from the same set with distress ink - although it is really hard to see in the pictures!
My background paper is by Crate Paper - LOVE how real that woodgrain looks!
Punched a couple of holes and tied some jute twine on, then finished off with a couple of sequins.
Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!!!

subset: commoncrawl


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Orinda Watch Newsletter - Tomorrow's City Council Meeting, Upcoming Events, Key Expert Reports Published, Corte Madera's Response to Plan Bay Area
Dear Orinda Watch Members,
I: Upcoming Events
II: Recap of 5/13th Special Meeting at Orinda City Council
III: Orinda City Council Meeting this Tuesday, May 21st
IV: Key Expert & Citizen Reports are now AVAILABLE on our website
V: Comparing Corte Madera vs Orinda City Council Responses
I: Upcoming Events:
May 21st, 7pm: Orinda City Council Regular Meeting @ Orinda Library Auditorium (see below for Further Details)
May 21st, 7pm: Pleasant Hill Citizens for Responsible Growth - Plan Bay Area Informational Meeting (Please tell all of your Pleasant Hill friends & neighbors to attend!) (see below for more details)
May 30th, 6:30pm: "The Great Planning Debate: One Bay Area...is it Good for the Bay Area, is it good for Marin" @ Marin Civic Center, San Rafael (you won't want to miss this!) [2 MTC/ABAG executives vs 2 Nationally-Recognized Land-use & Transportation Experts as Opponents] (full details below) VERY IMPORTANT...Please attend. You Must Arrive Early. Plan on being there before 6pm.
June 3rd, 6pm-8pm: Education/Training Session by Orinda Watch on the Expert Reports. Location: Orinda Community Center, Lower Level, Room 8
June 4th, Orinda City Council Meeting. Orinda Watch has requested an hour of time at the beginning of an upcoming City Council meeting to share concerns about Plan Bay Area (our letter is ATTACHED to this email).
Additional details on these events are below:
Event 1: The Great Planning Debate: One Bay Area...is it Good for the Bay Area, is it good for Marin (aka The Thrilla in Marin-illa),
When: Thursday, May 30th, 6:30pm-8:30pm
Where: Marin Board of Supervisors Chamber, Marin Civic Center, San Rafael
The Great Planning Debate:
Plan Bay Area … Is it good for the region?
Is it good for Marin?
Thursday, May 30th, 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Marin Civic Center Board of Supervisors Chamber
MAY 1st 2013, San Rafael, California: Plan Bay Area stands to make significant changes to housing and transit across the Bay Area, encouraging cities and counties to plan high-density housing around transit - sometimes referred to as "smart growth". The Institute for Leadership Studies at Dominican University is sponsoring a meeting of the minds on this subject, bringing together four leading figures on both sides of the plan.
Panelists supporting Plan Bay Area are possibly the top two speakers on this topic: Steve Kinsey, MTC commissioner and Marin County Supervisor; and Mark Luce, Napa County Supervisor and President of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). Both hold leadership positions in the two agencies that developed Plan Bay Area.
Opposing Plan Bay Area are two of the strongest opponents to the transit-oriented development and smart-growth approaches proposed in Plan Bay Area: Randal O'Toole of the Cato institute, author of "Gridlock"; and Thomas Rubin, an Oakland-based transportation consultant and former Chief Financial Officer of Southern California Rapid Transit District (1989-1994).
Panelists will speak to the issue of the evening and respond to audience questions. The League of Women Voters and community leader Richard Hall will facilitate audience questions submitted that evening by card.
Date/Time: Thursday, May 30th 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Location: Marin Board of Supervisors Chamber, Marin Civic Center, San Rafael
Moderator: Judge Verna Adams
Entry: A $5-$10 donation is requested but not required.
(This is to cover Randal O'Toole's travel expenses, he is flying in from Portland)
Event 2: Pleasant Hill Citizens for Responsible Growth - Plan Bay Area Informational Meeting
When: May 21st at 7pm
Where: Pleasant Hill Community Meeting Room at 100 Gregory Lane, Pleasant Hill, CA
Details: The Pleasant Hill Citizens for Responsible Growth (PHCRG) was founded in 1985 and is the only grassroots organization that advocates for residents on a full range of issues, including land use, education and quality of life in Pleasant Hill.
PHCRG is holding an informational meeting on May 21st on Plan Bay Area. Pleasant Hill's General Plan will be revised this year, so it's critically important that residents become informed.
PHCRG President, Mike Flake, will be the presenter at the May 21st meeting. "Mike is an engineer who has worked with CalTrans, etc. and is very knowledgeable about One Bay Area. Mike is well-known in the community and has developed an informative presentation tailored to Pleasant Hill's issues, so people can gain an appreciation for the Sustainable Communities Strategy's impacts on Pleasant Hill 'from one of their own.' "
PHCRG leadership are seeking to re-energize the organization and grow their membership, in preparation for the 2014 City Council race. Because the group advocates for residents on a wide range of issues, in addition to land-use, it's important for PHCRG to "have a seat at the table" when city officials make decisions regarding education, street and infrastructure maintenance, finances, recreation and park issues, etc.
PHCRG's eventbrite site for this event offers additional information about the group. Full color flyer is attached and can be freely distributed. Please forward this to anyone you know that wants to understand more of this issue but has yet to attend a townhall, especially anyone you know that lives in or around Pleasant Hill.
II: Recap of 5/13th Special Meeting at Orinda City Council
Thank you, Orinda Watch! You stepped up tremendously to the call to action to this past Monday's Special City Council Meeting to take citizen comments. Orinda Watch has a lot to think about after the eloquent and diligent response from the Orinda citizens at the last 2 city council meetings. The room was packed; over 200 people came out and the room was so full that the back doors had to be opened to allow overflow into the outside courtyard so as not to create a fire safety hazard. Graciously, our police department was on hand to help keep everyone well organized. Some sources have suggested that this was arguably the biggest turnout for an Orinda City Council meeting for a perhaps decade.
The meeting opened with a 45 minute presentation by staff on Plan Bay Area, which included a colloquy between staff and council members. A fair characterization of the staff report and council colloquy is that it represented a vigorous defense of Plan Bay Area, and argument that there are minimal if any risks to the City from the Plan. Orinda Watch has requested the opportunity to make a similar presentation at the beginning of an upcoming council meeting, but this time presenting concerns about the Plan—so that there will be free and open debate on this issue that has so much potential to affect our lives as Orindans and the Bay Area as a whole.
Following the staff presentation, roughly 40 citizens, limited to 3 minutes maximum, offered their public testimony with roughly 85% of the eloquently speaking out against the Plan.
The meeting concluded with City Council agreeing to send a response to the Plan Bay Area and the Environmental Impact Report with a request for a 60-day extension to allow citizens to submit comments. Citizens, however, had requested a much longer list of request in the City's comment letter. City Council also agreed to forward citizen comments to Plan Bay Area. Mayor Worth was careful to specify that the comment letters to the Council from Orinda citizens would not be attached to the comment letter the City Council filed with ABAG and MTC regarding Plan Bay Area.
Audio from the May 13th City Council Meeting
Here's the audio from the May 7th meeting as well:
Video footage of the speakers will be posted soon but the audio should suffice. Stay Tuned.
Click here for a recap on the meeting from a local news source
III: Orinda City Council Meeting this Tuesday, May 21st
Orinda Watch will be asking the City Council in a letter on Monday May 20 for the opportunity to present concerns about Plan Bay Area at an upcoming meeting, and we are suggesting June 4given the compressed time frame before ABAG and MTC intend to vote to adopt the Plan. If you are planning on attending the Council meeting this Tuesday, you may want to mention this request that all of us (you included) are making on behalf of the citizens of Orinda. However, this is NOT a major call to action like prior weeks.
Please note, though, that it is not up to Orinda Watch Leadership to decide what the citizens choose to address with City Council—that decision belongs to the individual citizen him or herself. Orinda Watch has been and always will be about providing important and accurate information, and giving the residents, ourselves included, a voice within in the city. Those that wish to continue to raise the critical issues of Plan Bay Area with the City Council while Orinda Watch formulates our next actions should do so. If you should so choose to attend this city council meeting, in addition to all of the great questions you've asked of city council, here are some possible follow-up questions:
Possible follow-up questions for City Council:
1) Staff presented a defense of Plan Bay Area and an argument that Plan Bay Area will have minimal or no impact on the City during the first 45 minutes of the Council meeting on Plan Bay Area Monday, March 13. Orinda Watch did not have the same opportunity to present the concerns about Plan Bay Area that we've identified in our many hundreds of hours of careful research into the Plan. Orinda Watch has submitted a letter to the Council s requesting that Orinda Watch have the opportunity to present the bases for citizen concerns about Plan Bay Area at the beginning of the next Council meeting. I stand behind Orinda Watch's request, and ask the Council to grant it.
1a) Orinda citizens raised a number of concerns about Plan Bay Area at the Council meetings on May 7 and May 13. Orinda citizens also submitted 40-50 letters offering their views on Plan Bay Area in advance of the May 13 meeting, in response to the Council's request. Roughly 85% of the public comments and letters submitted have been in opposition to the Plan. We would appreciate learning of the Council and staff's plan to review and analyze this information and respond to the citizens, as the Council and staff's thoughts are relevant to the City's response to and position on Plan Bay Area.
2a) Mayor Worth is current chair of MTC, and also sits on the Joint MTC Planning and ABAG Executive Committee, which considered citizen requests to extend the comment period for Plan Bay Area at its May 10, 2013 meeting, and denied those requests. Mayor Worth joined the unanimous voice vote of the MTC Commissioners at that May 10, 2013 meeting that denied the citizens' requests for an extension of the comment period.
Was the fact that ABAG and MTC had already considered and voted against extending the comment period at the May 10 meeting a relevant fact that should have been shared with the Orinda citizens attending the May 13 Council meeting?
Should the Council have shared with the Orinda citizens at the May 13 meeting before it suggested that it would submit a comment letter to ABAG and MTC requesting a 60 day extension of the comment period for Plan Bay Area and its draft EIR that ABAG and MTC had considered and denied the citizens' extension requests the previous Friday?
3) We would appreciate clarity on Mayor Worth's position on Plan Bay Area and its mandates on Orinda, given her role as chair of MTC. On the one hand, we are assured Mayor Worth will stand behind the city and limit the potential risks to the City of mandates for massive subsidized high-density development. On the other hand, there are comments like these from the April 12, 2013 MTC meeting minutes (see attached) which suggest views about Plan Bay Area that are dramatically different than what Orinda Watch concludes about the Plan:
"Commissioner Rein-Worth stated that when members of the public hear more and more about the plan, about the elements of regional planning, along with local control, local decision-making, they're really reassured about what this plan represents and the opportunities it provides."
Orinda Watch members have put in countless hundreds of hours of our own time looking into the Plan—undoubtedly know will into the thousands of hours. The more we look into the Plan, the graver our concerns. We believe our conclusions are based on unassailable analysis and indisputable facts regarding the Plan. We respect our Mayor's position as our local elected official, but we also expect all of our council members, including our Mayor, to represent the interests of the City of Orinda and its residents, and not an unelected regional entity that may or may not be acting in the interests of the City of Orinda or of the Bay Area in general (and with Plan Bay Area, we are certain that MTC and ABAG are not acting in the interests of the City or of the Bay Area as a whole).
4a) Mayor/MTC Chair Worth and city staff are on the record as stating that Orinda is a potential Priority Development Area ("PDA") and not a full-fledged Priority Development Area. Will the city put in writing that Orinda will not allow itself nor request for the city to be designated a PDA?
4b) Furthermore, and deeply troubling, is Mayor/MTC Chair Worth aware of requests from the 6 Wins coalition (the group largely responsible for the 5th Alternative to Plan Bay Area) to "Shift 25,000 RHNA units from PDAs to 'PDA-like places' " which "ABAG's executive board agreed to emphasize in its unanimous July 2011 vote?" ABAG and MTC staff at the May 10 meeting said they will be recommending modifications to the Plan that they would like ABAG and MTC to vote to approve at their June 14 meeting. Could this be one of the modifications ABAG and MTC staff will be proposing?
4c) Is Mayor/MTC Chair Worth aware that ABAG and MTC staff stated in a May 2nd memorandum to the Joint MTC Planning and ABAG Executive Committee that "Based upon input gathered at public meetings related to the draft Plan and DEIR, there is interest in MTC and ABAG considering changes to the Draft Plan prior to its adoption in July 2013." which has strong potential to have Plan Bay Area assign even more units to "high opportunity communities" (communities with high performing schools and high median income levels) like Orinda, Lafayette, & Moraga?
IV: Key Expert & Citizen Reports are now AVAILABLE on our website.
We are in possession of dozens of substantive expert and citizen reports and comment letters to Plan Bay Area and the Environmental Impact Report. It is our pleasure to present these reports to you (HERE). We will be digesting these and presenting them in the near future at a public meeting for your benefit. We are proud and thankful to all those that contributed (financially, time-wise, etc) to make these reports happen. These reports prove that Plan Bay Area is a sham, prove Plan Bay Area uses faulty data with a fraudulent process, and questions the legitimacy of these unaccountable agencies (MTC & ABAG).
V: Comparing Corte Madera vs Orinda City Council Reponses
Speaking of comment letters, we have not yet seen a copy of the letter submitted by Orinda City Council to Plan Bay Area that needed to be submitted before the May 16 4pm deadline. If anyone has a copy, please send it our way. However, we are attaching the letter that Corte Madera (the city that voted to get itself out of ABAG) submitted on behalf of its citizens. The Corte Madera City Council's letter looks impressive and attentive to the issues at hand and we hope the Orinda City Council's comment letter is of similar depth and quality in addressing concerns about Plan Bay Area and its draft EIR.
Orinda Watch Leadership
City of Corte Madera comment letter.pdf
Denial of Extension Request Memo May 2, 2013.pdf
Orinda Watch-Letter to the Orinda City Council-May 20 2013.pdf


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7th of april
Real love is when you love someone without asking anything in return. It is when even a passing smile can make your day, a simple pat on the back can make you feel alive, and the mere sound of his voice can move you to breakout into a song inside. Real love is not fate nor is it written in the stars. You yourself have to make love happen. It is a choice; a commitment that you stand up for. And even of you are certain that he loves you back, you take the risk of facing whatever pain that would come your way simply because you believe he is worth everything and more.


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Mushroom material, or material based on mushrooms, is one of the most promising new biomaterials. It's light, strong and completely biodegradable. Moreover, this material is grown using wasted resources. The technique is already applied for producing isolation and packaging material. Designers, biologists and makers have also developed chairs, lamp shades and even shoes.
This workshop is an introduction to growing your own biomaterials with fungi. You will learn lab techniques, get recipes and take home your own mycelium material object. During the workshop we will use molds to shape the material. All the necessary materials for the workshop will be supplied, but participants can also take their own mold for object of their choice (+- 1L volume, big opening to fill the mold with wood fibres).
The workshop takes place at Gluon in Brussels. Winnie Poncelet of Magma Nova and ReaGent is your teacher. This is an introductory workshop, no foreknowledge is required.
Fee: €40
Duration: 2 hours
Location: Gluon, Slachthuisstraat 4-6 1000 Brussels
Max. 15 participants
Ticketlink: https://queue.eventgoose.com/?multiSalesChannel=3b402417e34cd17c314da50dbd22dbbf


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Film Premiere & New Trailer
BRAVE GIRLS OFFICIAL TRAILER and WORLD PREMIERE DOC NYC
I'm proud to announce that the feature documentary Brave Girls will have it's World Premiere at DOC NYC on November 15th, 2018 at 7:30p. Tickets for the premiere are available HERE.
This film has been in the works for well over three years. My good friend and close collaborator Ellie Walton co-directed it alongside Yashaswi Desai, and I had the honor and privilege to be the editor.
The new official trailer for the film was just released this week as well.
The film now has a facebook page, so be sure to check that out to stay tuned news and upcoming screenings for the film.


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Hi all,
In the link provided this is the final version for the Calling Earth documentary 2017.
This documentary provides great evidence for the proof of survival after the physical body dies Please take a look at the film, you won't be disappointed!
Click to watch it on the Vimeo website.
Many thanks Lance.


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JCertif 2013 and GDays Brazza was once again a great success. Over 1800 Developers from 15 different countries (including 30 speakers and business representatives) turned this event again into the leading Developer Community Conference in Africa.
Audrey Ehounam (Google Student Ambassador from Abidjan) and Danielle Akini from GDG Douala were among the featured speakers, inspiring women to find a technology they were passionate about and make their chosen careers. Just amazing !
The special thing about JCertif and GDays Brazza Team is that, it was composed of several GDG and Java User Group leaders from around Africa.
We're still digesting the great number of (dis)like votes collected during the event !
The compete report and lesson learned will be available in few days.
Some stats:
- Attendees for JCertif University and GDays for Dev : 1840 a day
Women: 105 (Thanks Audrey Ehounam Google Student Ambassador Abidjan and Danielle Akini from GDG Douala )
- Sessions : 120
- Speakers : 30 (including Business representatives )
- Training days : 5
- Conf Days : 2
- Participating countries : 15
- Participating
User Group : 10 (GDG Douala, GDG Yaounde, GDG Brazza, GDG
Kinshasa, Burkina Faso JUG, Togo JUG, RDC-JUG, Kin-JUG, Douala JUG,
CongoJUG, Google Student Ambassador)
Noé was able to capture both GDays Brazza for Develpers and the GDays Brazza for Business experience, worth your time.
Also hundreds of pictures of JCertif University, JCertif Conference and JCertif Excursion (of course !) have been taken and shared on Google+, Facebook and other social media sites.
- JCertif Conference : https://plus.google.com/
photos/101033732619256173933/ albums/5925894537709454225
- JCertif University : https://plus.google.com/
photos/101033732619256173933/ albums/5925907860998340961
JCertif Excursion : https://plus.google.com/
photos/101033732619256173933/ albums/5925909220278481777


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Bad Credit Debt Consolidation
Poor Credit Debt Consolidation Loan
Do these types of words apply to you Do you feel as they've been branded on your torso or tattooed to your forehead for future reference Or a warning to potential loan officers or any other money-lenders The fact is, that in life, if you know the facts associated with a situation, you're on your journey to resolving that problem. Starting present, you've begun your journey.
Bad credit, debt consolidation, and loans are all pabulum for everyday conversation within the twenty-first century. The reality is which life has become much more abstract and distant from palpable objects. Yet the actual 'paper prison' that we oft face in accomplishing our goals and in achieving our own desires need not be dreaded nor even resided in. With the right tools -namely information and fortitude, we can conquer our fears. Negative credit, debt consolidation, and lending options are, after all, little than words.
Let's speak of each, both individually and together, as they are related. Bad credit is a fact regarding life, and one that may be avoided -and usually will be, the older we obtain. Simply put, as the years improvement, we grow to wish things, more issues, and always of a higher standard. Thankfully, along the way we pick up not just possessions, but also knowledge, courage, and a healthy level of caution.
Taking care of of this caution will be our desire to recover and help the bad credit and credit scores, respectively. By taking out the loan and paying it back in the end, or even a credit card that is promptly paid at the end of monthly, we build excellent credit. By paying back past financial obligations -even if slowly, and just above the level where we're paying back just the interest, we're enhancing our credit in the eye of creditors and also potential lenders.
Nonetheless, if you've got bad credit, debt consolidation may help with getting a loan. Debt consolidation can be achieved via numerous financial institutions -many of which independent of the banking business. Surprisingly, some are usually even tailored to specific mindsets, ideals and even religions.
Some common features to starting this system include -as the name implies, a singular payment to be able to debtors, often for less money than previous payments totaled at earlier, a reduction -complete or perhaps nearly-so of creditor nuisance, and credit counseling.
A thing about this last option. These days bankruptcy is rampant. For this, as of October August 2005 the laws possess changed and to file either Chapter 7 or even Chapter 13 bankruptcy may entice stiffer fines and requirements. One such necessity -by federal mandate, will be credit counseling, in which credit duty is taught. Why not get a jump on this data, so bankruptcy never need end up being an option (as well as the some other benefits to your private finance repertoire of knowledge).
Finally in the bad credit debt consolidation loan aspect is the best part: the loan. By participating in good habits now, as well as cleaning up bad credit by debt consolidation or other means, a loan is a simple prospective client even more easily greeted.
With this regard there are numerous workshops, leaflets -both in the private and public sectors, as well as the internet's plethora of informative sections, that will aid you in your interests. Best of luck!


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All of our service offerings are customizable for the scope of work you are looking for. Whether you are a Municipality, Local or Regional School District, Utility or Fire District, or a semi-public entity such as a Housing Authority, we can customize the delivery of these services to meet your organizations goals.
We offer a regionalized services discount for neighboring municipalities which provides additional benefits to our already competitive rates:
- Discounted service plans. We offer a regional discount plan of 5-15% off pricing for each municipality that participates in a regionalized plan.
- Consistent DOR representation. We strive to submit Free Cash and the year end close together on the same forms, at the same time, to ensure that participating Town's receive their approvals and certifications early.
Regionalized plans don't have to be for just interim or permanent staffing solutions. We can package any combination of services together to create a custom plan that is right for you and your neighboring Town's.
Interim Staffing Services - BMAG employs a number of employees with professional experience from each of the major municipal finance departments. Whether you are looking for a Town Accountant, Treasurer, Collector, Assessor, or Payroll Coordinator, we have the resources to assist. Most interim services are based on a retainer style contract for a fixed period of time which can range from 90 days all the way through a year or more. Permanent Solutions are available on request.
Project Based Services - From setting Enterprise rates, to a new chart of accounts, to revamping the budget process, we have the resources to help. If for some reason we don't have the person on staff to assist, then we definitely have a contact in our files who can help. Project based services are a great way to start getting through the To-Do list that is often put on the back burner so that you and your staff can focus on day to day operations. There is no project that is too small, and we have flexible pricing options available to accommodate any budget restrictions you might have.
Budget Services - We can assist with a wide range of budget services including updating the look and feel of your budget document, through full historic analysis and future projections. We have experience using most major municipal accounting systems, and are able to provide a comprehensive list of reports needed, for your system, to accomplish the project. In the past several years we have done more and more projects relating to transparency in budgeting, and our updated publication document provides non-accounting explanations for the casual user to understand the state of the town. A sample of the departmental budget document can be found in our Sample Files section, or by clicking here. For Town's who participate in our extended budgeting service, we also offer an annual update service where we will advise you along the way, and complete the updates to your published budget document for a single flat rate.
Warrant Writing - Writing the Town Meeting Warrant can be a time consuming task, and legal review by Town Counsel is often costly. Many Town's have expressed that they would like to update the look and feel of their document, or include additional content that would be useful to the Town Meeting body. The time necessary to convert the tried and true document that has been in use for years is often a deal breaker when it comes forging new ground and putting out a new format. Our Warrant Writing service combines the best of both worlds: You receive a first review of article form and legal language thereby reducing the time necessary for Counsel to review, and a publication ready format that can be printed either internally or be sent out to a printer. At sample of the Town Meeting Warrant document can be found in our Sample Files section, or by clicking here.
Procurement - Our staff has attended the Inspector General's MCPPO training classes, and a number our first line project managers are MCPPO certified to act in a procurement role for your Town. Our services range from assisting departments in putting together a scope of services, to writing the IFB or RFP, right up to a full turnkey solution taking the process from beginning to end. We can also assist with any final negotiations, contracting, or other close up items at the end of the process if necessary.
Organizational Assessments - We perform a number of services under this category including writing and updating policies and procedures, department re-organzations, recruitment and hiring, and workflow review and analysis. We understand that memorializing the practices of the past is a time consuming project that many Town's have difficulty completing. We have many templates and working documents based on State and national best practices that can streamline and expedite the process.
Management Letter Mitigation - Let us help you work through your audit's management letter findings and get you headed in the right direction for next years audit. Many minor management letter findings can be resolved through the use of a new procedure, form, or other small adjustment in departmental practices. We have a number of tools available to assist Towns in rectifying many of the most common management letter points. Have a more substantial finding that you are concerned about how to address? We can help with the research and resolution of many of the more major findings as well.
Benefits Analysis - Town sponsored employee benefits represent one of the largest costs in the budget for any municipality. As such, it is always a good idea to invest some time in the management of your sponsored plans, and the reconciliation of the employees in those plans. Many Town's are unable to commit the large amount of resources necessary to review employee and plan options on an ongoing basis. This lack of review leads to situations where the Town is paying for employees that it shouldn't be, employees contributing the incorrect rate through payroll, or worse, the Town paying for employees who are not even on a Town plan. This service is available both as a one time project option, and as an annual update service for continued review after the initial reconciliation is complete to ensure long term success.
Training - Having trouble hiring an employee from the market? There is an ever growing list of open positions out on the MMA job opportunities board, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to hire an experience and qualified candidate. We offer a range of training services to educate and promote employees to higher level positions from within your organization.
Year End & Annual Projects - Whether you need to catch up on cash, receivable, or other internal reconciliations, or need assistance certifying Free Cash or completing your Schedule A, we are there to help. Our services range from crafting policies and procedures to ensure that these activities are happening timely and efficiently, training staff on the how's and why's of getting the work complete, or completing the work ourselves to get you caught up in time for your audit.
Long Term Planning - Many Cities and Town's have begun a process of researching and implementing long term operational and capital plans to ensure that major projects and initiatives receive the appropriate funding without burdening the tax payers. We offer services for both identifying a jumping off point and creating a planning framework, through updating current projections with new data analysis and priorities. We currently offer a 2, 3, and 5 year planning process for both operational and capital planning needs.


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Faithfull cabinet (also known as Glasspaper) is probably the oldest form of abrasive still in use today. Manufactured using C-Weight paper, using flint not glass. This selection is graded for general use for finishing on wood prior to painting or varnishing.
These sheets can be cut to any shape or size making them extremely versatile for use in a wide variety of applications.
Size: 230mm x 280mm.
Availability: In stock
© 2019 Wonkee Donkee Tools
Developed by GloverSure Ltd.


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The Richards Group Client Portal
Welcome to a whole new way of working — the TRG Client Portal is your personalized website that allows you to effortlessly click, connect and communicate with The Richards Group.
It's designed to offer you time-saving tools and resources that build convenience into managing your everyday work tasks. Whether you want to view documents online,participate in plan/program surveys or view your policy information, this is the place to be. It's easily accessible, hardworking and just one of the many services available to you when you partner with us.
Posting Center
- Our document posting capabilities allow us to seamlessly provide you information
- Access to thousands of easily searchable materials on topics including compliance, safety, risk management, employee newsletters and more
- Accessible 24/7, postings from our agency are timely, relevant and easy to locate in one convenient place online
Health Care Reform
- Get the information you need about health care reform, including legislative updates, explanations and timelines
- Provide your employees the education they need to understand how reform impacts their lives
Survey Benchmarking
- Participate in benefit plan and/or P&C program surveys
- Allows you to determine how your plans and programs compare to other employers across the U.S.
Legislative Updates
- Stay up to date on the latest legislative updates and hot topics
- The Content Newsfeed on your home page is your go-to for all the latest resources related to your industry and business
Online OSHA Recordkeeping
- Find out which incidents need to be reported and which do not
- Maintain all OSHA records in one place that is safe and secure
- Run reports needed for OSHA reporting, or to see how your year is going


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A building company associated with the Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program (SIHIP) in Alice Springs town camps is setting up a ...
ABC Alice Springs Archives
Stories from 27 October, 2011 on ABC Alice Springs (10 items)
Rayleen Brown is the co-founder and owner of Kungkas Can Cook, a catering company based in Alice Springs that specialises in bush foods. ...
The Northern Territory Government has introduced legislation for a constitutional convention leading the way to a referendum on statehood in 2013. ...
Colin West is the founder and director of Top End Sounds....
A real estate agent has confirmed Erldunda Station, near Alice Springs, has been sold....
Australian swimmer Geoff Huegill has staged the comeback of a lifetime......
The physical heritage of Alice Springs may be a little more secure with new legislation introduced in parliament this week. The new Heritage Act is long ...
Collars tracked by satellite have been attached to 25 feral camels in the Simpson Desert to monitor their movement. ...
After only a few months on the market, Erldunda Station in the Northern Territory has sold....
An unwanted visitor has turned up near the Queensland border....
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What I Use for Solo Travel Photo/Video
Another day another damn dollar! Just kidding! None of this earns me any money.
Someone, somewhere, at one time, wanted to know what Josh and I use personally as our camera gear. I made a video about it. I wish this video was better. The truth is, any time you see a video on YouTube that isn't a heinous pile of shit, you should appreciate the work that went into it, because it is work.
This video is long, and somewhat rambling. I recorded it on a day when I had a terrible head cold, and shot it with my GoPro because I have a million other things to do in my life and it was the most streamlined solution. Inevitably people's videos about their video gear will suck because at that point you are INSIDE THE MATRIX and how can you record a video ABOUT THE VIDEO GEAR without using THE VERY VIDEO GEAR you are describing!?!! Ya know??
Anyway, one point that I didn't make in the video that I should've is that what I shoot with also is, for me, more budget-friendly. I do mention the Sony A7 series and its wonderful reputation, which I believe is justified, but the camera bodies and lenses are so expensive that owning one is rather prohibitive, nevermind the notion of carrying two of those bad boys.
And this is where I'd like to go on record with my personal philosophy about gear and tech overall. A camera is a tool, just like a paintbrush or a pen is a tool. The gear that you use and the money that you spend on it, in my opinion, are somewhat irrelevant. The more important thing here is the person using the tool, the talent they possess, the care and time they put into practicing their craft, and their ingenuity when it comes to making the most of what they've got.
I used to shoot with a Canon 5D Mark II - by all accounts, a great DSLR and for a long time, the leader when it came to still image and video quality. But, the goddamn thing was so big and heavy, and so lacking in modern features, that I hardly ever used it. And what good is the best camera in the world if you're not inspired to take it out and shoot with it??
So I switched to micro four-thirds. If you're not a professional and simply want to take great pictures, don't worry what the "best" or most expensive toy on the market is. Simply have fun, be creative, be inspired, and do your best with what you've got, even if it's just an iPhone.
Body: Olympus OM-D EM5II
Lens: Olympus 17mm f/1.8
Peak Design Leash strap
GoPro HERO4
Fujifilm Instax Mini
Body: Panasonic Lumix GH4
Lens: Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro Lens (weather-sealed)
Peak Design Slide strap
Rode VMGO Video Mic GO Lightweight On-Camera Microphone
Rode smartLav+
Joby GorillaPod SLR Zoom Tripod with Ball Head
ND filters
Spare batteries
Memory cards 32-128gb


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Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is breakfast included? What are the times?
A: Breakfast is included for all guests while they are registered to a guest room. The hot buffet is hosted in the restaurant and is available from 7am until 10am every morning. Hours are subject to change for holidays and special events.
Q: Can I request a specific room or building?
A: Although guests are welcome to request a specific room number or building, we are not able to guarantee a specific room in advance due to potential unforeseen guest or maintenance issues. Room numbers are assigned at the time of check in and cannot be confirmed prior to arrival. If we are unable to accommodate a specifically requested room number and a guest wishes to cancel, s/he will be held to our cancellation policy.
Q: What is the pet policy?
A: Oregon Garden Resort does allow pets; however, only select rooms are pet friendly and must be reserved in advance by calling our reservations department directly. There is a nightly pet fee of $15 per pet for up to two well behaved pets. Pets must never be left unattended in the guest room, even if they are crated. Dogs must always be on a leash when outside of the guest room.
Q: Does Oregon Garden Resort honor AAA, military, and/or senior discounts?
A: There is a 10% discount available to our AAA guests. We recommend contacting our Reservations Staff to check for the best available rate.
Q: Are tickets to the Oregon Garden included with my room?
A: Yes, one ticket is included for each guest registered to the guest room. These tickets can be used any day while the guest is staying at Oregon Garden Resort, allowing access any time during daylight hours.
Q: What are the hours of the Oregon Garden?
A: The Oregon Garden is open every day of the year. The Garden is open from 9am to 6pm May through September, and from 10am to 4pm October through April. If you are a guest of the hotel, you do not need to adhere to these times and can access the Garden any time during daylight hours.
Q: Can I have my wedding at the Oregon Garden Resort?
A: Yes - we have a variety of outdoor and indoor venue options available for hosting weddings of varying sizes, any time of the year. Visit our Weddings Page for more information.
Q: Can I have a corporate retreat or meeting at the Oregon Garden Resort?
A: Yes - We have spaces of varying sizes to host your next event or meeting. Appointed with state-of-the-art equipment, built-in projection screens, and complimentary Wi-Fi our meeting rooms can accommodate groups large or small. Visit our Meetings Page for more information.
Q: When is the pool open?
A: Our outdoor pool is open Memorial Day - Labor Day. Our outdoor hot tub is open year round.
Q: When is there live music in the Fireside Lounge?
A: The Fireside Lounge has live music every evening. View our event calendar to see who is performing.
Q: What services does the Moonstone Spa offer?
A: The Moonstone Spa offers something for everyone. Massages, facials, manicures, and pedicures are just a few of the services we offer. View our complete list of services here.


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With all the pressures of our world today, I often worry about my girls hearing mixed messages. I saw this simple and lovely plaque today (also available as canvas) on Show Offs Art. A message of faith: I am Beautiful. I am Wonderful. I am Loved. What better way for my girls to start their day than seeing this. Guess what they are getting for their birthdays? Read the rest of this entry
Category Archives: > Mind – Body – Soul
Embracing Feeling Memory
God has made me a sensitive person. I am sensing and feeling all the time. Why? And despite such acute sensations and emotions, I seem to have a shortage of memory, a certain lack of sharpness. Precision, at least in the traditional sense, is not there.
I feel, not count. I keep a poor catalog of events. My memories seem instead a loose collection of impressions. Triggered not by mention of a date, or era, or event, but rather by an experience or a sensation. Something that runs parallel and recalls the memory of my past feeling. Recalling the experience of sensation or emotion rather than a story. Read the rest of this entry
When Your Job becomes a J-O-B
When you start referring to your job as a J-O-B, I think the universe may be trying to tell you something.
I'm at a pivot point in my professional life right now. The business I ran with my husband for the last ten years is winding down since he went back to the corporate world in December. Winding down at least in the sense of what it used to be, not necessarily what it could be in the future. Now that it is only mine, I have a more or less clean slate to rebuild it to what I would like and need it to be.
But I'm still working that out in my mind, so I do feel like I'm in some kind of entrepreneurial limbo. Read the rest of this entry
On Headaches and Internalizing
Last week and even a bit into this week I've been suffering with a headache across the top of the left side of my head. This is pretty unusual for me. A few of the first mornings I woke up with a sharp pain which fluctuated to a dull ache. One morning I had an extreme sensation of lightheadedness as well. So much so that I wasn't comfortable driving my daughter to Pre-K – thankfully my dad was able to bring her. She loves school so much she was about to have a temper tantrum if she would have to stay home.
I had a sense all along that the headache was related to stress. But why now? At a time when at last I feel that things have started to settle down in my life. When I've finally allowed myself this simple, secret pleasure of expressing myself on this new blog. And when demands of my business have evened out (knocking wood not to jinx it!) so that I can start to escape the dangerous tunnel vision and see more fully around me.
How do I know this is most likely stress-related, with a slight portion of maybe needing a new pillow? Well, as it turns out, I think it's mostly related to the chronic tension I've developed in my neck and shoulders, like most of the population in our 21st century computer-working world. I'm extremely lucky to have a stepmom who is a massage therapist to help ease my knotted up issues when they crop up. And she has decided to push me the extra step to greater self-care – scheduling 3 sessions in advance for me so I am forced to honor the calendar.
But moreso than the pressure caused by non-ergonomic work space, I truly believe that this is a case of internalized stress. Our bodies and minds are connected. I don't think anyone can dispute that. And years of living with a constant level of day-to-day stress interspersed with periods of extreme stress and emotional events cannot be erased with one week of improved clarity.
In fact, I hold the theory that just when we open the door a crack to putting our walls down and relaxing a bit, our bodies sense it. All of a sudden it's okay. It's okay to feel. It's okay to not be the strong one holding up the world. It's okay to break down just a little.
Hasn't it ever happened to you that you finally get that vacation time and you come down with a cold? It's the weekend and you throw out your back for no apparent reason?
I think it may be our body's way of reminding us that it's been working overtime too. Your brain needs a break, and maybe it's finally getting one. But your body's been doing the heavy lifting support work all along. It needs a break too. Body and mind are one – carrying and protecting your soul.
So yes, I understand. I am not particularly thrilled with it, but I understand. It all works together to remind me once again that I, and all of us, need to take better care of ourselves – in ALL ways. And it's a reminder too that all the stress and damage of the last few years will probably not be resolved in a week. Just as my stepmom reminds me that my hopelessly knotted muscles took years to get this way and will require ongoing time, ongoing self-care, to release.
Awareness may be the first step. Listening the second. So I will listen to my body and try to care for it better. And I will listen to my soul and continue writing and all the other things I am forging forward with on this path. I hope you will take a moment to listen too. You are worth it.


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Yesterday, I went on a tour with Elevate Atlanta, which is exhibiting large scale public artwork downtown with the theme "Forever I Love Atlanta." My favorite exhibit is the one by Angela Johnson. I met Angela last week while she was installing her exhibit. Her art piece titled "Autumn.Love.Cycle." shows beauty as well as sensitivity and heart.
She was inspired by the homeless people she has met downtown through an artistic church outreach -
Here she talks about one lady that inspired this specific piece -
We continued to tour the other installations around the area -
Rachel Garceau explains how she created the porcelain umbrellas that hang in Woodruff Park -
Elevate Atlanta is also sponsoring performance art and free panel discussions through Friday, October 23, 2015.


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Join The Naked Truth Panel at the Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition, Tuesday August 9th 9:30am Room 119
Moderator: April Rain
Marketing Director/Marketologist,
AutoHook, powered by Urban Science
When she's not leading AutoHook's uniquely powerful marketing efforts, April is a digital marketing addict, obsessed with online trends and emerging technologies. She has a passion for empowering automotive businesses and stimulating sales by instituting gravitational marketing methods. April spent seven years at an automotive advertising agency, heading up the digital department and working with dealerships to grow their online business. April has not only worked with leading automotive companies to amplify their brand, but has also facilitated and co-hosted more than 20 successful automotive events and conferences. April has a unique ability to create communities within automotive, and foster environments where dealers and vendors work cohesively to achieve real results.
Panelist: Scott Empringham
Owner/CEO, Flash Point
For more than 20 years, Scott's passion has been helping Car Companies and their Retailers BREAKTHROUGH the clutter using digital marketing and social media to drive results in the areas that matter most: sales and service. He has worked with virtually every major OEM, their Dealer Groups, and well over 2,000 Dealers, both in the US and overseas. Scott's work is not limited to Automotive. He has worked directly with owners, CEOs and Marketing Departments of major Juice, Insurance, Plastics, and Financial Institutions to share his digital marketing and social media expertise on how best to drive new business, retain current customers and conquest the competition. Scott has led Flash Point to winning awards in "Best Use of Technology" and "Best Use of Facebook" which have captured media attention and kept his public speaking schedule very busy.
Panelist: Alex Jefferson
E-commerce Director, Proctor
Alex Jefferson is the E-Commerce director for the Proctor Dealerships, a progressive dealer group with Acura, Honda, and Subaru product lines in Tallahassee Florida. Alex has been on the front line selling cars as well as the challenging position as an internet manager. He has taken his personal experience to help grow the Proctor Organizations online presence to one of the most visible internet operations in the Southeast Region
Panelist: Kelly McNearney,
Senior Automotive Retail Strategist, Google
Kelly McNearney is Google's Senior Sales Strategist on Automotive Retail based in Venice, CA. She coaches automotive clients on Google's wide range of solutions including Google Search, YouTube, Google Display Network, programmatic and mobile solutions. Her mission is to help automotive retail brands make the most of the web. Prior to joining Google, Kelly spent 9 years at ESPN in Customer Marketing and Sales creating and selling multimedia sponsorship packages for sports advertisers. Kelly is a graduate of the University of Kansas with degrees in Journalism and Spanish. She is a former thinkLA Person of the Year award winner and is the SoCal regional lead on GoogleServe, Google's volunteer initiative.
FREE enrollment in Flash Point University ($5,000 value):
10-week email course featuring step-by-step instructions, dealership applications, and one-on-one help to get you started.
Visit: http://fpcdigital.com/dd/
Think with Google (this post is specifically on the car buying process)
Google My Business Help (support.google.com/business)
AdWords Help (support.google.com/adwords)
Heat mapping
Monitoring competitor's webpages https://Visualping.io
Good article for understanding Google Rank Brain + other ranking factors: http://searchengineland.com/faq-all-about-the-new-google-rankbrain-algorithm-234440


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Plush Puppies
Jay shreds pretty much any toy presented to him. Within seconds, the air is thick with floating cotton batting and the floor is strewn with pulverized bits of thread. An amputated arm or decapitated head might be all that's recognizable in the carnage. My dog is compelled even to rip the fuzzy yellow coating off tennis balls. He is a true 'toyminator'.
Plush Puppies are designed for dogs like Jay. They are a soft toy, stuffed with three 'eggs' or balls that have a squeaker in the middle. The concept is for the dog to rip out the eggs while preserving the toy, and they actually work for Jay. If, like Jay, your dog likes to 'hunt' the squeakers and destroys the egg, you can buy replacement eggs separately. This is one of very few toys that my dog does not immediately decimate. I love Plush Puppies also because I can spray them with DAP when I need extra calming, then tuck a treat inside the toy to entice a good whiff. It's not entirely rational, I acknowledge. A dog can smell DAP from across the room; he doesn't need to drag his nose in it to receive the benefits. But I somehow feel that it's more effective if he's up close and personal with the pheromone. It's one of many reasons you can call me crazy.
Plush Puppies are widely available in most pet stores. Petland has the largest selection if you're interested in amassing the entire menagerie, which includes a duck, turtle, fish, hedgehog, dinosaur, platypus, shark and alligator.


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WASHINGTON, March 27, 2013 — Very short column today as we work on a longer story for our companion column, The Prudent Man.
The market tanked this morning, partially in reaction to yesterday's minor bout of irrational exuberance, and partially as a result of disturbing news coming out of Europe—namely, that Cypriots are in a near-riotous mood with regard to their current government and banking crises, while Italy seems absolutely incapable of establishing a working government.
This chaos is entirely at variance with the swell Cyprus travel poster we discovered in a number of places recently, as reproduced above. Such quiet tranquility seems to be receding into the far-distant past with regard to the sinking feeling most Cypriots have today.
The later is all the more concerning as any bad news out of Italy—a major economy that's been on the fiscal edge for years now—is likely to put serious pressure on a Eurozone that doesn't need any more at the moment.
Our own markets blasted down this morning on this news, given that the only traders in evidence this week, by and large, have been the HFT machines that react only to positive or negative news rather than anything substantive with regard to the companies they trade in volume.
We'd conclude that most of 2013's first-quarter portfolio "window dressing" has now concluded, as most pros don't wait until the last minute to do this—the last minute in this case being tomorrow at 4 p.m. EDT due to the traditional Good Friday trading holiday. This will lead to a rocky and unpredictable today and tomorrow as the HAL 9000s will be in charge.
These HFT trading programs are actually incredibly bovine when it comes to any kind of value investing, but they're the only game in town, statistically, so you have to play the headlines up and down to ride along with them. Meanwhile, senior SEC officials sit on their hands, awaiting the day they can retire from the government and go make real money with the HFTs, the hedgies, and the 1 percenters. After all, why would they want to offend anyone who's running their next gravy train?
Nothing much today except what football and March Madness fans would call "The Big D": Defense. Read on:
Today's market moves:
Same Maven algorithm in place today. Take profits where and when you can and raise cash. Who knows what will happen in what's left of March. And once the patently illegal "window dressing" of portfolios is a thing of the past for the current quarter, April could get nasty if the "sell in May" aficionados push the sell buttons en masse a bit early. Working against this, sometimes, is the raft of tax refunds that start flowing toward, or being anticipated by taxpayers who are owed substantial refunds. This is "buy" money waiting to happen.
That said, we've had a recent history of miserable market performance between roughly May 1 and November 1 of each year. Some years are different, yes, but some are not. We'd actually expect a big correction soon, followed by one last burst of upward exuberance before things get worse. Then again, in this market, nearly any rational prediction gets kicked in the teeth the following day, so take our sage advice with a grain of salt.
As for the Maven, he continues to anticipate tonight's scheduled IPO pricing and tomorrow's scheduled trading of food giant Pinnacle (proposed symbol PN). The IPO could, in fact, be adversely affected by today's nonsense, and we'd suppose there's a remote chance it will be postponed. But the hype has been positive on this one so far, so we've reserved a lot of shares in advance with our broker. As indicated yesterday, however, just because you reserve IPO shares doesn't mean you'll get them. If the issue gets "hot," the Fat Cats will want—and will get—more which could leave us with few if any shares in the end.
Alternatively, we could chicken out at the end, too, depending on how this issue is priced. It's all kind of a game, really, but the Maven tends to win more often than lose, so he keeps playing the percentages, but only with a small piece of the portfolio. Take your own counsel on this one, assuming you can line up any shares. In a market like this, you know what can happen to the best-laid plans.
NOTE, repeated from yesterday:
U.S. Markets have a short week this week because of the Good Friday holiday. Bond markets will close early at 2 p.m. THURSDAY, while equity markets will keep their usual hours. On FRIDAY, all markets will be closed for trading.
Disclaimer: The author of this column maintains several active trading and investment portfolios and owns residential and investment real estate.
Any positions mentioned above describe this author's own investment decisions and should not be construed as either buy or sell recommendations. The current market is highly treacherous and all investors travel at their own risk, so caution should be exercised at all times.
Illustrations, charts, commentary, and analysis are only the author's view of current or historical market activity and don't constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any security or contract. Views, indications, and analysis aren't necessarily predictive of any future market or government action. Rather they indicate the author's opinion as to a range of possibilities that may occur going forward.
References to other reporters, analysts, pundits, or commentators are illustrative only and do not necessarily represent an endorsement of such individuals' points of view. If specific investment vehicles are mentioned in any article under this column heading, the author will always fully disclose any active or contemplated investments in said vehicles.


text: 9/11/18 WRITER OF THE WEEK Stephen Jay Gould wrote numerous books and magazine articles with the intention of making science comprehensible to the public – mainly on biology, with a particular focus in evolution. SOCIAL HOUR Join us for coffee and conversation this Wednesday the 12th at 2 PM. CROCHETING Learn the basics of the Tunisian afghan stitch and come away with a small completed project this Thursday the 13th at 2 PM. Yarn and a number of hooks will be provided. SCRATCH PROGRAMMING Children ages 7 – 12 can learn about computer programming and create their own game this Thursday the 13th at 4 PM. Tags: Writer of the weekSocial Hourcrochetingscratch programming


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Peter Corbett, Founder/President, Click 3x
Paul McDonough, VP Conferences and Events, DMA
Augie Ray, Social Media Expert, ExperienceTheBlog.com
Manya Susoev, Digital Marketing and Content Strategist, Manya.co
The Amazon Phone
Sources: Conversation with Bezos, Ad Age analyzes, Mashable on FireFly, VentureBeat analysis
More Tools Than Sense
Sources: Pando article
Disruption Or Distraction
Sources: The full Lepore article, The Slate synopsis
The Move To Private Ad Exchanges
Sources: Ad Age reports
XBOX One ads turn on their consoles in living rooms, showcasing their design flaw.
The Redskins lose their trademark and still go on fighting.
American Apparel CEO is officially discharged and the ad press goes wild.
LadBrokes pisses off everyone to get a viral video.
Delta tweets US victory and makes a geographical fool of themselves.
Squarespace – the all-in-one platform that makes it easy to create your own website. For a free trial and 10% off, go to squarespace.com and use offer code "BeanCast."
Thanks to Recursive Squirrel for bandwidth and Email Transmit for our newsletter service. Also thanks to Craig Jacks for providing music for The BeanCast.


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On February 7, 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature approved funding for buying 10 acres of land near Moundsville, West Virginia for the subsequent construction of a prison for the new state. At that time the land was not within the city limits of Moundsville but its location was considered ideal since it was near the (then) State Capital of Wheeling. The construction began in 1867 and was completed in 1876 and the pen became fully operational.
Yes my Grandpa Whitworth did hard time in the Moundsville pen. It was a nightmare he told my Dad. The whole family moved to Moundsville because of Grandpa's doing time starting in 1915 at the pen. My Dad was 6 years old at the time and he had been born in Clarksburg. Dad told me about Grandpa Whitworth's most harrowing time on death row in the Moundsville prison. I prayed about disclosing this family secret, but the time has come to air this family secret. The shame of the Whitworth family is that a lifelong Republican my Grandpa Whitworth took a GOVERNMENT JOB as a guard in 1915. His most harrowing ordeal in the pen occurred two years later in 1917.
I don't know a lot of our family history but I know Grandpa had lived in Bluefield on the border with Virginia. I don't know when or where he met Cora Enid Burton who would later be my Grandma Whitworth. I'm not sure when they moved to Clarksburg, but I know my Dad was born there and he was the third child out of four. I got my middle name from Grandpa Whitworth, but Dad had wanted to honor his father by naming his last son after his father who had died while Dad was gone during WWII. Mom could be stubborn and she put her foot down and relented on the middle name only. I don't think even Grandpa liked his name because I was always told he went by H. O. instead of Hiram Oakley.
Back to Grandpa his hard time in the prison was a harrowing ordeal. Grandpa worked on death row in the prison and he hated the job. After just working for two years Grandpa was taken hostage by the inmates in an uprising on death row. He told the family an inmate held a shiv to his neck. He was saved by a large black inmate who Grandpa described as being 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighing 265 pounds who had been saved by Jesus. "He grabbed the assailant and shook him like a rag doll." Grandpa said. It was shortly after this incident that Grandpa decided to go into the grocery store business.
As long as I can remember I have had a relationship with the Moundsville Prison. My Dad's store the B & K Market was located ½ block east of the northeast corner of the Moundsville Prison. Grandma Whitworth lived 1 block further east of the prison. When I was a little boy in the early 1950's I would go to the store to help my dad at the B & K Market. On the warm summer nights inmate trustees were regular customers at the B & K Market. They were wearing their prison uniforms with a big T on the back of the shirt. The inmates purchased Coke, chips, ice cream cones, Hostess Cup Cakes and various merchandise. I never had any fear of these inmates because they were always joyous in their free time. They loved to joke around with Dad and his little boy.
Growing up in Moundsville was a joyous time. The old gang would often go fishing in a pond at the prison farm. The farm was located about 1-1/2 miles east out 11th Street in Moundsville. The pond was well stocked with bass, bluegill and catfish. Inmates worked the farm and grew vegetables for the institution. They were even quartered at the farm, as they were all trustees. In the late 1950's the farm was discontinued because the walk away rate grew to about 30% per month.
Then in June 1959 my sister Barbette had got married and moved into a little apartment at the side of the B & K Market. Barbette got pregnant in late 1959 and she was walking on the sidewalk on the north side of the Moundsville Prison. She had just passed west of the wagon gate when she heard two large thuds. She turned around and there were two large escapees who had jumped off the wall getting up off of the ground and running. She almost had my nephew early right then. She called the Moundsville Police Department of which my brother Kimmie was a member immediately. The escapees were captured within ½ hour and she got $100 for each escapee.
I grew up in Moundsville and I always heard a story that Moundsville had first choice of whether to have the Moundsville Prison or West Virginia University located in Moundsville. The State Legislature approved both institutions on February 7, 1866. Back in those days prison labor was a major economic incentive because industries could be set up within the prison using prison labor. These economic incentives along with the undesirable element of having a group of teenage college students around caused Moundsville to select the prison. I can't vouch for the truth of these stories but these are the stories I always heard. The prison industries part is absolutely true but I can't vouch for the choice part.
The Moundsville Penitentiary is said to be the most haunted institution in the country.
Since 1995 when inmates were transferred to the new prison there are tours available for the prison.
Every Halloween there is a haunted Halloween exposition within the Moundsville prison is named "Dungeon of Horrors".
One week ago today on January 17, 2010 my daughter Jen was visiting with me and we got talking about the pen. Jen had seen the TV show "Paranormal States" which featured the pen. There is said to be a lot of paranormal activity at the pen. I remarked to Jen how similar the pen was to the prison in the movie "The Blues Brothers". Imagine my surprise when doing research for this hub when I found out from Wikipedia that the architecture of the pen is a direct copy of the Illinois facility in Joliet, Illinois only smaller. Jen said they had shown a wall in a tower above the original warden's quarters that they took down. Once down the wall revealed a colored glass inverted pentagram. Since all original plans have been lost no one knows when this was installed.
I want to thank fellow hubber Robert "Putz" Ballard for being my inspiration for writing this hub by a comment he made on his hub about the pen answering my comment about a lost child.
Hi, very interesting hub. I like reading old history, write some more. Thanks
Fred Russmeissel. I think he got picked to fill in during an unexpected vacancy. Probably in the 70's.
Tom, I saw one of your comments and noticed you were from Moundsville. I decided to look you up. It looks like a while since you've posted. I lived in Buckhannon for 22 years. I love WV. A good friend of mine, passed away several years ago, spent a year as a warden at the prison. He said he sure was glad to be replaced. He told some pretty interesting stories. Best to you.
Hey there Tom. I recently saw the prison on Ghost Adventures. They said it was a rough place. This is a very great read. I love the history. I didn't know that about WVU. I would figure that would be their choice. Grate hub.
The "pentagram window" is a Masonic trademark, and considering it is featured in an area of the prison stonemasons had to have created (the sandstone work) it isn't surprising.
It isn't really the pentagram popular culture has created since the 1960s. The identification of a pentagram with the downward pointing ray with satanism was an invention of outspoken satanist Anton LaVey at that time. Prior to that it had a very long history as a Christian symbol. For example, the Masons have the star point down because that ray points to the manger holding the infant Jesus. Ancient churches all over Europe contain the pentagram very prominently in their decorations - point down. :-)
I was in moundsville in 1969 to 1971 it was not as bad as some would think.
Hi Tom,
I reallly enjoyed this read as well as the comments about the past. All I know of the pen now is that is a haunted house attraction every Halloween. That is what happened to the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum here in Weston, A piece of history being commercialized. Oh well that's prgress right? :)
Tom Whitworth. Hi Wow what an absolutely facinating and very interesting story on some of your family history.
Your sister must have been almost frightened out of her shoes, with 2 large guys right there near by.
I am a person who is not fond of secrets, sometimes they just might come out and bite you on your rear end.
This is a wonderful read. Thank you for sharing it with us. :) :)
I ran across this posting after a bit of google searching on the W.Va. Penitentiary. I thought I might share some thoughts with you.
My father, Ed Coster, Sr. worked at the Pen for over 20 years. He started as a Records Clerk in 1959, worked for a few years, got a job with Boury's Incorporated in Wheeling then came back to the Pen around 1968 as a guard. He ended up becoming the Chief of Maintenance and was there to close the place down in 1995. We lived on a farm on Fork Ridge (down Aston Road). After classes at Central Elementary grade school, I was often with my father when we would stop at Bill and Kenny's ("B&K Market")to get some groceries to take home to the farm. Both Bill and Kenny were very nice guys and would often give me a handful of candy. I remember how small the store was but that we always seemed to get everything we needed there. I found out later in life that the B&K Market sold food to many customers on credit and kept running tabs for folks. I think my father paid off our bill monthly. At the time, it often confused me how we would just go in and pick up items and Kenny would just say "I'll put it on your bill Ed" and out the door we would go. During high school at John Marshall, I knew Kimmie Whitworth very well as I was living in Glen Dale at the time with my grandmother and Kimmie was a Glen Dale cop. I had fast cars and motorcycles at the time and Kimmie often was stopping me for squealling tires or racing down Wheeling Ave. I think he only gave me one ticket for all the times I was stopped. Kimmie would often come into Reilly's Bowling Alley late for a kielbossi sandwich and a coffee while on duty. I worked there all through high school as my aunt, Evelyn Millhouse was the assistant manager there.
I actually worked at the Pen as a guard for a brief period before going away to college. I attended a number of colleges around W.Va. before finally settling down and getting serious. I ended up graduating from Harvard College and then going to law school. My older brother Ed also worked at the Pen is about to retire from the Northern Regional Jail after some 30 years of service.
I have many fond and interesting memories of Moundsville, B&K Market and the Penitentiary. When the Pen was almost closed, my father was asked to disconnect the electric chair so it could be saved. It was a pretty unceremonial procedure with the chair being taken to a storage building behind the Pen. Upon visiting my father one day while home from Harvard, he opened up the building and took a picture of me sitting in the chair. It was probably not a very appropriate thing to do given the history of that item, however, that was sort of the way things wound down with the Pen.
Thank you for the posting about your memories.
Jim Coster, Esq.
Pittsburgh, Pa
And you did. :D
This is a fabulous story, Tom. You really had me going at the start, wondering what the crime was. I enjoyed this very much. One of if not the best you've done.
Wonderful hub. You are broadening my horizons, that's for sure!
Tom, This is a very interesting hub. I didn't know
anyting about that pen but it is a shame the whole family had shame over your grandfather doing what he had to do at the time. I remember the Blues Brother movie very well. I'm going to check out the music also. I wrote about not keeping secrets today because they only make you feel bad anyway. Excellent hub.
Interesting time.
Keep on hubbing!
I realize it is your family history but our families are part of social history.
Tom here is a link you will be able to listen to the song.
A nice bit of social history.
Great hub Tom and if you get a chance to hear III Tyme Out sing the song, I think you'll like it.


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Starbucks Espresso Infographic Advertising
NOW AT STARBUCKS! The newest addition to the Starbucks menu is the Flat White. But what is the difference between The Flat white and the rest of Starbuck's menu?
Starbucks sent this cool infographic as a content marketing piece in an email to all of their customers introducing The Flat White to their menu. The infographic visualizes the recipes for the 6 Espresso Classics. Currently available for view in most Starbucks stores around the country is an infographic that explains the differences between the styles of drinks on the menu.
The graphics in the email are actually the 3 separate images you see above, and I assume they could be changed for different people receiving the email. For example, someone else might receive an email about the Cappuccino or a different coffee flavor ad at the bottom. Good for flexibility in the emails, but bad for sharing in social media.
A product of simplicity, crafted into artistry, our baristas know that balance is key to the perfect Flat White. An extra ristretto shot ensures that it's bolder than a latte, yet steamed milk keeps it smoother than a cappuccino. But perfection doesn't end there—the technique for steaming and pouring the milk requires close attention as well. Steamed milk is folded into itself creating a velvety microfoam that gives the Flat White its silky texture and signature white dot.
Love the cafe-style chalkboard look, and the layered drink r recipe visualization design!
Using this infographic in an email campaign is brilliant, but I wish it had been designed to also stand on its own so it could be shared online in social media easier.
They use this design style throughout their entire espresso menu of drinks.
Thanks to Starbucks for sending the infographic to it's customers! I put the separate pieces together below to make sharing easier!


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Well the fall runways have been quite wonderful again, with Burberry my top pick of the bunch for print and pattern. I did notice a trend emerging that i am not quite sure about, patterned furs. I think it is important to keep us all up to speed even if it isn't my own personal favorite like the beautiful feminine show Burberry put on. Anyway there has been a shift back to encourperating fur into many collections and now that trend has shifted to including patterned, placement and color blocked furs. What do you think? P.S i think many of these below are fake fur!
Well if all this fur is all too much for you here is my fav moment from Burberry. Isn't this the perfect dress to wear while shopping and sipping coffee in Montmartre or chilling in Sedona AZ


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Here they are!
Our Terrible notebooks are finally available for sale!
Sometimes, we feel like social media is dominating the world by occupying our time and energy. Is it good, or terrible?
To help us figure out, we've interviewed John Yuyi, the Taiwanese artist/photographer/ model (known being a Gucci meme, the #TFWGucci campaign) getting her opinion on this phenomenon.
One more time, we would like to express our gratefulness towards all those amazing people. Thank you so much for believing in our project and for supporting us during our Kickstarter campaign.
May J.
Elmo P.
Léa M.
Jolanta M.-P.
Thibaut P.
Mike K.
Guillaume B.
Charles R.
Valérie D.
Alexander L.
Joshua C.
Caroline P.
Max S.
Shinyi L.
Rahel Z.
Patikal P.
Carolin B.
Molly A.
Pierre C.
Ariel G.
Isabelle C.
Christophe C.
Dane E.
Dominique C.
Georges C.
Véronique L.
Ray W.
Austrians have a tendency to be angry and grumpy (quite the contrary to the Australians they often get confused with…). Youtuber and writer Michael Buchinger is no exception, so we have decided to have a little chat with him about the two things that make an Austrian's world go round: food and hate.
For the first issue, we had the chance to interview Babor Lelefan, a French web-star known only to very terrible people. We absolutely love him, and we advice you to learn some french words to laugh at his pearls (if you're too lazy for that, the english version is at the end of the article, don't worry)!


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Mountain Biking Full Day Adventure | Queenstown Trail
The Queenstown Trails Highlights - Enjoy our friendly, personalised full day bike tour from Queenstown to Gibbston. A stunning ride meandering along rivers, crossing suspension bridges, passing bungy jumpers and enjoying a wine tasting to top it off.
- Adult
- $189.00
- Child
- $139.00
Contact Us
1 / 5
A full day biking adventure experiencing the Queenstown Trails magnificent scenery. 9am pick up from accommodation and delivery to Queenstown Bay, thorough directions, map and trail tips are given before you set off biking the shore of Lake Wakatipu to Frankton Marina, stop for morning tea at an historic Cafe then we drive you to the Old Shotover Bridge for the next leg of your biking fun toward Arrowtown. Enjoy a tasty packed lunch in Arrowtown before setting off for the afternoon riding the Arrow River Trail toward Gibbston Valley Winery for a relaxing wine tasting and cheesery visit, rest up on the scenic drive back to town.
Enjoy the reassurance of driver and vehicle support at designated points throughout this 25km of off-road biking.
Physical address
Mountain Biking Full Day Adventure | Queenstown Trail , 9 Duke Street Queenstown (1 Nov - 30 Apr). Mobile Operator (1 May - 31 Oct), Central Queenstown, Queenstown, 9348, New Zealand.
Opening times
- Business hours:
- 8am - 8pm
- Months of operation:
- Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, Oct, Nov, Dec
Facilities and Features
- Proximity to airport:
- n/a
- Proximity to coach terminal:
- n/a
- Proximity to town:
- Central Queenstown
Pricing and Conditions
(14 year(s) and under)
- Other charges:
- Electric Bike Upgrade Available - $50
- Further pricing information:
- Not recommended for under 5's


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Business, and Software Architecture
Following are my comments on "This is our chance – how we pitch architecture value to the masses" in International Association of Software Architects group in Linkedin
Business requires and would demand value now and value later, and shrinking time line is a force (like many other) that architect needs to negotiate and balance. Architecture, as a subject of study and profession, is of no practical relevance unless it is translated into tangible value in the context of current and future business realities.
I believe, architecture continues to be relevant. Architects need to identify the value in concrete terms and communicate to other stakeholders, to be relevant


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Both Disney moneymaker Miley Cyrus and American Idol contestant-turned-Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson are set to perform on tonight's Idol.
Given Miley's massive popularity and the noteworthy but lesser interest in Jennifer Hudson's comeback tour, tonight's show could be a ratings high for the Idol juggernaut.
How many people do you think will tune in?
Here are a few stats to provide some context:
- The season-to-date average for Wednesday night's Idol is 21.4 million, but last week's results show pulled in 23 million viewers. Last night's performance show, meanwhile, lured 23.5 million viewers.
- 25 million people watched former Idol winner Carrie Underwood perform March 11, while 22.5 million people watched Kanye West and the original American Idol Kelly Clarkson perform the week before.
- Hannah Montana, meanwhile, is still a ratings steamroller, too. Since returning with original episodes on March 1, the show has pulled in more than 4 million viewers an episode (originals air Sunday nights from 7:30-8 p.m.).
All ratings data from tvbythenumbers.com


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Israel attacks my university — with bombs and lies
The Islamic University of Gaza on 2 August after it was bombed by the Israeli military.
(Ashraf Amra / APA images)
On Saturday, the Israeli military boasted of bombing a "weapons development center" at the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG).
I teach journalism at this university. The section of the campus where I work is close to the administrative department, the target of Israel's dawn attack.
That department hosts teaching staff belonging to all colleges of the university: medicine, literature, engineering, commerce and others. It does not have a "weapons development center."
Contrary to what Israel claims, Gaza universities do not have departments dedicated to military research or training. This is in contrast to Israeli universities which play an integral role in the military occupation and weapons development and have actively promoted the onslaught in Gaza.
The attack on IUG, as well as the Israeli occupation forces invasion of Birzeit University in the West Bank in June, was condemned by the American Studies Association executive committee. The American Studies Association voted in favor of an academic boycott of Israel last year, sparking a debate within the organization and in the mainstream media about the tactic.
Linked to Hamas?
The IUG is considered by many here to be Gaza's finest university. It has approximately20,000 students.
Western newspapers have reported that the IUG was "Hamas-linked" in recent days.
That displays a profound ignorance. The IUG was founded in 1978; Hamas did not emerge until almost a decade later.
Some of our students are, indeed, involved in Hamas.
Others are affiliated to Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Islamic Jihad or one of the other Palestinian factions.
Are students living under a military occupation not allowed to be politically active?
The insinuation in the Western press that Hamas controls all the university's activities does not reflect reality.
For the past six years, I have been teaching students how to use English in the media. I have been working for the university's open education department (also known as the Community Development Institute).
Initially, I was hesitant to join the IUG, fearing that I would have to follow strict religious or political rules. I have no party affiliations and regard myself as a very moderate Muslim.
In 2008, I was called for an interview with the dean of the open education department and two English-language teachers. The interview was a success.
The dean and his colleagues appeared to have no problem with my work for media outlets based in the US, including Free Speech Radio News and The Electronic Intifada. They were kind towards me and made me feel at ease. So I started giving lecturers at the university.
During my first lectures, I was surprised by a number of the students I encountered. I had known some of them previously. To the best of my knowledge, they were neither active in Hamas nor considered themselves to be Islamists.
I had many fruitful discussions with my new students.
At times, I have been openly critical of both Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank. I have talked about the "blue uniforms" of Gaza and the "red-carpet reception" that visitors to the West Bank can expect.
I was satirizing the heavy emphasis on policing by Hamas and how the PA behaves as if it has already succeeded in setting up an independent state.
Not once has the IUG's administration tried to censor me. Not once have the Hamas-led authorities in Gaza questioned me.
Destroying lives
The university's administration has been helpful and encouraging. They have facilitated some of my initiatives — such as inviting contacts of mine outside Gaza to address students via Skype.
The IUG was bombed by Israel in December 2008 during the early days of Operation Cast Lead, a three-week intensive attack on Gaza. That offensive was also in response to "terrorism," according to the Israeli narrative.
The American Studies Association has correctly observed that the bombing of Palestinian universities is not only an abuse of academic freedom, it is an attempt to prevent us from enjoying the basic necessities that we need to get by.
Fewer and fewer people are swallowing Israel's lies. Far from destroying "weapons development centers," Israel is trying to destroy our lives.
It is intent on denying us the possibility of learning and working in peace.
Israel will not succeed. We will keep on educating our people, no matter how many times we are bombed.