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Some days I envy the 'youth' of today and the fact that they have the world at their fingertips – my GCSE projects would have been so much better if I had had the wealth of the internet on my side! But on others I feel lucky that I grew up before the shit storm that is social media, life for me as a teen was hard enough!
Growing up I idolised pop-stars, footballers and Blue Peter presenters, I would catch snippets of them on TV, in magazines or if I was really lucky in person (Lucas Radebe handed me my scroll at my graduation and it is still one of the most surreal experiences I've had along with delivering room service to Westlife)!
Growing up doesn't mean that I no longer have people that I look up to – it is just that they are much more in reach and accessible. Being part of the Blogosphere I can appreciate that what these people show is often an alternative 'virtual' reality, the highlights real if you will and have learnt to be able to sift the genuine from the fake.
Photo Credit: Laura Haley
One thing that social media throws at us on a regular basis is the plethora of gorgeous bodies, but when you feel a little vulnerable about your own body image this can do more harm than good. I personally (on good days) love scrolling through my Insta feed and looking at all the exotic places my virtual friends have found themselves in and admire their body confidence … no matter their size, shape, colour or creed, they all look amazing in their own individual ways. But the shots that make it online are the ones that people deem to be their best, the ones taken in the right light at the right time.
I mentioned in my recent 'I Don't See Me' post, my body confidence has been really low recently and I have started to improve this by removing people from my feeds that make me feel inadequate in life and this is so important -there is nothing wrong with taking a little time-out for you and unfollowing anyone who leaves you feeling anything other than positive and enriched.
As I have said before unfollowing people is absolutely fine and it doesn't mean you don't like them anymore, it just means they're not right fit for you right now.
Whilst I'm on the topic of body-image and confidence lets talk filters shall we? I for one love a good filter on Insta Stories (especially THAT one that makes you look like a goddess), but I must admit I probably rely on them a little more than I should. Now there is nothing wrong with adopting those bunny or Koala ears and nose to hide your day three hair and makeup free face, but before you begin to attempt to scour those blemishes away or pluck eyebrows to within an inch of their life in a bid to become Cara, remember that the natural you is beautiful too.
I am so guilty of only appearing online with a full face and my hair done, that's just who I am, but in reality I am sat here with my hair unwashed, unbrushed and with zero makeup on. We were never engineered to be picture perfect, we were engineered to live and create.
The world of social media is an incredible place, it can motivate you to work harder, achieve more and provide one of the greatest free creative outlets there is. However, if can also have the totally opposite effect from time to time – especially when some people appear to have it all by over editing their feeds.
Social media has become all about promoting the best version of yourself, it seems that the moaning has even now ceased on Facebook, but remember that some of those positive posts may just be a sunny-day spin of someones bad day or an old shot because they don't feel in a good place to take new ones, not everything you see is taken at the time that you see it.
What are your views on the virtual reality of social media vs real life?
Let me know below and I'll catch up with you again soon, until then though x
Some of these items may have been sent to me for review. Please see my disclaimer for more information.


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Starting my summer session courses, the first assignment was to choose between a TEDtalk and Moth style presentation. Given the following prompt, I went with the Moth style presentation.
"What's Your Story? Because qualitative methods are all about finding, understanding, and interpreting artifacts – and to help us get to know one another – we'd like you to prepare a five minute presentation about yourself to deliver on the first day of class. The presentation should include at least one artifact (but hopefully more!) about yourself that will illuminate something about who you are and what you bring to the research enterprise." I've shared my story below.
A Calculator Changed My Life
So, a calculator changed my life. A calculator similar to the one in my hand right now. Now, it wasn't a magical calculator, I didn't solve life's most complex problems or provide any special kind of formulas. This calculator was a TI-83+ graphing calculator, the type need for advanced math courses at my high school, to graph parabolas, calculate slopes, find limits of functions, and so on. But more than a tool for math, this calculator changed my life; it helped me go to college.
It was towards the end of sophomore year, and I knew the courses I'd be taken the following year. And at my high school, which was predominately Latino and low income, and still is, we lacked resources. Not having graphing calculators to do graphing calculator stuff in the math classroom was one of them. Asking my family to buy me a $150 calculator was out of the question. Now my family, we weren't that well off, but we made due together. We all lived in my grandparents' house. My mom worked as a bank teller and my dad worked in construction, so that was a lot of money to spend on a calculator. Most of the students a year ahead of me had to fundraise, you know, selling those knockoff See's candy bars in summer, chipping away at the price of the calculator one milk-chocolate bar at a time.
Well, one fateful day in English class, two CSUF students presented on an after school program called upward bound. I wasn't really paying attention to their presentation, but then I heard something to the effect "if you sign up, you get a free TI-83+ calculator." My ears perked, the trumpets played from the heavens, there was my solution. All I need to do was sign up for some club and attend a few meetings, and boom! a free $150 calculator.
Although, my initial interest was only in getting that calculator, the decision to sign up actually altered my life path. I attribute much of my educational success to joining upward bound. As a sophomore, I wasn't sure if I was going to college, I really didn't know much about what was expected of me after high school, and no one in my family had attended a university. I mean, I wasn't a slouch when it came to academics, but I didn't have big aspirations. I attended a school year more people enlisted in the military than attended four-year schools.
What started off as joining a club for a calculator, led to after school tutoring, Saturday enrichment programs, SAT prep, taking college-level courses in the summer, interacting with peers who wanted to go to college, and gaining mentors who empowered me to dream big. To be honest, I'm not sure what my life would look like without upward bound or all the experiences that came after that. I often reflect on how my simple interest in a calculator resulted in personal transformation for myself and my family.
As educational researcher I think of the lack of aspiration/motivation/support in high school and reflect on the structural/organizational barriers within my school systems that didn't necessarily inhibit my success, but definitely didn't foster it. I think of these interventions, compensatory programs, institutional agents, and wonder why some students were afford the opportunities, when everyone at my school (or in my community) could have benefited from them.
This calculator also represents chance, my future was left to chance, I sometimes think, what would have happened if I wasn't in school that day or decided not to follow up. What if I was in a different English class? What if…
These questions are what drive my research goals. Why are educational opportunities left to chance? Higher education shouldn't be like the hunger games, but when you disaggregate the data on educational opportunities, persistence, and attainment for students of color the odds are never in our favor. These life experiences inform my work and provide the motivation to not only endure in the academy, but attempt to make a difference with research and advocacy. It is my hope that educational access, success, and attainment, are no longer left to luck, but addressed through research and policies that dismantle structural barriers for communities like my own, for students like myself who are first-generation, low-income, and of color.

subset: commoncrawl


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I am running SPS w/out SP1. I have recently installed the import andexport tools from the Resource kit. I want to create a new portalbut now I can not. When I try to create it, during the creationprocess an error pops up - "Class not registered". The sharepointportal creation fails. I checked the event log and find - Event ID:20485, with discription "Workspace Creation - An index could not becreated. Class not registered."I found in one of the support pages a suggestion that to fix thisproblem, make sure that the Default Web Site in IIS has the IPAddress set to (All Unassigned). I did and it was already setcorrectly. Retried portal creation - still no luck.I am trying to avoid rebuilding SPS and IIS. This problem may berelated to import or export tool installation. Perhaps a bad DLL?
We're experiencing the same problem, 'class not registered' box pops up.Installed SP1 and still having the same issue.Are there any issues with doing a 'repair'? Our production DB is large(5G) and I want to make sure we don't run into any problems.


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The first time I learnt about the law firm, I saw it on internet and rumor spreades that they will come here. For some reasons, I didn't have courages to apply. One day I was invited to have a dinner with one of the partners to discuss about legal service market here and I didn't expect much except friendship and professional networking.
It turnt out that they would like to meet again and maybe for a job opportunities :O so I had dinner and interview and the next few days they offer me a job ^^


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Job Details
Wherever you live, we have the right opportunity for you. Drive CRST Dedicated.
We've got the miles if you've got the drive. When you join CRST Dedicated Services, Inc., you'll have the opportunity for weekly home time and a comprehensive benefits package to help you take care of your loved ones. If you're looking for more regularity and unrivaled support, you've come to the right place.
THE POWER OF SUPPORT You're dedicated to your career, so we're dedicated to you and your family. See how we're investing in you.
We're Dedicated to giving you more:
- $1,200 or more per week….guaranteed
- Stable routes & consistent miles
- Comprehensive benefits package including 401(k)
We're The Nation's Premier Dedicated Fleet
We give you the miles you need and the route consistency you want. We also offer great benefits from your first day, strong support from dispatch, and a highly competitive pay package. Ready to hit the road? Drive CRST Dedicated.
Home Time? No Problem.
We understand you have a life outside of your career. At CRST Dedicated Services Inc., we create routes that fit your lifestyle and get you home every week. Whether you are looking for family time or down time, you'll get what you need when you drive CRST Dedicated.
Driver Requirements
- Medical
- Dental
- Vision
- Retirement Plan


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Although, Together We Read activities haven't been posted in several months, the program has not been abandoned alhamdulillaah. For January, the book that we will be reading is I Am Small by Emma Dodd.
The activities for this book are being posted here for your convenience insha'Allaah. Inside the activity pack you will find:
* A poem for your classroom pocket chart
* Math activities
* A penguin science activity
* Sight word games
* Practice constructing and writing sentences
* Word cards for your word wall
* Word wall cards for your students to practice handwriting and to use for independent story writing
* Sight word flashcards that can be used for a variety of games and purposes
* Montessori 3-part cards related to the story
* Mini Reader for students using sight words from the story to aide in independent reading (can be used for Guided and/or Shared Reading also)
* Opposites activity & worksheet
* Puzzle with a hidden message that is discovered when students assemble it
* and more!


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I like 'em nekkid!! Bald is Beautiful Bumper Stickers
I like 'em nekkid!! bumper stickers or window decals. These round Bald is Beautiful Hairless and Small Breed Rescue bumper stickers are 4 inches across and have a white background to show up on tinted windows. Let everyone know you like 'em nekkid on your next commute.


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Going above and beyond to Create Loyalty and Quality Relationships
It's worth it for me to spend a little extra effort sending gifts to my challengers, shakeology samples, and info for potential coaches. They know that I care about them and it's important to provide the resources they need to make an informed decision. Watch what I do to help each of my challengers feel special!!


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Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's capital, Thiruvananthapuram, which was ranked first in the annual city governance ranking in a recent national survey, is now on its way to be declared as complete 'plastic-free' zone soon.
As an initial step, the City Coroporation here has imposed a blanket ban on all types of plastic carry bags within its limits from 1 March.
"Green protocol has also been made mandatory for the conduct of all festivals and celebrations here from now on," Corporation sources said.
Besides plastic carry bags, use of plastic sheets, multi-layer plastic covers, disposable plates and glasses and packaged commodities will also be banned in the next phase, they said.
The authorities have also launched efforts to introduce eco-friendly cloth and paper carry bags in place of non-degradable plastic ones, which pose the biggest challenge in waste management.
Deputy Mayor Rakhi Rravikumar said over 5000 kg of banned plastic has been seized from various outlets in the,city including branded shops in the last four days after the implementation of the ban.
The initiative would be a boon for the waste management initiatives in the city, where disposal of solid waste is a big issue, she said.
"The Corporation has formed a number of special squads to conduct raids across the city to seize plastic carry bags and issue notice to those who violate the ban," she told PTI.
"The ban will be made stricter from next month. Fine will be imposed on those shops and outlets which do not comply with the ban.We are also mulling stern steps like cancellation of the license of such shops which violate the order," she said.
Despite repeated warning by health and environmental experts, use of plastic articles, especially carry bags, is rampant in Kerala including in the capital city.
Carry bags made of low-quality plastic which pose great health and environment hazards, were widely used in majority of shops ranging from malls and branded super markets to street-side outlets.
The habit of burning plastic by city-dwellers and consuming hot food wrapped in plastic covers in hotels and street take-away also posed serious health concerns.
With an aim to put in place a permanent solution to the plastic menace, the Corporation is planning to introduce eco-friendly alternatives in its place, the Deputy Mayor said.
"We are carrying out an exhibition titled Go Green Expo to create awareness about alternatives to plastic carry bags. Public response to it is really good," she said.
In the Expo, the Corporation facilitates a platform for manufacturers of eco-friendly paper and cloth bags. Those interested can place orders for the product directly there, the Deputy Mayor said.
Though the initiative garnered positive response from public as well as residents' associations, traders and shopkeepers are on a warpath against the move as they depended completely on plastic carry bags to distribute articles.
However, the Deputy Mayor said the plastic ban would be implemented effectively and the police help would be sought if necessary to carry out raids in shops.
Thiruvananthapuram was awarded top rank in the city governance ranking, Annual Survey of India's City-System (ASICS), undertaken by not-for-profit institution Janaagraha
Centre for Citizenship and Democracy (JCCD) which evaluated 21 major cities from the country's 18 states.
Pune is ranked second while Kolkata in the third slot in the survey, released last month.
Updated Date: Mar 05, 2017 17:12:23 IST


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"My early experiences as a tutor helped us to realise that traditional tutoring wasn't ideal for inspiring confident learning.
"So we created INICIO to make learning fun, positive and interesting. Instead of tutoring at a kitchen table, we bring students together in our own homely learning environments.
"Our approach is unique because your child feels relaxed alongside other students but is guaranteed one-to-one attention from their personal tutor.
"Our tutors are talented, vibrant and engaging. We believe we get amazing results because our tutors connect with students on a personal level and give them the opportunity to learn independently."
Sarah Ludden Roughley, founder
80% of our A-level leavers achieve two grades higher than predicted by their school. We offer personal tuition in maths, English and many other subjects.
Meet the Team
Charlotte Wood


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How much is the shipping charge on your site?
You will pay at our internet store for all your shopping cargo fee is $10 (VAT Included).
Which cargo company do you work with?
Your orders from our internet store are delivered to you with MNG Cargo assurance.
When does Kargom reach?
Your orders are delivered to cargo within 2 working days. After your order is delivered to the cargo, the delivery time varies between 2 and 5 working days depending on the region you are in. Orders you place on weekends or official holidays will be shipped within 2 working days following these days.
How can I follow Kargom?
After your order is delivered to the cargo, you can follow the condition of your cargo.
You can follow the tracking number from the cargo company through the cargo tracking section of the cargo company.
Can Kargomu receive another person from me?
Your order can be delivered to the first degree complaint with surname consistency with identification. At the delivery address you will be asked for the signature of the person who has delivered your package.
The cargo pakistan came when I was not at my address. What can I do?
If you can not find it at your address, a note will be left to pick up your package or to set a delivery date again
Do you send orders to abroad or to the TRNC?
They are sent abroad or by using the National Postal Service to the TRNC. For delivery time, you can get information from customer service.
Can I change the delivery address after placing an order?
If you are a member, check the status of your order from the "My orders" tab in the "My Account" link.
If your order has been cargoed, we ask you to get help from MNG Cargo Customer Service number 444 06 06 related to the subject.
Can I change the recipient of the order?
If you are a member, check the status of your order from the "My orders" tab in the "My Account" link. If you have made a purchase without a member, you can view the status of your order using the "Order Tracking" link at the bottom of our site.
If you have the "Preparing Your Order" status, you can forward the new recipient information to us via the customer service on the form in the contact section. If your order has been cargoed, we ask you to get help from MNG Cargo Customer Service number 444 06 06 related to the subject.
If the order is wrong / defective, what should I do?
If you receive an incorrect or defective product, you will need to fill out the return request form on-site with your order. You can then return the product (s) with your preferred shipping company (provided that invoice information is included).
The amount of the product will be reported to your bank to be returned to your credit / debit card which you have paid within 30 working days. If you have paid by credit card, this information received by your bank will be reflected in the credit card extensions according to the working principles of the bank. In installments, repayments are made in installments in some banks. If you have made a payment with an ATM (debit) card, the bank will transfer the refund amount to the relevant account.
If I do not have a cargo company branch, how will I get the order?
In this case, your order will be kept at MNG Cargo closest to your location and you will be contacted for your purchase.
Could you send the order faster?
Your orders are delivered to cargo within 2 working days as a standard. We do not have a faster delivery option.


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Now that primary season has officially begun and a million breaths are being expended on the latest developments, I thought I'd distill it down for you as briefly and as cynically as possible.
Back in a 2007 interview General Wesley Clark related how shortly after the US's 2001 invasion of Afghanistan he was told that the military had further plans to "take out seven countries in five years."
Of those countries—Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran—three have since either been invaded or fallen into civil war and disarray. And while the timetable may have been off, which shouldn't come as a surprise because of that old adage "the best laid plans of mice and men," the most important takeaway here is that the process has spanned across two presidential administrations which on paper are as different as one could find.
That neocon George W. Bush seamlessly handed off the baton to hope-filled upstart Barack Obama should dispel any prospective 2016 voter's illusions that "his guy" has the power or ability to change the script being implemented by career world-shapers operating behind the scenes. The dominoes have continued to fall under Barry's watch.
The anti-war sentiment stemming from Iraq War fatigue that helped fuel a Democrat win in 2008 has not stopped us from destabilizing both Libya and Syria, leading to hideous humanitarian disasters all justified by the need to get rid of "a bad guy." In one respect we have so much blood on our hands that it would only be right if we are one day somehow held accountable, but the broader truth may be that through the centuries empires are simply used as enforcers by the stateless puppet masters behind the scenes—before of course also being discarded after having lost their vitality and power. Yesterday it was the European colonial powers, today it's the United States, and tomorrow it will be someone else.
So in this futile light it seems as if the only purpose in voting at all is on social grounds, because during the last 7 years of the Obama administration we have surely seen some sweeping cultural shifts (which on the surface might indicate an increase of freedoms and human rights, but the keen observer senses early-stage moral decay and disintegration of our national identity, all under the watchful eye of the surveillance state which misses nothing and records everything).
For nearly 15 years we have let our might be used to steamroll innocent countries whose only sins were that of geography and being imperfect, and our collective reaction has been either to double down on blind jingoism or to revert to a tribalistic hedonism intent on sticking as much ink, drugs, and other body parts into every crevice of one's own body. How can we possibly "make America great again" when half of the population thinks the last 30 years of industrial dismantling can magically be undone by building a few new domestic factories? Can we really expect much from the army of baristas with stretched earlobes and chestplate tattoos headed back to school at age 33?
It's a surreal time where one's thoughts echo with the words "this will not end well" but in any grocery store you can find organic food and craft beer. For a pittance you can buy devices which give you access to the entirety of human knowledge and artistic output, but they can also be used to track and incriminate you. We're standing on the razor's edge of a shift in history where in one breath we're being exponentially wrenched forward but then still find ourselves checked by baked-in biological limitations and prey to that nagging sensation that despite our savvy ways we too are merely players—or was that pawns?—on life's stage.


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text: The team at Land Rover Nottingham are one of the most established Land Rover dealerships in the country with a standout team which has been recognised for innovation in the workplace for the last 3 years running. Staff at Land Rover Nottingham have shown what great teamwork and great customer service can produce by working together. In the heart of Nottingham, the team can offer you tailored services such as all-day aftersales Saturdays to help those short of time, and can even a shuttle into heart of Nottingham for shopping whilst your vehicle is being serviced. To support that, the sales team consist of helpful and knowledgeable team members, ideally suited to help you make the right choice for your next vehicle. We are a growing and investing in the future by supporting apprentice programmes and investing in the devolvement of our business to match your requirements. We have won an array of awards, including Innovator of the Year in 2011, 2012 and 2013. We have 72 employees, which includes an array of experienced valets and drivers. Our team has been established for over 10 years and is constantly growing to meet demands. Enquire at Land Rover Nottingham


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The definite service to which Blessed John Henry was called involved applying his keen intellect and his prolific pen to many of the most pressing "subjects of the day". His insights into the relationship between faith and reason, into the vital place of revealed religion in civilized society, and into the need for a broadly-based and wide-ranging approach to education were not only of profound importance for Victorian England, but continue today to inspire and enlighten many all over the world. I would like to pay particular tribute to his vision for education, which has done so much to shape the ethos that is the driving force behind Catholic schools and colleges today. Firmly opposed to any reductive or utilitarian approach, he sought to achieve an educational environment in which intellectual training, moral discipline and religious commitment would come together. The project to found a Catholic University in Ireland provided him with an opportunity to develop his ideas on the subject, and the collection of discourses that he published as The Idea of a University holds up an ideal from which all those engaged in academic formation can continue to learn. And indeed, what better goal could teachers of religion set themselves than Blessed John Henry's famous appeal for an intelligent, well-instructed laity: "I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it" (The Present Position of Catholics in England, ix, 390). On this day when the author of those words is raised to the altars, I pray that, through his intercession and example, all who are engaged in the task of teaching and catechesis will be inspired to greater effort by the vision he so clearly sets before us.
Pope Benedict XVI on the occasion of Newman's beatification 19 September 2010


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Why is creating a culture of appreciation important to PepsiCo? See the difference recognition makes when 102,843 moments of recognition are experienced by 108,000 North American PepsiCo employees in just the first half of 2015.
Your browser is out of date and may not be able to properly display our website. A list of modern browsers is below; simply click an icon to go to the browser's download page.


text: Lindsay Paige May 8, 2015 I Love Flo! Lindsay Paige May 8, 2015 This week's funny commercial is borderline epic. I love Progressive's Flo and Maury is a guilty pleasure of mine. This gives me the best of both! My favorite part of this commercial comes at the very end. Watch and enjoy!


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Now showing items 1-3 of 3
Data management plans: what are they and how libraries can help.
(University of Canterbury. Library, 2013)
Formal data management plans (DMPs) are becoming required for projects funded through UK and EU sources. Data sets are increasingly being expected to accompany papers in order to encourage re-analysis and scholarly ...
An evolving business model for scholarly publishing: exploring the payment of article processing charges (APCs) to achieve open access
(University of Canterbury. Library, 2014)
In terms of scholarly publishing the academic library's role in Kaitiakitanga is changing. Open access is growing in importance as library budgets contract. There are two main routes to open access: the green route through ...
Proceedings of the New Zealand Institutional Repository Community Day 2015
(University of Canterbury, 2015)
The following notes were made by attendees (listed at the end of the document) and published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence.


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Striking outside and inside, the new Eva Leube watch is delivered in 18k gold or platinum 950 case - 52.44mm x 21.6mm x 8.45mm. Hand-engraved by the esteemed master John W. Thompson, it also features a screwed locking crown. The top and both sides of the case are assembled with three glare-proofed sapphire crystals.
Beneath the front glass there are two dials, both sculptured in 18k gold. The counter in the upper part of the watch face is in charge of small seconds. The hours and minutes are shown on the central display. All the hands are made of heat-blued steel. The lower part of the dial is occupied by a ratchet wheel, hand-engraved with Eva Leube inscription.
The lateral sapphire crystals provide an enjoyable vision of a manual-wound movement, engraved just like the case. Built on 18 jewels, the heart of the new Eva Leube Ari watch operates at a frequency of 18,000 vibrations per hour and offers a 40-hour power reserve.
The mechanism comprises 209 components, including a free sprung balance with regulating screws as well as a highly-modified gear train from a Record 302 calibre. The main plate and bridges are in rhodium-plated brass.
The new Eva Leube watch is mounted on a customized leather strap.


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PASS Tools is a revolutionary software-as-a-service (SaaS) that streamlines and simplifies UST/AST facility management and compliance. Our software includes a robust set of inspection, management, and reporting tools which gives companies the power to manage all of their data, anytime, anywhere.
Don't have the resources to stay on top of inspection and compliance requirements?
Compliance from the Ground Up
Traditional compliance management puts the responsibility of information collection at top level. We take a different approach, using boots on the ground to collect information at its source, providing the most accurate data possible.
Compliance On-the-Go
PASS Tools is cloud-based, making it accessible from anywhere in the world. It's also mobile-friendly, meaning it works just as well on your mobile phone or tablet as it does on your desktop computer.
Fully Featured Inspection Toolkit
PASS Tools is designed to collect as much data about your facilities as possible. PASS Tools can store equipment inventories, equipment and inspection photos, facility and equipment-specific inspection questions, and compliance documents.
PhD in Awesome
Our software auto-magically knows what questions to ask simply by knowing where you are, making sure all required federal, state, and local information is collected. Our inspections are built using industry standards including PEI's RP-500 & RP-900 and STI's SP-001. It's also built on a flexible platform, meaning it can quickly respond to the ever-changing landscape of compliance regulations.
Stay Proactive
Other solutions focus on document management and simple data recording. At PASS, we focus on creating tools that make it easy for our customers to stay proactive about their compliance issues.
Compliance & Maintenance Action Items
The PASS inspection process automatically generates action items based on the results that are collected. Progress is easily trackable, allowing you to be proactive opposed to reactive in terms of maintenance and repair.
Automatically Generated Facility Resources
Operations & maintenance plans, state-specific compliance forms, emergency procedures placards, and designated operator lists are just a few of the documents that PASS Tools automatically generates for your facilities.
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We've all been there. Notices of Violation are part of owning and operating a regulated facility. Many times the hardest part isn't fixing the issue but tracking the actions taken and making sure the issue is resolved by the deadline. PASS Tools' NOV Tracker allows customers to comment, track, and resolve NOVs.
It's All About Teamwork
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You are here
The AAS needs your help in getting due recognition for our most outstanding colleagues. Nominations and letters of support for the AAS prizes for 2014 must arrive in the Secretary's office by 30 June 2013 — that's this coming Sunday! Members may obtain the prize nomination instructions online at http://aas.org/grants-and-prizes/prize-nominations.
Submissions are welcome electronically (http://aas.org/about/grants-and-prizes/prize-nomination-form) or by mail (G. F. Benedict, McDonald Observatory, 1 University Station, Austin, TX 78712). Shortly after that date they are distributed to the several prize committees. Consequently late submissions cannot be accommodated.
In recent years the AAS prize committees have noted the small slates of worthy candidates from whom they may choose. This particularly applies to the junior prizes. To address this dwindling number of nominations your Council approved a change to the rules for the Warner and Pierce Prizes. For these prizes ONLY self-nominations are allowed, with a nomination package consisting of a CV, publication list, and three letters of support. The Warner and Pierce Prize committee will be blind regarding self-nominations versus outside nominations. Please note: letters of support for the Warner and Pierce Prizes MUST NOT include the language that the letter author is nominating the person.
Bear in mind that it is not only the monetary amount but also the honor and distinction that can mean so much to a young astronomer's career. The award of a prize also adds luster to her/his department or institution in the eyes of the academic community.
This message is to announce the first Virtual Town Hall meeting of the NASA Astrophysics Roadmap Team 6-7 May 2013.
The Roadmap will present a compelling 30-year vision for astrophysics. Community input and abstracts have been solicited, and selected abstracts will be presented at the Town Hall.
The Town Hall will be held both on the Adobe Connect system (in order to see presentations) as well as a teleconferencing system (in order to ask questions to the Roadmap Team.)
You can find more information about the Town Hall (including the program and links to all the public abstracts) at http://science.nasa.gov/science-committee/subcommittees/nac-astrophysics-subcommittee/astrophysics-roadmap/
Please join us in this opportunity to the engage and plan the next 30 years of astrophysics.
For the Roadmap Team,
Chryssa Kouveliotou
Joan Centrella
Brad Peterson
FY 2013 Budget
At this writing, on April 26, it has been approximately one month since a Continuing Resolution was passed to fund the federal government through the remainder of Fiscal Year (FY) 2013, which ends on September 30, 2013. This funding action is still subject to an across-the-board rescission of 1.877% plus the sequestration cut of approximately 5%. The appropriation has not yet been translated into a prospective budget number for AST, so we cannot yet report on our budget for the current Fiscal Year. Once AST is given a budget number, our plan will be incorporated into an NSF-wide plan that is submitted to Congress for approval, which is expected to come sometime in June. Until then, with fewer than four months remaining in the fiscal year, AST will not be able to start executing a plan.
We are just winding down our last few panels in the Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Grants (AAG) program and will go ahead to decline proposals that cannot be funded under any feasible budget scenario. But the primary consequence of the budgetary delay is that AAG research awards are unlikely to be made until at least June, if not later. The number of awards that can be made will depend on the final budget level and on what element of risk we take on by making out-year commitments in the face of continued budget uncertainty.
FY 2014 Budget Request
The President's FY 2014 Budget Request was submitted to Congress in April and contains some excellent news for the astronomy community. A construction start for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), in the NSF Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) line, was included in the request. The proposed start for LSST is late in the FY, approximately July 1, 2014. This start is still subject to successful passage of an NSF Final Design Review later this year, approval of a construction award by the National Science Board, and the appropriation of funds by Congress. We are very pleased by the request for initiation of construction on the first-priority large project from the 2010 decadal survey.
The AST divisional budget request also includes a small amount ($7M) for initiation of a Mid-Scale Innovations Program, the second-priority large program in the decadal survey. Present budget expectations preclude a larger request and make it infeasible to consider funding of mid-scale programs in the upper end of the $4M-$135M range called out by the decadal survey. Given the pent-up demand, the broad scope for MSIP recommended by the AST Portfolio Review Committee, and the restricted budget, we expect a modest funding rate for mid-scale proposals. AST hopes to issue a solicitation in mid-2013 that will contain more details of the prospective program.
The total AST Budget Request for FY 2014 is $243.6M. Although this is higher than the appropriations for FY 2011 and FY 2012, it is still lower than the FY 2010 AST spending of $246.5M. Readers are reminded that the Budget Request is just that, only a request! In FY 2011 and FY 2012 the appropriated budget for AST was approximately $15M below the President's Budget Request, while the final number for FY 2013 (see previous item) is not yet known. For more information on the FY 2014 Budget Request, please see http://www.nsf.gov/about/budget/fy2014/index.jsp.
Partnerships in Astronomy and Astrophysics Research and Education (PAARE)
We are pleased to announce that we expect to call for proposals for the PAARE program this summer. PAARE is designed to stimulate the development of formal, long-term, collaborative research and education partnerships between minority-serving institutions and partners at research institutions. The new solicitation for PAARE has not yet been released. Pending final clearance, we anticipate an August submission deadline. Interested proposers should look for the final solicitation in the near future, or contact Dan Evans at firstname.lastname@example.com.
ALMA Inauguration
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) was officially inaugurated in Chile on March 13. The President of Chile and the NSF Director were among the distinguished speakers at the ceremony, which included a special message of congratulations from our NASA and Canadian Space Agency colleagues on the International Space Station. At present, 55 of the 66 ALMA antennas are located at the ALMA observation site, while the remaining antennas are undergoing their final assembly and outfitting at the mid-level support facility.
Management Competitions for National Facilities
Several of the national observatories funded by AST will be undergoing management competitions over the next few years; we anticipate the release of solicitations this summer. For more details, please see the Dear Colleague Letters (DCLs) for NRAO/ALMA, NOAO, and Gemini on the AST web page at http://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=ast. Related to the NRAO competition, interested parties should note that AST is exploring operational and management models for the Green Bank Telescope and the Very Long Baseline Array that could result in reduced costs to AST; for further details, see DCL NSF 13-074, dated March 22, 2013, available at the above URL. Although we have reached or passed the nominal deadlines for competition conferences that were given in the Dear Colleague Letters, NSF still welcomes inquiries and requests for competition conferences if they are made before the end of May, 2013; contact information for inquiries is given in the individual Letters.
Questions? Contact the author at firstname.lastname@example.com
The first of 12 planned Data Releases, DR1, for production scanning of the ~500,000 Harvard glass plate images covering the full sky from 1885 to 1992, has been released at http://dasch.rc.fas.harvard.edu.
The Digital Access to a Sky Century @ Harvard (DASCH) project (see Grindlay et al. 2012 and references therein) has developed the precision high-speed scanner and software pipeline for processing the digital images with WCS (UCAC4) for each plate. Photometry is calibrated (~0.1 mag) spatially against the GSC 2.3.2 or APASS catalogs, and astrometry and lightcurves of all resolved objects on each plate are derived down to the local limiting magnitude, typically B ~12-17, depending on plate series. Results are stored in a MYSQL database and file system that allows rapid (~10 sec) extraction of lightcurves for any object (up to 10 at a time). Thumbnail images of the object for any point(s) selected in its lightcurve are displayed and can be downloaded.
Production scanning (up to 400 plates/day) is proceeding in galactic coordinates, from the north galactic pole (NGP) down to latitude b = 15 deg; then the SGP up to b = -15 deg; and finally the galactic plane (b = -15 to +15 deg). DR1 covers b = 90 to 75 deg. This first DASCH data release also includes the five "development fields" (5-degree-radius regions centered on M44, 3C 273, Baade's Window, the LMC, and the Kepler field) that were scanned and processed to develop the DASCH hardware and software systems and plate-processing procedures, as well as conduct early science. Their photometry, particularly in crowded fields, will be further improved when they are processed in production scanning.
The full scanning and final data release (DR12) can be finished by 2016 depending on continued support. Thanks are due to my team members Sumin Tang (UCSB), Edward Los (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), George Miller (CfA), Mathieu Servillat (CEA/Saclay), Robert Simcoe (CfA), Alison Doane (CfA), Jamie Pepper (CfA), and David Sliski (CfA). We gratefully acknowledge support from NSF grants AST0407380 and AST0909073.
Seven AAS members have been honored by three eminent organizations for contributions to the advancement of astronomy, astrophysics, and planetary science.
National Academy of Sciences
Each year the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) elects new members in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Election to the Academy is widely regarded as one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive. Among the 84 researchers elected in 2013 are the following AAS members:
- Michael E. Brown, Richard and Barbara Rosenberg Professor, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
- Chryssa Kouveliotou, Astrophysicist and Senior Scientist for High-Energy Astrophysics, Science and Technology Office, NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
- Ramesh Narayan, Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
One of the nation's most prestigious honorary societies,the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is also a leading center for independent policy research. Members contribute to Academy publications and studies of science and technology policy, energy and global security, social policy and American institutions, and the humanities, arts, and education. Three AAS members were recently elected to the Academy:
- Timothy M. Heckman, Dr. A. Hermann Pfund Professor, Director of the Center for Astrophysical Sciences, and Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.
- Marc Kamionkowski, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.
- David W. Latham, Astrophysicist and Lecturer, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass.
Franklin Institute
Founded in honor of one of America's first scientists, Benjamin Franklin, The Franklin Institute is one of the oldest and premier centers of science education and development in the country. The Franklin Institute Awards, given annually since 1874, are among the most prestigious science awards in the world, with winners recognized for their formidable and ground-breaking contributions to science. Recipient of the 2013 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics:
- Alexander Dalgarno, Phillips Professor of Astronomy, Emeritus, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
Alex, who served as editor of the Astrophysical Journal Letters from 1973 to 2003, was cited "for his many fundamental contributions to the development of the field of molecular astrophysics, which led to a better understanding of interstellar space, including the giant molecular clouds that are the birthplaces of stars and planets."
Congratulations to all!
The AAS needs your help in getting due recognition for our most outstanding colleagues. Nominations and letters of support for the AAS prizes for 2014 must arrive in the Secretary's office by 30 June 2013 — that's this coming Sunday! Members may obtain the prize nomination instructions online at http://aas.org/grants-and-prizes/prize-nominations.
Submissions are welcome electronically (http://aas.org/about/grants-and-prizes/prize-nomination-form) or by mail (G. F. Benedict, McDonald Observatory, 1 University Station, Austin, TX 78712). Shortly after that date they are distributed to the several prize committees. Consequently late submissions cannot be accommodated.
In recent years the AAS prize committees have noted the small slates of worthy candidates from whom they may choose. This particularly applies to the junior prizes. To address this dwindling number of nominations your Council approved a change to the rules for the Warner and Pierce Prizes. For these prizes ONLY self-nominations are allowed, with a nomination package consisting of a CV, publication list, and three letters of support. The Warner and Pierce Prize committee will be blind regarding self-nominations versus outside nominations. Please note: letters of support for the Warner and Pierce Prizes MUST NOT include the language that the letter author is nominating the person.
Bear in mind that it is not only the monetary amount but also the honor and distinction that can mean so much to a young astronomer's career. The award of a prize also adds luster to her/his department or institution in the eyes of the academic community.
CARMA, the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy, is accepting observing proposals for its 2013b semester, which will extend from 12 August 2013 to 24 February 2014. All 23 telescopes are equipped with receivers for the 3 mm (85-115 GHz) and 1 cm (27-36 GHz) wavelength bands. The 15 largest telescopes are equipped with dual-polarization receivers for the 1 mm (215-265 GHz) wavelength band. For the 2013b semester, proposals will be accepted for the 23-element array and for subarrays of 15 telescopes and 8 telescopes. Approximately 30% of the awarded time will be given to PIs outside the partner universities.
In addition to regular proposals, CARMA seeks Key Projects that are of sufficient scope and potential scientific impact to justify a significant investment of CARMA resources. Key Projects that complement ALMA or lead to follow-up programs with ALMA are encouraged. A Key Project can request any combination of standard antenna configurations for up to 1,000 hours of observing time spread over 1 to 5 semesters. However, Key Projects that seek primarily wideband/continuum observations should consider delaying a proposal submission until after CARMA's new 8 GHz correlator is commissioned (Fall 2013). In addition to the science and technical justifications, the proposal must outline a plan for the management, production, and distribution of science-quality data products. CARMA anticipates accepting 1 or 2 Key Projects in the 2013b semester.
Proposals should be submitted using the electronic form. Detailed information, including tools to assist you in preparing proposals, is available on the CARMA website. If you require help in understanding CARMA instrument capabilities, please contact CARMA's Help Desk.
Deadline: 21 May 2013 at 22:00 UTC (18:00 EDT).
The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy and the AAS Employment Committee have compiled dozens of interviews highlighting the diversity of career trajectories available to astronomers. The interviews share advice and lessons learned from individuals on those paths.
Below is our interview with Monica Young, an astronomer turned web editor for Sky & Telescope. If you have questions, suggestions, advice to share, etc. about this career path, please leave a comment on the same post at http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com.
For access to all our Career Profile Project interviews, please visit http://aas.org/jobs/career-profiles. We plan to post a new career profile to this blog every first and third Thursday of the month.
What field do you currently work in?
Science Communication / Writing
What is the job title for your current position?
Web Editor.
As Web Editor for Sky & Telescope I manage online content, writing and editing news stories, commissioning blog authors, and scouring press releases and astro-ph for news topics. I also manage app development, and I'm working on a long-term overhaul of the website. In my copious spare time, I answer customer questions about our website, apps, digital issue, and why the Moon is sometimes red.
What is the name of your company/organization/institution?
Sky & Telescope.
As a print magazine, we provide astronomy news, observing guides and charts, and feature articles on topics ranging from amateur astronomer participation in research to the latest knowledge of how Saturn's rings formed.
What city, state, and country do you live in? Work in?
Cambridge, MA.
What is the highest degree in astronomy/physics you have received?
What is/was your ultimate/final academic position in astronomy/physics?
Postdoc (1st)
What has been your career path since you completed your degree?
During my final years of graduate school and during my year as a postdoc, I wrote on a volunteer basis for a variety of venues, including AWIS magazine and Penn State's media relations. In fact, I took my postdoc at Penn State in part because of the prospect of working with Penn State's media relations department — my experience there helped me decide to pursue writing full-time.
During these years, I also started a blog about the "the moving universe," I guestblogged for Science in My Fiction, and I wrote a book review for a local newspaper that I ended up reading for a local radio station.
A few months into my postdoc, I decided that I would never feel fulfilled pursuing research as a career and decided to pursue science-writing instead. I left my postdoc after a year and took some time off to be at home with my newborn son before applying for jobs.
Ultimately, luck played a huge role in my current position — when I applied for an internship at Sky & Telescope, they happened to be accepting applicants for a job there at the same time. The internship essentially served as a trial run and they ended up hiring me full-time after two weeks as an intern.
What were the most important factors that led you to leave astronomy and/or academia?
This is really a complicated question. There were a lot of factors that played *some* role — for example, I hated the prospect of moving from city to city every couple of years. I also didn't like the many-hour workweeks, although I'm now in a position where I do appreciate the flexibility that even those long weeks offered me. However, I think I would have ultimately have dealt with those downsides if I had the passion for research that others around me had.
At the end of every day, I never really felt complete unless I wrote in my blog or edited an article. So in other words, there were many days I felt incomplete. Research was fun at times, but it never produced that same feeling of fulfillment.
If you have made a career change, what was your age at the time?
I left my postdoc at age 30.
What have been particularly valuable skills for your current job that you gained through completing your degree?
I am probably one of few where my PhD experience is directly relevant to my current non-academic career. I use my background daily while reading astro-ph and press releases, examining new publications for newsworthiness. Even when I'm not familiar with a topic, I'm generally able to assess whether a result is valid and interesting before I email an expert for their opinion.
What, if any, additional training did you complete in order to meet the qualifications?
No additional training, aside from what I learned on my own by writing/editing in my free time.
Describe a typical day at work.
I typically catch up on email for the first hour of my day. This means reading through press releases, answering reader questions, and organizing news content for the week. After that, each day is different. Some days I'm pursuing a news story, which involves lots of reading (I always read the original article at the bare minimum) and interviews. Other days, I'm analyzing our website's information architecture and making wireframes, thinking of how we can optimize the site's organization during the overhaul. I might spend all day editing an article for the magazine, which also involves finding illustrations to accompany the text and writing captions. And occasionally, I'll be managing app development, which means coordinating between our designer, who puts together the basic interfaces, and our app developer, who does the coding.
Describe job hunting and networking resources you used and any other advice/resources.
I conducted informational interviews, which led to my internship, and that led directly to my current job.
What advice do you think advisors should be giving students regarding their career path?
Mention non-academic career options and enable networking outside of academia. For example, Neil Brandt at Penn State helped me connect with Penn State's media relations department.
How many hours do you work in a week?
40–45 hours.
Because of daycare and owning only one car, I typically work 35 hours in the office, and another 5 at home.
What is your level of satisfaction with your current job?
Very satisfied.
My job allows me to read about science and write about science. I'm always at the forefront of every field. There's nothing better.
What opportunities does your job provide to be creative and/or to take initiative?
Too many to count. Every article I write or edit, every caption I write, every decision I help make is an opportunity to be creative. Opportunities to take initiative have largely come with answering readers' questions. As readers make me aware of certain issues, I can take initiative (assuming it's within the budget) to make changes.
What advice do you have for achieving work-life balance (including having a family)?
My only advice is that balance is a wobbly thing — sometimes you'll be working more, sometimes you'll be with family more. And that's ok.
There is a worry among those considering careers outside of astronomy or academia that you can't "go back" and/or that you feel that you betrayed advisors, friends, colleagues. Have you felt this way?
Nope, no advice. I've never heard of anyone leaving academia and finding their way back.
What do you do for fun (e.g., hobbies, pastimes, etc.)?
Most of my fun time is spent playing with my 15-month-old son, Liam. I also enjoy cooking, yoga, reading, and watching Downton Abbey. And occasionally making my way to an Irish pub to listen some music.
Can we include your email address for people who may want to contact you directly about your specific career route?
Additional thoughts, comments, resources:
Anybody interested in science writing should join the National Association of Science Writers (NASW).
The AAS has a surplus of books. We offer them to members on a first-come, first-served basis. A flat shipping and handling fee of $10.00 per book applies. Discounted shipping may be available for bulk orders. Please fill out the book order form and direct any questions to Tracy Rowe (firstname.lastname@example.com).
One of the key features of our new website and communication system is the ability to customize the delivery of electronic content from the Society according to your personal preferences.
In the old system, we'd collect certain material into the bimonthly AAS Newsletter and notify members when it was ready to download as a PDF. Between newsletters we'd distribute other content to members via a monthly email exploder, and we'd send occasional meeting updates and public-policy alerts via email as needed. Some of this content was also published on our website, and some wasn't.
In the new system, all content gets published to our website, and you can decide how much of it gets delivered to you by email, and on what schedule (e.g., as soon as it's published, or weekly, or monthly).
We thought the customization of email delivery was fully functional when we "soft launched" the new system in February, but member feedback tells us it isn't — you're getting emails you don't expect, you're concerned that you might be missing emails you need to see, and you're daunted by the complexity of the email-customization interface.
We are now working to fix these problems. In the meantime, for the next month or two, we'll use our old email system to send information of general interest to all members. Meeting and policy alerts will go out as needed. Other content, including items that used to appear in the AAS Newsletter (e.g., the AAS president's column and news from committees) will be compiled as it comes in and then emailed every other week via this AAS News Digest.
To keep the digest from getting too long, we're including only titles, authors, brief summaries, and links. Full text of the entire digest on one page is available online at http://aas.org/content/aas-news-digest-2-may-2013. We encourage all members to visit the AAS website regularly to remain fully informed about Society business.


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I am SUPER excited that my Aliens All Mixed Up book is coming out soon for the iPad. Laurie McAdam and I are doing a series of Mixed Up Books, the next is Pooches All Mixed Up and then Dinos All Mixed Up and then Monsters All Mixed Up and then, WHO KNOWS?
The hardcover book has 1728 different combinations of aliens with a tri-cut feature that allows the reader to change top, middle and bottom. The iPad book will allow the reader to slide the aliens in 1728 combinations as well. "A PERFECT iPad application!"
If you would still like to get some of the hardcover copies you can order them directly off my website; www.justinmatott.com and they will come autographed. The All Mixed Up feature flips into 1728 different Alien combinations and on the iPad the reader will be able to slide different tops, middles and bottoms into place to make for a delightful (and in the back seat of the car, time eating, sibling not fighting, fun to flip combination, always different, never the same, too much fun) read!
The Pooch featured in the picture to the right is my very own Tootsie, the Italian Greyhound, which you can also see being held by alien me! Laurie is holding both of her Italian Greyhounds.
Chime in on what you would like to see All Mixed UP! Please!


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Summer is quickly approaching and people are gearing up for their holidays here at dwelling and in different parts of the world. Of course, touring to Europe can be a bit expensive particularly for these touring with a number of folks. Having spent about 6 months in various low cost accommodations throughout Europe recently, my experience was that the quickest solution to hint the very best deal was to make use of , after which doublecheck their costs, as the perfect deals proven often do not exist.
When you put a map together with Azerbaijan and even some components of Kazakhstan, then Istanbul is certain a European metropolis that is located on European lands. I enjoyed the down time and leisurely pace, nonetheless, I very quickly realized it will be my only European river cruise. You're proper that we do not have so much house here and that does restrict our decisions considerably, however to be fair London is probably shouldn't be typical of the remainder of the UK. You'd probably find one thing much more palatial on your cash in say, Cardiff or Sheffield, or even Brighton.
I realise your feedback are designed purely for satire however I couldn't help however feel appauled by your sheer inaccuracy and uneducated take on European residing standards. Most of the buildings that make Europe so lovely and so magnificent are hundreds of years outdated, I am sure you can forgive them not having garbage disposals. Tourists who have the affinity for seafood should travel to China town and take a look at among the greatest and low cost sea meals dishes.
If you are traveling on a really special day like honeymoon or essential celebration, luxury hotels in Paris are actually advisable. Find cheap hotel offers in any metropolis in Europe and get your lodge take care of lowest lodge worth guarantee in any destinationsin Europe proper right here. Here too, you will discover fun-packed family deals that aren't prohibitive in price.


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The Matrix, here we come
NewScientist has reported here on an amazing breakthrough that's been years in the making.
A memory prosthesis is soon to be trialled that will allow the restoration of long-term memory, and potentially the uploading of new memories and skills. Whilst the sci-fi fans amongst us will rejoice at the potential to mimic Neo and upload combat skills in a blink, there are some amazing real-world potential uses.
Firstly, this could potentially help those suffering from dementia and related conditions that rob us of short term and then longer term memories and skills. Having seen first hand how this can reduce a strong and confident person to a lost child, I'm personally very excited about the potential of this kind of device.
Secondly this could be a huge boon to those who are disadvantaged by today's technology and world. For example older people or people suffering from a lower cognitive state could use this form of technology to assist them to integrate more freely. Instead of feeling isolated by an increasingly complex world, these people could have the necessary skills and memories directly available to allow them to integrate. Equally it could help refugees to quickly learn the language and culture of new countries they end up in. It could also help those with unique psychological conditions such as Prosopagnosia, where people are no longer able to recognise familiar faces. The potential wins are limitless.
Even more importantly, this could open the way for increasingly complex systems. Right now our ability to use and understand complex systems has a relatively hard limit in current human perception and cognition. Technology that helps to shift that processing out of our heads and into assistive elements such as this could one day allow us to handle vastly more complex interfaces and computing tasks, without needing to have super brains ourselves. Not that I'm arguing for complexity, that's absolutely not the case - but extending our natural abilities and memories, and reducing the workload on new skill acquisition, can all help to increase the reach of the average user.
And that's something we should all be excited about.


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Hey!! What's the story?
The telephone only rings at night, little clipped half beeps, just enough to wake me. It lies still all day, but today you called and I liked hearing you living in there. You were born to be contained. Mrs. Colliballs said you used to crawl into cupboards when you were small, that this one time she found you in the bread bin. How you'd ended up there, she didn't know, but she laughed when she told me, her mouth opening up like a manhole.
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Great story, I want to read more, Love the surname Colliballs. This would be a great first paragraph for a novel. Well done Dulcie.....
Many congrats on a great story Dulcie!! :)
great work Dulcie, well done!
Congratulations! Lovely piece of writing.
Congrats, this is great, a worthy winner !
Took me two reads to grasp the entirety of the tale but once done, excellent.
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Bed and Breakfast For Sale
Would you like to own the place where Tim purposed to me? Tim sure would, but unfortunately we don't have an extra $399,000 laying around.
Govern Farms and Homes
There are always two choices, two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it's easy. ~unknown
Would you like to own the place where Tim purposed to me? Tim sure would, but unfortunately we don't have an extra $399,000 laying around.
Govern Farms and Homes
Posted by Becky at 7:13 PM 1 comments
Labels: other structures
Yesterday afternoon my mom and I traveled to Iowa Falls. It's around 50 miles southwest of Greene, and I had never been. We didn't get much of a chance to look around town, but I am definitely going to have to head back with my camera (I tried taking shots with the cell phone, but the pictures really suck so I'm not going to even try to post them). They have some amazing architecture both on their Main Street area and in the residential areas. Also it looked like they had some really cool Main Street businesses.
Posted by Becky at 1:49 PM 2 comments
Labels: other structures
So the original plan for last Sunday was to leave the kids with my mom and head on over to Iowa City to meet Mike of Foxcroft and Aaron and Jeannie of House In Progress. Aaron and Jeannie were guest speakers at Mike's Iowa City Friends of Historic Preservation annual meeting.
Well, mom called and she wondered if she could back out because they were working on putting stone up on the wall of their kitchen. She did a kitchen addition on the house about two years ago and the wall hadn't been finished yet. Their goal is to have it done by the supper bowl party they are supposed to be hosting. I told her I was fine with that. We understand major projects before parties totally. Plus, living so close to so many family we don't have problems finding sitters.
So Molly was going to Tim's folks for the night and Elsa was going along for the ride to Iowa City and then going to hang out with my sister. That was until Molly got the plague. OK, not quite the plague, but some sort of head cold. If you remember from a previous post we had gone to a play date with a friend that developed RSV so I was seriously worried she'd hit the high temps that Elle did. We made it through the night with no problem, but I didn't want to make the in-laws responsible if anything went wrong. So Tim was unwelcoming volunteered to stay home while Elsa and I headed out in the cold.
Tim was very unhappy with this arrangement, I think he had even read up on what was happening on the two blogs so he could stay current with the conversation. But he, being a good husband, also realized that now days I have very little outside adult contact and that this meeting meant a lot to me after following these people for around five years now.
I had a wonderful time. Mary (my sister) and I ate at a wonderful bakery next to the library and then headed over for the meeting. She and Elsa hung out in the children's area while I attended the meeting. It was so wonderful to see a like-minded group of people come together to accomplish so many great things for their city, really inspiring. And Aaron and Jeannie gave a wonderful talk. It was fun the see the beginnings of what would become their wonderful site, and to see them share some of their wealth of knowledge. I would recommend them highly to any other group looking for speakers. I even won a book! More on that in another post though.
My only regret was it seemed like there wasn't enough time to chat. I was sure Aaron and Jeannie were anxious to get on the road and I had to get Elsa so Mary could make it to work on time. Of course, before I left we had to stop for a gelloto, because you can't find that in my neck of the woods.
On the way home I called Tim to report that I was on my way and find out supper plans. He asked, kind of snidely, "So was it worth the 5 hour drive?" Yes, it defiantly was.
Posted by Becky at 11:41 AM 1 comments
Labels: houseblogging
or What Would James Bond Do
So of course the morning I do a post on how the furnace hasn't gone out it goes out that evening, and doesn't stay lit. So last night Tim gets home, eats, and then gets suited up to do battle in the cold. In the mean time I'm cleaning up after supper when his phone vibrates. I pick it up and say, "That's funny it didn't ring, I was standing here the whole time." I then turn around and continue wiping. A couple of seconds later I turn back and see him poking at the phone with his hand over the screen. "Are you texting?" I asked in an amazed voice.
Ok, I know this makes me so totally uncool, but I believe that texting is best left to people who are not grown men. Something about it really turns me off. Picture someone who is the epitiamy of manhood, like James Bond, poking at his phone using stupid abbreviations. You can't right? I rest my case.
So back to our conversation. He shows me his screen. "wtf," I exclaim. "What are you a sixteen year old girl." "Your just jealous you don't know anyone who text messages," he replies.
Which is not true. Tom and Jen text message. For some reason I accept this. Maybe because when they started they were actually teenagers. Maybe because they are so darned cute because for some strange reason they seem to still want to talk to each other after being married for two+ years. I think of them as young and cute. I don't want to think of my husband as young and cute. I want him to be a tool wielding, furnace fixing machine. And this text messaging crap is interfering with both.
The phone vibrates again. "idk, what does that mean?" he asks. I feel a little better because if he doesn't know all the slang maybe he's just starting down this dark path and he can still be saved. "I don't know, maybe," I reply. He types away furiously for a bit and then heads down to the basement. I assume he is going to get tools, but after the minutes drag by I figure out he's down there texting where I can't see him. So the situation has gone from weird to creepy and no one is fixing the heat. -sigh-
James Bond wouldn't sit in his basement text messaging. And you know what, James Bond wouldn't come to bed smelling like burnt corn either. But I suppose I'm disappointing in ways too. I imagine Bond girls shave their legs more than once a month.
Posted by Becky at 10:12 AM 5 comments
I'm sorry I said I hate contractors. That was a little extreme. Like I said there are a few that we couldn't live without and are very pleasant to work with. But unfortunately we have found that to be a very small number. For awhile we figured it was because we had made the mistake of not hiring the expensive contractor. This corn furnace has taught us that price does not a good experience make. We've come to the conclusion that for us doing the work ourselves has been much more rewarding than hiring it done. That being said if the furnace continues to not keep up we have decided that we will purchase another heating manifold and install it ourselves. So no, I don't hate contractors, I hate working with them.
I think like todd said in the last post it was a case of bad communication. The plumbers we had out to do the work seemed experienced in what they were doing, and were much better (honest?) in answering our questions. I wish that we could have dealt with them from the beginning instead of the owner/salesperson combo we talked to. So maybe that's a secret. You need to stick with smaller/local businesses. But then again that's bitten us in the butt too. And as for recommendations we learned how unfortunate those could be with our roof debacle. I don't know what the answer is. I just have to go on with the belief that people who mislead others are going to have to answer for that someday, and be happy in that knowledge.
Thank you matt for the offer of help. As of right now I'm hoping we won't need it. As for a cleaner we were told that we wouldn't need one with this system. Which was another reason why we bought it.
When the plumbers came back out they removed the solid auger we had been using and replaced it with a hallow one. They said they don't install solid ones on corn furnaces anymore and don't know how that one made it on our unit. -sigh- It seems to have made the difference. Tim had noted that even how it burns seems better and we haven't had a problem with it going out since. This is the longest it has consecutively run ever. My dad made a good observation. He said that the auger probably makes the difference because a hallow one wouldn't conduct heat as much as a solid one. The solid one was probably conducting the heat and causing condensation (which he had noticed outside the tube and thought was strange) which caused the feed to gum up.
The fact that it is now running after the replacement makes me feel better because these guys had my husband and I feeling like a couple of morons. They kept telling us how they had retired farmers who ran the thing with no problems and didn't understand why we had problems. Well, from what we can tell now it's because YOUR auger.
Other minor issues you should know if you are thinking about getting one. They are NOT maintenance free. The salesperson made it sound like you just had to clean out once a month or so and otherwise you didn't have to pay any attention to it. Wrong. We have to poke around at the fire twice a day. Tim does it first thing in the morning before leaving for work and then in the evening after supper. So don't expect to take an overnight away and it still be working when you return. That being said the technician we had out here said what the owner told us about having someone around to watch it constantly is a bunch of baloney. That people are able to leave there stoves and go to friends houses for play-dates and return to find them working. We've also found that you can't adjust the thermostat. I'm one of those people who loves it cold when the sleep. So I had a programmable thermostat that dropped way down at night and then warmed it self back up before I was up in the morning. We can't do that right now. In fact, if we mess with the thermostat setting at all it seems to lead to problems so we no longer touch it. I don't know if this we be better once we have the shed built and have a heaver load on the system. I'll have to let you know.
Posted by Becky at 1:56 PM 0 comments
Labels: exterior
Things are pretty glum around the farm house these days. We don't understand. Are all contractors jerks? I mean I think we are pretty good judges of character, we seem to have so many lovely friends and family. Then why are we incapable of picking a decent contractor? OK, not all of them have been horrible (we love you Wedeking Electric please come soon to wire the dining room), but it seems we get more bad apples than good.
For the last three days the furnace has not kept lit over 6 hours. Last week it worked fine for us. Tim would go out every night and stir the pot a bit and things were a nice and toasty 72 degrees. And when the weather turned so did our luck.
They sent a guy out yesterday. When Tim called last night Mick (the owner of the company) said that we had bad corn and just the slightest crack can cause the furnace not to work. Now isn't that something you should tell the customer before they purchase corn? Also, he was upset to find that I was not home. The girls and I had gone for 4 hours to a friends for a play date. I guess you are not supposed to leave the furnace. Isn't that something they should have told us? Now if someone said to you you can't leave the house for the furnace to work effectively would you buy the furnace? I think not.
So we got up this morning to our cold house and Tim called Mick again. He said that this is the last time he is sending a guy out for free and we just have to face the fact that we have a bad batch of corn. Now here's my solution. We will waste even more of our time (Tim was supposed to be a work hours ago, but he's here waiting for the contractor) draining the bin. We will then purchase "approved" corn from the contractor and then see if the damn thing works. Or I am seriously tempted to say to them take the damn furnace and the coil that you put in that is too small to heat the house and we'll just pay for the work plumbing the two together. Then we'll go to another contractor and start over again.
I am so tempted to e-mail the company a link to this post and a copy of my site stats. Let them know just how fast word of mouth can travel when you have a houseblog. I suppose I had better just settle down though.
Posted by Becky at 9:01 AM 3 comments
Exciting news. The Rath Administration building has been purchased to be renovated by Mako Waterloo Corporation. Read the article here.
Posted by Becky at 10:05 AM 1 comments
Labels: other structures
I want to call my husband and scream and yell. But I won't because I am a good wife.
They came Monday and installed the corn furnace the rest of the way and the last few days have been a constant battle with it. If it actually stays lit, it doesn't keep the house warm. I let the temperature fall to 63 and then I'd bump the propane on to catch it up so I don't know just how low the thing would fall before it would keep up.
Yesterday morning the contractor came out to start the fire because Tim had to get to work and we couldn't figure out why it would have gone out (he said it was feed that plugged the auger, but when Tim looked at it this morning after it went out again he said the auger is not sitting right and it's grinding the corn up into feed). I talked to him about it not keeping up and how maybe we need a bigger exchanger on the furnace. He told me that the exchanger was more than big enough for area this size in that "Don't be stupid" tone of voice. I wanted to make a nasty comment, but not only am I a nice wife, I am a good person so I just smiled sweetly at him bottling my anger deep, deep inside.
What really burns me is we used a really expensive contractor. And it's still not right. Arrrrrrrrg@!#$
Well today that anger is itching to get out. I need to get somethings tonight at the store and I just know Tim is going to make a fuss about price and not having any money. Well at least the camera case I plan on buying will work unlike that stupid corn furnace he bought. There I said it, and hopefully that will be enough and I won't have to have a complete melt down in the middle of the Target store.
I wish I had a time machine. I'd hop in it and travel back to October and forbid Tim from buying that stupid corn furnace. Instead I'd take the money and buy a Wii and the Guitar Hero game (I played it with my cousin last weekend and fell in love, I even dreamed about it last night, serious). Then if I was angry I'd just rock out until my anger subsided...
Posted by Becky at 10:36 AM 7 comments


text:
Should I go to class when I'm sick?
"Should I go to yoga when I'm sick?"
It's a question I hear from many dedicated yogis who don't want to miss their practice. Besides, couldn't there be some benefit to moving and stretching to support healing?
The not-so-simple answer: sometimes.
There are two times when you absolutely should not attend a class when you're sick: first, if you know you're contagious, do your fellow yogis (and citizens) a favor and stay home.
Second, if you have a fever or are on pain relieving medication (even OTC) to help you feel functional, you aren't able to accurately assess your body's needs and abilities in the practice and are more likely to hurt yourself. You're better off resting, and doing some gentle stretching at home. Emphasis on gentle.
When SHOULD you practice, and how?
It's true that moving the body will help drain the lymph system, sweating will help remove toxins, and many yogis report feeling better after a class. Choose something *fairly* mellow that won't tempt you to push beyond your ability and strength -- that will only make you feel worse. If you are recovering and still feeling weak, choose restorative or gentle practices that will ease you back into your practice.
Got a lot of phlegm? (Ewwww) A stronger practice will help you loosen it up. Just be prepared to blow your nose or.. ahem.. spit. (I'll let you figure out how to navigate that...) Be aware that the students around you may have varying levels of comfort with your processing, and be conscientious.
When in doubt.... see the image above. Stay healthy this season, yogis.


text:
It was a sincere pleasure learning from you and please know that our leadership found value in attending the program as well. You've certainly provided food for thought on Board Development.
You made a fine presentation and impression with all present. That is quite a challenge.
Sometimes in life even people who seem to have it together need a coach to help them see their potential clearly and figure out the right path to take. Through only a few sessions I rose beyond my circumstances, and I am now moving on into things with more clarity. I found that Naphtali's particular intervention approach was fair; supportive; empowering; educative; challenging and importantly, personally developmental.
I was in need of someone who could help me identify and analyze my shortcomings and ways to improve my effectiveness and my general performance in my personal life, business, and in my communal work. Naphtali Hoff was, and is, extremely effective in addressing all of the above. At the same time, he helped me to restructure the set up the chain of command in our institutions, by guiding and coaching all our staff members. He has a very clear way of thinking and has a great intuition and understanding the issues and what's behind them. It is a real pleasure to talk to him. I am happy to have him in my life.
Thank you once again for joining us to enhance our teaching. I thought that today was an excellent session: well presented, practical, and gave a lot of food for thought for our teachers. I look forward to following up with the teachers to see how your ideas and methods can be implemented in our classrooms. It's always a pleasure to partner with you
Your presentations certainly (strengthened) the whole idea of observations and helped us get hands-on practice. There is more clarity about what we're looking for, the scripting during the observation, and how to give the feedback. Our expectations of our teachers have been raised and I feel the professionalism has been upgraded due to the observations.
Naphtali Hoff presented a session on Formative Assessment as part of the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston's annual back to school professional development seminar for congregational school teachers... Naphtali has a wonderful way of presenting... techniques that teachers can implement easily into their classroom routines. Assessment is a very important aspect of teaching and Naphtali has helped our teachers be cognizant of their students engagement and build on their learning using Formative Assessment as their guide. Thank you for sharing your expertise with our teachers!
Naphtali Hoff listened carefully to my requests and catered his workshop to fit the needs of our school. He deepened our faculty's understanding of assessment and provided them with useful techniques to put into place immediately. He modeled these techniques during his own teaching and asked teachers to reflect on this both independently and collaboratively. His hands-on approach to learning was met with positive feedback by both General and Judaic Studies faculty members.
Thank you very much for an interesting, informative, and all-around enjoyable session yesterday. The feedback from the teachers was very positive. They described the workshop as helpful, full of good ideas, clear, practical, enjoyable, well-presented, and relevant to all parties. We very much appreciate your professionalism and look forward to another visit!
Thank you for your meaningful presentation to the LGHS staff. I know that you were helpful in both setting the right tone for the school year as well as inspiring and encouraging our staff to reach higher in creating alternative assessments for their students.
On behalf of the Leadership Development Group I would like to thank you for your wonderful presentation that you delivered. The feedback has been very positive and I myself used some of the material as an catalyst to start some new initiatives.
Naphtali Hoff delivered two well researched, insightful and engaging leadership webinars for Jvillage Network. His willingness to tailor the presentation for our needs as well as bring out a high level of participation - not an easy task - was exemplary.
{At our conference for 500 educators,] his topics were relevant, his presentations were well prepared and most importantly, we got overwhelmingly positive feedback about his sessions.
Your workshop certainly sparked the interest of our staff members who, already on the next day, were implementing the ideas you discussed in their classrooms. It is also interesting to note that at our next faculty meeting the issues you discussed were very prominent on our agenda... What's important is that the excitement does not stop there, and that fresh ideas continue to be part of a teacher's planning throughout the year.
So many (of our) teachers have come to tell me how great your session was and how they felt there was so much valuable information given. One teacher in particular asked me if you could come back and meet with some teachers privately! I was so happy that it went so well.
Your presentation was thoroughly researched, well structured, and rich in resources... You are passionate about the benefits of using the web but clear-eyed and realistic about its pitfalls and limitations. Thank you for giving us such a balanced view of the online world.
We had extremely positive feedback for your sessions and I appreciate and applaud you for meeting our many and various educational needs. Thank you very much for all your preparations; the handouts, the concrete strategies and examples, and your comprehensive and thorough presentations.


text:
This weekend, I was hauling @ss at being an appropriate blogger.
You see, my sister was here for the weekend and we did all sorts of "blogworthy" things. On Saturday, we spent the whole day in Georgetown. In other words, we spent all day in the backdrop of every other fashion pin on Pinterest.
And we didn't just sit around in Georgetown either; we did all sorts of incredibly, almost embarrassingly blogworthy activities. We ate crepes on the patio of a quaint little cafe near the water. We looked at menus hanging outside expensive restaurants, and argued about how to pronounce "gyro." We walked into overpriced but unfortunately irresistible little shops.
Hell, I bought a birthday card for more than $4.00. It was just so cute, so witty, so "bloggy"... and so unnecessary. But that's what we bloggers live for!
And then on Sunday, we got brunch, and I ordered little baby biscuits with pepper jelly. Pepper jelly, for crying out loud. It was a blogger's dream!
But I didn't take a single picture.
No, it wasn't that I didn't take any "good" pictures. I literally just did not think to pull out my camera one single time. So much opportunity missed, so much blogger credit down the drain.
So I decided to try and redeem myself by making the wedding inspiration board above, with all of the things that I want to incorporate into my dream wedding. So far, it consists of three things:
1. The color scheme of grey and yellow. I saw this on Pinerest and immediately loved it. It spoke to me, as a more deserving blogger might say.
2. Tacos. The dream would be to have Taco Joint in Chicago cater my wedding, but as we aren't getting married in Chicago... this probably won't happen. Any good tacos will do though, so long as there is guac and cilantro.
3. A food truck at 10 pm. Again, my ultimate dream scenario is to have 5411 Empanadas come refill our love-and-wine drunk, dancing tanks, but I don't think I can afford to have them deliver cross-country. So again, any sort of food truck after a few hours of toasting, bouquet-tossing, and dancing will do.
The thing is, when I told my sister about these three requirements, she thought I was ridiculous. She also said that if I make my bridesmaids wear yellow shoes, she will happily do it because it's my day and she loves me dearly... but that she will throw them away immediately after the wedding.
In other words, she's not a fan of the yellow and grey.
So, blogging community, in an effort to be as "blogger" as possible, I'm going to include some questions at the end of my post for you to answer:
1. Are my wedding colors ugly, and I just don't know it?
2. Would you appreciate a wedding reception with a taco bar?