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I have repeatedly heard that "Scrum succeeds largely because the people doing the work define how to do the work" (see From The Top by Ken Schwaber for his full text). However, I do not think that is even a third of why Scrum works - and be clear, I am certainly not questioning that Scrum works - I just want to get at the why it works.
Before I go into that, let me say a few words about why I am interested in the why. I have been doing some form of Agile development for 20 years. The first 10 years or so, my approach was somewhat informal, although I remember one project that had complete automated testing (for my piece anyway) back in 1984. In the last 7 years, as a trainer/coach/mentor in Lean and Agile methods, I have had the privilege of seeing dozens of teams migrate to Lean-Agile methods. As an educator (I guess my word for "change-agent") I have been intrigued with what helps to shift people's behavior (not just their understanding).
Shifting behavior requires more than simply knowing what to do and how to do it. It also requires more than having done it a few times. It requires a confidence that what they will do will make a difference when things get tough because, when things get tough, people tend to go back to their previous (bad) habits. They begin to fear that they will not succeed with the new approach, so they revert to what they have been doing for years, even if they've had short-term success with better methods.
I joke in my classes that it's a good thing that we didn't have our attitude about learning as babies that we have now. If we did, when we were trying to learn how to walk we'd get up to try to walk, fall down, get up again to try, fall down again and then say to ourselves - "To heck with this, I'm crawling, it's faster."
Shifting to effective behavior requires both a doing and an understanding of why the doing works, both practice and intellect. I think eXtreme Programming faced a bit of resistance in spite of its obvious validity because when it first came out little was done to explain why it worked (no question that it does). Scrum is having great success because it is a great process (yes, I think Scrum is a process, but that'll be another blog). The problem with misplacing why Scrum works is that you have little guidance to follow if you try to use it and non-standard issues come up. Perhaps more importantly, it gets hard to convince management (who definitely needs an understanding of why) if you tell them the wrong answer (Manager: "You mean I should just let my team figure it out? The same guys who can't deliver software on time? Yeah, right!"). Yes, I am being a bit facetious and unfair here, but you get what I mean...I hope.
Why does Scrum Work?
OK, so why does Scrum work? Remember, I am not challenging that it does, just asking why. I would say Scrum works for the following reasons:
A Scenario: Structure may be more important than autonomy
Note, when considering the reasons I believe Scrum works, self-motivated teams are not even on the list here. I would consider all of the items above to be more important.
Imagine two different teams:
With a decent PM telling the second team what to do, the will perform much better than the first team. Why? Because the first team's constraints make it impossible to implement the real reasons (available customer, working one project, co-location) that actually has the productivity be high. True, the second team would do even better if they can make a lot of decisions for themselves. But, in these cases, it is the constraints on the first team (something over which they have no control) that keeps them from doing as well as the second.
Be careful that I am not arguing against autonomy. Nor am I arguing against self-organizing teams. My experience is that most self-organizing teams that understand Scrum will want to do the things I have listed as "reasons". But I am trying to be clear that it is those effective actions that is causing things, not the self-organizing.
You can say that my case is unfair. I would say my case is realistic. The structure within which teams find themselves often has a lot more to do with what they can accomplish than the freedoms they are given within that structure. This should come as no surprise. Edwards Deming, whose philosophy and teachings are the foundation for Toyota's Lean methods, incorporate the notion of systems being the source of most errors.
The Evidence
OK, enough theory, what's my evidence for this?
As I mentioned, over the last 7 years I have seen dozens of teams go agile. Many times (especially when the teams were small), the team could define what their work was. More often, especially in larger companies, they weren't given this ability. However, several of the items I gave above as reasons were put in place (by management decree) and these teams still succeeded.
I've also been involved in assessments of companies where little autonomy was given yet there was a 4-1 ratio in effectiveness between some of the teams. The main differences in the teams were the effective teams:
Now, it may be that a team that can define its work will pick these things. I buy that. I would say that a team that defines its work will be effective because it is choosing the right things to do. But it is effective because it is doing the right things - not necessarily that they chose them.
This is an important distinction if we are going to understand why things work. It's also an important distinction if we have managers who want an effective team but don't quite trust them to define their own process. It also helps us when we are in organizations where the people doing the work are afraid to make decisions on their own. In many organizations teams don't quite believe that they can make decisions on how to run things. While this is an important issue and eventually needs to be addressed, it is not necessarily where you need to start.
This is actually a very good thing. I have heard many Scrum coaches complain about the need for trust to get started doing agile. I would say that is not true. While trust helps a lot, just doing iterative development, focus on integrating the team, having QA define test cases concurrent with getting requirements, co-locating teams, .... (see reasons above) will make a lot of progress. Trust can come from success as well as success coming from trust.
What I am saying is that while self-organizing teams who are knowledgeable about how to do effective software development will tend to become effective, the practices they adopt have a lot to do with their effectiveness. Knowledgeable, self-organizing teams select practices that support them and avoid practices that don't. Their process becomes their baseline of effort and they change it when it doesn't work. They refine their process (although they may not think of it as a process). This is all good. But it assumes they live in a structure where they can select the practices that will work best. Therefore, it is important is to understand what works and why. It may requirement more than the team to get these practices in place. It also may be that teams don't know what to do or that they don't believe they can act on their own. Of course, a self-organizing team that gets management support to do the right thing is the best situation.
Hi Alan,
Long time listener, first time caller. Love keeping up with your thoughts on the software industry. Keep up the great work.
A major difficulty that I have with Scrum and with Agile literature in general is that it gives too casual a treatment of the fundamental 'why it works' points that you discuss in this article. A key concept that I take from your article is 'focus'. I would qualify this concept as the need for business focus in software teams. Here's an anecdote from my experience.
Imagine a team that sits together, works on the same thing together, works on one project at a time, has available customers, delivers working software every month, but has a 'task completion' culture. In this team the technical aspects (tasks) of many different features are worked on every sprint, but the features themselves are not completed to a useable state: the feature implementations span sprints. The customer is engaged to show that progress is being made on all of their important features. Where had my team (ouch) gone off the rails?
From an outside perspective, and with the benefit of experience, I guess it is obvious that our business focus was missing. We weren't targeting business outcomes and consistently delivering value to our customer. Developing a really efficient database for 6 months does not add value for the customer. They cannot play with the database. The database on its own does not make them any money. We were delivering technical tasks instead of business value.
So for me, the practices underlying Scrum are fantastic enablers for focus, but remember to question what you are focusing on. Think about why you are coming to work every day and you may get more mileage from your process!
Just to clarify, I think Scrum is great. I think the intent is absolutely there for it to focus the team on business outcomes. I don't blame Scrum for the fact that we were not doing business in the most efficient way. If Mr. Schwaber had looked at our project I can almost guarantee that he would have either said:
1. You need to build working functionality that provides business value to the customer every sprint. And if we still didn't listen:


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Disclaimer: Dirty Sexy Money belongs to Berlanti Television and Touchstone
Television. This story is not-for-profit but I own it.
Date: 10/13/2008
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Drug use, voyurism, male solo sex, male/female sex, female solo
sex, female/female sex, strong language, transgender
Categories: Het, slash, bi
Pairing: Patrick/Carmelita/f
Feedback: Yes, I want feedback.
Archive: Yes
Other Notes: This AU story is an answer to one of the Challenge Maker's
Prompt Challenges.
Summary: Tripp asks Nick to go over to Patrick's apartment to check on him
and discovers a plain brown package in the mailbox with photographs of
Patrick and Carmelita in hot and steamy poses with another woman.
Dedications: None so far.
Dirty Sexy Money: Something Really Stupid
by Andrew Troy Keller ([email protected])
My name is Nick George and ever since I had been hired as the personal
attorney of all of the members of the wealthy Darling family by a Mister
Patrick 'Tripp' Darling III and his wife Letitia, I had suddenly found that
my entire world has turned upside down with the fact that one or all of the
Darlings might had something to do with the murder of my own father and that
one of Tripp and Letitia's grown daughters whose name happens to be Karen was
the one who had surrendered her virginity to me some time ago.
But let me tell you right now that all of the forementioned was nothing
compared to what was about to happen to Tripp and Letitia's grown son Patrick
for you see, it was on a sunny Monday morning that I had recieved a phone
call from Tripp and he had asked me to go right over to Patrick's apartment
and check on him because his wife Ellen and his two children Margaux and
Robert were out of town and Letitia had called the apartment to see if he was
okay, only to have her hear the phone ringing and nothing else.
And of course, that had made me realize that since I had found myself growing
very fond of each and every member of one of the wealthiest families within
the entire Manhattan section of the City of New York, I had allowed myself to
go to Patrick's apartment complex just in time to take a little peek inside
his mailbox and discover that someone had just placed a plain brown package
with the rest of his mail.
And after I had started riding the elevator up to the floor that Patrick's
apartment happens to be on, I had opened the package and discovered that it
had contained some photographs that would really force Patrick to give up his
run for the Senate. That was before the elevator had stopped itself on
Patrick's floor and I had gotten myself out of the elevator, ouickly walked
myself over to his apartment door, knocked on it and yelled, "PATRICK, ARE
Then, after the apartment door had unlocked and opened itself right up and
allowed Patrick to look at me with a really depressed look on his face, let
out a sigh and said, "I was wondering when my parents would be able to talk
you into coming over here to check up on me, Nick. Well, since you're here,
you might as well come right on in." before he had moved himself out of the
way and allowed me to step into the apartment just in time for me to toss the
package that was filled with the photographs on the coffee table, take a deep
breath and ask, "Patrick, why do I have a feeling that you know what's inside
this package?"
"To tell you the truth, Nick. I could personally take a wild guess. It
contains something that might had came right out of Pandora's Box. Am I
right?", that was the question that Patrick had asked me before I had rolled
my eyes and answered, "You could definitely be right, Patrick. As a matter of
fact, if copies of these photos would ever become the front page story of
today's edition of the New York Post, this could turn into a public scandle
and your parents would be really unhappy about it."
And as soon as he had opened the package and gazed his eyes upon the pictures
of him having hot and steamy sex with his transsexual lover Carmelita and a
beautiful woman with dark-brown hair and brown eyes, Patrick had closed his
eyes, taken a deep breath and said, "Well, it looks like I have no choice but
to call WNBC Channel 4 and let them know that let both Matt Lauer and
Meredith Vieira know that I won't be on this morning's edition of The Today
Show after all."
"Are you sure that you don't want to chnage your mind, Patrick? I mean, I had
taken another look inside the package and noticed that there was no blackmail
note inside of it," that was what I had said to Patrick, only to have him
take a deep breath, turn his eyes toward me and say, "Look, Nick. I really
don't mean to sound nasty towards you and especially on a day like this. But
what you don't understand is that all it takes to ruin my chances to go to
the Senate are those pics and a simple whistling in the wind through the
rumor mill! And if that's not good enough for you, then you might as well go
ahead and excuse me for ever being born!Now, if Mister Mama's Boy would
excuse me, I need to go take a shower right now, okay?"
And with that, I had taken a deep breath, taken a couple of steps away from
Patrick and allowed him to step into the bathroom which was where he had
turned on the water, stripped off all of his clothes and stepped into the
shower, only to him place his forehead on wall, allow a single tear to run
down his cheek and thought to himself, *Why did I do that?I had allowed
myself to do something really stupid... and I'm going to lose the love of my
children because of it!*
And if you want to know why he was acting like that, I guess that I might as
well go ahead and tell you what he had told me right now. You see, it was
during his trial seperation from Ellen that Patrick had allowed himself to go
on a flat-out drinking binge after he had allowed himself to leave the
Russian Tea Room and right in the middle of the party that Tripp and Letitia
were throwing in order to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
And let me tell you right now that as soon as both my wife whose name happens
to be Lisa and I had left the party in order to go home and be with our
beloved daughter Kiki, poor Patrick had already placed himself inside the
Rainbow Room and ordered enough shots of brandy to keep him light-headed.
And if that was not bad enough, a certain transsexual bitch known as
Carmelita had walked herself over to where Patrick was sitting, placed her
hand on his shoulder and said, "So, Lover. Are you going to buy this sexy
lady a drink or what?" only to have a drunk Patrick turn his blurry eyes
toward that bitch, let out a small chuckle and say, "Well-well-well! If it
isn't the one bitch who had forced my wife to take our kids and walk out on
me! So, what the fucking hell do you want now, Bitch? You want to drain some
more of my blood?"
"Whoa! Take it easy, Patrick. That's not it at all. I just want to introduce
you to a really good friend of mine, that's all," that was the answer that
Carmelita had given to Patrick before she had allowed her beautiful friend
with dark-brown hair to walk on over, placed her hand on that friend's
shoulder and said, "Mister Patrick Darling, allow me to introduce to you Miss
Felicity Hatcher. She's also an actress like your sister Juliet, only she
wishes to star in porn films. And if I might be so bold as to say so, she
really does have a really hot body. Don't you agree, Patrick?"
And after he had looked with slushed eyes at Felicity and noticed that
Carmelita had told him the truth about her, the still-drunk Patrick had sat
himself back, looked at his transsexual lover dead in the eye and asked,
"What do you two babes have in mind?", and of course, after they had left the
Rainbow Room and gone back to his apartment, Carmelita had dragged Patrick
into the bedroom where they had stripped off all of their clothes and he had
began stroking his stiff cock right in front of her.
Then, after Carmelita had placed Patrick's drunk-on-his-ass naked body on the
bed and began sucking on his stone hard dick and rubbing her hands all over
his bare chest, Felicity had placed her bare-ass naked body and her tote bag
inside the room, taken a fully-loaded camera and tripod out of the bag and
set it up just right before she had also taken a portable radio out of the
tote and tuned it to WXRK-FM 92.3 K-Rock, the one radio station whose slogan
happens to be 'The Rock Of New York'.
And then, after she had activated the timer and allowed the camera to start
taking photos of the people in front of it, Felicity had placed herself next
to the camera and started pumping two of her fingers in and out of her hot,
wet pussy and carressing her own tits with the other hand before she had
moved herself closer and placed Patrick's stiff cock inside her asshole just
in time for Carmelita to start licking on Felicity's hot and steamy cunt and
carressing her firm breasts.
Then, after Felicity had placed her hands on Carmelita's bare shoulders and
said, "Aaaahhhh, yeeeessss! That's it! Do it, Carmelita! Touch me! Touch me
there! Suck my wet pussy dry while Patrick fucks me in the ass! Aaaahhhh!"
Carmelita had placed herself on the bed, allowed Felicity to start sucking on
her stone hard dick and kissed Patrick ever so deep and passionately on the
And after they had done that, Patrick had placed his stiff cock inside
Felicity's hot, moist snatch and his hands on her stiff mounds and she had
began sucking on Carmelita's dick and carressing her tits, Patrick's
sexually-charged transsexual lover had placed her hands on Felicity's bare
back and yelled at the top of her lungs, "AAAAHHHH, THAT'S IT! DO IT,
Then, after they had started moving themselves harder and faster and kept on
doing so until they had all came, collapsed due to exhaustion and fallen
asleep with their naked arms in a lover's embrace, the camera had stopped
taking the pictures and waited for both Carmelita and Felicity to get
themselves off the bed, reclaim the camera and sneak themselves out of the
apartment before Patrick wakes himself up with one nasty hangover.
As for what he was about to do in order to make sure that his run for the
Senate does not get deep-sixed by blackmail and scandle, the one poor member
of the Darling family had stepped out of the bathroom in only a robe, turned
his eyes toward me, cleared his throat and said, "Nick, I've changed my mind.
Call Matt and Meredith and let them know that I'll be there as soon as I get
myself ready. There's something that I need to let the voters know about me."
Submit stories to:
[email protected](dot)com
with the title heading "TSSA Story Submission"
Copyright © 2002-2014 TSSA Click For Celebrity Pics

subset: commoncrawl


text:
SAN ANTONIO - Two apartment complexes in the Alamo City have new owners. The two-property portfolio includes the Park at Ventana, a 319-unit community, and the Villas at Ventana, which spans 244 units.
Both properties are on the city's Northeast Side. The Park at Ventana is located at 3903 Barrington Dr., off Loop 410 and Starcrest Dr. The Villas at Ventana is located at 2167 NE Loop 410, between Harry Wurzbach and Starcrest.
The buyer of the portfolio is a Beverly Hills-based, privately owned company.
Our twice-weekly e-newsletter provides a quick overview of Texas real estate markets. Because your time is valuable.


text:
I endorse without reserve the much abused sentiment of Governor M'Duffie, that "Slavery is the corner-stone of our republican edifice;" while I repudiate, as ridiculously absurd, that much lauded but nowhere accredited dogma of Mr. Jefferson, that "all men are born equal." No society has ever yet existed, and I have already incidentally quoted the highest authority to show that none ever will exist, without a natural variety of classes. [James H. Hammond, "Letter to an English Abolitionist" 1845]
The quality of the tone is penetrating and unsympathetic, by no means equal to that of the trumpet, for which it is commonly substituted. ["cornet" entry in "Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia," 1902]
There's an element of truth in every idea that lasts long enough to be called corny. [attributed c. 1962 to songwriter Irving Berlin (1888-1989)]
THE life of a newspaper correspondent, as may naturally be supposed, is one of alternate cloud and sunshine--one day basking in an Andalusian balcony, playing a rubber at the club on the off-nights of the Opera, being very musical when the handsome Prima Donna sings, and very light fantastic toeish when the lively Prima Ballerina dances; another day roughing it over the Balkan, amid sleet and snow, or starving at the tail of an ill-conditioned army, and receiving bullets instead of billets-doux. ["New Monthly Magazine," vol. xci, 1852, p.284]


text:
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Heart healthy and the first of its kind - Our Almond Butter & Peanut Butter Blend! We have developed the worlds first "multi-nut blend". The Green Mountains of Vermont have always been inspiring and create a feeling of good health. Our sweet roasted almonds, and aromatic, proprietary peanuts blend together for a rich and unique goodness of nutty flavor. Goodness contains tons of ORGANIC flax seeds loaded with omega 3, and juicy ORGANIC pumpkin seeds. This one is slightly chunky and makes a nice spread for some morning toast.
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DIRECTOR John Huston
Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Marilyn Monroe, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe, John McIntire, Marc Lawrence, Anthony Caruso
"The Asphalt Jungle" is one of the greatest crime films. The movie has its roots in several great film noir projects, such as "Double Indemnity", "The Killers", "Criss Cross", and "Out of the Past". Its lasting impression over time is based upon its quality and its unprecedentedly brilliant use of the "caper" as a plot device. As stated in other comments, this film noir's influence can be seen in hundreds of disparate "caper" movies - "Rififi", "A Simple Plan", "The Guns of Navarone", "The Usual Suspects", and "How to Steal a Million", just to name a few. I will not give away the results of the "caper", but the film is truly superior in how it explores relationships and deception. This is one of John Huston's greatest works, and the script lays down the tension from the first moment and doesn't let up. Huston uses multiple closeups to literally drain the emotion out of the characters. Hayden, Calhern, Lawrence, Hagen, and Whitmore turn in superb performances with many memorable moments, but Sam Jaffe steals the film in an Oscar-worthy performance as the brain behind the caper. Marilyn Monroe makes an indelible impression in a fairly brief but pivotal role.


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For more information on travel, accommodation and attractions have a look at our brochures and maps.
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A little while ago in a post/comment exchange with Sujata,
I was just starting on a kaleidoscope quilt
inspired by Sujata's Organised Chaos and she asked if
I would post updates to the blog.
One more block to go, then arrange to my satisfaction
and add the corners.
Some of the blocks have very little contrast between
the light and dark pieces, that's intentional, I have
in mind creating a likeness to an old Persian rug.
Hopefully not too long before more progress is made!


text:
Absolut vodka regularly courts controversy in its magazine ads. A promotion the company ran in Mexico, however, has forced it to issue not just one but two apologies. The ad, which was found in a Mexican magazine and posted by blogger Laura Martinez, shows a map of Mexico with its northern border returned to where it was before the Mexican War, 1846–1848. Across the map run the words "In an Absolut World."
Jake Swearingen of Advertising Industry has a neat sum-up of the consequent kerfuffle. Anti-illegal-immigration groups formed a boycott of Absolut's parent company, and conservative blogger Michelle Malkin dubbed the map the reconquista ad, after what she says is an actual Mexican movement to reclaim California.
Blogger Julio Gonzalez Altamirano thinks the real problem is the promotion's creepy focus on nationalism. "[T]here is definitely something unappealing about a corporation exploiting the real resentments present in [a] developing country as a way of establishing brand appeal," he writes.
What is it with vodka ads and politics? Smirnoff got into trouble when it featured Che Guevara in its ads several years ago, and Stolichnaya uses Bolshevik propaganda images to reinforce its "authenticity."
Anyway, Absolut has issued an apology (age verification required), saying, "In no way was the ad meant to offend or disparage, or advocate an altering of borders, lend support to any anti-American sentiment, or to reflect immigration issues." The ad has been pulled from circulation.


text:
The long-shot presidential campaign of former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley suffered another setback Thursday when officials in Ohio said he had failed to submit enough valid signatures to appear on the state's Democratic primary ballot in March.
O'Malley submitted 1,175 signatures to the Ohio secretary of state, 175 more than required for ballot access. But officials determined only 772 of the signatures were valid, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state said.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both surpassed the 1,000-signature requirement to compete in a state that often plays a critical role in the long march to the White House.
Meanwhile, retired Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon Ben Carson's campaign for the Republican nomination hit another rough spot Thursday with the abrupt resignations of his campaign manager and his chief spokesman.
Barry Bennett, a well-known GOP operative who had been with the Carson campaign since it launched in May, and Doug Watts, a longtime communications hand who was hired in March, quit amid campaign turmoil.
Carson's outsider candidacy hurtled him briefly to the front of the crowded Republican field, but he has slipped both nationally and in early primary states after statements that caused some to question his grasp of foreign policy.
For O'Malley, failure to secure a spot on Ohio's ballot is a grim milestone in an underdog campaign that still is waiting for a breakout moment with just a month left before primary voting begins.
"It's a disaster for him, obviously," said Larry J. Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.
"But let's not oversell it," Sabato continued. "I don't know anyone who takes Martin O'Malley's candidacy seriously at this point. He was long ago eclipsed by Bernie Sanders as Hillary Clinton's main challenger. He's done nothing to change that."
Despite debate performances widely viewed as credible and an issue-focused campaign that has given him the opportunity to argue that he's been ahead of the field on immigration, financial regulation and education, O'Malley has failed to poll beyond 10 percent anywhere.
In that sense, it's not clear missing the ballot in Ohio will have a practical impact on his campaign or on the larger race.
O'Malley has been polling in single digits in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, with the exception of a single poll in December that put him at 10 points in Iowa.
By the time Ohio voters go to the polls March 15, Democrats will have competed in nearly half of the states.
"Our campaign filed nearly 1,200 signatures for the Ohio ballot," O'Malley spokeswoman Haley Morris said in a statement. "While this news is disappointing, we are exploring all of our options, and Governor O'Malley will campaign vigorously in Ohio. To date, he is already on the ballot in 18 other states."
Ohio officials said that O'Malley has no way to get on the primary ballot there because the deadline for submitting signatures passed on Dec. 16. But a Democratic strategist unaffiliated with the campaign said O'Malley still could pick up Ohio delegates if another candidate dropped out.
If O'Malley managed surprise wins in New Hampshire and Iowa and was chasing Clinton, he wouldn't need to be on the ballot in Ohio, said veteran Democratic campaign operative Joe Trippi. Delegates who were pledged to another candidate could back O'Malley instead.
"It's unlikely he's going to take off, but if he does, that's not an unsurmountable problem," Trippi said. "This game's been played before. This is a problem that has happened many, many, many times. If you're in it, there are a ways to get around the problem."
Trippi pointed to former Sen. Gary Hart, an O'Malley mentor whose unexpected leap to front-runner in the 1984 Democratic primary race the former governor has tried to use as a road map for his own run.
After Hart won by 10 percentage points in New Hampshire, he moved aggressively to collect delegates pledged to candidates who dropped out, often in states where Hart had never filed to be on the ballot. Hart ultimately lost the nomination to former Vice President Walter Mondale.
An O'Malley spokeswoman confirmed this was among the options the campaign was exploring. But O'Malley has lagged so far behind Clinton and Sanders in fundraising that it remains unclear whether his campaign operation will survive past the early primaries in February.
Clinton, the front-runner, is expected to top the $100 million fundraising goal her campaign set this year, according to an analysis by CNN. Sanders has trailed Clinton in fundraising but has amassed a wide donor base. Sanders raised $26.2 million during the year's third quarter, when Clinton raised $30 million, and in December surpassed President Barack Obama's 2011 record of collecting 2.2 million donations.
O'Malley has raised a small fraction of his rivals' haul. His campaign brought in $1.3 million in the third quarter and was spending more than it was taking in.
The former governor made political headlines this week when a campaign event in Iowa — held during a snowstorm — drew just one attendee. That voter remained uncommitted.
"O'Malley, he's got some supporters, but he hasn't really bowled anyone over," Sabato said.
The Carson campaign released a statement announcing Ed Brookover, a senior strategist for the campaign, would take over as manager. The campaign also said retired Army Maj. Gen. Bob Dees would serve as chairman.
In a statement, the Carson campaign described the moves as "enhancements, which will shift the campaign into a higher gear."


text:
eCore Courses vs KSU Online Courses
How are eCore courses different than KSU Online courses?
KSU Online CourseseCore Online Courses
KSU online courses are designed and taught by KSU faculty certified to teach online through KSU recognized training focusing on the design and pedagogy of online teaching.eCore courses are designed and taught by faculty from throughout the University System of Georgia. All eCore faculty complete a two week eCore certification course.
KSU online course rosters consist of only KSU students.eCore online course rosters consist of students from across the University System of Georgia.
KSU Online courses meet national quality standards as assessed by the Quality Matters Rubric through an internal peer review process. Courses are reviewed on a three year cycle.Each eCore course is reviewed and revised on a three-year cycle by a team of faculty from USG affiliate institutions.
KSU Online courses are offered on the same academic calendar as on-campus courses.eCore courses follow a different academic calendar than KSU courses.
KSU Online courses are housed in D2L Brightspace with access using your KSU NetID and password.eCore courses are housed in GoVIEW with different username and password.
Technical support for KSU online courses is available through the KSU Student Help Desk.Technical support for eCore courses is available through the USG D2L Help Desk.
KSU online courses are coded "E" (100% online, no campus visits required) or "F" (95% online, one campus visit may be required for orientation or exam). Exams are scheduled by the instructor and no fees are charged unless a proctored exam off-campus is needed.
The USG Board of Regents requires that each eCore course contain at least one proctored exam. Students must schedule their own exams and pay associated testing fees.
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Craigslist - EbayClassified Scam
Paying via PayPal
I want to warn everyone of this new way to scam via "Paypal". While the real Paypal is reliable and trustworthy, there are many scammers out there trying to use Paypal's good reputation to scam others. I had someone offer to buy my most expensive item for sale on Craigslist and they wanted to pay me through paypal if I shipped it to them because they're in IL. Because I've had some successful sales this way to some out of town mamas, I sent them my paypal address. I then received a bogus Paypal confirmation of a pending payment email that looked pretty official but had some variances from real Paypal emails. It looked suspicious to me, so I answered it to Paypal's email@example.com address and this is their reply:
I have made the payment now. You will be receiving the payment confirmation message from PayPal regarding the payment. The shipping company wants $400 for pick up and delivery. So I made a total payment of $1,050. $600 for the Beautiful Dining Table, $400 for the shipping company, and $50 for whatever Western Union will be charging you to send the money to them. Please let me know as soon as you send them the money ASAP. Here is the shipping company details for you to send the $400:
1707 Honeysuckle Dr,
Mansfield, Ohio
NOTE: Nick or Marisa Beard
There is a scam which often originates from Craigslist. Names associated with this can be Nick Beard or Marisa Beard. The victim is asked to send a check to 1707 Honeysuckle Dr., Mansfield, OH. DO NOT SEND ANYTHING TO THIS ADDRESS! EVERYTHING SENT HERE WILL BE REFUSED!
I am STILL getting emails from the fraudulent person claiming they've sent me the money, but nothing has shown up in my paypal account (always open a new browser window and NEVER click on links whenever you have a suspicious email), either pending or received. This person is slick, claiming that I must ship the item first, then Paypal will "release" the money into my account.
Furthermore, if you receive any suspicious emails and refuse to send the item OR cash via Western Union (the "over paid" balance), you will then get a fake "warning message from Paypal", but don't fall in this trap:
The trick to avoiding being scammed in this way is to always make sure the money is actually in your account and if you have any doubts whatsoever, ask PayPal ensuring you have asked through the actual site and not relied on a link to paypal through an email.
If you get email that looks like it was sent by PayPal, and it's asking you to update your details such as your name, surname, address, bank account, credit card, etc, while you see the 'text boxes' of the "form" in this email, NEVER write your details, nor reply to this email. If you'll do so, you will send your financial details to the scammer. This is NOT the way PayPal works. PayPal's team asks you to sign into your account to update such details.
This is a scam.
Paying by Cashier Check OR Money Order Scam
The most common Craigslist scam is the fake check. Many people selling top dollar items will not accept checks at all, even if they are cashier's checks. This is something that you should consider doing yourself, once you are aware of the fake checks now being used to rip unsuspecting sellers off.
It usually starts with someone showing seemingly sincere interest in a high price item you have listed. Sometimes they may haggle with the price to appear to be a legitimate buyer, but often they will simply accept your asking price. However, they will almost always have some excuse as to why they cannot just come purchase the item directly from you.
Some may say they are on vacation or away on business, while others may just say they live in another area or another state and would like to send you a check and have the item shipped to them, or they could claim to have someone else pick the item up later.
Next, they either send you a fake check for the item that will eventually be rejected by your bank after deposit or they will request that you give them your name, address, and phone number so they can fill out a cashier's check to you.
In the first case they are trying to get the item for free. The fake check will eventually be dishonored by your bank, leaving you with an overdrawn account, fees for INSF checks and no item. In the second case, they are not interested in your item at all. They want your personal information to use for illegal purposes. Escrow companies are now becoming a popular Craigslist scam. Many people have been using escrow services as a way of ensuring transactions dealing with larger amounts of money are safe for both the buyer and the seller. The problem is many of these little known escrow companies are owned by the scammer on one end of the transaction.
In this case, a scammer will set up the escrow account and list an expensive item on Craigslist for a very low, tempting price. When they rope in unsuspecting buyers, they instruct them to use the escrow account to ensure everything goes smooth. The victims go to the website for the scammer's escrow account (no knowing it is owned by the seller) and put in their personal information, including bank account or credit card number. The scammer, or "seller," then has their personal information and access to their credit card or bank account and simply disappears to use it.
In other cases, they use the excuse that their "assistant" or "secretary" overpaid you, and they trust you to send the "balance" back via Western Union. Whay they really hope is you're cashing the Cashier Check/Money Order in a cashing sevice agency (not your bank). You will get the money and send the balance to them, but when the check is rejected, the cash agency will chase you in court to get this money back into their hands.
Here is some example:
I urgently have bring something to your notice. I just found out that my Assistant overpaid you. The payment meant for another transaction was made out in your name and sent to you. However I want to believe I wont have a problem with you on this. Once you receive the payment,
Please proceed to the bank and cash the Money order, deduct your money and send back the balance to me. So I can proceed with arrangement for pick-up. Once more, I hope I can fully trust you with this? I will await your response on this so my mind can be at rest.
Cashier Check Example:
Craigslist Scam Sites
taking advantage of Craigslist by setting up scams.....
Another common misconception that fools users online is that they accidently mistype Craigslist.org, and end up on another site. (make sure you don't type in craiglist.org or craigslist.com) These sites are designed to look just like Craigslist, but in reality it is another scam. However, there are hundreds of typo's that lead people to scam sites, if you are ever in doubt; go back and type it in, or Google it to make sure you are at the correct site.
4) Familiarize yourself with the Craigslist scam involving a shipper. The buyer will say the product will be picked up by a shipper--and usually also promises to wire you more money than the item actually costs. This is the most common Craigslist trick.
Tips & Warnings:
1) Type the words "for local pick up only" and "cash only" prominently in your ad--and make no exceptions. This drives away a good share of potential scammers.
2) Never deal with anyone from Craigslist that wants to pay you more than the price you listed. Never ship to an address that has not been verified by Paypal.
3) Never deal with anyone from Craigslist that mistakenly "overpaid" you.
4) Pay attention to the email address where the message came from.
5) If you are a Craigslist buyer/seller, bookmark the page, that way you will not falsely arrive at a site that is not really Craigslist.
6) Do not ever deal with anyone on Craigslist you cannot meet face to face and who won't pay cash - follow that simple rule and you'll avoid almost all scams.
7) Anyone asking you to ship is a scam.
8) Be aware of scams involving fake checks or money orders. A good fake check or money order can pass through the bank's initial screening process--then, days later, you'll get penalized for trying to cash a counterfeit check. By then, the scammer will be long gone. This is why you want to make your transaction cash only. => If you have any doubt, contact PayPal or the company which issue the Cashier Check/Money Order. You might give them the check's serial number to find out if it's a real or fake check.
9) Delete emails from potential buyers who have lengthy sob stories or complicated explanations of why they need to pay by check or money order. Anyone who says their "secretary" will take care of the transaction because they are in a foreign country or are too busy as a famous archaeologist to make the purchase in person is most likely a fraud.
10) Don't accept Western Union or other wire transfers.
11) Never give out any personal financial information to someone who has contacted you through Craigslist.
12) Find the differences:
Fake Email Notification, pay attention for the ® symbol near the word PayPal:
Real Email Notification:
13) When you get in the email message, pay attention if there is a little symbol near the word Paypal. In this case, the symbol is ® - Here is some example: ®firstname.lastname@example.com
14) Pay attention to the email address where you got the email from. In this case, the email address is: firstname.lastname@example.com - here is some example:
15) Paypal will never send you such an email, ordering you to pay via Western Union:
16) And finally, notify the Federal Trade Commission of any attempted or successful scams by calling 877-FTC-HELP.


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REVIEW by Tim Martin, Dance Europe, November 1, 2011
Referenced works:
"A lot of companies debut in New York City but many do not endure. Lang is a graduate of the illustrious Juilliard School and a former dancer for Twyla Tharp. She has choreographed more than 74 works over the past 12 years- this is the kind of foundation that gives a company a fighting chance at survival. One cannot really call her an 'up-and- coming' choreographer- she is most definitely established- but still she flies a bit under the radar perhaps due to always being the 'guest choreographer' for other companies. With the debut of her own group, she will now be stepping out into her own limelight."


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> About Ross - Hot Air Balloon News
About Ross - Hot Air Balloon News
Hot Air Balloon News
Ross Sale here, wearing my pilot hat. Actually I'm here with my mate Peter and we're both wearing our hats. If I told you this photo was on the front page of the Wairarapa Times and that we are now famous in that area, I bet you wouldn't be surprised. It's also not surprising that I really, really love flying. Let me tell you a bit about hot air ballooning, the
Bittersweet Herb and Spice Balloon
and some events we hope to be attending next year...
What a great experience it is to fly in a hot air balloon or just be present when one is being inflated. I have been a hot air balloon pilot for over 20 years and I know now that I will never tire of flying. Let me share a bit about my sport with you.
The key components of a balloon are the envelope (the balloon) and the basket. Inside the basket are the tanks which contain LPG or Liquid Propane, and are connected to the Burner by hoses. The burner has a pilot light which burns continuously so that when a valve is opened on the burner the escaping gases are ignited and the subsequent flame heats the air inside the envelope causing it to rise. Just a bit of science happening here; i.e. "hot air is lighter than cold air" so hot air rises.
A Hot Air balloon is steered by using wind direction and that changes with altitude, so, as the Balloon Pilot, you need to make a mental note of these directions and at what altitude they occur as you go up or down. A balloon needs hot air inside it to rise and to descend it needs the air to cool. So, with out going into great detail, there you have the basics. Anyone can fly a balloon, but it takes many hours to perfect and be a good pilot.
My experience started back in the US about 1987. At the time, I was a committed Hang Glider pilot and flew off the cliffs in the Catskill area of New York State; a place called Ellenville. The last hang glider I owned was a double surfaced flying wing which had rudders located on each end of the wing tips, operated from the control bar. The glider was quite heavy so for a little relief I began, along with Mary-Lee, crewing for our friends on their hot air balloon team. Much easier work. It was not long before the glider was sold and part ownership taken in the balloon. The lessons quickly followed, ground schools attended, exams sat and passed and before we knew it we had to buy a new balloon because we wore out the old one.
Balloon envelopes have a limited life span. They eventually become porous from being exposed to so much heat and the integrity of the fabric deteriorates such that they become quite unsafe to fly. An annual or 100 hour check up is required by law to keep the equivalent of a 'warrant of fitness'.
When we moved back to New Zealand our balloon came with us and a new era of flight began. We made great new friends and had nice places to fly, but soon we wore out our second balloon as well. Now we have the present balloon, affectionately know as the 'Grey Goat' and officially as the 'Bittersweet Balloon'. It was built in the US by my friend Brian, who builds balloons for a living, from his own airfield in Post Mills, Vermont. It's a great little balloon, only 57,000 cubic feet in size and compacts down into a tiny bundle that I can, if I run out of chase crew, inflate and fly without crew. Of course someone eventually needs to pick me up after I've landed
The photos show a sequence from setup to flight. The whole process should take only about 20 minutes.
At this point in time our balloon plans for 2013 include the Wairarapa Balloon Fiesta in March and pssibly Levin in April. We are also in the planing stages of having a number of friends from the US come over about March with their own balloons and we'll fly all around NZ for a month or so. Hope it works out!
If any you happen to be around and see us setting up our balloon please make yourself known and who knows, if there is space in the basket you could 'come fly with us'.
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CAS Standards for Academic Advising Programs (AAP).
The Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) is a consortium of 41 professional associations concerned with the creation and promotion of professional standards for the development, assessment, and improvement of quality student learning, programs, and services. NACADA has been actively involved in CAS since 1981 and is represented on the Council by long-time NACADA members Marsha Miller and Rich Robbins.
As a means of supporting NACADA members in their professional endeavors, NACADA provides complimentary access to the CAS Standards for Academic Advising (AAP).
CAS standards are used by colleges and universities across the globe as benchmarks for program assessment. The Standards (the 'must' statements in bold print) are baseline expectations for programs. The Guidelines for Practice (the 'should' statements in regular print) are a road map to program excellence. Members will also find the CAS domains and dimensions (in Part 2) helpful in crafting student learning outcomes.
Find out more about CAS at www.cas.edu.
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NACADA partners with the following associations to offer CAS Standards for program areas allied with academic advising:
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text: Blog » 2017 » February Press and Events Posted in February, 2017 Want to Increase Sales and Lower Costs? Start With Your Customer Journey Posted on Feb 13, 2017 By Bridgeforce In the financial services consulting industry, we are often asked to justify the "ROI" of our work. Different types of engagements have different ways of measuring value. Over the past ... Continue reading Share This Post:


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I look, now and in the future, to determine how to make online education accessible.
Why does accessibility matter? Accessibility in education is not just about ensuring those with disabilities can obtain an education, but online education brings with it other obstacles (notably technological access). I discussed technological access in my post "Imperial MOOCs," and for our students at our local institutions, technological accessibility is also important.
Questions to ask ourselves about accessibility:
- Can students with visual impairments use screen readers to read the documents and readings you post?
- Is the course management system accessible to students with visual impairments? How much training and familiarization might a student need to use the system?
- Are videos, podcasts, or other recorded lectures accessible to students with hearing impairments?
- Are there multiple ways to access information?
- Does the material require fast Internet connections? Do videos, podcasts, and documents download quickly or will they take a long time on dial up or satellite connections?
- Are students expected to access the course numerous times during the course of the week?
- How do we evaluate students? Do we provide different ways for students to prove their mastery of concept?


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Instructors 2017
Peter Beard
Curtis Benzle
Beth Cavener
John Colbeck
Jan Edwards
Lisa Ehrich
Adam Field e Heesoo
Rick Hensley
Lucianne Lassalle
Pietro Maddalena
Donna Polseno
Karin Putsch-Grassi
Franco Rampi
Lisa Reinertson
Marcia Selsor
Ken and Melody Shipley
Luca Tripaldi
Rachel Wood
Exploring the Surface
Creating pattern and texture at different stages in the making process
Peter Beard www.peterbeard.co.uk
July 9th – 15th 2017
Handbuilding and surface decoration. For Beginners and Advanced
Over the five days of the workshop students will learn a range of techniques which can be used in their ceramic work in the future. The main focus of the workshop will be the exploration of texturing surfaces in a wide and varied manner in both soft, leather hard and dry clay. The students will also explore my own glazing techniques to create patterns and texture within glazes. Their glaze tests will be fired during the course so that the results can be discussed in depth.
During the workshop I will make a piece of work myself, demonstrating the techniques that I use extensively. My work is thrown and handbuilt in stoneware – vessel and non-vessel based. I produce strong, simple shapes which are decorated with complex glaze surfaces. Students will be making predominantly clay test tiles that they can keep as a lasting reference of creative surfaces. They will also be required to make one object. The subject of this exercise will be revealed during the course.
In addition to the hands-on element of the course, I will also discuss and illustrate techniques important to the successful making of ceramic pieces such as how to fire unusual- shaped objects. I will also advise on some aspects of presenting and exhibiting work, for example, how to take professional-standard photographs.
This course is suitable for beginners as well as professional makers as no matter what your current level of skill, you will learn new skills and gather information which will always be useful in your future as a maker.
The total cost of the course is 1100 euros; Single price supplement: 150 Euros.
The workshop fee includes the following
All materials and firings
Lodging in double room; single room on request, add 150 euros
Welcome dinner and welcome breakfast
A freshly prepared Tuscan Lunch with wine on all working days
Peter Beard has been making ceramics professionally for almost 40 years now. His work is represented in collections around the world and he regularly lectures and demonstrates in Europe and has undertaken workshop tours in India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. He is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics. He won the Inax Design Prize in 1996 and has has published Resist and Masking Techniques
www.pietro.net | www.keramik-kurse.com | www.ceramic-courses.com | www.cursos-ceramica.com
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Telefono: +39 377 2709500 - Fax: +39 055 7472458 - firstname.lastname@example.com
La Meridiana
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Telefono: +39 377 2709500 - Fax: +39 055 7472458 - firstname.lastname@example.com


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I was covering the Beaumont Swap Meet for a website I'm writing for and first of all, that was exactly as glamourous as it sounds. Second, as I was leaving, I drove past THIS sight at what I think is a local dirt bike shop. Obviously I had to stop and take an in-depth pictorial of the scene. The first image is still the most arresting. I title it "Despair."
Next a close up of "The Leaner." Notice how the sadness of the little boy is amplified by the fact that I took the picture through a rusty chain link fence. Gross.
"Please, Papa - I'm so cold...(and tired of leaning at this intense angle in my life jacket?)"
Papa is helpless, hanging by his severely creepy Saw-like hook hands.
Then, I guess I just wanted an even closer shot of the hook hands and the sad eyes to make my nightmares that much more vivid.
Speaking of the sad eyes, apparently someone painstakingly applies false eyelashes to crash test dummies. Not sure if that's really necessary...
I think the best thing about seeing this craziness is that it happened the day after we went to Disneyland. I definitely feel like going to the Beaumont Swap Meet followed by seeing these two Uncanny Valley Apocalypse Survivors was like traveling to the polar opposite end of the spectrum. Sweet dreams everyone!


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Past publishers include: George W. Brown, D.D. Dickerson, John Lynch, Thomas Bishop, A.P. Allen, Alfred T. Horton, Hattie Horton and son Ralph, Brookings County Press; Homer J. Givens, Jerry Leslie, SDSU Alumni Foundation, Theo S. Bradbury, Thomas Reynolds, and Chuck Cecil. The weekly paper was purchased by Chris and Linda Schumacher in 1991. The four newspapers were operated by the Schumacher's until Chris' death in 2012. Linda continued to run the papers until their purchase by Ken Reiste in 2016.
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Friday, May 21, 2010
8 more hours to go
1 comment:
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James Hurley
Published at 12:01AM, June 23 2014
Lenders that provide £18 billion to small businesses have been told to "clean up their act" or face tighter controls amid claims about controversial fees and abuses of insolvency.
The unregulated asset-based finance industry, which lends to more than 40,000 businesses in Britain and Ireland, is facing increased scrutiny.
Insolvency experts and a campaign group allege that some independent lenders secretly try to sign up businesses likely to go bust, or even that they engineer the insolvency of their clients, in order to profit from their collapse at the expense of the taxpayer and other creditors
The sector's trade body, the Asset Based Finance Association (ABFA), launched a new approach to self-regulation last year to tackle perceived problems.
However, MPs have told the group that further "fundamental" reform is required if formal regulation is to be avoided.
ABFA's members lend to small businesses against their assets, typically advancing money against invoices by taking security over companies' debtor books.
The sector is being looked at as part of a Treasury Select Committee inquiry into lending after complaints from small companies that they have nowhere to turn if something goes wrong with their loan.
There is also concern that so-called "termination fees" for clients that enter administration are being abused. These fees are ostensibly to cover the risk of a client leaving before the end of their contract but are charged when a client goes bust, often when the lender appoints an administrator. The fees can dwarf the total amount lent.
Geoff Swire, an insolvency expert, has compiled data for The Times which indicates that in the first five months of 2014, more than 10 per cent of administrations involving asset-based financiers saw businesses going into administration less than 60 days after they first agreed to work with a lender. Contracts tend to last at least a year.
ABFA produced a new code of conduct and dispute resolution service last year, but MPs are worried that the industry is not doing enough to tackle the abuse of termination fees, and that since ABFA is a voluntary membership organisation, not all of the industry is covered by the code.
ABFA says it is limited in how proscriptive it can be over the use of termination fees by competition law.
Andrew Tyrie, the Treasury Select Committee chairman, said: "Quite a lot of movement is needed or [this is] going to be one of those cases where self- regulation hasn't worked".
ABFA said: "We will consider any recommendations made by the committee very carefully."
Brooks Newmark, Conservative MP for Braintree, said that while he accepted that most of the industry was reputable, a small group of rogue lenders was "poisoning the well".
"If ABFA and its members do not clean up their act . . . I will be calling for much tougher regulation from the outside. [The industry] has got to deal with the incredibly bad practices destroying some perfectly healthy businesses."
The ABFA spokesman added: "We are pleased that the Committee recognises the important contribution the industry makes to the UK economy and the excellent practice that is the norm. It is in the interests of the industry to address instances where standards have not been met."
Brian Moore, the chairman of the Campaign for Regulation of Asset Based Lending, said: "We want small businesses to be able to use asset-based lending with confidence. That won't happen while the industry remains unregulated and while small companies have nowhere to turn when powerful lenders take advantage of them and their creditors."


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Victor, http://petedoweroadsafetyadvocate.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/cyclists-identification-cycling.html Cyclists can and have killed pedestrians, but on the most part cyclists kill themselves.
Bicycle Victoria's Report into Cycle Deaths in Victoria (2002) found that cyclists who break the law are much more likely to be killed and seriously injured.
To compulsorily identify cyclists for the purposes of law enforcement is a cycling safety/ road safety necessity.
The costs of not identifying cyclists can be read annually in the serious injury and fatality statistics.
What do you think are the financial costs of administering compulsory identification of cyclists, Victor?
Cycling Australia has its own Fee for Bike Rego Scheme http://www.mybikerego.com/
Cycling Australia has its own Fee for Bike Rego Scheme http://www.mybikerego.com/
You seem to be repeating another of many unsubstantiated assertions designed and disseminated by Bicycle Victoria as part of their disinformation campaign to prop up the status quo with a filibuster of inaction.
Be specific? Costs of Administration to whom? Who says a requirement to carry reliable photo id and to have one's bike engraved would cost anything?
In any case you were happy to pay for Around the Bay in a Day.
Around the Bay in a Day is not the only so-called Charity Ride where cyclists pay to register, but the entrance fee does not go to the charity.
Are you an Administrator, Victor? Why do Administrative solutions concern you?
Maybe to you, Victor, benefits such as cycling safety, cycling legitimacy, reducing vigilante acts of resentment toward cyclists,
and rogue cycling behaviour no longer reflecting upon the whole cycling community are just perceived benefits,
but to the wider community these benefits are vital.
I urge you to think for yourself, Victor.
There is no good reason to accept unquestioningly the assertions placed on the Bicycle Victoria website and even less reason to parrot them.
Pete Dowe
Road Safety Advocate
Road Safety Advocate


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Apologies to Mr. Blaise for copping his title. How could someone not be inspired by this man?
Aaron Blaise is an accomplished and amazing artist, animator and filmmaker who has been extremely generous in sharing his work, insights and advice on his website The Art of Aaron Blaise (www.creatureartteacher.com) Aaron Blaise has produced beautiful work on films such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Mulan and Brother Bear which he directed.
All artists are always trying to learn, grow, build up on what they have spent years mastering. Whatever motivates the artist, there are always stumbles and outright obstacles. Every now and then, the artist finds an oasis of information or inspiration that can help keep him/ her going. Aaron's online advice is certainly one.
One of the most important things about the art process is that it's not so much "what you do" but "how you think" about your work. This is one of the greatest areas of advice you will find on Aaron Blaise's website or Youtube channel.
His advice is clear, accessible and most important, sincere.
If you want to improve your knowledge of art, painting, composition, animation or filmmaking, go to his website, you will not be disappointed.
The clip above left a considerable impression on me as it was a testament to the amazing things you can do when you find it in yourself to persist and keep moving forward. There are good things in the world, there is magic that you, yourself can make. It's there if you can persist.
"...persist. Persist in your art, persist in life, persist in creating beauty for everyone else. It's our job to make someone else's life better." - Aaron Blaise
Thank you for your efforts and inspiration, Aaron.


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The Pavé Liga: Enter Team Rosters for Glencoe Grand Prix
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Nikki Cyp is the true "Git-'er-Done" of the Glencoe Grand Prix. As the Director of Professional Support, Nikki works with and coordinates both the men's and women's professional teams and racers. As part of the USA Crits Series and the NCC Calendar for 2014, the GGP fields the largest one day professional field in the Midwest for both men and women. On race day Nikki can also be found helping keep the entire GPP on track, and Jon and Matt looking good!
CBR: Tell about yourself. How long have you been invoked in the sport, do you race/ride, etc.?
Nikki Cyp: I've been officiating in Chicago for about six years. I don't race, but I definitely enjoy riding. I got involved with Glencoe Gran Prix as the chief judge for the first two years of the event. And then I was pulled in to work with the professionals, because I had a pretty good relationship with them when I used to cover some media at some of the bigger races. Now I am the Director of Professional Support.
CBR: Give us some background on the race?
NC: This is our seventh year. We had a long standing sponsorship with AT&T, which ended after last year. For 2014 we formed a really great partnership with Illinois Bone and Joint Institute, who are our new title sponsor. It seems like a really great fit to us; they work with rehabbing, general toning, and maintaining athletes on a lot of different levels. It's been a really great collaboration so far and I think we're all really looking forward to having them on board for the new few years and growing with them and keeping it a little more local and really focused on some of our goals for the race. We definitely focus on our work and devotion with the Glencoe Educational Foundation. Our race is definitely for that purpose; we put it on out raise money for them and the schools in the area. Two of our new schools this year that we're really excited about are the Sheridan Elementary School and the Kilmer Elementary School. We time our event for this time of year, because theschools are still in session. I work really closely with the pro teams and I bring them in a day or two ahead of time and we get the riders to visit the schools and talk to the students, so it's really a full on community event for us.
CBR: Tell us about the course -distance, what racers should expect, etc.?
NC: We have two courses: a smaller course that we run in the morning that is a little more typical of what a criterium is in Illinois. We use it for the first five or six races of the day. There are four corners, it's pretty flat, it's 1.3 kilometers.[Note: Cat 5, Juniors, 45+, 30+ 4/5, HC, and kids are short course] Then, about midday we switch over to what we call our long course. It's a 10-corner, 2.1 kilometer loop. It includes a descent and a hill on the back side of the course that helps keep the race exciting and brings a little bit different element. We were used for the 2010 National Championship, so the course is definitely at a higher level than most of them. We work pretty closely with the neighborhoods and we've got full support from the community.
CBR: Tell us about sponsors. What involvement do they have in the sport?
Illinois Bone and Joint is definitely throughout the area. They're definitely community driven. We had that with AT&T, but this year we really wanted to focus on Glencoe and the area and really show off what we have here. We're not just a criterium race during the summer, but we're part of the NCC calendar, and this is our third year as part of the USA Crit series. We get some national exposure, and we can really show off what makes some of our racing so great. We've got really strong support, we've got solid officials, and a really great crew that helps put this event on together. Our other sponsors include: First Bank of Highland Park, BTIG, Oppenheimer, Jefferies, 312 Brewery, Cantor Fitzgerald, Alberto's Cycles, Barclays, Chase, and Liquidnet.
The next race of The Pavé Liga is the Fox River Grove Criterium, this Sunday, May 18th. Minute for minute this is hands down the hardest race of the year. Here's what Rob Curtis, Race Director and Owner of PSIMET Wheels had to say about the FRG Crit:
CBR: Tell about yourself. How long have you been invoked in the sport, do you race/ride, etc.
Rob Curtis: I started riding in the late 80's. I have a defect in my back that eliminated my ability to keep playing soccer and baseball. I had recently started cycling and the doctor listed it as one of the only sports I was "allowed" to do. Right around then Andy Hampsten won the Giro and I was thumbing through the issue of Winning while my mom was shopping and stumbled across the now famous picture of him crossing the Gavia while covered in snow. That one picture hooked me on the sport for a lifetime. I have it hanging next to my truing stand where I build every wheel I make.
I've ridden and raced off and on since then. The first USCF license I pulled was in 1992. I went back to riding and racing again after college in the early 2000's. I joined up with Bicycle Heaven in 2008 and quickly started as their team manager. By 2010 we had our own team under the PSIMET wheel company I had recently started. I picked up doing the Fox River grove race, the Woodstock cross race, then added the Elgin criterium and the Norge CX race. This year I am also adding a duathlon in October Run and Roll the Dole in Crystal Lake. I have steadily raced through then until about 2 seasons ago when the schedules and the business and my level of support for the teams and races have sidelined me for most everything except for some track and cross racing.
PSIMET is also the main sponsor for 4 other races during the year, the Vanderkitten Pro Women's Cycling Team, Individual racers such as Laura Van Gilder, Chad Hartley (Cross), Samantha and Skylar Schneider (cross), Jessica Cutler, Kelly Fisher-Goodwin, Starla Teddergreen, Wayne Simon, as well as a small number of local teams like the new Intelligentsia team and xXx Racing. We also just got back from the Joe Martin Stage Race where we fielded an elite women's team comprised mainly of local Chicago women giving them an opportunity to compete in a large NRC pro stage race with full mechanical and management support.
CBR: Give us some background on the race.
Rob: The original criterium was started by RDS racing. In 2009 I signed up for it (doubling up as well as that was my habit). I had heard rumors this was near a ski jump and that it had a "hill". I didn't even get a chance to pre-ride the course. I toe'd the line, took the first turn and my world changed. David Fowkes kindly pulled me from that race and my follow-up effort within only a few laps.
In 2011 it was announced on CBR that the race was to be cancelled by RDS citing lack of sponsorship. I felt that it was a truly unique race for this area and that by letting it disappear for a year we would likely lose access to the venue forever. Most municipalities are usually hard pressed to allow a race and if you stop for a year then you give them a chance to really ask the hard questions that plague our sport – was it really worth it for them?
I met with RDS with Wayne Simon and Scott Knoepke and offered to fund the race for the year. He asked to also be compensated for his time. Those of you that have run races most likely know that's just not feasible. So after about 2 hours of being crushed, and a few beers at the Public House in Woodstock, I decided we were just going to meet with the city and pull permits. The Village was receptive and the local cycling community came out in support of making the race break even. After being immensely impressed with our first year the Village made the decision that we would be the promoter from that point forward.
2 years ago we added the Elgin Cycling Classic criterium the day before – making the 2 together an omnium. This was in hopes of allowing the best overall racers the opportunity to shine in technical and climbing style criteriums. If you look at who the overall omnium winners have been this really has been the case.
CBR: So this is a challenging course - tell us about it
Rob: It's a challenging and unique course. It's not necessarily in many rider's wheelhouse in terms of their ability, but it is still quite moderate compared to many of the best crit courses I have seen around the country. Quite honestly if racers from here want to be actual racers and improve in their ability with any sort of hope of being competitive at regional or national level events then this is exactly the kind of crit they HAVE to race and learn to be good at.
Many who are new to the race have no idea there is a full Nordic ski jump tucked into the suburbs of Fox River Grove here in the greater Chicago region. This race climbs up the back side of that ski jump hill. It's a unique and violent effort for many. Just as your heart is ready to explode from your chest you take a turn at the top and point your tires down a fast and technical descent through the neighborhood. A simple descent for many who easily race it wide open with no braking. After a short easy rise on the back and a small run in towards the finish you start it all over again with the ski hill.
Racers should expect slightly shorter than normal race durations. This is to reflect the depth of the effort.
CBR: Tell us about sponsors. What involvement do they have in the sport?
Rob: The race is first and foremost sponsored by my company PSIMET, LLC. I have been a custom wheel builder through PSIMET since 2009. As a company we have focused on getting riders and racers on to the correct wheels for the application at budget ranges that are simply half what the other guys charge. This is because we simply love the sport and want you to benefit from our experience and sourcing expertise.
Providing neutral support will be our long time bike shop partner Lucky Brake Bicycles out of Crystal Lake. Co-Owner Karrie Ozyuk has been active in the racing community for many years. Major financial sponsorship and backing has come from AmericaOne Bancorp (patron Raviv Wolfe), TRO Manufacturing (patron Scott Sanda), and Tradesmithe (patron Bill Stritzel)
CBR: What's the best case scenario for this year's race?
The best scenario for me running the race would be beautiful weather and safe challenging competition. For the racers it seems that many times the exact opposite makes for the best stories after the fact. Best case is that we hold a party, call it a bike race, and all the cool kids show up and bring their friends.
Registration is open at BikeReg through Thursday May 15th.
We are getting into the heart of the CBR race calendar. Keep your sights set and your weekend furlough approved.
Week 2 Team Championship Standings are posted for review - check out the Pave Liga Standings page. We apologize for the delay, but we are - unfortunately - at the mercy of the USA Cycling results. We are working on getting results directly from Race Directors. Pat's not kidding that crunching the data is surprisingly complicated (who'd have thunk race result data quality actually matters?!)
The Urbana Grand Prix p/b Scarlet Fire Racing, is this Sunday, May 4th at Crystal Lake Park, 206 W Park St. Urbana, IL. (here's map). The course is a 1.6 mile circuit around a lake. The course features winding roads and a 200 meter hill that peaks at 5% about 100 meters before the finish line. Whileit's a big ring power climb, it will probably be a difference maker in the race and in the final sprint. Fields are designed to give most racers the opportunity to race twice - with $10 discount on second race. The venue and facilities for the riders will be among the best racers will see this season.


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Experts predict that California's drought will only get worse in the months and years ahead, and with potentially less than 12 months of water left in reserves the situation is quickly becoming dire and desperate. Maybe it doesn't have to be that way. Maybe technology could provide sustainable solutions to the state's scorched land and dried up wells.
Here's a short video explaining the bleakness of California's drought in scarily factual detail. If you're not a "believer" of climate change, feel free to move down to the list!
4. There's an app for that!
To start, watering lawns in California during this drought is pure idiocy. In spite of that, many dimwitted denizens of the state still cling to the aesthetic touch of a nice green lawn. To help preserve the scarce building block of life, a startup called Rachio has developed a smart sprinkler system that can be controlled via a smartphone.
The system could reduce waste by a whopping 30% by tracking external factors such as weather and season, adjusting watering times as needed. If it rains, for example, the sprinklers wouldn't need to run that day.
Again, this is lowest on the list because people shouldn't be watering their lawns at all – especially since there are various alternatives available like using water conserving plants that are native to California.
3. We should invest in underground tunnels and other infrastructure
Singapore once relied on imported water to sustain its citizens, and so water conservationists living there know that every drop is a precious commodity not to be wasted. Today, they're almost completely self-sufficient with water.
They've invested in state of the art infrastructure to trap rainwater and convert sewage into water described as "too clean for drinking." It has to be pumped into reservoirs to re-mineralize before it can be used for consumption.
Singapore also spent billions of dollars to create a series of underground tunnels to collect runoff. Anyone who has weathered a Los Angeles rainstorm knows that their drainage systems often leave a lot to be desired.
2. Desalination could help reverse the effects of California's drought…maybe
A chorus of scared California citizens is demanding the construction of desalination plants to reduce the impact of the drought. The Carlsbad Desalination Project is scheduled to begin construction by the end of 2016, and will provide the region with about 50 million gallons of water each day while also benefiting the regional economy. If the drought worsens, the desire for more of these projects will likely grow substantially.
Not everyone agrees that desalination is a viable long-term solution. Opponents understand the enormous costs of desalination will lead to irate consumers, but worse than that is the unsustainable environmental footprint–something which cannot be overlooked when deciding what to do about a situation so strongly connected to global warming in the first place. Many suggest that desalination is therefore a counter-intuitive solution that doesn't make sense.
Either way, we definitely need to take a look at more innovative new technologies.
1. The human brain
Biotech might be one of the greatest technologies ever conceived, and the powers-that-be created the best example hundreds of thousands of years ago: the human brain. More than anything, the effects of California's drought can be dampened if people use their heads and do their part to reduce water usage.
Here are just a few things you can do based on activities which lead to the most waste:
- Locate leaky faucets and pipes; fix them fast!
- Stop watering your lawn! There are more sustainable alternatives, as you can see from the video above.
- Limit showers to five minutes.
- Avoid flushing the toilet if possible.
- Invest in low-flow faucets, water-conserving toilets, and high-efficiency washing machines.
Anyone who doesn't keep the state-mandated cutbacks in mind may find themselves the recipients of steep fines and penalties. Better safe than sorry!


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(Aggregate Research 9-27-2010) Congressman argues on Floor of the House against EPA proposal that threatens jobs in coal, utilities, construction, and manufacturing industries
Washington, DC – Congressman Alan B. Mollohan took to the Floor of the House last night to blast the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for proposing to regulate coal ash as a hazardous waste.
(Associated Press 9-9-2010) Hundreds of people showed up at a public hearing to take comments on whether ash from coal-burning power plants should be classified as hazardous waste.
On one side were environmentalists who said the change would protect water supplies; on the other were industry and state officials who insisted that current regulations are enough.
(Associated Press 9-7-2010) Health officials have released a report that shows tests found no harm to public health from the December 2008 coal ash spill at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Plant.
The public health assessment says airborne ash could be a problem.
The report says there should be no harm from touching the ash and even though it contains arsenic, there should be no harm if a child accidentally eats it.
(Charlotte Business Journal 9-3-2010) Jimmy Knowles spends his days devising different uses for coal ash. As the head of market research and development for The SEFA Group — formerly known the Southeastern Fly Ash Co. — Knowles envisions a new future for a substance many experts consider a dangerous waste product.
Sponsored by Separation Technologies LLC.
Opinions are strictly those of the subject authors and not necessarily those of ST LLC.