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Whether you might be a newbie in the world of online gambling or the already a professional gambler, kinds to choose from of gambling online tips is surely work out fine and you absolutely do need to figure out and adopt to be really used to it.
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Ludomania is named a the impulse or itch to gamble even when you're conscious of its' corresponding implications. Nevertheless this is just minor n issue. Severe cases actually nod into the direction of just a mental situation. It is called pathological gambling. The actual first is considered being pathological gambler if one is preoccupied with gambling often and in the area mainly all he acknowledges. He tends to imagine as he will be playing again in long term or thinks of the game he played yesterday.
Just like when are usually playing within the casinos, is actually not smart to have a popular choice slot. Lacking be boring and this can not allow maximize your income. Try a new slot game once within a while because staying from a particular game can be also boring. Slots are just about all the time about winning or relinquishing. Sometimes it is also about getting the time can ever have. So, enjoyable playing with it. Utilize the game so that you be relieved from the stresses and anxiety you actually are challenged by. If you lose, consider of it as a payment for a pretty good entertainment that you had. And you win, is actually not really fantastic news. Take pleasure within your victory and rejoice because have won loads money in online slot machine games.


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Lowest PER among players w/ 10 MPG and 10 GP:Year GP MPG PER Rank2011-12 15 10.0 0.97 1st2010-11 49 12.1 5.37 3rd2009-10 24 4.8 0.96 NR2008-09 31 13.6 3.29 1st2007-08 74 15.8 3.40 4th2006-07 80 23.1 3.02 2nd2005-06 71 26.7 5.49 5th
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Is Jason Collins Playing Too Much?
3 comments:
- Bret LaGree said...
I won't argue that Jason Collins has played too much as a Hawk (too much consisting of anytime Dwight Howard is not on the floor) but I think it's definitely plausible he was, despite being a terrible player in the boxscore, at least a useful player during his prime.
One of the presentations at Sloan suggested that Collins, late in his career, was so committed to boxing out opponents that his teams rebounded much better with him on the court even though he rarely grabs a rebound himself.
Those early aughts Nets teams were really good defensively and Collins surely had something to do with that. Given how long guys can trade on their offensive reputations beyond their ability to contribute positively, I guess it's interesting to see a guy trade on a defensive reputation for employment after those skills have diminished even if it's a wash evaluation-wise. - 6:26 PM, March 21, 2012
- Buddy Grizzard said...
"Collins increased his team's defensive rebound percentage by more than any other player from 2006-07 through 2009-10 despite never grabbing more than 14.4 percent of available defensive boards."
Wow! Hush my mouth! - 6:47 PM, March 21, 2012
- Bret LaGree said...
Not being at Sloan this year, I have no firsthand knowledge of that presentation so I don't know if its authors solved the problem of the vagaries of scorekeepers notching team rebounds when an opponent misses his first free throw or not. Collins has always had a healthy foul rate. Though not nearly 14.4 percent of defensive rebounds worth.
- 6:49 PM, March 21, 2012

subset: commoncrawl


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Fino Mini Skeins
The very popular yarn Fino - now available in sets of 5 Miniskeins! Each mini skein is 20 grams, or approximatly 98 yarns of delicious merino/silk fingering weight yarn!
Fiber Content: 30% silk, 70% extrafine merino wool, kettle dyed
Yardage: approx. 98 yds per 20g skein
Gauge: 24-28 sts = 4?/10cm
Needle size: US #3-#5 US (3 - 3.5 mm)
Hand wash, lay flat to dry.
Manos del Uruguay is a certified Fair Trade yarn from a Woman's Cooperative in Uruguay. Since 1968 they've been transforming lives in Uruguay. We're proud to carry every yarn they make in every color.


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Why 'Insight?' I've been serving as a Christian youth worker and trainer for 27 years and hopefully age and experience sometimes brings a little wisdom. Thanks for visiting.
From the sidebar you can download my free youth ministry eBooks or click on the category links to view my leadership reflections, icebreakers and games, team building activities, discussion starters and other resources.


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What can we learn from this?
- You can lure users away from an old product by offering a much better UX. A bit better isn't enough to get over inertia and to offset switching costs. It has to be 10x better and cheaper, like Sarah Tavel said. (When I say "10x better" I don't mean it literally but figuratively because in most cases I don't know how the superiority of one user experience over another can be measured quantitatively.)
- If the incumbent benefits from network effects, it's much more difficult. A complete migration from Blogger to Medium would be very painful for me because like you, most of my readers are here – and many of you are reading the blog using an RSS subscription or an email subscription, or you've bookmarked www.theangelvc.net, all of which would cause friction if I decided to migrate.
- At some point I have to switch to a blogging platform that has not been built in the last millennium. :-) My current thinking is to switch to a hosted Wordpress provider, use a minimalistic Medium-like template, and find a solution that doesn't require readers to switch their RSS/email subscriptions. Let me know if you have any thoughts. :)
Anyway, the actual reason for this post is that I've just published a series of blog posts, along with the 2018 version of the SaaS Funding Napkin, on Medium, and I wanted to make sure that you don't miss it.
Here you go:
Part 3: The SaaS Funding Napkin 2018
You can also check out the napkin on Product Hunt, and if you're interested in the physical, real version of the napkin, fill out this short Typeform!


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Marsh Bellofram Corporation has announced the global market introduction of the Type 78, a direct-acting, high-performance air pressure regulator designed to offer high-accuracy, large flow and exhaust capabilities within OEM and industrial applications.
With available port sizes of ?, ½, ¾ and 1 NPT and BPST, with ¼ NPT gauges, the Marsh Bellofram Type 78 air pressure regulator is specifically designed for applications that require large flow capabilities and accurate pressure control. Available in five different pressure output ranges of up to 125 psig (8.6 BAR), this precision regulator offers low droop, high accuracy and fine adjustment sensitivity with maximum supply pressure rated at 400 psig (27.6 BAR) and achievable flow rates of well over 200 SCFM.
Use of a patented Bellofram rolling diaphragm provides greater sensitivity and improved accuracy, along with low-friction operation and long useful service life. The Type 78 offers a balanced pintle, which minimizes output pressure changes caused by fluctuations in supply pressure. The unit can be either pipe or rail mounted.
Careful design and use of quality materials in manufacturing the Marsh Bellofram Type 78 air pressure regulator ensures long, trouble-free operation. In addition, the rugged die-cast zinc and aluminum housings of the Type 78 are pressure tested to assure safe operation and designed to withstand harsh and abusive environments. This durability is attributed to a chemical conversion coating of all cast components and a vinyl paint finish. Additional optional features and accessories for the Type 78 include low-bleed, non-relieving, square head adjustment, T-handle adjustment, tamper resistant cover, epoxy paint, tapped supply gauge port and tapped exhaust. Mounting brackets and repair kits are also available.
The new Marsh Bellofram Type 78 high-pressure air regulator is ideal for use across a variety of industrial applications, including high-flow actuation; high-flow louvers; slitters, rollers and dewinders; high-flow control loop applications; and calibration loops, among others.
- high-accuracy
- large flow and exhaust capabilities
- five different pressure output ranges of up to 125 psig


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1. Getting Started
- 1.1 About Version Control
- 1.2 A Short History of Git
- 1.3 What is Git?
- 1.4 The Command Line
- 1.5 Installing Git
- 1.6 First-Time Git Setup
- 1.7 Getting Help
- 1.8 Summary
2. Git Basics
- 2.1 Getting a Git Repository
- 2.2 Recording Changes to the Repository
- 2.3 Viewing the Commit History
- 2.4 Undoing Things
- 2.5 Working with Remotes
- 2.6 Tagging
- 2.7 Git Aliases
- 2.8 Summary
3. Git Branching
- 3.1 Branches in a Nutshell
- 3.2 Basic Branching and Merging
- 3.3 Branch Management
- 3.4 Branching Workflows
- 3.5 Remote Branches
- 3.6 Rebasing
- 3.7 Summary
4. Git on the Server
- 4.1 The Protocols
- 4.2 Getting Git on a Server
- 4.3 Generating Your SSH Public Key
- 4.4 Setting Up the Server
- 4.5 Git Daemon
- 4.6 Smart HTTP
- 4.7 GitWeb
- 4.8 GitLab
- 4.9 Third Party Hosted Options
- 4.10 Summary
5. Distributed Git
- 5.1 Distributed Workflows
- 5.2 Contributing to a Project
- 5.3 Maintaining a Project
- 5.4 Summary
6. GitHub
7. Git Tools
- 7.1 Revision Selection
- 7.2 Interactive Staging
- 7.3 Stashing and Cleaning
- 7.4 Signing Your Work
- 7.5 Searching
- 7.6 Rewriting History
- 7.7 Reset Demystified
- 7.8 Advanced Merging
- 7.9 Rerere
- 7.10 Debugging with Git
- 7.11 Submodules
- 7.12 Bundling
- 7.13 Replace
- 7.14 Credential Storage
- 7.15 Summary
8. Customizing Git
- 8.1 Git Configuration
- 8.2 Git Attributes
- 8.3 Git Hooks
- 8.4 An Example Git-Enforced Policy
- 8.5 Summary
9. Git and Other Systems
- 9.1 Git as a Client
- 9.2 Migrating to Git
- 9.3 Summary
10. Git Internals
- 10.1 Plumbing and Porcelain
- 10.2 Git Objects
- 10.3 Git References
- 10.4 Packfiles
- 10.5 The Refspec
- 10.6 Transfer Protocols
- 10.7 Maintenance and Data Recovery
- 10.8 Environment Variables
- 10.9 Summary
A1. Appendix A: Git in Other Environments
- A1.1 Graphical Interfaces
- A1.2 Git in Visual Studio
- A1.3 Git in Visual Studio Code
- A1.4 Git in IntelliJ / PyCharm / WebStorm / PhpStorm / RubyMine
- A1.5 Git in Sublime Text
- A1.6 Git in Bash
- A1.7 Git in Zsh
- A1.8 Git in PowerShell
- A1.9 Summary
A2. Appendix B: Embedding Git in your Applications
- A2.1 Command-line Git
- A2.2 Libgit2
- A2.3 JGit
- A2.4 go-git
- A2.5 Dulwich
A3. Appendix C: Git Commands
- A3.1 Setup and Config
- A3.2 Getting and Creating Projects
- A3.3 Basic Snapshotting
- A3.4 Branching and Merging
- A3.5 Sharing and Updating Projects
- A3.6 Inspection and Comparison
- A3.7 Debugging
- A3.8 Patching
- A3.9 Email
- A3.10 External Systems
- A3.11 Administration
- A3.12 Plumbing Commands
1.3 Getting Started - What is Git?
What is Git?
So, what is Git in a nutshell? This is an important section to absorb, because if you understand what Git is and the fundamentals of how it works, then using Git effectively will probably be much easier for you. As you learn Git, try to clear your mind of the things you may know about other VCSs, such as CVS, Subversion or Perforce — doing so will help you avoid subtle confusion when using the tool. Even though Git's user interface is fairly similar to these other VCSs, Git stores and thinks about information in a very different way, and understanding these differences will help you avoid becoming confused while using it.
Snapshots, Not Differences
The major difference between Git and any other VCS (Subversion and friends included) is the way Git thinks about its data. Conceptually, most other systems store information as a list of file-based changes. These other systems (CVS, Subversion, Perforce, and so on) think of the information they store as a set of files and the changes made to each file over time (this is commonly described as delta-based version control).
Git doesn't think of or store its data this way. Instead, Git thinks of its data more like a series of snapshots of a miniature filesystem. With Git, every time you commit, or save the state of your project, Git basically takes a picture of what all your files look like at that moment and stores a reference to that snapshot. To be efficient, if files have not changed, Git doesn't store the file again, just a link to the previous identical file it has already stored. Git thinks about its data more like a stream of snapshots.
This is an important distinction between Git and nearly all other VCSs. It makes Git reconsider almost every aspect of version control that most other systems copied from the previous generation. This makes Git more like a mini filesystem with some incredibly powerful tools built on top of it, rather than simply a VCS. We'll explore some of the benefits you gain by thinking of your data this way when we cover Git branching in Git Branching.
Nearly Every Operation Is Local
Most operations in Git need only local files and resources to operate — generally no information is needed from another computer on your network. If you're used to a CVCS where most operations have that network latency overhead, this aspect of Git will make you think that the gods of speed have blessed Git with unworldly powers. Because you have the entire history of the project right there on your local disk, most operations seem almost instantaneous.
For example, to browse the history of the project, Git doesn't need to go out to the server to get the history and display it for you — it simply reads it directly from your local database. This means you see the project history almost instantly. If you want to see the changes introduced between the current version of a file and the file a month ago, Git can look up the file a month ago and do a local difference calculation, instead of having to either ask a remote server to do it or pull an older version of the file from the remote server to do it locally.
This also means that there is very little you can't do if you're offline or off VPN. If you get on an airplane or a train and want to do a little work, you can commit happily (to your local copy, remember?) until you get to a network connection to upload. If you go home and can't get your VPN client working properly, you can still work. In many other systems, doing so is either impossible or painful. In Perforce, for example, you can't do much when you aren't connected to the server; in Subversion and CVS, you can edit files, but you can't commit changes to your database (because your database is offline). This may not seem like a huge deal, but you may be surprised what a big difference it can make.
Git Has Integrity
Everything in Git is checksummed before it is stored and is then referred to by that checksum. This means it's impossible to change the contents of any file or directory without Git knowing about it. This functionality is built into Git at the lowest levels and is integral to its philosophy. You can't lose information in transit or get file corruption without Git being able to detect it.
The mechanism that Git uses for this checksumming is called a SHA-1 hash. This is a 40-character string composed of hexadecimal characters (0–9 and a–f) and calculated based on the contents of a file or directory structure in Git. A SHA-1 hash looks something like this:
You will see these hash values all over the place in Git because it uses them so much. In fact, Git stores everything in its database not by file name but by the hash value of its contents.
Git Generally Only Adds Data
When you do actions in Git, nearly all of them only add data to the Git database. It is hard to get the system to do anything that is not undoable or to make it erase data in any way. As with any VCS, you can lose or mess up changes you haven't committed yet, but after you commit a snapshot into Git, it is very difficult to lose, especially if you regularly push your database to another repository.
This makes using Git a joy because we know we can experiment without the danger of severely screwing things up. For a more in-depth look at how Git stores its data and how you can recover data that seems lost, see Undoing Things.
The Three States
Pay attention now — here is the main thing to remember about Git if you want the rest of your learning process to go smoothly. Git has three main states that your files can reside in: modified, staged, and committed:
Modified means that you have changed the file but have not committed it to your database yet.
Staged means that you have marked a modified file in its current version to go into your next commit snapshot.
Committed means that the data is safely stored in your local database.
This leads us to the three main sections of a Git project: the working tree, the staging area, and the Git directory.
The working tree is a single checkout of one version of the project. These files are pulled out of the compressed database in the Git directory and placed on disk for you to use or modify.
The staging area is a file, generally contained in your Git directory, that stores information about what will go into your next commit. Its technical name in Git parlance is the "index", but the phrase "staging area" works just as well.
The Git directory is where Git stores the metadata and object database for your project. This is the most important part of Git, and it is what is copied when you clone a repository from another computer.
The basic Git workflow goes something like this:
You modify files in your working tree.
You selectively stage just those changes you want to be part of your next commit, which adds only those changes to the staging area.
You do a commit, which takes the files as they are in the staging area and stores that snapshot permanently to your Git directory.
If a particular version of a file is in the Git directory, it's considered committed. If it has been modified and was added to the staging area, it is staged. And if it was changed since it was checked out but has not been staged, it is modified. In Git Basics, you'll learn more about these states and how you can either take advantage of them or skip the staged part entirely.


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Click on pics to view larger images
Think about driving a car with a large engine. For many people, a major attraction is how you can effortlessly loaf along, the driver never needing to wring the engine's neck or to have the throttle mashed to the floor. So what is it that gives this result – and how can it be achieved without having to also confront the high fuel bills associated with big engines?
This article is about an arcane, obscure characteristic of car engines – and yet it dramatically influences real-world performance, fuel consumption, throttle response and driving enjoyment. It's also, I think, the most important criterion to keep in mind when modifying an engine... and yet it's something rarely - if ever - discussed.
So, instead of tackling the idea head-on, let's approach it with some circumlocution.
Here is Australia there still remain tens of thousands of new car buyers wedded to local production cars – big engine'd machines called Commodores and Falcons. In terms of model names, these cars stretch back over 30 years... in terms of maker philosophy, even further.
These cars use relatively large engines, usually tied to automatic transmissions, and with the engines tuned to give lots of low-rpm torque. The result is that off the line, in contemporaneous terms, Commodores and Falcons have always been damn' fast.
You put your foot down and they simply launch with neck-snapping response.
Owners, especially older ones who have shown their brand loyalty to these machines over decades, revel in this low-down grunt. But the interesting thing is what you find when you go for a drive with these very same people. Then you'll see that while they occasionally give the throttle a spurt (especially away from traffic lights and when changing lanes), they usually drive in such a way that the engine revs mostly remain low. (In other words, the engine is never wound out - in auto trans cars by keeping the right foot planted, and in manual trans cars, by changing-up at high revs.)
Now since engine power is torque multiplied by rpm (all then divided by a constant), the fact that revs are low means that the maximum power that these drivers actually use is also low. In fact, if revs never exceed half of peak power, that 190kW Commodore is actually more like a 95kW Commodore. That's fine – the driver is happy.
But what it indicates is very important: what feels – and is – fast in normal traffic (and in many other uses) actually requires only little power. What it does need is power developed at low rpm – what is normally referred to as 'lots of torque'.
The idea that a car can be punchy, throttle-responsive and fast in most real-world driving situations – and yet have little peak power – is beyond many people. So conditioned are they to accepting that the max power developed by the engine is the only number that matters, it is to them ludicrous that any other paradigm might apply.
But, unless you drive around all the time in a very low gear with the engine revving hard (whereupon you need top-end power, not bottom-end power), it's true.
Of course, some driving situations require just raw power – and in big numbers, too. Overtaking on the open road is one, and another is top speed. (But, at least here in Australia, top speed is now completely irrelevant.) Outright, sustained acceleration – eg 0-100 km/h or 160 km/h – is another car application for which big peak power is needed, and of course the standing quarter mile also needs lots of power to gain good times.
But tell me, how often on the way to work today did you run a full-throttle 0-100 or a standing quarter? Or to put this another way, what was the longest you were able to hold full throttle?
OK, so if it's the power available in the bottom part of the rev range that is important for real world driving performance, what are the implications?
As already indicated, because most large engines develop relatively lots of power at low rpm, a big engine will deliver this sort of performance. And an auto trans using a torque converter will also certainly help, because at low engine rpm the torque getting to the rear wheels (and so the rear wheel power at that road speed) can be short-term multiplied – even doubled – by the action of the torque converter slip.
But large engines and slipping torque converters are ruinous for fuel consumption, and so this approach is rapidly losing favour in all but luxury cars.
Hmmm, so a small engine is needed – but one that delivers large amounts of power at low revs? That's the case – and this can be achieved in two ways.
Forced Aspiration
The first method is to use forced aspiration – either a turbo or supercharger.
By pushing in more air than the engine would naturally breathe, it behaves like a larger engine and so can develop the lots-of-power-at-low-revs that we're seeking. But a supercharger has to draw its power from the engine crankshaft, so unless it switches off at low loads (eg by a magnetic clutch on its drive pulley) the fuel consumption will be relatively poor. And, even if it uses a clutch, when the supercharger is running, it is still drawing its power from the engine.
However, a turbo is different in that the energy to drive it is largely free – cars without turbos normally waste this energy as heat out of the exhaust. (However, and this is an enormous 'however', for a turbo to be effective in the way we're describing, the turbo must be matched to the engine so that in fact it blows hard at low engine revs – more on this in a moment.)
The other way of gaining lots-of-power-at-low-revs is by the use of an electric motor. The motor can be either in a hybrid driveline (think Toyota Prius) or it can be in a pure electric car (think the pictured Tesla Roadster). In either case, the fact that the electric motor can develop such relatively high powers at low revs means that, either working alone or with the petrol motor, real-world response and performance can be excellent.
While electric and hybrid cars will increasingly be the fun driving machines of the future, right now it's the turbo that has the best promise for achieving what we're describing.
Some factory turbo machines, especially European petrol and diesel turbo cars, are engineered to behave in just the way that's been described. To achieve this, the turbo is on full boost at very early revs.
In this particular household, the petrol turbo car (a 1.8 litre turbo Volkswagen Polo GTi) develops peak torque of 220Nm at just 1950 rpm – therefore, at 1950 rpm, it has 45kW available.
Another car we own, a 1.9 litre turbo diesel Skoda Roomster, develops 240Nm at 1800 rpm – as it happens, that's also 45kW.
For the Polo, that 45kW is 41 per cent of peak power (a peak power that's achieved some 3850 rpm further up the rev range!) and for the Roomster, the 45kW is 58 per cent of peak power (that occurs at 4000 rpm).
So to put it in round figures, these two cars have around half of their maximum power only about 1000 rpm above idle!
The result is, like those big engine Commodores and Falcons, in normal driving these manual-transmission cars almost never need to be revved past about 2500 rpm. Together with their relatively light masses (the GTi is 1190kg and Roomster is 1260kg), the very low revs at which significant power outputs are gained results in excellent fuel economy – in our mix of rural and urban driving, about 6.5 litres/100km for the GTi and about 5.5 litres/100km for the Roomster. (And 5.0 litres/100km for the Roomster on an interstate trip!)
Now you can bring in all sorts of other factors to explain that good fuel consumption – aero drag, relatively low 0-100-type acceleration performance (in the case of the Roomster), that low mass and so on. But the reality is that the most significant ingredient in the exceptional fuel consumption is the use a small engine that delivers high power at low rpm, resulting in engine revs able to be kept low in normal traffic. To put that another way, nearly every up-change can be made early.
(And why is that important? Brake Specific Fuel Consumption, which is a measure of how much fuel is used to produce each horsepower, is reduced at low engine revs. See Brake Specific Fuel Consumption for more.)
But I started this article by saying that I was going to mention a bunch of factors, including driving enjoyment. So, in addition to achieving excellent fuel economy, why else is it good having a small engine developing lots of power at low revs?
Firstly, it makes for much more effortless driving – there's less need to change gears (or have an auto trans change gears for you). In fact, often you don't even need to use all the forward gears that are provided – instead of going 1-2-3-4-5, shifting 1 – 3 – 5.
In addition, engine revs (and so noise and vibration) are kept lower. That might not immediately sound such a plus – until you think of driving a small engine car that doesn't have lots of power at low revs. Inevitably, the driver will complain about having to drive everywhere with the 'engine screaming its head off'.
Another important advantage is much more immediate throttle response. In terms of cut-and-thrust through urban traffic, having immediate and strong throttle response is vital if a car is to be fast. Having to change down one, two or even three gears before the car goes hard at (say) 60 km/h will not result in a real-world fast car!
And, coming back full circle, if the engine develops lots of torque at low revs, the gearing can be kept taller, so improving top gear fuel consumption.
So what are the implications for modification? Lots!
Almost all traditional modification is about improving top-end power. In fact, when describing the power gains made from modifications, it is completely normal to describe only the increase in top-end power!
For example, cams, exhausts and headwork all result in a power increase at the top end of the rev range. Upsizing a turbo is another that results in the increase in power happening at the top end – and worse than that, usually a major decrease in power at low revs!
On the other hand, fitting a small turbo (perhaps one smaller than standard!), removing any turbo wastegate creep, or fitting a big exhaust and intake (allowing a quicker turbo spool) can work well. On an atmospherically inducted car, fitting tuned-length extractors can increase bottom-end power. A positive displacement supercharger will also increase low rpm power – but in most cases at the expense of fuel economy. Fitting a cam designed for lifting bottom-end power (a "towing" or "economy" cam) can also be done, as can retiming the cam.
None of the modifications described in the above paragraph will increase the peak power that you can boast about to your mates. Nor will they make much different to a 0-100 km/h time (they'll make a bit of difference but not a helluva lot – after the first gear-change, you'll be above the revs at which most improvement has occurred.) But what they will do is massively improve driveability, especially in urban use. They'll give better fuel economy (particularly if overall gearing is raised to match), faster throttle response and result in the need for less gearchanges. Progress in nearly all driving situations will also feel much more effortless.
Especially in these times of strictly enforced speed limits and other public road driving constraints, a car that develops a lot of power at the bottom end of the rev range is very often a more enjoyable drive than one with a much higher peak power, but where that power is developed at high revs. In nearly every case, the car with more bottom end power – and the same size engine – will also be more economical.
So the next time you are selecting a car to buy, or thinking about modifications, consider whether you want a more enjoyable, relaxing, throttle-responsive and fuel-efficient car – or one that has just a bigger peak power number to boast about...
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Hungary has introduced a VAT cut for internet access
This move comes notwithstanding the fact that the measure could be in breach of EU law, as such services are not included in Annex III of the EU VAT Directive, which sets out a preventive list of those goods and services that may be subject to a VAT reduced rate.
Hungary's change to the value-added tax regime in this respect was announced in Hungary's 2017 Budget, in which Hungary declared that it would cut the VAT rate on such services from 27% to 18%. Despite unofficial calls from the EU tax commissioner Pierre Moscovici for Hungary to hold off on the changes, the country has continued irrespective. Simultaneously it has pushed for the inclusion of internet access services to be included in Annex III of the EU VAT Directive, as part of the Commission's ongoing proposal to allow a reduced rate of VAT for certain digital supplies such as for eBooks.
This funding in order to boost internet adoption will cost the government an estimated €70mln per annum.
amavat® provides a one-stop-shop solution for VAT Compliance within Europe. We assist clients with a single point of contact that speaks their language and handles all VAT related issues with a standard and cost efficient approach.
If you have any queries or questions, please do not hesitate to contact amavat®.
To find out more information please visit www.amavat.eu


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Idaho has been a Right to Work state since 1985. But that will come to an end under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
As seen on video and in writing, Biden and Harris vow to ban Right to Work laws which protect 166 million Americans in 27 states, more than half the U.S. population. Right to Work laws allow workers the freedom of employment without forced membership in a labor union or forced payment to a union boss.
Joe Biden said: "We should change the federal law [so] that there is no Right to Work allowed anywhere in the country. For real. Not a joke. Not a joke."
Kamala Harris said: "Banning Right to Work laws. That needs to happen."
Click here or below to watch Kamala Harris and Joe Biden vow to abolish Right to Work:
Harris and Biden also documented their anti-Right to Work position in writing here and here. And both have endorsed active legislation called the PRO Act which bans Right to Work. The PRO Act legislation is live ammunition, having already passed the Democrat-run U.S. House of Representatives. In the Senate, it has 40 Democrat co-sponsors and one self-described socialist co-sponsor, Bernie Sanders.
Right to Work states outperform non-Right to Work states:
- Right to Work states experience stronger growth in the number of people employed, growth in manufacturing employment, and growth in the private sector. According to the National Institute for Labor Relations Research, the percentage growth in the number of people employed between 2007-2017 in Right to Work states was 8.8%, and 4.2% in forced-unionism states. Growth in manufacturing employment between 2012-2017 in Right to Work states was 5.5%, and 1.7% in forced-unionism states. The percentage growth in the private sector from 2007-2017 in Right to Work states was 13.0%, and 10.1% in forced-unionism states.
- Right to Work laws increase individual life satisfaction and economic sentiment. A study by Christos Makridis of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that Right to Work laws are associated with an increase in self-reported current life satisfaction, expected future life satisfaction, and sentiments about current and future economic activity among workers, as Forbes describes. The study explains that "these improvements in well-being are consistent with an increase in competition among unions, which prompts them to provide higher quality services that are valued by their members." As the Heritage Foundation explains, "It was no accident that foreign automobile brands located their U.S. plants primarily in right-to-work states like Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee."
- Forced-unionism states experience severe out-migration. An analysis by Stan Greer of the National Institute for Labor Relations Research found that forced unionism states, between 2007-2017, experience net migration of -7.4%, whereas Right to Work states experience a 1.6% growth in number of residents.
- Right to Work laws protect workers from union corruption. The Detroit Free Press reported that U.S. Department of Labor documents showed embezzlement from hundreds of union offices across the country over the past decade. In the past two years, "more than 300 union locations have discovered theft, often resulting in more than one person charged in each instance." Workers should not be forced to fund entities that have high instances of theft and corruption, especially when there are no similar demands that citizens must directly fund a private organization.
Consider yourself warned: If Democrats win full control of the federal government, Idaho's Right to Work will be gone overnight.
"No one should have to pay someone for the right to have a job. Forced union dues were recognized as wrong when congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. "Everyone in a free country has the right to work without being asked to pay off union bosses."
The 27 Right to Work states are: Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, Indiana, Kentucky, Nevada, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Idaho, Utah, Kansas.
See Also:
Biden and Harris Threaten Independent Contractors and Freelancers Nationwide


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Fascinated with social learning as a field of study since he was an undergraduate at Michigan, Farb Nivi has been on a course of learning for his current role ever since those early days. Later, when he was a teacher at the Princeton Review, Farb found great success by creating social learning in physical rooms. He was even named National Teacher of the Year (by the Princeton Review in 2001). Nonetheless, after nearly a decade of teaching at The Princeton Review and Kaplan, Farb realized that he was only reaching students with socioeconomic advantages. "Like most Americans, my
concerns about the educational crisis in America prompted me to act," he say. "I started to teach through video courses online in 2007, and web-based social learning features started evolving within my circle of collaborators very quickly. That was really the start of Grockit." What exactly is Grockit? Find out in this in-depth look at what Grockit literally means, and what one college student said when he stopped Farb on a campus sidewalk after seeing the Grockit logo on his sweatshirt.
Victor: What does the name mean?
Farb: The name is a reference to the word grok, which comes from the book Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein who is considered amongst the greatest science fiction writers of all time. Robert defined the word as to know something so well, so intimately, that it becomes a part of you—you literally absorb something. As a teacher, you can have no higher aspiration than to inspire content mastery. I'm a fan of Heinlein's literary themes—individual obligation to improving society, self-reliance and non-conformity. I hope you can see these values in our company and Grockit learning experiences.
Victor: What is it? Who created it?
Farb: Grockit is a social learning company. Grockit.com is a place for people to learn and prepare for college admissions exams and other high-stakes tests. Grockit's learning framework—our social learning and adaptive learning technology—is used by partners for a number of purposes, including remediation, student learning evaluation, teaching almost any kind of material. At the core of the experience is the acknowledgement that people learn in different ways, but social learning, which hasn't really been addressed in online learning, is really powerful and scalable thanks to digital media and social networking.
Victor: What does it do and what are some benefits?
Farb: The way students have studied for standardized tests hasn't changed much in decades, but the way they communicate and play has—with Facebook, IM, social games, etc.
Grockit gives students a way to:
Practice questions online based on their needs
Work together with their peers
Ask questions of each other
Earn badges as they progress
Watch videos and lessons
As for benefits, we've done a lot of research into understanding how social learning creates results. We've discovered that students in our social learning experience study longer, answer more questions, and get more questions correct. That's a powerful benefit that translates directly into personal-best test scores and entering the colleges of their dreams.
Victor: How is it unique and who are your competitors?
Farb: Grockit is the fastest growing online test prep service for students seeking to get their best potential score on the GMAT, SAT, ACT, GRE, and other tests required for college admissions. Grockit is an adaptive, personalized learning program distinguished by its unique social learning features that are proven to help people learn quickly and answer more questions correctly.
Right now, there are a number of adaptive learning platform companies focused on partnering with universities. We are helping learners through universities, individual learners, online schools, charter schools, virtual schools and non-profits.
Victor: Where did it originate and where can you get it now?
Farb: Grockit was founded in 2007 and you can find out more at www.grockit.com.
Victor: How much does it cost? What are the options?
Farb: There are several products and pricing bundles available at https://grockit.com/learn_more. There are plenty of discount codes on the Internet as well. In general terms, Grockit costs about $30/month, and tutoring costs about $50/session. Video courses and annual subscriptions are typically priced at about $100.
Victor: What are some examples of it in action?
Farb: You can see more at Grockit.com.
Victor: Who is it particularly tailored for? Who is it not for?
Farb: Grockit is made for anyone preparing for college and graduate schools admissions tests, but it's used by anyone who wants to learn more about a particular subject. Grockit/answers is a great example of a teacher's tool—it allows people to share video content and provision questions like a quiz, mapped to specific moments in a video.
Victor: Your thoughts on education these days?
Farb: Education in America is at a transitional point where there is a critical mass of teachers, students, politicians, companies and investors focused on creating change. Change in regulation, policy and funding is going to happen, probably after the next Presidential election. But, businesses and technology innovation are creating more possibilities every single day. I'm excited that cognition is an emphasis of R&D investment and entrepreneurialism. This is why we partnered with Startup Weekend and the Gates Foundation to create Startup Weekend.edu.
Victor: How does Grockit address some of your concerns about education?
Farb: Grockit is a one-for-one business because we—our whole company, our investors— are concerned with access to education. We have provided five community-oriented non-profits with over $100,000 of free Grockit services targeting some of the most under-resourced areas of America. My concern, our shared concern, is that a great college admissions test score can be the gating factor in seeking a promising future with financial freedoms and happiness derived from a college education. Our K-12 product, Grockit Academy, is donated to a non-profit every time anyone buys a Grockit product. Grockit Academy will help more grade 7-9 students stay on college track, get better test scores and join the ranks of college entrants.
One more thing, we're excited about the potential for social learning in instructional design. Our research illustrating the efficacy and efficiencies of social learning is startling. If instructional design were adopted widely today, next year, 85,000 more students would score high enough to be eligible for college. Over ten years, 850,000 would be college bound, necessitating the creation of nearly a dozen more Universities the size of the University of Michigan. That would certainly boost our economy and transform our society—changing America's overall education rates, employment levels, even impacting the total numbers of citizens living under the poverty rate.
Victor: Got any quirky stories?
Farb: As I mentioned, I created a partnership with Startup Weekend and the Gates Foundation to create Startup Weekend.edu. In October we held a Startup Weekend at Georgetown's Business School—Georgetown has purchased Grockit for their students and alumni. Before the event, I was walking across the campus, and a student stopped me, asked me about my sweatshirt, asked me if I worked at Grockit. He wasn't attending the event, he just wanted to thank me for Grockit—he credited Grockit with helping him get into Georgetown. I was so humbled and thankful for that moment.
Victor: What else can you tell educators and other leaders in and around education about the value of Grockit?
Farb: Grockit works because it solves for student engagement.
Victor: What makes you say that?
Farb: Anyone in education understands that engagement is the key to student communication and learning. Grockit works because of the human interaction—they stay, they learn because of the social learning from other students and tutors. Social learning is an old model of instruction that we moved away from during the 20th Century in a attempt to mass produce educated people in a process that has not scaled and sustained the way we hoped.
Victor Rivero tells the story of 21st-century education transformation. He is the editor-in-chief of EdTech Digest, a magazine about education transformed through technology. He has written white papers, articles and features for schools, nonprofits and companies in the education marketplace. Write to: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Recent announcements of state budget surpluses have led to the popping of corks across the deepest-blue parts of America, particularly here in California. In some cases, the purported fiscal recovery has been enshrined by an emerging hagiography about Jerry Brown's steadfastness in the face of budget debacles. One prominent piece even argued that the "smart, bold progressive movement" actually "saved" the Golden State, in part, by forcing up income tax rates.
Yet, as Walter Russell Mead, among others, has argued, the states' fiscal meltdown has not been averted, but simply delayed, by the current asset-driven economic recovery. Taken together, the states owe $1 trillion in unfunded pension obligations alone. These costs are eating up much of the projected surpluses, even in prosperous and relatively frugal states such as Texas.
But the first place where the fiscal blowout will hit the road may be at the local level. This is, in part, because one way that states try to improve their balance sheets is by cutting aid to localities while imposing new mandates dealing with everything from housing to green policies. This has occurred in such places as Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.
"Quietly and without fanfare, governors and state legislators approved overly generous pension packages, let stand costly, antiquated laws and continued to shift costs from Albany to our front doors," noted one upstate New York newspaper.
So, even as state budgets improve somewhat, municipal budgets remain very vulnerable to cutbacks. Pew reports that both state aid and property-tax collections have continued to drop, something that perhaps will be slowed by a developing bubble in real estate values.
Similarly, according to a report by the National League of Cities, city financers at the end of 2012 projected a sixth consecutive year of year-over-year declining revenue. The ability of localities – particularly the most-distressed – to endure this pattern much longer is somewhat dubious.
In fact, the run up to a wave of municipal bankruptcies has begun. Seven major municipalities have already filed for bankruptcy, the largest being the city of San Bernardino. To a large extent, these bankruptcies are being driven by unfunded obligations for employee pensions. A new study by the Brookings Institute "estimated that the aggregate unfunded liabilities of locally administered pension plans top $574 billion. ... On average, pensions consume nearly 20 percent of municipal budgets." But the worst is yet to come. "[I]f trends continue, over half of every dollar in tax revenue would go to pensions, and, by some estimates, in some cases, would suck up 75 percent of all tax revenue."
This has locked many localities across the country into a classic vicious cycle as they try to dig their way back to growth. Unless radically reformed, health care and retirement obligations to employees seem certain to outweigh the ability to fund necessary government functions, the very things – infrastructure, public safety and other economic development components – necessary to nurse a region and its governments back to health.
By far, most vulnerable will be those cities with high unemployment, rising crime and tepid recoveries. These will include many of America's most violent cities – Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, Chicago, Memphis, Tenn., – as well as those with generally dysfunctional schools and decaying infrastructure. The idea of cutting police services in such places would invite even greater deterioration of public order.
This process of small-scale deterioration is already well advanced in California. When it comes to buck-passing to the local level, no one can outdo the Golden State. Gov. Brown's "realignment" strategy put the responsibility for state justice programs largely on local governments (though this came with promises of increased state aid). Brown also oversaw the dissolution of the state's 400-plus redevelopment agencies, some of which may now be forced into bankruptcy. Many cities consider these agencies, which provide tax relief to businesses, as one of their most effective economic development tools. So, while state debt is expected to decline by $1.7 billion next year, local-government debt in California is actually set to increase by $600 million.
Many counties and localities risk also losing their health care benefits under Gov. Brown's revised fiscal year 2013-14 budget. These changes will be hardest on those localities with the biggest problems, notably some smaller cities already tilting on the edge of bankruptcy. As many as 10 others, including Oakland and San Jose, could join them. Many others are simply cutting back; Sacramento is now asking newly recruited police officers to pay into their pension plans before joining the force.
These problems also are deeply entrenched in the state's largest city. Los Angeles, more than any of the top 10 cities in the country, with the possible exception of Chicago, still suffers from quasirecessionary conditions. Not surprisingly, L.A.'s budget situation, in large part due to pension and other employee-related costs, remains perilous. A former mayor, businessman Richard Riordan, has predicted that, unless pensions and compensation are reformed dramatically, the city will eventually slide, inexorably, toward bankruptcy.
The primary culprit in this slide, notes Riordan, has been the political domination of Los Angeles, and other cities, by public employee unions and the lack of true political competition. The original poster child for this is San Bernardino, where labor costs consumed 80 percent of the city budget, in large part due to public-sector unions' investment in local political races.
Bigger and somewhat economically stronger, Los Angeles may not soon go the way of San Bernardino, but its fiscal problems remain severe, with a projected $800 million deficit over the next four years and pensions that are underfunded by at least $15 billion. Clearly, these shortfalls will continue to undermine the city's ability to keep its streets safe, roads paved and parks operating – until City Hall is willing to stand up to the public-sector lobby.
The most recent citywide election was not too comforting in this regard, since both candidates for mayor were reliable allies of city worker unions. But, at least, it should be noted that the loser, Wendy Greuel, was, in part, defeated by revelations of her massive financial backing from those unions. It almost certainly hurt her standing with what should have been her base among more conservative, quasisuburban voters from her "hood" – the San Fernando Valley.
Yet, even if incoming mayor Eric Garcetti can right the ship, residents of Los Angeles are likely to face a combination of rising taxes and fees for years to come to address soaring pension costs. Given the financial drag of pension and other employee benefit obligations, even traditional city services, such as street repair, will likely need to be funded by additional debt or fees on property owners.
Short of major reform, this self-defeating pattern of higher local taxes and fewer local services is likely to continue even if state economies and budgets climb out of their recent distress. Yet, at the same time, this presents an opportunity to rebalance the relationship between private- and public-sector interests.
If good habits are learned first in the home, perhaps the road to fiscal health will have to begin at the local level. Sacramento and other state capitals have demonstrated skill at kicking the can down the road while shirking their responsibilities to local governments. Instead, it may fall upon the localities to come up with ways to overcome decades of poisonously irresponsible decision making and concoct the proper fiscal antidote.
Joel Kotkin is executive editor of NewGeography.com and a distinguished presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University, and a member of the editorial board of the Orange County Register. He is author of The City: A Global History and The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050. His most recent study, The Rise of Postfamilialism, has been widely discussed and distributed internationally. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
This piece originally appeared in the Orange County Register.


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Wolfhagen : a forgotten pioneer
- Collection
- 2022
Photocopy of and article written by Davis Willis regarding Ernest Henry Waldemar Wolfhagen and the cultivation in Tasmania of the first commercially available reverse bicolor daffodil "Binkie".
I had just completed my prediction that the ancestors of the reverse bicolor trait, as seen in 'Binkie' were unlikely to be determined any time soon when an offer to look into its background was received via Caroline Thomson, Director and owner of the National Heritage and Scientific Collection of Backhouse daffodils. The offer was made to Caroline by the University of Dundee/James Hutton Institute, to look into the background of some of the old Backhouse cultivars, but when Caroline mentioned my work on Wolfhagen and 'Binkie' the offer was extended to include 'Binkie'. This is a tremendous opportunity to finally solve the mystery of the origin of the reverse bicolor characteristic and work will begin in April 2023, when leaf tips of 'Binkie' will be taken to the University. (The James Hutton Institute is a globally recognised organisation delivering fundamental and applied research and is situated at Invergowrie, Dundee).
Since the emergence of 'Binkie' as the first commercial reverse bicolor daffodil and its later extensive use in breeding, particularly by Guy Wilson in Northern Ireland and Grant Mitsch in the USA, this type of daffodil has become increasingly important and sought after, an outstanding modern example, 'Altun Ha' having 'Binkie' in its background. 'Binkie' itself has stood the test of time, still being commercially obtainable, some 80 years after its first appearance at the Hobart Show.
David Willis


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Here's a thought: as soon as we defeat Trumpcare, Democrats in both houses introduce Medicare Part M (for Middle-Aged), covering people ages 50-64.
A. It's good politics:
1. These are the people who were going to be hit the hardest by Trumpcare premium increases. Offer them a better deal and they'll support us-and people this age vote!
2. It sounds more moderate than Medicare for All, while also making a solid step closer to single-payer, which the Republicans have managed to make sound like pie-in-the-sky socialism with a side order of end-of-the-world.
B. It's good policy:
1. These are the sickest people in the Obamacare exchanges-move them out of the pools and premiums go down.
2. BUT they're healthier than most people now on Medicare: put them into that risk pool and the premiums go down there, too.
DON'T believe Trump when he says Obamacare is collapsing.
DON'T believe pundits who say the Democrats have no platform/positions: this plus increased minimum wage plus let's get out of Afghanistan is platform a-plenty.


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I just saw Joe McKendrick's entry on the value of an ESB. Although I appreciate his comments, and even agree with some of his points, I don't come to the same conclusions.
There are two things that drive common understanding: shared experiences, and common problems. The wide acceptance of ESBs is driven by common experiences trying to implement SOA on a large scale with disparate organizations involved.
Without an ESB, the product of such situations is often a fragile, tightly coupled, tangled web of services that is nearly impossible to change, or even reason about -- this causes a lot of pain that motivates people to consider alternative approaches. (This is often the architectural equivalent of burning your hand on the stove -- something you don't do twice =)Now, this is not to say that ESBs for the sake of ESBs is a good idea. Often, organizational boundaries can be used as a good litmus test when deciding whether or not to use an ESB, but consider "organizational boundaries" in the more broad sense of the term. This is more than just the end-consumers/producers involved (e.g. trading partners). It takes into account the vendors supplying and integrating the functional components (infrastructure) of the system. For example, if you're authentication & authorization components are coming from a different vendor than your service stack; you have an organizational boundary you probably want to consider.
Thus, if your scope is small enough, and you are getting all of your infrastructure from the same vendor (and plan to continue to do so), ESBs may not be worth it.
Joe was actually just reacting to an article by Bobby Woolf, which has some good insights in it...
"The problem is this: An ESB by itself produces no business value. An ESB is a means to an end, not the end itself. An ESB is like the electrical wiring or plumbing of an SOA. Plumbing does not produce value; sinks with water coming out of their faucets do."
I completely agree with Bobby's statement and just (IMHO) believe Joe made an incorrect inference.
Faucets and toilets deliver the value, but the pipes are not to be overlooked. Lets all face it, if it wasn't for plumbing we'd all still be sh*tting in outhouses. There *is* value in being able to connect a Moen faucet to any well pump, and being able to inject a UV-filter and water softener into the line without disturbing either the faucet or the pump; plumbing enables that. If we take another step back, there is value in being able to then hook into a public sewer system eliminating the need for everyone to install their own septic system.
A real world example of this can be found in Chad's SIP to XMPP tutorial. He was able to build that capability without coding because he used a JBI-based ESB approach. In this example, the two networks (SIP & XMPP) had "plumbing interfaces", and BPEL could be used as the manifold to connect them. Consider that Chad could have quickly and easily also added security "in-line" as well that ask the question "Is Alice authorized to talk to Bob?". These kinds of things are difficult to do without a standards-based, orchestratable messaging and transformation infrastructure (i.e. an ESB).
So, although plumbing might not be worth it for everyone, I for one don't like having to walk outside to relieve myself -- especially in the dead of winter. =)


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VIDEO: Vote for Sheffield crew in Red Bull Grime-A-Side
Grime, a British version of rap which developed from rebellious UK garage and jungle music, emerged in East London in the early 2000s.
It began as an angry underground movement but is now regarded as mainstream. with London grime musician Skepta's victory at the Hyundai Mercury Music Prize for the year's best UK album - beating bookies' favourite David Bowie
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdNow eight UK cities are going head to head in a unique grime tournament - like a football five side - but with crews taking part in a sing-offs and fans voting for who comes out on top.
Sheffield's crew is led by Kannan and they face Leicester in the third quarter-final of Red Bull's national Grime-A-Side competition.
The winners will face London for a place in the final.
Manchester will square up against the winners of the other quarter final, either Birmingham or Derby.
VOTE: Make your vote count after watching the Grime-A-Side between Sheffield and Leicester. Please note this video contains strong language from the start - CLICK HEREVoting for the Sheffield v Leicester clash closes on Friday September 23, 2016, at 5pm.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdTo learn more about Grime-A-Side and watch all the matches in one place visit RedBull.co.uk/grimeaside.
Follow the Sheffield MCs on Twitter @KannanScumfam @KDotScumfam and @LDizzUKThe next Grime-A-Side is Birmingham Vs Derby on Saturday September 24 – look out for it on RedBull.com.


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The Vatican Reports That Pope Francis Will Be Hospitalized for Few Days
Some sad news out from the Vatican today.
The Roman Catholic Church has announced that Pope Francis was rushed to a hospital and will be admitted to the hospital for a few days.
The leader of the Catholic Church was hospitalized with a respiratory infection Wednesday after experiencing difficulty breathing and will remain in the Rome hospital for further treatment,
The 86-year-old pope only has one lung and the Vatican reports that his latest medical scare does not surround COVID-19.
The AP News reports that Pope Francis has had trouble breathing in recent days, thus which is what led him to seek medical attention in Rome.
For Catholics around the world, Holy Week is rapidly approaching and it may be too early to say if Pope Francis will be able to honor many of the commitments in the coming days.


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Yemen On The Edge – Analysis
By FPIF
By Stephen Zunes
Since Obama came to office in January 2009, U.S. security assistance to the Yemeni regime has gone up 20-fold. Despite such large-scale unconditional support, however, the 32-year reign of autocratic President Ali Abdullah Saleh may finally be coming to an end. Yet the Obama administration has been ambivalent in its support for a democratic transition in this impoverished but strategically important country.
Saleh's behavior has gotten increasingly bizarre. He has begun claiming that an unlikely coalition of Israel and Qatar has incited and financed the pro-democracy struggle, and that women in leadership positions in the pro-democracy struggle and even men and women protesting in the streets together is somehow "un-Islamic."
Efforts by Saudi Arabia and other regional monarchies to negotiate Saleh's resignation, despite showing some initial promise, have failed both as a result of the dictator's obstinacy and the protesters' demands for a genuine democratic transition. Saleh continues to lose support despite his corrupt system of patronage. This policy of "bribe a tribe" appears to be failing as tribal leaders, top military officers, and other formal allies have joined the protesters in demanding that the increasingly repressive and eccentric U.S.-backed dictator to step down.
Rising Protests
Yemen is a desperately poor country, with high unemployment, and a long history of division and instability. Sheila Carapico, a professor at the University of Richmond, has described
the grotesque enrichment of regime cronies at the expense of the many; deteriorating standards of living; obscenely bad schools, hospitals and roads; the skyrocketing price of meat, staples and even clean water; the lack of jobs for college and high-school graduates. … Grandiose pageants of presidential power, half-truths in the official media, indignities at military checkpoints, arbitrary arrests and imprisonments — these and other daily insults feed popular alienation, despair and frustration, most notably among the youth. While a privileged few cool off in swimming pools in their luxury compounds, the water table has fallen, decimating the farm economy that remains the livelihood of the rural majority. Farmers and ranchers facing starvation have flocked to the cities where water supplies and social services are swamped. Misery has become the new normal; millions barely survive on the equivalent of a dollar or two per day.
The United States has sent plenty of money, but it's almost all been military assistance. The small amounts of economic aid have mostly gone through corrupt government channels.
Until the pro-democracy struggle emerged as a major nationwide challenge to the regime, the attention of the U.S. media and the Obama administration had almost exclusively been on al-Qaeda cells operating in the country and Shiite Houthi tribesmen fighting in a remote northern region. There was a sense that the people of Yemen were too poor or too tribal or too "backward" to engage in a nonviolent civil insurrection against their dictator. However, as other unarmed pro-democracy uprisings in the region have demonstrated, the desire of human freedom and the willingness face down the tanks, machine guns, tear gas, and truncheons to defend basic rights is indeed universal.
As with Tunisia and Egypt, young people make up the majority of the protesters, though people of all ages have taken to the streets in more than a dozen cities across the country. As with similar pro-democracy protests, there has been a strong cultural dimension, including street theater, music, dancing, and other performance art. Protesters have used tactics that illustrate the unity of the movement, such as 50,000 hands being clasped above the crowd.
Yemen is the most heavily armed countries in the world in terms of individual gun ownership, with some estimates as high as three weapons per person. The fact that the millions of Yemenis who have taken to the streets have consciously left them at home and largely maintained a strict nonviolent discipline is nothing short of remarkable. At a recent demonstration in the tribal al-Bayda region, men brought guns only to throw them down on the ground shouting "silmiyya!" ("peacefully!"), a common chant of the protests. Indeed, the extent of the pro-democracy struggle and its commitment to nonviolence is comparable to the recent revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, and earlier unarmed insurrections in Serbia, Czechoslovakia, the Philippines, Chile, and elsewhere.
Washington Flat-Footed
Despite diplomatic cables going back as far as 2005 indicating that Saleh could potentially face a popular pro-democracy uprising, the Obama administration appears to have been caught completely off-guard. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates acknowledged that Washington had not planned for an era without Saleh. As one former ambassador to Yemen put it in back in March, "For right now, he's our guy."
Since then, the Obama administration has belatedly joined its European allies in encouraging Saleh to step aside. At the same time, the United States has not been very supportive of the pro-democracy protests either. For example, following government attacks on peaceful pro-democracy protesters two weeks ago, which killed a dozen protesters and injured hundreds of others, the U.S. embassy called on the Yemenis to cooperate with the rather dubious Saudi-led negotiations for a transition by "avoiding all provocative demonstrations, marches and speeches in the coming days."
Recently released Wikileaks cables have also demonstrated that U.S. military assistance increased despite evidence that Saleh was using U.S.-supplied weapons not against al-Qaeda as promised but against domestic opposition to his increasingly repressive rule. As a result of the popular protests, Washington has frozen the more than $1 billion in military aid currently in the pipeline. But Washington has acted more out of concern over Saleh's successor than genuine outrage at the dramatically increased repression.
It's time for the United States to recognize that the future of the Middle East is not in the hands of aging autocrats like Saleh or even traditional elite oppositionists, but in civil society. Ultimately power comes not from well-armed people at the top but from the consent of the people.
Stephen Zunes, a Foreign Policy In Focus columnist, is a professor of politics and chair of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco. He is the author, along with Jacob Mundy, of Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution (Syracuse University Press, 2010).


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Los Angeles' Flip Records only issued a total of 65 singles in its decade long life span (1955-65). The label's founder and owner Max Feirtag's policy of 'quality over quantity' certainly made sense, and the label can probably boast the biggest number of rockin' R&B classics across the smallest number of releases of any of the labels in its peer group. Most West Coast R & B record men would have been grateful to have just Louie Louie in their catalogue. Feirtag and Flip could also boast Death Of An Angel, Have Love Will Travel, A Casual Kiss – bona fide hall-of-famers all – as well as many others that are nowadays held in the highest regard by collectors everywhere.
Flip also issued just a couple of compilations during the label's golden decade, "Flip Hits" and "The Original Recordings By The Artists Who Made These Hits!" Although Ace has already reissued some of the contents of these albums since we acquired Flip and its masters a few years back, we've never reissued the original albums before now. Thus we're delighted to bring you the original 19 tracks that made up these two albums (there was some overlap between the two LPs), with the bonus of a further thirteen sides. Now, if that isn't value for money, then I really don't know what is…
There's not a lot that needs to be said about most of the music, of course. Readers of RT won't need to be sold on the hits, and those whose love of all things group-oriented will know the catalogue of the Six Teens almost as well as the group members themselves did. Richard Berry's backing gals the Dreamers also appear here as both themselves and the Locketts, while Donald Woods proves that there was much, much more to him than the justifiably legendary Death Of An Angel. (Woods was, by the way, a huge hero of Mother Of Invention and long time doo wop fan, Frank Zappa, who titled a 1984 album after the flip of Death, The Man From Utopia – not included here, but you can get it elsewhere on Ace.)
Many of our 'bonus artists' names do not carry the same degree of fame, but you won't be able to help but wonder why they don't when you hear their selections. Jimmie Smith, Rocky Holman, Ray Johnson, Sherman Williams, Rosalie & Donnell and Shank & Maydiea may not have been household names even in their own households, but their recordings show that, in most cases, it was only a lack of luck that prevented them from being as popular as any of Flip's bigger and better-known names.
Some of you will be buying this CD just to get the hits, others because you're a West Coast R&B freak who simply has to have anything and everything that ever came out between the end of WWII and the mid 60s. Whatever the reason for your purchase, you are all in for multiple treats. To borrow a line from the late great Vivian Stanshall (who probably would have found much to enjoy here himself!), mmmmmmmmm, that's niiice, Max….
By Tony Rounce


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Premium Version | Support | Variable Product Demo | Simple Product Demo
Sticky Add To Cart Bar For WooCommerce is used to add a sticky bar that has add to cart button with required product information. This plugin helps to increase the conversion rate of the product page.
When the content of the product is long, users often find it hard to click add to cart button because it is at the beginning of the page. This plugin will solve the issue by adding a sticky cart at the top or bottom of the page.
Most of the users are visiting the website on mobile devices. This plugin helps visitors to add a product to the cart.
The plugin comes with lots of customization options. With appearance features, it can match with the theme color.
The use of plugin is easy. After installing and activating the plugin, it works automatically on a single product page of woocommerce. From the setting page on the admin section of the plugin, you can customize and change the behavior and appearance of the plugin.
Sticky Add To Cart Bar For WooCommerce Features
- Product Image
- Product Name
- Price
- Star Rating
- Review Count
- Stock
- Background Color
- Quantity
- Add To Cart Button
- Product Name Color
- Review Count Color
- Star Color
- Price Text Color
- Stock Color
- Out of Stock Color
- The shape of the product image
- Hide bar if product is out of stock (NEW)
- Text of cart button (Pro Feature in community version)
and many more…
Pro Features
- Disable on products
- Variable products drop down
- Ajax add to cart
- Redirect After Ajax add to cart
- Enable on variable product
- Animation of cart button
- Background Image
- Size of background image
- Position of background image
- Repeat Background
- Star background Color
- Price text background color
- Sale/offer badge
- Sale/offer badge Text
- Sale/offer badge Text color
- Sale/offer badge Background color
- Background shape of product price
- Cart Icon Image
Benefits of Sticky Add To Cart Bar For WooCommerce
Makes your mobile view more helpful to the visitors.
Customers can easily add a product to the cart.
Creates a sense of urgency.
Blends with the theme with tons of customization options.
Boosts your conversion rate (Which, is the most important thing in business).
If you love our Sticky Add To Cart Bar For WooCommerce plugin, please give us a five-star rating, so that we know that our work is valued and appreciated.
This will be the drive and motivation for us to further improve our plugins with more useful features.
We highly appreciate your support and love.
Manual Installation
1. Download the plugin
2. Upload "Sticky Add To Cart Bar For WooCommerce" to the "YourDomain/wp-content/plugins/"
3. Activate the plugin
Why I need to add Sticky Add To Cart Bar For WooCommerce
Sticky Add To Cart Bar For WooCommerce is use to add sticky add to cart button for WooCommerce product. Especially Mobile visitors often struggle to find add to cart button, this plugin is a perfect solution for the problem.
I am serious about the plugin, Do you have the pro plugin?
Yes, we provide premium plugin you can visit the page Sticky Add To Cart Bar For WooCommerce Pro
Do you provide support?
Yes, we provide support on the WordPress support forum of the plugin page. Our pro users will get priority support.
I want to request free/pro feature or report bug can I contact you?
We appreciate feedback from you. Feel free to contact us at email@example.com
Contributors & Developers
"Sticky Add To Cart Bar For WooCommerce" is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
ContributorsTranslate "Sticky Add To Cart Bar For WooCommerce" into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
- Check the compatibility with WordPress 5.9
- Check the compatibility with WooCommerce 5.9.0
- Added Pro feature of Add To Cart Button text in community version.
- Compatibility with WordPress 5.8 version.
- Added Show Bar after scroll pixels feature.
- Added Hide bar if product is out of stock feature.
- Fix the initial price text color to black.
- Fix mozilla firefox web browser quantity box display.
- Fix safari browser plus and minus button display issue.
- Fix the Show range of price on variable product not working issue.
- Added external or affiliate product button functionality.
- Compatibility with WordPress 5.6 version.
- Fix the star color not working issue.
- Fix the deactivate issue while updating the woocommerce plugin.
- Fix the variable product add to cart button.
- Fix the enable button not working problem.
- Initial release.


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Featured in this post
Your Quick and Easy Guide to Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) Software
Your Quick and Easy Guide to Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) Software
21 Apr 2022
Aptean Staff WriterIf you're in manufacturing, you know that your assets are crucial to keeping your business running. Manufacturing is, by nature, asset intensive. If you want to stay ahead of the competition, save money and run at peak efficiency, you need real-time data regarding the performance and condition of your fixed assets.
Unplanned downtime costs manufacturers some 800 hours at a whopping £199,120 per hour. This equates to 38 billion pounds per year. So, optimising the performance of your assets really is a no-brainer.
The manufacturing industry relies on the continued output of their physical assets, so keeping equipment in perfect working order is mission critical and cannot be done correctly through manual processes. Enter enterprise asset management, or EAM. This software combines maintenance and management tools with connected devices across all sites, lines and teams. If you're trying to run a manufacturing business, you need EAM to minimise costly downtime, prolong the lifespan of your assets and achieve shop floor excellence.
In this guide, we'll cover exactly what EAM is, its many benefits to your organisation and what features you should look for. Let's dive in.
What Is EAM?
Enterprise asset management (EAM) is comprehensive software used to maintain and control operational assets and equipment. For manufacturers, it helps maintain the quality and utilisation of assets throughout their lifecycle, increases productivity and ultimately reduces costs.
Using advanced analytics within the EAM, management and maintenance teams can optimize asset performance, minimize asset downtime and reduce maintenance costs. In addition, EAM best practices help maintenance teams gain greater control of complex environments and access actionable insights across all sites, lines and teams. Your asset managers and maintenance crews will have all the tools and insights they need to predict asset behavior and stay proactive with crucial maintenance schedules.
What's the Difference Between EAM and CMMS?
In doing even the most basic search or preliminary research on EAM, you'll no doubt come across the term computerised maintenance management system (CMMS) too. So, let's quickly cover the main difference between these two systems.
CMMS and EAM systems have similar purposes and some of the same functionality. For small businesses, a CMMS is a great entry-level product to help manage your assets. However, EAM systems offer a much broader range of features. The biggest difference between the two is in scope.
A CMMS only focuses on maintenance, while an EAM system takes a more comprehensive approach and has multiple business functions.
A CMMS starts tracking only after installation of an asset while an EAM system tracks assets throughout their lifecycle.
A CMMS is generally limited to single sites or has very limited multisite capabilities, whereas an EAM can easily manage multiple sites and even different businesses.
A CMMS is a great starting point for small operations—however, bear in mind that a CMMS is not scalable.
If an EAM seems too expensive right now, think about this—one bad review online can cost you thirty customers, whereas preventive maintenance will save you five dollars on other expenses. An EAM is a CMMS combined with inventory management, purchasing management, document management, accounting and even business intelligence. If you want to grow your business the ROI on an EAM more than compensates for the initial cost.
EAM Benefits
If you're trying to manage your assets through manual means, you will face constant challenges. It's like trying to roll a stone uphill. For example, you must calculate depreciation by hand; spend hours on phone calls to maintenance personnel; and you may neglect health and safety procedures because you don't have up-to-date information.
If you're experiencing frequent equipment failures, your Maintenance, Repair & Operations (MRO) spending is too high or if it's difficult to keep up with your maintenance procedures, EAM is a necessity. With EAM you can automate labour-intensive, manual processes like work orders, asset maintenance schedules, parts procurement and even health and safety initiatives. In a nutshell, EAM gives you a detailed view of your entire repository of fixed assets. The main benefit of EAM is that it helps your team implement a prescriptive, proactive, data-driven strategy of your asset health. It maximises asset usability and improves profitability.
Here are some of the benefits that you could realise with EAM.
Centralised asset information. No matter how big or small your enterprise is, you still need access to data. A robust EAM tells maintenance managers where an asset is and gives detailed information about if and when it will need maintenance. You'll also get alerts if any anomalies occur and asset management workflows can be automated, making them accessible to everyone that needs them.
Proactive and preventive maintenance. EAM has preventive capabilities to maintain equipment to keep operations continuous. It ensures warranty compliance and prevents issues that could disrupt productivity. Users have access to all pertinent information, including work orders, parts and even failure analysis codes.
Strategic analytics to monitor assets. Remote monitoring delivers actionable insights into both the current and expected states of your assets. It aggregates data across departments, which gives everyone access to the same information. You get fewer alerts and enjoy enhanced decision-making.
Maximise asset utilisation. By combining historical and real-time data, users get reports and diagnostic tools to help extend the reliability and lifespan of assets.
Workflow management. EAM can establish digital workflows to keep everyone informed about the state of all assets in real time. This ensures accountability—so there's no more guessing about who is responsible for what. You can set up guidance-based approvals, reminder notifications and any other tasks, all based on your specific pre-defined conditions.
Task automation. EAM lets you automate repetitive tasks like asset maintenance, ordering parts and restocking inventory. With an EAM, managers can focus on high-impact tasks and your asset managers and maintenance teams won't have to waste time on countless administrative activities like manual data entry.
Inventory management. An EAM system can manage your organisation's inventory with just a few clicks. With easily configurable dashboards, your procurement managers will know the status of all inventory which reduces the risk of over or under stocking parts and supplies.
Service and work order management. Asset maintenance is imperative for your enterprise. This means that routine asset maintenance activities need to be scheduled regularly, whether you use an in-house team or outside technicians. Trying to juggle hundreds of contacts and get someone out every time that something goes wrong would be almost impossible with manual processes. An EAM solves this issue with built-in service management modules. This functionality assigns, manages, tracks MRO operations and shares the progress of repairs or maintenance.
5 Features You Need With Enterprise Asset Management Software
Not all EAM software is created equal. You need an EAM that is built by manufacturers, for manufacturers. A generic solution will be able to perform some of the tasks you need but may not have all the features required to embrace an intelligent, data driven asset management strategy. When you're looking at EAM packages, here are five must-have features.
Mobile apps and SaaS. With so many companies moving to remote work, you need your team to have access to all your information no matter where they log on. In addition, your field and in-house service reps need to know where to be, what to do and what time to be there—and they need to be able to get that information on the go. In addition, management can send reviews or approvals from their phones or tablets. SaaS EAM software also means enhanced security.
Dashboards. User-friendly, configurable dashboards give your teams a bird's-eye view of critical asset data points, such as predictive maintenance (PM) compliance rate, open work orders and downtime hours.
Audit and regulatory compliance. With an EAM, you can guarantee constant governance of all regulatory and compliance standards for your industry, giving you peace of mind that you're always compliant. You can also perform inspections from anywhere.
Multiple warehousing. Your EAM should be scalable, which means it grows with you. It should support multiple locations, warehouses and facilities, and allow you to transfer materials and assets between them.
Analytics and forecasting. Maintenance shouldn't be a reactive activity so your EAM should empower you to look ahead. For example, Aptean EAM has a configurable maintenance Business Intelligence (BI) solution that gives instant insight into the unique KPIs and metrics that are important to your organisation's success. This helps with preventive maintenance and predictive maintenance and allows you to run extended and enhanced analytics to gain operational insights.
The Road to Intelligent Asset Management
An enterprise asset management solution helps to get the most out of your assets and your operation. You will know how those assets are performing in real time and can predict which will need repairs or maintenance.
If you're still trying to run your manufacturing enterprise with spreadsheets and manual processes, you won't always know what's happening across your business. You may not have the right solution or the right parts on hand. The manuals might get lost, or the technician might be new and not know about your particular assets.
What if you could take asset management to the next level? What if you could achieve shop floor excellence with a maintenance intelligence solution? You know that the manufacturing industry is competitive, with everyone vying for the same customers. With EAM, you get your products to market faster; you operate more efficiently; and you maximise profitability.
Aptean's EAM systems go even further by offering advanced, industry-specific EAM software that is designed to master your unique challenges.
Want to learn more about how EAM can boost your operation's visibility and efficiency? Reach out—we'd love to talk.
Related Content
Ready to start transforming your business?
We've got the specialised EAM solutions you need to conquer your industry challenges.


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Hey everyone
This autumn I'll be at a few events:
Screening and Talk: The Cinefamily/ Silent Movie Theater Los Angeles: Thursday, September 26th -
Tickets available here:
I'm going to see if we can run Mighty's Benefit Plan (the secret uncut version) at the show along with a sneak peek at "Cans"...
"John Kricfalusi will run some clips of what he loves about classic cartoons and discuss how they inspired his own approach. The audience can participate. Then John will show full cartoons from the golden age and a handful of some rarely seen of his own. "
Super SAC-Con: in Sacramento, CA Saturday and Sunday, September 28th and 29th
Info here: http://www.sac-con.com
I'll have a booth both days to sign stuff, do caricatures and doodles and sell some cartoon trinkets. I'll have plenty of copies of the Spumco Comic Book anthology for sale.
Each day the first attendees of the show can get a free limited art print. I will gladly sign it:
Saturday at 2pm I'll be doing a one hour panel on how classic cartoons influenced me. I'll have clips and some full cartoons from Clampett, Tex Avery, Fleischers etc to show and a couple of my own.
SoCal Comic Con: Sunday, October 20th - in Oceanside, CA
I'll be having a booth to sign merchandise, do caricatures, etc. Ideal for those that couldn't make it out to the Spike & Mike event in August or simply couldn't get enough cartoon thrills.
LCAD Gallery of original John K. and Spumco Art: Thursday, November 7th - John K. Mini-Retrospective Opening Reception in Laguna Beach, CA
My friends at LCAD (Laguna College of Art and Design) have opened a fancy new gallery space in Downtown Laguna Beach. A small retrospective of my work will be on display from November 7th to December 19th. It'll have presentation art from the '80s used to pitch Ren and Stimpy and other shows, art from many cartoons I've made and even some of my personal art and studies, - and some "Cans" artwork.
Opening reception is November 7th from 6-9pm
Show continues until December 19th
CTN eXpo: Friday- Sunday, November 15th-17th - in Burbank, CA
Registration info: http://www.ctnanimationexpo.com
I'll be here all three days to do live demonstrations with some talented animators helping me. I'll sign merchandise and do doodles when there is free time. I'm coordinating a big Spumco Comic Book signing on one of the days, so you can meet the other artists too.
There will be an interview (no date set yet). I just need to find a good median. Is anyone in touch with Robert Osborne ?
Thursday, December 5th - Spumco Comic Book Signing in Laguna Beach, CA from 6-9pm
To coincide with the exhibit at the LCAD Gallery and Laguna Beach's monthly art walk, we're doing a Spumco Comic Book signing with the other artists: Jim Smith, Vincent Waller, Mike Fontanelli, Shane Glines, Richard Pursel, etc.
There is a service called Wicked Campers (http://www.wickedcampers.com) where you rent out a decorated van for road trips, etc. It turns out they have a John K. one roaming San Francisco so hop in it and head over to an event lickety split!
I hope this all makes sense
See you there!


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How to Plan Your Next Large BBQ
From Gourmet to Grand: Your Checklist for Success
My largest grilling events run the gamut from huge tailgate parties to our annual block party.
But even if your guest list only has two names on it, the same steps are necessary to host a successful barbecue. And when I say successful, I don't just mean great food. I'm talking the type of success that lets you enjoy the party, too. All you need is a little preparation.
Begin with your audience and theme. How many people are coming? Is it a party? How elaborate can the menu be? After you've decided on the menu, design your grilling checklist something like this:
Inventory your grill and accessories
- Is everything clean and ready to go?
- Has the grease pan been wiped clean and the drip pan replaced?
- Do you need new tools, aluminum pans, chimney starter, fire starter cubes?
- Do you have enough gas/charcoal?
Make your shopping list
- Fresh vegetables and fruit
- Meats, poultry, or fish
- Buns, bread
- Condiments, spices, chips, dips, cheese
- Wine, beer, soda, water
- Theme items
- Paper plates, napkins, cups, plastic silverware
Go shopping
- Butcher shop
- Party store
- Grocery store
- Discount store
- Hardware store
Establish prep timeline
- Wednesday make homemade barbecue sauce and salsa
Day before Event
- Make potato salad and other cold salads
- If making items that require longer cook times, like brisket , do it the day before and wrap it tightly in aluminum foil in the refrigerator
- Marinate chicken overnight and make hamburger patties
Last-minute preparations
- Buy ice and stock coolers with wine, beer, soda, water
- Slice and chop fresh vegetables and fruit
- Make guacamole and homemade dips about three hours before the party
- Warm up the brisket on the grill to allow it to heat up to temperature
Pre-heat the grill, pass out the drinks, and truly enjoy yourself while you put the finishing touches on your grilled masterpieces. With a great plan you reap great rewards!
Important tips to make the food perfect
- Always preheat your grill for 10-15 minutes on high before you begin grilling
- Time your food so that everything is ready at the same time
- Always rest your meat for 15-30 minutes, allowing to get to room temperature before placing it on the grill
- Always allow your food to rest after cooking for 40% of the total cook time to allow juices to run back into the meat making it moist and tender. Make sure to account for this so that people aren't diving into those perfect steaks before they have had their chance to rest!


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Discover is a popular way for users to stay up-to-date on all their favorite topics, even when they're not searching. To provide publishers and sites visibility into their Discover traffic, we're adding a new report in Google Search Console to share relevant statistics and help answer questions such as:
Discover is a feature within Google Search that helps users stay up-to-date on all their favorite topics, without needing a query. Users get to their Discover experience in the Google app, on the Google.com mobile homepage, and by swiping right from the homescreen on Pixel phones. It has grown significantly since launching in 2017 and now helps more than 800M monthly active users get inspired and explore new information by surfacing articles, videos, and other content on topics they care most about. Users have the ability to follow topics directly or let Google know if they'd like to see more or less of a specific topic. In addition, Discover isn't limited to what's new. It surfaces the best of the web regardless of publication date, from recipes and human interest stories, to fashion videos and more. Here is our guide on how you can optimize your site for Discover.
The new Discover report is shown to websites that have accumulated meaningful visibility in Discover, with the data shown back to March 2019. We hope this report is helpful in thinking about how you might optimize your content strategy to help users discover engaging information-- both new and evergreen.
For questions or comments on the report, feel free to drop by our webmaster help forums, or contact us through our other channels.
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My friends at PediaStaff are promoting partners in the 'Great Bike Giveaway.' Friendship Circle of Michigan has partnered with adaptive bicycle companies to give 18 children with special needs a free adaptive bicycle in this contest.
What? Submit a creative photo or photo of a child (yours or your therapy client) along with 250 characters describing why he/she needs an adaptive bike.
When? April 16th through May 10th
Share! From May 13th through the 18th share your submission with as many friends and family members as possible. Ask them to vote for your submission and to share with their friends and family.
Be a Winner! The 14 submissions with the most votes will be the lucky winners :)


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Video 16/19: "White Bears"
posted in: Stage 1, Stage 1: Step 2
I talk about how the suppression of negative thoughts associated with chronic pain can really fire up the nervous system. Dr. Daniel Wegner from Harvard published an elegant paper in 1987 demonstratng the impossibity of trying to suppress thoughts. I've talked about it before in White Bears and ANTS. BF


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The number of INeffective queries that arrive in my mailbox, DAILY, is perplexingly high.
When you think about a query, it's pretty simple really.
A good query is like the answer to the question: Have you read any good books lately?
When someone asks you that, what do you say?
Agent: So, read any good books lately?
Author 1:YES! It was 75,408 words long, and it's historical fiction, and it's set in Boring, Oregon!
Agent: So, read any good books lately?
Author 2: YES! I'm an unpublished writer with no writing credits, but I've loved to write since I was little.
Agent: So, read any good books lately?
Author 3: YES! It starts with Jack Reacher being arrested for a crime he could not have committed, and when he's cleared of that, the guy who framed him turns up dead, and Reacher has to decide whether to stay and figure out what happened or just get the hell out of this crazy pants town.
A good query is a handsome beast! |
I did a round of query replies this morning and at least 30% of them didn't get to "what's the story" until the third paragraph.
Look at your query. Look at the first line. If I ask you "So, read any good books lately?" are you going to tell me what you've written in that first line?
The most compelling thing you're going to tell me in your query is the plot.
Start with that.