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Tag Archives: Mission statement
Gaza's Ark Mission Statement
Gaza's Ark will build a boat in Gaza using existing resources. A crew of internationals and Palestinians will sail it out of Gaza, the only Mediterranean port closed to shipping, carrying Palestinian products to fulfill trade deals with international buyers, to challenge the illegal and inhuman Israeli blockade.
Gaza's Ark will be constructed in Gaza by Palestinian hands and expertise, with international assistance where requested.
Gaza's Ark will help revitalize the dwindling ship building industry in Gaza and help ensure the transmission of this disappearing expertise (another effect of the blockade) to the younger generations.
Through Gaza's Ark and trade deals secured between Palestinian producers in Gaza and international businesses and NGOs, a channel will be established to export Palestinian products from Gaza that are available despite the blockade.
Gaza's Ark will provide training to Gaza's sailors in the use of up-to-date electronic sailing equipment and techniques, which they have been denied for years as a result of the blockade.
Although it will help in a very limited manner to alleviate Gaza's unemployment crisis by paying wages to the boat builders and providing business opportunities to traders, Gaza's Ark is not an aid project. It is a peaceful action against the blockade which Israel unilaterally and illegally imposes on Gaza.
Gaza's Ark stands in solidarity with the Palestinian fishers in Gaza whose ability to operate in territorial waters and to derive a livelihood is threatened by the same illegal Israeli blockade which our campaign is challenging.
Gaza's Ark challenges the blockade by building hope on the ground in Gaza. It affirms our confidence that the Palestinians of Gaza can rebuild their economy through outbound trade that threatens no-one's security.


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subset: commoncrawl


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BusinessWeek reports that low test scores are not the same barrier to law school then they were previously.
The LSATs are the SATs of the law school world, and they tend to figure highly into the admissions criteria for highly ranked law schools. Just ask the US News and World Report annual rankings. And the scores for new law school students are going down.
"…since 2010, 95 percent of the 196 U.S. law schools at least partially accredited by the American Bar Association for which the NCBE had data lowered their standards for students near the bottom of the pack."
Is it just the lower tiered schools? Nope.
"In fact, 20 of the 22 U.S. News top-20 schools—there was a three-way tie for 20th place—were enrolling students with lower test scores. Across all schools, LSAT scores for the 25th percentile dropped an average of three points."
It isn't too surprising considering that law school application rates have been declining. As job prospects face across-the-board declines, people normally attracted to other things will try their hand at law school. It does seem to be the default choice for people who don't know what else to do.
BusinessWeek claims this isn't good, but only in the context of correlation to the bar exam.
"LSAT scores matter because they tend to correlate closely with scores on one section of the bar exam, so when schools admit lower-scoring students on the former test, they risk producing more graduates who have a hard time passing the bar. "
All things being equal, yes, but bar exams also tend to weighed and curved.
However, there is another reason. If the LSAT does its job and judges aptitude for the study and practice of law (a dubious proposition, but whatever), then more people are going to law school who should be doing other things regardless of what this means on yet another test. Plus, the bar exam can be taken multiple times, so flunking out once does not kill your budding legal career.
The fact is that the practice of law can be rewarding, but it can also be hard work, long hours and very stressful.
Few people engaged in it tend to be happy. Furthermore, people going as a fallback career are entering into some of the worst job markets for new graduates. There is still a glut of unemployed and underemployed lawyers and hiring does not seem to have recovered.
People entering law school should think carefully about the three-year, unpleasant and expensive choice they are about to make.


text: On Thu, 24 Jul 2003, Jeremy Katz wrote: > On Thu, 2003-07-24 at 12:00, csieh wrote: > > So once the code is in there it does not have to change, at least not > > much. > > No, actually, getting it working in a fashion that could be considered > sane once you start taking into account multilib package installation is > ugly. And the weirdo things with people getting themselves into bizarre > states because they decided they would be cute and try to deselect > package X which they really needed. > > It basically needed a complete rewrite to work with some of the changed > functionality in other places in the installer and it was decided that > it was far more generally useful to do that rewriting for > redhat-config-packages where you're actually going to be able to use it > more than once. I guess I need to look at the code. I did not know that you rewrote other things. -Connie Sieh > > Jeremy > > > -- > Rhl-beta-list mailing list > Rhl-beta-list redhat com > http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/rhl-beta-list >


text: Penny Roger$ Thursday, 05/17/12 07:18:14 AM Re: None 0 Post # of 807506 New York State Electric & Gas Corp. (NGEGM: Grey Market) | Scheduled Ex-Dividend Wed, May 16, 2012 08:00 - New York State Electric & Gas Corp. News leading to or on 05-17-2012 (NGEGM: Grey Market) - Scheduled Ex-Dividend - New York State Electric & Gas Corp. has announced a dividend ex-date for (NGEGM: Grey Market). New York State Electric & Gas Corp. is scheduled to disburse a Cash Dividend dividend of $1.0375 on Thu, May 31, 2012 to shareholders of NGEGM. You may find a complete list of dividends at otcmarkets.com. 5/16/2012 07:00 PM http://www.otcmarkets.com/marketactivity/corpActions.jsp?index=10&id=88460 News leading to or on 05-17-2012 My stuff http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=64797507 Never, invest with money you need to survive. Diversify, patience, set tight stops. $20 or less in commission fees is almost always cheaper than a 5-40%+ drop in share value.


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Hi all, I'm leaving the US and relocating to Central or South America but know little about either. I have traveled enough to know not to put much faith in stereotypes.
I will be leaving from Oregon, driving through California, into Mexico, etc…
I'm sure Mexico and Central America are not as dangerous as we are led to believe but any advice on what are the safest routes/roads? I.E. less crime…I'm not going to get car-jacked for a 6-pack or my watch am I? Advice ranging from the crucial to the mundane would be appreciated. Practical things like, do I purchase my electrical adapters before or after I cross the border? Does it matter? Can I bring a few food items across the border or not? I like to travel with a bit of road trip food.
Should I take the Baja? How much is the ferry?
Also, any advice on where a disgruntled American looking to keep working but getting off the grid might settle in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, Costa Rica or elsewhere would be greatly appreciated.


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Some men simply get better with age, and these 21 hunks are no exception.
AARP chose the sexiest men over 50 to highlight in the June/July issue of their magazine, and the list includes some of our favorites, like George Clooney, Denzel Washington, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Samuel Jackson, Yo- Yo Ma, Jon Bon Jovi and Antonio Banderas.
According to the magazine, the men were chosen not only for their "sex appeal" but also "for brainpower, sense of humor, individuality, artistic ability, generosity and goodness of heart."


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Yoko Ogawa is a prize-winning, critically acclaimed author of over 20 works of fiction and nonfiction in her native Japan, though only a handful of her books have been translated into English. The Housekeeper and the Professor sold more than 2.5 million copies on the island nation and was recently made into a movie.
The Story: Living quietly in a decrepit cottage in his sister-in-law's backyard, a former mathematics professor solves old mathematical proofs and rattles off baseball statistics from 1975, the year a car accident robbed him of his ability to form new memories. He cannot retain any new, post-1975 memories for longer than 80 minutes. When a new housekeeper is hired to care for him, she must reintroduce herself every morning and endure the same barrage of questions day after day—one of the many aggravations that led nine housekeepers before her to quit in frustration. But she is determined to keep this job, and soon a friendship starts to form between her, her 10-year-old son, and her affable, if exasperating, charge.
Picador. 192 pages. $14. ISBN: 0312427808
Boston Globe
"This sweetly melancholy novel adheres to the Japanese aesthetic that finds beauty in what is off-center, imperfect. … The Housekeeper and the Professor is a wisp of a book, but an affecting one." Amanda Heller
Los Angeles Times
"The Housekeeper and the Professor is a perfectly sustained novel (a tribute to Stephen Snyder's smooth translation); like a note prolonged, a fermata, a pause enabling us to peer intently into the lives of its characters. … This novel has all the charm and restraint of any by Ishiguro or Kenzaburo Oe and the whimsy of Murakami." Susan Salter Reynolds
Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Ogawa's plot twists, her narrative pacing, her use of numbers to give meaning and mystery to life are as elegant in their way as the math principles the professor cites. … Ogawa's short novel is itself an equation concerning the intricate and intimate way we connect with others—and the lace of memory they sometimes leave us." Anthony Bukoski
NY Times Book Review
"This is one of those books written in such lucid, unpretentious language that reading it is like looking into a deep pool of clear water. … Dive into Yoko Ogawa's world … and you find yourself tugged by forces more felt than seen." Dennis Overbye
Washington Post
"The Housekeeper and the Professor is strangely charming, flecked with enough wit and mystery to keep us engaged throughout. … Yes, there are formulas throughout these pages, strings of numbers—real and imaginary—and explanations of primes and logarithms, Fermat's Last Theorem and Euler's formula, but no matter how much you hated math in high school, you can't help but be seduced by the housekeeper's enthusiasm for what she discovers." Ron Charles
Columbus Dispatch
"Ogawa's prose is restrained, but she makes it clear how vital the delicate connection is among all three characters. With [its] simple plot and limited scope, [this] novel reveal[s] the strong emotions within what seem to be even the most insubstantial human bonds." Margaret Quamme
Critical Summary
The success of Ogawa's "deceptively elegant novel" (New York Times Book Review) was a surprise, considering its lack of action, romance, melodrama, and even character names (none of which are ever mentioned). However, there is enough suspense and sly humor to keep readers enchanted by this slow-paced, delicate novel—even for those with bad memories of high school math class. Ogawa makes a crucial choice not to minimize the impact of the professor's brain injuries; she portrays his limitations and daily difficulties realistically, but also with warmth and affection. Critics praised Stephen Snyder's seamless translation and compared Ogawa's graceful prose to that of Japanese writers Kenzabur? ?e and Haruki Murakami. This touching story of a devoted friendship may captivate Western readers as well.
The Reading Guide below is supplied by the book's publisher, and plot points may be revealed. We recommend that read the book before reading the guide.
1. The characters in The Housekeeper and the Professor are nameless ("Root" is only a
nickname). What does it mean when an author chooses not to name the people in her
book? How does that change your relationship to them as a reader? Are names that
2. Imagine you are writer, developing a character with only eighty minutes of short-term
memory. How would you manage the very specific terms of that character (e.g. his job,
his friendships, how he takes care of himself)? Discuss some of the creative ways in
which Yoko Ogawa imagines her memory-impaired Professor, from the notes pinned to
his suit to the sadness he feels every morning.
3. As Root and the Housekeeper grow and move forward in their lives, the Professor stays
in one place (in fact he is deteriorating, moving backwards). And yet, the bond among the
three of them grows strong. How is it possible for this seemingly one-sided relationship
to thrive? What does Ogawa seem to be saying about memory and the very foundations
of our profoundest relationships?
4. The Professor tells the Housekeeper: "Math has proven the existence of God because it is
absolute and without contradiction; but the devil must exist as well, because we cannot
prove it." Does this paradox apply to anything else, beside math? Perhaps memory?
5. The Houskeeper's father abandoned her mother before she was born; and then the
Housekeeper herself suffered the same fate when pregnant with Root. In a book where
all of the families are broken (including the Professor's), what do you think Ogawa is
saying about how families are composed? Do we all, in fact, have a fundamental desire to
be a part of a family? Does it matter whom it's made of?
6. Did your opinion of the Professor change when you realized the nature of his relationship
with his sister-in-law? Did you detect any romantic tension between the Professor and
the Housekeeper, or was their relationship chaste? Perhaps Ogawa was intending
ambiguity in that regard?
7. The sum of all numbers between one and ten is not difficult to figure out, but the
Professor insists that Root find the answer in a particular way. Ultimately Root and the
Housekeeper come to the answer together. Is there a thematic importance to their method
of solving the problem? Generally, how does Ogawa use math to illustrate a whole
8. Baseball is a game full of statistics, and therefore numbers. Discuss the very different
ways in which Root and the Professor love the game.
9. How does Ogawa depict the culture of contemporary Japan in The Housekeeper and the
Professor? In what ways does is it seem different from western culture? For example,
consider the Housekeeper's pregnancy and her attitude toward single motherhood; or
perhaps look at the simple details of the story, like Root's birthday cake. In what ways
are the cultures similar, different?
10. Ogawa chooses to write about actual math problems, rather than to write about math in
the abstract. In a sense, she invites the reader to learn math along with the characters.
Why do you think she wrote the book this way? Perhaps to heighten your sympathy for
the characters?
11. Do numbers bear any significance on the structure of this book? Consider the fact that the
book has eleven chapters. Are all things quantifiable, and all numbers fraught with poetic


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Iamybgstenemy 31-35, F 5 Answers 3 Jun 7, 2012
sounds intriguing.
Best Answer
Yes, I had an EMDR therapist for a while. It was extremely helpful for me. It worked really well in helping my brain to process & let go of traumatic past events. It's definitely worth trying. It's proven to more beneficial & a faster therapeutic treatment approach for PTSD than other types of therapy.
Best Answer
Everytime I try and figure out a phone bill and it's 78 pages!
Best Answer
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Credit: ROHWorld
The following picture shows the insane spot that ended the Ladder War between Kevin Steen and El Generico at tonight's Final Battle iPPV. Steen would use a Package Piledriver through the ladder they were standing on, before climbing the talest ladder to retain the ROH World Championship.
Click here for full results from Ring of Honor's Final Battle iPPV.
Have a news tip? Attended an event and want to send a live report?


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Streetcars better than buses
Published 3:56 pm, Wednesday, March 26, 2014
SAN ANTONIO — Re: "Streetcars need more boosterism from backers," Editorial, March 20:
Yes, I strongly support streetcars, having lived in several cities with them. Buses are not a substitute for streetcars, as they are too infrequent, seem to change routes whenever it suits them, compete with cars for space, and are smelly and noisy. And because of those problems, buses do not attract riders or generate development.
Streetcars with fixed routes do support development, including housing and businesses geared toward the riders, such as groceries, cleaners, clinics, cafés, copy centers and liquor stores, etc. With a fixed route, a developer can be assured that any investment made will be returned by riders who become patrons of the individual businesses.
Modern streetcars are quiet and operate in the middle of city streets on narrow tracks, with electricity fed to them from overhead wiring, although I have seen one using a hidden live rail. If they run along populated routes, they are quite successful in attracting riders.
The issue for San Antonio is the routing; the routes shown do not connect to large potential rider pools — at this time. But I see the proposed system as a "starter" that will eventually connect the large residential areas along the borders of the downtown, and perhaps beyond. One has to start somewhere, and the proposed configuration seems a reasonable place to begin.
One way to build a rider base is to discourage individual car use by raising parking fees dramatically and reducing parking lots. Such a strategy would go a very long way to ease congestion in the downtown. In Europe, center cities are charging tolls for motorists who enter those areas. But to do this one has to have streetcars up and operating. Streetcars also will eliminate buses downtown, as riders will meet them at peripheral terminals.
Now to the issue of voting on the streetcar proposal. Those in the suburbs feel no connection to the downtown, but any city has its far-flung neighborhoods. They just have to pull together to create a vital, dynamic city. No votes were taken to create the massive expensive interchanges at U.S. 281 and Loop 410 or U.S. 281 and Loop 1604, which are used mostly by suburbanites. Why should the city now vote on streetcars for the downtown?
No, let's learn to pull together to create investments in the infrastructure a truly modern city requires. Yes, many of these investments will not be used by all our citizens, but such is true for any city. As a retiree with no children, I do not use the schools and parks, yet I pay my taxes to support them as part of a modern, vital city. And I won't have access to the streetcar because it won't be coming to Southtown and won't be going to Central Market.
So let's all chip in together to make San Antonio the city everyone will enjoy.
David Fischer lives in San Antonio.


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A Milton Keynes breast cancer support group is urging older women to stay vigilant about the symptoms of breast cancer.
Bosom Pals MK is working with Milton Keynes Hospital and the local Breast Screening Unit to make women who are no longer routinely called back for a mammogram aware of how to continue with screening if they want to.
A national advertising campaign highlights the fact that one third of new cases of breast cancer occur in women over 70 – with a reminder that the risk of getting breast cancer increases with age.
The campaign, which runs un til Sunday, March 16, aims to raise awareness of breast cancer symptoms in women aged 70 and over, with the main message being: one in three women who gets breast cancer is over 70 so don't assume you're past it. The campaign also emphasises that a lump is not the only sign of breast cancer and women should tell their GP if they notice any changes to their breasts.
The campaign advises women to check for symptoms, which can include lumps, skin changes such as dimpling or puckering, rashes and eczema -like crusting, nipple discharge or distortion or pulling in of the nipple.
If these symptoms are present or you are in any doubt the best course of action to take is to visit your GP.
However, Bosom Pals MK is concerned the campaign makes no mention of breast screening and the importance of having regular mammograms to pick up small and treatable abnormalities that self-checking may not discover.
The current national screening programme offers mammograms every three years to women aged between 50 and 70.
This will be extended, by 2016, to include women aged between 47 and 73.
Significantly, it is, and will continue to be, possible to have further mammograms after the age of 73, through self-referral.
As a result, Bosom Pals MK has created a 'reminder' card to be given to local women at their last screening to prompt them to consider over 70s cancer screening.
This card has been designed and printed with funding from the Milton Keynes Community Foundation and Bosom Pals.
For further information about the signs and symptoms of breast cancer, go to nhs.uk/breastcancer70
> About 41,500 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year in England; of these about 13,500 are aged 70 and over.
> Bosom Pals was set up in 1992 to support women who have or have had breast cancer and their carers and is now also open to women with gynaecological cancers.
> The group allows members to talk freely about their experiences and get involved in fundraising.
> Meetings are held on the first Tuesday of the month at the Age UK Peartree Centre, Peartree Bridge, from 7.30pm.
> Visit www.bosompalsmk.co.uk.
Pictured above are Doreen La Bastide, left, and Carole Allan of Bosom Pals.


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NHL Labour Woes
NHL Players' Association starts breakup process
Bill Daly, deputy commissioner of the NHL, has confirmed a tentative drop dead date in mid-January that would see the current season officially come to an end. (REUTERS)
More Coverage
Related Stories
Breaking up is hard to do, but the NHL Players' Association will start the process Sunday.
After the NHL was first out of the gate Friday by filing a class action complaint at the federal court in New York and an unfair labour practice charge with the National Labour Relations Board, the union is getting ready to fight back.
Deputy commissioner Bill Daly told the QMI Agency in an email Saturday the NHL had to take action after reports surfaced Friday the union will take a vote to get permission to file a disclaimer of interest.
Daly called the actions by the NHLPA "nonsense".
"(The legal) action was defensive in nature," wrote Daly when asked why the league went to court so quickly. "The (union) should stop with the nonsense and come to the bargaining table."
Voting by email for 700 players spread across the hockey world will close Thursday as the union takes the next step in what's become a vicious, ugly battle for a collective bargaining agreement with the NHL.
If the NHLPA's 30-man executive board gets backing for a disclaimer of interest from two-thirds of the membership, the union will have permission to dissolve anytime before Jan. 2nd to battle it out in court with the league.
Union special counsel Steve Fehr said Saturday they are ready to return to the table.
"The players are prepared to resume negotiations as soon as the NHL is," said Steve Fehr. "We would certainly welcome that, so that we can try to find a way to end the lockout the owners imposed three months ago. "It was the NHL that gave the players an ultimatum in their last proposal and then left the table even though the players responded on all issues the owners raised, and moved yet again in the owners' direction. Unlike the NHL, the players have never walked away from the table, or issued ultimatums. We hope to be back at the table soon."
Under the terms of the disclaimer, the players would no longer be represented by executive director Donald Fehr and if successful the players would have the right to file anti-trust suits in the United States.
In those anti-trust suits, the players would claim they owners weren't bargaining in good faith to get an agreement and they'd seek damages from all 30 teams for the wages that have been lost during the lockout.
After taking home 57% of the revenues last season, the players have agreed to go to a 50-50 split and they feel like they've given enough. The NHL has insisted the CBA be done with strict five-year contract term limits.
Players in the NFL and the NBA both used this tactic in recent disputes to help get a settlement. After mediation broke down Thursday in New Jersey, the NHLPA's executive board felt like it didn't have any other route to take.
They are likely hoping to follow the same path NBA players took last December to end their lockout. The union filed for a disclaimer of interest and then reunited 12 days later when a new CBA was put in place with the league.
"The NHL's pre-emptive court filing is really quite ridiculous. With all their talk about wanting a negotiating partner, the league will now spend precious time and energy attempting to convince a federal court to prolong the lockout," said a source on the union side.
The NHL and NHLPA did hold a conference call Friday to discuss transition rules and compliance issues which are two stumbling blocks in negotiations but there was no mention at the time this was headed for a battle.
Daly confirmed bargaining can continue if both sides are willing to talk up until the union actually scores a victory in court with the disclaimer and all the players head their separate ways, sort of.
"Yes, we can continue to bargain until such time as they purport to disclaim interest. Then, it will come to a stop," said Daly.
At this point, there are no meetings planned, but it wouldn't surprise anybody if they do bargain this week. Still, the next time the NHL and NHLPA face off it could be in court.
Twitter: @sungarrioch
When do you think the NHL will cancel this season?
or view results
0 votes
Before Jan. 15
0 votes
Before Jan. 30
0 votes
Before Feb. 15
0 votes
The NHL will resume in 2013


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About Faz: Gallery
At the age of 14, Faizi Faz Husain and his family emigrated from Patna, India to Ypsilanti, MI. From that point on, Faz became an unforgettable member of this community. Faz owned and operated pizzerias in both Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor–but Faz was much more than a pizza man. Faz was a one of a kind citizen who was devoted to his community and nation. His resume includes time as a city councilman, a national delegate in the 1984 presidential election, a member of President Clinton's 1999 trade mission to India, and above all, an ever-giving member of his community.
In 2006, Faz passed away, leaving a wonderful legacy of a life well-spent. Everywhere Faz went, he carried a big smile and always had time for everyone. Everyone that met him remembers him as the friendliest and most generous person imaginable. The photos below tell Faz's story: you will find a photo of Faz with every president from Nixon to Clinton, world figures like Mother Theresa and the Dalai Lama, entertainers like Bob Hope and Bill Cosby, and athletes like Mickey Mantle and Muhammad Ali,who was one of Faz's lifelong friends.
The Hello Faz Pizza family thanks the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti community for its endless support. We love you all!


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'Superman' screening a rallying point for charter schools
Screening of documentary about public education becomes rally for charter school supporters
Published 12:00 am, Friday, October 22, 2010
It is not a mere movie. It is a campaign, the launch of a ground war in public education.
The documentary "Waiting for 'Superman,'" which explores the lives of children it portrays as let down by our public schools, will come to a local movie theater on Friday. Directed by Davis Guggenheim, whose "An Inconvenient Truth" earned $50 million at the box office and made climate change a kitchen table conversation across the nation, the movie has become a call to action for those in education reform.
On Wednesday, 2,250 charter school students, parents and educators packed the Palace Theatre for a special screening of the movie, sponsored by the Brighter Choice Foundation, which supports 11 charter schools in Albany. The screening audience was one of the biggest in the nation, according to Brighter Choice officials who asked the film's producers to show the movie here because Albany has such a high number of the publicly funded, privately run schools.
The movie follows several young children enduring a charter admissions lottery, complete with spinning numbered balls, as their last chance at an education better than the dysfunctional public schools near their homes. The film's villains are clearly the teacher's unions, their resistance to any sort of change and the deadbeat educators they protect.
More Information
Read a review of the movie here.
To comment on this story, visit the Arts Talk blog.
At the Palace, the audience cheered when a young boy seeking a slot at a charter boarding school in Washington, D.C., said "I want my kids to have better than what I have." There were tears when a little girl who wants to be a doctor does not get one of the coveted slots in a Los Angeles charter school, seemingly destined to go to a nearby public school where a fraction of the children are deemed proficient in math and reading.
But the film's arrival here -- it will be at Albany's Spectrum 8 Theatres -- and in theaters across the country, is being used by charter supporters as a call to arms and the beginning of a major grass-roots effort. At the screening on Wednesday, students wearing school uniforms paraded the aisles holding placards bearing the cellphone number of Albany school board President Dan Egan. A speaker on stage told the crowd to text "Charter $ Now" to Egan all night and through the weekend, in an attempt to sway the district to pay the higher reimbursement rate it now owes charters.
Jasmine Olds, a 14-year-old freshman at the Albany Leadership Charter High School for Girls, handed out cards with Egan's e-mail address and soliciting volunteers for the "Parent Army." She said the movie will bring a welcome focus to the differences of charter schools.
"It tells me there are a lot of people who want their kids in charter schools," she said.
A coalition made up of hundreds of pro-charter groups called Education Reform Now is capitalizing on angry audiences worked up by the film. They have started a campaign called DoneWaiting.org that is emulating the strategy of President Barack Obama's 2008 presidential victory, said Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, a member of the coalition. He said the group is using a website and volunteers after the screenings to gather the names and e-mail addresses of people who want more charter schools and improved teacher accountability.
"We're counting on this to be the jump-start to the conversation people in education reform have been awaiting for some time," he said. "It's expanding the chorus."
Charter school administrators took the stage at the end of the film and blasted the Albany schools for withholding some charter payments and spending more money per student in the district schools to do the same work. They encouraged the crowd to shout "My child, my choice."
Beverly Ivey, assistant principal at the Albany School of Humanities, a district school, sat at the back of the crowd as the noise grew louder. She said she was dismayed to see that no successful district schools were portrayed in the film and expects that it will lead to a tremendous increase in charter school applications.
"I hate to see the divide," she said. "It is our children that need to be educated."
Scott Waldman can be reached at 454-5080 or by e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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America's Most Overrated Product: Higher Education
By Marty Nemko
College students with weak high school records usually drop out, having learned little, and with devastated self-esteem, a mountain of debt, and a job they could have obtained without college. Amazingly, many good students don't do much better.
This article appeared in the Chronicle of Higher
Education, June 2008 and has since been republished many
Weak in High School; Weaker in College
I have a hard time telling such people the killer statistic: According to the U.S. Department of Education, despite colleges having dumbed-down classes to accommodate to the weak students, among college freshmen who graduated in the bottom 40 percent of their high school class, 76 of 100 won't earn a diploma, even if given 8 1/2 years. Yet colleges admit and take the money from hundreds of thousands of such students each year!
Even worse, most of those college dropouts leave college having learned little of value (see below) a mountain of debt, and devastated self-esteem from all their unsuccessful struggles at college. Perhaps worst of all, those people too rarely end up with a college-requiring career. So, it's not surprising that when you hop into a cab or walk into a restaurant, you're likely to meet workers who spent years and their family's life savings on college only to end up with a job they could have done as a high school dropout.
Such students are not aberrations. Today, amazingly, a majority of the students that colleges admit are grossly underprepared. Only 23 percent of the 1.3 million students who took the ACT college-entrance examinations in 2007 were ready for college-level work in the core subjects of mathematics, English and science!
Fully qualified students don't fare much better.
Perhaps even more surprising, even high school students who are fully qualified to attend college are increasingly unlikely to derive enough benefit to justify the often six-figure cost and four to eight years it takes to graduate--and only 40 percent of each year's two million freshmen graduate in four years; 45 percent never graduate at all!
Colleges trumpet the statistic that, over their lifetimes, college graduates earn more than non-graduates, but that's terribly misleading because you could lock the college-bound in a closet for four years and they'd earn more than the pool of non-college-bound--they're brighter, more motivated, and have better family connections.
Too, the past advantage of college graduates in the job market is eroding: ever more students attend college at the same time as ever more employers are offshoring, part-timing, and automating ever more professional jobs. So, many college graduates are forced to take some very non-professional positions. For example, Jill Plesnarski holds a bachelor's degree in biology from the private ($175,000 published total cost for four years) Moravian College. She had hoped to land a job as a medical research lab tech, but those positions paid so little that she opted for a job at a New Jersey sewage treatment plant. Today, although she's since been promoted, she must still occasionally wash down the tower that holds raw sewage.
Or take Brian Morris. After completing his bachelor's degree in liberal arts from the University of California, Berkeley, he was unable to find a decent paying job, so he went yet deeper into debt to get a masters degree from the private Mills College. Despite those degrees, the best job he could land was teaching a three-month long course for $3,000. At that point, Brian was married and had a baby, so to support them, he reluctantly took a job as a truck driver. Now Brian says, "I just have to get out of trucking." He's now been trying for a year.
How much do college students actually learn?
Colleges are quick to argue that a college education is more about enlightenment than employment. That may be the biggest deception of all. Often, there is a Grand Canyon of difference between the reality and what institutions of higher education, especially research-centric ones, tout in their viewbooks and websites. Colleges and universities are businesses, and students are a cost item while research is a profit center. So, many institutions tend to educate students in the cheapest way possible: large lecture classes, with small classes staffed by rock-bottom-cost graduate students and even by undergraduate students. At a typical university, only 30% of the typical student's class hours will have been in a class with fewer than 30 students taught by a professor. That's not to say that professor-taught classes are so worthwhile. The more prestigious the institution, the more likely that faculty is hired and promoted much more on how much research they do than how well they teach. Faculty that bring in big research dollars are almost always rewarded while even a fine teacher who doesn't bring in the research bucks is often fired or relegated to the lowest rung: lecturer. The late Ernest Boyer, vice-president for Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching said, only half-joking, "Winning the campus teaching award is the kiss of death when it comes to tenure."
So, no surprise, in the definitive Your First College Year nationwide survey conducted by UCLA researchers (data collected in 2005, reported in 2007) only 16.4 percent of students were very satisfied with the overall quality of instruction they received and 28.2 percent were neutral, dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied. A follow-up survey of seniors found that 37% percent reported being "frequently bored in class" up from 27.5 percent as freshmen.
College students may be dissatisfied with instruction, but, despite that, do they learn? A 2006 study funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that 50 percent of college seniors failed a test that required them to do such basic tasks as interpret a table about exercise and blood pressure, understand the arguments of newspaper editorials, or compare credit card offers. Almost 20 percent of seniors had only basic quantitative skills. For example, the students could not estimate if their car had enough gas to get to the gas station.
Unbelievably, according to the U.S. Department of Education's most recent Higher Education Commission Report (the Spellings Report,) things are getting even worse: "Over the past decade, literacy among college graduates has actually declined…. According to the most recent National Assessment of Adult Literacy, for instance, the percentage of college graduates deemed proficient in prose literacy has actually declined from 40 to 31 percent in the past decade. Employers report repeatedly that many new graduates they hire are not prepared to work, lacking the critical thinking, writing and problem-solving skills needed in today's workplaces." (emphases mine.)
What must be done to improve undergraduate education?
Colleges, which receive billions of tax dollars with minimum oversight, should be held at least as accountable as companies are. For example, when some Firestone tires were defective, the government essentially forced it out of business. Yet year after year, colleges turn out millions of defective products: students who drop out or graduate with far too little benefit for the time and money spent. Yet, not only do the colleges escape punishment, they're rewarded with ever greater taxpayer-funded student grants and loans, which allow colleges to raise their tuitions yet higher.
Even though a college education costs much more than a tire, takes years of a person's life, and, for the vast majority of users, has a greater impact on their entire lives, I ask colleges to do no more than tire manufacturers are required to do. To be U.S.-government-approved, all tires must have--prominently molded into their sidewall--a variety of critical information, notably ratings of their tread life, temperature-resistance, and traction, compared with national benchmarks.
I believe in a variant of the Spelling Report's key recommendation: that colleges should be required to prominently report parallel data on their website and in recruitment materials:
§ Value-added. This test, created by the College Board, should measure the skills critical for responsible citizenship, connoisseurship, and career success. So, it should measure, reading comprehension, quantitative reasoning, information literacy, summarizing, arguing, analyzing, critiquing via counter-examples, finding criticisms or reviews of products online, identifying hidden costs, and skills in self-assessment and others-assessment. Some of the test should be in explicitly career contexts: the ability to draft a persuasive memo, present an argument for a workplace policy change, analyze an employer's financial report, defend a revenue-generating plan based on statistical evidence, use online research tools to develop content for a report, and resolve personnel problems.
Just as the U.S. Department of Education's No Child Left Behind program mandates strict accountability of K-12 schools, I believe the Department of Education should require that all institutions of higher education--as a condition of receiving government financial aid-- administer that test to all entering freshmen and to students about to graduate, and report the mean value added, broken out by pre-college SAT score, race, and gender. This would place great pressure on institutions to improve their undergraduate education and to admit only students with a reasonable chance of deriving enough benefit to justify the time and money. Societal bonus: Employers could request that job applicants submit the test results, enabling them to more wisely select employees.
A table reporting the average cash, loan, and work-study financial aid package for varying levels of family income and assets. This should be broken out by race and gender. (It would be unfair, for example, for a white student to select a college based on the overall average if--as some institutions do--it gives disproportionately large cash aid to students of color. Some colleges use the drug-dealer scam: give the first dose cheap and then jack up the price for all subsequent doses. So, colleges should be required to provide the average, not for the first year, but the average for years one through at least four.
§ Retention data: the percentage of students returning for a second year, disaggregated by S.A.T. score, race, and gender.
§ The percentage of the institution's students who have been robbed or assaulted on or near campus.
§ The four-, five-, and six-year graduation rates, disaggregated by S.A.T. score, race, and gender. (Nationwide, the percentage of male graduates has plummeted in recent years.)
§ Employment data for graduates: The percentage of graduates who, within six months of graduation are in graduate school, unemployed, employed in a job requiring college-level skills, are earning less than $30,000 a year, $30,000-60,000 and $60,000+.
§ The most recent results of a student satisfaction survey.
§ The most recent accreditation visiting team report. (Executive summary only in the college's printed recruitment material, the full report on its website.)
Being required to conspicuously provide this information to prospective students and parents would exert long-overdue pressure on colleges to improve undergraduate education's quality. I propose a model for the ideal undergraduate institution in my article, Utopia College, which appeared in the January 14, 2005 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education.
What should parents and guardians of prospective students do?
1. If your student's high school grades and SAT or ACT are in the bottom half of his high school class, resist colleges' attempts to woo him. Their marketing to your child does not indicate that the colleges believe he will succeed there. Colleges make money whether or not a student learns, whether or not she graduates, and whether or not he finds good employment. And if the student is of color, the college may derive special benefits. If a physician recommended a treatment that cost a fortune and required years of effort without disclosing the poor chances of it working, she'd be sued and lose in any court in the land. But colleges--one of America's most sacred cows--somehow seem immune.
So, let the buyer beware. Consider non-degree options:
§ apprenticeship programs (a portal to apprenticeship websites: www.khake.com/page58.html)
§ short career-preparation programs at community colleges
§ the military
§ on-the-job training, especially at the elbow of a successful small business owner, non-profit director, etc.
2. Let's say your student is in the top half of his high school class and is motivated to attend college by more than the parties, being able to say she went to college, and the piece of paper. Then have her apply to perhaps a dozen colleges. Colleges vary less than you might think (at least on factors you can readily discern in the absence of the accountability requirements I advocate above), yet financial aid awards can vary wildly. It's often wise to choose the college that requires you to pay the least cash and take on the smallest loan. College is among the few products where you don't necessarily get what you pay for--price does not indicate quality.
3. If your child is one of the rare breed who, on graduating high school, knows what he wants to do, and isn't unduly attracted to college academics nor the Animal House environment that college residence halls too often are, then take solace in the fact that in deciding to at-least postpone college, she is preceded by scores of others who have successfully taken that non-college road less traveled. Examples: computer superentrepreneurs Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, and Apple co-founder SteveWozniak, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Buckminster Fuller, Eleanor Roosevelt, famed anthropologist Richard Leakey, Ted Turner, Maya Angelou, former Governor Jesse Ventura, IBM founder Thomas Watson, architect Frank Lloyd Wright, Virgin founder Richard Branson, Malcolm X, film director Quentin Tarantino, ABC-TV's Peter Jennings, Thomas Edison, cookie makers Debbie Fields and Wally Amos, writers Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Neil Simon, Doris Lessing, and John Cheever, Ben & Jerry's founder Ben Cohen, Henry Ford, Erik Erikson, chef Wolfgang Puck, Coco Chanel, Walter Cronkite, Walt Disney, Dreamworks co-founder David Geffen, Roots author Alex Haley, airplane inventors Wilbur and Orville Wright, Nathan Pritikin (Pritikin diet), billionaire moguls John D. Rockefeller, and Kirk Kerkorian, former Israeli president David Ben Gurion, and nine U.S. presidents from Washington to Truman.
College is a wise choice for far fewer people than are currently encouraged to consider it. It's crucial that they even-handedly weigh the pros and cons of college versus the aforementioned alternatives. Their life will depend on that choice.
Marty Nemko holds a Ph.D. specializing in education evaluation from the University of California, Berkeley and subsequently taught in Berkeley's Graduate School of Education. ABC-TV in its summit on education, introduced him as "The Ralph Nader of Education." The San Francisco Bay Guardian named him "The Bay Area's Best Career Coach." He is Contributing Editor for career issues at U.S. News & World Report. 500+ of his published articles are free on www.martynemko.com.
© Marty Nemko 2004-2018. Usage Rights


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Ton Koenraad
Passionate about (Language) Learning with Technology
Tweets van @koenraad
Anglia Network Europe initiated the development of an EU project proposal and successfully submitted the project description.
The project addresses the urgent necessity to adapt adult language learning methods to the real needs of adults language learners and the growing desire from education providers to integrate the promotion of active citizenship into their curriculum. In order to obtain both objectives this project aims to develop a method for intergenerational foreign language learning.
The aim is to develop a coherent, integrated method for foreign language learning for adults,
The EU project SMART_VET (2011-2013) had its kick-off meeting at the coordinator (FIT) 's premises in Dublin.
On behalf of TELLConsult, partner in this project on (interactive whiteboards) IWBs in Vocational Education, I attended and contributed an invited presentation on my experiences with IWBs in education. On the photo here, Gilberto Colinassi (ENAIP FVG), presenting the Italian SmarTeach project
Obviously I included the related EU project iTILT, presented an overvview and some of the interim products.
Being responsible for the design of the survey questionnaire to map teachers´ IWB
As representative of the Dutch TalenQuest project TELLConsult's owner Ton Koenraad was invited to join an international partnership applying for an EU grant to support the transfer of results and experiences obtained in the LanguageQUEST project (improved task design and methodology for realistic, content oriented, task based foreign language learning).


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Atlantis High – Plot Synopsis – Episode 26
The end of the world prophecy has swept the globe. The entire world want to split up GILES and OCTAVIA.
DORSEY breaks into DON's lost property room to search for the A.H. symbol. Under the boiler he finds A.H. branded on a packet of potato chips. Not what he wanted. He doesn't see what's in the fish tank… yet.
GILES and OCTAVIA rendezvous. The prophecy says that the next time they kiss there'll be a terrible storm. GILES runs off as the flaming-torch bearing crowd chases him. He blows her a goodbye kiss and thunder rings out.
BEANIE prophesises to JET that something bad is coming. The worst storm that Sunset Cove has ever seen is not going to stop the prom though. SOPHIE instructs her (and Q's) ninjas to eliminate GILES on sight.
DR LEGGZ instructs CMDR VERMONT to avoid five things: the prom, the dress, the sword, the milk, and the weird sentence "hot milk and thick blue knickers." He is also to avoid Dorothy in that dress. He must keep the dress locked away.
But MRS VERMONT has already given it to DOROTHY. She is strangely very comfortable with CMDR VERMONT taking DOROTHY to the prom.
ANTONIA and JET catch DORSEY packing to leave the school. He accidentally leaves behind the locater device.
CMDR VERMONT heads for Army HQ while GILES watches from the darkness as OCTAVIA enters the prom with JET and BEANIE. He slopes off.
The prom is in full swing. ANTONIA searches, NINJAS follow ANTONIA, DOROTHY has more flashbacks and escapes down a corridor, OCTAVIA's drink is spiked but she doesn't drink it, and as SILVER LINING agrees to marry BAD MOOD – a priest appears.
CMDR VERMONT's vehicle breaks down – right outside the school. He is escorted into the prom, and has some of the hot chilli on offer. The five things come to pass. The sixth was avoid DOROTHY in the dress: he escapes down the same corridor DOROTHY went.
GRAMPA on the motorbike rescues GILES from his depression. He tells GILES to follow his heart and forget the prophecy.
CMDR VERMONT discovers DOROTHY and they flashback to a rocking Chevvy: inside is a man in leather and "one size fits all" jeans, with a woman in the prom dress. They conclude that VERMONT must be Big D, and DOROTHY must be Callie. Do they have it the right way around? They rush off to find GILES and OCTAVIA… before it's too late.
GILES rescues OCTAVIA from the prom. With his way trapped by the ninjas GRAMPA pick-pockets JOSH's car keys, so they can race off in his Chevvy convertible. The superhero marriage continues.
DOROTHY and VERMONT hijack the milk float to chase after GILES and OCTAVIA. The beam of the headlights cast a shadow across the sports field through the goal posts. The H of the goalposts form the shadow of an A, with the tip pointing to the door of DON's lost property room. ANTONIA sees this and races towards it. DORSEY follows close behind. Followed by SOPHIE and the ninjas.
BEANIE's memory gets a restart. He doesn't know who JET is.
GILES and OCTAVIA are finally together alone. They try to pull the top of the car down to get a better look at the night sky – the scene looks suspiciously like the flashback of the rocking car that VERMONT and DOROTHY had earlier. DOROTHY and VERMONT pull up on the milk float and see the rocking car.
The priest completes the marriage ceremony and SABRINA reveals herself. JOSH is horrified.
DON's lost property room is inundated. DON has lost his prized chip packet, but the city in the tank has also gone. ANTONIA, DORSEY, SOPHIE and the ninjas have all been foiled. But by who?
VERMONT and DOROTHY catch GILES and OCTAVIA before they have the chance to kiss again. There is an almighty light from above… have the aliens returned?


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Head Out
- (Duplicated CD)
- Artist: Rick B.
- Format: CD
- Release Date: 7/12/2008
|your cart is empty
Rick B. is and has been playing music since age seven. He first studied music in college and played in performance band. He played in and around the Bay Area at open mikes and with name musicians and also was tested in music theory in the Bay Area and also L.A. The Head Out project or group is an instrumental effort which was inspired by people saying I do not like your music.I was challenged and motivated to pick Head out and later got positive feedback.


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Coats And Bennett Paralegal Appointed Committee Co-Chair For Paralegal Division Of NCBA
CARY, N.C. – Coats and Bennett, PLLC ( http://www.coatsandbennett.com ), an intellectual property law firm, has announced that litigation paralegal Martha L. Blackman-Hughes has been appointed co-chair of the publications committee for the paralegal division of the North Carolina Bar Association for the 2013-2014 term. Blackman-Hughes, who primarily provides paralegal support for intellectual property litigation and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board proceedings, will help lead this committee whose function is to plan content and the editorial calendar for the division's publication, Paralegal Perspectives. In addition to those duties, Blackman-Hughes and the committee are responsible for writing articles, securing authors to contribute articles, proofreading articles and other content, as well as providing or locating photos and graphics to illustrate the publication.
Blackman-Hughes, who has been a paralegal for 12 years and is a graduate of UNC Law School, also serves as treasurer for the North Carolina Paralegal Association and is a member of the National Association of Legal Assistants.
"I am excited about this opportunity to serve my fellow paralegals and to help support the growth of our profession," said Blackman-Hughes. "Being a co-chair for the publications committee will provide me the avenue to do just that."
Coats and Bennett Blog:
Coats and Bennett LinkedIn Page:
Coats and Bennett, PLLC, is one of the most established full-service intellectual property law firms in the Southeast. Located in Cary, N.C., the firm provides a comprehensive range of intellectual property legal services including litigation, patents, trademarks, copyrights, licensing, trade secrets and related matters throughout the United States and worldwide. With a reputation as a trusted, experienced and effective resource for businesses and individuals in need of IP counsel, Coats and Bennett delivers quality work to local clients and Fortune 500 companies alike. For more information, visit http://www.coatsandbennett.com.
Press Contact
Contact: Erin Smith
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Phone: 919-233-6600


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The Parmesan cheese accents the flavor to such a wonderful extent that you may want to add extra cheese.
- 1 large can chicken broth
- 1 large can tomatoes
- 1 package frozen spinach
- 1 pound bag cheese tortellini
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- Parmesan cheese
In large pot, combine broth, tomatoes, spinach and seasonings. Bring to a boil while breaking apart spinach. Add tortellini and stir to separate. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.


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Live #SESSF coverage continued with our second track of the day – No BS Link Building for E-Commerce. Lone soldier Jonathan Ball, VP of Page One Power was up on deck to tour us through the hour+. Check out the full recap below.
Jonathan graced the floor and asked, "Why is link building so hard for e-commerce?" One woman who sells blinds for a living answered, "Content is not interesting" – true dat! Another, "You are not in control," and another…"It is too time consuming." Ahhhhh, all correct, sadly, but thankfully Jonathan was there to outline the five things he planned to cover for this particular session to help ease the minds of so many.
So here it is, in a nutshell…
- 7 Foundational Link Building Philosophies
- 6 Steps in Making a Link Building Plan
- Anchor Text
- E-Commerce Link Building Strategy
- Link Building Strategies That You Should Consider
SEO is a simple thing – the 'robot' looks at a webpage and fills in what it is about, through keywords. So, who is going to rank? Who has the most authority? This is driven by in-bound links. If you have good SEO and good links on your page then you are in good shape. Simple. As. That.
Now, what are the 7 White Hat Link Building Philosophies That Withstand Algorithm Change?
In a world without Google…
- If Google did not exist where would you want to put your links?
- If Matt Cutts was over your shoulder would I get this link?
- Guarantees Penguin proofing (and beyond)
- Where should you get links?
- Plug the marketing cord into the SEO cord when you can and find people that like your links.
- Use geo-targeted search terms – get links for places in towns that your trying to link in. Getting links on a local level with help you get traffic and rankings.
Relevancy FIRST – white hat link building follows relevancy, not page rank.
- Jonathan used the example – Does it make sense to get a link for your cat food site on a brain surgery forum, even if it's an edu.? Um, no.
- Remember every niche is different – Jonathan asked, "Is yours a fertile valley or a dry riverbed of link building?"
- How do you do that? Determine what terms relate to what you do and build a relevancy tree to act as a boundary and guide to building links.
Website owners are people and people link to people.
- The best links come from people
- If it's an instant link…well, this is the last thing you want
- Call them if possible – pick up the phone, dial it and politely ask would like to link to my site?
The most powerful link building tool is your brain! Well, hey now.
- No link building tool, seminar or article can come up with the ideas. Use your brain. Great advice.
Link Building is a team sport. Link building alone is torturous, impossible, dreadful, terrible ineffective, ah please stop I can't take anymore!
Forget viral!
- If it goes viral, it goes viral.
- Don't waste your time – get good relevant, quality links and you will see a difference.
FTBOM – For the Betterment of ManKind. Get it? Got it? Good.
- Goes across the board for link building – help the web. Help other people.
What next? Make a plan. Here are 5 steps to making a link building strategy.
Jonathan warned – Don't underestimate it!
People underestimate the enormity of the task of link building and the time that it really takes to do it right. Remember there is a lot at stake and your competitors are working too. But it works! Fail to plan, plan to fail. List your online (textual info, videos, photos, etc.) and offline (staff, friends, connections) assets. Determine how you can leverage them. You have to get creative.
- There are no secrets to link building. Your competitors can't hide their links.
- Download competitors' links from Majestic SEO or Open Site Explorer.
- Research backlinks for associations and Wikipedia for relevant keywords.
- Export to Excel and organize into strategies and categories.
- As you research make notes, be creative, talk with someone else, work as a team and always be thinking!
- Make lists of industry sites (i.e. associations, news sites, blogs, forums, experts, etc.)
- Use offline sources
Strategize! Lean back in your chair and brainstorm (best if done with a team, always). Remember link building is HARD. Because of it's difficulty the rewards are phenomenal – awesome point.
Adapt! Don't be afraid to abandon strategy if it isn't working. Learn and move on.
And now, a word from Jonathan about Anchor Text.
So what is it? The clickable text on the page. Comprende? OK good.
Exact anchor text with your keywords can be a dangerous thing – "vary it tremendously," Jonathan said. Get creative. Also, use your plain old URL. Use similar keywords but not exact. Final note, be very careful with anchor text and use it wisely.
So what about contextual links?
- You are working with real people. Use contextual links when possible.
Which page to build links to?
- Remember: Google ranks web pages, not web sites.
How much time do you have to get real links?
- If you have 1,000 hours do as many as you can – do it. If not? Try a handful.
Different strategies work for different pages – there is the home page vs. the category page vs. the product page (which is more difficult to rank at). In general, send the link to the page you want to run (or as close as possible).
From there, Jonathan got down to the nitty gritty and describes some Link Building Strategies for the crowd to take home.
Blogging – Vital to white hat link building…
- Gives voice and presence online
- Magnifies your search terms by 100x
- Establishes your authority
- Becomes the platform for content marketing, social media engagement and timely blog posts.
Getting Your Blog Ready
- Decide who the audience is
- Determine categories
- Make keyword lists
- Brainstorm blog post titles from categories and keyword lists
- Use longtail and variations of keywords not listed on your site already
- Create an editorial calendar and strive for readership!
- Promote your Blog! Use your social media channels.
- Interview experts and others (ask yourself – did we give them a link?)
- Crowd sourcing (three questions, four people, 12 answers = four links!)
Give LOVE on your site. This is every link builders' dream come true. Give people links back. Link to people in your blog. Set up resource page with people you do business with. You gotta give a little to get a little!
Research your 'Local Keyword Universe'
- Who is in your relevancy tree? Research that and find out what is out there. Look for news, your experts, events, associations, forums, blogs, etc. This could last forever, if you wanted it to…
Guest Posts
- Find your target sites, don't limit yourself
- Submit your offer – personalized email with title of article or the actual article. Don't use canned email. Send pictures, do the work for them. Hey, now that is an idea!
- Ask for your links – ALWAYS ask for an in-content link!
- Once published send a thank you and promote the blog post (socially, sponsored tweets, etc.)
- Remember bloggers want traffic and comments and social engagement. BUILD YOUR RECORD OF SUCCESS.
Write Testimonials for every positive business transaction.
- Send them an unsolicited testimonial and picture
- Mention them in your blog
- Again, GIVE THEM SOME LOVE!
Trade Articles
- If you are an expert in the industry, provide content to a media publication and link back to that article on that publication's website.
Build a Museum. Make a glossary and make it good.
- People need to know what is going on. Provide a complete guide and get links (easy link bait!)
Study or a Survey
- Create an infographic, article, white paper and reach based on outreach to your customer base.
Resource Pages
- Still works, but very slowly
- Find the page, find the name of the actual person you will talk to, always call if possible (success goes up 20 times)
- Find sub categories to badge, top 10 lists, reward best customers, recognize experts
Blog Commenting
- Still works!
- Do it on real blogs with real comments
- Builds your blog, your personal and helps build links
- Ignore
DIY Sites
- Very content hungry!
Forums (be very careful with this one)
- Go slowly, actually care
- Forums need/want money because they have none. Call them up and offer to be a sponsor – legitimate marketing that gets you a link!
Give Stuff Away!
- Contests, giveaways, scholarships, etc.
- Review everything in your niche and put it on your site
- Textual, photo and video reviews
And lastly, go crazy, think big! Great words to end with.
Nicely done, Jonathan, and thanks for an excellent presentation. Now, we have one question for you – can you feel our love?!?!
Don't worry folks there is plenty more coming your way – stay tuned for more live coverage via moi (@MollyCRyan) and @gretchenegeberg from #SESSF!
These are good tips and checklist. Relevant and quality content and relevant linking in niche increase chances of driving relevant and quality traffic to your websites.I also agree that different strategies work for different pages. Would like to see more of such wonderful tips. Thanks for this.
Very nice article, Molly Ryan. I don't know why dont have any comment leave here.
I love this ideal
Relevancy FIRST – white hat link building follows relevancy, not page rank.
But, as my real working, Page Rank still have an important position … Many white hat document said it's nothing, but as my thinking, still have affect. Especial in relevancy and high PR web page.
So, should thinking both of relevancy and PR. If PR 0, should be relevancy. IF Pr 2,3 or above, can relevancy ( best ) or not. How do you think about this ?


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Hong Kong, Vietnam Signal Slowing Growth on Global RisksKarl Lester M. Yap and Stephanie Tong
Hong Kong and Vietnam signaled growth may fall short of government forecasts this year as Asian policy makers stepped up efforts to protect their economies and currency markets from the worsening global outlook.
Hong Kong may revise its 2012 economic forecast next month, Financial Secretary John Tsang said on July 7. In Vietnam, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh said the country may miss its growth target and the central bank told lenders to cut borrowing costs on existing loans to help businesses. The Philippines unveiled plans to contain currency gains that may hurt exports.
Interest-rate cuts by central banks in China and Europe last week underscore the risks to the world economy as the euro area's fiscal crisis deepens, U.S. employment gains falter and Asia's expansion slows. The International Monetary Fund will reduce its estimate for global growth this year, Managing Director Christine Lagarde said July 6 ahead of the publication of the lender's updated economic outlook next week.
"Given the ongoing deterioration in Eurozone and U.S. growth indicators in recent months, there is little prospect for a material improvement" in emerging market exports while domestic demand also "looks set to remain soft in the near-term," Nick Chamie, global head of foreign-exchange strategy at Royal Bank of Canada in Toronto, said in a July 6 note. "We see further evidence that growth weakness will extend well into" the third quarter.
The bank cut its aggregate growth forecast for emerging markets this year to a "very weak" 4.7 percent from 5.5 percent, Chamie wrote.
Indonesia Growth
Indonesia's economy may expand 6.3 percent "or less" in the second quarter as export demand falls amid Europe's debt crisis, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters today in Jakarta after meeting with Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus. That compares with the central bank's forecast of 6.3 percent to 6.7 percent in the period.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index lost 1 percent on July 6, trimming its weekly advance to 0.9 percent as Chinese and European interest-rate cuts failed to bolster investor confidence and U.S. payrolls rose less than forecast.
The IMF estimated global growth of 3.5 percent for 2012 in its April World Economic Outlook Update. New forecasts and a report will be released on July 16.
"Over the past few months, the outlook has regrettably become more worrisome," Lagarde said in Tokyo. "Many indicators of economic activity -- investment, employment, manufacturing -- have deteriorated. And not just in Europe or the United States."
China Rates
China's central bank on July 5 announced the second cut in benchmark interest rates in a month ahead of a government report this week that may show economic growth slid to the lowest in three years. The European Central Bank the same day reduced its main rate to a record low of 0.75 percent and took its deposit rate to zero, with President Mario Draghi saying "downside risks to the euro-area economic outlook have materialized."
A reduction in growth estimates by the IMF would have an impact on Hong Kong "because we are a small and externally-oriented economy," Tsang told reporters on July 7, according to a government transcript. "We rely a great deal on our traditional markets in Europe and America. Meanwhile, countries in Asia have also been slowing down."
The government estimated in February economic expansion would drop to 1 percent to 3 percent this year from 5 percent in 2011 and 7 percent the previous year. Tsang said he would make an assessment next month whether the forecast needs to be adjusted.
Viet Nam
China's growth may have slid to 7.7 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The statistics bureau is due to release the data on July 13.
In Vietnam, Vu Van Ninh told bankers on July 7 the economy faces many problems due to a slowdown in domestic and global markets and that it will be "extremely difficult" to meet this year's 6 percent growth target.
The nation's central bank Governor Nguyen Van Binh said the same day that commercial banks should lower borrowing costs for existing loans to companies and help businesses struggling in the slowing economy. The State Bank of Vietnam cut interest rates on June 29 for the fifth time this year to spur growth. The reduction only applied to new loans.
In the Philippines, the central bank said it will prohibit foreign funds from investing in its special deposit accounts to stem gains in the peso, the best performer this year among Asia's 11 most-traded currencies tracked by Bloomberg.
Capital has poured into the country this year as economic growth outpaced other Southeast Asian economies and on anticipation the nation's credit rating will be raised to investment grade status. The benchmark Philippine stock exchange index surged to a record last week.
Capital flows are complicating monetary policy, Diwa Guinigundo, deputy governor of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, told reporters on July 7. The central bank may consider other tools to manage flows as a sustained and large-scale easing in the U.S. and Europe will drive funds to search for higher yields in emerging markets, Guinigundo said.
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Download this coloring page upon purchase to print and color it over and over again. The PDF is not watermarked, colored or signed. It is sized to fit an 8.5×11-inch page with 1/2-inch margins. It can also be printed on A4 paper.
Candy Hippie designed this mandala coloring page digitally, and did some extra touchups to finish with a perfectly professional, clear image. The final printed page will have no blurs, blemishes or unwanted lines.
Print using a laser printer to prevent smudging when coloring, especially if you'll be using ink, markers or paint rather than crayons or colored pencils. Consider printing on card stock rather than plain paper to prevent your pigments warping or bleeding through your page.
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You can also find this Enchanted Evening coloring page at the Candy Hippie Etsy shop.


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No Dry County
Lubbock-based No Dry County returns to Golden Light Cantina, 2908 S.W. Sixth Ave., on Friday.
The band released its first EP, "Ella Rose," in September.
In an interview then, lead singer Trent Langford said the band aims for an alt-country vibe.
"We play the Texas scene as far as the circuit goes, but we really don't fit into the traditional Texas country sound," Langford said. "It's a lot more of an Americana feel."
And it's a kind of nebulous feel, at that.
"We love it when people can't describe us," he said. "That's our goal. When people come up and say, 'We can't really place you,' we get really excited."
Cover charge is $7. For information, call 806-374-0097 or visit www.goldenlightcafe.com. To sample the band's music, visit www.nodrycounty.com.
Matthew Smith
Christian artist Matthew Smith will perform Sunday in a free concert at Trinity Baptist Church, 1601 W. Interstate 40.
Smith is best known for writing new music for hundreds-of-years-old hymns.
"I didn't grow up singing hymns. We mainly sang praise and worship songs," Smith said.
But he found traditional hymns while studying at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.
"There was something I had never experienced before at these Bible studies, and the hymns we sang somehow electrified me," he said.
For information, call 806-372-2421. To sample Smith's music, visit www.matthewsmith.us/music.
— Features Editor Chip Chandler


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I would like to take a moment to commend the amazing men and women of the fashion blogging universe for taking outfit photos all year 'round. That ish is hard. So hard, I have developed the dreaded freezing fists.
What is freezing fists you ask?
Well, friend, freezing fists happen when you go out to take outfit photos and your fists get so cold that they involuntarily ball up into tiny frozen fists in a commendable, but ultimately failing, effort to warm themselves. Freezing fists are often found in every outfit photo taken between the months of November and March. Please see the photo below for an in-depth analysis:
See if you can spot freezing fists in the rest of the pictures below.


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Pages Of Life Double CD
by Fred Hammond;
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Pages Of Life Double CD
Full Product Description
This 2-CD collection showcases Fred Hammond at his finest! Chapter 1 features an on-fire set with Fred and his worship team and Chapter 2 gives you front row seats as Fred and his group appear before a live audience that's ready to worship.
Pages Of Life Double CD was published by Verity Records in January 1998 and is our 31641st best seller. The ISBN for Pages Of Life Double CD is 012414311023.
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|Verity Records (January 1998)
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|26th November 2017


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The goals identified in The Museum of Belize's Mission Statement are met through the following program objectives: planning, policy, marketing, and outreach via our lecture series, exhibitions, tours and art classes.
This is done by encouraging Belizean students and visitors to tour the museum and attend the ongoing lecture series.
At The Museum of Belize (MOB) we are dedicated to the collection, preservation and exhibition of objects of scientific, historical or artistic interest.
- Come see the earliest stamp of Belize depicting Queen Victoria (1837).
- Walk into a well-preserved jail cell and feel like an inmate.
- View the lovely Buenavista Vase that depicts the mythical Maya Hero Twins dancing in victory over the Lords of Xibalba.
- ...all this and more on exhibit at the Museum of Belize in Belize City.


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Senate Republicans signaled stiffening resistance Tuesday to the Obama administration's possible nomination of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state.
Republican strategists said lawmakers would use such a nomination as an opening for an extended examination of how the administration handled the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador. Although the Senate rarely rejects a president's Cabinet picks, the strategists said, the process could be so painful and lengthy that Obama might come to regret his choice.
A senior Republican aide said he couldn't predict whether the nomination would be voted down, but "the question is, is this worth spending political capital and taking punches on a subject they'd like to distance themselves from?"
"Whether it's fair to her or not, she's become a poster child for perceptions that there's been a cover-up by the administration," he said, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
Some Senate Republicans have already begun discussing how they would question Rice, he said, and plan to gather information from House Republican colleagues to bore in on questions the administration has not yet satisfactorily answered.
Rice, who was a foreign policy adviser in the Obama administration before stepping into her current job, has family roots in Portland and visits a summer home in Lincolnville, Maine.
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., the No. 2 Senate Republican, told reporters he considered Rice "tainted" by her role in the administration's handling of Benghazi, and recommended that the White House instead choose Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, whom administration officials have also been considering for the diplomatic post.
Administration officials said that Rice, a pillar of Obama's foreign policy team since the 2008 election campaign, was a leading candidate for the post, and that they would not be deterred by Republican warnings. Officials and some others familiar with the process predicted that Republicans would eventually end their resistance to Rice because it would become clear that her disputed comments after the attack were prepared by other officials for her appearances on Sept. 16, talk shows.
Rice said in those TV appearances that the attack was motivated by anger at a U.S.-made film trailer that denounced the prophet Muhammad, and that it was not a planned assault.
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who is expected to become the ranking minority member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, found it "beyond belief" that Rice could have described the attack as motivated by anger over the film, when U.S. officials in Benghazi had told officials in Washington during the attack that it was a terrorist assault.
"I still don't know how anybody of that capacity could have been on television five days later saying the things that were said," Corker said. "I don't know how that could happen."
On Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, an influential Republican on foreign policy issues, predicted that Rice's nomination would have a difficult time making it through the Senate. He said he would not vote for Rice unless she provided more satisfactory explanations of her actions.
A single senator can hold up a nomination if he or she is determined to do so. But a more likely avenue to blocking confirmation would be with a filibuster, aides said. Sixty votes are required to end a filibuster – fewer than the number of senators in the Democratic caucus.
Senate aides said the Republican caucus might decide that shooting down Obama's choice would be a way of underscoring its unhappiness with the administration's treatment of the Benghazi issue.


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Principal/Head of Exhibitions
Cheim & Read
547 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10001
Telephone: (212) 242-7727
Fax: (212) 242-7737
Regular gallery hours are: Tues-Sat 10-6.
Cheim & Read does not accept artists' submissions.
Principal/Head of Exhibitions
Partner/Administrative Director
Partner/Sales Director
Administrative / IT Manager
Director, Sales
Sales Associate / Art Fair Manager
Gallery Associate
Director of Press and Publications
Gallery Associate
Chief Preparator
Cheim & Read was founded in 1997 by John Cheim and Howard Read. The gallery actively represents an international group of leading contemporary artists and estates, embracing diverse artistic practices, from painting and sculpture to photography and video. Artists represented have exhibited extensively in museums and galleries world-wide, and are regularly included in exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale, Whitney Biennial, Carnegie International and Documenta. Established in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood, Cheim & Read has an airy, 6,000 square foot building with multiple spaces, allowing for intimate or expansive exhibition formats.
Cheim & Read is characterized by its commitment to a rigorous curatorial model. It is known for critical monographic exhibitions, including comprehensive, museum-quality surveys of work by William Eggleston ("21st Century"), Lynda Benglis ("New Work"), Louise Bourgeois ("Suspension"), Joan Mitchell ("Trees"), Milton Resnick ("The Elephant in the Room") and Al Held ("The Alphabet Paintings"). The gallery is also acclaimed for organizing historically-significant group exhibitions, including "The New Landscape/The New Still Life," an in-depth examination of Chaim Soutine's influence on Modern art; "The Female Gaze: Women Look at Women," a show of women artists' depictions of the female form; and "I Am As You Will Be," a study of the skeleton and mortality in artistic representation.
The gallery publications complement our exhibition program. Carefully selected writers, poets and respected historians provide insight to the artist's working process, resulting in exhibition catalogues that are not only beautifully designed and printed, but which add to the scholarship of contemporary artistic discourse.
Since its founding, Cheim & Read has also specialized in the resale of select works from the 20th century, including artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Cy Twombly and Andy Warhol. Members of the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA), the gallery subscribes to the highest standards of connoisseurship, professionalism and ethical practice, and offers an effective and confidential alternative for the transfer of important works of art from and on behalf of private individuals and institutions.


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The World Baseball Classic is coming around again this spring and the rosters are starting to be announced. A few Yankees will probably end up playing, but the first once announced is a bit of a surprise — Andy Pettitte will participate as a member of Team USA's rotation, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.
The Yankees can't technically keep players from participating, but they generally try to convince them otherwise. Pettitte is a veteran pitcher who knows his own body pretty well so they undoubtedly trust him to prepare for the regular season as much as he tries to help USA win. This is likely the last time Pettitte will get a chance to pitch in one of these too. He has never pitched in the WBC before.


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Regional Reviews: Cincinnati
The opening number of Fiddler on the Roof tells the audience exactly what the show is about, "Tradition". However, an argument can also be made that the classic musical itself is a tradition. The current national tour of the show boasts Fiddler's famous songs, familiar story, a recreation of the dances created by its legendary choreographer, and a star that has been performing the lead role for nearly 35 years. Currently playing at the Aronoff Center in Cincinnati, the tour of Fiddler on the Roof again introduces theatergoers to this entertaining, well-written, and excellently executed musical.
Fiddler, of course, tells the story of Tevye, a poor milkman, who lives with his family in a small Jewish village in Russia in 1905. He strives to preserve his religious and family traditions, even as the world around him is changing rapidly. The stress of finding suitable husbands for his five daughters with no dowry, as well as the impending conflict with Russian soldiers occupying the area, push Tevye to question God, to whom he speaks to directly, and his own beliefs.
Over the years, a number of actors have become famous for performing the leading role, including Topol, Zero Mostel, and Herschel Bernardi. However, no one has played the role more than the current Tevye, Theodore Bikel. Mr. Bikel possesses a powerful and commanding stage presence, and brings the necessary warmth, heart, energy, and vulnerability to the role. His comic timing is perfect, and is balanced equally by his passion and emotion in the more dramatic scenes. If Mr. Bikel's voice is not as powerful as some other actors, his singing is rich, clear, confident, and totally appropriate for Tevye.
Fiddler on the Roof also offers many opportunities for other performers to shine, and this company delivers on all levels. Portraying Golde, Susan Cella is effectively frustrated, yet supportive, as the family matriarch. In other supporting roles, Eileen Tepper (Tzeitel), Miriam Babin (Yente), Michael Iannucci (Motel), and Daniel Cooney (Perchik) each do quite well in all facets of their role. Tamra Hayden as Hodel and Sara Schmidt as Chava are deserving of special praise. Both possess beautiful and youthful singing voices that they put to great use. They each also bring depth to their characters as they move from innocent and obedient daughters to independent and thoughtful women. Ms. Schmidt also was impressive in her last performance in Cincinnati, as Anne in A Little Night Music at Playhouse In the Park. In addition, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music graduate Justin Patterson is a standout in the ensemble.
Sammy Dallas Bayes has supplied solid and smart direction for the national tour production and has also faithfully reproduced the original choreography by musical theater legend Jerome Robbins. The sets by Steven Gilliam are based on the original design by Doris Aronson and are attractive, colorful, and generally effective. The costume design by Bottari & Case are appropriate to the period, fun, and likewise appealing.
The score by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick is one of the strongest from Broadway in the 1960s with classic songs such as "If I Were A Rich Man", "Tradition", "Matchmaker, Matchmaker", and "Sunrise, Sunset". The score sounds great with this wonderful cast and a full orchestra capably led by Musical Director Sheilah Walker. Joseph Stein's book is both touching and humorous, and weaves many story lines together effectively. With a running time of nearly three hours, the book seems unnecessarily padded in places, especially towards the end of each act. However, it is well written and, despite the length, never seems tedious.
Fiddler on the Roof was a hit when it arrived on
Broadway back in 1964, and it remains a success today thanks to a
wonderful lead actor in Theodore Bikel, a fine ensemble, appropriate
design and direction, and a strong book and score. The musical continues
at the Aronoff Center in Cincinnati through May 6, 2001.
-- Scott Cain


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Friday, December 23, 2011
Mort and Merry Christmas
When I looked out the window, the thermometer showed the temperature hovered just below freezing. I could just see the horses, their shaggy winter coats were puffed out and glittered with a fine shower of ice crystals. They bucked and spun, rearing up at each other in a goofy mock battle, rowdy with the cold and the clear blue sky.
Their play was irresistible. I slid my bare feet into my boots and pulled a jacket over my pajamas. I eased the basement door open and shut it behind me with barely a click. My parents were upstairs and sleeping at the other end of the house, but raising six rowdy children had honed their hearing to razor sharpness, it wouldn't take much to wake them.
I wanted to be alone with my horses and delay the chaos of holiday togetherness. My freshman year of college, and first time away from home,was proving to me how much I still needed my family, but it was my horses, especially Mort, that I had missed the most.
When I slid between the corral rails the horses bolted. They tore up the hill, digging with their front feet, hinds pushing dirt and snow and their tails flagged in fun.
The three of them crowded together, Murray, the flighty Arab, Oakie, my goofy yearling Paint and Mort, playing wild mustang.
He blasted a warning snort at me and I squared off. I spread my feet and bent my knees, my arms spread wide and my hands open.
Mort charged down the hill,leaping in a zig-zag pattern with lightening speed, the other two came racing behind him. He snaked his head and his mouth opened with deadly intent as he approached. He skidded to a stop in front of me with his ears flat against his head. His eyes were wild and steam blew out of his nostrils.
"HA!" I shouted and stood upright, my hands in the air. Oakie and Murray spooked and spun away.
Mort arched his neck and we faced off almost nose to nose.
He blasted me with another snort and snot showered on my face, freezing as soon as it hit. When he reared up to his full height I stepped into him, ducking his front feet and slapping him on the chest.
"HA!" I yelled and stepped to the side as he came crashing down.
He whirled and shot back up the hill, crazy with fun.
We were getting in position for another round, snarling and snorting like two WWE wrestlers in the ring, when I heard a door open with a bang somewhere behind me. Oops.
"Janet! Knock it off! You're going to end up with a hoof planted in your head! Good God!"
I ran for the barn, if I fed and chopped ice it would give Dad time to cool off and hopefully see the humor of the situation. Mort and I had been playing our game for years, it was as inevitable on a cold winter morning as the ache in my fingers from an old case of frostbite.
Poor Dad had about had a heart attack the first time he had seen it and was pretty bent. But jeez, you'd think he'd have gotten over it by now.
I filled up the feeders and gathered up their buckets. A good hot mash was in order for today. It was Christmas after all. I headed to the house, whistling the alto part to the Hallelujah Chorus and banging my buckets in time.
Merry Christmas!!!!
29 comments:
- MysteryTheMorab said...
Perfect for the holiday, thank you! Merry Christmas to you and a happy and safe New Years.
- December 23, 2011 at 11:45 AM
- Tamara Baysinger said...
:) My heart and horses are in that same mood today. Merry Christmas!
- December 23, 2011 at 12:03 PM
Holy Flying Hooves Batman !!!
My Phoenix has reared in front of me only twice, each time I could tell it was play not agression, but is an adrenaline rush no matter what.
Thank you and Merry Christmas to you and your herd.
- December 23, 2011 at 12:17 PM
- mugwump said...
I really have to write a disclaimer.
I keep telling these stories and am afraid the stupid mistakes I share will be construed as a good idea.
- December 23, 2011 at 12:36 PM
- Tamara Baysinger said...
LOL Don't worry -- we know. ;)
- December 23, 2011 at 1:30 PM
mugs, I know that isn't a good idea BUT.... you sure make it sound fun. Keep that entry out of the hands of children. It is way toooo good. Wicked good.
merry Christmas to you and your whole herd.
- December 23, 2011 at 1:31 PM
- luvredponies said...
My filly did the same thing to my hubby this morning - minus the slap on the chest. I watched it as if it were happening in slow motion. No one died :) I wish I'd had my camera with me..
- December 23, 2011 at 5:23 PM
Merry Christmas,and Happy New Year! My draft cross has such big feet, I doubt I could get between them to smack his chest. Of course, it is also doubtful he could get them very high off the ground!
- December 23, 2011 at 5:34 PM
Lol my Arab and I used to play chase in her stall. She would almost cut me like a cow, ears pinned teeth clashing. If I let her catch me she was a sweetiepie again.
- December 23, 2011 at 6:35 PM
- joycemocha said...
Heh. I used to play a similar game with my first Shetland Windy Foot. But we kinda grew up together...I got him as a yearling when I was nine years old.
OTOH, playing games like that with him meant that I wasn't intimidated by old Sparkle, the certified kid-chaser. That's how I ended up with her, and she turned me into a semi-decent bronc rider. Luckily Mocha's more like Windy Foot than Sparkle!
- December 23, 2011 at 11:06 PM
- Mary said...
That was really an exhilarating story!
I play like that with my little dog, but somehow I don't think it is the same... So fun!
Merry Christmas!
- December 24, 2011 at 12:28 AM
- Bif said...
So, uh, if that had been the Kidlette, what would your reaction be? ;-)
Thanks for the early present: A Mort Story for Christmas!
Merry Christmas for you and yours this year!
- December 24, 2011 at 12:35 AM
- redhorse said...
Mugs, I think you have a little Parelli envy in there (ducks).
- December 24, 2011 at 4:58 AM
- Peanut said...
That made me laugh out loud! Merry Christmas.
- December 24, 2011 at 6:33 AM
- liberitarianqh said...
Fun stuff! Guilty of that game myself and I think the horses love when we connect on their level. It's my tradition to make an alfalfa mash with apples and carrots every Christmas morning for my clan - I love walking to the barn with a steaming bowl of sweet.
Merry Christmas to all!!!
- December 24, 2011 at 6:51 AM
- mugwump said...
Bif - kidlette isn't allowed to read my blog...
redhorse - go wash your mouth out with soap...
- December 24, 2011 at 8:22 AM
- Bif said...
Yes, but if you *saw the Kidlette doing that* what would your reaction be? ;-)
- December 24, 2011 at 8:38 AM
- EvenSong said...
As a good friend recently said, after posting a photo of herself, sitting on her "dragon" of a Standardbred, who was laying down in the field:
"WARNING: Rider is a trained idiot on a closed course. Do not try this at home like I did."
Although I was hoping for the rest of the endurance ride story [hint, hint], this was a great Christmas Eve offering.
Merry Christmas to all!
- December 24, 2011 at 8:39 AM
So glad someone else was an idiot
:lol: Gollee,the things I did with my horse when I was a teen.. Yes,I lived thro it,wish I could do it all again.
- December 24, 2011 at 9:18 AM
- mugwump said...
Bif - she's smart enough not to let me catch her....
- December 24, 2011 at 10:01 AM
I am soooo glad there are other people who did this growing up. I had a blast playing tag until my appy caught me in a corner and put a nice green hoof print down my sweatshirt sleeve.. I then thought Gee, what am I doing.. It was fun.. Thank you for the memory. I enjoy all your stories Merry Christmas...
- December 24, 2011 at 1:56 PM
- DarcC said...
Aw, that brought me back to memories of my first horse, a glorious Arabian gelding, who loved to play "gotcha last" tag around the paddock, and see if he could make me flinch by racing up to me and braking at the last possible second. Good times, love that horses have such a great sense of fun.
- December 24, 2011 at 6:36 PM
- mugwump said...
I am sooo glad to find out I wasn't the only fool out there
- December 24, 2011 at 10:53 PM
i'm 53 and still play chase with my 17 hand thoroughbred, it seems to be really important to him, but i don't let him up the ante by rearing close to me. kinda envious of mugs, but my husband would kill me if i crossed the line of idiocy with my horses.
- December 25, 2011 at 10:20 AM
- gtyyup said...
Brought tears to my eyes...Merry Christmas Janet~
- December 25, 2011 at 2:38 PM
- mugwump said...
Anon - I sure don't do that any more. I was 19 when this was going on...I'm 54 now and much smarter.
Gttyup - merry Christmas to you to!
- December 25, 2011 at 8:06 PM
- KD said...
Snortin Mort! What a nut you were! I didn't have that cool relationship with my first horse, but we did have crazy fun.
I'm 55 now and prefer to use trailer fenders, fences, and stumps just to get on my pony...no way I could be quick enough to play those kind of games. :-)
- December 26, 2011 at 4:30 PM
- Breathe said...
Oh god. How many heart attacks did you give your mother?
- December 27, 2011 at 2:19 AM
- mugwump said...
Breathe - lots
- January 20, 2012 at 8:15 PM
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