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‹‹‹ Return to Contents page for this issue
‹‹‹ Go to Index of Past Issues page
Assembling hardware for a supercomputer
Adapting software
Preparing the facility
Virginia Tech Office of the Vice President for Information Technology
Glenda Scales
Virginia Tech College of Engineering
Cal Ribbens
Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science
Virginia Tech Terascale Computing Facility
Top 500 supercomputer project
Office of the Vice President for Research
Two hundred years ago, the Lewis and Clark Expedition crossed a continent
How do mountains grow? Rocks collected on Mount Everest tell the story
Reducing injuries from accidents is often new territory
Researchers help computers pick faces out of a crowd
Research can guide investment
Worlds third-fastest supercomputer built in world-record time: How? (with Updates) and Why?
Program helps couples stop the violence
When a tree grows in Brooklyn or Chicago or any town or neighborhood, we all benefit
Graduate students are partners in research: Winning graduate student research makes it easier to plot forested land and for computer grids to operate in secure environments
Microscopes: Brief reports about a book of poetry that reveals slaves as models for space explorers, a rediscovered collection of works about American woods, a solid-state switch that could protect and enhance the nations electric grid, how museums reflect the intersection of politics and culture, and how a national fiber optic backbone is linking research universities and laboratories at gigabit and higher speeds.
About the cover and this issue
Originally published in the Winter 2004 Virginia Tech Research Magazine.
Material appearing in the Virginia Tech Research Magazine may be reprinted provided the endorsement of a commercial product is not stated or implied. Please credit the researchers involved and Virginia Tech.
What do you think of this story? Let us know via e-mail.
By Susan Trulove
Srinidhi Varadarajan
Kevin Shinpaugh and Glenda Scales
Jason Lockhart and Patricia Arvin
Installing the ethernet cable.
Preparing the floor.
One of the many volunteers — mostly students — who worked on the supercomputer installation.
Volunteers assemble the G5s.
One of the volunteers. Photos by John McCormick.
A conversation in February 2003 planted a seed that resulted, nine months later, in the
third-fastest computer in the world.
Last February, Srinidhi
Varadarajan, assistant professor of computer science, and Jason Lockhart,
who directs research computing efforts for the College of Engineering
at Virginia Tech, had a hallway conversation about increasing the capacity
of the 200-node cluster being used by some 80 researchers.
Varadarajan mentioned
that he and colleagues in computer science, physics, chemistry, aerospace
and ocean engineering, biology, and biochemistry, four of whom are National
Science Foundation (NSF) Career Award holders, had submitted a proposal
to the NSF for a Major Research Instrumentation grant. My job is
to support faculty and help acquire resources, Lockhart says. So,
a group from the College of Engineering and the universitys information
systems division traveled to Austin to visit with Dell, and the
roller coaster ride began.
Kevin Shinpaugh,
director of research/cluster computing for the university, recalls, Dell
said we could do 1,000 machines with dual processors and the idea struck
me we could be a large super-computer player. But I knew we would
need six months to prepare the facility. He received an immediate
go from Erv Blythe, vice president for information technology
(IT). Glenda Scales, College of Engineering assistant dean for computing,
brought together the College of Engineering, Office of the Vice Provost
for Research, IT, and others, and a financial plan was soon completed.
Dell did not continue as a partner, but they had put our foot on the path, says
Patricia Arvin, IT associate vice presidentIntel, HP, IBM, and AMD
were all trying to come up with ways to work with us, says Lockhart.
But the prices were
out of reach and IBMs 970 chip would not be available in time to
allow the new Virginia Tech cluster to be ranked. We were ready
to do a build-it-yourself computer cluster without a major vendor partner,
says Arvin.
It wouldnt
be the first time. Faculty, staff, and students built the 200-node, 400-CPU
AMD cluster. But then, at 1 p.m. on June 23, Lockhart watched Apple announce
its new G5 at the World Wide Developer Conference.
By 3 p.m., the campus Apple rep had put together a conference call with Pat
Arvin and Apple headquarters, he says.
On June 30, Apple
flew Arvin and Varadarajan to California. They wanted to make sure
we had the expertise before they committed the first G5s to us,
Lockhart says. Within the week, Apple and Virginia Tech decided the university
would build a G5 super computer.
It was not
a turnkey solution; but it was a brand-name computer and had the preferred
chip the new IBM 970, says Arvin.
The aimed-for sustained performance of 10 teraflops and peak of 17 teraflops
(17 trillion floating-point operations per second) would significantly
improve computing resources for the universitys researchers and
attract federal support as part of the national cyber-infrastructure project.
And, if the Virginia Tech team could build a terascale computer by fall,
it had a shot at being ranked by the Top500 organization as among the
fastest computers in the world.
With little more
than $5 million to spend and only months to build the machine in time
to be ranked, the group was willing to take risks on new technology. They
ordered 1,100 G5s, which were not only untried but not yet available.
next critical component was the primary communications layer, says
Arvin. We chose InfiniBand technology by Mellanox because it is
five times faster than the next fastest communication fabric.
Infiniband combines
solid state communication switches and new fast cable technology to link
the nodes, providing the ability to transfer packets of information within
a cluster at very low latency and the option to operate in parallel when
solving a problem. In fact, with InfiniBand, the entire cluster
is as fast as a bus on a motherboard, says Varadarajan.
was new, but it was being backed by companies like Intel, Sun, and Oracle,
says Varadarajan. So I called the CEO, Eyal Waldman, and a few days
later he had a team here.
Mellanox flew engineers
from Israel to Apples California headquarters in order to create
the driver software that allows the computers to use the InfiniBand system.
Work that should have taken six to nine months they did in weeks,
says Varadarajan.
The second communication
layer the Cisco Gigabit Ethernet switches and cables manages
programs, such as loading software. The Cisco gigabit allowed the
needed software to be loaded in hours instead of days, says Arvin.
It also provides communication outside the cluster, such as when a part
of the cluster is put on the National Lambda Rail (NLR), where it can
be part of national computational grid projects.
There has been a global effort to develop and refine the software
for this project, says Arvin.
A cluster is a lot of relatively simple computers, says Cal
Ribbens, director of the Laboratory for Advanced Scientific Computing
and Applications. The key is how you hook them together to become
a unified resource to solve big problems. Everything we can solve on the
supercomputer we could solve on a single machine but it would take
months or years instead of minutes or hours.
MPI and BLAS software
were loaded onto each machine. MPI, or Message Passing Interface, is a
protocol for communicating between programs that are part of the same
parallel computation, Ribbens says. When a problem requires several computers,
it is divided among the units. But at critical junctures, the computers
share information in order to proceed with the computation. MPI allows
instructions specific to a task, such as how to divide the work and at
what points to communicate. MPI code will run on many machines across
platform types.
D.K. Pandas research group at Ohio State University and researchers at Argonne National
Laboratory were adapting MPI to run with InfiniBands new G5 operating
system driver. Varadarajan worked with both groups to optimize the MPI.
In the end, the Virginia Tech group chose the Ohio State high performance
implementation for the benchmark.
BLAS stands for
basic linear algebra subprograms, which are the building blocks of many
scientific computing applications. The software performs such functions
extremely quickly. Varadarajan contacted Kazushige Goto, who works at
the Japanese patent office but whose hobby is to optimize mathematical
operations on matrices such as the subprograms in BLAS. Goto
is a wizard at getting the last ounce of performance from a chip using
these programs, Ribbens says.
In July, Varadarajan, Ribbens, and Goto began to tune the BLAS.There is a huge amount
of code detail in the BLAS. Generally, a 1 or 2 percent performance improvement
requires weeks of work, says Varadarajan. But Goto makes binary
libraries available that can improve efficiency to 80 percent. That is
the equivalent of tens of millions of dollars because otherwise you would
have to buy additional machines to complete the computations that Goto
has enabled the software to handle.
Goto sent Ribbens and Varadarajan code to try. Goto bumped the efficiency to 78 percent
(as of the first of September) by writing codes specifically for the G5
processor, says Varadarajan. Every week or so, he gives us
a new routine for a particular matrix computation.
The faster the BLAS, the faster most users applications will run on the cluster, Ribbens says. Also, the faster the cluster will run Linpack, a benchmark computation that is the supercomputer version of the 100-yard dash.
The Linpack benchmark
is one, huge computation that will take hours even for 1,100 nodes. It
tests the whole machine the CPUs and the interconnection network
in solving a typical computational science problem. The name comes
from math software called linear pack. Even though its a standard
computation, it is very tunable, says Ribbens. For instance,
you can make choices regarding data distribution that can make the difference
between 10 teraflops and 10.2 teraflops, says Ribbens. That
is a big deal in the ranking, but wont be noticed much by most researchers.
Its like the difference between 10.5 seconds and 10 seconds is a
big deal to a sprinter, but not if youre trying to get to the grocery
Just as critical as the hardware and software to the final success of the terascale project
is the facility. You cant just empty the gym and put in 1,100
nodes, Arvin says. Virginia Tech has 10,000 square feet of raised-floor
air-conditioned computer space that has been used to house several generations
of mainframes and distributed computing facilities since the 1980s.
As it turned out, they would only need 3,000 square feet. But the power had to be upgraded from 1.5 to 3 megawatts (one megawatt is enough electricity to power 500 Virginia homes for a year). An emergency generator system and 260 tons of additional cooling capacity were also added.
The biggest challenge
was AC design. The traditional system, which cools from under the
floor, would have required nine large units and would have created 60
mph winds under the floor, says Shinpaugh. Liebert looked
at our environment and recommended their new extreme high-density system,
with external chillers and copper lines overhead to rack-mounted heat
exchangers with R-134A refrigerant and an overhead chiller unit providing
more than 2 million BTUs of cooling capacity. They also provided the custom-built
racks for the computers.
Arvin points out that the Liebert system saved a lot of space. For example, Oak Ridge National Lab uses 40,000 square feet for their eight-megawatt computing facility. By that rule of thumb, we would have needed 20,000 square feet.
All the pieces were brought together the second week of September by teams of volunteers
most of them students — who unpacked boxes, powered up machines, installed
driver cards, transferred software, and put the machines into the racks
at a rate of about 50 an hour testing them several more times along
the way. Another team connected power and communication fiber.
Within a week, the
cluster was being brought up to speed and tested. By the first of October,
Varadarajan was able to tell the IS group that Virginia Tech had a world-class
computer. It was tested by Top500 in October and the announcement was
made in November that Virginia Techs terascale facility is third
in the world — behind the Earth Simulator in Japan and the ASCI-Q (Advanced
Simulation and Computing Initiative) supercomputer at Los Alamos National


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Enrolling in online classes is the same procedure as enrolling in on campus classes at Cypress College. Please visit the Registration Information page and refer to the Schedule of Classes for current offerings.
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Once classes have started or when a class is closed, students must contact the instructor of the course they are interested in taking for an add authorization code.
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You cannot login to Blackboard until you are officially enrolled in class. You must contact the instructor regarding the status of your enrollment.
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To learn to use Blackboard go to the Cypress College Blackboard login page and take the Blackboard Student Orientation. Login to the orientation using the Username: @12345678 and the Password: cypress
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This error appears for two reasons: your user ID or password are not recognized; or, you are not enrolled in Cypress College Blackboard. If you are enrolled in Blackboard please Reset your password. If you are not enrolled contact your instructor immediately.
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The Cypress College Bookstore has all books required by all Cypress College classes. You can purchase your books online or in person.
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On campus computers for online and hybrid student use are available in the Learning Resource Center in the first floor of the LLRC building. You may also find the other labs on campus useful to your online and hybrid work.
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In the case where a class is taught entirely online, instructors may drop students who have not been in contact with the instructor by the end of the first day of classes for that semester or short-term classes. While an instructor may drop a student who has poor attendance, it is the student's responsibility to officially drop the class.
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For a guide to the do's and don'ts of online communication please refer to the Albion Netiquette Home Page and Learn The Net's Netiquette Basics.
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Microsoft Office: Where can I get a cheap copy?
The Foundation for California Community Colleges is offering a discounted student version of the Microsoft Office Professional software. Quite a good deal! Students must verify enrollment in Cypress College, instructions are on the site. Visit JourneyEd.com or call 1-800-874-9001.
Dr. Treisa Cassens
Distance Education Dean
Terence Gleason MS, MEd
Director of Distance Education
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subset: commoncrawl


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Thought this was cool :)
Did you know that yawning may be a way to cool your brain? University of Albany researchers found that our brains work more efficiently when they are cool (like a computer) and that yawning brings in cooler air and increases blood flow to cool the brain and help us to think more effectively.
Recognizing that yawning seems to be contagious, the researchers tested what might prompt a contagious yawn. When test subjects held an ice pack to their head while watching videos of people yawning, they did not yawn as much as when people held a warm pack to their heads. Breathing through the nose rather than the mouth also cools the brain more effectively.
They also proposed that we are biologically hard-wired to yawn to stay alert and protect us from danger. And, when one person yawns, others may feel the need to yawn as well as a way to promote group vigilance in the face of potential danger.
So, if someone yawns when they are talking to you, take it as a compliment because they may just be trying hard to pay more attention to you!


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Condoms come in all shapes and sizes. This chart should help you to find the correct condom style.
Impulse condoms are manufactured by Line One labs, who are also the makers of Trustex and Fantasy brand condoms. Impulse condoms are a Condom Depot favorite due to their thinness, water-based lubricants and innovative designs.


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Savannah & Her Lowcountry
Photo Workshop
March 22-26, 2015, Sunday noon through Thursday at 2:00
Cost: $ 1,280 w/ discounts available
for early birds, BCPA alumni, ASMP, & NANPA
- association proof required.
Transportation, lodging, meals, and personal expenses are your responsibility.
Limit 12 with 2 instructors (maximum 6:1 student-to-instructor ratio)
Click here for more information
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Join us for a photo workshop not only in that grand lady of the south, Savannah, but in the Lowcountry that surrounds her.
Celebrated in the book and movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" and founded in 1733, Savannah was laid out as a grid of squares, each surrounded by stately houses with inviting staircases, cascading plants, and beautiful flower boxes.
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Now numbering over 20, each square lures you in for a visit amongst magnificent, ivy-covered shade trees, wrought-iron fences, and meandering paths. There are glimpses of lush gardens through gates, and surprises everywhere ... if you look.
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For anyone loving a slice of history and the grace of the old South, you can't go wrong.
You'll be able to celebrate your passion for photography, seek your own vision, hone your seeing and imaging skills, and learn about the magic of light to make wonderful photographs.
Scouting Option:
For those who want more time with Margo and Arnie, we offer the opportunity to
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The 2015 Southern Gentry
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Practical Details:
We start out with some technical information before heading out for our first session of photography. Our workshops include the following:
Maximum 6-to-1 ratio students to instructors;
Primer booklet to help you get started;
Early-morning and late-afternoon shoots for domestic workshops;
Daily downloading of your images and processing (we use the latest version of Lightroom);
Lots of individual instruction in both the field and classroom;
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Lots of fun and frivolity throughout!
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by Andrew Weiss
Local vocalist Andrea Desmond just released their latest work entitled Open Spaces (Spectra Records) in 2013. Her Songs of Freedom Competition. She was nominated for Best Adult Contemporary Artist at the Artist in Music Awards, for which she also performed at the Nomination Ceremony / Red Carpet Event in Hollywood.
Now with her powerful backing band, the White Lights, they made it to the finals of the Seattle Jammin' Challenge, which kick-started her career in the city. They recorded four tracks at Toybox Studios with Justin Cronk of Vendetta Red back in September 2012, From the first notes of "Block the Heart" and "Dawn Breakers" through to the final winding twists and turns of "Teal Water" this release is a taste of the old with a breath of fresh air.
This is real and genuine Contemporary Pop Rock or Light Rock expressionism before everything started sound super sonic. All tracks are powerful, melodic and infectious, which doesn't even begin to describe the inducing vocal presence of Desmond. In contrast Andrea Desmond delivers an incredibly balanced blend of Contemporary Pop, with belief elements of Celtic Pop, Light Rock and even Blues.
On Open Spaces Desmond provides 5 intriguing musical stepping stones that gleefully showcase world class musicianship and passionate vocals with no illusions, or farces. In my mind she is a musical triple threat. She's got a good look, she can play Piano, write music and she's a great singer. Like I had mentioned its impressive how well Desmond has combined traditional Contemporary Pop with more modern alt-rock balladry. Her vocals at times shift from Classical to even soulful. This reminds me of Adele, Lily Allen, Jessie J. and Imagine Dragons. Desmond is a captivating composer and singer within her own right.
Some songs seem painfully simple yet not to be underestimated "Run" while others are know a sure direction delivering the A-Typical Rock flair "Block the Heart." However some pieces dig a bit deeper are even dark and boldly honest: "I can Wait no Longer."
Open Spaces EP by Andrea Desmond is one of the hottest pop-rock releases I've heard this year – but may not be for everyone. Despite this not so corporate approach she will appeal to old school pop-alt-rock fans mostly. I doubt the Maroon 5 people will flock to their shows, but who cares! A million of so disgruntled rock fans will probably beat them up on their way to an Andrea Desmond show anyway right?
Social Networking Links:
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/andreadesmond.music
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ADesmondMusic
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I love a good thick soup on a cold day and this homemade Chunky Potato Soup is filling, tastes great and is quick and easy to make. Blending part of the soup helps to thicken it and gives it a great texture.
Homemade Chunky Potato Soup
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Author: farm and foodie
Recipe type: soup
Serves: 8
- 1 pound bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces (we like a lot of bacon)
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 carrots, diced
- 3 celery stalks, diced
- 4 medium or 6 small russet potatoes, diced
- 8 cups (2 cartons) chicken broth
- 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup heavy cream (do not skimp on the heavy cream)
- ½ teaspoon salt (maybe more, to taste)
- black pepper
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes or Creole/Cajun seasoning mix (optional)
- 1 Tbsp. parsley, minced (divided)
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- Sour Cream (optional)
- Add bacon to a Dutch oven over medium heat and cook until crisp and fat is rendered. Remove the bacon from the pot and set it aside. Pour off most of the grease, reserving 1 tablespoon.
- Return the pot to medium-high heat and add the onions, carrots, and celery. Stir and cook for 2 minutes or so, then add the diced potatoes and a handful of the cooked bacon (reserve the rest to use as topping). Cook for 5 minutes, seasoning with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes or Creole/Cajun spice mix.
- Pour in the broth and bring it to a gentle boil. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are starting to get tender. Whisk together the flour and the milk, then pour into the soup and allow the soup to cook for another 5 minutes.
- Take about 3-4 cups of the soup and put in your blender and blend until smooth. We want enough to give the soup a creamier texture but still have some chunkiness to it. Pour it back into the soup pot and stir to combine. Heat the soup back up, taste, and adjust for seasonings. Stir in cream and a little bit of the parsley, reserving the rest for garnish.
- Serve with a side of parsley, bacon, sour cream and shredded cheese for toppings.


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Archive for the 'SUOC 4' Category:
SUO Challenge 4, Fabric or Waffle Paper
Good morning! Today is a new challenge from Stampin' Up! Only Challenges. Today's challenge is to use either waffle paper or fabric on your design. Remember that fabric is not just limited to what's in the Holiday Mini Catalog. Ribbon, crocheted Fleurettes, and felt is fabric too, so we'd love to see the innovative ways that you can use that.
Now for our Top 3 Winners for our last challenge, a big congratulations goes to:
Ladies, don't forget to pick up your blog badge! I'd also like to introduce to you a new design team member! Please help me welcome Patricia Weitzel. I stumbled upon her blog and what a powerhouse of inspiration it is! I loved everything that she's created and shares. Thank you so much for visiting us today and stopping by for our challenge. When uploading to online galleries, please use keyword SUOC4. I'll see you for our next challenge on Tuesday, November 5. God bless and have a great day. Here's what the design team would like to share with you for this challenge, and every single one of their projects are amazingly WOW!


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English Meaning
The pastoral staff of a bishop (also of an archbishop, being the symbol of his office as a shepherd of the flock of God.
- A staff with a crook or cross at the end, carried by or before an abbot, bishop, or archbishop as a symbol of office.
- Botany See fiddlehead.


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Romney gets the foreign taxes question at Ohio event (Updated)
We're a bit late to this, but expect to see this bit of video of Mitt Romney in some form of an attack ad soon:
At a town hall-style meeting Monday in Cleveland, the GOP presidential candidate got this pointed question about his investments: In this age of tough foreign competition, could Romney explain the "over $1.5 million in foreign tax credits" he received since 2000?
"I'm not familiar with that," Romney told the man who asked. The crowd booed. "I didn't think I paid any foreign income taxes, but I'll be happy to take a look at it."
In fact, Romney and his wife, Ann, paid more than $1.2 million in foreign taxes on so-called passive investments from 2000 through 2010, and paid about $800,000 in taxes on general income to unspecified countries. That's according to the couple's own tax returns.
Their foreign tax bills entitled them to more than $1.5 million in tax credits in the United States since 2000, thanks to Internal Revenue Service rules that prevent businesses and investors from being doubly taxed on money they earn abroad.
The person who asked the question was well-prepped, including with page number of the taxes.
UPDATE: A Romney source points out that foreign tax credits come when U.S. taxpayers make investments taxable overseas, two avoid a double penalty. President Obama has taken them, albeit over much smaller amounts


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Click here to print the obituary below
In Memory of
Tracy Paige
June 30, 1926 - June 28, 2013
Mr. Paige, age 86 of Belmont passed away Friday June 28, 2013 at Robin Johnson Hospice House in Gastonia. He was born June 30, 1926 in New Salem, NC son of the late James Winston and Cleona Mae Haigler Paige. In addition to his parents he was preceded in death by his wife Peggy Faye Mills Paige on February 15, 1994 and a son James Russell Paige "Rusty" on June 28, 2006. Mr. Paige was a member of Berryhill Baptist Church, where he was a deacon and Sunday school teacher. Mr. Paige retired from A&P Bakery, served in WWII in the 131st tank division from 1944-1946 and was awarded a Purple Heart. Surviving is a brother, Willard Hoover Paige, son, Doug Paige and wife Barbara, daughter- in- law, Lisa Paige Lewis, grandson, Chip Paige and wife Nicole, granddaughter Carrie Paige and 3 great grandchildren. As well many other loved ones including aunts, uncles, cousins, church members and friends. The family will receive friend from 1:00 to 2:00 PM Monday July 1, 2013 at McEwen Funeral Service Charlotte 5716 Monroe Rd. Charlotte, NC 28212, with a graveside service to follow at 2:00 P.M. in the funeral home conducted by Reverend Alan Beard at Sharon Memorial Park. Memorials may bemade to Berryhill Baptist Church 9801 Walkers Ferry Charlotte, NC 28214 or Robin Johnson Hospice House 5005 shepherds Way Dallas, NC 28034.
Graveside Service
Monday, July 01, 2013 | 2:00p.m.
Sharon Memorial Park
Charlotte, North Carolina
Driving Directions


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By Milos Djuricanin, Program Manager at Serbian Association of Managers. Duracanin was a 2014 ChamberLINKS participant.
"It is clear that youth unemployment is one of the biggest problems of our society. If we want to successfully solve the problem of unemployment, we have to listen more to the voice of the economy and private sector. This is the absolute priority of the Government of Serbia. That's why we initiated conversations with businessmen, in order to get first-hand information on their personnel needs and to create a common set of measures which will enable increase of youth employment"– Vanja Udovicic, Minister of Youth and Sports.
The status and position of young people in the labor market in Serbia falls into the category of challenges with no quick fix. Year after year, we are faced with statistics that continue to confirm that every second, a young person is left without a job. According to data presented at the National Youth Strategy for 2015-2025, youth unemployment in August 2014 in the Republic of Serbia is 41.7 percent for people aged 15-24, and 33.27 percent for people aged 15-30 years. Young people are inactive in the labor market: last year the inactivity rate of young people aged 15-30 years was over 50 percent and in 2013, it was noted that 20 percent of young people ages 15-24 belonged to the category of young people NEET (not employed, in education or training).
One of the key issues affecting the high youth unemployment is a mismatch between the skills that young people acquire through formal education, and the knowledge and skills that employers expect them to have. According to research conducted by the Union of Employers of Serbia, young people throughout the formal education system receive and adopt only theoretical knowledge and only 4.12 percent of young people are considered to possess the knowledge and skills for real business. Eighty-six percent of young people reported that they felt they did not possess any practical knowledge.
Among the barriers for business development in Serbia, the lack of adequate staff is increasingly climbing on the list: from an 8th place ranking in 2006 to third place ranking in 2013. This is a clear indication of how difficult it is to find high quality staff.
Given this information, the Serbian Association of Managers (SAM) with the support of the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) organized an event titled "Support for the youth – future for the country," during which a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the Ministry of Youth and Sport and SAM aiming to increase opportunities for top university students in the country to intern for SAM's member companies.
Read More…


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I Like Basketball and Football
Personal Stories, Advice, and Support 17 People
I am in love with basketballand football (soccer) I feel so different when I play. I will play with anyone especially older people and I love learning new tricks. I'm a shooting guard in basketball and striker in football
Mickey1701 16-17, F 1 Response 2 Aug 29, 2014


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Transcript of Food & Restaurant Marketing Podcast – Episode: Does this Sandwich Offer Make Starbucks a QSR?
[00:00:06] Adam Pierno: Welcome back to another episode of Food and Restaurant Marketing. Once again, with me is Mr. Daniel T. Santy.
[00:00:18] Dan Santy: Hello.
[00:00:20] Adam: We have a fun topic today because we are experts in restaurant marketing, but we are also consumers of restaurant marketing. This topic came up pretty organically over the long weekend with some exchange of some texts and some kind of quippy humor, and also sparked from a conversation about a post that we published a couple weeks ago about a brand that you might have heard of. It's a new upstart. What's it called again, sir?
[00:00:48] Dan: I think it's called Starbucks.
[00:00:51] Adam: That's correct. That's correct. Yes, Starbucks. I always get it mixed up. It is a fantastic brand and we will definitely link to the original post that relates to this, although is not 100% related to this conversation, but they're loosely siblings to each other, I guess. It's interesting because I got a text from Dan and we both kind of shared a chuckle. Go ahead and tell them what you sent me.
[00:01:19] Dan: I was in Instagram, my Instagram. That's a social media platform.
[00:01:25] Adam: [laughs] I've read about it.
[00:01:29] Dan: That at an ad for Starbucks that has– what's their small coffee called?
[00:01:36] Adam: Tall.
[00:01:37] Dan: Get a tall and a breakfast sandwich for guess what price point; five dollars, the famous QSR price point.
[00:01:45] Adam: The five-dollar-foot-long.
[00:01:46] Dan: Yes. It's been around forever now.
[00:01:48] Adam: Yes, and I was pretty surprised too. The visual did not lead with the coffee. The coffee was background to the breakfast sandwich. If you changed the colors out, it could've looked like a McDonald's ad.
[00:01:58] Dan: Right and they were pushing breakfast exactly as what the occasion that they were driving. So, I found it very interesting and then it wasn't too much later that day that I was watching television and here comes a 30 on the same promotion. So, breakfast at Starbucks, five bucks, sandwich and a tall coffee.
I was so fascinated because the brand really hasn't used television very extensively number one. Number two; when they have used it they've really promoted more their high-end brand or clover or different high-end beans and so forth, which makes sense because it's on brand with who they are and who they're continuing to want to be as a luxury brand. But to see them pushing a five dollar price point was fascinating, I thought what was equally fascinating is when I toured three stores only to discover that there is no POP in the stores; zero.
[00:03:01] Adam: We had some fun with the media that you saw on Sunday or Monday, but that was the big aha. I went into Starbucks today for another points challenge because I'm addicted to that game. I was looking around too knowing that you had seen all that media, which I haven't seen anything, but when I opened up the app walking into the store, there was a promo for that same offer. In the store, though, I didn't see any POP. The POP was still classic Starbucks, like high-end very brand–
[00:03:32] Dan: Yes, they were selling some latte [unintelligible 00:03:37]
[00:03:37] Adam: Yes, they have a new one that I can't pronounce either [Editor's note: It's called Cascara]. I'm not even going to try.
[00:03:40] Dan: Right. [laughs]
[00:03:42] Adam: They always have a new latte that they're pushing it seems like.
[00:03:46] Dan: I guess on the surface, I was startled because I thought, I wonder what's happening from sales perspective. What's the strategy behind this LTO if it's indeed an LTO? Is this something they're going to continuously push? But because they're going head to head with McDonald's obviously, and their huge push and huge success, I know Subway's now doing breakfast. BK is doing breakfast.
[00:04:20] Adam: Taco Bell.
[00:04:20] Dan: Jack in the Box
[00:04:21] Adam: Everybody now is getting into the breakfast day part. [crosstalk]
[00:04:23] Dan: Yes. So, I guess you could argue based on that, that maybe all those brands were beginning to erode-
[00:04:31] Adam: Do you think? That's my question.
[00:04:31] Dan: -traffic at Starbucks.
[00:04:33] Adam: It has to be a defensive move, right?
[00:04:36] Dan: Right.
[00:04:37] Adam: It has to be.
[00:04:37] Dan: Absolutely, yes.
[00:04:39] Adam: Because otherwise– that's the day part they've been trying to build off of. They closed down their wine test that they were doing. They just shut that down kind of overnight. They gave up on that evening day part, which it was a noble effort. I wouldn't have been surprised if they could've pulled it off, but maybe they're just retrenching about on their craveable core like we've discussed in the past.
[00:05:02] Dan: Yes. I should've ordered it, to be honest with you.
[00:05:05] Adam: Just to see what the experience was?
[00:05:06] Dan: Yes, see what the experience was and to see if they even– to see whether the staff, the barista even knew about it.
[00:05:16] Adam: If they knew it was an offer or a special or something worth talking about, or if they just wrung it up and gave you a microwave sandwich.
[00:05:21] Dan: Yes. I also wouldn't mind tasting it to see if it's– to see what the quality is behind it, too, because I have a– excuse me, I have a high expectation for quality there. Food's a risky business especially when you get it out of the package. I think they've done a good job with their packaged product that they have. You can pick up that snack box, obviously, the yogurts and some other things like that. But all over sudden when you're doing prepared items that are getting microwaved, you just want to go–
[00:05:56] Adam: It's not a good look. I don't order the food there for that reason. I see them unwrapping it and I see them putting it in a microwave and it doesn't feel like you're saying. It doesn't match my expectations of the high-end experience. I wonder how they're planning to address that going forward or if they– I guess it doesn't seem to bother them too much.
[00:06:17] Dan: Yes. It'll be interesting to see what they do. Clearly, there must be a traffic issue.
[00:06:23] Adam: It's got to be and to drive traffic to an item like food where they know there is a potential for a disconnect in the experience, that's pretty interesting move, but it's got to be a traffic and upsell move, right? Five-dollar combo?
[00:06:38] Dan: I guess, but think about this. Their margins on a latte are ridiculous, right? They've got to be.
[00:06:46] Adam: Right.
[00:06:46] Dan: So now all over sudden, your sending me to get a sandwich and we all know food and paper cost. Now, all of a sudden, you've got a whole another dynamic and food's so much more expensive and the margin on food is difficult and you're giving me a cup of coffee for five bucks. It's a interesting play all the way around.
[00:07:06] Adam: Well, yes. It was a tall coffee. When was the last time you ordered a small coffee anywhere? I don't think I've ever ordered a small coffee.
[00:07:15] Dan: Yes. No, I haven't either.
[00:07:17] Adam: So, you're upgrading that and contributing to the margin?
[00:07:20] Dan: You think maybe I'm getting that sandwich, but saying give me a Grande?
[00:07:24] Adam: Yes, or you're turning that coffee– I think that's a drip coffee. You're turning that into a chai or something fancy.
[00:07:29] Dan: Maybe.
[00:07:30] Adam: You're a fancy gentleman.
[00:07:31] Dan: I am very fancy.
[00:07:32] Adam: For sure.
[00:07:33] Dan: That's interesting, Adam. I never even thought about that. I wonder how they would price that. We ought to test that. I want that five-dollar special, but I want a Grande.
[00:07:44] Adam: I bet you that's what the baristas– if there's any training, that's what they're trained to do. You sure you want a tall?
[00:07:48] Dan: Yes.
[00:07:49] Adam: You sure you don't want a venti?
[00:07:50] Dan: Yes.
[00:07:51] Adam: Right? You sure you want a–?
[00:07:51] Dan: Or a Latte.
[00:07:52] Adam: Right, and just, "Cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching." Because when you think about the original brand promise, when you were introduced to Starbucks, you weren't introduced to it at a QSR level at all. It was this special experience. It was experience coffee.
[00:08:11] Dan: It's experiential.
[00:08:12] Adam: The coffee house experience.
[00:08:14] Dan: Right. The whole concept was to come on in, relax, as you pointed out in your article, get yourself a cup of coffee, sit down, relax, visit with friends, use their free wi-fi–
[00:08:26] Adam: Spend time.
[00:08:27] Dan: Yes.
[00:08:27] Adam: Spend time, but now the question that I'm asking is with– you start out with this exclusive experience. You start out with this perceived luxury where I feel like I'm treating myself. Now, we've moved so far towards mass acceptance. I mean, there are honestly places where– who we were just talking to that was telling us there was a place in Portland where there were three Starbucks on a four-corner street?
[00:08:52] Dan: Yes, exactly.
[00:08:55] Adam: They're so mass, it can't still be luxury. So, now when I see QSR messaging, I really get curious about what they're thinking about strategically inside there.
[00:09:06] Dan: Yes. I think that they're probably– there's got to be stress. There just has to be stress. The brands matured significantly. There's so much competition especially from the independents. Let's face it; the hipsters, the Millennials, they tend to really like to support local. There's about a push for local. American Express does that at the holiday [crosstalk]
[00:09:35] Adam: Yes, Small Business Saturdays.
[00:09:37] Dan: Small business. So, all of a sudden, there's a lot of push-back for a big massive chain like that and the ubiquity of it.
[00:09:46] Adam: Well, let's take that fork in the road. Would you expect then because I'm thinking of places locally around here like Cartel or other places here in Arizona, there's also Blue Bottle which is like a bigger chain. There's a lot of places that are more–
[00:10:02] Dan: Dutch Bros.
[00:10:03] Adam: Yes. They have a more local, cult feel to them than Starbucks, which is your mass brand, your McDonald's of the coffee industry. So, they have two choices; they can just say, "We're the guerrilla. We are the McDonald's of coffee, get on board. We're everywhere. You can't avoid us." Or they could try to figure out how to make themselves seem smaller. They could camouflage themselves as a smaller brand, but it seems like this is a very QSRy [Editor's note: QSRy is definitely not a word] offer.
[00:10:33] Dan: This is just saying, "We're the gorilla and we're going to keep going down this path and act that way." They might be winning or surviving, or thriving because we don't have their numbers, obviously, by sheer mass, by volume. Convenience is their big play today to your point about that Portland corner. Maria and I were in San Francisco and there was one directly across the street from the other.
[00:11:04] Adam: Right. Right, exactly.
[00:11:05] Dan: You see that a lot, especially in the major metros where there's a lot of walking. But all of a sudden, it really becomes– it's not a choice, it's a convenience. It's like when I set a meeting with somebody and they want to go have a cup of coffee, typically it's like, "Well, let's meet at that Starbucks at the corner of." So, it's just convenient.
[00:11:25] Adam: You almost could name any corner and there is actually a Starbucks there, whether you knew it or not.
[00:11:30] Dan: That's exactly right.
[00:11:31] Adam: I think that's true.
[00:11:32] Dan: That's exactly right.
[00:11:32] Adam: Well, do you think that's a negative? That it's so ubiquitous, that I say, "No, no let's go somewhere else. Let's go somewhere special. Let's go– meet me at this place. Meet me over here, or let's do something else."
[00:11:47] Dan: I know McDonald's doesn't exactly parallel this, however, McDonald's is just now eking themselves out of a long-term traffic problem they were having. They were convenience play, right? Because think about the sheer number of stores that they have.
[00:12:05] Adam: And locations. They're the A, A, A, real estate.
[00:12:08] Dan: Always, always.
[00:12:09] Adam: Easy on, easy off.
[00:12:10] Dan: They're upgrading all those locations, too, to make it easier for drive thru. So, they're really upping the convenience play there, but that's what I mean is that McDonald's got there, and now they've had to really reinvent themselves to win back customers. The breakfast day part was huge, a big play there. They're obviously doing variety things, but I wonder if they're not really damaging the brand with this strategy. It doesn't seem to make sense to me.
[00:12:42] Adam: Something's weird with both of those because McDonald's had great luck when they launched all day breakfast, but it's cooled off now they have a traffic problem again. That's kind of a relapse of a traffic problem, if you will.
As people adapted and said, "Okay, I've had an Egg McMuffin at 2:00PM. That's not interesting anymore." So, they're sort of probably retreating back to pushing breakfast at breakfast time, and Starbucks is saying, "No, no, no. We're going to– you gave up this spot, we're going to try to hold it."
[00:13:09] Dan: It's not a defensible competitive advantage, breakfast offerings.
[00:13:14] Adam: It's not.
[00:13:15] Dan: Everybody just followed suit.
[00:13:16] Adam: No, and you could go to–
[00:13:17] Dan: Boom, boom, boom.
[00:13:17] Adam: I can go to QuikTrip. I mean, you can get a pretty good breakfast almost anywhere. I mean, compared to a breakfast sandwich, it's not hard. So, it's–
[00:13:26] Dan: So, all of a sudden, they've got challenges that aren't familiar to them.
[00:13:33] Adam: Yes, I think so. So, trying to get into that QSR space for Starbucks is not familiar to them at all. I don't think it's familiar to their core customer. I think their customer, in general, has obviously grown up seeing that stuff, but the customer that they covet, I don't think is responding to that $5 offer.
[00:13:53] Dan: Right, because their core customer is that person who goes and gets that exact drink that they love, and get– you know, my ex-wife got the PITA, the pain in the– I called it the pain in the– yes.
[00:14:07] Adam: [laughs] Because you got that fancy drink and I need it shaken three times, and exactly 176 degrees.
[00:14:11] Dan: Exactly, and that's their core. Think about the people that come in and just– they have their white cup with the green circle on it, and it's the same thing they get every day, day in and day out. So, interesting play for sure.
[00:14:26] Adam: Well, they've been so successful at getting those people. With the way that they have leveraged that app to get people into, really into habitual visitation and going in and ordering that same thing. Now, it's like, "I hit one button, it orders me yesterday's order. I don't even have to think about it."
[00:14:44] Daniel: Is that right?
[00:14:44] Adam: Yes, it's amazing. It's fantastic.
[00:14:48] Dan: Yes, because you don't have to talk to the barista, that's why you like it. [laughs]
[00:14:50] Adam: I don't have to talk to anybody. I'm not very social. If you're listening, do not call me. You can leave me a voicemail, I guess.
[00:14:57] Dan: You know, one of the other things I want to talk about is related to this, just going back to the marketing. You know how much we hammer on the idea of craveable, right?
[00:15:08] Adam: Yes.
[00:15:09] Dan: That commercial, I didn't go, "Oh my gosh. I got to get that."
[00:15:14] Adam: I'm going to post the ad. I took a screenshot of it because actually I was a little bit put off. It looks like what you actually get, which is not how you do it. You've got to take some liberties when you're talking about food and make it look craveable.
[00:15:28] Dan: Yes, where's the cheese dripping off that thing or-
[00:15:30] Adam: Yes, it looks like it just came out of the microwave.
[00:15:31] Dan: -somebody consuming it, perhaps?
[00:15:34] Adam: Right. Maybe they're easy on the eyes, as well. Male or female, I don't care, but attractive to look at.
[00:15:40] Dan: It was none of that.
[00:15:42] Adam: Could it be a local offer that they're just [crosstalk]-
[00:15:45] Dan: Testing in Phoenix?
[00:15:46] Adam: -10 zip codes?
[00:15:48] Dan: That's a great point. I never thought about that, but maybe that's why there's no POP. Phoenix is a notorious test market for many, many brands, national brands.
[00:16:00] Adam: But we've seen it on TV. They're too sophisticated. They wouldn't miss that. It would be in the store if they wanted it in the store.
[00:16:08] Dan: They could be testing– maybe they're just testing the offer, see if it has any measurable impact on traffic.
[00:16:20] Adam: Yes, that's probably part of it. It's definitely an interesting move. But now, it looks like they are in QSR mode. Let's talk pricing. You brought up margins on coffee, and those margins used to be more ridiculous. Starbucks sort of hurt themselves by becoming so successful that the supply cost more money, so they cut their margins. I'm sure they do okay.
[00:16:44] Dan: I'm sure they do.
[00:16:46] Adam: But getting into that $5 game, and having like a meal offer, weird?
[00:16:52] Dan: Very, and dangerous. I think you said it. If the audiences tends to be a little more upscale and willing to spend that 3.50 to 5.50, whatever it costs to get their latte there, now all of a sudden you're telling me I can have a coffee and a sandwich for less than my latte cost?
[00:17:12] Adam: Right, yes. What about the brand perception? Their value prop is not– the word value doesn't belong anywhere near their value profits. You don't go in there to save money.
[00:17:27] Dan: No.
[00:17:27] Adam: Right? Like Subway, a $5-footlong? Let's go.
[00:17:28] Dan: You expect it. Right.
[00:17:31] Adam: Right? But I know what I'm getting into.
[00:17:33] Dan: You just put yourself on, I think, which is our point about this whole thing is you're now putting yourself on par in a competitive space with QSR, which is a male 18 to 24-year-old [laughs] audience in spades.
[00:17:44] Adam: Yes, it's not your audience.
[00:17:45] Dan: So, is that what you want? You want men 18 to 24 coming in the restaurant? I don't think so.
[00:17:52] Adam: Well, let's talk about the flip side of that because I hadn't thought about it until you just said that audience, that demo. Are you going to compare favorably? If I go to McDonald's and I get their coffee and whatever their breakfast sandwich is, and then I go to Starbucks the next day for five bucks, and I get their coffee which, in my opinion is better, and their sandwich, which probably isn't all that much worse, does that $5 feel like a deal at that point? Does that change perception?
[00:18:21] Dan: Think about this.
[00:18:22] Adam: But it's a small coffee versus a 20 ounce coffee at McDonald's, probably.
[00:18:25] Dan: Right, there's that, but then there's the experience. So, QSR is known for, what? Being quick.
[00:18:33] Adam: It's in the name.
[00:18:33] Dan: You could–
It's in the name. I'll give you three guesses. You can find yourself in a Starbucks and it's not quick, because depending on what time of day it is, if you're being driven in there for breakfast, it's going to be morning rush hour.
[00:18:50] Adam: I mean, prepare yourself to stand there and wait with this rush of online orders.
[00:18:54] Dan: Really? That's going to be an experience downfall for them-
[00:19:02] Adam: Great point.
[00:19:02] Dan: -if they drive traffic. So, if they do successfully drive a QSR– if they steal a QSR occasion, which appears they're trying to do, then that QSR customer is going to go, "What is this? This isn't–?"
[00:19:19] Adam: Right. I'm standing here waiting for 10 minutes for this thing to come out of the microwave. At least McDonald's has the courtesy to hide the microwave behind the–
There's nothing wrong with microwave breakfast sandwiches. We love them. It's delicious. Well yes, but I think that offer in particular tells me they're looking at the QSR model. The pricing tells me that. TV, as a medium, mass market, QSR model, I mean we're just talking about-
[00:19:50] Dan: A hundred percent.
[00:19:51] Adam: -Burger King, it's the number one driver for craveability, now they're on TV. What did the TV spot look like?
[00:19:58] Dan: You know, it felt a lot like that Instagram post. It was like a voiceover with–
[00:20:06] Adam: Solid green.
[00:20:07] Dan: Yes, the camera moved towards the sandwich and the coffee and five bucks.
[00:20:14] Adam: I'll find it on YouTube and try to post it with this, so people can see it and see what we're talking about here but–
[00:20:22] Dan: Obviously, the production quality was fine, but there was not a lot of thought put into how to position that sandwich.
[00:20:33] Adam: The food styling.
[00:20:34] Dan: You're right, and all of that. The audio wasn't something about the ingredients and–
[00:20:42] Adam: Was it just a straight up? Come in and get a five dollar–?
[00:20:46] Dan: What I remember. Keep in mind, I'd be careful because I did just see it one time and I probably [crosstalk]
But again, it wasn't– I think about what Carl's Jr. does with that burger and all the QSRs. They show off that food we call the food porn. There was no food porn going on here.
[00:21:10] Adam: Yes. They aren't trying to make it look like, "Just come in and get this deal. We have got to get rid of these sandwiches. They're going to go bad."
[00:21:15] Dan: [laughs] We got to get rid of these sandwiches.
[00:21:17] Adam: But what do you think of TV? You said earlier and I agree that when they've been on TV it's been more lofty. It's either been their packaged product or CPG kind of angle on Starbucks or brand. They've done holiday themed or like Frappuccino branding but they haven't done, "Here's your offer LTO stuff." That's it. They have the pricing. They have the offer and they have their on TV, the number one driver of craving, where are they going from here? Give me some prognostication.
[00:21:49] Dan: I think it's going to fail, and the reason is what I was just talking about earlier. We know that television is a highly effective medium. So, if TV proves out in this scenario and does drive that occasion, I think the experience is going to not live up to expectations in terms of wait time to get the product and so forth and how I have to order and the environment I'm in, too. I think it's flawed.
[00:22:25] Adam: So, if they get those people that they are trying to get–
[00:22:28] Dan: I don't think you're going to get it. I don't think you'll get the second occasion out of them.
[00:22:31] Adam: No, but I don't think you're going to win the Taco Bell audience that just defected from McDonalds and back again, and now back again, it's not going to Starbucks to try.
[00:22:42] Dan: No way.
[00:22:43] Adam: They have to deep fry the sandwich in I don't know, Frappuccino. I don't even know what kind of gimmickry they would have to do to get that audience.
[00:22:50] Dan: Yes. They'd have to wrap it in some kind of chicken fried goo or something like that [laughs].
[00:22:55] Adam: Well, so much of this stuff– chicken, yes that sandwich. So much of this seems about novelty and there's nothing novel about this, but it's also not sophisticated. It doesn't have the Starbucks like polish. Everything they do is really freaking polished.
[00:23:11] Dan: Everything.
[00:23:12] Adam: But this doesn't.
[00:23:13] Dan: Again, I couldn't pronounce the name of that latte because I went to three different stores and every store had that POP up promoting that new latte.
[00:23:22] Adam: Yes, you walk in and it hits your right there.
[00:23:23] Dan: Yes, it was on the door then it was right up above [crosstalk]
[00:23:26] Adam: It looks pretty good.
[00:23:27] Dan: It does.
[00:23:28] Adam: The appetite appeal on that is really well done.
[00:23:30] Dan: Right, right. But that's their core, right? That's what they do. That's what they do well. It looked high-end to me. I looked at it and said, "That's probably five bucks for one of those bad boys." More power to them if they sell those because five bucks for that probably has a hell of a lot more margin than five bucks for a tall and a sandwich.
[00:23:50] Adam: Yes. I'm not kidding. I just was at Sunoco filling up my car and they had an ad, an A-frame in the parking lot that said "Our New Breakfast Sandwich," and it looked better.
[00:24:03] Dan: Seriously?
[00:24:04] Adam: It looked better and I'm sure–
[00:24:04] Dan: Sunoco's got a better–? [laughs]
[00:24:05] Adam: It's like a roller dog. You know what I mean? It's an AMPM, it's not Sunoco, so I stand corrected. Still, though, the photography looked better. Not comparing the sandwich, the food product and the food product, or the experience. But just that food photo, I was like, "Hey, maybe I should go into AMPM and get the roller dog action here." But I didn't. I didn't look at it and think it looked terrible. Starbucks going– it just doesn't look like their brand.
[00:24:32] Dan: No. Again, it's very fascinating. It will be interesting to watch. Probably we'll be doing a follow up podcast on this.
[00:24:41] Adam: Yes, the stock price will be triple and it will be like, "Starbucks booming breakfast sandwich business." It could have been predicted.
[00:24:47] Dan: Stealing shares from all QSRs.
[00:24:51] Adam: You can almost put it in writing. It's going to happen. All right, well, I think we've covered this one. Thank you all for joining us. If you disagree, you're wrong, but if you want to try to debate and have some fun with this topic, we would definitely love to hear from you. You can find us on Twitter @F&RM or you can email us Dan@foodandrestaurantmarketing or adam@foodandrestaurantmarketing. Thanks for listening.
[00:25:16] Dan: As always, eat well.
Transcriptions by Go Transcript.


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Wonder Woman, Warner Brothers new action-adventure blockbuster based on the DC Comics superhero, earned over $100 million in its opening weekend in the US and Canada. Worldwide sales totaled over $225 million. The movie is getting a lot of attention. Not only does it feature a strong female lead role, a rarity in an action adventure movie, the weekend box office totals set a record for a female-directed feature film.
Director, Patty Jenkins' success with Wonder Woman has renewed conversation about how few female directors get hired in Hollywood.
Not only do women struggle to be taken seriously as would-be directors of male-driven pictures, they aren't even considered reasonable picks for female-driven dramas, comedies and fantasies. Both Sex and the City movies, all three Divergent films, all four Hunger Games movies and the majority of female-driven comedies you can think of offhand (The Other Woman, The Ugly Truth, etc.) were directed by men. Men are offered the presumption of competence regardless of experience. Women are considered a risk regardless of experience.
When they do get hired, their work is often measured by different standards than men. This has led directors like Ava DuVernay to hire female directors exclusively for her TV show Queen Sugar. Netflix's hit show, Jessica Jones, will do the same, with a different woman director for each episode in its second season.
The number of women making films and working in all facets of the movie industry is growing steadily. Organizations have appeared to help the women at various stages of their careers. Here is a listing of the best blogs offering a boost to women working in the film business.
New York Women in Film & Television
The preeminent entertainment industry association for women in New York, NYWIFT brings together over 2,200 women and men working both above and below the line. NYWIFT is part of a network of 40 Women In Film chapters worldwide, representing more than 10,000 members.
Women in Film and Video of Washington D.C.
Located in one of the country's leading non-fiction film production centers and at the center of federal, non-profit and non-governmental agencies, WIFV is uniquely positioned to offer its members unsurpassed continuing education offerings and connect them to professional opportunities across the globe.
Women In Film – Toronto
Women In Film & Television – Toronto accepts members who have made a commitment to work in the industry. WIFT-Toronto welcomes women of every race, ethnicity and ability and at every stage of work and life. Programs and activities are designed to meet the needs of women at every stage of their careers. Member events are entertaining, engaging, purposeful and rewarding.
[ Women in Film – Los Angeles ]
I couldn't find a blog here but WIF Los Angeles seems to be the home site for the Women In Film organization. This page has a listing of the WIF chapters in the US, Canada and around the world. Women In Film is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting equal opportunities for women, encouraging creative projects by women, and expanding and enhancing portrayals of women in all forms of global media.
Women And Hollywood
Hollywood is broken. Especially for women. Women and Hollywood blogs in a unique proactive style to engage filmgoers and filmmakers with news and information highlighting women filmmakers and agitates for increased opportunities for women. On a daily basis, Women and Hollywood sets the standard, defines the conversation, fuels coverage and reinforces messages throughout the specialized and mainstream media to call for gender parity.
Shit People Say to Women Directors
Often laugh-out-loud funny, this Tumblr site is an anonymous open blog for all individuals identifying as women who work in film & television. It's a crazy business, especially for women. Until now, we haven't had a platform to share some of the let's call them "unusual" things people have said to us while working. This is for catharsis and to expose some of the absurd barriers women face in the entertainment business. Open to all women in film. Please feel free to submit stories via the anonymous submission box. We'd love to share your story.
Women's Film Institute
Since it's founding in 2004 the Women's Film Institute (WFI) has a long history of amplifying the voices of women and girls. WFI is proud to support, promote, and celebrate women's voices. WFI is a powerful global network dedicated to women's leadership in the media and 21st-century storytelling. Subscribe to the WFI podcast and listen to informative, compelling and up close and personal conversations from a diverse selection of writers, directors, producers and content creators.
On October 21, 2016, the 75th anniversary of the first appearance of Wonder Woman, that character was designated by the United Nations as its Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls, a gesture intended to promote gender equality and empowerment of women and girls. In attendance to mark the occasion was director Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman actresses Gal Gadot and Lynda Carter, DC Entertainment President Diane Nelson, and U.N. Under-Secretary-General Cristina Gallach.
Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins, past credits include the crime drama Monster (2003), which she wrote and directed. Monster starred Charlize Theron in the role of serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a former prostitute executed in 2002 for killing six men.


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dymondy2k wrote:Chris.. the link to the downloads still says 'Gold in the Hills', even though the download is correct.
dymondy2k wrote:I think all the module intros should have a small synopsis below them.. give the reader a quick idea of what the module is about..
dymondy2k wrote:Taming The Flames
Two apprentices get in over their heads while their master was away, can the party set things right or will it all go up in flames.
Lost Tome:
In a mad sage's library lies a lost tome that could be the key to destroying a greater evil. The party is asked to retrieve it, but is unaware of the traps and even more dangerous things that lie in wait for them.
Anyways.. If you want to add these to mine feel free.
Users browsing this forum: Bluethomas and 3 guests


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This is a continuation of an introductory series exploring my study and application of Permaculture. You can find my other articles by visiting GHC's Site Index. All of these topics are discussed more deeply during our Workshops and Seminars.
If you've taken a look at my (lovely! beautiful!) little header graphic up there, you know my two second Permaculture pitch is, "Because Your Garden Should Work Harder Than You". I'm all about minimizing (human) effort while maximizing production.
Unfortunately, the first and biggest mistake usually made when planting a garden or fruit trees is throwing stuff willy-nilly all over the place. It's only through much site observation, critical thinking, insight discovery, and careful design that you can get nature working for you.
Until now we've talked about some Permaculture philosophy. There's more of that to come, but it's time we start putting the rubber to the road and actually get something done. Today we'll discuss what a Permaculture Zone Analysis is and how to create one for your landscape. The next post will walk you through a specific Zone Analysis I created for our five acre property.
Every home or site, when seen through a Permaculturist's filter, has six potential zones. In a perfect textbook world, they begin in the center of an area with Zone 0 (your house) and increase in number as they move further out from your home… looking like the above graphic.
How does one zone differ from another? … How do we define each? … Just remember to not get caught in the trap of thinking too much about "stuff" yet (i.e. tomatoes and chickens). This analysis is all about "where" and "why".
Permaculture Zones
Zone 0 – Area Inside Your House: Yes, the actual structure. There are lots of nooks and crannies inside a home for activities to make it more productive and resilient, both big and small. Sandwich sprouts on a windowsill, replacing chemical cleaners under the sink with natural options, passive solar design for a south facing wall, feeding a vermicompost bin in the pantry, introducing a grey water collection system, closing curtains during the hottest part of a blazing August day, etc, etc, etc.
Zone 1 – Area You Manage Aggressively: These are areas usually just outside your home that you visit practically everyday, either by design or necessity. That makes them easy to intensively manage. Most likely your Zone 1 areas will be filled with things you either want to harvest often, or elements that are needy and require regular care. Kitchen herbs just outside your back door, thirsty annual vegetables you can water near your garage after you pull in from work, fruit bushes lining the walk to your mailbox, and where my propane grill lives during the summer since I use it as often as possible… are all examples of potential Zone 1 areas.
Zone 2 – Area You Manage Often: These are areas you visit often, but perhaps not every day. Compost bin(s), annual and perennial beds that can thrive with a little independence, and a chicken coop (if you have your feeders and waterers designed correctly). Even though I visit my chickens and ducks every day to collect eggs, feed kitchen scraps, and laugh at their waddling… the reason I consider my poultry housing as a Zone 2 area is that they are designed so we could vacation for 7-10 days and the birds would be just fine without me.
Zone 3 – Area You Manage Rarely: These are areas you visit even less often than Zone 2. Beehives that get checked once a month, perennial shrubs and trees you prune, shape, and mulch every now and then.
Zone 4 – Area You Manage Very Rarely: Think of an established perennial food forest implementation where elements are designed so they can more or less take care of themselves. You'll go out once in awhile and harvest when something is ready, and a few times a year you'll chop down nutrient-dense "weeds" and drop them around your fruit trees for mulch and fertilizer.
Zone 5 – Area You Never Manage: This is untouched, native habitat where you go to observe and learn from natural patterns, maybe hunt and harvest wild game, and forage. More importantly, Zone 5 can also be home to many beneficial predators and other natural balancing acts that are crucial for a healthy sustainable system.
So those are the various zone we aim to discover around our property.
Of course, nothing ever looks picture perfect, does it? (Except maybe my abs.)
Instead of the beautifully spaced textbook graphic I created in the beginning of this post, our zone analysis probably looks very different due to property lines, other structures, and any number of other considerations. In fact, it's not mandatory that all six zones be represented for whatever reason.
So perhaps a more realistic theoretical graphic would look something like this:
And yes, I know that looks like something my three year old scratched out. I'm OK with it.
Stay tuned for next time where we walk through a specific, real world example of my home's Zone Analysis. (Update: You can read that Here.)
Question of the Day: Have you ever planted or established something that you later realized was in the "wrong" spot and it became a pain to manage? I know I have. Let's hear about it.


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People outside the field often wonder what sort of research philosophers do. Philosophical research involves reading, analysis, thinking, responding to arguments, and developing and defending original views. It sometimes involves the collection of empirical data, depending on the subject.
Some philosophers work on increasing our understanding of classical theories in the history of philosophy, and others make contributions to the current state of thinking in their specialties. Philosophical scholarship can explore theoretical issues, for instance: how we enumerate objects in the world, what constitutes a reason for action, whether we can make sense of human freedom in a world governed by the laws of physics, what it is to perceive color, and so on. It can also further the discussion on current practical debates, such as whether there should be legal restrictions on the use of drugs, whether climate change implies moral mandates, what (if anything) government should do for the impoverished, and many more.
Student Research
Philosophy students at William & Mary are engaged in their own research projects as Monroe Scholars, as independent researchers with Charles Center summer grants, and as students writing Honors theses. All of these student scholars work with at least one faculty adviser.
You can see a list of successfully defended honors theses in philosophy at the Charles Center website.
Current Faculty Research
The Department of Philosophy at William & Mary is filled with world-renowned scholars. To get an idea of what the philosophers here are working on, see the descriptions of faculty research interests and current projects on individual faculty profile pages. You can also see the covers of published faculty books, with links to descriptions, on our Department's homepage.


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The World's Top Happy and Sad Countries 2015
According to the 2105 World Happiness Index published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) under the United nations, Bangladesh is happier than its neighbour India.
First launched in 2102, the report looks at various factors such as income, corruption, generosity, health, social support, and freedom. The world's top five happiest countries are Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, and Canada.
Bangladesh ranked 81, ahead of India (117), but behind Pakistan (81). Places like Palestine (108), Ukraine (111), and Iraq (112) rank higher than India on the list.
The world's least happy countries are Togo, Burundi, Syria, Benin, and Rwanda. Since its launch, an increased number of governments are using this index to research and construct their policies.
More Ahmed Dawn Articles
Top Happy Countries
The CN Tower
Next Book: Credit Card Hacks
More Money Saving Tips
Bucket List Improves Life


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BJP pays tribute to senior leaders on Foundation Day
Celebrating its 34th Foundation Day, BJP's city wing honoured the party's senior leaders by including them in posters and pamphlets, alongside Modi
While it is evident that BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is the poster boy of the party this Lok Sabha elections, recent banners and pamphlets also sported images of senior leaders who played a vital role in building the party.
On the occasion of the party's 34th foundation day yesterday, the BJP's city wing took the opportunity to pay tribute to top brass leaders — AB Vajpayee, LK Advani, Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj.
Making space: Party workers displayed banners sporting images of its top brass leaders, along with Narendra Modi on the occasion of its Foundation Day
After receiving much flak from the Congress and other parties for giving undue prominence to Modi over other senior leaders, attempts were made to change this. This was also done to silence speculations of there being any rifts within the party.
Party workers distributed pamphlets among voters with images of its experienced leaders and also of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, showing that all is well with the BJP and Shiv Sena.
BJP's Foundation Day celebrations saw a countrywide 'Ghar Chalo' campaign to reach out to the voters in various constituencies. Back home, the party's city wing claimed to distribute 10 lakh pamphlets while campaigning for their party.
Expressing gratitude
The concept of the pamphlets was the brainchild of three party leaders including former standing committee chairman Ganesh Bidkar, the party's western Maharashtra spokesperson Shripad Dhekane and party worker Rajesh Pande.
Regarding their sudden urge to include senior party workers in the campaign, Dhekane said, "It was our way of expressing gratitude to these senior leaders."
He added that although the party was prominently riding on the Modi wave, party workers were also committed to other senior leaders. Putting the differences with the Sena aside, Bal Thackeray's image was also displayed on the pamphlets.
"Bal Thackeray is still being worshipped in Maharashtra, so his image was must," added Dhekane.
Cong slams BJP
For the last few months, the party has received flak from the Congress and NCP for keeping the party's senior force out of the limelight.
In a recently held public rally in the city, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, lashed out at Modi for undermining senior leaders to acquire the prime minister's post. The Congress and NCP leaders even went on record saying that they felt sorry for former PM Vajpayee, who has disappeared from BJP's posters and pamphlets.
Responding to these comments, Dhekane added, "This is not true. We are still committed to the message that was declared 34 years ago on the party's foundation day by Atalji and would follow it."


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The Summer Leadership ProjectThe Summer Leadership Project Internship (SLP) is an invaluable youth leadership opportunity for young scholars and activists (middle school through college) sponsored by the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN).
It takes place every summer in Detroit, Michigan from June to July. Students from across the country participate in intensive political education and field work training in education and social justice. The young people who complete this program become better prepared to lead today's new civil rights movement, thus learning history by making history.Summer Leadership Project alumni have gone on to successful academic careers (undergraduate, graduate, and law schools) at competitive and prestigious universities such as UC Berkeley and UCLA, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, and Harvard.
"Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education." –Martin Luther King, Jr.
Youth scholars study primary sources, including speeches and essays by historic civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Frederick Douglass, and W.E.B. Du Bois. Students take daily seminar classes and workshops where they examine the history of mass, egalitarian movements, from the Abolitionists to the present day. They also conduct hands-on training to learn how to organize grass-roots movements in the interest of public education, integration, and immigrant rights.
International Curriculum and Scholars
The Summer Leadership Project has always had an international studies component. This summer, because more and more students throughout the world are leading movements for democracy and freedom, the leadership project will include an unprecedented number of international student leaders, including representatives from Uganda, Rwanda, Turkey, Central America, and China .
International youth leaders will exchange political lessons with American youth who have been leading local, statewide, and national movements for public education and civil rights.Sign up now for the Summer Leadership Project!
Costs include transportation ($500) and food. Housing will be provided. Scholarships will be available for students who need financial support.Contact usFor more information on BAMN's Summer Leadership Project (SLP), contact BAMN using the comment form below.
Stay updated on BAMN's Events!


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The technology could see application in at least a half dozen production vehicles for 2015-2016, the French supplier says.
Valeo's electric supercharger.
SOUTHFIELD, MI – Auto makers worldwide are beginning to sign on the dotted line for Valeo's new electric supercharger, the French supplier says.
The technology, acquired from U.K.-based developer Controlled Power Technologies 11 months ago, could see application in at least a half dozen production vehicles in 2015-2016, executives say here in a demonstration to the media of a European Volkswagen Passat equipped with the electric blower.
Valeo says the device, which is designed to provide a low-end power boost to help launch conventional vehicles equipped with fuel-saving stop/start technology, can work with turbocharged gasoline and diesel engines, as well as naturally aspirated powerplants.
The supplier says it has development programs under way with all three types of powertrains.
The main drivers in the technology's emerging popularity are tightening carbon-dioxide-emissions and fuel-economy regulations forcing auto makers to downsize engines by as much as 40% or 50%, says Pierre-Emmanuel Strohl, director-marketing for Valeo.
In many cases, vehicle engineers are using exhaust-driven turbocharging to boost output in these new smaller-displacement engines.
But turbo lag, the delay between when a driver increases pressure on the accelerator and power is delivered, will become more pronounced "as the power output of the engines goes down and small engines are used in very large cars," Strohl says, putting drivability and customer satisfaction at risk.
The Valeo supercharger would provide that extra off-the-line punch. And because it is electrically driven, it doesn't need to draw power from the engine to work, as do conventional superchargers. That makes the technology more fuel- and emissions-efficient, and it also is less expensive than such other solutions as 2-stage turbocharging or mild-hybrid powertrains, Strohl says.
Valeo currently has test programs with 10 auto makers for applications with turbocharged gasoline engines, he says. As many as three of those could hit the market in the 2015-2016 timeframe.
Strohl doesn't say where the technology will debut first, but he indicates it will be either with a European or Asian OEM. In July, Valeo said the first production use would be on a European sports car with a 4-cyl. engine, with the second application a mass-market downsized 3- or 4-cyl. powerplant.
Test programs are in place with six auto makers covering turbodiesel applications, with up to two production programs expected in 2015-2016. Three OEs are considering the supercharger for naturally aspirated engines, one of which could appear on the market in that same timeframe.
Planned applications cover vehicles with both conventional 12V electrical systems and 48V architectures, which some auto makers are beginning to eye for later in the decade.
Strohl doesn't reveal precise volumes for any of the production programs but notes Valeo "is a volume manufacturer. For us, volume manufacturing typically starts with 100,000 (units) annually and goes to the millions."
The supplier also believes it has the market to itself for now on the basis of its technology patents and exclusive contract for the device's switched-reluctance motor.
Installed on the LC Super Hybrid project car offered for test drives here, the Valeo supercharger adds enough noticeable torque to the crankshaft to take the drama out of launching from a dead stop with the engine off.
Its advanced electric motor spools up the supercharger to 70,000 rpm in just 350 milliseconds to provide a boost at about 1,000-2,000 rpm engine speed, after which point the car's turbocharger can take over if additional power is needed.
The LC Super Hybrid, a Passat equipped with VW's 1.4L turbocharged gasoline 4-cyl., was developed by a consortium of companies, including CPT, which provided the advanced stop/start system that also uses a switched-reluctance motor; Exide, whose advanced lead-acid batteries supply the electricity; and engineering specialists AVL.
Test data compiled by AVL suggests the added technology boosts output of the 1.4L by 24 hp and 55 lb.-ft. (75 Nm) of torque, knocking a full 2.4 seconds off the car's 0-62 mph (100 km/h) acceleration time while improving U.S. city/highway fuel economy by 2. 1 mpg (0.9 km/L).
That puts the engine on a performance par with VW's bigger 1.8L turbocharged 4-cyl., but with an 8 mpg (3.4 km/L) mileage improvement, AVL says.


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Archive: (4 Stories)
Health overhaul debate snags Senate pharmacy bill
11/11/2013 3:19pmA year after a meningitis outbreak from contaminated pain injections killed at least 64 people and sickened hundreds, Congress is ready to increase federal oversight over compounding pharmacies that custom-mix medications.
Washington governor signs Boeing incentive bills
11/11/2013 4:48pmGov. Jay Inslee gave final approval Monday to a package of tax breaks for Boeing Co. in hopes of landing the company's new 777X, signing legislation at Seattle's Museum of Flight at Boeing Field.
Automatic spending cuts would bite more in 2014
11/11/2013 5:24pmIt's not just longstanding battles over taxes and curbing mandatory spending that are obstacles to a year-end pact on the budget. Another problem is a perception among some lawmakers that the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration haven't been as harsh as advertised.
Health care law could be liability for Democrats
11/11/2013 6:20pmRep. Patrick Murphy had been a cautious defender of President Barack Obama's health care law for much of the last year, telling constituents in his swing-voting district that the far-from-perfect measure is critical to helping cover uninsured Americans.


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Skip to comments.Oprah Winfrey: Wealth Is 'A Good Thing'
Posted on 04/11/2006 7:46:00 PM PDT by Lurking in Kansas
...Winfrey, 52, who is reportedly worth more than $1 billion, said she doesn't feel guilty about her wealth. "I was coming back from Africa on one of my trips," she said. "I had taken one of my wealthy friends with me. She said, 'Don't you just feel guilty? Don't you just feel terrible?' I said, 'No, I don't. I do not know how me being destitute is going to help them.' Then I said when we got home, 'I'm going home to sleep on my Pratesi sheets right now and I'll feel good about it.' "
(Excerpt) Read more at people.aol.com ...
"I guess none of her money is spent on a PR person/publicist to advise her what to say in magazines."
You'd think she'd have that down by now. It won't matter. If you or I had said such a thing we'd be run out of town on a rail.
That is your response? LOL Okay whatever.
Thats great. But it doesnt buy her much with me.
I still cant stand this woman. She built her little empire on trash TV for years. She shills her new age garbage latest shrink of the week "book club" for the unthinking daytime TV boneheads who put every title she deems Oprah approved on the best sellers list.
You have presidential candidates blubbering on her show for approval and playing kissy face, praying that her viewers will vote for them.
ugh again
I don't get it either...Oprah is a commie? She's invested in board games?
Proof positive America is a truly great place. Where else in the world can a black, female liberal get filthy rich and not feel guilty about it? I don't agree with you very often, Ms. Winfrey, but I think you have personified the American dream better than most. God bless you and I am proud you are an American.
Well I think she does both and is proud of the later. One of her projects in Africa is building schools to educate poor girls.
I don't understand it at all. Some people just hate Oprah. I guess it's convenient to bring up AA becaus she's black. That's a bitter jealous person's way out.
Ratings produced a billionaire.
Like her or not, her product is perfectly tuned to her market.
Oprah. I guess it's convenient to bring up AA becaus she's black...
She's a drunk? She goes to AA meetings? Oh, she's gets drunk and plays board games...with real money.
No, really, I think Okrah is an AA queen, and if you saw her early appearances you'd agree, I suspect. But then, any celebrity on the idiot box, Regis Philbin or whoever, is suspect, when you consider their intellectual depth and their negligible talent, so it may be unfair to single out this woman.
LOL!!!! Okay on that note I'm going to sleep hehehehe.
Like her or not, her product is perfectly tuned to her market.
Yeah, there's a lot of drunk, communist board game players out there. More than you'd think!
Who are you fooling...you're gonna get drunk and play board games!
*chuckle* . . . *cough*
I get the impression you may be jealous of people like Oprah and Regis. I remember Oprah from the earliest days and no I don't think she's an affirmative action queen. She's a hardworking woman and that's all there is to it. She's made a billion doing something that she likes to do which I'm sure angers a lot of people.
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