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Features Award-Winning Magicians Derek DelGaudio and Helder GuimarŃes
Directed by Neil Patrick Harris
Opens November 27, 2012
LOS ANGELES, October 29, 2012 Ś Earlier this year, an unlikely series of events led two of the worldÆs most gifted sleight-of-hand artists, Derek DelGaudio (2011 Close-Up Magician of the Year) and Helder GuimarŃes (2011 Parlour Magician of the Year), to share a stage. Fresh from sold-out performances at the Magic Castle, DelGaudio and GuimarŃes have joined forces with director Neil Patrick Harris to presentNothing to Hide, a unique and unprecedented theatrical event. Abandoning the antiquated notions of a traditional magic show, Nothing to Hide takes the audience on an imaginary journey through a series of diverse and engaging vignettes brought to life solely from the words and hands of the two masterful magicians.
"I dare say, watching Derek and Helder perform together was one of the most amazing, confounding, and magical nights of my life,ö said director Neil Patrick Harris. ōI knew after seeing the reaction from Magic Castle guests and magicians alike that I needed to bring their show to a larger audience. I suspect it will be a tough ticket to get and those that do will have their minds utterly blown."
Nothing to Hide, which will have special late night performances on Fridays and Saturdays throughout the run, opens in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse on November 27, 2012 and runs through January 6, 2013. Please see below for full performance schedule and artist bios.
Nothing to Hide kicks-off the Geffen PlayhouseÆs new Spotlight Series. Based on the success of past events ranging from Alan CummingÆs I Bought a Blue Car Today to Ricky JayÆs 52 Assistants and concerts from Sergio Mendes to Rita Wilson, the Geffen is creating this special series which will provide access to exclusive events including cabarets, readings, magic acts and concerts. Unlike our regular season, Spotlight events will vary in length, format and lead-time, but similar to our traditional season, they will always bring something entertaining, noteworthy and world-class to our audiences.
The Geffen Playhouse will also be partnering with the Keyes for Kids Toy Drive to help bring gifts into the lives of children in need, primarily through the Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission and Normandie Recreation Center. The Geffen Playhouse is encouraging all patrons who are attending the event to bring a new unwrapped toy.
Created by Derek DelGaudio and Helder GuimarŃes
Written by Derek DelGaudio
Directed by Neil Patrick Harris
Opening Night: Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Closing Night: Sunday, January 6, 2013
Production Credits
Magic Choreography Helder GuimarŃes
Artistic Director Glenn Kaino
Lighting Designer Adam Blumenthal
Production Designer Dave Spafford
Music by Pedro Marques
Production Stage Manager Young Ji
Performance Schedule
Monday No performances
Tuesday ¢ Thursday 8:00pm
Friday, Saturday 8:00pm; 10:30pm
Sunday 7:00pm
Ticket Info
Ticket prices currently range from $64 to $149. Tickets are available in-person at the Geffen Playhouse box office, via phone at 310-208-5454 or online at www.geffenplayhouse.org.
DEREK DELGAUDIO (Performer)
Derek DelGaudio is a Los Angeles based artist and magician whose work ranges from intimate and conceptual sleights of hand to grand-scale public interventions. He co-founded the experimental performance art duo, A.Bandit, with artist Glenn Kaino in 2010. Since then, A.Bandit has staged its psycho-spatial interventions at Soho House in Los Angeles, Art L.A. Contemporary in Santa Monica, LA><ART Annex in Hollywood and at The Kitchen in New York. Derek createdThe [Space] Between, a conceptual magic shop as a platform for situation-specific projects, and as result of this and other groundbreaking interdisciplinary work, in 2011, the Conjuring Arts Research Center appointed DelGaudio their Director of Contemporary Conjuring. More recently, he received critical praise for184 Seconds, a conceptual magic performance, and in 2012, the Academy of Magical Arts named him Close-up Magician of the Year. DelGaudio has also written and created for notable magicians including xxxxx xxx and XXXXXXXXXX XXXX.
HELDER GUIMARÃES (Performer)
In 2006, at the age of just 23, Helder became the youngest ever World Champion of Card Magic. He was awarded the title after his performance in a triennial competition left both the judging panel and over a thousand other performers utterly baffled. Since then he has used his background in acting and theatre to create, perform in and tour three one-man-shows Ś The No-Show Show, This is Not Normal and Incomplete. Helder has also worked as a magic consultant for several TV projects including The Tonight Show, as well as theatrical productions such as PinterÆs The Dumb Waiter, and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. He is also the author of Reflections, a book for professional conjurers. Helder's work has been widely recognized by his peers; most recently, he was awarded the title of Parlor Magician of the Year by The Academy of Magical Arts, Hollywood.
NEIL PATRICK HARRIS(Director)
Most recently Harris directed a production of Jonathan LarsonÆs Pulitzer Prize winning Rent at the Hollywood Bowl. Additional credits include The Expert at the Card Table, which he directed both at the Broad Stage Theater and at the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and I Am Grock at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood. Harris has performed in numerous stage, television and film productions. He currently stars as Barney Stinson on the hit CBS sitcom, How I Met Your Mother, a role which has garnered him multiple Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominations, as well as a People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy Actor. Harris is the President of the Academy of Magical Arts at the Magic Castle.
The Geffen Playhouse has been a hub of the Los Angeles theater scene since opening its doors in 1995. Noted for its intimacy and celebrated for its world-renowned mix of classic and contemporary plays, provocative new works and second productions, the Geffen Playhouse continues to present a body of work that has garnered national recognition. Named in honor of entertainment mogul and philanthropist David Geffen, who made the initial donation to the theater, the company was founded by Gilbert Cates, and is currently helmed by Artistic Director Randall Arney, Managing Director Ken Novice, General Manager Behnaz Ataee, Chief Development Officer Regina Miller and Chairman of the Board Frank Mancuso. Proudly associated with UCLA, the Geffen Playhouse welcomes an audience of more than 130,000 each year, and maintains an extensive education and outreach program, designed to engage young people and the community at large in the arts. For more information, please visit geffenplayhouse.org.


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Kihei Caffe | Breakfast & Lunch on Maui | 1945 South Kihei Road, Kihei, HI 96753 | (808) 879-2230
|"You just can't go wrong at Kihei Caffe.
Even if you're thinking of a very normal breakfast like bacon and eggs, you can't get anything non-extraordinary here. The bacon is thick and chewy and you get memorable potatoes. You're eggs will be cooked perfectly, and they'll be those pasteurized-in-the-shell eggs, too. On the other hand, if you're anything like me, you'll love all of that, but you'll walk away singing the praises of the biscuits.
If you haven't already fallen in love with Kihei Caffe, it just means you haven't discovered it. Go soon. Go with friends 'cause you'll be sitting by the sidewalk right across from Kalama Park. (And… that means people to talk about, think about, enjoy making up stories about. Is it just me, or is that fun?)"
- Joseph W. Bean, The Maui Weekly
Copyright © 2009 Kihei Caffe. All Rights Reserved. Web design by Tradewind Graphics

subset: commoncrawl


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'I've always had love affairs through music," says Jorja Fleezanis. She's speaking, as she's wont to do, with her whole body; her home studio, lined with scores and LPs, is too small to contain her energy. Her eyes gleam. "You don't have to actualize such things. But there are wonderful people in the world, people you're drawn to. They supply you with something, and you give something back."
Concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra, Fleezanis (whose given name is pronounced "Georgia") has been giving prodigiously to local audiences for nearly two decades. She is one of this region's most formidable and most beloved artists.
Ask other musicians about her and their answers are strikingly consistent. "She's an overwhelming artistic force, a constructive whirlwind," says Basil Reeve, the Minnesota Orchestra's principal oboe and a longtime Fleezanis colleague. "She's one of the great translators of musical feeling into sound. And she's not hampered by an outrageous ego."
Fleezanis appears often with the orchestra as soloist; in recent seasons she's been featured in music by Bernstein and Vivaldi, Alban Berg and Kurt Weill. Twin Cities concertgoers, however, have yet to hear her in one of the great romantic violin concertos -- which alone would make this week's performances of Edward Elgar's 1910 concerto, conducted by former music director Neville Marriner, an event.
But Elgar's concerto, written at the zenith of his career, is one of a kind -- and one that Fleezanis seems predestined to perform. "It's an exciting and tender music, like nothing else I've ever played," says the violinist, who's not shy about seeing the world through the lens of gender. "It has that swagger I love about him, that sense of a culture [Edwardian England] based on grandness. In that way, it's grossly masculine. But then, in its quietest moments, it's incredibly feminine."
(Fleezanis finds a similar duality in her "animated" violin, made in 1700 by Venetian master Matteo Goffriller -- she calls it "Matt" -- and donated to the Minnesota Orchestra in 2003 for her use. "It has a feisty female voice," she laughs, "but it's not without male hormones -- or an Italian sizzle.")
A few years older than Elgar was when he was writing his concerto, Fleezanis, 56, has been in no hurry to play it. "The piece asks for subtlety of judgment and a sense of proportion," she says. "I can't imagine having done it before now." She first performed it in early February with an enterprising orchestra in Pendleton, Ore., in what amounted to an out-of-town tryout for this week's concerts. "I was flying in Oregon," she recalls.
Detroit: Growing up musical
Fleezanis' musical odyssey began in Detroit, a city she still feels close to. (She shows me, without having to hunt for it, a black-and-white photo of her childhood home, which burned in the 1967 riots.) Her father emigrated from Greece; her mother was born in the United States to Greek immigrant parents. Though neither of them was musically trained, music and dancing were habitual at family gatherings.
Fleezanis grew up with the violin. Her mother loved its sound; her brother started lessons around the time Jorja was born. When he quit, at 16, his instrument was passed to her. She was 8.
She began studying with Ara Zerounian, an intensely devoted public-school music teacher who knew how to nurture talent. Now in his mid-80s, he's the only teacher Fleezanis names in her bio: "I call him every year on his birthday and say that without him none of us would have gotten past the first book." She quickly produces another old photo, this of her Detroit classmates, and ticks off their accomplishments: "She's in the Boston Symphony. This guy's concertmaster in Utah. This guy, who I was madly in love with, is principal viola of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. And here am I," she goes on, "somber because my mother wouldn't buy me nylons and I had to wear socks."
For her ninth or 10th birthday, Fleezanis was given an LP that still occupies a place of honor in her studio: a recording of Vienna-born Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962), one of the greatest of violinists, and perhaps the most endearing. There was one cut she replayed endlessly, an arrangement of Debussy's "The Girl With the Flaxen Hair."
"Something about Kreisler's vibrato and portamento [string slides] penetrated deep into that place that opens up when you're listening to music -- call it your heart, or your soul," says Fleezanis, still visibly under the old violinist's spell. "His playing said, 'I won't hurt you; I'm here to bring magic into your life.' No matter how tense or blue I was, I would listen to 'The Girl With the Flaxen Hair' and melt."
Elgar's Violin Concerto was dedicated to Kreisler, who gave the premiere with the composer conducting. And there's a passage of "naive, vulnerable innocence" in the concerto that reminds Fleezanis of "The Girl With the Flaxen Hair."
Along with the dedication to Kreisler, Elgar's score bears a more enigmatic inscription: "Here is enshrined the soul of. ... " Most biographers believe the ellipses refer to Alice Stuart Wortley -- daughter of a pre-Raphaelite painter, wife of a member of Parliament -- who for a time was Elgar's muse. He called her "Windflower," and associated her with several touching themes in the concerto. This was Elgar's own "love affair through music," and it finds in Fleezanis an empathic interpreter. "The music is bound up with Elgar's confused, clandestine inner life," she says. "But fine for us -- many of us live there."
Minnesota Orchestra: recruited by De Waart
Fast-forward now, past Fleezanis' studies at the Interlochen Arts Academy, the Cleveland Institute of Music and finally the Cincinnati Conservatory, where her Old World teacher thought women incapable of his analytic approach to music. Past her single, "miserable" year in the Chicago Symphony. ("Boy, did I have high ideals," she recalls.) Past a four-year stint as concertmaster of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, which she founded with her conductor/boyfriend. (I lose count of her ex-boyfriends in the course of our talk.)
In 1980 she landed a one-year contract with the San Francisco Symphony. The next year, after working "bloody hard" for the audition, she became that orchestra's associate concertmaster under music director Edo de Waart, who liked the uninhibited physicality of her playing. She also met and married critic and essayist Michael Steinberg, then employed as the San Francisco orchestra's program annotator.
De Waart decamped to the Minnesota Orchestra in 1986, and in '89 he recruited Fleezanis to fill the concertmaster's chair in Minneapolis. "I was looking for someone who maybe wouldn't win a contest for playing the most notes per second, but who had a deep understanding and love of music," says the Dutch-born conductor, reached at his home in Wisconsin. "Jorja was ideal for the job."
"She's a tremendously hard worker," continues de Waart, who becomes an artistic partner of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in the 2010-11 season. "She has great wisdom and humanity, great curiosity about what makes music and people tick. And she can approach a piece freshly, from the ground up."
Settling in Edina, Fleezanis and Steinberg soon became mainstays of the local scene -- the Twin Cities' foremost musical power couple. "Jorja's contribution to the community has been immeasurable," says Reeve, the oboist. Shortly after her arrival, she began teaching at the University of Minnesota. The orchestra commissioned new works for her, including an acclaimed concerto by John Adams. Three years ago, she and Steinberg joined the migration to downtown, moving to a spacious apartment near the new Guthrie.
Fast-forward again, to last month. Steinberg, who will turn 80 in October, undergoes emergency surgery. (He's now recovering at home.) Fleezanis, meanwhile, is in the throes of preparing the Elgar.
"I feel this whole piece is very wrapped up in Michael," she says. "Maybe I was meant to play it now," she muses, citing a long history of major performances that have coincided with life-changing events. "It's coming on the heels of something very traumatic. I'll probably cry -- I'm in a crying mood these days."
Already imbued with one love affair, Elgar's score is now freighted with another.
Fragile, fugitive music
The crux of the concerto comes in its final movement, in an unvirtuosic, gently accompanied cadenza for the soloist. Fleezanis' words capture its sound: "There's this unearthly strumming that's going on in the orchestra, over which the violin floats, as if it's having an out-of-body experience."
The cadenza is largely about memory; Fleezanis compares it to an old attic trunk, full of ghosts. As Elgar put it, the violin "sadly thinks over the first movement." This is fragile, fugitive music, but it seems safe in Fleezanis' hands. As the old photos in her studio make plain, memory is a Fleezanis specialty. The past, for her, is anything but dim. When she speaks of family members and teachers and boyfriends, they're in the room; describing them, she toggles between past and present tenses. It's hard to imagine a deeper affinity between performer and performed.
"Orchestra Hall, where you can play very softly, will be a gratifying space for the Elgar," says Fleezanis, looking toward her concerts this week. "And I know my colleagues will be with me."
Larry Fuchsberg writes frequently about music.


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Evaluation in Botanic Gardens—Luxury or Necessity?
Number 21 - December 2000
E. Beckmann
Why is evaluation important in botanic gardens? Essentially, for the same reasons that evaluation is important to any agency; because it answers questions such as 'What about ...?', 'What would happen if ...?' , 'Would this work?', 'How can we make this better?' and 'Did it work?'. Most importantly, evaluation is the only key to the most important question of all; 'If we don't know where we've been and where we're going, how will we know when we get there?'
So why do many botanic gardens, especially the smaller ones, regard formal evaluation as a luxury, to be engaged in only rarely, if at all? And why is even informal evaluation (for example, acting on verbal feedback from visitors) sometimes considered unnecessary (Beckmann 1988; Sutherland 1996)?
What Does Evaluation Involve?
At its most basic level, evaluation involves the collection of information; the analysis of this information in context; the reporting of both the results and their implications; and, arising directly from those implications, recommendations for action. In botanic gardens, evaluation is especially important in ensuring that educational and recreational facilities and services meet visitors' needs as well as management objectives.
Most commonly, because it is relatively easy to collect, evaluation data is number-based or quantitative (i.e. statistically documented), giving rise to indicators such as visitor numbers and satisfaction ratings. But even such simple visitor information, such as numbers and origins, can provide useful planning information. For example, the 87 hectare Kebun Raya Bogor (Bogor Botanic Garden, Indonesia) had more than 1.3 million visitors in 1995, with a weekly average of more than 25 000 people (KRI 2000). Most of these visitors, more than 1.26 million annually, were Indonesians on day trips from Jakarta. The remaining 61 000 were international tourists, about half from The Netherlands.
While this kind of information is very basic in terms of evaluation, it can be extremely useful in helping managers prioritise visitors' needs. Even such simple statistics may help determine the need for internationally-recognised symbols or multi-language labels, show whether more emphasis should be given to the expectations of local visitors rather than international ones, or indicate the potential for user-pay guided tours in specific languages. Collecting reliable visitor statistics is thus the very first step in an effective visitor research and evaluation program that feeds into master planning processes.
The next step involves awareness of trends and patterns in visitation. Again using the Bogor example, Sundays in 1995 were the busiest days of the week, averaging 15 000 visitors, but on national holidays visitation could easily reach 40 000 (KRI 2000). Awareness of such trends has major implications for decisions related to site hardening, staffing, security and interpretation.
Of course, visitation trends in outdoor environments are prone to the impacts of weather, on both a daily and a seasonal basis. At the Holden Arboretum (Mentor, Ohio, USA), long-range planning in the late 1980s included investigating seasonal differences in visitor populations. The findings showed substantial differences: in Winter, for example, about 80% of visitors were Arboretum members, with few people visiting for the first time, while in Summer and Fall more than half the visitors were non-members, with many being new to the arboretum (Hood 1988).
However, quantitative detail alone rarely provides all the clues needed in an evaluation puzzle. The missing information, about staff and visitor perceptions, values, attitudes, needs and affective (emotional) responses, is the qualitative data that comes from people giving their opinions and responses in their own words. Most effective are mixed method evaluations, which combine quantitative and qualitative techniques. Also vital, however, is the timing and context of the evaluation, as this determines the kind of information collected and the uses to which it can be put, as described in the next section.
Types of Evaluation
Audience research is an essential component of most evaluation, because it must be the visitors, the audience, who are the ultimate judges of the effectiveness of botanic garden facilities and services. Understanding who these visitors are and what they are like, their needs, motivations, expectations, attitudes and recreational behaviours, is therefore a key preparation for effective planning and implementation. For example, understanding visitors' motivations and expectations (why they come and what they expect to see, find and do) makes it easier to provide appropriate facilities and services. But each botanic garden must understand its own audience. Do residents in urban areas visit gardens for the same reasons as people from rural areas (Bennett 1995)? Do visitors expect the same from a botanic garden in a capital city as they do from one in a small town? How important are cultural differences in visitors' motivations and interests? Should a botanic garden be satisfied with mostly local visitors or should it market itself to a broader visitor population? What environmental and horticultural messages are appropriate for different gardens and different visitor populations?
Front-end evaluation answers the early 'What about ...?' and 'What would happen if ...?' planning questions, allowing preliminary ideas to be discussed by the kind of people most likely to be affected by them. For example, the manager of a regional botanic garden may wonder whether to continue maintaining a display of exotic international species. Front-end evaluation would enable broad exploration of this idea with people who would be affected by such a decision, from the horticulturalists and volunteer guides to the regular visitors and local schools. Understanding the likely reactions of all the stakeholders before significant decisions are made, or major costs incurred, can prevent much heartache, recriminations or expensive errors.
Formative evaluation, or trialling, answers the 'Will it work?' planning questions by testing specific services with their specific audiences. For example, an educational worksheet for 6 to 10 year olds may have been designed for visiting school groups. Formative evaluation would mean testing the worksheet with such visitors, to ensure that the language is appropriate, that the children understand the directions to different parts of the gardens, and that the content is interesting. When formative evaluation is included in the development of new facilities or programs, problems can be detected early, before 50 000 copies of a guidebook are printed, or expensive signs are finalised, or four-hour guided tours are scheduled. Mistakes rectified during trialling leave few scars, but when there is no trialling mistakes can prove very costly and embarrassing. Even big structures or facilities can and should be trialled, at least in model format (consider the recent embarrassment in my own city where a new airport 'Welcome to ...' sign was built facing away from the airport, so that it was readable only by people when they were departing the city!).
Remedial evaluation, or monitoring, answers the 'How can we make this better?' questions, enabling existing facilities and services to be kept at their peak of effectiveness. Whether considering the cleanliness of toilets, the value-for-money of an entry fee, the ease with which visitors can find and read plant labels, or the effectiveness of an interpretive sign in communicating an environmental message, the aim of remedial evaluation is to find out whether something is meeting its intended objectives, and if not, how to fix it so that it does. Time is therefore an important component in remedial evaluation; the monitoring must occur frequently and take little time, the results must be available shortly thereafter, and the implications of the results must be able to be acted upon very quickly.
Finally, summative evaluation provides the answers to 'Did it work?' At the end of a specific exhibition in the visitor centre, or of a 'Dance in the Gardens' program, or of a special childrens' summer guided tour program, it is valuable to analyse in detail the relevant objectives, achievements, costs, profits, and feedback from staff and visitors. On the basis of such an evaluation, for example, a botanic garden might decide to run a specific program again only if outside sponsorship can be obtained to defray costs; or to take on twice as many guides next summer because demand outstripped supply; or to put more emphasis into the environmental education program because visitors showed little interest in the photography course.
Considering the Context
Naturally, these evaluation processes must occur in context. For example, anyone considering seasonal visitation in a botanic garden must consider the impact of the growth and flowering habits of the garden's plants and habitats. Peaks of visitation may occur at any time, even winter, if a particular species or habitat attracts attention at that time. In the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra, for example, the Rainforest Gully is always extremely popular in summer, not only because of its natural beauty and interesting species, but also because it provides a wonderfully cool respite from the dry summer heat (often above 35ºC) being experienced elsewhere in the gardens. Awareness of such effects allows interpretive programmers in botanic gardens to capitalise on normal human behaviour by scheduling guided tours at appropriate times and places.
Audience research often feeds into front-end evaluation. For example, the Holden Arboretum study showed that specific organised activities (such as hiking or bird watching) were of interest only to specific visitor groups in certain seasons, with most visitors preferring to learn about plants 'casually' (Hood 1988). This understanding came from using standard visitor survey methods, with 569 visitors providing information on their demographic attributes (age, gender, marital status, education, occupation and residence) as well as psychographic characteristics (attitudes, values, opinions, expectations, and levels of satisfaction with different aspects of the visit). Having this range of data allowed Hood (1988) to examine links between specific demographic attributes and visitors' motivations in visiting the arboretum, especially in terms of Hood's previous research which had identified six important aspects of leisure activities (being with people, doing something worthwhile, feeling comfortable, having a challenge, learning, and participating actively).
Awareness of the value of detailed audience research for master planning prompted a year-long systematic visitor survey at the Chicago Botanic Garden (CBG, owned by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County), the USA's second most visited botanic garden. More than 2000 adult visitors provided information on their visit frequency and motivations, interest in special events and interpretive programming, perceptions of the garden, knowledge of plants, interest in gardening, and other leisure pursuits (Hood & Roberts 1994). In this case, respondents' age proved a useful distinguishing attribute. Visitors aged more than 55 (about 40% of the CBG audience) preferred audiovisual presentations, tour guides, and staff members to answer questions, and tended to be more interested in structured programming. Conversely, visitors aged 18 to 34 (about 20% of the CBG audience) liked the family discovery activities and hands-on exhibits, but tended to be seeking a casual (unprogrammed) experience. The CBG used their visitor data to establish audience and programming priorities, and decided to target the younger audience by developing programming and spaces for family groups (Hood & Roberts 1994).
Balancing Your Findings with Your Mission
It is important to remember that the results of audience research must always be considered by botanic garden managers in the light of their own goals, as indicated by two examples.
At Otari Native Botanic Garden (Wellington, New Zealand), a survey in Summer 1995 found that most people visited because they enjoyed walking in the bush (66%), having opportunities for relaxation and tranquillity (55%), walking their dog (28%), physical exercise (28%) and picnicking (12%). About one third of those surveyed were first-time visitors, but a similar proportion were very frequent users, visiting at least once every two weeks. Most visitors came at weekends, and about a quarter were accompanied by children. While almost a fifth of the visitors were essentially neighbours of the botanic garden, living within 300 metres, overseas visitors were also represented in small numbers. Word of mouth was clearly the most important influence in attracting people to Otari, and visitors were generally very satisfied with the facilities, although they wanted more plant labelling.
Here then is a typical visitor profile for a 'community' botanic garden, where the recreational needs of the local clientele are dominant and largely satisfied. Should the managers sit back complacently? What about the garden's communication role? Although the survey showed that 82% of visitors were aware of Otari's special role in the cultivation and preservation of New Zealand's native plants, the findings about visitors' communication needs were unclear; 48% of visitors wanted to know more about the collections, but 52% did not. How should these findings be considered? In the Otari case, even though the 'majority' of visitors wanted no more information, the evidence was clear that at least half the visitors would be potentially receptive to additional interpretation. By using formative evaluation techniques to investigate the precise kinds of information wanted, and by creating effective interpretation suited to the community profile, the managers could work to communicate more subtle messages about native plant conservation without affecting Otari's primary popularity as a recreational area.
The second example illustrates a common use for audience research; to help identify new services or facilities that will meet visitor needs that are currently unrecognised by the gardens' managers. When 209 visitors at Albury Botanic Gardens (New South Wales, Australia) were asked what other facilities they wanted, about 36% identified 'picnic tables'.
At first, this appeared to be a relatively simple and inexpensive facility to provide to increase visitor satisfaction. However, the Albury managers asked themselves whether providing picnic tables was consistent with retaining the essential character and purpose of the Albury Botanic Gardens. Picnic tables would introduce a new element into the lawn areas that could easily result in visual clutter, as well as reducing the effectiveness of the lawns as a flat and open contrast to the rich textures of the garden beds and the vertical accents of the feature trees. The movements of visitors around tables would increase lawn wear, as well as making mowing and maintenance more difficult. While bench seating and lawn picnics had always been a feature of the relatively historic gardens (established in the late nineteenth century), tables were not part of this historic character, nor part of the tradition of other Australian botanic gardens of a similar age. Visitors who really wanted picnic tables could find them readily available in a park very close to the Gardens. Taking all these factors into consideration, the Albury managers decided not to provide picnic tables within the Botanic Gardens themselves, regardless of their visitors' apparent desires.
When audience research or evaluation identifies an apparent clash of visitor and management expectations, the most effective outcome is either to meet visitors' expectations (for example, by providing the required service) or to explain why the service is not being provided. Visitors at Albury will no doubt be more than happy to remain without picnic tables as long as the reasoning is explained (most appropriately through on-site interpretation).
Evaluation on a Smaller Scale
While broadscale audience research and evaluation are essential, sometimes what is needed is the evaluation of an individual style of communication or programming. For example, many botanic gardens use interpretive signs or brochures to help visitors understand more about relevant plants, habitats, horticultural, environmental or cultural issues. Usually, such signs or leaflets are 'self-guiding', in the sense that they act as a major, if not the only, form of communication between the visitor and the staff. Obviously the way in which such signs or leaflets are presented, their graphic design, colour, language, writing style, use of pictures or diagrams etc., are crucial to the effectiveness of communication with the audience. Evaluation can help in these specific cases as well. While there is already much useful general research on communication techniques, it is often important to re-examine these findings with specific audiences, topics or design styles. This is especially important when a botanic garden is producing a Sign Manual or Publication Guidelines to establish precise standards for aspects such as font size and type, colours, writing style and other design elements.
Again in the Chicago Botanical Garden, Korn (1988) studied the effectiveness of self-guided interpretive brochures in the Japanese Garden. Effectiveness was measured by how much visitors increased their knowledge ('learning') about Japanese gardens. Adult visitors were given either a 'declarative-style' brochure (providing statements of facts) or an inquiry-style brochure (encouraging visitors to ask questions and find out answers for themselves, for example by careful observation), or not given any brochure at all (the 'control' group). While visitors who had been given a brochure learned significantly more than those who had not, the type of brochure appeared to have no significant impact on the level of learning even though similar research in indoor museum settings had shown that people learn more from inquiry-style interpretive text. Korn (1988) argued that outdoor learning environments such as botanic gardens accommodated a broader range of visitor expectations and learning behaviours because of the more diffuse recreational focus.
Evaluation Techniques
The techniques of evaluation are many and varied, and include counting or observing visitors, interviewing visitors or staff (in either structured or unstructured ways), or asking visitors to fill in questionnaires. Both quantitative and qualitative information can be collected in these ways. Mock-ups or models may be used to stimulate visitor involvement. In front-end and formative evaluation, focus groups are often used. This involves up to twelve people with similar interests or backgrounds being brought together for about two hours, to explore the relevant issue or proposed service under the guidance of an experienced facilitator. Here the collected information is qualitative, emphasising perceptions, feelings, motivations, desires, opinions and attitudes.
Cost should not be an issue in remedial evaluation, which requires keen detective work more than fancy evaluation techniques. Being dedicated to continual improvement, as staff look for clues in visitors' behaviour and comments, and being humble enough always to respond to those clues, is really what makes evaluation effective. In high-cost consumer research, for example, the corporate clients view their focus groups through one-way mirrors or closed-circuit TV, with sessions recorded on video. But the benefits of focus groups need not be forsaken by those with more limited budgets, the crucial elements are: the focus (what exactly is being discussed?), the non-judgemental nature of the discussion (an individual's perceptions and opinions are valid and should be noted, even when they are not shared by others), and the effective neutrality of the facilitator (whose aim is to help the group address all aspects of the topic, not support any specific response).
There are many reasons why evaluation should be an essential and integral feature of the practices in botanic gardens, and many ways in which it can be implemented for minimal cost. But there is no recipe or magic formula that will work in every case. Quantitative and qualitative methods all have their advantages and disadvantages when it comes to designing, implementing, reporting or using evaluation studies (for detailed discussion see evaluation texts such as Miller 1991; Rossi & Freeman 1993). The challenge is to find a judicious balance in each situation, and to recognise that every little clue is important: informal conversations with visitors, noticing the shortcuts when paths go the 'wrong way', and observing how children use the gardens are all forms of evaluation. Whatever your budget, whatever your situation, don't just think about evaluation—do it!
Beckmann, E.A. (1988) Interpretation in Australia—Some Examples outside National Parks. Australian Parks and Recreation 24 (3): 8-12.
Bennett, E. S. (1995) The Psychological Benefits of Public Gardens for Urban Residents. Master's thesis, Longwood Graduate Program, University of Delaware, USA.
Hood, M.G. (1988) Arboretum visitor profiles as defined by the four seasons in Bitgood, S., Roper, J.T. & Benefield, A. (eds) Visitor Studies 1988: Theory, Research and Practice. Jacksonville, Alabama, USA: The Center for Social Design.
Hood, M. G. & Roberts, L.C. (1994) Neither too young or too old: A comparison of visitor characteristics. Curator, 37(1) 36-45.
KRI—Kebun Raya Indonesia website; http://www.bogor.indo.net.id/kri/news.htm as accessed 3.9.00.
Korn, R. (1988) Self-guiding Brochures: An Evaluation. Curator, 31(1) 9-19.
Miller, D. C. (1991) Handbook of Research Design and Social Measurement. Thousand Oaks Sage Publications.
Rossi, P. H. & Freeman, H.E. (1993) Evaluation: A Systematic Approach. Newbury Park, Sage Publications.
Sutherland, L. A. (1996) Interpretation and Visitor Services: An Evaluation of Policies and Practices in Australia's Botanic Gardens. Master of Applied Science thesis, Charles Sturt University, New South Wales, Australia.
L'évaluation Dans Les Jardins Botaniques - Luxe ou Nécessité?
L'évaluation pose des questions telles que 'que se passerait-il si...?', 'est-ce que cela peut marcher?' et 'comment améliorer'? Les résultats de l'évaluation permettent de répondre à la question la plus importante qui est 'si nous ne savons pas où nous étions et où nous allons, comment pouvons-nous savoir où nous sommes?'
A la base, une évaluation consiste à collecter des informations, les analyser dans leur contexte, faire un compte rendu des résultats et de leur implication et en déduire des recommandations pour agir. Dans les jardins botaniques, l'évaluation est particulièrement importante pour s'assurer que les aménagements éducatifs et récréatifs et les services correspondent aux attentes des visiteurs autant qu'aux objectifs des responsables.
L'évaluation peut permettre aux responsables du jardin de classer par ordre d'importance les principales attentes des visiteurs à partir de l'étude des fluctuations des visites. De plus, les informations qualitatives sur les perceptions des responsables et des visiteurs, les valeurs, les attitudes , les besoins et les réactions affectives (émotionnelles) sont des éléments clé à connaître pour le développement et la mise en place efficaces des projets. Il existe plusieurs types d'évaluation : l'évaluation de départ, formative, de remédiation et sommative. Les techniques utilisées sont nombreuses et variées, depuis les questionnaires, entretiens avec des visiteurs et les responsables, le décompte et l'observation des visiteurs jusqu'aux conversations informelles avec les visiteurs et l'observation de la façon dont les enfants utilisent le jardin. Le défi pour les jardins botaniques est de trouver la meilleure technique d'évaluation quelle que soit le budget et la situation. L'évaluation, ne faites pas qu'y penser, faites la!
La Evaluacion en los Jardines Botanicos – Lujo o Necesidad?
La evaluacion le encuentra respuesta a las preguntas como : '¿Y si …?' '¿Que pasaria si…?', '¿Funcionaria eso?' y ¿'Como podria hacerse mejor?' Aun mas importante, los resultados de una evaluacion le dan la respuesta a la pregunta mas importante de todos, '¿Si no sabemos de donde venimos ni adonde vamos, como vamos a saber si hemos llegado?'
A nivel elemental, la evaluacion se trata de recoger informacion; analizar esta informacioin en su contexcto, reportar tanto los resultados como sus implicaciones, y, como resultado directo de estas implicaciones, sacar recomendaciones para las actuaciones. En los jardines botanicos, la evaluacion es especialmente importante en asegurarse que las facilidades y los servicios educativos y recreativos estan conformes con las necesidades de los visitantes y a la vez con los objectivos de la direccion.
La evaluacion puede ayudar al personal del jardin botanico a priorizar las necesidades de los visitantes, al investigar tal informacion cuantitaviva como las preferencias y los patrones de las visitas. Ademas, el investigar la information cualitativa sobre las percepciones, valores, actitudes, necesidades y reacciones afectivas del personal y los visitantes contribuye una informacion clave para la eficacia en la planificacion y en la implementacion. Hay varias maneras de evaluar, inlcuyendo la evaluacion desde el frente, la formativa, la remedial, y la anadida. Las tecnicas utilizadas son muchas y variadas, desde los cuestionarios a los visitantes, las entrevistas con estos y con el personal, el contar y observar los visitantes, las conversaciones informales y el observar como los ninos utilizan el jardin. El desafio para los jardines botanicos es el de como identificar la mejor tecnica de evaluacion para cada situacion especifica sea cual sea el presupuesto, sea cual sea la situacion. No pienses sobre la evaluacion – ¡hazlo!


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Course Fees
- The total level of fees is £3,395, or £3,100 with the Advance Payment Option. This is payable as detailed below.
- The fees include all elements of the course (tuition, course materials, assessments, supervised teaching with our teacher network, one day of student workshops, Awarding Body registration), but please read the Terms and Conditions at the bottom of this page.
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Registration Fee £ 250.00
This is payable upon confirmation of your place on a course. Your place is not guaranteed until this payment is made.
Please see the Terms and Conditions below.
Thereafter, your tuition fees are payable in three instalments:Intensive Course:
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Discounted Course Fees for Advance Payment:
£2,850.00 (saving £295)
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After having paid your Registration Fee, your balance is reduced to £2,850.00 providing that this is made in one payment. This must be cleared a minimum of six weeks before your course start date. Please allow at least 2 working days for your payment to be processed and cleared. A detailed Schedule of Fees is published for each course.
All cheques to be made payable please to 'Body Control Pilates'. Please call 020 7636 8900 if you wish to pay by credit or debit card.
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Please note that in the case of early retirement from the course, or of failure to attend the course once confirmation of a place has been given by Body Control Pilates Education Limited and accepted by the student, all previously paid fees are non-refundable. Where a student has pre-paid course fees in full under the 'Advance Payment Scheme', fees are non-refundable if the student fails to attend the course without reasonable prior notification. In the case of early retirement during the tuition modules of the course a pro-rata refund will be considered for 'Advance Payment' students. Administration fees will apply.
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You've heard children and teenagers complain of boredom. And the phrase, boredom is simply a lack of imagination, is a familiar one. Pet birds suffer from boredom and depend on your imagination and creativity to keep their environment interesting and stimulating.
A bored bird often exhibits behavior many would classify as "bad" behavior. Feather plucking, destructive chewing, aggressive behavior and excessive vocalization are all manifestations of boredom. Boredom is not the only cause of these behaviors but it should always be considered as a possibility.
Rotate toys and Redecorate
Consider your individual circumstances. If your bird spends much of its day inside its cage or home alone, make its cage a stimulating and interesting place to be. Provide many different types of toys. Foraging toys cause your bird to spend time problem solving. Hanging toys provide exercise and stimulation. Toys, such as a Boing, allow swinging and bouncing while maneuvering around interesting shapes. Be sure your bird has plenty of chewing or shredding toys to occupy their busy beaks. To further prevent birdie boredom, rotate toys, rearrange perches and toys monthly, in essence creating a new environment for your bird each month.
Although a well-appointed cage does provide some measure of entertainment for your feathered friend, it is no substitute for personal interaction. Birds are flock animals and require flock interaction for their mental well-being. In the wild, birds spend their entire life interacting within the flock. Since you are your bird's flock, you must provide the interaction it needs by spending time daily. Some ways you can spend quality time would be trick training, clicker training and behavior training. Even if you don't have large blocks of time to spend on intensive training, your bird enjoys simply hanging-out with you. Share your breakfast together; allow your bird to sit on your shoulder for some head scratching while you check your e-mail or watch television. If it's unsafe for your bird to be out of the cage, while you're cooking or washing dishes for example, call to your bird from another room, this is flock behavior they really enjoy.
Play Gyms
Play gyms provide a mobile extension to your bird's habitat. They come in all shapes and sizes providing a flexible extension to your environment. Some are made to sit on top of your bird's cage. Very large tree-like versions provide a more natural experience for your bird. Play gyms on wheels allow you to move your bird to where you are, such as near you while you work on the computer or on your favorite hobby. Natural woods provide a comfortable foot feel and chewing media for your bird. Some people devote entire rooms as playrooms for their birds, building elaborate structures to entertain their feathered family members for hours.
Put thought and consideration into your pet bird's environment to effectively combat birdie boredom. These enrichments will also create a stronger bond between you and your feathered friend as you build a bird friendly habitat within your home.


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Monday, May 17, 2010
Back to the usual schedule
How are you? I returned yesterday from my trip and this week I'll resume my usual schedule. I have a few things to catch up today and I am also working on my reviews of China Miéville's "Kraken" and the issue 15 of Black Static magazine, both of them will be posted this week. It is good to be home :)
5 comments:
- Magemanda said...
Welcome back, Mihai - we missed you :-)
- May 17, 2010 at 1:06 PM
- Val said...
Welcome back. Looking forward to the Kraken review, it's a book I'm considering reading myself at some point. Although I probably should read the other Mieville books on the to read stack first ;)
- May 17, 2010 at 1:10 PM
- Mihai (Dark Wolf) said...
Thanks Amanda, it is good to be back :)
Thank you, Val. I need to look for some more China Mieville, because I am in love with his writing now :D
- May 17, 2010 at 5:55 PM
- ediFanoB said...
Welcome back Mihai. Today I received my copy of KRAKEN. Now I look forward to your KRAKEN review.
I still try to cope with reading, blogging, family and work (too many unexpected and unpaid extra hours).
- May 19, 2010 at 12:26 AM
- Mihai (Dark Wolf) said...
Michael, thank you. Indeed life works this way, keeping us very busy :)
- May 19, 2010 at 2:43 PM
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text: COLLECTIONS The Library holds the greatest collection in the world of material relating to Australia and the Australian people. It ranges from the earliest European works about the Great Southern Land to the most current publications. The collection includes all formats of material, from books and magazines to pictures, photographs, maps, sheet music, oral history recordings, manuscript papers, ephemera and much, much more!


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Mark9 needed a new other design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 21 designs submitted by 8 freelance designers.
I drew a sketch that represents a fun way to explain what our software does. We want to have this turned into an illustration for our website at http://www.socialmatica.com.
I will put no restrictions on the style at this point but will make regular comments when design directions are posted.
The target audience will be marketing professionals trying to understand how our software works.
final delivery should be in adobe illustrator format.
would love to see some creative thinking here. use these as examples: http://www.xplane.com/portfolio/wor…&postid=44


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Einstein is a participant in the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) which is part of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). To be eligible for consideration to Einstein, applicants must complete the AMCAS application which is web-based and available at http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas by October 15 of the year that they make their application.
All supporting documentation must be received no later than December 31 (December 1 for Medical Scientist Training Program applicants). (Applicants who have completed two prior applications to Einstein are ineligible for consideration.)
All applicants must wait to receive an e-mail directly from the admissions office prior to submitting a Secondary application; otherwise their application will be withdrawn from further consideration and they will be charged the processing fee, if paid at the time of application.
Each medical school is assigned an AMCAS school code. The Einstein School Code for AMCAS is 120.
Applicants will be assigned an AAMC identification number at the time of application. This number will be used throughout the years of undergraduate and graduate medical education. Applicants will be asked to supply their AAMC I.D. number on the Einstein secondary application.
Applicants should maintain their contact information with AMCAS directly. Mailing addresses, e-mail addresses and telephone numbers should be updated as needed.
Einstein will communicate with applicants via e-mail; the exception is a letter of acceptance. It is important therefore, that applicants be aware that if their e-mail provider is filtering multiple (bulk) mailings ("SPAM/JUNK MAIL"), settings need to be revised to receive all e-mails coming from an address with @einstein.yu.edu.
For further information and guidance, applicants should visit the Association of American Medical Colleges website at: http://www.aamc.org/students/applying/start.htm
AMCAS applications are verified by AMCAS and then downloaded to Einstein. That process can take up to 6 weeks, and applicants should stay in contact with AMCAS to make sure that all transcripts have been received.
After Einstein receives the AMCAS application, it can take up to an additional 6 weeks for us to complete, especially depending on the month AMCAS downloads the application. For instance, approximately half of our applications (4000) for the year are downloaded by July 15. The completion of files depends on a few things such as how early AMCAS applications are sent to us, when letters of recommendation are uploaded to the AMCAS Letter Writer Service, when the Secondary application is completed, and when MCATs are taken.
Once files are completed by the Office of Admissions, they are released to the Admissions Committee for preliminary review. The Admissions Office sends interview invitations on average once a month beginning in August and ending in March. Scheduling of interviews is done via an auto-scheduler and applicants may choose their preferred date depending on availability. Preliminary rejection emails are sent beginning in March. Acceptance notifications are mailed beginning February 1. Applicants may send updates only after interview, not after notice that the application has been completed.


text: William Cracket, coal miner, died at Broomhill, East Chevington on 23 April 1860. I believe this William to be my great granduncle, born in Lowick in 1840 to my great great grandparents William Cracket and Elisabeth Tait. William had suffered from consumption for several months. The informant on the death certificate is William Cracket of Broomhill, East Chevington, who I am assuming to be his Dad.


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A Bloody Business, Murder
A team of FBI profilers flies to Washington to help crack a murdering spree in the Olympic Peninsula, where an unsub is targeting young female brunettes. Meanwhile, Edward, Bella and the rest of the Cullens are preparing for the wedding. What happens when these two parties meet? Twilight/ Criminal Minds Crossover
General Disclaminer: I own nothing. Not Twilight, or Criminal Minds. I just read the books, and watch the movie and TV show
1. Chapter 1
Rating 5/5 Word Count 706 Review this Chapter
Port Angeles, Washington
Nothing is quiet on the streets on Port Angeles this night. Cars drive through the quaint tourist trap town, some stopping at the beach, others parking at the many restaurants through the town.
Among the patrons of one such hotel, a young brunette woman sips wine in front of a bar, eying a man sitting two seats down. She is slim, with shoulder-length nut-brown hair. She is wearing a black tank top beneath a matching zip-up sweater and shape-fitting dark jeans.
She manages to catch the eyes of the man, who is wearing a white tee shirt, blue jeans and tennis shoes. He smiles at her, and slides over to her. She holds out her hand, inviting him to take it. He does, whispering something in her ear. She smiles.
OOOOOO ooooooo OOOOOOO
BAU HQ, home of the Quantico FBI profiling team
A young woman with black hair brings up photographs on a computer screen broadcasting to the whole room. Sitting around a conference table are four men, and another woman.
"Jordan Austin," Emily Prentiss begins, pointing to a picture of the brunette woman from the bar. "Age 21, resident of Port Angeles, Washington. Was propositioned by a man in a local bar, and left with him at about 1:30. She wasn't seen again until two days later."
She pulls up another picture, this one of the same woman in a black zip-up, tank top and jeans. The woman is curled up on the floor, her brown hair wet and matted. A large pool of blood surrounds her body.
"Time of death was estimated at about 6:00 am yesterday." An older man sitting at the table replied, staring down at his notes. David Rossi had a short growth of dark, gray-streaked hair around his mouth and under his nose.
Another man, young and tan, also glanced at his notes. "What do you think this guy's motive was," he asked the table at large.
A third man, also young looking, with long brown hair, dressed in a tie and waistcoat, shrugged. "Perhaps he's had a bad encounter with women, Morgan."
"So he takes his aggression out on female victims, Dr. Reid?" asked a fourth man. His hair was dark, and slicked back, making him look severe. As his team talks, Aaron Hotchner's pale face stared at the dead woman onscreen.
"Looks that way, Hotch," said Derek Morgan, the man who had spoken earlier. Next to Morgan, Dr. Spencer Reid, his neighbor, shuffles through his notes, apparently thinking of something else to say. Meanwhile, the other woman, a blonde, turned to the first woman, apparently confused.
"Emily, how many people has this unsub gone after?" She asked'
"Derek's about to find that out, JJ," Emily said as Morgan pressed the conference button on a phone in the middle of the table.
"Hellooo, Derek!" a woman's voice sings through the intercom.
"Penny," Derek said, a slight grin on his face. "We were just talking about the Olympic Unsub. Can you give us a current victim number?"
"Way ahead of you, Sweet Cheeks!" Penelope Garcia says through the speakerphone. A short interlude of computer keys typing away follows the happy greeting before Garcia begins talking again.
"First victim is Angel Knight, 20. She was found in a dumpster in Seattle." More computer keys follows Garcia's announcement. "Second victim was Bailey Smith, 22, also found in a dumpster in Tacoma. Then our killer moves to the west, into the peninsula."
"Is there an epicenter," Aaron Hotchner asks, "A place where we can stay so we can catch this unsub before he strikes again."
"Give me a sec, Hotch," Garcia said. Another interlude of dancing computer keys reaches the team's ears before Penelope speaks again.
"Does size matter?" She asks.
"No, Penelope," Reid replies, "Just location."
"Okay," Garcia said. "So I cross-referenced a few cities in the Olympic Peninsula that are about an hour away from Port Angeles. I came up with just one that would be good for us. Location is perfect, but it's a bit small. However, the place boasts a good police force…."
"Where?" Aaron Hotchner asks.
"… Not to mention some great doctors and surgeons."
"Where, Garcia?"
"Forks, Washington."
- Author
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CARQUEST Auto Parts
CARQUEST Auto Parts is the premier supplier of replacement products, accessories, supplies and equipment for virtually all makes of automobiles, as well as light and heavy-duty trucks, off-road equipment, buses, recreational vehicles and agricultural equipment. Additionally, we distribute and sell tools, equipment, chemicals, paint and accessories. At CARQUEST Auto Parts we provide unparalleled customer service, innovation and industry leadership at nearly 3,000 store locations throughout North America.
From family friendly trips with kid friendly activities to local plumbers lawyers, spas, and contractors. Judy's Book has millions of listings and reviews for the best and not so great. Whether you're looking for a specific business or just trying to discover great places we make it easy. We're a family oriented site focusing on bringing trusted reviews and recommendations to moms and others. Green and Sustainable places are becoming more relevant to Judy's Book users, have a favorite place? Write a review and tell users why it's Green!


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Skort for girls in stretch cotton
Scuderia Ferrari Store Exclusive
This new Scuderia Ferrari skirt for girls with hidden shorts is original and easy to wear.
A combination of a "skirt" and "shorts", this skort is a fun new garment that blends the aesthetics of the skirt and the practicality of shorts. Under the flap of the skirt, a pair of shorts the same length are hidden. Made of cool stretch cotton, this innovative garment is one of the new Scuderia Ferrari items for girls for Spring/Summer 2018. The striped rib knit waistband features comfortable elastic. The drawstring cord is made of silk and matches the Shield printed with a special high-density technique.
- Elastic waist
- High density printed Shield
- Composition: 95% Cotton, 5% Elastane
We offer both Standard and Express shipping: choose the service that best meets your needs at checkout.
We provide an easy return service: just ship your items back to us with a shipping service of your choice within 30 days of delivery.


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As if Friday's weaker-than-expected jobs numbers weren't enough bad economic news, a new survey by Glassdoor shows more U.S. workers lost confidence in the first quarter, with nearly one in five employees growing concerned that layoffs could be in the cards for them over the next six months.
Continue Reading Below
The report comes as American employers hired at the slowest pace in nine months in March, with the economy adding just 88,000 jobs, according to the Labor Department, below economists' forecasts of a 200,000 rise.
About 25% of employees, or a quarter of the 1,107 people surveyed who identified themselves as employed, think it is unlikely they'll be able to find a job in the next six months that matches their experience and current compensation should they lose their current job.
Roughly 31% of the 947 poll participants who claimed to be unemployed said they are less optimistic they'll be able to find a job of the same caliber of their previous job, down six points from last quarter.
The study, conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf Glassdoor, a jobs ratings and reviews company, polled a total of 2,054 adults in the U.S. from March 20-22.
The pessimism regarding layoffs and re-hiring come despite the fact that 45% (498 people) of polled employees believe their company's business outlook will improve over the next six months.
"While employees are hopeful for the future of their company's business outlook, they remain cautious as to how that optimism will impact their financial stability," said Rusty Rueff, Glassdoor's career and workplace expert in a statement, who previously ran global human resource departments at both Electronics Arts (NYSE:EA) and PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP).
As a result, he said, today's workforce is feeling "increasing productivity pressure."
Nearly one in three currently-employed respondents reported cutbacks at their organization last quarter, according to the poll. Of those, more than half said cutbacks were related to changes in compensation or reductions in pay, up four points from the fourth quarter.
Only 10% of working respondents reported positive news over the past six months.
External factors, such as the monthly unemployment numbers and broad fiscal problems, can weigh on confidence. Roughly 36% of the unemployed (341 people) in the Glassdoor study said they are influenced by the jobs numbers, while 17% of employees (188 people) say they are likely to be influenced by layoff news and rumors.
British banking giant HSBC (NYSE:HBC), for example, was reported last month to be nearing plans to cut another 5,000 jobs as part of a multi-billion dollar annual savings plan. Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA), looking to streamline, said in February it would slash about 1% of its workforce, and a Reuters report on Friday speculated that media conglomerate Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) could start a new round of layoffs within the next two weeks.
Confidence has slid off over the past year after reaching a three-year high last July in Glassdoor's quarterly survey. Since then, employees and job seekers have been hit with disappointing fiscal issues in the U.S. and Europe, with the fiscal cliff and sequester prompting employers and consumers to cut back their spending.
The disappointing March job numbers signal continued sluggish growth despite recent improvements in consumer confidence and housing starts. The stock market hit record highs last quarter, however broader economic news continue to weigh on hiring prospects.
While unemployment edged a point lower to 7.6%, economists warn the improvement could have been more a reflection of people giving up hope and ending their job search than an actual recovery.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 150 points in early trading Friday following the labor numbers.


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(St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. – Oct. 29, 2008) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is holding the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands and three other parties responsible for improperly disposing of more than 870,000 tires near the Bovoni Landfill on St. Thomas. EPA determined that the Virgin Islands government, the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority, A-9 Trucking Enterprise, Inc., and a private landowner handled tires in a manner that left them vulnerable to catching fire or providing ideal breeding grounds disease-carrying mosquitoes.
In an order issued under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Virgin Islands government and the other parties must remove all scrap tires near the Bovoni Landfill and either recycle or dispose of them properly. The order also requires the four parties to apply pesticides to kill mosquitoes and larvae in the tires, improve access for fire trucks in disposal areas, limit site access and properly manage scrap tires in the future.
"Scrap tires are more than just unsightly trash," said EPA Regional Administrator Alan J. Steinberg. "They pose a great risk to the environment and people's health. Scrap tires catch fire easily and release toxins into the air when burned. They also provide an ideal sanctuary for disease-carrying mosquitoes. That is why EPA is taking steps to ensure that these scrap tires are responsibly handled once and for all."
Scrap tire fires release known or potential human carcinogens like benzene, arsenic, cadmium and chromium into the environment. A burning tire can release up to two gallons of pyrolytic oil, a free-flowing tar that can seep into soil and water. Scrap tires have also been identified as ideal breeding grounds and habitats for mosquitoes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies the mosquito Aedes aegypti as a significant host of epidemic Dengue, a viral disease endemic in the Caribbean. The proper management of scrap tires is essential to limiting the effects the mosquitoes have on the health of the people of the Virgin Islands.
The Virgin Islands government, Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority, A-9 Trucking Enterprise, Inc., and the private landowner have until July 2010 to complete the removal and disposal of the scrap tires near the Bovoni Landfill and the other requirements in the order.


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Bill Nye decided to be a fireman this week.
You know the bromide about firefighters, right? Unlike us, they run into burning buildings. Well, Nye took on creationist Ken Ham in a few hours of emotional debate this week about the merits of "creation science."
It's always a tough call deciding whether, as a scientist, you should argue publicly with the creationists. It's a dilemma that I encounter frequently in another subject area: Does it make sense to bandy words with someone from the UFO community?
Many of my colleagues believe that arguing with either group is a no-win situation. That's because creationists and UFO supporters are often quite practiced in hammering their opponents with a flood of specific incidents or phenomena -- drowning them in a tsunami of evidence (mostly bad) for which there's no time to mount an adequate defense. Their tactic is to entangle the enemy in a briar patch of detail. According to astronomer Dave Morrison, this stratagem is known as the "Gish gallop" -- a reference to Duane Gish, a chemist who was well versed in presenting his creationist ideas to the public.
Beyond the tactics, many scientists assume that peoples' minds are made up on this issue, and consequently a debate -- while occasionally entertaining -- is simply useless. It's not going to change anyone's stance.
Given this maudlin milieu, you've got to admit that Bill Nye was brave -- and in my mind, right -- to take this on. Maybe he couldn't win (whatever that means), but at least he didn't abandon the field to those who think four centuries of science have been useless. And if Nye swayed even a few fence sitters, then it was a worthwhile exercise.
The debate itself consisted of a structured agenda of presentations, rebuttals, rebuttals to rebuttals, and questions from the crowd -- followed by their own rebuttalments. Ken Ham, CEO of Answers in Genesis, and evidently considered by much of the Kentucky crowd to be a local hero, spent a lot of time trying to discount uncomfortable (for him) aspects of modern science, such as the age of the Earth (he believes that its important history goes back only four millennia) and, for that matter, the age of the cosmos. He repeatedly set up a false dichotomy between "observational science," which he thinks is good and proper, and historical science, which tries to infer what has happened in the distant past and which he considers bogus. The past can't be reliably determined, he avers, because "we weren't there."
So anyone who thinks that dinosaurs preceded humans or that South America split off from Africa many millions of years ago is just talking off the top of their noggin. Worse, they're wrong, because Ham interprets the Bible to say otherwise. And if it's not in the good book, it's doubtful. Data be damned.
Bill Nye attempted to rebut Ham's arguments (which he daintily described as "unsettling") by presenting a series of interesting research discoveries that show, for example, the clear-cut workings of Darwinian evolution, or the evidence for a universe that's billions of years old. To his great credit, he also made several pitches to both the state of Kentucky and the youth of America to get involved with real science. Science is interesting and beautiful, for sure, but it's also a cornucopia of practical payoff, and essential to our future.
Frankly, it's unclear whether the fascinating examples proffered by Nye had much effect on his opponent, and that's because the two debaters were operating under different rules. Nye repeatedly tried to refute Ham's clumsy interpretations of science discovery, but the creationist couldn't be easily cornered because he simply didn't accept the premise of science's methods. He doesn't understand, or just gives little credence to, what "predictions" mean to a scientist.
Stepping back, one has to say that Ham's articulate fiction was a retrograde bummer. He described a cramped theology that would discourage young people from engaging in what is arguably humankind's greatest achievement: understanding natural law. For example, quantum mechanics. It isn't laid out for us in the Bible or other liturgical writings: It was found by people using their brains and their labs. And it's not merely a weird idea, it's an essential cornerstone of technology (including such mundane devices as our cell phones).
Faith is a personal matter, and should never be a cudgel to stifle inquiry. We tried that approach about 1,200 years ago. The experiment was called the Dark Ages.


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Miley Cyrus Spotted Smoking Something Hand-Rolled in Miami
Ruh roh. Miley Cyrus was spotted smoking something hand-rolled in Miami. Sorry, but this doesn't look like she is indulging a nicotine fix, either.
We think the former Disney singer/actress doth protest too much, since a previous photo of her taking drags off of something suspicious and surrounded by a cloud of smoke lead her to deny, deny, deny on Twitter.
But these photos, combined with the fact that she has a "smoking strange substance" background – we know, it was salvia, according to the crisis PR machine -- and that she just released a song with pot proponent Snoop Dogg (or Lion, or whatever animal he is channeling via his name today) leads us to believe that this might have been a little Mary Jane.
Photos of Cyrus, 20, spliffing it up -- we think! -- on the balcony of her hotel are splashed all over the media. She looks like she just woke up, since she's rocking a slouchy black beanie in one image and her short and spiky hair has a mini ponytail on the top in another. And she's virtually makeup-free. She's taking hits off a brown blunt and looks to be enjoying it.
Perhaps Cyrus should stop trying to deny and embrace that she enjoys such activity, maybe? She's clearly not trying to keep a lid on it. Standing on a balcony smoking something hand-rolled when you are a favored target of paparazzi is not exactly an attempt at being covert.
It's really hard to deny the activity taking place in these photos. Maybe she just needs this chill and relax, since she's been dealing with all those relationship demise rumors (note her missing engagement ring) and making a new album.
Watch the Miley Cyrus 'Party in the U.S.A.' Video


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Advertorial feature
Fifty-two per cent of ecommerce shoppers wouldn't buy from a website that didn't display delivery charges alongside prices on product pages.
This is according to a new survey, conducted by Manchester-based online marketing agency Custard, which has revealed that sites that don't make delivery charges crystal clear risk missing out on a huge slice of the January sales shopping pie. This intriguing finding comes as experts predict that digital sales will make up 45% of retailer's revenue by 2014.
More than half of surveyed shoppers claimed that clarity on delivery costs was vital and they wouldn't buy without it.
Other revealing results from the research showed that 58% of online shoppers would prefer to read user reviews of a product, rather than the manufacturer's product information page (24%) or the website's own description (18%).
The rise of video content has led to an increase in sales for many online retailers, but of the online shoppers surveyed - only 10% said they preferred product information in this format. By far, the most popular option was a combination of text and images (66%).
When looking at product pictures, the quality of the image was important to 66% of those questioned, with the ability to view the item from multiple angles coming in a close second. Forty-eight per cent of those polled said this feature was a significant factor in purchasing decisions.
User reviews also came out on top when shoppers were asked which supporting information they pay attention to when browsing for products online.
Custard's managing director Sam Allcock recommended that any ecommerce site without these key features should invest in some development work to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the January sales.
"User reviews build trust amongst online shoppers and sites that don't implement them could be missing out on a big chunk of revenue," he said.
"But even with reviews in place, delivery charges come as a nasty surprise when they are only revealed at the checkout stage.
"Any good will built up by encouraging product reviews often counts for nothing when hidden charges like delivery and credit card surcharges appear – it leaves a bad taste in the mouth."
See the full results of the survey here.


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Clove has announced on the company blog that the Lumia 620 is now available from its online store. The Windows Phone is a low-end solution that's targeted to those who wish to enjoy the Windows Phone 8 experience, but without the hefty price tag and advanced hardware. At just £226 (including VAT), we're looking at a low cost smartphone running the latest software.
When we speak about the Lumia 620, we're always impressed by what's available for the price. The £226 gets you a 1GHz dual-core, 8GB storage with SD support, 3.8" display (800x480), 5MP camera (with FFC), and 1300mAh battery. Colour wise, we can only see a black version listed.
Stay tuned for our Lumia 620 review, coming this week.
Source: Clove


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Is Richard Simmons a Metalhead?
Metalheads come in all shapes and sizes, but even we are surprised at times at some of the people sharing their metaldom for the world to see. The latest is fitness guru Richard Simmons, who showed off his metal side in a new video posted to his Facebook page.
We do know that Simmons loves his rock 'n' roll as he's done his fair share of workout videos over the years utilizing rock music. In the new video posted online, it could be inferred that Simmons is ready to rock again as he posted the caption, "Sweat, hugs and rock n roll!" along with the video of him wearing metal make-up and donning a cross necklace, tank top and cross-covered spandex pants.
While it's not exactly revealed what Simmons is up to wearing his metal gear, we definitely give props to the fitness guru for proudly displaying his rock influences and taking a make-up nod from Alice Cooper. Check out the video below:


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The Conference on Quasilinear Elliptic and Parabolic Equations and Systems took place in the Centre International de Rencontres Mathématiques in Luminy (near Marseille, France) from September 3 to September 7, 2001. The aim of the conference was to emphasize the progress in the study of qualitative properties of solutions of quasilinear equations and systems.
The organizing commitee consisted of Jérôme Busca from CNRS, Université Paris 9 and Laurent Véron from Université de Tours. The scientific commitee was composed by James Serrin (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis ), Pavel Drabek (University of Plzen), Jean-Pierre Gossez (Université Libre, Bruxelles), Raul Manasevich (Universidad de Chile, Santiago), François Murat (Université Paris 6) and Laurent Véron (Université François Rabelais, Tours).
The following researchers presented 50 minute talks at the conference:
Special Issue Editors
Jérôme Busca: (e-mail: email@example.com)
Laurent Véron (email: email@example.com)


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If you think about your educational experience growing up, it may have looked something like this. The teacher asked the questions, students gave the responses, and the answer was either right or wrong. A correct answer was rewarded with "good job" and a smile. An incorrect answer was met with a shake of the head or a frown, and the student felt bad for getting the wrong answer, and didn't always know why the answer is wrong.
With the Common Core State Standards, students are asked to validate their answers with evidence. Instead of accepting an answer as merely right or wrong, push students to support their answer with evidence by asking clarifying questions. Here are some clarifying questions that you could ask your students:
Why do you think that?
Can you explain that?
What is the support for your thinking?
What evidence do you have to support your answer?
I recently taught a lesson in a classroom, where the students talked about a photograph of a Native American woman peeling acorns in the forest. I asked the students, "Where do you think the woman is?" Sam responded, "She is in the forest." His answer was correct, but I asked him to explain why he thought it was the forest, and he looked confused. He knew his answer was correct, but he wasn't expecting me to question his response. After some think time, Sam was able to respond with evidence to support his thinking. Another student, Sara, said that she thought the woman was sitting in front of a sand castle. Instead of telling her, "That's not right," or "Try again," I responded with, "Do you have evidence to support your thinking?" She took a moment to look at the picture, studied the woman's surroundings, shook her head no, and revised her answer. She was able to conclude that the woman in the photograph was outside in the woods or the forest, and not at the beach. She told me why she changed her mind.
Think about the power of students having the ability to revise their own thoughts and finding evidence to support or refute their answers. Learning becomes more meaningful to students when you stop accepting a right or wrong answer, and ask students, "Why?"
What are your tips for asking questions?


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By default, items in the buffers and various definitions views are sorted alphabetically according to their name. The options in the Sort panel in the Editor Preferences allow you to change this, as follows:
Leaves items in these lists unsorted. For views which list definitions, choosing this option lists definitions in the order in which they appear in the source code.
By Name
Sort according to the item name. This is the default setting.
By Package
Sort according to the buffer package or the package of the definition's name.
By Type
Sorts items according to the type of the definition, or the attributes of the buffer.


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Bed Nets, Drugs and a Finger Prick of Blood – Tanzania's Fight Against Malaria.
With an estimated 10 million malaria cases in 2010, the World Health Organization considers Tanzania to be one of the four countries with the highest malaria prevalence in Africa, along with Nigeria, DRC and Uganda. And yet there are signs that efforts to fight the disease are bearing fruit:
- Data from Rapid Diagnostic Tests shows that malaria prevalence in children aged 6 months to 5 years fell by half from 18 per cent in 2007/08 to 9 per cent in 2011/12.
- Reported malaria deaths declined from around 20,000 per year in 2004-06 to below 12,000 in 2011. While there is a possibility that the malaria deaths are underreported, the trend signals substantial improvement.


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|Allegro CL version 9.0
Unrevised from 8.2 to 9.0.
8.2 version
Arguments: string &key (start 0) (end (length string)) address (external-format :default) aligned
Return values are an address and bytes-copied.
This function converts (according to the external-format argument) and copies the string data from indices specified by start to end out of the Lisp string into static (ie, non-lisp heap) memory and returns an address to the first character of that data.
If the address argument is specified, then its value will be used (and returned) as the destination address and new memory will not be allocated. If the address argument is not specified, then the resulting memory address (first returned value) must be passed to aclfree to be reclaimed.
If the aligned keyword argument is true, then address is an aligned address. Aligned addresses are returned by functions like lispval-to-aligned-malloc-address.
The copied string data will be null-terminated, that is the byte following the last data element is 0. The number of 8-bit bytes copied including the null-terminator is returned as the second value of this function.
Conversion is done using the specified
external-format. If
external-format is not specified (or,
equivalently, if the value of external-format is
:default), then the external format returned by the
following form is used:
(locale-external-format *locale*)
See locale-external-format
*locale*. See also
string-to-octets, native-to-string, octets-to-native, and with-native-string.
See also iacl.htm for general information on international character set support in Allegro CL. See foreign-functions.htm for information on foreign functions.
Copyright (c) 1998-2017, Franz Inc. Oakland, CA., USA. All rights reserved.
This page was not revised from the 8.2 page.
Created 2012.5.30.
|Allegro CL version 9.0
Unrevised from 8.2 to 9.0.
8.2 version


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What a difference a year makes. Last year's Texas cotton crop of 8.44 million bales broke the previous year's record of 7.74 million bales, which had broken a 55-year-old record of 6 million bales achieved in 1949.
"Ideal weather, boll weevil eradication, improved varieties and new cultural and machinery technologies afforded those record yields," said Texas A&M Extension specialist Carl Anderson, speaking at the Cotton Roundtable, in New York City.
This year the west Texas cotton crop is taking a beating from prolonged dry weather. According to Anderson, growers could abandon as much as 2 million acres in the coming weeks.
As in Texas, dry weather is impacting states in the Southeast and Mid-South, while Arizona and California are off to excellent starts. Here's more:
Anderson estimates that roughly 2 million acres of the 6.4 million acres planted in Texas this season will be abandoned. "That would be a 33 percent abandonment compared a 6 percent abandonment last year."
Anderson says the Texas crop is hurting, with 50 percent rated very poor to poor as of July 1, and only 20 percent rated good to excellent. "In 1998, which was a very bad year for Texas, we abandoned 42 percent of our planted acreage. This year is falling close to that.
"Cotton in south and central Texas is in very poor to fair condition. No more than half a crop is expected in the lower Rio Grande Valley. The upper coast has about 200,000 acres in the best shape of any area in Texas. The Blacklands has an average crop on 180,000 acres. The Rolling Plains is off to a slow start on about 1 million acres of mostly dryland acres."
Anderson estimates that the Texas crop could total around 4.5 million bales this season. "The range could easily be between 4 million and 5 million bales. If we continue with 2-3 more weeks of hot, dry weather, I would expect a crop of around 4 million bales."
Oklahoma growers, "also have a poor crop," said Anderson, who estimates production of 280,000 bales on 300,000 acres planted. In Kansas, cotton acres are sharply up, 100,000 acres compared to 74,000 acres in 2005. Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas have a potential of producing around 5 million bales in 2006, almost 4 million bales less than last year's 8.9 million bale combined crop."
California and Arizona
California and Arizona cotton crops are off to good starts, and could produce a total of 2.3 million bales, according to Jarral Neeper, vice president of marketing, Calcot, Ltd. "But the state continues to lose cotton acres to permanent crops like almonds, and we've also had a lot of dairies move into the state.
"Last year, California growers planted 430,000 acres of Upland cotton and 230,000 acres of Pima. This year, Upland acres is expected to decline to around 300,000 acres, while the Pima crop is expected to rise slightly to 250,000 acres."
Neeper expects average yields for Upland cotton of around 1,300 pounds. "With reduced acres and increased yield from the year before, we won't make as big an Upland crop as we did a year ago, but it will come in somewhere around 800,000 bales. Acres and yield for Pima will be up, so we're looking at a Pima crop of around 680,000 bales."
According to Neeper, Arizona cotton producers are off to one of their best starts ever, and some areas could achieve records. "The total crop is Arizona will be somewhere around 620,000 bales to 630,000 bales."
Mid-South, Southeast
According to O.A. Cleveland, professor emeritus, Mississippi State University, South Carolina owns one of the better cotton crops in the Southeast, although it's still average at best. "Alabama is the only state that is still suffering somewhat. They have had more weather problems than other states and it's off to a terribly slow start. We have seen conditions improve in North Carolina, Carolina, Virginia and Florida the last couple of weeks."Southeast cotton growers planted 3.6 million acres of cotton this spring, up 11 percent over last year. "Georgia was the big state, with 1.4 million acres, up 15 percent over last year."
The projections from all analysts at the Roundtable would put 2006 cotton production for the United States at roughly 20 million bales.


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Barnes & Noble: Pearson Buys 5% Stake in Nook … Which is Missing Projections
Barnes & Noble's roller coaster ride of a year was just condensed into ten minutes of premarket news action.
First, Barnes & Noble announced that Pearson will take a 5% stake in its Nook e-reader unit for $89.5 million. That will value the business at $1.79 billion, up from the $1.7 billion Microsoft Corp.'s investment priced the digital-books company at this spring.
After Pearson's investment, Barnes & Noble will own 78.2% while Microsoft, which put in $300 million, will own 16.8%. Pearson will maintain an option to purchase another 5%.
The value of the Nook business remains more than double the market capitalization of Barnes & Noble, and shares of the book seller jumped 10% to $15.83 in premarket trading.
But a federal filing ten minutes later largely wiped out those gains by including a line that the company's holiday sales will be below expectations and the Nook "will not meet" a projection for fiscal 2013.
Shares briefly went negative in the premarket session, but opened the regular session up 2.4% and have jumped 8% to $15.50 in recent action.


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New Home Builder Advertising Tool Kit
The New Home Builder Advertising Tool Kit is intended for the marketing teams of builders and developers and is tailored to be used as a tool to market their NSHP energy efficient solar home community.
The New Home Builder Advertising Tool Kit provides a variety of pre-designed advertising, including newspaper ads, internet banner ads, micro-website home pages, billboard designs, and more, to help builders get their message to the consumer faster.
Link to Complete Builder Advertising Tool Kit,
publication # CEC-180-2009-0047, 6/23/2009.


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