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New rules for self-publishing
I just spent the last two weeks selling my self-published book. I published a book a few years ago with Time Warner, but I wanted to see what it would be like to self-publish. I decided against an ebook format because I really like holding the book of an author I love to read. I like living with that book in my house because it's like living with a friend.
So I went with a print book. And I did a lot of unconventional things – beginning with the announcement — and they paid off. So, here's my advice on the new rules for self-publishing.
1. Mainstream publishers help very few people. And probably not you.
Authors sell books, not publishers. For writers without a big name, publishers give them credibility. The problem is that publishers aren't set up to be able to make money from authors who haven't already made a name for themselves. This arrangement used to be fine before social media, before almost every author needed a channel to an audience. But now authors have the ready-made sales channel that is social media, so the publishers are no longer the gatekeepers to customers.
Amanda Hocking is reportedly making a million dollars a year self-publishing ebooks. And very rich author Joe Konrath, who has written about the math behind publishing, recently he turned down a half-a-million-dollar book deal so that he could self-publish.
Mainstream publishers don't work for unknown authors either. So when publishers give an advance to someone without their own audience, the publisher finds itself in a very high-risk, venture-capital type model, but they are venture capitalists for individuals rather than companies. Very few individuals can sell a book on a large scale through a publisher if they couldn't do it on their own anyway. And if you could do it on your own, why wouldn't you? The money you earn is so much higher when you self-publish if you can actually sell the book.
If you don't have a big name, use a blog to get one. If your content is not interesting enough to build up a blog readership, it's probably not interesting enough to sell books.
2. Self-publishing should be about making money.
You can use a print book from a big publisher to get your name into the speaking world. And then make $15,000 a speech. I know. I went that route, and it works. (Although the life of a speaker, traveling all the time, is arguably terrible and there's a reason mostly men choose it. But that's for another post.)
A self-published book does not get you credibility. So you should do it only for the money. And, in this case, you should consider doing a print book. You can charge more for print and it's hard to convince people they should buy an ebook when, presumably, your ideas are already online.
(And, if they are not already online, how do you know if they are good? No mainstream publisher will take your book, so the presumption is your ideas suck until someone shows you they don't.)
3. Print books are souvenirs: Party favors after a fun time.
This is especially true when it comes to blogs with large readerships, or consultants who have changed thousands of lives at big companies. Books take up space in your house, they add to your list of frivolous possessions, and they are expensive in an age when information is largely free. So a print book needs to be like candy in your hand, an interior design choice, an extension of who you are, just like how you have Nike shoes and a Marc Jacobs skirt.
This means that the aesthetics of print books is improving fast. If it's not nice to hold or put on a shelf, then you may as well have it electronically.
Also, once the book is a souvenir of an experience, the book doesn't need to be completely new. There's a long list of people who publish great books that are largely excerpts from their blog: Seth Godin's Tribes and Guy Kawasaki's Art of the Start, for instance. That seems fine to me. Almost useful. Because loyal readers will see the short burst of ideas from a blog recombined and reordered into a bigger idea. Blog ideas add up to something. That something is revealed in a book.
4. You don't need a title.
Self-published books sell via social media word-of-mouth, which is links between social media platforms. There is no need for a title when information is traveling like this. A book is dependent on a friend's endorsement and a link, rather than having the title of the book call out to browsers in a bookstore.
If a book is going to be reviewed in print and then you use that review to go to a bookstore and ask a clerk for a book, only then do you need a great title that someone can remember. But there is none of that when you are promoting a book via social media.
Today the promise of the book is more important than the title. The promise of the book needs to fit into the promise of some given social networks. For example, if I have a book about medicine in Mesopotamia and I can't find a history of medicine community or a Mesopotamia community, it'll be hard to promote the book.
Google searches make markets for product sales if you want to pick up customers via search. Communities make markets for books if you want to pick up buyers via word of mouth.
5. Forget about the book cover — have a great landing page instead.
You are going to send people to a page to buy a book, not a book store, not Amazon. This is your place where you are selling. It's like your food truck. People will take a look at it quickly to see if it's trustworthy and worth their time to try it.
The number of people you lose on the buy now page has to be really, really small. And it is not necessarily true that a picture of the cover of your book is what will close the sale. So you need to do a lot of tests to see what kind of copy and layout can close your sale. And if you're on a limited budget, tell your designer to focus on the landing page, not the book cover.
Today authors need to be good at creating landing pages. It used to be that publishers were market-makers for books. We know now that authors are, but since publishers are not great at online marketing, it makes sense that the person who is writing—and connecting with the audience—would also be the person writing the landing page to turn interest into sales.
I used to online tool Unbounce which does a great job of guiding sellers through the process of creating effective landing pages. (Here's the landing page I made.)
6. Do the printing in China.
It's really difficult to make a book look as good at one of those fun, interior-decorator type books you see in Anthropologie or CB2—the kind that look beautiful on your shelf, like they were made especially for your living room. I wanted that, though.
Melissa solved the problem because was able to negotiate a book production deal with a company in China that speaks only Chinese. (Of course I expressed worries because China is known for having quality issues. But she said, "Don't worry. It'll be fine. If the books have with problems, I can yell at them in their own language.")
Also, use your community to make your own Kickstarter — a site that lets you collect money from the Kickstart community to get their project underway. If you have a community to sell books to, then you have a community to fund your book project. This takes the cash-flow pressure out of publishing a gorgeous book. This worked well for my book—we all get a better souvenir to hold if we all come together to fund it.
7. Print books should be limited editions.
Once you think of a book as special—a souvenir of a reading experience—then selling it for a very limited time makes sense. If something is available forever, it's not special. The business model where you can buy a book any time doesn't make sense if we are trying to make print books more special in the age of ebooks. If you can buy a ninety-nine-cent ebook any time, a print book should be a short-offer, limited edition type sale.
That is why I was closing sales this week. But selling a self-published book is addictive. When I got a six-figure book advance, my book was so unlikely to earn back the advance that it was not that fun to count sales—none of the money went to me. On top of that, you don't get daily tallies from in-store sales. The publisher doesn't tell me if my review in Salon sold any books. They just don't track things like that.
But tracking sales of a self-published book is intoxicating. It's a lot like blog stats. It's immediate feedback, mostly logical, and surprisingly satisfying. The same is true with a self-published book. But I'm also making money.
So, that said, I'm keeping the book a limited edition, but I'm selling it for two more days. Two more days of fun for me. And, thank you, everyone, for helping me to learn all this stuff and have fun at the same time.


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A man overcome with grief in Taftanaz. (HRW photo)
Syrian government
forces killed at least 95 civilians and burned or destroyed hundreds of houses
during a two-week offensive in northern Idlib governorate shortly before the
ceasefire, Human Rights Watch says in a report released today.
The attacks happened in
late March and early April, as United Nations special envoy Kofi Annan was
negotiating with the Syrian government to end the fighting.
The 38-page
report, "'They Burned My
Heart': War Crimes in Northern Idlib during Peace Plan Negotiations,"
documents dozens of extrajudicial executions, killings of civilians, and
destruction of civilian property that qualify as war crimes, as well as
arbitrary detention and torture. The report is based on a field investigation
conducted by Human Rights Watch in the towns of Taftanaz, Saraqeb, Sarmeen,
Kelly, and Hazano in Idlib governorate in late April.
"While diplomats argued
over details of Annan's peace plan, Syrian tanks and helicopters attacked one
town in Idlib after another," said Anna
Neistat, associate director for program and emergencies at Human
Rights Watch. "Everywhere we went, we saw burnt and destroyed houses, shops,
and cars, and heard from people whose relatives were killed. It was as if the
Syrian government forces used every minute before the ceasefire to cause
Human Rights Watch
documented large-scale military operations that government forces conducted
between March 22 and April 6, 2012, in opposition strongholds in Idlib
governorate, causing the death of at least 95 civilians. In each attack,
government security forces used numerous tanks and helicopters, and then moved
into the towns and stayed from one to three days before proceeding to the next
town. Graffiti left by the soldiers in all of the affected towns indicate that
the 76th Armored Brigade led the military operation.
In nine separate
incidents documented by Human Rights Watch, government forces executed 35
civilians in their custody. The majority of executions took place during the
attack on Taftanaz, a town of about 15,000 inhabitants northeast of Idlib city
on April 3 and 4.
A survivor of the
security forces' execution of 19 members of the Ghazal family in Taftanaz
described to Human Rights Watch finding the bodies of his relatives:
We first found five bodies in a little
shop next to the house. They were almost completely burnt. We could only
identify them by a few pieces of clothes that were left. Then we entered the
house and in one of the rooms found nine bodies on the floor, next to the wall.
There was a lot of blood on the floor. On the wall, there was a row of bullet
marks. The nine men had bullet wounds in their backs, and some in their heads.
Their hands were not tied, but still folded behind.
Human Rights Watch
researchers were able to observe the bullet marks on the wall that formed a row
about 50-60 cm above the floor. Two of those executed were under 18 years old.
In several other
cases documented by Human Rights Watch, government forces opened fire and
killed or injured civilians trying to flee the attacks. The circumstances of
these cases indicate that government forces failed to distinguish between
civilians and combatants and to take necessary precautionary measures to
protect civilians. Government forces did not provide any warning to the
civilian population about the attacks. For example, 76-year-old Ali Ma'assos
and his 66-year-old wife, Badrah, were killed by machine-gun fire shortly after
the army launched its attack on Taftanaz in the morning on April 3 as they
tried to flee the town in a pick-up truck with more than 15 friends and family
Upon entering the
towns, government forces and shabeeha (pro-government militias) also
burned and destroyed a large number of houses, stores, cars, tractors, and
other property. Local activists have recorded the partial or complete burning
and destruction of hundreds of houses and stores. In Sarmeen, for example,
local activists have recorded the burning of 437 rooms and 16 stores, and the
complete destruction of 22 houses.
In Taftanaz, activists
said that about 500 houses were partially or completely burned and that 150
houses had been partially or completely destroyed by tank fire or other
Human Rights Watch
examined many of the burned or destroyed houses in the affected towns.
most cases, the burning and destruction appeared to be deliberate. The majority
of houses that were burned had no external damage, excluding the possibility
that shelling ignited the fire. In addition, many of the ruined houses were
completely destroyed, in contrast to those which appeared to have been hit by
tank shells, where the damage was only partial.
During the military
operations, the security forces also arbitrarily detained dozens of people,
holding them without any legal basis. About two-thirds of the detainees remain
in detention to date, despite promises by President Bashar al-Assad's
government to release political detainees. In most cases, the fate and
whereabouts of the detainees remains unknown, raising fears that they had been
subjected to enforced disappearances. Those who have been released, many of
them elderly or disabled, told Human Rights Watch that during their detention
in various branches of the mukhabarat (intelligence agencies) in Idlib
city they had been subjected to torture and ill treatment.
Opposition fighters
were present in all of the towns prior to the attacks and in some cases tried
to prevent the army from entering the towns. In most cases, according to local
residents, opposition fighters withdrew quickly when they realized that they
were significantly outnumbered and had no means to resist tanks and artillery.
In other towns, opposition fighters left without putting up any resistance;
residents said this was in order to avoid endangering the civilian population.
The fighting in Idlib
appeared to reach the level of an armed conflict under international law, given
the intensity of the fighting and the level of organization on both sides,
including the armed opposition, who ordered and conducted retreats. This would
mean that international humanitarian law (the law of armed conflict) would
apply in addition to human rights law. Serious violations of international
humanitarian law are classified as war crimes.
Human Rights Watch
has previously documented and condemned serious abuses by opposition fighters
in Syria, including abuses in Taftanaz. These abuses should be investigated and
those responsible brought to justice. These abuses by no means justify, however,
the violations committed by the government forces, including summary executions
of villagers and the large-scale destruction of villages.
Human Rights Watch
called on the United Nations Security Council to ensure that the UN supervisory
mission deployed to Syria includes
a properly staffed and equipped human rights section that is able safely and
independently to interview victims of human rights abuses such as those
documented in this report, while protecting them from retaliation. Human Rights
Watch also called on the UN Security Council to ensure accountability for these
crimes by referring the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court,
and for the ongoing UN Commission of Inquiry to support this.
"The United Nations –
through the Commission of Inquiry and the Security Council – should make sure
that the crimes committed by Syrian security forces do not go unpunished," said
Neistat. "The peace plan efforts will be seriously undermined if abuses
continue behind the observers' backs."
Eyewitness Accounts
from "They Burned My Heart…"
The soldiers had handcuffed him behind his
back. They didn't hit him in front of me, but I saw that his eye was bruised. I
tried to be quiet and nice to the soldiers so that they would release him. They spent about 15 minutes in the house,
asking him about weapons and searching everywhere. I think they were looking
for money. I didn't say good-bye so as to not make him sad. He didn't say
anything either. When they left, the soldiers said that I should forget him.
Mother of Mohammad
Saleh Shamrukh, chant-leader from Saraqeb, who was summarily executed by the
Syrian security forces on March 25, 2012
The soldiers placed the four of us facing
a wall. They first asked Awad where his armed sons were. When Awad said that he
was an old man and that he didn't have any armed sons, they just shot him three
times from a Kalashnikov. They then said to Ahmed that apparently 25 years in
prison had not been enough for him. When he didn't say anything, they shot him.
They then shot Iyad without any questions and he fell on my shoulder. I
realized that it was my turn. I said there is no God but Allah and Mohammed is
his prophet and then I don't remember anything else.
Mohammed Aiman Ezz,
43-year-old man shot three times in the back of the head and neck by government
forces in an attempted execution of four men in Taftanaz on April 4. He was the
only survivor
I knew in my heart it was my boys [my son
and my brother], that they were killed. I ran out, and about 50 meters from the
house there were nine bodies, next to the wall. There were still snipers on the
roofs, and we had to move very slowly, using flashlights. I pointed my
flashlight at the first body, then the second – it wasn't Uday or Saed. Then I
asked the neighbors to help, and we found them both. Saed still had his hands
tied behind. People later told me that Uday and Saed were executed there, and
the other seven were FSA fighters brought from other places. Uday had a bullet
wound in the neck and the back of his head; Saed in his chest and neck.
"Heba" (not her real
name), mother of 15-year-old Uday Mohammed al-Omar and 21-year-old Saeed
Mustafa Barish, both executed by the Syrian security forces in Saraqeb on March
26, 2012
The tank was on the main road, just 10
meters away from the house. Suddenly, they fired four shells, one after the
other, into the house. I was in the house next door, with my mother and six
children. We were all thrown into the air by the blast, and for 15 minutes I
couldn't see or hear anything. Then we went into the room that was hit by the
shells. One of the walls had a huge hole, some 1.5 meters in diameter, and the
opposite wall was completely destroyed. We found Ezzat in the rubble; we could
only see his fingers and part of his shoe. It is a miracle that his wife and
child were not hurt. They were in the same house, but went to the kitchen when
the shells hit. We took Ezzat out, but couldn't save him. His chest was
crushed, and blood was coming out of his mouth and ears.
"Rashida" (not her real
name), a relative of 50-year-old Ezzat Ali Sheikh Dib who died when the army
shelled his house in Saraqeb on March 27, 2012
They put a Kalashnikov [assault rifle] to
my head and threatened to kill us all if my husband did not come home. The children
started crying. Then an officer told a soldier to get petrol and told the
children that he would burn them like he would burn their father because he is
a terrorist. When the soldier came back with some sort of liquid – it didn't
seem to be petrol – they poured it out in three of the rooms while we were
staying in the living room. We wanted to get out of the house, but the soldiers
prevented us. My young daughters were crying and begging them to let us go. We
were all terrified. Finally, they allowed us to leave the house, but I became
even more afraid when I saw all the soldiers and tanks in the street.
"Salma" (not her real
name), whose house in Taftanaz was burnt by the soldiers on April 4, along with
the houses of her five brothers-in-law
They put me in the car, handcuffed, and
kept there all day, until seven in the evening. I told them, 'I am an old man,
let me go to the bathroom,' but they just beat me on the face. Then they
brought me to State Security in Idlib, and put me in a 30-square-meter cell
with about 100 other detainees. I had to sleep squatting on the floor. There
was just one toilet for all of us. They took me to an interrogation four times,
each time asking why some of my family members joined the FSA. I didn't deny
it, but said there was nothing I could do to control what my relatives do. They
slapped me on the face a lot.
"Abu Ghassan" (not his
real name), 73-year-old man who was detained in one of the towns in northern
Idlib and held in detention for 18 days.

subset: commoncrawl


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My baby is 7 weeks old, and we have some concerns about his eyesight. When he was first born we were nervous because he would often bulge both eyes out - looked like he was kind of straining and his eyes were popping out of his head. He has grown out of this, though (although he still has big eyes :) ).
We are slightly concerned because he doesn't often make eye contact - he is always looking all the way up, and often everywhere besides our faces when we're trying to catch his attention. It looks like he's just wandering around and exploring... But often we'll put our faces right up to his and he'll look everywhere else and act as if he doesn't see us. And the same for following movement. He often looks all the way up as if staring at the light (which he likes to do)... even if there's no light there. Note, though - he does occasionally make eye contact or follow a moving object, just not consistently. He also was an early smiler (at about 4 weeks) which I assume means he can see - he always locks eyes and watches us smile before smiling back.
Is there any reason to be concerned or are we overreacting?


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WHEAT:NEWS Radio March 2016 - Vol 7, No. 3
Got feedback or questions? Click my name below to send us an e-mail. You can also use the links at the top of the page to follow us on popular social networking sites and the tabs will take you to our most often visited pages.
Fybush on Translators
What could these two be talking about? Mike Erickson, left, and Scott Fybush.
Here's another one that falls under the heading of You Might Be a Broadcaster If. Only in broadcasting do we use the words FM translator and AM in the same sentence without thinking that's even a little bit strange. As an industry, we've long wrapped our minds around the idea that FM translators could be the next step forward in the AM Revitalization initiative. You could even say that some of us are evangelical about it. The name Scott Fybush comes to mind.
There is perhaps no one more dedicated to reviving AM than Scott Fybush, who participated in the AM Revitalization proceedings and is now working with AM broadcasters to sort through the details of acquiring and implementing FM translators. Scott is a longtime broadcaster and a self-described industry observer, who, by the way, travels around the country taking pictures of radio antennas and thinks nothing is strange about that.
We were able to spend a few minutes talking with Scott about translators during his recent swing through New Bern, when he stopped in to see fellow CBS alumnus Mike Erickson and to get a tour of our factory. Here's what he had to say.
WS: We've been watching the filings. It's now less than three weeks into it, and there have been 462 applications filed, 142 (FM translators for AM revitalization) granted. This was just the so-called 250-mile filing, which essentially gives Class Cs and some Ds the opportunity to relocate certain FM translators. But that's just the first of, what, three windows?
SF: Right. Class Cs and Ds got their 250-mile modification window starting January 29. Next are the Class B filings, and their window starts in July. And what's left after that is they're opening up a window for brand new filings sometime in early 2017. So if you're lucky to be somewhere where they still have open channels, you can file at that point without having to pay someone to move a translator. But, if you're in a market that has only one or two available channels, it's a gamble because you don't know yet what Class Ds are going to do and if you're a Class D, you don't know what is going to get filed as a new C or D application. It's kind of like a poker game.
WS: That's an interesting poker game, too, because we understand that the majority of filings happened the first day.
SF: Yes. The really wild part is that station groups who own translators are able to move them themselves because of this. iHeart, for instance, applied for a bunch of translators in 2003 without any real plan of what to do with them. So, they were ready on the first day of the window and they filed a whole bunch of moves so they could relocate translators to places where they have AMs.
WS: There were a lot of translators licensed over the years but not built out. Do we have any idea how many FM translators are owned by FM broadcasters but not in use and possibly up for grabs by AM broadcasters now?
SF: The last number I saw was like 6,000 translators that are in CP stage right now. That's a lot. The original idea when they first licensed FM translators in the early 70s was to provide service mainly out West where there was no service and they couldn't afford an FM. People filed because the theory was that was going to be the last chance. In some cases, they found they didn't need all the translators they filed for or it didn't make much sense financially, especially in the Northeast where the pricing was so high. So now, if you got an FM translator in a small town, do you hang onto it or do you get $75,000 or $80,000 for it?
WS: So, if we have 6,000 CPs and who-knows-how-many other available translators out there, FM broadcasters have to be a little concerned there's going to be congestion on their band.
SF: That's another piece of this. One thing I remind everyone that buys a translator is that they're buying a secondary service. You can be bumped off the dial because of interference, which is why it's important to try to look ahead and make sure there's not going to be interference problems.
WS: What else do AM broadcasters need to consider as they're thinking about putting up an FM translator?
SF: You're limited in interference (to adjacent stations) but you're also limited by the existing radius of your AM. This is something that as we get to the next round of the rulemaking, it'll be interesting to see what the FCC does. Right now, your translator has to stay within the 2-millivolt contour (2 mV/m) of your AM or within 25 miles, or the lesser of the two. It doesn't matter how big your AM is, you're never going to get more than 25 miles of where your AM transmitter is. If you have AM in a directional pattern, like one I know of in Long Island Sound, you're very limited as to where to put that translator because although there are a lot of places that need to be served, they're not within the 2-millivolt contour of the AM. We're going to be watching to see what the changes are and if there are immediate opportunities to open up an AM signal with a translator.
WS: Explain the FCC's ruling on antenna height.
SF: Another interesting quirk is that it is 250 Watts (power) with no limitations on antenna height. So there are translators up in Sandia Crest that are running 250 Watts from 2,000 feet above Albuquerque. That's not only bigger than a Class A, it's bigger than a Class C would be there. That doesn't work everywhere, but it sure works there and in a few other places.
WS: What are the costs associated with this? We've been talking to broadcasters about using IP radios with our WheatNet-IP system to make the 25-mile hop from the studio to the translator. These start at a couple hundred dollars for a system, so the price is right. Cost has to be a huge consideration for these AM broadcasters.
SF: Cost is a big part of this, especially in the Northeast, where so many broadcasters would love to do this but can't afford to even get the CP. In some cases, a CP can run $100,000 or more. And then there's the equipment. For a decent transmitter, you're looking at $5,000 to $10,000 minimum. You got antenna costs, and in some cases you have rental costs associated with where the antenna is located. So, yes, something like WheatNet-IP into an Ubiquity radio is very useful. I expect we'll see a lot of unlicensed 5.8 Ubiquity radios used for this.
WS: This thing is moving quickly. When do you think we'll see FM translators rebroadcasting AM?
SF: The goal is to get these on the air as soon as possible. I think we'll see a few on the air in a few weeks.
WS: Final question. Do you plan to continue putting out your annual calendar?
SF: Absolutely! The 2017 edition is already in production (and Scott says they have great clearance prices as they sell out the remainder of the 2016 edition, too.)
Click here. We've got some cool ideas for you.
IP Radio STL Explained
These RF links have been used by other industries for some time. More recently they have found their way into broadcast facilities as a practical way to transport linear audio over distances up to around 25 miles, line-of-sight, from the studio audio network to the transmitter, stadium or even the FM translator.
IP radio links are high-speed, bidirectional and license-free or –friendly. They're also extremely affordable, which makes them an excellent STL option for transporting programming from the AM studio to an FM translator site.
Putting up an IP microwave link from the studio to the transmitter or translator site makes the site becomes part of the Ethernet network. For example, a single Wheatnet-IP IP88D I/O BLADE (used to connect audio to the network) could easily run 8 stereo channels each way through an IP radio link, and depending on the bandwidth of the link, there might also be room to move other data such as surveillance video, VoIP, or remote control.
Little more than an IP radio and antenna is needed on each end. Linear audio from the IP audio network feeds directly into the IP radio through RJ-45 connectors.
IP radio and antenna systems start at a few hundred dollars and are available for the unlicensed 5.8 GHz band as well as frequencies in the Part 101 band (usually 6 GHz or 11 GHz), which opened up to broadcasters in 2011 when the FCC abolished the so-called last link rule.
One critical difference between unlicensed and licensed wireless IP systems is how the two handle latency. IP wireless radios operating on licensed frequencies have exclusive use of the band and therefore have a consistent, lower latency, typically around 100 microseconds. Comparatively, latency on an unlicensed system can jump from 2 milliseconds up to 12 or 20 milliseconds depending on interference or even changes in weather patterns.
For this reason, Wheatstone has designed and introduced a special network unit, the Network EDGE, which provides the data buffering needed between the studio IP audio network and the STL in order to handle the latency swings typical of unlicensed IP radios. The EDGE provides the necessary delay as a buffer to any latency shifts that come across the link and acts as an interface between the WheatNet-IP audio network and the IP radio.
We'll be talking about IP radio STLs during our NAB session on Extending IP Audio to the Transmitter Using Part 101 or Unlicensed IP Radios, on Tuesday, April 19, between 10:30 and 11:00 a.m.
For more info in IP Radios, check out these two articles:
1. Your Cheat Sheet to Part 101 Wireless STLs
Translators and the Signature Sound
In this strange new world where FM translators are now part of AMs, there's something oddly familiar about audio processing for these FM (or is it AM?) services.
All the usual rules for FM audio processing still apply, whether we're talking about an FM translator for AM revitalization or about an FM translator for any other reason. "If you're broadcasting and competing on the FM band, you need to evaluate your service area and decide if signal conditions and programming are conducive for stereo. At the very least, you need to start with good, quality source material," advises Mike Erickson, our systems and support engineer for audio processing.
When setting the audio processing, Mike suggests starting with a factory preset that closely matches your format, considering not only the changes mentioned above, but also other factors that may determine how far you can push the envelope. "That last part is especially important because if you just plug in the factory presets, you're going to find a lot of 'gotchas' in source material that can make that preset sound great on some material and horrible on others," he says.
Many standalone FM processors offer a selection of basic presets that don't allow for much customization. Our budget processors, the FM-25 and the FM-55, add in other "big box" controls for smoother transitions between compressed and more dynamic material and advanced algorithms for better on-air stereo imaging, for example.
"Sound is the fingerprint of the station. It's one of the first things that hit the listener when they tune in, and you want to have it right," says Mike.
For more tips on audio processing settings and sound, talk to Mike Erickson at Wheatstone booth N2530 at NAB or sit in on his presentation The Elusive Signature Sound, on Sunday, April 17 between 3:30 and 4:00 p.m.
Foshan Radio (Beijing, China) purchased two E-6 control surfaces and a WheatNet-IP audio network through Audio Design Company.
WAMC-FM (Albany, NY) added an I/O BLADE, Screen Builder application, and IP Meters application to an existing WheatNet-IP audio network.
LDS Church (Provo, UT) purchased four I/O BLADEs and NAVIGATOR software for a WheatNet-IP audio network.
Minnesota Wild -NHL (Minneapolis, MN) purchased an M4IP-USB four channel mic processor BLADE.
GS Broadcast (Mississauga, ON) purchased a Screen Builder application for an existing WheatNet-IP audio network.
CBC (Iqaluit, NU) purchased an E-1 control surface and WheatNet-IP audio network.
Corus Entertainment (Vancouver, BC) purchased a complete WheatNet-IP audio network with two LX-24 and two L-12 control surfaces, nine TS-4 talent stations, seven M4IP-USB four-channel mic processor BLADEs, IP Meter and NAVIGATOR software.
WBAL-AM (Baltimore, MD) purchased an LX-24 control surface and WheatNet-IP audio network BLADEs.
WALA-TV (Mobile, AL) purchased a D-8EX console.
C-Span (Washington, DC) purchased an LX-24 control surface with I/O BLADEs to expand an existing WheatNet-IP audio network.
ABC News (New York, NY) purchased five L-8 control surfaces, four L-12 control surfaces, a TS-4 talent station and a WheatNet-IP audio network system.
Rogers Media (Kitchener, ON) purchased three EDGE network units and Screen Builder application for an existing WheatNet-IP audio network.
Bell Media (Drummondville, QC) added to an existing WheatNet-IP audio network.
Oakwood (Mississauga, ON) purchased two I/O BLADEs for an existing WheatNet-IP audio network.
KNOM-AM/FM (Nome, AK) purchased a WheatNet-IP audio network with three IP-16 digital audio consoles, one IP-12 digital audio console, four SideBoard control surfaces, two M4IP-USB four-channel mic processor BLADEs, and six M2 dual channel mic processors.
KAVU-TV (Victoria, TX) purchased a Series Four TV audio console.
Entertainment Network India Limited (Indore, India) upgraded an existing D-75 audio console for an existing WheatNet-IP audio network through Horizon Broadcast.
Mel Wheeler Radio (Roanoke, VA) purchased six LX-24 control surfaces, six L-12 control surfaces, a SideBoard control surface and WheatNet-IP audio network.
UCB Radio (U.K.) purchased an LX-24 control surface.
Entercom (Wichita, KS) purchased two M4IP four channel mic processor BLADEs.
University of Central Oklahoma (Edmond) purchased an L-12 control surface.
City of Fort Worth (Fort Worth, TX) purchased a MADI interface and Series Four audio console for the city's public access channel.
Florida State University's WFSU-TV (Tallahassee, FL) purchased a Dimension Three TV audio console.
KUAR/KSSN-FM (Atlanta, GA) purchased four I/O BLADEs for an existing WheatNet-IP audio network.
WASJ-FM (Panama City, FL) purchased an IP-12 digital audio console.
Audioarts Engineering
SCA Sound Solutions (Tokyo, Japan) purchased an R-55e audio console.
Radio One (Atlanta, GA) purchased two Air-1 consoles.
MMV (Montreal, QC) purchased an R-55e console.
Pamal Broadcasting (Glen Falls, NY) purchased four Air-4 consoles.
Jeff Laurence Gill Studios (Otto, NC) purchased an Audioarts 08 console.
Wheatstone Audio Processing
KAGE/KHME-FM (Winona, MN) purchased an FM-55 audio processor.
Great Eastern Radio (Barre, VT) purchased an FM-55 audio processor.
Entravision (Reno, NV) purchased an FM-55 audio processor.
Leighton Broadcasting (Perham, MN) purchased an FM-55 audio processor.
WYDE-FM (Birmingham, AL) purchased an FM-55 audio processor.
WMIE-FM (Cocoa, FL) purchased an FM-55 audio processor.
Townsquare Media (Missoula, MT) purchased an FM-55 audio processor.
Cox Radio (Atlanta, GA) purchased two VoxPro 5 digital recorder/editing systems.
Newcap Radio (St. John's, NL) purchased a VoxPro 5 digital recorder/editor system.
Oakwood (Mississauga, ON) purchased five VoxPro 5 digital recorder/editor systems.
iHeartMedia (Seattle, WA) purchased a VoxPro 5 digital recorder/editor system.
iHeartMedia's WOAI-AM (San Antonio, TX) purchased a VoxPro5 digital recorder/editor system.
Entercom (Atlanta, GA) purchased two VoxPro 5 digital recorder/editor systems.
WAJI-FM (Fort Wayne, IN) purchased a VoxPro 5 digital recorder/editing system.
VoxPro On the Move
Some days, an engineer just feels like sending the talent off with a tablet and telling them to go record something. We're guessing that KKDA/KRNB-FM Director of Engineering Gary Wachter was having one of those days when he mobilized his stations' VoxPro recording/editing system using a standard, off-the-shelf Microsoft Surface tablet.
Like many tablets, the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 has a built-in mic and speaker that can be used for local recording and playback. The Surface is also a Windows device, the platform that VoxPro runs on. So, Wachter put the two together to give station talent some basic recording and editing functions they can take to the field and perhaps mix in with the odd source off the internet. They email the resulting .WAV files back to the studio or send them using Dropbox.
Actually, this wasn't Wachter's first time around the block with VoxPro and a Surface tablet. We should point out that KKDA/KRNB-FM talent use VoxPro as a matter of routine in the control room for recording and editing show call-ins on-the-fly. Here, they have full use of the VoxPro software and interface, which gives them a jog wheel and scrub keys on a small control surface to locate precisely where to mark tracks that need editing or removing.
But as things got busy, Wachter added another VoxPro surface in the control room. And instead of the VoxPro control surface, he used a Microsoft Surface tablet to stand in as a second VoxPro editing surface in the event there are two call-in shows going on at once (or as a ready backup). Here, the Surface is docked to provide instant interface to mouse, keyboard, controller and audio I/O (all of which is attached via the docking station). The docking station also gives them a digital path in and out; no inferior headphone analog output needed. Audio is run through a Henry USB Matchbox II for AES interface to the console, making it possible to play back audio live, on-air. The console can also feed the Surface for additional in-studio recording capability.
The Surface with VoxPro recording and editing has since replaced a larger recording/editing system in the second studio, providing the same editing and recording functionality in a much smaller footprint.
Meanwhile, when talent need a small, mobile surface for interviewing and light VoxPro editing for the field, they just grab the Microsoft Surface and go.
Your Question Answered
Q: I've heard that WheatNet-IP has the goods on control. Is that true and how so?
A: Very true. All of the I/O access units that make up the WheatNet-IP audio network come with universal logic (GPI input/output) for interfacing various external switches, indicators and devices for control purposes. These access units, called BLADEs, also have software logic ports for routing and controlling devices anywhere on the network. This means that you can send any GPI input to multiple GPI outputs or marry GPI inputs/outputs to an audio source and have them follow that source through the system. We designed WheatNet-IP so audio is routed along with control on the same cable. When routing the audio of a microphone to a console fader, for example, the START button logic is routed right along with it. Logic ports can output to closures for machine control, on-air lights, mic tallies, and the like. They can also receive closures from external sources such as satellite feeds, remote mic panels or triggers from your automation system. It's all the control you can imagine in one integrated environment.
Check out the Wheat at NAB
We will be speaking about these important topics during the NAB:
Emulation, Expectations and Why Things Sound the Way They Do – By Steve Dove, Sunday, April 17, 1:00 to 1:30 p.m., BEC – Radio Technology Forum -- Room S227
The Elusive Signature Sound – By Mike Erickson, Sunday, April 17, 3:30 to 4:00 p.m., BEC – Radio Technology Forum – Room S227
Extending IP Audio to the Transmitter Using Part 101 or Unlicensed IP Radios – Tuesday, April 19, 10:30 to 11:00 a.m., BEC – Broadcast Plant Facilities Design -- Room S227
And we will be in Booth N2530 for the entire show, so please stop by!


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Product Description:
Type: Dry
Weight: 24
1 hr (C1) 8
30 min (2C) 13
60 sec/0 deg F (CCA) 106
Electrolyte: 3 Qts./ 1.285 s.g
Note: If your aircraft is not listed, consult the appropriate parts manual or equipment list or contact Customer Service, Technical Support for assistance at 1-800-456-0070
Note: The data listed in this chart is intended as a suggested reference guide only. See latest revision of drawing 1516 for FAA-PMA Installation Eligibility. Some installations may vary and require airframe or battery box modification. Installations not shown on D.O.T. FAA/PMA listings will require field approval using FAA form 337 or FAA approved STC.


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I am new to cryptographic issues and from what I googled so far I could not retrieve the information I need.
Consider the use of AES-128 in CTR mode.
Let M be the set of possible plaintexts, for example M can be all the bytes sequences of a length lesser or equal than a specific integer n.
Let K be the private key and SK the symmetric ciphering/deciphering function.
Given an IV i and a plaintext p, we have (I see the initial counter value as an IV there) :
c = SK(p,i)
And symmetrically :
p = SK(c,i)
If an attacker has access to an oracle O that can perform the decryption, given a specific ciphertext :
∀m, i ∈ M, O(m) = SK(m, i), where i is an arbitrary IV, fed by the attacker
In other words, the attacker has access to a system that can encrypt/decrypt data using the private key K, which he wants to break (obviously, only the oracle system knows the key, the attacker can only use the system to encrypt/decrypt messages).
I would like to know to what leaks about the plaintext and/or the private key this kind of oracle can lead. Are these leaks critical ?
The counter is made according to the RFC3686 pattern :
The $CNT$ part of the counter is 8-byte long and the counter is incremented once every 16 bytes.
A given $NONCE$, which is also 8-byte long, is never used twice.
Finally, $n$ can be from a few kilobytes to a few megabytes. But since an overflow will occur only if $n \geq 2^{128}$, there is no overflow.
The attacker has access to both the ciphertext and the counter scheme used to build it (the NONCE + the pure counter value). With the oracle, he can obviously decrypt the ciphertexts he intercepted. To sum up, here is what the attacker knows :
- The ciphertexts
- The counter scheme used to generate the ciphertexts
- The corresponding plaintexts (because he can feed the oracle with the good (ciphertext, counter scheme) couple)


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10 percent of Americans trading in their cars and plans to use Uber and Lyft instead
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Wally Nowinski got his first car when he turned 16 in Michigan, the home of the U.S. auto industry. But after two years of living in New York City, he sold his wheels, using ride services, carsharing and bike sharing to get around.
"My mom didn't think I could do it. She thought I would buy a new car in six months," he said. But that was more than a year ago, and his car budget of $820 per month fell to $250 for carsharing and ride services last year. "I take Uber like pretty frivolously," he said.
Nowinski, 32, is not alone.
Nearly a quarter of American adults sold or traded in a vehicle in the last 12 months, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll published on Thursday, with most getting another car. But 9 percent of that group turned to ride services like Lyft Inc and Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] as their main way to get around.
About the same percentages said they planned to dispose of cars and turn to ride services in the upcoming 12 months.
Though a small percentage, the figure of people switching to ride services could be early evidence that more consumers believe that ride sharing can replace vehicle ownership.
Automakers could see a new market in ride services drivers and believe the fast adoption of ride service technology bodes well for self-driving car technology, a big area of investment for many companies, said auto analyst Alan Baum.
It is not clear whether ride service drivers, who rack up vehicle miles and are likely to buy new cars relatively frequently, will make up for any long term drop in personal car ownership.
But Lyft Director of Transportation Policy Emily Castor called the survey 'early evidence' that its vision of a world where personal car ownership was unnecessary was beginning to take hold.
"What we've seen anecdotally aligns with what you've found," said Uber Head of Transportation Policy and Research Andrew Salzberg.
The survey was the first on the subject by Reuters/Ipsos, so it was not possible to tell whether the move to ride services from car ownership is accelerating, and respondents were not asked whether they gave up a car because of ride services.
The survey showed that 39 percent of Americans had used rides services and that 27 percent of that group did so at least several times per week.
University of California, Berkeley researcher Susan Shaheen said the results on the move to ride services was in line with her 2016 study of a one-way carsharing service, which found a small portion of customers sold a vehicle due to carsharing. She noted, however, that the Reuters/Ipsos survey did not address carsharing or whether people who did not own cars would avoid buying one because of ride services.
Transportation consultant Bruce Schaller said that most of the move to ride sharing probably was explained by factors such as moving in and out of cities and employment changes. Still, he said, "It's not the predominant trend, but there are a significant number of people who have changed their lifestyle, if you will, and are now relying much more on ride services than their own car." That was especially true of people who used many sharing services, such as ride share, car share and bike share.
Auto companies say they are getting ready for changes in technology, including expanded demand for ride services and, eventually, self-driving vehicles. "Those are the factors that are driving our move into being both an auto and a mobility company," said Ford spokesman Alan Hall.
The Reuters/Ipsos U.S. poll was conducted online in English April 5-11. It gathered responses from 584 people who said they disposed of their personal vehicle within the last 12 months and 566 people who said they planned to get rid of their personal vehicles in the next 12 months.
The poll has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 5 percentage points for the people who recently got rid of their vehicle or planned to do so in the future.


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Six Sisters by Jane Gray. Reproduction print.
Archival quality reproduction of original oil painting by Jane Gray. This reproduction is printed on heavy acid free artists' paper using archival quality ink for colour correctness and fade resistance.
Inspired by Algonquin Provincial Park.
Ready to frame as is or can be mounted under matt and frame. Artist signature on front of print.
Overall dimensions: 12" t x 14" w
Note: promotional images of this reproduction were taken under natural light and without filter for true colour representation online. Please be aware colours may vary screen to screen.
Image copyright Jane Gray


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Where May Care Occur?
The best policies pay for care in a nursing home, assisted living facility, or at home. Benefits are typically expressed in daily amounts, with a lifetime maximum. Some policies pay half as much per day for at-home care as for nursing home care. Others pay the same amount, or have a "pool of benefits" that can be used as needed.
Under What Conditions Will The Policy Begin Paying Benefits?
The policy should state the various conditions that must be met.
- The inability to perform two or three specific "activities of daily living" without help. These include bathing, dressing, eating, toileting and "transferring" or being able to move from place to place or between a bed and a chair.
- Cognitive impairment. Most policies cover stroke and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, but other forms of mental incapacity may be excluded.
- Medical necessity, or certification by a doctor that long-term care is necessary.
What Events Must Occur Before The Policy Begins Paying Benefits?
- Some older policies require a hospital stay of at least three days before benefits can be paid. This requirement is very restrictive — you should avoid it.
- Most policies have a "waiting period" or "elimination" period. This is a period that begins when you first need long-term care and lasts as long as the policy provides. During the waiting period, the policy will not pay benefits. If you recover before the waiting period ends, the policy doesn't pay for expenses you incur during the waiting period. The policy pays only for expenses that occur after the waiting period is over, if you continue to need care. In general, the longer the waiting period, the lower the premium for the long-term care policy.
How Long Will Benefits Last?
A benefit period may range from two years to lifetime. You can keep premiums down by electing coverage for three to four years — longer than the average nursing home stay — instead of lifetime.
Indemnity vs. Reimbursement
Most long-term care policies pay on a reimbursement (or expense-incurred) basis, up to the policy limits. In other words, if you have a $150 per day benefit but spend only $130 per day for a home long-term care provider, the policy will pay only $130. The "extra" $20 each day will, in some policies, go into a "pool" of unused funds that can be used to extend the length of time for which the policy will pay benefits. Other policies pay on an indemnity basis. Using the same example as above, an indemnity policy would pay $150 per day as long as the insured needs and receives long-term care services, regardless of the actual outlay.
Inflation Protection
Inflation protection is an important feature, especially if you are under 65, when you buy benefits that you may not use for 20 years or more. A good inflation provision compounds benefits at 5 percent a year. Without inflation protection, even 3 percent annual inflation will, over 24 years, reduce the purchasing power of a $150 daily benefit to the equivalent of $75.
Six Other Important Policy Provisions
- 1=7 Elimination period. Under some policies, if the insured has qualifying long-term care expenses on one day during a seven-day period, he or she will be credited with having satisfied seven days toward the elimination period. This type of provision reflects the way home care is often delivered — some days by professionals and some days by family members.
- Guaranteed renewable policies must be renewed by the insurance company, although premiums can go up if they are increased for an entire class of policyholders.
- Waiver of premium, so that no further premiums are due once you start to receive benefits.
- Third-party notification, so that a relative, friend or professional adviser will be notified if you forget to pay a premium.
- Nonforfeiture benefits keep a lesser amount of insurance in force if you let the policy lapse. This provision is required by some states.
- Restoration of benefits, which ensures that maximum benefits are put back in place if you receive benefits for a time, then recover and go for a specified period (typically six months) without receiving benefits.


text:
No Upcoming Shows
Comedian in Detroit 2010" by the Metro Times
"A drill sergeant with a smart mouth" said The Detroit Free Press. "Best Bet!", The Detroit News. Bill's fast paced, high energy, in your face of comedy has kept audiences laughing across the country. He has appeared on Detroit's "Drew & Mike"; WJR 760 with Frank Beckman and FOX TV. He has worked with comedy greats Greg Geraldo, Lisa Lampanelli, Gilbert Gottfried and headlines clubs across the country! "A bitter pill to swallow" is how Bill Bushart describes his brand of humor.


text:
Doctors Express Newark
5763 Stevenson Boulevard
Newark, California 94560
(510) 564-7981
Doctors Express Newark is a walk in urgent care clinic. Our experienced onsite Doctors will treat virtually any non life threatening symptom. Common areas of treatment include ear pain, sore throats, cuts, sinus pain, x-rays, allergies and much more.


text: Inviting. Friendly. Scenic. Historic. These are just a few of the words that accurately describe Norfolk, Virginia. The city is packed with many fun and interesting activities to experience. Some of the most famous places to visit include the Spirit of Norfolk Harbor Cruises, the Painted Lady restaurant and the popular Comedy Zone comedy club. And if you're a fan of the great outdoors, you will find several excellent places to bask in the sun or enjoy your favorite recreational activity.


text:
MONDAY, Oct 22, 2012 (HealthDay News) -- People suffering from type 2 diabetes can see an improvement in both their blood sugar levels and blood pressure if they add beans and other legumes to their diet, Canadian researchers report.
Chickpeas, lentils and beans are rich in protein and fiber, and these may improve heart health. Because they are low on the glycemic index, a measure of sugar in foods, they may also help control diabetes, the researchers explained.
"Legumes, which we always thought were good for the heart, actually are good for the heart in ways we didn't expect," said lead researcher Dr. David Jenkins, the Canada Research Chair in Nutrition and Metabolism at the University of Toronto.
Among diabetics, "not only did their glucose control become better, but -- and this surprised us -- it had a significant effect on blood pressure," he said.
Exactly why legumes have this effect on blood sugar and blood pressure isn't known, Jenkins said. The effect is most likely due to the protein, fiber and minerals they include, he noted.
Jenkins recommends adding more legumes to the diet. "They will do well for you," he said. "They will help you keep your blood pressure down and your blood glucose under control, and help you keep your cholesterol down."
The report was published online Oct. 22 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
For the study, Jenkins's team randomly assigned 121 patients with type 2 diabetes to eat one cup of legumes a day or whole-wheat products.
Over three months, the researchers found that those eating legumes saw an improvement in their blood sugar of 0.5 compared with 0.3 for those eating whole-wheat products. In addition, those eating legumes saw a reduction in blood pressure of 4.5 mm Hg, compared with a reduction of 2.1 mm Hg among those eating whole-wheat products, they found.
These improvements in blood pressure and blood sugar add up to better diabetes control and a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, the researchers said.
The study was funded in part by the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, a nonprofit organization representing pulse-crop farmers in Saskatchewan. Pulse crops include chickpeas, lentils, fava beans and soybeans.
Marion Franz, from Nutrition Concepts by Franz Inc., in Minneapolis, and author of an accompanying journal editorial, said "the study clearly shows that legumes are part of a healthy eating pattern."
Franz noted that patients were able to control blood sugar as well with whole wheat as they did with beans, and it may be easier for people to eat three servings of whole wheat a day rather than a cup of beans a day.
"What's really important for people with type 2 diabetes is not really what they eat, but how much they eat," Franz said. "You can overeat on healthy foods too."
Samantha Heller, an exercise physiologist and clinical nutrition coordinator at the Center for Cancer Care at Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn., agreed.
"For people with type 2 diabetes, beans as part of an overall healthy diet are a great addition," Heller said. "Not only do legumes have a relatively low glycemic index, they are loaded with fiber, antioxidants, protein, vitamins and minerals."
Beans provide a heart-healthy, nutritious and affordable alternative to less healthy red and processed meats, Heller said. Several studies suggest a link between eating legumes and lower incidence of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancers, along with better weight management, she said.
"While people may not eat a full cup of beans daily, as they did in this small study, including beans in a healthy diet will still provide many health benefits," Heller said. "Beans are great to use in dips, pasta sauce, salads, burritos, soups, stews and even brownies."
Another expert, who does believe in a low glycemic diet, said patients still need individualized eating plans.
"There is no standard recommendation with a low glycemic diet," said Dr. Minisha Sood, an endocrinologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "It is more beneficial to my patients to tailor diet recommendations."
Sood said she looks for specific problem areas, such as portion control or snacking. No single diet or food fits all patients.
"Dietary recommendations should be based on a patient's lifestyle, food likes and dislikes," she noted. "It really requires in-depth nutritional counseling."
Although the study found an association between eating legumes and decreased blood sugar and blood pressure, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
More information
For more information on a healthy diabetic diet, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.


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EFF Asks Supreme Court to Consider Controversial Case
San Francisco - On Monday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the United States Supreme Court, asking the Court to review an important patent case that has broad implications for free speech and consumers' rights.
The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled earlier this year that eBay violated MercExchange's online auction patents and that eBay could be permanently enjoined, or prohibited, from using the patented technology. Then the Court went a dangerous step further. It held that patentees who prove their case have a right to permanent injunctions unless the injunction poses a risk to public health. This "automatic injunction" rule deprives judges of their traditional discretion to consider how an injunction might affect other public interests -- including free speech online.
If this rule is allowed to stand, free expression could suffer.
"We're not saying injunctive relief is never a good idea," said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry. "But courts must have the ability to look at how an injunction will affect a variety of public interests. That's especially true now, when so many companies are claiming patents on basic technologies that citizens use to communicate online."
In its brief, EFF argues that this ruling threatens free speech because patent owners who claim control over Internet publishing mechanisms are in a position to threaten anyone who uses them to broadcast their ideas, even for noncommercial purposes.
Added McSherry, "Given the explosion of new communications technologies such as blogs, instant messaging, and wikis, this is hardly the time to limit courts' ability to consider the benefits that a given technology brings to freedom of expression, or evaluate the chilling effects of forbidding the use of that technology."
You can read the full brief at:
For more on patents and how bad law can hurt the public, see:
Corynne McSherry
Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation


text:
Water Damage Pro's Golden
Golden Colorado Water, Fire and Mold Damage
At Water Damage Pro's of Golden Colorado we know about the problems entangled with water damage & flood damage and our quick dry system will get your house or commercial building back to normal in no time. Our cutting-edge equipment & water damage drying techniques ensure that the area is dried completely and the threat of mold and pathogen growth is eliminated.
24-hours a day, three hundred and sixty five days a year, we stand geared up and on call. Our rapid response service, addresses all health considerations connected with water damage restoration & property restoration for your residence or industrial building. We all know that damage can occur anytime of day or night, so we keep our service professionals ready around the clock.
Our Water Damage Pro experts , guarantees you excellence in restorative cleaning services for all commercial & residential water damage, flood damage, Smoke Damage, fire damage. You can count on each of our Water damage technicians to have industry skilled training, and state of the art drying & restoring equipment.
Our complete list of building restoration services by trained professionals:
⦁ Moisture Removal and Refurbishment
⦁ Thorough Mold Extraction & cleaning
⦁ Industrial and Residential Water Damage Renewal Offering
⦁ Cleaning For All Moisture Damaged Spots
⦁ Carpet Cleaned, Removed, & Renewed
⦁ Absolute Building damage Refurbish
⦁ Odor Check, moisture & mold
⦁ Insurance Billing (Insurance Help)
⦁ Customer Fulfillment Guaranteed
Water damage & mold remediation health concerns can be alleviated today, by hiring our Water Damage Restoration Experts at Water Restoration Pros in Golden Colorado.


text:
Bamford Mayfair Sport
Orange With Black Accents
Whilst fashionable in design, the Mayfair Sport is water-resistant to 10ATM, making it ideal for outdoor sports. It comes on a rubber strap with a unique wickerway function and the LumiNova indices mean you can see the timepiece at any time of the day. Built around a steel core, the high impact polymer case and bezel come in a number of different colour options with a brand new dial and dial configuration, providing wearers with the opportunity to express their personal style and taste.
- Luminous indices and hands
- TYPE: Quartz Watch with Rotating Bezel
- MOVEMENT: Miyota Quartz Calibre: 2035
- CASE MATERIAL: High impact polymer case built around a steel core
- CASE DIAMETER: 40 mm
- CASE THICKNESS: 15 mm
- CASE-BACK: Stainless Steel
- WATER-RESISTANCE: 10 ATM – 100 m
- LUG WIDTH: 20mm
All Bamford Watches ship Worldwide. See below for dispatch times.- UK – Via Royal Mail business post
- EU – Via Courier
- USA – Via Courier
- South America – Via Courier
- Rest of World – Via Courier
Local import duties and taxes are the responsibility of the client.


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When the bolt and/or nut is tightened, the teeth grip and seat the mating surfaces. Since the cam angle α, is larger than the thread pitch β, a wedge effect is created by the cams, preventing the bolt from rotating loose. The Nord-Lock wedge-lock washer is locked in place, allowing movement only across the face of the cams. Any attempt from the bolt/nut to rotate loose is blocked by the wedge effect of the cams.
When a bolt is untightened with a wrench, the pair of washers expand more than the corresponding pitch of the thread, allowing the bolt/nut to rise. Nord-Lock wedge-lock washers positively secure the fastener in a joint which is subjected to any kind of vibration or dynamic loads.
- Standard range available for bolt sizes M3 - M130
- Washers available in 5 different materials - steel, stainless steel, 254 SMO®, INCONEL® / HASTELLOY® and C-276 INCONEL® 718
- Washers available with enlarged outer diameter (SP washers)
- Reliable bolt securing system at high and low clamp loads


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Make sure your hearing conservation program is working with regular program evaluations. This will identify trends, magnify problem areas and drive improvement.
The ultimate goal of a hearing conservation program is to protect people from developing a hearing loss caused by working in hazardous noise. When all of the hearing conservation program (HCP) tasks have been completed, and all of the regulations have been checked and followed, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of the overall hearing loss prevention program (HLPP). Is it actually preventing noise-induced hearing loss? Are there gaps? How can it be improved? Is the HLPP efficient and cost effective?
There are several ways to measure the effectiveness of the program. One is to specifically evaluate changes that occur as a result of the program, like the trend over time of the number of hearing loss cases. Other outcome measures can be tracked, like successful reduction of noise sources or exposures. Another approach is to look at the cost of delivering the HLPP, comparing it to the cost of implementing noise control to reduce the noise hazards. It can also be helpful to audit the HLPP for compliance and/or to review the company policies and practices to ensure alignment between what is on paper and what really happens in practice. A recent hearing conservation program checklist to assess effectiveness has been developed (Neitzel et al, 2017).
Conducting routine evaluations of program effectiveness is recommended. Companies choose to review aspects of the HCP at different times to spread the work load throughout the year or conduct an audit at the same time every year or every other year. Program evaluation can be done by using internal resources, contracting the service to outside subject matter experts, or through a combination of both. Finally, once the key findings are identified, the next step is to incorporate the recommendations into the HLPP.
A feature of successful HLPPs is that there is a HLPP team with one person who is designated as the HLPP leader. A quick tool to help identify the team is to complete the "Who's Responsible?" form. Doing this exercise may reveal duplications, gaps, or uncertainties regarding who is doing what task, and provide some guidance for next steps. The team leader can pull together the team for regular meetings to set goals, discuss issues, and evaluate the total program. Evaluating the program can be completed by the HLPP team, however in some cases, you could choose to contract with an independent service provider to perform this service.
There are several approaches to program evaluation. Simple checklists can be used to determine if company policies and procedures are in compliance with regulations. A program evaluation compliance checklist for OSHA can be found by clicking here.
Another approach is to identify specific outcome measures to related to program success. If the HLPP team has determined goals, then outcome measures can be used to track progress towards completing the goal. Examples of outcome measures include:
Program evaluation can be an ongoing process in terms of ensuring that tasks are completed as planned and regulatory requirements are met. However special assessments can be scheduled periodically to dig deeper into the details. Some programs conduct annual internal audits as preparation for a potential external, unscheduled inspection.
Recommendations for improvement may be simple, such as identifying positions for hearing protection dispensers through the work space, or more complicated, such as developing a plan to increase the completion rate for audiometric retests for workers who experience a standard threshold shift. Program changes can be complex, such as strategically planning to implement engineering control projects to reduce noise exposure over 95 dBA TWA, for example.
Operating an effective hearing conservation program costs money as well as time and energy. It is helpful to calculate the actual costs of delivering the program and compare that to the costs of reducing hazardous noise. A cost effectiveness analysis can reveal if resources are allocated appropriately or if changes could increase program effectiveness. Some tools exist to guide cost benefit studies, such as those discussed in this NIOSH blog.
OSHA regulation 29 CFR 1910.95 requires that employers implement an "effective hearing conservation program". In a letter of interpretation, OSHA explained that this term means "a hearing conservation program that prevents workplace noise from producing a standard threshold shift in the hearing ability of any employees." It is expected that employers should make an effort to evaluate whether or not the HCP is effective, however there are no additional requirements specifying how to conduct a program evaluation.
In some cases, a checklist for regulatory compliance is conducted to ensure that all regulatory requirements are being met with the existing company policies and procedures. In the true sense, a compliance checklist is different than an evaluation of program effectiveness, however it is a good place to start, in order to document that the hearing conservation program is in compliance. Various compliance checklists can be found on the internet, including this one provided by NIOSH.
A hearing conservation program audit is more in depth than a compliance checklist. This typically involves interviewing members of the management, staff, and workforce. Records can be reviewed in detail and an effort is made to identify if everyday practices are aligned with the company policies and procedures. A "deep dive" program audit can be done by an internal team or may be contracted with an external, subject matter expert.
Outcome measures can be used to determine the effect of an intervention program. Examples are given below. Select one or more and track the results over time to identify trends and guide program decisions. These measures can be focused on the results of the audiometric database to track occurrences of hearing shift or hearing loss. Ideally, the occurrences of hearing shift, or STS, in the noise exposed group of workers should be the same as that of a non-noise exposure population of workers at the same facility. Using this approach would mean that hearing tests must be conducted on individuals who are not enrolled in the HCP, which may not be practical. In lieu of this, NIOSH has suggested that an STS rate of 3% or less is a good target.
To calculate the incidence of STS, divide the number of STS cases by the number of annual tests and multiply the result by 100.
% STS = 100 x (# of STS/ # annual tests)
For example, a company that conducted 200 annual hearing tests found 9 cases of STS. The overall percent STS for the noise-exposed group is 100 x (9/200) or 4.5%. Tracking this number over time can help identify if the STS rate is acceptable and/or stable.
Another approach is to measure the variability within the audiometric database for workers who have been tested over multiple years. An ANSI Technical Report details a statistical procedure to identify fluctuations in the audiometric data which is an indicator of quality. High variability in audiometric thresholds for a population can be a sign of hearing change, poor quality hearing tests, or other factors that compromise the integrity of the data. This ANSI report can be purchased as a stand-alone document however it is also reproduced in the CAOHC Hearing Conservation Manual Appendix M: ANSI S12.13 TR-2002 (R2010) American National Standard Technical Report Evaluating the Effectiveness of Hearing Conservation Programs through Audiometric Data Base Analysis and can be purchased at www.caohc.org.
Still other measures can be conducted on other aspects of the hearing conservation program, like tracking the number of people in critical exposure groups, noise control efforts that result in decreased exposures, or on achieving a target for completing hearing protection fit-testing.
Here are some examples to monitor change over time:
IMPORTANT NOTE: This information is based on selected current national requirements. Other country or local requirements may be different. Always consult User Instructions and follow local laws and regulations. This website contains an overview of general information and should not be relied upon to make specific decisions. Reading this information does not certify proficiency in safety and health. Information is current as of the date of publication, and requirements can change in the future. This information should not be relied upon in isolation, as the content is often accompanied by additional and/or clarifying information. All applicable laws and regulations must be followed.


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Eddie Money Diagnosed with Stage IV Cancer
Eddie Money has been diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal cancer, he says in an upcoming episode of his TV show Real Money.
The news was revealed by TMZ, along with a short clip from the show in which singer Money, 70, discusses the diagnosis, which he received late last year during a routine visit to his doctor.
He'd previously canceled his 2019 touring plans in July after requiring treatment for pneumonia, and he'd undergone heart surgery in the spring. It had been reported that he was expected to make a full recovery.
"I thought I was going in to get a checkup, and he told me that, uh, I got cancer," Money said in the TV scene. His wife Laurie then explained: "It's in his esophagus, the top of his stomach… it's also spread to his liver."
"It hit me really, really hard," Money continued, before explaining: "I don't want to keep the fact that I have cancer from everybody. It's not honest. I want to be honest with everybody." He added that cancer treatment had come "a long way" and that "not everybody dies from cancer like they did in the '50s and the '60s." He continued: "Am I going to live a long time? Who knows. It's in God's hands. But you know what? I'll take every day I can get. Every day above ground is a good day."
TMZ reported: "[H]e's determined to keep his loved ones in the loop as he deals with the diagnosis. We're told Eddie didn't take a break from shooting his family's show after getting the news -- and he's continued touring almost nonstop while getting treatment."
The second season of Real Money begins airing on AXS TV on September 12.


text: 3 5 A B C D E F G H J L M O P Q R S T V W X RTP An RTP, thus the abbreviation for "return to player", is an average percentage of the wager that is returned to you in the form of Chips. This is a long-term estimate and may vary from slot to slot. A higher RTP means a slot can pay out not only larger wins, but also smaller wins, more often. Row Rules


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So yes, it turns out the photo of an on-the-record witness to the 2006 Chicago O'Hare UFO incident isn't a picture of "Sam Peterson" at all. It's a police mug shot of a Florida teenager named Andrew Harris, who was arrested with a buddy three years ago for defecating in a resort swimming pool. And that's just the beginning.
Now, before going any farther, De Void admits De Void must've been out of De Void's ever-lovin' skull to put any stock into a UFO lead coming from an obscure online boxing magazine whose practices — in hindsight — are so deranged they appear to be completely, uh, devoid of logic. I can rationalize it as a consequence of the mainstream media's abdication of the UFO issue to the alternative-press trash heap, but still …
For Frank Warren, however, this baffling entity called Ringside Report began to stink up his radar a couple of years ago. Warren, a long-time researcher and editor of The UFO Chronicles, began to have reservations about a Ringside Report source named Stan Hernandez. Hernandez was initially described in 2011 by RR "reporter" Geno McGahee as an 81-year-old receiving death threats on account of his speaking out as an eyewitness to the 1947 Roswell UFO crash. In later updates, McGahee's byline disappeared altogether in lieu of Hernandez, the alleged octogenarian, who emerged as RR's Jimmy Olsen on the UFO beat. Hernandez harvested blockbuster stories from sources that Warren couldn't verify to save his life.
"Hernandez's" "scoop" last week about the O'Hare witness prompted Warren to dig more deeply into RR's UFO archives. (Right, exactly — why does a boxing magazine run so much UFO junk in the first place?) As he began revisiting the stories, Warren noticed a pattern. "The photos of their sources," he says, "looked like mug shots. Then when I checked, whoa! They were mug shots."
What Warren discovered upon submitting RR's photo URLs to a Google search was not merely criminal activity, but a litany of heinous sex crimes. Warren quit looking after the first half dozen RR source photos he checked all led to perv-crime links. "I think I got the picture," he says. "I didn't need to see any more."
So, just to set the record straight, for anyone who might take Ringside Report's UFO coverage seriously: "Scott Sanders" is really Richard Sanden, charged with necrophilia. Abduction expert "Dr. David Lister" is Robert Melia, busted for assaulting minors. Former NASA they're-censoring-alien-photos whistleblower "Anthony Austin" is actually Kurtis Peter Peterson; alien abductee "Buck Stabler," who supposedly died under mysterious circumstances, is James Naylor; "Richard Atkins," who predicted an alien apocalypse this year, is Gustavo Castanon. Authorities arrested all three for exhibiting a hideously unnatural thing for dogs.
Last week, De Void emailed McGahee for more information about "Stan Hernandez" and "Sam Peterson." McGahee, listed on RR's web site as managing editor for graphics, replied that he'd left a message with his ace octogenarian reporter. After several days of zilch, De Void sent another query to McGahee, who responded: "I am sorry that Stan has not gotten back to you. I only edit and post articles. I don't have anything to do with the actual articles, unless you're talking about my boxing and world news that I cover." De Void left a followup phone message for a direct interview with McGahee that has not been returned. Among other things, McGahee's Facebook page, which shows him wearing devil horns, states that he's a horror film producer.
De Void is not entirely convinced this isn't one massively bad dream. But in the event that the previous account is actually occurring on this real-world plane, I may have my head examined or enter a 10-step program that'll wean me off this twisted futile blog, once and for all, and guide me back into the bright lights of higher ground.
Continue Reading . . .
See Also:
O'Hare UFO Witness Appears in Silhouette on CNN
A UFO at O'Hare? Some Pilots Thought So
Herald Tribune Reporter, Billy Cox Queries CIA On Chase Brandon's Roswell UFO Claims


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Thank you for your patience and we hope our new site better serves your needs.


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"The pain you feel is nothing compared to the pain of giving up."
- Ldpende
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Interact smarter
Fill out your website with the information your website visitors are looking for in the most convient places.
Work faster
With only the most needed features and tools at their fingertips, your team can focus on helping your customers instead of wasting time on building your website.
Surpass expectations
Customers are happy when they can find what they are looking fast. And they are stunned by the experience you can provide. Seriously.
Navigation bars done right
Seriously empowers your customers to navigate through your website smoothly. So they can find the most valuable information within a few seconds.
Follow your customer's eyes: show the most valuable pages on the left and less important ones – on the right. Hide the least important pages in submenus.
Transform your menu items into buttons to catch customer's attention to the things that metter for both of you.
Make your navigation sticky to let your customers browse your website quickly no matter where they're now on a page.
Content blocks that do a lot
Build content blocks with the page builder you know and the elements you own. Use these blocks in headers, footers and even in rows.
Build for later use
Use a page builder to create content blocks with all the elements you've got. Save them to use in different places.
Use in headers and footers
Choose default header and footer in Customizer and later change them on a per page basis.
Use even in rows
You can use the content blocks as background layers in any page builder row.
Background layers to enhance rows
Enhance default page builder rows with additional elements to create new experiences for your customers.
Enhance rows
Add new background layers (up to 5) between the default row background and its content.
Insert some cool stuff
In each layer you can insert background colors, gradient colors, images, featured images and content blocks. Later, you'll be able to put videos and animations too.
Create new experiences
Background layers help you to build something awesome and unusual. So your customers will be surprised!
Blog like a pro
Create a classic corporate blog with all default features your can find in free WordPress themes made by Automattic.
Blog the way you know
Create a classic corporate blog the way WordPress makes it in all its themes.
Add a top bar
Display the blog top bar with taxonomies and a search field for faster customer navigation.
Turn on/off widgets
Turn on/off blog widgets and even style them to fit your corporate design.
Grids you need
Create image grids and galleries from any post types you want using the included (for free) Creative plugins.
Create any number of grids
Create any number of grids to display valuable posts and images.
Make them cool
Each grid contains dozens of options. So eventually, you can create thousands of unique grids.
Turn on your imagination
Grids can be used for many purposes besides portfolios and image galleries. Just turn on your imagination and make something unique.
Design your website by putting type first
Thanks to Font I Want, you can express your brand's personality by working with the best typefaces
Present brand with fonts
Each brand has its own vibe and fonts are very vocal in transferring brand's ideology into visual communication. Use Font I Want and bring your brand identity to the digital life.
Use fonts from numerous providers
Experiment with thousands of Google and Adobe Typekit fonts and stand out. You will never run out of options.
Play with different settings
Browse the font library, add fonts to your favorites, change CSS selectors' properties and even add your own selectors.
All that on all devices
Be confident, your website will look good on all devices from which your customers browse it.
We've got what you need
All you might need to manage a modern corporate website that your customers love to visit.
Splash screen
You can turn it on/off, define its background color, choose any loader icon (and its color) or upload your own. Optionally, you can turn on the top progress bar and define its height and color too.
Reactive images
We've integrated our newly created technology that automatically chooses the right sizes of your images and downloads them to your browser at the time you need it.
You can upload your logo (we support SVG too), use site title (or any custom text), define the navigation bar background, border and shadow colors, make it sticky, choose left and right menus, display any menu items as buttons. And you can do almost all of it separately for mobile.
Light/dark color schemes
Our theme detects which background color (light or dark) is used and automatically chooses the appropriate color scheme. Just don't forget to choose the colors in Customizer.
Per page settings
You can change many default options on each page separately (like background color, header and footer, navigation bar settings).
Forms & buttons
You can style forms and buttons in Customizer too.
One page navigation
This theme can be used for one page websites too.
Pagination control
You can choose between two pagination styles (numbers and next/previous arrows) and style them to fit your website's look and feel.
Blog settings
You can control the blog styles, turn widgets on/off and control many other things.
Icon packs
The theme contains two additional icon packs – Ionic and Elegant themes.
Coming soon to Seriously
Within the next several months, we're going to enhance the theme in different ways.
New background layers
We're going to add video support, animations and changing colors.
New content blocks options
We'll enhance the Content blocks library of elements to let you create fewer blocks. In addition, we'll add ability to control headers/footers per different post types separately.
Shifting colors
We'll return this option which we introduced in Colors Creative: automatic body color changing.
New navigation bar options
We'll add more options for navigation bar too.
New blog layouts
We're going to add at least two new layouts: grid and list.
New navigation types
We'll add up to 10 new navigation bar types.
Boxed view
Because why not?
Demos, demos, demos
We're going to add new demos to save you time and show what you can accomplish with this theme.


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Here's my 2013 reveal for the Michaels Dream Tree Challenge!
Green, white, champagne, silver:
I love the glow of the lights behind the flowers:
The inspiration for the tree came from these silver pine cone ornaments. They reminded me of the seed bombs that my brother used to launch from our Magnolia tree when my sister and I were little. Funny memory.
Each ornament was tied onto the tree with a bow:
A lot of twinkling:
Silver berries:
I love the natural look of the whole tree: [Read more…]


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This Life-Size Baby Yoda Toy Will Melt Your Heart
This is the way: Buying this life-size Baby Yoda figure and loving it forever.
We have seen some cool collectible versions of Baby Yoda from The Mandalorian in our day, but nothing like this: Sideshow Collectibles' "Life-Size Figure" of the adorable alien officially known as "The Child." The item is up for pre-sale on their website right now with an expected release date of August to October 2020.
Click over for more pictures, but the one above gives you a pretty good sense of the thing: Gigantic eyes, those adorable ears, and even peach fuzz on its wrinkly bald head. As the official description on the Sideshow website notes, it even comes with its favorite piece of Mando's ship as an accessory:
The Child Life-Size Figure measures 16.5" tall, standing on a simple black podium base that lets this adorable alien steal all of the focus- along with the Mandalorian's ship parts. Inspired by its unique onscreen appearance, this mixed media statue features a tan fabric coat swaddling The Child as it gazes up with charming wide eyes, hiding the silver shift knob from the Razor Crest™ in its right hand.
The life-size Baby Yoda ain't cheap, at $350. But there's got to be at least 350 hairs on his widdle bald head — so you're basically paying a buck a peach fuzz, which is a hell of a deal. We want one!
Gallery — The Coolest Star Wars Easter Eggs in The Rise of Skywalker:


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The visitor centre is subtly integrated with the existing surroundings and includes several eco-friendly features.
New era in prospect at Jesmond Dene
The beautiful new visitor centre at Jesmond Dene, designed by local architects Mosedale Gillatt, opened to the public in the summer 2011. Eco-friendly features of the elegant new building include a sedum roof, a rainwater-collection tank supplying water to the toilets, a super-efficient heating system and a recycling area. Sensitive use of materials, such as Siberian larch – which weathers to a bleached grey – and the understated character of the building combine to create a pleasing harmony with the natural surroundings.
The glass-fronted building contains information and displays about the history and natural history of Jesmond Dene. Incorporating the existing buildings of Millfield House, the site includes a classroom, a new café, outdoor terraced seating area, and improved disabled access. Part of a large-scale scheme funded by a National Lottery grant, the visitor centre comes hard on the heels of the restoration of the nearby Heaton Park pavilion.
Other features of the redevelopment include a steel pedestrian bridge across the Ouseburn, passing underneath (and at 90 degrees to) the existing Armstrong Bridge, a new pets' corner and children's play area near Millfield House, improvements to paths and signs, new railings, and extensive planting of trees and shrubs.
An old mill race uncovered during excavations on the site has been incorporated into the outdoor seating area. A 2m-high vaulted tunnel was also discovered running underneath Millfield House for a distance of 75m. This would have provided the runoff for water from the original mill wheel.
All these developments would have been approved by Sir William and Lady Armstrong, who in 1883 gave more than 80 acres of Jesmond Dene to the people of Newcastle in perpetuity. The Armstrongs had lived in the dene since their marriage in 1835 and built themselves a house there. (Confusingly, the house itself was also called Jesmond Dene; it was demolished in the 1930s to make way for suburban housing.) As the years went by, the Armstrongs acquired more and more land in the dene and landscaped it to reflect their ideal of a wild rural setting.
The map reproduced below, by kind permission of Robinson Library, Newcastle University, shows the dene as it appeared in 1884, at the time of the visit by the Prince and Princess of Wales.


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Click the phobia to See!
Already know this one? Refresh the page to see another one.
Would you like to contribute to Phobiaq? Feel free to drop us a line about your experience with a phobia, and how you dealt with it.
If you see any errors or omissions on www.phobiaq.com, please take the time to report it to us. We are hoping to make Phobiaq a premier destination for accurate and relevant information about phobias.
Phobiaq.com is a growing resource for anyone interested in learning about types of phobias. Whether you are just curious about the definition of a
particular phobia or simply want a list of the most common ones, Phobiaq is your premier online destinations.
Mostly visitors simply want to have a list of phobias and their definitions, but Phobiaq hopes to provide a growing library of information about phobias their affects on individuals as well as the society at large. Phobiaq aims to be more than just a phobia dictionary, and strives to be a useful resource for all who need it.
Since everyone's experiences in life are varied and with nuanced, we hope that you will share your own experiences regarding your phobias, or those of individuals close to you. The aim is to make Phobiaq not just a destination for information, but also a sanctuary for those who need the support of a community, even if it is only virtual, to face their fears.
General aproaches to how to treat your phobias.
» Phobia Treatments
Coming Soon!
Have you ever wondered which phobia was most common? Or have you wanted to know if you were alone in having a certain phobia? This list of the 10 most common phobias will help you
shed some light on those questions.
» 10 Most Common Phobias
Here you can find a list of rare and unusual phobias. For example did you know that there is a phobia that is defined as the 'fear of gold'? This phobia is called Aurophobia. There
are many other interesting phobias which we have listed. Just click above to see the list of unusual and rare phobias.
» Unusual Phobias
There are such a wide variety of recognized phobias that makes it hard for someone to be familiar with all of them. Phobiaq has gethered a large list of phobias, trimming the list of the
silly and made-up phobias that some other websites include. Every attempt is made to make this site a trustworthy resource on the Internet.
» List of All Phobias


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Yue Yuen Shoe Factory Backs Down After Workers Strike for Pensions
Some 40,000 workers in seven Yue Yuen shoe factories in Dongguan city, China, went on strike last month to successfully demand that their employer make pension payments required under the law.
Yue Yuen, a Taiwanese company headquartered in Hong Kong, is the world largest manufacturer of shoes for big brands like Adidas, Nike and Timberland. It is estimated to make one in five sports shoes sold globally for which it earned $434.8 million in profits in 2013.
For several years Yue Yuen has been making pension contributions for workers based on their base pay of 1,810 yuan ($294) a month. In reality, workers average wages of 3,000 yuan ($487) a month, with overtime and bonuses, so the contributions have fallen short.
News about the deficit broke in March after a worker who retired after 18 years at a Yue Yuen factory discovered that her pension was less than she expected. The news spread rapidly on Weixin, a popular mobile chat service similar to WhatsApp.
On April 5, workers began to down tools at a factory in Dongguan in Guangdong province. By mid-April some 80 percent of Yue Yuen workers had stopped working.
"The factory director told us, 'If you're looking for us to repay, I can tell you it's not going to happen,' " Liu Hai, a Yue Yuen worker told the New York Times. "That afternoon, people just started walking off little by little." Liu was interrogated by the police for making comments in an online post but was let go after he signed an agreement not to protest.
Not so Lin Dong and his colleague Zhang Zhiru, the founder of Shenzen's Chunfeng Labor Dispute Service Center, who drove an hour from their offices to meet with workers and provide legal advice to the strikers. "The police twice asked us not to get involved with the strike, but we ignored them, so they got annoyed and want to teach us a lesson," Zhang told the Financial Times.
Some 20 police officers grabbed Lin and Zhang when they were eating at a hotel, took them into custody and charged them with "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble." After Professor Wang Jiangsong of the Beijing-based China Labor Relations Institute and others raised the alarm about their arrests on Weibo - the Chinese equivalent of Twitter - the two organizers were released and driven out of town.
After two weeks of strikes and protest marches, Yue Yuen agreed to cover the shortfall and provide an extra 230 yuan ($36.78) a month per worker as an additional monthly living allowance.
While the company has pleaded ignorance of the laws governing benefits payments, some say that the practice is common. "Some local governments even allow foreign companies to escape payments to attract their investments," He Gaochao, a public affairs professor at Sun Yat-sen University, told Xinhua, the Chinese news agency.
Despite the new increase in wages, Yue Yuen workers will barely be able to afford a pair of Nike's which costs 1469 yuan, equal to roughly two weeks wages in Dongguan.
- 184 Labor


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Welcome to HalloweenGames
Welcome to the best Halloween arcade site on the internet, featuring over 3500+ FREE scary Halloween games that you can play, share, and bookmark for whenever you're bored!
Our goal is to provide you the popular Halloween games, and to allow you to bookmark those games, embed them on your MySpace, share them with your friends, and much more! Register today, it's FREE!


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January 31 @ 9:30 am - 10:30 am|Recurring Event (See all)An event every week that begins at 9:30 am on Wednesday, repeating indefinitely
|Recurring Event (See all)
An event every week that begins at 9:30 am on Wednesday, repeating indefinitely
Event Details
The Al-Anon Family Groups are a fellowship of relatives and friends of alcoholics who share their experience, strength, and hope in order to solve their common problems. We believe alcoholism is a family illness and that changed attitudes can aid recovery.Al-Anon is not allied with any sect, denomination, political entity, organization, or institution; does not engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any cause. There are no dues for membership. Al-Anon is self-supporting through its own voluntary contributions.