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How to compose and structure a content strategy
Behind every captivating blog post, factual infographic or entertaining video will be a coherent and comprehensive content strategy. Coming up with a definitive and distinct plan is crucial, as simply creating a piece of content and publishing it on your website won't suffice in this highly competitive and connected world.
The way in which Internet users are discovering, viewing, experiencing and sharing content is changing all the time. This has called for a more versatile, resourceful and multifaceted approach from marketers in order to remain relevant, appealing and above all else, successful.
It goes without saying that the content itself needs to be useful, interesting and engaging, but a well organised strategy also needs to pinpoint specific audience members, scrutinise previous campaigns, distribute content in the right places sand provide scope to analyse the results. But if you manage to cover these bases, you should be able to implement and execute a winning content plan of action.
Identify your audience but focus on individuals
It is all well and good saying your audience consists of single mothers, affluent professionals or retired couples, but chances are they'll be scores of others businesses looking to target these consumers too. Therefore, you need to be a lot more individualistic in your approach and establish clear buying personas. That way, your content strategy can focus on the people that will definitely buy into your message or purchase your products.
To find out the typical demographics or common habits of your audience, you'll need to ask certain questions. What websites do they visit? Where do they have social media profiles? Who do they communicate with and what motivates them? It may be beneficial to ask open-ended questions to a small sample of customers in order to establish some familiar themes. If you manage to create a handful of specific personas, content will be far more effective, convincing and successful.
Research your competitors and learn from their content
As mentioned previously, you'll probably come up against scores of other brands or businesses that have also developed rational and reasoned content strategies. But the secret here is to develop your own voice and style, as copying what everybody else has done won't lead to favourable outcomes. Taking inspiration from a particular marketing campaign can often be beneficial, but in terms of content, the same rules don't apply.
But if you want to be different and create something unique for your visitors to enjoy, some in-depth research is required. Carry out qualitative and quantitative analysis of what already exists, as this will enable you to get one over on your rivals by volume and quality. However, some keyword research is also needed to see who you're coming up against. Rather than copying the type of content your competitors are producing, it doesn't hurt to adopt best practices, optimise existing techniques and learn from their mistakes.
Unleash your content but constantly monitor its success
There's only so much research you can do and before long, it will be time to create some content, get it out there and examine the results. Every piece of content you produce needs to serve a purpose or have a point to it. Content can be packed full of emotion or tell real-life stories, but it must always be relevant, shareable and valuable to your audience.
When it comes to subjects or themes, think about the questions you receive from customers, experiences that the company has overcome or opinion from employees. But try not to go on about the brand too much and focus on your audience. You can always enlist the help or services of freelancers and agencies to create quality content, as they can kick-start your campaign and increase efficiency. However, you must pay close attention to what is working and what isn't. If a certain content medium is performing well, produce more similar examples. On the other hand, content that doesn't resonate with your audience should be withdrawn or abandoned.
Promote your content and start conversations
To ensure your content strategy performs to the best of its abilities, a bit of promotion and marketing is required. After all, not everyone will discover your content via search engines or the company website. Your first port of call is bound to social media, as this is where scores of potential customers and clients dwell. Content should be optimised for social media sharing from the start while relevant hashtags will increase audience numbers. Concentrate on the social spheres that are most applicable with your previously identified buying personas and don't forget to interact with these individuals. More networks do not necessarily mean more success.
Teaming up with an appropriate non-competitor for some co-marketing is also highly advantageous. If you can drive success and maximise your value proposition with another brand, business or individual, then more people can be reached. You should also get in touch with some industry influencers and media outlets that have extensive audiences to call upon. Identify these opportunities on social media, share their content and ask whether they'd be willing to talk about your work too.
Encourage your audience to take action but only measure important metrics
After reading or looking at a piece of content, your prospects need instruction on what to do next, which can be achieved with Calls-to-Action. Rather than explicitly ordering them to buy your product, think about where they are in the sales funnel. Certain visitors will want to know more about your brand and can sign up to a newsletter, while others might be willing to exchange personal information for a free trial or download.
As for analysing the success of your content strategy, only the most important metrics require examination. An emphasis should be placed on quality not quantity, as a few top-notch blogs could easily receive more conversions that numerous poorly written ones. A lot will depend on your initial objectives, which can range from increasing website traffic to generating more sales. Commit to these metrics from the start, monitor them as you go along and adjust future strategies accordingly. Bear all this in mind and you should be able to achieve content prosperity.


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New ethnic minority business communities in Britain: challenges of diversity and informality for the UK business and policy frameworks.
Sepulveda, Leandro, Syrett, Stephen and Lyon, Fergus (2008) New ethnic minority business communities in Britain: challenges of diversity and informality for the UK business and policy frameworks. Working Paper. Middlesex University, London.
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Ethnic minority entrepreneurship in Britain is no longer mainly associated with established ethnic minority groups, notably, South Asian and Afro-Caribbean, but rather immigrant entrepreneurs are increasingly evident from the world over. This phenomenon, which is a product of the increasingly complex socio-economic geography that is emerging in many British cities as a result of globalisation, mass migration and the so called 'diversification of diversity', is particularly evident in the global 'ethnic supermarket' that is contemporary London. Yet, the phenomenon constitutes something of a challenge for mainstream business support organisations. The paper will therefore seek to address this challenge by exploring (a) the current understanding of the nature of entrepreneurship among new and emerging ethnic minority business communities; and (b) the relationship between such enterprise activity and the UK institutional business framework. The aim is to provide a basis for the development of policy strategies that can effectively engage with these groups, particularly with respect to the current interest in the possibilities for enabling transition from informal into formal enterprise activity.
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|A. > Business School > Centre for Enterprise and Economic Development Research (CEEDR)
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ITU-T Home
ITU Workshop on Accessibility
Bamako, Mali
13 - 15 October 2009
ITU Workshop on Accessibility
Bamako, Mali, 13-15 October 2009
Keynote Speech
Malcolm Johnson
Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau
International Telecommunication Union
Honourable Minister
CEO of the CTO
Distinguished delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure to be here in Mali. It is my first time as Director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau…
Please let me take this opportunity to thank, very much, our hosts, the administration of Mali and in particular the honourable minister H.E. Mrs Diarra Mariam Diallo for being here. Also, I would like to thank Dr. Choguel Kokalla Maiga, General Director of the Committee of the Regulatory Authority for his presence here today.
It is very appropriate that we are holding this workshop during the month of solidarity for the disabled in Mali.
ITU joins with Mali in its solidarity for the disabled.
Indeed, around the world, momentum is building for initiatives that allow persons with disabilities to take their rightful place in society.
As the Secretary General mentioned in his video address; in 2006, the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which obliges its signatories to provide public information in formats and technologies appropriate to different kinds of disabilities.
Universal Design principles in standards make new technologies accessible for persons with disabilities and are now imperative with the wide adoption of the UN Convention.
Tackling the issue of accessibility too late in the product design cycle adds unnecessary cost, as does the absence of policies that could help encourage mass production of accessible devices. It is hoped that the UN Convention will redress this problem, and spur new opportunities that will encourage the private sector to channel more investment into this domain.
Industry and governments need to understand that persons with disabilities not only need to be included but have a right to be included in the new technological achievements and advances of our time. This is especially important for developing countries that look to the developed world and to ITU for guidance.
As the world's pre-eminent global ICT standards organization, ITU is embracing the challenges of accessibility through standardization efforts and has long championed the principles of inclusion and Universal Design enshrined in the UN Convention.
The ITU began its work on accessibility for persons with disability in 1991. It started with one standard called V.18 – a modem that could invisibly translate the different protocols of the deaf telephone network that already existed in many different countries.
Although V.18 was agreed in 1995 implementation levels were never high. It was however a beginning for ITU's path towards including accessibility features in its standards and its role as a strong accessibility advocate.
Indeed, advocacy has become the thrust of ITU accessibility today, due to this lack of industry implementation. It is a problem that still exists, not just for text telephony and other accessibility features, but also for accessible web and ICTs.
Finding solutions to these challenges is not always a simple matter. On the one hand, equipment and software is now available that provides amazing breakthroughs for people with disabilities. On the other hand, there are many barriers to finding the most appropriate equipment, particularly at affordable prices.
In 2008 we established a new ITU group to coordinate standardization activities on accessibility and human factors issues. It is called the joint coordination activity on accessibility and human factors (JCA-AHF) and is open to all experts working in the field to improve access to the information society by people with varied capability of handling information and the controls for its presentation.
We are very pleased that in 2008 the coordinator of this group Andrea Saks was made a laureate by the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day. She will speak later today on the JCA and some of its activities.
Also in 2008, ITU took the initiative to establish the Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disabilities that met for the first time last year at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).
And, at last year's Global Standards Symposium in Johannesburg, where we had leaders of industry, government ministers, heads of regulatory bodies and standards bodies, accessibility to ICT services was recognised as a major enabler to economic and social development especially since a significant percentage of persons with disabilities are poor and live in developing countries.
This event was followed by the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA-08) which adopted a historic Resolution the first ITU Resolution recognising the importance of the work on accessibility and mandating ITU to document best practice, review its services and facilities for accessibility, and to work on programmes to progress accessibility in developing countries.
In our Development sector (ITU-D), represented here by Asenath Mpatwa, Guidelines for mainstreaming ICT accessibility issues provide a catalogue of commercially available accessibility technologies that enable access to ICTs and consider the socio-economic barriers that limit their world-wide availability. It is available free on our website.
In addition, ITU and G3ict - represented here by Executive Director, Axel Leblois - have developed an on-line toolkit for policy makers, regulators and other stakeholders to develop policies and strategies addressing ICT accessibility in line with the UN Convention.
We also have a number of projects to equip schools and multi-purpose community telecentres with assistive devices such as Braille printers to extend ICT services to persons with disabilities.
So you see accessibility is a priority for ITU and we are committed to addressing this important issue in partnership with many other organisations, and many dedicated experts. I am very pleased that we have such excellent speakers with us today.
I would like to thank all the speakers and the many people involved in the organizing of this event and I wish you a rewarding and enjoyable workshop.
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Updated : 2009-10-26


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Buy Junk Jet
Junk Jet N°5, the net.heart issue, is hands down the best publication of the year. Editors Mona Mahall and Asli Serbest deserve a round of applause. The small book-zine has brought together essays and imagery exploring all things art slash internet. I've flagged a couple of these essays in the past - Artie Vierkant's impressive 'The Images Object Post-Internet' and Natalie Bookchin and Alexei Shulgin's 'Introduction to Net. Art' (1994-1999) - but there are lots of other pieces preserved between these pages which were fresh to me. Texts by Brad Troemel, Will Brand, Aureliano Segundo and Nicholas O'Brien which are thought provoking, awesome, inspiring, insert a superlative here... As well as artworks by Hanne Mugaas, Ben Vickers, Mike Ruiz, Constant Dullaart, Nicholas Sassoon, JODI, Parker Ito etc wrx. Immensely rereadable. I wish I had made this book.


text: Justin Vernon, better known as Bon Iver, covers Tom Petty's "Crawling Back To You." I nabbed this from a former schoolmate who has a blog called Love and Squalor in Los Angeles. Not at all related to development or aid, but Bronwyn is a brilliant and honest writer who narrates her attempt to navigate LA with intermixed memories of childhood and college. I think she is onto developing a Hemingway-like voice for my generation. People will spell her name correctly one day.


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U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman: all over the map
U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman accused Democrats of drawing him out of his congressional district, but that only happens if the Aurora Republican moves to Greenwood Village.
Coffman had been planning to move, but that might be on hold based on redistricting.
But no matter where Coffman lives, he would face a tough if not impossible re-election bid under the six proposed Democratic maps and coast to an easy victory under all five Republican maps.
The Colorado legislature is charged every 10 years with redrawing congressional boundaries to reflect population shifts.
When a redistricting committee last Friday unveiled its maps, Coffman blistered the Democratic proposals, saying he was drawn out of his district in all six maps.
But Democrats on the committee provided data that shows Coffman would remain in Congressional District 6 if he stayed at his home on Hampen in Aurora, but the registration makeup would vastly change. If Coffman moved to Greenwood Village, he would be in Congressional District 1 with U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a district that would remain overwhelmingly Democrat.
CD 6 currently is a safe GOP seat. The voter registration is 42 percent Republican, 31 percent unaffiliated and 26 percent Democrat, making it nearly impossible for a Democrat to win. In 2008, a year in which Democrats clobbered Republicans, Coffman won by 61 percent.
Under the Democratic maps, the voter registration in CD 6 switches to 35 percent Democrat, 33 percent unaffiliated and 30 percent Republican. Democrats list the seat as a toss up over which party might win.
As for the Republican maps, Coffman's covered no matter where he lives.
Two maps drawn by Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial, a congressional committee co-chair, take Coffman's Aurora precinct and moves it to the 7th Congressional District with U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter. But Coffman's Greenwood Village address would remain in the 6th CD.
Under maps drawn for Speaker Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, both Coffman's Aurora and Greenwood Village address are in the CD 6.
No matter what, Coffman called the Democratic maps "strange," not only for what they does to his district but the attempts to put Boulder and Grand Junction in the same district.
"I just don't see this map as a serious attempt at adjusting the lines to accommodate changes in population," he said, of Democratic proposals.
The committee meets again today to review maps.


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Day 23 Challenge: Live like your hero for a day.
This should be interesting. One of my heroes is Anne Shirley ala Anne of Green Gables. I love the spirit with which she approaches life and the people who surround her. There's a certain optimism and "Anne-ish" philosophy that I could use right now. I feel that negative thoughts constantly slip from my mouth or into my mind, that though I see myself as a generally positive and optimistic person, this is not reflected in my day-to-day conversations with people. I want to bring the face I present to the world into greater alignment with my inner world. So I'm going to only say positive things all day today, only think positive thoughts. There is a silver lining to every incident. I may have to squint hard to find it on a blustering New England morning, but I'll find it – oh, I'll find it.
Tags: Daily Inspiration


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Disclosure: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned below to facilitate this review Lil C LOVES LEGO. He especially loves the Legends of Chima line! Every time we are at the store, he runs to see if there is any that he doesnt have. (But I think he finally … [Read more...]
Frozen – In Theaters Now
My son and I was recently giving the opportunity to see a pre-screening of the new Disney movie Frozen.The movie was loosely inspired by Hans Christian Anderson's story, Snow Queen. The movie about two sibling princesses, one with a secret that she was forced to hide from … [Read more...]
THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY in theaters Now
Residing quietly beneath the floorboards are little people who live undetected in a secret world to be discovered, where the smallest may stand tallest of all. From the legendary Studio Ghibli ("Spirited Away," "Ponyo") comes "The Secret World of Arrietty," an animated adventure … [Read more...]
Beauty and the Beast in 3D 1/13/2012
Beauty and the Beast, a tale as old as time, is coming back to the theaters on January 13, 2012 this time in 3D. The same speculator story that you fell in love with and treasure all those years ago gets a whole new look in speculator 3D. This wonderful tale will having you … [Read more...]
Lion King 3-D In theaters Near you
If you missed out back in 1994 to see Disney's The Lion King in theater's or want to see it again now is your chance. On September 16, 2011 It is coming back to theaters but this time its in 3D offering a whole new experience to a great Disney classic. I was giving the … [Read more...]


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Do Maternity Laws bring down women?
Interesting article in the Times interviewing Nicola Brewer, the chief executive of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission. She says that although maternity rights have been important, it is "an inconvenient truth that giving women a year off work after the birth of each child … was making employers think twice before offering a job or promotion."
Added to this is the inequality of parental entitlements between men and women – the suggestion is that this forces women into the carer roles.
I can see the wisdom in this view, and have spoken to many many small employers who actively avoid women of child-bearing age. If our parental entitlements were gender neutral, and enabled both parents to take time off, then women would perhaps be de-stigmatised.
Although, I'm not sure that Brewer thinks women should lose any entitlement to make up the father's – what's the solution here? They can't both have a year off, can they?


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Competition from surprisingly low fares at its biggest hub in Atlanta caused Delta Air Lines to post a smaller-than-expected gain in May revenue, apparently after Southwest Airlines cut its last-minute fares.
Those last-minute fares are some of the most profitable tickets an airline sells, because they are usually more expensive.
Delta said on Monday that per-seat passenger revenue grew 6 percent in May. It had predicted growth of 7 percent as recently as May 17.
The next day, Southwest Airlines and its AirTran unit filed discounted fares on more than 200 routes, including 46 to Atlanta, according to JPMorgan analyst Jamie Baker. The lower prices were generally for so-called "walk-up" fares, meaning tickets bought just before travel, and included 46 in Atlanta. Baker found one-way examples that included Atlanta-Baltimore for $79 and Atlanta-Denver for $159, where a more typical fare would have been $304 on both routes.
Baker wrote that Southwest "regularly tinkers with promotional walk-up fares" and future pricing experiments would not be surprising.
Southwest didn't even fly to Atlanta until it bought AirTran a year ago. Delta has gotten a lot of questions about how its business would be affected by competition against Southwest at Delta's most important hub.
Delta didn't single out Southwest for the May revenue shortfall, instead blaming "the impact from competitor fare actions." It said its May performance was still strong considering its "exceptional" gains in May 2011. And the airline still expects strong revenue during peak summer flying months.
The disappointing May revenue gain pushed shares of Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. down $1.33, or 11.6 percent, to close at $10.18 on Monday. Other airline stocks fell, too, with United down $1.84, or 7.6 percent, to $22.52, and US Airways Group Inc. down $1.46, or 11.6 percent, to $11.18. Southwest Airlines Co. fell 34 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $8.60.
In addition to pressure on fares, Delta saw May traffic fall 0.6 percent. A 2 percent drop in domestic traffic was partially offset by a 1.5 percent gain in international flying as Pacific flying rebounded after the March 2011 earthquake in Japan.
Delta cut flying capacity 0.9 percent in May. Domestic flying dropped 2.4 percent, while international flying rose 1.3 percent. Flying across the Pacific jumped 15.7 percent.
Because the traffic drop-off was a little smaller than its capacity cuts, Delta's planes were slightly fuller. Occupancy rose two-tenths of a percentage point to 84.1 percent.
Through the first five months of the year, Delta traffic has risen 0.7 percent, even as it has cut capacity 2.3 percent. That has boosted occupancy by 2.4 percentage points to 81.2 percent.


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There's a bloke on the train, checked shirt, cream cotton jacket, black cap, squashed nose. He's pacing between the doors, shouting into his mobile, "ello darlin, where are ya then? You aht & abaht? ... Na, your phone sarnds terrible. ...so yer indoors. You want me to drop the stuff raund then? ... I'm on the train, I'll be 10 minutes ... I'll sell em on," he threatens, "ok ... I'll leave em ahtside your front door", the call ends, fuckin slag he mutters to himself, storming down the aisle.
He gets off at South Bermondsey. Home of Millwall Football Club and a station entrance commonly known as muggers alley due to the fact there's nowhere to run and its a bit like being caged prey. A real life Del boy only nasty.
Wednesday, 8 March 2006
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David Lykken and Auke Tellegen
University of Minnesota
Psychological Science Vol.7, No. 3, May 1996
Happiness depends, as Nature shows, less on exterior
things than most suppose.
- William Cowper
Happiness or subjective wellbeing was measured on a birth-record based sample of several thousand middle-aged twins using the Well Being (WB) scale of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ). Neither socioeconomic status (SES), educational attainment, family income, marital status, nor an indicant of religious commitment could account for more than about 3% of the variance in WB. From 44% to 53% of the variance in WB, however, is associated with genetic variation. Based on the retest of smaller samples of twins after intervals of 4.5 and 10 years, we estimate that the heritability of the stable component of subjective wellbeing approaches 80%.
Are those who go to work in suits happier and more fulfilled than those in overalls? Do people higher on the socioeconomic ladder enjoy life more than those lower down? Can money buy happiness? As a consequence of racism and relative poverty, are black Americans less contented on average than white Americans? Because men still hold the reins of power, are men happier than women? The survey in this journal by Myers and Diener (1995) indicated that the answer to these questions, surprisingly, is "no." These authors point out that people have a remarkable ability to adapt, both to bad fortune and to good, so that one's life circumstances, unless they are very bad indeed, do not seem to have lasting effects on one's mood.
Yet some people do seem to be happier on average than other people are. Although people adapt surprisingly quickly to both good news and bad, the set-point around which happiness varies from time to time apparently differs from one person to another. Myers and Diener considered personal relationships, religious faith, and the "flow" of working toward achievable goals as possible determiners of individual differences in the happiness set-point.
We had already collected demographic and questionnaire data on a large sample of adults, and it seemed appropriate to try to replicate and perhaps extend some of Myers and Diener's findings. The Minnesota Twin Registry (Lykken, Bouchard, McGue, &;Tellegen, 1990) is a birth-record-based registry of middle-aged twins born in Minnesota from 1936 to 1955. We know how far these twins went in school, their approximate family income, their marital status, and their socioeconomic status (SES), based on their occupations. These twins provide an unusually representative sample of the white population (during the 20 birth years searched, fewer than 2% of Minnesota births were to African or Native Americans). Some of the twins did not reach the eighth grade, whereas others have doctorates; they live on farms, in small towns, in big cities, and in foreign lands; their socioeconomic levels are representative of Minnesota-born adults.
A self-rating questionnaire was administered to 2,310 members of this twin registry. One of the questionnaire items read as follows:
Contentment: Taking the good with the bad, how happy and contented are you on the average now, compared with other people?
The twins were asked to make their ratings on a 5-point scale, where 1 = the lowest 5% of the population, 2 = the lower 30%, 3 = the middle 30%, 4 = the upper 30%, and 5 = the highest 5%.
Figure 1 shows that these seem to be contented people by and large and that the women are at least as happy as the men. More than 86% of these twins rated themselves as among the upper 35% in overall contentment. Most people (at least people born in Minnesota) believe that they are above average on most positive traits, but this pleasant illusion is strongest for the trait of contentment. Only 42% of the twins in this sample rated themselves in the upper 35% on intelligence, for example. We interpret these ratings to mean that most people are in fact reasonably happy most of the time. One is tempted to speculate that natural selection has tended to favor happy people because they were more likely to mate and raise children and thus to become our ancestors.
Fig. 1. Contentment ratings by gender for 2,310 Minnesota-born twins. Ratings are on a self-report scale from 1 (the lowest 5% of the population) to 5 (the highest 5%).
Figure 2 displays the mean contentment ratings for the twins in each of the seven categories of the Hollingshead and Redlich system for classifying socioeconomic status. There is remarkably little reduction in self-rated contentment as one moves from the highest, or professional, category (SES = 1) down even to unskilled labor (SES = 6) and unemployed (SES = 7). Both of these findings corroborate Myers and Diener. These results led us to examine a measure of happiness having better psychometric properties than this single rating item.
Fig. 2. Mean self-ratings for contentment of 2,186 middle-aged twins distributed among the seven categories of socioeconomic status from the professional class (1) to unskilled labor (6) and unemployed (7).
Well-Being (WB) scale of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ; Tellegen, 1982; Tellegen & Waller, 1994) appears to be a reliable and valid measure of the condition that its name describes, the disposition to feel good about oneself and one's own corner of the world. The 30-day retest reliability of the WB scale is .90 and its Alpha reliability is .92. We have MPQ scores, corrected for age and sex and expressed in T-score units (M = 50, SD = 10), on 5,945 twins in the Minnesota Twin Registry.
Figure 3 shows the distribution of MPQ-WB scores for the 2,486 twins from whom we also had contentment ratings. For purposes of comparability with the ratings distribution, the T-scores for the WB distribution were divided into 5 intervals: <33, 33-45, 46-54, 55-67, and >67; if the WB distribution were normal, these categories would have frequencies of 5%, 30%, 30%, 30%, and 5%, respectively, the same percentages that were specified for ratings on the contenment scale. As can be seen in the figure, the WB distribution is reasonably symetrical, unlike the contentment self-ratings, presumably because the sum of the responses to the WB items measures variations in happiness around a mean value that represents a generally positive (rather than a negative or neutral) state of mind.
Fig. 3. Contentment self-ratings and Well-Being scores on the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ-WB) for 2,310 twins.
Myers and Diener (1995) suggest that their definition of subjective wellbeing (SWB) includes both the "presence of positive affect" and the "absence of negative affect" (p. 11). There is indeed substantial evidence that positive and negative emotions do not behave as merely the opposite poles of the same continuum. Positive and negative affect (PA and NA) emerge reliably as two largely independent superordinate state dimensions (e.g., Watson &;Tellegen, 1985). The trait variables corresponding to these PA and NA state variables are the higher-order Positive and Negative Emotionality (PE and NE) personality factors, both represented in the MPQ. In addition to the WB scale, which is a PE indicator, the MPQ includes a corresponding marker of NE, the Stress Reaction (SR) scale. WB and SR were correlated -.45 in the present sample of middle-aged twins. We estimated SWB simply as the difference between the two scores (i.e., SWB = WB - SR.)
Because the predictors, years of education, SES, marital status, and current family income, were measured categorically, we computed eta coefficients, separately for men and women, and the proportion of the total variance in WB and in SWB accounted for by each of the predictors. In the case of married people, SES was defined as the status associated with either the subject's occupation or the subject's spouse's occupation, whichever was higher. To estimate the influence of religious commitment on happiness, we computed the correlation between WB and the Traditionalism scale of the MPQ. Finally, we estimated the heritability of WB on a large sample of middle-aged twins and the heritability of the stable component of happiness on a sample of twins who had been tested at about age 20 and then tested again some 10 years later.
Demographic Status
Educational attainment accounts for less than 2% of the variance in WB for women, less than 1% of the variance for men. For both men and women it appears that one's socioeconomic status accounts for less than 2% of the variance in general wellbeing. The data for income mirror those for SES. One's income category accounts for less than 2% of the variance in one's feelings of wellbeing.
If we cannot predict happiness from the components of worldly success, such as education, income, or SES, surely marital status should have a stronger impact? Myers and Diener (1995, p.15) cite meta-analyses indicating that there is a "happiness gap" between the married and the never-married and we found one also but it is trivial. The mean T-score on WB for 3,571 married (and never divorced) twins was 50.1 (±0.16) while the mean for 337 never-married twins was 48.3 (±0.61). Less than 1% of the variance in WB was associated with marital status for men or women.
When these computations were repeated for SWB = WB-SR in place of WB, the relationships found with the demographic variables were slightly stronger. Educational attainment and SES accounted for about 3% of the variance in SWB, and income for about 2%, but marital status still accounted for less than 1% of the variance. Thus it appears that positive mood states are not much more frequent or intense for those with high social status or wealth and that those at the lower end of the social ladder are only slightly more vulnerable to negative mood states.
Traditional Values
The Traditionalism scale of the MPQ is moderately correlated (.49±.015) with religious commitment as measured by Waller, Kojetin, Lykken, Tellegen, and Bouchard (1990) but very weakly correlated (.05±.016) with scores on WB. Figure 4 shows that, whereas mean WB scores increase consistently, while SR scores decrease, from the lowest to the highest self-rating on contentment, contented people score no higher on Traditionalism than discontented people. Although these results do not refute the findings cited by Myers and Diener, they at least suggest that individual differences in religiousness cannot account for much of the variance in happiness. The same human adaptability that Myers and Diener invoked to explain why status and income do not determine happiness must apply here as well; religious conversion or being "born again" is said to be a joyful experience, but its effect on mood may not be more lasting than being promoted or winning the lottery.
Fig. 4.
Mean Well-Being, Stress Reaction, and Traditionalism scores on the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) plotted against self-rated contentment. The MPQ scores have been converted into T-score for with mean = 50 and SD = 10.
The Heritability of Happiness
The MPQ was administered twice to a sample of younger twins who averaged 20 years of age at first testing and 30 years at the second (McGue, Bacon, & Lykken, 1993) This sample included 79 monozygotic (MZ) pairs and 48 dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs, 254 individuals altogether. Scale scores were corrected for quadratic regression on age, separately for men and women. The retest correlation for the WB scale was .50, indicating, as one would expect, that there is considerable fluctuation in one's sense of wellbeing, especially perhaps during the important transitional period from age 20 to 30. These variations in subjective wellbeing no doubt are determined by the individual vicissitudes of life but not, apparently, by one's SES, income, educational achievement, marital status, or religious commitment (although it seems likely that marked and sudden changes in any of these would produce at least a transitory change in feelings of wellbeing).
For these younger twins who were retested after 10 years, we correlated Twin A's score on WB at Time One with Twin B's score at Time Two (and, similarly, Twin B's score at Time One with Twin A's score at Time Two). For the 48 DZ pairs, this cross-twin, cross-time correlation for WB was essentially zero (.07) while, for the 79 MZ pairs, it equaled .40, or 80% of the retest correlation of .50. The MZ data suggest that the stable component of wellbeing (i.e., trait-happiness) is largely determined genetically. The negligible DZ correlation suggests that this stable and heritable component of happiness is an emergenic trait (Lykken, 1982; Lykken, Bouchard, McGue, & Tellegen, 1992), that is, a trait that is determined by a configural rather than an additive function of components. Emergenic traits, although determined in part genetically, do not tend to run in families as do traits that are polygenic-additive.
A similar result was reported in an earlier study of 217 MZ and 114 DZ pairs of middle-aged Minnesota Registry twins, plus 44 MZ and 27 DZ pairs who were separated in infancy and reared apart (Tellegen, et al., 1988). The best estimate of the heritability of WB in that study was .48 (± .08) and, as was true here, a model involving only additive genetic effects did not fit the data. We assume that the 10-year retest reliability of WB for these older twins would be higher than the .50 reported above for the age span from 20 to 30 years. Twenty-six pairs of the middle-aged twins-reared-apart were in fact retested on the MPQ by mail about 4.5 years after their first testing; the retest stability of WB for these 52 individuals was .67. If the long-term (e.g., ten year) stability of WB is, say, .60 for middle-aged persons, then the data of Tellegen et al. would also indicate that the heritability of the stable component of wellbeing is about .48/.60 = .80. Error of measurement plus unshared environmental effects would account for the remaining 20% of the variance in the stable component of happiness.
Table 1. Intraclass correlations on the Well-being scale of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire for middle-aged twins reared together and reared apart.
Type of twin pair
Number of pairs
Twins reared together:
Twins reared apart:*
We now have MPQ results from both members of 1,380 pairs of middle-aged Registry twins (reared together and represented as MZT or DZT twins) and from a somewhat augmented sample of twins reared apart (MZA or DZA twins). The intraclass correlations for the Well Being scale on these larger samples are given in the table. Because the DZ values are so small, and the MZT correlations are not larger than the MZA values, we can conclude that the effects of shared home environment on subjective wellbeing is negligible after the twins reach middle age. This means that the variance in adult happiness is determined about equally by genetic factors and by the effects of experiences unique to each individual.
No one doubts that making the team, being promoted at work, or winning the lottery all tend to bring about an increment in happiness, just as flunking out, being laid off, or a disastrous investment all would be likely to diminish one's feelings of wellbeing. As Myers and Diener (1995) suggested, however, the effects of these events appear to be transitory fluctuations about a stable temperamental point or trait that is characteristic of the individual. Middle-aged people whose life circumstances have stabalized seem to be equally contented regardless of their social status or their income. The reported well-being of one's identical twin, either now or 10 years earlier, is a far better predictor of one's self-rated happiness than is one's own educational achievement, income, or status.
Is It "Happy Is as Happy Does" or the Other Way Around?
Myers and Diener suggested that people who enjoy close personal relationships, who become absorbed in their work, and who set themselves achievable goals and move toward them with determination are happier on the whole than people who do not. We agree, but we question the direction of the causal arrow. We know that when people with bipolar mood disored are depressed, they tend to avoid intimate encounters or new experiences and tend to brood upon depressing thoughts rather than concetrating on their work. Then, when their moods swings toward elation, these same people tend to do the things that happy people do. This is undoubtedly a James-Lange feedback effect: Dysfunctional behavior exacerbates depression, whereas the things happy people do enhance their happiness. We argue, however, that the impetus is greater from mood to behavior than in the reverse direction. It may be that trying to be happier is as futile as trying to be taller and therefore is counterproductive.
If the transitory variations of well-being are largely due to fortune's favors, whereas the midpoint of these variations is determined by the great genetic lottery that occurs at conception, then we are led to conclude that individual differences in human happiness - how one feels at the moment and also how one feels on average over time - are primarily a matter of chance.


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Hermigervill [er*muh*Gair*vill] is a one man electronic act from Reykjavík, Iceland that does it all from playing every instrument on his albums to deftly handling a variety of genres including House, Hip-Hop, and Trip-Hop. He currently has two self-released full-length records, entitled Sleepwork and Lausnina, available for free through his website, with several more apparently in the works. To date, he's worked with a number of Icelandic musicians and tours as frequently as possible.
Hermigervill's music is nothing if not diverse. From song to song, styles switch with such ease that the uninformed might assume that they're listening to a homemade mixtape from a friend. Songs like "Army Of Them (Remix)" sound like a smoked-out Kanye B-Side while others like "Sveitin Milli Sanda" and "Blame It On Gray" are perfect specimens of Trip-Hop and hard-rocking House, respectively. The surprising thing is that it doesn't seem overly intentional or labored. He's simply an artist that likes to experiment and does it rather well.


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Table of Contents
Editor's Message
- Art Encounters Law by Joan Kee
Publisher's Message
- Dear Friends and Readers, by Phong Bui
- HIROSHI SUGIMOTO with Phong Bui
- NICOLAS LOBO with Hunter Braithwaite
- LARRY BELL with Alex Bacon
- MARIE LORENZ with Jarrett Earnest
- HOUSE OF LADOSHA with Laila Pedro
- RAILING OPINION IN RESPONSE TO JOAN MITCHELL/MEDITATIONS IN AN EMERGENCY (Verbatim, the Brooklyn Rail, February, 2016) by Bill Berkson
- BECKY HOWLAND: Weeds of New York by Chloe Rossetti
- Pia Camil: A Pot for a Latch by Michelle Standley
- ANECHOIC* MIRROR ANRI SALA Answer Me by Tom McGlynn
- HENRIK OLESEN by Terry R. Myers
- POPE.L WILL BOONE by Phillip Griffith
- Photo-Poetics: An Anthology by Taylor Dafoe
- JONG OH by Taney Roniger
- I Am a Lie and I am Gold by Yasi Alipour
- MIRIAM SCHAPIRO by Kim Power
- Laura Poitras Astro Noise by Chloe Wyma
- CAMERON ROWLAND 91020000 by Terence Trouillot
- Regards Sur Beyrouth: 160 Ans Dimages 1800 1960 by Holly Gavin
- PETER HUJAR Lost Downtown by Hovey Brock
- DANA DEGIULIO & MOLLY ZUCKERMAN-HARTUNG Queen by Ashton Cooper
- MERNET LARSEN Things People Do by Eleanor Ray
- Reality of My Surroundings: The Contemporary Collection by Samuel Feldblum
- NONA FAUSTINE White Shoes by Jessica Holmes
- AMY SILLMAN Stuff Change by Kate Liebman
- HOW TO . . . IN BERLIN How to Be Unique by Joan Waltemath
- The World is a Totality of Things by William Corwin
- CARRIE MOYER Sirens by Phong Bui
- MARTHA DIAMOND by Jonathan Goodman
Critics Page
- Cowboys Milking Formerly Attributed to Cady Noland by Amy Adler
- Just More than Zero by Kris Cohen
- On the Maintenance of Maria Eichhorn Aktiengesellschaft by Jeannine Tang
- Vagina Dialogues Ann Hirschs Free Speech Battles on the Web by Kibum Kim
- BRANDED On the Semiotic Disobedience of Hank Willis Thomas by Sonia K. Katyal
- Legal Entanglement The Body in Felix Gonzalez-Torress Untitled, 1989 by Joshua Chambers-Letson
- Art and Law Enforcement in a Ring Box: TALWSTs Miniature Aesthetic Revolution by Cristina Vatulescu
- Justice Must be Seen to be Done by Carey Young
- The Law in Our Hands by Joan Kee
- Single Alright Female by Leigh Kamping-Carder
- Everyones a Critic by Geoffrey Young
- The Domestic Fantastic by Artie Niederhoffer
- The Visitations by Tadzio Koelb
- The Mundane and the Miraculous by Daniel Blue
- TOD MARSHALL and TONY LEUZZI
- SCOTT ALEXANDER HESS with Joseph Salvatore
- Missing the Big Picture by Joshua Alvarez
- Brooklyn Rail Highly Selective Music Events
- Outtakes by Steve Dalachinsky
- COLOR AND GROOVE: Winter Jazzfest 2016 by Marshall Yarbrough
- Cinematic Indulgence, Rewarded by Daniel Gold
- Rovas Electric Ascension by Chris Nelson
- Diary of a Mad Composer by George Grella
- The Work of Reworking by Erica Getto
- Unplugged by Tara Sheena
- Ruffling Feathers by Susan Yung
- Planetarium of Blended Dreams by Felix Bernstein
- LANA LIN and CAULEEN SMITH
- The Belly of a Filmmaker: Peter Greenaway's Eisenstein in Guanajuato by Rumsey Taylor
- JAMES N. KIENITZ WILKINS with Herb Shellenberger
- THE BLACK LIBERATION KOOL-AID ACID TEST On Chi-Raq by Brandon Harris
- ADAM & ZACK KHALIL with Leo Goldsmith
- Shifting Shape: Ironbounds Martyna Majok by Tommy Smith
- The Whole Body Thing: DODOs The Last Class: A Jazzercize Play by Crystal Skillman
- Pigeons by Glendaliz Camacho
- Im Here Now but Hiding my Face by Mirene Arsanios
- Modern Bodies by Cara Benson
- Translating Oneself by Johannah Rodgers
- The Golem by Maria Rapoport
- from Kid Coole by M. G. Stephens
- Tragic Strip by Tom Motley
- BRAIN FLOWERS (from Making Water) by Laura Jaramillo
- Two by Toby Fitch
- Six by Michael Kelleher
- Two by Allan M. Jalon
- from Orlando by Sandra Simonds
- Three by Francisco Pérez Perdomo, translated by Guillermo Parra
Art Books
- International Pop by Megan N. Liberty
- JOCELYN MILLER with Maya Harakawa
Field Notes
- Terra Infirma: Berning Questions by Steve Fraser
- Sharks on the Riverbank: A Jersey Shore Town, its White Supremacist Past, and its Supremely White Present by Dane A. Wisher
- SPECIAL REPORT: SOUTH AFRICA South Africa: The State of the Movement by Trevor Ngwane
- SPECIAL REPORT: SOUTH AFRICA #OutsourcingMustFall: Unity in Action in South African Universities by Thembi Luckett and Francesco Pontarelli


text: Alexander Strasser wrote: > Btw anyone knows why `mkdir -p' is used to create the directories? > It shouldn't be needed as parent dirs will be created just before > the child dirs (assuming mkdir create dirs according to arg order > from left to right; which the ones i tested did). > I heard about -p being not portable across some mkdir implementations > though i must admit i didn't find one without it yet. Maybe it's because -p also has the effect that no error is generated if the directory already exists? Martin -- Martin B?hme Inst. f. Neuro- and Bioinformatics Ratzeburger Allee 160, D-23538 Luebeck Phone: +49 451 500 5514 Fax: +49 451 500 5502 boehme at inb.uni-luebeck.de


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Recently, a lawsuit brought by the Save the Plastic Bag Coalition (a group of plastic bag manufacturers) against Manhattan Beach for its plastic bag ban was set to be heard in the Californian Supreme Court on May 4. Now, plastic bag manufacturers are not only targeting local governments who adopt anti-bag ordinances, but have now targeted reusable bag companies. Plastic bag producers, Hilex Poly Company, Superbag Operating and Advance Polybag have filed a lawsuit against Chico Bag Company for a misrepresentation of its product due to misleading information its website.
According to an article by Paula Alvarado posted on Treehugger.com:
"The facts in dispute include a quote supposedly taken from the EPA website claiming that "Reusable bags need only to be used eleven times to have a lower environmental impact than using eleven disposable bags", some clerical errors due to website formatting (references pointed to the wrong facts), and some statements related to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch."
Chico Bag states, however, that the information was corrected within 72 hours of notice.
This lawsuit appears to be another tactic in the Plastic industry's attempt to discredit reusable bag use. Prior to these lawsuits, you may remember the quarter page ad the plastic industry ran in the LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Orange County Register hyping up the health dangers inherent in reusable bags. These dangers are easily mitigated by purchasing bags that meet safety standards and through regular cleanings.
CAW is actively working to combat false claims made by the plastics industry. Visit the links below for factual information about the effects of plastic bag use and the benefits of reusable bags.
Also, one piece of legislation we are currently supporting aims to ensure that reusable bags are indeed safe alternatives. AB 298 (Brownley) forbids the sale or distribution of a reusable bag in California unless it meets specific requirements that ensure its safe use. Keep up to date with AB 298 on our legislation page.


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Shadow Tactics Blades of the Shogun Download for PC
Shadow Tactics Blades of the Shogun – FLT – GOG
Shadow Tactics Blades of the Shogun is a new game in strategic genre in 2016 by Mimimi Productions and has been released for the PC. Shadow Tactics Blades of the Shogun Edo period in Japan in the new game that is portrayed. In this game you control a team of specialists on the role of lethal and tactical exercises are really simple, and should be enemies in the shadows of dozens of. The approach you should take to deal with them in advance unique to each location, for example, ancient castles, snowy environments, including places where mountain environments and unique strategy to demand.
Your group is composed of people with different features and abilities, teamwork at first seem impossible, but in the face of various combat situations, get help from other members of the group are very strong unity among you as the a. Hayato is one of the mainstays of the group as a ninja expert, your enemies in stealth sword destroys the best moves. Mugen is a Certified Samurai at a time and can stand against many enemy types, Aiko is a master of camouflage in a variety of environments and can hide itself as well as the environment. At the end of a street boy named Yuki can surprise your enemies will lay deadly traps.
Pictures from the game:
Minimum System Requirements:
OS: Windows Vista 64-bit
Processor: Intel i3 2nd-Generation 2.5GHz, AMD Quad-Core 2.5GHz
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GT640, AMD Radeon HD7750, 1GB Vram
DirectX: Version 10
Storage: 13 GB Available Space
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c Compatible Sound Card With Latest Drivers
Recommended System :
OS: Windows 7 64-bit or higher, Windows 8, Windows 10
Processor: Intel i3 4th-Generation 3.5GHz, AMD Quad-Core 3.9GHz
Memory: 6 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 570, AMD Radeon HD 6950, 2GB Vram
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 13 GB Available Space
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c Compatible Sound Card with Latest Drivers


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Gendered elements of the alternative agriculture paradigm
Chiappe, M.B.
Flora, Cornelia B.
MetadataShow full item record
This article explores the significant perceptions of women within the agricultural movement to develop and practice sustainability. Their purpose was to discover which elements within the alternative agricultural paradigm, women find important and compare those to the Beus and Dunlap alternative paradigm, in order to see the gendered perspectives of sustainability. In interviews of 25 women farmers, they revealed that women identified with all the elements within the patriarchal alternative paradigm. However, there were two additional elements the women identified as important to their perspective on sustainability: quality of life and spirituality. These findings have significant potential in the alternative agriculture paradigm, and sustainability. It is an example of the urgency to consider women's standpoints within any social change and/or action.


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Baltimore CDL DUI Defense Lawyer
Defending Commercial Drivers Charged With DUI
If you are a commercial driver who has been charged with drunk driving, you probably understand the gravity of your situation: if convicted, you may lose your driver's license and consequently, your ability to work.
The Law Offices of Craig M. Kadish understands the seriousness of your DUI charges. We can immediately step in and start building an aggressive defense on your behalf, working to protect your freedom and your livelihood. For more information, or to schedule a free consultation with a Baltimore CDL DUI defense attorney, simply contact us.
Representation at the MVA Hearing
In Maryland, commercial drivers who are arrested for DUI will have their CDL revoked immediately. Within 10 days of the DUI arrest, it is necessary to request a hearing with the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA). Our law firm can represent you at the MVA hearing, as well as in the criminal component of your case.
CDL DUI Defense
As a commercial driver who has been charged with drunk driving, you may feel as though everything is on the line. While your situation is serious, it is important to know that our law firm is highly experienced at handling cases of this magnitude. Attorney Craig M. Kadish is a highly skilled criminal defense attorney who can defend you in both the criminal and licensing aspects of your case. Our law firm can help you identify solid legal options specific to your unique circumstance as a commercial driver.
Attorney Craig M. Kadish is an instructor for the Maryland State Police Academy. He trains trooper cadets on courtroom procedure and testimony. In 2011, he rewrote the State Police Academy's training program for courtroom procedure. He also does in-court trainings with Trooper Cadets to assist them in learning how to testify in court and under cross-examination. As a result of his experience as an instructor, Mr. Kadish has gained a unique perspective on handling DUI defense cases.
Contact a Westminster, Maryland, Commercial Driver DWI Arrest Lawyer
For more information about our approach to CDL DUI defense, contact us online today. Otherwise, call 410-837-0020 to schedule a free consultation.


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This week, I want to introduce you to the Alsatian craftsman who produces Recital speakers. They are a unique product that deserve a closer look.
Alexandre Chamagne has always had a passion for sound reproduction. After receiving a degree in electronic engineering, he funneled his energy into commercial pursuits in 2009, creating "Alex Audio," an engineering firm. He used his expertise to design and develop speakers for both the general public and professional clients and ended up creating numerous products in collaboration with several major brands. At the end of 2012, he decided to design his own speakers and launch a new brand : Recital. It was an ambitious, albeit carefully planned, endeavor: he began by offering a line of five different models straight off the bat.
Rigid diaphragms and « homemade » filtering technology
Over the last several years, Chamagne has become interested in using rigid diaphragms, with an adapted filtering mechanism, in his loudspeakers. He comments, "It was rather complex to develop this type of diaphragm because, although it has many advantages, you systematically get resonance once you reach 5,000 Hz." Indeed, the optimal functionality of such loudspeakers is constrained by the diaphragm's maximum frequency; above this limit, the sound produced is no longer completely uniform. In technical jargon, this is referred to as cone breakup. Chamagne therefore developed a filtering mechanism—Pure-Motion technology—that completely removes any breakup effects. Across the entirety of the audible bandwidth (20 Hz to 20,000 kHz), no deformations are observed in the diaphragm. When asked what motivates his efforts, he answers: "Given that we are ideally striving for optimum neutrality, we seek to create a product that does not color the sound but rather that conveys the music and its message as recorded."
When it comes to manufacturing, all of Recital's products are assembled by hand in France. The woodworking is done in Alsace by a craftsman. The filters are designed and made in-house. Only the loudspeakers, with their rigid diaphragms, come from outside the country; they are produced in Norway, by SAES. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Recital brings up the topic of room acoustics in its informational materials. Manufacturers and retailers generally fail to address this rather essential subject. When they provide this pertinent information, speaker companies show that they being honest with their clients, which is reassuring. I have had a pair of Define floorstanding speakers in my possession for the past few days, and I have been looking forward to sharing my initial impressions with you here.
A flawless design and finish
The first thing that struck me was the speakers' design and look, which are not mainstream. The Defines have a narrow profile, and the tweeter as well as the mid-woofer are situated high up. I really liked this positioning because, when the listener is seated, the loudspeakers are right at ear level. The depth and width of the cabinet are somewhat inversely proportional, lending balance and beauty to its appearance. The finish is absolutely remarkable; it was an extremely elegant matte ruby red on the model I received. The finishing work and quality of the assembly are exemplary and beyond all criticism. The only thing that surprised me was that the mid-woofer was left "naked," that is to say, without a cover. This ill-considered decision is hard to understand because the diaphragm remains fragile in spite of its rigidity!
The audition
For the audition, the Defines were hooked up to reasonably priced and musical Atoll electronics, the HD120 and the MA100, using Atohm ZEF MAX cables. At first, the sound was both captivating and unnerving. The music's message came through clearly, and any "box" effects were notable for their absence. The bass was unquestionably present but was neither hallow nor showy. The message was perfectly balanced, and the sound scene was vast and incredibly lovely. The listening experience was particularly enriched when I played "Oriental Bass" by Renaud Garcia Fons, a piece that is replete with tiny details. It is obvious that the Defines can showcase the best recordings. After auditioning them for a few hours, I concluded that they possess an uncommon quality: they are self-effacing in their transmission of the music's message. Those looking for the speakers' sound signature will come away disappointed because the Defines seek to highlight, not color, the music.
For those who may question the efficacy of the "little" mid-woofer, my use of relatively more powerful electronics in the audition revealed quite clearly that the speakers behaved similarly to higher-end models. In this case, looks are deceiving because the small-sized loudspeaker adroitly handled pumped-up volumes. Indeed, during the audition, I played a highly diverse range of tracks, so as to observe the speakers' performance in a great variety of musical contexts. The level of detail, respect for the music's timbre, and beauty of the sound scene was confirmed time and again.
These speakers really stand out and serve as a magnificent example of HIFI savoir faire. Chamagne is a craftsman who has created a beautifully made product that has real added value in terms of quality. I am already itching to try out his other speaker models. I also want to take this opportunity to tip my hat to Chamagne, a free spirit who is willing to think outside the acoustical box, pun intended, to focus exclusively on conveying the music's message.
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Deleon Realty
DeLeon Realty is a truly outstanding organization—and home to one of the top real estate agents in the nation. But as their business grew, their website fell further and further behind the times. It lacked the visual appeal, professionalism, and intuitive search functionality that its sophisticated clientele demanded.
Project6 worked with the DeLeon team to not only rethink the website architecture, design, and content strategy, but also to capture and portray the unique approach, confidence, and spirit of excellence that is the heart and soul of the DeLeon brand. The site leverages a Drupal content management system so the site content is easy to maintain and employs responsive design and Twitter Bootstrap framework for a seamless user experience across all devices, including phones, tablets, and desktops.
The new DeLeon website has received rave reviews. Visitors to the site can research Silicon Valley cities and neighborhoods, browse interactive maps for relevant property listings, conduct detailed, filtered property searches, and watch compelling videos authored by the DeLeon team. It is truly a site that makes DeLeon's expertise—and its homes—shine.


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A number of people have contacted us about websites offering services to assist customers in applying for a Blue Badge, but charging a fee to do this.
We are advising people that it is not necessary to apply for a Blue Badge through such sites, as applications can be made for free through the GOV.UK website by clicking here or alternatively via the relevant local authorities website.
Customer Service Centre
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Isle of Wight PO30 1UD
Tel: 01983 821000
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Mason jar gifts, or what some people call "gifts in a jar," are anything you can imagine being made with a mason jar.
And we're not just talking Christmas either.
You can use them as the base for any gift occasion!
They really are a hot trend right now for anything from cookie mixes in jars to wedding centerpieces.
So this article is going to look at a couple of different things you can either make yourself, which is the least expensive way to do them, or that you look online for on sites like eBay.
A lot of crafters have come up with a lot of fun and creative gifts as a way to make some extra money.
So if you're not really into crafting yourself or don't really have the time, head to Etsy and eBay and search for the perfect ideas for the people on your list.
Popular Ideas for Mason Jar Gifts
Redneck Wine Glasses
Our specialty actually. Besides gifts for Christmas, we've done personalized redneck wine glasses for weddings and fundraiser give-aways too.
Even though they're pretty easy to make, they are time-consuming depending on how you're decorating them and how long you want the customization to last, which is why we sell a lot. Not everyone has that kind of time and they'd rather someone else make them.
Redneck wine glasses make great gifts for the sports fan, for country theme weddings, for home décor or just a conversation piece to sit at your bar.
Snow Globes
Another fun idea is making snow globes out of the jars. Think outside the box for this one because snow globes aren't just for Christmas.
My kids gave me a snow globe one year for a birthday gift in September. It's a beautiful wolf in the mountains. Well, it snows all year round in the northern mountains, so my snow globe stays out on display all the time.
Think of other things that can make creative glitter or snow globes for any season. They're pretty easy to make, and the "snow" can be different color glitter instead of white or silver.
For example, you can put a Cupid figurine in a globe with some red glitter and you'll have a cute Valentine's Day snow globe for gift.
Creative Gifts for Men and Women
Snow globes, cookie recipes, and other mason jar crafts can be for any age, but there are also some things you can make specifically for men or women.
Think of Father's Day and Mother's Day, birthdays and holidays just for men. If you usually buy a new tie for dad, why not put it inside of a decorative mason jar instead of a box. Then dad has an extra gift after the tie is taken out.
For women, you can do the same thing using jewelry or a new scarf. Decorate the jar with her favorite colors or flowers or even clipart of some of her favorite things.
Unique Christmas Gifts
Have you seen those gift box sets at the department stores that have two mugs with some packets of hot chocolate or coffee?
Make your own mason jar Christmas gifts instead. Use two mason jars with handles for the mugs and pick up some hot chocolate and coffee packets at the store.
Then put it all together in a nice gift box.
Gift Recipes
Another idea for Christmas or any holiday gift is putting recipes in a mason jar and putting the list of ingredients and baking or cooking instructions on a gift tag.
A couple of the most popular mason jar gift recipes are cookie mixes, hot chocolate and soup recipes.
Your gift recipient only needs to add water, stir and bake or cook for most of these recipes so it's a really handy gift for a lot of people.
Fun Crafts
There are a lot of different mason jar crafts that you can make yourself or find a crafter who's already making them.
Here are some ideas that I've seen over the years using mason jars:
candles, light fixtures, lamps, wedding centerpieces, wedding favors
And if you come up with something new and creative, you might be able to turn it into a money-making hobby too.
Thank you to our fantastic sponsor and (I'm going to say it again) the most fantastic Security Camera Installation Birmingham has, Birmingham Security Camera Installation!


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Video Tutorial: Make Glowing LED Gift Bows
Alison Lewis, the creator of Switch, uses technology in the most creative and crafty ways. For example, in this tutorial she shows us how to make glowing gift bows with the help a few LEDs and 3-volt batteries. Check out the list of things you'll need and then scroll down to watch Alison show us step by step how to make one!


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Electric Fish Lab Uses Big Data to Study Evolution
Jason Gallant, assistant professor, Department of Zoology at Michigan State University, studies the genomic basis of phenotypic evolution and diversification, particularly in animal phenotypes that are related to communication behavior.
In January 2015, he received a $699,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to investigate the genomic basis of electric signal diversity in mormyrids, that is, fish that produce weak electric fields for the purposes of communication and navigation through their environments. As part of this three-year research project starting in May 2015, Gallant will leverage his recent discovery of a 'hybrid zone' between populations of electric fish with distinct electric signals to identify genes responsible for differences in electric signals.
According to Gallant, "Identifying genes responsible for behavioral differences within species will ultimately help biologists understand how changes in behavior can facilitate, or perhaps cause, one species to become multiple species."
Here are two related research projects being conducted in Gallant's "Electric Fish Laboratory" with the help of MSU's Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research:
1. The Origin of Electric Organs in Fish
Many studies have elucidated the genetic and developmental processes underlying major vertebrate traits (fins, limbs, etc.) in extant lineages. Most of these traits have evolved only once, limiting insights into the degree of constraint and repeatability of the evolutionary processes. In contrast with most other vertebrate traits, there have been six independent origins of electrogenesis in fishes – the ability to generate electric discharges from an electric organ. Despite their clear benefit as a model for understanding general principles of parallel evolution of complex vertebrate tissues, little is known about the molecular and developmental processes underlying this tissue. The long-term goal of the Electric Fish Laboratory at Michigan State University is to characterize the evolutionary steps that have occurred to modify the developmental program in skeletal muscle to give rise to the electric organ. Using cutting edge techniques in evolution and development (including transgenics, genomics and molecular biology), they plan to test the hypotheses concerning the roles of these genes in the evolution of electric organs.
2. The Evolution of Communication Diversity in Fish with Electric Discharge Signals (EODs)
The relative contribution of divergent natural selection and sexual selection on communication signals in the evolution of reproductive isolation is a central question in biology. Progress is limited by poor knowledge of how divergent communication signals originate at the genetic, cellular, and morphological levels, as well as difficulty connecting population-level processes prior to speciation with the macroevolutionary patterns of diversity observed after speciation is completed. The more than 200 nominal species of mormyrids (fish with the ability to generate weak electric fields that allow the fishes to sense their environment) are ideally suited for circumventing such problems, producing easily measured and quantified electric discharge signals (EODs), which have a discrete anatomical and physiological basis. EOD signals are typically species-specific and have been demonstrated to be a necessary component of courtship behavior, particularly for a rapidly evolved "species flock" of mormyrids in the genus Paramormyrops. Recently they have focused on linking these macroevolutionary patterns of electric signal diversity to population-level processes. They have identified a key species to use newly developed techniques in evolutionary genomics to identify genes responsible for macroevolutionary patterns of electric signal diversity, critical in the speciation process.
– Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research (iCER)


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Top Barrington Garage Doors and Gates
11702 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 388-6730
Are you looking to replace your old garage door, add value to your home or simply boost your home's curb appeal? We can help you find the style you're looking for and professionally install it! Whether it's a traditional carriage house style, contemporary or raised panel style, we will help you find the right material, color, window and trim package to fit your budget today.
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Garage Doors


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Living Life Outside of the Shell: Finding Balance/
Those of us who are introverts are frequently admonished to "come out of our shells." Yet, as this blogger points out, we don't need to completely ditch the shell. It serves as a purpose of refuge and retreat. It's important that we take the time to refuel our spirits so that we are not stepping out of our shells in our own strength.
We don't have a physical shell but we do have a spiritual one. And just like turtles we can't live without that shell as our protection. Our shells are our place of refuge in God. If we don't first run to Him in our quiet place where it's just us and Him, we will never be brave enough to stick our heads outside the shell. Our shell is where we retreat and get a word from God. He downloads dreams into us in our shell. He prepares us for what is to come in our shell.


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Sausage, Potato & Kale Soup
So I'm not going to lie...I don't cook. It's not that I can't cook, it's just that I don't like it. I'm not that type of person who can just look at a basket of ingredients and come up with something off the top of my head. I would get eliminated in the first round of Chopped. That's why I love baking so much, because it's super structured and you need to follow a recipe for the end product to come out perfect...and also because I have a massive sweet tooth. On those days when I am feeling ambitious and decide to tackle a savory recipe, I like to stick with one-pot meals. Minimal cleanup, no fuss, good food. I've made this soup a few times, and it's always one of my favorite things. It's really filling and not super heavy, and it's an homage to the Olive Garden soup that we all know and love.
Sausage, Potato & Kale Soup (adapted from THIS recipe)
2 large bunches Kale, Picked Over, Cleaned, And Torn Into Bite Sized Pieces 7 large Red Potatoes, diced 1 whole Onion, Chopped 1-1/3 pound Hot Italian Chicken Sausage 1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes (more To Taste) 2 cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth 3 cups 2% Milk 3 cups Half-and-half Italian Seasoning
Instructions: Prepare the kale and set it aside. In a large pot, crumble and brown the Italian sausage with the onion and little bit of olive oil. Drain as much as the fat as you can. Stir in the red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, chicken broth, milk, and half-and-half. Add the potatoes. Simmer for 30 minutes. Give it a taste and adjust seasonings as needed, then stir in the kale. Simmer an additional 10-15 minutes, then serve.


text: 05/18/2016 IAS faculty members Christian Anderson and Jin-Kyu Jung co-authored a paper, "Extending the conversation on socially engaged geographic visualization: representing spatial inequality in Buffalo, New York," in Urban Geography. The paper is situated at the intersections among GIS and geovisualization, critical social theory, and urban studies, and demonstrates an analysis of housing segregation and unequal food and transportation access in Buffalo, New York. It shows how the representation and examination of the socially complex multi-scalar issue can benefit from deliberate, relieve conversation between different critical social-spatial epistemologies. Share this article on Twitter Facebook LinkedIn


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Incuya Music Festival
Get ready to rock in the heart of downtown Cleveland -
Incuya Music Festival
Saturday, August 25 & Sunday, August 26
Malls B & C in downtown Cleveland, adjacent to Public Auditorium
The Line-Up
New Order, The Avett Brothers, SZA, Awolnation, The Revivalists, Cake, K Flay, Earl Sweatshirt, Daniel Caesar, Yuna, Tank and The Bangas, J. Roddy Walston and The Business, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductee Booker T. Jones, Bahamas, They, Tropidelic, Arkells, Ezri, Kitten, The Jack Fords, The Blue Stones, Dreamers, Seafair and The Modern Electric.
Weekend GA: $115
Weekend GA 4-Pack: $379
Weekend VIP: $215
Weekend Prestige VIP: $315
Single Day GA: $75
Hotel packages start at $899 for the weekend.
All festival details including daily line-up, how to purchase tickets, FAQ's etc. can be found on the website at www.InCuya.com


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On a recent trend in critical theory
|Jacques Derrida, in a still from the film Derrida (dir. Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, 2002)
Today, hauntology inspires many fields of investigation, from the visual arts to philosophy through electronic music, politics, fiction and literary criticism. At its most basic level, it ties in with the popularity of faux-vintage photography, abandoned spaces and TV series like Life on Mars. Mark Fisher – whose forthcoming Ghosts of My Life (Zer0 Books) focuses primarily on hauntology as the manifestation of a specific "cultural moment" – acknowledges that "There's a hauntological dimension to many different aspects of culture; in fact, in Moses and Monotheism, Freud practically argues that society as such is founded on a hauntological basis: "the voice of the dead father". When you come to think of it, all forms of representation are ghostly. Works of art are haunted, not only by the ideal forms of which they are imperfect instantiations, but also by what escapes representation. See, for instance, Borges's longing to capture in verse the "other tiger, that which is not in verse". Or Maurice Blanchot, who outlines what could be described as a hauntological take on literature as "the eternal torment of our language, when its longing turns back toward what it always misses". Julian Wolfrey argues in Victorian Hauntings (2002) that "to tell a story is always to invoke ghosts, to open a space through which something other returns" so that "all stories are, more or less, ghost stories" and all fiction is, more or less, hauntological. The best novels, according to Gabriel Josipovici, share a "sense of density of other worlds suggested but lying beyond words". For the reader or critic, the mystery of literature is the opacity – the irreducible remainder – at the heart of writing that can never be completely interpreted away. The whole western literary tradition itself is founded on the notion of posterity, which Paul Eluard described as the "harsh desire to endure" through one's works. And then, of course, there's the death of the author ... All this, as you can see, could go on for quite a while, so perhaps we should wonder if the concept does not just mean all things to all (wo)men. Steen Christiansen, who is writing a book on the subject, explains that "hauntology bleeds into the fields of postmodernism, metafiction and retro-futurism and that there is no clear distinction – that would go against the tension which hauntology aims at".Also at A Piece of Monologue:
As a reflection of the zeitgeist, hauntology is, above all, the product of a time which is seriously "out of joint" (Hamlet is one of Derrida's crucial points of reference in Spectres of Marx). There is a prevailing sense among hauntologists that culture has lost its momentum and that we are all stuck at the "end of history". Meanwhile, new technologies are dislocating more traditional notions of time and place. Smartphones, for instance, encourage us never to fully commit to the here and now, fostering a ghostly presence-absence. Internet time (which is increasingly replacing clock time) results in a kind of "non-time" that goes hand in hand with Marc Augé's non-places. Perhaps even more crucially, the web has brought about a "crisis of overavailability" that, in effect, signifies the "loss of loss itself": nothing dies any more, everything "comes back on YouTube or as a box set retrospective" like the looping, repetitive time of trauma (Fisher). This is why "retromania" has reached fever pitch in recent years, as Simon Reynolds demonstrates in his new book - a methodical dissection of "pop culture's addiction to its own past". [Read More]


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As an investor, it pays to follow the cash. If you figure out how a company moves its money, you might eventually find some of that cash flowing into your pockets.
In this series, we'll highlight four companies in an industry, and compare their "cash king margins" over time, trying to determine which has the greatest likelihood of putting cash back in your pocket. After all, a company can pay dividends and buy back stock only after it's actually received cash -- not just when it books those accounting figments known as "profits."
Today, let's look at Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) and three of its peers.
The cash king margin
Looking at a company's cash flow statement can help you determine whether its free cash flow actually backs up its reported profit. Companies that can create 10% or more free cash flow from their revenue can be powerful compounding machines for your portfolio. A sustained high cash king margin can be a good predictor of long-term stock returns.
To find the cash king margin, divide the free cash flow from the cash flow statement by sales:
Cash king margin = Free cash flow / sales
Let's take McDonald's as an example. In the four quarters ending in December, the restaurateur generated $6.97 billion in operating cash flow. It invested about $3.05 billion in property, plant, and equipment. To calculate free cash flow, subtract McDonald's investment from its operating cash flow. That leaves us with $3.92 billion in free cash flow, which the company can save for future expenditures or distribute to shareholders.
Taking McDonald's sales of $25.5 billion over the same period, we can figure that the company has a cash king margin of about 14% -- a nice high number. In other words, for every dollar of sales, McDonald's produces $0.14 in free cash.
Ideally, we'd like to see the cash king margin top 10%. The best blue chips can notch numbers greater than 20%, making them true cash dynamos. But some businesses, including many types of retailing, just can't sustain such margins.
We're also looking for companies that can consistently increase their margins over time, which indicates that their competitive position is improving. Erratic swings in margins could signal a deteriorating business, or perhaps some financial skullduggery; you'll have to dig deeper to discover the reason.
Four companies
Here are the cash king margins for four industry peers over a few periods.
Cash King Margin (TTM)
1 Year Ago
3 Years Ago
5 Years Ago
Johnson & Johnson
Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)
Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY)
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN)
Johnson & Johnson, Abbott, and Eli Lilly all offer comparable cash king margins that nearly double our desired 10%. However, while Abbott currently has higher margins than it had five years ago, J&J and Eli Lilly have both seen slight declines in their margins over the same period. Regeneron has cash king margins in the negatives, but has improved its margins significantly from last year.
Johnson & Johnson made about $961 million in revenue last year on its Zytiga drug, which treats prostate cancer at a relatively low cost and in a convenient oral form. It also has promising drugs in its pipeline, including a drug designed to treat rheumatoid arthritis that it's developing with GlaxoSmithKline. However, the company has faced some setbacks in its consumer products division, where several of its products have been recalled in the past few years, including its Adept hip implants.
After spinning off its proprietary drug business, AbbVie, Abbott Labs lost access to the revenue generated by blockbuster drug Humira, leaving it with diagnostics, generic drugs, and nutritional products. If Abbott can manage to market its products well in emerging markets like China, it may be able to achieve strong growth that makes up for slowing U.S. sales.
Eli Lilly is likely to face a huge hit in the upcoming years as several of its drugs lose their patents, including Cymbalta, Gemzar, Humalog, and Zyprexa. While the company may be able to recoup some of those losses if it is able to bring its cholesterol drug evacetrapib to the market, it faces serious competition from Merck and Amarin, which already have cholesterol drugs further along in development.
In the first year after it went to market, Regeneron's Eylea drug, which treats wet age-related macular degeneration, managed to bring in about $1 billion in revenue. Also, Regeneron stands to gain from the huge market for wet-AMD drugs outside the U.S. if its licensing partner Bayer is able to successfully launch the drug abroad. Regeneron is also partnering with Sanofi on a number of drugs, including a colorectal cancer drug called Zaltrap and a series of antibodies targeting ailments from high cholesterol to rheumatoid arthritis.
The cash king margin can help you find highly profitable businesses, but it should only be the start of your search. The ratio does have its limits, especially for fast-growing small businesses. Many such companies reinvest all of their cash flow into growing the business, leaving them little or no free cash -- but that doesn't necessarily make them poor investments. Conversely, the formula works better for slower-growing blue chips. You'll need to look closer to determine exactly how a company is using its cash.
Still, if you can cut through the earnings headlines to follow the cash instead, you might be on the path toward seriously great investments.


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Calumet Christian Middle School is committed to guiding students through a vital transition in their lives and preparing them to successfully navigate the high school years that follow. Through strong academics and an emphasis on spiritual, character, and relational growth, we envision our graduates playing an influential role in their schools, churches, and communities.
In grades six through eight, students are progressing from concrete toward more abstract thought. Whether it's in the field of math or science, language or history, we foster in our students the capacity for critical thinking informed by a biblical worldview. Teachers employ a variety of teaching approaches: direct instruction, hands-on learning, drill, and Socratic discussion. Emphasis is placed on organization, research, developing extended concentration, and an appreciation for learning about all of God's creation. Our rich and challenging curriculum stimulates students to develop their academic potential. Students typically perform above grade level, and the majority of our students graduate from 8th grade having earned high school credit in math, science, and Spanish.
Our middle school students are part of a broader community. True moral and social development involves learning to love and accept others and be responsible for one's behavior. As students grow in their understanding of God's love and forgiveness, they should be learning to live an increasingly unselfish life with those around them. As educators, we understand that middle school students are "a work in progress." We have a vision for where God is leading them, and our intention is to help them grow spiritually, morally, and relationally.
Course Descriptions
6th Grade Bible
In 6th Grade Bible, students will spend time examining different parts of the Bible, memorizing key passages, learning to pray for others, and learning the basics about how to teach from the Bible. Specific areas of study include learning the names of all the books of the Bible, understanding how God worked through the Old Testament, and then reading from selected sections of the gospels. Students will also read and report on a missionary of their choosing. At the end of the year, students will have an opportunity to prepare and present a short teaching.
6th Grade Language Arts
Sixth grade language arts focuses on reading, vocabulary, writing, spelling, listening, and speaking. Students study literature to draw meaning from a text through the study of common literary devices and the elements of various literary genres, such as short stories, novels, poetry, and drama. During the year students read four independent reading books of their choice, Bridge to Terabithia, and selections from The Chronicles of Narnia. Reading is supported by the study of vocabulary from these texts and common English sayings, idioms, and phrases. Students continue to receive instruction in the writing process and practice it by drafting their own original expository and creative pieces. Grammar is taught to enhance the clarity, control, and style of students' writing. Emphasis is placed on the parts of speech to develop basic syntax awareness and the fluent use of the various kinds and types of sentences. Spelling instruction supports clear written communication by focusing on common spelling concepts and analysis of word parts. Specific listening skills are taught, emphasized, and practiced as a primary means of gaining information. Various speaking opportunities allow students to develop verbal facility with language and confidence before an audience.
6th Grade Math
This course is comparable to seventh grade math in many schools and is designed to reinforce and add depth to skills and concepts learned in previous years. New concepts are added incrementally and practiced throughout the year. The goal of the course is to help students master the following concepts: solving problems with fractions, decimals, and percents; ratios and proportions; factors and multiples; place value of whole and decimal numbers; roots and square roots; identifying and measuring angles; geometric formulas for the perimeter and area of a square, rectangle, and triangle.
6th Grade Science
In sixth grade science, students will learn about the nature of matter. Hands-on investigations of minerals, rocks and soils will give the students understanding of their structure and identities. In addition, the importance of geology in daily life will be presented. Energy types will be studied with an emphasis on thermal energy. Using microscopes, students will study cell parts, cells and their various functions. They will learn about the cellular nature of all life and the implications of this for taxonomy. All of the aspects of science studied will include an appreciation for the Creator.
6th Grade Social Studies
The sixth grade social studies curriculum focuses on the development of Western Civilization from Mesopotamia through the Enlightenment era. Students study cultural aspects, including art, literature, religion, customs, and scientific advancements during the time period. Students learn to read a text carefully for meaning and identification of key terms. They will also study and learn how to read maps.
6th Grade Skills Class
The sixth-grade skills class focuses on improving the students' use of technology, specifically typing enhancement and a more thorough familiarity with applications for documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. Students will also learn how to interact with technology appropriately and safely.
Advanced 6th Grade and Regular 7th Grade Math
Beginning in 6th grade, we offer advanced math students a more challenging curriculum designed to meet their academic needs and prepare them to take Algebra 1 as 8th graders. If students are not following the advanced math track, they will take Math in Focus Course 1 as 7th graders. The following topics are covered in Math in Focus Course 1: positive numbers and the number line,negative numbers and the number line, multiplication and division of fractions and decimals, ratio, rates, percent, algebraic expressions, equations and inequalities, the coordinate plane, area of polygons, circumference and area of a circle, surface area and volume of solids, introduction to statistics, and measures of central tendency.
7th Grade Bible
Seventh grade Bible focuses on giving students a big picture understanding of the Bible. In addition to memorizing 50 points that takes us through the whole Bible, students will thoroughly learn the book of Acts, which bridges the Gospels to the rest of the New Testament. Students will also study poverty and wealth, and consider evidence for Christianity.
7th Grade Language Arts
Seventh grade language arts focuses on six major areas: reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and speaking/listening. Reading selections include novels, plays, essays, short stories and poetry. Students read a variety of books, such as The Outsiders, The Giver, The Pearl, the play The Diary of Anne Frank, and other books that students pick from assigned genres. Major writing pieces are produced each quarter that focus on the entire writing process from an outline to the final paper. These include: a Family biography, poetry project, research paper and responses to Literature. Shorter writing pieces are: book reports, essays on the novels, opinion pieces, informative paragraphs, narrative writing and arguments. Grammar concentrates on mastery of the parts of speech, sentence components, diagramming sentences, correct verb usage, and punctuation. Vocabulary and spelling exercises challenge students to understand and spell numerous words germane to their understanding of many written texts. Speaking and Listening activities include formal discussions, evaluating famous speeches, and oral presentations.
7th Grade Pre-Algebra
Seventh grade pre-algebra prepares students for success in eighth grade algebra. The topics covered are as follows: symbols of inclusion; statistics; scientific notation; probability; solid geometry; algebraic expressions; exponents and roots; ratio, proportion and percent; and graphing.
7th Grade Social Studies
The seventh grade social studies curriculum focuses on The Eastern Hemishpere geography. The regions studied are Southwest and Central Asia, Africa, South and East Asia, the Pacific, Europe, and Russia. Students study many geographical topics, such as culture, politics, economics, climate, topography, and natural resources. They learn to think critically about how these various aspects affect they way people live in different regions around the world.
7th Grade Science
Seventh grade Integrated Science will focus on how to distinguish the different parts of nature and matter as well as how those different parts interact. Students will learn how different types of matter are distinguished from one another and change without matter being created or destroyed. They will also investigate how the different parts of the living world interact and flow through the study of ecosystems, biomes, the water cycle, the lunar cycle, and the atmosphere.
7th and 8th Grade Life Skills
7th and 8th grade life skills focuses on health topics relevant to adolescents in light of God's perspective. Helping students to think critically about these issues will facilitate making wise choices now and in the future. Topics addressed in 7th grade include conflict management, bullying, smoking and substance abuse, eating disorders, depression and suicide, and STDs. The 8th grade life skills unit focuses on dating and sexuality.
8th Grade Bible
Eighth grade Bible focuses on preparing students for spiritual success in high school. Students are equipped to interpret the Bible, understand spiritual warfare, and live under grace. Students are also trained to share their faith by learning principles of evangelism, other worldviews, and good evidence for the Christian worldview.
8th Grade Algebra
Eighth grade students taking Algebra 1 have the opportunity to receive high school credit, thus enabling them to move into more advanced classes when they enter high school. Our Algebra 1 course covers the following topics: functions; linear and quadratic equations; number and set concepts; distance formula word problems; polynomials; exponents; and radical and rational expressions.
8th Grade Language Arts
The goal of eighth grade language arts is to strengthen the student's knowledge and use of the English language in six basic areas: reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and verbal skills. Students will be exposed to a variety of literature, with particular emphasis on understanding such novels as Lord of the Flies, Bull Run, and To Kill a Mockingbird. Writing focuses on the five-paragraph essay and analysis of literary works. Students study the grammatical structure of language and the mechanics of sound writing. Vocabulary revolves around Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary Workshop and words drawn from the student's reading. Spelling skills continue to be developed through weekly word lists based on specific themes. Student participation in class discussion is strongly encouraged and occasional oral presentations are required.
8th Grade Social Studies
The eighth grade social studies curriculum focuses on American history from the early European exploration through Reconstruction. Students learn about the historical events that led to the development of America, the different components of the American government, and America's struggle to grow from a young country, through a bitter Civil War, to an emerging World power. Current Events are also discussed as time permits.
8th Grade Science
Eighth grade physical science focuses on chemistry and physics. Chemistry includes studying the development of the atomic theory and the periodic table of elements. The structure of atoms and compounds and their chemical reactions are coupled with lab experiments that help reinforce what is learned in the classroom. Physics includes studying Newton's laws of motions, simple machines, the nature of heat and temperature, and waves, both sound and electromagnetic.
Middle School Music
In middle school students choose between band and general music. General music meets once per week and helps students understand the contemporary music they enjoy, as well as exploring the history of music genres. In addition, students learn to play a variety of instruments. Band meets twice per week. Students learn and rehearse various concert pieces and perform both a Christmas and spring concert. Students are well-prepared for high school band.
Middle School Physical Education
Middle school physical education provides students with a vision of the importance of physical activity in their lives. Students are taught the skills needed to lead a healthy lifestyle; they have bi-weekly opportunities to cultivate this vision and develop skills in a fun, supportive atmosphere. A multi-activity approach provides students with the opportunity to participate, learn skills and strategies, and gain knowledge of individual and team sports. Some common physical education units include flag football, basketball, volleyball, pickle ball, and track.