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Bangalore in Monsoon – Top 10 Places to visit
Bangalore in monsoon generally brings along awesome places to visit near Bangalore in monsoons. Just outside of Bangalore in the range of 200-400 km makes them perfect weekend getaway during monsoons. Here are some popular and quick getaways to visit near Bangalore in Monsoon and let you drench your soul in the serenity and calmness that comes with the downpours.
Which is better in Bangalore – Owning a house through a Bank loan or Staying in a Rented House?
1. Chikmagalur – 250 km
If you are looking to escape from the urban chaos and into the lush of the nature this amazing place is a perfect for you. Often referred to as the "Coffee Land", Chikmagalur is widely perceived to be one of the must visit places in South India and its beauty naturally justifies this distinction.
Chikmagalur is a beautiful haven of pepper estates, dense forests and coffee plantations. Located around 250 kilometers from Bangalore, the destination is wonderfully nestled in the Bada Budan Hills. Encircled by rugged mountains and wild paths that wind through the serpentine hills, the place is also excellent for trekking and enjoying the rustic natural beauty and the music of nature.
The quaint town is full of most exotic views and is surrounded by streams, hills, valleys and rivers.Other attractions, which enhance the beauty of the area and are worth exploring are the Mullayyanagiri range, Kemmmanagundi Hills, Muthodi National Park and Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary.
The site is home to many scenic views and also a bit of adventure. Trekking is one of the most famous activity here with routes full of most verdant delights and adorned with an ancient fort ruins which date back to 18th century.
2. Coorg – 195km
Coorg is very beautiful and enchanting hill station in Karnataka in South India. Located at 1100 m above the sea level, the dense forest covers of Coorg add to its mystic appeal and support various varieties of flora and fauna. There are vast areas of coffee plantations, amazing waterfalls and one of the most delicious cuisines to tingle your taste buds in Coorg..
Coorg Tour are very accomplishing as Coorg has hanging valleys, deep gorges and sloppy hills and abundance of vegetation. Coorg presents picturesque beauty studded with traditional dark tiled cottages and scintillating flowers. It looks like a mini paradise. Coorg offers great opportunities for the adventure loving people for trekking and rock climbing. If you are planning for vacations at hill station, make a tour to Coorg.
3. Wayanad
Wayanad is one of the top destinations in Kerala, known for its exclusive beauty and exotic verdure. Chembra Peak, adorning Wayanad and located at a height of 2,100 meters above sea level is a perfect stop if you are a nature and adventure lover.
The peak is an ideal place to enjoy trekking. It takes nearly 3 hours to reach at top and the route will simply mesmerize your soul. There is also an amazing lake at the top, called Hridaya Saras, which is believed to have never dried up.
The best time to visit Chembra Peak is during the monsoons when everything freshens up with a new life. This is also one of the must visit places which will enthrall you to the core.
4. Ooty
The charm of any place near Bangalore during the monsoon season is incomplete without the mention of Ooty. Sitting beautifully atop the Western Ghats, at a height of 2,240 meters above sea level, Ooty is a dream like place, especially as a honeymoon destination.
The surroundings are not only exotically lush, but the weather and sights literally enthrall your spirit to the point of intoxication. There are many attractions you can explore in Ooty. There is an exquisite Botanical Garden on the slopes of the Doddabetta peak where you can explore the floral wealth of Ooty, while you will certainly relish peaceful moments on the bank of Ooty, Avalanche and Emerald Lakes. On the other hand the charms of Pykara River, Madhumalai National Park, the Tea factory and Toda Huts are unique in their own way.
The sights of low-lying clouds, refreshing air and cool weather are amazing enough to make Ooty your favorite spot to visit during monsoons.
5. Shivanasamudra Falls
The sight of Shivanasamundra Falls are at their best during the monsoon season i.e. from June to September. These are also known as Siva Samudram literally meaning Shiva's Sea. Watching the river falling down into a cloud of foaming spray is a breathtaking experience. These falls are the second biggest waterfall in India and the sixteenth largest in the world. There are a number of ancient temples including Shivanasamuram and Somanathpur Temple located around the region. The place is a paradise for nature lovers and is a perfect canvas for artists, poets, writers and painters.
In addition to simply enjoying the ambiance, visitors can also swim in the cool waters. A major highlight of the area here is the hydro plant which one of the first electric power projects in Asia.
6. Hogenakkal Falls
These falls lie in the Tamil Nadu state of India. These falls are believed to have therapeutic abilities. This fall traces its origin from Cauvery River which assumes a more fierce form during monsoon giving the falls a better look during this time of the year. You can even take a bath in the falls. Or if you wish you can get ride on coracle to the falls and then to the island.
7. Jog Falls
The Jog Falls is one of the best known waterfalls adorning the state of Karnataka. The falls have the distinction of being the 7th deepest in the world and the second highest plunge waterfall in India located near Sagara taluk, Shimoga.
The Jog falls are fed by the majestic Sharavathi River which then cascades down into four falls-Raja, Rani, Roarer and Rocket. Falling from a height of 253 m, the falls have an irresistible charm bedecked by its picturesque surroundings and lush verdure, which enhances its aura.
The unsurpassed beauty and magnificence of the waterfall is an enriching experience for tourists from bangalore in monsoon and a walk down the steps to the depth of the falls and feeling the vaporous sprays is a unique and refreshing experience one must indulge in.
8. Skandagiri
This is a historically important place and has a lot to offer to its visitors from Bangalore in Monsoon. You can enjoy the adventure in the form of trekking here. You can enjoy the monsoon rains with a beautiful backdrop of hills covered with clouds. The ruins of old fort add to the mystic beauty of this place. Get a panoramic view of the valley from the top of the hill that you can reach by trekking.
9. Horsly Hills
This is the hill station of Andhra Pradesh and is a gift of Mother Nature to its children. This place boasts of one of the most ancient rock formations and is a home to varied and rich fauna and flora. You can find panthers, sambars, antelope and many other animals in the dense forest of this area. You will have a lot to explore and discover in this land
10. Nandi Hills
This summer retreat of the great Tipu Sultan was also preferred by the British for its soothing weather throughout the year. You can visit these hills if you are a nature lover or an adventure enthusiast. One can also visit the holy Amrith Sarovar that has its own beauty. There is something for all kinds of people and you will enjoy your stay here to the fullest.


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It's a fascinating review of what sounds like a compelling biography. It's also a review that's reprinted in its entirety below – with added links. Enjoy.
Only Connect
Novelist E.M. Forster specialized in the "underdeveloped heart."
A new biography illuminates his own.
By Eric Banks
June 7, 2010
Novelist E.M. Forster specialized in the "underdeveloped heart."
A new biography illuminates his own.
By Eric Banks
June 7, 2010
The novelist E.M. Forster lived to the great old age of 91, but by the cultural calendar, his life was even longer. He was born in the starchy days of high-collar Victorian England and died in the Age of Aquarius. In A Great Unrecorded History (Farrar, Straus & Giroux; 404 pages) – the first biography of Forster to be ordered around his cloistered homosexuality – Wendy Moffat pulls out another social yardstick: a schoolboy when Oscar Wilde was imprisoned for "gross indecency," Forster witnessed the telecast of the first moon landing with his friend Christopher Isherwood in the studio of Mark Lancaster, a former Warhol Factory hand who was one of two men shown lock-lipped in the pop artist's 1964 film Kiss. (Watching Neil Armstrong step onto the lunar surface, Forster muttered, "I don't think they should be doing that.")
It isn't just the length of Forster's career that has attracted biographers but also its mesmerizing loopsidedness. Four of the five novels he published during his lifetime, including the now classic A Room with a View (1908) and Howards End (1910), appeared before his 31st birthday and before World War I sapped dry the raw material that fed his fiction: the social and emotional landscapes of Edwardian England. "All that I cared for in civilization has gone forever," he wrote a friend in 1915, "and I am trying to live without either hopes or fears – not an easy job, but one keeps going on some how." His masterpiece A Passage to India appeared in 1924, but it was as much a farewell to the form as a triumphant return. He filled the next 46 years with biographies, travelogues, radio broadcasts and criticism, but he seemed to have given up on the novel. Until 1971, that is, the year after his death, when Maurice, the book he'd kept under wraps for six decades – "the first homosexual love story with a happy ending," the American writer Glenway Wescott called it – appeared, shining a partial light on the path Forster flirted with but abandoned.
Despite periodic cajoling from friends who had seen the manuscript, Forster wouldn't permit Maurice's publication during his lifetime. When J.R. Ackerley argued that he should follow the example of André Gide and his frankly homosexual memoirs, Forster answered, "But Gide hasn't got a mother!" For Moffat, Forster's friends' plea missed the point: "The kind of fiction writing he wished to pursue cut him off from his audience, and he rechanneled his pen, writing for his own ear, for his friends, and for the more charitable future he had imagined in his dedication to Maurice." (It was inscribed "to a happier year.")
Moffat pays diligent attention to who those friends were, whether in snobbish Bloomsbury or austere Cambridge. If not exactly a father figure, Forster became a sort of avuncular guest of honor among successive generations of gay artists and writers – from poet Constantine Cavafy to composer Benjamin Britten – and in various gay scenes, including, surprisingly, that of late-1940s Greenwich Village. While many of the biographical details are familiar, Moffat amplifies Forster's story with his words, scavenged from previously unavailable diaries. They record a life choked off by a cosseted upbringing and survey the same unhappy prospects of the "underdeveloped heart" Forster captured in his prose. His decades-long companionship with a married policeman named Bob Buckingham could have come directly out of his fiction: it was an extended essay in love muddled by social restrictions and the limits of human connection.
Moffat isn't gossipy or reductive – the Forster who emerges from her work is a more human and satisfying figure than we've known. She portrays a limited man in full whose compromises between sense and sensibility parallel those of his most complex fictional characters. If his reticence tempers her quietly laudatory picture – the novelist who lightly but assuredly sketched the deadweight of social class in Howards End and colonial power in A Passage to India balked at doing the same with a homosexually themed story "until my death and England's" – Moffat's biography gives a new twist on the most over-quoted line Forster ever wrote. "Only connect the prose and the passion" was not just a sermonizing bit of novelistic intrusion but the novelist's always elusive ideal.
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Don Gorton on the Significance of Maurice (Part 1)
Don Gorton on the Significance of Maurice (Part 2)
Celebrating Two Pioneers
Recommended Off-site Links:
Andrew Holleran on E.M. Forster's Dueling Biographers – Band of Thebes (May 6, 2010).
Only Connect: The Unofficial E.M. Forster Site
Opening Image: Roger Fry.

subset: commoncrawl


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Cultural Council - Light the Night
Event Branding & Print Design
The Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville champions the appreciation, relevance, and expression of Art and Culture in Jacksonville, Florida. S4 has worked with them on several projects in the past including their website, so when they asked us to create the visual assets for their 39th Annual Arts Awards, of course we said yes.
Event Branding
The theme for the event, "Light the Night," was chosen by Council members along with the location: the top of a four-story parking garage in downtown Jacksonville. The branding for the event, with the exception of the name, was concepted and designed from scratch and featured dark background colors, custom design elements, and bold custom type.
A Suite of Print Materials
While almost entirely a digital agency, we're always excited for a chance to do a good bit of print work. For the Arts Awards, we took the event branding we created and concepted, wrote copy for and designed a suite of assets including a Save the Date, Invitation, Social Media graphics, Magazine insert, in-situation materials and all the odds and ends that go with them.


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|Re: contentswitch.el --- switch to buffer/file by content
|Sat, 04 Oct 2008 18:10:05 +0900 (JST)
From: Ted Zlatanov <address@hidden> Subject: Re: contentswitch.el --- switch to buffer/file by content Date: Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:51:56 -0500 > I can't read the Japanese, but the code doesn't really integrate > contentswitch with anything.el. Rather, it creates a fake > contentswitch-like matcher. For me it's broken--nothing displays for > any pattern. Yes, it is only a fake as implied by the name. > Are you interested in integrating contentswitch with it? Yes, I want to use contentswitch within anything. -- rubikitch Blog: http://d.hatena.ne.jp/rubikitch/ Site: http://www.rubyist.net/~rubikitch/
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It's no secret that the current social media landscape can be a confusing world for brands to navigate. Its ever-changing nature can make creating effective marketing strategies difficult – one minute Facebook reigns supreme, the next it's Instagram. Not only are the platforms constantly filtering through, but consistent upgrades and new added features can prove to be less user-friendly than developers hope they would. Take for example the Instagram feed; developers changed it from chronological order to a seemingly more tailored experience for each individual user. This resulted in major backlash as many found their posts were not being seen by their followers, ultimately forcing users to shift focus to Instagram stories rather than traditional posting.
Another feature recently introduced on multiple platforms that has brands confused is live video. It is now possible to create live streams on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, allowing audiences to see what you are doing in real time. But, as with nearly all new social media features, many brands begin to experiment without concrete strategy, which can result in lost time and effectiveness. So, is live video right for your marketing plan, and if so, how do you execute it effectively? Here are a few ways to get started:
Know your audience
This should be a first step in any marketing strategy – live video or not. In order to effectively communicate with your audience, you have to know who they are. What platforms do they use? When are they most engaging? What kind of content do they respond to best? It wouldn't make any sense to do a 'behind-the-scenes' type of video on Facebook live if your audience are consistently sending you questions through Instagram direct messaging – try a live Q&A on Instagram instead. It's important to do the preliminary research to understand what your current (and desired) audiences are looking for – demographic research will go a long way here.
Consider your industry
When developing a plan to execute a marketing strategy, consider what it is you want to communicate with your audiences. If you're planning on sharing valuable industry information, consider whether you want to be a thought leader or if you want to keep trade secrets, well, secret. Is a behind-the-scenes look into your brand's operations going to make for an enticing or boring video? Be brutally honest with yourself and think about live video content from a consumer's perspective – what is it you'd want to know?
Be prepared to improvise
The nature of live video is exactly that – live. It's meant to be in the moment and real, meaning there's no room for rigid, scripted content. That's not to say there isn't a place for this produced content, it would just be better suited as a post. If you've decided to use live video as part of your marketing strategy, use it as a tool to give audiences an inside scoop into your brand, whether that be answering live questions or giving an in-the-moment sneak peek into specific operations. The beauty of live video is the authenticity is gives brands, making them more relatable – take this time to truly connect.
Look, live videos are tricky. Not only do you need to consider all of the above, but you also need to have insight into what time of day and week your audiences is most active on social media to be able to time it correctly. A live video won't be effective if no one tunes in. Luckily, our marketing expertise will not only help you identify is live video is right for your brand, but also the best course of action for executing that plan. Get in touch with us today and we'll help you navigate the world of live video.


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Born 1906: Lon Chaney, Jr.
His first appearance on film was an uncredited bit part in Girl Crazy (1932). Playing Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men (1939) made him a star. He established his acting chops as Victor Mature's caveman father in One Million B.C. (1940). Hollywood success – a contract with Universal – led to playing the lead in The Wolf Man (1941), which stamped him ever after as a horror movie actor even as it endowed him with a degree of immortality.
His grandson, Ron Chaney, often appears at cons and film-related events, for example this faux candidate debate in 2012.
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian for the story.]


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Development of Modified Citrus Pectin or MCP:
Pectins from white plants have an established role in the GI tract to enhance digestive and immune health. However the main obstacle that prevents them from producing benefits throughout the body is their bio availability. The long soluble fibers of regular pectin are too large to be easily absorbed into circulation. The development of MCP solved this issue. It was developed from regular citrus pectin by a modification process involving high pH and temperature that reduced the size and branching of the molecules. With this modification, MCP was easily absorbed into the system and displayed numerous therapeutic effects.
Modified Citrus Pectin and Cancer:
Research has revealed that MCP or Modified Citrus Pectin is a powerful anti cancer agent. According to a study, MCP enhanced the effects of two anti cancer formulas, one for breast cancer and the other for prostate cancer. The combination of MCP and the formula displayed reduction in aggressiveness of cancer cells and repressed metastasis in human breast and prostate cancer cells. The breast cancer formula talked about here had already been shown to reduce breast cancer cells adhesion by 21% and the prostate cancer formula was effective in the same task by 9%, however when combined with MCP, the reduction went up to 40% in both cases which is a huge response.
Urokinase plasminogen activator or uPA is a protein marker for cancers. High levels of this marker have been shown to promote cancer cell adhesion and invasion. MCP's role in the above mentioned formulas is to suppress uPA. A number of studied have revealed that MCP acts as a gelactin-3 blocker. Gelactin-3 is a signaling protein that is related to the aggressiveness of cancer cells, aggregation, angiogenesis and metastasis. MCP has also displayed excellent response in significantly increasing activity against human leukemia cells. In addition to its effectiveness when combined with botanical formulas, it has been shown to work harmoniously with chemotherapeutic agents such as doxorubicin to allow lower dosages and lesser side effects.
Modified Citrus Pectin and chelation:
Heavy metals toxicity is a big concern with health authorities and associations worldwide. With the increasing number of cases of exposure to heavy metal toxicity, there is an urgent need of a chelating agent to overcome the challenge.
MCP has displayed wide usage other than just fighting cancer. It has found many applications in reducing health problems caused by toxic heavy metals such as lead though a therapy called heavy metal detoxification therapy. In chelation therapy, a substance is used to unite molecules of heavy toxic metals and hold them together so that they can be removed together from the system such as a human body. chelation thearpy is widely used in treating mercury and lead poisoning by getting rid of toxic metals.
A clinical study was performed to assess oral use of MCP for Chelation and determine if it lowered blood toxicity in children aged 5-12 years. Children with a blood serum level of 20 mcg/dL and who had not received any medication for detoxification were administered 15g of MCP divided into three doses per day. Blood serum and 24 hr urine excretion were analyzed every week. The results were a dramatic decrease in the blood serum levels of lead and an increase in 24 hr urine collection.
There is a huge need of a safe and gentle chelating agent especially for people who have high exposure to toxic metals in their work environment. The dramatic results of the study mentioned above and absolutely no side effects of MCP have made MCP emerge as such an agent. Further studies have confirmed the findings of the pilot study to establish MCP as a chelating agent.
Modified Citrus Pectin and Metastasis:
Metastasis can be defined as the spread of cancer to distant tissues and organs from the primary site of occurrence of tumor. It is metastasis that makes cancer so deadly and is the biggest challenge that cancer poses. MCP has emerged as one of the most effective anti metastasis drugs. Ever since the first report of MCP acting as melanoma and prostate carcinoma inhibitor appeared, this compound has been the center of attention of the cancer research community. MCP has shown to be effective against a number of cancers viz. colon carcinoma, melanoma, multiple myeloma etc. The main action of MCP in prohibiting metastatic spread of various malignancies stems out from its ability to antagonize galectin-3, a beta-galactoside binding protein.


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by Shirley Munafo
(Cincinnati, Ohio)
The earth is waking after a long winter snooze
She'll wear her new garments as we wear our new shoes
Daffodils sprouting and tulips galore.
Enjoying the rain as it taps at our door
Chirping and peeping to be heard in the morn
Our spirits are lifted as a new Spring is born.
Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Inspirational Poems.


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Photoshop has many kinds of ways to make use of clipping paths for images. Only experienced designers know how to use them to the optimum level when the cache of work arrives on the post-processing table.
To understand why only professionals can handle the workload one must become a visitor/user of the imaging needs. This will help one to realize how elements like clipping paths optimization can prove to be beneficial. Despite the fact that there are many websites created, those are visually attractive. If one looks at the design element the images are more from the client's purpose and not the user who us the end consumer. Sometimes simple images are the most skipped ones. Highlighting them with the help of clipping path can give them a virtual makeover. Designers who work in harmony chose from an array of tools. Basic and multiple/color clipping paths are used with the help of Photoshop tools.
One of the major images editing where such tools are needed is for pictures of jewelry and objects, which need to have boundaries. Attractive looking jewelry gets sold faster and online jewelers know the advantages of clipped images. Photographers take pack shots of jewelry items. Sometimes the clips, wax or other paraphernalia also appear on the pack shot. They need to be detached and it is not user responsive at all. With the use of this the importance of a good backdrop is not ruled out. After the clipping paths are used the need to place the image on the right background is essential. To enhance the quality of the image, the designer will have to play around with color schemes and effects to get the optimum effect. Just like SEO optimization, even clipping path optimization can be helpful to any client. A client may have a customized background, which he is familiar with. Sometimes it works as the user or visitor can recognize it easily. But a new option can also be explored as an experiment.
At the post-processing suite, the tracing of the path is done patiently. When the outlines are traced they can have rough edges or soft edges depending on the requirement. The contours are developed with precession. A well-defined edge also can be made. The path can be made inside the image also. Hollow, donut shape, fillers can be created according to the demands of the image. Filtering in the right junctures is also a possibility for some editing. Sometimes the clipped path looks like a 'cut-out' and not natural. But an experienced artist can do it effortlessly. He is able to optimize the contours with the right background. The job can be tedious and when many images need to be used in the virtual gallery, a battery of patient DTP workers is required. For cost effect solutions it is best to have such operations done with an offshore provider. It is the best way to cut costs and also get the work done faster.
There was a time when clipping path services were avoided. But now the digital technology has improved and designers are happy to do the work effortlessly. In fact they are innovative in their final presentation. Walk the cyber path to try a reliable offshore company.
Well this is something I have been trying to create for a while though mine didn't come out exactly like Thank you for this tutorial.
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The new Emir of Zazzau, Ambassador Ahmed Nuhu Bamalli, has promised to run an inclusive leadership during his reign.
He also promised to ensure the unity of all within and outside his domain for the overall development of the state.
Speaking shortly after his appointment as the 19th Emir of Zazzau in his palace, he assured of his willingness to ensure unity and development of the Emirate.
The Emir also assured of his readiness to carry all along in affairs that pertain to the progress of the emirate.
He observed that he has close relationships with the ruling houses in the emirate base on respect the houses have for each other which they all inherited among themselves apart from the blood relationship they all share.
He explained that his wife is from the Katsinawa house, stressing that she is the daughter of the late Sarkin Zazzau Shehu Idris.
He noted that his grandparents from his mother's side were from the Bereberi dynasty, adding that there is no misunderstanding with any of the houses.
"This is why I'm from both houses because they are the major houses in Zaria emirate," he added.
He explained that it is Allah that makes an Emir, pointing out that it is not about wealth, education or power.
Ambassador Ahmed Nuhu Bamalli stressed that if it were base on wealth or power, he wouldn't have been appointed the Emir. "Allah gives power to whom He wishes and when He wishes. We should put Allah forward in whatever we do," he added.
His contenders, he said, were not wrong to have contested for the throne as it is their rights, stressing that whoever becomes the Emir should be supported by the rest so that the people will not suffer.
The Emir begged them to come together so that they can move Zazzau emirate forward.
He expressed delight that some of the district heads from Katsinawa dynasty and Beriberi dynasty have come to pay homage, urging all to come to work together and assured to do his best to unite the people of Zazzau.


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No-fault fixes? How other states reined in auto insurance costs
The Free Press examined strategies that other no-fault states have used to rein-in medical costs and combat fraud.
Detroit drivers face the highest average insurance rates for cars and other vehicles in the country, often more than $3,000 a year for a single automobile.
A Detroit Free Press investigation finds that runaway medical bills, disability benefits payouts and lawsuits under Michigan's one-of-a-kind, no-fault insurance system play a key role in driving up costs for drivers.
Find out what's behind the high cost of auto insurance in Detroit — and what steps could be taken to help fix the problem.
Critics and even many supporters of Michigan's no-fault system agree that changes to it are needed to help lower Detroit's highest-in-the-nation auto insurance premiums.
But reform is a thorny task. While costs are high across Michigan, auto insurance is much more expensive in Detroit. Motorists often see their premiums cut in half if they move across 8 Mile and leave the city.
In Detroit, hundreds cram meeting on Michigan's no-fault system
So policy changes aimed at fixing Detroit's insurance issues by reducing benefits at the statewide level can be a tough political sell.
"Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater and get rid of no-fault," said Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, a vocal defender of the current no-fault system.
The challenge is finding a strategy that can rein in the runaway medical bills and benefits costs that are ballooning car insurance premiums in Detroit — and exerting pressure on rates across the state — while inflicting minimal harm on accident victims who truly need the system's benefits.
"The tragic truth is that no-fault was a noble experiment with the best intentions to help accident victims and to reduce lawsuits, and it has gone off the rails," said Mark Bernstein, president and managing partner at the Sam Bernstein Law Firm, one of Michigan's most visible personal injury firms, who favors some reform ideas.
"How do we eliminate bad actors and still protect the legitimate interests of injured people? It's a very difficult balancing act," he said.
The Free Press looked at past reform strategies in several of the nation's 11 other no-fault states, particularly New Jersey and Florida, that have achieved results.
These strategies included:
- Placing monetary caps on no-fault benefits. (Michigan has no cap.)
- Establishing "fee schedules" of maximum prices that doctors and clinics can charge for no-fault procedures and services. (Michigan already has a fee schedule for workers' compensation.)
- Moving routine disputes between medical providers and insurance companies over reimbursement out of court to speedier and less-costly arbitration.
- Restraining lawyer compensation in legal disputes over bills with insurance companies.
- Introducing deductibles and co-pays for no-fault medical benefits.
- Shortening the time limit for starting treatment after an accident. (Michigan generally allows one year.)
- Aggressively pursuing fraud.
Since the 1970s, no state has switched to a system with unlimited no-fault benefits like Michigan's. No-fault reform efforts have generally added restrictions or lowered caps on benefits.
Nevada, Georgia, Connecticut and Colorado completely dropped no-fault in response to rising costs. With the possible exception of Nevada, where little rate information is readily available from their 1980 repeal, these former no-fault states all saw significant drops in average car insurance premiums following repeal, according to a report by the RAND Corp. public policy think tank.
D-insurance plan
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan presented his proposed solution to the city's rates problem two years ago. His D-Insurance plan initially called for allowing just Detroit residents the option to buy cheaper no-fault policies with $250,000 caps on medical benefits for critical care (emergency room procedures) and a $25,000 limit for post-acute coverage, such as physical therapy, in-home care and follow-up surgeries.
Under a D-Insurance plan, if a crash patient exhausts the benefit limits, then his or her regular health insurance — including Medicare or Medicaid — would take over. That is how things generally work in the other 11 no-fault states with caps on benefits.
Of course, regular health insurance doesn't offer the same safety net and array of benefits that no-fault does, such as lost wages, in-home attendant care, long-term physical therapy and coverage for making a vehicle or home accessible.
Duggan stressed that D-Insurance would simply give Detroiters another option for car insurance; no one would be forced to buy it. Those who preferred to keep full no-fault coverage could still do so.
A D-Insurance plan could save Detroit drivers about $600 to more than $2,000 a year compared to their current no-fault policies, according to projections by Pinnacle Actuarial Resources that were commissioned by the city. That would significantly cut the $3,400 price of the typical Detroit yearly premium.
But D-Insurance required state legislation to be enacted and it ultimately stalled in Lansing.
A version of the bill that did pass the Senate's Insurance Committee would have opened D-Insurance beyond Detroit to any Michigan city where at least 35% of drivers are uninsured. It also would have allowed insurance companies offering D-Insurance plans to restrict patients to provider networks of specific hospitals and clinics for post-acute care — a common cost-containment strategy — and require pre-approval for treatment procedures.
The general concept behind D-Insurance of offering motorists a choice in levels of no-fault coverage is supported by the conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy think tank.
"If you think it's really important to have unlimited medical benefits because you are very concerned about being in an auto accident and needing those benefits, that's fine," said Michael Van Beek, the Mackinac Center's director of research. "But don't force everybody else to pay for that."
D-Insurance's critics — including now-former state Rep. Brian Banks, D-Harper Woods, and the powerful lobby of medical providers, accident attorneys and disability advocates known as the Coalition Protecting Auto No-Fault — argued the plan would coerce Detroiters into buying "second-class" insurance that would prove insufficient after a serious accident.
Steve Gursten of Michigan Auto Law was among the personal injury attorneys who voiced opposition to D-Insurance. In an interview after the bill's introduction, he warned that those who buy such policies but lack good commercial health insurance and get into a bad crash "are going to be trapped in that same really vicious downward spiral of people in pure tort states," he said.
"They're going to blow through their personal savings, they're going to get pushed onto Medicaid, and they're probably going to end up declaring personal bankruptcy because of incredible medical debt," Gursten said. "Is that the system that we want?"
Jersey caps no-fault
New Jersey has made many changes to its no-fault system that have had significant effects. Attorney John Sakson has been representing accident victims in the Garden State since the 1970s, back when New Jersey, like Michigan today, mandated that everyone purchase unlimited no-fault benefits with their car insurance.
But in response to escalating insurance premiums, New Jersey lawmakers put a $250,000 cap on no-fault benefits in 1990. They made more changes in 1998 and set the minimum purchase level for no-fault's personal injury benefits at $15,000 while giving the option to buy higher levels of coverage.
All New Jersey policies, however, must still offer a minimum $250,000 in emergency room coverage for significant auto accident injuries.
Sakson said those who exhaust their no-fault benefits can fall back on their regular health insurance — provided their health plan covers auto accidents. They also can try a negligence lawsuit against the other driver if their injuries were severe.
Still, there are instances in New Jersey where a catastrophically injured person uses up his or her no-fault benefits and then burns through their personal assets paying for in-home care and assistance. These individuals can end up in Medicare nursing homes, he said.
"That's always been an issue in Jersey since they put the cap on PIP," said Sakson of Stark & Stark Attorneys at Law, referring to no-fault's personal injury protection (PIP) benefits. "There is no provision for catastrophic. I wouldn't call that the biggest problem in our system personally, but when it happens — it's bad."
New Jersey's 1990s reforms also introduced patient deductibles for no-fault medical coverage and added a 20% co-pay for expenses between the deductible and $5,000.
And to rein in medical service prices, New Jersey started a fee-schedule system of maximum charges that providers can bill no-fault insurance for various procedures. Emergency room trauma services are exempt from the fee schedule.
The fee schedule rates are set by state government and vary by region. Under the fee schedule, the cost of a single MRI in an outpatient center in the more expensive northern region of New Jersey ranges from about $664 to $846 to $1,033, depending on body area.
Michigan already has a similar fee schedule system for workers compensation, which state officials say pays medical providers about 130% of Medicare rates for each service or procedure.
Andrew Blair, a New Jersey attorney who represents medical providers in disputes with auto insurers, recalled how before New Jersey started its fee schedule system, insurance companies had to pay whatever price for services or procedures that was deemed "usual and customary."
"When I first start doing this, it was the Wild West," Blair said. "We used to just show proofs of what our usual and customary was. And doctors were charging $20,000 for an injection, where now, with the New Jersey fee schedule, they get $1,200, and some of them are even less.
"So they really reined a lot of the costs in by fee scheduling almost everything. The only thing that doesn't have a fee schedule on it is emergency room treatment in a hospital."
Yet even with these restraints, New Jersey drivers still pay some of the highest auto insurance premiums in the country: an average of $1,379 a year in 2014, according to the latest National Association of Insurance Commissioners data. That was slightly more than Michigan's $1,350 average, although well below the typical Detroit rates around $3,400. Idaho drivers enjoy the cheapest insurance at $673 a year.
New Jersey officials attribute their high insurance premiums to their state being one of the most densely populated with a lot of busy roadways and accidents.
In Michigan, no-fault legislation with variations of the fee schedule idea have been voted out of committees but never passed the House and Senate. A much-discussed 2015 bill would have tied reimbursement rates for auto accident patients to 150% of Medicare rates.
Health care providers and accident victims came out against that bill, contending that fee schedules are a bad idea because accident victims often need specialized, intensive care that is expensive. Although Michigan hospitals often profitably treat Medicare patients, the bill's opponents said payments at 150% of Medicare would be insufficient.
Efforts to rein in no-fault's costs are often seen as threats to medical providers' bottom lines. The higher insurance reimbursement rates that providers get from no-fault patients, among other things, help to subsidize the lower rates they receive treating Detroit's many low-income Medicaid patients. Hospitals often lose money on procedures under Medicaid, which reimburses below Medicare rates.
End of first-party lawsuits
The New Jersey reforms more or less brought an end in that state to first-party accident lawsuits, the type of lawsuit now clogging court dockets in Wayne County in which a motorist or the motorist's medical providers sue an auto insurer for no-fault benefits.
These type of disputes haven't disappeared, but now go to arbitration. New Jersey attorneys say the arbitration process resolves disputes faster than going to court and typically takes just over six months start to finish.
Crucially, arbitrations allow medical providers to keep all money they collect from insurance companies for unpaid bills without the need to share a cut with lawyers.
Insurance companies in New Jersey are now responsible for picking up lawyer fees for the doctors or clinics that prevail in arbitration cases. These fees are determined by each case's arbitrator, who is to consider the complexity and size of the case, among other factors.
The average no-fault arbitration award in New Jersey was $5,420 in the fourth quarter of last year: $4,581 for no-fault benefits and $839 for attorney fees, or 15% of the total award, according to the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance.
In Michigan, attorneys who file first-party lawsuits against auto insurers can get a full 33% cut of the insurance settlements paid out for medical providers' billings and patients' benefits.
"We don't get paid a lot, but it's kind of a volume-based business," said Blair, who was the first New Jersey attorney to start filing no-fault arbitration cases.
There are nearly 50,000 no-fault arbitration cases a year in New Jersey and roughly 90% of them are initiated by medical providers, rather than people who were in accidents, according to state data and practicing attorneys.
"Everybody has kind of gotten very comfortable with the arbitration mechanism," said Joseph Di Donato, vice president of the No-Fault Personal Injury Protection Program in New Jersey with Forthright Solutions, a company that administers the arbitration program for the state. "What we've found in New Jersey is the doctors prefer arbitration anyway. So right now there are hardly any (no-fault) cases at court."
Florida tackles fraud
Even as it offers the most expansive no-fault benefits, Michigan is one of the few no-fault states without a dedicated watchdog for auto insurance fraud. The Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services is not tasked with rooting out auto insurance claim fraud and the Michigan Attorney General's Office hasn't undertaken any recent state-level prosecutions.
Michigan's own Wild West now prevails in the no-fault treatment business — possibly even worse than that in Florida before lawmakers there added restrictions in 2012 to address fraud and unnecessary medical costs.
Florida's reform did not change the state's $10,000 cap on no-fault benefits, but specified that those benefits could only be available if a doctor verified that the person in the accident had an emergency condition. Otherwise, only $2,500 is available. And massage and acupuncture are no longer reimbursable under no-fault at all. (Massage and acupuncture are covered under Michigan no-fault.)
Florida accident victims are now required to seek medical treatment within 14 days of their crash to be eligible for no-fault benefits. In Michigan, people generally have up to a year to seek treatment.
Another key strategy was assigning teams of dedicated no-fault fraud investigators and prosecutors to the state's major metro areas, according to Lynne McChristian, a Florida representative for the Insurance Information Institute.
Bill Newton, deputy director of the Florida Consumer Action Network, said his group generally prefers to see law enforcement go after fraudsters, as they did in Miami, Orlando and Tampa, rather than have lawmakers add restrictions on no-fault to achieve the same goal.
"Our position as a consumer group is that consumers shouldn't lose benefits to criminals, but rather the criminals should be put out of business," he said in an e-mail.
Newton noted how there is currently movement among some Florida lawmakers to repeal no-fault completely amid lingering concerns of fraud and high costs. Florida's average premium was $1,208 in 2014, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
"Trial lawyers, accused of wanting the fraud, now want to do away with (no-fault) too, and favor the 'everybody sues' bodily injury paradigm," Newton said. "I'm not so sure about that. I'm concerned that we're giving in to criminals and it may lead to higher health insurance premiums and less funds for indigent care."
No watchdog in Michigan
Why there is no dedicated no-fault fraud watchdog in Michigan is a matter of debate.
The auto insurance industry blames the Coalition Protecting Auto No-Fault lobby. For its part, the coalition has said it supports rooting out fraud but wants any watchdog to also scrutinize the adversarial and sometimes fraudulent behaviors of insurance companies.
George Sinas, the coalition's legal counsel, said something must be done about auto insurers that seek to reject legitimate claims through bad-faith use of physicians who do "independent medical examinations" of no-fault patients. Accident lawyers commonly refer to these types of physicians as "cut-off doctors."
Some of these doctors have admitted in depositions to making more than $500,000 a year seeing patients on behalf of auto insurance companies, according to Sinas, who said he thinks Michigan needs a standardized vetting system for these examiners to ensure impartiality.
"These doctors routinely give the insurance companies exactly what they want to hear," he said last week.
Sinas emphasized that he believes no-fault fraud should be aggressively pursued. But the existence of no-fault fraud isn't a reason to ditch no-fault.
"There are a lot of doctors in big cities who have been found guilty of Medicare fraud, but you don't hear Congress talking about cutting Medicare because some doctors are committing fraud," Sinas said.
Peter Kuhnmuench, executive director of the Insurance Alliance of Michigan, said insurers use these medical examinations to provide unbiased evaluations and contain unnecessary costs.
"Insurance companies owe it to their customers to make sure that they are paying reasonable, necessary and legitimate claims," Kuhnmuench said.
Credit scores and rates
Proponents of keeping no-fault's unlimited medical benefits, such as the newly formed Detroit Alliance for Fair Auto Insurance, place significant blame for Detroit's high insurance rates on the insurance industry practice of using a version of motorists' credit scores to help set rates.
But credit scoring isn't the underlying problem as even Detroiters with high credit scores and low points on their driver's license are saddled with exorbitant rates, such as $300 or more a month to insure a vehicle.
Insurance companies contend that credit scoring is fair because a person's history of paying bills on time is relevant to safe driving and a predictor of their likelihood of filing claims.
Insurers also use ZIP codes when setting rates to contain the costs of benefits, thefts and crashes to the geographic areas where those who generated the claims live. Before they used ZIP codes, insurers had a territorial rating system that essentially forced some non-city dwellers to pay higher rates to subsidize artificially lower Detroit rates.
Bernstein calls for reform
Attorney Mark Bernstein said he sees a need for legislative changes in Lansing that can preserve no-fault's safety net for accident victims while reining in the system's high costs.
He said a proposal containing "reasonable fee schedules" and "reasonable limitations" on in-home attendant care might be something that his family's law firm could support.
"This has put us at odds with many trial lawyers. But we believe this is the right course," said Bernstein, who is also chairman of the University of Michigan Board of Regents. "The rhetoric about how this would destroy medicine in Michigan is simply untrue. There are 49 other states, most of which do not have no-fault, where there are hospital systems that are thriving."
Bernstein said the fact that car insurance is unaffordable to so many in Detroit means there are fewer eligible plaintiffs for the negligence lawsuits that his firm specializes in. That is because uninsured drivers aren't allowed to sue, even if they were seriously injured in a crash that wasn't their fault.
"Making no-fault more sustainable and affordable is in everyone's best interest," Bernstein said.
Michigan: unlimited medical
New York: $50,000
Minnesota: $40,000
North Dakota: $30,000
New Jersey: $15,000 * (All plans must have $250,000 for emergency room care)
Florida: $10,000
Hawaii: $10,000
Kentucky: (optional no-fault) $10,000
Massachusetts: $8,000
Pennsylvania: $5,000
Kansas: $4,500
Utah: $3,000


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Keener's right emotional brain has been firing on all cylinders this week. When I am in the midst of one of his emotional moments, 5 minutes feels like 5 years. The tears are flowing and he has no idea what he wants. He will be upset about going somewhere he wants to go. He will make a big to do about only me putting his shoes on. I have been having a really hard time exuding patience, empathy, and compassion. I find myself wanting to say, "You are driving me absolutely insane and I don't want to be around you." Thankfully, I refrain.
The other day we were going to swimming. I have been waking Keener up from his naps as we were running into late bedtimes because he wasn't tired. As Grace likes to say, "No, no, no!" I would rather have him sleep less during the day and keep his same bedtime.
I woke him up and he instantly started crying. In general, he is much happier when he wakes up on his own compared to me waking him up but once he realized where we were headed, the tears only intensified. "I don't want to leave the house! I want to go to the park! I want a snack! I don't want to go to swimming!" I started to validate how he was feeling: I know you don't want to go. Sometimes mommy doesn't want to do things either. I get it buddy. You are upset. It's ok to be upset. I connected with him, right brain to right brain. No change.
Then I tried to use some reasoning to try and make him better. You know what? The weather is getting warmer and the outside pool is going to open soon! You have to go to swim class so you know how to swim in the big pool this summer! That will be so fun when you know how to swim and play with your pool toys, splash in the pool, and blow bubbles! No improvement.
I then opted for distraction. I thought he might just need to break the cycle. Hey! Did you see that big truck that just went by? That was a huge truck! Where do you think it's going? If he had the language to say "Mom, just stop trying," he would have.
The tears and confusion continued to flow. What was my next move? Besides having to go wake Grace up to get to swimming on time, I wasn't sure what my next play was. And I also knew that Keener crying was going to make Grace cry. Screw you, swimming.
I was having an internal dialogue with myself the whole time while going through the same three steps with Keener, again and again. I was validating how he was feeling, using reasoning to let him know why I was torturing him, and trying to distract him to get him to stop crying. I feel like I repeated this cycle upwards of 10 times, each time getting closer and closer to losing my mind.
Inside, I was thinking, "Why am I doing this? Yes, he needs to learn how to swim but does it have to be today? Yes, I am paying for this class and it does have to be today. Drowning is the number one cause of unintentional death for this age group, of course we are going. But he is miserable. Why can't we skip this one class?"
As I continued my validate, reason, distract approach, I added in some cause and effect. It may also be known as bribing, but I like to think of it as cause and effect – if you don't cry during swimming, we can go to the park after. If you don't' cry during swimming, you can have two jelly beans after. I didn't know what else to do. I was at a complete loss. He has to stop crying eventually, right?
As I realized my validate, reason, distract cycle wasn't working – and was even starting to annoy myself — I also threw in there a plan. OK Keener. It sounds like we need a plan. Do you think we need a plan? Ok, great. We are going to go to swimming. You are going to have so much fun. You are not going to cry. Mommy is going to be there the entire time. No, I'm not going to be in the pool with you (thank goodness) but Grace and I will be cheering for you! When you look over and see us, we are going to have big smiles on our faces and say, 'Go Keener!' After you are done, I am going to give you a BIG hug and wrap you in a warm towel. We are going to get dressed, have two jelly beans and go to the park. How does that sound?
It was the closest he had come to breathing normally in the last 20 minutes. He was starting to get it together and I felt like I had fought a battle. I'm sure he did as well.
We parked at the pool and made our way in. We had about 5 minutes before class began which was enough time to get settled and find our teacher. Part of the reason he has dreaded swimming is because the teacher has been different every week. I had received an email earlier that day that a new regular teacher was taking over his class. Time to find her!
There is Ms. Sabrina. She is teaching other kids to swim right now and in just a minute, you are going to be in the pool just like those kids right there. Ms. Sabrina is your new teacher. Look, these kids were in your class last week!
He started to get clingy and teary eyed. Internal dialogue kicked right in — "Don't you dare. I don't have the energy and there is no way you do either. Please, please, please…"
My last ditch effort: One more big hug and kiss from mama. I am going to be right here the whole time. I am not leaving. I am going to be watching you and looking for the big smile on your face. There is your other teacher, Mr. Austin!! He wants a high 5! Go Keener go!
He managed to fight off the next wave of tears. He connected with Mr. Austin and off he went to find his lane. Mr Austin gave him a pool toy to hold, which helped, as the kids were getting in the pool. You can also see Mr. Austin used physical touch to help him feel more secure. Had this teacher not been so receptive to Keener's needs, the outcome would have been quite different.
The end result? 30 minutes of pure happiness in the pool, laughing and having fun. I made it a point to talk to the other parents and get the names of the other 3 kids in the class. Keener is very social and enjoys knowing the names of his friends. I also knew I could then use their names next week to remind him his friends are counting on him to be there. They will miss you if you aren't there. Remember how much fun you had with Matt, Robbie and Quinn?
On the one hand, watching him all smiles in class, I couldn't be more relieved. On the other, I was annoyed and exhausted that he spent the last 25 minutes sucking the life out of me. But really, I felt like a rock star. Not that I compete with my two year old, but it totally felt like a game and one that I was quite proud of for coming out on top. It took endless energy, patience and grit, not even knowing if my efforts were going to pay off.
Short term pain for long term gain? There is no guarantee. But there really is no downside. I have to play the game/help my toddler learn how to work through things he doesn't want to do, which is the motivation I need to find that last drop of patience when it seems the tank is empty. In hindsight, it's all very clear to me. But in the moment, it feels more about survival.
Stay tuned for swim class next Wednesday. Will the tears come flowing or will we have finally turned a corner? Ms. Sabrina and Mr. Austin, please be there.


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Mormon Tabernacle Choir singer quits over Trump inaugural
SALT LAKE CITY | A member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir said she has resigned from the famed group over its decision to perform at next month's inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
Jan Chamberlin posted her resignation letter to choir leaders on her Facebook page Thursday. In it, she writes that by performing at the Jan. 20 inaugural, the 360-member choir will appear to be "endorsing tyranny and fascism." She says she feels betrayed by the choir's decision to take part.
The choir is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Church spokesman Eric Hawkins told The Salt Lake Tribune (http://bit.ly/2ieSfXG ) that participation in the choir and the inaugural performance is voluntary.
Hawkins said last week the choir's tradition of presidential performances isn't "implied support of party affiliations or politics" but a "demonstration of our support for freedom, civility and the peaceful transition of power."
Chamberlin's decision earned praise from one of the most powerful Mormons in the country: Nevada Sen. Harry Reid.
The retiring Democrat said Friday in a statement to the Tribune that he admires people like Chamberlin who "reject tyranny and fascism and do what they can to stand up for what is right."
Reid applauded her for refusing to "be part of the wave of hatred unleashed by Donald Trump."
"She should not be castigated or repudiated for acting on her sincere beliefs," Reid said.
Chamberlin, who didn't respond to Tribune requests for interviews, wrote on Facebook that her decision was a moral one.
"I could never 'throw roses to Hitler,'" she wrote. "And I certainly could never sing for him."


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On the 10th anniversary of Shaun of the Dead opening in UK theaters, let's talk about love. Not just the love we have for Edgar Wright's 2004 zom-rom-com but the love that is explored in the rom-com side of that genre-splicing equation. Forget the zed word. Pretend there's no zombies in the movie at all. They drive the plot but they're not really relevant to the story, which is of a relationship on the rocks and the obstacles in its way of succeeding. The zombie element only exacerbates (a word I genuinely learned from this movie) the situation, heightening the tension and increasing the difficulty level while also providing a mechanism through which the main characters are able to more easily get over their relationship hurdles.
I use the term "difficulty level" because, in a way, Shaun of the Dead is like a romance video game where different bosses have to be defeated in order for Shaun (Simon Pegg, who also co-wrote the script with Wright) to win back his princess, Liz (Kate Ashfield). Wright would, of course, later do the same thing very literally in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and here not all the "bosses" are in fact adversarial obstacles, at least not before they're turned into undead monsters. The two most advanced stages of the game, for instance, involve Shaun's mum and best mate. And if you're a grown man in a serious relationship, maybe even marriage, you should identify with just how tough those stages are – or, hopefully, were.
But in real life relationships are not games and they're not hindered nor helped by the presence of zombies. So let's look to the core of what's going on in Shaun of the Dead and find out how it can instruct us on the path toward a successful, happy and hardship-free romance. Okay, maybe not hardship-free. Let's be realistic, here.
The simple story told in the movie is that Liz dumps Shaun on their anniversary and the next day he has to get her back. To do so, zombies or no zombies, he has to achieve the following:
1. Get over his step-daddy issues and make nice with Phillip (Bill Nighy) — All guys need a father figure who can serve as the role model for their own potential as husband and parent. Shaun has never accepted Phillip as either a dad or a person from whom he can learn how to be a man. It's a shame this has to happen as his step-dad is dying (such is the morbid case for each of these steps), but the heart-to-heart between Shaun and Phillip, even as brief and basic as it is, is a preliminary leap in the right direction for the former. Part of the progress is from Phillip's court, of course, admitting how hard it was filling in as Shaun's new father, confessing that he always loved him and wanted to serve as someone to look up to and ultimately giving him encouragement to do well. Then, Shaun had to accept all that, learn from it and be motivated. Interestingly enough, Phillip is only one of three persons in this step-by-step lesson that Shaun doesn't need to entirely defeat.
2. Cut the apron strings – Once Shaun has dealt with his step-dad, it's time to deal with his mommy issues. He doesn't seem to have any major problems in his relationship with his mother (Penelope Wilton); she doesn't baby him, other than still calling him "Pickle," and as far as we see he doesn't depend on her for much. The apron strings are fairly loose if not already severed. But there is still something going on in the way he's kept Liz from meeting Barbara (or is it the other way around?). Maybe it's that he likes to feel like a kid around his mum and doesn't want Liz to see that. Regardless, he has to let go of her and let Liz fill the role of being the main woman in his life – not that this means she'll be a maternal substitute, necessarily, but the two can't have equal ground in his life either. It's a hard thing for any man to do this, especially if it also entails shooting mum in the head – but at least he can be sure his issues there are not going to come back.
3. Eliminate romantic competitors – Jealousy can ruin any good relationship, even if that feeling is unfounded and only stemming from the fact that another man is in love with your partner. Liz doesn't want David (Dylan Moran), but that doesn't matter. He wants her, so he has to go. Besides, he's always been a negative part of social situations since he dislikes Shaun out of his own jealousy. Shaun has stood up to David before – it wasn't easy because they've never been cordial to each other – but the last time he gets Liz and David's girlfriend, Dianne (Lucy Davis) to join him. David's a twat, and fortunately he eventually gets fucked when his embarrassment over the revelation of his true feelings tears him apart, and then he's literally torn apart, too.
4. Get rid of her gal pals – Couples don't need to be friendless, far from it, but they do need to do things just the two of them most of the time once a relationship becomes serious. That means not hanging out at the pub with respective besties. Hers is easier to eliminate from the crowdedness of their social circumstance, if only because she leaves of her own volition to chase after her disemboweled boyfriend (and later eat his leg – according to an animated deleted scene). The fact that she's alive in the end means the women's friendship can still exist, just maybe not as close. Dianne is also Liz's flatmate, which is also important in that couples need to break free of living with others in order to, first, each be comfortable by himself or herself and, then, eventually live with each other.
5. Stop living like he's in a dorm – Furthering the flatmate issue, Shaun has two of them to break free from. First up is Pete (Pete Serafinowicz), who probably should have moved out and on his own already anyway. And he takes down the second, Ed (Nick Frost), with him by turning him into a fellow zombie. I've never quite figured out the analogical significance there, except that it metaphorically aligns the two characters who are also literally aligned as being of in part the same type of obstacle.
6. Break up with his bromantic buddy – This is the most difficult of all the stages, so it naturally is dealt with at the climax, which it shares with the overwhelming wave of zombies flooding the Winchester. As is illustrated in the header image above, intentionally of course, Ed comes between Shaun and Liz. He always has to be around, and he's pulling Shaun back by being a negative influence as far as his maturity goes. Ed is not only a flatmate and best mate, he's a representation of Shaun's grasp at youth and freedom, which is keeping him from properly growing up, committing and being focused on Liz and their relationship as partners. He doesn't have to be completely separated from Shaun's life, though, and so like Dianne he's not totally eliminated. He's only restrained and given some distance by being moved out to the shed, where Shaun can still occasionally make time for dude time and minimal video game play.
7. Prove his maturity, strength, courage, compassion, commitment and initiative – Throughout the movie, while dealing with the previous steps, Shaun grows as a person and displays all the traits that indicate he's an adult and ready for love. And maybe this is where the zombies sort of needed to be around to push him even more toward being a real man, but a more realistic crisis could have done the same. In a way, the breakup itself was that crisis. For many, being dumped is like the end of the world, so in the movie it's aligned with a more literal kind of end of the world. Shaun could have either let himself be defeated by these apocalyptic crises, or he could man up and over come them. And of course, he did the latter. That's probably the most important lesson for any of you attempting to enter or maintain or reclaim a relationship: be a hero, figuratively or literally, and let it happen because you deserve it.
Related Topics: Edgar Wright


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Hello my FF peeps,
Welcome to the event notice many of you have been waiting for, yes I mean that one. It's the 2nd Annual Zen's Rade One Shot Contest!
I still remember how last year's was so successful and how I was introduced to some of my closest friends in that contest. Very fond memories and I remember the one shots many of you wrote just for my birthday. Such a special feeling that was. Anyways, there were certain rules in that contest and this time, on the advice of my two secret judges, most of those are going out the window. So, here are the very few rules guidelines that are made for this year's contest.
*The conest is being held between December 1st through December 31st. A full month to give time to think and plan.
*The pairing must be Rade related but can be combined with other pairings. Ex: Rorade.
*No word limit, though the more you have , the better your chance of winning is.
*Your story can be a one shot, up to a three shot. Quite a few of you have PM'd me about wanting more time and space to develop the short story, so here it is.
*Last and most importantly, love what you will write. If you don't love your story, no one else will.
All stories will be judged fairly and equally, hence why my judges are secret once again to prevent...smooching the buttocks. It will judge by a point system that I found the most fair and reliable, preventing favorism.
*Up to five points for each section.
Overall Enjoyment
So, everyone has time to think about it and start working on their idea. Remember to mark your summary with the hashtag #ZenRadeContest for your story to be entered. I hope we can double this year's entries and really make the Rade section pop out this year. It's Victorious' last year so let's make it shine.
Geez, I just went there, didn't I? Ignore that last bit.
List of current status of stories with multiple chapters:
Perfect to me - Completed
My Best Friend - Completed
Mine - Completed
20 Love Stories of Us - Ongoing
Perfect to us - Ongoing
Robbie's Journal - Completed
Possibilities - Completed
BloodRade: The series - Ongoing
You changed me - Hiatus
List of current collab stories:
With Braxenimos
Lust vs. Love - Completed
With Jonathan81
OutBound - Ongoing (On his profile)


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Last week, Deca Technologies unstealthed. I found out through an article in the San Jose Mercury News. Deca is an independent subsidiary of Cypress Semiconductor. I zipped to the Deca Web site (once I located it), and found this quote by Cypress President and CEO TJ Rodgers from the Deca press release announcing the company's coming-out party:
"Despite this breathtaking progress, there is an economic problem preventing the full integration promised by Moore's Law: advanced semiconductor chips are becoming so specialized that they can't be integrated into one chip. For example, due to process incompatibilities, there are no microprocessors available today with integrated DRAM. The process for one type of chip, for example, a 0.35-micron RF chip, may cost $0.02 per square millimeter—making it horribly uneconomical to integrate an RF block onto a microprocessor wafer costing $0.10 per square millimeter. Today's systems contain very different chips made in different processes, in different fabs, and even in different countries. They therefore cannot be integrated on silicon and must be connected on PC boards, an ancient technology with 500-micron dimensions and a host of reliability problems."
This is a precise and clear explanation and justification for interposer-based 2.5D IC assembly with the best, most concise economic explanation I've seen for selecting 2.5D assembly over monolithic ICs.
In fact, the press release drives this home with the two paragraphs that follow:
"We want to use the dense, reliable silicon interconnect inherent in Moore's Law to integrate the dissimilar chips used in today's systems, but we face an economic barrier because the interconnect on silicon chips is 1,000 times more expensive than the interconnect on PC boards.
"We could enable a new silicon-based interconnect paradigm if we could make silicon interconnect wafers for $10, just what silicon solar wafers cost today. The problem of mapping solar technology onto Moore's Law is straightforward, but difficult, and we believe DecaTech has the answer."
There you have it. Low-cost silicon interposer technology is Deca's stated objective. This one's worth watching.


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Peace Through Music Deep Heather T-Shirt | unisex
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First and foremost this is a MUCH better trailer. In fact, every trailer for this has been better than the last. I was having trouble getting into this flick for some reason, which is pretty weird seeing as how I have very much enjoyed the X-Men movies. You know, except for the absolutely terrible X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Those two are garbage. This trailer has gotten me back on track.
Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshipped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel's X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) with the help of Professor X (James McAvoy) must lead a team of young X-Men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction.
The last two films have been an interesting take on the whole series, staying in the same continuity while simultaneously rebooting the franchise. It does leave a whole lot to be desired when it comes to trying to figure out the timeline. Luckily for them though, X-Men: Days of Future Past went and retconned a lot of the weirdness/bad decisions from previous installments. This does make watching the whole series of movies a lot more confusing, however.
X-Men: Apocalypse will most likely be the end of this prequel trilogy. These movies have gone through three decades, setting up the version of the X-Men we saw in the first film from 2000. This won't be the last X-Men movie we'll get, though. We still have the final Wolverine movie and Deadpool 2 with Cable and most likely double the X-Men we got in the first one. There's also talk of an X-Force movie, as well as an X-Factor television series, and more than likely more traditional X-Men movies.
But for now, we should focus on this one so let's talk about the final X-Men: Apocalypse trailer.
- The trailer opens with the familiar looking sign to the Xavier Academy at 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, Westchester County, New York. Now re-opened after the events of Days of Future Past.
- Charles Xavier is telling his students that the world is better. I would imagine that this won't last long.
- Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique drops by the Mansion to let Charles know that "Just because there's not a war, doesn't mean there's peace. He's coming." Presumably talking about Apocalypse.
- We see a pyramid and inside Oscar Isaac's En Sabah Nur is becoming Apocalypse.
- Rose Byrne returns as Moira MacTaggart to give us the x-position (nailed it) on Apocalypse.
- We learn that Apocalypse will gather mutants together to steal their powers like some giant blue, Egyptian, mutant vampire.
- Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Angel (Ben Hardy), Psylocke (Olivia Munn), and Magneto are shown as the new Horsemen of Apocalypse.
- Xavier asks Magneto not to join with Apocalypse but Magneto has too much rage in him after the loss of his family. Does he have a new family we don't know about? Because it's been almost 40 years otherwise. Maybe it'd be time to let some of that rage go.
- Apocalypse hates landmarks.
- He also screams some heretical stuff about cleansing the world.
- Xavier, in Cerebro, says he's never felt power like this before as his eyes turn black.
- The two fight on the Psychic Plane, not to be confused with the Astral Plane from Doctor Strange.
- Xavier gets beat down and captured by Apocalypse psychically and presumably actually as well.
- Beast (Nicholas Hoult) tells Raven that Xavier has been taken and for some reason puts her in charge of the new X-Men.
- A version of Filter's "Hey Man Nice Shot" begins to play even though that song wasn't written until about 10 years after this movie is set. Enh, they play enough with timelines in these movies maybe it's an Eighties song now.
- Hank tells Raven that the students look up to her, and again I say why?
- She of course takes the job but says that if she's going to teach them something, it's to fight.
- We see Angel fighting Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) in a cage. Pretty reminiscent of when we meet Wolverine in the first movie, but those guys didn't know he was a mutant. It's pretty clear that they know these two are.
- Mystique saves Nightcrawler and he recognizes her. In the comics she's his mother but the timeline here doesn't work for that. It's probably that he saw her on TV a decade ago in Paris when the world publicly found out about mutants and changed the timeline for the movies.
- Quicksilver (Evan Peters) tells Raven that Magneto is his father. In a funny bit, Raven is a bit dumbstruck and he starts to explain that Magneto and his mom had sex. Here's to hoping that there is a little bit of humor in this film and isn't as dark as the subject matter.
- It looks as though Storm's powers have been upgraded by Apocalypse because like Metallica she can Ride The Lightning (yes!).
- We get a good shot of Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), and Nightcrawler in their X-Men uniforms.
- Storm and Cyclops face off amid the destruction.
- Because missiles hate the X-Men (they stopped a bunch in Cuba in the Sixties), Apocalypse launches a ton of them.
- Some more hero shots of the new Horsemen including Angel becoming Archangel and Psylocke slicing through car.
- Her and Beast have fight that ends with him throwing her into a billboard.
- As Deadpool predicted it looks as though the Mansion gets destroyed again, taking out bunch of students. This happens a lot in the comics too.
- We see a glimpse of the Quicksilver running scene that was hinted at when the movie went into production.
- Next are a couple of brief shots of William Stryker (Josh Helman) landing a helicopter, perhaps at the destroyed Mansion very reminiscent of X2. And we see the third(?) version of Jubilee (Lana Condor).
- More destruction and Scott not being able to control his powers.
- The X-Jet gets an upgrade now looking much more like a S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet. So there are Helicarriers and Quinjets in this universe but it doesn't cross over into the MCU. Got it.
- Magneto is featured and says that he'll take everything from them as more things explode in the Mansion.
- Raven tells the kids that they aren't students any more, they're X-Men.
- We get a shot of Alex Summers (Lucas Till) firing off his powers inside of Cerebro while he, Moira, Beast and Raven try to save Xavier from Apocalypse. Otherwise this seems like a dangerous move.
- Psylocke hitches a ride on top of the X-Jet.
- Jean Grey unleashes her power. I've heard rumblings that we'll start to see her Dark Phoenix persona creep in a little even in this movie.
- We get more destruction and yelling. Then more "Hey Man Nice Shot".
- A bunch of soldiers lay dead on the floor as Mystique walks in. She finds the students and notes that they've been busy. Apparently they had help.
And that's it. Not too sure about giving away the Wolverine reveal in the trailer but I don't think it's nearly as bad as giving away the whole movie *cough* The Legal Proceeding of Batman v. Superman *cough*. This finally looks like an X-Men movie I want to see.
X-Men: Apocalypse opens in Large Format, Real D 3D, and Digital 3D May 27th.
From Hollywood,


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1. Consumer Behaviour. Types of Consumer Buying Situation
2. Factors influencing a consumers behavior
3. Buyer Decision Making Processes
4. Implications for Marketing Strategy
An important part of the marketing process is to understand why a customer or buyer makes a purchase. Without such an understanding, businesses find it hard to respond to the customers needs and wants. Marketing theory traditionally splits analysis of buyer or customer behaviour into two broad groups for analysis Consumer Buyers and Industrial Buyers Consumer buyers are those who purchase items for their personal consumption. Industrial buyers are those who purchase items on behalf of their business or organization.
The purposes of this report is to display an understanding of the theoretical framework of buyer behaviour, to appraise the links between marketing communications and buyer behaviour theory and to discuss the impact of the major variables influencing buying behaviour.
1. Consumer Behaviour. Types of Consumer Buying Situation
We are not perfectly rational, sensible buyers. We do not always choose goods and services solely on price, performance and availability. The truth is that many purchases are influenced by a whole host of emotional reasons like esteem and image. Many of these non-rational reasons are hidden deep in our subconscious.
In-depth research probes into the darker depths of our unconscious. Some research presents such bizarre explanations that many marketers reject the findings.
Research helps find the real reasons why we buy what we buy. This requires time, money and expertise. Surprisingly many other organisations don't really know exactly why their customers buy or don't buy from them. Yet understanding customers is at the heart of marketing. Once the reasons why people buy or don't buy are discovered, the marketing mix can be changed to suit the buyer's needs and wants.
Buyer behaviour involves both simple and complex mental processes. Marketers cannot capture human nature in its entirety but we can learn a lot about customers through research, observation and thinking. Here's Professor Theodore Levitt:
I think it is a process of trying to think your way through why people behave in certain ways. Or if not why, then what that behaviour is likely to be given certain kinds of products, certain kinds of... just stop to think.
A customer's approach to purchasing a product or service is influenced by their situation - whether they have money and how important, frequent, risky or urgent the purchase is to them in their situation.
Customers make more of an effort, and become more involved, if the purchase is relatively important to them - particularly if they have no previous experience of buying such a product or service.
On the other hand, if the item being purchased is low value and frequently bought, like a jar of coffee, it follows that the buyer will spend less time and effort and will have less involvement with the purchase.
These frequent, inexpensive purchases generally have little risk, and require less information. These kind of purchase situations are referred to as 'Low Involvement Purchases'. In these situations, consumers can fall into a routine purchasing pattern which requires little thought and even less effort.
Whenever the need is stimulated - a particular brand is automatically purchased. This is called 'Routinised Response Behaviour.' You can visit the Hall Of Fame later to see the gurus explain how brands influence routine purchases.
Alternatively, an expensive high risk infrequent purchase like your first computer will require a lot of detailed information and careful analysis before deciding which machine. This is called 'High Involvement'. Here the consumer goes through an extensive problem solving process - searching and collecting information, evaluating it and eventually deciding on a particular choice.
There is a third type of buying situation. This is where the customer has had some experience of buying a particular type of product or service before. There is less risk attached and less information is required. This is called 'Limited Problem Solving'.
Customers require different marketing mixes in different buying situations. For example, a routinised response purchase, like a can of cola, doesn't require much supporting product literature but perhaps it needs wide distribution and easy availability. An extensive problem solving Type of Purchase, on the other hand, would require detailed product literature and trained sales people.
2. Factors influencing a consumers behavior
Buyer behaviour is focused upon the needs of individuals, groups and organisations. To understand consumer buyer behaviour is to understand how the person interacts with the marketing mix. As described by Cohen (1991), the marketing mix inputs (or the four P's of price, place, promotion, and product) are adapted and focused upon the consumer.
The psychology of each individual considers the product or service on offer in relation to their own culture, attitude, previous learning, and personal perception. The consumer then decides whether or not to purchase, where to purchase, the brand that he or she prefers, and other choices.
People today are looking for prevention rather than just cure. In 1994, 32% of New Zealanders took some form of supplement and in the latest study in 1997 this figure has increased to 74%. Each different product market consists of buyers, and buyers are all different in one way or another. They may differ in their wants, resources, locations, buying attitudes and buying practices. Because buyers have unique needs and wants, each buyer is potentially a separate market.
Consumer involvement is the perceived personal importance and interest consumers attach to the acquisition, consumption, and disposition of a good, service, or an idea. As their involvement increases, consumers have a greater motivation to attend to, comprehend, and elaborate on information pertaining to the purchase. (Mowen & Minor, 1998, p.64). In the case of low involvement, consumer views a purchase as unimportant and regards the outcome of his or her decision as inconsequential. Because the purchase carries a minimal degree of personal relevance or identification, the individual feels there is little or nothing to be gained from attending to the details of a purchase. (Hanna & Wozniak, 2001, p.290). High involvement purchases are those that are important to the consumer either from a financial, social, or psychological point of views. The purchase is characterised by personal relevance and identification with the outcome. (Hanna & Wozniak, 2001, p.291). An individual anticipates a potentially significant gain from expending time and effort in comparison-shopping before buying. For example, a girl purchasing an expensive ball dress has a high degree of personal identification. Therefore, a high level of felt involvement can increase an individuals willingness to search for, process, and transmit information about a purchase.
The most important factors influencing a consumers involvement level are their perceived risks. The purchase of any product involves a certain amount of risk, which may include:
- Product Failure risk that the product will not perform as expected.
- Financial risk that the outcome will harm the consumer financially.
- Operational risk that consists of alternative means of performing the operation or meeting the need.
- Social risk friends or acquaintances will deride the purchase.
- Psychological risk that the product will lower the consumers self-image.
- Personal risk that the product will physically harm the buyer.
In a high degree of perceived risk, decisions in this case may require significant financial commitments, involve social or psychological implications. In the case of low degree of perceived risk, decisions in this case may require small or no financial commitments that involve social or psychological implications. Consumers may already established criteria for evaluating products, services, or brands within the choice category.
In high involvement situations consumers are usually more aroused and more attentive, which expands their short-term memory capacity to its maximal extent. In low involvement conditions, the arousal level is apt to be low, so consumers focus relatively little memory capacity on the stimulus. (Mowen & Minor, 1998, p.101). As involvement levels increases, consumers may allocate more capacity to a stimulus.
3. Buyer Decision Making Processes
Evaluative criteria are the various features a consumer looks for in response to a particular problem. The number of evaluative criteria used by consumers depends on the product, the consumer and the situation. ((Neal, Quester & Hawkins, 2000, p.5.3-5.4 & p.5.22) Formal Clothing In the process of evaluation, a student will evaluate the characteristics of various formal clothing and choose the one that is most likely to fulfil her or her needs. The evaluative criteria of the students include tangible cost, social and psychological measures. The importance of particular evaluative criteria differs from consumer to consumer. The decision to purchase formal clothing is base on the following evaluative criteria:
- Price.
- Quality.
- Brand.
- Style.


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A student of Karl Barth– there aren't many more of those left- Jenson is a legend.Count yourself lucky and color yourself grateful that C&GJ snagged this for your audiological pleasure.
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How is this for a "pox-on-both-your-houses" poll? Rasmussen, August 10-11, 800 likely voters: Of the seven major presidential contenders, more people are committed to voting against them than for them.
Hillary Clinton DEFINITELY FOR 32%, DEFINITELY AGAINST 44%
Rudy Giuliani DEFINITELY FOR 25%, DEFINITELY AGAINST 37%
Fred Thompson DEFINITELY FOR 23%, DEFINITELY AGAINST 35%
Barack Obama DEFINITELY FOR 23%, DEFINITELY AGAINST 37%
John McCain DEFINITELY FOR 18%, DEFINITELY AGAINST 33$
John Edwards DEFINITELY FOR 22%, DEFINITELY AGAINST 39%
Mitt Romney DEFINITELY FOR 16%, DEFINITELY AGAINST,40%
Romney's "against" number closely tracks a Rasmussen poll taken in November 2006 that showed that 43% (and 53% of evangelical Christians) would not vote for a Mormon. Of course, this leaves 44% of voters who are not concerned about Romney's religion.


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USS Constitution gets a new commander
Cmdr. Sean Kearns in native New Englander
The U.S.S. Constitution's new commander is another native New Englander.
Cmdr. Sean Kearns was handed command of the historic warship docked at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston in a rainy onboard change-of-command ceremony Friday morning.
Kearns, from Hampden, Maine, takes over from Cmdr. Matt Bonner, a Meredith, N.H., native who is moving on to a job at the Pentagon.
View a slideshow of the Constitution under sail
Kearns holds degrees from Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He recently completed a tour at the Surface Warfare Officers School Command in Newport, R.I.
As commander, Kearns' duties are to protect, promote and preserve the ship and oversee a crew of about 75 active-duty sailors.
The Constitution is the world's oldest commissioned warship still afloat, and sails in Boston Harbor several times per year.


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Russian-Made S-400 Anti-Aircraft Missile System Have Arrived in Turkey
Regional News 12 July 2019 Arabia Day Newsdesk 0
The Turkish Defense Ministry says the first components of a Russian-made S-400 anti-aircraft missile system have arrived, something Washington had hoped to stave off by threatening to withhold delivery on the 100 F-35 advanced stealth fighter jets Ankara had ordered. The US is concerned that the Russian presence in Turkey – the air-defense system will be assembled and most probably operated, at least in the beginning, with the assistance of Russian technicians – could compromise some of the F-35's stealth capabilities if the jets are used to fine-tune the S-400. (Complicating things for Lockheed Martin, the jet's manufacturer, is the fact that Turkey currently produces hundreds of its parts, and canceling that sale could pose a supply-chain problem, slowing down production for other clients.) Turkey's use of the S-400 also upends a rule in NATO that the military systems of member-states be compatible with one another. The S-400 cannot be used in conjunction with the systems of other treaty members. Ankara has belonged to NATO since 1952.
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