text:
People choose flooring inspired by nature because they may want their room to have a unique and natural feel to it. It may add depth, elegance and beauty to a room. It is the sort of thing that interior designers tend to go for, but you can get the effect yourself without having to go to that expense. That is why many people choose 5 Advantages of Engineered Wood Flooring That You Should Know ... Enterprise AL 36330 flooring inspired, in some way, by nature, and these are in more abundance than many people may think.
Wooden flooring is obviously nature inspired because of its origins. But many people, for cost purposes, may want flooring as near to a wood pattern as possible – giving the illusion of wooden flooring without being wood itself. Other wood flooring that is influenced by nature is Enterprise AL 36330 white oak hardwood flooring. White oak is a natural wood dating back centuries, with a precise grain texture dating back to medieval times. It is more of a pale gold colour than straight white. There are different grades of white oak hardwood flooring, the two most near to nature being clear white oak which is taken from the core of the oak tree itself, Home Flooring: Discover The Advantages And Disadvantages Of ... Enterprise AL 36330 raw and undisturbed. There is also common oak that has natural dark streaks. This is also the lowest price hardwood flooring material. Therefore White oak flooring is not only costly but also brings nature to your room and is strong as it is natural wood. Engineered wood flooring can give the illusion of real wood flooring, even something as accurate as lines on wood, Enterprise AL 36330 looking as accurate as possible for nearly half the price of natural wood.
Cork flooring is not only a renewable source, but the way it is sourced means it does not cause any environmental damage. This means that a person can enjoy nature inspired flooring without worrying about the environment. With cork flooring the cork is stripped without causing any destruction to the tree.
Hardwood bamboo Enterprise AL 36330 flooring comes from a bamboo plant which has matured. This is a natural and sustainable source which helps if you want flooring reflecting true nature. Because it grows really fast it is more viable to use this for wood, rather than cutting down trees in the rainforests, for natural wood. This natural wood is available at affordable prices and so can be seen as Enterprise AL 36330 an ideal flooring type for people who appreciate nature.
There are also patterns and colours that can be inspired by nature. The reasonably priced laminate flooring which can give the illusion of real nature at a cheaper price. Vinyl flooring offers the customer the chance to decide how their flooring looks. They can select patterns that look like wood and give their Enterprise AL 36330 room the feel of nature whilst not actually being the real thing. A child's carpet may resemble nature to give them comfortable surroundings or simply incorporate tree designs or animal patterns. No matter how far from nature some may intend to be, nature can still be present.
Choosing flooring inspired by nature can involve simply buying flooring that comes from natural resources, and as another Enterprise AL 36330 option, people can buy cheaper flooring types that give the illusion of wood or patterns and colours that represent nature. When choosing your flooring there are plenty of types that are inspired by and come directly from, nature.


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It's time to recognize an outstanding community volunteer leader with The Courier's Most Useful Citizen Award.
It's time to recognize an outstanding community volunteer leader with The Courier's Most Useful Citizen Award.
The award is given to an individual who has demonstrated exceptional commitment to the Terrebonne Parish community and seeks to make it a better place to live.
"We're looking for people who give freely to the community," said Miles Forrest, publisher of The Courier and Daily Comet. "Ideally, the recipient will be someone who has given to the community for a long period of time and with lasting significance."
The award is in its 67th year. Nominations are now being accepted. An anonymous panel will select the person being honored, and the announcement will be made during the Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce's 84th annual banquet, scheduled for 6-9 p.m. Jan. 22 at the Civic Center.
The announcement is a surprise to the honoree. No one, including the Most Useful Citizen, is ever given advance notification.
Past Most Useful Citizen Paul Labat, 61, said hearing his name called as the 2005 award recipient was flattering and an honor. But he also uses a more uncommon description — embarrassing.
"There were some other people that were nominated that have done so much good in the community," Labat said. "I was embarrassed that I won before some other good people I've always looked up to."
As Labat, former Parish Council clerk, approached the podium to accept the award, he admitted to being unprepared to deliver his acceptance speech.
"I didn't know I was nominated. I went to the banquet as a date with the person who nominated me. They started naming organizations the person was involved with, and I was sitting there saying 'Oh. I'm in that.' Then they said the person was 'born in Montegut' and 'the son of,' and I heard my parents' names and realized it was me," Labat said.
Labat worked for the Terrebonne Parish government for three decades, serving in many positions that included council clerk, keeping the official record of Parish Council meetings and making sure policies and procedures were followed.
For decades and even since receiving the The Courier's Most Useful Citizen Award, Labat has stayed involved with numerous boards and organizations including Le Petite Theatre, Leadership Terrebonne and the Terrebonne Historical and Cultural Society. He was active with United Way for two decades and was its board's 2006 president. He has served on almost every committee associated with the United Way, including chairman of both the fund-distribution and the venture-grants selection committees.
Through his help, the United Way of South Louisiana's annual campaign grew from about $100,000 to more than $1.6 million.
He was secretary of the Houma-Terrebonne Rotary Club and was involved in helping bring the first Habitat for Humanity house to Houma.
He also co-founded the Houma-Terrebonne Christmas Parade more than 20 years ago with his good friend Betty Reed, the mentor to whom he dedicated his Most Useful Citizen award.
"People from Montegut called me because they were so excited someone from down the bayou was being recognized. It was important to them, so I think this award is so important to the community," Labat said. "It's such a humbling experience. The person who receives this award must have the ability to do work but not for recognition. I think that's most important. The person selected has done the work regardless of whether anyone says anything. You never see their name anywhere for recognition. These are people doing work for the good of community."
Nominations must include the nominee's name, address, occupation and employer as well as the nominating person's name, address and phone number. A letter with a brief biography of the nominee and the reasons he or she is worthy of the award should be attached, as well as any documentation that would support the nominee's volunteer work in the community.
The nominee must be a resident of Terrebonne Parish.
Mail nominations to The Courier, P.O. Box 2717, Houma, LA 70361.
Staff Writer Kris Johnson can be reached at 857-2207 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @krisLjo.

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AOC Managing Communities
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Back to Chapters for AOC
Ch 3: Community Participation (Dawn)
(Suggested Vignette – Karl Fogel, someone else)
New people are joining and participating in online communities in everything from open source projects like Firefox to social networking sites like MySpace and LinkedIn.
As is typical within any diverse group of individuals, each person has a different motivation for joining and participating in a community. Some possible motivations include socializing, altruism, desire to solve a problem, gaining knowledge, resume building, political beliefs, desire for status / recognition of peers, and others. Amy Jo Kim frames community motivation using Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
Norms and Behavior:
Each online community has a set of norms and ways that participants are expected to behave; however, there are some norms that are common to most communities. Most communities have documentation with rules and guidelines for participation that users should read carefully before participating. It is also a good idea to get a feel for how people behave in a particular community by monitoring the community for a period of time before beginning to actively participate. In the event that people are not behaving within the established norms, online communities usually have methods that can be used to sanction inappropriate behavior.
Write this last
Eric Raymond wrote that "Every good work of software starts by scratching a developer's personal itch."[1] Within open source software communities, many projects are started to fill the developer's need, and as the user of the software, the developer has a personal stake in the product's quality. Linus started Linux to fulfill his personal need for a Unix-like operating system that would run on lower cost hardware. Other developers frequently contribute to open source projects to fill a need of their own to have a particular project ported to a favorite hardware platform or to add an additional feature that would make the product more closely meet their needs.
This idea can also be applied to other online communities outside of software. People join and participate in social networking communities, like the MySpace community, to fill a social need and have an online location to hang out with friends, coordinate social events, share new (or old) music, and blog about their ideas and experiences. Others join business-oriented networking sites, like LinkedIn, to make better connections with people in related industries and to network online with like-minded people. Some people join online news and information communities, like Digg and Newsvine, to share and discuss information with others.
These examples demonstrate that people can join online communities to fill a particular need, and those needs can take many forms and motivate people in different ways. Keep in mind that motivation is incredibly complex. A single individual may be motivated to join and contribute to online communities for many different reasons, which when combined form a powerful set of motivators. Motivation can also be culturally determined. What motivates someone from the United States might be very different from what motivates a person in China, Japan, or Russia. This section will describe several different ways that people are motivated to participate in online communities, but keep in mind that most people will be influenced by come combination of these motivations.
Many open source developers are passionate about open source and have a strong ethical foundation and moral reasons that drive their contributiopns to open source projects. Richard Stallman, the founder and driving force behind the free software movement of which open source software is a part, based this movement on the belief that software should be free (as in freedom, not necessarily price) and open for others to modify and share with others. Richard Stallman views his decision to begin the free software movement as taking the moral high ground to make the world and the software development community a better place where developers can share their code freely rather than restricting access using proprietary licenses and non-disclosure agreements. The following quote comes from a discussion about why there was a need to create the free software movement in the early 1980s when software began moving from a freely shared academic model of cooperation to a proprietary corporate model of protecting intellectual property.
The modern computers of the era, such as the VAX or the 68020 had their own operating systems, but none of them were free software: you had to sign a nondisclosure agreement even to get an executable copy.
This meant that the first step in using a computer was to promise not to help your neighbor. A cooperating community was forbidden. The rule made by the owners of proprietary software was, "if you share with your neighbor, you are a pirate. If you want any changes, beg us to make them."
The idea that the proprietary software social system—the system that says you are not allowed to share or change software—is anti-social, that it is unethical, that it is simply wrong may come as a surprise to some readers. But what else could we say about a system based on dividing the public and keeping users helpless? (Richard Stallman)[2]
This is almost a religious passion for the open source / free software community based on a strong belief that software should be open. Other open source developers are less motivated by these philosophical arguments and more motivated by their passion and love of the activity of programming. Many developers love to program and are motivated to contribute to projects that they are passionate about, rather than the projects that their employer or university thinks are important. In many cases, open source developers write code all day at work or the university, and then they come home and write open source code for projects that they find interesting. The ideal for many programmers is to have an employer pay them to write open source software at work, but more on this in a later section.
The reasons for contributing to other online communities are not that different. The blogger community is a great example of people participating because of a passion about a topic. People blog about topics they are passionate about. Lawrence Lessig blogs about legal matters associated with free software, digital rights management, and other restrictions on how people can use and share information. Michael Arrington is passionate about web 2.0, and his TechCrunch blog is becoming the place to find the latest web 2.0 companies. Seth Godin blogs about marketing and the spread of ideas. Others blog about sports, food, knitting, politics, sex, religion, terrorism, technology, art, music, life, news, books, travel, romance, television, friends, family, and every other topic that someone, somewhere might consider interesting.
Other web 2.0 sites are springing up to form communities around topics that capture people's passions. Flickr is just one example. People with a passion for photography are motivated to share their photos on Flickr with a community of people who have the same passion. Users are encouraged to comment on the work of others, and many of the photographs are under various creative commons licensing allowing liberal use of the work by other people. Dawn's Flickr photos are mostly vacation pictures to share with family and friends online; however, some people share really amazing, professional quality photography on Flickr.
Intellectual and Skills Building
The desire to learn new skills and to share knowledge may be what motivates most people who join and participate in open source projects. The Free/Libre and Open Source Software: Survey and Study from 2002 and similar subsequent surveys found that the most common reason that people joined open source communities was to learn and develop new skills with 79% of survey respondents listing this as a reason join. When asked why they stay in an open source community, learning and developing new skills was still the most common reason (70%) followed closely by sharing knowledge and skills (67%) [3]. Most open source developers seem to be motivated to join and continue contributing to open source projects to learn and develop new skills, and as they continue to participate in open source projects, the desire to share their information and knowledge becomes a more important motivator over time.
Maybe include something about proving yourself & getting hired out of the community? – this may fit better in a later section.
In addition to building skills and sharing knowledge, many open source developers just like a good challenge, and they are interested in solving tough problems. Eric Raymond describes the problem solving motivation in the context of hackers (keep in mind that in this case hackers are people who love to write software and figure out how things work; they are not people who break into computers or engage in other destructive behaviors.)
Hackers solve problems and build things, and they believe in freedom and voluntary mutual help. To be accepted as a hacker, you have to behave as though you have this kind of attitude yourself. And to behave as though you have the attitude, you have to really believe the attitude.
1) The world is full of fascinating problems waiting to be solved. Being a hacker is lots of fun, but it's a kind of fun that takes lots of effort. The effort takes motivation. Successful athletes get their motivation from a kind of physical delight in making their bodies perform, in pushing themselves past their own physical limits. Similarly, to be a hacker you have to get a basic thrill from solving problems, sharpening your skills, and exercising your intelligence.
If you aren't the kind of person that feels this way naturally, you'll need to become one in order to make it as a hacker. Otherwise you'll find your hacking energy is sapped by distractions like sex, money, and social approval.
(You also have to develop a kind of faith in your own learning capacity — a belief that even though you may not know all of what you need to solve a problem, if you tackle just a piece of it and learn from that, you'll learn enough to solve the next piece — and so on, until you're done.) (Eric Raymond) [4]
The Make community is an interesting example outside of open source software of an online community formed around problem solving, learning new skills, and sharing knowledge with others. The foundation is the quarterly publication, a combination magazine / book, called Make, which provides detailed instructions for how to make or modify almost anything imaginable. Project examples include electronic insects, a soccer-playing robot, a robot made from an old computer mouse, a cigar box guitar, a toaster tea popper to pull your teabag out of the cup at exactly the right time, a cell phone-based anonymous megaphone, and much more. These range from low-tech and simple with only a few parts and no soldering required, while others require extensive electronic and computer skills with circuit boards, wiring, and programming. Regardless of the skills required for a specific project, this is a community of serious tinkerers.
The Make community is way more than just a magazine. People use the Make forums to post questions about how to make or modify some object, and other users help out by providing tips and suggestions for how it might be made; however, there are also more philosophical discussions on the forums about whether or not certain types of machines violate the laws of physics and whether they could ever be made. The forums are also used to arrange off-line meetups of groups of makers within a local community. The mother of all meetups for this community is the yearly Maker Faire, which drew 20,000 people in April 2006 for a weekend of demos, entertainment, and fun with like-minded people. Make also has a group blog with several contributors and frequent podcasts.
Blogging is another activity that can allow a person to fulfill their need for intellectual pursuits and to build skills online in a manner slightly less technical than the above open source and maker examples while still being community oriented. This is the primary reason that Dawn blogs. Blogging about a topic forces you to think about the topic and analyze it in more detail than you might have if you only spent time thinking about it. This analysis and the writing that follows help to fulfill the intellectual need to learn new things and share them with others. By allowing comments on the blog, you bring in an element of community. The community provides valuable feedback on your ideas (good and bad), and people point out errors and suggest corrections. As part of the blogger community, other blogs and increasingly mainstream media link to your blog providing additional feedback on your ideas, or people do not link to a particular entry (maybe it was not as brilliant as you thought it was).
Along with intellectual motivations, blogging can also help build and refine skills. Writing is probably the most obvious skill that blogging can help to develop. By blogging every day or at least a few times a week, you are consistently practicing writing and over time learn to more clearly and consistently articulate your ideas. Blogging can also build other skills depending on how it is used: web development, cascading style sheets (CSS), JavaScript, html, learning to respond to negative feedback, and more.
Status and Recognition
Our actions within online communities can generate status and recognition; some people seek this out, and it becomes a motivation for participation in online communities, while others find that status and recognition come with their actions whether or not this was a motivation for participating. Linus Torvalds is probably the best example out of the open source community of a person who became an accidental celebrity. *maybe add source or quote somewhere here* As described in Chapter 2, Linus started the Linux operating system out of his personal desire to have a Unix-like operating system running on less expensive hardware. His original goal was for Linux to be "just a hobby, won't be big and professional"[5], and he shared his ideas with a community of other like-minded individuals. These are not the actions of a man wanting to be famous for his creation; however, as Linux grew in popularity over time, Linus gained recognition and elite status within the Linux and open source communities.
In the previous Intellectual and Skills Building section, we described how some bloggers are motivated by intellectual needs and skills building. Taking this idea one step further, a blogger focused on intellectual motivation and the desire to build skills may also gain status and recognition for her writing. She may be consciously motivated by status and recognition or it may reinforce her desire to contribute to the blogging community even when it is not sought out. For some bloggers, status and recognition may be the primary motivation for blogging. Blogging can be a way to show the world that you are an expert in a particular topic and gain recognition for your expertise within the broader community.
Gaining status and recognition for your expertise in an online community can also have a number of interesting side effects, which can further increase community status and recognition. If you have name recognition through blogging, open source contributions, or other community activities, getting selected for speaking engagements at conferences becomes more likely. Assuming that two people submit identical speaking proposals for an event, the conference organizer will most likely select the proposal from the person with community name recognition. The name recognition suggests to the organizer that the person is already recognized for their expertise; therefore, it is likely that this person will have a higher quality session. The person with name recognition will also be a bigger draw for attendees than an unknown speaker; for example, more people would be interested in attending a session led by Mitchell Baker, Chief Lizard Wrangler and President of Mozilla, than a session led by John Doe, a passionate, but rather unknown Firefox contributor and evangelist.
Career Advancement
This status and recognition from community activities and speaking engagements can also be used as a self-marketing tool leading to career advancement. The traditional hiring process usually relies on a resume, interviews, and references to select the best candidate; however, this is a less than ideal way to find the best person for a job. For example, someone with a brilliantly spun resume and a gift for conversation may not be able to dive into the details required to complete real projects, while the person with a lousy resume and poor communication skills may be the best computer programmer for the job. In contrast to the traditional hiring process, online communities provide examples of real work. Many open source companies focus their hiring process on people who already contribute to the community, which gives them an opportunity to evaluate their contributions and interactions with their peers in a real life situation allowing them to select the best contributors rather than selecting a person who may or may not be an ideal candidate. Similarly, reading a person's blog can also provide quite a bit of insight into how a person thinks, their depth of expertise on a topic, and how they respond to criticism via comments. A blog and participation in other online communities can provide more information about a potential candidate than the resume or interview process. Companies may also proactively contact leading bloggers on a topic to see if they are interested in a job. Status and recognition have always been a recruiting tool for companies, but with the proliferation of online communities, more people are motivated to participate to boost their status and recognition.
A few bloggers are even using their blogs as recruiting tools. When Amanda Congdon very publicly left the Rocketboom video blog, Jason Calacanis offered Amanda a job at AOL/Netscape with great pay, ownership rights to her videos, access to their new studio in LA for filming, and a travel budget to cover stories on the road as a public post on his blog. Robert Scoble jumped into the fray by posting a blog entry speculating on what it would take for him (at PodTech) to hire someone as amazing as Calacanis. Mark Cuban put a new twist on this trend by putting out a call on his blog offering a job to anyone who can solve the problem of getting people out of the house to watch a movie in the theater without spending more money on marketing than what the movie can earn. Several popular industry blogs have also added niche job boards designed to help companies recruit the right people by providing a matchmaking service between companies they blog about and readers of the blog with a deep interest in their topic. The TechCrunch CrunchBoard and GigaOm Jobs are two of the highest profile entries into the niche blogger job search space.
Some people are motivated to participate in online communities for social reasons. There are niche social networking sites for everything from dog / cat / fuzzy pet owners to car / film / book / music lovers to shoppers to mommies. Online communities can be a great method of connecting with people in a social environment, having fun, and maybe even wasting time in a way that helps energize and refresh our workaholic, play-starved brains (Second Life and MySpace). Other people are motivated to participate to increase their social network in a business setting (LinkedIn).
Most social software is not about achieving some goal or increasing productivity. Some people may get productivity gains out of using some social networking tools, but I would argue that this is a side effect more than a motivation for participating in many communities. Young people do not use MySpace solely as a substitute for productivity tools like email and IM; they use it as an online mall or coffee shop where they can connect with friends, get to know friends of friends, leave inside jokes as public comments to demonstrate that they are in someone's social circle, organize events, and more. These online activities create a network of peers and identification within their community of friends. When all of your friends are on MySpace, you miss out by not joining, which is a strong form of peer pressure and social motivation. Second Life is another great example of a community built around social diversion. People in Second Life create avatars to represent their online self, meet new people, and engage in all kinds of interesting activities.
For others, the social motivation for participating is less about pure fun and diversion and more about networking and increasing business relationships. Many of us participate in the LinkedIn community to build our business network online. We can search for jobs, get connected to other people with similar business interests, get introduced to someone we may want to partner with, or reconnect with old colleagues. This is the online version of attending an industry conference or trade show to meet people and connect with others that you already know within the industry.
An interesting side effect of having so many of our social interactions in online communities means that for many of us, our online and offline interactions began to merge. We need the offline interactions in addition to the online community; however, the online interactions can drive new offline relationships. Many of us who blog "meet" people online as a result of comments back and forth in the blogosphere, but we take the opportunity to meet these bloggers in the offline space when we get an opportunity at a conference or other venue. After Dawn began exchanging blog comments with Josh Bancroft, they both realized that they worked at the same Intel campus, and getting together offline resulted in him joining the Art of Community Lightning Talks session at OSCON 2006. In many cases, open source conferences like ApacheCon and DebConf give people an opportunity to meet other community members. In open source projects, it is not uncommon for people to participate in a community even working very closely with particular people for years before ever meeting them in the physical world. Even Second Life has a conference where people can meet the real life people behind the avatars.
Both online and offline interactions have their place, but it is interesting to see how the two are merging in our social interactions to the point where we do not even consciously think about how we use them both. The social motivation to participate in online communities become an extension of our human social needs in the offline world.
Although many people contribute to communities without any additional compensation, some community members are motivated by economic concerns. Getting paid to contribute to a community can happen under a few different methods: regular job duties, advertising supported, or freelance work.
It has become increasingly common for people to participate in a community as part of their regular job duties. We have been seeing this trend within the open source community for a number of years as companies sponsor open source developers by hiring them and putting them on a salary to support a project. The Linux community provides a number of good examples. The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the adoption of Linux in the enterprise, hired Linus Torvalds and other key Linux kernel developers providing them with a relatively unbiased source of income allowing them to focus on their contribution to the Linux kernel with fewer distractions. Companies like IBM, Intel, and Red Hat along with many others also hire Linux kernel developers and maintainers benefiting the company in a number of ways. Many companies rely on Linux, and it is in their best interest to maintain a healthy and thriving community around the project thus increasing the chances that the community and the Linux kernel will survive and prosper. Supporting the developers helps to ensure that good developers stay focused on the project rather than having their attention divided by having some non-Linux related full time job required to provide financial support. By drawing a salary from a major company, the developer can focus full-time on community contribution without worrying about finding money for the next house payment. By having community members on staff, the company can also increase the likelihood of getting support for their most recent products. For example, when IBM and Intel release new hardware platforms, they usually need some changes to the Linux kernel to support the new platforms, and with developers on staff who are both intimately familiar with the Linux kernel and the company's hardware, they are in a much better position to help the community prepare the Linux kernel to run on the next generation of hardware.
Community manager positions are becoming more common as online communities become increasingly popular. Companies use community managers to help facilitate community discussions on forums, to seed wikis with initial information to help people get started, to answer people's questions or resolve any technical issues that may arise within the community, and to be the liaison between the community and the company supporting it. A few examples:
- CollabNet has community managers for developer communities.
- Blizzard has community managers for the communities of people playing World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer online game.
- Yahoo hires community managers to work with a variety of online communities including Flickr and Yahoo Video.
Some communities are also experimenting with paying people on a freelance basis for contributions to a community:
- Various companies and individuals, including Novell and Mark Shuttleworth, have offered bounties paid to open source developers for completing some task as specified by the organization or person paying for the bounty.
- Google offers students a stipend to work on open source projects as part of the Summer of Code program.
- Netscape is experimenting with paying top contributors for submitting stories to the Netscape.com site.
The ability to make money for the community through advertising can also provide motivation for participants. With the current popularity and ease of using online advertising, a community can also be supported financially through advertising. Services like Google's AdSense give anyone the ability to quickly and easily include ads on a website or blog and receive payments when a certain number of people click on the ads. Some larger communities can also get corporate sponsors to advertise on the site.
Economic motivations can also create issues and conflict of interests in some cases. Sometimes the goals of the person paying the bills through developer salaries, freelance work or advertising can conflict with the community goals. A company may push a staff developer or bounty hunter to contribute a piece of code or a feature that the community does not want. An advertising sponsor can try to influence the community to favor one company over another. In same cases this influence can be blatant and at other times subconscious. It is natural for people to want to repay the kindness of others even when we do not consciously realize that we are not being completely objective. These conflicts of interest demonstrate the negative side of economic motivations within communities.
Gift Cultures
Open Source software is occasionally referred to as a gift economy where the contributions of code, documentation, and other content can be thought of as gifts from one person to the community. [6] Eric Raymond points out that "in gift cultures, social status is determined not by what you control but by what you give away."[7] This is in contrast to the exchange economy that governs most of the rest of our interactions. In an exchange economy, one party offers something of value in exchange for goods or services; the "something of value" often refers to currency, but it can also include bartered goods. Even when the motivation to contribute to an online community is economic as described previously in this chapter, the gift culture analogy still holds true in most cases because the code is being given to the open source community. The developer receives compensation from some third party company in the form of employment or other contract work; however, the developer and the company sponsor are still contributing freely to the community.
Within open source communities, the idea of contributions as gifts is fairly common; however, many other online communities also operate as gift giving cultures. Contributors to Digg and Newsvine freely submit stories, comment on stories submitted by others, and vote on stories they feel should be on the front page without expecting anything in exchange for their efforts. Most bloggers (with the exception of the few who actually make money from sponsorships, advertising, or some other payment model) can also be part of the gift culture by submitting content freely to anyone wanting to read their thoughts, ideas, or advice on a particular topic. The community of readers also offer comments as a part of the gift culture.
In some ways, the gift giving motivation is just a different way of looking at some of the other motivations previously described in this chapter. The gift culture may be most closely associated with the motivation to achieve status and recognition, since social status within a gift culture is determined by what you give. Passion about a topic tends to drive people to contribute freely without the expectation of receiving anything in return, and the gift giving acts a way to share their passion with others. Acquiring new skills and then freely sharing that knowledge is also a form of giving. Gift giving can relate to the career advancement motivation, since people become well known for their contributions to the community. The act of gift giving can also be a social activity where people come together and freely share ideas and information in an online social environment.
Norms and Behavior
Norms and behavioral conventions guide participation in online communities in the same way that they guide our behavior in other social situations. In most cases, people would not throw food and eat with their hands at fancy dinner parties, or use noisemakers during a math test. Throwing food and eating with your hands might be fine at a casual picnic among close friends, and noisemakers are completely appropriate at a New Year's Eve party; however, the appropriateness of these behaviors depend on the situation. During most math tests, students are expected to work quietly, not cheat, and listen to instructions. A student could choose to bring noisemakers; however, it would likely result in unpleasant consequences: a failing grade, a trip to the Principal's office, or detention. Online communities have similar rules for behavior and consequences associated with not adhering to the norms of the group. While each community has slightly different expectations for behavior, there are a number of common elements.
Play Nice
Flickr is explicit about playing nice within their community. Flickr's first community guideline is "Play nice: We're a community of many types of people, who all have the right to feel comfortable and who may not think what you think, believe what you believe or see what you see. So, be polite and respectful in your interactions with other members."[8] YouTube has a similar guideline: "Respect the YouTube Community:
We're not asking for the kind of respect reserved for nuns, the elderly, and brain surgeons. We mean don't abuse the site. Every cool new community feature on YouTube involves a certain level of trust. We trust you to be responsible, and millions of users respect that trust, so please be one of them."[9] Within Second Life, intolerance, harassment, assault, and disturbing the peace can result in suspension or expulsion from Second Life.[10]
Online communities, like communities in real life, should be a place where the members can participate in a comfortable environment. Harassment and intolerance based on race, gender, religion, and other characteristics is generally discouraged. At the minimum, a member who harasses another community member will usually find themselves on the receiving end of unpleasant feedback from other members in defense of the harassed member. In some cases, a formal penalty including removal from the community may be enforced.
Responding nicely to questions (yes, even the stupid questions) is also a good practice within the community. Community newbies are going to ask questions that have already been asked a million times. Experienced members need to remember that this is the first time for the newbie no matter how tired the existing members are of hearing the same questions. An irate response about the lack of intelligence on the part of the newbie is almost a guarantee that the community will not get many new members, while a patient response pointing the newbie to the archives or FAQ takes the same amount of time as the flame response while encouraging that new member to continue participating. If you want to encourage community growth, being nice to new members is a great first step, since when they stick around for a while the new members turn into experienced members who can help in some productive manner.
Keep it Legal
Adhering to local laws helps to ensure that a community can continue to exist without inference by government officials. No community wants to be the next Napster, shut down due to legal concerns complete with expensive legal defense and eventual bankruptcy.[11] As an attempt to avoid Napster's fate, YouTube asks members to "Respect copyright. Only upload videos that you made or that you have obtained the rights to use. This means don't upload videos you didn't make, or use content in your videos that someone else owns the copyright to, such as music tracks, snippets of copyrighted programs, or videos made by other users, without their permission."[12] YouTube is also proactive about removing content that infringes on copyrights held by others.
Copyright violations may be one of the most common legal issues within online communities, but with laws differing across various geographical regions, the issue quickly becomes complex. Sites like Digg cover this issue within their terms of service the agreement not to use Digg "for any illegal or unauthorized purpose. If you are an international user, you agree to comply with all local laws regarding online conduct and acceptable content." [13] Linden Lab makes this slightly more explicit in their Terms of Service for Second Life:
"The rights and obligations of the parties under this Agreement shall not be governed by the U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods; rather such rights and obligations shall be governed by and construed under the laws of the State of California, including its Uniform Commercial Code, without reference to conflict of laws principles. The Service is controlled and operated by Linden Lab from its offices within the State of California, United States of America. Linden Lab makes no representation that any aspect of the Service is appropriate or available for use in jurisdictions outside of the United States. Those who choose to access the Service from other locations are responsible for compliance with applicable local laws. The Linden Software is subject to all applicable export restrictions. You must comply with all export and import laws and restrictions and regulations of any United States or foreign agency or authority relating to the Linden Software and its use."[14]
Do Not Spam or Attack
Do not post spam messages or sell the community member lists to spammers. This sounds obvious, but it is not always as straightforward as you might think. For some community members, participating in a community can mean drawing a fine line between being helpful and being a spammer. In some open source communities, particularly those focused on enterprise software, the community members may also have commercial interests in the form of consulting services or add-on products offered for an additional fee. When another community member is having a problem that your product or service could solve, is it OK to suggest it? Maybe yes, maybe no. It depends on the community. It also depends on how frequently you suggest your own products. What if you are recommending your products frequently? Once or twice may be fine with a community, but after recommending your products a few more times, you may find yourself ostracized or even banned from posting any new content to the community. In one open source community, a group of people who forked the original project frequently monitor the parent project, and when users have questions the fork members often suggest that they ask the question on the fork project forums attempting to recruit new community members at the expense of the original community. I refer you back to the Play Nice section of this chapter. Be polite and respectful of other community members or you may find yourself banned from the community.
Many Web 2.0 communities add explicit community guidelines or terms of service designed to discourage users from taking any actions that would disrupt the community experience for other members in the form of attacks on the community or on the infrastructure running the community. Digg, for example, specifies that
you will not use any robot, spider, scraper or other automated means to access the Site for any purpose without our express written permission. Additionally, you agree that you will not: (i) take any action that imposes, or may impose in our sole discretion an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure; (ii) interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Site or any activities conducted on the Site; or (iii) bypass any measures we may use to prevent or restrict access to the Site.[15]
Second Life also has an explicit policy and punishment for global attacks:
Objects, scripts, or actions which broadly interfere with or disrupt the Second Life community, the Second Life servers or other systems related to Second Life will not be tolerated in any form. We will hold you responsible for any actions you take, or that are taken by objects or scripts that belong to you. Sandboxes are available for testing objects and scripts that have components that may be unmanageable or whose behavior you may not be able to predict. If you chose to use a script that substantially disrupts the operation of Second Life, disciplinary actions will result in a minimum two-week suspension, the possible loss of in-world inventory, and a review of your account for probable expulsion from Second Life.[16]
Nudity, Obscenity, and Language
Community standards related to nudity, obscenity, and language vary within each community, and guidelines may not be explicitly stated.
Some communities explicitly ban certain items: "YouTube is not for pornography or sexually explicit content. If this describes your video, even if it's a video of yourself, don't post it on YouTube."[17] Other communities are specific about where certain activities / content is or is not acceptable:
- In Flickr, do not "Upload photos that include frontal nudity, genitalia and/or "intimate moments" between consenting partners in public areas of Flickr. If you do we'll make your photostream private and remind you of this Guideline. If you don't heed our warning and continue to make similar content public, we'll terminate your account without warning. This applies to your Buddy Icon as well."[18]
- In Second Life, "Content, communication, or behavior which involves intense language or expletives, nudity or sexual content, the depiction of sex or violence, or anything else broadly offensive must be contained within private land in areas rated Mature (M). Names of Residents, objects, places and groups are broadly viewable in Second Life directories and on the Second Life website, and must adhere to PG guidelines." [19]
The community guidelines or terms of service are the best places to get a definitive answer about what is or is not acceptable within a community. In absence of any explicit rules, spending some time lurking in a community to see how other members behave can help you understand how to behave within a specific community. Within most communities, I would take a conservative approach and assume that nudity, obscenity, and questionable language are not permitted; however, like most activities involving human beings there is a huge gray area in between the black and white areas. The gray area is created by diverse interpretations of what is or is not acceptable varying by culture, local customs, individual preferences, and more. Something accepted by most people in the United States and Germany might not be acceptable to someone from the Middle East, and something acceptable to a Buddhist might not be acceptable to a Catholic and vise versa. Acceptable behavior in a community of nudists is probably different from acceptable behavior in a community of nuns. This relates back to the age old question: is a beautiful painting of a nude model obscene? It depends on your perspective.
Site-Specific Norms
Some communities, particularly web 2.0 sites, tend to have community guidelines specific to the type of community:
- Because Digg is based on accurate voting on new stories, they have several guidelines related to voting (Digg counts) that prohibit "artificially inflating or altering the 'digg count', blog count, comments, or any other Digg service, including by way of creating separate user accounts for the purpose of artificially altering Digg's services; giving or receiving money or other remuneration in exchange for votes; or participating in any other organized effort that in any way artificially alters the results of Digg's services."[20]
- Flickr's focus on photography, rather than graphics in general, leads to this guideline: "Your account will be terminated if you use it to host graphic elements of web page designs, icons, smilies, buddy icons, forum avatars, badges and other non-photographic elements on external websites. [21]
- Second Life even has a clause banning Avatar assault within safe areas: "Most areas in Second Life are identified as Safe. Assault in Second Life means: shooting, pushing, or shoving another Resident in a Safe Area (see Global Standards below); creating or using scripted objects which singularly or persistently target another Resident in a manner which prevents their enjoyment of Second Life." [22]
Dealing with Problems
Almost every community (online or off) will probably have an issue with one or more members at some point in time. Methods of dealing with these members vary widely depending on the specific problem and the type of community. On one end of the spectrum, the member can be banned from the community. While banishment is a drastic step, it might be an appropriate step for threatening or harassing other members; hate speech based on race, gender, ethnicity, etc. or other potentially damaging behaviors. In most cases, the first step is to talk to the member creating the problems to help them understand that the behavior is inappropriate giving the person a chance to self-correct.
- ↑ The Cathedral and the Bazaar page 23 of the 2001 revised edition.
- ↑ This quote comes from Richard Stallman's chapter in the 1999 book, Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution by Chris DiBona, Sam Ockman, and Mark Stone page 54.
- ↑ The Free/Libre and Open Source Software: Survey and Study. June 2002.
- ↑ This quote comes from the "How to Become a Hacker" essay in Appendix A of [The Cathedral and the Bazaar page 197 of the 2001 revised edition.
- ↑ comp.os.minix newsgroup post from August 25, 1991
- ↑ Magnus Bergquist & Jan Ljungberg describe this concept in an Information Systems Journal article from 2001 titled "The power of gifts: organizing social relationships in open source communities".
- ↑ The Cathedral and the Bazaar page 81 of the 2001 revised edition.
- ↑ Flickr Community Guidelines
- ↑ YouTube Community Guidelines
- ↑ Second Life Community Standards
- ↑ Napster was eventually resurrected as a legal music site after being acquired by Roxio. For more on the shutdown of Napster visit Wikipedia
- ↑ YouTube Community Guidelines
- ↑ Digg Terms of Service
- ↑ Second Life Terms of Service
- ↑ Digg Terms of Service
- ↑ Second Life Terms of Service
- ↑ YouTube Community Guidelines
- ↑ Flickr Community Guidelines
- ↑ Second Life Community Standards
- ↑ Digg Terms of Service
- ↑ Flickr Community Guidelines
- ↑ Second Life Community Standards


text:
Difference between revisions of "Weifang"
Revision as of 04:24, 5 November 2013
Weifang (潍坊; Wéifāng) is a city in Shandong Province.
Weifang is located in the center of Shandong province in between Jinan to the West and Qingdao to the East. WEIFANG is known as "Kite Capital of the World", Weifang and its fresh winds are well known throughout the province.
Besides kites, Weifang, like many other Chinese cities, is forever under the constructor's crane with new buildings popping up seemingly overnight. Modern and new but still retaining its old-school charm, Weifang is a unique place to witness the "real China" (or the new China) where the past meets the future in an endless array of complete contradiction and awe-inspiring moments that truly is the essence of the People's Republic of China.
Weifang has a certain characteristic in its exceptionally wide and straight boulevards that make out a chess pattern for many kilometers, resembling some American cities and perhaps also Beijing. However, the boulevards are much too wide for its number of vehicles so they very rarely get too crowded. Traffic jams are most uncommon and, due to the city's flatness, one can sometimes look down a 10-lane boulevard stretching to the horizon without a single car on it.
Foreigners are a rare sight. If you are European-looking prepare to be stared at and given a lot of (friendly) attention.
Get in
By train
The train station is very new and comfortable when compared to other cities in the province.
Weifang is on the main line from Beijing to Qingdao and by CRH, China Rail Highspeed (Bullet) It is about 4h:10m to Beijing, 1h:50m to Jinan and 1h:05m to get to Qingdao There's plenty of transport outside the station, however the immediate surrounding area is undergoing heavy construction (welcome to Weifang). From the station take bus 56 to get to the downtown spots. 'As with every train station in the country, beware of the taxi drivers waiting to overcharge unsuspecting foreigners.' This previous para, is incorrect or old information now, and should be removed. All Green and Gold taxis are "Beijing Hyundai Elantra's" they are all correctly metered The Blue taxis, which are slowly being replaced, are Volks Wagon Santana's, they are also fully metered. There is no need walk away from the station to the road and catch a taxi who uses the meter. When exiting Weifang train station, the taxis at the ground level are "long distance" taxis, ie, more than 10km distance for your travel The taxis at the upper (1st level) are the general taxis for Weifang downtown areas. Currently (April 2012) the fare starts at 5 rnb, plus 1 rnb fuel surcharge, totally 6 rnb, This will take you to almost all down town locations.
If departing there are many ticket agencies around the city that sell train tickets with only a 5 or 10 yuan service fee, making it unnecessary to head back to the station and wait in the crowded lines. Agency operators (as with most citizens in this small city) most likely will not speak English. Booking your train a up to 10 days in advance is advisable.
By bus
There are three main bus stations in Weifang, 1/ First of which is completed construction and is located across the train station. 2/ Second of which is down the road from the train station - one kilometer or so, adjacent to the "cheap market" in Quingnian Rd.. 3/ Of which is the other long distance bus station on Jiankang East Street
With the new China Rail Highspeed (CHR)trains, short-distance buses see much less passengers, however during holidays are sometimes the only way to go. As there is no pre-booking of bus tickets, simply show up the day (morning is better) you want to go.
Qingdao airport: if catching a flight from Qingdao it is cheaper and sometimes more efficient to take the bus from Weifang to Qingdao, the minibus, which is a Ford Transit 16 seater, stops at departures at Qingdao Airport. The cost is 70 rnb. Many Chinese people do exactly this. Taking a train to Qingdao will require taking either an airport bus or taxi, back the way you came, about 20 minutes outside of Qingdao to where the airport is located. Traveling from Weifang directly to Qingdao airport by bus takes about 2 hours and costs 70 rnb.
Travel tip: buses in China generally do not have toilets on them and they sometimes go for hours (especially sleeper buses) without stopping.
Get around
By bus
Weifang buses much like the city itself are new and therefore quite comfortable when not peak travel times. Buses start around 6am ending at about 10pm in the summer and 9pm in the winter.
The two main roads are Dongfeng Jie and Shengli Jie which bus #16 and #56 both service. Bus 16 follows a circular loop along both of these two main streets while bus 56 starts at the train station and ends at the other side of the city at Weifang University.
By Taxi
90 % of the taxi's in Weifang are now green and gold taxi's, these are Hyundai Elantra's. The older blue are slowly being replaced, they are Volks Wagon Santana's. Taxi's will go 3 kilometers before adding about 1.6 yuan per each extra kilometer. An extra one yuan fuel fee is to be paid to the driver at the end of your voyage. Weifang proper is quite small so getting from end of the city to the other won't cost more than ¥20.
Weifang's claim to fame is its kites and a visit to Weifang should include some exposure to the kite culture here.
A shopping trip to Weifang would most definitely include a kite. For yourself or as a gift, put on a wall or fly it in the wind. Versatile, pretty, unique. Remember to bargain hard with the shop owner.
There are 3 places to buy computer and all types of electronic equipment and gadgets.
1/ Located near the Medical University, is Weifang Technolgy market, looking very old and run down, Take bus #16. 2/ Located adjacent to Bank Of China on Shengli West St. This is new, 3/ Located at Venice Plaza on Quingnian Rd., This is new,
Shopping on the old road is also an interesting time. Antiques, handicrafts, scroll-like wall paintings and many other nick-nacks are located in this tucked away part of town.
Cheap, tailor made suits, dresses, coats or fabric can be found on Tailor Street down the road from the Technological Market. Don't forget to haggle.
Shandong food comes in two flavors - spicy and salty and usually both. Bun-like white bread is more prevalent than noodles in the province and the seafood is generally quite fresh. Weifang has many restaurants on offer and for a random stab at it, try Si Ping Lu which is lined with eateries. Menu's are generally not in English though most restaurants have picture menu's or food displayed in the entrance. Enjoy.
After 9pm, choices are severely reduced, the best options for late night chow being YonHo 永和豆浆 or McDonald's, both of which are open 24 hours.
Weifang radishes are re-known in Shandong for their nutrition and zesty flavor, a trip to Weifang should include a bite of radish. Head to the supermarket or bargain with a guy selling them on the sidewalk.
Some supermarkets in the city even offer fully cooked and prepared (though from packaged bags) dog meat. Woof! Woof!
The top choice among the younger locals seems to be Soho Bar, which is a nightclub with insanely loud music and a (for a foreigner) difficult to understand table/barchair reservation set-up.
The Fairington is the only (thus far) 5-star hotel in Weifang. It is located away from the city center - very near the Weifang Amusement park. Associated with the Fairington is 'Building B' a comfortable 3-star hotel across from the main building. Both wings have restaurants and shopping available. Both are often filled with businessmen as the convention center is nearby.
The Dongfeng Hotel is a well established 4-star hotel not too far from the Fairington at the cross streets of Dongfeng Lu and .... Like the Fairington, the Dongfeng has all the amenities, including it's own building B, and is often full of business people.
The YuanFei is a new, luxurious 4-star located in the heart of the financial district across from the Bank of China...
Get out


text:
Products Used:
Urban Decay Primer Potion
MAC Eye Pencil in So There Jade
MAC eye shadows:
MAC powder blush in Trace Gold
Benefit High Brow Pencil
MAC Plushlash Mascara
Nars blush in Orgasm
MAC lipglass in Nymphette
SO gorgeous! I love it!ReplyDelete
Love it! so pretty Tiffany! i adore those colors!ReplyDelete
gorgeous e/s colours and your eyes are such a beautiful blue. great tutorial, tiffany!
love your necklace tiffany! where did you get it?ReplyDelete
I loved it...and this blue look matchs perfectly with your eyes. My first time here and I enjoyed a lot!!!!
has anyone told you, you look like celine dion, sorta ?ReplyDelete
another great tutorial! i love how your looks are so beautiful and VERY wearable! and i agree with eleventhOfapril, you do look a bit like celine dion!ReplyDelete
Gorgeous look! Not too overdone, yet still fun and colorful! Amazing!
you're so cute...i really like to look at your pictures, they always make me smile!ReplyDelete
wow!! very pretty :)ReplyDelete
tiffany i love this look! now, how do u sharpen your eye bright pencil??ReplyDelete
Hey Tiffany! You have the most gorgeous eyes! I love to watch your videos. I'm very fair and you're one of the only people I've found with a complexion similar to mine (you seem warm, and I'm cool, but you're fair-skinned and light-haired, so I feel like your tutorials mostly work for me, and also I have blue eyes... but I digress).
My question is this: I use a primer by Pixi for my face, after my moisturizer and before my foundation. Should I have a separate primer for my eyes? I'm considering the Urban Decay one since you recommend it and it's one of the only eye primers I know of, but I don't know if I should go to the expense if I already have a primer that I use on the rest of my face.
Also, I've read in several places that a popular look for spring/summer is using contrasting pastel colors on the eyelid, especially green and purple. What are your thoughts on this?
nice perfect for light eyes :)ReplyDelete
It's a lovely summer look I love itReplyDelete
"You guys remember soft brown, No? Well it remembers you..." lol Priceless, Tiffany :) Love the look by the way!!ReplyDelete
I loved it! =) Great tutorial, can't wait to try.ReplyDelete
I love it! I always end up looking like a clown in blue eyeshadow :-(
I love it, it is bright but very natural :-)ReplyDelete
Awesome look! Can't wait to try it on, even though I don't have those preety blue eyes to match! ;DReplyDelete
ooooh I love this color one of my favsReplyDelete
You have no upper lip lolReplyDelete
Hi Tiffany, I noticed that at 3:47 you were pointing at the blue eyeshadow beside an empty pan but later at 4:02 you were using the blue beside the white eyeshadow.. So which is actually Freshwater may I ask? >.< Nice look by the way! =)ReplyDelete
Hi Tiffany, I recreated the look today and it looks gorgeous!! I used the exact products and the techniques you showed. It was hard to even out the So There Jade eye liner pencil on the shadow base even by using my finger and dabbing it on lightly. I still prefer to use paint pots to create an even base. Best regardsReplyDelete
This is gorgeous! I also want to try the same application with silvery lilac colors, too. So pretty.
Sara -- wow, how childish you are
I LOVE your nails! what polish did you use? and also, this look is so beautiful on you...do you have any advice for brown eyes? I find that green and blue dont look so fabulous on me :)ReplyDelete
Cute necklace! Who designed it?ReplyDelete
This is such a pretty look! I really enjoy when you use brighter colors, you make them very wearable. =)
i LOVE this! i'm always too scared to wear any other colors besides cream and brown so i live through you with your bright makeup! haha!!
i wanted to ask...do you know anything about OSIS dust it mattifying powder? just wandering if you had done a review of it!
Have a great day!!!
very pretty!!ReplyDelete
this looks is absolutely gorgeous on you! you're so lucky these sorts of cool-toned colors compliment your skin tone so well. I can only wear pinks/purples--just dark makeup overall. :( I really want to wear bright colors like this!ReplyDelete
Most Elegant MakeupReplyDelete
lovely makeup! looks great on you!
I love your tutorials!
pls follow me
Absolutely BEAUTIFUL and stunning!! You look so gorgeous wearing other colors besides the usual neutrals I see you post with. Lovely colors and great blending.ReplyDelete
When showing Freshwater, you point to one color, but actually used a different, darker color. What is the correct color?
Thank you.
Oi, adoro teu blog , tudo muito lindo como sempre,visite meus blogs e minha loja com peças originais e exclusivas tricotadas as mão,beijokas
love love loveReplyDelete


text:
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A roof is one of the most important parts in the build of your house as it is the basic external part that protects a house from weather conditions and other external elements. Most home owners wait for a problem to appear before they decide to get it restored. The extreme climates and ever-changing environment constantly affects your roof. Therefore, it Why Roof Cleaning Is Necessary Stockwell IN 47983 is vital that you get it restored regularly. In case of even a slight damage, roof restoration is important because it's this small damage that can lead towards a big one.
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text:
God's answering service
From Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia
You've pressed 1, which wasn't one of the options.
Up until this point God has been a kindly God, but when God asks you to do something a particular way, that is a Commandment. Breaking God's commandments makes God an angry God.
Don't make me get pre-Medieval on your ass!
Press ☆ to return to the main menu, or press # to return to previous menu.
|Featured Article (read another featured article)
|Featured version: 13 January 2011
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text: Gotten all kinds of reports from people saying Metal Gear Solid 2, the game for Playstation2 owners to get is out on shelves in a few places. We've seen all the gaming website reviewers slinging their spunk everywhere all excited about the game. As pleasant of an experience as that was... anyone else out there already get it and play it some? I imagine a lot of people around now are just getting home from work with their copies so here's a thread to discuss what you think of it. [screenshots] Oh try not to post too many spoilers, or give a warning at least first. :) Whadya think?


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full size
Product Details
Precision-tailored in the finest cotton from Thomas Mason, one of Europe's oldest and most legendary mills (they've been weaving some of the world's finest shirting since 1796), this shirt is designed with a slightly longer body so it always stays neatly tucked in. Finished with bespoke-inspired details like contrasting fabric at the gusseted hem and sleeve placket, it's accented with genuine mother-of-pearl buttons for a sharp and polished look. Regular fit—a tailored cut with a made-to-measure feel. Online only.
Size & Fit Details


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Workshop - Musical Theatre Auditions - with Leontine Hass
Start:2 July 2013
Time:6.30pm to 9.30pm
LocationTBC but in Hammersmith
Download as vCalendar (for Microsoft Outlook etc.)
We have the pleasure of welcoming Leontine Hass to run a workshop on musical theatre auditions.
Leontines will be giving advice on audition technique, song choice and opportunities in musical theatre.
To book a place please contact Andrew macbean on:
There are only 15 spaces so get in there quick if you're interested!


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|The Constitution is the Solution Workshop, Choctaw, OK
Most Americans are not taught what's in the Constitution, nor are they aware of its limitations on government that have helped make America great.
The John Birch Society has a new series of DVDs for you to learn how the Constitution was intended to secure our rights, not to enable the federal government to violate our rights.
You're invited to attend a series of workshops that will provide you with a practical, common sense understanding of how the Constitution was intended to limit the government, not the citizens. This understanding will equip you to work with others to solve many of the problems Americans face every day.
Classes will include DVD presentation and group discussion.
Topics include:
|Location Living Faith Ministries, 5101 S Henney Rd, Choctaw, OK
|Contact Jerome Montgomery 405-795-3374
|Mon May 28 @ 9:00AM
John Birch Society Information Table Woodland Park, NJ
|Mon May 28 @10:00AM
John Birch Society Parade, Bernardsville, NJ


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LiKee (which stands for LIne KEEper) is a monitoring system for supervision of Web applications and pages. It is a tool for automation of service processes of uptime-critical Web applications. It periodically monitors remote pages and evaluates their content with regular expressions. It can send alerts through email, GSM calls, and SMS. It offers Web-based administration and reporting with advanced graphical design.
Cardpeek is a tool to read the contents of ISO7816 smartcards. It features a GUI to represent card data in a tree view, and it is extendable with a scripting language (LUA). The goal of this project is to allow smartcard owners to be better informed about what type of personal information is stored in these devices. The tool currently reads the contents of: EMV bank cards, Calypso public transport cards (such as Navigo, RavKav, and Mobib), Belgian eID cards, GSM SIM cards, the French Vitale 2 health card, some Mifare cards, and Moneo electronic purse cards.
WavPlayer is a Flash program that is designed to play audio files recorded for and by Asterisk (www.asterisk.org) or any other telephone system. If supports playback of G711u, G711a, PCM, and GSM 6.10 encoded files. Stream playback and seeking capability are supported. It has a simple user interface and a fully functional JavaScript binding, so new interfaces can be made in JavaScript.
SIMtrace sniffs communication between a mobile phone and a SIM/USIM card. This can be useful for research and analysis, and for developing mobile phone and SIM toolkit (STK) software. The SIMtrace hardware is also capable of MITM (man in the middle) attacks on the SIM-MS communication.
An image batch converter and resizer with advanced features.
A virtual machine for PHP and Hack.


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They also sponsored her "Confessions" tour. I am surprised that she is in magazines and stores for them...she must need the cash!!
They also sponsored her "Confessions" tour. I am surprised that she is in magazines and stores for them...she must need the cash!!
Thomas B
I look up from my vermouth on the rocks, a gift wrapped wig still in the box of towering velveteen.
Indeed Shinchan. Madonna, she's the richest female singer, with a fortune of over $850 million. And doesn't she get 50% of whatever her tour grosses...which is expected to be $200 million?
She looks fantastic (doesn't she always though?)!
"Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!"
-Auntie Mame
Does this affect europe as well? If so, I will never go to a H&M store again.
Hmm... New York isn't quite in Europe.
Good that I just rediscovered C&A.
(´ω`) Dissolve your inner chicken. Voices that say "ah, yes".
Very cool ads.
"This is Madonna....I figured out what H&M stands for. It stands for 'Her Majesty'. Isn't that nice of H&M thinking about me?"
- Madonna
I am sure H&M paid a pretty penny to use Madonna's face to market their line of clothing, and as a result I guarantee they will have the biggest sales in their history, as will any product manufacturer that wants to use her likeness.
There is a reason why gigantic billboards with Madonna's face on them are plastered all over the world -- because she is the most famous woman in the world, has the most unparalleled success of any entertainer in history, and -- love her or hate her -- everybody is completely fascinated by her. Not to mention that she looks FUCKING PHENOMENAL for a broad who's pushing 50 -- which speaks to the brilliance of H&M's ad campaign -- by using Madonna as their face of advertising, they are essentially marketing their clothes to everyone between the ages of 5 and 50+.
The world's highest-paid hooker, although certainly not the prettiest.
I think she likes gay people a lot, but not actually homosexual.
She's just a fag hag. She owes her success to gay men.
Madonna described herself once as a gay man in a womans' body.
I am not sure of the significance of your question, for regardless of the answer, she still remains one of the worst all time performers in the so-called field of entertainment.
Thus what she thinks, says, likes and or dislikes, is basically totally worthless information for anyone to want and or to have.
And as for homosexuals, I can see no purpose what so ever in why the answer might be of any interest to them.
Seems to me this is a no brainer.
I, for one, think she is fantastic! She's had her share of misses (show me an artist of any sort that hasn't), but she's continued to push the envelope.
Her music & concerts have always been (IMO of course) absolutely fantastic! Acting, not so much.
As for her sexuality, who cares? It's not anyone's business but hers.
"Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!"
-Auntie Mame
I think that she has a gay brother.
I don't think that she is gay.
"When you can't hide, discrimination falls." David Boies
I love Madonna, I think she is the most awesome performer of all time. She has stayed on top for so many years.
Madonna embraced her gay fans.
Considering I'm not famous, you sure do talk about me a lot.
"have you ever known of a hater that's doing better than you?" -Chris Crocker.
I too like Madonna. I don't expect everyone to like her but that post was a bit harsh. Anyway I think that Madonna isn't "gay" but open to sexuality in its purest form. I believe she has had same sex relationships and she has obviously had hetero relationships. Their are some people out their that can just be with who ever they are attracted to and can be open minded enough to realize that sexuality is a state of mind and anyone can be attracted to anybody at any given time irreguardless of the person's sex.
Check me out here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/...18&ref=profile
One does not alienate one's fan base if one expects to become rich.
LIVERPOOL FC - You'll Never Walk Alone! http://www.bgay.bg
Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt. (centuries old African saying)
If a female was gay, she would be straight, because "gay" implies a "man being sexually attracted to other men".
Regarding her music... it's great if the music you began with evolves over time to find yourself, but her music has always been shallow. She started with pop(ular) music, the name itself says that this is music made for a wider audience. She never had a "scene" to begin with, but stole a bit from here and there, build up an "individual and unique" personality (haha) and made herself an icon through this. As she never had substance, her evolving music only consisted in digging further into scenes and making completely interchangeable songs just hold together by her voice.
(´ω`) Dissolve your inner chicken. Voices that say "ah, yes".
Think some of us like her fighting spirit, her dare-ness to be rebellious, her take-no-shit attitude for some certain quarters' opinions on her, her living for her own happiness stuff.
I relate to those.
It is more of gays like her.
I think she just likes to make money A LOT .
Please don't take me wrong- I'm a great fan of her and I like the way he always manage to keep up and above, but Madonna just does what suits her image best and nothing else.
From everything I have ever read or heard about Madonna, she doesn't "like" anyone. Maybe she likes her immediate family but as far as everyone else she seems to be a magnificent user of people. I firmly believe she has used the gay community to get where she is and basically could care less about us other than for what we can do for her. She's smart enough to realize that for someone in her position, the gay community can make or break her, so she has done a good job of pretending for a number of years.
Ever heard the expression "Ker-ching, Ker-ching"?
She was a rude, egotistical, self-aggrandizing slut at the beginning, and has remained so. How is that reinvention.
-- Sally Field, Best Actress for "Places in the Heart," after having won in 1980 for "Norma Rae": "I haven't had an orthodox career, and I've wanted more than anything to have your respect. The first time I didn't feel it, but this time I feel it, and I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!" (1985)
Madonna's earliest influence was her dance teacher, a gay man. He took her to her first dance club ( a gay one) and she danced all night. He was the one who first saw that there was something special about her and encouraged her to go to New York. She made her way through the club circut borrowing influence from us gays and lesbians, Blacks and Latinos. She embraced us and we embrace her. She's the biggest star in the world and she's on our side. Not gay, not straight. Maybe both.
I think it's gotten to the point where we just shouldn't question Madonna anymore...
"Bet It Sucks To See My Face Everywhere..."
Some of you say she "used the gay community" to gain fans and attention and stardom. That's sort of ironic don't you think? Did she fuck gay guys to get them to play her music and write her reviews? Hmm... don't think that would work. Did she befriend them, only to turn her back on them after she was a mega star? Nope.
I will not get into the matter of her talent, since Madonna herself has always maintained that she is not the best singer or actress, but an expert entertainer and business woman. (And for being that honest about her drive and self awareness, I applaud and respect her).
All Madonna ever did "to the gay community" was make music we thought was great to dance to, wear clothes that (some of us) wanted to wear also, give millions of dollars to HIV/AIDS research charities/funds, and make us envy the hot guys she slept with.
So fuck anyone who says she "used" them, because it seems to me like most gay guys love her for what she stands for: freedom of expression and difference, the power to achieve, or hate her for the very same reasons.
And if by "used" you feel cheated out of a few bucks, well it's your own fault for making MY generation of Gay men think that because Material Girl and Vogue was your favorite song, like, omg, EVER, being a queeny bitch with a "Material Girl" additude/t-shirt is still cool!
Peace out.
I don't like it at all, and the guy is not that bad...
Give her 6 months, she'll change her look again.
It looks great but it's totally a wig.
The wig is so not her...but she looks hot! And the outfit. Flawless.
I love Madonna more than anything, but... WHAT THE FUCK WAS SHE THINKING?!
for someone who has that much money you would think she could buy a wig that looks real! and i can't believe some people think that's real!did she rip that off andy warhol's skull?
I just heard that a bag of rice fell down in China.
(´ω`) Dissolve your inner chicken. Voices that say "ah, yes".
I think she is too old for H&M...
... But the confessions concert --- WOOOW - The single best concert of my life!
Let's say control freak Madonna announced she was going to tour next summer and was going to allow her fans to vote on the songs she would perform in the tour. What songs would you pick? They can be from any of her albums. Here's my choices for a full 2 hr concert: No Particular Order
1) Love Profusion
2) Vogue
3) Express Yourself
4) American Pie
5) Into the Groove
6) True Blue
7) Dress You Up
8) Like A Prayer
9) Open Your Heart
10) Causing A Commotion
11) Who's That Girl
12) The Power Of Goodbye
13) Bedtime Story
14) Material Girl
15) Dear Jessie
16) Cherish
17) Rescue Me
18) Deeper and Deeper
19) In This Life
20) Keep It Together
My pics are:
1. Sanctuary
2. Erotica
3. Justify my love
4. Future Lovers
5. Gambler
6. Angel
7. Spanish Eyes
8. La Isla Bonita
9. Who's that girl
10. Live to tell
11. Oh Father
12. Forbidden Love
13. Express yourself
14.Look of Love
15. Vouge
16. Hung up
17. Jump
18. Bedtime stories
20.Get Together
I like this idea - again in no particular order
1.Dress you Up
2.Into The Groove
5.Oh Father
6.Hung Up
7.Like A Virgin
8.Like A Prayer
9.Crazy For You
12.Love Profusion
14.This Used To Be My Playground
15.Justify My Love
17.Beautiful Stranger
18.Live To Tell
19.Ray of Light
20.Papa Don't Preach
She'd walk out on stage, say into the mic "I'm retiring".
Considering I'm not famous, you sure do talk about me a lot.
"have you ever known of a hater that's doing better than you?" -Chris Crocker.


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A series of guides covering buying and selling a property.
A series of guides covering renting and letting a property.
With almost 800 agents across the UK, you are never far from a Guild Member. Find your nearest agent and get in touch here.
Find out why a Guild Member is the right choice for you.
Stand out from the crowd and become a Member of The Guild.
Offers in region of £339,950
Locating property...
Toggle the options below to discover local businesses in this area:
Coverack Bridges, Helston
Trew, Breage
Kenneggy, Germoe
Traboe, St. Martin, Helston
Trevurvas, Ashton
Please select multiple date and time slots for your valuation appointment. You can always amend the time of the valuation after booking.
Your Preferred Times:
Thank you for requesting a valuation appointment on your property. One of our staff members will be in touch soon to confirm the date and time of your appraisal.
Try Again
Use our short form to request a valuation of your property.


text:
Snowboard Magazine and Pirate Movie Production team up for 2011
"The Snowboard Mag has been on our radar since their start a few years back. We always liked their fresh ways of laying out the magazine, especially the cover. It just feels natural that 2 parts that digg each other's work and attitude unite!" – Ludschi, Pirate Movie Production
"I've been a fan of the idea of the Pirates movie since way back when Gigi told me about it. It wasn't until the next year that I actually got to see how good a movie a bunch of friends with Super 8 cameras could put together. The Pirates have come a long way since then, but still have the enthusiasm that made the early movies so good. I'm excited about our partnership with The Pirates. It's our goal to show how fun snowboarding truly is, to as many people as possible. I think The Pirates encapsulate the spirit of friendship and snowboarding better than just about anyone out there." – Chris Owen, Snowboard Mag


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MammothCopy is a simple, Java-based tool to copy large or many files from one computer on the Internet directly to another. This is also possible with tools like WinSCP and an SSH server, but those are too complex for normal users. MammothCopy is geared towards parents wanting to send photos to their kids, or professionals who want to transfer huge files (only limited to the receiving end's hard disk space).
filegive easily sends or receives files point-to-point, with authentication and ciphering, and the other side only needs a Web browser. No third party server is involved in the transfer. It can use common NAT traversal protocols like uPnP and NAT-PMP, manually forwarded ports, or a public ssh server.
A video to GIF converter.
A program to create sound effects and music.