text:
I'm in the process of moving to the left coast from New York, and just wrapping up a whirlwind week of exploring the San Francisco bay area. Thanks to friends willing to host me and schlep me around the city, I've gotten tastes of many of the neighborhoods here…. which was great at first, and then quickly left me feeling overwhelmed by the range of choices. Every place has its pros and cons, and I realized I hadn't gotten clarity for myself of what I want from the environment I live in so I can thrive.
After sitting in the park and pondering, some basic criteria emerged for me, including:
- access to nature
– walkability
– learning/stimulation
– friendly, warm-hearted neighbors
– creativity/expression
– fitness
In addition, ever since I started tracking 'superhero schools' and shared live/work/play spaces, I've been captivated by the idea of participating in a living situation that was about co-creation and friendship, learning, and open sourcing innovation. San Francisco has a variety of flavors of these already, from Rainbow Mansion and Tortuga in the South Bay, Embassy Network and Langton Labs in SF, and Sandbox House in Berkeley.
I had a plan to scope out as many of these co-living/co-creation spaces as possible, and get a sense of the different cultures and intentions of each.
I made it as far as Sandbox House, and promptly fell in love. :)
I've been following one of its founders, Jay Standish, for a few years as he's been traversing themes like post-scarcity economies, the future of work, and social innovation. He's woven his passion around these topics into the DNA of the Sandbox House, whose model blends the pursuit of personal mastery with community support, a culture connected by a shareable economy, and an intent to create impact at the civic scale.
The energy was immediately resonant.
The tour started outside, where a beautiful garden is growing with veggies, herbs and flowers.
Inside, a kanban board on the wall of the dining room gives everyone a clear view of the personal goals and intentions of the members of the house, chores to be completed, projects to be pushed forward, and where energy is needed to get things unstuck. It's a neat adaptation of agile/lean methodologies, tailored to individual/community growth and household management.
The co-living project is itself still in an early stage, the members having just moved in in July, and amenities are still in various stages of completion. When I arrived, a new oven was being installed in the kitchen, and off the back office a doggie door was being installed for the house chihuahua, Buddha.
The plan for the evening was a group dinner and social gathering, and everyone was pitching in to get things going. I walked to Whole Foods with Jay's mom (also in town visiting) and picked up some cheese and wine, housemates buzzed in the kitchen preparing a big pot of soup and veggie dishes, and guests streamed in bringing desserts and things to share.
The crowd included several people active in the cohousing / coliving / intentional community spaces, as well as those working on alternative currencies and economic platforms. I got a chance to chat with a bunch of interesting people – Joe Edelman of Couchsurfing, currently working to put together his own coliving/community hub in Oakland; Christopher Allen, a technologist and prof at Bainbridge Graduate Institute, who showed us his new iPad app for exploring the Group Works card deck; and Raines Cohen, a prominent figure in the SF cohousing community, to name a few.
While I've loved the past week in San Francisco, and enjoyed attending a few events in the tech scene, my experience at Sandbox was truly memorable. Warm-hearted friendly and passionate people who've made a commitment to experimenting with a more collaborative way of life and work.
I was so impressed, in fact, that when they told me a room in the house was becoming available, I snapped it up. :)
As of October, I will be a California resident! Wahoo!
The next adventure is to figure out how to get my most essential and precious items across the country from New York, and begin the next chapter of life from the East Bay!
I'm super excited to finally transition to the west coast, and to be able to immerse myself in a burgeoning creative community.
Thank you to Kirstin Ohm, Andrea Kuszewski, and Iveta Brigis & John Smart for hosting me, and to all the other friends and supporters who are making this huge change go as smoothly as possible. :)
more to come . . .
for more on the Sandbox House, see Mira Luna's writeup in Shareable magazine:
Coliving Experiment Tests Sharing Economy's Potential
Donnie Maclurcan and collaborators from the Post Growth Institute think the answer is yes.
They're putting together this book that will lay out practical actions that can be taken now to fast-track our evolution towards a sustainable economy.
Show your support for their Indiegogo campaign here, or connect via these channels:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/postgrowth
Twitter: www.twitter.com/postgrowth
Website: www.postgrowth.org
Newsletter http://postgrowth.org/join/
Email: email@example.com
This morning I was flipping through the book Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace, and came across this great list of principles for how to transcend ego and bring a group to greatness via collaborative thinking. The following passage is from an excerpt titled Thinking together without ego: Collective intelligence as an evolutionary catalyst, by Craig Hamilton and Claire Zammit.
1. A Commitment to the Greater Good: All of the individuals in the group must be genuinely committed to discovering and/or achieving the best possible outcome for the whole. Individual or departmental agendas must be set aside. Bringing the group to this high level of commitment may take considerable preparation, but is most easily achieved when all of those involved are on board with the organization's greater mission, and when there is a trust already established in the leadership's commitment to fairness.
2. A Commitment to Wholehearted Engagement: Each group member must be committed to fully participate in all group meetings. This means bringing one's full attention to the matter at hand, leaving all personal concerns at the door. By listening carefully to the contributions of others and putting their own best thinking into the mix, each member contributes to the building of a larger vessel which can carry the group to unforeseen heights of insight.
3. A Culture of Self-Responsibility: All group members must feel personally responsible for the success of the group. Each must feel on a visceral level that the success of the group in achieving its outcomes rests on her shoulders alone. Given our natural tendency to defer responsibility, cultivating this level of ultimate personal responsibility among members of any group is a formidable task. One-on-one work with group members outside the group setting is usually necessary.
4. A Suspension of Assumptions: For the duration of the gathering, group members suspend everything they think they know in order to make room for new insights and understandings to emerge. Practicing what is known in Zen as a "beginner's mind," they cultivate an inner and outer environment of profound receptivity and openness, which turns out to be fertile soil for leaps in creativity.
5. Culture of Deep Listening: Group members aspire to listen to one another from a place deeper than intellect. They tune their ears to listen for the deepest threads and the emerging glimmers of novelty in each other's contributions, and, through their responses, they highlight and draw out those elements to make them transparent to the group.
6. A Commitment to Authenticity: Everyone in the group must be committed to speaking their mind and heart. This is built on the recognition that in order to make the best decision, the group needs everyone's data. To support this commitment, there must be an explicit agreement within the group that no point of view – no matter how challenging to either the leadership or to the group's assumptions – will be ridiculed or dismissed without genuine, respectful consideration.
7. A Culture of Risk-Taking: Nothing takes us to the edge of evolution faster than taking meaningful risks. This means speaking on an intuition when we're not sure we have the words to give voice to it. Or, responding to a gut feeling that something isn't right, but doing so vulnerably, realizing that it might be oneself that's not right. It also means being willing to step into new ways of being, even if they feel frightening and unfamiliar. The more risk we are each willing to take, the more profound will be the outcome.
8. A Culture of Empowered Vulnerability: Leading by example, the leadership demonstrates that it is okay to be vulnerable, to take the risk to expose one's ignorance and uncertainty. The group sees that such vulnerability is actually a position of strength and power because it shows a courageous willingness to step into the most insecure places. This leads to a healthy culture of non-avoidance that is the best inoculation against "groupthink."
9. A Culture of Constant Resolution: The group strives to maintain a clear and harmonious field of interaction between all participants. This means always striving to clear up any interpersonal tension as soon as possible, so as to build a container of deep harmony and trust among everyone. It is about leaving each interaction "without a trace." This can sometimes require additional processing outside the group meetings in order to keep group time most efficient.
10. A Commitment to Grow and Evolve: In order for the group to consistently function at an optimal level, all individuals must be committed to staying on their own "evolving edge," by seeking healthy feedback and taking on new challenges outside their comfort zone. When all of the individuals in a group are actively and enthusiastically engaged in their own evolution, their collective spirit of boundary-breaking infuses the group with vitality and organically keeps the group on its own evolving edge.
reposted with permission via Ronin Institute
[Update (5/29): Eric Weinstein will be giving a follow-up lecture this Friday (5/31) at 2pm at Oxford's Mathematical Institute in lecture room L2 (which, I believe, is at location 22 on this map).
Physicists and mathematicians in the area! I hope some of you will be able to attend, and will post your thoughts / reactions online. Note: if you are friends with an Oxford Physicist, please invite them to attend this lecture -- this is apparently a necessary step. Update update (5/30): see also the update at the end of section 2, below.]
Original Post:
So, a couple of days ago, a fellow named Eric Weinstein gave a lecture at Oxford in which he outlined a theory that he has apparently been working on for a number of years. The theory, as I understand it, is an attempt at a Theory of Everything — specifically, a theory that would unify the standard model of particle physics with general relativity, explain dark matter and dark energy, and basically provide a synthesis that would resolve many of the big questions facing physics today.
This sort of thing is always exciting. But this proposal gained particular attention for the fact that Eric Weinstein is not a Physics professor. Yes, he has a PhD in math from Harvard, but he has been out of academia for twenty years, and his day job is at a hedge fund in New York.
The talk was the subject of two pieces that ran in the Guardian on the same day as the lecture. One was written by Marcus du Sautoy, a mathematician, and the Oxford professor who invited Weinstein to give the lecture. In it, he waxes enthusiastic at length about the beauty of Weinstein's theory, how the theory, if correct, is much more elegant than the standard model, with certain constants and masses emerging naturally out of the theory, rather than having to be added on in an ad hoc manner. du Sautoy does not vouch for the correctness of the model, but he notes that it has that quality of beauty and elegance that makes a theory in mathematical physics smell right.
The second piece was written by Alok Jha, a science writer. In that piece, the emphasis is a bit more on the human angle, that Weinstein is an academic outsider. It quotes David Kaplan, a physicist from Johns Hopkins who has seen at least some of Weinstein's work, as saying that it is phenomenal "that someone from outside academia could put together something so coherent."
Now, in an ideal world of science, no one would give a crap whether or not this guy was in academia, or even whether or not he had a PhD. But, in this world, maybe it is not surprising that the initial response was an awkward combination of excitement about the lone-wolf scientist and benign condescension.
Also not surprising was the second response. Fairly quickly, a number of posts went up around the web lodging complaints about the lecture and the Guardian articles. Andrew Pontzen, a cosmologist at Oxford, wrote a piece in the New Scientist titled "Weinstein's Theory of Everything is Probably Nothing." Jennifer Ouellette wrote a blog post at Scientific American titled "Dear Guardian: You've Been Played." PZ Myers writes simply that "This is not science."
So what's the backlash about? Well, I think there are a few different complaints, some more legitimate than others, but the problem is that they all get sort of tangled up together. What I'd like to do here is try to separate those complaints, and evaluate each one on its merits.
1. Where's the Paper?
The overriding complaint seems to be the fact that, as of this time, there is no publicly available version of Weinstein's theory, so no one is able to dig into the math and evaluate it. According to du Sautoy's Guardian piece, Weinstein plans to put the work up on the arXiv, but has not yet done so.
Now, at first glance, that seems pretty bad. I mean, you can't just go around talking about your research until it has been published, right? Or at least you have to make it available, like someplace on the arXiv, preferably well in advance of your talk, so that people can review the work and come to the talk prepared to ask technical questions.
That all makes perfect sense, and the academic community is completely justified in being outraged about the way that Weinstein violated procedure.
Except . . . bullshit.
The first comment (by "Unity") on PZ Myers's post notes that
"This is not how anyone does science."
Except mathematicians.
Other [than] the publicity, most of which is speculative at this stage, there is nothing particularly exceptional in Weinstein having only discussed his ideas with du Sautoy or in the decision to start floating his ideas in a series of talks without first having published.
This is often how mathematicians operate, on the clear understanding that what they are present is, at this stage, provisional and that publication and peer review will necessarily follow – that is, of course, unless someone spots a serious flaw during the talk and raise it during the Q&A.
In mathematical terms, what Weinstein is doing at this stage is equivalent to putting forward a conjecture, so it necessarily has to be understood that the actual science will follow, and in that sense its really not so unusual at all.
In fact, I think we can go a step further. This is how ALL OF SCIENCE operates. Just think back to the last time you went to a conference. Did any of the talks include data that was not yet published? Or did pretty much ALL of the talks include data that was not yet published?
If someone gives a seminar in your department, and they present their latest work, do you sputter with rage: "How dare this person present research without providing a written copy to the audience in advance"?
No, you don't do that, because you're not an asshole. If they present something really exciting, you ask them some questions. Maybe you walk up to them after the talk, and you ask them to send you a copy of the manuscript when it is ready.
Now, should physicists around the world drop what they're doing on the basis of this talk? Of course not. These, like all scientific claims, should be treated skeptically. But no one should be running around pretending that giving the lecture represents some sort of ethical violation.
2. The Physicists were not invited.
According to Andrew Pontzen's piece:
Yesterday Weinstein, encouraged by du Sautoy, went public with a loud splash in British newspaper The Guardian and in a 2-hour presentation in the main physics lecture theatre here at the University of Oxford. "I'm trying to promote, perhaps, a new way of doing science. Let's start with really big ideas, let's be brave and let's have a discussion," du Sautoy told The Guardian.
Sounds fair enough, until you discover that no one thought to invite any of Oxford's, er, physicists.
While Weinstein was delivering his lecture, the theoretical physicists were in a different room listening to a different speaker discuss a different topic (a new source of CP violation in charm physics and its implication for the unitarity triangle, if you're curious). Only afterwards did anyone spot news of the revelatory talk that had taken place next door.
Pontzen's complaint was repeated in the other pieces.
Okay, so that's pretty bad, right? He's giving a lecture on a new model for physics, but did not invite any physicists!
Except that, um, what?
I don't know, maybe I'm missing something here, but Pontzen almost makes it sound as if this lecture was kept secret. I mean, what does it even MEAN to say that the physicists were not invited? In my experience, lectures are announced via pre-existing e-mail lists, and by flyers stuck on bulletin boards. Did these things not happen?
Also in my experience, the only time you go around and explicitly invite people to a lecture is when you are worried that there will not be enough people in the audience, and it will be embarrassing for the speaker and the organizer.
It's a little bit like when your kid has a book report due the next day, and they're all, "Why didn't you make me start my homework earlier?"
Weinstein was also apparently scheduled to give a more technical version of the talk the day after the big public lecture. This would have been after Pontzen published his complaint. Did the physicists attend the next day's lecture? The one geared towards presenting more of the technical details?
Or is there something I'm missing about how Oxford works? Are science lectures typically by invitation only? Do you get a hand stamp?
[Update (5/30): The following correction has been attached to the New Scientist piece by Andrew Pontzen:
Correction: When this article was first published on 24 May 2013, it stated that no one thought to invite physicists at the University of Oxford. New Scientist acknowledges this is not true and regrets any embarrassment caused. Marcus du Sautoy had emailed the head of department asking for the talk to be advertised. Du Sautoy was unaware that this advertisement was not widely circulated or posted on the internal website. Du Sautoy had also sent A3 posters for display in the physics department and advertised the talk in other media. Andrew Pontzen would like to apologise to Marcus Du Sautoy for not investigating these circumstances more thoroughly.
That makes sense to me. Also, full credit to Pontzen for the apology here.
Also, according to a comment from "oxfordanon" on Peter Woit's post on this, Weinstein's Thursday lecture (at 4pm) conflicted with the particle theory group's long-standing weekly seminar slot (Thursdays at 4:15). So, there's maybe a combination of unfortunate scheduling and a breakdown in the flow of information -- both common failures in bureaucracies, but nothing here to require, or even imply, that anyone was acting in bad faith.]
3. Who is this guy, anyway?
The complaints and criticisms don't come out and say, "This guy is not an academic. He's not part of the club. He's a nobody."
Of course, in polite society — or even in academia — you can't come right out and say that sort of thing. It makes you sound like a bemonocled nineteenth-century cartoon villain.
But, there does seem to be a bit of an undercurrent of that sentiment.
Here's Pontzen, for instance:
Until yesterday Weinstein was largely unknown to us. He has a PhD in mathematical physics from Harvard University, but left academia years ago and now makes his living as an economist and consultant at a New York hedge fund.
That is not to say he doesn't have anything to contribute, but he will have to go through the proper channels.
"Proper channels" Ha!
I take it back, apparently you CAN sound like a bemonocled nineteenth-century villain!
4. Excessive Media Hype
If there is a legitimate complaint to be had, it might be here. To my taste, both Guardian pieces overreach a bit in their efforts to convince me how cool the theory is. On the other hand, both pieces also acknowledge that the paper is not out yet, that the work has been seen by only a few people (and that they have not deeply evaluated the work), and that we have a long way to go before we find out if this theory is going to have legs or not.
Jennifer Ouellette's criticism focuses on the media coverage. In particular, she calls out Alok Jha for deflecting criticism by preemptively playing the non-academic victim card:
Furthermore, the entire tail end of the article undercuts everything Kaplan and al-Khalili say by quoting du Sautoy (and, I'm sad to say, Frenkel) at length, disparaging the "Ivory Tower" of academia and touting this supposedly new, democratic way of doing physics whereby anyone with an Internet connection and a bit of gumption can play with the big boys.
It's disingenuous — and pretty savvy, because it cuts off potential criticism at the knees. Now any physicist (or science writer) who objects to the piece can immediately be labeled a closed-minded big ol' meanie who just can't accept that anyone outside the Physics Club could make a worthwhile contribution.
Now, it's hard to disagree with that. Theories need to stand on their own merits. In an ideal world, your work should not get treated with kid gloves just because you're a non-academic, just as you should not get special treatment by virtue of having a prestigious professorship.
So, what are these disingenuous quotes from du Sautoy and UC Berkeley mathematician Edward Frenkel that make it impossible to criticize Jha or Weinstein? Let's have a look, shall we:
"I'm trying to promote, perhaps, a new way of doing science. Let's start with really big ideas, let's be brave and let's have a discussion," says du Sautoy. "Science is very much an evolutionary process and [Weinstein's] is such a wide-ranging theory and involves such a wide area of mathematics and physics, this is an invitation to say, 'This is speculative and it's claiming a lot so let's see where it can go.'"
Whatever happens, says Frenkel, Weinstein is an example of how science might change in future. "I find it remarkable that Eric was able to come up with such beautiful and original ideas even though he has been out of academia for so long (doing wonderful things in other areas, such as economics and finance). In the past week we have learned about an outstanding result about prime numbers proved by a mathematician who had been virtually unknown, and now comes Eric's lecture at Oxford.
"I think this represents a new trend. It used to be that one had to be part of an academic hub, such as Harvard or Oxford, to produce cutting-edge research. But not any more. Part of the reason is the wide availability of scientific information on the internet. And I think this is a wonderful development, which should be supported.
"I also see two lessons coming from this. The first is for the young generation: with passion and perseverance there is no limit to what you can do, even in high-end theoretical science. The other lesson is for me and my colleagues in academia – and I say this as someone who on most days takes an elevator to his office in an Ivory Tower, as it were – we should be more inclusive and more open to ideas which come from outside the standard channels of academia, and we'll be better off for it."
Umm, okay. Obviously. I mean, we have an acknowledgement that information is now widely available, and a suggestion that people should be more open — or, as Ouellette puts it, "touting this supposedly new, democratic way of doing physics whereby anyone with an Internet connection and a bit of gumption can play with the big boys."
Something here is disingenuous, anyway.
She follows up with this:
Do I sound a little angry? It's closer to irritation. I'm currently at a conference exploring the frontiers of cosmology and theoretical physics at the University of California, Davis, where for the past several days, some of the top physicists in the world have been vigorously debating all kinds of wildly creative, speculative, alternative ideas about inflation, dark matter, dark energy, the multiverse, string theory, and so forth, and the implications for the various theoretical models in light of the latest experimental results from the Planck mission. Two weeks ago, I was at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics for a week-long conference in which physicists grappled with fitting their theoretical models to confusing results from a number of dark matter detection experiments.
This is what truly free and open scientific discussion of brave/bold new ideas looks like.
Well, I certainly hope that none of these top physicists spoke about any ideas for which there was not a preprint available!
To conclude
So, is this going to be the Theory of Everything that unifies physics and earns Weinstein the Nobel prize? Heck if I know. Statistically speaking, most efforts like this don't pan out. On the other hand, sometimes they do, and the ones that pan out in the end look an awful lot like the ones that don't at this stage.
I've never met Eric, although I've interacted with him a bit online. I know several people who know him, and the story from all of them echoes the image presented in all of these stories: he's a really smart guy, and not a crackpot. So, this is at least a serious attempt at a theory, and if you're someone out there with the skills and knowledge to evaluate it, you won't be wasting your time by having a look.
Hopefully, the preprint will hit the arXiv soon, and people can start digging into the math. And, if that math holds up under the first rounds of scrutiny, hopefully the top physicists will engage with Weinstein in a free and open scientific discussion — maybe even at a conference.
And hopefully that discussion will be a little bit less dismissive and condescending than what we've seen so far.
[Update (5/30): There's an excellent post from Peter Woit here, including a great discussion in the comments.
Zen Faulkes also has a nice post here.]
this article originally appeared in FastCoExist
In today's accelerating world of work, it's easy to get distracted by the million shiny objects vying for our attention. All too often, we spend our time responding to the latest urgent priority, and forget who we are and what really matters to us. A sense of personal or professional mission fades, and our passion and potential goes dormant.
However, forward-focused people and organizations realize that a happy, productive workplace exists only when everyone is aware of their gifts and how to best align their contribution with a larger shared purpose.
A happy, productive workplace exists only when everyone is aware of their gifts and how to best align their contribution with a larger shared purpose.
Below is a three-phase process to help get reconnected to your motivations, the unique value you offer the world, and a vision for your own long-term trajectory. Cultivating this foresight practice at both the personal and organizational levels can be a powerful way to develop our greatest assets: ourselves.
Before you begin planning where you want to go, it's helpful to locate where you are now. This first phase of the process involves getting a clearer perspective on who you are, what you stand for, and what makes it worth getting up in the morning. A few guiding questions can get you started on this mapping process:
What unique value do I bring to the world?
We've all got gifts and quirks that make us our loveable selves. Don't lose sight of these. Ask people who know you well–family, friends, colleagues, professional contacts–which of your traits and contributions are most appreciated. Make a list of what you're naturally good at, what you'd rather avoid, and the types of conditions that make you thrive or wither. Assessment tools like Gallup's Strengthsfinder 2.0 can help uncover strengths and talents, while personality indicators like the Myers-Briggs can bring attention to preferences and behaviors that either motivate or frustrate you.
What are my core values?
Dave Logan, author of Tribal Leadership, defines a core value as "a principle without which life wouldn't be worth living." Whether you've ever explicitly named them before, chances are there are a few driving forces that have been a throughline of motivation and inspiration in your life. Reflect on your experiences and ask "What am I proud of?" or "What am I doing when I shine brightest?" Hone in on the top three to five values that are most important to you.
What is my life purpose?
This is a big question, but worth investigating. Purpose-driven people and organizations are energized by the feeling of being on a mission. Without a clear sense of direction of meaning, work gets done, but the results are not transformative or integrated with the surrounding world in a way that makes an impact.
Without a clear sense of direction of meaning, work gets done, but the results are not transformative.
Try surrendering to the highest voice inside yourself, and listen to what really brings you meaning and significance. Keep asking yourself "Why?" and "In service of what?" to help you get to the essence.
Now that you've located yourself in the narrative of your life, begin developing plausible personal futures. Think about the various domains of life that impact our future pathways and quality of life, ranging from health, relationships, finances, creativity, learning, and what we do for fun.
Consider how you engage in these domains now, and to what degree you imagine integrating them into your future. Ask yourself questions like: In which physical environments do I thrive? Who do I want to be spending time with? Which industries might I want to succeed in? Which skills might be needed? What brings me the most satisfaction? Stretch your thinking to explore what you might become.
Now that you've become more aware of who you are and explored options for where you could go, create a vision for your future and choose desired outcomes. What do you want your life to look like in one year? Five years? 10 years? 30 years? How are you staying engaged across life domains? What projects are you working on? What interests and hobbies are you developing? How are you building your capacities? What milestones are you working towards?
Finally, develop strategies and processes for achieving your goals. Build momentum by setting short-term, measurable, achievable goals. Those small wins can be very motivating to keep dreaming bigger. Systems like Getting Things Done or Personal Kanban can help in managing tasks and commitments. Consider assembling a "personal wisdom council" of friends and advisors who can offer you mentorship. A dedicated support network can be a valuable way to create accountability, stay focused, and receive feedback and encouragement.
As time goes by, priorities may shift, and the vision for your future may change. This is normal, and strategies can be adjusted accordingly. The lasting value is in continually honing your futures thinking skills, and staying tuned to your strengths, passions and vision to keep you moving forward towards the future you want.
University of Advancing Technology, Foresight Development curriculum
Global Foresight
Foresight Education and Research Network
Personal Futures Network
I've been working on a fascinating research project exploring the models and emerging industry verticals of startup accelerators around the world. The standard formula for accelerators is as follows: you bring your entrepreneurial spirit and an idea, and in exchange for an equity stake in your nascent company, you receive some seed capital and a 3 month program providing mentorship, training, advice and resources to help you build your business. The program ends in an Investor Demo Day, where you get a chance to gain the interest of VC and angel investors.
I'll post something with a synthesis of my thinking around these alternate avenues to value creation soon. In the meantime, I wanted to share the roundup of some of the top tech-focused accelerators, as well as a list of some emerging industry verticals.
Thanks to those in the Next Edge community & on Quora who helped compile this info!
Y Combinator – Mountain View, CA
Tech Stars – Boston, MA; Boulder, CO; NYC; Seattle, WA; Cloud
Kicklabs – San Francisco, CA
I/O Ventures – San Francisco, CA
Excelerate Labs – Chicago, IL
Angelpad – San Francisco, CA
Launchpad LA – Los Angeles, CA
500 Startups – Mountain View, CA
DreamIT Ventures – Philadelphia, PA
NYC SeedStart – NYC
Entrepreneurs Roundtable - NYC
The Brandery – Cincinnati, OH
Capital Factory – Austin, TX
Extreme Startups – Toronto, Ontario
The Next 36 – Toronto, Ontario
Ryerson Digital Media Zone – Toronto, Ontario
JOLT MaRS – Toronto, Ontario
Invest Ottowa – Ottawa,
Accelerator Centre – Waterloo, Ontario
Communitech Hub – Waterloo, Ontario
Hyperdrive – Waterloo, Ontario
UW Velocity – Waterloo, Ontario
FounderFuel - Montreal, Quebec
Flightpath – Edmonton
GrowLab – Vancouver
Springboard – London, UK
NDRC Launchpad
Propeller Venture Accelerator
Founder Institute
Start-Up Chile
Education / Learning:
- Imagine K12 – Palo Alto, CA
- Startl – NYC
Energy / Cleantech:
- SURGE Accelerator – Houston, TX
- Greenstart – San Francisco, CA
- NYC Accelerator for a Clean and Renewable Economy (NYC ACRE) – NYC, NY
- Environmental Business Cluster – San Jose, CA
– GreenLite Labs – Boulder, CO
– Ignition Labs – Australia
Enterprise / B2B, Big Data:
- Acceleprise – Washington, DC
- Tech Wildcatters – Dallax, TX
- TechStars Cloud – San Antonio, CA
Financial Services:
- FinTech Innovation Lab – NYC
Government / Civics:
- Code for America – San Francisco, CA
- Blueprint Health – NYC
- Healthbox – Chicago, Boston, London
- Rock Health – San Francisco & Cambridge
- DreamIT Health – Philadelphia, PA
– HealthXL – Dublin & London
– Startup Health Academy – 3 year academic program
- University Technology Park – Chicago, IL
Social Good / Civic Ventures:
- Impact Engine – Chicago, IL
- Unreasonable Institute – Boulder, CO
- Bethnal Green Ventures – London
- Village Capital – Atlanta, GA
– Points of Light – Atlanta, Washington DC
– Wayra UnLtd – UK
- Lemnos Labs – San Francisco, CA
Public Media:
- Matter – San Francisco, CA
– MobileXL – Copenhagen
A Guide to Choosing the Best Accelerator for Your Tech Startup – Tech Cocktail
Startup Accelerator Rankings Methodology & Companion Report – Tech Cocktail
Global Accelerator Network
The 10 Hottest Startup Incubators – Forbes
Top Startup Incubators and Accelerators – Forbes
Top 15 U.S. Startup Accelerators and Incubators Ranked (2011) – Tech Cocktail
Top 15 US Startup Accelerators Ranked (2012) – Tech Cocktail
Top 8 European Startup Accelerators and Incubators Ranked (2011) – Tech Cocktail
U.S. and Canada Seed Stage Tech Accelerators – google map
Seed Accelerator Map – google map
Where can I find a comprehensive list of startup incubators and accelerators in the US? – Quora
What is a complete list of Y Combinator-like accelerator/incubators? – Quora
What are the top seed accelerators in Canada? – Quora
What are the top startup incubators in Canada? – Quora
Resource: Every Incubator and Accelerator in NYC – Charles Bonello
Big List of Incubators, Accelerators and Labs – Webbmedia Group
Venture Incubators and Accelerators – Startup Owl
Complete List of Incubators and Accelerators – Launch
Accelerator vs. Incubator: What's the Difference? – Inc.
f6s – programs & events for startups
List of Y Combinator startups – google spreadsheet
Incubators and Accelerators. Do They Work? - your capital edge
Accelerators and Incubators – MaRS Commons
Incubators, Accelerators, and Cyclotrons - StartupNorth
List of Incubators & Accelerators in Canada - Canadian Association of Business Incubation
Looking back – 1.5 years since "Copying Y Combinator" – jed christiansen
There are Now More Than 100 Accelerators and Incubators in Canada – Techvibes
Some Canadian Business Incubators – Industry Canada
Tech Resources in Canada – Accelerators and Incubators – Backbone
Incubators – Startup Weekend
The Startup Factories – NESTA discussion paper
Quora: What are some startup accelerators that focus on specific industry verticals? – Quora
I just got done reading Carbon Zero: Imagining Cities that Can Save the Planet, the new book by futurist Alex Steffen. He says that climate change is here, and we have a choice to radically rethink the way we live in the built environment, or face catastrophic impacts. He proposes that we need to bring our global climate emissions to zero, asap, and the key to doing so is to reinvent our cities.
He discusses our challenges and opportunities through the lenses of clean energy, urbanism, shelter, consumption, and sustenance. While he did cover many ideas about green infrastructure, district systems, networked technologies, and restoration, I enjoyed looking at the models for future cities through the lens of cultural innovation and lifestyle design. Below are some of the principles and concepts I found particularly inspiring, supplemented by some additional links for further exploring.
The Kindle edition of Steffen's book can be purchased here.
further exploring:
book: Jan Gehl – Cities for People
organization: Project for Public Spaces
research: The Young and Restless in a Knowledge Economy (2011)
further exploring:
article: Five Ways to Redesign a City
further exploring:
standard: Passivhaus
organization: Architecture 2030
further exploring:
article: Low-Rise, High-Density Housing: A Contemporary View of Marcus Garvey Park Village
further exploring:
resource: Shareable
resource: Collaborative Consumption
for more on imagining cities that can save the planet, check out Carbon Zero
I had tea with a lovely new friend a few weeks ago. We talked about what it takes to live a full life, what holds us back, and how to get out of our own way so we can become the person we want to be.
He told me he realized years ago that he was his own worst enemy, his own worst critic, and his own biggest obstacle to achieving his dreams. He told me a story about how he has intentionally assembled a 'delta force' around himself….. colleagues, mentors, lovers and friends with whom he has explicitly developed support relationships to help him be the best version of himself. He called them his personal Board of Directors.
On predefined and agreed upon timetables, he touches base with these people and reflects upon how he's doing across various domains of his life – how he's engaging in his own self-care and self-renewal, how he's doing as a husband, how he's doing as a father and family member, how he's contributing and giving back to the world at large, and the current projects he's working on to cultivate these areas.
I found this idea of a peer mentorship team to be super exciting. (and it makes me wonder how many high-functioning people already have something like this in place.) Though I have caring relationships like these, I never thought to treat them as a chosen assembly of people that would become an infrastructure for my health and well-being. I've been evaluating my own weaknesses the last few weeks with honesty and vulnerability, and deciding who I will ask to help support me on life's path.
Below (and in image above) is a poem/call to action he dictated during our chat, which I jotted down for future inspiration. Enjoy!
I am my own worst enemy.
I cannot protect myself from myself.
Unless I seek help, I will self-destruct.
I am a beautiful person,
I have the right to be happy,
And I must not take that right away from myself.
I need to give myself permission
To live a full life -
To soar,
To love unrestrictedly,
And to achieve as much as I dare.
I will find a support team whose mission is
To protect me from me.
Together, we'll be able to unleash my soul.
I posed this question about a week ago on twitter and facebook, and you shared back some amazing gems!
The resounding response was "yes," we can create conditions so that innovation is much more likely to occur. Themes included creating cultures of play and emotional safety, challenging assumptions, giving permission to try new things (and fail), and using storytelling to spark new thinking and locate yourself in an emergent narrative.
Below are the thoughts and references you shared – thanks to all contributors!
I have had tons of conversation with my chosen brother Steve, who invented a ton of breakthrough technology during his time at Bell Labs. He would say: create real play spaces and then after a jam filter down to what might be possible, encourage serendipity – mix unlikely people together, look at peripheral fields, create places for people to "randomly" bump into each other and start jamming on an idea, a biomimicry is helpful – how does nature solve it, ask really interesting questions and do so from a variety of vantage points, cultivate a culture of curiosity. To that I would add – create a sense of spaciousness. Breakthrough innovation doesn't happen on a clock or within a budget. And when it does, adoption of the breakthrough can take a decade, if it is truly disruptive.
– via Jean Russell, @NurtureGirl
21st Century Wealth-Generating Ecologies and an Infrastructure for Open Everything
1. Design for interoperability first, then design for what works best for you. <- this is not a guarantee, but the approach seemed to increase innovative outcomes for our group, so this can only work when people resonate with a collective world view
2. Share the model and the render: Paul gave an example from digital animation, where usually the rendered output is shared. However, sharing the model that is used to create the rendered output (like SVG code and SVG render) gives people foundations to build on your work, and understand how you did it.
Beyond that, creating whitespace, and making the time and expending the energy to explore as part of the design process, and grounding that in solid theoretical foundations, will increase the chances of innovation emerging from your design approaches. In musical circles, it is called "jamming".
Plus, looking for complementarity, and emerging new niches from your efforts to satisfy previous niches.
- via Sam Rose, @SamRose
Kedge developed an innovation program/model that launched this past year that teaches participants to operate and design within the new context/rules of the "postnormal" landscape. Central themes include leveraging complexity (instead of attempting to kill it), transdisciplinary meshing of previously siloed disciplines and ideas, bringing big data full circle into qualitative pattern and sense-making, transformative invention replacing iterative innovation, discovering long-curve opportunities through natural growth models, and breaking biases and assumptions that hinder new-environment innovation. Under ideal conditions, the model is also used with a diverse audience. This is modeled on the "pull" of the future.
– via Frank W. Spencer IV, @frankspencer
I've been working with Lance Weiler on achieving breakthroughs through emergent narrative (we've used it successfully for both business constructs and purely cause-related or civic stuff). The design is frameworked for "failure", "unraveling" and adaptation. There are few iterations of that framework based on the business, social or cultural context, but essentially you set a goal, split the group up and assign story development pieces, give folks a space to spitball, act out and emote/express, you coordinate actions that end up defining roles (archetypes) and you weave a narrative together that results in some sort of output and/or identifiable problem-solving process. Sometimes it's just a new way to think about things. We just did a version as a lab for filmmakers in Australia, but have applied this successfully to product design, org improvement, branding, and policy formation, etc. in different parts if the world — transcends most language and cultural barriers. Check out Reboot Stories, DIY Days and WSWP as examples. You can also check out Lance's course "Building Storyworlds in 21c" which is a Columbia U-based open curriculum which uses a lot of these open design/breakthrough innovation principles.
– via Gunther Sonnenfeld, @goonth
It's been my experience that you can create/design conditions (via innovation principles, "whole-brain" practices, environment, new cultural norms, and other stuff) that dramatically increase the chances for breakthroughs to emerge. Agree with James it can't be forced…designing the "fertile soil" makes its emergence more likely.
That includes vastly different ways of thinking, being, embodying, perceiving, and expressing (new foundations) than we currently see in most work environments – which are designed on foundations for control and maintenance.
I believe designing for breakthroughs includes the willingness for the unpredictable messiness of emergence…and that can be scary for a lot of people. While there is no way to design for comfort in emergence, you can design for emotional safety…that helps open the field and tap into the potentiality-in-waiting.
Also, while one might design for breakthrough, the breakthrough may occur seemingly randomly several iterations later…and may not immediately seem connected to the initial design. It's more like we can co-design in partnership with the natural creative process to allow for more chance of breakthroughs..but we can't control it. I believe if the designer is not surprised by what emerges, and has no space for the unknown embedded into the design, he or she is probably not designing for breakthroughs.
(With all that said, I know "breakthrough innovation" means different thing to different people)
via Michelle James, @CreatvEmergence
Nurturing a Vibrant Culture to Drive Innovation
– via Bill Veltrop
I believe you can design for assumption challenging and for permission to try new things. If you don't start by designing for those, no other investment will be worthwhile.
– via Daniel Rasmus, @DanielWRasmus
Innovation is often defined as a new idea with a valuable outcome. The problem is that you cannot solve one equation with two unknowns. That is why it may seem unpredictable and we're left with a shrug of the shoulders and "Ya know it when ya see it" resolve. On the other hand, the proverbial Ah-Ha moment is really just a very rapid (instantaneous, perhaps) change in your knowledge of something. Grand innovations are simply a series of ah ha moments. If you set out to create new ideas with valuable outcomes, you'll fail. But if you set out to manufacture ah-ha moments, there could a be an Ah Ha moment awaiting you, and so on.
– via Dan Robles, @ingenesist
For me, it's a matter of getting close enough to the humans around me to find the design that was already there, waiting to be discovered by us together. A dance of revealing design, not designing per se. I've been saying it for 8 years and it still sounds woo woo to my ears. But hey, it works.
– via Lori Kane, @CollectiveSelf
Create the open testbed/biotope/pull platform for society that will "raise flags" whenever problems/opportunities are found and you'll have it I believe:
John Hagel: Recognizing the Power of Pull
- via Christer Hellberg
values + design + implementation + story = meaningful contribution (comprehensibility/accessibility/availability/attractivity affect how wide/deep the impact can be)
– via Jarno M. Koponen, @ilparone
..if creating a design for breakthrough innovation it would be a push strategy… a few people come up with an idea which is then expected to lead to the result… alternatively there would be the pull strategy… where a facilitation framework is established that allows innovation to emerge… this approach doesn't interfere… instead it supports the creative process… and this can come only from within each individual… ideally the framework is a combination of a technical solution and story-telling… the reason why story-telling is so important is that each one of us can find her/his unique role in the whole… just like in a theater play… it is not a story that is already written… but a story that we are to write together into the future…
Like Giorgio Bertini said: 'Map-patterns-based action learning, learning from and acting upon, action learning all along an spiral of social learning change, facilitated by maps-patterns, etc.' …
so maps could be the framework for individual stories to emerge into collective sense making to then bring forth breakthrough innovation!
– via Joachim Lohkamp, @JockelLohkamp
Innovation for innovation's sake is only of interest if its discovery leads to the uncovering of previously taken for granted assumptions about the way things have to be, and what we need to tolerate. For innovation to be valuable it has to make things better. In other words it has to address a real problem, or tackle a real missed opportunity. It is in systematically uncovering these problems and missed opportunities that breakthroughs can be found day after day. When you deeply understand a problem you are more than 50% of the way to coming up with an adequate solution. The solution itself may not be the breakthrough – but the results will be.
– via Paul Codd MacDonald
I think a lot of the conversation here has gone to the level of the cultural and organizational underpinnings of breakthrough innovation, e.g. Gore, Bell Labs etc. That is very important and definitely required to enable repeated success. Tools and frameworks can also play a role if they enable people to structure their thinking about where and how to innovate more clearly. Innovation consultancy Doblin, part of the company where I work (Monitor), has a framework called the Ten Types of Innovation that seeks to do just that and may be of interest: http://www.doblin.com/thinking/
I recently had the opportunity to introduce the tool to a group of city government innovators and have them use it to work on the different sketch ideas they had developed for making new and existing city services more efficient, effective and responsive to citizens needs. I was impressed by the value it provided people who were not used to thinking creatively about their roles and in many cases had little experience working together to push their innovation thinking from the basics of an idea to somewhere more ambitious and potentially of breakthrough potential. There's plenty of materials at the link for people to play with it themselves
– via Michael Costigan
If there is [a way to design for breakthrough innovation], it's built on open standards, extensible APIs and gracefully degrading layers.
I don't really think we *do* innovation. It's something that happens when conditions are right. We can make it more likely. We can consciously chase it. But for most folks innovating isn't a defined enough process that they can sit down and decide to innovate (at least not usefully).
Innovating is kind of like falling in love. You can't chase it too hard. The best you can do is set the scene and work at the edges, but the actual happening is really hard to force.
- via James Vasile, @jamesvasile
I have a hunch it has to do with tagging stuff for exaptive remixes, related ideas adapted from a post a while back:
1) Garden for "idea seedlings"
This might be a visually engaging place to check on what initiatives are sprouting in an online or actual community.
Visual option – show a plant for each project in the garden. Its size, shape, number of buds/seed pods, etc. can convey useful info (eg kinds of desired cross pollination opportunities)
Alternative – "dreamcatcher" visual metaphor. A radargraph in each dreamcatcher could show the extent to which a project team deems its project to need inputs to become "alive and whole"
2) An Exaptive Evolution game
This game could show nourishing resources (tagged how-to scripts, specialists, precedents, etc) that are available for initiatives growing in the Idea seedlings garden.
The more any chunk is accepted by/integrated into specific initiatives in the ecosystem, the higher the "score" and rewards for those who created the resource, and those who proposed its use.
– via Mark Frazier, @openworld
More on exaptation from a book that keeps popping up on my radar –http://growchangelearn.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/getting-psyched-for-exaptation.html Also check out Steven Johnson's other patterns listed on that post. And of course the notion of Labs and Incubation provide a fairly popular means of innovation. The best we can do online, for now, would be to nurture an incubation space with shared processes and tools, sorta like this idea tagging that Mark Frazier suggests. Innovation would begin with derivation and discussing the ideas of others, to helps us get in touch with our own.
– via Dan RD, @ddrrnt
Re innovation: Seeing things others do not see, having a vision, tenacity, a supportive environment, others willing to try the new thing, and some time/money resources are all part of it.
– via Bernd Nurnberger, @CoCreatr
The Lotus: a practical guide for authentic leadership toward sustainability (free PDF download)
– via Kirstin Ohm
From Twitter:
Design 4 conditions likely to lead there, yes :)
See slides 19-28, transferable to any decentralized, multiple-pts-of-engagement system
if design = allow, then yes :-)
innovation is sitting in the subtle plane, already existing. allowing implies receptivity as opposed to resistance.
so, creating receptivity = designing for breakthrough innovation … same with teaching or creating anything.
You can encourage and set a context, but you cannot design for breakthrough innovation. If you could, play the lottery.
poverty, terror, diverse interdisciplinary groups, alcohol, and six months of getting to know the people you're working with
Absolutely! design for 1000s of diverse kinds of innovation again & again & again. One will eventually be a breakthrough.
What are the changing patterns of work? What are the shifts in perspective and attitude? What do the organization and worker of the future look like?
I've been mulling on these questions recently, and wanted to invite a dialogue about it. Below is a synthesis of ideas from a number of reports and articles (references at bottom of post) to get a sense of where we're at in this narrative and where we might be headed.
The 20th century pattern of employment featured a steady, permanent job with predictably rising pay. In order to achieve maximum efficiency in that predominantly industrial paradigm, fully anticipated behavior was desirable — Meaning, people were viewed as cogs in a system: not necessarily paid to think, but paid to follow rules. They were designed to be interchangeable, and paid more for clock time than specific outcomes.
That model includes characteristics like:
A sense of security and safety came from the organization, knowing that hard work, loyalty and dedication were a good formula to get you into a lifetime job with regular pay raises, promotions and a good pension at retirement.
In the 21st century pattern, it's accepted that we'll have many careers over our lifetime, that movement may be lateral or transitional instead of just linear, and that "job security" will have to come through the individual. We'll have to take more responsibility for our careers and the direction of our lives through self-awareness and assessment of our strengths and weaknesses, continuous learning, self-improvement, and the ability to be flexible and adaptive to change.
Some characteristics include:
Work, life, and play used to be more clearly demarcated, and we'd try to "balance" these various identities. Now the edges are blurring and overlapping. We're trying to close the gap so that "who we are" and "what we do" aren't different things. We're rediscovering the need to feel that what we do matters, provides meaning and purpose, and makes us feel that we're a part of something bigger than ourselves.
Instead of balance, we're looking for an integration where work can become a reflection of a certain way of life, and also a vehicle for satisfying our personal and social motivations.
The interplay between 21st century workers and organizations is a matchmaking dance, where both parties seek to find an alignment of vision and values.
Firms want a talented workforce whose members passionately buy into the vision. Workers want to be inspired to contribute their best to an organization with clarity of mission and purpose.
Firms want to empower and create value for the employee, so the employee will be motivated to interact with customers. Workers want to feel a sense of ownership and control in how they structure their work, and an environment where knowledge and decision-making is decentralized.
Firms want leaders with an entrepreneurial mindset that can leverage new business models. Workers of tomorrow want to be able to cultivate certain dispositions and skill sets are not necessarily prized in conventional work environments, and the support of a management team that can play the role of coach and facilitator.
Both sides of this equation seem to value personal accountability, growth, learning, and continuous improvement. Both seem to be looking for a people-centric approach.
I wonder what the dialogue might sound like to kick off this future-shaping.
The organization might say:
"Ok, look. Things are moving fast these days and constantly changing, and our challenges are complex. We need totally rethink our approach to business and transform the marketplace. We need to figure out how to add value for customers that's totally differentiable, compelling and urgent. We need to question the very nature of the organization and how it's managed. And we need a stellar team of people who can make this happen — people with courage and imagination.
Please drop your sense of entitlement — we can't guarantee you lifelong employment. In fact, we don't even know if we'll be here tomorrow. We're moving forward into a shape and location that we've never been, so we need people with vision who can take responsibility for the future. The territory we're entering doesn't have regimented work processes and things will not be clear-cut, so hopefully you're comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity.
Accept total responsibility for your outcomes. That includes managing your own learning, skills development and career management. Be creative, be resourceful, take initiative, throw obsolete beliefs out the door, and be completely receptive to new ideas. Let's go."
The worker response might be something like:
"Alright. I'm willing to adopt a self-employed attitude, and assume I'm working with (not for) you. I'll embrace the fact that we're living in a networked world, that digital technologies allow for rapid information sharing and communication, and that innovation happens when many of us can interact efficiently across these mediums. I'll work on my emotional intelligence and ability to communicate and manage conflict. I'll invest in myself and make a commitment to continuous learning, and seek new knowledge by participating in a community of practice. I'll face my fears and start the process of changing myself, and value enhancement as well as advancement. I'll bring my full Self to the table, and I'll keep upgrading – my attitude, my craftsmanship, my performance. Support me in that."
So if we pretend that these are the types of forward-focused mindsets that are defining the future of work, what might the next round of questions be?
I wonder:
What if we treated business itself as a platform to support personal and social learning?
How can we create nurturing, immersive environments for workers to satisfy their dispositions and talents?
What dispositions do we want to cultivate?
How can we develop a structure for lifelong learning, mentorship and development?
How can we create motivational feedback loops to improve personal performance and modify behavior?
How can we create working environments that increase human freedom and agency to make decisions and be self-directed?
What else should we be asking as we move forward?
references and further exploring:
The Future of Work by David Bollier (PDF)
The Future of Work by Thomas Malone
The Future of Workplaces by GigaOm
The Workplace of the Future: alabamaconnection.org
10 Forces Shaping the Workplace of the Future
The 10 Keys to Building the Flexible Workplace of the Future
12 Rules for Self Management
books of interest:
We Are All Self-Employed by Cliff Hakim
Gung Ho! by Ken Blanchard & Sheldon Bowles
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
First Things First by Stephen Covey
How to Find the Work You Love by Lawrence Boldt
Zen & The Art of Making a Living by Lawrence Boldt
Do What You Love The Money Will Follow by Marsha Sinetar
What Color is Your Parachute? by Richard Bolles
Making Vocational Choices by John Holland
Applied Concepts of Life Planning by Vernon Zunker
On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis
Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
The Third Wave by Alvin Toffler
Future Shock by Alvin Toffler
Megatrends by John Naisbitt
Future Tense by Ian Morrison & Greg Schmid
New Work Habits for a Radically Changing World by Price Pritchett


text:
Photoset with 286 notes
Everything is crack-ships and nothing hurts. There's also an ongoing theory about wardrobes controlling the universe of all stories.
…..el guardarropa es una Tardis…… …………….PITCH IS THE DOCTOR (amo a Icicle durmiendo sobre la cabeza de Galleon ♥ )
Oh man, I forgot about "WinterNight" x3 I've had a second piece of fanart for those two sitting open in photoshop for...

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Most people who have the flu don't need to be treated with antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu, though the drugs can shorten the duration of symptoms by 1 to 3 days if taken within the first 24 to 48 hours. But there are other ways to manage the symptoms.
"Treatment largely involves supportive care," said Dr. Joshua Kosowsky, vice chair and clinical director of Brigham and Women's Hospital's emergency department. "It's all the things your mother told you to do: rest, stay hydrated, take an over-the-counter painkiller and cough medicine."


text:
--Stocks pull back in wake of mixed corporate results
--Asian markets mostly lower as new Japanese stimulus measures disappoint
--Europe slips as strong German data offset by weakness in Asia
By Matt Jarzemsky
NEW YORK--U.S. stocks declined from last week's multiyear highs as investors weighed mixed earnings reports and an unexpected drop in existing home sales.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 20 points, or 0.1%, to 13630 in early Tuesday trade. The benchmark rose to its highest close since December 2007 on Friday. U.S. markets were closed Monday for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index slid four points, or 0.3%, to 1482. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 10 points, or 0.3%, to 3124.
Health-care shares in the S&P 500 led declines across seven of the index's 10 sectors. Johnson & Johnson fell 0.8% after forecasting lower 2013 profits than analysts projected.
Travelers climbed 2.9%, the biggest gain among Dow components. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold added 3.8%. The property casualty-insurer and mining company both reported results that exceeded forecasts.
"We had a mixed bag of earnings, and you couple that with the fact that the S&P 500 broke out past its previous multi-year highs late last week and the market's kind of taking a breather," said Joe Bell, senior equity analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.
Sales of previously owned homes in the U.S. slipped in December from a month earlier, the National Associations of Realtors reported. Economists in a Dow Jones poll had forecast an increase.
Manufacturers in the central Atlantic region said activity is contracting this month, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond reported.
Asian markets closed mostly lower as investors expressed disappointment over new stimulus measures announced by the Bank of Japan. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.4%, erasing earlier gains of as much as 1%, after the BOJ introduced an open-ended asset-purchase program, but not until 2014, and adopted a 2% inflation target. China's Shanghai Composite shed 0.6%.
European markets edged lower in the wake of losses in Asia. The Stoxx Europe 600 slipped 0.2%, but pared earlier losses of as much as 0.8% after better-than-expected German business-confidence data. The ZEW indicator for economic sentiment in January surged to 31.5 in January from 6.9 in December, well of above expectations of 12.0.
The dollar fell sharply against the yen after the BOJ's moves, but gained ground against the euro. Front-month February crude-oil futures rose 0.3% to $96.31 a barrel, while January gold futures added 0.1% to $1,689.40 an ounce. The 10-year Treasury note fell in price to yield 1.872%.
Elsewhere in the corporate arena, Caterpillar declined 1.1% after the company announced that it uncovered deliberate accounting misconduct at Zhengzhou Siwei Mechanical & Electrical Manufacturing beginning several years before Caterpillar acquired the company last year.
Boeing fell 1.4% amid a continued grounding of its new 787 Dreamliner aircraft by regulators in U.S., Japan and elsewhere.
Verizon Communications swung between gains and losses. The telecommunications giant forecast an increase in wireless margins this year, but suffered from pension charges and the cost of subsidies used to lure smartphone customers to contracts in the latest quarter.
TD Ameritrade Holding added 2.9% after its quarterly results topped Wall Street's views and its base of new assets climbed to a record.
DuPont rose 0.5% after reporting fourth-quarter results that topped analysts' estimates.
Regional lender Regions Financial gained 0.9% after swinging to a fourth-quarter profit, setting aside less cash to cover potential loan losses.
Write to Matt Jarzemsky at firstname.lastname@example.com


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Great side by side fridge
I needed something that would fit the smaller space in my 1968 home and wanted a side by side with water and ice dispenser. Though I was partial to Whirlpool since all my other...Read complete review
I needed something that would fit the smaller space in my 1968 home and wanted a side by side with water and ice dispenser. Though I was partial to Whirlpool since all my other appliances are the same brand including the 19 year old fridge I was replacing, I had researched several other brands to see what they offered. After comparing many, I wound up coming back to Whirlpool and almost bought the Whirlpool WRS322FDA. I went and saw one at my local Sears and found I didn't like the mechanical buttons for the control panel and how the upper portion of the freezer was used up by the icemaker which reduced the amount of storage space in the freezer. I looked some more and found this WRS342FIAB. I called Whirlpool to ask if the control panel was electronic or mechanical. They informed me it was indeed electronic. I began researching some more and noticed that compared to the WRS322FDA, this fridge had cold water that dispenses, and a bit more room in the freezer since it had the in the door removable ice bin. I decided to buy it sight unseen and give it a shot. Once I received the fridge, I was very pleased with it. So far it has done well and we enjoy it. The features I like most about this fridge are the electronic control panel, LED interior lighting that fades on, removable ice bin and the extra space in the freezer towards the top where most ice makers take up the room. Though the description or pictures don't show it, mine came with a handy can rack in the fridge door. This was a nice bonus and I use it for those 16.9 oz water bottles that the kids can grab on the go. They fit perfectly. I also like the light that illuminates the dispenser area. Initially I thought you would need to turn the light on each time you wanted to use it (in the dark) and then turn it back off. You can do that, but to my surprise, I found the light comes on automatically as soon as the paddle is depressed with your cup. Great fridge and well worth the extra money for the additional features you get over the WRS322FDA."
Most Liked Negative Review
Totally regret this purchase
I did my homework and researched refrigerators via word of mouth, online reviews, Consumer Reports, and my own previous positive experience with Whirlpool appliances. I chose the Whirlpool side by side model in...Read complete review
I did my homework and researched refrigerators via word of mouth, online reviews, Consumer Reports, and my own previous positive experience with Whirlpool appliances. I chose the Whirlpool side by side model in stainless steel, and now I completely regret my purchase. I had it delivered the day before Thanksgiving. After the delivery men left, I noticed two (2) loose nuts - one INSIDE the refrigerator and one on my kitchen floor next to the new refrigerator. I tried but could not immediately spot where these stray nuts might belong and as I said the delivery men were long gone. I saved both nuts and didn't think anymore about it until the problems started. Within hours I noticed a slow drip from the water dispenser so I called for service. Since it was the day before Thanksgiving the soonest service call available was a couple days out. The next day I had to cancel the service call due to a death in the family, which leads to the next problem. The instructions explicitly state to turn off the water when going away. The only way to turn off the water is to slide the refrigerator away from the wall and turn off the water at the source. Despite the fact I was very careful, when I moved it the refrigerator torn up my vinyl flooring. I wonder what could be so sharp underneath it that it would completely ruin my floor underneath it? I can see the concrete floor next to my refrigerator! I think it's either a defect that the feet or something under it destroyed my floor, or maybe it was something missing (recall the 2 orphaned nuts I found after delivery). Either way I can never move the refrigerator out again to turn the water back on because of the torn up floor under it, and that means I can never use the built-in water dispenser. Instead I have to use old school ice trays that I have to fill myself. The expensive feature is rendered useless. If I could return this refrigerator, I would. If it was not so expensive, I would give away to charity and get something else. I can't do that because I cashed in savings bonds to pay for it. Now I am so upset that I literally don't like thinking about this. I get stressed every time I see my once nice floor all torn up next to the refrigerator. Friends ask me how I am enjoying my new 'fridge and I literally can't talk about it. This was supposed to be "fun" to get this new appliance but it's turned out to be a very upsetting nightmare. I totally regret this purchase. I wish Whirlpool would help me.
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Whirlpool Makes Good Products
By Good Looking
from Toronto, ON, Canada
Comments about Whirlpool Black Side-By-Side Refrigerator:
The Right Size For Our Condo.This fits into the Space We Have for the refrigerator.
Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
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Smaller inside than I anticipated, hard to put yhings in the refrigerator side.
By Lucysmom
from Madison, NC, United States
The refrigerator side is hard to access because of the door racks. The vegetable drawers are hard to open. The ice from the ice machine dispenser falls all over when glass is removed even when you stop dispensing and wait a bit. I had to order this just by looking on the internet because "normal" sized refrigerators are too large for my space and I do not live in a small home. The store I shopped in did not carry a variety of sizes...only the large new normal and apartment sized.
Bottom Line No, I would not recommend this to a friend
By ice cream man
from Orange County, NY, United States
I purchased this product about 2 months ago and have nothing negative to say. The ice-maker gives 2 different types of ice cubes and there is enough room in the freezer to hold all of the frozen items my family of four requires on a weekly basis. At this point I am very happy.
Whirlpool - 22 cu. ft. Side-by-Side Refrigerator with Water dispenser
By M John
from Biddeford, ME, United States
This is a fine refrigerator, however when it was delivered we never realized how small it is. The frozen section of this model is so tight and small, it prevents us from even placing a frozen pizza in it. We are a bit dissatisfied with this model (definitely not with Whirlpool) and only due to the size.
Led lighting is a plus/inside refrigerator is way too small.
By Blondie65
from Rising Sun, MD, United States
Refrigerator inside much more difiucult to load and get something out of. You have to remove most of items on shelf to get to what you want.
Nice fridge for our small space
By garrett77
from Los Angeles, CA, United States
This 33" fridge looks nice and fits our narrow 35" space. It is important to note that fridge width is about 2" less than the space, and they mean it. The ice maker is a nice bonus, but the ice does come out a bit wild - scares the cats. After 3 months of use, the ice bin needed to be removed and defrosted. Fortunately that was really easy to do, and only took 10 minutes.
Great looks!
By dotd
from Connecticut, United States
Overall I am pleased with my new refrigerator. However, there are some features that I would like to see changed. I purchased this refrigerator because I am an avid fan of ice and iced water. I am disappointed that my icemaker does not work as efficiently as my old refrigerator's icemaker. You need to press buttons to change from ice to water dispenser which means that you need two hands (fingers) to operate. This is cumbersome when you are trying to hold a glass and change from ice to water. In addition, the ice container is difficult to reach into for a short person. If the ice supply gets down to the bottom of the container, there is no way I can reach the ice without standing on a stool. The ice maker is definitely a problem since mine had to be replaced after having the refrigerator for only one month. I would like to see an egg container included. I do like the stainless exterior and the food stays uniformly cold inside. So, other than the ice issues, I would say I like my new Whirlpool refrigerator.
Great features
By Moises
from NJ, United States
We needed a specific size refrigerator due to the area that it needed to be placed. We looked at many different brands & models & decided on our model due to its features & looks. My wife is very aesthetics driven.
Clean and sleek look
By Consuelo49
from Georgia, United States
This refrigerator is truly spacious on the inside for a small fridge. The clean sleek look of stainless steel gives this fridge an extra touch of class. Great product, however do wish the water dispenser worked a little faster.
By Phace
from Alberta, Canada
Bought 22 cu. ft. side-by-side from Sears on Mar 26, not delivered until Apr 26 & by July 26 the ice maker did not work. Whirpool told me the 1 year warranty began on the date of purchase not date of delivery. Other disappointments: I don't like the crisper drawers. They do not pull in or out smoothly. Hate that the ice dispenser and water dispenser are on the same mechanism. Also; ice dispenser kicks out cubes after you remove your glass and stops if you open the fridge door. The black pad on the dispenser lever became more grey and worn looking almost immediately. I believed I bought the best model available for the space I have. There isn't much available in the 66 - 68 inch high range. I replaced my old refrigerator after 20 years because the crisper drawers finally cracked along the suspended edges. Otherwise everything was solid.
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Nov 13
Plans of the Future
- Question Box /
- Archive
Nov 10
Did you know that Cinderella didn't have to take her dress off to win her prince? She had Romance without Regrets, and she didn't lose anything that she couldn't get back the next morning.
(via girlslovesextoo)
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Improv acting troupe bridges generation gap
It doesn't seem likely that a mother of 10 children, a former insurance broker, a retired teacher and a high school student would have much in common.
But for more than 20 years a Temple program has brought people just like this together, while at the same helping to bridge the age gap through a shared interest — improvisational acting.
Full Circle Theater Troupe is an intergenerational improvisation group at Temple's Center for Intergenerational Learning that specializes in enhancing the nature of age relations and dispelling age-related myths.
"What really makes [improvisational acting] so unique as an educational tool is its ability to reach audiences of all ages and encourage change," said 97-year-old retired radio personality Nate Lazowick.
The troupe performs at schools, senior centers, community organizations, conferences and workshops in the Philadelphia area and across the state, addressing the concerns of audiences.
Alzheimer's disease, racism, public health, positive health choices, family relations and sexuality are among the issues the ensemble dramatizes.
The theater group tailors each performance according to the issue the client wants to address and brainstorms scenes that will get the audience involved.
One of the goals of the program is to increase understanding between older people and teenagers by sensitizing both age groups to issues they have in common as well as those that have potential for conflict, said Marilyn Wood, Full Circle's managing director.
The troupe, which prides itself on its age diversity, accepts actors as young as 14.
"This is an attempt to reduce elders' fear of teenagers by enhancing their understanding of the needs, values and experiences of today's youth and to educate young people about the aging process," Wood explained.
Gonzalez said he originally joined the group because he wanted to find an outlet for his creativity, but the experience in the troupe has been beneficial in other ways as well.
"[Being a member of Full Circle] has really opened my eyes to the stereotypes we assign to older people," the high school sophomore said. "I've seen that no matter what age people are, we are able to have fun together."
To become a member of the theater group, volunteers participate in an eight-week training class to learn acting techniques, including socio-drama, playback theater and comedy improvisation.
Although the group focuses on acting skills to bring its message to the community, many members say the decision to stay involved year after year has to do with the bonds they build with each other.
The troupe is multicultural, as well as intergenerational. The actors are placed in an atmosphere with different opinions and viewpoints they might have never thought about before, said 75-year-old member Jinny Day.
Members are not the only benefactors of Full Circle; Temple has gained some recognition for its involvement with the program since 1983.
"Another great thing about this troupe is that it gets the Temple name out there in the community and creates some positive relationships," Wood said.
Full Circle, which performs under contract with organizations that pay a service fee, keeps its actors very busy, performing up to 10 times a month.
Full Circle actors are paid small volunteer stipends, with most of the money contributing to maintaining the troupe, Wood explained.
"The troupe has benefits on multiple levels," Wood said. "The young actors really enjoy the improvisation experience and love interacting with the older adults. The 'seasoned' actors say it helps them forget about the pains of getting older."
Dick Brown, 70, who has been a member of the troupe for 10 years, commends the program for keeping him physically fit and giving him the ability to maintain an open mind.
"Interacting with all these diverse people from different age groups helps me keep in touch with the younger generation and understand their perspective a little better," Brown said. "The audience enjoys our performances because they can tell that we are truly having a good time."
"This troupe is like a big family; we just don't look alike," Day said, laughing.
The center is also trying a new program this year, in which adults over 60 years of age will act as environmental health coaches.
"[With these new programs] Full Circle is trying to seek partnerships with other Temple groups to help disseminate important research findings to communities that need the information," Wood said.
For more information about performance times or how to get involved, visit Full Circle's Web site at www.temple.edu/cil/fct.
- By Karen Shuey


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Get on-the-go access to the latest insights featured on our Trustworthy Computing blogs.
For the past three and a half years, Win32/Conficker has been the top threat found in enterprise environments. We have reported on Conficker in the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report since the second half of 2008. No new variants of Conficker have been released in years and the methods it uses to propagate are well known, but once it finds its way into an environment it can be difficult to eliminate it.
Figure 1 (left) and Figure 2 (right): Quarterly trends for the top 10 families detected on domain-joined computers in 2H12, by percentage of domain-joined computers reporting detections
Figure 3: Quarterly trends for top 10 families detected on domain-joined computers 1Q11 to 4Q12
Perhaps more importantly, in the second half of 2012, 7 out of the top 10 threats affecting enterprises were known to be delivered through malicious websites; these threats are denoted with an asterisk in Figure 1 and include JS/IframeRef, Blacole, JS/BlacoleRef, Win32/Zbot (also known as Zeus), Win32/Sirefef, Win32/Dorkbot, and Win32/Pdfjsc.
Exploit activity has been at high levels, as I recently wrote in an article called "Exploit Activity at Highest Levels in Recent Times: The Importance of Keeping All Software Up To Date." Data in the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report shows that attackers have been using exploits more and more over the past eighteen to twenty-four months. So it's no surprise to see threats related to exploit activity in the top ten list of threats for the enterprise.
The Call to ActionThe good news is that enterprises can protect themselves using a number of mitigations, including:
Tim RainsDirectorTrustworthy Computing


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I am new here and don't really know how this board runs so please excuse any errors I may have made
I registered on here after doing this Vector of Stephen Fry, I have been doing Vectors now for about 4 months and none of them have ever gone down so well with the Web-Audiences that I have posted them on. I thought you might all be interested in seeing it and Stephen himself (if he doesn't mind me having used his picture in the first place) would like to see it also.
On the first two sites, as you will see Mr Fry went down very well (these two are mainly UK users), on the other it's probably just down to the time I posted it.
It's very difficult to judge when to post.
Posted on b3ta.com, which is where fellow b3tan, dbroon requested that I do the vector.
Thread here
Posted on TattyWorld, Where it made "Pic of the week" for three consecutive weeks!
Thread here
Finally posted on DeviantArt, where it didn't do so well I'm afraid, things get so easily lost on here but you can click to see a extra large version!
Thread here
Also I'd just like to say what a great site this is, I'm glad that I found this little gem and look forward to its future.
I hope you all like my picture, I am also half way through doing an oil painting of this picture. My first oil painting so don't expect anything amazing but I will post the results if you all want.
Thank you for your time.


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without your permission.
We will send you an email with an invite soon.
At the #TOCcon Executive Roundtable in NYC. Discussion about reselling e-books and digital content with @Redigi's John Ossenmacher.
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Mitt Romney's criticism of President Obama's foreign policy has been unrelenting. The Republican presidential nominee has said Obama has let US dominance fall by the wayside, botched military withdrawals, let Iran move closer to nuclear capability, coddled China, and mishandled the Arab revolutions.
Obama, in turn, has suggested that Romney is a foreign policy novice who is posturing on Iran. Romney, he says, risks dragging a war-weary nation into another conflict, will sacrifice domestic programs to spend an extra and unneeded $2 trillion on defense, and will let a band of neoconservatives from the George W. Bush administration regain power.


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LANSING (WKZO) -- The Michigan House has approved legislation that will permit a new technique to retrieve new oil from old oilfields and at the same time get rid of the carbon wastes taken from the plants that burn coal and oil.
One of the bills was sponsored by Aric Nesbitt of Lawton.
WMU Geologist William Harrison says they are working with a federal grant to determine best practices for the carbon sequestration technique.
It's a very clever meshing of technologies that would allow the planet to use petroleum products and at the same time breathe less of the wastes they produce, and its being developed right here in Kalamazoo at WMU.
Dr. William Harrison director of the Michigan Geological Repository at WMU says it started with a Federal grant to find if they could take waste carbon dioxide that is scrubbed from the smoke produced at power plants and smelters and other industries and inject it into deep wells to get rid of it.
Their job was to find places deep under ground to store it. They hired a drilling firm out of Traverse City to try it.
Then a lightbulb went on.
What if they used it to flush oil out of old oil wells that have given up all they can by conventional means? It turns out that the liquefied carbon dioxide works perfectly.
Harrison says there is a lot of potential in Michigan alone to extract oil. They just concluded a two day conference on the technique for industry officials at WMU, to introduce them to the concept.
They know this because they have rock samples from most of the southern pinninsula that gives them a geological road map of the state, all stored in a warehouse near Stadium and U.S. 131.
He says their Traverse City drilling firm is already trying it out in oil wells they own. He says this makes a lot more sense from a financial point of view that would actually provide an incentive for firms to make use of this waste carbon. It also makes a ton of environmental sense.
The essential question of course is can it be done safely so that that it doesn't come back to haunt us later. Dr. Harrison says its far enough down that it won't cause any problems.
Environmental groups have questions about the technique, and claim the package of bills now headed to the State Senate is is loaded up with new tax breaks for oil firms and more authority to run pipelines over private lands that will contaminate the environment.


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Sometimes these lists are easy and sometimes they're more difficult. I actually couldn't help but wonder if we should list albums that we still consider our favorites, or the ones that, despite not being so greatin our minds now, were pretty influential once upon a time. Since I'm pretty sure it's not that interesting to talk about Fall Out Boy's Cork Tree or Three Days Grace's One-X (critically acclaimed they may be), so I'll settle for those albums that I can still enjoy (shamelessly) to this day.
- Max
The Bravery - The Bravery (2005)
It's 2005 and I'm lounging on a friends couch watching MTV2 or something while they talk to another friend about how Kanye West is probably his AWOL father because they're both so conceited (and honestly do kind of look alike). Suddenly a black and yellow domino appears on screen along with Sam Endicott and his motley crew (no no, not that Mötley Crüe, who was also making the rounds with a new album that year). It's the video for "An Honest Mistake" I ended up loving the song and video and eventually the album, so much so that it's here on this list tonight. And I think this is probably a little relevant, but I have to say that I was kind of torn when Sam Endicott and Brandon Flowers were having their strange little indie rock band feud. A HOUSE DIVIDED! Or at least… a Max divided.
Favorite Track: "Unconditional"
M.I.A. - Arular (2005)
I had heard of M.I.A. a few months before I listened to her music. But the big push that got me to pick up her CD was a portion of an interview with Alex Pappademas for Spin:
In England, Arulpragasam made a habit of trespassing in posh hotels and other places foreigners weren't exactly welcome. "Nobody was going to tell me what to do," she says. "It was like, 'Pssht, I've been shot at. What are you going to do, put a little fence around me?"
It wasn't much but somehow, at the time, that was one of the coolest things I'd ever read. A few spins of her album later and I was hooked.
Favorite Track: "10 Dollar"
Snow Patrol - Final Straw (2003)
Snow Patrol was an accessory to the crime of making me into an emo mess. I kind of think it might be a little underrated though since I've never met anyone my age who had an appreciation for the album. Side-note: now that I'm older, I wonder if the lyrics to "Run" have a double meaning…
Favorite Track: "Run"
Buck 65 - Man Overboard (2001)
I've written about my appreciation of Buck 65's craft before, so rather than rehash my feelings (or even expound on them…) I'll just link back to that post.
Favorite Track: "Secret Splendor"
Kleerup - Kleerup (2008)
Oh, sweet sweet Sweden. You guys have such great electronic musical talent. If you had asked me 10 years ago to list something about Sweden, I'd have said something silly like wooden shoes. But I'm older now and more mature and less… ridiculous (I mean, still a little ridiculous). Kleerup is another underrated artist who I really enjoyed listening to. His eponymous 2008 album is honestly the only thing by him I've listened to but it's still something I felt deserved a spot on my list.
Favorite Track: "Thank You For Nothing"
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)
Do I even really need to explain this one? It's just an amazing album and you need to listen to it. Constant repeat all through my Thanksgiving vacation in 2010… and my life.
Favorite Track: "Who Will Survive In America"
Daft Punk - Discovery (2001)
When I was about 12 years old, I saw the first for music videos for Daft Punk's anime electronica opera, Interstella 5555. I didn't know that it was part of a complete film and figured it was a short 4 part music video. I got the album later and loved it just as much as I did when I first heard it… and found Interstella in it's entirety. I give it… 5555 stars.
Favorite Track: "Harder, Better, Faster Stronger"
The Killers - Hot Fuss (2003)
Oh, The Killers. Maybe this is an unpopular opinion but I don't really care much for their last couple of albums, but Hot Fuss and Sam's Town were mind blowing and still hold up in my occasional listenings.
Favorite Track: "Smile Like You Mean It"
Hair - The Original Broadway Cast Recording (1968)
I don't know what possessed me to watch Hair (the movie, not the stage version) but oh man am I glad I did. It would be quite a few years later before I'd find a musical that I enjoyed as much as I did this one. Something about that final number ("The Flesh Failures, Let The Sunshine In") really got to me. Hopefully it can have that effect on one of you guys.
Favorite Track: "The Flesh Failures, Let The Sunshine In"
Brand New - Deja Entendu (2003)
Listen, Tumblr, I liked astronauts coming out of the ocean before it was cool. But really, Brand New had a great album back then. Helped to make a monumentally poopy summer feel a lot less poopy. And with no friends outside of school, the pain was one of those quiet things that no one ever knows. Sorry., that was crass. I hope you believe me, even if your tommy gun doesn't. Damn it.
Favorite Track: "Sic Transit Gloria… Glory Fades"
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Loved the Brand New part :)
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My wife and I just returned from our first trip to Quebec City and stayed at this Inn. Our experience was fantastic and we plan to stay there again. This little hotel modern though the building itself must be at least 300 years ago. It is located right in Old Quebec, across the street from the old Laval University Campus.... More
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- Also Known As:
- La Ripaille Quebec/Quebec City


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Stephen Morgan wrote a review of Chaco Flip Vibe Flip-Flop - Men's on July 3, 2013
My 1st Chaco's
Fit: True to size
Very happy with my purchase. These Chaco's run true to size and they fit just as they should. I'm anywhere from 9.5-10.5 so I ordered a 10. Perfect. Very comfy so far.


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NSDAR Project Patriot Update and Request from the National Chairman.
I was contacted by Fort Polk, Louisiana's 4th Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division Family Services Coordinator recently, and we have a great new short-term project to help our servicemembers!
The Brigade is currently in Afghanistan, and she has requested help in furnishing bedding for the single Soldiers of the Brigade so that upon return their first few nights back in the barracks they have new sheets, etc.!
Attached is a listing of the different units in the Brigade and their mailing address. To ensure equal coverage between the seven units, I assigned each NSDAR division (one has two divisions based on size) a unit. Please forward this to your States!! My contact at Fort Polk will let me know when they have enough bedding for the different units.
Chapters can include pillows, twin size sheets, and any other "welcome home" items they care to send. Be advised some Soldiers may not come home until December, so do not send any perishable goods. Remember that only about 10% of these Soldiers are women and I have annotated the units that have them on the attachment.
Please let me know if you have any issues or questions! If this goes well, we will see if other units need the same support.
Honoring our Heritage - Focusing on the Future - Celebrating America!