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Hi friends! How is everyone doing today?! I'm actually blogging from Louisville, Kentucky (my hometown!) because I'm back for the holidays! The company I work for actually opened an office here last summer, so I'm fortunate enough to have an office to work from here which is AWESOME because let's be honest I just can't focus when I work from home.
The very FIRST thing I want to do is announce my GIVEAWAY WINNER!!! So…
Congratulations to Chelsea (@crlutz_)!!!
Chelsea's New Year's Resolution is to complete a Whole 30 this January which is freakin' AWESOME! And run a 5K!! So you go, Glen Coco I hope you enjoy all the fun snacks!
But now.
I have a gift for the rest of you.
Because I'm going to share something that I don't think I've seen many – if any – bloggers share.
Yes…. I'm going to share how I edit my pics.
(Insert shocked face emoji here)
(Please sense my sarcasm here)
I used to think that bloggers were full of crap when they would say "SO many people asked me…" so maybe I've finally made it as a "blogger" or maybe you guys are just really curious but either way, legitimately a lot of people have asked me about how I edit my photos!
So let's just start by me saying I'm going to be 100% honest on how I edit my photos. I'm going to explain the apps I use, why I don't use Photoshop even though everybody says I should use Photoshop, and the exact equipment I use.
This is a LONG one so bear with me.
What I Use
Let's start with WHAT I use to take photos. Because I'm going to be honest – no matter how freakin' good you are on your iPhone, DSLR photos are going to look sharper and more professional than pics from a phone. Don't get me wrong, though – I'm definitely NOT saying a DSLR is necessary at all… especially if you aren't a blogger (sorry bloggers, I think you might need one!). But keep in mind that how you take and edit your photos is going to have the biggest impact on how they look over what you take them with – and I'll get way more into both of these topics later in this post.
If you're just not into learning how to use a DSLR, or you're looking for a phone that takes amazing pictures, the iPhone 7 Plus has a feature called "Portrait" that mimics the blurry background from a DSLR. The photo below was taken with an iPhone 7 Plus. I edited the photo, so keep that in mind, but you can see it looks more like a DSLR photo because of the bokeh (blurry background) that the portrait mode gives.
Personally, I don't use my iPhone for my blog (I have an iPhone 6S and the camera quality just isn't as good). But I do use my iPhone sometimes. I prefer my iPhone for pictures of cityscapes over my DSLR because it tends to pick up the "scene" better, whereas my DSLR is better for detail shots and close-ups. This photo below was taken with my iPhone. But it just goes to show that no matter what you use, as long as you know how to edit it right and use the right lighting, you can still take amazing pics!
(Not that I'm calling this amazing or anything, lol *brushes hair off shoulder*)
So I just wanted to prove by showing those photos that a DSLR is NOT (in my opinion) necessary, especially if you don't blog. And honestly, if you're just taking pictures of your friends and your dog (NOTHING wrong with this btw!!) a DSLR might be a little overkill. It's not like you're going to whip this out at the club or a dog park… you might look a little extreme.
Maybe you are a blogger or want to take better pictures or even become a photographer eventually. I would by lying if I said my DSLR doesn't make SUCH a huge difference. So let me explain what I use.
The body of my camera is a Canon Rebel T5. And I'm going to be completely honest and tell you I got this camera because it was cheap. But after a lot of use (and a ton of research) it's one of your best options for a DSLR beginner. Plus, the lens itself is going to make the biggest difference in your photos, so you can always start with an inexpensive camera body and invest a little extra in your lens.
I started off by using the lens that came with my camera kit, and it wasn't bad per se. It was good to use while I was learning how to use my camera. But I could still see a big difference between my pictures and other bloggers'. That's when I started really researching lenses and learned that the camera kit lenses are basically crap. So I invested in a Canon EF 35mm f2 IS and you guys… it's SO good. And it honestly makes a huge difference in my picture quality.
One of the biggest issues I had when I first purchased my DSLR was that all of my editing apps were on my phone, so it was SUCH a process to edit my photos. I would upload the pictures to my computer, then send them to myself via email, then edit them on my phone, send them BACK to myself via email, and then upload them to WordPress from my computer. Yes, I realize this is slightly insane.
(P.S. if you are curious about how to start a blog or what WordPress is, read this post from back in the day where I explained how to create a blog!)
Anyway, I looked into how to make this easier, and I purchased this adapter from Apple that allows me to upload my DSLR photos straight to my phone, basically saving my life. (Also, PSA to WordPress users: you can access your blog dashboard from your iPhone, and you can upload media straight from your phone, it's a HUGE timesaver.)
Ok so now that you know what I use to take my photos… Let's talk about how.
Natural Light is Your New BFF
You guys. I can't stress this enough. If you want to step up your picture game, turn your flash off and keep it off. Natural light is going to be your BEST FRIEND. I promise. I know everyone is addicted to the flash but once I get into how to brighten your pictures and add some contrast, you won't even miss it.
The best times to take pictures outdoors are during the "golden hours" or an hour after sunrise or an hour before sunset. This creates an actual glow in your photos that can't be recreated through any app.
Morning golden hour:
Evening golden hour:
If you have to shoot during the day, cloudy days will be best. Too much sun and your photos will look overexposed.
Let's look at an example.
Too much light:
Just right:
Worst-case scenario, find a spot under a shadow to keep the photo from looking overexposed.
Now For The Juicy Part… How I Edit Them!
There are 3 apps I swear by to edit my pics.
- Snapseed
- Facetune
Sidenote: these are all available on the app store, I apologize I'm not tech-savvy enough to create a link compatible with your phones but just search the name and it'll pop right up!
And before you judge me for using Facetune, I want to remind you that I'm just being 100% honest. Lol.
So now I'm going to walk you through editing this photo from beginning to end using these 3 apps:
But let's start with Facetune since we're already talking about it.
Facetune is the first app I use when I edit photos because I want to make sure I make these edits on the original photo BEFORE I apply any filters so that when I do add filters on top, the edits look more natural.
DISCLAIMER: If you download this, please do NOT go crazy with the smoothing feature on your face. It makes the photo look too over-edited and unnatural. Please. I beg you. We can all tell.
The best feature on this app (in my opinion) is definitely the Details feature. Any time I work with a brand and want to make sure their name sticks out on the product, I use the details feature overtop of the print to make it stick out more. But I mostly just use this feature to make an object stand out, like my champagne glass below, for example or details on fabric if it's a style photo.
It can even be used on eyes to bring out the brightness and make them really pop. Again, use this sparingly. Just a touch in the inner corners of the eyes will bring out the natural details. Any more than that and it'll look unnatural.
And I won't lie… I'll use the teeth whitening tool and VERY small amounts (like, one touch) of the smoother on any unflattering wrinkle areas (like in between my brows!). The Patch feature is also amazing to cover up pimples. Here's where I used the whitening on our teeth and a little smoothness between my brows:
Ok so once I highlight any details I want (and cough whiten my teeth cough), I move to Snapseed.
Snapseed is the absolute best out of these apps for brightening your photo (or increasing the exposure) because it brightens the foreground of the picture, whereas the exposure on VSCO tends to brighten the background. I use Snapseed for exposure, contrast, and sometimes I throw a little "Ambiance" on there.
Snapseed also has a new feature called White Balance, which helps take that orange glow out of photos that are taken indoors, if you're not around any natural light. This is MAJOR for indoor photos! I highly recommend. See how big of a difference it makes in this indoor pic?! It just takes out that unflattering orangey tone.
So now. Drumroll. For the best app basically EVER.
If you only want to download ONE of the apps, or you think all of this is just way too intense for your needs, VSCO is 100% my recommendation. They have hands-down the BEST filters (I never, ever use Instagram filters). So I'm going to get into a LOT of detail here.
A lot of the time (like, 75% of the time) I don't use Facetune & Snapseed first. Those I mostly use for the ONE photo I'm going to Instagram, because I want those to look super good. But most of the time, I skip straight to VSCO. I just honestly don't have time for all of that editing for every single pic.
Once I import the picture(s) I want to edit, I click on the two lines at the bottom to get to the editing tools. This is going to open up your filter options. I always put the filter on FIRST because it has a pretty big effect on how the photos look.
Ok. So now. Filters. This could be its own section but I'll try to keep it as brief as possible.
The basic filters that come with VSCO are good, but the best filters, in my opinion, are the packages for purchase. You can find them in the VSCO store in the app. They're pretty cheap (like, $2-3 and you have them forever) and they make a huge difference. Most of the packages have different "moods," so depending on what you want, they probably have a series that fits the mood you're looking for. My hands-down favorites are The Aesthetic Series (A4-A6) and The Minimalist Collection (A7-A10) because they are clean, crisp, and keep the picture true to itself so it doesn't look overly "filtered." Plus they're versatile. I can use the same filter on a style post as I can a food post (and I'll talk about why this is important later).
And you guys. A6 is my bae.
Yeah, I can't believe I just said that either.
I use A6 on the majority of my photos so I can keep my aesthetic consistent. I'm not saying it's the best filter or anything like that, but it's true to my style, which I love. Here's a little before & after the A6 filter is applied.
It's SO important to note that your filter should only enhance the photo and not overpower it. Kind of like good makeup.
So now that I can actually see the filtered photo, I go back into the tools to edit it a little more. Honestly, this just takes practice and playing around with your pictures until you find the right "mix."
I like to use exposure, contrast, sharpening, saturation, shadow save, and temperature. I know it sounds like a lot but once you play around with it, you'll see that you can make a big difference in the feel of the picture. Also – be careful with the saturation. I only use it to remove saturation, not to add it. It looks too intense. Stay far away from Clarity, too, because even though it can look cool in some cases, it mostly makes your photos look over-edited.
For this one below, I increased the exposure, decreased the saturation, and decreased the temperature. It gives off that cool, natural-light look which is super difficult to achieve with indoor photos.
FUN FACT: You can press down on your photo to see the "before" and "after" on this app!
Now. For cropping and repositioning. This is SO important.
I always wait to crop the photo until I see the final edit. I typically try to keep my photos in a square (Insta-Worthy, duh) but some photos just won't work this way. It's important to keep things centered OR purposely off-centered in two-thirds of the frame. It's just more visually appealing this way.
Let's get back to our example photo. I could crop it purposely off-center for Instagram:
Or I can crop it centered, but I will have to use a different ratio size:
I'm going to go ahead and crop this for Instagram as an example.
So now I would save this to my feed – and I would consider this one DONE!
But back to VSCO for JUST a second… There are a couple of more tools I want to talk about.
A personal pet-peeve of mine is also crooked photos. Using the Straighten feature on VSCO, you can manipulate the horizontal positioning of the photo. This was super important for my pics against this printed wall, because if the lines were crooked, it just doesn't look as good or professional. Straightening your photos just make them more appealing.
Likewise, sometimes you have to alter the perspective to get a better angle. This worked well for my picture in Heritage (which, by the way, was an iPhone pic!) because I was able to "move" the perspective like I was facing the door straight-on, and make it a more appealing picture. Again, this is one of the tools in the VSCO app.
So this is just how I edit my photos in VSCO, but the options are literally endless. I just recommend playing around with it, honestly, to figure out which style you like and which filters fit your aesthetic the best.
How To Get a Pretty Feed
Ok. So now you have pretty pictures. YAY!! But now what?
If you want to take your blog or Instagram to that next level, the next place you need to look is your feed. Because those first six photos are going to tell your story. I like to manipulate the perspective of the photo (like a photo from over top to a straight-on photo) and how close-up the photo is. For example, I wouldn't do three overtop photos of food in a row and then a picture of me standing in front of a door. I like to switch back and forth so it's more visually appealing.
It's also important to use the same (or similar) filters on the photos so it looks consistent. That's why I love the A6 filter because I post a little bit of everything, so it works for food photos, portraits, and everything in between.
So yeah. Consistency is key to create a pretty feed! I'm still working on it, and it takes some time! But it's just important to find your style and stick with it.
Here are a few examples of other bloggers with a super consistent aesthetic:
By the way… if you really care about your feed aesthetic, VSCO is also awesome for this. I like to keep my VSCO feed the same as my Instagram, so I can see before I post whether or not a picture would look good with the rest.
For example, in my feed above, I wouldn't want to post another picture of me in front of a red door above the last red door pic. That just wouldn't look right. Yes, I know it seems a little extreme, but I have definitely not posted a picture because it would mess up my feed or seems a little repetitive.
Ok. So there you have it.
That's honestly how I edit my photos.
Simple, right? LOL!
I promise once you figure out a flow, you can pick up the speed on editing. Oh – and about Photoshop – every blog site says you basically have to use Photoshop and/or Lightroom to succeed in life, so I realize this is something I will eventually have to learn, but it just seems so complicated and time-consuming. So if you know of any tutorials for Photoshop or Lightroom that are easy to follow, please share!
So tell me… did this help you learn how to edit your photos? Have you ever used these apps before? Do you have a favorite filter you just HAVE to use? Tell me everything! I'll be back on Thursday with a new coffee talk, and then next week I have a lot of fun topics to cover, and I'm even planning on sharing some Whole 30 meal ideas for the new year! I'll see you soon! Xo.


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Joshua 1:8 - This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
A Sure Guide
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119: 105
As Christian's we only need one source for our direction's in life and that is the word of God, its our compass for finding the sure pathway.
In the midst of many different ways to go, the written word of God, given to us by God, tells us the true way to go and how to get there.
If we follow that way, it will lead us home every time,no matter how far we may have strayed off course.
The Bible truly is a sure guide to an unsure world. Is it your guide ?
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subset: commoncrawl


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Design 1 of 31DC2013 – Red Nails
Even though these nails don't represent a complicated or time consuming design, they were still a success. It's not always easy to find the right combination of polishes to layer so that they look good and don't detract from the beauty of the individual polishes as well. But, if I don't say so myself, these two colors together were capable of transporting someone to another place…oh, maybe say from Kansas to Oz. LOL
The top layer sparkle made me think of Dorothy's ruby red slippers. Although I don't remember clicking my heels, I did stare at my fingertips for longer than is socially acceptable.
And a shot of the swatches of the two colors I used. The red cream is absolutely a dream and I am fond of a brighter tone than a classic red. I was very sad when Borghese stopped making nail polishes as I have been happy with the few I did get and loved their double brush.
Nubar: Prize (magenta base with scattered holographic glitter)
Inspiration Sources:
|courtesy of Chalkboard Nails
Till next time,


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Nail Polish isn't just made up of one specific thing. You have to see what individual thing(s) you're allergic to. Say you used a polish with formaldehyde, maybe you're allergic to that... there ar...
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Can You Polish Fake Fingernails With Regular Nail Polish?
Fake nails are designed to look as genuine as possible and usually mimic real nails in terms of shape, color and texture. As such, it is possible to paint fake nails just as you would real nails. Y...
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Can mansion polish be used to polish marble floors?
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with stainless steel polishwith stainless steel polish


text: On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 02:55:13PM +0100, Ralf Ertzinger wrote: > ....if you are willing to throw sufficient memory at it. That's not > criticism, by the way, just a statement of fact. I've been using > claws for years now, and I love it. It's better than it was but still a bit leaky. Alan


text:
Let me be honest here for a bit, today I feared for my life. You see here at work, a huge bulk storage chemical tank nearly exploded. And in my area! OH NOES! So I was called onto the front line where I was ready, in full on chemical suit, gloves, and protective face shield. Armed with only a sample bottle, I winced and prayed that upon opening this valve that I wouldn't be hit with highly pressurized, burning hot caustic.
Long story short, I lived to write this thrilling write up, and the above picture was the look on my face after returning back knowing that the tank would not erupt. :o.
As a reward, I was summoned downtown to go to archives and pull some paperwork. :I However, don't fret, I was joined for lunch at T.O.T. with J to celebrate her birthday a few days early. Happy birthday J!
PS. I had the Spicy Tuna Bowl with Side Salad and Miso Soup
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Population studies and epidemiology facilitate the discovery of genetic and environmental determinants of cancer and the development of new approaches to cancer control and prevention, therefore they play a central role in the creation of health policies. Cancer Epidemiology compiles areas of research which cover etiological factors or determinants that contribute to the development of cancer and describe the latest technologies in cancer epidemiology. In Volume 1, Host Susceptibility Factors, leading experts provide chapters on cancer incidence, prevalence, mortality and surveillance, methods, technologies and study design in cancer epidemiology as well as host susceptibility factors in cancer epidemiology. Although a non-standard volume of the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology(TM) series, this comprehensive text retains the commitment of the series to collecting the kind of detailed, up-to-date information and implementation advice that is crucial for getting optimal results. Cutting-edge and essential, Cancer Epidemiology allows readers to get the maximum advantage of the methods involved in this exciting and important field.
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Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Parts Parts Parts!
So, I.. am doing a bike lift. Here shortly I am going to be having a new look on my ride. Meaning, You will hopefully see me riding more often! I haven't been able to ride a whole lot lately because of school and work related things. But, work seems to have slowed down for a little bit (hopefully not for too long.. this sucka needs that money!) So I am going to be out and around pedalin around. I am going to be doing some filming for Jeremie for a project so I may have the camera out with me. So, if you are reading this... I will see you on my new bicicleta (thats spanish for bicycles FYI) soon! holler suckas! Oh and I attached a picture of what My bike is going to look like...
Posted by Nick at 2:02 PM No comments:
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Long time No Bloggy!!
Sooo, it's been quite a bit since I've posted on here.. Let me just start out by saying Tough. Get over it. This fool's been MADDDDD busy and haven't had time to do anything but work work and work... and go to school without having any homework done... therefore I've had to drop a class.. booooo just one more to take next semester before I'm done with my associates. In other news... wait.. who am I kidding.. I don't know any news! Well.. Shane came and left.. and so did Seth. Had an edit together for Shane but Have to switch the song now becuase the song was way to slow. I tried to tell Shane.. but oh well. Gimme a week and that madness will be posted. I'm hoping to go ride edmond tonight if it dries up to take a break from the long nights I've been puttin in with some editing stuff for Sidewall and well after I get done riding I will most likely be back to editing. Gotta have it done by Saturday.. It's close and the final product is looking good!
well... hmm... Can't think of much else.
Words of wisdom..
If you're still young... Enjoy it while you can. When you start gettin older life gets more busy... Thus leading to less bicycle time. Lame.
Stay Classy Oklahoma City.
Posted by Nick at 11:08 AM No comments:
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Where it all started
I remember the days of setting up a board propped up against an old tire in the gravel driveway.
We would start at the farthest end possible, and start pedaling. White knuckle, full throttle dead sailor for the feeling of getting air. One time I had a board and this plastic rubbermaid drawers that I stole from my room, leaving whatever was in it behind. I set it up on top of this hill we had, where below our driveway circled around the house. Think how sketchy; 1-a peice of plastic is the base of the ramp and could explode anytime and 2-since it was on the edge of the hill I was at least jumping 6ft to flat everytime. I finally got smart and moved the lip back so I was landing smoothly on the back side.
Next time you are bored riding, take it back a few steps to the basics. Keep it simple
Also check out www.digbmx.com, where a photo I took is featured on the Photo Daily, I'm pretty psyched.
Heres Little Matt keepin' in real.
Posted by OKbmx at 10:41 PM 1 comment:
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text: Skateboarding is a fun and rewarding sport, but also a good way to fuck yourself up. These two do just that. One will have to learn to jack off with his other arm and the other will be eating through a straw for the next month. Let the good times roll.


text:
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Dillard's Inc
Plaintiff: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Defendant: Dillard's Inc
Case Number: 4:2016mc00008
Filed: May 27, 2016
Court: Arkansas Eastern District Court
Office: Little Rock Office
Presiding Judge: D. P. Marshall
Nature of Suit: Other
Available Case Documents
The following documents for this case are available for you to view or download:
|Date Filed
|Document Text
|June 26, 2017
|ORDER: The Court directs the Clerk to close this case, No. 38 . Signed by Judge D. P. Marshall Jr. on 6/26/2017. (jak)
|June 7, 2017
|ORDER: The deadline for any motion for additional mailings has come and gone, and the questionnaire response period has ended. The Court assumes the EEOC is providing Dillard's with any recently received responses. If so, then the parties have complied with the Court's Orders, 18 , 35 , & 37 , and this matter is concluded. The Court will close the file unless a party seeks some relief before 6/23/2017. Signed by Judge D. P. Marshall Jr. on 6/7/2017. (jak)
|January 13, 2017
|ORDER: Second joint status report 36 noted and appreciated. Proposed questionnaire schedule, 36 at 2, approved and adopted. Proposed schedule for disclosure of responses, 36 at 3, approved and adopted. For now, things stay in the EEOC's capable hands. Dillard's lawyers are entitled to more information if the sampling hits a snag and full information when the process is done. Signed by Judge D. P. Marshall Jr. on 1/13/2017. (jak)
|August 22, 2016
|ORDER granting as modified the EEOC's application to enforce the subpoena, 1 . By 9/2/2016, Dillard's must produce the requested information, as limited by the parties' agreement at the hearing, about Dillard's Little Rock-based Executive Development Program that was compiled for Dr. Metzger's review. By 9/19/2016, Dillard's must produce the employee information, limited to black and mixed-race current and former employees at retail locations and they must further supplement its production on the Executive Development Program. If a second supplement on that Program is needed, it's due by 10/3/2016. By 10/3/2016, the EEOC must propose to Dillard's how best to make inquiry to current and former employe es to achieve a representative sample, while minimizing the likelihood of disruption to Dillard's business. By 10/3/2016 the EEOC must also propose to Dillard's the draft cover letter and questionnaire. The Court directs good faith collaboration on all these issues. Joint report on sample size and method, as well as on the draft cover letter and questionnaire due by 10/14/2016. Signed by Judge D. P. Marshall Jr. on 8/22/2016. (jak)
|June 7, 2016
|ORDER granting the EEOC's motion for an order to show case, 1 , why Dillard's Inc., should not have to comply with a subpoena duces tecum from the Commission. The Court requests a response from Dillard's to the EEOC's subpoena by 1 July 2016. Any reply from the EEOC is due by 13 July 2016. The Court orders a person authorized to speak for Dillard's to appear and explain why the company shouldn't be compelled by the Court to comply with the subpoena. The show-cause hearing will be held in courtroom B155, Richard Sheppard Arnold U.S. Courthouse, 500 West Capitol Avenue, Little Rock, Arkansas 72201, on 22 July 2016 at 9:00 a.m. If a party fails to appear at the hearing, the Court will consider imposing a sanction . The Court directs the U.S. Marshal to serve this Order on Dillard's Inc.'s registered agent for service, the Corporation Company, by certified mail as soon as practicable and file a return in due course. Signed by Judge D. P. Marshall Jr. on 6/7/2016. (jak)
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DakshinaChitra, ECR, Chennai is hosting two exhibitions during the month of May 2016 (Until May 31).
- Retrospective of Veera Santhanam – This exhibition features drawings and paintings of artist and social activist Veera Santhanam.
- Photo exhibition on Tribal Art Museum – Organized as a part of the museum day celebrations, this is a photo exhibition on tribal art museum – Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) and Janapadaloka (Karnataka).
Venue: DakshinaChitra, East Coast Road, Muttukadu, Chengelpet District, TN – 118.
Timings: 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. (Tuesday holiday)
For further details refer here.


text: Belmonte Hotel Quick Specs Rates $53-$83 View Large Interactive Map Address Via Sottotenente Saieva 4/10Favara, Sicily Island, Italy 92026 Web http://www.belmontehotel.com/ Phone + 39 0922-437146 Fax + 39 0922-437146 Toll-free Email firstname.lastname@example.com OverviewMeeting Specs Description Total Number of Rooms: 9Rates: $53-$83 GDS Hotel Reservation CodesSabre GDS: EN 402085 Belmonte Hotel Location & NeighborhoodIn Favara. Tourist. Belmonte Hotel Rates & PoliciesBelmonte Hotel rates are Daily in USDStandard: $53-$83 Credit Cards Are AcceptedReservations must be guaranteed with a credit cardMeals: Continental Plan Nearby AirportsFalcone e Borsellino (67.25 miles northwest)Birgi (76 miles northwest)Fontanarossa (77.75 miles east)More Airports » Belmonte Hotel Room AmenitiesBelmonte Hotel amenities are in All rooms unless noted otherwiseRooms for Non-smokersRefrigeratorInternet Access (Wireless) Guest ServicesLaundry RoomFree Onsite ParkingRoom ServiceCommon Area Internet Access (Wireless) Pet ServicesPets Allowed Belmonte Hotel Meeting Rooms & Events Hoteliers! Is your listing up to date? With over 130,000 hotels in our database, no other source compares to our depth of information. Click here to review and be sure the travel professional knows your hotel's latest details.


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Sunday, March 7, 2010
Fred and Ginger
Well, it is official we are raising little ballerinas. Sophia will be taking ballet and Fletcher is taking a dance sampler class where he will learn tap, ballet, and jazz. They are really really really excited. I cannot wait to see them spin and twirl. More pictures are yet to come!
Posted by Abby at 5:47 PM
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Below are instructions on setting up the equipment for a successful rollout of TrainHeroic:
WIFI is a must.
If your environment allows it, each athlete should have a smart phone so they can use their phone to login to their profile to view and log their workout and leaderboard each day.
We encourage you to have 1-2 shared devices (tablet or computer) as a catch-all for any athlete that doesn't have a phone (see Tablet and Computer below).
Big Screen TV
- Needs to be centrally located and visible to athletes while they're working out, TrainHeroic suggests mounting to a wall in the strength section of your facility
HDMI Cable or Google Chromecast
- This is to project the full screen leaderboard to your TV
- An HDMI cable should be attached from TV to your central computer and the Full Screen Leaderboard displayed
- Here are instructions for enabling Google Chromecast
- Download the Team Training App to each tablet
- Login to the app using your coach login credentials
- We recommend 1 tablet for every 6-8 athletes
- The Team Training App can be accessed from your coach account on any computer
- Login to the Team Training App using your coach login credentials
- We recommend 1 computer for every 6-8 athletes
Tablet mounts
- Mount to any rack, bench or in a case to be carried around the weight room
- We recommend this tablet mount
If you have questions about which equipment to use, please let us know.
You can email us at email@example.com or call us direct at 855-688-5438 ext. 1
We're standing by and happy to help.


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From: Jacquelyn Gonzales <email@example.com>
Date: Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 12:14 PM
Subject: URGENT: Cats Being Trapped and Taken to Pound by Neighbor After Their Owner Died - photos
Date: Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 12:14 PM
Subject: URGENT: Cats Being Trapped and Taken to Pound by Neighbor After Their Owner Died - photos
I am crossposting this email on behalf of Julia Pennington. There are a total of 8 cats that she needs help with. Three are tame and the rest are feral or semi-feral. Please read story below and if you can help, please contact Julia at the following email address: http://email@example.com
Thank you,
--- On Tue, 1/19/10, julia pennington <email@example.com> wrote:
--- On Tue, 1/19/10, julia pennington <email@example.com> wrote:
From: julia pennington <email@example.com>
Subject: Cat being trapped and taken to pound by neighbor after their owner died - photos
To: "julia pennington" <email@example.com>
Date: Tuesday, January 19, 2010, 8:10 PM
These cats were left with no one when their guardian died a few weeks a go. Now a disgruntled, cat hating neighbor has gotten a permit to begin trapping to "get rid of" them! Several people have been taking turns feeding while a plan was being worked out on how these kitties could be rescued and re-homed before the house was sold. However, now everything has become even more urgent. This same neighbor has also already expressed interest in buying the property where the cats are living feeling like she would get a good deal. So besides hating cats she clearly has another agenda as well.
Please help to save the lives of these kitties by networking to anyone who may can help. The first three seen here are starting to come close enough to the feeders to be touched! It is thought that they lived inside the house with the owner much of the time, but are now freaked out with her absence. If they could go to homes where they can be inside they most likely come around to trusting people.
The others seem to be feral. If anyone has a safe yard where they could be relocated please let us know ASAP. In addition to the ones shown here there are three others (one brown siamese, one blue grey and one grey and white) who were too camera shy to get a good image.
If you can help please contact us ASAP - http://firstname.lastname@example.com. The neighbor is planning to start her trapping to hurt these cats at the end of this week.


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Demand for Divisia Money in a Core Monetary Union (ICPSR 1179)
Published: Oct 6, 1998
Principal Investigator(s):
Katrin Wesche, Institut fuer Internationale Wirtschaftspolitik, Universitaet Bonn
Version V1
Proponents of an aggregation-theoretic approach to money demand argue that simple-sum measures do not capture the theoretical notion of money, especially for broad monetary aggregates. European monetary aggregation, which uses indices for monetary services, seems attractive because these indices can account for the imperfect substitutability between different currencies. This research applies the aggregation-theoretic framework to money holdings of European residents and compares the resulting index to simple-sum M3. The conclusion is that the Divisia index of European monetary services may provide additional insight into money demand during the period of transition to monetary union.
Export Citation:
Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage
Data Collection Notes
(1) The file submitted, SO97DP.KW, gives the contact information for the data and programs used in this article. (2) These data are part of ICPSR's Publication-Related Archive and are distributed exactly as they arrived from the data depositor. ICPSR has not checked or processed this material. Users should consult the investigator(s) if further information is desired.
Original Release Date
Version Date
These data are flagged as replication datasets and are distributed exactly as they arrived from the data depositor. ICPSR has not checked or processed this material. Users should consult the investigator(s) if further information is desired.
The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.
This study is provided by ICPSR. ICPSR provides leadership and training in data access, curation, and methods of analysis for a diverse and expanding social science research community.


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An international team of 56 researchers in five countries has confirmed a hypothesis first proposed by the ancient Greeks.
That different diseases are characterized by different "chemical signatures" identifiable in breath samples.
This was proven by the team led by Professor Hossam Haick of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering.
And Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute Haick and his team have developed the Na-Nose that can detect 17 different diseases including cancer from the breath and are developing Sniffphone for disease detection through a Smartphone.


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Sunday, November 30, 2014
Turkey Season for Women… Still?
Yeah, in Turkey – a NATO member and purportedly a secular nation – sexist President Recep Erdogan recently iterated his rather archaic, fundamentalist Sunni perspective on women in contemporary society, oddly at a women's conference. "'You cannot put women and men on an equal footing,' he told a meeting in Istanbul. 'It is against nature.' He also said feminists did not grasp the importance of motherhood in Islam… 'In the workplace, you cannot treat a man and a pregnant woman in the same way,' Mr Erdogan said, according to the Anadolu news agency.
"Women cannot do all the work done by men, he added, because it was against their 'delicate nature'… 'Our religion regards motherhood very highly,' he said. 'Feminists don't understand that, they reject motherhood.'… He said women needed equal respect rather than equality." BBC.com, November 24th. Sound right or like the rantings of leader of an out-of-touch primitive belief system, one that is shared not just by fundamentalist Muslims but religions and cultures the world over? Er… perhaps even here in the good old USA.
In the Western world, you'd think that between Britain's Margaret Thatcher and Germany's Angela Merkel, perhaps adding the general notion that former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is acknowledged as one of the frontrunners expected in the 2016 presidential, we have made a pretty clear statement about our values. But while John McCain's age was fairly downplayed in his presidential run, the comments from the GOP right – the same folks who supported McCain – believe that Ms. Clinton's age (younger than McCain when he ran) is too important to ignore. After all, they must believe, women wear age less gracefully than men? Getting steamed yet or comfortable with these notions?
Yet as the GOP sees former female corporate CEO's vying for major office – Meg Whitman (eBay and HP) in her failed attempt to win the California governorship and former HP CEO Carly Fiorina's announced "exploration" of a bid for the GOP presidential nod in 2016 – there still seems to be a hesitancy to accept leadership at the top from our conservative constituency. "American women hold 12 percent of governor's seats and make up 17 percent of Congress. If these numbers sound low, that's because they are: The United States ranks a stunning 85th in the world in women's parliamentary representation." Center for Women. OK, the recent elections have added a few more women to the mix, but the skew is still seriously out-of-whack.
The issue of equal pay for equal pay still makes the business headlines, and despite all the rhetoric, the matter is anything but resolved. Male executives argue that pregnancy leave and family priorities encumber women by choice, and that the skew of pay advantage comes from these social realities. Woman cry "BS!" and note that the glass ceiling and pay discrepancies apply regardless of marital status, having children or any other social "explanation" other than simple discrimination.
So let's look at the top of the food chain… at over-educated women from the best schools or who have elected to compete with more-than-comparable resumes in male-dominated bastions. Where brain-power is the value proposition, not brawn.
"Another day, it seems, another study about the gender gap in careers. [In mid-November], Gallup told us women are more pessimistic about the job market. New Bloomberg Businessweek data showed us that female MBAs reported an average of nearly $15,000 less in expected annual pay than men did. And research by a Canadian duo tells us the pay gap might have something to do with women working disproportionately for older men.
"Harvard Business School professor Robin Ely, Hunter College professor Pamela Stone and Colleen Ammerman, assistant director of the Gender Initiative at HBS, set out to examine what more than 25,000 male and female HBS graduates had to say about work, careers and family. In doing so, they found sharply different levels of career satisfaction for men and women, they found professional and familial expectations that were at odds with each other, and they found data that could help debunk some conventional myths about why the gender gap persists.
"To start, the study unearthed a statistically significant difference in how many men versus women were happy in their careers. For instance, 59 percent of the men said they found their work meaningful, compared with just 49 percent of women. Exactly half of the men in the study said they were in jobs with opportunities for career advancement, compared with just 41 percent of women…
"Sixty-one percent of the men, for example, said that when they graduated from HBS, they expected their careers to take precedence over their partner's — yet that turned out to be true for 70 percent of them instead. Meanwhile, just 25 percent of women said they expected to be in a traditional arrangement where their spouse's career came first. Thirty-nine percent, however, found that to be the reality… 78 percent of the men believed their spouse would be the primary caregiver in their marriage, and that actually turned out to be the case for 86 percent. For women, visions of equal parenting responsibilities quickly vanished, and even more women than expected became the one shouldering child care responsibilities.
"The study also was able to poke holes in some of the common theories about why the gender gap persists — such as the ideas that too many women "opt out" of the workforce after having families, or take breaks in their careers that cause them to fall behind. Neither issue turned out to be much of a factor for these ambitious, well-positioned women. Only 11 percent of the HBS alumnae surveyed were out of the workforce and caring for children full-time. (For women of color, the figure was even lower, at just 7 percent.)" Washington Post, November 19th.
The situation in the tech world, particularly the Silly-Con Valley, is notably worse: "Many tech companies readily admit that their workforces aren't as diverse as they could be — and that they're trying hard to fix the imbalance. To date, company demographics that skew heavily toward whites and men have received most of the attention. But as I've written before, there also exists a substantial gap in gender pay in Silicon Valley.
"The wage gap largely mirrors the national average; according to the American Association of University Women, female workers in the computer science field make 77 percent what their male peers do one year out of college. By comparison, Census data suggest that women make 78 percent of what men do, generally.
"But we're starting to get a better idea of specific differences between men and women's salaries at different tech companies. A recent survey of median salaries by Glassdoor suggests that at many Silicon Valley firms, men make thousands of dollars more than women every year. At Google, for instance, a male senior software engineer makes 19 percent more than his female counterpart." Washington Post, November 26th.
There are variable that justify some but hardly all of the discrepancies: "The numbers are heavily conditional on experience and the number of reports from either sex. There are big discrepancies between men and women in terms of years worked, even within the same job. The male senior software engineer at Google has, on average, nearly a decade of experience compared to just 7.6 years for women with the same title. Experience is likely one factor that helps drive up male wages relative to women.
"At the same time, however, where women demonstrate more experience than men, the wage gap doesn't substantially shift in favor of women like you might expect. For instance, female software engineers at Cisco largely have more work experience than their male counterparts — yet that isn't reflected in their salaries. A mid-level female engineer at the company with nearly a year and a half more experience makes just $162 more per year, according to Glassdoor's data." The Post.
We see that statistics all the time. But since we're not going to cut pay for male counterparts, and massive pay increases for women across the board probably isn't economically viable, what is the solution? First, there really does need to be an immediate adjustment where women workers are either equally or better qualified, and if the dollars aren't there, how about balancing the inequality with a few more stock options. Further, over time, as pay increases are implemented in future years, adding an equalizing bump until parity is achieved would seem to be a necessary evil. If the EEOC and other relevant governmental agencies can create statistical profiles on our biggest employers, failures to pursue equalizing compensation policies should become actionable without forcing women to alienate their bosses by filing actions. It just time to end this ancient anomaly and recognize brain and work power for what it really is.
I'm Peter Dekom, and it's time to look at people… as, well, people without gender biases.
Posted by UnshredAmerica at 9:26 PM No comments: Links to this post
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Hatred in the Heartland
It's really a black and white matter… er… maybe brown too. And it's part of the big unresolved issue left over from our Civil War in the middle of the 19th century. White traditionalists with strong rural values – heavily laced with the religiosity of farmers dependent on the Lord's largesse in weather and pest-avoidance – against regions with ethnically diverse and strong trading/manufacturing urban values. With open sores rubbed with alcohol and salt from the recent executive action on immigration reform, the rural heartland, powered by a lethargic urban turnout and a GOP triumph in the mid-term election, is furious and bent on crushing that surge of urban values. And despite the fact that we are a nation of immigrants, the modern line of acceptability to many is defined by a single word: white.
The conservative right is suing the president, threatening impeachment again, vowing to curtail not just his open challenge to the Republican House (and soon-to-be Congress) on immigration but the reaches of the GOP-despised Affordable Care Act as well. Tea Party stalwarts are mustering support to shut down the government in a blaze of resistance as the new Congress takes over. Time to reverse it all and get our way, sounds the chorus, and if we have to stop government in its tracks, default on national debt payments to do it, so what?!
White traditional power, based on unwavering fundamentalist Christian values, defines what it means to be an American, they cry, and we've got Congress and the vast majority of state legislatures and governors on our side. Gerrymandered districts in much of the South and Southwest, not even remotely subject to challenge until – perhaps and a big maybe since state legislatures still drawn the lines – well after the 2020 census results, have insured that urbanites and ethnic minorities (together the vast majority of voters) will remain marginalized and subjugated to that rural minority of traditionalists.
To these traditionalists, it is a matter of their very survival. Many incorrectly believe that the Second Amendment even gives them the right to bear arms against any threats to this assumption. Ugliness is compounding, anger is growing and democracy is dying in this explosive mix. And thus it is interesting to look at one of those extremely "white, rural, traditional" states, Alabama, to understand the depth of the hatred and fear.
Let's start with a statute that was passed three years ago. "When it was signed in 2011, Alabama's immigration law was considered the toughest in the country. It made it a crime for businesses to hire undocumented immigrants, required legal immigrants to carry documentation with them at all times and even had a 'show me your papers' provision, which allowed police to detain people during traffic stops for the purpose of checking their citizenship status.
"Not surprisingly, those measures, along with several others in the law, were met with anger by people not only in Alabama, but throughout the country. Legal challenges immediately followed, with the most powerful one coming from the Justice Department [arguing violations of the U.S. Constitution, including that such matters were relegated to the federal government and not states]. Now, after two years of negotiations, a federal district judge has upheld a settlement that was reached by federal authorities and the state that strikes down most of the law." ImmigrationDirect.com. Latinos have been a part of small town life all over the Deep South for quite a while now, but resentment at their presence continually boils over.
The law's intention was crudely obvious: "The goal, a sponsor said at the time, was to 'make their lives difficult and they will deport themselves.' In Albertville, [Alabama, for example,] many Latino families vanished… But the federal courts eventually rolled back many aspects of the law, and soon the immigrants were back, it seemed, in full force…" New York Times, November 21st.
And equally not surprisingly, small town Alabama reacted strongly negatively at President Obama's recent executive action: "[M]any whites said they felt stung by what they see as an audacious and unconstitutional move by a president that they never much cared for in the first place. Some worried that the action would trigger a new wave of illegal immigrants… Joey Hartline, a local [Albertville] contractor, called Mr. Obama's action an act of 'domestic terrorism.'… 'He needs to be arrested and tried for treason,' he said." NY Times. While Mr. Hartline's extreme statement doesn't represent all of Alabama, his sentiments seem to reflect an overwhelming consensus of that state's majority of conservative voters.
Indeed, if this fundamental schism that has not been resolved in the roughly 150 years since our Civil War ended is as great an emotional a divide as it as it has ever been, what chance does the United States have of holding together in the longer term? Whether it is the next Census or the one beyond that, sooner or later the gerrymandering that holds that white traditional values in power will erode and vaporize. Urban values and non-White "minorities" will inevitably control most state houses as well as Congress.
Given the seething emotion in rural communities – even cities in the South and Southwest that live by rural values – is there any way such traditionalists would remotely tolerate being relegated to out-voted conservative minority status? And as we look to severe challenges out in the international community – from the Islamic State to a malevolent and expansionist Russia – are they more serious threats to our national security than the big threat that looms within our own internal clash of values?
I'm Peter Dekom, and if we do not soon rally together and redefine what it means to be an American, that beautiful nation we cherish will perish into the lost memories of history.
Posted by UnshredAmerica at 10:36 PM No comments: Links to this post
Friday, November 28, 2014
Fighting the Islamic State
Back in the 1960s, Republic Senator Everett Dirksen, when looking at the federal budget back then, once quipped: "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon, you're talking about real money." In a war-torn era, there are monetary costs, political risks, health challenges and of course the numbers of human beings simply referred to as "casualties" – some are our own, some are not. And whenever despicable actions arise, from Hitler's genocide against Jews and gypsies to Turkish atrocities against Armenians or Stalin's pogroms, humanity has to decide whether or not to intervene. Increasingly, in the modern era, the United States has become embroiled in most, but hardly all (think: Rwanda's tribal struggles), of such larger-scale genocidal explosions.
The moral outrage, the beheading of innocent American journalists and humanitarians, and the instability acceleration in an area already challenged with conflicts that threaten to push the entire world into another massive war… al Baghdadi has declared the intention to expand his global Sunni "caliphate" across the Middle East and beyond, declaring Shiites, Jews, Christians and all Western "non-believers" unworthy of life itself. Less than human. Vermin to be eliminated. ISIS, ISIL, IS, the Islamic State – whatever you want to call it – also threatens each and every oil-producing nation in the region. Oil? Oh… again! By any measure, the Islamic State has got to go.
But having failed to establish a viable nation-state in Iraq and clearly failing to oust the Taliban in Afghanistan as we exit, the U.S. track record in the region is abysmal. Corrupt and relentlessly ungrateful regimes with zero loyalty to American interests cling to the tiny vestiges of control that remain to them in their beleaguered capitals. We put them there, established their form of government and sent our military and their bevy of well-armed contractors to fight on their behalf, losing thousands of American lives and spending trillions of dollars simply to fail, having destabilized the region like no other.
So now, pretty much every American's definition of extreme evil has reared its profoundly ugly head in Iraq and Syria, thriving in the rich terrorist soil that American efforts fertilized with their destabilizing regional military directives. We hate them. They hate us and have sworn to kill us wherever they can. They crave a direct regional conflict with "the Great Satan" (the U.S.), and if they don't get that wish, they are plotting and scheming on how to bring massive 9/11-like attacks to our shores.
So we have danced around "on-the-ground" involvement by adding "advisors" to one of the most corrupt, ineffective and ill-led armies on earth – the Iraqi military. As the few good Iraqi units around join forces with effective Kurdish fighters, signs of "a little progress" against IS is evident. U.S. air strikes – death angels relatively safely above the fray – support the assault on the Islamic State. NATO ally Turkey stands idly by, their President making inane speeches at feminist gatherings about the innate inequality of women in society, seemingly embracing that same Sunni extremism that defines IS.
So even at this nascent stage of our involvement in the war against the Islamic State (Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul wants a formal declaration of war), what is it costing and likely to cost in the immediate future… in hard dollars? There isn't a single line item in the request budget for this military response, but the November 25th Washington Post took a crack at aggregating the budgetary allocation requests:
"The Obama administration's request to Congress for an additional $5.6 billion is needed to begin paying for operations against the Islamic State for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1… The estimated cost to the Pentagon of fighting the Islamic State — put at about $8 million a day and rising — hardly gives the full picture… The Air Force, for example, is seeking an additional $1 billion in fiscal 2015 to meet operations, maintenance and personnel costs, according to a 34-page Nov. 10 letter from Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan to House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). The guided attack missiles and other bombs being used as air support for ground-based Iraqi forces will cost $70 million.
"The Army is also seeking another $1 billion to pay for its added operations, maintenance and personnel costs in the fight. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said Wednesday that the decision to reduce the Army's end strength from 490,000 to 450,000 by 2019 needs a second look. 'We made assumptions that we wouldn't go back into Iraq — and here we are back in Iraq,' he said at the Defense One Summit…
"The Islamic State package also includes $464 million for added intelligence capabilities, including data from satellites and other collection activities, plus $39 million in equipment for the Special Operations Command, including intelligence programs… The sum of $544 million in added Air Force procurement is listed for 'classified purposes.' Whether that is pass-through money for CIA or National Security Agency intercept operations is not indicated. Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. disclosed Friday that another $1 billion was being added to his overseas contingency request for the current fiscal year, an indication that it, too, was to meet spending in the fight against the Islamic State.
"Then there's the $1.6 billion for the Iraq train-and-equip fund, to pay for tens of thousands of rifles, machine guns, mortars, rocket launchers, body armor and other equipment… About $1.2 billion will go to the Iraqi army to help train and equip nine brigades, according to a Defense Comptroller paper sent to Congress this month… Some $353,871,161 is destined to equip three Kurdish peshmerga brigades, while a separate $24 million is to support Sunni tribal fighters in Anbar province battling the Islamic State." And so it begins. How do you spell "tip of the iceberg"? Really?
This is going to be a long rough ride caused by our stupid pursuit of wars over a decade ago we did not properly evaluate, in lands we did not understand, with schisms we did not appreciate. And by dribbling in the financing, we just might be prolonging this battle for a vastly longer period.
I'm Peter Dekom, and the United States has become the post-child for blowback and unintended consequences.
Posted by UnshredAmerica at 6:54 PM No comments: Links to this post
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Suffering Comes Naturally
You only have to read about the Eastern Front during World War II, where 70% of that conflict's casualties occurred or picture the austere life during the modern Soviet era to understand Russian tolerance levels for pain. Euphoria still resonates among the Russian people as President Vladimir Putin retook Crimea and challenges Ukraine on the control of the latter's eastern province. The notion of reuniting the once-great Soviet empire still sends wondrous chills down the backs of so many Russian "patriots." But life in Russia is getting downright miserable for the vast masses of Russian citizens.
It's been a double-whammy – plunging prices for fossil fuels coupled with the back-and-forth economic impacts of sanctions and Russian counter-sanctions based on near-universal condemnation of Russian aggression in Ukraine. The combined impact has been the crash of the rouble, a precipitous fall of 25-30% over the past few months. For ordinary Russians, the cost of common commodities, from fabrics to foodstuffs, has crushed their standard of living like no other.
Even as Russia has banned luxury (and other) imports from the EU nations imposing sanctions, Russian replacement goods are not as high in quality (but suppliers are taking advantage of the ability to charge higher prices), and many of the European standards have simply been transshipped to neighboring countries where they are "repackaged" as coming from acceptable exporters and then resold at even higher prices to Russian consumers. Prices at the grocery store have simply soared.
Further, Russian companies that have borrowed vast corporate sums in the international marketplace are forced to repay foreign-currency debt with vastly under-valued Russian roubles, a huge hit to the bottom line. Russian central bankers may offer some financial relief to these borrowers in the short term, but as time passes, even central bank reserves will be severely taxed.
Yet Russia is a nation rich in oil and gas resources, so doesn't that offset the pain? Nope! When you couple the rise in consumer prices for goods in general with a concomitant 30% fall in the price of a barrel of oil, the impact on the average Russian is devastating.
Why has the price of oil dropped? Consumers in a struggling European economy have cut back on their consumption of gas and gasoline, traveling less and holding home temperatures to slightly more uncomfortable levels. Add the economic slowdown in China, which has created a parallel reduction in the demand for oil and gas imports, and you've got a huge slack in demand. And remember when the United States was a huge net oil importer? Well, blend in U.S. development of new oil and gas resources, primarily due to the application of new fracking technologies, and the global markets for oil have dropped the price of a barrel of quality crude to well under $80/barrel.
Russians are used to hiding their expressions of anger against the government. For centuries, talking too loud about your masters has resulted in banishment, death, torture and/or prison. So while there is national pride at Putin's willingness to take on the rest of the world, sometimes it is hard to measure civilian sentiments on deprivation generated by government policies.
One has to believe that the euphoria is still real, but as more than one Russian and European economist has noted, the rise in prices and the decline of the Russian standard of living have just begun. The full impact of banking, insurance and other sanctions have yet to take hold, and these are simply expected to make the international import-export business that much more difficult.
With declining values to the rouble, the ability of Russians to invest overseas has declined proportionately. Worse, perhaps, is the fact that no sane Westerner is about to invest in new industries in Russia at this time, despite the currency exchange advantage. Putting assets in a country angry at your country of residence, looking at ways to create reverse sanctions, is not a smart play.
In the end, the Cold War appears to be back. Putin has announced that he expects to remain at the helm until 2024, and if this hubristic projection holds true, we are going to be dealing with this aggressive leader for the foreseeable future. Tensions between East and West are likely to remain bad and perhaps get worse. As Ukraine places the issue of joining NATO to their voters, Russia has declared that this is a red line that they would never accept. Russia is laying claim to much of the Arctic passage, challenging not only the United States, but Canada and Scandinavia as well (including Danish Greenland).
Will Putin be able to continue to blame the West for Russian misery? Will the Russian people buy into that blame game? And what exactly are the risks of escalating a miserable situation into much, much worse? How solid is Mr. Putin's hold on his people?
I'm Peter Dekom, asking nasty questions but hoping for a positive resolution in world with more than enough horrific distractions and challenges.
Posted by UnshredAmerica at 11:27 PM No comments: Links to this post
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Finding Fault
Think about it. What happened when the traditional local/network nightly news block spawned 24/7 news channels and parallel Websites for just about everybody who read the news on any form of television? There wasn't more news to report, only more time to fill. So what happens when the hour or two expands to well… all the time? Add blogging… like this one? Better reportage? Sometimes for some stories. But most of the time, filler began to dominate these mega-news-franchises. Opinions replaced coverage (they were great time fillers), often dominating the air time. Ratings began to be the driver, and words, stories and slant targeted generating eyeballs to enhance subscription and advertising revenues above all else. Whatever it takes.
And while a feel good story may be added now and then to fill the programming time or end "on a happy note," the hard fact remained: no one generated ratings by reporting nice stuff, but what really hit the gut was the evolution of the nasty. From Nancy "I'm wrong too often" Grace on CNN to virtually the entirety of Fox News to the loud-mouthed liberal screamers on MSNBC. Nasty was selling ads. Critics of every decision, every political statement, every rash and violent act now generated opinions and news staffs expanded the fodder that their endless programming demanded. I recall CNN running out of fodder and turning to reporting on the reporters covering the story.
Add to these "nattering nabobs of negativism" (okay, who remembers who said that?) a political system – once abused by Democrats when they held the catbird seat in politics, but now a GOP signature process – that thrives on decimating your opponent: gerrymandering. Republicans discovered the efficiency of redistricting to exclude opponents from the remotest shot of carry a legislative or congressional seat. Republicans found that they no longer needed to fear Democrats in so many elective offices. But politics is nasty and competitive, and GOP stalwarts now faced a surge of new candidates from their own party… and the battle to see how far right, how fiscally and socially conservative you can be, became the hallmark of elections in gerrymandered districts. Extremism was in. Compromise was toast.
With financing wide open from ultra-rich, ultra conservative billionaires thanks to "you may buy election issues" Citizens United, a new uncompromising force began to rise in elective offices across the land. Shut the government down! Impeach the president! Sue the president! Take no prisoners! Campaigns were now built on how strongly a politician could mount a nasty criticism of his or her opponent. Fox News was laughing all the way to the bank.
But a new trend arose. Generate an extreme opinion, call for Congressional investigations and special prosecutors, all at the very beginning of a breaking story. Enrage without the facts! Turn news into political criticisms to damage opponents as quickly as possible. Make up facts if necessary, since by the time the truth finally arises – if it ever does – the damage will already have been inflicted.
Remember in 2012 when a U.S. Ambassador and three of his fellow Foreign Service Officers were killed by terrorists in an attack in an obscure and exotic city in Libya: Benghazi. Then U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, speaking to the press on behalf of the Obama administration after some preliminary assessments by the CIA and others on the scene, suggested that a protest over a controversial American video (promoting an anti-Islam film) sparked the attacks. It turned out that she was wrong, dead wrong.
The GOP war machine flipped the full-on-attack switch, ripping Rice, the Obama administration and, most of all, potential future presidential candidate and then Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. Conspiracy, they cried. Intentionally deceiving the American people and covering up the truth, they asserted. Security was purposely held back, stated the neo-critics. Demands for immediate responsive testimony before GOP-led subcommittees were made. The Obama administration refused. Fox News was raking in ad dollars fanning the flames of "cover-up and deception." The GOP made the Benghazi incident a rallying cry for well over a year, even into the recent mid-term elections, although the story appeared to take on a "beating a dead horse" moniker.
Meanwhile, a bi-partisan, GOP-led congressional panel, 12 Republicans and 9 Democrats from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, slowly investigated what really happened. Shortly before the Thanksgiving holiday but well after the elections, they released their findings a little more than two years after the event. Aside from a criticism that the Consulate facilities were not well-secured, their release pretty much found no one really did anything wrong.
Here's how one of those traditional networks, NBC, reported the results (November 21st): "The Republican-led House Select Committee on Intelligence on [November 21st] released its report on the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and it found that the military and the Central Intelligence Agency responded appropriately during the attacks.
"The investigation, which took nearly two years and thousands of hours of work, found the CIA had 'ensured sufficient security' and 'bravely assisted' the night of attacks that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. The panel also found no intelligence failure prior to the attacks.
"The committee said bit found no evidence that the military was ordered to 'stand down' during the attacks in Benghazi, as some had claimed, and that 'appropriate U.S. personnel made reasonable tactical decisions that night.' It also found no evidence of similar claims that the CIA was involved in arms shipments or other unauthorized activities.
"The report did say that the initial narrative by the White House that the attack stemmed from a protest was not accurate, but it blamed that on contradictory intelligence assessments in the attack's aftermath rather than an effort to obscure the truth. The committee said it found 'no evidence that any officer present during the attacks was intimidated' to prevent them from addressing Congress or revealing what they witnessed."
Gee, I guess that means the Benghazi controversy – clearly targeting Hillary Clinton – has finally been settled. Not exactly. The dead horse seems to be quivering as the facts didn't turn out as planned. The inconvenient truth, even created under supervision of their own party, was not what they wanted to hear: "On [November 23rd], Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told CNN that the report – issued late [November 21st] by the Republican-led House Intelligence Committee – was 'a bunch of garbage.' Herenewed his call for a special joint House-Senate committee on Benghazi. Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah, who will be chairman of the oversight committee next year, has also suggested that he wants a hearing on embassy security in early 2015." New York Times, November 23rd.
So America is governed by people on both sides of aisle who love to seize on any events to blame their opponents with or without the facts. They are aided and abetted by 24/7 news outlets who need filler, controversy and anything to drive anger, which in turn generates ratings. The scene is exacerbated by Citizens United and gerrymandering. The sacrificial lambs are truth and quality governance. Instead, skewering, lying, false sloganeering and polarization are the deciders. What's wrong with this picture? Everything! It's a lesson in how to destroy a democracy.
I'm Peter Dekom, and unless we care enough to bring America back together, we are planting the seeds of our own destruction.
Posted by UnshredAmerica at 11:24 PM No comments: Links to this post
Monday, November 24, 2014
Made in the USA
You've heard the rhetoric. "Manufacturing jobs" are returning to America. Between robotics and global competition, what exactly is the reality of manufacturing in the United States? Sure, you can have greater control over quality. Absolutely, those long-distance shipping costs can be reduced. Yes, subtle cultural differences can be corrected. So are Americans regaining their past earning power? Quite the opposite.
If global wage rates for ordinary assembly and manufacturing are still significantly low, how do you take advantage of the above savings and still pay workers within the American wage-rate paradigm? When the automotive industry collapsed with two major bankruptcies – Chrysler and General Motors – union fringes and pay rates across the entire sector plunged as collective bargaining agreements were vitiated. That collapse of prevailing manufacturing pay has continued well into the present day. Simple fact, on any measurement whatsoever: folks who make stuff for the most part make a whole lot less than they have in recent years.
"Even as the White House and leaders on Capitol Hill and in Fortune 500 boardrooms all agree that expanding the country's manufacturing base is a key to prosperity, evidence is growing that the pay of many blue-collar jobs is shrinking to the point where they can no longer support a middle-class life.
"A new study by the National Employment Law Project [released on November 21st] reveals that many factory jobs nowadays pay far less than what workers in almost identical positions earned in the past.
"Perhaps even more significant, while the typical production job in the manufacturing sector paid more than the private sector average in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, that relationship flipped in 2007, and line work in factories now pays less than the typical private sector job. That gap has been widening — in 2013, production jobs paid an average of $19.29 an hour, compared with $20.13 for all private sector positions.
"Pressured by temporary hiring practices and a sharp decrease in salaries in the auto parts sector, real wages for manufacturing workers fell by 4.4 percent from 2003 to 2013, NELP researchers found, nearly three times the decline for workers as a whole." New York Times, November 21st.
But wait, there's more. Part of the job creation mythology is that American workers will be the primary beneficiaries of bringing manufacturing back to the United States. Unfortunately, sophisticated automated equipment and robotics have changed the landscape and actually contributed to the heavily skewed wealth polarization we face today. Capital equipment has replaced labor in a vast array of manufacturing, even stepping into arenas where robotics might not be anticipated.
"Home health care workers, food service workers, retail salespeople and custodians will account for nearly 1 million of the 2.4 million new, low-skill jobs expected to be added in the U.S. by 2017, according to a USA TODAY analysis of jobs data from Economic Modeling Specialists Intl. and CareerBuilder.
"But advances in technology mean such workers may be replaced by robots like HERB, the 'Home-Exploring Robot Butler' under development at Carnegie-Mellon [University]. HERB is learning to retrieve and deliver objects, prepare simple meals and empty a grocery bag." USAToday.com, October 24th.
We've seen the massive robotic assembly lines (pictured above) in Detroit, and we know all about 3D printing and nanotechnology. But as automation replaces workers engaged in hand assembly and servicing, the money that used to be paid to labor now is transferred to those who own the capital equipment. And the productivity gains do not go into wage gains; instead they increase the values paid to the owners of the new equipment.
As our access to reasonably-price education dwindles, as our public primary and secondary schools continue to fall in quality teaching, those who are forced back into the manufacturing sector may have jobs, but they are back to living from paycheck to paycheck with little or no hope of living the American middle class dream. Add contract employment and part time jobs to the mix, and the numbers only look good as raw unemployment data. We are witnessing a steep contraction of the middle class and middle class earning power. It's time to invest in the education, infrastructure and research that can once again accelerate American labor to the top of the food chain they once dominated.
I'm Peter Dekom, and I am amazed how we seem to be willing to cut tax rates for the tiny slice of wealthy at the top at the complete and total sacrifice of everyone else.
Posted by UnshredAmerica at 11:45 PM No comments: Links to this post
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Out of Control
noun \plü-ˈtä-krə-sē\
: government by the richest people
: a country that is ruled by the richest people
: a group of very rich people who have a lot of power
As Citizens United seems to have confirmed, we have shifted from even the hypocritical (read: gerrymandered and voter ID'd) "one person, one vote" to a more fundamental "one or more dollars, who cares about the vote" system of governance. As members of the House of Representatives face re-election every two years, to stay in office requires a massive commitment to fund-raising, some spending 90% of more of their working time seeking and (what's much, much worse) and pleasing campaign and SuperPac contributors. With Congress in session less than one third of the year, you can guess what is going on, not only when they are in session, but when they are back home shaking trees, bushes and lobbyists for money.
Votes for sale! Votes for sale! Special interests and well-funded donors-with-an-agenda, this is your time to buy the tax and regulatory structure of your dreams, to create a parallel legal system that exempts those at the very top of the economic food chain from those nasty, humdrum laws and taxes that plague the rest of us!! Votes for sale! Votes for sale! Oh, you cannot legally accept a campaign contribution with an expressed pledge to vote on a particular piece of legislation, but everyone knows the rules. If you don't vote in that obvious direction, you won't be getting funding… when you run again in two years.
How can we remotely claim to be a democracy when the way this country actually operates is as a classic plutocracy (the definition above is from Merriam Webster). I used the House of Representatives because this bi-annual election format invited this "legalized" form of corruption. But buying votes, decisions, official discretion, etc. are just normal at every nook and cranny of the political spectrum, from federal, state and local representatives. It happens every time there is an appointment to a regulatory body of a person who comes from the industry to be regulated.
That our laws permit this form of special-treatment-for-campaign-contributors/lobbyists does not make the results any less corrupting of our values or our system of governance. It may exempt us from the international opprobrium that attaches to countries where out-and-out bribes are simply "business as usual," but the corrupting results are precisely the same.
This rather disturbing application of untoward influence, which permeates both sides of the aisle, is absolutely everywhere. Take this little analysis from a recent NY Times piece (October 28th): "Attorneys general are now the object of aggressive pursuit by lobbyists and lawyers who use campaign contributions, personal appeals at lavish corporate-sponsored conferences and other means to push them to drop investigations, change policies, negotiate favorable settlements or pressure federal regulators, an investigation by The New York Times has found…
"When the executives who distribute 5-Hour Energy, the popular caffeinated drinks, learned that attorneys general in more than 30 states were investigating allegations of deceptive advertising — a serious financial threat to the company — they moved quickly to shut the investigations down, one state at a time… But success did not come in court or at a negotiating table.
"Instead, it came at the opulent Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel in California, with its panoramic ocean views, where more than a dozen state attorneys general had gathered last year for cocktails, dinners and fund-raisers organized by the Democratic Attorneys General Association. A lawyer for 5-Hour Energy roamed the event, setting her sights on Attorney General Chris Koster of Missouri, whose office was one of those investigating the company… 'My client just received notification that Missouri is on this,' the lawyer, Lori Kalani, told him.
"Ms. Kalani's firm, Dickstein Shapiro, had courted the attorney general at dinners and conferences and with thousands of dollars in campaign contributions. Mr. Koster told Ms. Kalani that he was unaware of the investigation, and he reached for his phone and called his office. By the end of the weekend, he had ordered his staff to pull out of the inquiry, a clear victory for 5-Hour Energy." We seem to have become a deeply corrupted nation, pretending legitimacy because our legal system has tons of winks and nods for the well-connected with dollar bills emanating from their every pore.
I'm Peter Dekom, and if the vast pool of lethargic Americans don't stand up and scream for a restoration of representative democracy in this once-great nation, we might as well put every public office up for bids… and at least use that money to pay off our deficit!
Posted by UnshredAmerica at 11:34 PM No comments: Links to this post
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Teutonic Values and European Lives
Markets crashed all around the globe. Some argued that six years of an ascending global stock market is about as much as a system can take without a normal cyclical adjustment. Others suggested that the years of adherence to programs of severe austerity – the German prescription for what ails Europe – have ground growth and hope into the ground, downgraded average European standards of living and contracted Europe as a marketplace for goods and services produced by the United States, China and other exporting nations. In part the percipient drop in the American markets were linked to instability in Ukraine and the Middle East, China's slight downward growth numbers but most significantly to Europe's apparent inching ever-so-close to another big recession.
Reputable economists are beginning to write off Europe as an economic survivor in the big reset. And while some believe that the worst is over for bailout-driven southern European players like Greece, others are suggesting that these "bottom of the ladder" economies are a very, very long way from anything that represents meaningful recovery. Absent additional bailout funds, the cost of borrowing for these lower-echelon countries is rising fast.
While tax collectors have clamped down in traditional southern European scofflaws, some of the wealthiest citizens are so well sheltered that they still laugh at efforts to tax their income or wealth. But tax avoidance is becoming an international pastime, with big companies playing that field with unbelievable success. Ireland has incurred global wrath as negotiating absurdly low corporate tax rates with mega-conglomerates and cooperated in creating a legal system that allows these big companies to repatriate earnings from their high-tax-rate home countries to inexpensive Ireland.
So much of American corporate profitability, for example, is locked into Ireland, avoiding almost all of the tax liability that should be imposed based on American operations. Corporations have become mobile and nimble in avoiding taxes and letting the workers in their home countries carry the tax burden.
In Europe, it has been the slashing of government budgets, laying off of massive numbers of government employees, hiking tax rates, pulling back on services to their people and halting infrastructure building/repair as well as any form of growth investment simply to adhere to austerity/ government debt limitations set by the European Union under German leadership. Since recession seems to be back on Europe's doorstep, there is rebellion in the ranks against this seemingly-failed Teutonic austerity program.
Financial leaders from Asia and Europe gathered for a conference in Milan on October 16th to drill down on these harsh realities that have shaken global markets to their core. With all of the factors discussed above pressing seem into the heart and soul of global stability, "The divisions between Europe's leaders, at a moment when unity would seem critical, is one reason the markets are rattled — as well as the fact that policy makers still have not found a tool to revive growth in the face of staggering public debt… The prospect of another European financial crisis can only bring an unwanted sense of discomfort for Washington and the rest of the world…" New York Times, October 16th.
That accumulation of debt still terrifies inflation-fearing Germans. Historically-driven, these fears have also led most German investors to favor savings accounts and annuities over investing in stocks, so they can tolerate recession but cannot accept any risk of hyper-inflation which they believe is a probable result of too much national debt. A stable and predictable currency is their holy grail. But so much of the rest of Europe simply rails at the lifestyle and growth restraints that follow from such programs of austerity.
"In past years, however, the eurozone nations buckled under to German demands to slash budget deficits and roll back public services, and then watched in dismay as unemployment rates shot into the double digits and growth collapsed. Now, France, Italy and the European Central Bank have coalesced into a bloc against Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, and they are insisting that Berlin change course.
"'We need to show that Europe is capable of investing in growth, and not only in rigor and austerity,' said the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, speaking to reporters outside the conference center after presiding over the opening of the meeting. He described the international financial situation as 'very delicate' and said Europe had still not earned the confidence of international markets… 'As the I.M.F. has said, we need to focus on growth,' he said, referring to the International Monetary Fund." NY Times.
While we are partially insulated from this spreading European malaise, the combination of other major issues, from ISIL to Ebola, from Ukraine to bubble fears in China, suggest that we are going to be impacted by Europe's inability to solve its own economic crisis. And for Americans, we are also going to have to address the eroding quality of new jobs (and pay), our plummeting educational performance ratings (which impacts our value-creating future jobs), the extreme cutbacks in government-funded research (Ebola, anyone?), student debt, unfunded state and local pensions and our inadequate and crumbling infrastructure.
If our government were to commit to addressing these inadequacies and making the necessary (job-creating)investments in our own future, we could smile with a bit more confidence, but we too may be done in by the under-analyzed long-term impacts of our own proclivity to cut budgets without looking at the consequences.
I'm Peter Dekom, and I find it puzzling why we cannot learn from the mistakes of others and have to learn everything the hard way.
Posted by UnshredAmerica at 10:49 PM No comments: Links to this post
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Sunday, June 22, 2008
Candidate Lass Joins 2nd Annual 'Giving Fest'
Rick Lass and several campaign supporters took a break from collecting signatures and $5 contributions to join in with community members at the 2nd Annual Festival of Giving at DeVargas Park today in Santa Fe.
The festival, sponsored by Spiritual Progressives and Warehouse21, tickled community members' "giving bones" by providing a venue for any and all to give and receive from a wide range of items and experiences.
Rick commented, "This is exactly the kind of thing that makes Northern New Mexico such a great place," Rick commented. "It's fun to see all the booths set up and NOT selling things, but giving things. It really makes you think about how small shifts in the way we do and think about our interacting with markets and each other could make big differences in the quality of our lives."
Rick added, "I was particularly excited to see how all the electrical power to the P.A. on the stage came from a solar powered generator unit provided by the New Mexico Solar Energy Association (pictured at right). That's an example of the future we could be building now, with available technology, to get us off of our costly dependence on fossil fuels and other non-renewable sources such as nuclear." The solar power kept the sound coming strong all afternoon, even during a period of dark clowds and brief rain.
Posted by Richard Lass for PRC Campaign Team at 10:12 PM


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My goals are making me feel amazing. Where as my goals in 2013 were really about improving myself, remembering who I was as a person before marriage and children, this year I want to embrace how much I love my life as it stands now, today, surrounded by so much love. Just writing these two sentences brought tears to my eyes. To love and be loved well—such a simple sentence with such profound impact on my life.
I've given Ninja six love notes so far. He has tucked them all inside his pillow. When I drew pictures he asked for words, when I wrote words he asked for pictures. After the second day he requested that he receive a note every day. During our thankful prayer at dinner he now adds that he is thankful for written love. That boy slays me with his appreciation.
Twinkle has also received six love notes. She told me they embarrass her. She asked me to go back to sneaking in her room at night, touching her mommy button (belly button, the space our bodies were once connected) and telling her the things she did that day that made me proud. As much as I love to write out my confessions of love, the point was to share my love in a meaningful way with the people I care for most. As such I am honoring her request and the mommy button talks have returned to our nightly routine.
I have stopped everything that I am doing, grabbed Dave with both arms, told him I love him and appreciate everything he does for me and for our family, topping it off with a kiss with the passion of a newlywed at least once a day. This has made me realize that I already was doing this every day, but mind-fully doing it means something else entirely.
As for our book, I am staying at the office during my lunch breaks for a while and using that hour to write. My goal is to have a draft completed by the end of February. I think it is totally possible, and the last time I opened the manuscript I didn't feel the urge to rewrite entire segments before I wrote something new, which felt like progress.
This year I am embracing love. The things I added back into life with my goals last year, the running four times a week and the reading every day, those get to stick around. But my goals focus on a new mindfulness word, Appreciation.


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Wednesday, May 23, 2007
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Damien appointed President and COO of Hitchiner Manufacturing
Tuesday, May 09, 2017
Milford, NH -- The Board of Directors of Hitchiner Manufacturing Co., Inc. ("Hitchiner" or the "Company"), has appointed Mark Damien to be its President & Chief Operating Officer.
Mark's responsibilities will include oversight of the company's recently launched lean initiative and the corporate controller, accounting staffs and systems for both US and Mexico operations. He will continue to play an active role in setting direction for technology development and implementation and in the creation of strategies to better position the Company.
"Since joining the Company as Chief Operating Officer in September of 2015, Mark has provided leadership for several initiatives that have improved yields and part quality, improved on time delivery performance, and created new business opportunities, which has resulted in two successful years for the company", said John H. Morison, III Chairman & CEO. "These efforts have resulted in a strong foundation on which to build for the future."
Hitchiner currently has 637 employees in Milford. Over the past decade, the Company's Milford operations have become one of the most environmentally balanced in the state. Hitchiner supports the automotive, aerospace and defense markets by working with companies like Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, General Motors Pratt&Whitney, Rolls Royce and Lockheed Martin.