text:
The opening of Tim Ho Wan in Manila in May 2014 was met with great enthusiasm by many Filipino diners. In fact, Filipinos were so enthusiastic for the brand that the looooong line of people waiting to be seated never failed to catch the attention of shoppers at SM Megamall, where the restaurant opened their first store...Read More
Monthly Archives January 2015
I've been a big fan of Aqua Mineral and their products simply because the Aqua Mineral products I've used have worked for me. Both the Mineral Soap and the Mud Soap have worked hand in hand in keeping my skin clean and smooth, but they're both at the bottom end of the range...Read More
"We love chicken" is an understatement.
We especially like to nom on our chickens during extra difficult days, with work weighing us down, or on days when we deserve to reward ourselves with the delightful dish that is chicken. There was even one shitty day when we downed one whole chicken… by ourselves… with a bottle of Mang Tomas… at a food court.
Such is the case of this chicken-lovin pair, that during the last working day for the seco...Read More
An inexpensive fix for a huge appetite? Years of dining experience under my belt (which can literally be proven by the layers of baby fat fighting for their place around my waist) has given me the insight that the best dish to eat to get full quickly is one that has soup in it. A popular choice would be ramen, most especially for Japanese cuisine fans, and in Manila, there is no shortage of Japanese restaurants...Read More
Who hasn't heard of DMC threads? Their threads and yarns were especially popular back in the 90s when everyone had their hands busy with cross-stitching and other craft projects. Nowadays, however, craft-making has become more rare, with other activities keeping us preoccupied and busy. This is why DMC has created an initiative called the DMC Handcrafted, a craft fair with the main objective of bringing back the interest and joy in crafting and creating.
The DMC Handcrafted craft fair is set t...Read More
At the end of every year, I make it a point to evaluate the year that was and see what new things I have accomplished for myself. In that moment, I find that despite all the strikingly painful moments that I won't be able to erase from my year's highlights, there were also equally beautiful moments to be thankful for...Read More


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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Without having to pack a single box, South Fulton residents like Robert Ammons have moved in and out of Atlanta this summer.
The resulting yo-yo — spurred by legal decisions — affects taxes and elections, what schools children go to, who picks up the trash and who responds when residents call 911.
In recent weeks, a Fulton County judge overturned Atlanta?셲 annexations of five South Fulton neighborhoods near Cascade Road.
Atlanta rushed to annex land in South Fulton over the summer, ahead of a November referendum to create the City of South Fulton from the remaining areas of unincorporated Fulton County. The annexations were approved by Atlanta?셲 city council, but some residents of the affected areas sued to void them. The court said annexations were not completed before the potential new boundaries of the City of South Fulton were formed. Additionally the court ruled that Atlanta did not leave enough time for required hearings and that the city did not properly verify all of the signatures of residents petitioning for annexation.
Atlanta had already started to provide city services to its new residents, but had to stop after a judge decided the annexations should not go through. Then, residents were pushed out of the city.
Now, while they are still waiting a final decision as to where they call home, residents in the annexed areas will get a chance to weigh in on a November referendum that would create the City of South Fulton ??even though they may end up being Atlanta residents.
The tug-of-war has an effect on the daily lives of residents.
Since Tabatha Bryant?셲 South Fulton home was annexed into the city in July, she said she?셲 had trouble getting the trash picked up.
Atlanta, which had started providing trash and police service July 1, is transitioning those responsibilities back to Fulton County.
Mayflor Mays, who was also annexed into Atlanta over the summer, said her oldest child was late to his first day of school because Fulton County had eliminated his pick up from the bus route.
She and others said the school systems agreed that students wouldn?셳 make the switch until next year.
And Ammons, who wants to be part of the City of South Fulton, said Atlanta taxes ?쏿re extremely too high.??/p>
Richard Barron, Fulton County?셲 director of elections and registration, said he has had to move residents in and out of Atlanta as annexations and lawsuits changed where people live.
?쏻hen you move people back and forth like that, you run the risk of an error,??he said.
In addition to the City of South Fulton vote, transportation taxes are on the line.
Residents will vote on a Fulton County sales tax of three-quarters of a penny to pay for transportation improvements. They will not cast their ballots on an Atlanta measure that would raise taxes to pay for MARTA, or for a separate Atlanta-specific tax for transportation.
Josh Belinfante, an attorney who represents those opposed to the annexations of the Cascade Business Corridor, Danforth Road, The Cottages at Cascade, Cascade Manor and Cascade Falls, said their time in Atlanta may just be ?쏿 blip.??Altogether, the annexations involve about 350 people and a business district.
But the blip has been frustrating for some.
Bryant, who has had problems getting her trash picked up, said she?셲 in favor of a City of South Fulton and thinks she should get a vote on what city she lives in. Schools have been another major issue.
In his ruling that put residents back in the unincorporated area, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Alford Dempsey said he took into account the uncertainty about whether schools in the annexed area would become a part of APS.
In his order, Dempsey said there were few issues more pressing.
Mays, whose mother filed suit, said she wanted her children to stay at their Fulton schools. So when she got a letter days before the first day of school telling her her children should report to APS, she panicked.
?쏧 was kind of freaking out and kind of crying,??she said.
The whole situation, she said, was ?쐉ust a mess.??/p>
?쏷here?셲 too much confusion,??said Camilla Moore, a South Fulton activist. ?쏣verybody?셲 still trying to adjust.??/p>


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The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold by Tim Moore
Tim Moore has become a popular travel writer, threatening Bill Bryson's mantel, taking on cycling routes that no-one else should tackle, but doing it with great spirit and writing about it with plenty of humour.
Tim Moore has become a popular travel writer, threatening Bill Bryson's mantel, taking on cycling routes that no-one else should tackle, but doing it with great spirit and writing about it with plenty of humour.
His latest venture is the 10,000km or so newly created (if not entirely finished) Iron Curtain cycling trail from Finnish Lapland to the Black Sea in Bulgaria. On a two-speed, slightly modified East German small-wheeled shopping bike not suitable for the road conditions.
Moore makes light of what might make other cyclists simply head for home, also effortlessly bringing in Russian and Finnish history and the demise of Communism as he struggles to find somewhere to buy basics, such as food to keep him going, particularly on an inappropriate bicycle.
Great company for a trip that even keen cycling Dads won't be keen to make themselves. Although it might make cycling to work seem a little easier.
Five Lose Dad in the Garden Centre
The latest in the spoof Enid Blyton series, George, Dick, Anne, Julian and Timmy are keen to show Uncle Quentin what a jolly good chap he is, so they decide to take to the local garden centre to chose a new garden shed in which to conduct his experiments.
Five Lose Dad in the Garden Centre
The latest in the spoof Enid Blyton series, George, Dick, Anne, Julian and Timmy are keen to show Uncle Quentin what a jolly good chap he is, so they decide to take to the local garden centre to chose a new garden shed in which to conduct his experiments.
But what promised to be a relaxed outing turns into a nightmare when Quentin disappears into thin air. He surely cannot have gone far ...
Visions of Numberland by Alex Bellos
There was a bit of a storm of colouring books for adults in recent years, but we'd really like to recommend this one because it is devilishly clever and genuinely eye-opening. It's all about understanding the beauty of maths and we think it's a proper work of art.
There was a bit of a storm of colouring books for adults in recent years, but we'd really like to recommend this one because it is devilishly clever and genuinely eye-opening. It's all about understanding the beauty of maths and we think it's a proper work of art.
What does a sphere look like in four dimensions? How can a knight on a chessboard visit every square? And can a five-sided tile cover an infinite floor? 'Visions of Numberland' unlocks the world's greatest mathematical mysteries, with 60 patterns to colour in and 10 more that you can create from scratch. And with friendly explanations next to each pattern, you not only colour, but unlock the secrets of an aspect of maths – although you don't need to know any maths to do the colouring. Really different and inspired.
Worth Dying For by Tim Marshall
From the author of 'Prisoners of Geography' comes another fascinating book looking at the countries in our world through the prism of their flags.
When you see your nation's flag fluttering in the breeze, what do you feel? For thousands of years flags have represented our hopes and dreams. We wave them, we march under them. Sometimes we burn them, and some have died for them.
Flags fly at the UN, on the Arab street, from front porches in Texas to half-mast over government buildings when terror and disaster strike. They represent the politics of high power as well as the politics of the mob.; From the renewed sense of nationalism in China, to troubled identities in Europe and the USA, to the terrifying rise of Islamic State, the world is a confusing place right now and we need to understand the symbols, old and new, that people are rallying round. In nine chapters (covering the USA, UK, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America, international flags and flags of terror), Tim Marshall draws on more than twenty-five years of global reporting experience to reveal the histories, the power and the politics of the symbols that unite us - and divide us.
M: Maxwell Knight, MI5's Greatest Spymaster by Henry Hemming
Maxwell Knight was a paradox. A jazz obsessive and nature enthusiast (he is the author of the definitive work on how to look after a gorilla), he is seen today as one of MI5's greatest spymasters, a man who did more than any other to break up British fascism during the Second World War - in spite of having once belonged to the British Fascisti himself. He was known to his agents and colleagues simply as M, and was rumoured to be part of the inspiration for the character M in the James Bond series. Knight became a legendary spymaster despite an almost total lack of qualifications.
What set him apart from his peers was a mercurial ability to transform almost anyone into a fearless secret agent. He was the first in MI5 to grasp the potential of training female agents. M is about more than just one man however.
In its pages, Hemming reveals for the first time in print the names and stories of seven men and women recruited by Knight, on behalf of MI5, and then asked to infiltrate the most dangerous political organizations in Britain at that time. Until now, their identities have been kept secret outside MI5. Drawn from every walk of life, they led double lives-often at great personal cost-in order to protect the country they loved.
Following On: A Memoir of Teenage Obsession and Terrible Cricket by Emma John
This was a huge hit in the shop when it came out in hardback before Christmas. Cricket memories are ten a penny (and plenty get published ahead of Father's Day) but Emma John's painfully funny, original revisiting of her teenage cricket obsession is a modern-day classic, and - coincidentally - shines a light on modern sport, its pressures and the fan experience. Funny, honest and charmingly different.
Island Home by Tim Winton
From his childhood, Tim Winton's relationship with the landscape around him - Australia's swamps and bush, rockpools, seacaves and scrub - has been as vital as any other connection. Whether camping in hidden inlets, walking in the high rocky desert fringe, or diving at Ningaloo Reef, Winton has felt the place seep into him - its rhythms, its dangers, its strange sustenance. Island Home is the story of how that relationship with the landscape came to be.
Charged with love for the huge, besieging force of Australia's wild spaces, this book is a passionate call for their conservation, a memoir that urges us all to feel the ground beneath our feet
Himself by Jess Kidd
An entertaining and accomplished debut, and a fantastic twist on the whole "I see dead people" story archetype. It's part murder-mystery, part family secrets-laden Irish saga. Very very original with a beguiling array of characters - and you'll be unable to resist the charms of Mahony and his quest.
In 1950, a teenage girl is brutally murdered in a forest. But, somehow, her baby survives.
In 1976, a mysterious and charming young man returns to the remote coastal village of Mulderrig, seeking answers about the mother who, it was said, had abandoned him on the steps of a Dublin orphanage. With the help of its oldest and most eccentric inhabitant, he will force the village to give up its ghosts. In fact, some of the ghosts might give him a hand.
A brilliant debut by an exciting new voice in contemporary fiction - highly recommended.
Resolution by AN Wilson
AN Wilson's powerful new novel explores the life and times of one of the greatest British explorers, Captain Cook, and the golden age of Britain's period of expansion and exploration.
Wilson's protagonist, witness to Cook's brilliance and wisdom, is George Forster, who travelled with Cook as botanist on board the HMS Resolution, on Cook's second expedition to the southern hemisphere, and penned a famous account of the journey. Resolution moves back and forth across time, to depict Forster's time with Cook, and his extraordinary later life, which ended with his death in Paris, during the French Revolution. Wilson once again demonstrates his great powers as a master craftsman of the historical and the human in this richly evoked novel, which brings to life the real and the extraordinary, brilliantly drawing together a remarkable cast of characters in order to look at human endeavour, ingenuity and valour.
The Boy on the Bridge by MR Carey
The companion to one of Julia's favourite books, 'The Girl with all the Gifts', this book returns to a destroyed Britain, where Hungries roam looking for food. It follows a set of soldiers and scientists and a clever boy that people thought would save them all, as they open the gates of their community and go into the world of monsters.
A book that raises discussions about hope for the future: whether it's to be found in doggedly preserving what we have or in accepting change and development, even at the cost of enormous loss, and letting something new and different be born. That's the choice that, in different ways, the characters in 'The Boy on the Bridge' all face and again is a theme that resonates with classic SF in many respects.
I Hate The Internet by Jarett Kobek
This won't be everyone's taste, but if a grotesque, blackly-humorous satire on everything that is wrong about the Internet - from Facebook election ads to social media trolling - sounds like Dad's kind of book, then this brilliant debut by Turkish-American writer Jarett Kobek might fit the bill.
Ostensibly about Adeline - an artist who uses outrage to fuel sales - it's really a polemic about the nature of art and who benefits from the tons of free content we put out there for the giant corporations to monetize. Bit too near the knuckle...
Uncle Dysfunctional by AA Gill
The silver lining to AA Gill's untimely loss earlier this year has been some fantastic collections of his writing and journalism, and 'Uncle Dysfunctional' is a collection of his ham-fisted, un-PC yet surprisingly refreshing observations as advice columnist in 'Esquire' magazine. The response to Alex, who asks "I haven't read a book since I left uni in 1994, am I missing out?" is one of the most brilliant pieces of sustained writing about the nature of life and books that you could ever hope to read...
Alfie and Dad by Shirley Hughes
Join Alfie and Dad as they spend time together in this wonderful collection of stories from the award-winning Shirley Hughes. Alfie's dad is always there for Alfie and Annie Rose. He's there to reassure Alfie during a restless night; he's there to find Alfie's favourite toy Flumbo when he gets left on the bus; and most of all he loves spending time with his children and they love spending time with him! This book celebrates that special relationship between children and their dads.
Daddy's Sandwich by Pip Jones & Laura Hughes
If your youngest are planning to surprise Dad by making him a tasty treat on Father's Day, don't give them this book to get any ideas – at least not unless you feel that putting all Dad's favourite things in a sandwich (including his slippers) is a good idea. Simple, fun story with cute illustrations make this an irresistible book for sharing (much more appealing than a Daddy's Sandwich.
If your youngest are planning to surprise Dad by making him a tasty treat on Father's Day, don't give them this book to get any ideas – at least not unless you feel that putting all Dad's favourite things in a sandwich (including his slippers) is a good idea. Simple, fun story with cute illustrations make this an irresistible book for sharing (much more appealing than a Daddy's Sandwich.


text:
Getting Started
There is a great deal to get done in order to be ready for election day. While it seems far away, right now we are working on a web page, literature and letterhead. We need your help today to be ready for tomorrow.
Paid for by ActBlue (actblue.com) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
Contributions or gifts to ActBlue are not deductible as charitable contributions for Federal income tax purposes.


text:
St. Petersburg Injuries Involving Paralysis Attorney
If you or a loved one has been paralyzed due to the negligence of another person, St. Petersburg lawyer J. Stanford Morse, P.A. can help you get the settlement you deserve. Paralysis causes all sorts of inconveniences to the individual and their family, not to mention the dent it puts in your bank account.
The most common causes injuries involving paralysis are:
- auto accidents
- motorcycle accidents
- slips and falls
- violent crimes
All of these causes of paralysis entitle victims to monetary compensation for any and all damages and expenses.
Here at the Law Offices of J. Stanford Morse, we care very much about the people who've sustained injuries involving paralysis. As a St. Petersburg lawyer, we understand the stress and pain it causes for families, and we will do everything in our power to get you the settlement you deserve. Give us a call today for a free consultation!


text:
He was a member of the Objectivist group of poets. He was a friend of Whittaker Chambers.
about the Objectivists:
What was the nature of the "Objectivist" experiment, as represented by Zukofsky's selection for Poetry, a selection that included, aside from the obvious names (Basil Bunting, George Oppen, Carl Rakosi, Charles Reznikoff, Zukofsky himself), Robert McAlmon and Kenneth Rexroth, Whittaker Chambers and Henry Zolinsky, John Wheelright and Martha Champion? And in what sense was the work of these poets a departure from that of the "once-revolutionary imagists"? Williams, for one, seems to have been skeptical, even though Zukofsky's "Objectivists" Anthology of the following year contains a large selection of his own poems. "Your early poems," he told Zukofsky in a letter of 1928, "even when the thought has enough force or freshness, have not been objectivized in new or fresh observations. But if it is the music, even that is not inventive enough to make up for images which give an overwhelming effect of triteness. . . . The language is stilted 'poetic' except in the places I marked. Eyes have always stood first in the poet's equipment. If you are mostly ear--a newer rhythm must come in more strongly than has been the case so far."Two of Zolinsky's poems:
The Objectivist poets were a loose-knit group of second-generation Modernists who emerged in the 1930s. They were mainly American and were influenced by, amongst others, Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams. The basic tenets of Objectivist poetics as defined by Louis Zukofsky were to treat the poem as an object, and to emphasize sincerity, intelligence, and the poet's ability to look clearly at the world. Note that while the name is similar to Ayn Rand's school of philosophy, the two movements are not affiliated, and are, in fact, radically different.
Will Power
By Henry Saul Zolinsky
I WOULD rather grind my teeth to powder,
I would rather tread barefoot on thin, sharp stones,
I would rather let the blood of my veins freeze to red ice,
And the muscles of my legs stiffen to cold stone,
Than be drawn by the warm breath
Of transient things.
I would rather—
But … yet …
I am being drawn … I am being drawn …
By Henry Saul Zolinsky
IT is
The hush that falls
When screaming chords, drawn taut,
Break with a sudden snap!—and then


text:
SUNDERLAND head coach Dick Advocaat does not care what relegation rivals Newcastle, Leicester and Hull do as the quartet attempt to dig themselves out of trouble.
The current Barclays Premier League table suggests those four clubs will be battling over the remaining weeks of the season to avoid being the team which join Burnley and QPR – who are in even greater danger – in next season's Sky Bet Championship.
The Black Cats are currently in the bottom three, but just a point behind Hull and Leicester – who visit the Stadium of Light next weekend – and two shy of the Magpies. But former Rangers manager Advocaat, whose side have a game in hand on the others – albeit away at Arsenal ahead of a final day trip to Chelsea – has challenged his players to keep their fate in their own hands as they head for Everton today.
The 67-year-old Dutchman said: "I don't care at all. I only care about our club. I don't care about Newcastle or Hull or whatever. We have to do it by ourselves and not look too much to other teams. We have to do it on the pitch and show them what we want.
"That's the most important thing – but everybody is counting only the first two games. They are important, but we still have two games to play against Arsenal and Chelsea as well. Everybody is counting those already as nothing, and I don't see why."
There were anxious eyes cast towards television screens on Wearside, Tyneside and in the East Midlands on Monday night as Hull hosted Arsenal and lost 3-1, but it proved of only passing interest to Advocaat.
He said: "I take an interest, of course, but we have to do it by ourselves. I'd be lying if I said I was not happy with the result on Monday so in that way, it was good for us. But we also still have some very important games at the end, so let's wait and see. The most important game now is against Everton."
Advocaat will be without skipper John O'Shea on Merseyside who sits out with a rib problem, while Jack Rodwell has succumbed to a hamstring strain. But Scotland striker Steven Fletcher is back in contention following his ankle injury, and defender Wes Brown makes a timely return to the squad after damaging a knee back in March.
The KC Stadium hosts another crucial clash as Hull meet bottom side Burnley, who will be relegated back to the Championship if they fail to win today.
Hull have their own survival concerns, but boss Steve Bruce is convinced Nikica Jelavic can return to save his side from the drop.
Bruce insists Hull would not have faced such a nervous end to the campaign had the former Rangers striker – their leading scorer with eight goals – not been laid low with a knee injury for long periods.
Jelavic was on the bench for Monday night's home defeat by Arsenal and Bruce faces the "awkward and horrible" decision of whether to risk him from the start against the Clarets. Bruce said: "It's a decision I've got to take and I hope I pick the right one.
"It's typical of Jelavic – he's had two operations on his knee but he was determined to play a part in the run-in so he has made himself available and gives us another option.
"Our problems this season coincided with the loss of Jelavic. He came in and scored eight goals in 15 games and if he hadn't been injured I don't think we'd have been in the problems we are in."
Jelavic could start in place of another ex-Ibrox man, Sone Aluko, who was ineffective in the loss to Arsenal which left the Tigers teetering one point above the drop zone and ended a run of two straight wins. Former Dundee United full-back Andy Robertson and David Meyler are also pushing to start.
Leicester, who face Southampton at the King Power Stadium, are level on 34 points with Hull following a run of five wins in six matches which have lifted the Foxes out of the relegation zone and earned Nigel Pearson the Manager of the Month award for April.
Two places and one point separate the East Midlands side from the bottom three and Pearson is unsure what it will take from the remaining three games to ensure his team stay up. "Things change very quickly," he said. "We have to make sure that we really do just try and take care of our own results. It helps when things go your way elsewhere but you can't bank on that.
"Although we beat Newcastle last weekend, they are still one point above us. The margins are exceptionally fine. It could come down to goal difference. Given who we have to play in our final two matches [Sunderland and QPR], I'm not sure one more win and 37 points would be enough. Who knows what the margins will be, but we've got to try to give ourselves every possible chance."
Newcastle will attempt to drag themselves out of trouble when they meet West Brom at St James' Park today having gone into the weekend sitting just two points clear of the drop zone after a run of eight successive defeats.
Their form, coupled with a growing tide of pessimism surrounding the club after last weekend's damaging 3-0 reverse at Leicester, has catapulted them into the thick of a survival scrap. However, beleaguered head coach John Carver insists he and his players also have to concentrate on what they can affect.
He said: "We're in a position where we can affect what happens. It's in our hands. We're not in the bottom three as it stands and there are three games left.
"I can't afford – and neither can the players – to worry about what everybody else is doing. I didn't even watch Hull's game against Arsenal the other night because I can't affect that."
Second-bottom QPR visit Manchester City tomorrow and they could be down by the time they take the field at the Etihad in the unlikely event all four catchable sides win today, while their fate will be sealed if they lose to Manuel Pellegrini's side.


text:
First visit here!
I recently installed this tubes on my Audionote UK Kegons.
I was using western electric for 10 years. And I still have a brand new quad sitting in its box.
My question is:
My Kegons sound better by far after being continuously ON for 2 days. I usually turn them ON on Friday morning and off Sunday night.
Western Electric didn;t sound to bother being ON for 3 days.
Will it be a problem for EML? I just finished with the run in period. Leaving the amp ON no more than 4 hours every time, as the manual suggests. And I need to know if the tubes shall be safe and sound good if staying ON continuously for 3 days.
Anyone with experience on this??


text:
Journal of Obesity
Volume 2012, Article ID 740519, 8 pages
Financial Motivation Undermines Maintenance in an Intensive Diet and Activity Intervention
1Department of Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
2Epidemiology and Biostatistics Division, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA
Received 5 November 2011; Revised 20 January 2012; Accepted 30 January 2012
Academic Editor: Geoffrey C. Williams
Copyright © 2012 Arlen C. Moller et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Financial incentives are widely used in health behavior interventions. However, self-determination theory posits that emphasizing financial incentives can have negative consequences if experienced as controlling. Feeling controlled into performing a behavior tends to reduce enjoyment and undermine maintenance after financial contingencies are removed (the undermining effect). We assessed participants' context-specific financial motivation to participate in the Make Better Choices trial—a trial testing four different strategies for improving four health risk behaviors: low fruit and vegetable intake, high saturated fat intake, low physical activity, and high sedentary screen time. The primary outcome was overall healthy lifestyle change; weight loss was a secondary outcome. Financial incentives were contingent upon meeting behavior goals for 3 weeks and became contingent upon merely providing data during the 4.5-month maintenance period. Financial motivation for participation was assessed at baseline using a 7-item scale (). Across conditions, a main effect of financial motivation predicted a steeper rate of weight regained during the maintenance period, , . Furthermore, financial motivation and gender interacted significantly in predicting maintenance of healthy diet and activity changes, , , such that financial motivation had a more deleterious influence among men. Implications for practice and future research on incentivized lifestyle and weight interventions are discussed.
1. Introduction
The use of financial incentives is a strategy to motivate healthy behavior change that has become routine practice over the past decade. A 2008 survey of major US employers found that over 70% of employee wellness programs were using financial incentives to encourage participation and/or performance [1]. In particular, financial incentives have been increasingly used to help motivate complex healthy behavior changes, such as increasing physical activity, improving diet, and in weight loss interventions more broadly. The use of (nonfood) rewards in obesity treatment has also been recommended by the World Health Organization [2].
Over the past 30 years, health behavior interventionists have identified a number of factors that influence the efficacy of financial incentives for initiating weight loss, as well as physical activity and improvements in diet [3–20]. For example, Volpp and colleagues recently published a high impact paper demonstrating that low-intensity intervention paired with small financial incentives can produce impressive initiation of weight loss [18]. However, to date, far less attention has been paid to the issue of weight and health behavior change maintenance after financial incentives are removed. A small fraction of the extant studies have assessed maintenance, and those that have typically reported very limited success [14–20]. In the Volpp et al. study [18] at the end of the 16-week incentivized phase, both financial incentive groups lost significantly more weight than did the control group; however, 12 weeks into a maintenance phase the incentive groups had regained much of the weight they had initially lost, and the differences between conditions were no longer significant. A follow-up trial explicitly designed to use financial incentives to achieve extended weight loss lengthened the incentivized phase to 24 weeks and reduced the maintenance phase to 8 weeks. In this case, the difference between incentive and control groups remained significant at 8 weeks but was no longer significant after 12 weeks of maintenance [19]. A 2007 systematic review of financial incentives in treatments for obesity/overweight included nine studies with follow-up of one year or more. Results showed that incentives produced no improvement in weight loss maintenance at 12 or 18 months, after the incentives were removed. In fact, there was a trend toward weight regain above baseline at 30-month follow-up [20].
Self-determination theory (SDT) is a theory of motivation that may provide some insight into why weight loss interventions emphasizing financial incentives have struggled to achieve successful maintenance [21, 22]. At the core of SDT is the concept of autonomous motivation, characterized by feeling free and acting for the sake of rewards that are inherent to the activity itself. This inherent reward could be positive emotions, such as interest and enjoyment (i.e., intrinsic motivation), or the satisfaction associated with action that is personally meaningful (i.e., identified extrinsic motivation). Importantly, an emerging body of evidence shows that autonomous motivation is positively related to persistence and maintenance of healthy lifestyle changes. Specifically, self-reported autonomous motivation has been shown to predict greater maintenance of physical activity and weight loss [23, 24]. In a 3-year randomized controlled trial, Silva and colleagues contrasted an intervention designed to promote autonomous motivation for exercise and weight management to a general health education control condition [25–28]. After 3 years, the intervention designed to support autonomous motivation produced significantly better maintenance of both exercise and weight loss, relative to control, and the effects were mediated by autonomous motivation (both intrinsic motivation and identified extrinsic motivation) [29].
Many studies have demonstrated that extrinsic rewards (including financial incentives) tend to undermine intrinsic motivation, an effect often referred to as "the undermining effect." A meta-analysis of 128 studies on the undermining effect found that performance-contingent rewards increase extrinsic motivation while the contingency is in place, but at the expense of decreasing intrinsic motivation [30]. Moreover, the resulting decrease in intrinsic motivation persists well after the contingency is removed (i.e., poor maintenance). SDT posits that the negative relation between extrinsic rewards and intrinsic motivation can be explained by the fact that contingent rewards have a tendency to feel subtly controlling, thwarting peoples' psychological need for autonomy, and distracting them from potentially enjoyable aspects of the targeted activity.
This led us to wonder—is undermining responsible for the pattern of poor maintenance observed in weight loss and lifestyle interventions that have emphasized financial incentives? On the one hand, the general pattern of poor maintenance observed across pay-for-performance weight loss and lifestyle intervention trials has been consistent with the undermining effect. On the other hand there are some noteworthy differences between the ways extrinsic rewards have typically been used in the context of experiments investigating the undermining effect versus how financial incentives have typically been used in weight loss interventions. Few studies of the undermining effect have tested the impact of extrinsic rewards for longer than a few hours or days; by contrast, weight loss interventions are typically interesting in assessing maintenance weeks or months later. Further, the typical laboratory experiment investigating the undermining effect has involved administration of a reward at a single time point, leading Deci et al. [30] to conclude from their meta-analysis that more studies are needed "that examine repeated administration of rewards over time" (p. 650). The pay-for-performance weight loss interventions conducted by Volpp and others have typically involved repeated payments for weight loss achieved incrementally over the course of multiple weeks. Furthermore, studies of undermining effects have typically involved rewarding participants for a behavior that is intrinsically motivated at baseline, that is, behaviors that are interesting or enjoyable (e.g., Soma puzzles). In the case of obesity interventions, participants' baseline levels of intrinsic motivation for eating healthy foods and being physically active is likely modest. Collectively, these differences introduce reasonable skepticism about whether the undermining effect is relevant in the context of weight loss and lifestyle interventions and support the need for more research on this topic.
The present research is intended to offer an early contribution toward exploring the question of motivational undermining in the context of the Make Better Choices trial—a study testing intensive lifestyle interventions designed to promote health changes in diet and activity using performance-contingent financial incentives (in addition to coaching and support from mobile technology). Based on the self-determination theory, we hypothesized (H1) that self-reported financial motivation (i.e., motivation derived from performance-contingent financial incentives offered for eating healthy and being physically active) would be negatively related to maintenance of both health behavior change and weight loss (after performance-contingent financial incentives were removed). We further predicted (H2) that financial motivation would be unrelated to initiation of either health behavior change or weight loss.
We also tested two potential moderators of the predicted undermining of maintenance effects: gender and socioeconomic status (SES). First, several authors have previously reported that males report lower trait levels of autonomy orientation and/or high levels of controlled motivational causality orientation [31–34]. Recently, Hagger and Chatzisarantis [35] demonstrated that motivational causality orientation moderates the undermining effect of rewards on intrinsic motivation. Thus, we predicted (H3) that gender would moderate the undermining of maintenance effects. Second, the economic utility of financial intensives is inversely related to incomes or socioeconomic status, as such, financial incentives may feel more controlling to those low in SES. Thus, we predicted (H4) that SES would moderate the undermining of maintenance effects.
2. Materials and Methods
The study design and methods are described in detail in an open source study protocol paper published in BMC Public Health [36] and will be described briefly.
2.1. Study Sample
Chicago area adults of ages between 21 and 60 years were recruited through community advertisements. To be eligible, individuals were required to report all of the following: (a) <5 fruits and vegetables (FV)/day; (b) >8% caloric intake from saturated fat (Fat), (c) <60 min/day moderate/vigorous physical activity (PA), and (d) >90 min/day targeted sedentary screen time (Sed; television, movies, recreational internet use, and videogames). All procedures were approved by the Institutional Review Boards of the University of Illinois at Chicago and Northwestern University.
2.2. Two-Week Baseline Phase (and Final Eligibility Screening)
Candidates who self-reported all four risk behaviors were screened by a Bachelor level research assistant (coach). The coach trained participants to accurately estimate and use a handheld device to record and upload dietary intake, moderate-vigorous-intensity physical activity, and targeted recreational sedentary screen time. During the two-week baseline (run-in) phase, participants wore an accelerometer, recorded diet and activity on the handheld device, and submitted data daily to the coach.
2.3. Randomization
Candidates who displayed all four risk behaviors throughout baseline, as evidenced by handheld and accelerometer data, were randomized (stratified by gender) using a computer-generated sequence of randomly permuted blocks. The four behavioral intervention groups differed based on the behaviors that were targeted/incentivized. Each group was assigned to target a different combination of two behavior goals, one related to diet (FV or Fat) and one related to activity (PA or Sed): (1) increase FV and PA (FV↑PA), (2) decrease Fat and increase PA (Fat↓PA↑), (3) increase FV and decrease Sed (FV↑Sed↓), or (4) decrease Fat and Sed (Fat↓Sed↓).
2.4. Intervention Phase (Initiation)
Coaches tailored behavioral strategies based on participants' baseline data. For example, those who asked to decrease Fat were shown the ten foods that supplied their greatest saturated fat grams and coached to reduce portion size or number for those foods. For the first week of treatment , daily diet and activity goals were set midway between baseline behavior and the ultimate daily goal. From the second treatment week onward, full goals were set for the two targeted behaviors to which the participant was randomized: 5 fruit and vegetable servings, saturated fat intake < 8% of calories, physical activity ≥ 60 minutes, or sedentary recreational activity ≤ 90 minutes per day. Participants were expected to reach their behavioral targets during treatment week 2 and to maintain them during week 3. During the three treatment weeks, they uploaded data daily and communicated as needed with their coaches via telephone or e-mail, per preference, to problem-solve around adherence barriers.
2.5. Performance-Contingent Financial Incentives
During the 3-week intervention phase, participants could earn a $175 incentive for fully meeting goals for both targeted behaviors. Thus, participants could earn just over $50/week ($175/3) for meeting their health behavior goals; a relatively small financial incentive in comparison to the amount of time and effort required for success.
2.6. Follow-Up Phase (Maintenance)
To explore the potential for maintenance of healthy behavior changes, the study included a 17-week follow-up phase. Immediately after the intervention phase, participants were informed that attainment of diet and activity targets was no longer required; payment was now contingent solely upon recording and transmitting handheld data on a predetermined schedule. This follow-up phase in this study is analogous to the "free choice periods" included in many experiments on rewards and undermining, wherein activity is considered an indicator of intrinsic or autonomous motivation (i.e., "free-choice behavior"). Recording was required daily for the first week following treatment, for three consecutive days in post-treatment weeks two and three, biweekly for the next six weeks, then monthly until the final follow-up. Participants could earn incrementally larger financial incentives (from $30 to $80) for uploading data during consecutive follow-ups. All recording-contingent incentives were received at the end of follow-up.
2.7. Handheld Tool
Participants used a personal digital assistant to record and self-regulate their targeted behaviors. They were instructed to carry the device and record immediately after executing a behavior. During treatment and follow-up, the handheld device displayed two decision support feedback "thermometers"—one for diet (F/V or Fat) and one for activity (PA or Sed). Once activated, goal thermometers were continually updated in response to data entry. The goal thermometers also enabled participants to observe the potential impact of a food or activity choice.
2.8. Measures
Demographic information, anthropometric data, and motivation for health behavior change were assessed during screening. Demographic data gathered include gender, age, ethnicity, marital status, education, income, and household size. Participants estimated their annual household income on the following 11-point scale: $0–15 k, $15–20 k, $20–25 k, $25–30 k, $30–35 k, $35–40 k, $40–45 k, $45–50 k, $50–60 k, $60–75 k, and >$75 k.
2.8.1. Financial Motivation
Context-specific financial motivation for participating in the study was measured using modified items from the Motives for Physical Activities Measure [37]. Before answering these questions, the nature of the study was explained to participants and, specifically, the potential for earning performance-contingent financial incentives in exchange for making healthy behavior changes. Seven items were altered to ask about eating as well as activity changes and the degree to which financial incentives were a motive for participating in the study (e.g., "Because I want to earn extra money"; ). Participants responded on a 7-point Likert scale (1: not at all true for me; 7: very true for me).
2.8.2. Assessment of Individual Behaviors
Saturated fat and FV consumption were measured from daily intake recordings. To prevent superfluous calories (e.g., in sweetened beverages) from inflating the fat gram allowance, the saturated fat goal for those randomized to decrease Fat was determined using the Harris-Benedict equation [38] to estimate calories needed to maintain weight. Minutes of physical and sedentary activity were measured cumulatively by an end-of-day 24-hour activity log in which participants accounted for every 15-minute block of each day.
2.8.3. Composite Diet-Activity Improvement Score
In order to quantify overall change across four behaviors (FV, Fat, PA, and Sed), we developed a composite healthy diet and activity improvement score, weighting each behavior equally. All variables were transformed to better approximate normality, using square root transformation for the count outcomes (FV, PA, and Sed) and arc sine transformation for the percentage outcome, Fat [39]. To allow direct comparisons between interventions on these disparately measured variables, each individual health behavior was standardized to provide a common metric using a modified -score (where 1 unit represents a 1-standard deviation change), with higher values representing greater healthy lifestyle improvement. -scores for time points after baseline were standardized relative to the overall baseline distribution to reflect improvement relative to baseline. To reflect the effect of treatment across multiple health behaviors, the mean of all four individual -scores at each time point was calculated, as recommended [40], to derive a composite index that expressed each participant's overall healthy behavior change. We refer to this as a "composite diet-activity improvement score."
2.8.4. Weight
Weight was measured at three times: at baseline, the end of prescription, and at the end of the follow-up phase. A trained staff member weighed participants (to the nearest 1 lb) on a calibrated beam balance scale without shoes and wearing light clothing. Two measures were recorded at each visit.
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Study Sample
The final sample of 204 adults included 48 males, 46.6% minorities, 25% with no more than a high school education, and mean age 33.3 years (s.d. = 11.01). Except for one individual, all participants attained behavioral targets during the 3-week initiation period (thus earning the $175 performance-contingent incentive); the majority did so promptly. The median time taken to achieve consumption of five FV was nine days (i.e., two days after the full five FV goal was set). The median time taken to attain each of the Sed, Fat, and PA targets was eight days (i.e., one day after the targeted amount was set as a goal).
3.2. Group Effects
Group effects have been reported previously [41]. The primary finding was that the group assigned to FV↑Sed↓ produced significantly greater change in composite diet-activity improvement score after the 3-week intervention phase, relative to the other three groups (FV↑PA↑, Fat↓PA↑, Fat↓Sed↓). Further, the FV↑Sed↓ group maintained this advantage through the end of the 17-week Follow up Phase.
The effects reported herein related to financial motivation were independent of group assignment. None of the financial motivation group interactions were significant; thus, all secondary analyses reported in this paper were conducted collapsing across Groups.
3.3. Financial Motivation→Initiation of Healthy Changes
Two linear regression models were run regressing initiation of healthy changes from the baseline phase to the end of the (incentivized) intervention phase onto financial motivation. Healthy change outcomes were (1) initiation of composite diet-activity improvement score change and (2) initiation of weight change (loss). As predicted, financial motivation was unrelated to initiation of healthy change during the incentivized intervention phase, unrelated to healthy lifestyle improvement initiation , and unrelated to weight loss initiation .
3.4. Financial Motivation→Maintenance of Healthy Changes
Next, two linear regression models were run regressing maintenance of healthy changes from the baseline phase to the end of the follow-up phase onto financial motivation. Maintenance of healthy change outcomes was (1) maintenance of composite diet-activity improvement score change and (2) maintenance of weight change (loss). Financial motivation was unrelated to maintenance of composite diet-activity improvement score, . However, Financial motivation was negatively related to maintenance of weight change, ; that is, those who were higher in Financial motivation weighed more on average at the end of the follow-up phase, after controlling for weight during the baseline phase (see Table 1 & Figure 1).
3.5. Financial Motivation Gender → Maintenance of Healthy Changes
We ran two linear regression models that tested the interaction between financial motivation and gender predicting change from the baseline phase to the end of the follow-up phase in terms of (1) maintenance of composite diet-activity improvement score change and (2) maintenance of weight change (loss). Gender interacted with financial motivation to predict maintenance of composite diet-activity improvement score change , , such that financial motivation undermined maintenance of composite diet-activity improvement score more among men (see Table 2). The gender by financial motivation interaction did not predict maintenance of weight loss , , though the main effect of financial motivation remained significant even controlling for this interaction term.
The gender financial motivation interaction predicting maintenance of composite diet-activity improvement score is illustrated in Figure 2. Participants in the top and bottom quartiles with respect to financial motivation were categorized as "high" or "low," respectively, yielding four groups. Simple slopes were calculated for each group: (i) high financial motivation males; , ; (ii) low financial motivation males; , ; (iii) high financial motivation females; , ; (iv) low financial motivation females; , .
3.6. Financial Motivation SES → Maintenance of Healthy Changes
We ran two linear regression models that tested the interaction between financial motivation and SES predicting change from the baseline phase to the end of the follow-up phase in terms of (1) maintenance of composite diet-activity improvement score change and (2) maintenance of weight change (loss). Participants' estimates of annual income were negatively skewed; the modal response (28%) reported an annual household income greater than $75,000. The interactions between financial motivation and income were not significant.
4. Conclusions
In the Make Better Choices Trial, participants were offered performance-contingent financial incentives for making healthy behavior changes (related to diet and activity) over the course of three weeks. While financial motivation was unrelated to healthy behavior or weight change during this 3-week initiation or intervention phase, after performance-contingent financial incentives were removed (and after a 17-week follow-up phase), financial motivation was negatively related to weight loss maintenance. Financial motivation was also negatively associated with maintenance of healthy behavior changes among men, more so than for women. This research represents, to the best of our knowledge, the first evidence for the undermining effect within the context of an intensive healthy lifestyle intervention. Furthermore, past research on the undermining effect has typically involved lab experiments with relatively small samples, rewards administered at a single time point, short follow-up periods, and behaviors with high levels of baseline intrinsic motivation. This research is among the first to provide evidence for the undermining effect in a study with a relatively large sample (), an extended incentivization period (3 week), an extended follow-up period (17 weeks), and behaviors for which there was only modest levels of intrinsic or autonomous motivation at baseline.
Based on the self-determination theory (SDT), the reason that financial incentives have the potential to undermine autonomous motivation, and thus maintenance after being removed, is that incentives are often experienced as subtly controlling. A meta-analysis of studies related to the undermining effect found that this is especially true of tangible, performance-contingent incentives [30], as were used in this study. As noted earlier, a number of studies have found that men tend to have a more controlling (and less autonomous) orientation to the world, in general [31–34]. Recently, Hagger and Chatzisarantis [35] demonstrated that these same causality orientations can moderate the undermining effect of rewards on intrinsic motivation. Specifically, in the context of a lab experiment, the authors found that control-oriented participants assigned to a reward condition exhibited significantly lower levels of intrinsic motivation (less time spent on a puzzle activity during a free choice period) compared to those assigned to a no reward condition: a replication of the classic undermining effect. In contrast, there was no significant difference in intrinsic motivation levels between reward conditions for autonomy-oriented participants. Hagger and Chatzisarantis interpret their findings as indication that autonomy-oriented causality orientation protects individuals from the undermining effect of rewards on intrinsic motivation. We offer a similar, speculative interpretation for the financial motivation by gender interaction observed in the present study. That is, we suspect that females in our sample tended towards a more autonomy-oriented causality orientation, which protected them from the undermined maintenance of healthy behavior changes that males in our sample exhibited. Because the present study involved secondary analysis of data, measures of motivational orientation were not included. A future study might test this interpretation by measuring global causality orientation and investigating whether the financial motivation by gender interaction remains significant after controlling for a financial incentive by causality orientation interaction term (i.e., mediated moderation [42, 43]). Related follow-up research might investigate further individual differences and contextual factors relating to the interpretation or experience of financial incentives in an intensive lifestyle intervention.
Another useful direction for future research would be more studies of intensive lifestyle interventions that experimentally vary the way financial incentives are framed. Prior work has already demonstrated in lab settings that different reward contingencies and interpersonal contexts each influence intrinsic motivation by virtue of influencing the interpretation of rewards [30, 44]. One might argue that a limitation of this study pertains to the correlational (versus experimental) nature of the data. Correlational data, and cross-sectional designs in particular, make it difficult to draw causal inferences. It is important to consider, however, that using experimental designs to investigate the potential for undermining in the context of healthy behavior change intervention may pose ethical challenges. In the case of behaviors typically studied in the lab (e.g., Soma puzzles), the cost of undermining intrinsic motivation into the future is relatively low. The benefit to science gained from conducting such experiments typically outweighs the cost of potentially reducing participants' enjoyment of Soma puzzles. The ethical ramifications of turning a participant off to healthy eating and/or physical activity in the future are far more serious; thus, more consideration must be exercised on the part of researchers, and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) are more likely to raise concerns.
Despite these challenges, it is our position that more research on the issue of financial incentives and potential undermining in health behavior interventions is sorely needed. At their best, financial incentives may be a useful tool in helping people initiate healthy habits, or even grow to enjoy healthy behaviors. A number of studies have recently demonstrated that offering small financial incentives increase enrollment and reduce disparities by encouraging otherwise underrepresented groups to enroll in both physical activity and weight loss interventions, thereby enhancing intervention reach [45–47]. Furthermore, the high potential value of research in this area can also be explained by the fact that financial incentives are already being widely used in health behavior interventions. As noted earlier, one survey of large US employers found that over 70% of employee wellness programs were using financial incentives to encourage participation and/or performance in 2008; this represented an increase from 62% in 2007 [1], and the World Health Organization has recommended using rewards in obesity treatment, specifically [2]. Popular consumer websites, such as stickk.com, have also contributed to making financial incentives for healthy behavior changes an increasingly routine practice. As a result of this existing infrastructure, research that illuminates the use of financial incentives can have a swift, significant, and positive impact on public health.
In conclusion, the findings from this study demonstrate that financial incentives have the potential to undermine successful maintenance in an intensive lifestyle intervention. Specifically, participants who reported being more motivated by the MBC intervention's financial incentives were worse off in terms of their diet and activity (among men), and their body weight (men and women) at the end of a 17-week follow up period. Our interpretation of these findings is that financial incentives, when overemphasized, have the potential to be interpreted as controlling, thereby undermining autonomous motivation and subsequent maintenance of targeted health behaviors. Researchers and practitioners who are planning to use financial incentives in health behavior interventions may do well to consider framing those incentives in ways that are autonomy supportive and investing resources in the collection of follow-up data to investigate behavioral maintenance after incentives have been removed.
The Make Better Choices trial was supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grant HL075451 to Dr. B. Spring, by the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center Grant (NIH P30 CA060553) and by NIH F31 MH070107 to Dr. Schneider. We thank Sarah Altman, Katherine Bailey, Katty Cavero, Michael J. Coons, Neil Doran, Anne Maloney, Dennis McChargue, Sherry Pagoto, Anjali Pandit, Jim Painter, Michael Painter, Christine Dutton Pellegrini, Alex Pictor, Natalie Ritchie, Megan Roehrig, and Stephanie Russell for technical assistance and thank Joanna Buscemi, Alyson Sularz, and Kristen Pavle for their thoughtful feedback on earlier versions of this paper.
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- F. Mosteller and J. W. Tukey, Data Analysis and Regression: A Second Course in Statistics, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass, USA, 1977.
- J. J. Prochaska, W. F. Velicer, C. R. Nigg, and J. O. Prochaska, "Methods of quantifying change in multiple risk factor interventions," Preventive Medicine, vol. 46, no. 3, pp. 260–265, 2008. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed · View at Scopus
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A small collection of photos of Mark sparring.
Casual Sparring Images 04.17.2019
Some of the people from my morning class doing a bit of sparring in the ring. Slowly but surely I am getting better at this and maximizing the lighting when composing my shots. Makes it much easier to edit files after the fact. (That said, it does help when they are moving at half-speed lol. And while it may look like he is beating up on her in some of the photos... hopefully the smiles at the end will let you know it was all in good fun.)
Portrait Photography Experimentation with a Friend
I somewhat surprisingly managed to convince a friend of mine to serve as a guinea pig while I practiced portrait photography a bit tonight, and I have to say that, despite his claims otherwise, he makes a fairly nice subject. I kind of feel like I was able to capture the essence of him in a way (which is why I included a few photos with non-traditional posing... if you know him it will make sense) which makes me both happy and proud. He let me share these with a guarantee of anonymity... which again, is so like him.
Saying Goodbye to a Pair of (Not So Old) Friends
It is officially time to retire my venerable Brooks Levitate running shoes (read: boats). They have served me well through this whole process and I am extremely glad that I purchased them. That said, they certainly failed in an odd way, but I suppose that is just a function of me being so heavy initially. (Not that I am really all that light even now compared to a lot of runners.) They probably just aren't designed to take the pounding that a 350+ pound body can deliver, and the fact that I spend so much time on the balls of my feet because of boxing...


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About two weeks ago when revising the novel of doom (and yes, I'm still not done after fifteen months) I read one of those "Oh no, everything is going downhill we're doomed"-scenes that are mandatory in urban fantasy novels and found I had unwillingly inserted something funny.
Now the thing is while I think I am rather funny in person (not always on purpose), and while people have told me my podcast is funny (can't imagine why) I was really sure that in my fiction there was no fun at all.
But then I was. All Buffy-like in the middle of an important and major fighting scene. Wham. Funny and ironic. Sarcastic even.
Decades ago I went to a music education congress in Cologne, and a guy said to me that he thought I was British. First because of my clothes (which I still don't quite understand but I tried to dress as elegant and businesslike as I could), and second because of my sense of humor. It seems that sarcasm is something I do without thinking. I even met a friend in college who said he liked my sarcasm. I, of course, didn't really know what he was talking about.
So it seems that Germans think that I have a British sense of humour. While I just think that I had to do something to lift myself above the dreary existence that is daily life in Eastern Westphalia. No,. despite what my husband thinks that is not a joke. There is a tiny bit of Westphalia that got chopped off some time ago, and now it is separate. Though united with "Lippe" (don't ask me what that is in English) which nowadays is shortened to the unfortunate acronym OWL (for "Ostwestfalen-Lippe"). Of course Lippe is an abomination because people are all catholic there. ::shudder::
Oh wait. I was talking about being funny.
So.I never quite know how that works. Sometimes I say something that I think is common knowledge, and not unusual at all, and someone will think that's the funniest thing. Sometimes I'm making a really good joke but nobody laughs, and there's this really awkward silence. So I really never know.
I do know that I like to hear myself talking, and I always laugh at my own jokes but I also know that you're not supposed to. If I were a real, sincere, artist person I wouldn't love listening to my own podcast. I wouldn't chuckle at every pitiful joke.
I'm sorry, I can't help it.
On the other hand I then think that maybe it's a good thing I like hanging out with myself. I know one shouldn't, a worthy person would be all humble, and "Oh, you're so much nicer than I am." And yes, most people are indeed nicer than me, still I'd love to hang out with myself all the time. The fun I could have! I could talk about the books I've read, and the projects I'm working on forever without boring myself. Brilliant! I could watch "Doctor Who" with myself, and we'd both sitting there, spinning along with a big grin of pleasure on our faces, and then we'd both drink the same beer and love it. I could have real conversations about everything that I find fascinating without my listener's eyes glazing over which is a definite plus. (Try to talk to your 12-yo. son about your current spinning project, and you'll see what I mean.)
Still. I'd love to be able to write something funny on purpose. Usually when people find me funny I'm just being myself.
And sometimes I think that I'm living in the wrong country, and that I would be happier in Britain. Well, at least I would know why I'd feel like a stranger there.
The thing is that I never really can tell if I just made a joke or not.
What about you. Can you be funny on purpose? Do you even want to?
2 Responses to "On being funny"
Ich weiß, was Du meinst und mir geht's ähnlich.
Ich glaube, viele Leute halten mich für verschroben, arrogant oder dumm, weil sie meinen Humor nicht verstehen. Und andere mögen mich für Dinge, die ich gar nicht erwähnenswert finde und lachen über Bemerkungen, die ich ganz ernst gemeint habe.
Ich versuche, anderen die Freiheit zu geben, mich zu mögen oder es zu lassen und sich die Gründe dafür selbst auszusuchen. Ich mache es umgekehrt ja auch so. 😉
Ich bin mir auch nicht sicher, ob wir alle Doctor Who aus denselben Gründen mögen und an denselben Stellen lachen.
Und ich finde es absolut wichtig, sich selbst zu mögen und gern mit sich allein zu sein. Mir sind Leute suspekt, die sofort Besuch einladen müssen, nur weil der Partner mal einen Abend nicht da ist…
Viele Grüße aus Berlin,
This is not about Being Funny but it is about your Estonian Shawlette pattern. When each section of the graphed pattern changes, there are a number of stitches left over. What happens to them as they really don't fit into the existing pattern and need to be either put somewhere or eliminated or to move the pattern to where the stitches equal out according to the pattern. It would so much easier if there was a written.pattern to make sense of it all. I have been knitting for over 60 yrs and this is the first time I've come across this phenomena. The shawlette is lovely and I was hoping to make it for a friend but I really don't know what to do about the extra stitches or where to put them. Is there a written pattern and could you send it to me, please? I know I'm up in years but I am not at the confused state of being but this pattern is confusing me!.


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Korea trademark registration procedures are as below. For Korean trademark application, an applicant must include the following elements before the Korean Intellectual Property Office will accept it:
- Company certificate/ Photocopy Passport of applicant (It can be register under Company or Individual);
- Authorization letter of registration;
- A clear drawing of the mark;
- A listing of the goods or services;
- Priority certification (optional)
A "use" based application included a sworn statement (usually in the form of a declaration) that the mark is in use in commerce, or a good faith or bona fide intention to use the mark in commerce.
Notice of Acceptance of Korean Trademark Registration
If you file a paper Korean trademark application, and it meets the minimum filing requirements, the Korean Intellectual Property Office will assign a serial number and send a filing receipt. You should review this receipt for accuracy, and notify the Korean Intellectual Property Office of any errors, following the directions on the receipt. The time duration is about 2 to 3 months.
Examination of Korean Trademark Registration
After the Korean Intellectual Property Office determines that you have met the minimum filing requirements, the application is forwarded to an examining attorney. This may take a number of months. The examining attorney reviews the application to determine whether it complies with all applicable rules and statutes and includes all required fees. A complete examination includes a search for conflicting marks, and an examination of the written application, the drawing, and any specimen.
Publication for Korean Trademark Registration
If the examining attorney raises no objections to registration, or if the applicant overcomes all objections, the examining attorney will approve the mark for publication. The publication duration is three months. If any objection is raised, the period may be extended by another 3 to 5 months.
Korean Trademark Registration
If no opposition is raised within a period of three months following publication, the trade mark is registered.
Time and Fees for Korean Trademark Registration
Time: The time duration for the registration procedure is about 12-18 months for smooth application. The duration can be minimized to few months if it's an international registration pursuant to the Madrid System or the Madrid Agreement The term of validity is 10 years counted from the date of filing the application. No extra fee is imposed during this period. Renewal of registration of trademark shall be filed every 10 years after registration.
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Life is still getting ahead of me, and I'm dealing with that. At some point I'll catch up. For now it's staying focused on what counts. When I was raising our children, I never lost sight of the ball nor did he. No two children had more dedicated parents, perhaps as dedicated but not more dedicated.
A week ago today I moved home as quietly as I left. I'm still not unpacked. My office is a mess, but the laundry is done. smile One has to take the little victories as they come. I'm still scattered on so many levels, it's hard to look beyond my prime focus. Our marriage and my new career. The house won't miss me for a bit longer. The garden? Well, that's a never-ending time suck. When it blooms I remember why I pour so much energy into it. It's not blooming at the moment.
We have counseling tomorrow. Money is the topic. This should prove interesting. In the last year I was willing to and did walk away from all of it. None of it meant anything without my husband. He's the focus or should I say 'us'. Our children are raised, now it's time to create the life we want for us and the means to properly fund it. Us, what a wonderful concept; warm and fuzzy, as it should be.
What I want is for the sensitivity to dissipate. The world is still so threatening in my current state. New beginnings are normally unsteady places. I've been through one or two of them. This will pass, I don't have to like feeling emotionally naked in the meantime. I'm exposing myself at home, in the firm hope our marriage is on a new, better path.
On the work front, I'm working in a completely new field at a new place with dynamics I haven't riddled out just yet. People, in general, perplex me. I'm not going to spend a lot of energy beyond what I need to know to move through the space in an efficient manner.
Things I've observed along the journey of work places. There is always a double agent. I've discovered her, and we're as good as we're going to get. Busy bees, there are many of these. You know the ones who are sure no one works as hard as they do. Therefore no one else is as competent making everyone subject to contempt as seen necessary. More importantly, I found the rock. Rally around the rock and your world is less likely to tip. I got a jolt this week and I have little doubt, the rock, is a big reason why there were no after shocks.
Wish I could find a rock in my personal life. It would seem my rocks have aged and now need support themselves. My only hope is to lean on my husband. This is a leap of faith so huge, words fail me completely. The risk I took walking out is nothing compared to learning to depend on him again, and that is what I'm doing. Slowly, cautiously, creeping forward, it looks good folks, real good. Better than I had any right to hope for, and that's hell-a-scary. It still beats the pants off of hopeless, so I'll take it.


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Stalking and a traffic accident were among reports taken by campus police recently.
On Sept. 9, Sgt. Jeremy Bohannon took a report that a female student, whose name and age was redacted on the report, had been followed by an ex-boyfriend.
The woman said that she and the man, 22, had recently ended a relationship and were not on good terms. The report shows that on Sept. 8, the man visited the woman in her work area at OCCC.
She said his presence made her feel threatened. The report shows the student was able to leave the campus without any conflict. The case is still active.
In another incident, a female student distracted by talking on her phone while driving ran a stop sign resulting in a collision at 5:45 p.m. Sept. 10.
Camille Milton, 23, told officers she was talking on her phone while turning onto Regents Boulevard. when she collided with student Kira Brook Middleton-Agenbroad, 22, who was headed south. Martino said no one was injured in the collision.
On Sept. 8, Officer Daniel Piazza responded to a medical call in the Communications Lab at around 10 a.m.
Piazza reported that a student, 22, whose name was redacted from the report, was visibly ill and sweating.
The man said he had been sick for several days.
Piazza said, at one point, the man's arm turned purple. He then laid on his side and appeared to be seizing, the report shows.
Piazza said the man was running a high fever and had extremely high blood pressure. EMSA transported him to Mercy Hospital.
A hospital spokesperson said no information could be given out about the condition of the student.
Vandalism was discovered on Sept. 9, when a shelf in a men's restroom in the VPAC, room 128, was found partially torn away from the wall. In the report, Officer Gordon Nelson said he photographed the damage, and the case was closed.
Some information was redacted from the reports under the direction of Marketing and Public Relations Director Cordell Jordan, who said names are redacted "according to OCCCPD Standard Operating Procedures involving information released and information withheld."
To obtain a copy of the procedure, email firstname.lastname@example.com.
To contact Campus Police dial 405-682-1611 ext. 7747. For an emergency, use one of the call boxes located inside and outside the campus or call 405-682-7872.


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This is a short tip for this Christmas season: If you're gifting a book to someone, make sure you add a unique bookmark too! Trust me, we bookworms secretly look forward to it (almost more than the book itself!).
It can also serve as an additional face-saver if in case your receipient has already read the book – at least they'll have a bookmark they'll cherish!
So go ahead and put some thought into the bookmark too! Hunt for something special or if you're the creative types perhaps you can make one! It's just a little thought that might go a long way in saying that you really care! 🙂
May the spirit of giving be upon you this season!Image copyright – well, me! Please link back to this post if you're using the image. Thanks!


text: It's Day 3 of Robert Lee Brewer's Platform Challenge at Writer's Digest! Today's task was start or continue writing a blog. After taking the last 9 months off from my blog, I think it's time to restart it. Thank you, Mr. Brewer! This was a much needed boot to the butt to get me back here.


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Lynn is one of the most intellectually versed people I have met, equally capable of discussing religion, philosophy, and cosmology, and their social, theological, and political implications. He is a Lutheran minister at a small community chapel in California. His sermons are geared towards his parishioners, who probably only get Lynn's devotional treatises. Even more delightfully, he is married to a Presbyterian minister, who co-runs the chapel and who is quite capable of arguing with him. I have sat and listened to the both of them argue issues with more insight than many an academic class I have taken.
Lynn interviewed me on public access television for Humboldt County, California. Here is our conversation:


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Official Press Release
Official Press Release
SAVAGE DRAGON's recent endorsement of Barack Obama heated up headlines from the New York Times to the Huffington Post and has led to a pre-release distributor-level sell out, resulting in an emergency second printing to meet demand.
"A lot of people have asked me whether or not Dragon would run again this election, but given its importance, I decided to have him bow out," said Savage Dragon creator Erik Larsen. "Given Dragon's history and the opinions he expressed during his own run, Obama really was the only candidate for Dragon to endorse, my own opinions aside."
The SAVAGE DRAGON #137 second printing will feature an altered version of the Barack Obama cover, including a new background and trade dress.
SAVAGE DRAGON #137 2ND PTG (JUL088177D), a 32-page full color comic book for $2.99, will be in stores September 10th, 2008.
Image Comics is a comics and graphic novels publisher formed in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Since that time, Image has gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. There are currently five partners in Image Comics (Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino), and Image is currently divided into four major houses (Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline, and Image Central). Image comics and graphic novels cover nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable, offering science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor, and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. Visit www.imagecomics.com.


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Time has seemed to be flying by around here. We are halfway through November and I feel like it just started. With just over 3 weeks until my due date, I am remembering past pregnancies. Like at 3:30 this morning when I woke up and couldn't sleep anymore. Fun stuff. I really think this is my body's way of training me for those first few months. Lucky for you, it gives me a few needed moments in the day to come up with some prints for the up and coming holidays.
Today's discounted download I LOVE! This will make a perfect print to put around your home, to give to your Thanksgiving guests, to take as a hostess gift..a good reminder for the entire year! I'd love to hear how you would use it. Like I said before, I am still working on my goal of paying for this little munchkin in my tummy. He and I have had some great bonding time in these wee hours...isn't it amazing how much of a bond you can create with someone you have never met?! I love him already!
So here is the new printable:
Once you buy this print, you will be emailed the pdf file within 24 hours..usually much sooner!
Thanks again for stopping by. I have a really fun free printable coming up later this week, inspired by my sweet husband and made especially for YOUR little munchkins for this Thanksgiving season!


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Missouri Farm Accounting Resources
Missouri Farm Tax Record Book
This popular record book is simple and inexpensive. It is available at your local extension office or from the following links:
Missouri Farm Business Record Book
This record book for adult farmers was developed cooperatively by University Extension and Ag Education. It contains receipts, expenditures, summary, and enterprise forms needed for one year of records. Refills can be purchased from your local extension office or the order form may be download at: http://www.missouricareereducation.org/doc/order/OrderForm.pdf
Free pdf version of refill sections for printing may be downloaded at: http://www.missouricareereducation.org/project/farmrecordbk
Farm Record Book in Excel
Download a free Farm Record Book in Excel. For producers comfortable with basic Excel, this spreadsheet farm record book offers the ability to: track income and expenses, cash flow summary, expenses by vendor, receipts by buyer, enterprise receipt & expenses, and checking account balances.
PcMars Farm Accounting Software
PcMars software is considered farm friendly and can be installed as a cash basis single entry system or fully accrual double entry system. Other features can be added such as inventory tracking, livestock and crop production data, enterprise allocations, other reports and accounts receivable. It can be ordered from the Iowa Farm Business Association.
Quicken Farm Accounting Software
Quicken is a very popular finance software program and is available through many retailers and office supply stores. Many farmers use this software as their farm record keeping program. The university extension services in several states maintain detailed web sites to help farmers and ranchers adapt Quicken to their needs.
Quicken for Farm/Ranch Financial Records (Oklahoma State University)
Using Quicken (Flagship Technologies)
QuickBooks Farm Accounting Software
QuickBooks is also a very popular finance software program and is available through many retailers and office supply stores. The following links have discussion and guides related to using QuickBooks for farms.
Quicken vs. QuickBooks Discussion (Flagship Technologies)
Other Tools
Resources listed below can help you to understand your farm's finances.
Measuring and Analyzing Farm Financial Performance (Purdue University)
Establishing and Using a Farm Financial Record-Keeping System (eXtension)
Strategic Business Planning for Producers (Purdue University)
Interpreting Financial Statements and Measures (University of Minnesota)
Farm.Analysis.Solutions.Tools (FAST) (University of Illinois)


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The Chicano/Latino Bar Association of California
LA RAZA LAWYERS ASSOCIATIONOF CALIFORNIAPO BOX 30SAN JOSE, CA 95103WWW.LARAZALAWYERS.NETMembership & Affiliate Application____Yes, We support California La Raza Lawyers Association. Sign
us up as an affiliate. Make checks payable to La Raza Lawyers Association___$150 Affiliate Association Membership(i.e., Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, etc….)___$50 Individual Attorney Membership___$200 Amigo (Attorney or Firm—Recognized in Newsletter)___$500 Sponsor (Attorney or Firm—Recognized
in Newsletter)___$1,000+ Patron (Attorney or Firm—Recognized in Newsletter & As A Sponsor of
the Annual Meeting)Name: ___________________________________________________(President of Affiliate or Individual
Attorney or Firm)Contact Person: ____________________________________________(If different than President)Address: _________________________________________________Phone: _______________________ Fax: ______________________Email: ___________________________________________________Dues are payable each JANUARY by an affiliate
that entitles all its members to membership in the statewide. Dues cover communication, meeting expenses and judicial committee.Contact Christopher Arriola at (408) 792-2978 for more information or firstname.lastname@example.com.
Please print the application and send it in to the address