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Anti-Stepbrother Page 1
Kevin was kissing another girl. And he wasn't just kissing her—he was inhaling her. He pressed against her, her dark hair twisted in his hands, his lips moving down her throat and lingering between her breasts.
It was a trainwreck.
I saw it coming. The lights were bright and impending, and I could have gotten off the tracks. But nope, I was the idiot blinded in place. I couldn't look away, though I should have.
This was Kevin—my Kevin! Okay, not my boyfriend Kevin, but my stepbrother Kevin. The same Kevin I'd been in love with for two years—since my junior year of high school, since my mom died and my dad decided he was in love with the most popular guy in school's mother.
Sheila Matthews, aka Kevin's mom, was the nurse who took care of my mom during her stay in hospice. It had been such a scandal. How dare Mr. Stoltz fall in love even before his wife passed? It didn't matter that my mom had been dying of cancer for years. My dad's timing sucked, but it happened. The night after my mom was buried, he was at the Matthews' house.
One positive, even though my dad and Sheila hadn't kept their relationship a secret, was that I didn't have to meet her until later. Actually, I met her at the dinner where I also found out she was going to be my stepmother, and so the summer between my sophomore and junior year, I got a stepbrother, too. Of course, I already knew who Kevin Matthews was.
Everyone knew who Kevin Matthews was.
A year older than me. Football captain. Basketball captain. Track captain. He was on the Student Council—and I'm ashamed to admit I never paid attention to what he did for them. I didn't really care. He was so much more. He was the guy all the guys respected and all the girls wanted, including me and his rotation of six-month girlfriends. He'd date a girl for six months. Then they'd break up because he'd fallen in love with another girl, and she'd last the next six months.
Despite all my knowledge of him, before he joined my family, Kevin didn't know who I was. I wasn't anyone special. I mean, I wasn't unpopular. I was just…average, I guess. I'd been told I was beautiful, but that was by all the people who were supposed to tell me that. My mom told me every day, then my dad every month or so, and finally Sheila did once we moved in. She said it every two weeks. It was nice to hear, but come on. That's what parents are supposed to do. All three of my parent-like figures did their job well, and so did my two best friends, May and Clarissa.
May was a feisty little Asian who got asked out on a weekly basis, even when she had a boyfriend. And Clarissa was a few inches taller than me with a body like Britney Spears circa "Oops!...I Did It Again." I had long, dark brown hair and a slim-enough body. I'd never thought I was anything great, but both May and Clarissa had made enough comments about how they'd kill to look like me that I began to feel more confident.
My mom always told me I had perfect lips and almond eyes with long eyelashes that I'd inherited from my father's side. My grandmother had been gorgeous. I never met her, but in photographs she had dark eyes, dark hair, a heart-shaped face, and an alluring air to her. May and Clarissa saw a picture of her once and fell back on the bed, groaning at how much I took after her—something I hadn't realized until then.
So yeah, none of us were hurting, but we never really made it into the popular and exclusive high school social circles. Maybe it was because the three of us had our own exclusive clique, or maybe it was because none of us passed out at parties, slept around, or joined the cheerleaders. Nothing against anyone who did that. It just wasn't us.
We were almost boring.
We got good grades. We went to a few parties, but not every weekend. Bowling, slumber parties, shopping trips, and regular old going out for dinner were our social activities. I could've lived at the local bookstore too, so I think that's why we weren't at the top of the food chain where Kevin and most his girlfriends were. And not that we wanted to be. Well, May might've wanted it, but Clarissa and I were content.
Every now and then, Kevin would date someone at the social level below. Once he dated a girl who was two levels below, and pandemonium hit the hallways. Girls wore skimpier clothes. The hallways smelled like a professional salon, and I heard that the makeup aisle at the local department store sold out.
"Kevin," the girl moaned now, drawing me back to the trainwreck. She lifted one of her toned legs to wrap around him, pulling him more tightly against her.
I wrinkled my nose. Good God. I needed to look away, but I couldn't, not while his hand traced down her side. He lifted her leg higher to press against her, and they both moaned from the friction.
They were still dressed. That was one blessing, but they were barely dressed. Kevin's jeans looked loosened, like they were already unzipped, and the girl's skirt had been pushed high. Lacy pink underwear peeked out, and the way it moved…like something was going on in there…and yeah, that was his hand.
Time to reverse it.
They'd found their spot in the back room of the basement, which was close to Kevin's room at his fraternity. They just hadn't gotten all the way in there. I should've realized what was happening when I saw the basement door had a rubber band on the handle.
I slipped back out the door, and I was petty enough to grab that rubber band. I stuffed it in my pocket as I went.
Okay. Yes, I had loved Kevin for years. Yes, I had lived with him. Yes, he was sort of my brother, but no brotherly/sisterly love had formed between us. We were compadres, friends, buddies. And I'd thought there had been flirting. Yes, yes, there had been flirting.

subset: commoncrawl


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The Zen Studies Podcast
Episodes on Buddhist Practice (what Buddhists do)
16 – Sangha: The Joys, Challenges, and Value of Practicing in a Buddhist Community
Is it really necessary to participate in a Sangha, or Buddhist community? What are the benefits, joys, and challenges of doing so? You may be surprised by some of the aspects of Sangha practice I talk about in this episode (it's not all about enjoying the pleasant company of enlightened people!).read more
2 – The Three Treasures of Buddhism: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha
For over 2,500 years, in every form of Buddhism, you formally become a Buddhist by stating, "I take in the Three Treasures of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha." What are the Three Treasures, and what does it mean to take refuge in them?read more


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(visited by Helmut Resch and Ulrich Luedemann)
12-Sep-2004 -- Sunday 6:00 am, Uli and myself left Bauchi where we had spent the night after our visit to 11N 10E, and went towards Bula where we turned off towards Katagum. At Katagum we had to find our way through the village and located the way to Mun, which lies on the other side of the river Gongola. The road was very bad and after a couple of kilometres, which took quite a while, we parked the vehicle and we carried on, Uli on his bicycle and myself on the Honda 600XR.
It was a beautiful morning and we enjoyed the drive through this beautiful countryside. I drove ahead and Uli followed the tracks of my bike. Upon arrival at the river Gongola, I started negotiating the price for the passage and the bike was loaded onto the boat. Uli's arrival was timely as he only had to hop onto the boat and we crossed the river. We where both surprised at how wide this river was. The river was something like 300 meter wide but not very deep. A large crowd had gathered on the other side and was curiously watching us.
We went through Mun and found a small path leading us as close as 400 meter to the Confluence. The last meter we had to drive through the bush. For a while we drove alongside a field of maize. The locals had cut down thorn bushes and laid them around these fields to protect the crop. We had to be careful not to get our tyres punctured. By 10 am, we where at the Confluence. After we had taken all the routine pictures, Uli tried to take one picture of both of us with the aid of the self timer which took more than a couple of minutes, but he managed eventually. We had a pleasant ride back to Mun, crossed the river again, and went to the place where we had parked the vehicle.
Uli's bicycle ride ended there. I carried on a bit further to Katagom where I loaded the bike onto the trailer as well, and we started the return trip to Abuja. The ride back to Abuja was very pleasant with a few beers and a bottle of red wine in the back of the car. After all, we successfully had visited the magical 10/10.


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To get started with this blank [[TiddlyWiki]], you'll need to modify the following tiddlers: * [[SiteTitle]] & [[SiteSubtitle]]: The title and subtitle of the site, as shown above (after saving, they will also appear in the browser title bar) * [[MainMenu]]: The menu (usually on the left) * [[DefaultTiddlers]]: Contains the names of the tiddlers that you want to appear when the TiddlyWiki is opened You'll also need to enter your username for signing your edits: <<option txtUserName>>
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These [[InterfaceOptions]] for customising [[TiddlyWiki]] are saved in your browser Your username for signing your edits. Write it as a [[WikiWord]] (eg [[JoeBloggs]]) <<option txtUserName>> <<option chkSaveBackups>> [[SaveBackups]] <<option chkAutoSave>> [[AutoSave]] <<option chkRegExpSearch>> [[RegExpSearch]] <<option chkCaseSensitiveSearch>> [[CaseSensitiveSearch]] <<option chkAnimate>> [[EnableAnimations]] ---- Also see [[AdvancedOptions]]

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This Wiki is [img[IMG/undercon.gif]]Under HEAVY Construction      This wiki is about collecting Japanese Samurai Related Antiques. ''It replaces the old "Arts of the Samurai web"''. It focuses on Kabuto, Jingasa and Mempo. From time to time examples of yoroi, katana, wakizashi, koshirae, jinbaori, tsuba and other samurai related objects will be shown and discussed. Some items are for sale: please mail to: info at artsofthesamurai dot com if you are interested [[Samurai Helmets (Kabuto)|Kabuto]] Maybe the most important and priced part of a complete yoroi is the kabuto. A number of quality kabuto (helmets) are displayed. Hoshi, Suji, Namban and some Kawari Kabuto. [[''Samurai Masks (Mempo, Menpo)''|Menpo]] An important and very expressive part of the armor is the face mask. Menpo or Mempo with yodare kake (throat protector). They can be found in many forms: wrinkled or smooth cheeks, noses in many forms, some have mustaches or imperials and are lacquered or in russet iron finish. ''War Hats (Jingasa)'' Jingasa (samurai hats) were mainly used during the mid to late Edo Period (1700-1860). The word "Kasa" meaning hat and "Jin" military. [[''W.R.B. Acker - Kyudo Page''|Kyudo]] [[The Fundamentals of Japanese Archery Book download | acker1.pdf]] [[''Lone Wolf and Cub''|Lone Wolf]] Wrongfully accused of plotting to overthrow the Shogun, Itto Ogami (拝一刀) - master of the Suio Ryu - becomes an outlaw, wandering through the provinces of feudal Japan with his infant son Daigoro by his side, seeking vengeance for the murder of his wife and family.
Armor Kanji |Do|胴|Fukigaeshi|吹返|Haidate|佩楯|Hanpo|半首|Horo|母衣|Jinbaori|陣羽織| |Kabuto|兜|Katazuri no ita|肩摺板|Kobire|小鰭|Kote|籠手|Kusazuri|草摺|Kuwagata|鍬形| |Mabizashi|眉庇|Maedate|前立|Mengu|面具|Mune ita|胸板|Nodowa|喉輪|Shikoro|革毎| |Sode|袖|Suneate|臑当|Tateage|立挙|Tateagesuneate|立挙臑当|Waki ita|脇板|Watagami|肩上| |O Yoroi|大鎧|Haramaki|腹巻|Domaru|胴丸|Kebiki odoshi|毛引威|Nanban do|南蛮胴|Tatami gusoku|畳具足|
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Definitely Not Mr. Darcy
DescriptionThere's no place for pride in this Austen misadventure.
Chloe Parker was born two centuries too late. A thirty-nine-year- old divorced mother, she runs her own antique letterpress business, is a lifelong member of the Jane Austen Society, and gushes over everything Regency. But her business is failing, threatening her daughter's future. What's a lady to do?
Why, audition for a Jane Austen-inspired TV show set in England, of course.
What Chloe thinks is a documentary turns out to be a reality dating show set in 1812. Eight women are competing to snare Mr. Wrightman, the heir to a gorgeous estate, along with a $100,000 prize. So Chloe tosses her bonnet into the ring, hoping to transform from stressed-out Midwest mom to genteel American heiress and win the money. With no cell phones, indoor plumbing, or deodorant to be found, she must tighten her corset and flash some ankle to beat out women younger, more cutthroat, and less clumsy than herself. But the witty and dashing Mr. Wrightman proves to be a prize worth winning, even if it means the gloves are off...
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Reumodol Review: What the Product Really Is
Reumodol is currently a very popular anti-arthritis drug sold over the internet. It is marketed as a safe and effective all-natural drug that can combat pain and inflammation. However, there is definitely more to this remedy than what the sale pages say about it. A critical look at Reumodol is in order to find out what it really is and what it can do for you.
Reumodol Indications
Reumodol is promoted as a natural remedy against arthritis, back pain, and joint and muscle issues. As a natural product, users can expect that its active ingredients are mainly derived from herbs and spices. True enough, it has got curcumin, collagen, and boswellia in it. But there are a few other ingredients that may or may not be 100% natural at all.
Product's Ingredients List
As stated previously, manufacturers want to regard Reumodol as an all-natural product. However, along with its known natural ingredients such as curcumin, collagen, and boswellia, Reumodol has a few other ingredients in the mix such as Glucosamine Sulfate, Methlsulfonylmethane, and Chondroitin. These are chemical-sounding names that needed to be checked further to determine whether or not they are indeed naturally-occurring substances. These three ingredients have to come in its bio-available form in order to be considered as natural. Otherwise, the product will be contradicting itself.
One to two tablets of Reumodol every 12 hours is the recommended dosage. First time users have to take two tablets at a time for two weeks. Then one tablet thereafter. So more than being a pain relief medication, it is recommended that Reumodol has to be taken continually until the pain disappears. However, many users claim that if they stop taking Reumodol, the pain comes just back as fast. Therefore, patients have to take the product daily as required, making act more like a maintenance medicine.
Bottle contents
Every bottle of Reumodol contains 30 tablets. If you are to take it twice daily, then a bottle will only last for 15 days or two weeks, if you're on the maintenance stage. On the other hand, one bottle will last you for only one week if you are a first-time user taking 2 tablets each dosage. Therefore, you will need at least 3 bottles of Reumodol for the first month, depending on your body's response to the product. It has been noted that users can go down to the 1 tablet per dose right after the first week if the remedy works good on them.
Product Price
Reumodol is sold at a suggested retail price of $25 for every bottle. However, users can get it for as low as $12.99 if bought in packs of 24 bottles or more. This is the cheapest price for each bottle, which also classifies as the dealer's price or resale purchase.


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Little Jimmy's Italian Ices and the New York based ALL PRO Eating are shivering with excitement and pride as they announce the first ever Little Jimmy's National Italian Ice Eating Championship which will take place on June 19th, 2010 at Raceway Park in Englishtown New Jersey. The competition will take place as part of the park's 35th Annual Snap on Tools Night of Thrills presented by P.C. Richards and Son. In addition to the eating competition, the night will be jam-packed with motor sports fun for the whole family, including jet cars blazing down the quarter-mile track at over 300 mph, wheel-standers, and pro mods. And don't forget everyone's favorite – Monster Trucks! Crowd favorites like Grave Digger, Maximum Destruction, and Monster Mutt will be on hand to steal the show with mayhem and car crushing action under the lights, this event is not to be missed!
As the East Coast of America emerges from one of its coldest winters on record, several well credentialed Food Warriors are expected to make the journey to compete for the title of National Italian Ice Eating Champion and $1,100 in prize money. Leading the charge will be elite Food Warrior and Sterling Virginia native Ian "The Invader" Hickman whose resume includes many National World Eating titles such as Zucchini, Vanilla Custard, Pulled Pork and Perogies. In addition, Hickman is the former World Record Holder in Chili where he downed an amazing 10.2 lbs of Chili in only five minutes in Canton Ohio in February, 2008. Also, Hickman is a member of Team-USA who competed against the mighty Japanese in Tokyo, in 2007.
Also, In addition, female stand out and NJ Canoli Eating Champ "Sweet"Jill Stoler along with the legendary Four Time National 1/4 lb Hot Dog & World Cookie and National Beef Patty Eating Champ, King-George Van Laar from Roselle Park NJ. In addition, NYC Taco Eating Champ Paul "Pork Slap" Arcaria and New York Hard Boiled Egg Eating Champion Chris "The American" Schlesinger are some of the other well credentialed Food Warriors who expected to compete for the Prestigious title of Americas #1 Italian Ice Eating Champ.
Event Emcee will be none other than Competitive Eating's "Minister of Munch" and Hall of fame Food Warrior, Arnie "Chowhound"Chapman who will be joined by "The velvet voice of competitive eating Mike "Sisco-Kid" Sisco. According to ALL PRO EATING Chairman, Arnie Chowhound Chapman, "We believe the Food Warrior who wins the Little Jimmy's National Italian Ice Eating Championship would not only be widely regarded as America's #1 Ice Assassin but should be considered one of America's toughest Eathaletes.. make no mistake about it, it will be hot on the track but cold in the stomach." Also adds Chapman, "Raceway Park, Little Jimmy's & ALL PRO Eating are a perfect fit and are sure to captivate the audience and entertain anyone with a passion for food and fun"
Also on the menu will be Italian Ice Trivia and other fun stuff for kids is planned for this eating extravaganza which will begin at begin at 6:00 PM on June 19th, 2010 at Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ.


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Father Warns About Dangers Of Drinking Cold Water When You're Really Hot
By Dave Basner
July 12, 2018
On a sweltering day when the sun is blazing and sweat is pouring down your face, few things are more appealing than an ice cold glass of water. But like all wonderful things in life, sometimes what you most want to eat or drink is not good for you, and one man learned that the hard way.
Houston's Adam Schaub spent July 3rd cutting up logs in the 100 degree heat with his dad. Realizing he should take a break and cool off, Schaub headed to his dad's truck to enjoy some water in the air-conditioned space. He gulped down two cold bottles of H20 but then noticed something wasn't right.
Hoping others might learn from his mistake, he posted on Facebook about what happened. Adam described how he started seeing spots, feeling tingling in his hands and feet and got nauseous. Thinking he was going to throw up, he opened the truck door but then blacked out. The next thing he remembered was his dad rolling him over and wiping off his face.
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: So we've all heard not to drink really cold water in the heat, but a lot of us haven't...Posted by Adam Schaub on Wednesday, July 4, 2018
Schaub said his dad told him his eyes had rolled back in his head and he was out for a few minutes. When the EMTs came, they explained to Adam that drinking cold water when you are too hot can actually send your body into shock. Apparently, because of the quick change in temperature, your brain thinks your stomach is hypothermic and sends the body's warm blood there, which could cause you to lose consciousness.
Fortunately, Adam didn't have to go to the hospital but he did have a warning for anyone reading his post - to only drink cold water in sips when you're hot, and if you need "fast rehydration," "room temperature water is better."
Photo Credit: Getty


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A recent VentureBeat article argues that "Big Data" is dead. It's been killed by marketers. That's an understandable frustration (and a little ironic to read about it in that particular venue). As I said sarcastically the other day, "Put your Big Data in the Cloud with a Hadoop."
You don't have to read much industry news to get the sense that "big data" is sliding into the trough of Gartner's hype curve. That's natural. Regardless of the technology, the trough of the hype cycle is driven by by a familiar set of causes: it's fed by over-agressive marketing, the longing for a silver bullet that doesn't exist, and the desire to spout the newest buzzwords. All of these phenomena breed cynicism. Perhaps the most dangerous is the technologist who never understands the limitations of data, never understands what data isn't telling you, or never understands that if you ask the wrong questions, you'll certainly get the wrong answers.
Big data is not a term I'm particularly fond of. It's just data, regardless of the size. But I do like Roger Magoulas' definition of "big data": big data is when the size of the data becomes part of the problem. I like that definition because it scales. It was meaningful in 1960, when "big data" was a couple of megabytes. It will be meaningful in 2030, when we all have petabyte laptops, or eyeglasses connected directly to Google's yottabyte cloud. It's not convenient for marketing, I admit; today's "Big Data!!! With Hadoop And Other Essential Nutrients Added" is tomorrow's "not so big data, small data actually." Marketing, for better or for worse, will deal.
Whether or not Moore's Law continues indefinitely, the real importance of the amazing increase in computing power over the last six decades isn't that things have gotten faster; it's the size of the problems we can solve has gotten much, much larger. Or as Chris Gaun just wrote, big data is leading scientists to ask bigger questions. We've been a little too focused on Amdahl's law, about making computing faster, and not focused enough on the reverse: how big a problem can you solve in a given time, given finite resources? Modern astronomy, physics, and genetics are all inconceivable without really big data, and I mean big on a scale that dwarfs Amazon's inventory database. At the edges of research, data is, and always will be, part of the problem. Perhaps even the biggest part of the problem.
In the next year, we'll slog through the cynicism that's a natural outcome of the hype cycle. But I'm not worrying about cynicism. Data isn't like Java, or Rails, or any of a million other technologies; data has been with us since before computers were invented, and it will still be with us when we move onto whatever comes after digital computing. Data, and specifically "big data," will always be at the edges of research and understanding. Whether we're mapping the brain or figuring out how the universe works, the biggest problems will almost always be the ones for which the size of the data is part of the problem. That's an invariant. That's why I'm excited about data.


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Charlie Sheen smiled through a Comedy Central roast as Mike Tyson, William Shatner, actress Kate Walsh and half a dozen comedians riffed on his high-profile year.
Sheen was famously fired from his sitcom "Two and a Half Men" in March after a very public meltdown during which he claimed to be a "rock star from Mars" who has "tiger blood" and "Adonis DNA."
The 46-year-old actor is the subject of the latest roast, which was taped Saturday night at Sony Studios and will air Sept. 19 on Comedy Central.
Sheen took the stage in true rock-star fashion, as rock 'n' roll guitarist Slash heralded his introduction. The actor, dressed in a black suit, white shirt and red tie, smiled and laughed as roasters jabbed at his famous family, his notorious taste for drugs and prostitutes and his primetime firing.
"Charlie's meltdown was so bad, Al Gore's making a documentary about it," quipped comedian Jeffrey Ross, who was dressed as Muammar Gaddafi in a military outfit with fringed epaulets and a sash.
"The only time your kids get to see you is in re-runs," Ross said.
Comedian Jon Lovitz also took a timely swipe at Sheen: "How much (cocaine) can Charlie Sheen do?" he asked. "Enough to kill two and a half men."
Priceline pitchman Shatner reminded Sheen to "book your next rehab stay through Priceline.com."
Walsh, who is best known for her roles on "Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice," gave standup a shot at the roast. "It's amazing, despite all those years of abusing your lungs, your kidneys and your liver, the only thing you've had removed is your kids," she said to Sheen.
The most bizarre performer was Tyson, who got plenty of laughs despite his almost unintelligible delivery. "I'm the greatest poet alive," he said as he concluded his time on stage. "I will eat your children!"
Comedian Amy Schumer joked, "Is his interpreter here?"
Steve-O of "Jackass" fame was also among the roasters. His big trick was running repeatedly into Tyson's fist, which he did until he reportedly broke his nose.
The comics also took digs at Sheen's former live-in girlfriends, whom he referred to as "the goddesses," and ex-wife Brooke Mueller, who was sitting in the audience Saturday.
After the comedians had their say, roast master Seth MacFarlane introduced the night's honoree as "a man with a big heart, because it's been dangerously enlarged by cocaine use."
Sheen jabbed back at his roasters and poked fun at his image.
"It's true I've hung around with a lot of shady people over the years: Losers, drug addicts, dealers, desperate whores," he said. "But to have you all here on one night is really special."
He sipped a drink as he addressed the crowd, who sat in bleachers and at bar tables inside Sony Studios' stage 27. At one point, he seemed to reflect sincerely on his career, talking about how he had "the biggest salary on television" and publicly enjoyed drugs and porn stars before telling off his boss.
"And then it was gone in one fiery public flameout," he said.
"It was only when the smoke cleared I realized just how lucky I am, because even after all that, I still have a family that loves me. That's why they're not here tonight," he continued. "They've seen me in jail. They've seen me rushed to emergency rooms. They've seen me dragged into court. But seeing me on basic cable would kill them."
He said he's done with his catchphrase — winning! — because he feels he's already won.
"This roast may be over, but I'm Charlie Sheen, and in here burns an internal fire," he said, touching his chest. "I just have to remember to keep it away from a crack pipe."
AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen can be reached at www.twitter.com/APSandy .


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Model Chrissy Teigen, who made her Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Edition debut last year, can't actually swim. Asked about her worst photo shoot, she says: "I honestly don't have any. Let's face it –- it's not that difficult to be a swimsuit model. I was a backside model for Victoria's Secret's website and it ended up being the most painful thing I have done. It's the four little pictures of different angles if you click on a picture of a bottom — they have people come in and do that. No face involved, just butt. I had to pop my butt out the entire time and I remember that my back was in the most pain of my entire life."
Is it just us or is she pretty awesome? Further evidence of same: for Halloween, Teigen is dressing up as a child pageant star from Toddlers & Tiaras. Her boyfriend, John Legend, is going to go as her creepy stage dad. Teigen is pictured here in an editorial for Vegas magazine, and a behind-the-scenes photo she Tweeted from the shoot. [StyleList]
Philipp Plein, the designer nobody had ever heard of before he paid Lindsay Lohan — a former face of Miu Miu (!) just sayin' — $500,000 to be the "face" of his line and attend his fashion show in Milan is now threatening, via an intermediary, to cancel Lohan's contract because she had her probation revoked. [Fox]
Versace for H&M, which launches November 17, will range in price from $19.95 for some costume jewelry to $299 for a leather jacket and a leather dress. Other dresses are $149 and $249, the women's boots are $149, and a silk purse will set you back $199. Printed silk scarves — which, forgive us, in this product range look perhaps like the least hideous option — are $29.95. [WWD]
See the whole collection here. [Fashionologie]
Here's the trailer for the Tom Ford special that's airing on OWN this Sunday. In it, the designer talks about his perfectionism, workaholism, the "terrible low" he experienced after leaving Gucci, and the making of A Single Man. You can also catch a glimpse of Ford shooting Crystal Renn for Vogue Paris and Beyoncé walking on Ford's runway. [Fashionologie]
Arizona Muse nabbed the cover of Vogue Paris' November issue, which is all about beauty. [TFS]
Um, you guys. Kaiser Karl's Number One Boy Toy and Jezebel's Official Favorite Male Model Turned Pop Star, the one and only Baptiste Giabiconi, is on the French version of Dancing With The Stars. Dance like the wind, Baptiste! [Telegraph]
Solid gold shoelaces, delivered and "laced for you anywhere in the world" — $19,000. The feeling of wordlessly advertising your gold bug status with every step — priceless. Also available are Sterling silver shoelaces — $3,000. [Mr Kennedy]
Rihanna and her record label have settled the lawsuit brought by photographer David LaChapelle over the similarities between Rihanna's "S&M" video and LaChapelle's work. [P6]
Women's Wear Daily made a random Occupy Wall Street protester its "Man of the Week." The trade gives the protester an overall A- for his "Rick Owens-esque skater" style, noting approvingly the military jacket and the rolled-up jeans. But black socks and high-top Chucks are "too trendy for an idealist," apparently. [WWD]
A man with two different sized feet special-ordered a size 14.5 left slipper from a Chinese factory. A decimal point was misplaced. This is what arrived. [Mirror]
Tavi Gevinson interviewed Leith Clark, the founder of Lula magazine. Gevinson says that when she first came across an issue in a Chicago area bookstore in 2008, she left a note between the pages asking anyone who ever bought the magazine to write to her, "because I didn't think other people in my town read it. It felt like a secret." Someone did buy it, and they became email friends. The magic of print, folks. [Nowness]
Anna Wintour pulled that trick where you board and disembark from the plane in a nice outfit, but change into comfy pants onboard. And when she arrived in Los Angeles, where she's judging a stage of the Vogue/Council of Fashion Designers of America Fashion Fund awards, not only did her Louis Vuitton luggage magically appear before anybody else's, but Wintour had the airport stop the baggage carousel so her assistant could collect it all without waiting for it to go round and round. Somewhere, Lauren Weisberger just felt a chill. [E!]
Ashley Greene is now a face of DKNY and DKNY Jeans. [People]
Chloe Moretz's mother won't let her buy designer clothes. Why would she? None of them will fit (or be considered fashionable) in a few years when Moretz grows up, anyway, and it's a waste of money. She's an actress and she can borrow whatever she "needs." [InStyle]
Cathy Horyn and Bruce Pask take a look at wedding dress options for gay couples. [NYTimes]
Ralph Rucci and the late Donald Brooks got their plaques on the Fashion Walk of Fame yesterday. [WWD]
Christian Dior's revenues grew by 17.6% during the third quarter, over the same period last year. This suggests the whole Galliano thing hasn't really hurt the brand. [WWD]
Louie Chaban — otherwise known as Karen Elson's booker — has joined Elite. /insidery [The Cut]
Cathy Horyn, David LaChapelle, Sally Singer, and Isabella Rossellini will be among the presenters at this year's Fashion Group International awards. [WWD]
For the low, low price of $24.95, you too can live-stream a day's worth of a bunch of fashion people talking about stuff for Teen Vogue. [Teen Vogue]
Perhaps a resolution in sight for the contretemps over next September's show dates? Diane von Furstenberg and the CFDA have proposed to Mario Boselli, the leader of the CFDA's Italian counterpart, "that New York 'bite the bullet' next year and move its dates earlier, in exchange for a formal agreement about 2013 and beyond. (Mr. Boselli is taking the proposal to his members.)" [NYTimes]
And now, a moment with Patrizia Reggiani, who was convicted of hiring hitmen to gun down her ex-husband, Gucci head Maurizio Gucci in 1995. Reggiani declined to participate in a prison day-release work program. Reports the Guardian:
Reggiani told the judges reviewing her situation that she had "never worked in her life" and did not intend to start now. As a result, the woman who once said "I'd rather cry in a Rolls than be happy on a bicycle" will remain in Milan's San Vittore prison, where she is said to spend her time looking after plants and a pet ferret.


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Check Those Facts On Need for Abortion
To the Editor:
President Clinton characterized Senator Bob Dole's position on the partial-birth abortion ban as "I did not want to be bothered by the facts," and asked what Mr. Dole would say to the five women who watched the President veto the bill and were said to have had the procedure to preserve their health (front page, May 24).
It is the President who ignores the facts. Dr. Pamela E. Smith of Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago wrote to Congress that "absolutely no obstetrical situations" in this country require the procedure "to preserve the life or health of the mother." Dr. James R. Jones, the chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at New York Medical College in Valhalla, N.Y., reviewed the transcripts of the five women's statements and said that in the cases that were described specifically, other options were available. It is time to end the myth that this procedure is necessary.
(Rev.) FRANK PAVONE
National Director, Priests for Life Staten Island, May 24, 1996


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Free Fight
A former pro boxer that turned into one of Brazil's heaviest hitters in MMA, Fabio Maldonado was going to make two great fights in Nottingham last month.
First, he was scheduled to face Muay Thai champion Jorgen Kruth, but the Swedish fighter decided to retire. Then Maldonado was booked against another opponent known for his striking, Frenchman Cyrille Diabaté. Breaking down either of those fights, we could expect a real trade of bullets until the last man was left standing in the Octagon.
But wait, was Maldonado going to make two greats fights which didn't materialize? What about his bout this weekend against top prospect Glover Teixeira?
Well, this is the other part of the story, a story where destiny stepped in and inserted Maldonado in a match expected to be one of the best of the UFC 153 card in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
"Diabaté and Kruth were going to be great fights, but I had my red alert on that if one of the light heavyweights on the (UFC 153) card got injured, I'd like to step up," he said. "A fight against Rampage Jackson or Teixeira himself was welcomed and I asked for one of them if I had a chance. And also, I'm 32 years old, I can't sit down waiting on things; I need to pursue these challenges. It doesn't matter who's in front of me, I want to make a great fight. I don't choose opponents and I want to face whoever they book me to fight."
Asking for a fight of this magnitude is a tough call in many ways. Principally, when you're coming off two defeats and you call guys like Rampage and Glover out, insiders and fans look at you like you're just trying to promote yourself, and that you're a fighter without anything to lose. Maldonado doesn't think he's in that spot. He just wants to let his punches fly, connecting with his foe's body or jaw.
That's why we were 100% sure the matches against strikers such as Kruth and Diabaté would be insane displays of striking. But don't feel bad that those fights won't get to unfold through, as Maldonado guarantees that against Teixeira, eyewitnesses won't have anything to lose, but much to gain.
"Fighters say they will trade punches on the feet and they don't," he said. "But Glover has that hype, and he's proving he deserves it. He's strong, he's tough and I believe he's one of the best strikers in UFC. You know, I believe in my striking and I've improved, and I think my experience is bigger than his. On the other hand, his grappling and takedowns are shaper than mine. Anyway, I'm training pretty hard to spoil this hype and put on a super show."
One of the points made by Maldonado is valid, that the mix of grappling and takedowns has been his Achilles heels since he competed in local MMA shows. Taking a look at his prior fights against Kyle Kingsbury and Igor "The Duke" Pokrajac, which were two back and forth brawls, the deciding factor which resulted in victories by decision for Maldonado's opponents were the takedowns. For him, the preparation for Teixeira has made him adjust what he missed when training for his prior foes.
"I think a few times you train too much or you don't train enough," Maldonado said. "The important thing is to not try to bring excuses to the table and instead turn it into fixing the gaps I had. I know where I didn't do very well, and Teixeira will face a Maldonado with better tools, even on the feet."
If Maldonado has his fists sharpened for this fight, we know Teixeira will have his hands full. His accolades as an amateur and pro boxer, plus the manhandling of his foes inside the rings and cages of MMA, were proof. Add to that the way he dispatched his first adversary in the UFC, James McSweeney - with body shots - and you know the Sorocaba, SP native is for real in the striking department.
"I feel I owe the fans a showcase of my hands like I did against McSweeney in 2010," he says. "My strategy is that I want to knock people out, and even when I lost by decision, I tried to hurt the guys. People can expect that against Teixeira. I'm going to hurt him, attacking every single opening he gives and I'll make his life hell during those 15 minutes.
"What I need is two or three perfect strikes to put him on the canvas," Maldonado continues. "Of course I'm aware that the fight can go in another way, that it can end in one minute by various ways. But I know what I can do, and I know that it's hard for an opponent to impose some tactics on me when he's under a barrage of punches."


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(Edit – updated with more predictions. Computing have taken extracts and copied on their site – if anyone spots the citation please let me know!)
[Originally posted on Technobabble 2.0] Every year industry analysts formally put their reputation on the line and make predictions for the next 12 months. This post aims to summarise their views in one place – I recommend you click on the links by each post if you want to read more detail.
And for a bit of fun, why don't you also compare how they did last year on this post
Firms included are: Gartner, Ovum, CCS Insight, Nucleus Research, HfS, Infotrends, Quocirca, IHS Screen Digest, Forrester, Disruptive Analysis
Top Predictions for IT Organizations and Users for 2011 and Beyond
- By 2015, a G20 nation's critical infrastructure will be disrupted and damaged by online sabotage.
- By 2015, new revenue generated each year by IT will determine the annual compensation of most new Global 2000 CIOs.
- By 2015, information-smart businesses will increase recognized IT spending per head by 60 per cent.
- By 2015, tools and automation will eliminate 25 per cent of labor hours associated with IT services.
- By 2015, 20 per cent of non-IT Global 500 companies will be cloud service providers.
- By 2014, 90 per cent of organizations will support corporate applications on personal devices.
- By 2013, 80 per cent of businesses will support a workforce using tablets.
- By 2015, 10 per cent of your online "friends" will be nonhuman.
The top ten enterprise IT trends for 2011
Security, cloud services and sustainability will be three of the most important trends in enterprise IT in 2011, according to Ovum.
- Security – Security continues to be high on the IT agenda as the number of threats to businesses increases rapidly.
- Data management – Data management will be a key area due to the sheer volumes now passing through enterprises.
- Business analytics – Business analytics will remain an important tool for organisations that want to differentiate themselves from the competition in 2011
- Mobility – In IT management, the mobility challenge in 2011 will be to embrace the new technology while developing a strategy that maintains a balance between user preference and productivity and corporate security and compliance.
- Data centre transformation – The role of the data centre is witnessing a dramatic shift as the cloud computing era heralds a new dawn in the delivery of IT services in 2011.
- Cloud services – Cloud computing will continue to grow steadily in 2011.
- Collaboration – To cater for changes in work practices, an integrated approach to collaboration is needed which includes social networking and video conferencing.
- Sustainability – New opportunities will continue to emerge in 2011 which allow organisations to work in a more environmentally-friendly way.
- IT financial management – The CIO should talk the language of business and put in place better IT financial management in 2011.
- Context-aware computing – In 2011, CIOs should be looking to instrumentation, metering and wireless technologies to play a significant role in providing the context which can lead to automated business processes and increased productivity.
CCS Insight Predictions for 2011 and Beyond
(full summary can be downloaded here)
- Apple buys TomTom.
- Huawei's Ideos brand will enter the top five manufacturers by 2015.
- Nintendo will launch "DS Mobile", a connected portable gaming device, by 2012.
- 3D becomes a major theme on mobile devices in 2011 but mobile 3D displays flatter to deceive.
- In 2012 Apple unveils the "iScreen", a connected screen for the home.
- Tablets will fail to live up to the hype.
- Facebook buys Skype and launches a calling service within its mobile applications.
- Concern grows over addiction to mobile devices, particularly among the under-25s.
- Operators will focus on speed and quality of service rather than number of gigabytes when marketing mobile data.
- Operators will pay subsidies based on the data efficiency of a software platform, favouring BlackBerry over iOS and Android.
- Chrome OS becomes a "problem child" for Google
- MeeGo's early successes will not come from mobile phones.
Nucleus Research Technology Predictions
- Oracle and IBM are the last ones standing, going head-to-head after enterprise software partners and/or acquisitions.
- Microsoft needs an inspiring visionary or a tactical general. Steve Ballmer should go.
- Smaller vendors with specialized expertise that deliver value to customers continue to thrive.
- Google needs to actually finish products and not just gravitate to the next big thing.
- HP needs to get beyond boardroom scuffles and define itself in the modern software world.
- SAP will shrink as companies now have credible alternatives (Oracle, NetSuite, and others).
- Politicians are out of touch with the realities of IT. The cloud enables white-collar workers to work anywhere, allowing smart companies to seek locales with low taxes and overhead.
- No more social networking nonsense, as organizations move employees away from social sites at work.
- The cloud changes everything – still. Companies large and small are taking advantage of the economic and environmental advantages of developing and computing in the cloud.
- AT&T provides a valuable lesson on how a lack of customer service and inability to address service issues can cause customers to band together through the Internet with a powerful and collective voice
HfS – Horses for Sources Predictions
- The outsourcing industry will see the first Cowboy and Indian mega-merger
- BPO uptake will creep back throughout 2011, as the recovery stutters and buyers pull the trigger on sourcing initiatives, however, many of the deals for the first-time buyer will be small in scope
- IT Outsourcing will have a banner year as market peaks, however growth will tail-off towards year-end as wage-arbitrage begins to become saturated
- Service integration becomes the new fad, replacing innovation as the buzzword of the day
- Service providers will start to break out of vertical silos to help their clients collaborate
- Integrated offerings from service providers with broad capability gain market share. Distinction between BPO and ITO blurs
- Many CIOs will thrive or fail because of Cloud demand from their business function leaders
- Successful advisors shift their business models to be "lighter" or more full featured
- Onshore and nearshore alternatives hit the mainstream
- HfS Research will achieve world-domination
Technology predictions from Zac Butcher
- Continued economic uncertainty; the global economy is the major issue for business in 2011, austerity measures in Europe impacting public sector key account business and confidence in general
- Cloud printing (or a similar term) to become the next big thing in the printing industry – we're going to start moving beyond MPS and the hubbub around MPS – companies will begin to realise that the underlying theme is the mobility of the knowledge worker and that business processes, of which the majority still involve paper somewhere along the line, will need to adapt, evolve and maybe be totally reinvented for the next computing age
- Greater range of iPad competitor products will slowly begin to erode printed pages further – screen reading at the outset and moving more towards video consumption of content longer term
Technology predictions from Clive Longbottom
- The cloud will burst – initial attempts by many companies to adopt cloud will show some of the issues – latency, service levels, lack of predictability will all make organisations wonder if cloud is all it has been built up to be. There will then be a strong drive for an agreed means of standardising technical contracts on the fly and for monitoring and managing performance across private, and to a lesser extent, public clouds. This does not bring cloud down – it just slows it down while the reality sets in and expectations are reset.
- Consolidation continues. The changing nature of IT continues to stress large and small IT vendors, and acquisitions continue for those with deep pockets, mergers for those in trouble, and failure for some. Even large companies can fail (see Novell for this year's big one). The focus will have to be on agility and flexibility – not massive, semi-monolithic applications.
- The IT department struggles. Old-style outsourcing where IT departments found themselves in fear of having their employer change under them, or in possibly losing their job, becomes new-style outsourcing, looking to utilise functions from the cloud. Jobs will just be lost – the cloud takes over the complete function, and the new IT department has to be able to act as the translator between what the business needs and where those functions are best served from. This is not a grease-monkey technical job – it is a business/technical architect job, and many IT people will suffer in the fall out. However, the cloudburst mentioned above will give some succour – when cloud is seen as a failure, the functions will have to be pulled back in again, and the hyper-techie will have their part to play again. Unfortunately, this will be short lived, and many organisations will not have the capability to deal with the "boom and bust" movement from in-house data centre to hybrid cloud and back again in a manner that enables the business to survive.
- Sustainability is back on the agenda. Not because big business wants to save the world – but because governments need to raise money. Green is the new tax – governments will be finding ways to screw as much out of businesses as they possibly can through as many means as possible, and taxing what will be defined as profligate use of energy is a great way of bringing in money. IT will be a focus again – but the clever IT department will move the focus to how IT can help the overall organisation to better manage its overall energy footprint – not just focusing on how the data centre can cut back on its energy use by 5-10%.
- Thin-client computing (by any name) becomes far more mainstream. Any company that does this for cost purposes or for energy saving purposes deserves everything that happens to them. However, to enable a better control and information security environment, to better support mobile workers and to ensure better overall security across a mixed estate of company and personal access devices, centralising the desktop in a data centre will be seen as making more and more sense.
- Consumerisation overtakes the business. Any business now trying to turn back the tide of employees wanting their own devices to be supported will lose. Devices ranging from the enterprise-focused, such as RIM Blackberries, through avowedly consumer focused iPad and the newer Android/PalmOS/Windows 7 slates, tablets and other form factor systems will no longer be centrally sourced by the organisation, but will be expensed by the employee. These systems will have to be accepted and managed by IT – even if "managing" them means just providing a sandboxed environment for the corporate desktop to run in.
- Social networking continues to confuse, bemuse and amuse. Facebook continues its world domination, Twitter fades somewhat as people begin to see its limitations. MySpace probably fades to a greater extent. FourSquare makes some inroads for a while – but is not a long term bet. Organisations continue to struggle in figuring out just exactly how to play the social networking field. Employees continue to place inappropriate comments that hit headlines and embarrass businesses, resulting in knee-jerk reactions that end up in court for dealing with employee grievances.
- The iPhone 5 gets announced on April 1st. It will have a 24MP camera with a 3MP secondary one. It will have a 3D screen, which, using the Retina capability and special glasses, will give the appearance of an IMAX experience while you are sat on the underground. It will make a leap to 6 TB memory – just enough for your average 14 year old to store all their MP3 and JPEG files. It will not be compatible with Flash – or with the Microsoft Kinect controller. Steve Jobs is also rumoured to be talking to telecoms companies about making sure that the iPhone5 will not be able to interoperate with any device on the same network that runs Microsoft Windows Phone 7. According to his Fanboys, this is a necessary step to stop the evil dictatorship of Ballmer from placing the world under the shackles of a closed operating system with little support for external capabilities and with little overall usage due to short battery life. After all, that is Steve's job.
Julien Theys from IHS Screen Digest
- Nokia will have to deliver with MeeGo if it doesn't want to be written off in the smartphone innovation race. Their current strategy will have to translate into financial gains or face a reboot by 2012.
- Android will keep growing and outselling iPhone although the comparison will remain irrelevant (and mildly irritating). Android will speed up the democratisation and commoditisation of a significant share of the smartphone market. Some hardware manufacturers relying too much on Android will suffer from this. Poor quality handsets and fragmentation will hurt the Android brand. Unofficial, unsupported and sub-par Android variants will creep up and there is very little that Google will be able to do about it. Tablets will only make it worse.
- Out of the two Korean giants, Samsung will have a much better 2011 than LG, mobile-wise.
- Growth year for Apple, with emphasis on multi-touch and evolutionary improvements across the board: Apps on Apple TV, CDMA iPhone, iPad 2. 2011 should offer a rather weak competition for iPad. iPod should decline significantly but Apple will keep milking the (mostly unchallenged) cow until its last breath.
- I still do not see the brands 'Playstation' and 'Sony Ericsson' coexist on the upcoming gaming-oriented handset. A new sub-brand would be wiser.
- RIM will have a hard time sustaining their growth rate.
- Mobile payment should be the hot topic in many countries, with many stakeholders likely to move aggressively. One more area in which Nokia had a head start that might ultimately prove useless.
- Big tickets M&A are most likely to involve companies such as Microsoft, Nokia and RIM.
- Skype is a prime acquisition candidate.
- Google and Apple are likely to stick with their current strategy of incremental smaller-scale IP/talent acquisitions.
- Potential let downs: Google TV, Chrome OS and BlackBerry Playbook will all be tough sells.
- Certain let downs: augmented reality, location-based gaming.
James Staten gives his cloud predictions
- And The Empowered Shall Lead Us. In Forrester's new book Empowered, we profile a new type of IT leader, and they don't work for you. They work for the business, not I&O, and are leveraging technologies at the edge of the business to change relationships, improve customer support, design new products, and deliver value in ways you could not have foreseen. And, despite your "better judgment" you need to help them do this. Your frontline employees are the ones who see the change in the market first and are best positioned to guide the business on how to adjust. They can turn — and are turning — to cloud services to make this change happen but don't always know how to leverage it best. This is where you must engage.
- You will build a private cloud, and it will fail. And this is a good thing. Because through this failure you will learn what it really takes to operate a cloud environment. Knowing this, your strategy should be to fail fast and fail quietly. Don't take on a highly visible or wildly ambitious cloud effort. Start small, learn, iterate, and then expand
- Hosted private clouds will outnumber internal clouds 3:1. The top reason empowered employees go to public cloud services is speed. They can gain access to these services in minutes. Private clouds must meet this demand and not once, but consistently. That means standardized procedures executed by automation software, not hero VMware administrators. And most enterprises aren't ready to pass the baton. But service providers will be ready in 2011. This is your fast path to private cloud, so take it.
- Community clouds will arrive, thank to compliance. The biotech field is already heading this direction. Federal government I&O teams are piloting them. And security and compliance will bring them together. Why struggle alone adapting your processes to meet FDA requirements when everyone else in your industry is doing the same? Cmed Technology is onto something here.
- Workstation applications will bring HPC to the masses. Autodesk's Project Cumulus and the ISVs lining up behind GreenButton are showing the way, and they'll do it because it expands — not threatens — their market. Both these companies have figured out how to put a cloud behind applications and in so doing deliver game-changing productivity: the kind of performance that can potentially match traditional grid computing but with nearly no effort by the customer. These moves leverage cloud economics and may disrupt supercomputing.
- Cloud economics gets switched on. Being cheap is good. We all know the basic of cloud economics — pay only for what you use — but the mechanism isn't the lesson; it's just the tool. Cloud economics 101 is matching elastic applications to cloud platforms and moving transient apps in and out so their costs are constantly returning to zero. Cloud economics 201 is designing and optimizing applications to take greatest advantage. Cloud economics 301 is knowing when and which cloud to use for maximum profitability. Look to early efforts such as Amazon Web Services' Spot Instances andEnomaly's SpotCloud to show the way here and the Cloud Price Calculator to help you normalize costs. As cloud segments such as IaaS commoditize, tools that let you play the market will grow in importance.
- The BI gap will widen. If business intelligence to you means a secure data warehouse, you will quickly learn which side of this gap you are on. Cloud technologies such as AWS' Elastic Map Reduce, 1010Data, and BI unification will deliver real-time intelligence and cross-system insights that help businesses skate to where the puck is going and see — and make — the market shift before their competitors.
- Information is power and a new profit center. Not only will cloud computing help leading enterprises gain greater insight from their information, it will help them derive revenue from it too. Services such as Windows Azure DataMarket will help enterprises leverage data sources more easily and become one of those providers themselves. The Associated Press, Dun & Bradstreet, and ESRI are the model. Are you the next great provider? What value data are you keeping locked up in your vault?
- Cloud standards still won't be here — get over it. Despite promising efforts by the DMTF, NIST, and the Cloud Security Alliance, this market will still be too immature for standardization. But that won't mean a lack of progress in 2011. Expect draft specifications and even a possible ratification or two next year, but adoption of the standard will remain years off. Don't let that hold you back from using cloud technologies, though, as most are built on the backs of prior standards efforts. Existing security, Web services, networking, and protocol standards are all in use by clouds. And cloud management tools are doing their best to abstract the difference from cloud to cloud.
- Cloud security will be proven but not by the providers alone. Because cloud security isn't their responsibility —it's shared. The cloud-leading enterprises get this, and we have already seen HIPAA, PCI, and other compliance standards met in the cloud. The cloud providers are certainly doing their part as evidenced by AWS's recent ISO 27001 certification. The best practices for doing this will spread in 2011, but we should all remember that you shouldn't hold off on cloud computing until you solve these high-bar security challenges. Get started with applications that are easier to protect.
Dean Bubley's disruptive predictions
- HSPA/+ and smartphones for data – Really, the big story in 2011 is going to be "more of the same". More smartphones at both low and high ends, more dongles, and slow but certain growth in new device categories. Despite the fervour over LTE, it's going to be the growing maturity of "normal" 3.5G which is going to be driving the industry, if not the headlines.
- Evolved policy management – Linked to the growth of mobile data, and the shifting revenue/cost equations of mobile broadband networks, Disruptive Analysis expects to see a continued intense focus on traffic and policy management solutions.
- Own-brand operator OTT services: This is going to be the big surprise of 2011. I've been talking about access-independent services for some time, but it's still been a taboo among many operators. The idea of Operator #1 launching services targeting Operator #2 and #3's access customers has sat very uneasily with the clubby, collaborative, "we're all in this together against Google and Facebook" interoperability mentality of the telcos.
- Femtocells – Various people have been asking me if 2010 was the "year of the femto", which I've been hesitant to agree to, as I see market evolution more as a steady progression. Nevertheless, the femto concept has been hugely validated by a number of high-profile launches, and we are likely to see continued growth in 2011.
- LTE for data – Although HSPA will continue to go from strength to strength, there is a groundswell of both optimism and activity on LTE. Not only that, but a stream of spectrum auctions – especially 800MHz digital dividens – is coming through, which will almost inevitably be used for LTE deployment.
- Tablets – I've been somewhat surprised by the iPad's success, but I still don't see tablets as a major game-changing trend, beyond the "Apple Effect". I still think that the iPad is primarily a nice (and for some groups of people also very useful) gadget which complements their PC/Mac and smartphone usage.
- Two-sided operator business models – I spend a lot of my time examining realistic ways that operators might monetise "non-user" sources of revenue. At the moment, I'm seeing something of a mixed bag. Certain niches such as M2M are showing signs of growth.
- NFC – I've been a long-term critic of NFC, especially for mobile payments. The noise around the technology has risen to a crescendo recently, with Orange launching a major initiatives in 2011, and a three-way project by AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile.
- LTE for voice – Despite talks of trials of VoLTE, Disruptive Analysis does not expect to see successful massmarket voice services launched on LTE for several years, with the possible exception of NTT DoCoMo.
Next year's biggest turkeys:
IMS RCS. 'Nuff said.
- Any new operator-specified handset OS.
- Federated operator-run cloud services (although single-operator clouds have good potential). Likely to get hyped as a triumph for interoperability, and therefore the best candidate for a new losers' coalition.
- Subscription-based Mobile TV (as always). Yes, there's a handful of iPad video addicts. And yes Japan uses terrestrial TV-to-the-phone. But massmarket TV on massmarket phones? No, just as unlikely as in 2006 when it was last hyped.
- It's about time for the FourSquare-style "check in" model to implode under its own preposteroussness. The only good thing about FourSquare & peers is that it's a great way to know where not to go, if you want to avoid meeting dull social-media people.
- Paid apps for Android, Symbian and BlackBerry. There's a strong correlation between a willingness to spend $$$ on apps and willingness to give Steve Jobs $300 gross margin per device. Everyone else counts their pennies & will go for cheap/free wherever possible.
- Operator-run appstores or app-malls. Might work out in certain contexts, but I can't see them worrying Apple.
- Large-scale M2M. I'm still unconvinced that a zillion sensors and fridges are going to get networked up. And if they do, they also guarantee that GSM/GPRS will be around for the next 30 years, and we won't be refarming much 2G spectrum any time soon.
- New variations of the SIM card (eg OTA IMSI-updating, multi-IMSI, wholesale & switching etc)
- Augmented reality
- Whether Nokia can stage a return to its glory days with MeeGo
- Will a major Internet / IT company buy into cellular, either via acquisition or as an MVNO
- Satellite-based mobility


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Yesterday, Apple announced their line of brand new iMacs. This latest refresh keeps the screen size the same, but you are getting much more for your money. Every iMac comes standard with a dedicated graphics processor with up to 1GB of video ram. This is a big upgrade that allows users to get a better experience out of photos and videos.
Along with having better video cards, the new 27″ iMacs allow you to add a SSD (solid state drive) and have dual hard drives in the computer. This is a dramatic increase in the speed of the computer, allowing you to install programs on the SSD and have programs open up much quicker.
Perhaps the biggest improvement is that all of the processors have been upgraded to include either the Core i3, i5, or i7 processor, eliminating the old but long lasting Core 2 Duo.
Another huge change is the introduction of the Magic Trackpad. This is the first multitouch trackpad designed to work with the new iMacs. It works similarly to the trackpad in a notebook computer.
Abt will be selling all the standard Apple models, along with several configured models with upgraded memory and hard drives. Keep a watch for the new models to pop up online in the next few days.
-Rob C.


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United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs: Regional Programme Framework for Europe and CIS: Capacity Building and Informative Exchange (AN2006-540-01), 23 Feb 2007
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- Release date
- January 12, 2009
United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (UN OIOS) 23 Feb 2007 report titled "Regional Programme Framework for Europe and CIS: Capacity Building and Informative Exchange [AN2006-540-01]" relating to the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The report runs to 24 printed pages.Note
Further information


text:
Talkeetna's original airfield.
Airborne in a deHaviland Beaver, an Alaskan workhorse.
Flying up Ruth Glacier on the way to a landing site. The ice in Ruth Glacier is more than 3800 feet deep and moves more than 3 feet per day.
If it were to melt, the area of the Ruth Glacier would be deeper than the Grand Canyon. Even more amazing is that Ruth Glacier is more than 30 miles long.
Mt. McKinley, the tallest peak in North America, peeks through the clouds.
Mt. McKinley under the wing our plane.


text: I spent the past week in Indiana attending a conference. My Aeronaut did a superb job of holding my clothes, toiletries, etc. for the trip, while my Brain Bag (and assorted pouches) carried everything else on a daily basis. The campus of Indiana University is beautiful! This photo was taken outside of the Indiana Memorial Union.


text:
Purus' Limited Edition grates are designed to fit in to our Purus Line drains, and this Side Side Outlet version is our inline horizontal outlet solution. The outlet is in line with the channel length. It can be installed against the wall or elsewhere in the room.
The Purus Line with Side Side Outlet can be installed in either concrete or wooden floors. When fitting into wooden joists, concrete must be poured within the wooden frame as per the installation instructions.
The Purus Line Side Side Outlet is suitable for tiled floor finishes, comes in lengths of 600mm, 700mm, 800mm, 900mm, 1000mm and 1200mm and has a horizontal 50mm outlet. The Purus Line is supplied as two separate parts: the drain body and the grate, so please ensure two products are chosen when ordering.
Please choose your channel drain length from the selection on this page.
Please note that as this is a Swedish product, the 52576 50mm to 1½" adapter must be ordered separately.


text:
- Publishers
- Pantheon
- series: Jimmy Corrigan
Comic book series : Jimmy Corrigan
Artist: Chris Ware
Writer: Ware, Chris
Publisher: Pantheon
The Smartest Kid On Earth
artist: Chris Ware
Writer: Ware, Chris
series: Jimmy Corrigan
publisher: Pantheon
publish date: 06-02-2015
language: English
coloring: full color
size: 206x164x32mm
pages: 380: Hard Cover
genres: graphic novel
This first book from Chicago author Chris Ware is a pleasantly-decorated view at a lonely and emotionally-impaired "everyman" (Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth), who is provided, at age 36, the opportunity to meet his father for the first time. An improvisatory romance which gingerly deports itself between 1890's Chicago and 1980's small town Michigan, the reader is helped along by thousands of colored illustrations and diagrams, which, when read rapidly in sequence, provide a convincing illusion of life and movement. The bulk of the work is supported by fold-out instructions, an index, paper cut-outs, and a brief apology, all of which concrete to form a rich portrait of a man stunted by a paralyzing fear of being disliked.


text:
Amy Herzog
I think sweaters are most successful when we love wearing them, and I'd love to help you create tons of drool-worthy, successful sweaters.
I'm an author (You Can Knit That, Knit to Flatter, and Knit Wear Love, with Abrams), designer (for Rowan, Twist Collective, and more), teacher, and the creator of the CustomFit custom sweater pattern generator. CustomFit creates sweater patterns specific to your choice of gauge and size, for men, women, and kids.
I've been knitting since I was a little kid, but it remained a hobby while I pursued computer security research for my career until 2013, when I left the mainstream tech industry to run CustomFit full-time. For more information on my designs, please visit my blog and CustomFit.
A few important things:
- Ravelry's PM feature is an unreliable way to get in touch with me. For faster help, please send mail to email@example.com. Thanks!
I have two kinds of designs: traditional and CustomFit designs. They're clearly marked in each individual pattern descriptions but here's an overview:
Traditional designs are multiple-size, one-gauge, patterns like you already probably knit.
CustomFit designs are special patterns that are created specifically to your choice of size and gauge - from kid to adult, from fingering to bulky. Both are listed here in my Ravelry store. Click here to see a list of CustomFit designs.
I can't wait to see what you make!
original designs
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