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Detroit 'Openly and Notoriously' Went Bankrupt
Its reward? Maybe a state bailout
Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr visited Lansing last week trying to persuade hesitant state lawmakers to ante up $350 million toward a partial bailout for the city.
It's a tough sell for reasons Orr himself expressed with regard to a group that is getting no love from current policymakers — those who lent money to the city and would like to get repaid. Here is how he characterized the actions of some of these lenders:
Stay Engaged
If you lent money to an insolvent city that has been going insolvent as openly and notoriously [emphasis added] as possible since 2000, and you don't have as security interest, then you are an unsecured creditor.
In other words, Orr contends the city's fiscal malpractice was so flagrant that these lenders knew or should have known trouble was coming, and so today have little ground to complain about proposals to give them disproportionately large financial "haircuts" compared to others.
But hang on, there's a big contradiction in this. The lenders weren't the only ones who "knew or should have known." Both city and state officials were well aware of Detroit's looming fiscal problems, and in general they chose a business-as-usual approach to its "open and notorious" mismanagement, spending and debt. For years, they themselves ignored countless warnings about the city's growing financial house of cards.
Among many who issued such warnings was the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, which in 2000 published a Detroit-specific, full-color edition of the Michigan Privatization Report that gave explicit warnings about the city's underfunded pension system (including its retiree health care promises).
The city's health insurance plan for retirees, on the other hand, is not actuarially sound. It is funded on a pay-as-you-go basis … the liability that has accrued to the city for Detroit's current and future retirees for health care lies between $1.75 billion and $3 billion.
A few months later this author warned the state's Treasury Department that Detroit had violated the Uniform Budget and Accounting Act. The violations should have triggered an emergency financial review by the state. The warning letter stated:
I bring this to your attention for two reasons. First, I believe the law may have been violated and feel obligated to bring this to your attention for a remedy. Second, Detroit's fiscal health is poor and eroding further still.
I spent the last five months poring over the city's budget and Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and have been mortified by my discoveries. I believe that a state investigation into the city's fiscal health may be just what Detroit officials need to get them to make real changes for the city and its citizens.
In 2005 I published an op-ed in The Detroit News titled, "Detroit Can't Postpone Reforms" with the following warning:
Real reform can't be postponed. If Detroit's decline persists and the city's financial problems continue, the state may be forced to appoint an "emergency financial manager" to run the city under Public Act 72 — an ignominious end for the mayor and Detroit itself.
In the same year, then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick warned of a possible receivership while a New York Times headline blared: "Shrinking, Detroit Faces Fiscal Nightmare."
Given the massive failure of state and local officials to address the city's problems when there was still time to avoid what has now occurred, it is rich indeed that their successors (some of whom are the same people in different elective offices) are now trying to force Michigan taxpayers to bailout a Detroit political class and citizenry who for decades have been "openly and notoriously" hostile to real reform.
Related Articles:
Detroit is Becoming Friendlier to Entrepreneurs
Detroit's Taxes, Regulations Keeping It Down
Teacher Pay Flat at Insolvent Detroit Schools, But Union President's Pay Doubles
Detroit Policy From a Free-Market Perspective
Detroit Ignores State Law, Turns Down Money to Avoid Selling Abandoned School
Funding Up, But Detroit School Official Claims 'Budget Cuts' Stole Recess


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We are getting to the home-stretch in our campaign to petition the federal government to stop the funding of motorcycle-only checkpoints, so the question is: have YOU signed it yet (and shared it with your moto-loving friends)?
First implemented by the State of New York, inspection checkpoints that apply only to motorcycles have become a more common practice across the United States, and are an act of discrimination that is primarily due to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) funding of the practice through special grants.
Implemented under the guise of operating for the public's safety, states like New York have been able to target motorcyclists at checkpoints for vehicle and passenger inspection, even when the motorcyclists have broken no apparent laws, with no similar checkpoints being setup for automobile drivers.
An alarming trend in the unfair application of the law, some states, like California, have been able to preemptively ban the practice through their legislative branches; however, other states like New York have continue using motorcycle-only checkpoints, with the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently affirming motorcycle-only checkpoints as lawful in New York.
Over two years ago, the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) urged NHTSA Administrator David Strickland to cease the NHTSA's funding of motorcycle-only checkpoints. After denying the request, the NHTSA has continued to provide federal funds to state and local police programs for the specific use of these checkpoints (the NHTSA's response is here).
While the issue will be delayed for years in the courts, there is something that we as motorcyclists can do now in order to enact change. You may have already heard of The White House's "We the People" website, a site where citizens can petition the federal government for specific actions, and if enough people sign a petition, President Obama and his staff have to take the matter under consideration. Click here to sign the petition.

subset: commoncrawl


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FootJoy Lisle Engineered Chest Band Polo
FJ performance golf apparel has experienced remarkable success and acceptance among the game's best players. FJ performance golf apparel also features contemporary colors and patterns in a variety of styles and performance fabrics.
- Easy to care for fabric that avoids wrinkling or shrinkage.
- ProDry Fabric offers extreme comfort throughout the golf swing with virtually no wrinkling and provides UV sun protection.
- Provides reinforced construction with a tailored look.
- Double stitched seams offer added durability.
- This garment features an extra long back shirt tail to make tucking in a breeze.
- This anti-microbial finish inhibits odor build-up when ambient moisture is present.


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ABPD Certification Testing
Coordinated through Measurement Research Associates, a division of Measurement Incorporated.
The American Board of Pediatric Dentistry (ABPD) is sponsored by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and was founded in 1942. The American Board of Pediatric Dentistry is the only certifying board for the specialty of pediatric dentistry and is one of the nine specialty boards recognized by the American Dental Association.
The activities of the ABPD conform to the "Requirements for Recognition of Dental Specialties and National Certifying Boards for Dental Specialists" of the American Dental Association Council on Dental Education and Licensure.
Certification by the ABPD provides assurance to the public that a pediatric dentist has successfully completed accredited training and a voluntary examination process designed to continually validate the knowledge, skills, and experience requisite to the delivery of quality care.
- Registration start date: February 26, 2018
- Examination delivery window: May 7, 2018
Computer-Based Testing Tutorial and Practice Exam
Obtain general information about computer-based testing and answers to frequently asked questions, as well as practice taking an exam using the computer-based test tutorial.
First-time test takers must create a Pearson VUE web account. Appointments may be made up to one business day in advance.
After you schedule your test, Pearson VUE will send a confirmation letter listing your test date, your testing time, the address and phone number of the test center, and directions to the test center.


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Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories
State Sen. George Maziarz escorted 27 local veterans to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, on his Western New York Heroes Flight. Most were World War II veterans, but a few Korean War vets also were included.
Despite the government shutdown that was still in progress, the veterans visited the World War II, Korean, Vietnam and Iwo Jima memorials, plus watched the changing of the guard at Arlington Cemetery.
Barricades were down at their first stop, the WWII memorial. After that, Maziarz interceded with a guard at one of the blocked roads and one of the Heroes Flight volunteers made sure the group got past barriers at another site.
So it was a tired, but happy group that returned to Western New York. Maziarz (center, wearing the blue volunteer shirt) is shown with his veterans at Arlington Cemetery. (photos by John A. Mikula)


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While concrete details are thin on the ground, SCi have today announced a new third person action game called Total Overdose, due to arrive summer 2005 and promising to deliver a Mexican twist on the GTA formula.
The game follows the story of Ramiro Cruz whose father is mysteriously killed on a mission for the Drug Enforcement Agency. He is released from prison when new information surrounding his fathers death is uncovered by his brother, Tommy Cruz.
As an undercover agent for the DEA, Tommy is injured in the line of work, leaving him unable to conduct an undercover investigation and so it's down to the gritty Ramiro to get to the bottom of the case (handily providing an avatar as indifferent to casual acts of violence as the player).
Plenty of vehicle-based action is promised, as is stylish gunplay and a healthy dose of alcohol, women and spicy food. Hopefullly the strong Mexican/western theme can set the game apart from being merely a GTA-alike - regardless, expect Total Overdose to be with us sometime over the summer.


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Last month, we focused on the transition back to school. We heard from many families who wanted us to highlight ways they could play a part in their child's education.
One parent wrote, "I want to make sure my child is making educational progress and having a good experience at school. What can I do to make sure this happens?"
As a parent of a child with autism, you are your child's most passionate advocate. As an important member of their school team, you can advocate for their education to ensure their rights are not violated. This month's Community Connections tells you how best to advocate for your child's education by taking an active role in the process!
Starting A New IEP Advocacy Year: Back to School Tips
In this article, Lisa Krizman shares tips about advocacy supplies, monitoring programs, and important legal developments in special education.
Developing A Great IEP, with Gary Mayerson
This free two-part 12- minute video provides important information for parents who are encountering the IEP process for the first time, as well as tips for parents who have been through the process before.
Wrightslaw Special Education Law and Advocacy
Accurate, reliable information about special education law, education law and advocacy for children with disabilities.
A Parent's Guide to Special Ed/Special Needs
The Council for Disability Rights
Building the Legacy: IDEA 2004
The United State Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs' (OSEP's) IDEA Website
The Council for Disability Rights Glossary of Special Education Terms
Prepared by Dr. Joy J. Rogers, Professor, Loyola University School of Education
Special Ed Connection
Stay connected to everything happening in special education.
Question and Answer Session about Federal Legal Appeals Project
Gary Mayerson, FLAP Director
Beyond IEP's: Eight Ways Parents Can Help Advocate for Children with Autism
Adapted from Saint Louis Autism and Parenting Examiner
Visit our Resource Guide to search for Special Education information and regulations specific to your state, or to find attorneys and advocates in your area. We welcome new submissions to continually build the Resource Guide. If you know of any additional advocacy resources available, you can submit them here.
We would like to hear from you! Share your experience with special education advocacy and law by e-mailing email@example.com.
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Bobby Bottleservice (Nick Kroll) and Peter Paparazzo (Jon Daly) are the Ed Hardy Boyz. They're equally sick at getting girls as they are at solving mysteries. With the help of Christian Audigier, King of the Ed Hardy fashion empire, they're working super hard to make our world a more dope place, one vodka event at a time.
- October 05, 2009
- 1.8m Views
- Immortal
Funny Or DieUploader
Nick KrollActor
Jon DalyActor
Alison BeckerActor
Kat BardotMake Up Artist
Hall of FameChannel
Nick Kroll
Jon Daly
Directed by:
Jonathan Krisel
Alison Becker - Ed Hardy Salesgirl
Brody Stevens - Affliction D-bag
Angela Trimbur & Nick Thune
Camera operator: Eric Notarnicola
Additional Wardrobe provided by: Hilary Olson
Key Grip: Mike Tarango
Assistant Editor: Dan Longino
Make-up by: Kat Bardot
Special Thanks to @tedulous
Makeup Provided by MAC
October 05, 2009
The video opens with a shot of Nick Kroll and Jon Daly posturing for the camera. Hard rock music plays in the background. There is a short montage of images of Nick Kroll and Jon Daly. The shot cuts to a stylized background and the following text – The Ed Hardy Boyz. The shot cuts back to Nick Kroll and Jon Daly with text – solving mysteries – over them. The shot then cuts to a miniature Jon Daly dancing between the words – good at business. The shot then cuts to Nick Kroll posing behind the words – Super good at girls. Jon Daly appears by himself and the name - Peter Paparazzo – appears. The shot then cuts to Nick Kroll and the name Bobby Bottleservice appears. The words – The Ed Hardy Boyz – appears again. This cuts to the words – The Ed Hardy Boyz in the case of "The Missing Sick Belt Buckle." The shot then cuts to Jon Daly and Nick Kroll out on the sidewalk talking to a woman.
Nick Kroll: Oh, I would love for you to come to an event that we are throwing. Are you interested in coming out?
Jon Daly takes pictures of the woman while Nick Kroll talks to her.
Nick Kroll: You have very beautiful nails and that phone is very cool. Thank you so much.
The text – OBJECTIVE PROMOTE TONIGHT'S VODKA EVENT – appears.
Nick Kroll: Yo, come check it out, full bottle service. Ed Hardy vodka for children event. Tonight.
Jon Daly: Paparazzi red carpet. Paparazzi red carpet.
Nick Kroll (to a woman walking by): Excuse me. Why can't you smile for me. Why you look so sad?
Jon Daly (to woman): Usually I'm very shy, but you've turned me into an introvert.
Nick Kroll (to two attractive women walking by): Oh, are you on an Anaheim baseball team, cause you both angels.
Jon Daly's phone rings.
Jon Daly: Oh, snap.
The phone's caller Id reads - Christian Audigier founder of Ed Hardy.
"Christian Audigier": Hello boys. It's me Christian Audigier.
Jon Daly: What's up Christian?
"Christian Audigier": I have a case for you. Yesterday, A totally sick belt buckle was stolen from my flagship store.
Jon Daly: No!
"Christian Audigier" (in car): The buckle was going to be a personal gift from me to my best friend Jon Gosselin. Your mission. Find the belt buckle. Return it to me and I will let you touch Michael Jackson's corpse.
Jon Daly: Tight.
Nick Kroll: Let's do this ASAP.
The shot cuts to Jon Daly and Nick Kroll at the Ed Hardy flagship store. The following text appears – OBJECTIVE SNIFF OUT CLUES. Nick Kroll is questioning Alison Becker.
Nick Kroll: OK, so what was it that occurred for you?
Alison Becker: I was in here folding clothes and this really sketchy guy came in and he was wearing an Affliction T-shirt.
The shot cuts to Jon Daly randomly taking photographs of the store's interior. The shot cuts back to Alison Becker and Nick Kroll.
Alison Becker: Oh, and then I went out for a little bit and when I came back, like, the sickest Ed Hardy belt was missing.
Nick Kroll scribbles in a small notebook.
Alison Becker: What are you writing?
Nick Kroll: Oh, no, it's just me cooking you breakfast.
Nick Kroll shows Alison Becker a childlike picture of him cooking eggs.
Nick Kroll: I would like to ask you now, as another follow up question, why is is that you look familiar? Do you work out at that gym that I have a financial stake in?
Alison Becker: No.
Nick Kroll: But you have a beautiful body. Third and thirdmostly, I would like to ask you, do you date me? No, not yet, but maybe someday, God willing.
Alison Becker: Oh, I don't know if this will help you, but he did mention that he never misses a free vodka event. Oh, that would be very much for me to tell you that we are doing an Ed Hardy vodka for children event tonight.
Jon Daly: He will be drawn to our vodka event like a moth to a flame.
Nick Kroll: Thank you for you help with this situation. It would be very much my honor that you would meet my mother.
The shot cuts to the vodka event opening. The text – OBJECTIVE SOLVE THE MYSTERY – appears.
Jon Daly (taking pictures of a guest): Oh, give me your eyes. Your eyes are blue, like blue flowers. Alright, you're done, OK.
Nick Kroll (to guest): Are you on this list? OK.
Jon Daly (taking pictures of another guest): I'm gonna steal your soul like native indians.
Nick Kroll (to Nick Thune): Is that a hummingbird on your shirt bro?
Nick Thune: No, it's a...
Nick Kroll: Get the fuck out of here, bro! This is fucking rock n' roll bro.
Nick Kroll (to Angela Trimbur): Oh, I like how your eye makeup makes you look like a bird.
Jon Daly (to Brody Stevens): Alright bro! Here's we go bro. Looking good! Looking...good.
Jon Daly sees the stolen Ed Hardy belt buckle on Brody Stevens.
Jon Daly: Hey bro, sick belt buckle bro.
Brody Stevens: I know.
Jon Daly (under his breath): You fucking know. You fucking piece of shit. (calls Nick Kroll, who is a few feet away) Hey.
Nick Kroll: Hello?
Jon Daly: The eagle has landed, on the red carpet. It's the sick belt buckle and it's here.
Jon Daly, Nick Kroll and Brody Stevens take turns saying, what's up, bro, where you at bro, and are you here bro.
Nick Kroll: Sick belt buckle, bro.
Jon Daly (yelling): Sick belt buckle bro!
Brody Stevens: I know. Bro.
Nick Kroll: You motherfucker, that belt buckle doesn't belong to you! It belongs to Christian Audigier! The fucking new genius of the free world!
Nick Kroll and Jon Daly beat Brody Stevens up. They then tie a handkerchief around his mouth and pour water over it.
Nick Kroll: We're going to Ed Hardy structure waterboard you, bro.
Jon Daly: Yeah, Ed Hardy structure water, which contains hexagonal molecules of gold and platinum bro.
Nick Kroll tears the belt buckle off.
Nick Kroll: We did this for you Christian.
Jon Daly calls "Christian Audigier."
Jon Daly: We got the belt buckle bro!
"Christian Audigier": A job well done, Ed Hardy Boyz. Enjoy the corpse of Michael Jackson. As for me, I must go to my girlfriend's sweet 16.
The shot cuts to Nick Kroll and Jon Daly cooking eggs. Alison Becker come out of the other room in just a T-shirt.
Jon Daly: Oh, good morning. Early bird gets the omelet
Alison Becker: Fun night last night.
Nick Kroll: Yeah. You ever gotten it from two dudes at one times?
Alison Becker: Not when they were both soft.
Jon Daly flips over the omelet to reveal the words – Ed Hardy THE END.


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The Flat-Footed Egg Laying Mammal
The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is often prefixed with the adjective 'duck-billed' though there is only one species of platypus. This unique animal is a nocturnal, half-aquatic monotreme (primitive egg laying mammal), found only in mainland Australia and Tasmania.
The word platypus means 'flat feet' in Greek. It has a 2 in wide bill, webbed feet, a furry tail, and a 2 ft long body. The bill is a stream-lined nose and mouth for sniffing and snuffling up pond-bottom delicacies like shrimp! The flat, furry tail stores fat for the winter.
It thrives in the deciduous forests of Australia. It lives in burrows and spends much of its time in freshwater streams and ponds. The Platypus is one of the few mammals known to have a sense of electroreception: it locates its prey in part by detecting body electricity. The males have poison, in spurs on their hind legs, which is used to inflict wounds on natural enemies and other males.
The platypus and the echidna, are the only egg-laying mammals to be found on Earth. They have body temperatures lower than that of mammals, and have legs which extend out and then vertically below them. These features makes monotremes appear more like lizards than mammals. The platypus is one of the unique symbols of Australia (along with the kangaroo and the koala) and is featured on the Australian 20 cent coin.
Your chances of seeing one in the wild
The platypus is protected throughout Australia and is widespread in eastern Australia. The species does not face immediate extinction but is vulnerable as it is sensitive to water pollution caused by damming and drainage.


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American Folklife Resources
This guide is for students and teachers who want to find out more about American Folklife Studies. It will define American Folklife and trace a pathway through the print materials and network resources that together will give you basis from which you can prepare lesson plans or syllabi or research a specific topic. The guide also lists educational institutions that are known for their folklore and folklife programs and government agencies and non-profit organizations that offer grants and consultation services for folklife projects.
What is Folklife?
The folklife concept is associated with Scandinavian and German speaking countries. It is a branch of anthropology called regional ethnology and concentrates on customs, beliefs, stories, crafts, foods, rituals, and types of architecture, and analyzes them as interrelated units within particular groups. European Folklife scholars document these traditions among their own people, unlike their counterparts, the anthropologists, who study exotics living elsewhere in the world.
Until recently folklife did not have many adherents in the United States. American scholars used the terms folklore to deal with oral traditions or material culture to focus on particular crafts, foods, types of architecture, and other material manifestations of traditional life. However, with the introduction of the European concept of folklife into university folklore programs, folklore and material culture have been integrated into the folklife discipline. This process has not been acceptable to all. Numerous debates concerning definitions and boundaries have arisen and this situation is something you should keep in mind when you read and go through print or electronic sources.
Printed Materials
If you want to orient yourself to the folklife idea, then I suggest that you first look at the American definitions of folklore written by folklore scholars in Collier's Encyclopedia; The Encyclopedia Americana; and The New Encyclopedia Britannica. Also keep by your side as a reference source the Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore Mythology and Legend (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1972).
Next you should browse two folklife anthologies. One is Don Yoder's Discovering American Folklife: Studies in Ethnic, Religious, and Regional Culture (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1990). This work focuses on Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania German folk cultures. The other is Warren Robert's Viewpoints on Folklife: Looking at the Overlooked (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1988), an anthology that surveys the folk cultural forms of Southern Indiana. Yoder and Roberts write in a direct jargon free style that they are able to sustain in their theoretical essays, as well as in their field analyses, which, though local in subject matter, have universal application.
A third useful source is Eliot Wigginton's editions of the Foxfire series. Wigginton, a rural Georgia high school teacher, got his students to interview family, neighbors, and friends about Appalachian folkways and had them write up their field experiences into articles that were published in the Foxfire magazine. Starting out, I would recommend Foxfire 8, a 500 page anthology, edited by Eliot Wigginton and Margie Bennett (Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday, c1983). It contains the same articles that were published in the first issue of the series plus additional material.
The advanced student interested in folklife theory would find the late Richard Dorson's anthology Folklore and Folklife: An Introduction (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1972) a valuable reference tool. In his Introduction, Dorson reviews folklore and folklife scholarship in the United States and divides the twenty-six articles into four fields-- oral folklore, social folk custom, material culture, and folk arts-- and areas of folklife methodology that include fieldwork, archiving, mapping, museum organization, and cultural geographical analyses. Thirteen years later Simon Bronner edited American Material Culture and Folklife: A Prologue and Dialogue (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1985). This monograph updates Dorson's work and includes participant dialogues to resolve the on-going definition debate concerning folklore, folklife, and material culture . A recent work by Henry Glassie, geared for undergraduate students and teachers, Material Culture (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999), integrates the traditional material culture genres-- folk art, vernacular architecture, crafts, life history, and custom-- with folklife theory and method.
For the historically minded, Thomas J. Schlereth compilation, Material Culture Studies in America (Nashville: The American Association for State and Local History, 1982), consists of thirty-nine essays that survey American material culture studies as practiced by historians, museum specialists, and folklife researchers. Schlereth's opening survey essay, "Material Culture Studies in America, 1876-1976," gives an detailed introduction to this marginal interdisciplinary field.
Periodicals that contain folklife articles are the Journal of American Folklore, Western Folklore, Journal of Folklore Research (formerly the Journal of the Folklore Institute), Folklore Forum, Indiana Folklore, Pennsylvania Folklife, Kentucky Folklore Record, New York Folklore, Material Culture, American Culture, Journal of Popular Culture, American Quarterly, and the Winterthur Portfolio. The most readable are the state folklore journals. The others are geared to college and scholarly audiences. All have annual cumulative indexes. The Journal of American Folklore came out with The Centennial Index in 1988 (Vol. 101, No. 402) and an updated supplement in 1994 (Vol. 107, No. 426) that list every article, note, and review according to serial date, volume and number and author, subject, and title.
The best print index for folklife books and articles is Volume 5 of the annual Modern Language Association International Bibliography of Books and Articles on the Modern Languages and Literatures. This index is divided into the topics of folklore, folk literature, ethnomusicology, folk belief systems, folk rituals, and material culture -- categories some would say belong to Folklife . The citations are accurate, thorough, international, and include festschriften and obscure journals. Its electronic counterpart, the Modern Language Association Bibliography index (MLAB), works well because it can handle complex searches. However, precision is often difficult due to the overlapping citations that occur when the user employs folklore, folklife, or material culture in the title, subject or keyword fields.
There are several folklife dissertation indexes. One is Don Yoder's Discovering American Folklife, pages 303-305, that includes Ph.D. dissertations conducted under Yoder's direction as University of Pennsylvania Folklife Professor from 1962 through 1989. This resource would be limited if it were not for the fact that Yoder was an early proponent of the field in this country and many of his students have gone on to become noted scholars. Alan Dundes's dated Folklore Theses and Dissertations in the United States (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1976) covers M.A. theses and Ph.D. dissertations from 1860 through 1976. The work is arranged chronologically and is inconsistently indexed by subject, author, and institution. The most current and reliable source is the electronic Dissertation Abstracts International database that has author, title, subject, keyword, year, university, and adviser access points that allow the user to find a known item or browse Ph.D. dissertations that focus on folklife topics.
Specialized folklife bibliographies are few. One is Robert A. Georges and Stephen Stern's American and Canadian Immigrant and Ethnic Folklore : An Annotated Bibliography(New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1982), and the other is Simon J. Bronner's American Folk Art: A Guide to Sources (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1984). Both have adopted the interdisciplinary folklife approach to the study of ethnic groups and folk art and are still regarded as reliable resources. Otherwise, the student, teacher, or researcher would have to go to specific recently published books or articles and look at footnote references or bibliographies
The folklife organizations that the individual can join are local or national. All the journals mentioned above except for the Journal of Folklore Research are publications of their respective societies and you can receive these periodicals for the cost of organizational membership.
Many of the books, articles, dissertations, bibliographies, periodicals and festschriften listed in this pathfinder are so esoteric that they would only be found in large public or academic libraries. Smaller ones would not have them and you would have to resort to interlibrary loan to get them. Many folklife works can be purchased through major on-line bookstores such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Borders. For out of print books, try Abebooks or Alibris. Both sites give the price and condition of each multiple listed work and you can order directly or email a request to the bookseller. For the more difficult-to-find studies call Book Search at 800-776-4732 or email the service at email@example.com. Finally, if you know the author, title, date, or university of a Ph.D. folklife dissertation, go to the ProQuest web site, and click on the Dissertation and Thesis Author Services link to search or purchase a copy.
Network Resources
The printed materials will give you the background to understand and interpret folklife theory and data. Network resources have not yet reached this level of intellectual sophistication. However, they are helpful in making connections to folklife's public and applied faces. These include The Professionial Society, Research Directories, Regional and State Programs,University Departments, Teaching Resources, Online Exhibits, Folklife Artists, Folklife Genres, Full Text Electronic Journals and Papers, Careers, and Comprehensive Searches and Listservs.
The Professional Society
Research Directories
Regional and State Programs
The mission of the regional folklife programs is to collect, document, preserve, present, and interpret the traditions of their particular regions or states and to educate the public through exhibits, festivals, and workshops offered in organizational settings, libraries, schools, and local historical, cultural, and arts societies.
University Departments
Since folklife is not an established discipline in America, most university programs do not have a curriculum leading to a degree in the subject. However, many college and universities offer courses in folklife and its allied subjects-- folklore, cultural studies, ethnic studies, local history, public history, and other interdisciplinary programs. A comprehensive directory of degree granting institutions that offer major and minor concentrations in folklife studies is the Library of Congress's Higher Education Programs in Folklore and Folklife http://www.loc.gov/folklife/source/grad.html Each entry includes the name, address, phone, and degree offered.
The better known schools that have B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. majors, programs or concentrations in Folklore and Folklife are listed below. Visit these sites to get specific information concerning admission requirements, opening and closing dates, degrees offered and requirements (which are often changing), departmental affiliations (English, American Studies, Anthropology or Interdisciplinary; very few have Folklore Departments), course listings, faculty, financial aid, and application forms:
Teaching Resources
Online Exhibits
The Library of Congress and National Science Foundation Digital Libraries Initiative are sponsoring The American Memory Project http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html that consists of searchable collections (either by keyword or directory) of manuscripts, images, histories, audio and video clips, and socio-cultural data from projects conducted by the American Folklife Center and the Library of Congress and others solicited from universities, archives, libraries, and historical societies. Here are examples of sites listed under the Culture, Folklife category under the Browse Collections by Topic on the home page.
Other online exhibits focus on themes that would interest the folklife researcher are:
Folklife Artists
Folklife Genres
Full-Text Electronic Journals and Papers
Comprehensive Searches and Listservs
Use Google and its formats to get information in folklife studies. When you conduct a broad search, remember that folklife, folklore, and material culture are often used indiscriminately and so you will have to experiment using a combination of terms that will get the desired results. Each of Google's features gives a particular kind of information. For the Web, +"folklife" yields around 989,000 sites that include assocations, festivals, bibliographies, genres, national and state and local programs, and so on. The Google Map search will visually indicate the name of the folklife organization, address, telephone number, and directions. Searches in News or Blogs provide up-to-date interactive information. More specific searches such as "Kentucky Folk Architecture" or "Cajun Foodways" or "Katrina and the 9th Ward" result in fewer hits with more relevant information. Wikipedia is also a useful reference source for folklife research because it contains esoteric traditions, genres, individuals, and cultures. Google and Wikipedia are fine for initial work. However much of their information is not authoritative--anyone can put up a web site or create and edit an entry--and so it is important, once you have a general idea of what you want to do, to use the library's electronic card catalog and get books on the topic or access, if possible, proprietary databases to download selected or peer-reviewed articles..
Important in folklife are the discussion lists. For individuals interested in the field or a tradition using the folklife approach, Google Groups, News, or Blogs can create lively interactive discussions. Professional folklife specialists go either to Folklore Listserv (from Texas A&M University) or to the more recent H-Folk (from Michigan State University) which has become more popular. Cultural specialists who work for arts councils, museums, historical societies, or city and state cultural affairs departments and focus on the public or applied aspects of folklife have spirited interactions in Publore. These sites require application, approval from the moderator, and authentication. All provide the same services. You can join or leave the list, search using author, subject, date, and time boxes, and access archived messages by month and year. The Folklore Listserv and H-Folk are updated monthly, the first going back to January 1990 and the second to November 2008. Publore begins in December 1996 and archives its posts every week. Clink on the month or week and you will get a table of contents of messages, their arrangement in a classified format, and various sorting commands and other options. Clink on the title and you can read the message which includes the header along with various view and option commands.
Folklife materials also appear on other moderated academic listservs that deal with similar subject matter and issues. For example, browsing the discussion groups on H-Net Online (from Michigan State University) one can find groups dealing with topics that may be relevent to folklife such as gender studies, cultural studies, defamation, labor history,oral history, memory studies as well as many others. Two other listserves must be mentioned. For researchers who organize, preserve, retrieve, and publish their data, Archives (from Miami University of Ohio) offers cyber communication with individuals from a variety of fields. Anthropology (from SUNY Buffalo) deals with ideas that folklife specialists consider discussed from a different disciplinary perspective.
Finding folklife resources in cyberspace require that you employ key subject words folklore, material culture, and folklife because of overlapping historic associations that have been carried over from the print world. However it is becoming clear that in the public and applied sectors, folklife is the standard designation for studying the traditional ways of doing things within particular cultures. In the academy where the book and article still hold sway, the European derived folklife concept has gradually taken hold. With the emergence of the evolving cyber technologies including YouTube, My Space, Facebook, Twitter, Stumble Upon and others, future thinking may make this debate between folklore and folklife seem artifical and irrelevant.
This pathfinder was created by John Cicala and was updated by John Cicala on 5/11/2009.


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Check out reviews left by other students or leave your own review. You could win a free scholarship.Add your Review
Ella from Alameda, CA
Reviewer is A current student here.
2 out of 2 people found this review useful. 1 of 2
Categories Comments Share any unusual traditions or locations on campus
What other school has a zen garden on the roof? And a meditation room?
What to do for fun
Drive to the east bay and go for a hike.
Food and Dining
The cafe has great vegetarian food - hot Indian food, salads, bagels, and more. I just wish their menu was bigger.
Dorm Life
There are no dorms here.
Academic Rigor
Top-notch professors - they get you asking questions that will change your life.
Tips for prospective students
Take a deep breath and remember that you did not choose this school because of its cutting-edge technology.
In three sentences
Great school for conscious people wanting to contribute good things to this rapidly evolving world. You will be challenged, supported, and seen as a whole person - body, mind and soul. There is no other school quite like it.
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Kristen from Harrisonburg, VA
Reviewer is A current student here.
2 out of 2 people found this review useful. 2 of 2
Categories Comments Great for these types of students
People who want to examine change in unusual ways, engage progressive thinkers, and take risks in their scholarship are good fits for CIIS.
Share any unusual traditions or locations on campus
There is a rooftop meditation garden that can be used by faculty, staff and students.
Bang for the buck
CIIS is reasonably priced for graduate study and the hybrid programs allow people who would rather not relocate to the Bay Area to stay put. The quality of education is top notch. When factoring in the personal growth so integral to the institute's mission, you absolutely get a great bang for your buck.
What to do for fun
Talk to your fellow students! The programs attract people with diverse life experience and interests. Simply talking to someone new each day is fuel for fun for the length of your program. In case you need a break, the city of San Francisco and cliffs of Pacifica offer a million activities for every palate.
Food and Dining
At the Residential Intensive in Pacifica, the food has been heavy and repetitive, but a new caterer has been contracted. The administrators have proven that they listen to student concerns.
Dorm Life
CIIS hybrid distance programs (graduate level) meet in a hotel in Pacifica for a week to kick off semesters. The feel is like summer camp for an incredibly interesting mix of adults. The beachfront location and views bring the vast spirit of the ocean into the sessions, which adds dramatic elements to the experience.
Academic Rigor
Because CIIS emphasizes holistic learning and engaging personal processes, the rigor can be managed in ways perhaps unavailable in traditional settings. Faculty are leaders in their fields and work collaboratively to integrate multiple disciplines into student experiences. Learning to switch genres is part of the art of being a CIIS student.
Tips for prospective students
Consider how you expect to use the degree you will earn here and match the cost of the program to your anticipated marketability - know what you are investing in before you commit. However, be open to the possibility that doors will open that you never imagined existed before getting into the coursework! CIIS is a unique education that prioritizes your personal transformation, which can be valuable to you in ways yet to be discovered.
In three sentences
CIIS offers progressive educational practices, formats, and courses of study that suit both traditional and non-traditional students. Faculty expertise coupled with honoring student experience allows the learner to be an explorer as meaningful connections are made in a creative space.
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Amy Adams revealed to Jimmy Kimmel that she has read the full, finished script! Now, if only Zack Snyder wasn't directing it! Score!
Batman News from Legions of Gotham Copyright © 2003-2016 The Atari Nation.
Visit the other sites in our network The Atari Nation, TMNT Collector, Ghostbusters Collector and Toy Story/Pixar Collector


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Buck Showalter gives an update on Zach Britton's injured left shoulder
Mark Reynolds talks about his powerful swing and his comfort at first base with Jim Hunter
Stephen Strasburg discusses how he felt in his first rehab start back from Tommy John surgery Part 1
Stephen Strasburg discusses how he felt in his first rehab start back from Tommy John surgery Part 2
Ben Goessling recaps Stephen Strasburg's rehab start for the Hagerstown Suns
Jonny Gomes talks about contributing offensively as the Nats' beat the Rockies 3-2
Davey Johnson talks about the performances by the Nationals' pitchers in the Nats' win
F.P. Santangelo breaks down John Lannan's solid start in the Nats' win over the Rockies
Jayson Werth talks with Bob and F.P. after driving in the winning run in the Nats' 3-2 win
Mark Reynolds talks about his two homers including one that reached the second deck at Camden Yards
Alfredo Simon says he stuggled with command of his pitches in the O's loss against the Blue Jays
Buck Showalter meets with the media to speak about the O's 7-2 loss to the Jays
Jim Palmer dissects Alfredo Simon's outing in the O's 7-2 loss to the Blue Jays
Stephen Strasburg warms up in the bullpen prior to his first rehab start after Tommy John surgery
Ray Knight demonstrates bunting techniques in the cage
Tom Gorzelanny discusses his role in the Nationals' bullpen


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Laurie R. King's New York Times bestselling novels of suspense featuring Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, comprise one of today's most acclaimed mystery series. Now, in their newest and most thrilling adventure, the couple is separated by a shocking circumstance in a perilous part of the world, each racing against time to prevent an explosive catastrophe that could clothe them both in shrouds.
In a strange room in Morocco, Mary Russell is trying to solve a pressing mystery: Who am I? She has awakened with shadows in her mind, blood on her hands, and soldiers pounding on the door. Out in the hivelike streets, she discovers herself strangely adept in the skills of the underworld, escaping through alleys and rooftops, picking pockets and locks. She is clothed like a man, and armed only with her wits and a scrap of paper containing a mysterious Arabic phrase. Overhead, warplanes pass ominously north.
Meanwhile, Holmes is pulled by two old friends and a distant relation into the growing war between France, Spain, and the Rif Revolt led by Emir Abd el-Krim—who may be a Robin Hood or a power mad tribesman. The shadows of war are drawing over the ancient city of Fez, and Holmes badly wants the wisdom and courage of his wife, whom he's learned, to his horror, has gone missing. As Holmes searches for her, and Russell searches for herself, each tries to crack deadly parallel puzzles before it's too late for them, for Africa, and for the peace of Europe.
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The birth of the web
Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist at CERN, invented the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1989. The web was originally conceived and developed to meet the demand for automatic information-sharing between scientists in universities and institutes around the world.
The first website at CERN - and in the world - was dedicated to the World Wide Web project itself and was hosted on Berners-Lee's NeXT computer. The website described the basic features of the web; how to access other people's documents and how to set up your own server. The NeXT machine - the original web server - is still at CERN. As part of the project to restore the first website, in 2013 CERN reinstated the world's first website to its original address.
On 30 April 1993 CERN put the World Wide Web software in the public domain. CERN made the next release available with an open licence, as a more sure way to maximise its dissemination. Through these actions, making the software required to run a web server freely available, along with a basic browser and a library of code, the web was allowed to flourish.
The first website
Discover the World Wide Web's humble beginnings with this earliest incarnation
Browse the first website
Restoring the first website
The web team at CERN are working to preserve some of the digital assets that are associated with the birth of the web
Read about the restoration project
The line-mode browser
The line-mode browser, launched in 1992, was the first readily accessible browser for the World Wide Web
Launch the simulator or read about how the simulator was developed
Featured updates on this topic
With people celebrating "Internaut day" on 23 August to mark the World Wide Web's creation, CERN explores its history
On 30 April 1993 CERN published a statement that made World Wide Web technology available on a royalty free basis, allowing the web to flourish
Twenty years ago, in 1997, CERN set up a reinforced policy and team to support its knowledge- and technology-transfer activities
In March 1989 Tim Berners-Lee wrote a proposal to develop a radical new way of linking and sharing information: the World Wide Web
Twelve talented web developers have travelled to CERN from all over the world to recreate a piece of web history: the line-mode browser
CERN is organizing a two-day coding event to recreate the line-mode browser
The inaugural Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering went to five engineers whose work led to the internet and the World Wide Web
Twenty-one years ago this month, physicists at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) installed the first web server outside of Europe


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By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES
March 14, 2010
Danielle Deaver was 22 weeks pregnant when her water broke and doctors gave her a devastating prognosis: With undeveloped lungs, the baby likely would never survive outside the womb, and because all the amniotic fluid had drained, the tiny growing fetus slowly would be crushed by the uterus walls.
"What we learned from the perinatologist was that because there was no cushion, she couldn't move her arms and legs because of contractures," said Deaver, a 34-year-old nurse from Grand Isle, Neb. "And her face and head would be deformed because the uterus pushed down so hard."
Just one month earlier, Nebraska had enacted the nation's first fetal pain legislation, banning abortions after 20 weeks gestation. So the Deavers had to wait more than a week to deliver baby Elizabeth, who died after just 15 minutes.
"They could do nothing to make it better but tell us to wait, which made it worse," Danielle Deaver said. "Every time I felt movement, I was terrified she was hurting and trying to push the uterus away from her."
To see the video of Mrs. Deavor see the full article on ABC News.


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Little Brother is the most entertaining instruction manual I have ever read.
Yes, it is a novel, but "novel" just means some sort of extended narrative fiction, and that doesn't give enough of a sense of what the book is up to. This is an unambiguously and unapologetically didactic novel, a novel that not only wants to teach its readers, but wants to inspire them to view the world through a particular lens and to act according to that view. It is a book with a very clear message, but more than just communicating a message, it seeks to give its readers a sense of how to spread the gospel and have fun while doing so.
Doctorow gets away with such open didacticism by pitching the book toward teens. Sympathetic adults will want to give it to kids because it's a pleasurable way to learn about some of the political and social issues likely to be present in their lives, and kids who encounter the book are likely to find it fascinating because of its anti-authoritarian stance -- yeah, it's trying to teach you stuff, but what it's trying to teach you is all the stuff adults don't want you to know!
The story is an exciting one of kids figuring out ways to undermine a police state -- as the title alludes, this is 1984 gone wireless and viral. A terrorist attack on San Francisco causes the Department of Homeland Security to institute draconian surveillance throughout the city and to detain and torture anybody they decide might be doing something remotely related to something that could in some possible way perhaps connect to something connected to terrorism. Thus, our narrator, Marcus, a teenage hacker who happens to be in a relatively wrong place at a very wrong time, spends some days in an undisclosed location where he is brutalized by federal agents. After his release, and after he discovers one of his friends was not released and might be dead, Marcus starts a rebellion via X-Box, a tool he's able to hack to create a secure underground internet. He and his friends and allies share knowledge and ideas, risks and bandwidth. They wreak havoc on the plodding tyrants who are out to destroy life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and all open source projects. (Ultimately, the kids do need some help from adults and dead-tree tech, but that's after they've done enough on their own to be causing concern at the White House.)
The story, characters, and prose are nothing particularly special -- if they were, they'd be a distraction from what really matters. This is a functional book, not an artistic one. The plot is fast-paced and surprising enough to keep us wanting to find out what happens, the characters are familiar enough middle-class urban American heterosexual teens to be appealing to the book's target demographic, and Doctorow writes Marcus's voice in an inoffensive approximation of that demographic's argot. There's even some romance and sex, but those elements are about as generic as it's possible for them to be, and they are by far the least convincing or interesting parts of the novel. (If you want to see Doctorow do the traditional elements of a novel better, see Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town.)
To focus on traditional novelistic elements in Little Brother would be to miss the network for a few wireless routers. The tradition this book is a part of is less the tradition of 1984 than the tradition of Hugo Gernsback's scientifiction, and in many ways it lives up to Gernsback's vision of what science fiction should be better than any other book I can think of (at the moment). It tells a rousing story and teaches us stuff about science, both the science of now and the science of maybe-tomorrow. It even ships with two afterwords (one by security expert Bruce Schneier, one by hacker Andrew "bunnie" Huang) and a five-page narrative bibliography, all of which will help readers move from the world of the book to the world of the moment. In fact, Doctorow isn't content just to teach readers about tech -- he also wants us to learn some history, so he has Marcus discourse on how cool Jack Kerouac is, what you can find at the City Lights Bookstore, and the nature and purpose of Abbie Hoffman's Steal This Book.
Some readers have complained that Little Brother is too full of coincidences, that the evil government is made out to be much too stupid, and that not all of the tech stuff makes sense. I'm ambivalent about these criticisms. On one hand, they're almost undeniable. On the other, they're irrelevant. A more realistic book would have made a better instruction manual, yes, but it also would have been less exciting for a general audience. More importantly, it would have been less inspiring.
Because when I call Little Brother an instruction manual, I don't mean to suggest it will give you everything you need to know to turn an X-Box into a tool of revolution. Give up on that idea now, all ye who enter! The information about the Beats and Yippies is what gives it away. This is a book that aspires to be a manual for rewiring your brain. The story doesn't have to be probable or even believable, it just has to suck you in and provide a scaffolding for the information. The information doesn't have to be exact, it just has to be intriguing. The whole doesn't have to be a finely tuned item of aesthetic bliss, it just has to make readers say, "Oh cool! I wonder if..."
And then perhaps you'll do like me, and halfway through the book punch some stuff into Google to check out whether it exists. (ParanoidLinux? Not exactly. But close.) Or start thinking of people to give the book to -- I'm telling some of my high school students about it as well as a friend studying computer science. Because it's a great novel? No. Because it's great propaganda, both entertaining and thought-provoking, more modern and less clunky than The Jungle or Ralph 124C 41+, its ancestors. The strongest memory I have kept of my reading of Little Brother is not a memory of the characters or situations or style, but of the desire to join in fighting the powers that be, the desire to change the world. A naive desire, indeed, one the accumulated cynicism of my oh-so-many years seldom allows, but Little Brother broke through that cynicism with its passionate charm, which makes me think that for the kids who are its intended audience, it could be a wordful amphetamine, a jolt of ideas and possibilities, a manual of instructions for how to dream big.


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text:
FLEXITY Outlook Light Rail System – Eskisehir, Turkey
Bombardier Transportation, with consortium partner Yapi Merkezi, was responsible for the design, construction and commissioning of the two-line light rail transit system in Eskisehir. Due to the system's overwhelming success when it opened in 2004, five additional vehicles were ordered to meet the passenger volume. Bombardier arranged for complete project financing, consisting of an export credit from Sweden and credits from Nordic and European investment banks.
Project summary:
- The two-line 15 km tram system connects 26 stations
- The original contract included 18 100% low-floor, uni-directional FLEXITY Outlook vehicles comprised of five modules; the current fleet includes 23 vehicles
- The complete network is designed to carry 120,000 passengers per day at a top speed of 60 km/h in mixed traffic
- Bombardier's scope included all of the electrical and mechanical equipment, vehicles and services related to the implementation of the system and depot maintenance equipment
- Bombardier provided operations and maintenance support during the first year of revenue service and provided training for operations and maintenance staff
|Eskisehir Greater City Municipality
|29,500 mm
|2,300 mm
|Max. Speed
|70 km/h
|Minimum Horizontal Curve Radius
|20 m
|Maximum Gradient
|% Low Floor
|Seated Passengers
|101 (4 pass/m2)


text:
dau. of J.C. & Mary Pownall McColm
June 21, 1846 - Sept. 22 1846
Contributed on 9/27/11
Record #: 137426
On this site you can upload gravestone photos, locate ancestors and perform genealogy research. If you have a relative buried in Ohio, we encourage you to upload a digital image using our Submit a Photo page. Contributing to this genealogy archive helps family historians and genealogy researchers locate their relatives and complete their family tree.
Submitted: 9/27/11 • Approved: 10/20/11 • Last Updated: 8/12/15 • R137426-G0-S3


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Posts tagged with Shopping
Converting mobile browsers into buyers
As Econsultancy lists its 16 essential success factors for ecommerce checkouts, we have been revamping ours at Spreadshirt.
2014 saw an upswing people using their mobile devices not only to browse, but also to buy.
The trend extended to phones too, as consumers became increasingly confident in buying from their phones rather than waiting to make the final purchase from a desktop or laptop.
How does internationalisation work for online retailers?
If 95% of success is showing up then in online retail business the arrival of good platforms, cheap translation services and global banking means pretty much anyone can 'show up'.
The service can be transferred into the new market, the website translated, the new currency added and you're ready to sell to the new region.
Window shopping has gone virtual. Are you ready?
36% of the top 100 brand sites in the UK have not been optimised for mobile and yet we're seeing window shopping going virtual.
So if your mobile site isn't ready, you're missing out on the first stage of the buying process.
Even if shoppers don't trust their touch-screen devices enough to make the final purchase via a mobile connection, they are definitely using it to browse, share and fill up their baskets.
Five fallacies of bricks and mortar retail that show the convergence of online and in-store
There's a stat that every retailer should sit up and take notice of. It's this: half (49.5%) of total U.S. retail sales today are impacted by the web in some way.
What this means is that although online sales represent roughly 10% of all retail, a large majority of your customers interact with your brand online as part of their unique customer journey.
This raises a particular question about in-store tech. Are we about to see a convergence of point of sale (POS) systems and ecommerce platforms?
That's essentially the nub of this article. Will retailers start to see no difference between online and off-, in terms of data, logistics, shipping and ultimately customer experience? Do some consumers, or even retailers, already think this way?
I've been looking at the results of a survey of 200 retail business and technology executives in the US and Europe, conducted by The University of Arizona in association with the National Retail Federation and Demandware.
To add some perspective, here are some of the findings in the context of five fallacies of bricks and mortar retail. Five arguments for a changing customer who is driving many retailers to consider a single platform.
M&S launches new website, focuses on curation, clustering and content
The new Marks & Spencer website, two years in the making, is a feast for the eyes. As a replatform, it cost a lot of money and accompanies other changes such as an upgraded contact centre and new in-store tech and merchandising.
In this first look at the site, I'll be pointing out the most obvious changes and discussing why it's a step change and effectively gives the impression of 'luxe high street' online.
What stands out is the focus on visuals, a curated experience with magazine-style editorial, and a user experience that's particularly impressive on tablet. This isn't a surprising approach given that 44% of Christmas traffic to the website was from tablets and the brand is moving to a 'lean back' experience online for those that want it.
I'll be following this post with more discussion of the new site and its various features that could be set to revitalise the brand across devices (the M&S mobile site and its apps have been updated, too).
The five most interesting mobile loyalty apps
When a good idea comes along in retail and digital there are soon many, many start-ups getting in on the action.
Take loyalty apps for example. Loyalty is a big beast. Many types of company may consider it part of their remit, from digital payment solutions, to social-style check-ins, to group buying sites, or indeed a retailer's own app.
I've previously looked at the state of apps in retail and found that using loyalty schemes is pretty much the major rationale for customers using a retail app.
Whether customers will settle on retailers' own apps or on a generic loyalty scheme provider (perhaps lumped with payment) remains to be seen.
But of those tens of consolidated loyalty apps, which are the best? Here's the list of five I think are most interesting. Whether mobile wallets such as PayPal and Google Wallet will buy them up remains to be seen but the space seems set to get richer before it gets poorer.
The ecommerce treasure hunt: how to breathe serendipity into your site
Conversion optimisation is great, but to some extent it works on the premise that customers know what they're looking for. Ok, checkouts, calls to action, merchandising should always be finessed, but optimisation is a means of squeezing more from specific intent.
But what if moving the customer towards the magpie psyche is the future of selling online?
A new ecommerce model is emerging and it works on the premise that customers can be encouraged to 'bag at will'. All retailers need to do is surface rarer, quality products that are socially proven and most importantly look great.
Australia: Traditional retailers are heading online... and e-tailers are heading off
Some of Australia's biggest retailers have recently spoken out at a conference in Melbourne saying that while selling online has the benefit of lower overheads, it is not yet as profitable as traditional bricks-and-mortar retailing.
Online sporting goods industry set to reach $1 billion in Australia
Australia's online sporting and physical recreation goods industry is expected to hit a huge $1.04 billion by 2018, thanks in large part to a changing retail landscape and an ageing population.
A new IBISWorld report has forecasted that online stores selling goods such as bicycles, camping equipment, exercise and fitness tools (excluding apparel) will see revenue increase by an annualised 6.3% over the next five years.
And one of the reasons for this expected rise in revenue is Australia's ageing population, who are focusing more on health and fitness after retirement.
Australian consumers turn to domestic online retailers
Australian consumers are shying away from international online retailers if the recent NAB Online Retail Sales Index is anything to go by.
Domestic retail accounted for almost three-quarters (73%) of total online sales in Australia in January 2013, and domestic online retail sales saw a higher year-on-year growth than international, rising 28% vs 25%.
Online shopping: China leads the pack in the Asia-Pacific region
It seems China has some of the keenest online shoppers in the Asia-Pacific region, with Chinese consumers more likely purchase online than any other APAC country.
A new Mastercard study measured consumers' tendencies to shop online between November and December 2012 and found that Chinese internet users shop online the most, registering a score of 102 on Mastercard's Index for 2012, a figure that is up four points on the year prior.
According to the report, one of the main reasons for this rise in online shopping popularity in China is due to increased consumer confidence. Of those surveyed, only 21.4% felt unsecure when shopping online, down from 32.8% in 2011 and 35.3% in 2010.
Woolworths' brand value soars, while the Australian gap between consumers and local retailers remains an issue
Woolworths has been named the top retail brand in Australia for the second year running, beating out supermarket competitor Coles by almost a billion dollars.
Interbrand's 2013 Best Retail Brands report, which ranks the top retail brands around the world by value, placed Woolworths brand value at $4.57 billion, an increase of 9% on the year prior.


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9.0 Aggravation and Mitigation
9.1 Generally
After misconduct has been established, aggravating and mitigating circumstances may be considered in deciding what sanction to impose.
9.2 Aggravation
9.21 Definition.Aggravation or aggravating circumstances are any considerations or factors that may justify an increase in the degree of discipline to be imposed.
9.22 Factors which may be considered in aggravation.
Aggravating factors include:
(a) prior disciplinary offenses;
(b) dishonest or selfish motive;
(c) a pattern of misconduct;
(d) multiple offenses;
(e) bad faith obstruction of the disciplinary proceeding by intentionally failing to comply with rules or orders of the disciplinary agency;
(f) submission of false evidence, false statements, or other deceptive practices during the disciplinary process;
(g) refusal to acknowledge wrongful nature of conduct;
(h) vulnerability of victim;
(i) substantial experience in the practice of law;
(j) indifference to making restitution.
9.3 Mitigation
9.31 Definition. Mitigation or mitigating circumstances are any considerations or factors that may justify a reduction in the degree of discipline to be imposed.
9.32 Factors which may be considered in mitigation.
Mitigating factors include:
(a) absence of a prior disciplinary record;
(b) absence of a dishonest or selfish motive;
(c) personal or emotional problems;
(d) timely good faith effort to make restitution or to rectify consequences of misconduct;
(e) full and free disclosure to disciplinary board or cooperative attitude toward proceedings;
(f) inexperience in the practice of law;
(g) character or reputation;
(h) physical or mental disability or impairment;
(i) delay in disciplinary process which is prejudicial to the respondent;
(j) interim rehabilitation;
(k) imposition of other penalties or sanctions;
(1) remorse;
(m) remoteness of prior offenses.
9.4 Factors Which are Neither Aggravating Nor Mitigating.
The following factors should not be considered as either aggravating or mitigating:
(a) forced or compelled restitution;
(b) agreeing to the client's demand for certain improper behavior or result;
(c) withdrawal of complaint against the lawyer;
(d) resignation prior to completion of disciplinary proceedings;
(e) complainant's recommendation as to sanction;
(f) failure of injured client to complain.


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By Jason Alderman
People stash their money in safe havens such as savings accounts, Treasury Bills and Certificates of Deposit for a variety of reasons. It could be fear of losing money in the stock market, the security of knowing their deposits are government-insured or, with bank accounts at least, being able to quickly withdraw funds when needs arise.
In return for that convenience and security, however, interest earned usually doesn't keep pace with inflation.
When the economy was cooking a few years ago, 5 percent interest rates and higher on long-term CDs were not uncommon. But when the recession hit and the inflation rate began dropping, so did interest rates. These days, traditional savings accounts commonly earn just a fraction of 1 percent interest, while many CDs and T-Bills aren't much better.
So how can you earn more interest on insured savings these days? Would you believe a checking account?
Although checking accounts usually earn little or no interest, in the past few years a product called high-yield reward checking has gained in popularity. These accounts often pay much higher interest rates than regular checking or savings accounts – or even long-term CDs in the current market.
In addition to paying higher interest, financial institutions offering these accounts typically will refund each month a certain amount in transaction fees charged by other banks for using their ATMs. For smaller institutions, this helps make up for not having their own extensive ATM network.
However, high-yield checking accounts usually come with restrictions that may include:
- A minimum number (usually 10-15) of monthly debit card purchases.
- Direct deposit (like a paycheck) and/or automatic debit transactions (e.g., monthly gym membership dues).
- Issuing electronic statements only.
- There may be a cap on account balances eligible for the high yield (commonly $25,000 or less); over that cap, the rest may earn a much lower rate. (There usually is no minimum account balance required, as there often is with regular savings accounts.)
- Accounts may be limited to local customers only, although many are available nationally.
If you don't meet all requirements during a particular month, the interest rate paid for that month could drop substantially, but typically will bounces back once you again meet all conditions.
Keep in mind a few other factors when considering a high-yield checking account:
- Interest rates are variable, so watch for notification of changes.
- Compare any fees side by side with those charged on your current account.
- Vigilantly track your balance to ensure it covers all debit card transactions; otherwise, overdraft charges could erase any interest earnings.
- Make sure the bank is a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation so that up to $250,000 per depositor, per institution will be insured. Search "Bank Find" at www.fdic.gov.
- Similar coverage is provided to credit unions by the National Credit Union Administration. Search "Find a Credit Union" under the "Data and Services" tab at www.ncua.gov.
Numerous websites track banks and credit unions offering high-yield accounts including www.highyieldcheckingdeals.com, www.checkingfinder.com and www.bankingmyway.com.
You won't get rich from the interest earned on these accounts, but in this economy every extra dollar helps.
Jason Alderman directs Visa's financial education programs. Sign up for his free monthly e-Newsletter at www.practicalmoneyskills.com/newsletter.
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Recent in Exfoliant (page 1 of 1)
Specially Designed to Remove Color, Odor and Particulates from Your Products! – Gusmer
Iselux® Isethionate Surfactants for Optimum Sulfate-free Cleansing with Data Sheet & Formula – Innospec
Pioneering Skin Testing: Download our Informative Poster – MilliporeSigma
Preserving Nature—Sensiva® PA 40 is the Effective Choice to Protect Natural Emulsions [Free White Paper] – Schulke
Replexium—An Innovative, Fast-Acting Peptide Complex for the Improvement of Skin Aging – BASF
Men: Exfoliate Skin Troubles Away Prior to Shaving
Apr 27, 2016
Have an easier shave with Arbonne's RE9 Advanced for Men Micro-Exfoliating Cleanser. Holding multiple benefits, this cleanser removes dead skin cells, reduces ingrown hairs, deeply smooths skin and exfoliates prior to shaving.
Vantage Adds New Exfoliant As Alternative to PE Beads
Feb 2, 2016
Vantage Specialty Ingredients introduced PFJ-S Beads, a natural exfoliant to use in beauty and personal care products.
Micro Powders Launches Biodegradable PHB Exfoliant
Feb 18, 2015
Micro Powders Inc. commercially launched its biodegradable exfoliant technology.
Rahn Sources the Sea Floor for Natural Exfoliant
Jan 14, 2015
Rahn introduced a mechanical exfoliating agent derived from a sediment on the sea floor. Fossil Peeling Powder (INCI:Diatomaceous Earth) is a medium granulometry powder with good skin properties and compatibility.
Caviar Lime AHAs for Novel TRPV3 Action and Exfoliating Benefits
Nov 19, 2014 | Estelle Loing and Valérie Begin-Lavallée, Lucas Meyer Cosmetics, Québec; et al.
Caviar lime fruit extract is identified in this article as a source of natural AHAs capable of stimulating TRPV3 channel expression and activity for gentle exfoliation of the skin. Clinical evidence of effectiveness is presented.
Naturex Brightens Skin With Natural AHAs
Nov 18, 2014
At in-cosmetics Asia, Naturex debuted its new line of natural alpha hydroxy acids (AHA) for the skin as part of its Natural Radiance collection of synergistic brightening ingredients.
Sustainable Ingredient Science: Fossilized Coral Powder
Aug 21, 2014 | Giorgio Dell'Acqua, PhD
Coral powder has applications in cosmetics but its use has impacted the marine environment. Fossilized coral could provide a sustainable alternative for uses such as fillers, cleansing and whitening agents, astringents, sebum absorbers or to supply trace minerals to skin. Its use as an exfoliant it particularly noteworthy as formulators seek natural alternatives to polyethylene beads.
Impact Colors Introduces Candelilla Bead Exfoliators
Jul 30, 2014
Impact Colors has created a new line of candelilla bead exfoliators as alternatives to polyethylene microbeads for skin care and oral care. Nature XFol is a line of exfoliating beads in a variety of colors that are natural, biodegradable and safe for skin.
A&E Connock Introduces Expanded Natural Exfoliant Range
Jun 30, 2014
A&E Connock has debuted its expanded range of natural exfoliants to the personal care industry. The range was extended in response to increased interest from manufacturers seeking natural alternatives to plastic microbeads.
Eco-friendly Exfoliants and Fine Powders Address Microbead Concerns
May 28, 2014 | Rachel L. Grabenhofer, Cosmetics & Toiletries
Micro Powders Inc. has introduced several new eco-friendly exfoliants and fine powders, addressing recent concerns over synthetic microbead particles in the environment.
Induchem Introduces Biodegradable, Non-irritating Exfoliant for Skin and Scalp
Mar 11, 2014
At in-cosmetics in Hamburg, Induchem will launch a natural exfoliant that is both biodegradable and non-irritating to sensitive skin. Biogomm'age is composed mostly of cellulose, to make it sustainable and biodegradable unlike plastic microbeads. In addition, the exfoliator does not scratch or tear sensitive skin like many natural exfoliants.
Worlée Launches Castor Oil Alternative to PE and PP Exfoliants
Jul 30, 2013
Worlée has launched natural exfoliant beads as alternatives to plastic microparticles (PE and PP).


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About Partner
|Partnering for Success
|In order to successfully establish smart cities, ARBOR needs to form partnerships with other companies, drawing on each other's strengths. ARBOR collaborates with these worldwide partners to enhance our capabilities, our price competitiveness and service to our customers. With the use of such strategic partnering, our customers are the true winners.
|Technical Partners
By aligning with partners in the technical community, ARBOR is able to utilize other's strong points, while providing our expertise in the embedded market. By partnering with Wistron, ARBOR still brings the expertise of high-mix-low-volume production, but can now also utilize the pricing, production capacity and after sales services that Wistron is known for.
|In January 2014, ARBOR partnered with Mediatek, an expert in mobility, to create AMobile Intelligence Co. The goal was to design and manufacture IoT mobile devices for vertical markets such as healthcare, logistics, retail, and public safety, to name just a few. Partnering with Mediatek allows customers to have cell, tablet, bar code and RFID all on one IP-65 rated device. This saves customers vast amounts of money by having all their needs on one device.
Strategic Alliances


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My Ghoul Friday
Check back often!
Recent Moans from the Minions...
I thought I would share a few videos with you to help fight off the Monday blahs.
First it's the Happy Tree Friends in "Remains to Be Seen". In this episode, the furry creatures deal with the disaster of zombies.
I think my favourite moment is when the manual lawn mower comes out.
You can see more episodes (including some with a Halloween theme) on the official website.
The second flick (below) is a music video brought to my attention by Eve Noir who thought I might like it. And I will admit, it has grown on me.
It's been a cold Saturday spent working on props.
Marmota Monax is coming along slowly. Though I don't plan on having his body be visible, he's gotten a sloppy clay covering over his torso. I've been experimenting with a new clay recipe and thought this was a safe opportunity to test it.
When you start a business, it's important to know your target audience and the positioning of the product you're selling (a basic decision of who it's for, what it does, and how to appeal to your target group). With this in mind, I think the folks over at Casket Furniture need to work on their selling angle. Or at the very least, reorganize their website. I get the feeling they didn't want to miss out on either crowd - people mourning a loss and people who look at coffins as entertainment.
For example, the second menu item on their website after 'Casket Furniture' is 'Casket Gaming' where you can find items like this Coffin Poker Table.
Are you now in a fun and fancy free mood? Totally on board with how coffins aren't just for funerals? Goooood! Because the third menu item is 'Casket Plans' where we switch gears from fun and games. Suddenly the messages take on a sombre tone to discuss how hard it is to lose a loved one, and the products aren't for fun, but for eternal peace.
Recently I posted a bone scan of myself I'd had taken a while ago. I'd remembered I had it because I was getting x-rays done. Turns out the x-rays were useless to the doctor, but they're a welcome addition to my growing collection (nice profile, don't you think?).
It's all rather fitting, since there's been a blogging frenzy this week covering an x-ray lamp made by Sture Pallarp (shown right), and I'm thinking of making my own sometime.
While I've seen 'how-to's online that get people to attach their x-rays to existing paper lampshades, I think I'll pick up a plastic shade made for DIY stained glass projects.
I'm sure most of us can remember a time in childhood when our parents nudged us out the door to play, even though something - be it the local bully or the crazy neighbour's dog that's always loose - was waiting for us. I can remember many a battle taking place at the local park. Though I will admit, I never had to fight zombies (not real ones, anyway).
This corner snapshot from Jason Chan's "Zombie Playground" sums up a metaphor of what it was like to battle those foes way back when.
Gives a whole new spin on "King of the Castle", doesn't it?
Ray Villafane is a professional artist and sculptor. He's done work for Sideshow Collectibles, Reflex Publications, DC Direct, McFarlane Toys, and Bowen Designs.
Apparently in his spare time, he'll carve a pumpkin or two.
I found these on a flickr account after reading a post by Ray's brother who was bragging (justly) about Ray's talent as a pumpkin carver. I did a little google detective work and found Ray's website.
To see all of the pumpkins and a 'how to' (ha ha ha...right), check out Ray's pumpkin page on his website.
While there are many things to legitimately fear in the world, I find that human beings have a tendency to heighten these fears to the point where we lose scope of what we should actually be afraid of; what the original source of fear was, and how to act in order to protect ourselves. If you lose sight of what the original source was, then any action you take to prevent it from happening again is fairly useless.
I just read a news story from last October about a town in Pennsylvania who, after 16 years, lifted a ban on trick or treating after dark. The ban was put in place in October of 1992, after an 11-year-old girl, Shauna Howe, was abducted and murdered by two men.
Death is tragic. Murder of children is devastating. The people who commit these acts are the source of fear, and have nothing to do with a holiday.
I decided to do a bit of digging on the original story, and what I found illustrates my point of displacing fear.
The girl wasn't taken on Halloween. She was actually attacked on October 27th, while walking home from a girl scout Halloween party. On her own.
Nothing terribly exciting to report today, but I thought I would mention a couple of extra bits of content on the site.
There is a simple article on black lights and materials that glow in the dark for those of you who know little about it.
I've finally started putting together a tutorial on different clays available/commonly used. I only have three written up so far, but will be adding to it in the coming weeks. Next material will be Celluclay.
I've been working on the website for far too long this weekend, so I'm off to work on the first prop of 2009. He's not very impressive yet, but I suppose I wouldn't be either if I didn't have a face.
You may have seen his work on the Cartoon Network or through Warner Brothers. If you haven't, come sit by me and get to know Wisconsin-born Aaron Blecha.
It's the editorial work he's done while living in London that caught my eye (for example, the images posted below).
While I enjoy animated shows, there's something that changes just beneath the surface of a cartoon when you take the same animation artist and apply their skill in a different medium for an older audience: the corners are a little darker; the characters are a little edgier; there is a commentary to the unspoken story.
Dubbax3 is the username behind the work over at Rotting Hills: Shea Halloween. He does beautiful sculptural art and some gruesome corpses, along with cuter looking creepers.
Besides having obvious talent, I think the reason his pieces are so wonderful is because of the attention to detail regardless of scale; you see it in his small sculptures and you see it in his large corpses/zombies. I especially like the look of the hands in the image below.
The best place to find current art and WIPs is Instagram
I'm also on Twitter but be prepared for political commentary
My self-published book is still available!
Craving more Halloween goodness?
Here are some sites to satisfy the hunger.
All content copyright © 2007-2017 GhoulFriday.com (unless otherwise noted). And remember, safety first! Please read and understand our full disclaimer.


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CANNES, France (AP) — There's something nasty lurking in the woods — and inside the characters' heads — in darkly comic Cannes Film Festival entry "Borgman."
In Dutch director Alex van Warmerdam's supernaturally-tinged psychological drama, a mysterious interloper emerges from a forest and knocks on the door of a wealthy family's modernist mansion.
Borgman, the titular stranger played by Flemish actor Jan Bijvoet, insinuates himself into the outwardly idyllic life of the clan, which quickly begins to implode.
Van Warmerdam established a distinctive vein of macabre humor in previous films including the fairy tale-inspired "Grimm" and acerbic old-age portrait "The Last Days of Emma Blank." But the mix of deadpan comedy and growing menace in "Borgman" takes it into even darker territory.
"I'm a little disappointed about how nasty this film became," the 60-year-old director told reporters Sunday.
"I think is has something to do with the fact that I'm getting old," he said. "Some people are getting milder when they get older, but I feel I get more and more nasty."
"Borgman," one of 20 films competing for the Palme d'Or, is The Netherlands' first Cannes contender in 38 years, though van Warmerdam's 1998 film "Little Tony" played in the festival's sidebar competition, Un Certain Regard.
The film's first audience greeted it Sunday with applause — the Hollywood Reporter called it "engrossing and original" — but with some puzzlement, too. Is Borgman the devil? Is he a force of nature, wreaking revenge on an affluent, complacent Western society? Or is he the demon that lurks within us all?
"I can't explain," the director, who also wrote the script and appears in the film as one of Borgman's accomplices, said. "I know nothing more than you."
He said the script had its origins in an idea he came across while reading about the Marquis de Sade: "that your mind is much bigger than you think, and that here are a lot of rooms you've never been (in) before where there are awful or creepy or nasty things to find."
"Borgman" combines elements of medieval supernatural stories — one scene has villagers and a priest hunting the evil spirits in a deep, dark forest — with a low-key modern approach. Borgman is an ordinary, modern figure who keeps in touch with his cohorts by mobile phone.
"I like to show what you call the evil — or the bad or whatever you want to call it — as very normal people," van Warmerdam said. "Not creepy people, not weird walking zombies, but just very normal people you can meet at the supermarket around the corner."
And the director said the use of cell phones is a major innovation in his filmmaking.
"I remember in my first movie I had a dogma — no cigarettes, no telephones and no trees.
"I hate acting through the phone," he added. "Now on purpose I give them cellphones. Because I hate them I made myself love them."
Jill Lawless can be reached at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless