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Charity Raters Part II: Managing Your Rating
In Part I of this two-part article, we summarized the features and criteria of six of the best known "charity raters" including Charity Navigator, Better Business Bureau, and others. Many readers added thoughtful comments and noted lesser-known raters as well; we encourage you to read Part I and the posted comments.
Here in Part II, we offer advice to nonprofits on managing their ratings, and comment on the impact of the raters as a whole.
Just two weeks after we published Part I, an unusual three-some of Guidestar, Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau issued an unexpected but welcome joint statement " denouncing the "overhead ratio" as the sole measure of nonprofit performance." (emphasis added) (overheadmyth.com) The statement also defends overhead to an extent: "Overhead costs include important investments charities make to improve their work: investments in training, planning, evaluation, and internal systems -- as well as their efforts to raise money so they can operate their programs. When we focus solely or predominantly on overhead ... we starve charities of the freedom they need to best help the people and communities they are trying to serve."
Despite getting widespread and welcome play in the nonprofit press and blogosphere, the Overhead Myth campaign seems to have gotten little traction in the mainstream press and its intended audience. And the campaign is almost impossible to find on either the Charity Navigator or the BBB's Wise Giving site; one might almost think they are burying it on purpose. Even more importantly, Charity Navigator has not said it will change its proprietary (and secret) formulas for analyzing a nonprofit's finances.
Overhead Myth campaign
The Overhead Myth campaign does not address the profound flaw in all the rating sites: none of them focus on impact or effectiveness. And when they do mention effectiveness, they see it almost exclusively through a lens of factories producing human services. We believe that effectiveness is also about long-term advocacy campaigns, strengthening community institutions, prevention of harm, and the inspiration of the spirit: all goals that resist results metrics just as surely as time resists the metrics of weight or inches.
We applaud Guidestar for making data available and letting readers apply their own assumptions, and we applaud GreatNonprofits for giving a vehicle for ordinary people to speak out about a particular nonprofit.
The net on the rest: the rating sites are here to stay, and they will continue to perpetrate untested assumptions that inappropriately hurt individual nonprofits and the nonprofit community as a whole. We all have a responsibility to raise questions about them publicly and in our boardrooms and newsletters. And at the same time, we each have to protect ourselves in their arenas.
Why should you pay attention to your own rating?
We couldn't find good data on how many people or who is using the rating sites. It's generally thought that the large brand-name nonprofits such as the Red Cross or the Heart Association are most frequently viewed on the rating sites. (Most of the sites tend to rate only larger or only national nonprofits.)
Journalists reporting on a nonprofit will often look up what is said about it on the rating sites -- after all, it's an easy way to get information. The ostensible purpose of most sites -- to inform donors -- probably only "works" when a donor is already interested. For example, a person who receives a mail appeal from, say, Partners in Health or OXFAM, and who feels inclined to make a donation, might look them up on one of the rating sites before doing so.
What's wrong with the financial metrics used?
Almost all the sites rely heavily on analysis of financial information found on Form 990, there are some serious drawbacks to doing so:
- Form 990 does not allow inclusion of non-cash (in-kind) donations as income, although such donations are allowed in audited statements if certain guidelines are followed. As a result, nonprofits such as UNICEF, food banks, hospices and community theatres that obtain great amounts of donated food and services appear to be "inefficient" or as having overly high overhead on Charity Navigator and other sites.
- Generally Accepted Accounting Procedures (GAAP) allows allocation of joint costs on items such as newsletters that contain both educational material and a donation form. Charity Navigator re-assigns 100% of such joint costs to fundraising, making many nonprofits appear to spend far more on fundraising than they do.
- The 990s are important but flawed sources of data. As just one example, one study showed that 50% of 990s had mathematical errors of greater than $5,000.
What's wrong with the rating sites as a whole?
When a nonprofit is extremely badly managed or is run by crooks, the charity raters are typically the last to know. Paradoxically, the raters wait for the New York Times to identify bad apples, and then they jump in to call the apple rotten. The Central Asia Institute (Three Cups of Tea) was found to be crooked by 60 Minutes at a time when it boasted four star ratings (the top available) from the raters. Susan G. Komen for the Cure had only the highest ratings on Charity Navigator -- and still does -- because pinkwashing, elimination of funding to Planned Parenthood, its widespread reputation as an exploitive and mean-spirited place to work, and the strong scent of private benefit are not part of Charity Navigator's metrics.
Stanford Social Innovation Review sums it up: "Our review of methodologies indicates that these sites [Charity Navigator and other quantitative rating sites] individually and collectively fall well short of providing meaningful guidance for donors .. .
"The major weaknesses are threefold:
- "They rely too heavily on simple analysis and ratios derived from poor-quality financial data
- "They over-emphasize financial efficiency while ignoring the question of program effectiveness
- "They generally do a poor job of conducting analysis in important qualitative areas such as management strength, governance quality, or organizational transparency."
So given all this, what do we do?
Six tips to manage your ratings
1. Look up your organization on all the key sites. It's important to know what they are saying about you, or that you aren't listed.
(While you're at it, set up a Google Alert with your organization's name to get emails when something about your organization gets onto the web.)
2. If you think your rating is unfair and inaccurate, file a protest and ask for a correction. We've heard from some readers that they have gotten reviews revised after months and months of arduous efforts; some have never even gotten a response. But at least you have your protest letter. If a donor, board member or the press ask you about your poor rating, you have your protest letter to show them.
Post your protest letter on GreatNonprofits as well. Don't forget that readers can click-through to GreatNonprofits reviews directly from the reviews on other sites.
And the raters should have to respond. All of them describe themselves as valuing accountability, so make them accountable to you.
3. Make a minor effort to keep your financial metrics within the conventional bounds. We often hear about the "charities with the lowest percentage of administrative costs." Perhaps we should call them the "charities with the best accountants."
If you have an auditor, go over the system of allocation he or she is using. It may be a simple matter, for example of re-classifying the executive director's salary from 100% administration to 50% administration and 50% program (which it probably is!).
If you don't have an audit, talk with the person who prepares the Form 990. Discuss how functional expenses are reported (the functional expense section is where the raters take much of their "efficiency" data). Many smaller nonprofits mistakenly assume, for instance, that 100% of the executive director's salary or the rent are "management and administration." In fact, you can allocate both partially to admin and partially to programs based on time analysis and square footage use.
4. Pay attention to the "Program Accomplishments" section of Form 990. With more people going to the 990s through Guidestar and the rating sites, it's more important to use that space to talk about impact and effectiveness.
5. Make a minor effort to get some good reviews on GreatNonprofits. Ask your staff, board members, volunteers, audience members, and clients. If you have a gallery or a theatre, set up a table with a computer and ask people to take a moment and write a review. And if you are a client, audience member, or staff or board member, take a moment to help your nonprofit by writing a quick review.
6. Consider boycotting Charity Navigator and the other sites, even if you have a good rating. When you publicize your good rating, you add undeserved legitimacy to the rating sites.
If you feel you simply must have some kind of seal or official-looking medal on your site, use the one from Guidestar. It has a nice official look but it doesn't state that it has rated you. We like Guidestar because it provides information about nonprofits and lets readers draw their own conclusions.
The good news is that donors rarely make a decision to give or not to give based on a charity rating. As evidence, just look at the two largest areas of individual giving: churches/congregations and universities. People give to their alma maters and their churches for reasons in a universe completely separate from the one where the charity raters reside.
And a last thought: isn't it ironic that recent history has shown us that the much-vaunted rating agencies in the for-profit world not only failed to predict the failure of the the big Wall Street firms, but actually contributed to the onset of the great depression by misleading the market? And so why do we think rating agencies are a good idea for nonprofits?
Our thanks in particular to the many readers who posted comments to Part I of this article, to the readers who allowed us to interview them (anonymously), and to Gayle Gifford in particular.
See also in Blue Avocado:
See elsewhere:
The Ratings Game, by Stephanie Lowell, Brian Trelstad, & Bill Meehan, in Stanford Social Innovation Review


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Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Wave 1 Action Figures: First Order TIE Fighter Pilot
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Clique Media is seeking a full-time Advertising Copywriter who will lead the production of all written advertorial content and advertising units for WhoWhatWear.com, as well as any affiliate sites. The ideal candidate will work closely with the ad sales and creative teams to research, conceptualize, and write copy that fulfills clients needs, then execute the copy in a way that stays true to the sites voice and style. Clique Media is the parent company to the popular multi-media fashion brand Who What Wear (WhoWhatWear.com), which is the definitive online authority for trend-setting fashion-lovers and their followers, between the ages of 18-40. JOB RESPONSIBILITIES: Write clean, compelling, and persuasive advertorial copy for headlines, captions, email newsletters, homepage copy, and special projects Work with ad sales team to meet clients needs, as well as liaise with the creative team, to produce a cohesive and integrated ad campaign Maintain the unique voice of our brand throughout all ad copy to ensure it resonates with our readers Incorporate feedback from the client, as well as the editorial team, so that copy meets everyones standards Work with the ad operations team to create ad ops documents after copy has been approved JOB QUALIFICATIONS Must have strong editorial experience with knowledge of fashion, beauty, and home dcor preferred. Must be familiar and comfortable with basic HTML Must be able to meet tight deadlines with attention to detail Must be familiar with WhoWhatWear.coms voice and style COMPENSATION This is a full-time salaried position with benefits, located in Los Angeles. Compensation is competitive and commensurate with experience. INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMISSION If interested please send your resume along with a cover letter with three examples of your work to email@example.com. You may send links to online work and/or submit PDFs of print articles. The subject line of the email must read: RESUME: Ad Copywriter. Please follow these instructions carefully in order to be considered. Due to the great number of resumes we receive, regrettably, we are unable to respond individually to each person interested in a position at Who What Wear, or answer inquiries regarding the status of a particular resume. If there is interest in interviewing you for an available position within our company, a representative from Who What Wear will contact you in the near future.
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Miramar Beach, FL. – Entreprenuer Brandon Jones from Youtube announced today that he has launched a new website, http://digitalempires.org/, to help people who want to start a career online. The site is a blog for things related to building a following on various social networks, digital marketing, and monetizing the content they create so they can focus on making quality content for their followers. It contains tools and resources to help people start their own careers on the internet.
"I started this blog to educate people on how to use the internet to create an income from doing things they love to do. We can now make a living entertaining, educating, and informing people on topics they enjoy or are experienced in via the internet. 10 years ago, this would be almost impossible."
Digital Empires offers users tutorial videos, such as How to Start a Blog along with resources and comprehensive guides on their blog as well such as http://digitalempires.org/how-to-start-a-blog-in-2016/. They cover extensive information on how anybody can start a career using the internet. The site also provides services that help boost one's online presence. Visitors will be able to sign up for email updates about new blog posts and receive exclusive guides in their inbox, advice and recommendations about promoting themselves and monetizing their content, as well as case studies on building a social following.
Brandon founded Digital Empires to educate others that getting a traditional job is not the only option. He wants people, especially the ones in his generation, to know how the internet has recently evolved enough to allow an alternative way for people to make a living doing things they enjoy.
"If I told you 5 years ago there would be a guy that makes millions of dollars filming himself playing video games and putting it on YouTube (Pewdiepie) or a woman makes over five figures a month posting pictures on Instagram via product placements (Jen Selter) you would think I was crazy. Digital Empires won't make you a millionaire or make rich overnight, but it will show you how people are making a full time income via social networks and how you can too."
For the latest Information, visit Brandon's Twitter feed at http://digitalempires.org/twitter
Media Contact
Company Name: Digital Empires
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Website: http://digitalempires.org/


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MyProjectorLamps.com announces a biannual scholarship and will award $500 to two students who best explore a topic we select. If you are a student and are interested in this scholarship opportunity, please follow the guidelines listed below.
MyProjectorLamps.com is the leading online retailer of projector lamps, bulbs, and TV projection lamps in the United States alone. We are proud to offer high-quality projector lighting products to a diverse client base including educators, military personnel, religious organizations, and more.
The Essay Topic:
Our scholarship contest challenges entrants to create a one page essay detailing your ideas about the use of multimedia and data visualization in K-12 classrooms. Explore modern teaching methods and propose specific ideas for visual and interactive presentation in K-12 classrooms for improved knowledge retention.
Include one printed image of the multimedia used in your classroom.
Criteria for inquiring participants must include:
- Minimum age of sixteen years (to date) or older.
- Currently attending an accredited U.S. program: i.e. high school, college or university.
- Be in the final year of high school or enrolled as an undergraduate in the U.S.
- Considered in "Good Standing" at current institution- i.e. not on academic probation or suspension.
- A minimum cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher.
- Must follow or 'LIKE' the MyProjectorLamps Facebook page.
- Postmarked by April 15th, 2018 for the Spring scholarship and by October 31st, 2018 for the Fall scholarship.
Further information to consider:
- All information regarding participation can found on this page (a printable version is not available) or on the MyProjectorLamps Facebook page.
- Winners will be announced on the MyProjectorLamps Facebook page.
- All qualified applicants will be considered.
- Only mailed/written responses with your contact information will be considered.
- Other forms of responses/information (other than what is mentioned above) will not be considered: i.e. resumes, recommendations, financial history, etc.
Items to submit:
- A cover letter should be attached to all applications which includes: first and last name, school name, grade, email address, and phone number.
- Applicants must send a typed version of their essay (in the case of possible publishing, please save a digital copy).
- Attach one printed image of the multimedia used in your classroom.
- A transcript or statement of your GPA from your school must be included (unofficial transcripts are also accepted).
- There is NO application form or sheet
Please mail your application to the following address:
ATTN: Scholarship Awards
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Calgary, AB , Canada T2R 1K7
For more information about scholarships and resources to help students find which college is right for them, check out this free scholarship database: Cappex.com


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Thanks to the Samba project, documentation about Windows networking protocols is now available to free software developers who want it. With the help of the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) and the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), Samba has hammered out an agreement for obtaining the documentation and has set up the new Protocol Freedom Information Foundation (PFIF) to make it accessible to other free software projects.
The announcement marks the end of nearly a decade of litigation that began when Sun Microsystems requested documentation for the Microsoft Active Directory to build software interoperable with Windows. When Microsoft refused, Sun lodged a complaint with the European Commission, which launched a five year investigation into the issue. The investigation quickly expanded beyond issues of interoperability to include questions about software bundling as well.
From the beginning, the investigation was watched with interest by free software interest groups. As Andrew Tridgell, one of Samba's co-founders, writes in a summary of the case, "The biggest question for the free software community was whether the legal mechanisms that deal with anti-trust could cope with the extra complexities involved with free software licensing."
However, it was only in the first years of the new millennium that Samba members became directly involved in the investigation. Jeremy Allison, another Samba co-founder, and Volker Lendecke, described in the news release as "head of the Samba Team in Europe," together with Carlo Piana, a lawyer for FSFE, all contributed testimony to the investigation about the need for documentation to permit interoperability between operating systems and other pieces of software.
In particular, in November 2003, at an oral hearing, Allison testified about the difficulties of implementing interoperability without documentation, helping to refute Microsoft's claim that the existence of the Samba project, which allows GNU/Linux installations to manage to Windows networks, proved the existence of competition.
In March 2004, the European Commission announced its decision: Microsoft had abused its monopoly, and was required to provide documentation about its networking protocols to competitors. Almost immediately, Microsoft appealed.
Soon after the appeal began, Sun and other companies in the case, including Allison's then-employer Novell, settled with Microsoft out of court. As a result, Allison was required to curtail his involvement, leaving Tridgell and other Samba members, as well as Kernel developer Alan Cox and other supporters, to prepare for the appeal. The appeal hearing was not held until April 2006, and news that the appeal had failed was not released until 17 September, 2007.
Meanwhile, the Commission appointed British computer science academic Neil Barrett as trustee in the case, charging him with evaluating the documentation that Microsoft would release. Microsoft claimed several times to be in compliance with the requirements of the original decision, but its claims were rejected several times before finally being accepted.
Several weeks after the posting of the appeal decision, Microsoft posted two possible sets of conditions for sharing its documentation: An applicant could either pay €10,000 ($14,400) without any patent protection, or the fee plus a per-seat royalty with patent protection.
"Our initial reaction was dismay," Tridgell writes. The reason is obvious: No free software project cares to open itself up to accusations of patent violations, and a per-seat royalty would be impossible to police for a free software project. However, Barrett put the Samba members in touch with Craig Shank of Microsoft, and, in the last few weeks, the two sides managed to negotiate a more acceptable, if still imperfect agreement that will go into effect when Samba pays Microsoft €10,000. The money will be taken from Samba's travel and expense budget, according to Allison.
Highlights of the agreement
Samba has posted the text of the agreement in PDF format, as well as a redlined version that shows how the final agreement has changed from Microsoft's original wording. For those disinclined to read legal agreements, Tridgell has also written a
summary "Basically, it's an NDA [Non-Disclosure Agreement]," Allison explained to Linux.com.
The agreement covers twenty pages of protocols from the File/Print, User and Group and General Networking groups listed in Exhibit A of the agreement. Under the agreement, licensees are entitled to receive the documentation they ask for within ten days of the effective date of their application. They are entitled to receive updates at either the first beta or final version of updates, and Microsoft also agrees to provide corrections for inaccuracies. and omissions in the documentation. Unless otherwise terminated, the agreement lasts for five years, and can be extended after that. Following termination of the agreement, signatories are obliged not to disclose information for three months after their last access to the documentation.
For free software developers, the agreement has several interesting points. First, as an aside, in section 7, Microsoft agrees to indemnify licensees against so-called intellectual property claims from third parties that might arise from their use of the documentation -- an ironic clause, given Microsoft's threats to use patents against free software.
More seriously, under section 5, licensees can publicize that they have signed the agreement, but Microsoft cannot. This provision helps assure that Microsoft cannot use a licensee for its own purposes. For example, Microsoft could not use the agreement as evidence that no monopoly exists, or claim the licensee as a supporter of a technology or policy. Nor, according to section 10.5.a, does signing the agreement bar licensees from questioning Microsoft's patent claims, or complaining about the company's behavior to the European Commission.
Another important concern is that the non-disclosure agreement specifically does not cover source code comments or code variables, according to section 5.8. Without this provision, using the documentation to write code interoperable with Windows protocols would be difficult, and revision of it by anyone except the original developer probably impossible.
However, probably the most important part of the agreement is section 2.1.b, which allows licensees to sub-license their access to the protocol documentation to others who fulfill the requirements described in Exhibit B -- basically, that they are either a corporation or equivalent in good standing or else an individual with government-issued identification that shows their current address. It is this provision that allows Samba to set up the PFIF, and allow free software developers access to the documentation. In effect, the provision is a compromise that falls short of the unlimited access that Samba would prefer but also makes the documentation more accessible than Microsoft would prefer.
Still another compromise lies in the fact that, although no patent protection is granted to licensees or sub-licensees, Appendix 4 specifies the patents that may be involved in the specific protocols. According to Allison, "We don't believe that Samba violates any patents, so I don't think there is any patent risk," so the specification of patents may be moot. All the same, those who want to decide for themselves can at least get a sense of what risks they might be taking. And, as Allison says, "The good thing about this agreement is that it gives us a list of the patents so that we can examine them and make sure going forward that there continues to be no patent risk."
The Foundation and sub-licensees
Samba paid the €10,000 fee for access to the documentation, and established the Protocol Freedom Information Foundation as an off-shoot of the Software Freedom Law Center. Allison explains that the Protocol Freedom Information Foundation is "just a means so that Microsoft has a legal entity to deal with." Many free software projects have no legal existence -- which is why, for instance, the recent cases about violations of BusyBox's license were filed by individuals rather than the project -- so establishing the Foundation simplifies the steps required for average members of the free software community to have access to the documentation.
Details about exactly how the Foundation will operate are still being developed. However, Allison suggested that access to the documentation will likely be available to anyone who can prove themselves "an open source developer in good standing."
Despite the compromises required to obtain the agreement, Allison is obviously jubilant over the decision. Speaking on behalf of Samba, he told Linux.com, "It's a great step forward for us. And I'm very happy. We've been working on this a long time. But I'm not sure that I'll believe it until we have the docs in our hands."


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MStefano Running is a group of friends that went outside their comfort zone in 2012 and started training to run in fun runs as well as mud runs and other events. We urge others to get off the couch and go for a run or even a walk. Exercise is great for the mind and body. We hope you enjoy the videos of our runs and consider trying one for yourself.
MStefano was a group of friends that got together to do karaoke from 2006 to 2010. We did not sing well so we resorted to comedy. We had many people that enjoyed watching our videos.


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Books for iPad
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Related articles
- Kindle vs. Nook vs. iPad: Which e-book reader should you buy? (epicagear.com)
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Principles of Parallel Algorithm Design. Ananth Grama, Anshul Gupta, George Karypis, and Vipin Kumar. To accompany the text "Introduction to Parallel Computing", Addison Wesley, 2003. Chapter Overview: Algorithms and Concurrency . Introduction to Parallel Algorithms Tasks and Decomposition
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Ananth Grama, Anshul Gupta, George Karypis, and Vipin Kumar
To accompany the text "Introduction to Parallel Computing",
Addison Wesley, 2003.
Computation of each element of output vector y is independent of other elements. Based on this, a dense matrix-vector product can be decomposed into n tasks. The figure highlights the portion of the matrix and vector accessed by Task 1.
Observations: While tasks share data (namely, the vector b ), they do not have any control dependencies - i.e., no task needs to wait for the (partial) completion of any other. All tasks are of the same size in terms of number of operations. Is this the maximum number of tasks we could decompose this problem into?
Consider the execution of the query:
on the following database:
The execution of the query can be divided into subtasks in various
ways. Each task can be thought of as generating an intermediate
table of entries that satisfy a particular clause.
Decomposing the given query into a number of tasks.
Edges in this graph denote that the output of one task
is needed to accomplish the next.
Note that the same problem can be decomposed into subtasks in other
ways as well.
An alternate decomposition of the given problem into
subtasks, along with their data dependencies.
Different task decompositions may lead to significant differences with
respect to their eventual parallel performance.
A coarse grained counterpart to the dense matrix-vector product example. Each task in this example corresponds to the computation of three elements of the result vector.
Consider the task dependency graphs of the two database query
What are the critical path lengths for the two task dependency graphs?
If each task takes 10 time units, what is the shortest parallel execution time
for each decomposition? How many processors are needed in each case to
achieve this minimum parallel execution time? What is the maximum
degree of concurrency?
Consider the problem of multiplying a sparse matrix A with a vector b. The following observations can be made:
In general, if the granularity of a decomposition is finer, the associated overhead (as a ratio of useful work assocaited with a task) increases.
Example: Consider the sparse matrix-vector product example from previous foil. Assume that each node takes unit time to process and each interaction (edge) causes an overhead of a unit time.
Viewing node 0 as an independent task involves a useful computation of one time unit and overhead (communication) of three time units.
Now, if we consider nodes 0, 4, and 5 as one task, then the task has useful computation totaling to three time units and communication corresponding to four time units (four edges). Clearly, this is a more favorable ratio than the former case.
Note: We refer to the mapping as being from tasks to processes, as opposed to processors. This is because typical programming APIs, as we shall see, do not allow easy binding of tasks to physical processors. Rather, we aggregate tasks into processes and rely on the system to map these processes to physical processors. We use processes, not in the UNIX sense of a process, rather, simply as a collection of tasks and associated data.
An appropriate mapping must minimize parallel execution time by:
Note: These criteria often conflict eith each other. For example, a decomposition into one task (or no decomposition at all) minimizes interaction but does not result in a speedup at all! Can you think of other such conflicting cases?
Mapping tasks in the database query decomposition to processes. These mappings were arrived at by viewing the dependency graph in terms of levels (no two nodes in a level have dependencies). Tasks within a single level are then assigned to different processes.
So how does one decompose a task into various subtasks?
While there is no single recipe that works for all problems, we present a set of commonly used techniques that apply to broad classes of problems. These include:
• recursive decomposition
• data decomposition
• exploratory decomposition
• speculative decomposition
A classic example of a divide-and-conquer algorithm on which we
can apply recursive decomposition is Quicksort.
In this example, once the list has been partitioned around the pivot, each sublist can be processed concurrently (i.e., each sublist represents an independent subtask). This can be repeated recursively.
The problem of finding the minimum number in a given list (or indeed any other associative operation such as sum, AND, etc.) can be fashioned as a divide-and-conquer algorithm. The following algorithm illustrates this.
We first start with a simple serial loop for computing the minimum entry in a given list:
1. procedureSERIAL_MIN (A, n)
2. begin
3. min = A[0];
4. fori:= 1 ton − 1 do
5. if(A[i] < min) min := A[i];
6. endfor;
7. returnmin;
8. endSERIAL_MIN
We can rewrite the loop as follows:
1. procedure RECURSIVE_MIN (A, n) 2. begin3. if ( n =1 ) then4. min := A [0] ; 5. else6. lmin := RECURSIVE_MIN ( A, n/2 ); 7. rmin := RECURSIVE_MIN ( &(A[n/2]), n - n/2); 8. if (lmin < rmin) then9. min := lmin; 10. else11. min := rmin; 12. endelse; 13. endelse; 14. returnmin; 15. end RECURSIVE_MIN
The code in the previous foil can be decomposed naturally using a recursive decomposition strategy. We illustrate this with the following example of finding the minimum number in the set {4, 9, 1, 7, 8, 11, 2, 12}. The task dependency graph associated with this computation is as follows:
Consider the problem of multiplying two n x n matrices A and B to yield matrix C. The output matrix C can be partitioned into four tasks as follows:
Task 1:
Task 2:
Task 3:
Task 4:
A partitioning of output data does not result in a unique decomposition into tasks. For example, for the same problem as in previus foil, with identical output data distribution, we can derive the following two (other) decompositions:
Consider the problem of counting the instances of given itemsets in a database of transactions. In this case, the output (itemset frequencies) can be partitioned across tasks.
From the previous example, the following observations can be made:
In the database counting example, the input (i.e., the transaction set) can be partitioned. This induces a task decomposition in which each task generates partial counts for all itemsets. These are combined subsequently for aggregate counts.
Often input and output data decomposition can be combined for a higher degree of concurrency. For the itemset counting example, the transaction set (input) and itemset counts (output) can both be decomposed as follows:
Let us revisit the example of dense matrix multiplication. We first show how we can visualize this computation in terms of intermediate matrices D.
A decomposition of intermediate data structure leads to the following decomposition into 8 + 4 tasks:
Stage I
Stage II
The task dependency graph for the decomposition (shown in previous foil) into 12 tasks is as follows:
A simple application of exploratory decomposition is in the solution to a 15 puzzle (a tile puzzle). We show a sequence of three moves that transform a given initial state (a) to desired final state (d).
Of-course, the problem of computing the solution, in general, is much more difficult than in this simple example.
The state space can be explored by generating various successor states of the current state and to view them as independent tasks.
A classic example of speculative decomposition is in discrete event simulation.
Another example is the simulation of a network of nodes (for instance, an assembly line or a computer network through which packets pass). The task is to simulate the behavior of this network for various inputs and node delay parameters (note that networks may become unstable for certain values of service rates, queue sizes, etc.).
Often, a mix of decomposition techniques is necessary for decomposing a problem. Consider the following examples:
Once a problem has been decomposed into independent tasks, the characteristics of these tasks critically impact choice and performance of parallel algorithms. Relevant task characteristics include:
A simple example of a regular static interaction pattern is in image dithering. The underlying communication pattern is a structured (2-D mesh) one as shown here:
The multiplication of a sparse matrix with a vector is a good example of a static irregular interaction pattern. Here is an example of a sparse matrix and its associated interaction pattern.
Mapping must simultaneously minimize idling and load balance. Merely balancing load does not minimize idling.
Mapping techniques can be static or dynamic.
Other factors that determine the choice of techniques include the
size of data associated with a task and the nature of underlying
We can combine data partitioning with the ``owner-computes'' rule to partition the computation into subtasks. The simplest data decomposition schemes for dense matrices are 1-D block distribution schemes.
Block distribution schemes can be generalized to higher dimensions as well.
A decomposition of LU factorization into 14 tasks - notice the
significant load imbalance.
The active part of the matrix in Gaussian Elimination changes. By assigning blocks in a block-cyclic fashion, each processor receives blocks from different parts of the matrix.
One- and two-dimensional block-cyclic distributions among 4 processes.
Random Partitioning
Partitioning for minimum edge-cut.
Example illustrates the dependency graph of one view of quick-sort
and how it can be assigned to processes in a hypercube.
Sparse graph for computing a sparse matrix-vector product and its mapping.
An example of task partitioning at top level with data partitioning at the lower level.
An algorithm model is a way of structuring a parallel algorithm by selecting a decomposition and mapping technique and applying the appropriate strategy to minimize interactions.


text:
California Teachers Association backs Peters for Congress
San Diego -- The Scott Peters for Congress campaign today announced that the California Teachers Association (CTA) has endorsed Peters in his bid to unseat incumbent Brian Bilbray in the new 52nd Congressional District. The CTA represents 325,000 teachers, counselors, school librarians, social workers, psychologists, and nurses who work in K-12 school systems.
The association picked Peters after he and the other Democratic candidate in the race participated in a stringent endorsement process that included a lengthy questionnaire and interview.
"I have a track record of standing up for what's right, for working people, for kids and families. I will always put our schools and children first," Peters said. "It's a particular honor to have the support of the men and women who are on the front lines of public education. I have incredible respect for them and am grateful for their support."
Peters Campaign Manager Robert Dempsey noted that it is particularly significant that the CTA chose to back Peters because another candidate in this race is a teacher.
"I believe the CTA endorsed Scott because they know he is the candidate that will be the most effective advocate and that he has the best chances of beating Brian Bilbray," he said.
The CTA's membership also includes community college faculty, California State University faculty, and education support professionals, making it the largest most powerful voice of educators in the state.
Their endorsement is the latest in an array of impressive endorsements Peters has secured in this race, including the San Diego Imperial Counties Labor Council and San Diego's most high-profile Democratic elected officials. Click here for a full list of endorsements.


text:
Written by Nathan Perrott on 13 Feb 2017
Clients often tell me that their candidate or talent relationship marketing (sometimes called CRM or TRM) isn't getting the 'expected results'.
Note: In this article, and for the sake of sanity, I'm going to refer to both of these relationship marketing approaches as 'CRM'.
As well as unhappy clients, I also hear from CRM tech vendors who say their clients aren't making the most of their software's capabilities.
The problem is usually two-fold. The first lies in the fact that buying a CRM platform is often considered the 'silver bullet' to making recruitment easier. The second is that the tech vendors have a software solution (some are much better than others, of course), but often don't have the strategic and creative delivery in-house to help clients make the most of their software.
It's like owning private jet but not having the first idea how to fly it (or having a pilot to fly it for you).
Attracting great talent is only going to get more difficult
Attracting 'passive talent' (a phrase debated by many as to its correct meaning) is often a high priority for employers. Add the ever-increasing skills gap to the equation, and it's going to get even more difficult to attract (and retain) quality people. So cultivating relationships with talented individuals, whether they're currently ready to move jobs or not, needs to be a key element of any talent attraction strategy. It'll be worth the effort in the long run.
Generating awareness amongst your target audience is fairly easy nowadays, given the appropriate budget and using the right targeting technology, through the likes of programmatic marketing. It's being in the consideration set of the target audience that's the biggest challenge - gaining share of mind when it comes to making a decision to move, and helping to convince and convert them.
Few employers will convince 'passive talent' to move to their organisation by simply sharing a job announcement or writing a cold email, hoping that they'll make the leap and apply. You might have some success with that technique, but that will probably be down to luck more than anything else.
Most passive candidates won't even read an email or take a call, let alone seriously consider a job offer. And if you're not a major attractive brand, which most aren't, it will be even harder to grab and maintain the attention of this audience.
So how can you win the heart and minds of passive talent? Well, it all comes down to building relationships. Specifically, building great relationships.
If you're a human, then you'll know that building a relationship is hard work. Relationships take time. They take effort. You'll doubt yourself and probably trip up along the way.
But, if you put in the ground work in and bring something of value to the relationship, then in terms of candidate relationships, you're much better placed for when your passive candidate decides they're ready for a new role. You won't have to work as hard to grab their attention. They'll already know you and trust you, thanks to all the hard work you put in building up your employer brand all those months (maybe years?) ago. Building candidate relationships can sometimes be a slow burner, but it's one that will pay dividends when the time is right.
The best relationships are fundamentally built on trust and loyalty. This is gained by being honest, open and understanding.
And what's the most common reason relationships break down?
It's through lack of communication.
Note: Pop a note in your diary to check out this this video from Professor Jordan Peterson, who perfectly sums up the problems in most relationships when it comes to communication:
So, how can you improve your candidate relationship strategy?
There are three core pillars to consider to improve your CRM: your strategy, your resource and the technology. Each of these has questions that you'll need answers to.
Where CRM goes wrong for most employers, is that they start with the technology, which should come after strategy and resource.
So let's begin where we should be, with the strategy.
How are you going to segment your audiences?
Will it be by:
- Role type
- Location
- Business function
- Seniority
- Blends of experience
- Career stage
- Applicant / candidate funnel stage
- Lead qualification
- Unsuccessful status (good culture fit but not right for that specific vacancy)
- All of the above?
This is critical as you cannot take a one size fits all approach.
What are the messages you need to communicate to each audience segment and what content needs to be used / created?
Before you do anything, ask yourself:
- What do these passive candidates want to or need to know?
- How does that match with what you have to say and how does it match your EVP pillars?
You need to have a good understanding of your audience so that you're adding value and not just broadcasting what you want to say to people who don't want to listen.
Importantly, once you've hooked people in, how are you going to add the personal touch and keep them engaged? Think about sending them some (personalised) content they might find useful or a friendly email on their birthday. These small gestures can cement your brand in a candidate's mind.
How are you going to fill the talent pool and keep it fresh / free from stagnation?
It is imperative that you drive passive talent as well as active job seekers into your talent pool.
Also, consider adding those that are 'silver medallists' (those who didn't get the job but were a good fit for the company) and those that are part of the 'pre-assessed workforce' into the talent pool. This can be achieved by leveraging intelligent, targeted marketing, using data to identify key touchpoints in the job seeker journey to persuade users to opt in to the talent pool.
Simply asking people to update their details and re-opt into the talent pool every six months or so is also recommended to ensure you have a relevant, up to date talent pool. When it comes to quality, there needs to be a considered approach to understanding whether they are the right cultural fit too. How will you measure and validate that? And don't forget your internal audiences. At some point, they'll consider moving on, so make sure you tap into them before they decide to move to another employer.
What is the communication strategy?
How will you provide a personalised, best-in-class experience for those in your talent pool? Understanding how you will make people feel is very important, whether that's communication via email, social media, face to face, video call, etc.
Emotion is an incredible force in relationships (sometimes for good, sometimes for worse). So make sure your communications are personalised and not sounding like they're from a robot.
How will you measure efficacy?
Understanding what's working and what's not is crucial.
How are you effectively moving candidates through the funnel? Are you building relationships with the right people? Ensuring cultural fit may be more important than technical skills nowadays, so how are you going to measure that in your CRM platform?
Now this is bound to be a sensitive subject as it's one of the reasons that CRM strategies fail.
- There isn't enough time to dedicate to the nurturing of prospective talent by growing the relationship, or
- There aren't enough people to do it.
Understanding who's going to do what in each part of the process is critical, but recruiters have conflicting priorities of the urgent needs of the business, combined with growing and nurturing a pool of talented prospects.
The urgent need will always win. So before moving any further, make sure you have the resource and they have the time to dedicated to CRM.
As I said earlier, this is where most people start and is therefore the reason most CRM strategies fail.
Technology is certainly an enabler, but don't hand over your money unless you've done your research first.
These five key considerations should be at the front of your mind when choosing a CRM technology partner best placed to meet your needs and those of your candidates.
ATS integration
Ask your prospective provider:
- How deep is the connection between the CRM platform and your specific ATS? (Each one will be different).
- How long will the integration take? (ATS integration is an important component as you'll need to know what status certain individuals are flagged up before you send marketing communications to them. The last thing you want to do is send an email to someone encouraging them to consider or apply for a role when they've already applied and been hired, or worse, rejected).
Marketing Capability
The look and feel of the marketing can make or break your attraction campaign. Find out:
- How flexible the system is in terms of templates and layouts of emails and landing pages. (For example, can you produce newsletters, blog post and event promotions. And can you do this yourself through CMS? How flexible is that CMS?)
- What coding skills do you and your team need, or is it easy to use?
- Can you be creative with the designs?
- Does the vendor have creative capability in-house, or do you need to use a third party to provide the designs / assets?
Remember, it's not unreasonable to ask to see some examples of their creativity if they offer to do this in-house.
Tracking & Analytics
Ensuring you have robust tracking and analytics is essential if you're going to prove that the CRM strategy worked and the investment in the platform was worthwhile. This starts with understanding what you want to get out of it.
SEE ALSO: The 70 Year Old Approach to Data That You Need to Use Today
Candidate Experience
Relationships always boil down to feelings. So make sure your candidates are experiencing the feelings you want them to have by providing a seamless and consistently branded experience for the following:
- Job alert / talent pool registration
- Email communications
- Application process / ATS
- Content alerts
Don't forget to ask to see examples of how this works with third party sites and integrations to check that the candidate will feel like it's the same system. And naturally, ensure that everything is mobile responsive.
Recruiter interface
Ask the people who are going to be using the system to test it out – your recruiters / recruitment communications team(s). Not only will you need their buy-in to ensure adoption, but they will all use CRM platforms differently, so it's important to get their view on which is best for them before you choose. Nobody likes to be handed a system without being consulted first.
As I said at the start of this article, building candidate relationships isn't easy. You'll wonder if you're saying the right things at the right time through the right avenues.
But the good news is that these types of relationships are entirely measurable, if you've got the right CRM system / metrics in place. The best CRM systems will be flexible, with reports that show you what's working, what's not and most importantly, what your next move should be. After all, some relationships need entirely different approaches to others.
What matters is that you're out there making an effort with passive candidates. You're catching their attention and building brand loyalty so that eventually, you become their number one. And of course, when it comes to relationships, that's the best spot to be in.
I'd love to hear how you manage your CRM. Do you find some areas more difficult to manage than others? Please do get in touch if you would like to discuss your CRM challenges or have any further questions.


text:
Bienvenue !
Welcome, and thank you for your interest in the International School of Los Angeles/Lycée International de Los Angeles.
The International School of Los Angeles was established in 1978 as a non-profit organization by visionaries of varied cultural backgrounds who felt that the Los Angeles community needed a school which would prepare children for life in an increasingly international environment. Our school is now recognized as one of the most academically challenging private high schools in the United States and continues its long commitment to academic excellence.
At the International School of Los Angeles, we adopt ways of thinking and expression that reflect an appreciation for cultural differences and multiple world views. Diverse groups learn more from each other when exchanging different points of view, introducing new pieces of information, and confronting alternative ideas. Our school's small and nurturing classes facilitate the sharing of different viewpoints.
Being immersed in a truly multicultural environment helps develop the ability to better understand one's own culture – what makes it different, but also in which ways it is similar. Teachers, staff and students come from all over the world, each bringing their own experiences and perspectives. Our students study and live in a world community every day.
The International School of Los Angeles is fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) in Geneva and the French Ministry of Education. Our school also belongs to the Agence pour l'enseignement français à l'étranger (AEFE), Mission laïque française (MLF), and the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) networks of schools.
Our vision
Equipping our students with skills to ensure their future global success.
Notre vision
Nous croyons qu'il est important de donner à nos élèves les compétences de la vie qui assurent leurs futurs succès.
Our mission
The International School of Los Angeles is an international, preschool through 12th grade school committed to academic excellence in a nurturing and intimate environment that encourages personal initiative, creativity, and curiosity. Students are challenged through the rigorous and well-balanced bilingual curricula of the French and International Baccalaureate institutions. Our goal is to develop confident, caring, and open-minded critical thinkers who will thrive in a diverse competitive world.
Notre mission
Le Lycée International de Los Angeles est une école internationale accueillant des élèves de la maternelle à la terminale, qui vise l'excellence académique dans un environnement familial et intime qui encourage l'initiative personnelle, la créativité et la curiosité. Les élèves sont stimulés par les programmes bilingues rigoureux et équilibrés des institutions du baccalauréat français et international. Notre objectif est de développer des élèves penseurs critiques confiants, bienveillants et à l'esprit ouvert qui prospèrent dans un monde concurrentiel diversifié.
Our core values
The International School of Los Angeles is committed to the following three core values:
- Academic Excellence first and foremost, through a world-class curriculum.
- Cultural Diversity that promotes intellectual curiosity and open-mindedness.
- Mutual Respect that leads to collaboration, communication and a strong sense of community.
Nos valeurs
Le Lycée International de Los Angeles s'engage sur les trois valeurs suivantes :
- L'excellence académique
- La diversité culturelle
- Le respect mutuel


text:
Barack Obama is officially on Pinterest.
Those involved with his 2012 re-election campaign confirmed he joined the hot social networking site this afternoon. The account BarackObama started weeks ago, but it hadn't posted any pins yet - until now.
The first flurry of pins ranged in topic from food to photos, pets to politics. Among the initial categories: Obama-inspired recipes, Pet Lovers for Obama, Just the facts, Obama 2012 in action, Faces of change, The First Family, ObamArt, Obama 2012 Merch.
Obama for America Digital Director Teddy Goff tweeted confirmation of the account's authenticity:
You asked, we answered: introducing... pinterest.com/barackobama/
— Teddy Goff (@teddygoff) March 27, 2012
Another member of the campaign Sara Lang added:
Today is the best day ever: pinterest.com/barackobama/ #Obama2012 #Pinterest
— Sara Lang (@SaraLang) March 27, 2012
Among those involved with the Election 2012 campaign who are also on Pinterest: Ann Romney, Mitt Romney's wife. She joined Pinterest weeks ago.
A fake Mitt Romney account exists, but the presidential candidate himself doesn't appear to be on the site yet. That account was originally attached to Romney's full name, but the campaign asked Pinterest to change the handle. Currently, someone by the name of "Alonzo Gomez" seems to be holding that spot.
Have a look at Obama's page here.


text:
After debuting earlier in 2013 and then making their way onto shelves in various other countries around the globe, the ZTE Grand S and nubia 5 finally arrived in the U.S. this month. Both devices are now available from Amazon, and as part of their stateside launch, ZTE has introduced a new extended protection plan for new owners. Rather than make customers pay an upfront or monthly fee for its protection plan, ZTE is offering its protection plan for a deductible of $79.99 during 18-month period following the device's purchase date.
ZTE's extended warranty plan covers out-of-warranty incidents, such was liquid damage or a cracked display. Multiple claims are allowed, and ZTE notes that its extended protection plan is available on top of its standard 12-month warranty that covers manufacturer defects.
The Grand S and nubia 5 are fairly affordable devices compared to the full retail price of some other smartphones, but that doesn't mean that owners would be thrilled about paying full price again to replace a broken unit. That's why it's nice to see ZTE extending a protection plan to buyers of its two handsets. I'm sure that many consumers will also be happy to hear that enrollment doesn't require any one-time or monthly payments like most other insurance plans. If you're interested in learning more about ZTE's protection plan or the Grand S and the nubia 5 hardware, you can find links to all three down below.
Via ZTE, Amazon: ZTE Grand S, ZTE nubia 5


text:
Separate names with a comma.
Discussion in 'NDS - Flashcarts and Accessories' started by jono_, May 30, 2007.
has anyone tried putting there cart into a original lite Dust Cover?
Most likely somebody has tried, but it might not even look as nice. You still need to hollow out the inside to make room, possibly even change the location of the screw, and make a room for an SD slot. I think somebody tried for their G6 and posted it in the G6 forum, so you can search there (might even have been you >_>)


text:
Mumbai: Mumbai on Monday received a jolt ahead of their Ranji Trophy opener against Railways on November 3 in Delhi with the experienced pace spearhead, Ajit Agarkar, ruled out with an injury.
The fast bowler has been replaced by Murtuza Hussain in the squad that is led by Wasim Jaffer.
The former champions would also be missing Ajinkya Rahane following his selection in the Indian squad for the Test opener against the visiting West Indies, while Sushant Marathe, is also on the injury list.
Rahane and Marathe have given way to Prashant Naik and Akhil Herwadkar, a release from Mumbai Cricket Association said on Monday.
The squad: Wasim Jaffer (capt), Rohit Sharma, Ramesh Powar, Kaustubh Pawar, Nikhil Patil jr., Surya Kumar Yadav, Akhil Herwadkar, Prashant Naik, Murtuza Hussain, Avishkar Salvi, Omkar Gurav, Iqbal Abdulla, Ankit Chavan, Dhawal Kulkarni and Kshemal Waingankar.


text:
This one is for you. You know who you are: you're the sock knitter who googles "Holz and Stein needles" and thinks nothing of buying knitting books from Finland and Japan, even though you don't speak the language. And maybe you even knit some of those projects, muddling through, getting help in the far flung groups and forums you joined for just that purpose. This one is for you, because it's about a book that you can only buy (for now) in Germany.
Socken aus aller Welt (socks from around the world) by Stephanie van der Linden. That's the German Amazon link. Remember it's here because you might need it later.
We've been lucky to represent some of Stephanie's patterns here on Twist Collective, and many of you may also be familiar with Stephanie's mastery of sock design from her yahoo group, the Socken Kreativ Liste. In Germany, she has written a number of knitting books for children and sock knitters. Socken aus aller Welt is her most recent effort, and the one most worth collecting for your book shelf.
It is beautifully shot and laid out, with photographs that show the socks and their details clearly, and with a liberal sprinkling of thematic vistas like Irish pubs, fields of lavendar, and Austrian mountaintops to accompany their relevant sock patterns, like postcards for the armchair traveller. The offerings are marvellous in diversity, with elegantly executed patterns derived from such reliable influences as English Ganseys, Turkish Kilims, and Estonian mittens, to original inspirations from Italian high fashion and Japanese textiles.
These are not beginners' sock patterns, as they employ some techniques like lace, stranding, and travelling stitches that more accomplished or merely determined knitters will be comfortable tackling in a foreign language. But the technique guide and stitch journals are so well illustrated that language may not be an issue when experimenting with two handed jaquards, unusual twisted stitches, or incorporating beads into your knitting. For others, the photos of the socks themselves will serve as enough justification for adding this book to their knitting shelf, because they are a promise of what might be possible, given time, and a good German dictionary.
The book is printed on heavy creamy paper, and it smells good too, like new Corinthian leather. Why is it that only foreign books get this kind of printer's respect?
€14.90 is about $19 US, but with standard shipping from Amazon to North America, it will run you more like $35. But before you dismiss that as extravagant, you should know that it has these socks too:
I was saving those for last. I know! huh? As for the language barrier, there are a few on-line resources for translating such things. Some German knitting terms and abbreviations can be worked out at Granny's Garret, here, and here. Click around that site and you may find enough to supplement your usual Babelfish stumblings to knit a few pair.
I only tell you this because I know you would want to know.


text:
In 1994, Kyle Brock decided to make a living at something he truly loved to do. After finishing his education degree, and working for Central Valley. Kyle found it difficult to sit still during the summer months. After he had rafting the Snake River several times, he couldn't seem to shake the thrill of the water. This is when Kyle Brock set out to start Wiley E. Waters' Whitewater Rafting. Why the name everyone asks? Kyle was given this nickname from his softball team because of his deceptiveness on the base paths. So began the "Legend of Wiley".
Wiley E. Waters' expanded steadily to a fleet of 12 rafts, 80 pfd's and 75 paddles. His legacy lasted 20 years, creating lifelong friendships and exhilarating partnerships every step of the way. Kyle had to retire eventually.
So that's where I (Josh Flanagan) come in. After graduating from Eastern Washington University with a B.A. in Outdoor Recreation Management, Kyle sat me down and said he would like to offer me the opportunity to purchase Wiley E. Waters. Overwhelmed with the honor, I very happily accepted his offer. My love for the outdoors and water have been engrained with me since I can remember. So when originally introduced to whitewater, it became everything.
I feel this is why Wiley and I were able to make such a great bond. We both find it very important that this isn't just a business, but an experience. We have the pleasure of sharing many memories with a ton of great people. Every person that joins us, is just that, a person! With each individual, we want to ensure your needs are met, because this is your adventure. We can't wait to share these experiences with you!!


text:
The city of Ventnor sent crews to clear sand from the boardwalk after residents complained it wasn't safe.
Eddie Robbins from the City of Ventnor said, "You can only do so much.. mother nature, she likes to play with us."
The storm last night caused Rough surf, downed power lines .
Around 4:00 a.m. at the corner of Harvard and Calvert Avenues in Ventnor Heights, winds demolished a new home still under construction that was nearly completed. It's now a total loss.
One neighbor, Dom Rodi woke up to the loud noise, " I just heard this loud collapse and I never realized it would be anything like this."
In South Jersey downed wires on 206 near Retreat Road in Southampton began to spark, fearing a fire , crews shut off the power.
The same Storm left a utility pole leaning in front of The Browns Mills Fire Company in Pemberton Township. They parked a piece of equipment around it fearing it might fall.
In Voorhees, the owner of a red car got lucky after a cedar fell on Pine Street in a driveway and just missed the car.
Crews are working hard to clean up the storm damage and urge residents to tie down any items they have outdoors.


text:
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Status: Closed
Know more about this business than we do? Cool! Please submit any corrections or missing details you may have.Help us make it right
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Since 2005 the company has been providing Beauty Shops.
Sunrise Tan & Salon can be found at Nw Burnside Rd 878. The following is offered: Salons. The entry is present with us since Sep 8, 2010 and was last updated on Nov 14, 2013. In Gresham there are 49 other Salons. An overview can be found here.


text:
Gladys City seeks players for 1890s exhibition baseball game
The exhibition game will be the afternoon highlight of the museum's upcoming May event – The Boomtown Ruckus on May 12, 2012. Volunteer players will need to be available for several practice sessions in April to learn the 1890s baseball rules and receive information about equipment and period costumes for the game. Other volunteer opportunities for the Boomtown Ruckus include assisting with activities, helping with event setup and takedown, answering visitor questions, and greeting visitors in the museum gift shop. Anyone interested in volunteering is encouraged to attend the March 20th meeting.
Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown is located on Hwy. 69 at University Drive in Beaumont. Plenty of free parking is available. For more information, please call (409) 880-1762 or contact the museum at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
2 bedroom for Rent (EURO 900/month) 12th district (Vienna)
Available for rent: July 12, Protected content January 6, Protected content
start July 1st possible! or start August 1st to end of December.
Apartment for Rent (EUR 900/month)
The apartment was fully renovated two years ago and is modern, clean, and well cared for. It is fully furnished with a washing machine and an extra space in the attic to hang clothes of which only you have the key. The good layout makes the place feel bigger. The big windows allow a lot of natural light.
place has bin on TV - House Hunters International:
see Episonde:
Protected content
Part 2: Protected content
The neighborhood is spacious, green, and extremely quiet. The neighbors are elderly and quiet.
Who we are seeking:
We are renting out our home for seven months. We are seeking someone who will respect and take care of our little corner of the world.
Hoffingergasse 7-9/2/7
Vienna Protected content
Square meter: 67
Bedrooms: 2
Washer incl.
Pets/Smoking: NO!
Baths: 1
Balcony: Yes (Wintergarten)
Parking space: own Garage
Add. storage room: no only Garage
• Fully furnished
• 5 minute walking distance fromU6 Am Schöpfwerk station
• 15 minute Ubahn ride into city center
• Garage if desired
• No pets/smoking
• Available for 7 months
• Internet / TV (UPC)
Contact Details: Protected content or Protected content pictures up on reques!


text:
The value proposition as it relates to legal services has been on my mind for years. Does spending money save money? Will an attorney complicate a simple matter? Can someone do anything without calling an attorney first? My answers: (1) Often; (b) Sometimes, but less often then we get "credit" for; and (3) Of course, but if there's any reason to think a dispute might arise, bring forth the old adage, "An ounce of prevention … !"
Rare is the matter which goes wrong and ends up in court. Almost as rare, are the lawsuits which could not have been avoided with good, front-end advice. Sometimes, people don't want the advice, for they are about to engage in conduct which will surely result in a dispute. And sometimes, advice gets ignored. In plenty of instances, however, cost concerns—and the effort associated with finding and contacting an attorney—keep people from getting help up front.
Are there adequate substitutes? Not really. A document preparer cannot provide the expertise which most attorneys have, and should not be providing legal advice, although many do. Your neighbor, unless he or she happens to be an attorney, also lacks the requisite expertise. So, for that matter, do Ms. Google and her companion, Mr. Google!
Free Fridays represent my attempt to cut through the excuses for not obtaining front-end help. It also provides me with an opportunity to give back, a bit, for the legal profession has been very good to me.
So here's how Free Fridays work. I am available on the last Friday of each month, during the afternoon (Tucson time), to answer relatively simple questions. I can be reached by phone or email. If the fact pattern which gives rise to the question is even a little bit complicated, an email with a brief explanation of the situation will be much appreciated. (I read faster than anyone can talk.)
At the outset I will ask about who's involved in the matter, including the names of any attorneys. I'm asking for conflict of interest purposes. If you don't want to share names, please don't contact me.
If you contact me you are not committing yourself in any way. Neither am I. That said, once we start talking an attorney-client relationship does exist, for purposes of confidentiality and conflicts of interest. If a conflict of interest already exists, I will not be available, and if the question goes beyond my expertise, I will not provide an answer, except to say "I don't know."
I look forward to hearing from you!


text:
|09 September 2006
Sebastien LABAN
Lyon, France
A cute little girl named "Meline"
Hey Everyone !
Meline is the name of the character my girlfriend (Virginie) and I are working on. :o)
We are working hard during our spare time (after work, in our evenings) to create our own short film called:
Virginie GOYONS : Modeling, Texturing.
Sebastien LABAN : Skinning/Rigging, Animation, Lighting, Rendering, Compositing.
WHAT THE MAKING OF MEET MELINE : a 12-minutes featurette with behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, talks about the story, the characters and the environments, shot breakdowns and much more : the Art of making a short-film!
CLICK HERE ! :o)
DIRECT DOWNLOAD: AVI (30 MB), MOV (30 MB), WMV (15 MB) (Disabled - Site overloaded, use STREAMING)
Website : www.meetmeline.com
Interview #1 : An Interview about "Meet Meline" !
Interview #2 : Another interview about "Meet Meline"
Interview #3 : http://www.lyoncapitale.fr/index.ph...04&article=7640 (VIDEO)
Facebook :o) : http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17836116455
We are using this thread as a blog.
Im hoping to have as many critics and comments as possible so feel free to tell me what you like or dont like. :-)
So today, we are releasing ! :)
_________________________________ 2008 12 16 __________________________________
Virginie and I spent our last Saturday, in Paris, for the Foley & Voice Recording Session for "Meet Meline"... And that was, without a doubt, one of our favorite Saturday Ever! :)
We took the train at 7:00am. Two hours later, we were in Paris, thinking and wishing "That would be great if she -- the voice -- was cute" or "Maybe there will be a big console with many buttons to tweak" etc... We were drawing in our mind how could be the perfect day!
Well, it was way beyond what Virginie and I could have dreamed of! :o)
At 11:00am, we did the Voice Record, with a cute little girl named Mia! Our Sound Designer, Cedric, was right: the way she was talking/acting/moving was how Meline could talk/act/move! :-)
As in all movie production, the studio is separated in 2 specific parts: The Soundproof Recording Booth where the sound is recorded and the Studio with the sound designer and her hardware system. We talk to each next room with a micro.
The First hour, our 10-years-old little Mia was alone in the soundproof room, with her big earphones on her head and huge microphone in front of her, she was a little shy, but acted well. For the Second hour, I asked the sound recorder (Yohan) if I could go in the booth and direct her, make her feel the character, and most of all de-stress her :p
Thats quite a job, directing actors! I tried many things to get her comfortable by tickling her, making jokes or weird facial expression etc! :o)
So we made her do many nose breathing, mouth breathing, singing, swallowing, jumping/running/turning in front of the mic etc. Since theres no dialogue in Meet Meline, we didnt have to make her talk so the job was a little easier!
That took 2 hours! Two hours were Mia was as professional as possible, very concentrated! So many thanks to Mia and her lovely parents! :)
Pfiou!!! The morning was very intense! Yet, the sound designer told us that the afternoon would be as intense as the morning! And he was right!
At 3:00pm, we did the Foley Record, in a big studio, also in Paris! It was like the one we worked in in the morning, but 10 times bigger! It was watching a making of from Pixar, but only this time, it was for us! :o)
The studio is also cut in 2 distinct parts:
1- A small part (photo) with the sound designer (Cedric), the engineer (Tony), Virginie and I. Thats the place were we talk about the right sounds to use, the intention, listen the digitalized sounds or pre-mix what has been recorded in the other room. We test them with the video, we see if it works, then goo to the next step.
2- The Soundproof Recording Booth! Thats a room with many, many, many objects that will be used to recreate any sounds (in the world)! What a messy place! Tire tracks, old toys, chain, fridge, grass, gravel, feathers, fabrics, leather, rocks, sands, miscellaneous plastic/metallic/wooden objects, and even more objects that you dont know whats the use Everything! Its like my grand-fathers old barn! And oh great! The action of Meet Meline takes place in an old barn! This time, its the sound effects engineer (Eric) that uses all these objects and there is a big white screen where Meet Meline is projected! And he really knows what to use, how to make a very specific sound, and at a very specific moment. And believe, if you dont know it already, its not as easy as it looks! :p
That was amazing to see Meet Meline with sounds that really match all the movements and actions, and for the first time, on a big screen. For instance, I remember when Eric was doing what they call Presence Sounds which are sounds from clothes from the main character. He did it real time, as the short film was projected, with such a precision and concentration -- nobody talked -- the other sound guys were also concentrated in the sounds/image coherence and that really was like Meline was alive in front of use! Virginie and I were almost in tears! That was so moving!
I could tell you more but I dont think that reflects the way that day really was! The thing is, all that was for our film, the film weve started creating in our bedroom, pitching ideas in the air. And now, it reaches a point where 4 more really talented sounds people were completely involved! They all wanted to create something that was good, that sounded good. When they were faced with a dilemma, they would talk about it, test something, and find a solution.
So really, sincerely, Virginie and I want to thank Cedric, Yohan, Tony, and Eric for the incredible job theyve done that Saturday!
We have many other pictures and video clip, so we are sorry we can go further into details but we wanted to talk about that day before we go on vacations. We were really eager to share that wonderful experience as fast as possible!
_________________________________ 2008 11 17 __________________________________
The story of "Meet Meline" came up very naturally. At first, it wasn't supposed to be a short film. We just wanted to make a 20seconds clip. It was like a challenge to keep our skills sharp. So Virginie started to work on the character design for 1 month, we talked about it, change the hair, try new clothes, etc. When we were both happy of the character Design of our little girl (that wasn't even named Meline at the time) we started to think about something interesting and cute that she could do during the 20seconds clip. So we started thinking about the different location that she might be in. An environment made of Snow, or a landscape in a meadow? And when the barn came up, it was such an obvious location! We could see instantly our little girl in that old, dusty and made of wood environment! We were pitching ideas like crazy "She could be doing this!" or "Why not she climb that?" or "what if she takes that and get surprised!"! :D
We had so many ideas that we started to write them on paper. I remember one thing that I really enjoyed doing: We started to mime the little girl in our bedroom. I was pitching "She could look down for a second, then she looks up, freaks out and starts running!" while physically doing what I was saying. Virginie, that was watching me -- with another point of view -- then took my place and said "What if instead of that action, she directly goes there!" What a great idea! ... So we went on like that for 2 weeks every evening trying to find a sequence that we were proud of! We had movies like Hayao Miyazaki's "My Neighbor Totoro" or Pete Docter's "Monsters Inc" in our heads.
Unfortunately what we had couldn't be done in a 20 seconds clip... and not even a 1 minute clip! We had already done some early character and sets design, the story was quite intense already; so we suggested something that would later take 2 whole year of our time! ... "Why not create a short film?" :p
It was like in Robert ZEMEKIS "Forrest Gump" when Forrest starts to run for no particular reason and then go a little further, and then go a lot further, and so on and so on. :)
So we continued to pitch ideas, but now, not only about the different actions that she could perform, but things like the direction of the film, the different ambiances between sequences, the character of Meline (that's the moment we started calling her "Meline"), and even sounds and music that could go with the complete film! :p
So as you can see, like many things in life, it wasn't what we planned at the beginning... but we don't mind because what came up was a much better and fulfilling idea! :)
_________________________________ 2008 10 31 __________________________________
As for the news about "Meet Meline", we've done the third Test Screening last week! The Feedback are very good!!! :p
We are still finishing/tweaking/retaking some stuff, working on certain things that came up during the different test screenings!
Meantime, we are working on the Marketing Assets, like hires renders for prints, posters, artofs, and all that! :o)
There's not need to tell you that after all the work we've done, it's such a fun step to do in the production of a movie! It's like the short film is getting a life of its own when it is printed on a paper! :p
_________________________________ 2008 07 13 __________________________________
No, Im not kidding! Principal Photography :p of Meet Meline is now over! :o)
Yyyaaa! :p
Now, its Post-Production time which includes retakes of some animations & renders, compositing, sounds, music etc!!! and make each shot as readable as possible! :o)
So even though Production is over, the Post-Production will ask a lot of effort too for the next 6 months!
_________________________________ 2008 07 04 __________________________________
A little heads up to tell you that there's only 126 frames of character animation to go! :o)
The biggest and most exhausting part is almost over! Then it will be the moments of retakes, tweaks, details of every shot!!! :o)
_________________________________ 2008 09 06 __________________________________
The name "Meline" comes from Virginie. She always liked that name. She told me about it in the very beginning of "Meet meline", and I say "why not, that's a nice name" :o) ... Six months ago, Virginie noticed that there is a strange link between the names of her 3 nieces (that are Melanie, Aurelie, Marine) and "Meline".
Have you noticed? MELANIE + AURELIE + MARINE = MELINE !!! :p
Weird huh? :o) I guess there some Freud theory somewhere here... or that's just a coincidence (because if you put a number to each letters (A=1, B=2, etc...) and you multiply all the numbers by 10, minus cos(value.meline), you get 1588.2.... and 1588.2, translated in letters, is "WALL-E" ! Amazing hu? :o) )
_________________________________ 2008 06 06 __________________________________
As for the real news, at the moment, we are working on the biggest shot of "Meet meline". It's not that there is many details, hair interacting with water, crowds and epique battles in it. No. It's just a very long take that last 62 seconds where we follow our little girl Meline (The second longuest shot is 45 seconds long and the third longuest shot last for 32 seconds). Animation. :)
It's a very important shot and if we manage to put all our ideas in it, if we manage to place all the important keys that will support the story, this will be a fantastic shot that we will be very proud of as for the 25 other ones.:)
Can't wait to show you! :p
Another great thing is that almost all the modeling is done now! Yeee! :scream: What's missing are some minor details here and there that will be done after the first pass on the complete shortfilm.
_________________________________ 2008 03 07 __________________________________
In the Integration part, what I do is put every elements together (like Characters, Sets, Background, Fur, and other PaintFX stuff) so that the setup of the scene is done and the the shot is ready to be render (And when there is a new version of the animation of the girl, for instance, I don t have to setup the whole scene again, I just change the clip in the "Trax Editor" and everything will be setup properly.) :)
In the Pre-Editing part, I make a rough edit of the complete shortfilm, with testRender shots, final shots, and Previz footage. I also have a soundtrack, with basic sounds like footsteps, and other foley noises.
The Pre-Rendering step is just some test renders. I use it as a sketch book for 3D elements. I can easily see what technology will work during the complete shortfilm, and what wont. That step is also used to check what kind of layers the compositing will require.
The 3D Layout step is a little more than a story-board. Its the entire short-film in 3D, but with very lowres models of the characters and sets, and very simple animations. Its there to validate the cameras, compositions, timing etc
_________________________________ 2008 01 02 __________________________________
As for a personnal message, I wanted to tell you that I've been Directing and DOPing my first live Video Clip (wich is a clip for the company I'm working on) last week! :o)
I hired a model, a studio, some lighting equipment and shot every thing with an HD Camera!
That was such a fun experience to do! From the very pre-production with the research, making some lighting plots etc, to the final compositing, and through directing the model and placing the physical lights and other setups! : AMAZING EXPERIENCE! :p :p :p
I'll show you the final clip when it's over since I don't have the right to do that before :p
As for how's Meline doing : do you worry, we are still working really hard on it! we are begining to have some shot complete (still wip). We are hoping to finish the project by the end of... this year 2008 !!! :o)
I wish you a Very Happy New Year, and lets hope Indi4 & Wall-E is going to turn good! :)
Sebastien LABAN
Last edited by ssebastienn : 11 November 2009 at 01:51 AM. Reason: updates :o)
|09 September 2006
Sebastien LABAN
Lyon, France
MORE IMAGES ! :o)
To download this animation : right-click on the image, then choose "Save Target as..." :o)
Sebastien LABAN
Last edited by ssebastienn : 05 May 2009 at 07:22 AM. Reason: updates ! :o)
|09 September 2006
Sebastien LABAN
Lyon, France
Here are more bigger images of the head.
Again, Don't hesite to paint over the pictures to show us details that should be fixed.
Let us know what you think! :o)
Thanks! :o)
Sebastien LABAN
Last edited by ssebastienn : 11 November 2009 at 01:50 AM.
|09 September 2006
philip meyer
freelance 3D artist
wow, she really is cute! Very well done!
Good you posted screenshots with hair since that really ties her together.
The only crit I have is that I believe the eyes could be a little closer together.
And there's a tiny detail on small children I find really cute; the inner corner of the eye is usually obscured by a tiny fold of skin. I'll see if I can find an image to illustrate that point.
|09 September 2006
philip meyer
freelance 3D artist
well, you know what? Scratch that about the eye-distance. I think it's just that the back of the nose is a tad too thin :P
|09 September 2006
Sebastien LABAN
Lyon, France
Thanks Phillip for the c&c!
When you say the back of the nose, did you mean the part of the nose between the eyes? Am I right?
- When you see the girl from the top, that part has a "V" shape (almost a sharp edge).
That bothers me :o)
- Maybe it should have a "U" shape (that represents the bone under the skin)?
Is that was you meant?
I feel I should do that
Thanks for the advice!
Sebastien LABAN
|09 September 2006
philip meyer
freelance 3D artist
exactly what I meant!
keep it up and keep us posted.
|09 September 2006
I think, therefore I amportfolio
Erin Munkacsy
Chicago, USA
She is very cute; well done!
|09 September 2006
Sebastien LABAN
Lyon, France
Thanks, Philip & M31 !
I'll try fix that "u shape" things and other small things that will come to my mind.
In the meantime, if other nice cgtalk users find something weird on the mesh, please let me know!
(I won't be able to post more images until Friday afternoon due to technical issues, but I'll keep working on "Meline" on my laptop, so c&c are always welcome
Sebastien LABAN
|09 September 2006
Sebastien LABAN
Lyon, France
Hey everyone! :o)
We've been working a little on the Dynamic on the Hair the week.
VIDEO : Hair_Test_01.avi (all the control curves in action)
VIDEO : Hair_Test_02.avi (paintEffects in-betweens)
- The hair were done with "Maya Hair" and created with 8 different hair systems.
- 204 control curves were created
- The dynamic of the ribbons is done with 2 hair systems (one each) attaches to a couple of bones.
If you could check those 2 tests, I would love to hear what you think about it :o)
Next i'll try to make a nice-looking shading to the hair... should be fun :o)
Sebastien LABAN
|09 September 2006
philip meyer
freelance 3D artist
Wow, the ribbons look great. Would you mind explaining that setup in detail?
I never worked with maya hair, only with shave and a haircut...
The hair in your test looks good too, only it feels a bit too heavy and stiff.
I'd expect it to be less stiff towards the tips too...
Right now it looks like she used lots of hairspray :P
Do you plan to use mental rays fast skin shader to render her? I feel it yields great result after a bit of tweaking...
|09 September 2006
Sebastien LABAN
Lyon, France
Hey ! :o)
Here is how I dealt with the dynamic the Ribbons :
1) I first modeled the thing.
2) Then I set up bones along the short and tall ribbons.
3) Again, I did the same thing curves (that follows the bones, that match the Ribbons)
4) I then set the curve to be dynamic ("Make Curve Dynamic" option)
5) I attached an IK Spline Handle. (uncheck the "Auto Create Curve" option under the "IK Spline Handle" option window)
6) and at last, in your follicleShape node, set Point Lock to Base :o)
and hop! :o) ... hit the "play" button
Sebastien LABAN
|09 September 2006
philip meyer
freelance 3D artist
neat trick with the spline IK!
and thanks for sharing
|09 September 2006
Sebastien LABAN
Lyon, France
I took it from the "Maya Help" under :
Dynamics & Simulation > Hair and Dynamic Curves > Samples & techniques for Hair > Sample Dynamic Curve scenarios.
The Maya Guy used that to rig and animate the tail of a butterfly :o)
Sebastien LABAN
|09 September 2006
New Memberportfolio
Jan Eugenides
I give another vote for cute. She is cute. However, she doesn't look all that young. I'm not sure what age you are aiming for? Of course the age perception will change with the texture you put on her, too. Right now she looks 9-10 to me.
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