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By Rebecca Brimley Smith
What makes a marriage? For millennia, most societies have never even bothered asking this question, having taken for granted the idea that marriage is a union of lives involving a man and a woman. Yet, the cultural shifts taking place in society produce the occasion honestly to ask, "What makes a marriage?" On March 23, 2016, Dr. Robert P. George delivered a lecture entitled, "What Follows for the Family—Logically & Psychologically—From Re-defining Marriage," in which he described the changing social and political climate that has led to the re-defining of marriage in the United States. Dr. George also provided explorations of the "revisionist" and "traditional" definitions of marriage and prompted listeners to consider the implications of embracing or abandoning each concept of marriage. Although the Supreme Court passed legislation to recognize both opposite-sex and same-sex unions as marriages, the case is not closed—we who shape the social and political culture of the U.S. are in a position of power to determine whether the legislation will be sustained and expanded or not; to determine whether the "revisionist" definition of marriage, with all that logically follows, or the "traditional" definition of marriage will stand.
Just last year, same-sex marriage was legalized in the United States, satisfying the population in the U.S. who, according to Dr. George, view the opportunity to marry a person of the same gender as a matter of basic civil rights. Dr. George maintained that this population tends to uphold the "revisionist" definition of marriage, represented by the slogan, "love makes a family." Dr. George explained that according to this ideology, marriage is "a form of committed sexual romantic companionship or domestic partnership." Indeed, observing the discourse regarding same-sex couple rights reveals that those who support same-sex marriage believe that any person should be free to marry the person he or she loves, regardless of gender. Dr. George further explained that now that much of the community believes gender to be irrelevant in marriage, many are beginning to claim that number is also irrelevant. Thus, many people are now petitioning the government to recognize partnerships of three or more people of any gender as legal marriages. Logically, Dr. George explained, such polyamorous relationships deserve legal recognition as marriages under the banner that marriage is a "committed sexual romantic companionship or domestic partnership."
Dr. George's reasoning is sound. As long as the U.S. Supreme Court maintains allegiance to the "revisionist" view of marriage, the Supreme Court will surely respond in favor of those who petition for legal recognition of polyamorous partnerships. Furthermore, Dr. George forecasted that if the Supreme Court continues to rule by the "revisionist" idea of marriage, not long down the road the Supreme Court will be asked to permit incestuous marriages among consenting adults and will be unable to recognize an incestuous marriage as anything other than a "committed sexual romantic companionship or domestic partnership." The Supreme Court will therefore be required by precedence and consistency to grant legal marital status to people in such incestuous relationships. The idea that the U.S. Supreme Court might legalize incestuous marriages may seem absurd and shocking to some, but against the backdrop of the vast social revolution about morality and personal choice, such an occurrence does not seem so out of place. In fact, Dr. George recounted that in Germany, several federal organizations petitioned for legalization of incest on the grounds that consideration for the free choices of consenting adults trumps consideration for the protection and strengthening of healthy families. This argument is not unfamiliar in the U.S. where telephone surveyors question, "Are you pro-life or pro-choice?" Indeed, for a large portion of American society, the defense of individual choice is far more important than the defense of stable, healthy families. When the question of legalizing incest is framed in this social context, the prediction that incestuous marriage will be legalized no longer seems shocking. Comfortingly, though, the social views in the U.S. regarding incest remain unfavorable at present and so may keep the proposition at bay. However, the continuing deterioration of social norms and values may very well lead to a change in the social attitude toward incest.
Because the U.S. Supreme Court is currently bound by precedence to make decisions based on the "revisionist" view of marriage, the trajectory of marriage in the U.S. is undoubtedly headed toward accepting polyamorous relationships and potentially others. However, this trajectory is neither predestined nor written in stone. According to Dr. George, the American people have the power to determine whether or not the "revisionist" definition of marriage is upheld or discarded in favor of the "traditional" view of marriage.
Traditionally, what makes a marriage? How is a traditional marriage distinct from other caring friendships? Most people agree that marriage (whether opposite-sex or same-sex) involves the sharing and uniting of lives. However, Dr. George explained that traditional marriage is distinct in this regard because it involves the "comprehensive sharing of life" grounded on the sharing and uniting of life biologically. Historically, Dr. George described, marriage has been founded upon reproductive complementarity and has been consummated by a sexual relationship with the potential to create a child, whether or not conception actually occurs. According to Dr. George, traditional marriage is therefore fundamentally concerned with and naturally fulfilled by bearing and rearing children. Dr. George additionally pointed to the biological fact that humans are born with only half of a reproductive system because we were intended to partner with one possessing the other half of the system. Thus, traditionally, marriage stands only when the sharing of life is founded upon the biological complementarity of a man and a woman.
As long as present social and political circumstances remain unchanged in the U.S., the traditional view of marriage will become less and less "traditional." However, the population of the U.S. is responsible for this staggering change in social views on marriage, and the population of the U.S. has not lost the power to enact such dramatic change. Therefore, if the people of the United States determine to discard the "revisionist" view of marriage and to stand for traditional marriage, the ruling of the Supreme Court will reverse in favor of marriage between a man and a woman.
George, Robert P. What Follows for the Family—Logically & Psychologically—from Re-defining Marriage. 23 March 2016. <http://wheatley.byu.edu/library/view.cfm?id=170>


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When the news of 1,200 potential job losses at BMI, including around 400 at Castle Donington, broke last Thursday I was deeply upset at the potential impact on many families and directly on the economy of North West Leicestershire.
400 local people will lose their livelihoods. Many will have highly desirable transferable skills and will find alternative employment in the aviation industry. Others, such as cleaners and maintenance staff, will find themselves embroiled in an exceptionally tough employment market where many many people are now classed as suffering from long-term worklessness.
The loss of 400 jobs will have a significant knock on effect to the local economy in and around Castle Donington. Shops, pubs and restaurants will all suffer and in some cases may well find themselves untenable.
Let us make no mistake that these job losses are a tragedy for the district.
Of course with annual losses in 2010 of around £150 million BMI (and their new owners) must take action and at this point the onus must be on minimising and mitigating the impact of these job losses.
I appreciate that the district council can have limited influence on outcomes but I do believe that we must do all that we reasonably can to assist. For this reason I have contacted Richard Blunt, Leader of the Council, to assure him of my support in any initiatives that the district take to assist.
Similarly I truly hope that our MP, Andrew Bridgen, can have a positive impact in his meetings with British Airways and potential investors.
I have also contacted the main unions for the employees of BMI, Unite and GMB, to assure them of my support should the district council be able to help moving forward.
Right now hundreds of families around our district and in the immediate neighbouring areas are fearful for their future. I truly believe that this isn't a time for party politics but a time when we all should stand side by side to achieve the best possible outcome.
Of course as terrible as these potential losses are there are many other hard working people around the area who are worried for their jobs also. We must do all we can to assist them in these troubled economic times.

subset: commoncrawl


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The Moto G (3rd Gen) is one of the most anticipated smartphones to be released this year. The phone comes with a 5-inch...Learn more »
The LG 305C is a touchscreen phone with a display of 3.2 inches. It comes with a built-in storage of 256MB and up to...Learn more »


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We have good news for all iPhone 6S Plus 6 5 4S 4 5c 5S owners because now you can O2 Unlock iPhone your device directly from Apple's database and start using it on any GSM network in the world. There are only a few simple requirements if you wish to unlock your device with this method from O2 UK network:
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The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is reporting that a Little Rock police officer shot a man pointing a gun at him about 2 a.m. this morning at Markham and Scott Streets. The shooting occurred in front of the Hop Diner, just below the second-floor windows of the Arkansas Times and two blocks west of the River Market.
The man was shot three times and has life-threatening injuries. The confrontation happened after the man was seen running from a crowd and ordered to stop. Channel 4 reports that the man who was shot might have been responsible for shooting another man in the foot moments earlier. More here from Fox 16.
A crowd gathered at 2 a.m. near the city's prime bar district? Not a good thing. And apparently it has become a pattern, which perhaps explains why a cop was present early this morning. Thugs have long preyed on people in the shadows as they returned to cars from nightclubs, sometimes in shaky condition. Coincidentally, I referenced this problem in our podcast Friday afternoon. But a threat from groups of people in a well-lit place at a major intersection is trouble of a new sort.
On the jump, read the account of an
robbery assault of a young man one week ago in almost the identical location, the parking lot west across Scott from the Hop. (It is catacorner from the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, by the way.) A copy of this message was sent to Mayor Mark Stodola, who's been criticized by a police group for paying more attention to economic development than public safety in his tax package. I know this: gangs of thugs in front of the city convention center are not good for economic development.
Below is a summary of what happened to me Friday night downtown. A friend of mine wanted a detail report so he could forward on to people he knows with an interest in cleaning up the problems occurring in the River Market area. I'm just forwarding this to friends I know that might frequent this area to caution them about being extra careful in the future if/when you go out downtown. Feel free to forward this on as this is a growing problem in the area and the city need to make efforts to clean this up.
Friday night I went downtown to the Rev Room for the Boom Kenetic concert. I parked in the pay lot in front of that wine bar and directly across from the state house convention center ($10 pay lot btw). I parked on the row closest to President Clinton Blvd facing the convention center. We left the Rev room approx 12:45-1 timeframe. We noticed walking back there was a large african american population loitering the streets and even commented I wonder if there was a concert or something down here tonight. Never in my walk back to the car did I feel the least bit threatened though.
Upon approaching the parking lot I noticed a large group of people hanging out about 5-10 feet in front of where we were parked on the sidewalk. The group was made up of both guys and girls, I'm guessing ages between 18-25, all African american. I unlocked the doors with my key chain and opened the door and got in the car. I remember hearing some chatter like "where you guys going" or "what are y'all doing," but never acknowledged they were talking to us or made eye contact, I just assumed it was normal banter and again, I never felt the least bit of concern for my safety at this point.
I got in the car, shut my door, inserted key into the ignition and I guess I was looking down as I put the car in reverse because I never noticed anyone approaching the car. Had I noticed or felt threatened I might have tried to lock my doors. As I was starting to back up my car door got pulled open and 2 young black guys starting assaulting me while I was in the car. Both were throwing punches repeatedly. I was really stunned at this point and it took me several seconds before I realized what was happening. Mainly because it was a well populated, well lit area, a lot of people walking up and down the street, it was surprising they would try to jump someone unprovoked, out in front of everyone. I had my forearms up during most of the altercation and luckily didn't suffer any injuries or blows to the face, only minor bruises.
While this was going on I could hear several people beating on my car, both on the front hood and the back trunk and sides. I know for sure there were 2 guys in my door throwing punches at me. My friend in the passenger seat was also getting assaulted. He never even got the door shut before someone was attacking him. After 10-15 seconds of the initial attack, I came to my senses enough to realize the car was already in reverse and slammed on the accelerator and angled the wheel enough to give me a clear path of escape. This gave me enough separation from the attackers to shut the car door, put the car in drive and speed out of the parking lot. Even as we were leaving the parking lot we could hear them banging the back of my car.
After we got out of there we discussed should we go back and find a cop to report the incident. We were both so flustered we didn't want to go anywhere near the area. It's not like the cops were going to go arrest anyone anyway.
I would like to know if there are security cameras in the area that could pull up what transpired. I placed a police report today. It was only upon the urging of several trusted friends that I placed the report. They all agreed that these incidents need to be made public so there can be more awareness about cleaning up the problems going on downtown. I can tell you I will never go back to this area after dark and just about everyone I've told this story too made the same comments.
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At least, Yellowdogdaughter, Pence is not crazy. That should eliminate some of our worries.
This story got lost in all the other news of the day. It's been a…
.'..Will those afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome escalate their violence when Trump wins reelection in…


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American Values Essay - Things To Consider
The phrase "American values" gets thrown around a lot, especially during election seasons. America is unique as a nation and a culture, and it is often very concerned about what is or isn't "American" activity. In the 1950's, during the cold war, the U.S. government even formed a committee to investigate subversive activity, and named it the "House Un-American Activities Committee." There is something rather odd about this, isn't there? Isn't one "American" just by virtue of the fact of being a citizen of the United States. But America has always considered itself as much an idea, or an ideology, as a country. Here are some issues concerning American values that you can consider when writing an essay.
- "American Exceptionalism": From its earliest days in the puritan colonies in New England, who borrowed the image of the "shining city on a hill" form the bible, up to now, America has considered itself as nation set apart from the rest, with a unique mission to lead by example and spread democracy, liberty, and equality to the world. Is this idea inherently supremacist and jingoistic? Is the claim of being exceptional legitimate? How different is the culture of America from the British and European cultures from which it originated?
- "The American Dream": This is the idea that, because of the freedom of "the pursuit of happiness" enjoyed in America, anyone should be able to become anything they want as long a they work hard. How realistic is this notion? What is the origin of this idea? How does it shape American culture today? How does it inform how politicians present themselves to the public? What American movies, novels, or television shows explore this idea?
- Consumerism: The United States has often been considered a materialistic nation obsessed with making money and buying things. Is there any validity to this claim? How is this related to the "American Dream."
- Liberty and Equality: These are the two values most commonly touted as important by Americans, but they are also often seen as incompatible. Is there a trade-off between the two? Which does America seem to value more?
- Religion: Compared to otherwise similar cultures like Great Britain and Europe, America is an overwhelmingly religious nation, and it has been mostly dominated by Protestants. How does this aspect of American life inform its culture and values?


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The mission of CELA is to raise civic consciousness and encourage citizen participation in Georgia; strengthen and institutionalize civic education; and contributes to the development of civic education initiatives and learning centers in the country.
In order to implement its mission, CELA has been supporting the professional development of active and educated Georgian citizens and is currently operating in all Georgian university towns and cities.
CELA promotes the improvement of quality of the civic education course contents, interactive teaching methods, and professional development of civic educators.
In order to raise civic consciousness and increase civic participation in Georgia, CELA has been implementing a number of initiatives that, among others, include research on civic education, non-for-profit publishing, and translation projects.
Latest News
12 March, 2018
On March 30, the Civic Education Lecturers Association and Georgian National University has signed the Memorandum of Understanding. An...
26 December, 2017
On December 26, presentation of the 15th issue of the online edition CIVICUS was held at Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani Teaching University. The issue is...
19 December, 2017
On December 19 presentation of the fourteenth issue of the online edition CIVICUS was held at Kutaisi University. The second-year students of...


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After School Garden Program
Georgia Southern's Center for Sustainability, the Departments of Biology and Health and Kinesiology, and the Office of Student Leadership and Community Engagement have partnered with Bulloch County Parks and Recreation, the Bulloch County Board of Education and Lee Family Farms to develop an After School Garden Program at five elementary schools in Bulloch County. Georgia Southern student volunteers teach elementary children lessons in plant biology, agriculture, health and nutrition during a 10-week garden program that takes place during the Parks and Rec Afterschool Program. Sign up at students.georgiasouthern.edu/LeadServe/newsletter/
Wednesday, February 14 at 3:30pm to 5:30pm
Union 1056


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Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 104426
"deps" technobabble in up2date messages
Last modified: 2007-04-18 12:57:35 EDT
#: ../wrapper.py:163
msgid ""
"finds, downloads, and installs the packages needed to solve the list of deps"
#: ../wrapper.py:201
msgid "Fetch the package specified without resolving deps"
#: ../wrapper.py:141
msgid "Do everything but download and install packages (show deps needed, etc)"
#: ../wrapper.py:203
msgid ""
"Fetch the source package for the specified package without resolving deps"
"deps" is really technobabble that probably is less understandable than a
spelled out "dependencies" to most people. Hence, it really is unsuited to be
used in user-visible messages.
"deps" is also more difficult to translate.
"deps" is also inconsistent with most other messages in anaconda that use the
full word "dependencies".
Mea culpa -- it was up2date, not anaconda.
fixed in cvs, should land in 3.9.28 or so
confirmed in 3.9.28


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In the third trimester, points of focus are established in accordance with the participant's individual interests and goals, and knowledge is deepened in a targeted manner. In these specialization modules, participants are given the opportunity to practically apply what they have learned.
In addition, the EMBA program includes a two week media trip. Students visit top international business schools worldwide, where they become familiar with international media markets live and in person.


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|21 Oct 2013
Windows 6 x64
Clean all takes 4 hours and still running
Great tutorial! Thank you!
Clean disks takes 4 hours already.. Is that normal for 700 GB? Still blinking...
|My System Specs
|21 Oct 2013
Hello Lapchome, and welcome to Seven Forums.
The "Clean All" command does take a long time to run. Sometime overnight on slower systems with a large drive. It would be best to let it sit until finished. :)
|My System Specs
|21 Oct 2013
Desk1 7 Home Prem / Desk2 10 Pro / Main lap Asus ROG 10 Pro 2 laptop Toshiba 7 Pro Asus P2520 7 & 10
|My System Specs
|13 Dec 2013
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1
So, I need the Windows 7 disc first or No need to?
|My System Specs
|13 Dec 2013
Hello iRazer,
I'm not sure what you mean, but it would help to install Windows 7 with. :)
|My System Specs
|15 Mar 2014
Well, I'm back posting this on this tutorial, that, I must say, is the best thing I ever read in my whole life regarding HDD management when you try to install or reinstall your OS.
Just for letting you know guys, seems that this procedure is PURE GOLD for Windows 7 (and possibly 8), works like charm, cleans your disk and even seems to "boost" somehow some readingwritting routines... at least for me. But, seems that this doesn't work for Windws Vista.
Why?, well, I follow the exact same procedure (without the aligment stuff, because is a HDD and a Virtual Machine), the partitions are created succesfully, BUT, the Vista installer seems to have issues with diskpart, or the version of diskpart shipped with Vista has issues so the installer doesn't react as supposed... I dont really know. The issue is that, System Reserved has a drive letter assigned no matter what you try.
-Vista Instaler selects "System Reserved" partition as a default instalation path, and also warns for low space. You have to select the partition in which you want to install the OS.
-If you can access to your desktop after installing (either normal install or audit mode), a letter is assigned to System Reserved partition, making the partition visible and available to browse from "Computer" window.
Then, if you do this with Windows 7 installer, everything goes smooth, the correct partition is selected by default, and system reserved partition remains hidden (as it should be).
I've tested with the command "remove" from diskpart to ensure no drive letter is assigned during format, but no avail.
The Virtual machine had this features:
-3 partitions: System Reserved (200 MB, Active, Bootable, Primary), OS (60 GB, Bootable, Primary), Data (99 GB, Extended/Logical Partition), all NTFS
-Used both Windows Vista SP2 ISO and Windows 7 SP1 ISO, both x86
-2 GB RAM and 2 cores for 1 processor.
-Used VMware Player 5.
I don't know if there is any fix for this, but just letting you know this issue just in case someone follows this tutorial for Windows Vista... Wow, even the installer does it wrong...
And thanks again for the tutorial, having a 200 MB System Reserved partition really does a difference when working with some stuff like Bitlocker.
|My System Specs
|15 Mar 2014
Desk1 7 Home Prem / Desk2 10 Pro / Main lap Asus ROG 10 Pro 2 laptop Toshiba 7 Pro Asus P2520 7 & 10
Yep Fercog and there is plenty more where that came from and I have to say Brink is one brilliant fellow and so I don't upset the others in very good company. In fact this forum in my mind knocks spots off any others especially the local one I used to belong to.
As for 8 there is an optimize tutorial http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/37511-optimize-performance-windows-8-a.html which I have yet to check against my two machine s running it.
If you are not using them yet these are great add ons
and CCleaner which you will find a tutorial on too. http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download < download from piriform and just remember to save the cookies for sites you have passwords for.
|My System Specs
|28 Jul 2014
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
I had this problem and desperately looking for solution every where, until I found this. I just sign up here to thank you, your good instruction saved me. Thank yo so much :):)
|My System Specs
|29 Jul 2014
Desk1 7 Home Prem / Desk2 10 Pro / Main lap Asus ROG 10 Pro 2 laptop Toshiba 7 Pro Asus P2520 7 & 10
Personally I use this forum for just about anything except fro specialties ones.
One tip to kick you off is this
Optimize Windows 7
|My System Specs
|25 Oct 2014
Windows 7 x64 Ultimate
I'm revisiting this thread with a question:
Just to get used to an SSD I'd opt for a resale item which are currently being bid on in the
teens ($17.50 etc.)
These very low prices all seem to be Intel 160. Are there known issues for the Intel SSD
to be 'dumped' as unusable in a normal Win 7 x64 Ultimate install?
I will print and follow closely the tutorial here when I get one of these. But the question is
specifically about difficulties with Intel or Samsung installations products which are the leaders.
Or is the Intel just slow and being abandoned?
The hardware is
Biostar MCP6PB M2+
Phenom II x3 cpu
various HDs all Western Digital and Seagate.
|My System Specs
|Thread Tools
|Similar help and support threads
Optimize Windows 7
How to Optimize Windows 7 This is a list of suggestions that will help show you how to optimize Windows 7 by speeding up and improving it's performance. You can pick and choose which ones you would like to do, or feel comfortable doing. If you do not notice an increase in performance or...
windows 10 optimize drives
hi, guys was on windows 7, put a new ssd drive into this laptop ( samsung evo 850) used there magician software to help it run better, but did turn off defrag when on win7, got the free version of windows 10 on the above laptop, checked the defrag option was turned off in...
|Performance & Maintenance
regarding SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation
When using diskpart, I'm noticing it never wants you to format when I go back in to the installer. Am I correct in assuming diskpart will format the drives with NTFS? Do I need to realign the SSD on the reinstall? Thank you :)
|Installation & Setup
optimize hd before windows 7 reinstall
does anyone have any pointers for optimizing a hard drive before a windows 7 reinstall?
|Chillout Room
Optimize Your Windows 7 PC
More at: Optimize Your Windows 7 PC - PC World
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text:
1.5 billion monthly active users all over the globe, average 21 minutes spent daily, detailed information about your person, your job, your hobbies, your friends, your location, your apps, interest groups, events and more. No wonder it is the fastest growing media giant worldwide. It's time to talk about marketing on Facebook.
There are many ways to get a voice on Facebook. Yet as time goes by, it is getting harder and harder to get top ROI out of it. You better hurry up!
Facebook started it's paid advertising programs already in 2004, making "flyer" deals with companies who were advertising to students. 10 years later Facebook is making $12.5bn in revenues (annual result 2014), that is $8.3 revenue and $3.3 profit per user. Interestingly Facebook's capitalization is $210bn, which makes your profile worth $140 on the market. Yes, you are valued at a multiple of 42, not bad, huh? Now what does that tell you? You're going to be seeing a hell lot more advertising in the future!
What that also tells is that for you advertisers, Facebook will be squeezing as much out of you as it can. The times of large organic reach on Facebook seem to be over. 7:12 of this video tells the story best.
Organic is healthy for you
Organic Facebook advertising is when you reach people because a) you are awesome and b) what you share is awesome too. News mags such as Upworthy have up to 8 million followers. Top brands like Nike reach 23 million followers. And Rihanna, well Rihanna's got 89 million. Facebook has an algorithm called EdgeRank deciding which post is shown to which profile and Zuck can play with it however he feels like.
If you see an organic post it means that a page your follow or a friend of yours was engaging posting or engaging with a post. This is what Facebook was originally all about and this is what was promised to us: seeing what your social environment is doing and sharing. This is not how Facebook makes it's billions.
The good news is that great content by great creators goes viral. A study by IPSOS shows that 71% of all Facebook users share content. If you look at Upworthy for example. Their weakest post in March 2015 got 750 likes and 275 shares, whereas their best post got got over 40'000 likes and 20'000 shares. Bad content doesn't get engagement and disappears. The Facebook algorithm will decide to show this post to less people leading to less engagement and less virality. Good content on the other hand goes up the ranks in the Facebook algorithm and gets a lot of likes, shares and re-shares, hence a lot of visibility. The bad news is that it is getting harder and harder to do so.
Here are a few insights I came across to boost the organic reach of your posts.
- Content is still number one
The content of your post, meaning your image, words, video or whatever you post, still makes the largest difference in performance. You can optimize all the technicalities of organic Facebook marketing but if your content sucks then nobody will see it (cheers to Facebook!). Sadly there's nobody who can help you here. It's all up to you. Know your target, be creative and make beautiful productions. Brands and agencies are trying this since the beginning of advertising. It's an old art, it's still important and that's the beauty of it.
- Format matters
Even though Facebook is favoring status updates over photos in EdgeRank, it is proven that photos get far more engagement. 43% of Facebook users share images, it is the top ranking format on Facebook. It's no wonder that Instagram is one of the fastest growing social platforms in the world. An image tells more than a 1'000 words. The same counts for videos. Videos on Facebook are shared 12x more than text formats.
Net net each format has it's perks. If you just want to reach your fans with a simple message you might consider text. If you want to engage your fans, you're better off with photo or video.
Further think about how much time your fans have for your posts. Facebook is consumed on the go and nobody has time to watch a 15min video or read 2'000 words. Interestingly a study has shown that users love to share high quality content e.g. long articles and videos, yet it is not the way to post in on Facebook. Try to share content with depth, but when you bring it to Facebook make it a one-liner with an image. It will do you better.
- More technicalities
There are a couple more tricks to improve your reach and engagement. They're based on basic user behaviour.
First, list posts are super popular on Facebook and second, number 10 is the magic number. I'm sure you've seen posts like "10 things you can do to keep your boss happy" or "10 things your don't know about your girlfriend". It may seem silly to you but it's the brutal truth, this works! Facebook is consumed on the go. There are 186 million mobile-only Facebook users. Hence we are in "go do" mode and lists are the perfect way to consume facts fast and actionable.
Further if you ever wondered that your great holiday picture didn't get any likes, it could be that you posted it on Saturday midnight. Your friends consume Facebook at very specific times, which has a significant impact on your engagement rate. Studies have shown that posting between 1pm and 4pm gets the best click-through. I personally experienced 4pm to be the best time. You will get your post circulating by 6pm, when everybody leaves the office to go home. That's when you will drive engagement. Also, Thursday and Friday are said to be the best days to post.
These were my top of mind tricks to improve organic reach. There are many theories out there. I recommend you start trying out what works for you. At the bottom of the article you find links to the articles covering all the above mentioned points in more depth.
As organic advertising is becoming less and less fun, we should prepare for the future and look into paid Facebook advertising.
Facebook inflation
Just like Google, Facebook has it's own advertising tools, allowing customers to show content the various interfaces they own. There are a handful of tools Facebook is offering you to target and reach your customers as well as analyze campaign metrics.
Any marketers goal is to bring the right message to the exact right person at the right time. This will drive sales conversion. Given that Facebook knows pretty much anything about its users, it makes a good candidate help advertisers target ads.
Still Facebook advertising can be quite expensive if you don't know how to use it. Costs per click are ever increasing and given the growing demand for advertising this trend is not going to turn around.
There are 2 different ways to target ads on Facebook: a) Facebook's by criteria targeting and b) custom audiences. Which one sounds better to you? 🙂
Facebook by criteria targeting
I'm going to make this one quick. If you use standard Facebook "filters" you can achieve pretty good targeting. I had ads targeted like that running with 6% CTR. So it can work (industry average is 2%).
What is almost self-understood is that you should really know your target and narrow down gender, age, location, languages spoken etc. to match your exact audience.
Then I highly recommend to work with interest groups. Facebook only offers a limited list of those, but when it comes to local advertising this is usually a great filter. Try to search for magazines your customers read or what topics they are interested in. This worked for me.
What I recommend further is to make small audiences of 1'000-2'000 people. This will help you isolate certain insights e.g. you can target two identical groups, changing only the interest filter. You will immediately see what works and what doesn't.
Now let's move to the more spicy techniques. Let's build custom audiences.
There are 2 ways to build such audiences. Either you upload a specific list of contacts you have or you build an audience based on your website traffic or app interaction. For the first one you need to have ready-cooked list of Facebook UIDs, email addresses (used on Facebook) or phone numbers. This could be a list from your CRM management tool.
The age of UID scrapping
Before September 2014 there was a pretty ninja trick to laser-target your ads. "Facebook Scrappers" are software tools you can use to extract user lists out of Facebook itself. These programs find Facebook User IDs (UIDs) and Facebook email addresses, which you can export to your excel sheet and use to build custom audiences. Yes you understood correctly, before September 2015 you could have extracted UIDs of your most hated competitor's fan page and show a special discount to exactly this audience. You could also advertise a soccer fan t-shirt to only those people, who are followers of that soccer club on Facebook.
Sadly for many marketers, this approach which drove top notch ROI is banned now. You can now only make UID custom audiences, if those UIDs are part of your groups or apps.
Email on the other hand is technically still possible. Anyhow scrapping in general goes again Facebooks TOC and can lead to a ban of your account. Be careful.
Your legal options (they are pretty neat too)
There's another way you can make very well targeted custom audiences. It's called audience cloning. But first we need to quickly go through the basics.
Facebook allows you to fix a "pixel" on your website. A pixel is a snippet of code that tracks when a Facebook user is visiting your website. Once dropped in the header of your website, you will find your custom audience growing as people visit your page. This is already great for retargeting visitors. Maybe a user got hinted to your product. But before she pressed "buy" dinner was ready and the browser was closed. This is where retargeting comes into play and you can continuously show content to users. Large retailers even do this on a product basis i.e. when you look at a jacket on Asos you will likely see that exact same jacket again in a Facebook ad.
That's not the end of the story. Facebook allows you to do "cloned" audiences. This means that they take a base audience, analyze the characteristics of it's members (gender, age, interests …) and apply those findings to build a completely new interest group for a specific region. A quick example to make it clear: You have a website that sells shoes. You have 2'000 visitors a week, mostly coming from your home country. Now you can make the list of your website visitors via the pixel and clone it into a very similar group for your neighbouring country. This way you will have high chances for a great sales conversion with this new group.
Now you have gained some good insights on how to target ads on Facebook or maybe even achieve a little viral success. I wish you good luck hunting those customers!
To conclude this essay I want to go back to the beginning. Even though Facebook is known as a huge success, it actually still needs to prove that it is worth 210 billion dollars. There are good reasons why some companies who are known to be marketing geniuses are not advertising on Facebook (ever seen an official Apple page on Facebook?). Facebook is in some way built on a lie. While they are building great social tools (and acquiring even better ones i.e. Instagram & Whatsapp) which are known to be free, they are under high pressure to deliver advertising sales to their investors. What already happened is that after brands were told to build their audiences, they now need to pay to talk to them. Facebook is playing with brands and they can go pretty far with this as brands are desperate to make digital media investments.
What will further happen is that users will pay a higher price too. Not because Facebook as a social tool is worth it but because it was promised to investors. Facebook is forced to sell more ads and ask for higher prices. More ads means simply that you will see more advertising content vs. your organic content (i.e. your friends and your pages). Asking for higher prices means that Facebook has to deliver a better product i.e. better targeting. There is only one way to do this. It's to find out more about you as a user. Facebook is collecting more and more data about you to turn it into better targeting and better advertising dollars. What you will see is updates in the privacy statements, what Facebook will see is everything about you and your habits. You maybe think Facebook is a free tool, but in fact you are paying a high price for it.
In my next essay I will cover data privacy, the value of your personal data and what you can do about it.
Now please, comment, like, share! Thank you.


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Finding friendship via motorcycles
Part of me is still convinced there will be a stretch of time in my life when I survive solely on the money I earn from wrenching on motorcycles.
But I have some problems: I'm impatient, don't have the know-how and would certainly break a lot of parts along the way. Such was the case for the majority of the build for my most recent motorcycle. I stripped too many bolts to count. I somehow obliterated both of my carburetors beyond repair. I rusted the inside of my gas tank into a scaly mess — it's basically worthless now.
On those days when I'm bloodying my knuckles on every mildly sharp surface on the bike and dropping bolts in impossibly difficult places, I have to remind myself why I work on motorcycles at all.
And some days, I don't need reminding. Some days, the timing chain drops perfectly into place, or the throttle doesn't stick anymore. And on rare days, when the universe is feeling especially benevolent, the bike actually starts. And so was the case this Friday.
My friend Carl and I were sipping on an especially delicious Columbian from my friends over at Pinewood Roasters while talking shop on some motorcycles we had recently ridden. When we had finished catching up, we drove up to my loft, and spotted this beauty waiting for us.
I've been ogling over 70s and 80s vans for the past few weeks, so this VW vanagon was a special treat. It felt like a sign that it was going to be an especially successful day of motorcycle work.
Carl and I said our goodbyes, and I immediately began priming the bike for cranking.
There were a few parts I was missing though, so I made some calls to other motorcycle enthusiasts I knew. A buddy of mine named Thomas was kind enough to let me snag his jumper cables for the evening. Another random passer-by offered me up some start fluid in-between his trips to Harbor Freight. He was building a parts organizer, naturally.
Thanks to the graciousness of those close to me, my bike finally fired up after a few cranks (only after I realized I had never put the keys in the ignition). It was overwhelming sense of approval hearing that motor scream to life after years of neglect from previous owners.
Despite my utter joy, I noticed that it wasn't the motorcycle that had me so stoked. It was the realization that getting the bike running was a collective effort — that relationships had brought me to that state of joy.
It was that authentic connection you feel when helping another person. It's something I often take for granted.
The importance of relationships has been a lesson I've been learning recently. In the words of American Historian David McCullough, "There is no such thing as a self-made man."
But I'm nowhere near getting the bike on the road. In fact, it seems like I have a maintenance checklist longer than what I started with. I suppose that's okay, though. Those closest in life have a way of showing up — even if it's just a matter of catching up, or even getting your motorcycle running.
Originally published at Gavin Pugh.


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'Justice' strong off prep win
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Abraham Katryan is hoping for a fast track for Lettherebejustice in Sunday's $139,125 Valedictory Handicap, which wasn't the case in last year's edition, when Lettherebejustice spun his wheels in the mud and finished fifth.
A 1 3/4-mile race, the Valedictory is the closing-day feature of the Woodbine meeting. The 12-race card, which begins at 12:35 p.m., also includes the $125,000 Kingarvie Stakes.
Lettherebejustice won under a hand ride three starts ago Sept. 30, going 1 1/16 miles against $32,000 opposition. He never fired in a subsequent $40,000 claimer, but last out was a handy winner of the 1 1/2-mile allowance prep for the Valedictory on Nov. 19.
Katryan said he had expected a strong showing from Lettherebejustice in the prep.
"He's been lightly raced this year and was just beginning to come around," Katryan said. "We've been pointing him for this race. He's in good shape. He likes the cold weather, and I'm looking forward to another big race from him."
Katryan said he was thrilled with Lettherebejustice's three-furlong work in 35.80 seconds Dec. 2.
"I wanted to sharpen him up a little, and he worked really good," Katryan said. "He's laid back, and I wanted him to go a fast three-eighths."
Other Valedictory possibilities include Seattlespectacular, Severely, and Solihull.
Seattlespectacular recorded three straight turf victories for owner Roger Patten and trainer Sid Attard after being claimed for $40,000 in August. Seattlespectacular finished second by three-quarters of a length in the Valedictory prep after racing four wide most of the way under jockey Patrick Husbands.
Attard said he is making an equipment change Sunday and is hopeful that Seattlespectacular will stay the trip.
"He was very wide all the way around in the prep," Attard said. "I'm not blaming Patrick, because the horse wouldn't relax for him. We're taking the blinkers off for this race."
Attard said Seattlespectacular worked three-quarters last Sunday, but he wasn't concerned when Seattlespectacular failed to make time. "It was a really slow track," Attard said.
European shipper Severely, a 3-year-old filly trained by Roger Attfield, is exiting a fifth-place finish in a 1 3/4-mile handicap at Redcar. She won a two-mile handicap two starts ago but finished far back in her lone dirt start last March over the all-weather surface at Lingfield Park.


text: If You're Religious: The chicken came first. God created all CREATURES, not eggs. You lot should know better. If you you believe in the theory of evolution (or science in general): The Egg came first. Quite clearly, the chicken we have known today wouldn't become the chicken while it's pre-evolutionary form was alive, therefore it would of evolved into the chicken while inside the egg. If you believe in the theory of evolution, but insist on "In order for it to be a chicken egg, it must come from a chicken": Then the chicken came first. It's simply one step on from the answer above. The pre-evolved form gave birth to the egg, which out came the chicken, and then the chicken laid the egg. THERE. Solved. Whether you believe god invented all creatures from the get go or they evolved into what we are today is your business, I'm just giving you the answers all the while being in the context of your various beliefs. I win.


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Gregory O'Donoghue was born in Cork in 1951, where he studied in UCC under Sean Lucy and John Montague.
After some years as an academic in Canada, in 1980 he moved to Lincolnshire where he worked freight trains between South Derbyshire and King's Cross, Nottingham and Skegness. He then moved back to Cork.
The youngest contributor to the Faber Book of Irish Verse, his books are Kicking (Dublin, The Gallery Press, 1975); the interim collection The Permanent Way (Cork, The Three Spires Press, 1996); Making Tracks (Dublin, Dedalus, 2001); and Ghost Dance (Dedalus, 2006).
To mark the Cork Year of Culture, he translated A Visit to the Clockmaker by Kristin Dimitrova (Southward Editions, Cork 2005 Translation Series S.)
He co-facilitated the Thursday workshops of the Munster Literature Centre and was poetry editor of the journal Southword.
In 2004 he was a recipient of an artist's bursary from Cork City Council.
He died in Cork in 2005.
Gregory O'Donoghue at Dedalus Press
The Gregory O'Donoghue Poetry Competition
Gregory O'Donoghue at The National Library of Ireland


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Co-bylined with Jim Waterson, BuzzFeed Political Editor
Donald Trump's former campaign manager has said the US president-elect will work "very closely" with prime minister Theresa May rather than relying on UKIP leader Nigel Farage when it comes to negotiations between the two countries.
Corey Lewandowski, who was replaced as Trump's campaign chief in the summer but remains in the next president's inner circle, told BuzzFeed News bluntly that "there's one leader of the UK, and Nigel's not that leader".
There had been speculation that Farage could act as a go-between for the US and UK governments, since he is one of the few British politicians who knows key members of Trump's team.
Lewandowski, who is currently in the UK and said he met the UKIP leader earlier this week, said Trump "loves Brexit" but that the president-elect will will focus on building relations with May's team.
He dismissed the "ridiculous" coverage of the fact Trump took congratulatory calls from eight other world leaders before talking to the British prime minister.
However, the "world had changed", he said, and he implied the new US administration would not necessarily follow "protocols that have always been adhered to" on issues such as the order of phone calls, despite the historic ties between the UK and the US.
"That's not to say that we won't have a very close relationship with England," he said, before referencing Trump's investments in Scotland. "If you look at, as a business executive, where Donald Trump has invested his money, he's got three golf courses here. Strictly from a financial side, what he has always said is, 'If I lose, I'm going over to my courses, I'm going to let the waves hit me in the face and I'm going to spend the rest of my time over there.' It's not a bad place to be.
"But I think there's a lot of discussion about making the ninth phone call – which is probably, realistically, like, the 200th phone call."
Lewandowski, talking ahead of making a speech to the Oxford Union, also told BuzzFeed News the media had overplayed the sidelining of Chris Christie as chairman of Trump's transition team and said he was still in touch with the New Jersey governor, despite "competing interests".
"I appointed Chris Christie as the chairman of the transition team back in June," said the former campaign chief. "I spoke to him on the ride here. He's a really good guy, I like him a lot. I've known Jared [Kushner, Trump's son-in-law] a long time too, very good, smart, capable, very smart.
"I think what you have is you've got competing interests. There's one way to do it this way, there's one way to do it that way. It doesn't mean that either is right or wrong. But I think what you'll find is that the media wants to write a narrative that isn't necessarily true, because the story is much sexier if Jared and Chris are fighting. But don't forget that Jared and Chris have been working together since June on this transition team, and until this last week.
"The story is much sexier now that Donald Trump is the president-elect of the United States. For the last six months, when Chris was building a transition team and meeting Jared every single week, and briefing the whole family on the developments of the transition team, it wasn't a sexy story, because no one thought Trump was going to win."
Lewandowski was greeted by around a hundred anti-Trump protesters outside the debating venue, which is run for students of the University of Oxford. He recently stopped working as a paid commentator and his future role in any Trump administration is unclear.
During his speech to students Lewandowski said FBI director James Comey's decision to declare he was reopening the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails boosted the Trump campaign and put a "spring in their step". He also insisted global warming was a "scam", denied Trump ran a racist campaign, and said Trump would force Mexico to build a wall on its northern border with the US.
"Mexico's going to pay for the wall, and it's very simple," he said. "The wall that Mexico has on its southern border which keeps people out from coming into their country, is now going to be to placed on its northern border. And when that happens, the criminal aliens that are in this country will be deported back to the countries they're from. When that happens, they're going to be in big trouble, their economy's going to collapse."
He said Mexico would then have no choice but to do whatever the US wants: "We'll say, 'What are you going to do?', and they'll say, 'What do you want us to do?'"


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evigilo's new brand identity - charting a new global, borderless approach to alerting and delivering safety and sense of security to people all over – citizens, residents, employees, managers
Tel-Aviv, Israel (PRWEB) June 03, 2015
evigilo, a world leader in delivering and developing emergency mass-notification, multi-channel solutions, has showcased its new branding by launching a new and enhanced content-centric website: http://www.evigilo.net
"The new brand identity: the logo depicting a sun-like image with a color movement leading from red, to green, the tagline – To Know. To Act. In time. The color palate, it signifies the new path evigilo is charting. A global, borderless approach to alerting and delivering safety and sense of security to people all over – citizens, residents, employees, managers – to everyone," said Guy Weiss, the CEO of evigilo.
evigilo, an established leader in the mass-alert for national crises, has recently started marketing its technology to municipalities and businesses. "The purpose of our rebranding is to make evigilo more accessible to a larger audience. We live in an age when people expect to be in-the-know. Information, real-time information, especially critical information, is no longer a "nice-to-have", it has become a necessity," claims Ms. Adi Shemer, evigilo's CIO ("I" for Innovation).
"To Know. To Act. In Time." is a tagline reflecting the age we live in. With technology there is access to information and with information and knowledge there is the ability to act and change reality. Wouldn't you want to know, to act, in time?
About evigilo
evigilo is a world leader in delivering and developing emergency mass-notification, multi-channel solutions for governments, municipalities and businesses. Its technology is field proven (deployed and used on many continuous crises flawlessly) and has been selected by the IDF Home Front Command, the Chilean government as well as many other organizations around the world.
In time of crisis, real urgent crises, it is critical to notify the many (the public, selected groups of people, designated geographies, etc.), fast! Knowing what is happening, when it is happening will save lives, will allow for faster recovery, will save money and will allow for better control of an otherwise chaotic situation. This is the bedrock of evigilo.
For more information visit http://www.evigilo.net


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Find Out More
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Access Members Area
SUI Library
Follow the SUI on Twitter @CavingIreland
Monthly Archives: September 2011
Rockfall in Shnnon Cave
Please be aware that there has been major movement in Shannon cave which appears to affect at least 300 m of cave. From the re-birth canal right down to at least the old entrance large rock fall has been noted. It is not known what has caused this movement though it appears it is not […]
Posted on September 12th, 2011 in News | Leave a comment
Artur Kozlowski, RIP.
The Speleological Union of Ireland offers its condolences to the family and friends of Artur Kozlowski. Over the last few years Artur has been renowned for pushing Irish cave diving to its furthest limits; this is an unforgiving sport requiring extreme mental and physical fitness but it was Artur's passion. He had trained originally with […]
Posted on September 7th, 2011 in News | 2 Comments


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Know more about this business than we do? Cool! Please submit any corrections or missing details you may have.Help us make it right
Over 40 Yrs
4 Season Rooms
Additions and Alternations
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Contractors & Builders, Windows, Over 40 Yrs, Licensed, Kitchen's, Insured, Free Estimates, Deck's, Bath's, Basements, Additions and Alternations, 4 Season Rooms
Dolqueist Wm J & Sons can be found at Haddon Ave 600. The following is offered: General Contractors. The entry is present with us since Sep 8, 2010 and was last updated on Nov 14, 2013. In Absecon there are 3 other General Contractors. An overview can be found here.


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There`s a story making the rounds about a frog that jumped into the hands of a beautiful woman who was walking down New York`s Fifth Avenue.
``Kiss me, kiss me,`` the frog said. ``I`m a Texas oilman.``
The woman was taken aback at first, then thought about the frog`s request.
``I don`t think so,`` she said, as she shoved the frog into her purse. ``You`re worth more to me as a talking frog than you are as a Texas oilman.``
Not long ago, American oil producers were riding high. Now they`re the brunt of jokes, and few Americans outside the oil states are shedding any tears. It`s a mistake to gloat, however. A healthy domestic oil industry is vitally important to the well-being of the American economy and to American security, and maintaining the industry`s vitality should be a national priority.
The oil producers` problems are strictly a matter of price. In November 1985, quality U.S. crude oil was selling for about $32 a barrel. Then the bottom fell out, and by the summer of 1986 the price was $9.75. Today it is back up to about $18 a barrel, but experts claim this is not sufficient to foster widespread domestic exploration and production.
A recently released study by the National Petroleum Council points out the danger posed by current prices. This federal advisory board warns that by 1995 the United States could be importing 60 percent of its oil. Prior to the 1979 oil shock, this country was importing less than 40 percent, and prior to last year`s price plunge import requirements were down to 27 percent.
A drastic increase in U.S. oil imports would mean that OPEC again would have the United States over a barrel.
The boom and bust of the oil industry began with deregulation, started by Jimmy Carter and completed by Ronald Reagan soon after he took office. Back then, OPEC was calling all the shots and selling its oil for $35 a barrel, even though it cost just a few dollars to get it out of the ground.


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"The process of transformation consists almost entirely of decay." – Pat Barker, Regeneration
Do not split open my chrysalis;
I haven't a self to show you yet.
I came home and my body didn't fit,–
A flesh-sack, my name still stitched
To the skin, yet unfamiliar all the same.
I couldn't keep it pinned upon my frame.
With rootless threads of sinew-string
I wove within a brittle shell of hell
My soft pulp – a liquid, lifeless thing.
One month within that carceral husk
Of de-and-re-composing,
Yet still, I'm lax and liminal;–
On the edge of almost changing.


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I have an essay on Audible.com about reading. Check it out here.
Want to know what Coop was like before he became captain of the Ivoire? Read this.
This is a great bundle that will disappear on 8/22. Go here to get your copies of all 10 wonderful books.
My latest Kris Nelscott novel begins a new series, following the adventures of three strong women as they protect their world, one person at a time. A crime novel set in 1969. Available in ebook, trade paper, hardback, and limited edition. For more information, click here.
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"The heroine of Kristine Kathryn Rusch's 'Christmas Eve at the Exit' struggles to make the holiday meaningful for her 10-year-old daughter while the pair are on the run….There isn't enough Xanax in anyone's medicine cabinet to calm the jitters these 20 skillful stories will unleash on a worried world." —Kirkus
Available in paper and ebook.
I am honored to announce that Paula Guran chose my novella "Inhuman Garbage" as one of the best novellas of the year. To order some wonderful novellas, click on this sentence.
I am honored to announce that Gardner Dozois chose my novella "Inhuman Garbage" as one of the best science fiction stories of the year. To order the novella and some wonderful fiction, click on this sentence.


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In October 1986, a group of knitters gathered together to form the Guild. The love of knitting continues and new members are always welcome.
You can download the K-W Knitters' Guild's constitution and by-laws in PDF format here.
Monthly Meetings
The Guild meets at 7:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month from September to May at First United Church, located at 16 William Street West in Waterloo, Ontario. The room is wheel chair accessible and there is free parking in the Waterloo Town Square parking lot (please leave the church parking lot open for cars with disabled registrations only).
View Larger Map
Meetings usually involve a presentation by a guest speaker, a 'show & tell' of members' projects, business announcements, and social time to visit each other, the library, the 'show & tell' items, the raffle table, and the guest speaker's items. Meetings are a perfect time to get help with any difficulties you are experiencing with your own projects.
Knitters' Fair
Every September, the Guild hosts a specialized event with many vendors offering the latest and greatest knitting products.
Saturday, September 9th is the big day for the 25th K-W Knitters' Fair!.
Knitters' Fair planning is underway with lots of action, excitement and upcoming surprises! This year's event promises to be a memorable one, bigger and better than ever, celebrating the Fair's 25th and Canada's 150th as well!
Adjudicated Show
Every second year, Guild members submit knitted projects to be modeled in a fashion show after being adjudicated by a guest designer. This is a celebration of the diversity of members' interests and creativity.


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Today's NY Times reports that NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has issued subpoenas to several of the major labels as part of an investigation into possible price fixing in the digital music realm.
In September, Apple Computer Inc. CEO Steve Jobs publicly criticized music companies, calling some major labels "greedy" for pushing Apple to hike prices on its popular iTunes service. Recording company executives have scoffed at the suggestion.
In a speech before an investors conference, Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. said that Apple's 99-cent price for single tracks ignores the issue that not all songs are the same commercially and, like any other product, shouldn't be priced the same.
Such discord has not kept the labels from licensing their music videos to Apple. Still, as their contracts with Apple come up for renewal, the music companies are seeking to improve their take.
Mr. Bronfman has a point, but I don't think he realizes the favor Apple is doing his shareholders by setting a $0.99 floor online music purchases. While some songs may be worth more than a dollar, most are worth much less. The labels finally got people paying for music online, and now they get greedy. Just as folks are coming around to believing piracy is wrong…
Sooner or later the labels will run out of toes to shoot off.
It's ironic the subject hits the headlines this way. I've been expecting analysts and independent artists to begin complaining that Apple's one-price approach for music, and now videos, is detrimental to the industry. As long as Apple gets its cut, independents should be allowed to set any price they like.
Apple's position about going over $0.99 is understandable. But why not allow content owners to set lower prices? I hardly see $0.49 downloads diluting the iTunes brand. In the world of video, if Lost is worth $2, then an independent documentary shouldn't have to compete at the same price.
PaidContent.org covers the economics of content in depth.


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The Last Cherry Ever
Cherry, for many of you that don't know, is a lesbian dance party that happens in Seattle once a month. They throw it at an all-cash bar called ReBar and it takes place...Read More →
Cherry, for many of you that don't know, is a lesbian dance party that happens in Seattle once a month. They throw it at an all-cash bar called ReBar and it takes place...Read More →
My insomnia is particularly bad as of late, so I decided to just get up out of bed at 3am and finally write another blog post. A friend suggested a topic to me...Read More →
We all know people talk behind our backs. That's just a fact of life. People have formed opinions of me and some might be good and some might be bad. I think a...Read More →
On Super Bowl Sunday, I turned to the large group of people gathered around and simply asked if anyone would be interested in going to trivia this week. My request was met with...Read More →
Today is a sad day. Today, I am giving up Fireball. What's Fireball, you might ask? It's heaven. Pure heaven in liquid alcohol form. Fireball is a cinnamon whiskey craze that has swept...Read More →
Some of you read this blog and might be thinking, "Is your life just one big party?" Conversely, some of you might be thinking "No wonder why you're single" or "God this all...Read More →
I have been having some difficulty writing as of late. I'm not a huge fan of the holidays and when I don't feel chipper, I don't want to write blog posts. So, I...Read More →
Every year my dad and sister take my niece to Disney World. A couple years ago, they started inviting me to come along with them. Last year, my niece was seven. Let me...Read More →
Someone is going to kill me for writing this down but it's time for a funny story, don't you think? I was dating this girl a while back. We weren't exclusive and we...Read More →
My senior year of college was sent doing an independent study where I co-wrote, directed, and produced a television pilot with a partner named Ben. We spent hours upon hours upon hours working...Read More →


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Ailin Cao
I take what's left. I take
my time. Your pattern is
all memory.
I'm good with a needle, kind
with a knife. Love is
Inches in stitches, miles in red.
In repair, eventually,
Ailin Cao is responsible for PCDC's Teen Club youth program, which provides high school students with free bilingual SAT and college application workshops, as well as a Sports Night. She also assists with general print and digital media design and outreach. She enjoys discovering new music in her free time.


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Access to timely and accurate information can make the difference between an organization winning or losing business, KRT Associates understands this and provides tailored intelligence around clients and opportunities to better leverage available business development resources.
Provide key insights into the drivers for targeted opportunities.
Winning Federal business isn't just about providing an excellent product or service, it's also about knowing how to navigate the complex rules of the procurement process. KRT Associates' extensive knowledge of the federal market space makes us uniquely qualified to provide extensive training to prepare a business for success.


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Karen Stockham
Karen Stockham has had a varied career inside and outside of higher education over the last 20 years. She has taught modules in Disability and Leisure on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the Sociology of Leisure and held a two-year National Lottery-funded contract to project-advise on the development of bespoke clothing for young people with disabilities.
Karen has also presented conference papers on leisure and disability in Cardiff and North Wales and was the holder of a Hewitt-Driver award to research and compare access provision for disabled people in the Yorkshire Dales and Dartmoor National Parks. She is currently Head of Postgraduate Development in the Faculty of Education, Health and Welfare.
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