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What You Don't Know CAN Hurt You:
The Dangers of Hair Smoothers for Salon Workers and Owners
Everyone knows the hype about hair smoothing products – customers love that "celebrity" hair, but some products put stylists at risk. Hair smoothers may contain the chemical formaldehyde, which can irritate the eyes and nose, cause allergic reactions of the skin, eyes and lungs, and is a cancer hazard. Find out why OSHA is reaching out to salon workers with hazard alerts and issuing citations and fines to salon owners…and learn how to protect yourself!
Concerns about hair smoothing products
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has found that some hair smoothing products may contain formaldehyde, may release formaldehyde at levels above OSHA's permissible exposure limits during use, and may be mislabeled, all of which can pose health risks to salon workers.
OSHA has measured unsafe levels of formaldehyde in the air at three salons using specific products and issued citations and fines to the owners for failing to protect workers. In these three salons, Federal OSHA found that stylists using either Brazilian Blowout Acai Professional Smoothing Solution or Cadiveu Brasil Cacau were exposed to formaldehyde above OSHA's 15-minute short term exposure limit (STEL) of 2 parts formaldehyde per million parts air (ppm), putting their health at risk (see graphic at right).
In one salon, formaldehyde levels during the blow drying phase of treatment were measured at more than five times OSHA's short term exposure limit (STEL). All three salons were issued OSHA citations and two were issued fines for failing to protect workers from the health risks of formaldehyde.
OSHA has also issued citations and fines to other salons and beauty schools for using products that contained or could release formaldehyde and failing to follow the requirements in OSHA's Formaldehyde standard, including failure to test the air to determine formaldehyde levels and to provide workers training and information on the health hazards and signs and symptoms of exposure to formaldehyde.
After finding formaldehyde in several products that did not list formaldehyde on the label, OSHA has also cited some manufacturers and distributors for incorrectly labeling the products and for failing to list formaldehyde as a hazardous ingredient on the material safety data sheet (MSDS), the hazard warning sheet provided to users such as salon owners and stylists.
OSHA has identified several brand-name products that contain formaldehyde
or that can expose you to formaldehyde during use, even though they may
not list formaldehyde on their labels or MSDSs:
Brazilian Blowout
Acai Professional Smoothing Solution (FDA Warning Letter)
Professional Brazilian Blowout Solution
Brasil Cacau
Acai Therapy
Keratin Complex Smoothing Therapy
-Natural Keratin Smoothing Treatment
-Natural Keratin Smoothing Treatment Blonde
-Express Blow Out
Marcia Teixeira
Brazilian Keratin Treatment
Advanced Brazilian Keratin Treatment
Chocolate Extreme De-Frizzing Treatment
Soft Gentle Smoothing Treatment
Soft Chocolate Gentle Smoothing Treatment
OSHA wants salon owners to be aware that if they use these products, they must take protective measures like air monitoring and training. Some of the products expose workers to formaldehyde even when the label states they are "formaldehyde free."
Always check the label or product information. Formaldehyde might be listed as:
methylene glycol
methylene oxide
formic aldehyde
oxymethylene or
CAS Number 50-00-0
timonacic acid (aka
Fines and penalties
To date, Federal OSHA has issued citations to 23 salon owners and beauty schools in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida, Illinois, New York, New Jersey and Ohio, with fines ranging up to $17,500 for failing to protect workers from formaldehyde.
Citations and fines issued include:
3 salons that failed to protect workers from airborne overexposures to formaldehyde
18 salons and 1 beauty school that failed to protect workers from possible airborne exposure to formaldehyde; and
15 salon owners and 1 beauty school that failed to provide workers with information about hazardous chemicals.
A salon owner's responsibilities
Salon workers have the right to a safe workplace, to understand what's in the products they use at work, and to know how to protect themselves from hazardous chemicals. When stylists use hazardous products, it's the responsibility of the salon owner or employer to follow OSHA's standards, including:
THE FORMALDEHYDE STANDARD applies to all employers whose workers use products that can expose them to formaldehyde gas, liquid solutions, and materials that release formaldehyde. Salon owners must test the air during treatments to determine formaldehyde levels, provide ventilation and protective equipment for stylists, and train workers on the hazards of formaldehyde.
THE HAZARD COMMUNICATION STANDARD requires employers to explain to workers the chemical hazards of products they use at work. Employers must have a hazard communication program, which includes worker training on the hazards of formaldehyde and any other products that contain hazardous ingredients.
The best way…
The best way to control exposure to formaldehyde is to use products that do not contain formaldehyde. Check labels and material safety data sheets, but remember companies do not always properly list formaldehyde on labels.
If salon owners decide to use products that may contain or release formaldehyde, they must follow the requirements in OSHA's Formaldehyde standard to protect worker safety and health, including air monitoring, worker training, and good ventilation to ensure exposure levels do not exceed OSHA limits.
Salon workers should also be familiar with the contents of the products they use, the hazards those products present, and the steps they can take to help reduce their exposure.
OSHA can help
OSHA's new page on the hazards of hair smoothers sorts out fact from fiction and explains how salon owners can keep their workers safe.
OSHA's free consultation service can also help employers to identify hazards and correct them. With this service, an OSHA consultant will visit your salon to help determine if there are hazards and work with you on correcting any identified hazards. On-site consultations are separate from enforcement and don't result in penalties or citations. OSHA also has compliance assistance specialists all over the country who offer help to small businesses. To request an on-site consultation or connect with a compliance assistance specialist, call 1-800-321-OSHA [6742].
Salon owners and workers can also request the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, at no cost, to help identify and correct any health hazard in the workplace through its Health Hazard Evaluation Program. Contact NIOSH at 1-800-CDC-INFO [1-800-232-4636].
If you are a salon worker and believe you are at risk, you can file a complaint with OSHA by downloading and completing a complaint form and mailing or faxing it to your local OSHA area office or by calling 1-800-321-OSHA (6742). Complaints that are signed by an employee are more likely to result in an on-site inspection.
Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections.


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Watch how to make this recipe.
For the filling: In a medium bowl, combine the pork, shrimp, chives, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, ginger, rice wine, cornstarch, sesame oil and pepper. Mix well and set aside. For the wontons: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and dust lightly with cornstarch. Take 1 wonton wrapper and place 1 1/2 teaspoons filling in the center. Brush the edges of the wrapper with the beaten egg, then gather up the sides and mold around the filling, making a ball shape and twisting the top to secure. Repeat with the remaining wrappers, lining them up on the prepared baking sheet. Place the wontons in the freezer for an hour to firm them up before cooking. Once frozen for an hour, you can cook them or transfer them to an airtight container and freeze until you are ready to use. For the chili sauce: In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce and chili sauce and set aside. Bring a wok halfway full with water to a boil, and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook the wontons in batches until they float to the surface, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon. Garnish with the chives and serve immediately with the chili dipping sauce.;
Chinese chives are also known as garlic chives or Japanese nira.

subset: commoncrawl


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Cross Country Season Starts with a Bang as Elis Take on their Ivy Rivals
NEW HAVEN, Conn.—After months of intense training, the Yale men's cross country team will seek revenge against its rival when the Bulldogs travel to Franklin Park to race Harvard on Saturday. The Elis will be looking to turn things around after coming up just short against the Crimson each of the past two seasons. The annual Harvard-Yale competition—a highlight of both teams' schedules—has a little added excitement this time around, as, unusually, it is the first race of the season for both squads. Yale enters the season ranked eighth in the northeast region in the first USTFCCCA poll; Harvard is currently ranked sixth in the region.
"We had a lot of guys do some great work over the summer, and I cannot wait to see how we stack up with our Ivy rival," said Head Men's Cross Country and Middle Distance Coach Paul Harkins. "This is just the beginning, so it will give a great benchmark for what we need to work on as we progress into the season."
The Elis will likely be counting on some of their younger runners to make an impact this weekend as they return only three of their top seven runners from last year's race. Junior Matthew Nussbaum, junior John McGowan and sophomore Alex Conner placed sixth, 13th and 14th, respectively, against Harvard last season. While Nussbaum emerged as a cross country star last season and McGowan cemented his status as one of the Eli's most reliable runners, Conner made his mark by running the fastest 8K time among all freshmen (24:42.1). Junior Tom Harrison could be another runner to keep an eye on this weekend. He set a personal record in last year's race, finishing just outside of Yale's top seven (15th overall – 25:32.87).
Meanwhile, neither senior Ryan Laemel—the Elis' cross country captain—nor senior James Shirvell—the team's track and field captain—competed against Harvard last year, but both are proven standouts and figure to end the day as top finishers.
"We are setting our sights high this year," said Laemel. "Our first goal is to start off our season with a win against Harvard. We have a lot of respect for our sport's history and our rival. Plus, it's our first meet of the season, so we are bringing our A-game to Franklin Park."
Senior Michael Cunetta—who placed in the Bulldogs' top 10 eight times last season—will likely be a threat for Yale's top seven, as will sophomore Kevin Dooney and juniors Isa Qasim and Jacob Sandry. Dooney finished in Yale's top seven four times last season, while Qasim finished fifth on the team at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships and Sandry finished with the second-fastest 8K time on the team.
Six freshmen have also joined the team this year, and the season opener should provide some indication as to which young runners will be the ones to watch this season.
"I'm really excited to see how the freshmen compete, as I think they are one of the deepest and best classes we've had in a long time," said Harkins.
The race will begin at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Full results will be available on www.yalebulldogs.com following the end of competition.
Report by Zach Schloss '15, Yale Sports Publicity


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Mon, 18 May 2009
Gene Gabus talks about how the Chrysler bankruptcy has shut down his profitable business. Lt.Col. Brian Birdwell survived the 911 attack on the Pentagon. Refined by Fire. Takes on Judicial Supremacy and Gitmo. Dr. Charmain Yoest looks at the candidates on Obama's short list for SCOTUS...all pro choice activists.
Direct download: mickelson-2009-05-18.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 8:45am CDT


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Psalm 139:14
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well
These authors are careful to say that they are not disparaging Darwin as they disassemble several Darwinist cornerstones. Remember how Darwinists used to try to hammer believers with that whole vestigial organ take? The same thing was done with "junk DNA". If there was a Creator, they asked, why would He make imperfect DNA? (This was before science bagan to understand how important "junk" DNA really is).
What these two topics have in common is that they are examples of how Darwinists have attempted to use their own ignorance as a hammer to pound believers and as a crutch to support Darwinism. In the end, will every important Darwinist theory or supposition be proved incorrect while the theory itself remains viable for evolutionary believers? Or will belief in Darwinism by evolutionists become vestigial; "Occurring or persisting as a rudimentary or degenerate structure"….dictionary.com?……s8int.com
Thanks to:Geoff G.
The Appendix: Useful and in Fact Promising
Charles Q. Choi
Special to LiveScience
The body's appendix has long been thought of as nothing more than a worthless evolutionary artifact, good for nothing save a potentially lethal case of inflammation.
Now researchers suggest the appendix is a lot more than a useless remnant. Not only was it recently proposed to actually possess a critical function, but scientists now find it appears in nature a lot more often than before thought. And it's possible some of this organ's ancient uses could be recruited by physicians to help the human body fight disease more effectively.
In a way, the idea that the appendix is an organ whose time has passed has itself become a concept whose time is over.
"Maybe it's time to correct the textbooks," said researcher William Parker, an immunologist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. "Many biology texts today still refer to the appendix as a 'vestigial organ.'"
Slimy sac
The vermiform appendix is a slimy dead-end sac that hangs between the small and large intestines. No less than Charles Darwin first suggested that the appendix was a vestigial organ from an ancestor that ate leaves, theorizing that it was the evolutionary remains of a larger structure, called a cecum, which once was used by now-extinct predecessors for digesting food.
"Everybody likely knows at least one person who had to get their appendix taken out – slightly more than 1 in 20 people do – and they see there are no ill effects, and this suggests that you don't need it," Parker said.
However, Parker and his colleagues recently suggested that the appendix still served as a vital safehouse where good bacteria could lie in wait until they were needed to repopulate the gut after a nasty case of diarrhea. Past studies had also found the appendix can help make, direct and train white blood cells.
Now, in the first investigation of the appendix over the ages, Parker explained they discovered that it has been around much longer than anyone had suspected, hinting that it plays a critical function.
"The appendix has been around for at least 80 million years, much longer than we would estimate if Darwin's ideas about the appendix were correct," Parker said.
Moreover, the appendix appears in nature much more often than previously acknowledged. It has evolved at least twice, once among Australian marsupials such as the wombat and another time among rats, lemmings, meadow voles, Cape dune mole-rats and other rodents, as well as humans and certain primates.
"When species are divided into groups called 'families,' we find that more than 70 percent of all primate and rodent groups contain species with an appendix," Parker said.
Several living species, including several lemurs, certain rodents and the scaly-tailed flying squirrel, still have an appendix attached to a large cecum, which is used in digestion. Darwin had thought appendices appeared in only a small handful of animals.
"We're not saying that Darwin's idea of evolution is wrong – that would be absurd, as we're using his ideas on evolution to do this work," Parker told LiveScience. "It's just that Darwin simply didn't have the information we have now."
He added, "If Darwin had been aware of the species that have an appendix attached to a large cecum, and if he had known about the widespread nature of the appendix, he probably would not have thought of the appendix as a vestige of evolution."
What causes appendicitis?
Darwin was also not aware that appendicitis, or a potentially deadly inflammation of the appendix, is not due to a faulty appendix, but rather to cultural changes associated with industrialized society and improved sanitation, Parker said.
"Those changes left our immune systems with too little work and too much time their hands – a recipe for trouble," he said. "Darwin had no way of knowing that the function of the appendix could be rendered obsolete by cultural changes that included widespread use of sewer systems and clean drinking water."
Now that scientists are uncovering the normal function of the appendix, Parker notes a critical question to ask is whether anything can be done to prevent appendicitis. He suggests it might be possible to devise ways to incite our immune systems today in much the same manner that they were challenged back in the Stone Age.
"If modern medicine could figure out a way to do that, we would see far fewer cases of allergies, autoimmune disease, and appendicitis," Parker said.
The scientists detailed their findings online August 12 in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology.


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Natixis Asset Management launches a new area of expertise, real asset private debt, in three complementary, high potential sectors: real estate, infrastructure and aircraft
In order to meet the challenge posed by persistently low interest rates and to address investors' need for diversification, private debt financing of real assets is a potential source of performance. In addition, it helps to finance the real economy. To meet the needs of institutional investors, Natixis Asset Management has launched a new area of management expertise, real asset private debt, combining three complementary, high potential sectors: real estate, infrastructure and aircraft.
A diversifying asset class offering attractive upside potential
Real asset private debt offers significant benefits in the current environment:
- It represents an alternative to traditional investments and traditionally reduces portfolio volatility;
- It offers a wide range of potential yields depending on the investor's appetite for risk;
- It represents a source of diversification for bond portfolios.
A comprehensive range managed by an experienced, recognised team
Headed by Laurent Belouze, who has over 20 years' experience in financing infrastructure projects, and reports in to Natixis Asset Management's fixed income division, the new real asset private debt area of expertise covers three complementary sectors considered to be high potential:
- Real estate, managed by Arnaud Heck, with 19 years' experience in private debt management;
- Infrastructure, managed by Céline Tercier, with 19 years' experience in private debt including 10 years in infrastructure;
- Aircraft, managed by Aymeric Angotti, with 14 years' experience in the sector, including 5 years in aircraft structured finance.
Strong growth ambitions
By the end of 2016, Natixis Asset Management's objective is to launch a comprehensive range of debt products: a second real estate debt fund of €750 million, Senior European Loan Fund II(1), the first closing of which occurred in March 2016, an infrastructure debt fund denominated in dollars and euros, an aircraft debt fund and a junior debt fund invested in aircraft and/or real estate assets.
Ibrahima Kobar, Co-CIO in charge of fixed income products at Natixis Asset Management, says: "Natixis Asset Management is very ambitious for the new real asset private debt activity: by 2018, we aim to have close to three billion euros in assets under management and a dedicated team of fifteen specialists."
Download the Insight on the real asset private debt market
( ) SELF I, a €323 million real estate debt fund, was launched in 2012 and fully invested in July 2015. Senior European Loan Fund II is a sub-fund of the Senior European Loan Fund SCA-SIF, a specialized investment fund under Luxembourg law, managed by AEW Luxembourg. Natixis Asset Management and AEW Europe acts as a consultant with AEWLuxembourg. The subscription and acquisition of interests in the Senior European Loan Fund are restricted to certain types of institutional investors who meet the definition of Well Informed Investors as set out in the Luxembourg Law of 13 February 2007 relating to specialized investment funds. Natixis Asset Management - Limited liability company - Share capital €50 434 604,76 - Regulated by AMF under n°GP 90-009 - RCS Paris n°329 450 738 - Registered Office: 21 quai d'Austerlitz – 75 634 Paris Cedex 13.
About Natixis Asset Management:
Natixis Asset Management ranks among the leading European asset managers1 with €349 billion in assets under management and 720 employees2. Natixis Asset Management offers its clients tailored, innovative and efficient solutions organised into six investment divisions:
Fixed income, European equities, Investment and client solutions, Structured products and volatility developed by Seeyond, Global emerging developed by Emerise, and Responsible Investing developed by Mirova.
1 Source: IPE Top 400 Asset Managers 2015 ranked Natixis Asset Management as the 46th largest asset manager based on global assets under management, and by the country of the main headquarters and/or main European domicile, as of 31 December 2014.
2 Source: Natixis Asset Management - Natixis Asset Management Asia Limited as of 30 June 2016.
Reference to a ranking does not indicate the future performance of the fund manager.
Seeyond is a brand of Natixis Asset Management. Emerise is a brand of Natixis Asset Management and Natixis Asset Management Asia Limited with teams in Paris and Singapore. Natixis Asset Management Asia Limited is an asset manager, 100% subsidiary of Natixis Asset Management.
Mirova is a subsidiary of Natixis Asset Management.
About Natixis
Natixis is the international corporate, investment, insurance and financial services arm of Groupe BPCE, the 2nd-largest banking group in France with 35 million clients spread over two retail banking networks, Banque Populaire and Caisse d'Epargne.
With more than 16,000 employees, Natixis has a number of areas of expertise that are organized into three main business lines: Corporate & Investment Banking, Investment Solutions & Insurance, and Specialized Financial Services.
A global player, Natixis has its own client base of companies, financial institutions and institutional investors as well as the client base of individuals, professionals and small and medium-size businesses of Groupe BPCE's banking networks.
Listed on the Paris stock exchange, it has a solid financial base with a CET1 capital under Basel 3(1) of €12.4 billion, a Basel 3 CET1 Ratio (1) of 11.0 % and quality long-term ratings (Standard & Poor's: A / Moody's: A2 / Fitch Ratings: A).
(1) Based on CRR-CRD4 rules as reported on June 26, 2013, including the Danish compromise - without phase-in except for DTAs on tax-loss carryforwards and pro forma of additional phase-in of DTAs following ECB regulation 2016/445.
Figures as at June 30, 2016
Appendices: biographies of investment management team
Laurent Belouze, Head of Real Assets Private Debt
Laurent joined Natixis AM in october 2015 as Director of Real Assets Private Debt. He has more than 20 years' experience in the infrastructure sector. Laurent joined Natixis' investment bank team in 2005. He worked on several arranging and advisory mandates for the infrastructure sector, notably Public-Private Partnerships (PPP). In 2010, Laurent was appointed Head of Renewable Energy and developed the bank's activity in this field, especially project financing for wind and solar farms. In 2012, he was named Head of Conduits & Servicing and actively developed the Originate to Distribute model for institutional investors, structuring partnerships and cooperation agreements with a number of institutional investors in the infrastructure sector. Previously, Laurent had spent four years at Groupe Caisse d'Epargne as Head of Project Financing and five years in the finance division of Aéroports de Paris, where he was responsible for the financial aspects of several airport acquisition and concession transactions worldwide.
Laurent is a graduate of the Bordeaux School of Business (Ecole Supérieure de Commerce Bordeaux) and holds a Masters' degree in Financial Engineering from the Lyon School of Management.
Arnaud Heck, head of real estate debt activities
Arnaud joined Natixis AM in November 2015 as head of real estate debt activities. He has 19 years' experience in structured financing with leading international investment banks.
Arnaud started his career with the RBS group in London, working on European mid cap deals. He then moved to Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, also based in London, to create the European leveraged finance business. In 2005, he joined Allied Irish Banks (AIB) in London and subsequently moved to their Paris branch. He ran AIB's French branch from 2011 and also sat on AIB's international credit committee in London and Dublin. In 2013, he joined PwC in Paris to head the debt advisory practice, working on pan-European and international assignments in corporate, real estate and infrastructure transactions.
Arnaud holds a M.Sc. in management from the Oxford Business School and a degree in finance and accounting.
Céline Tercier, Head of Infrastructure Debt
Céline joined Natixis AM in February 2016 as head of infrastructure debt. She has 19 years' experience in structured financing.
In 2008, she joined Natixis' Global Infrastructure and Projects department and was head of EMEA Portfolio Management until 2012. Since then, Céline has actively developed the Originate to Distribute model for institutional investors on infrastructure private debt. Previously, she worked for eight years at COFACE, in charge of credit insurance, successively for corporate, project and aircraft financing. She was then in charge of developing credit insurance for the international trade receivables securitisation programme. She also spent two years at DBRS, where she was in charge of rating transactions within the Structured Finance department and also developed rating methodologies and portfolio models for project financing with the Quant teams.
Céline holds a Master's degree in International Business and a Master's degree in Law and Finance.
Aymeric Angotti, Head of Aircraft Debt
Aymeric joined Natixis AM in March 2016 as head of aircraft debt activities. He has 14 years' experience in structured and corporate finance. He joined Natixis in 2002 and spent almost eight years in the Coverage teams, focusing more particularly on the Aerospace and Defence sector. In 2010, he joined the Aircraft Finance department, where he originated and structured a large variety of transactions for airline and aircraft rental companies worldwide. First within the aircraft debt department and then in the Conduits & Servicing team, from end of 2013, he turned to the distribution of structured transactions to institutional investors as part of partnerships or debt funds.
Aymeric is a graduate engineer from Ecole Spéciale des Travaux Public (civil engineering) and holds an MBA from Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (Sorbonne).2


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Exceptional color intensity, smooth and soft textured, highly lightfast pastels. For fine detail (using their square corners), or for glazing and wash techniques with various oil painting mediums. Unwrapped.
Color Swatches created using heavy to light application and were applied on 100 lb (163 gsm) drawing paper material.
organic, quinacridone
Quinacridone Magenta is a semi-transparent and powerful bluish red with an impressive mixing range. It makes an excellent glazing color and is one of the bluest of the Quinacridone colors. The pigment's properties vary considerably, depending on how it is ground. Quinacridone pigments have relatively low tinting strength in general. For this reason, quinacridone colors are often expensive, because more pigment is required in the formulation.
Quinacridone Magenta offers very good lightfastness in most media, but some have argued that it is less lightfast in watercolor form. Although Quinacridone Magenta received only a passing grade of "fair" under ASTM test protocols, other test results have rated the pigment very good to excellent. Transparent reddish violet pigments in general have more problems with lightfastness than any other range of colors. PR122 is often used as the Magenta of CMYK (four color) process printing because it offers a better tradeoff between tinting strength and lightfastness than other pigments in its class.
Quinacridone Magenta has no acute hazards. Overexposure to quinacridone pigments may cause skin irritation. Quinicridone pigments contain a compound found to be a skin, eye, and respiratory irritant.
Quinacridone Magenta came from a red violet aniline dye that was first produced in 1858 by Natanson. It was called Magenta to commemorate a battle in Magenta, Italy. Over time, Magenta became the standard color name for a deep, violet red. Although quinacridone compounds became known in the late 19th century, methods of manufacturing so as to make them practical for use as commercial pigments did not begin until the 1950s. PR122 has become particularly popular in the formulation of Magenta for CMYK process printing.
Acra Red, Quinacridone Violet (PV19), Thalo Red Rose.
earth, synthetic
iron oxides (synthetic), iron oxide, silica, alumina, lime, and magnesia or hydrated iron oxide
Fe2O2 or Fe2O3 • H2O
Red iron oxide varies in hue and transparency, depending on hydration and slight impurities. Indian Red is a slightly duller, deep brick hue with a bluish undertone. It is very dense and opaque, with excellent tinting strength and covering power. It is dependable when mixing with all other permanent pigments and yields good flesh tints when mixed with Zinc White. It is the synthetic version of PR102, which is a pigment made from earth reds, or natural red iron oxides, and the names applied to PR101 and PR102 often overlap. The synthetic red iron oxides have mostly replaced natural red iron oxides and are brighter, stronger, finer, and more permanent. Indian Red is the highest grade bluish shade. Light Red, English Red, and Venetian Red are yellowish shades. Mars Violet is a dull and subdued bluish or purplish oxide.
Red iron oxide is very lightfast with excellent permanence.
Red iron oxide has no significant hazards.
Natural red iron oxide comes from the mineral ore hematite, called bloodstone by the ancient Greeks from the word hema, meaning blood. It is one of the oldest pigments, has been used by every major civilization, and was an important mineral for medieval alchemists. It was not widely used in artists' materials until the 17th century and was not produced in large quantities until the 18th century.
Indian Red, Colcothar, English Red, Light Red, Mars Red, Mars Violet, Morelle Salt, Pompeian Red, Indian Red, Red Oxide, Sinopia, Spanish Red, Terra Rosa, Tuscan Red, Venetian Red, Venice Red.
titanium dioxide
Titanium White is the most brilliant of the white pigments. It is considered an all purpose oil color useful in all techniques and the best all around white. Its masstone is neither warm nor cool, placing it somewhere between Lead White and Zinc White. It is less prone to cracking and yellowing than Lead White, but it still yellows easily. Titanium White dries slowly in oil form, more slowly than Lead White but more quickly than Zinc White. It is opaque in oil and acrylic forms and semi-opaque in watercolor form. This pigment has good chemical stability, and its tinting strength is superior to both Lead White and Zinc White.
Titanium White has excellent permanence and lightfastness.
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The most succinctly telling description of America's tragically muddled approach to immigration I've ever heard came from Cardinal Roger Mahony, now Los Angeles archbishop emeritus:
It's as if, the prelate said, our government "had planted a sign on the border with a message painted on both sides. The one that faces south says, 'help wanted'; the side that faces north reads, 'no trespassing.'"
That official ambivalence, particularly toward undocumented migrants, remains at the heart of our fumbling inability to resolve this worsening situation with the sort of humane and economically rational policies comprehensive immigration reform could provide. And, with each passing day of dithering inaction, our Janus-faced immigration politics are worsening the crisis surrounding the more than 57,000 unaccompanied children, most of them from violence-ravaged Central America, who have managed to cross the U.S. border without papers this year. Once again, it's as if there were two ongoing crises: On the one hand, there are those religious leaders and elected officials — notably Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris — who see a deepening humanitarian and refugee crisis in progress; on the other, are those politicians who perceive nothing more than another opportunity to score partisan points with their frightened and nativist constituents.
It is the latter view that has paralyzed congressional attempts to compromise on some version of President Barack Obama's request for an emergency $3.7 billion appropriation to allow authorities to cope with the child immigrant crisis. The Republican bloc in the House and Senate is having none of it and is demanding a draconian revision — or even suspension — of the 5-year-old anti-human trafficking law, which provides extra legal protection to undocumented children apprehended north of the border. (That statute, by the way, was approved by all but two GOP members of Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush.)
Democrats, human rights advocates and religious leaders are nearly unanimous in opposing suspending or gutting the anti-trafficking law. Such a course essentially would allow immigration agents to adjudicate a child's status at the border, and Harris summed up the principled opposition to it in Los Angeles this week, when she told an interviewer: "Anything that is meant to streamline a system for the sake of speed, as opposed to the sake of justice and due process, is something I cannot support."
Meanwhile, across the country, the haters and political opportunists are doing their best to grab partisan capital. In Michigan, one Republican legislator introduced a measure to cancel the state license of any social service agency that assists or shelters the child migrants. Even so, the title of opportunist-in-chief had to go to a GOP presidential hopeful, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who announced he was sending 1,000 members of his state's National Guard to the border.
Anti-immigrant hardliners applauded, but Texans dealing with the crisis on the ground were underwhelmed, wondering precisely what help he guard can be since it's restricted to observing and can't make arrests. Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio told the Dallas Morning New, "I don't know what good they can do." The sheriff told the Houston Chronicle, "The National Guard is trained in warfare. They're not trained in law enforcement. This is not a war. This is people asking for help."
Those who see the current influx of children as a humanitarian crisis, analogous to that of war refugees, include not just immigration advocates, but also an unusually broad ecumenical swath of religious leaders across the country, including Texas — where most of the crossings are occurring — and the Southwest. Rabbi Asher Knight of Dallas' Temple Emanu-El was one of more than 100 religious leaders from that city who met to discuss ways to assist the migrants. "We're talking about whether we're going to stand at the border and tell children who are fleeing a burning building to go back inside," he told the New York Times. Knight went on to say that some members of his congregation were comparing the influx of immigrant children to the Kindertransport, the effort to spirit Jewish children out of Nazi Germany and into Britain.
After leading a visit of his denomination's officials to a migrant shelter in San Antonio, Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, described the situation as "a crisis, and not simply a political crisis, but a moral one. … The anger directed toward vulnerable children (by anti-immigrant groups) is deplorable and disgusting. The first thing is to make sure we understand these are not issues; these are persons."
Though retired, Mahony continues to comment with clarifying precision on immigration issues. Immediately after a crowd of nativist agitators were allowed to block buses carrying immigrant children to a shelter in Murrieta, he posted this on his personal blog: "I was embarrassed for us as Americans to watch throngs of angry and venomous people yelling and screaming at the three buses bringing women and children who had arrived at our southern border to a safe haven in Murrieta, Ca. The jeers and taunts were the kind normally hurled at those convicted of heinous crimes, such as homicide and assault. But not at innocent children, and some frightened mothers … Sadly, these children have become political pawns in the unending national debate over immigrants and immigration reform …
"We desperately need the national debate on our broken immigration system, and the inadequate laws and regulations now on the books. But don't put helpless children in the middle of it, and don't blame the children for the larger mess."
New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan struck an angrier note on his personal blog: "I watched with shame," he wrote, "as an angry mob in southern California surrounded buses filled with frightened, hungry, homeless immigrants, shaking fists, and shouting for them to 'get out!' It was un-American; it was un-biblical; it was inhumane. It worked, as the scared drivers turned the buses around and sought sanctuary elsewhere.
"The incendiary scene reminded me of Nativist mobs in the 1840's, Know-Nothing gangs in the 1850's, and KKK thugs in the 1920's, who hounded and harassed scared immigrants, Catholics, Jews, and Blacks."
Neither Mahony nor Dolan could be more right. In the matter of the child immigrants our legal advocates and religious leaders are speaking to us in the accents of our American nature's better angels. If we ignore them, we will painfully be made to remember just how beastly our politics can be when opportunism tramples conscience.
Tim Rutten is a columnist for the Los Angeles News Group. firstname.lastname@example.com.


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2011 NCN@Purdue Summer School: Electronics from the Bottom Up
20 Jul 2011 |
click on image for larger versionAlumni Discussion Group: LinkedIn


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In the post immediately below, I offered my view on the Labor Department's jobs report, which says that the unemployment rate dropped from 8.1 percent to 7.8 percent last month. In sum, the purported improvement indicated by these numbers appears to have little or no basis in reality.
Mitt Romney responded quickly to the report:
This is not what a real recovery looks like. We created fewer jobs in September than in August, and fewer jobs in August than in July, and we've lost over 600,000 manufacturing jobs since President Obama took office. If not for all the people who have simply dropped out of the labor force, the real unemployment rate would be closer to 11%. The results of President Obama's failed policies are staggering – 23 million Americans struggling for work, nearly one in six living in poverty and 47 million people dependent on food stamps to feed themselves and their families. . . .
Will the specious report of a lower unemployment rate help Obama? Perhaps it will in some very marginal way. But voters have a pretty clear sense of what the job market looks like in their locale. They know whether their children, friends, and neighbors are struggling to find full time work, or have given up the effort. To the extent they witness or experience such struggles, they aren't likely to be pacified by a government number.


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Watch how to make this recipe.
For the brisket: Set oven to broil. Dredge the brisket in flour and season with salt and pepper. Sear the brisket for 5 minutes on each side, until brown.
Set the oven to 325 degrees F. Coat the roasting pan with cooking spray, place seared brisket in pan. Place the carrots, onions, and garlic around the brisket in the pan.
Mix the ketchup, water, soy sauce, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce and stir. Pour the mixture over the brisket and vegetables. Cover tightly with heavy tin foil. Cook for 3 to 4 hours. After the brisket has been in the oven for 2 to 3 hours, take out and add crumbled the ginger snap cookies into the liquid that surrounds the brisket. Mix around so the sauce gets thicker. Put back in oven, uncovered, for the remaining 1 hour.
When the cooking is complete, take out of oven and let rest for 1 hour. Slice thin and put in the refrigerator overnight.
Reheat and serve the next day.
For the sandwich: Toast the light rye bread. Place the cheese on one slice of bread and melt in microwave. Spread the caramelized onions on top of the melted cheese. Put sliced brisket on top of the onions. Top with coleslaw, then with pickles and the other slice of bread.
The combination of the hot and the cold, the sweet and the sour, the spicy and the savory, the beginning of a new year and the end of the past year.
Recipe courtesy of Candy Kosow Gold for 2011 Cooking Channel, LLC. All Rights Reserved.


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The Ricci-Heerdegen household is now a family of three: Christina Ricci has reportedly given birth to her first child.
The petite "Addams Family" alum, who also birthed the body-bending hashtag #riccing, and her husband, James Heerdegen, have welcomed a baby boy, according to an Us Weekly report out Friday.
No further details, such as the birth date or name, were made available at the time.


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This article is also available and sold as a booklet.
This sermon series includes the following messages:
Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource.Publisher Information
Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly. (11:27–29)
Again Paul returns to warning. Because of all that is involved in the ordinance, whoever participates in the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. One can come to His table unworthily in many ways. It is common for people to participate in it ritualistically, without participating with their minds and hearts. They can go through the motions without going through any emotions, and treat it lightly rather than seriously. They can believe it imparts grace or merit, that the ceremony itself, rather than the sacrifice it represents, can save or keep one saved. Many come with a spirit of bitterness or hatred toward another believer, or come with a sin of which they will not repent. If a believer comes with anything less than the loftiest thoughts of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and anything less than total love for his brothers and sisters in Christ, he comes unworthily.
To come unworthily to the Lord's table is to become guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. To trample our country's flag is not to dishonor a piece of cloth but to dishonor the country it represents. To come unworthily to Communion does not simply dishonor the ceremony; it dishonors the One in whose honor it is celebrated. We become guilty of dishonoring His body and blood, which represent His total gracious life and work for us, His suffering and death on our behalf. We become guilty of mocking and treating with indifference the very person of Jesus Christ (cf. Acts 7:52; Heb. 6:6; 10:29).
Every time he comes to the Lord's Supper, therefore, a person should examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. Before we partake we are to give ourselves a thorough self–examination, looking honestly at our hearts for anything that should not be there and sifting out all evil. Our motives, our attitudes toward the Lord and His Word, toward His people, and toward the Communion service itself should all come under private scrutiny before the Lord. The table thus becomes a special place for the purifying of the church. That is a vital use of Communion, and Paul's warning reinforces that ideal.
A person who partakes without coming in the right spirit eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly. Judgment (krima) here has the idea of chastisement. Because "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1), the KJV rendering of damnation is especially unfortunate. The great difference in Paul's use here of krima (judgment) and katakrima (condemned) is seen in verse 32, where it is clear that krima refers to discipline of the saved and katakrima refers to condemnation of the lost. That chastening comes if he does not judge the body rightly, that is, the blood and body used in Communion. To avoid God's judgment, one must properly discern and respond to the holiness of the occasion.


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Last week, my blog focused on the potential consequences of the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) recent decision prohibiting blanket confidentiality policies relative to workplace investigations. Unfortunately, the NLRB is not the only government agency to take this highly controversial, potentially damaging stance. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has recently spoken on the topic as well, aligning itself with the NLRB. Specifically, an EEOC field office issued a pre-determination letter to an employer declaring that the employer's policy requiring confidentiality in workplace investigations, and which also warned that discipline, including termination, could result for failing to follow the policy (i.e., discussing the alleged discrimination with others), violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The EEOC characterized the policy as a "flagrant" violation. Title VII is the Act which, among other things, prohibits workplace harassment or discrimination on the basis of sex (including pregnancy), race, color, national origin or religion. The EEOC further explained that the policy's confidentiality requirement was so broad that it could be construed to prohibit an employee from even contacting the EEOC to discuss or file a charge over the allegations at issue. The EEOC reminded the employer that complaining to anyone—whether to management, the union, other employees, or the local media—is protected opposition and, therefore, its restraint violates Title VII. Although the letter, issued through the agency's Buffalo, New York office relative to a local case, is not binding law, it could foreshadow what is yet to come. Will other EEOC field offices follow suit? Is it now up to the employer to decide when to require confidentiality? If so, would it suffice to follow the NLRB's recently issued guidance? Will the EEOC promulgate official guidance? How will workplace investigations be affected? These are very real concerns given what appears to be a growing trend of examining employer policies relating to workplace communications. As I discussed last week regarding the potential consequences of the NLRB decision, this EEOC action could impose the same chilling effect on all involved. An employee may be less likely to come forward to complain about unlawful workplace activity. Witnesses may likewise be reluctant to come forward or be fully candid. The accused could suffer unjustified persecution. Most importantly, the employer may no longer be able to conduct a fair investigation before gossip and intimidation alters employee accounts of the so-called incident. Like the NLRB decision, the EEOC appears to be tying employers' hands and limiting their ability to conduct objective and accurate investigations. This latest action may even put an employer's ability to use the Faragher/Ellerth affirmative defense at stake. This affirmative defense, when successful, provides a safe harbor to vicarious employer liability in certain cases of supervisor harassment. But its availability hinges on, among other things, a showing that the employer maintains a regularly enforced anti-harassment policy and complaint procedure, and further, that the employer conducted a prompt and reasonable investigation and took appropriate corrective to address any harassing behavior discovered under it. As I explained last week, every well-written policy concerning workplace investigations includes a mandate that involved employees refrain from conversing about the alleged workplace wrongdoing being investigated. With such blanket confidentiality policies under attack by the EEOC and NLRB, what constitutes a reasonable and appropriate investigation is likely to change. Down the road, this could certainly affect what may be necessary to trigger the availability of the Faragher/Ellerth safe harbor that is so often used by diligent employers to avoid liability. This, of course, has yet to be seen. For now, in light of the current trend, employers should take a conservative approach in how they discuss, document and enforce confidentiality restrictions relative to workplace investigations. A key first step is to review with legal counsel all references to confidentiality requirements in company policies so they are not construed as blanket policies. Most importantly, respond quickly to any rumors or complaints in order to stay ahead of gossip and to maintain the integrity of information gathered.
Guest Blogger
EEOC warns employers against enforcing confidentiality during workplace investigations
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Our Services
We Measure For Success!
We know we are successful at what we do because we measure it. Before and after every group travel program, Cruise Dreams surveys each guest to uncover what they desire in a vacation and how well they enjoyed themselves on the trip. We listen for specific destinations they wish to visit, what activities they prefer to do on vacation, guest speaker interests or special courses (such as cooking classes), and other information that aids us in our design of the perfect travel program. After their trip, we ask what they enjoyed, what surprised them, what they disliked, and suggestions for future travel. Our goal at Cruise Dreams is to exceed even the wildest dreams of our guests, and we are able to improve upon every trip by performing this research.
We Work Harder So YOU Don't Have To
Planning a group, corporate, or incentive travel program can take hundreds of hours and over a year to complete. Let us make this easy for you by providing as little or as much support as you desire. We listen to your objectives and then initiate plans for all aspects of your travel program to ensure continuity from beginning to end. See our complete list of services below:
Personalized Travel Website!
Once you have booked your group cruise or land program, Cruise Dreams will provide groups of 30 or more participants with custom travel program invitations and an exclusive personalized website for your trip at no additional cost. Your guests will love this level of 24/7 access to all the pertinent and up-to-date details of their trip. This travel website is the go-to resource for your employees, clients, or group participants to view their trip information and to register online easily and securely for the cruise or trip.
Full features of the travel site include:
- Specific travel, transportation, and destination information
- Secure online registration for the trip
- Details and registration for excursions, packages, activities, tours, and other vacation experiences
- Custom e-blasts for continuous communication and motivation
- Special contests
- Corporate logos
This is YOUR trip
What is your company culture like? What do your clients, employees, vendors, or group members like to do? When you partner with us, we take special efforts to discover aspects about your business, organization, or group that contribute to the success of your travel program. We customize each and every travel program because we understand that all of our clients are different. The more we know about you, the more spectacular we can make your journey!
Been There, Done That!
Each year, Cruise Dreams operates more than 100 programs and moves thousands of travelers to domestic and international destinations. With over 100 combined years in the travel industry and a dedicated and experienced team all over the world, Cruise Dreams knows where to go, where to stay, and what to do. Our vast network of suppliers enables us to select destinations, cruise lines, and hotels based on your specific needs at a fraction of the cost. From suggesting out-of-the box excursions that set you apart from the competition to unusual pillow gifts, we can help in every aspect of group travel planning. We plan, book, coordinate, and organize the entire experience on land or at sea.
One Call Does it All!
Cruise Dreams negotiates with all vendors, including airlines, cruise lines, hotels, and tour operators to meet your expectations AND your budget requirements. We do the leg work and combine all efforts into one contract – all you have to do is sign on the dotted line.
We Make It Personalized!
Each guest receives a personalized itinerary to outline the details of the travel program. We handle deviations, pre and post additions and more. From excursions to meetings, everything they need to know in advance is in the itinerary.
We Make You Look Great!
Working behind-the-scenes, Cruise Dreams coordinates all logistics and details associated with every event, including communication and contracting with vendors, billing, even assigning travel insurance. From accommodations to activities, Cruise Dreams books, organizes, coordinates, and even hosts excursions, special events, and entertainment. Our primary job is to make you look good!
Attention to Every Detail Means Seemingly Effortless Success!
A member of our dedicated staff works hand-in-hand with you to ensure every detail is covered and every circumstance considered. Your program manager at Cruise Dreams will research, book, and negotiate costs for any in-trip experiences like scuba diving, private island tours, fishing, and more. Need a recommendation? Our team will be happy to organize and plan any of the following activities on your behalf:
- Excursions and private tours
- Guest speakers and entertainment
- Special events and venues
- Customer appreciation gifts
Customized DVD Production
Once you have booked your group cruise or land program, Cruise Dreams can provide each guest with a customized DVD keepsake commemorating the special and memorable moments from the trip. Cruise Dreams can have a full video crew on board to document sponsored activities so the fun will last even after the vacation is over. This makes the perfect farewell gift for your group.
We're With You Every Step of The Way!
Our hand-picked, professional travel team will accompany your group from arrival to departure. Every detail of your travel experience will be overseen by our travel experts, ensuring everything goes as planned. This includes:
- Facilitate airport arrivals and departures
- Coordinate ground transportation and transfers
- Continuous liaison with hotel or cruise management and staff
- Daily private hospitality desk set-up and staffing
- Oversee all venues, event meetings, leisure activities, and team-building exercises
- Track, receive, and position shipped materials
- Coordinate customer appreciation arrangements
- Handle all VIP requests and special preparations
- Manage audio-visual and multimedia elements
- Cater to the requests of guest speakers and entertainment
- Review daily account billings


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thorough alteration of appearance, form, or process
About Us
Awards come from both pride and execution. Testimonials come from dedication to client relationships. Our leadership team was on the Internet supporting clients from the birth of the web, learning over the decades that listening to the goals of your organization, being sensitive to your budget and bringing our creativity, attention to detail and technical knowledge, bring forth an ideal solution.
Open Source Solutions
11 11 Solutions selects web development platforms that are open-source, meaning they are free tools for the community, by the community, thereby giving you independence, simplicity and control. We use WordPress, Drupal, Django and other popular web technologies for those reasons – all selected for your best interests.
Our database development, applications, and workflow automation and IT solutions are also designed to solve, simplify, and never create dependencies. We hope only for a continued appreciation for our ideas and responsive service.
The concept of "11 11" is most often associated with transformation. It is our mission to transform our clients' online interaction with the world by working complex technology into elegant simplicity. We do this in a spirit of creating value through implementing ideas from our experience and pure intent to serve our client's needs.
11 11 for some is "an awakening", new perception or awareness, and in our case, it is a new mission to give back to the community, not only to work for a client, but to collaborate with them, discovering and encompassing their mission with our own, and this is especially true with our non-profit work and becoming a "B" Corporation, one that, as a matter of mission, must do more than make a profit. We must be part of the larger whole that serves a purpose for the larger community.
The complimentary union of the award winning Marissa Berger / Interactive (mb/i) web team with the legendary Bay Area IT company, Natann, was christened 11 11 Solutions in July of 2015. Since 1994, Natann focused on IT support, with custom development of databases and websites for local small businesses and mb/i provided strategy, concept, and branding development, developing both complex and simple sites for large and small organizations across many industries for 15 years. Both organizations were lead with the mindset of creating longterm personal and organizational relationships to serve as the primary contact point for technology services, ultimately with integrity being at the heart of our success.
Our history includes serving clients such as Disney Museum, California Academy of Sciences, St. Isidore School, Del Monte Foods, MV Transportation, Leigh Fischer, J Hettinger Interiors, Flowater, among hundreds of other small companies.
The Woo Woo
If you enjoy symbolism: 11 11 is the orange rays of a dawn over the fluid ocean, a new day, a fresh start. The Ones represent a solitary inner experience, yet in a community of others, born from the fluid sea of oneness, finding balance and order. It is our mission to provide focus from a brainstorm of ideas, which is represented in the S, a fluid source of all knowledge.
For us, it is about discovering one's true authentic and creative self, whether it be an individual or a synergistic group, creating and shaping an organization.
The S is for Solutions, our mission to find and produce for our clients. A solution is our purpose.
The orange dot, is a nod to the yin-yang, yet in a state of openness and discovery, an incomplete whole, with a hint of question and color. The dot is central to the Internet, a parsing character, the geek in our team, with the Internet being a revolution in itself. Also from the 'i' of mb/i, it represents our inspiration.
Our colors are orange, a new light, the flame, the gift of the legacy of Marissa Berger / Interactive, layered over the teal ocean depth of the legacy of Natann Consulting.
Websites & Applications
The road to award winning websites…
We follow a formal discovery process. Discovery is an information gathering process to understand the overall goals, target audiences, and current competition in order to develop the functional requirements for a website. Discovery ensures we learn your business to make the proper online recommendations to achieve the specific business goals set out for the website.
- Kickoff Meeting
- Sales Process Analysis
- Creative Brief
- Industry and Competitive Analysis
- Audience Scenarios
- Site Map
- Wireframes
- Content Plan
- Milestones Timeline
- Off-site Integration Analysis
- SEO Preparation
- Specifications Document
- Itemized Budget
Site Development
Here is a list of our areas of expertise, showing different components that you might wish to include in your website. We're ready to help you determine which are right for your business, and then get them done for you.
Strategic Planning
- Definition of business requirements
- Information architecture
- User experience
- Branding
- Concept development
- Design and content
- User interface design
- Websites/microsites/blogs
- Intranets/extranets
- Content management systems
- E-Commerce
- Custom database workDocumentation and training
- Quality assurance
- Maintenance
- Monitoring
We can help you keep your brand consistent through online and offline marketing:
- Domain Name / Trademark Consulting
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – with regular reports
- Social Media Optimization and Design, Strategy, and Content Posting (SMO)
- Banners/Ads
- Blogs/Forums
- Collateral Materials
- Email blasts/E-zines
- Logos/Branding
- Postcards
- PowerPoint Presentations
- Stationary Packages
Database Integration
Software Hell
Here we are in 2016 and we have thousands of apps, we have new software programs, we have cloud based services and nothing talks to each other; nothing is just done right for your business. Check email, get web form data, look at Excel reports, enter into QuickBooks, email invoices, update CRM, print screen, hire staff to enter, sort, organize, and manage, oh, what fun computers are…
A Better Way
By just letting us know you're open to a better way… A better way that saves you money, makes your business easily grow, exponentially increase your productivity, improve your client and vendor relationships, heighten your reputation, and humbly put, provide you a better life…
Secret Sauce
The secret sauce which truly could revolutionize your operations performance is in the creative approach to the actual goal rather than forcing you to use generic software functions or industry specific systems that create dependency on a limited sets of features.
Our people have decades of small business and software and work flow automation experience. We can come to you remotely or in person depending on the project budget and requirements. You will be soon working with a company that simply finds joy in taking away some of the pain of doing business….
IT & Network Support
Natánn Legacy
After 22 years serving the East Bay, Natánn, an IT and network support company, serving clients such as St. Isidore School, Prima Ristorante, Four Seasons Animal Hospital and many others, became 11 11 Solutions, Inc.
We are your outsourced IT department. We provide Windows and Mac computer consulting, network design, installation and support. Now your website development company can also support your email, DNS and hosting servers. We provide a local source for reliable information, both on-site and by remote login.
We provide Mac and PC experience on the latest hardware from Apple, Dell, HP, Sony and other common brands, with experience going back to the first Macintosh, and the first IBM PCXT.
On-site Services
WE COME TO YOU! Or we offer fast remote access response times, 24/7 monitoring, local, dedicated consultants focused on your company's stability and growth, speaking clear English or clear Spanish, not technical jargon.
Depot Service
At our office at the Laptop Lounge. You may drop off a computer for a quick turn around at a lower cost by bringing your device to our office at 1701 N. California Blvd., Walnut Creek.
Custom Solutions and Flexibility
We will provide solutions to suit your needs and budget, from guaranteed response times to discounted time block purchases. We have special non-profit rates and fixed monthly all-inclusive service agreements. Projects can be quoted by the job, so there are no surprises.
We round to the nearest half an hour up or down and do not charge for non-fruitful time, saving you money. Also, most emails and simple calls are free.
Wellness Programs and monthly all-inclusive contracts – Services to maintain your computers and their software and to help avoid the problems that always happen at the wrong time. Imagine maintaining all software issues on your network supported by a team of experts for less than hiring an employee.
From Your Perspective
Most importantly, all services are "from your perspective". This means we strive to approach the situation from your point of view, the way we all wish all merchants treated their customers: prompt and courteous response, save money where you can, be as informative as possible, always quote "street" prices, say "I don't know, but I'll find out." instead of guessing, work for the long-term relationship rather than the quick sale, follow-up to confirm all is well with our solution, no pressure selling – only good advice, don't charge for non-productive time and listen to the customer to learn what their needs are.
Custom Solutions
Unique Solutions
Once we have an introduction to a person, process or organization, we begin learning about both the success and the pain points needing attention. 11 11 Solutions welcomes bringing our wide breadth of business experience to your challenge for consulting, deliverables, collaboration and referrals, for custom approaches in order to simplify, save money, to overcome obstacles either in mindset, process, product or service or all of the above and our own evaluations are based on fully realized benefits to our clients. If you are wondering what is possible or where to go, contact us for a thoughtful reply.
Online Marketing for the Wine Industry
For the wine industry, we are collaborating with DigiVino, helping the wine world to capitalize on online marketing in all its forms, from site development, search engine optimization (SEO), social media content development (SMO), email campaigns and video and photographic production.
Also a matter of mindset and business partnership, we collaborate with GOsustainably, who leverage reliable and cutting edge technologies to help businesses become more sustainable.
"B" Corporation
Corporate Conscience
In the United States, a benefit corporation is a type of for-profit corporate entity, that includes positive impact on society, workers, the community and the environment, in addition to profit, as its legally defined goals. Benefit corporations differ from traditional C corporations in purpose, accountability, and transparency, but not in taxation or formation. Shareholders judge performance based on the company's social, environmental, and financial performance.
There is a growing community of more than 1,600 B Corps from 42 countries and over 120 industries working together toward 1 unifying goal: to redefine success in business.
Stay-tuned for success stories from 11 11 Solutions, due to be published Christmas 2016.
TED Talk on B Lab
"Jay Coen Gilbert shares his vision to harness the power of business to solve society's problems through B Corporations — a new standard labeling socially and environmentally responsible companies. B Corps will help corporations be profitable while solving society's problems."
Holy Names University
Built to provide information in a clear and accessible format, promoting the best user experience possible.and reflecting a conherent brand that showcase the strengths of individual programs.
Kappa Gamma Pi
Built to provide information in a clear and accessible format, promoting the best user experience possible.and reflecting a conherent brand that showcase the strengths of individual programs.
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The first fallout from Titans owner Bud Adams' close evaluation of the Titans and their coaching staff came this week when the team fired offensive coordinator Chris Palmer.
With the defense currently ranked 29th in yards allowed and 31st in points allowed, it's fair to wonder if Palmer's departure is just the start of changes to the rest of the staff. That might be the case, but Titans coach Mike Munchak said that defensive coordinator Jerry Gray and the rest of the team's assistants will be on the job for the rest of the season.
"I am not planning on it," Munchak said, via Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean. "I don't see any changes on the defensive side of the ball at all going forward. There won't be any more changes the rest of the year."
There's not likely to be any change to the coaching staff that's going to radically change the picture for Munchak or the Titans at this season. Whatever complaints anyone might have about the coaching staff, you don't lose five games by over 20 points simply because of issues with coaches so firing a few of them shouldn't suffice to enact the kind of change Adams said he wanted to see when he put the team on notice a few weeks ago.


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Small business owners are used to balancing a number of chores, and marketing is usually one of them. Almost half (47%) of all small business owners manage their own marketing, according to a 2016 report from LeadPages.
Do-it-yourself marketing can be tough.
To help small business owners create and send emails that customers can't ignore, here are six predictions that should steer your marketing efforts in 2018:
1. The sales funnel will continue to change
For years and years, marketers and sales teams believed customers all took the same approach to buying a product. They became aware of product, did some research, decided which product to go with, made a purchase and then magically morphed into a loyal customer. It's a nice, straightforward process – and it doesn't apply to today's customers at all.
Consumers are digitally savvy. They might learn about your product on social media, Google your business, read an article on your blog, research other companies and read online reviews before they make a decision.
To sell products today, you have to realize the many ways a customer can interact with your brand and create content that helps customers along their buying journey.
In 2018, make efforts to understand how customers buy from you, and start creating content for each platform that gives customers the information they need to make a purchase.
2. More small business owners will embrace automation
To promote your product or service via email, you need to send emails with regularity. But, finding time to create and send emails isn't always easy for small business owners.
Save time by creating emails and scheduling them to arrive in subscriber's inboxes. How? Email automation.
With automation, you can trigger emails to send based on a scheduled date. So, you can create a Fourth of July email now, and schedule it to send on July 2.
You can also automate emails based on actions. If a subscriber visits your website, clicks on a link in an email, or leaves items in a cart, you can pre-make emails that will automatically send to subscribers when they meet the criteria you set up.
This year, incorporate automation into your marketing routine to reclaim some time.
3. Email automation tools will get easier to use
Automation tools often have a high learning curve, which is why many small business owners have stayed away from them. Who has time to learn a new tool?
It's also hard to establish a workflow for automation. How do you set up a trigger so an email automatically goes to a subscriber when he or she clicks on a link in an email?
This year, you'll see visual workflows that help small business owners automate emails. You might drag-and-drop triggers into a timeline, for instance, rather than use a complicated series of drop-down menus and parameters.
Automation should also become more affordable. Cost is another barrier that has kept small businesses away. This year, more competitive pricing will help every marketer – at any level – access automation tools.
4. Personalization will become a necessity
Back in the day, owners knew the name of every customer. Today, customers still expect that level of personalization even though they may never meet the owner face-to-face.
To provide a personal message to your subscribers, you'll need to deploy every personalization technique you can. That means going beyond adding a subscriber's first name to the subject line. You'll need to explore new ways to offer relevant messages.
Collect information from your customers at every touch point, and use it to create on-point messages.
Try these advanced personalization ideas:
- Segment your contacts by interests
- Use dynamic content to change certain features of an email that are relevant to each subscriber
- Set up a preference center so subscribers can tell you what kinds of emails they want and how often
5. Businesses will suggest more relevant products to customers
How often do you suggest products to your customers? If you're not doing it on a regular basis, you could be missing out.
Customers want brands to show them products or services that are relevant to their life. Netflix, for example, suggests TV shows and movies based on what viewers watch. Pandora asks music lovers to 'like' songs so it can play similar tunes of interest.
In 2018, model your email marketing after Pandora. Start tracking visitor purchases and viewing history so you can create personalized emails from the data.
Here's a great example from Amazon that suggests products that a customer might be interested in:
6. Predictive measurements will help business owners gauge success
Right now, the best way to judge the success of your email campaigns is to review your metrics. You likely check your open, click-through and conversion rates, right?
They're good measurements of success, but in 2018, a new kind of measurement will hit the scene.
Thanks to super computers that can crunch numbers in nanoseconds, predictive measurements will become must-watch metrics in the future. As the name suggests, predictive measurements will predict a customer's behavior. For instance, they can tell you which segment of new customers will most likely become loyal ones.
It will take some time before you see predictive measurements on the dashboard of your favorite email service, but it's something to watch for. Once they arrive, they'll give you a new parameter or success.
Wrap up
For small business owners, time is a valuable commodity. By understanding what trends will steer email marketing this year, you can prepare for them, and adjust your campaigns accordingly.
This year, email marketing is all about knowing your customer, creating personalized emails and using tools that can help you streamline the process.


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World Holidays
About Us
Bank and Public Holidays for
Saint Barthťlemy
Saint Barthťlemy bank
holidays, national holidays and public holidays for the remainder of 2019, from
the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database,
the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by
the world's
foremost diary publishers.The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use. To access our full database of worldwide public holidays and bank holidays, under license, for the full years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and beyond, please contact us.
© 1989-2019 Alter Ego
14 Feb 2015 France Votes Saint-Barthťlťmy Public Holidays Amendment (Le Monde-Paris) France's National Assembly has voted the Bareigts amendment to the omnibus Macron economic growth bill currently being considered, which would allow the replacement of 7 of the 11 Fench annual public holidays by more local (ie. Muslim and Hindu) annual non-working public holidays.
• 25 Apr 2012 Saint Barthťlemy Adds October 9 Public Holiday (Journal Officiel de la Rťpublique FranÁaise-JORF) The list of annual official non-working public holidays in Saint Barthťlemy has been amended with the gazetting of the long-awaited addition of an October 9 annual public holiday to commemorate the abolition of slavery.
• 21 Nov 2008 Saint Barthťlemy Considering October 9 Public Holiday (Etats Gťnťraux de líOutre-Mer) The Etats Gťnťraux de l'Outre-Mer have formally petitioned the French government to declare October 9 as an annual public holiday to commemorate the abolition of slavery in Saint Barthťlemy.
• 16 Jul 2007 Saint Barthťlemy's May 27 Public Holiday Cancellation Confirmed (Etats Gťnťraux de líOutre-Mer) Since yesterday, July 15, 2007, Saint-Barthťlemy is an independent French overseas administrative area and is no longer a part of Guadeloupe, and as such it has been officially confirmed that May 27 will no longer be a public holiday in Saint Barthťlemy.
• More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the Saint Barthťlemy public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.
Governing Law: Official public holidays in Saint Barthťlemy are the same as those in France and are regulated by Article L222-1 du Code du travail (Labour Code), to which is added Abolition Day.
• Carnival is not an official public holiday, but both Carnival Monday and Carnival Tuesday are treated as a customary (common law) days off. The same is true of Ash Wednesday and mid-Lent.
• The island of Saint Barthťlemy (St.Barths) voted to secede from Guadeloupe and in 2007, the island became a French overseas collective.
• Weekend Public Holidays: Public holidays that occur on a weekend remain on that date (ie. they are not moved to another date, such as the following Monday, for example).
• Schoelcher Day on July 21st and All Souls' Day on November 2nd are also observed by many.
Whit Monday was no longer recognized as one of the public holidays as of 2005, to help fund health care for elderly persons following the high number of elderly deaths during the heat wave of the summer of 2003. However, it returned to the list of French public holidays starting in 2008.
• Saint Barthťlemy International Codes BL and BLM (2 and 3-letter ISO3166 codes) and .gp (ICANN national top-level internet domain). ē Other Sources of Information The following specialized websites are also a good source of Saint Barthťlemy information and news: UnitedHealthcare Global (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (Saint Barthťlemy maps, demographics and economic statistics), the IFES (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and voter participation in Saint Barthťlemy), and Wikipedia (includes Saint Barthťlemy commemorative dates that are not necessarily public holidays).
Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in Saint Barthťlemy, the holiday may be regional or non-official or limited to certain religious and/or linguistic groups, or begin at a time other than midnight. Note that religious holidays are included only if they are national public holidays, or if the national labour code has specific holiday allowances for employees of specific religions. Aft=Afternoon, Arm=Armenian, Bah=Bahai, Bnk=Banks and most financial institutions, Bud=Buddhist, Cat=Catholic, Chr=Christian, Cop=Coptic, Eve=Evening, Gov=Government services and civil servants, Hin=Hindu, Jew=Jewish, Lin=Linguistic or ethnic groups, Mor=Morning, Mun=Municipal, Mus=Muslim, Orth=Orthodox, Othr=Miscellaneous partial observances (usually described in the Additional Information section of this page), Prt=Protestant, Reg=Regional, Rel=Other Religion, Sch=Schools and universities, Sik=Sikh.
In many parts of
the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local
authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of
2019 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for Saint Barthťlemy, we
cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented
above. You are therefore advised to verify
the above dates with the embassy or consulate of Saint Barthťlemy, before planning any
trip to Saint Barthťlemy. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit
worldwide public holidays news and updates page or subscribe to our free
email newsletters.
Animated flag graphics courtesy of 3DFlagsPlus.com
© 1989-2019 Alter Ego Services


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Sioux Falls Man Sentenced For Killing Motorcyclist in 2012 Texting While Driving Accident
A Sioux Falls man who plead guilty to manslaughter in connection with the 2012 death of a Sioux Falls motorcyclist was sentenced to 20 years in prison today.
Brent O'Neal admitted to texting while driving before hitting three vehicles, a motorcycle and a light pole at the intersection of 26th & Minnesota in Sioux Falls in July 2012.
The motorcyclist, 33-year old Philip Sorenson, was killed in the crash.
O'Neal was sentenced to 20 years with 11 years suspended. The judge who handed down the sentence estimates that O'Neal will serve half of the sentence.
O'Neal was also ordered to pay $10,000 restitution.


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General Banter / Re: KCWO Intermediate Divison« on: June 12, 2015, 02:45:06 PM »
How long is the wait list for this div.? That's if anyone knows.
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text: There is also: http://www.rlxtechnologies.com/about/pr_blast.php Eric Chiu writes: > Has anyone worked on one of these BladeFrame? > http://www.egenera.com/prod_spec_overview.php > > I'm wondering how this compares to a custom-built Beowulf. > I like how they have consolidated the networking and > hardware in this proprietary architecture. One of the biggest > problems in a Beowulf is keeping track of the boxes and ethernet > connections. > > Eric Chiu, author/consultant B.G. Bruce Networking Technologies N.V / Internet Technologies (Curacao) N.V. Phone: +599 9 563-1836 Fax: +599 9 465-3594 Alternate Email: bgbruce at it-curacao.com, ancu321 at attglobal.net


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Description:UPS R3000 Low Voltage Rackmount UPS2700W AC115V 2880VA UPS battery7 output connectorsOption Part# 192186-001Assembly Part# 192187-001
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This is what it feels like to be a top driver in the grueling Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. Watch the whole race weekend unfold as reigning GT Champion Leh Keen fights for the lead in his Brumos Porsche GT3 Cup.
The frantic speed of driver changes, the little idiosyncrasies that define a driving style: there's so much to these drivers that you just can't see on TV that is made so clear in this video, all the way down to spraying the champagne.


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Google has announced a plan to do more to tackle online images of child sexual abuse.
Using both technology and funding, it hopes to find and eradicate images and track down abusers.
Google said it was helping create a database of images to improve collaboration between law enforcement, companies and anti-abuse charities.
It has also set up a $2m (£1.3m) fund to bankroll developers creating better tools to tackle images.
Spot and stop
Web firms in the UK have been at the centre of the debate about online images showing the sexual abuse of children following two high profile court cases in which offenders were known to have sought child pornography online.
Google said that since 2008 it had used technology that classified images giving them a unique identifier or "hash" to make it easier to spot abuse pictures.
The blogpost said it was going further by helping to create unique fingerprints of images it saw and then contributing them to a larger industry-wide database. This, it said, was helping police forces, companies and charities working together to detect and remove images. This co-operation would also help track down abusers, it said.
Google has also put $2m into what it called a Child Protection Technology Fund that would reward software developers who were working on programs to help eradicate abuse images.
"We're in the business of making information widely available, but there's certain 'information' that should never be created or found," wrote Jacquelline Fuller, director of Google Giving, in the blogpost.
"We can do a lot to ensure it's not available online - and that when people try to share this disgusting content they are caught and prosecuted," she added.
Christian Berg, co-founder of NetClean which helped to pioneer the classification of images shared online by abusers and paedophiles, said there were many other initiatives already underway that helped to spot the pictures Google was targeting.
As well as hashing systems, police forces around the world and cross-border agencies such as Interpol were using a tool known as PhotoDNA to identify images. This, he said, was a more reliable way of producing a signature of an image as it could survive changes made to images as they were cropped, re-sized or manipulated by paedophiles in a bid to hide them.
Microsoft, Facebook and others had already adopted PhotoDNA and were using it to stop images of child sexual abuse being shared by their users, said Mr Berg.
Despite this, he said, Google's initiative was a good move.
"We welcome them to the field and it's great that they have put attention on the problem," he said.
Google's announcement comes as BT and TalkTalk refine they way they block access to sites known to harbour images of child sexual abuse. Instead of a generic "page not found" error, people will instead get a detailed warning which says access was denied because the page may contain illegal images.


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by George Zamora
SOCORRO, N.M., Feb. 16, 2004 – A New Mexico Tech electrical engineering professor has developed an online robotics textbook that utilizes the most up-to-date Internet technology, such as three- dimensional imaging and interactive math formulas, and has made the cutting-edge coursework freely available to users throughout the world.
Stephen Bruder, the author of "An Introduction to Robotic Manipulators — An Online Course in Robotics," developed the e-textbook during a recent sabbatical he took away from the research university while working at Sandia National Laboratories.
"I found that teaching robotics is not particularly well-suited to static presentations, such as those that are typically made using traditional printed textbooks or by an instructor writing diagrams on a chalk board in front of a classroom," Bruder says.
As he worked on developing an online textbook as a viable alternative, Bruder soon realized that a three- dimensional presentation would have to be given priority status.
"First, I knew I had to make it interesting, and that's where the 3-D illustrations came into play," Bruder explains. "Second, this online textbook had to be dynamic and interactive, so that students could direct the learning process, or at least become active participants. And, third, I knew I would have to adapt certain technologies and capabilities that didn't even exist up until the last year or so to allow students to do calculus and other advanced mathematics on their computers over the Web."
With the help of several graduate students and a fellow faculty member at New Mexico Tech, by the end of his yearlong sabbatical Bruder was able to accomplish what he had set out to do.
"An Introduction to Robotic Manipulators" is now available to anyone, anywhere, at anytime, Bruder says, as long as anyone wanting to peruse the online textbook has access to a computer, a modem, a phone line, and a newer version of commonly used web browsers.
"Actually, my first goal in developing this online first course in robotics was to make it viable through phone lines," Bruder says. "By using tools such as Virtual Reality Markup Language, the files that are sent out from our dedicated server are relatively small. It's then up to the user's local computer to do all the sophisticated processing."
Bruder's online textbook is designed to be used in a senior-level robotics course at New Mexico Tech — as it will be, probably as early as this coming fall semester—but he says that because the way it is setup and written, even a typical Tech freshman could probably follow along and successfully complete the self-paced course.
"High school students enrolled in advanced studies might also be able to master some of the course material," Bruder says, "particularly if they know some calculus."
By using free, downloadable software, which is linked to the textbook's homepage, students using the online robotics textbook can simultaneously work on interactive illustrations while verifying results with online calculus-based software.
"Much like traditional teaching, the textbook progresses from using simple examples to working with more complicated, sophisticated robotic systems and devices," Bruder says.
Some of the real-world examples presented in the online textbook range from robotic arms, which students can order in kit form for about $200, to the Andros Wolverine, a medium-sized, tank-like robot which military personnel and police departments throughout the world have taken to deploying in hazardous and life-threatening situations.
"By using real robots in the simulations, students who can afford to purchase the robotic arm will also be able to manipulate it on the computer screen and have the actual robot right there on their table top," Bruder points out. "They'll now be able to see and work with the actual robot, instead of just seeing the theory presented to them on some chalk board.
"I'm hoping this new approach to teaching robotics will further entice students to become an integral part of the learning process," he says.


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Edit: plus the mental straightjacket of having been academically successful at school is revealed by your concentrating on choice of degree subject - choices us mid-thirties types made half a lifetime ago! - I mean, I'm not knocking you, it's hard for anyone who's been to university (and finished it, and got a degree they're not ashamed of) not to think in those terms, and I do it myself. Then I think about my brother, who's a hugely successful self-employed entrepreneur, who left education at 18 with a couple of A-levels and a GNVQ, or whatever. But then, he's extraordinarily skilled in a particular, and highly desirable, applied discipline. I'd fucking love to be self-employed but the fact I don't have an iota of entrepreneurial acumen kind of puts the kibosh on that.
I love writing and thinking about science but then we're back to the problem of trying to make money from writing, which is all when and good you've got the right combination of chops, bankable choice of subject, drive to succeed and blind luck, but really, "Unemployed 35-year-old harbours laughable dream of 'making it' as a writer" is just all too plausible as an Onion/Daily Mash article. I mean, I've got this friend who does freelance journalism for a living. She's been published in 'proper' papers and magazines, knows plenty of impressive and influential people, co-authored a book about civil liberties under the Blair government before she was 30 and wrote a children's book a couple of years ago that was very well received, won awards I think. And she does shift work in her local to keep up with her mortgage.
Sorry, I know I'm whingeing and things could be far worse, and also that - the small minority born into select socio-economic circles aside - no-one just gets handed a glittering career on a plate.