text:
CUH Update – March 2011: Ramping up
We all await the arrival of the most promising time of year as the garden slowly wakes up and showcases it early season splendor. March is when bulbs burst into bloom, spring ephemerals shyly shine and the winter shrubs are putting forth yet another splendid show of unrivaled color and, in most cases, outstanding fragrance.
It's all such a great distraction from the financial woes and the economic downturn we're all facing. Recent news of budget cuts and even threats to potentially eliminate the Arboretum from the University have caused us to be a little more on edge. Here's a link to an article written by Valerie Easton on her blog about this situation. It's really quite unsettling and as a gardener here, while we're suppose to worry about a very busy spring season ahead, we're all wondering if we'll even have jobs come July. We've basically been learning to work with what little resources we've got and simply trying to stay motivated to get as much work done as possible.
Stepping back from our multiple tasks and looking out into the landscape, we're simply in awe. This time of year has the potential to bring out the joy of what makes our profession so wonderful and unique. Bring out the sun and spirits are high!
We had the pleasure of hosting a group from Edmonds Community College's Horticulture Department who dressed up some containers here at the Center for Urban Horticulture. In collaboration with garden designer, Wendy Welch and her fabulous container gardening class, we were treated with sunshine and an opportunity to see these young garden artists at work as they implement one of their designs as a series for our containers in the Soest Garden.
Here's a note from Wendy about her student's work:
"For their final project of the winter quarter Horticulture students from EDCC's Container Gardening class designed and planted three containers in the courtyard at CUH. The long list of requirements for their designs included, a strong "winter picture", at least one main element that is attractive year round, and at least two years of viability as a combination. All 22 students presented designs and then voted on the one they felt was the strongest. Jill Nunemaker's design with Acer circinatum 'Pacific Fire', Sorbaria sorbifolia 'Sem', warm-colored cultivars of Heuchera and trailing Kininikinnick, won the vote by a landslide. Next years class will evaluated the success of these pots over time, as can all of you."
Seattle Garden Club also took part in a work party as members helped out in planting, transplanting and mulching within the Fragrance Garden. The site is now home to a few new plants with a few more still to come as we define the space a little more and more summer color will be more obvious with several perennials included this spring.
March is also the time we start to focus on WEEDS!!!! The gradual rise in temperatures and increased day length means the prolific germination of weed seeds that have been resting all winter. In a valiant effort in reducing our use and need for chemicals, we've been experimenting with various treatments such as torching (basically burning a plant with a flame) and a horticultural grade vinegar. We've seen signs of effectiveness, but we just need a few clearer and sunnier days to really see it take effect.
Anything we can do now to get on top of the big push of spring is crucial. With two gardeners left to oversee CUH grounds, it'll be more challenging than ever, but everyone seems to be having patience and accepting the fact that some areas aren't tended to right away, but for the most part, the gardens are looking great and visitors have been so pleased and enchanted by it all!
Chin up!


text:
Is it a blessing or a curse being the son of an indie rock God? Here Nile Marr spills the beans on what it was really like growing up as son of The Smiths icon Johnny.
VIDEO: Watch highlights of his chat with digital editor Graham Walker above - or watch their full big interview on our YouTube embed below.
Nile's band Man Made play Opium 10 in Barnsley tonight, Friday, April 22.
Rising Manchester three-piece Man Made have just released their debut album TV Broke My Brain on Soul Kitchen via through Kobalt Label Services.
Raining In My Head, he current single from the album, got its radio premiere on Huw Stephens' BBC Radio 1 show - listen to it CLICK HERE.
Growing up, you've got two choices: rebel against your parents and their way of life, or embrace it. Nile Marr, Man Made singer and guitarist (and son of indie hero Johnny), chose the latter.
Initially inspired by the likes of Nick Drake and John Martyn, Nile began writing songs when he was 14. A move to Portland, Oregon would provide more inspiration still, with Nile in what he calls his "sponge years". Taken from the English music culture he'd grown up in and being planted in the Pacific Northwest opened him up to not only new bands and new sounds, but a whole new work ethic.
"[Moving to Portland] changed completely how I wanted to work and how I wanted to make music," Nile says.
"From that point on we needed to be running everything with American work ethic and approach to guitar music." That meant taking the notion from American punk rock and bands like Fugazi and Black Flag that you "get in the van and you do it, and you drive and just keep driving."
Nile met drummer Scott Griffiths via a mutual friend at a practice room. After playing together a couple of times, Nile gave Scott "all the Fugazi records and all the Modest Mouse records" and told him to come back and play like a combination of the bands' drummers. After a year of playing together, the pair began the hunt for a bassist, eventually picking Callum Rogers.
Passionate about not denying "someone in their formative years the chance to experience a band on a very intimate level", the trio started booking their own shows so they could make sure people under 18 could attend.
They've also hooked up with activists and charities in Sheffield and Manchester to play refugee benefits or find conservation projects to donate their merch money to.
In Manchester, they're at the heart of a new scene of artists and creatives made up of other musicians, filmmakers, promoters, photographers and more. It's a collaborative community with a lot of those involved also involved in the band's shows. Nile describes them as events where "you can help a good cause, you're supporting an independent venue, kids can go in and you get to appreciate art."
Titled TV Broke My Brain, the central theme of the album is the state of technology and it's role in life. The band aren't anti-technology, but Nile says he wanted to "stop and think about how quickly we embrace new technology [and promises that it'll] make your life easier." "It's not a judgement, it's just asking the questions about your relationship with technology," he explains. "For me, the most valuable experiences in my life have been face-to-face, real, analogue interactions."
You can hear Nile's thinking in the jagged title track, or the jangly shuffle of 'Hi Tech Low Life', which features lyrics like "We still sleep plugged in" and "We don't seem to notice/Now it's hard to focus". Elsewhere, there's also comment on advertising and capitalism – 'Plastic Key To Living' is about a credit card and finds Nile sighing "We turn on, we log off/This is not enough."
Produced by Ray Man and mixed by Nick Launay (Kate Bush, Lou Reed, Arcade Fire), it was recorded at the trio's shared house over a year and a half.
Every time they gigged and the songs changed, they'd re-record them. The record to them, after all, is meant to be "the menu of the live experience." "[The songs change every night] and that depends on the audience, the room and the atmosphere," Nile explains. "It shouldn't be 'we have an album, let us play it for you'. It's 'we are a band and we have recorded us playing for you'."
TV Broke My Brain certainly captures the energy and passion that goes into the band, and presents it with its American alt-rock influences (you can hear everything from Sonic Youth to The Shins in its 11 tracks) firmly on its sleeve. Unplug yourself from the matrix of gadgets in your life and connect with Man Made instead.
Man Made April tour dates:
22/04/16 - Barnsley - Opium 10
23/03/16 - Norwich - Waterfront
23/04/16 - Edinburgh - Cabaret Voltaire
24/03/16 - Manchester - Aatma
24/04/16 - Inverness - Mad Hatters
25/04/16 - Aberdeen - Tunnels
26/04/16 - Irvine - Harbour Arts

subset: commoncrawl


text:
I know this happens all year round, but it seems to get highlighted more at Christmas. The stupid, idiotic, insane, crazy, moronic calls that we get in the Ambulance Service. And our colleagues in the Police and Fire.
Every Service gets it fair share of stupid callers….Westcountry Ambulance Service got people who "wanted a hug!" I,d have given them a hug alright! A nice big hug around their neck to squeeze off the last few functioning brain cells!
Meanwhile in the North East of England…this joker made a bet with his wife and called the Ambulance out. A definate candidate for the lads from SWAB Team 6 to go round his house and post some s**t parcels through his letter box. I think that if this happened to me when I was on duty then I would seriously be in danger of losing my job as the temptation to kick the living s**t out of this bloke would be too much!!! And I mean that very sincerely….
Its the same stuff every year….and its about time that examples were made of people. Either big fines or prison terms or even bring back the stocks and the birch!!!


text:
Putin puts clamp on US adoption
Moscow, December 29, 2012
President Vladimir Putin yesterday signed a law that bans Americans from adopting Russian children and imposes other sanctions in retaliation for a new US human rights law that he says is poisoning relations.
Washington has called the new Russian law misguided, saying it ties the fate of children to "unrelated political considerations", and analysts say it is likely to deepen a chill in US-Russia relations and harm Putin's image abroad.
Six children whose adoption has already been decided in court will go to the US, while 46 children whose adoption was still underway must stay in Russia, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Dozhd television channel.
The new law, which has also ignited outrage among Russian liberals and child rights' advocates, takes effect on January 1.
The legislation will also outlaw some non-governmental organisations that receive US funding and impose a visa ban and asset freeze on Americans accused of violating the rights of Russians abroad.
Pro-Kremlin legislators initially drafted the bill to mirror the US Magnitsky Act, which bars entry to Russians accused of involvement in the death in custody of anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and other alleged rights abuses.
The restrictions on adoptions and non-profit groups were added to the legislation later, going beyond a tit-for-tat move and escalating a dispute with Washington at a time when ties are already strained by issues such as the Syrian crisis.
US-based human rights organisation Freedom House called the law an "attack against one of the most vulnerable groups in the Russian society."
The adoption ban may further tarnish Putin's international standing at a time when the former KGB officer is under scrutiny over what critics say is a crackdown on dissent since he returned to the Kremlin for a third term in May.
Seeking to dampen criticism, Putin also signed a decree ordering an improvement in care for orphans.
Critics of the Russian legislation say Putin has held the welfare of children trapped in a crowded and troubled orphanage system hostage to political manoeuvring.
Russian orphanages are woefully overcrowded and that adoptions by Russian families remain modest, with some 7,400 adoptions in 2011 compared with 3,400 adoptions of Russian children by families abroad.
More than 650,000 children are considered orphans in Russia. Of those, 110,000 lived in state institutions in 2011, according to government figures.-Reuters


text:
La Laque Couture Nail Polish
Free Shipping on All U.S. Orders. See Details
Yves Saint Laurent introduces the new line of La Laque Couture.Its vibrant collection make every woman couture to the fingertips.New formula offers extreme shine and care for nails.
A genuine benchmark collection of nail color, La Laque Couture is composed of a kaleidoscope of iconic shades, inspired by YSL creations and artistic legacies, such as blue majorelle, timeless fuchsia, tuxedo black, Saharan beige and a palette of original colors inspired by the new Yves Saint Laurent Couture collections designed by Stefano Pilati.
Available in 8: Fuchsia Cubiste
Need Help? Have Questions? Contact Us.
Please call 1.888.222.7639 to speak with a Customer Service Representative.
We're here to help you:
Monday - Friday, 9 AM - 9 PM (ET)
Saturday - Sunday, 10:30 AM - 7 PM (ET)
If you prefer email, we can be reached anytime at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Free Shipping & Returns on All U.S. Orders. See Details


text:
The photographer Vyacheslav Mishchenko spent much of his childhood in nature; following his father on mushroom hunting expeditions, he often crouched to the ground in rapt fascination with the tiny, slimy, and colorful wonderland of bugs. As an adult, he returns to this kingdom of imagination, cataloguing the daily lives of snails.
Breaking from the objectivity of traditional nature photography, Mishchenko's soulful images read like a children's storybook, filled with unexpected emotionality and suspense. The expertly-shot macro images frame the miniature snail landscapes in miraculous detail, seducing viewers into a world of Alice In Wonderland mushrooms and plump fruits. Shot from the vantage-point of teensy, unsuspecting creatures, the world seems vast and dazzlingly fertile.
The delicate creatures, seen so vividly, become startlingly powerful, their muscular bodies twisting and writhing around newly-budding stems. In this strange and enchanting visual narrative, snails become lovers who gently kiss, seemingly forming one long, sticky body in their embrace. They curiously extend towards succulent forbidden fruits that drip with raindrops; as if in some natural Eden, they hide their bodies in fantastic shells.
Reflected many times over in perfectly rounded dewdrops and in the artist's own lens, the snails seem to verge on the point of self-awareneness. As if to evoke the metaphor applied to Helena and Hermia, the young heroines of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, two snails arch their bodies over twin cherries, ripe and red. It's miraculous what goes on beneath our feet, and I cannot think of better set of images to get us in the mood for spring. (via BUST)


text:
We use only professional equipment – and do not take shortcuts in our transfers
The 8mm film transfer process does not happen automatically -- as many people assume. Our film transfers are professionally monitored, at all times, in order to obtain the best possible result. The transfer operator continually adjusts the light and makes any necessary adjustments rapidly.
We achieve superb results on our Super 8 and 8mm film transfers, and 35mm slide transfers
- All films are meticulously and professionally hand-cleaned (unless otherwise specified by our customer.)
- Initial manual color correction (automated with manual override) is performed on transfers.
- A secondary manual color restoration is optional.
- Image focused from center all the way to the four corners so that it's free of vignetting and hot-spot effects
- Steady and flicker-free images on all our transfers of Super-8 and Normal-8 films.
- We also offer High Definition transfers onto Blu-ray (if customer selects that option.)
PAL transfer also available! (scroll down to 'AVI EDITING'...)
To contact Laura or Jean Nathaniel Courtens, please click here: email
To contact Marco Hobi, please click here: email


text:
About this designer: Marcel Breuer
Marcel Breuer (1902-1981), born in Hungary and trained at the Bauhaus by Walter Gropius from 1920-24, is heralded as having produced the first tubular steel armchair, his pieces pioneering the demand for tubular steel furniture throughout the 1920s and 1930s. When the Bauhaus moved to Dessau in 1925, Breuer designed furniture for the new campus and became head of the furniture workshop, a position that he held until 1928. Also in 1925, Breuer created the famous tubular steel Wassily chair, purportedly inspired both by constructivist aesthetics and by the handlebars of his new bike. In 1928 he started a private practice in Berlin and came out with his Cesca cantilever chair and stool, named after his daughter and probably inspired by Mies Van der Rohe.
About this brand: Thonet
Thonet today, as in the past, is considered a pioneer of furniture design throughout the world. The company was established in 1819 by Michael Thonet to produce his own designs, using the then new bentwood process, which he developed. Within a short period of time it became a major furniture manufacturer with a global distribution network. In the 1930's a major expansion took place with the addition of tubular steel furniture from famous Bauhaus associated designers such as Mart Stam, Marcel Breuer and Mies van der Rohe. Today, as well as continuing with the manufacture of many of the tubular steel and bentwood classics, Thonet, in their long established tradition of innovation and design quality, introduce products by renowned contemporary architects and designers.


text:
By Caroline McGraw Oct 18, 2012 0
The French Lesson
Today is a gray day in Alabama, a day with the kind of dispiriting sky that makes me want to curl up and watch reality TV all day. But I know that doing so would not make me happy. On the contrary, I need to do something of value, and so I write. I tell the truth as best as I am able. True, there are days in which I don't want to create, to contribute. Likewise, though I care deeply about autism, there are days when I feel the burdensome weight of all that we don't know about it.
My brother Willie may not realize it, but thinking of him actually helps me through days like these. Why? Because these challenges are nothing compared to what Willie struggles with every day. My brother is an incredibly smart, hilarious young man who deals with self-injury and aggression. Moreover, he faces isolation and misunderstanding, as he usually can't communicate the reasons behind his behaviors. If I think that autism is "all too much" at times, what must he feel?
When the questions get too big and the answers seem too small, I call to mind a family vacation in Hilton Head last month. On the trip, there was a gathering in which I noticed my brother sitting to the side. This is typical for Willie. He'll sit with us for supper, but afterward, he'll dash off to be alone. The family understands; no one pressures Willie to stay when he needs to retreat. However, it's difficult to tell the difference between Willie needing time to unwind and Willie going off by himself because he doesn't have the words to ask someone else to be with him. And when I saw Willie by himself during this particular gathering, I had a hunch that he didn't want to be alone. I came over and sat beside Willie on the sofa. "What are you reading?" I asked.
"The illustrated French dictionary!" he exclaimed with enthusiasm.
"Oh, nice!" I said, meaning it. French is beautiful to me; I studied the language in school for nearly seven years for love of its lyricism. This being the case, I felt comfortable reading along. My brother turned the pages, stopping when he came to a listing of numbers, zero through 100. I felt a momentary flare of dread; he was going to read out every single number, wasn't he? This would take forever. The prospect of listening to Willie read those digits seemed dreadful. (In fact, it was the same sensation I felt this morning as I looked at the colorless sky.) It was a weighty, burdensome feeling, the belief that this page of numbers held no potential.
That day in Hilton Head, Willie did begin reciting numbers. But to my surprise, the recitation wasn't tedious … it was beautiful. Willie's voice was calm and soothing, and his accent was pitch-perfect. Listening to him pronounce each number with care and precision, I felt an unexpected peace arising within. Willie was doing his best to read to me in French, and I was doing my best to listen. And at the bottom of the page, a few larger numbers appeared. One thousand. Ten thousand. One hundred thousand. One million. As Willie recited these, a smile spread across his face. His expression seemed to say, "What outrageous figures!" Sensing his mood, I grinned too—imagine one million!
Just as one million seems indescribably large to Willie, autism can seem unfathomably daunting to me. Yet I can choose how I approach the subject. Will I dread that which I don't fully understand, or will I see the wonder—even the humor—in it? And so today, I ask myself: Will I approach autism with an attitude of defeat, or will I be open to the unexpected? Will I let myself get lost in abstract, fearful imaginings, or will I simply be present to my brother when he wants to share something with me? It's a constant choosing, and it isn't easy. But thanks to Willie, I know that, if I choose to listen, I just might be surprised by the beauty I hear.


text:
Your shopping cart is empty!
Chinchilla suppliments are meant to enhance your small exotic animals diet. A healthy active pocket pet kept on a nutritionally balanced food generally can do without most suppliments, but an occasional treat or dietary suppliment is never a bad idea. Brisky Pet Products carries a wide range of suppliments and supplies to help make Chinchilla ownership easier and fun.


text:
Above photo is Lyla at 8 months and the following are from this past Summer & Fall.
Hello and Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and wish you all the best this year.
2011 was a crazy, wonderful year for us. We traveled a lot - I was away for 4 months throughout last year so I wasn't able to devote much time to my blog (as many of you have noticed). We were in Venice, Ca for June, Maine in August, Florida, Minnesota, London, Chicago, Arizona throughout other times in the year. Traveling is fun of course, but can be very exhausting, especially with a 2.5 yr old. But I can't really complain because I know how fortunate we are to be able to get on a plane and head somewhere fun.
One amazing little tidbit that I haven't shared on the blog is that I'm pregnant and due in less than a month! It's always such a miracle to get pregnant and I feel very blessed. The last month has been busy getting ready for the baby and more importantly, making sure this shift is easy for Lyla, my 2.5 year old. Everyone says how important it is to make sure Lyla is happy during this time and when the baby arrives. I've been told not to open presents for the new baby in front of her and for close family and friends to buy Lyla a little gift instead of the baby. From friends and family alike, everyone says you'll realize how easy a healthy newborn is to take care of and how hard it is to take care of a toddler.
One big question I had for friends that have gone through this before is what if I have two crying kids at the same time? Who do I console first? Lyla. The toddler will remember and the newborn won't.
This pregnancy has been similar to my last but more extreme - more tired, more sick, but I think it's because I'm already a mom and don't really have much time to myself or rest to begin with. We don't know the sex of the baby - like last time, everyone thinks I'm having a boy. I go back and forth between boy and girl. We finally figured out a boy name that we both love and have had a girl name picked for a while so we're set on that front. I recently finished up all my design projects for a good while, so it's nice to not have to think about work (well sort of) and just focus on my kiddos.
I'm also experiencing a different type of emotion this time around. Last pregnancy I would get sad that it was no longer going to be just me and Patrick. But now, I feel guilty that Lyla's life is about to change more than she'll ever know. I feel sad that I won't be able to devote all of my time and energy towards her and that she'll have to share Patrick and me. I guess it's normal to feel this way. To Patrick's point, he almost feels guilty for the new baby that it'll never get total focus and devotion like Lyla had for almost 3 years.
And my biggest question of all is - Will I love this baby as much as I love Lyla? I can't imagine loving anyone more than I love Lyla but everyone says you do. Just like how you have no way of comprehending a love for a child pre having a child, I imagine it'll be a similar feeling. I just can't wait to experience that burst of love all over again.
One of the biggest differences in this pregnancy is preparing for labor is ALL about logistics with Lyla. To be honest, I haven't even thought about mentally and emotionally preparing for labor like I did last pregnancy, because it's all about logistics in making sure Lyla is ok and taken care of. We have about 4 different back up plans if I were to go into labor pre-family arriving. We can only prepare so much but it helps to know we have neighbors in our building that could help out, babysitters that'll be on call and friends who live in Brooklyn that are willing to head over to our apt. to help out.
It's all overwhelming, but like everything else, you just figure it out and do it.
Going through Lyla's personal blog just makes me so sad & amazed at how quickly time has gone. The top two photos are from less than 2 years ago and the rest are from this Summer and Fall. It's amazing how quickly time goes in two years in the life of a child.
Monday, January 23, 2012
New Year, New Baby
Posted by thoughtful day at 12:08 PM
Labels: Baby, Play Dates
3 comments:
- tina said...
Layla is beautiful! I remember reading about her being born. I can't believe so much time has passed. Congrats and good luck with babe #2.
- January 24, 2012 at 11:21 AM
- Ann said...
Baby make us happy!
- January 31, 2012 at 4:21 AM
- perfect bound said...
Miss you Erica! Lyla is a beauty, and I hope to meet your (not-so-new-anymore) man soon.xoxox, anne
- May 1, 2012 at 2:44 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Choose Your Brand
Additional Information
M-F 7am - 5pm (PST)
Memorial Day Sale: 10% Off Coupon Code: TAKE10 + Free Shipping on orders over $55*
Lexmark Z53 printer ink cartridges
Get the lowest prices on remanufactured color Lexmark 20 printer ink two-pack from 1ink.com. This impressive ink set joins together two (2) standard-capacity printer cartridges, allowing you to get through any print project...
Pick up this two-pack of premium quality replacement for Lexmark 70 printer ink. This multi-pack contains two (2) standard-capacity printer cartridges that are designed to consistently produce clean, legible print work...
Find amazing deals on remanufactured Lexmark 20 ink by choosing 1ink.com. This is a standard-capacity printer cartridge that's been designed with your needs in mind. It's easy to install into any compatible...
This is a remanufactured Lexmark 70 printer ink that is designed to match the quality of your OEM ink cartridges at a fraction of the cost of the original brand. This premium quality, yet affordable ink cartridge from 1ink...
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest discount coupons!
Company Info
Customer Service
Contact Us
M-F 7am - 5pm (PST)
2850 N. California St. Unit 110Burbank, CA
Copyright ©1ink.com 2000-2019
References to manufacturers brand names, images and logos on this website are only for descriptive purposes and for demonstrating compatibility of the products. Copyrights and Trademarks of these brands are the property of their respective owners and their use does not imply any endorsement or affiliation with the brand. Our ink and toner cartridges for HP, Lexmark, Brother, Dell, Samsung, Canon, Epson, Xerox and other manufacturers are new compatible generic brands and premium remanufactured cartridges. We do not currently sell any OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) products on this website. *Free shipping applies only to the products shipped to the contiguous United States.
*Please Note: Offers and coupons cannot be combined with other coupons or discounts


text:
Okozukai vs. hesokuri: An alternate view of home economics
Late last month the media covered the results of an annual survey carried out by Shinsei Financial Co. that attempts to get a handle on the state of family finances. According to the one thousand respondents, the average amount of okozukai that wives give their salaryman husbands has declined for the fourth year in a row to ¥36,500 a month. It's also the first time in seven years the monthly allowance dropped below ¥40,000. It's now the lowest it's been since 1982. For comparison's sake, the highest amount recorded by the survey was ¥76,000 in 1990, just before the so-called bubble burst.
Okozukai is usually translated as "pocket money" or "allowance," but the main point is that it is money "given" to someone by another person who, implicitly, controls it. In Japan, traditionally, the wife handles the finances even if the husband is the sole breadwinner. Consequently, it's a fairly easy statistic to track and does a good job of illuminating the financial situation of the middle class. The husband spends his okozukai on himself, often on after-hours drinking with colleagues, and according to various analyses of the survey it seems that families are saving money by having the husbands spend less on lunch and said drinking. This trend explains the explosion of low-priced izakaya (drinking establishment) chains in recent years.
The survey also indicates that the custom of wife-controlled finances is changing in accordance with demographic shifts. Now, only about half of all Japanese household finances are controlled by the wife alone. In about 30 percent of the households, the finances are shared by a couple since both work full-time. This means that each spouse has his/her own bank account and, in most cases, they divide certain expenses between them, with one handling the house payments, the other the utilities, etc. And in the remaining 20 percent of homes the finances are controlled by the male householder, which tends to be the dominant situation in the West. However, there's one important difference that the media never mentions with regard to household finances probably because it never occurs to Japanese reporters. In the West, regardless of who nominally controls the pocketbook, property is often held jointly by a married couple, meaning that bank accounts and property titles have two names. In Japan there is no such thing as a joint account.


text:
A$AP Rocky ft. A$AP Ferg & Gunplay - Ghetto Symphony текст песни
[Chorus: Imogen Heap]
Do just what I tell you
Don't come in any closer
And no one will get hurt
'Cause I don't know how long I can hold my heart in two
[Verse 1: A$AP Rocky]
A rebel I be one day, on that track with Gunplay
Outcast my whole life so I decide to spit like André
Beef is on my entree, gin and juice, that's Bombay
Driving fast the wrong way, I swear life is like a one-way
Pussy on a Sunday, business on a Monday
My new crib came with feng shui and my closet is like a runway
Come be my fiancee, she fuck me in a Hyundai
My rooftop got a lounge, just sit around and watch her sunbathe
Dinner date for one K, shopping date for two K
Bougie-ass bitch made me wait to fuck for two days
Finally got it today, swear to god my mood changed
Top off like toupees, drop off, touche
Yeah, my mouth is full of gold and I'm a city boy
And my outfit was in Vogue, I'm a pretty boy
Bounce, boy, Flacko tell 'em holla at a nigga, G
Riding on my enemies, this my ghetto symphony
[Chorus: Imogen Heap]
Don't come in any closer
Don't come in any closer
Don't come in any closer
Don't come in any closer
[Verse 2: Gunplay]
Whipping Whitney, my mama as a witness
Bitches lickin' and locking up my swishas
Once she blow my whistle, she know it's dismissal
Spread the news I'm official, now hop out my foreign vessel
Before I get aggressive forget it, war ready
Already tested, tears and blood invested
Till my cardiac's arrested and my 40 ounce is empty
Show me what you owe me and a porterhouse with that
Black magic on the tires only I
Rolling down a lonely mile, phony smile
Warrants, police on me now, still tourin'
And my chain it may slow me down cheer for
Pain, in its purest form
Don't complain I came to reign from here forward, still noid
So crib got clear doors
Burning planes in my Air Force and all I can see is clear ports
[Chorus: Imogen Heap]
Don't come in any closer
Don't come in any closer
Don't come in any closer
Don't come in any closer...
[Verse 3: ASAP Ferg]
Since Rocky spit like André, I'm gon' kill 'em like Big Boi
These rappers is on my entrée, eat 'em like cookies, Chips Ahoy
Mm, enjoy, when I get annoyed, know a couple niggas that'll kill for joy
Either Gunplay, runway, trip avoid, body get found by a lil' fishin' boy
Arnold Schwarzenigga, toss a nigga
Like codeine mixed with a roid
Slow punch make a nigga chin collide
That's for talking how fast you could grip a nine
Damn, look how the hollow tip hit his spine
Little motherfuckers that commit the crime
These niggas got the sidewalk sipping wine
Guess that's why the ground sip the wine
Pouring liq' so I soak in lift and shine
Tip tipped and toe I miss the sky
My soul gets cold when my niggas died
So and so, niggas live and die
Beneath shoe soles you will reside
Rappers get a mil for these freakin' lies
Sign a couple deals for these freakin' lies
How many times in your eyes has a nigga died? Never!
Spittin' it like a Beretta, nobody do it better, nigga


text:
Greg Finley Makes 'Secret Life of the American Teenager' Worth Watching – Hunk of the Day
While normally a TV series about overly dramatic teenagers getting pregnant and flipping out over who went to the prom with who would turn us off completely, "hottie with a body" Greg Finley makes 'The Secret Life of the American Teenager' bearable.
As with any screen portrayal of high school, Finley so doesn't look like he's in his teens. But thankfully no one seems to care, and we're assuming that's because we're all so mesmerized by his abs. Seriously, if all the jocks looked like this guy, there would be a lot more teen pregnancies in real life.


text:
Today it's Laura Nance...
Why I LOVE research! (And how it helps me plot...)
First of all, thanks to Joe for coming up with such a great way to raise funds for Alzheimer's research and promote writing at the same time. And thanks for allowing me to post on your site.
As a nurse practitioner in a retirement community, I treat patients with Alzheimer's every day. It's a horrible disease for both the patient and the families. I hope research will soon find a way to prevent this illness.
I'd like to talk to you about research of another sort. If you're a writer, you should already know that it's important to get your facts and figures right. Readers come from all sorts of backgrounds, and someone will eventually notice if you slip up on even the most obscure piece of information. One or more of them will give you a one star review for missing a fact, even if they loved the book. Trust me, I know.
So, I try to be very accurate and thoroughly research any topic I'm not familiar with. I also have my husband, an engineer, as a technical advisor. Although it's hard spending time away from your story to look up things like what would happen if a hydrogen leak is lit, or what would be the physical effects of cyanide poisoning, I've found that I almost always come across something that fascinates me and helps with my plot or descriptions.
I'm probably preaching to the choir on the importance of research to you guys, but I wanted to share the interesting stories I found while researching my latest mystery, Murder in the World Below, and how it helped me plot my tale.
If anyone is as old as I am, you may remember a TV show in the 80's called Beauty and the Beast. It was about a deformed man who lived with other outcasts in the tunnels and sewers of
New York City. He rescues a woman from a
brutal attack and nurses her back to health, then helps her every time she's in
trouble in her job working as an assistant D.A. fighting crime in the Big
Apple. Remember that one?
I loved that show. I loved the atmosphere of the world created from castoff items and trash. I loved the characters and the sense of community they developed. All this happened right under the feet of busy
New York citizens.
What if a world like that really existed? I started thinking of writing about a similar place. The idea bounced around in my head for a couple years. I had to have a reason for people to go underground that would make sense. One day, as I was researching old insane asylums for another book, Memories of Murder, I came across a story about Willowbrook.
Willowbrook State School was a state-supported institution for children with intellectual disabilities located on Staten Island in New York City from 1947 until 1987. It was closed due to deplorable conditions that included everything from overcrowding to illegal testing done by infecting patients with hepatitis and then trying medications on them.
At the time, it was the largest state supported institution of its type. It was built to house 4000 children but at one point in the 60's it held over 6000 people.
In 1972, a young, mostly unknown Geraldo Rivera went undercover there and wrote an exposé, entitled Willowbrook: The Last Disgrace, which garnered national attention and won a Peabody Award. He exposed the horrible living conditions, as well as the physical and sexual abuse of the inmates.
Despite attempts to upgrade and reform the school it ultimately closed in 1987. Following its closing, there was another interesting story associated with the school. A man named Andre Rand, who had worked as a janitor at the school, was suspected and later convicted of being involved in the kidnapping/disappearance/attempted sexual assault of five local children. There were rumors that he hid in the basement of buildings at the old abandoned school. Parents scared their children to stay away from the deserted campus by telling them this tale, which was never proven.
In 2009 a documentary style movie was made of this incident called, Cropsey, which is sort of a slang term for a boogie-man. It's supposed to be pretty scary, but I haven't seen it yet. As of now, Andre Rand is serving time in a
prison in case you're wondering. New York
As soon as I read these stories, the idea I'd been mulling over took shape immediately. I already knew I wanted an underground world. I decided to use a similar idea to Willowbrook. My story takes place in the Shenandoah area of Virginia, which is known for underground caverns. These subterranean areas, combined with forgotten basements and tunnels below an old institution, form the world of Haven where my outcasts live.
Then I dove into research for ways murders could happen in that area with substances that would be available to the underground dwellers. I can't believe I never knew that rat poison is actually a drug I use every day to treat people who need their blood thinned. Warfarin, or the brand name Coumadin, is used as rat poison. Hmm.
Now, by research, I know the signs and symptoms of poisoning by rat poison, cyanide and arsenic. Hopefully not something I'll ever see in my clinic! Not much I could do for them anyway except dial 911.
To add an urgent situation of impending doom to my underground world, I decided to create an energy problem. I had to research what would be the most likely source of power for my community and then a reason why it would be challenged. I decided on coal-fueled steam furnaces. Of course I had to figure out how this type of system would work and then a possible solution to the dilemma of its loss. I also realized you really can't buy enriched uranium for a nuclear power source on the Internet. Ooops. That, along with my search for types of assault weapons for another novel, probably have me on some CIA watch list. Yikes.
So, here's the blurb for my novel. Now that you know the story behind it, you'll see where my ideas came from.
A sprawling facility for handicapped children closed in 1960 amid findings of deplorable conditions, illegal testing and sexual abuse. Sixty-one years later, the academy is a community college in the Shenandoah Mountains of Virginia.
Unknown to the upper world, refugees from the old asylum live in a secret world they've built in the tunnels, caverns and basements beneath the old school, hiding their differences and fear of those above ground.
Haven, as the residents call their underground home, is a happy, thriving community until they learn their source of power is about to be cut off. A resourceful young woman named Awen sets out to find an alternative source of energy. But someone in Haven is murdering people and sabotaging her efforts.
Aided by a professor from the college, Awen races to expose the killer and hunt for a source of energy that will save Haven. Unfortunately, the murderer now has their sights on Awen as the next victim, and time is running out for the world below.
As a writer, when you become stumped with a plot point or writer's block, try digging into some research on something related to your WIP. You might find it leads you in a new direction that adds complexity and depth to your tale. For sure you'll make certain all your facts are right, and at the very least you'll learn some interesting information. (Possibly something you'll use in another story...)
As a special treat, this week I'm pricing Murder in the World Below at only 99 cents for the Kindle version. Here's the link: http://tinyurl.com/nwetdnq. I hope you'll check it out and let me know how you like it. You can connect with me on my website: www.laranance.com where I post other tidbits of research on my novels that I found fascinating.
What are your stories about research? Have you ever been caught in a wrong fact by a reader? What's the most interesting fact you came across when researching a novel?
Joe sez: The problem with research is it can become its own procrastination technique. You search for something necessary for your WIP, and four clicks later you're reading about the ecological issues facing Guam (and I hope they get that coconut rhinoceros beetle infestation under control.)
It is incredibly easy to lose focus on writing and go on data quests that lead to nowhere. Here are some tricks I use.
- Turn off the Internet while writing.
- Type "research here" where you need research in your book, then keep writing and come back to it later.
- Use a desktop timer and don't leave your WIP for more than five minutes before returning.
- Write what you know rather than what you have to learn. For example, if you know Glocks, give your character a Glock. Why give them a Sig, which you've never shot before?
Also remember that it is very tempting to infodump when you learn about a subject you find interesting. Resist the urge. Long, blocky paragraphs of information aren't interesting to anyone other than the researcher, and showing off by regurgitating everything you learned abut a particular subject tends to make readers skip those parts. Good for you that you learned how to build a nuclear submarine. Unless that's essential to the plot, pare it down to what info is absolutely necessary to move the plot forward.
Anyone else have research tips?


text:
Buying, building and using brewing equipment and apparatus. Product reviews and questions.
Moderator: slothrob
2 posts • Page 1 of 1
Can a refractometer be used on hot wort to judge gravities? Thanx.
- kovoucat
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 7:02 pm
Re: refractometer
You still want to cool the wort to RT for the refractometer reading, since density will change with temperature and a hot reading will read low. Luckily, the volume is so small it cools very quickly. I pull a small amount into a dropper, set it aside for a minute (which might be overkill), then drop it onto the refractometer. I always check the refractometer a second time, after it has cooled a few seconds longer, just to make sure that the reading was taken while the temperature was stable.
BTP v2.0.* Windows XP
- Moderator
- Posts: 1834
- Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2006 1:36 pm
- Location: Greater Boston
2 posts • Page 1 of 1
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 18 guests


text:
Acupuncture clinic opens in SF
ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE Chinese Hospital opens a clinic in S.F., joining other Bay Area medical centers that are now offering the nontraditional therapy
In a clinic on the edge of San Francisco's bustling downtown, Rochelle Germano leaned back in a cushioned chair and shut her eyes. The only sounds filling the dim room were the recorded melodies of string instruments and birds.
A woman crouched next to Germano and stuck acupuncture needles, one by one, into her knees, pinky toes, stomach and right hand.
At 29, Germano looks too young and healthy to have any serious ailments, but she said she often suffers from headaches, neck pain and tense muscles. She found relief when she started acupuncture therapy at East West Health Services, a clinic that Chinese Hospital opened in December.
"You can feel it once they start putting needles in," said Germano, a Haight-Ashbury resident and a public outreach manager for a consulting firm, on a recent morning that marked her fourth weekly visit. "You can feel your body letting things out."
Germano is a newcomer to the treatment that originated in China more than 2,000 years ago. But she's got a lot of company - acupuncture may be ancient, but it's now taking off in the United States.
In 2002, 2 million U.S. adults used acupuncture, according to the National Health Interview Survey. In 2007, that figure rose to an estimated 3 million people.
Bay Area businesses are capitalizing on that demand. By setting up shop a few blocks from the Financial District, Chinese Hospital hopes to attract customers who, like Germano, have never tried the therapy.
Two years ago, Highland Hospital in Oakland began to offer acupuncture, becoming what it believes is the first public medical center in the U.S. to do so. The waiting list is two months long.
Insurance coverage
Changing insurance policies could increase demand even more. Starting in 2014, the practice will be covered by some insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act and considered an essential health benefit in California.
But despite how mainstream the treatment has become, experts still clash over whether its perceived benefits are valid.
"There's still a lot we do not know," said Maria Chao, a UCSF assistant professor who specializes in complementary and alternative medicine.
Over the last few decades, many Western physicians have joined acupuncture practitioners in their belief that the therapy helps patients with conditions as varied as arthritis, cancer and infertility. But skeptics contend that any sense of healing is likely a placebo effect.
Acupuncture is centered on the premise that the body is divided into roughly 14 sections, or meridians, through which energy - known in Chinese as chi - flows. Practitioners say that disruptions of this flow cause illness, and thin needles inserted into certain points in the skin can clear imbalances.
The treatment is widely used to treat chronic pain, and in a study published in October in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers determined that it helped nearly 18,000 patients with back and neck pain, osteoarthritis, chronic headaches and shoulder pain.
After analyzing 29 randomized controlled trials, the researchers found that patients who received acupuncture for each condition reported feeling less pain than those who received no acupuncture.
They also felt less pain than those who underwent sham acupuncture, which involves inserting needles in spots that aren't supposed to cure the intended condition or aren't acupuncture points. That difference indicates that true acupuncture is "more than a placebo," the authors said.
Other studies are less supportive. In a 2006 study in Germany that involved 1,000 patients with knee osteoarthritis, 53 percent of those who underwent acupuncture reported that their pain subsided. But there was virtually no difference between them and the 51 percent of patients who said they felt better after a sham treatment, according to the researchers.
However, relatively few patients, just 29 percent, said they benefited from trips to the doctor and no acupuncture.
So acupuncture - even if it's not correctly done - seems to work better in some cases than traditional medicine, said Dr. Andy Avins, a research scientist at Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research in Oakland.
"We're left with this dilemma of, 'Well, it seems to provide a benefit to patients, but it's probably a placebo effect,' " he said. "We don't use placebos in clinic. Should we or should we not provide this to patients?"
Gray area
Chao at UCSF believes that acupuncture's positive effects are clear, but its mechanisms are not.
"Whether or not one acupuncture point makes a difference versus another acupuncture point, what are the actual physiological effects of when a needle goes through skin or when it doesn't - things like that are still very much a gray area," she said.
Proponents of the therapy say it cannot be tested and measured, at least not in a way that would meet the standards of Western science. Each session is tailored to a patient's discomforts and desires, so a set of needles in one person wouldn't necessarily have the same effect it would in someone else.
More than a placebo
"In Chinese medicine, if you're doing it for real, it does not fit into the confines of the structure of a modern study," said Ken Rosenberg, an acupuncturist at California Pacific Medical Center's Institute for Health and Healing.
During his nine years of seeing patients, Rosenberg said, he has grown to have no doubts about acupuncture and believes there is something more than a placebo effect at work.
"I have patients come in and say, 'Listen, I've had bad back pain for two years, I don't believe in this, I don't want to be here, someone convinced me to try it, it's not going to work,' " he said. "And they leave converts."
The converts appear to be growing at Highland Hospital in Oakland, where demand for acupuncture is so great it's hard to lock down an appointment.
The hospital started offering the service to inpatients in 2011 and expanded it to outpatients in July 2012. Doctors and volunteer acupuncturists say they treat about 50 patients a month and have seen more than 400 overall. Plans to add other Eastern therapies, such as meditation and tai chi, are in the works.
"Acupuncture has really minimized the side effects of patients (in order) to tolerate pain or tolerate drugs better," said Dr. Amy Matecki, who helped start the program as director of the hospital's International Center for Integrative Medicine.
Across the bay in San Francisco, the new Chinese Hospital clinic is located in an alley near the Financial District, in a spot meant to draw both downtown workers who may be new to acupuncture and Chinese neighbors who have long depended on the therapy. The hospital is wary of encroaching on the small acupuncture outposts that have long populated Chinatown, said Chelsea Mao, the clinic's program development manager.
Germano, who is one of its first customers, says she knows that scientists don't agree on acupuncture. But that doesn't bother her, because the results - soothed muscles - feel real.
Besides, she noted, acupuncture has more than 2,000 years of history on its side.
"If people have been doing it for so many years," she said, "it's probably a benefit or they would've stopped."
Stephanie M. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Twitter: @stephaniemlee


text:
Contact: Murray Shoemaker, 970-586-1443
Rocky Mountain National Park continues to incrementally reopen. The Alpine Ridge and Tundra Communities Trails, as well as the Forest Canyon Overlook, all located above tree line on Trail Ridge Road, are now open to park visitors.
Trail Ridge Road is open to both east and west bound visitor traffic and the communities of Grand Lake and Estes Park are open and welcoming visitors. This morning, Trail Ridge Road was temporarily closed due to snow and ice, but is now reopened. Because weather conditions may change rapidly, particularly in spring and fall, park visitors should be prepared to adjust travel plans accordingly and are encouraged to call the park's Trail Ridge Road recorded status line at 970-586-1222. Highway 7 is now open to all traffic, so commercial traffic is once again prohibited on Trail Ridge Road.
To clarify: those wishing to access Rocky Mountain National Park from the east should leave Interstate 70 at exit 243, follow State Highway 119 north from the Blackhawk area to Nederland. Then follow State Highway 72 to Highway 7. Follow Highway 7 north to Estes Park. A GPS may not show this route, so consider using a paper map.
If you are coming from the west, take Highway 34 north from Granby to Grand Lake where you will enter the park via Trail Ridge Road. Park staff continues to examine the condition of facilities and trails to determine which areas can be reopened. Debris is being removed and facilities cleaned where needed. A Facilities Management team arrives today to begin assessing the scope and scale of the flood damage and risk to park facilities, roads, and infrastructure as an initial step in determining long-term repair and rehabilitation needs.
Nearly all Rocky Mountain National Park employees who were evacuated from in- park housing are now back in their residences.
Rocky Mountain National Park is rendering assistance to other agencies when possible. Yesterday, the park provided a front end loader, rock, material, and technical expertise to the Bureau of Reclamation to address some slope stability problems at the East Portal of the Alva B. Adams Tunnel. The park's Environmental Education staff is assisting a local school that isn't yet fully functional by providing curriculum based educational programs.
Acting Intermountain Regional Director Laura Joss and Deputy Regional Director of Operations Colin Campbell will be in the park today inspecting recovery operations.
For Rocky Mountain National Park information, call the park's Information Office at 970-586-1206.
Last updated: February 24, 2015


text:
The 5-5-5 Rule That Helps Cisco Outsource IT Implementation Successfully
Almost every weekend, Cisco implements 25-30 projects upgrading our core network infrastructure, involving sites around the world. These network projects run from simple office moves and partner connections to complex technology upgrades and acquisition integrations. They also include all the changes that are part of the Cisco IT fleet management program, where we regularly review the network infrastructure at each of our 500+ sites for needed upgrades, and schedule the upgrade cycles. This upgrading work is distributed, detailed, and involves repeatable processes, which makes it ideal for outsourcing: but there are tricks to handing off responsibility while maintaining extremely high standards.
Previously, our own Cisco IT engineers performed this work, which meant we had many expert employees who we were put on planes all the time. This led to problems with employee burnout, and we would lose their experience when they inevitably moved to another job that required less travel. Also, because we were always focused on the next project, we were often too relaxed about documenting the processes and lessons learned from current work so that we could apply them in the future.
Today, we follow standardized processes with our in-region outsourced partners, who actually perform much of the implementation work for us – once we establish the standard implementation plan together. At the core of these processes is our "5-5-5 Rule" for a new IT project that is implemented in multiple sites:
- The first 5 (or for larger projects the first 5%) are pilot implementations where the work is done by Cisco IT design and implementation engineers based on their detailed knowledge of the upgrade design and plans. Engineers from the outsourced partner observe Cisco IT provisioning these pilots to begin their training and to develop detailed documentation for use by their own local teams when they take over the implementation activity.
- The next 5 (or 5%) of implementations are performed jointly by Cisco IT and outsourced partner staff, and together we review and update the cookbook documentation.
- The final 5 (or 5%) of site implementations are performed by the partner staff with Cisco IT staff observing to verify that the partner is ready to take over project responsibility. At this point we finish reviewing and approving all documentation, processes, schedules, and hand off the rest of the work to our partners.
This 5-5-5 rule is beneficial for both Cisco IT and our outsourced partners in several ways:
- We transfer knowledge from our Cisco IT engineers to the high-level partner engineers who can in turn transfer that information to their teams in ways that are appropriate for that organization. This sometimes encourages our engineers to improve the process, because you learn a lot about a process when you're teaching it to someone else.
- Because the outsourced partners are preparing for their contracted work, they produce better and more detailed project documentation than what Cisco IT might develop on its own.
- We learn from our partners, too. We get feedback from the outsourced partners about improvements in design or implementation, and can adopt these improvements into future Cisco IT projects.
Following this rule produces a good learning experience for everyone. For example, there are things that the outsourcer's engineers ask that our internal engineers wouldn't necessarily think about. This approach also allows Cisco IT to avoid the difficult task of providing and maintaining a suite of detailed documentation for an external vendor to perform the job successfully.
By following the 5-5-5 Rule, we are able to keep up the pace of implementing nearly 2000 IT projects per year. And it helps our implementation partners work more effectively, which benefits partners, Cisco IT, and ultimately, the users we serve.
In an effort to keep conversations fresh, Cisco Blogs closes comments after 60 days. Please visit the Cisco Blogs hub page for the latest content.


text:
Joe sez: Before I begin a major rant about why I'm quitting the legacy publishing industry, I'm handing the blog over to my friend, Melinda DuChamp, who has something interesting to say. Here's Melinda...
Melinda: I've written more than fifty novels in my career, most of them romances, and have been published by just about every major publisher. While I'm not a bestselling author, I have several million books in print, and I've had multi-book deals where I've gotten six figure advances.
Fifty Shades of Alice in Wonderland was the first erotic book I've written. While I've done graphic love scenes many times, they were always there to provide characterization and further the plot. In Fifty Shades of Alice, the love scenes were the plot. To be honest, I didn't know if I could pull it off. But, like many of my peers who have watched the sales of EL James with awe and more than a little envy, I thought I'd give it a try.
Joe suggested this guest blog when I told him how much I've earned on this book, because he thinks his readers might benefit from the knowledge. I've benefited often from the things Joe has disclosed on this blog (Joe is the reason I began self-publishing) so who am I to say no?
On July 23rd, I self-pubbed Alice on Amazon KDP, and enrolled it in the Select program. After two days, I'd only sold two copies, one to me (to check to see if it downloaded okay) and one to some stranger. Then I made it free for five days, from the 25th to the 30th of July.
The only promotion I did was the interview on Joe's blog. NYT bestseller Ruth Cardello was also kind enough to include Alice in a contest for her fans. Joe also was sweet enough to mention it on the Facebook page "What to Read After Fifty Shades of Grey" because I'm not on Facebook yet (I know! I know! I need to get on Facebook. I'm trying to become more like Joe and Ruth and get into social media, but I'm a Luddite and I was on a deadline for another book.)
Other than that, I didn't do anything to promote Alice. I figured it would sink or swim on its own merit.
So how did it do?
During the free period, I gave away 22,740 copies in the US and 10,255 in the UK and hit the Top 10 free list in each. That surprised me, because I'd done free promotions before but had never given away that many.
Did that translate to sales?
Alice has sold 3560 copies in the UK, and 2540 in the US (plus 1275 loans in the Kindle Owner's Lending Library) priced at $2.99.
Assuming the loans are $2 each, Alice has made close to $15,000 in the last 20 days. That's more than many of my advances. How did this happen? Was it Joe's blog? Ruth's contest? The Kindle Select free program? Carl Graves's amazing cover art? Piggybacking on EL James? All the good reviews it has gotten? All or some of the above?
Alice peaked at #194 in the US, and #56 in the UK. It is currently #643 and #208. At its peak, it was earning over $1,000 a day. Things have slowed down, but it is still outselling all of my other novels on Amazon.
Fifty Shades of Alice Through the Looking Glass is now available in the US and the UK for $2.99.
At the height of Alice's sales, I was fantasizing about money. What if I had twenty ebooks doing well instead of just one? Making $20,000 a day is almost impossible to comprehend. But is it really impossible?
I'm working on the third book in the Alice trilogy. When finished, I'll release it as a stand alone, and also package the trilogy as a set. So I'll have four ebooks (each individual title, and the combined collection.) If I did this four more times with four more trilogies, I'd have twenty ebooks for sale. With twenty for sale, I could have one ebook always free on KDP Select. Twenty ebooks at five days per free promo is one hundred days of free promo. KDP Select resets every three months, and then you can use the free promo again.
Writing twenty ebooks might seem like a daunting task. But remember, five of those are box sets, and each ebook is only around 30,000 words.
So in order to have 20 erotica ebooks, and one title always free, I only need to write 450,000 words. That's less than five full length-novels. Writing 2500 words per day, that's only six months of writing.
Half a year to write twenty ebooks? It sounds crazy, but it is entirely possible, even though I really believe $20k a day is a fantasy that can never happen. It's just too big a number. And who knows when the mommy porn bubble will burst?
Anyhoo, thank you everyone who has read the first Alice, and I hope you give the sequel a try! Also, thanks to Joe for the blog, and to Ruth Cardello for her unprecedented kindness to a complete stranger. BTW, Ruth is self-published, and recently hit the NYT Bestseller List with Bedding the Billionaire. Pick it up, it's fantastic!
Joe sez: First of all, congrats to Melinda on her success. I know how she's had some tough knocks during her long, legacy publishing career, and it's nice to see her make money.
(Also, congrats to Ruth Cardello, who just turned down a seven figure offer to stay indie. I'm sure that decision didn't come lightly. It took a lot of guts, and a lot of smarts, and Ruth has my highest respect. If my blog readers haven't bought her ebooks yet, they should.)
While I don't agree with Melinda that the mommy porn bubble will burst (because ebooks aren't a bubble) I do think it is unrealistic to plan on any ebook earning $1000 a day for an extended period of time. But I have made many times that amount per day, as has Ruth and many others, so I think Melinda might be onto something.
If she wrote 20 ebooks (15 titles and 5 collections) and each one earns only $150 a day, that's a million dollars a year. That's just 75 ebook sales and loans a day per title, and I've hit that number many times and for extended periods.
What I haven't done is hit that number on an ebook that is only 30k words long. My bestselling ebooks are full length novels. Readers don't buy my novellas nearly as frequently. But after studying erotica on Amazon (reviews, rankings, prices) for a few hours, I'm shocked by how many of these titles ebooks are doing well while still being short.
If I switched to erotica, I could put out four ebooks in the same time it would take me to write one thriller novel. I could do one 90k word thriller novel, priced at $2.99, which takes two months to write. Or in that same two months, I could write three 30k word erotica novellas, priced at $2.99 each, and price the collection at $7.99.
It seems like a no brainer, doesn't it? Same time to write, but I could more than quadruple my profits by writing mommy porn.
Now, I'm not suggesting everyone chase the erotica trend and start writing smut, especially since it isn't easy. I say this as a man who wrote sex scenes in many of my books, but those don't come close to what Melinda did. Chasing trends doesn't usually work, because readers can tell when the writer's heart isn't in it.
But if you think you can write erotica, now seems to be the time to give it a shot. I've written in many different genres, and each time I try something new it's a learning experience. It's always worthwhile to experiment, even if it is just to learn your limitations.
Something else seems to be happening in this business that I find interesting. In the recent past, no legacy publisher would ever touch a self-published book, claiming it had already burned through its audience. But more and more indie authors are getting legacy offers. In the past, writers would spend months querying agents and publishers, hoping to get a book picked up. These days, agents and publishers are trolling the bestseller lists, looking for indie books to buy.
While it is tempting to take a seven figure deal a legacy publisher might offer, think long and hard about what your goals are before taking the money and running. A million bucks seems nice, but if it is for three books, and your agent gets 15%, you're only taking home $283k per title. Sure, that's a lot of money. But then that legacy publisher owns those books forever, while only giving you 14.9% royalties. Instead you could own those books, forever, making 70%.
If you average selling 57 copies of an ebook, per day, you'll make $250k in six years. In a global market, that's entirely possible. And if you somehow managed to get on the bestseller lists as an indie, a hot title can make $50k a month.
Let's break it down another way. To make $250k on your own, you need to sell 125k ebooks at $2.99. To make $250k as a legacy pubbed author, you need to sell 500k ebooks at $6.99 (that's making 14.9% royalties, or 17.5% of the list price minus agent's commission.) Guess which is easier to do?
But Joe! Legacy publishers also print books!
Yes, they do. But print sales continue to fall each year, while ebook sales rise. Legacy publishers have begun "ebook only" publishing lines. As more bookstores close, fewer and fewer print books will sell, both the number of titles and number of copies per title. If Barnes & Noble goes under in the next 5 years, do you want your book held hostage by a legacy deal that will never earn out?
For that nice advance, you're giving up control over your title, your cover, and your price, forever. And it will be much more difficult to earn out that advance when you're making 1/4 of what you would self-publishing, especially when your ebook is priced too high.
Know your goals, know the risks, and act appropriately. I've been turning down foreign deals because I realize I'll lose money in the long run. It makes more sense for me to translate those titles myself.
So would I ever take a legacy deal? Let me put it this way. If a legacy publisher made me a giant offer, it would only be because I had a huge hit self-pubbing. There is no way in hell I'd ever sign over the rights of a hit book to a publisher. I've worked with three legacy publishers. I'd rather get my teeth drilled out than work with those folks again, because that would be less painful, even with a million dollar check.
Bullshit Joe! You'd take the money and run!
No, I wouldn't. In fact, if I haven't burned all of those potential bridges already, allow me to do so right now:
When in the Course of publishing events, it becomes necessary for writers to sever their ties with the industry that is supposed to have "nurtured" them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that we should declare the causes which impel those writers to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all writers should have an equal chance to find readers. That their successes or failures should be dependent upon their own actions and their own choices. That they should be paid fairly for their work. That they should have control over the works they produce. That they should have immediate and accurate access to their sales data. That they should be paid promptly. That they should not be restricted from reaching those who may enjoy their work. That whenever a publisher becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of Authors to abolish all connections with the offending parties.
The history of the legacy publishing industry is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over writers. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
They have given us take-it-or-leave-it, one-sided, unconscionable contracts.
They have failed to adequately market works they have acquired.
They have artificially inflated the price of ebooks.
They have refused to negotiate better ebook royalties for authors.
They have forced unnecessary editing changes on authors.
They have forced unnecessary title changes on authors.
They have forced crappy covers on authors.
They have refused to exploit rights they own.
They have refused to return rights they aren't properly exploiting.
They take far too long to bring acquired works to market.
They take far too long to pay writers advances and royalties.
Their royalty statements are opaque, out-of-date, and inaccurate.
They orphan authors.
They orphan books.
They refuse to treat authors as equals, let alone with a reasonable measure of fairness.
They make mistakes and take no responsibility for those mistakes.
For every hope they nurture, they unnecessarily neglect and destroy countless others.
They have made accessories of the authors' ostensible representative organization, the quisling Authors Guild, and are served, too, by the misleadingly named Association of Authors' Representatives.
They have failed to honor promises made.
They have failed to honor their own onerous contract terms.
They've failed the vast majority of authors, period.
This blog has documented nearly every stage of these Oppressions, and in many cases offered solutions to publishers, and has been answered with only silence and derision.
But that's okay. Because now authors have a choice.
I don't need legacy publishing, and I will never be taken advantage of again. I declare myself independent of the entire archaic, broken, corrupt system.
And I won't be the last to do so.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)


text:
2005 NCAC Golf Championship Set for Weekend Play in Atticaby Brent Harris • April 28, 2005 Share:
Forty-five golfers and nine teams will vie for honors at the 2005 North Coast Athletic Conference Men's Golf Championship this weekend.
Wabash College is serving as host of the annual event for the first time. The Little Giants - along with Allegheny, Denison, Hiram, Kenyon, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan, Wittenberg, and Wooster – all hope to take home the 2005 title.
Ohio Wesleyan is the three-time defending champion. The Battling Bishops won last year's title by 14 strokes over Denison University. Allegheny senior Darren Eades is back after finishing second in last year's individual competition to medalist and NCAC Player of the Year Chad Poling from OWU. Poling finished with a 147, shooting 76 the first day and an even par 71 on day two. Eades was one stroke back in the final tally with a 148 after finishing with twin 74's. Wittenberg's Andy Bonar, Wooster's Andy Van Horn, and OWU's Justin Schroeder should also be in contention again this year for the individual title after finishing tied for third last year with a 151.
Wabash had its best finish since joining the NCAC in the 2004 tournament. The Little Giants fired a two-day total of 658 to take fifth in the final team standings, narrowly edging Wooster by a stroke. Aaron Selby (Crawfordsville, IN/Southmont) fired a 73 on the second day at Dornoch Golf Course to finish with a 168, tying teammate Elliot Vice (Ladoga, IN/Southmont) for 27th place overall. The top-five golfers in the individual standings earn First Team All-NCAC honors, while the next five are named to the Second Team All-Conference squad.
This year's tournament will take place at Attica's Harrison Hills Golf Course and Country Club. Tournament action began Thursday with practice rounds before the golfers started serious play at 9:30 a.m. Friday morning. The championship concludes Saturday with the first tee time slated for 9:30 a.m. Admission to the event is free of charge.
This will be the third NCAC event hosted by Wabash. The 2001 NCAC Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships were held at North Montgomery High School, and the 2004 NCAC Relays took place last year in the Knowling Fieldhouse on the Wabash campus.
Photos (Top to bottom) - Elliot Vice talks to Wabash Athletics Hall of Famer and Assistant Golf Coach Bill Locker '69.
Junior Aaron Selby drains a put during a practice round.
Starter Steve Hoffman '85 with Kenyon's Jesse Winterer and Oberlin's Saul Flores before the start of the tournament.


text:
Lifetime ban no more? The former head coach of the Finnish cross-country team Kari-Pekka Kyrö, who was at the epicenter of his team's doping scandal at the 2001 Lahti World Championships, may be a free agent after the Finnish Ski Federation recently overturned his lifetime ban, Ski-Lines reported on Sunday.
But first, that decision must be approved by Finland's Anti-Doping Agency and the International Ski Federation (FIS). According to FIS Secretary General Sarah Lewis, in such cases, FIS trusts the national federations' decisions.
Under Kyrö, six Finnish skiers — Janne Immonen, Jari Isometsä, Harri Kirvesniemi, Mika Myllylä, Milla Jauho, and Virpi Kuitunen — tested positive for banned substances, allegedly used to disguise their use of erythropoietin (EPO). As part of his punishment, Kyrö had to pay a fine for importing illegal drugs into his country.
"All these years, it was very hard," Kyrö, 52, said. "This [coaching] is the only profession in which I have a degree and I know. In social and professional terms, it was a very severe punishment."


text:
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Barn Notes 4-2-2009
Cool Gator Could Heat Up April for Orseno
With a five-win day last year Joe Orseno earned the distinction of being the leading trainer in the month of April at Gulfstream Park. This year the focus will be slightly different and he hopes Garland Williamson's Cool Gator can start the month in a big way in the $100,000 Skip Away Stakes (G3) Saturday.
"Instead of winning five in one day, we're going to try and win as many stakes as we can," said Orseno as he mapped out plans for two or three of his best horses.
"He's doing good and going in the right direction," said Orseno. "That's his distance for sure. It just took him all winter to come around, but he seems to be on his way to becoming the horse we had hoped he would be. It's just taken a race or two to put it together."
Cool Gator failed to fire in his seasonal debut going a mile on the main track here Jan. 10. He then loped toward the back of a nine-furlong turf race on Jan. 28 before perking up somewhat when third behind Sudden War going 1 ½ miles in another turf allowance Mar. 6.
Orseno also entered Cool Gator in a long distance turf race on Saturday's card that failed to draw enough competitors, but the trainer isn't looking at the stakes attempt as a 'Plan B.'
"The main thing is giving him the chance at a distance like this," he said. "I am not against running him back on the dirt."
While a steady stream of horse vans have turned the back corner of the Gulfstream barn area into a quieter place, Orseno's barn is still stocked and bustling, including two fillies with stakes on their agenda.
Reata Thoroughbred Racing Farm's 4-year-old filly Reata's Vixen is pointing to the $50,000 South Beach Stakes on Sat., Apr. 11 at 7 ½ furlongs on the turf. Capital Hill Thoroughbreds and Team Five Star's 3-year-old filly Miss Blakely will take to the turf on Sat. Apr. 18 in the $50,000 Boynton Beach Stakes in the final stakes of the season.
Orseno also reported long-distance specialist Phil the Power, owned by John Perrotta, will get some time off after wrenching an ankle when sixth in the Challenger Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Mar. 7.
"I had been putting him in 'main track only' every time, but he never got a chance," said Orseno. "I was hoping to catch a break in the Pan Am (Pan American Stakes (G3) on Mar.21), but I had to get him a race and we sent him to Tampa. Wouldn't you know it, the Pan Am comes off the turf."
Pletcher & McPeek Tied: Lezcano Moves on Lead
Trainer Todd Pletcher sent out Peachtree Stable's 4-year-old Polo Argentina to win the last race Wednesday at Gulfstream Park to draw into a tie for the lead in the standings with Ken McPeek at 26 victories apiece as he bids for a sixth straight meet championship here.
Following the top two in the trainers standings are Nick Zito third with 21 wins, Wesley Ward fourth with 16 after sending out the winner of the first race for 2-year-olds this season on Wednesday's program and nine-time Gulfstream titlist Bill Mott and Peter Walder remain in a tie for fifth with 14 tallies each.
Jockey Jose Lezcano won two races on Wednesday's card to move to within one of the lead in the rider standings and a heavy favorite to take the title as each of the other top five jockeys in the standings currently have moved on to Kentucky and/or New York. Kent Desormeaux leads with 48 victories, one more than Lezcano and John R. Velazquez tied for second at 47.
Gulfstream-Raced 3-Year-Olds Spreading Out
The climax of the Gulfstream Park season came last Saturday with Edward P. Evans' Quality Road defeating Susan Magnier and partners' Dunkirk in the $750,000 Florida Derby (G1) and the winner is now widely-regarded as the favorite for the Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs on Sat., May 2.
Four graded-stakes races for 3-year-olds, three likely to produce contenders for the Kentucky Derby, will be run this Saturday across the country and each will have prospects that raced at Gulfstream earlier this season, including five of the eight entered in the $750,000 Wood Memorial (G1) at Aqueduct.
Entered in the Wood are Sequoia Racing's Imperial Council (Shug McGaughey), Robert LaPenta's Just a Coincidence (Nick Zito), Dogwood Stable's Lime Rickey (Frank Alexander) and Lori and George Hall's West Side Bernie and Atomic Rain (Kelly Breen).
Three other sophomores with Gulfstream experience will line-up for the $500,000 Illinois Derby (G2) at Hawthorne in Chicago – WinStar Stable's Al Khali (Todd Pletcher), My Meadowview Stable's Nowhere to Hide (Zito) and Silver Wing Stable and partners' Free Country (Ken McPeek).
Entered in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby (G1) and raced at Gulfstream earlier this year are Starlight Stable's Take the Points (Pletcher) and Zayat Stable's Z Day (formerly Rick Dutrow – transferred to Mike Mitchell).
Three others with Gulfstream races this year in their past performances are entered in the $150,000 Bay Shore Stakes (G3) to be run at seven furlongs on the Wood Memorial undercard at Aqueduct – Joseph Rauch and David Zell's Capt. Candyman Can (Ian Wilkes), Live Oak Plantation's Rocketing Return (Zito) and Shadwell Stable's Taqarub (Kiaran McLaughlin).
Read more articles in the Gulfstream category.


text:
U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission
Questions about an applicant's religious affiliation or beliefs (unless the religion is a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ)), are generally viewed as non job-related and problematic under federal law.
Religious corporations, associations, educational institutions, or societies are exempt from the federal laws that EEOC enforces when it comes to the employment of individuals based on their particular religion. In other words, an employer whose purpose and character is primarily religious is permitted to lean towards hiring persons of the same religion. This exception relieves religious organizations only from the ban on employment discrimination based on religion. It does not exempt such organizations from employing individuals due to their race, gender, national origin, disability, color, and/or age. Other employers should avoid questions about an applicant's religious affiliation, such as place of worship, days of worship, and religious holidays and should not ask for references from religious leaders, e.g., minister, rabbi, priest, imam, or pastor.


text:
My friends and I went to the street fair this weekend. There's a bunch of artists and crafters that come from different areas of Minnesota, ND, and SD, etc… My favorite ones to look at are the photography booths. Normally, I don't end up buying any of the art. I go straight to all the food vendors.
Don't you just love fair food? Cheese curds, fried bread tacos, kettle corn, gyros, etc… I had a fried bread taco and pina colada smoothie. That pina colada smoothie was so good and hit the spot, because it was hot and humid. I think all we did was complain about how hot it was when we were there.
At the street fair they had cheesecake on a stick. That intrigued me to make my own version. It's kind of a long but easy process. You make a batch of cheesecake and freeze it. Or… if you're really lazy like I am sometimes or don't want to heat up your house baking cheesecake, go to the store and get a frozen one. Melt some chocolate in the microwave and dip the cheese cake in whatever you like. Sound simple enough, you don't really need a recipe for that. 😉
Next, I might attempt to make my own gyros.
2 1/3 less fat cream cheese
2 eggs
3/4 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
4 tablespoons of melted butter
2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips
popsicle sticks
coocnut, sprinkles, or any candy topping you want.
In a stand mixer beat cream cheese and sugar and grdually add the eggs and vanilla. Crush graham crackers in zip lock bag and crush them with a rolling pin or your food professor. Add the melted butter.
In an 8 in baking dish add the graham crust first and then the cream cheese mixture. I baked mine at 350 for about an hour.
Once the cheese cake has cooled. Divide evenly and place a popsicle
stick in there. You can make small or larger pieces.
Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave and dip the cheese cake
in the chocolate. Coat with coconut, sprinkles, or whatever you chose.


text:
| WMU News
KALAMAZOO—An upcoming conference and lecture at Western Michigan University featuring a Johns Hopkins public health practitioner will address the serious health disparities that afflict particularly poor and minority members of American society.
The inequality of health will be examined Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 20-21, at the Burian University-Community Lecture and the Diversity and Inclusion: Preparing Ourselves to Advance Health Equity Conference. The conference is presented by the WMU College of Health and Human Services Committee on Diversity and Inclusion.
Dr. Brian K. Gibbs, assistant professor of general internal medicine at Johns Hopkins University, will present the Burian Lecture at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20, in the Fetzer Center's Kirsch Auditorium. His presentation, titled "Health Inequality: Barriers, Challenges and Solutions," is free and open to the public.
Brian K. Gibbs
Gibbs, a former occupational therapist with 30 years of experience in reducing health disparities, recently served as associate dean for diversity and cultural competence with responsibility for all matters of cultural diversity for Johns Hopkins Medicine. Formerly a senior research scientist in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health, Gibbs founded and directed the Program to Eliminate Health Disparities.
Gibbs also has served as the center director, community outreach and intervention core director and co-investigator for two NIH-National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities Centers of Excellence and co-authored the Commonwealth Fund's State Policy Agenda to Eliminate Health Disparities in Massachusetts.
In addition to delivering the Burian Lecture, Gibbs also will be the keynote speaker at the conference the following day. His conference presentation is from 8:45 to 9:45 a.m. in 4010 College of Health and Human Services Building.
Gibbs' address is one of many activities taking place during the conference, running from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Concurrent sessions, beginning at 10 a.m. after Gibbs speaks, will address such issues as Internet-based nutrition education and increasing access to health for clients in the Women, Infants and Children program, using community organizing to break the barriers of health inequality, promoting health literacy, infant mortality, fairness and equity in mental health treatment, migrant health issues and other related topics.
Glaring disparities reported
The conference comes at a time when disparities in health have become increasingly glaring. A 2011 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that life expectancy and overall health have improved in recent years for most Americans, but not for all segments of the population. Health disparities are evident between rich and poor, black and white and the highly educated and not highly educated. For example, infants born to black U.S. women are up to three times more likely to die than those born to white or Asian-American women.
Advance reservations for the Burian Lecture only are not required, but are appreciated by going to mywmu.com/burianlectures or calling (269) 387-2663. Established in memory of Bill Burian, the founding dean of the WMU College of Health and Human Services, the Burian University-Community Lecture series brings members of the community and University together to interact with leaders in the field, focusing on the qualities of health and human services that were the essence of Burian's mission.
Registration for the conference and keynote address is required and can be made online at mywmu.com/healthequity or by calling (269) 387-8897.


text:
DEAR ABBY: My daughter, "Renee," is 25 and is an intelligent and independent woman with a good job. She has been in a relationship with her boyfriend, "Bryan," for 6 1/2 years. They have been living together for the past two years.
Bryan is nice and has a decent job, and I like him. However, there is virtually no conversation between them about what their future together holds. Renee would like to get engaged, but she refuses to bring anything up to Bryan for fear that he will feel "pushed." She wants it to happen with no prodding. I maintain that it's perfectly acceptable to ask where he sees their relationship going.
At this point, I'd like to take Bryan aside and say that I love my daughter and would like to know what his intentions are. Is that totally inappropriate in this day and age? I worry she may be throwing away her best years on a dead-end relationship.
I know Renee would not be happy if I approached Bryan with this. Should I just keep my mouth shut and let her handle it? -- MAMA ON A MISSION
DEAR MAMA: You are well-meaning, but this is one mission your daughter must complete for herself. Please tell her that after a relationship of six years -- and living together for two of them -- having a rational discussion with Bryan would not be "pushy." In fact, it's the intelligent thing to do. He may have commitment issues. Or he may need the "nudge." And frankly, if the romance is leading nowhere, Renee needs to know that an engagement to him is not in her future before she invests any more time.
DEAR ABBY: My niece is engaged to a really nice guy who is obviously gay and in denial because of his religion. My brother and his wife ignore it because, according to them, being gay is a "sin." This couple has been out of high school for two years. They are also both virgins, which is unusual.
I had a gathering at my home, and some gay friends attended. They noticed that he was gay and mentioned it to me. Should I just stand by and keep my mouth shut? -- UNSURE IN NEW JERSEY
DEAR UNSURE: Yes, you should. Unless you are 100 percent sure the man is, in fact, gay, you should keep your feelings to yourself. Your niece's fiance may be an effeminate straight man. And your gay friends' "gaydar" may have given them a false reading at your gathering.
DEAR ABBY: I have developed a horrible crush on my kids' tennis instructor. I am very happily married and would never, ever cheat on my husband, but this man makes my heart race. My kids and I spend a fair amount of time with him, and I'm afraid it's starting to show.
By the way, I'm pretty sure my feelings are reciprocated. What to do? -- CRUSHING MOM IN THE SOUTH
DEAR CRUSHING MOM: It's not a question of what you should do, but rather what you should not do. Do not act on your feelings, do not spend time alone with him and do not tell anyone about it. Enjoy feeling like you are 16, and take your kids home after their lesson. In time, the feeling will fade -- particularly if they develop an interest in another sport.
For an excellent guide to becoming a better conversationalist and a more sociable person, order "How to Be Popular." Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $7 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Popularity Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)


text:
Determined Mouse Fights Like Heck to Get His Hard-Earned Cracker [VIDEO]
We're always being told the importance of never giving up.
Now, a mouse is getting in on this valuable life lesson.
In this video, a mouse that found a cracker refuses to let his dreams of enjoying a cracker, well, crumble. The creature finds the cracker and is unwavering in its quest to haul it over a ledge that stands in his way.
We'll try not to ruin the ending for you, but suffice to say this is probably the most delicious piece of food this mouse has ever tasted.


text:
Accessibility Help Home | Section 504 Overview
SSA Section 504 Overview
SSA is committed to ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to access our programs, activities, and facilities, regardless of disability, in accordance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Section 504's relevant implementing regulations, 45 C.F.R. Part 85 (Part 85). Section 504 prohibits Federal agencies and programs that receive Federal funding from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities. Part 85 specifies the actions we must take to ensure we do not discriminate against individuals with disabilities.
Introducing the Center for Section 504 Compliance
Nancy A. Berryhill, the Social Security Administration's Acting Commissioner, is committed to maintaining and improving our service to individuals with disabilities. Accordingly, we are pleased to announce the establishment of our Center for Section 504 Compliance. The Center will serve as our focal point for Section 504 activities. It will implement new program enhancements and provide guidance to our offices to ensure that we provide meaningful access to our programs to otherwise qualified customers who have disabilities. Individuals with disabilities may request accommodations that will enable them to participate in or derive the benefits of our programs. The Center will oversee the accommodation request process.
In addition to assisting our offices, the Center is available to assist advocates, the public, and other agencies through our Toll-Free Number, 1-844-881-9061. Our business hours are Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (except Federal holidays).
Laws and Regulations
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, As Amended
Section 504, Rehabilitation Act of 1973
Section 504 Regulation
45 C.F.R. Part 85
Section 504 Business Process Vision
Part 85 requires SSA to evaluate our current policies and practices, including our programs, activities, and facilities, to ensure that we comply with Section 504 and 45 C.F.R. Part 85. The Section 504 Business Process Vision outlines the actions we are taking to implement many of the self-evaluation key findings and recommendations.Business Process Vision Business Process Vision-Text only
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Web Page and Document Accessibility Policy
Special Notice Option
Reasonable Accommodation Procedures - Employment
Notice of Rights
If you believe that SSA, an SSA employee, an SSA contractor, or an agent of SSA discriminated against you, someone you know, or a class of people in connection with an SSA program or activity, and you believe that the discrimination was based on race, color, national origin (including English language ability), religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, or in retaliation for your having participated in a proceeding under this complaint process, you may file a complaint or have a representative file a complaint on your behalf.
SSA-437 (English Version) - Complaint Form for Allegations of Discrimination in Programs or Activities Conducted by the Social Security Administration
SSA-437 (Spanish Version) - Complaint Form for Allegations of Discrimination in Programs or Activities Conducted by the Social Security Administration


text:
The Son's Anger
The humble and meek Jesus whom most people will embrace is also the holy and wrathful Jesus whom most people would rather forget. When we present the Gospel to non-believers, let us never forget to tell them that if they ...Read More
The Son's Anger
A day is coming when all people will bow before Christ Jesus. At that point, His reign, which is a reality now, will be made completely visible. On that day, some will rejoice to see the return of the King ...Read More


text:
Cheap Flights to Akulivik in 2019
Compare cheap flights from to Akulivik to get the cheapest flights and best air ticket deals with Skyscanner
As a travel search engine, Skyscanner will help you to find cheap flights and great prices for your next vacation - without adding any fees, or influencing the results. We compare hundreds of flights from all major airlines and travel agents, so that you get the best deal for your needs when you travel to Akulivik.
Looking for the best time to book cheap flights to Akulivik?
- Use our 'Best Time to Book' tool, to make sure you're getting the best price for your flight tickets to Akulivik.
- Track the price of flights to Akulivik by registering for Skyscanner Price Alerts.
- If your travel dates are flexible, then our 'whole month' search tool will help you find the cheapest day to travel.
- If you our after last minute flights, our guide to finding last minute deals will help you get to Akulivik for less.
The Skyscanner flight tracker: Monitor your flight status to Akulivik with our free app!
With the Skyscanner App you can get essential flight updates.
We'll track your flight information and let you know the latest schedule information and any changes to information for your journey to Akulivik.
Looking to book a hotel or rent a car for when you arrive at Akulivik?
If you are still in need of a hotel, or would like to give yourself the freedom to roam during your stay, why not try our car rental search or hotel search? We will compare the full range of hotels and car rental providers to find you the best deals from Akulivik. Try it today:
- Search and compare hotels for the best deals near Akulivik.
- Compare our range of car rental providers at Akulivik.
Cheapest flights to Akulivik from Canada
Flexible where you fly? Search nearby airports for bigger savings.
Airports near Akulivik
- Povungnituk
103 km from Akulivik
- Ivujivik
179 km from Akulivik
- Salluit
204 km from Akulivik
- Inukjuak
266 km from Akulivik
- Kangiqsujuaq
343 km from Akulivik
Prices shown on this page are estimated lowest prices only. Found in the last 45 days.