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The Small Business Blueprint to Marketing on Twitter
This guide will teach you everything from earning your first followers to getting the most out of Twitter's advertising platform.Start reading
11 chapters
1. Introduction2 min
Get acquainted with the platform and learn how to use Twitter for business. From marketing to sales to community engagement, Twitter can help you grow your business.
2. Identifying Objectives2 min
Make a plan before getting started. Find the right people and audiences with Twitter Advanced Search, do some competitor research to see what's missing!
3. Setting Up Your Account3 min
It's easy to create a Twitter account. This chapter will guide you on how to setup a Twitter account so you can get started instantly.
4. Navigating Twitter3 min
Twitter 101: Here you learn the Twitter basics so you can get tweeting and engaging with your audience.
5. Engaging on Twitter6 min
Twitter posts can be daunting at first because you might not know what to tweet. Twitter best practices leads to Twitter engagement so it's best to start with the basics.
6. Building an Audience5 min
How to get followers on Twitter has always been a challenge. That said, there's a simple answer: quality content. We'll walk through what makes great Tweets and what turns users into followers.
7. Twitter Advertising 1014 min
Ad creative, targeting and analytics - everything you need to know about Twitter Advertising in this simple, easy-to-grasp, Twitter Advertising 101 mini-guide.
8. Selling with Twitter2 min
Selling on Twitter is simple, effective way to sell to new audiences. Shopify's Twitter Buy Button makes it that much more easier.
9. Reviewing Twitter Analytics1 min
Twitter analytics are a powerful tool to guide your strategy and measure success. Twitter stats offer a wealth of insights on Twitter activity and your community.
10. Helpful Twitter Tools3 min
Twitter tools like a Twitter scheduler and Twitter analytics tool can help you focus on building great content. Here are some of the best Twitter Tools to maximize your investment.
11. Conclusion1 min
With these Twitter best practices, you can understand Twitter and start to build your small business Twitter strategy.
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Republican Tom Tancredo hops on his Harley in his latest video ad, where he takes a shot at his own party, Gov. John Hickenlooper and President Obama.
The spot opens with a Sam-Elliot sounding narrator saying, "He's the man of the people" as Tancredo — one of four Republicans running for governor of Colorado — rides up to the state Capitol only to find it locked.
"Tom Tancredo is used to not being the favorite of party bosses who got us in this mess," the announcer says in a not-so-sly reference to behind-the-scene efforts by Republicans to get Tancredo to drop out of the governor's race.

subset: commoncrawl


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The Best G-Rated Children's Movies
List Rules Add your favorite movie to the list if it's missing, but only if it's the correct rating.
This list takes the best G-Rated children's movies and pits them against each other to see once and for all which movie is truly the greatest of all time. These popular G-Rated films were all hits among kids and families, and they feature a range of top directors and actors. If you think the top G-Rated Children's movie isn't as high as it should be, then be sure to vote it up so it can take its rightful place among the other great films on this list. If you're trying to find a specific children's film, you can search this list and filter to find what you're looking for.
This list features movies like Toy Story and The Sound of Music—two movies that have stood the test of time, becoming kid favorites across the globe.
If you're trying to find out "What are the best G-Rated children's movies?" and "What are the most famous G-Rated children's movies?" then this list is the perfect resource for you. Between Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming services, there are thousands of great children's movies rated G, so get out there and start watching. Before you do that, though, go ahead and vote for your favorite kids films below.
David Lynch and Alfonso Cuarón are among the directors that have worked on a Children\'s G film.


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Puberty is difficult enough. Imagine going through it when you're nine.
"Never underestimate the power of testosterone," the endocrinologist told us. His tone was grave, no longer the there's-nothing-to-worry-about jocularity he'd had when Alex was in the room, laughing and making jokes about successful short men. Now came the warnings, told in the prophesying gloom of a medical oracle. The pediatric specialist left and returned quickly with two chairs that he placed beside the examination table. We sat, my husband and I, the parents of the boy who exhibited symptoms of age beyond his years.
The doctor leaned against the counter. He was Michael J. Fox-short, confident despite his stature. He paused to look me straight in the eye, as if I would doubt his words unless he stared very firmly at me. "Do not, under any circumstances, ever leave your son alone with a girl," he said, writing on his clipboard as he talked. "There could be serious consequences. A big complicated embarrassing mess that could affect his whole life. And yours. He can get a girl pregnant. He will not hesitate if given the opportunity."
I laughed. Had he just said that my 9-year-old boy could get a girl pregnant? It was our fourth visit in a month to the Maine Pediatrics Clinic in Portland, but I was only just beginning to grasp what the doctors were telling me—that Alex suffered from central precocious puberty, a condition where sexual maturation happens before age 11 in boys and 10 in girls. The last thirty days had been a festival of tests: blood work checking thyroid, testosterone and DHEA levels, ultrasounds, MRI and CT scans, bone X-rays, and repeated physical examinations. "You are very fortunate that you homeschool," he continued, looking at my husband, Eric, someone who was intimate with testosterone's brawn. "It will limit his exposure to girls as well as limit potentially aggressive situations. Not to mention the teasing and his own comfort level."
The doctor paused thoughtfully, his pen suspended above his notes. I wondered if he was writing something like mother fails to see the seriousness of the situation. He went on. "You might want to consider therapy," he told us. I pictured Alex, who was waiting outside the room, trying to eavesdrop like Samwise Gamgee beneath Frodo's window. Therapy? For whom?
Sex, aggression, and rage. My husband and I would hear these words again and again over the next weeks and months, always spoken in somber tones by concerned medical professionals. It was hard to accept that they were talking about Alex, a cute boy with straight blond hair, an impish grin, and thin, barely defined arms. He was a child—a fun, good-natured, happy, intelligent, rational child. We snuggled together and read J. K. Rowling and J.R.R. Tolkien books aloud, the Lord of the Rings trilogy twice. Alex played Sonic the Hedgehog and Zelda video games and took my computer apart for fun. He loved leaping out at me around corners, laughing when I screamed. I couldn't see it, this idea of Alex as sexually dangerous. He couldn't possibly do anyone harm, could he?
We knew Alex was advanced intellectually for his age. He'd learned to read at 4 and was reading at the high school level by 7. His math and science skills were exceptional. But he was so far ahead of kids his own age that we had major socialization concerns. Mothers called me to complain that Alex had made their child feel dumb. "Did he say Tyler was stupid?" I asked one angry mother, ready to speak to Alex immediately if he was being mean.
The mother stammered. "Well. Actually, I'm not sure what Alex said because Tyler says he uses long words on purpose just to confuse him." Then there was the mother who called to say that Alex wouldn't let her son win at Mario Kart. "Zachary was very upset and says that Alex cheats," she said. I didn't know what to say. Is it even possible to cheat at video games?
The story was different with girls. Alex sat and listened when they talked, offering to help them with their schoolwork. When I drove a pretty 10-year old to martial arts with Alex, he pretended he had to fall into her as I turned a corner, resting his head on her shoulder. They giggled and whispered. I thought of her now as the specialist planted images of pregnancy into my head.
The doctor knew of Alex's lack of social skill with boys. "The gap between himself and children his own age will continue to widen both physically and intellectually," he said, handing us brochures about precocious puberty. The front picture of one was of a boy standing alone in a school hallway leaning against a locker. Groups of children huddled in the distance, wary and taunting. "If Alex's puberty isn't stopped by medication," he continued, "he will have the testosterone of an adult male just as his peers are beginning puberty. The embarrassment and frustration will be intense."
I struggled to grasp the behavioral implications of precocious puberty. Internet research had answered many of my questions, but I couldn't fathom why doctors were so concerned about Alex's mental health. Why couldn't we just sit him down and explain that he was too young to have sex? And why did they assume my son was going to lose his communication skills as he gained body hair?
At that moment, though, the question that most concerned my husband and I was whether Alex would reach his full adult height. Vague images of male and female growth charts from a college biology text flitted across my inner eye. When puberty ends, growth stops, too. Early growth spurts in children with precocious puberty make them taller than their peers, but they stop growing sooner and often end up considerably shorter. Sadly, height seemed to be where the foretelling powers of the doctor ended. "I can't answer that," he said, handing us the diagnosis sheet. "Your son will stop getting taller when his bones fuse, which for most males is 18, but for Alex could be as early as 11. We'll know more in three months."
The doctor reached for the doorknob but then turned back toward us. "More than concern for his height," he said, "I'd consider preventing him free access to the Internet. Hardcore porn could be very damaging at such a young age, and boys with the level of testosterone your son has will obsess."
Were we talking about Alex's bone age, or his chronological age? I realized I'd never know for sure again. But, if his bone age was really that of a 14-year-old, wouldn't looking at pornography be better than chasing girls and engaging people in violent confrontations, both of which the doctor had just alerted us could happen? Wouldn't virtual sex be preferable to actual sex? Is this why we needed a therapist? To help us answer these questions?
It started with pubic hair on the toilet seat. I'd stared at the small hairs, wondering why there were so many. I wouldn't have questioned them if there hadn't also been so much urine on the outside of the toilet bowl. This pubic hair belonged to someone with lax bathroom habits and poor aim, two characteristics I had long identified as belonging to Alex.
Then there was the razor episode, when Alex cut his lip trying to shave. I'd noticed a darkening of hair beneath his nose and on his cheeks, but I come from a very hairy family and hadn't thought much of it. Alex, though, was deeply concerned and tried to remove the spattering of dark moustache hair without my knowledge. I didn't understand his discomfort, and I explained to him that the hair hadn't been nearly as noticeable as the bloody wound.
I called our primary care provider. She examined Alex and recognized the signs of early puberty, but she advised thorough testing and sent us to a pediatric endocrinologist. Precocious puberty is considerably less common in boys than girls, and an array of serious congenital anomalies, tumors, and diseases had to be excluded as an underlying cause. Eric and I worried about all that could be wrong with Alex and blamed ourselves for not recognizing the signs. But what parent looks at her 8-year old son and wonders if his testicles are an age–appropriate size? Alex was very modest, and I'd always respected his privacy.
When he was 7, Alex had gone to the emergency room for a twisted appendix testis. A urologist had examined him multiple times while monitoring the testicle's bloody supply. Why hadn't he noticed? It wasn't until the endocrinologist took the "wooden balls on a string" out of his white coat pocket to measure testicular size that Alex's biological age was revealed. My son's testicles were the size of a 14-year-old's and would grow to the size of a man's in fewer than twenty-four months if we didn't do something to stop it. That something was a medication, Lupron, which needed to be injected daily. But Alex was terrified of needles, and when the doctor mentioned the daily shots, Alex went still like a deer in headlights. The mention of the side effects made Alex's eyes go wider, his body stiffer: Loss of body hair, shrinkage of genitals, depression, and acne. The list also included constipation, abscesses, swelling at the injection site, and weight gain, but I don't think Alex heard a thing after shrinkage and genitals.
I felt sorry for Alex. He looked bewildered and vulnerable, sitting on the exam table in a hospital jonnie. He didn't look capable of getting a girl pregnant or spending hours gazing at hardcore pornography. I wanted to protect him, and I couldn't help wondering if this was somehow all my fault. Was it the McDonald's chicken nuggets I'd allowed him to eat? Deep fried chunks of chemicals mixed with hormonally injected fowl? Was it the hormones in the milk? The cheese?
The doctor assured me that it was most likely genetic, and phone calls to family members soon revealed that my father had experienced precocious puberty back in the 1940s. No one would have thought to diagnose it back then, but my father remembered. He'd had a mustache at 9, beard growth at 10. I carried a precocious puberty gene.
Eric and I agreed to involve Alex in decisions about medication. This was Alex's life, after all, and I wasn't going to force him to submit to daily injections. I didn't need to be an oracle to foresee the nightmare ahead of me. I remembered all too clearly having to administer eardrops for an infection, him screaming and kicking on the kitchen floor. Besides, how could anyone know the long-term effects of any medication with a surety that made it absolutely safe?
Alex didn't ponder or hesitate, "No medication," he said. Eric's dad and several other family members disagreed. "It'll be easier on Alex if you give him Lupron," my sister said. Eric's father warned, "Height for a man is like beauty for a woman. It opens doors." At our next visit to the doctor, we told him of our decision and were comforted when he volunteered that his own son was going through precocious puberty—and that they'd also opted to forego medication.
A few weeks later, I needed a babysitter and hired a young teenage girl from the neighborhood. When Eric and I came home, we were greeted by red faces and giggling. The next morning, the girl's mother called and said her daughter wouldn't be babysitting again. She refused to tell me why.
"What happened?" I asked Alex.
"Nothing," he said, barely looking up from his computer keyboard. He didn't stop typing. "I don't know what her mother's talking about. We played video games."
"Something had to have happened."
"Nope. Nothing."
Eric and I stopped hiring babysitters.
Over the next few months, Alex's appearance began to change drastically. His hair, always straight, started curling and morphed to a dark brown. His rounded baby face altered into that of a young teenage boy and sudden oily skin and body odor required constant reminders to shower. At 10, Alex decided he wanted to move his bedroom to the basement, as far away from us as he could get and still be in the same house. Eric said we should support his move, that Alex needed his privacy for contemplation.
Alex built his own desktop computer. There was no limiting his access to the Internet even if we'd wanted to—which we didn't. Eric and I agreed that Internet pornography would allow Alex a sexual outlet that was the safest of all the alternatives. We didn't tell Alex of our decision, but we chose not to control the pornography unless he used it inappropriately—sharing it with friends, or revealing his physical location to strangers. Looking back, I realize I knew nothing about boys and pornography. I'd never seen online porn and assumed that Alex was viewing still pictures similar to print magazines. It wasn't until Alex was 12 that we learned that he'd been downloading video clips and visiting adult chat rooms.
Our technological proficiency was no match for Alex's. There were rapid clicks of the mouse when either his dad or I entered his vicinity, and he often blocked the screen with his body. He lived in the gloom of the basement like a modern Gollum, protecting the privacy he considered precious. But I worried that Alex would think all women were similar to the thin and eager porn stars he googled, and I initiated hundreds of conversations with him about women and acceptable behavior in relationships.
I bought It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris, where the women and the men are overweight cartoon figures. This, I told Alex, is what most women look like. He glanced at the pictures. "I don't think that's accurate," he said. Then he dropped the book on the kitchen table and descended to the basement. Later I noticed the book was gone. When I asked him about it, he was sitting in front of his computer with headphones on. He removed only one cup from his ear when he saw me and rolled his eyes at the question. "None of your business," he said, four words that were Alex's new signature ending to all conversations deemed uncomfortable. I could hear a tinny distant Pete Seeger singing about all the little boxes made out of ticky tacky that looked just the same.
Alex built a gaming computer and began writing his own programs. He learned HTML and Java and was obsessed with source codes and algorithms. He became a specialist in behind-the-scenes mechanization and executed the major part of his work when everyone was asleep. He never went to bed before 4:00 a.m., and his mood during the day, especially if his father was home, was surly. Whenever I lost patience with Alex's ill-temper, he accused me of PMS, an enraging accusation that made me worry if I'd made the right decision about medication.
Hormonally and intellectually, Alex accelerated into maturity. The gap was so wide between him and homeschooled children his age that at 11, he gave up pretending he could sit in the privately taught science classes with other boys and begged me to enroll him at the University of Southern Maine. Too young for the university's Early Studies program, I got permission for Alex to take classes in the computer science department as a part-time student. Eric went with him for the first few days of the semester, but it was obvious Alex didn't want him there. Now shaving daily, Alex seemed to want his professors and new teenage friends to think he was a grownup orphan.
A local news station discovered that Alex was attending the college and called to do a story on him, and soon a video crew was following him to classes. For several months after the spot aired, Alex experienced local fame as strangers shook his hand and congratulated him for his hard work. His professors were equally impressed with his intelligence and maturity. Alex's future was brimming with possibility.
We returned to the pediatric endocrinologist every three months. The wrist X-rays showed that Alex, at the chronological age of 11, was the biological age of 17. His bones had fused. He was 5-foot-7, one inch taller than his doctor. But the journey was only half over, and the real battle for Alex was just beginning.
Alex wanted a girlfriend, but he wasn't interested in any his age. Young girls looked like children to him. He lusted after the few females in the computer science department. When other parents told me how they'd force their 13-year-olds off the Internet at 9 p.m. and send them to bed, I didn't say anything. They would have been shocked to know that I allowed my son free access to porn. We showed only a small portion of our home to friends. I worried about all the secrets.
"Do you want a therapist?" I asked Alex. "Do you need a therapist?"
"No," he'd snarl. "I'm just fine."
Pornography and programming languages occupied all of his nights. We knew this without Alex having to tell us. He missed classes because he couldn't make himself get up. If he managed to go through the motions, he was explosive and obnoxious. I worried that his sister toddling around the house might be affected by his anger. I worried that she might go through puberty precociously, too.
So out of sync with his age and his desires, at 15 he found himself a 21-year-old homeless girl on Craigslist. Demonstrating considerable initiative, he took the bus and met her at a Chinese Restaurant in Portland. He bought her dinner and, because he was so desperate for a female, immediately thought he was in love with her. Now the words sex, aggression, and rage echoed in my inner ear in a way that I could process them. I had not thought my 9-year-old capable of all that the medical professionals prophesied, but now I could see that my 15-year-old was different.
Maybe we should have called the police and told them that an adult was molesting a minor, but would that have been the truth? How old was Alex, really? Besides, we didn't think the relationship would last long. She didn't have a license or a high school diploma. What kind of 21-year-old woman wants to date a 15-year-old boy?
We were wrong. Alex's drive to engage in sexual acts gave him a staggering tolerance for a woman who didn't share any of his goals or communicate with him beyond mundane conversation. Our strategy was to have the two where we could see them. To avoid Alex running off to Portland and having sex while we slept, Eric and I allowed the young woman to stay at our house, firmly invoking a no smoking rule. Multitudinous rolls escaped her faded scooped-neck tops, and I took her shopping and bought her several outfits, a bra, and shoes that she wouldn't have to bend to tie. Then I encouraged her to apply for jobs and chauffeured her to grocery and clothing stores to fill out applications. I met with her mother, who lived in a low-income housing complex and survived on food stamps and government supplements. She begrudgingly agreed to let her daughter move back home.
Driven by testosterone and sexual fantasy, Alex wanted to spend every second he could with his girlfriend. Eric and I argued with Alex constantly about the relationship, usually ending with him slamming and locking his bedroom door. Two months into the relationship, she gave him head lice. Alex refused to cut his Arlo Guthrie hair and was careless with the treatment. When I told him that his girlfriend couldn't come to our house until her lice was gone, he pounded his fists against the wall, cracking the wood of my bedroom door. Then he left on foot and headed into Portland, returning with stories of exploits that were too outrageous for us to believe. We knew he'd spent the day having sex.
Over the next few months, each time we tried to explain to Alex that he might have chosen his first girlfriend poorly, he called us elitist and threatened us with the loss of his filial love. When he realized that his insults no longer had the desired effect, he became physical, shoving me against the wall, his face inches from mine. "You're the worst mother ever!" he hissed through clenched teeth, leaning his weight into me. "I can marry whoever I want. I don't need your permission." He pushed harder, desperate to intimidate me. He no longer looked cute and cuddly. "Any judge would emancipate me."
Although I knew his biological age was 18, his strength surprised me. I didn't falter but yelled right back in his face, remembering the advice of a dog trainer. "Right now you're the worst son ever, and if you want to leave, leave," I told him. His face twisted with emotion. "I can't be around you anymore," he shouted as he stomped away. "I just hate you so much!"
Several days later, Alex rushed at his dad shoulder first. I wasn't in the kitchen where it happened, but the noise reverberated through the house's core up the stairs to where I was watching The Little Mermaid with Alex's sister. I heard, "This behavior is unacceptable. You will not treat us this way." The scuffle ended with Alex running out of the house in tears and Eric driving himself to the emergency room with a broken rib. Never underestimate the power of testosterone. There could be serious consequences.
Suddenly, therapy didn't seem like an option but a necessity. There was no doubt, we were in a big complicated embarrassing mess that could affect Alex's whole life. And ours. I hoped we weren't going to have to cut off anything of Alex's to help him complete his journey through childhood.
I began calling therapists, but most were reluctant to work with Alex. They didn't know enough about precocious puberty or its family dynamics. After several weeks, I located a man who reluctantly agreed to meet with us. I made it clear that the therapy was for Alex, that I wanted a safe place for him to discuss his issues. I wanted to be included as little as possible, but he insisted that we all come to the first session.
After listening to us talk for thirty minutes and expressing disapproval that we'd allowed Alex unsupervised Internet surfing, the therapist positioned himself to look directly at Alex, who sat at the end of the couch—as far away from us as possible. "Are you afraid of your father?" he asked our son, his hands clasped over his rotund stomach like a suspension bridge. "Do you feel that you need to defend yourself because your life is in danger?"
Alex saw a way to remove himself from all responsibility and took it. "Yes, I'm terrified of dad."
Terrified of dad? We were dumbfounded. Eric is a patient and placid person, but the truth apparently didn't matter. "You don't have to go home," he told Alex. "There are other options." Alex took the therapist at his word and walked out of the office to go live with his girlfriend. He was 15. I reported the incident and the therapist to the Department of Human Services and called the police, who monitored Alex from the distance. Two-and-a-half difficult days passed before Alex returned home, his body language meek and his words—to me, at least—repentant. He barely spoke to his father.
Eric said no more therapists, but I insisted that Alex needed a trained adult confidant. The next therapist was a hippie who, after meeting with us as a family, turned to Alex and told him he lived in a teenage nirvana. What could possibly be the problem, he asked him? Perhaps out of intellectual curiosity (or a need to prove me wrong), Alex continued seeing the therapist for a few months before quitting because he thought the therapist might be "crazy."
I was waiting in the parking lot of the therapist's office one afternoon when Alex opened the car door and slid into the passenger seat. It was January, and the wind blew hard into me. Alex picked up the Snapple he'd left in the car and drank before speaking. "We sit there, and he wants me to close my eyes and balance my shakras," he told me. "That's what we did for thirty minutes, sit with our eyes closed." Even as I questioned if Alex was telling the truth, I could feel myself get angry that the therapist charged $100 an hour to sit in silence.
"And get this," he said, pausing for effect and balancing the bottle on his knee. "You'll be happy to know you're paying a guy to tell me it's healthy to have sex with a lot of women before committing to one person, that I should start initiating new relationships immediately."
You might want to consider therapists. We had. We wouldn't again. There are a lot of screwed up people out there. Many of them are therapists.
Alex was nearing 17, a sophomore in college. His testosterone levels were waning to that of a man in his early twenties, well on his downward journey from his sexual peak. He had reached a place in his life where he could once again think, debate, and plan. He was rational, and he wanted to live on his own for a few years before he left the state for grad school. Alex's homeless girlfriend was long gone. He had his eye on several older women, but Eric and I weren't worried. Although other parents questioned our decision, arguing that he was too young, we supported Alex's need to live in Portland—away from us. "You know, mom, most teenagers are on drugs and really messed up," he said. "I could get pot and alcohol without trying and I don't." He hugged me. "You've really got it quite easy, considering."
We gave Alex a car, and he moved out for several months but returned regularly for food and conversation. At 18 he began dating another 21-year-old, Katie. The gap was closing. Katie enjoyed hiking, yoga, mountain climbing, and video games, and she was the first girl to tell me that Alex's chronological age made her uncomfortable. A college student in a five-year math education program, she preferred her boyfriends older but was content that Alex looked the part with his full beard and adult physique. In addition, Alex would graduate with his degree in computer science at 19, several years before she finished her own program.
Alex stood in the kitchen as I experimented with a new eggless veggie burger recipe. He talked as he dipped chips into salsa. A strict vegan, Alex had just apprised me of new research on latent carcinogens in poultry as well as the news that he was to receive the award for the university's Outstanding Computer Science Student of 2010. Holding a corn chip midway to his mouth, he said, "I appreciate all that you do for me. I know I couldn't have come this far without you."
Maybe Alex was referring to my support of veganism, his award, or his homeschooling. But he might have also been referring to his passage through precocious puberty and the anger and confusion that we'd all endured because of it. I'd heard enough stories about other teenagers to know that the behavioral problems could have been much worse. We might have made it all the way to Mount Doom, but we'd made it out safely without losing an appendage. Or ourselves.
Alex had changed. His hair, receding slightly, was short and wavy, his arms were muscled and strong, and he no longer played Sonic the Hedgehog or Zelda, having long defeated Dr. Robotnik and saved the twilight princess. He played Warcraft III and games he wrote himself, but he still had that impish grin. Often he read to me, long excerpts from Al Franken and Richard Feynman books. He was still out of sync with his peers, teaching labs for the University of Southern Maine, tutoring daily, and grading for multiple professors, but precocious puberty and its effects on his life were waning. Like Frodo, Alex had emotional scars and many regrets. But he had survived, and, unlike Tolkien's mythical Middle Earth hero, Alex's journey was real—and his story goes on.
Photo credits [main] by Jan Kopřiva on Unsplash. [Insets courtesy of author].
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Transforming Your Resume From Military to Civilian
Duncan Mathison, co-author of "Unlock the Hidden Job Market: Six Steps to a Successful Job Search When Times Are Tough," recalls working with an ex-Navy SEAL who was trying to land a civilian job.
"He realized that most people thought his skills consisted of landing on beaches and blowing things up. Impressive skills, but not really needed in the business world," Mathison says. "As a result, we reframed his experience to highlight his abilities to lead small teams as well as creative problem solving and planning in the face of uncertainty."
While civilian employers may respect military experience, they may struggle to see it as relevant to their workplace. The challenge for veterans is to present their background in ways that civilians can understand and appreciate.
Talk the talk
The first thing that must go is military jargon. Job titles and codes that are second nature to military personnel are like a foreign language to many hiring managers, so translation is essential.
Lisa Rosser, author of "The Value of a Veteran: The Guide for Human Resource Professionals to Regarding, Recruiting and Retaining Military Veterans," suggests converting military skills to civilian equivalents using a tool such as O*Net Online. "The service member can type in his or her Military Occupational Code and see what a civilian equivalent would be and some alternate civilian job titles. The civilian job description will also list skills, knowledge and attributes commonly held by someone in that position. So, for example, a 90A (army logistics officer) would be a logistician or, alternately, an integrated logistics support manager or a production planner."
Armed with this information, Rosser then recommends job seekers "get busy on a site like CareerBuilder and search on the very general and the very specific job titles." Reading through ads will give the applicant a better idea of qualifications needed for various civilian jobs and will provide insight about key words to use on a résumé.
Putting your best self forward
"Military professionals are groomed to lead others and excel in a team-oriented environment," says Abby Locke, master résumé writer and personal brand strategist for Premier Writing Solutions in Washington, D.C. "Consequently, they find it hard to really market and promote themselves as effectively as they should in the job search process."
Experts offer these tips to help veterans sort through their experiences when creating application materials:
- Focus the cover letter on skills most pertinent to the given position; don't give a generic summary of everything you're qualified to do.
- Tailor the résumé to the specific job, and keep it to a maximum of two pages.
- Scour military performance reviews for relevant achievements (and to jog your memory).
- Use numbers, percentages, statistics and other concrete examples when possible to demonstrate competencies.
Education and training
Locke notes that military professionals often have completed hundreds of courses, training assignments and certifications. Instead of turning the education section of the résumé into a laundry list, however, she recommends "cherry picking" to make sure the training that is most relevant to the given position is apparent.
Mathison suggests listing any training that is applicable to the job whether or not you have a degree or a certificate. "For example, you may have had one class in wireless communications and another in management out of 355 hours of training on a wide range of topics. In the résumé under a training or education heading, write 'More than 350 hours of professional development training including wireless communications and management.'"
Remember you're a civilian now
While a veteran's military background will always be a part of his identification, it is important to keep in mind that hiring managers encountered for civilian jobs may not have the same thoughts or experiences.
"Everyone has an opinion about the war," says Michael Coritsidis, a career coach from Lido Beach, N.Y. "Keep emotion out of the equation, and stay neutral."
Experts generally recommend avoiding potentially charged words such as "war," "warfare" or "weapons" (unless applicable to the specific industry). Likewise, it is better to concentrate on your skills and why you are the best candidate for the position rather than focusing on the military conflict or combat.
Remember, though, that military experience has helped you become who you are today, so bring confidence to the civilian job hunt.
"Most, if not all, learned skills can be transferred to any company or industry, whether it is around the block or around the world," Coritsidis says. "The armed forces also instill the highly regarded qualities of being all that you can be as well as being a team player. What company wouldn't want to hire a person who can communicate how their military skills and qualifications can save time, save money or make money for their business?"
Next:Four Barriers Vets Can Face Moving Into Civilian Employment >>
Get the latest job search news and advice on CareerBuilder.com's job blog, "The Work Buzz," and follow us on Twitter @CBforJobSeekers.


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Time and time again I am meeting people with such a massive aversion to salt. When asked why, they simply say it's bad for them. Are they right?? Well in essence not really.
Salt in fact in its natural form is made up of natural crystal salt but with minerals and trace elements which your body needs. The salt that is on a table, in use in chip shops, in fast food outlets & in processed foods is in fact Sodium Chloride, a product of the industry where the minerals and goodness have been removed. This is the salt that is actually not great for your health because there aren't any elements to go with it. The body is designed to deal with salt alongside the minerals and elements so when Sodium Chloride is eaten alone then it can really overwhelm the body so as it tries to get rid of it, it can produce kidney stones and harmful acids. This can cause water retention leading to higher blood pressure, tissue odema and circulation problems.
The message: Natural salt is needed for the body and is needed as much as water is needed. Steer clear from any table salt, low salt alternatives
What to look for: Himalayan crystal salt or whole unprocessed sea salt.
Daniel O'Shaughnessy Dip ION FdSc mBANT CNHC is a fully-qualified Nutritional Therapist & Metabolic Balance coach. A specialist in stress and gastrointestinal health and weight management, he has clinics across London. He is also the cofounder of Bodhimaya and holds transformative, educational and rejuvenating retreats in the UK and around the world. For more information please visit http://thenakednutritionist.co.uk or call 0208 1234 135.


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What to watch for:
* The cutting, separating, and dividing necessary for a new beginning
* Vacillating between several options, an underlying feeling of ambivalence, even boredom
* Revisioning our philosophical position or spiritual/religious outlook, maybe around a particular issue
* Love drugs, the feeling of desirous intoxication
* Excessive love, praise, confidence, adoration, pride, and even worship
* Spending, fashion, big purchases, bling, glamour and wealth
* Gathering facts, organizing plans, but feeling somewhat foggy mentally
* The voice of the healer...
* Listening, really hearing someone
* Rejecting a hard truth
* Something that looks like a proud new beginning is slowly showing itself to have its selfish side too
* Impulsive or reckless impatience
* A deeper understanding of our core calling...its history...its demands at this time in our lives
This Moon cycle is deceptively strong. "Deceptively strong" because it's hard for us to get a clear picture right now of where things are heading. Mercury in Pisces suggests that our minds are in something like labor right now. We are looking for a clear, rational grasp on what's happening, where things are going, or how things are shaping up, but that understanding will remain elusive until right around our full moon eclipse this month. Until then you might swear that things are just business as usual. Right up until yet another bizarre synchronicity, dejavu, dream, or blip on the radar shows up again and once more we just "know" something is happening.
Though there are new beginnings taking shape right now (look especially to the Aries portion of your birth chart), these new beginnings are also swirling around something from the past that will need to be dealt with..potentially some old patterns that will need rooting out. The temptation for decisions to be so individualistic right now that they aren't properly judged or balanced against a variety of equally important factors is strong, so we should be very careful to consider all the circumstances that play a part in our lives as we move forward.
There's a powerful theme at play in the stars right now about abdicating some element of our self-interest, and it's going to play a strong part in how this cycle's next eclipse unfolds. Compromises will likely play a role in some big changes that happen between now and the end of this moon cycle. Can we imagine success, dignity, and victory in a different style? Can we dismount from our high horses to find an even greater degree of satisfaction?
The Sun in Aries is considered "exalted," which means that the fiery drive to place ourselves first is very strong and effective at the moment. Yet the Sun in Aries will conjoin the south node of the Moon at the full moon while it opposes the Moon in Libra at the north node (destiny, evolution, and growth symbolized by compromise, discernment, wise judgments, harmony in relationships, etc).
When something doesn't work out solely in our favor, or we are deeply disappointed by something not turning out as we hoped it would, it might be a humbling experience, but it will also show us the face of what needs cultivating in our lives, and what relationships need deeper cultivation.
Prayer: clarity rising...help us to see the truth of what's brought us to this moment and how to move forward with wiser judgments this time around.
Image courtesy of creative commons: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dionnehartnett/


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My husband made this a few weeks ago and now it's become a very frequent dish in our home. It's such a well-rounded, nutrient-dense meal on its own (lots of protein, fiber & healthy fats) and perfect as a side dish with sandwiches and soups. I think this is one of the healthiest and most delicious, easy recipes ever. Let me know if you give it a try!
Tuna & White Bean Salad
- 2 cans tuna (I like tuna in olive oil, but in water works too)
- 2 cans of cannellini beans
- 1/2 cup diced onion (optional)
- 2 stalks celery, leaves and all, chopped
- half cup extra virgin olive oil
- juice of 1-2 lemons to taste (we put 2)
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- sea salt & fresh ground black pepper to taste
- Drain cans of tuna and beans, combine in large bowl
- Add chopped veggies, olive oil, lemon juice, zest, and olive oil
- Add salt & pepper
- Mix well
- Enjoy!


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Al Mohler on Frank Page on Changing His Mind on Egalitarianism
Looking at the various viewpoints regarding women in ministry and having dealt with the related biblical passages, this writer agrees with the . . . reasons for the participation of women in ministry, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit . . . This writer, at least in part, agrees . . . that social distinctions are meant to be transcended, not perpetuated, within the body of Christ. They have been unfortunately perpetuated with a vengeance.Of course, we should expect Bruce Prescott to pipe up in light of this revelation and give us his take on what motivated Frank Page to change his mind on such an issue. And as usual, he concludes it was power - not the Holy Spirit, not Biblical revelation, and certainly not intelligent discernment. While he is at it, he finds time to attack Dr. Albert Mohler, President of Southern Seminary for retreating from theological liberalism, suggesting again that it was purely motivated by power, and not at all by anything remotely related to the Holy Spirit.
Thankfully, Dr. Mohler has decided to weigh in on the article and on his own transformation from egalitarian to complimentarian on his website Conventional Thinking. He writes that his journey
. . . started with a general unrest in my thinking. But then it exploded with a comment made to me in personal conversation with Dr. Carl F. H. Henry in the mid-1980s. Walking across the campus, Dr. Henry simply stopped me in my tracks and asked me how, as one who affirms the inerrancy of the Bible, I could possibly deny the clear teaching of Scripture on thisMohler goes on to add that after the dust settled, he found "my study of the question led me to a very uncomfortable conclusion - my advocacy of women in the teaching office was wrong, violative of Scripture, inconsistentent with my theological commitments, injurious to the church, unsubstantiated, and just intellectually embarrassing. "
question. I was hurt, embarrassed - and highly motivated to answer his question.
In light of this revelation about Frank Page's change of thinking regarding women as senior pastors Mohler concludes, ". . . I am thankful for Dr. Page's change of mind, and I hope to know more about it in coming months as he shares more of this story with Southern Baptists. There is no shame in embracing the clear teachings of Scripture." To that I say, "AMEN!"


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Rodwell targeting England squad
Jack Rodwell has set his sights on securing an England place after completing his move to Sunderland, admitting that watching the World Cup left "a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth".
The 23-year-old midfielder has moved from Manchester City on a five-year deal for an undisclosed fee, thought to be rising to a potential £10million, in a bid to resurrect his career after it stalled at the Etihad.
Rodwell was viewed in his teenage years as one of England's most promising midfielders and the prospect of playing regularly persuaded him to make the move after holding talks with Sunderland boss Gus Poyet.
Rodwell is now targeting a regular England place too - he has three caps to his name - after having mixed feelings watching Roy Hodgson's team in Brazil.
He told SAFC TV: "Watching the World Cup left a little bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. I was supporting the team 100 per cent but I also wanted to be there so I think it's time I put that right, get back playing and get back in the squad.
"Without doubt the last couple of seasons I have not played nearly enough football as I have wanted to play.
"The regular football is the most important thing for me, to play football and get back to enjoying it, so this is a great place for me to be."
Rodwell had interested a number of Premier League clubs but said Poyet and other club officials had convinced him that the Stadium of Light was the right place.
He added: "There was a lot of media around me moving to different teams but I met up with the manager and all the people involved with the club.
"They told me about the club and their vision and it swayed me, they came across really well.
"Every time I have played here the fans have been great, you feel the passion in the north east and to be part of that is great.
"I'm just going to give my all every game, be a good box-to-box midfielder, hopefully score some goals and I will always give it 100 per cent."
Rodwell made his debut for Everton at the age of 16 in 2007 and became a regular for the Merseyside club, making 109 appearances before joining City for £12million in the summer of 2012 despite missing out on Euro 2012 due to a hamstring injury.
His career at the Etihad was not helped by further injury problems, and he made only seven Premier League starts during his time at City.
He will not be the first player to leave City in order to attempt to resurrect a career at Sunderland - winger Adam Johnson made the same switch in 2012 with notable success, while Joe Hart's understudy Costel Pantilimon has followed this summer.
However Johnson claimed last season it was almost impossible for players not belonging to the eight leading Premier League clubs to break into Hodgson's England squad ahead of the World Cup.
PA Media


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Friday, July 16, 2010
Great start for Dickey but....
With Beltran back, everything was supposed to work like a charm.
Dickey was on the mound and only gave up 5 hits in 7 innings with one earned run .
Beltran got his first hit on his 2nd AB. Unfortunately, there were only 5 more Mets hits off
of Tim Lincecum. Reyes may start next game. We need his fire. And speaking about "Fire"..
7 comments:
Went to this game last night, probably the only time I'll get to see the Mets live all year. Was really hoping to see a winning Journal entry! Unfortunately the bats didn't come back from the all-star breakReplyDelete
Another excellent depiction of the game. Gotta say I'm a big fan of the art, and you should definitely get this published, because I would love a hard copy of all this art!ReplyDelete
Keep up the fantastic work, sir.
Great job Joe :) good stuff wish it was a win but we will be fine hope reyes gets back in soon look foward for a winning pic tomarrowReplyDelete
- lets go metsJuly 16, 2010 at 4:23 PM
wheres the mole?ReplyDelete
It's under his helmet. Don't worry, I have plans for that mole. Hahahahaha!ReplyDelete
i too was at the game... will be for the entire series. great to see Tron back! he looks great!!! i can't wait to see both reyes and beltran in the lineup. it was the trip to the west coast that sidelined reyes last year. so never got to see them last season. joe, i hope you are right about reyes. can't remember seeing reyes, wright, beltran in the same lineup. btw, the DNR killed me. LOL... keep up the amazing work!!!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJuly 20, 2010 at 2:30 PM
Hi Joe, just wondering, should this entry have been thursday july 15?ReplyDelete


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2010 goes out with a bang, not a whimper ......
Here's the link but clicking it may get you on a 'list.'
Janet "Big Sis" Napolitano visits Afghanistan to pick up some tips and tricks in the 'anything goes' land of dope and murder. Fox News was given exclusive access to her photo ops and fleet of helicopters so there would be 'no spin.' Of course no trip to the Middle East would be complete without visiting the mother of all terrorist states, Israel, and Ms. Janet will no doubt salivate profusely when discussing the security measures used in the West Bank and Gaza.
The safety of our 'homeland' is so important that Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico has finally made a decision not to pardon the long dead Billy the Kid. I feel safer already.
Pardoning dead people would be a bad precedent. Why, someone may one day want to pardon Osama bin Laden for lack of any evidence that he masterminded 9/11 and if Billy can't be pardoned why should Timmy.
Security is going to be big in 2011. Big money that is. Never mind that the DHS/TSA for all of its genital groping, irradiation and general disgusting behavior has never apprehended a single 'terrorist.' Pay no attention to the fact that all the domestic extremists out to get us who were arrested by the FBI have been paid and induced by those doing the arresting. Forget about all the ADL trained thug police forces who 'shoot first and ask questions later.' As with those Christmas presents that we cringe at, we're always being told ... "It's the thought that counts."
Security will definitely be important to all of us in the coming year but safety won't be coming from the criminals in charge.
Real security will be with those we can trust; our family, friends and neighbors. We're going to need some backup and collaboration and we had better start gathering our allies together.
Food and health security is likely to be an issue in 2011. A garden is a good start but most of us cannot supply all we need. Having a food storage stash is not just for Mormons anymore. Being able to protect that stash must be included in the plans and thinking about sharing and trading with others is also important. Back to the basics makes sense.
Our inalienable rights are the base for our security.The rights of free speech, movement and the ability to come together as groups for positive change without fear of repercussion are still somewhat intact but another year like or worse than 2010 is going to create challenges. Many Americans don't like challenges and trading rights for false security is what we're being primed to accept. Sleepwalkers tend to fall off of cliffs.
We won't make too many predictions but it's that threat of another 'catalyzing event' that's worrying. Whether that may be a false flag, another big war, an environmental disaster, food shortages, runaway inflation, much higher unemployment, weather anomalies or possibly weather modification, our security is dependent on us. Big brother and big sis don't actually want to protect us. We're not in that 1% that sit at the top of the heap. Most of us are as disposable as the Chinese junk Walmart sells.
We have basic ideas on what we need to do, generalized solutions for a better world. It's the specifics that we need to develop and come together on. It's a matter of knowledge, will and courage. Humor and sarcasm are also useful. It won't be easy.
Let us know what solutions you feel are important and if we make one resolution maybe it would be to actually implement some of these solutions. Or to at least try.
So have a happy new year. Stay safe.
This site and any damage it does to their ghoulish cause is a beginning.


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Lyrics:First verseWay down in Carolina where the sweet potatoes grow, There lives a dusky maiden by the name of Liza Snow, She used to go to parties where they'd always make her sing, But say you ought to see that Baby do the pigeon wing. They held a dancing contest and were goin' to give a prize, They all had on their finest and it now was up to Lize. Just who was goin' to win it ev'rybody there could feel, When Liza hollered to the band to play the Chicken Reel. Clear the crowd away Tell the band to play, When yer hear me say ""GO"" My honeyChorusOh you Chicken Reel how you make me feel Say it's really so entrancin' Who could ever keep from dancin', That's the music sweet like the chicken meat, Give it to me with the dressin' I don't need no dancin' lesson. Put all the other fine selections right away That is the only tune I want to hear you play When I get married if there's music I will say ""Hey boss keep a-playin' Chicken Reel all day."" Reel all day.""Second verse - One night when from a party she was walkin' home with Bill, Now he's her steady feller and the night was dark and still. It seems he stole a chicken, and when Liza looked at that, She said I'm goin' to wear it on my go-to-meetin' hat. I guess you're goin' crazy answered William with a smile, But Liza said "go on you havn't heard the latest style." When first she wore it out the people asked her to explain, But Liza simply said Why I have chicken on the brain. Clear the crowd away Tell the band to play, When yer hear me say "GO" My honey
Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections.


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Ron Jeremy Takes "Food Porn" Literally With Food Truck Porn
Seriously, we've heard of food porn and all, but this is ridiculous: actor Ron Jeremy is going to star (link NSFW) in an adult film called The Flying Pink Pig that parodies the food truck craze.
So much so they almost completely duplicated the name and image of The Flying Pig, an actual food truck in Los Angeles that serves up Asian-Mexican food like pork belly bao and tamarind duck confit tortillas.
Ron Jeremy, however, is no stranger to food—in the past he's appeared in the Food Porn episode of No Reservations. Anyway, the film has puns abound: "And the food doesn't suck, but the girls sure do!" "Refills are free!" "Sloppy seconds are on the house!" Etc., etc. There also appears to be some sort of caper-esque plot that involves Jeremy trying to take over the Pink Pig. Check out the SFW entire cover of the video below. The film hits stores January 25, 2011.
Republished with permission from Eater.com. Authored by Paula Forbes.


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[Page 505]
One has to add that due to the ruling powers and demands of that time imposed upon a Yiddish newspaper that every newspaper reflected the many facets of Jewish life in Brest and dealt with all the problems confronting the community at that time.
Polessie Shtimme did not last for an entire year due to a shortage of resources. Arriving in Brest in 1924, I made contact with Dr. Wilner and the printer Y. Gendler. As a result of our negotiations, I took over the editorship from the 1st September 1924. After an interval of six months, the paper re-appeared.
We very quickly came into conflict with the administrative powers after the first editions were published. It emerged that the Brest police chief was a keen reader of our paper as soon as my editorial would touch upon the issue of Vilna, he would politely call me the next day to his office and advise me that in the future we should not interest ourselves in how the government of Poland handles Vilna. But our paper remained steadfast and campaigned for all sorts of social injustices.
Due to inner wrangling amongst the editors the existence of the paper was interrupted once again. The paper reappeared on the 25th April 1925, under the title of Polessie Wochenblatt (Weekly), and quickly became very popular amongst the Jewish community of Brest and district. The community recognized that the paper was an advocate for it's rights, and would fight against injustice and for social and cultural reforms.
Again, the paper was under the leadership of established Zionist activists. The paper underwent several stages, changed owners, but essentially remained committed to the public interest and fought for the national and social rights of the Jewish masses.
We should recall several of our important activists who participated in spreading the literary and moral values of the paper: L.Y. Winnikoff, the Zionist leader in Brest. His brother the engineer Aaron Winnikoff (Aharoni), David Zisman the leader of the Mizrachi movement, Felman the leader of the small traders organization, Padwa the director of the Merchant Bank, Zablud and Grynberg of the artisans union, and the leaders of the Tarbut organization, as well as the teachers. Fanaberia and Menachowski from the Borochow Yiddish school, and almost all of the Brest doctors such as Br. Begun who was the chairman of ORT. Dr. Reisler, who was the head doctor at the medical clinic and a social worker. Savshitski the chairman of the hospital, Rabbi Alter Grosleit, the chairman of the Linat Hatzedek (the paupers hostel), Noah Pozezinski, who was a city councilor, Skorbnik, Dr Yitzchak Kagan, who was an important social activist who recently died in New York. The employees of the old age home and others who contributed.
In the Brisker Wochenblatt also participated: Tzvi Lomazhevski, Israel London, M. Menachowski, Hershel Fanaberia, Ze'ev Lutwak, headmaster of the Tarbut school, and all those who had some literary talent . H. Breinhendler, Izbitzer, the humorist Chune Rabinovitch, Israel Noy, Marcuze, Kaplan, and many others, including those from outside Brest.
We often would receive articles from Jewish members of parliament from Galicia, such as Moshe Prostig, Senator Rottenstreich, Dr. Joshua Tahun, Dr Jerzy Rosenblatt from Lodz and others.
The success of the Brisker Wochenblatt attracted much attention from the surrounding towns such as Pinsk, Kobryn, Pruzhany, etc. Consequently, it was through the initative of engineer Avraham Levitas of Kobryn that several other editions of the Brest Wochenblatt were printed with headings that read: Kobryner Shtimme, Pruzhaner Shtimme, etc. Every edition would contain it's own local section of news and events, written by Levitas, Noah Alcan, and Y. Faigenboim. These articles were delivered by messengers who would arrive every Thursday morning by train they would return on Fridays with the printed editions of the Kobryner Shtimme.
The idea arose to create a special Polessie section in the Warsaw newspapers, but no one was interested beside the Red Express. It meant printing the entire Red Express leaving the heading on the front-page blank in Brest they would then insert the Brisker Tagenblatt (daily) heading, and later Polessie Tagenblatt. Often the paper would not arrive at all due to technical and administrative difficulties the page reserved for the news would appear in the following day's edition
I must mention that the articles from the Brisker Wochenblatt would be reprinted in many other Yiddish newspapers in Poland, such as the Heint (Warsaw), the Lodzer Daily, and Der Zeit (The Times) of Vilna. Unzer Leben (Our Life) in Bialystok would reprint our articles and columns weekly. There were instances when an article written in the Brisker Wochenblatt would be reprinted up to 15 times in various newspapers the following week.
Dr. B. Wilner, Y. Babich, Z. Zaretski, D. Zisman
Sitting R-L: Z. Shedrovitski, N. Marcuze, Y.Gendler, Hellman,
M. Breinhendler, Rubinstein, Rabinovitch, Israel Noy
JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of
the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material
for verification.
JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions.
Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.
Brest Lit(owsk), Belarus Yizkor Book Project JewishGen Home Page
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Updated 18 Aug 2005 by LA


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Mine, Los Angeles
Interior designer Lori Fradella's Melrose shop combines contemporary objects such as Arktura's powder-coated steel seating with vintage wares and eye-catching artworks. Highlights include bronze sculptures by local artist Miles Eastman, graphic prints by Adam Cohn, and Fradella's own eclectic industrial and midcentury finds.
6912 Melrose Ave., 323-936-1337; mine-la.com.
For more high-style restaurants, hotels, and shops, click here.


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The iSimple® SwitchPlay™ (IS7603) Connects an iPod, iPhone or iPad to a Vehicle's Entertainment System and Provides Switching Between Playback Sources
iSimple® – maker of innovative technologies that allow people to connect their mp3 player, smartphone or tablet to their car stereo – is proud to unveil the SwitchPlay™ (IS7603), a 30-pin docking cable for the iPod, iPhone and iPad that connects to a vehicle's rear seat entertainment system and allows the user to switch video playback between their iPod, iPhone or iPad and the vehicle's display screen. The SwitchPlay installs easily in most vehicles and carries an MSRP of $54.95.
Built specifically with the "family on-the-go" in mind, the SwitchPlay connects a vehicle's rear seat entertainment system to any iPod, iPhone or iPad with a 30-pin docking connection, allowing for playback of music, movies and more. What makes the SwitchPlay different from the iSimple MediaWire™ and other cables is that it has a small, low-profile button on the connector that allows the user to switch video playback between the vehicle's display and the screen on the iPod, iPhone or iPad. Video playback quality is exceptional and the SwitchPlay supports battery charging (2.1 Amps @ 5v) for most models of iPod, iPhone and iPad.
Built in conjunction with Stinger® Electronics, the SwitchPlay can be installed quickly and easily in most vehicles with rear seat entertainment systems or video displays. Stinger® composite audio/video interconnects connect easily to the RCA inputs, and the power wires splice into place in seconds. The SwitchPlay is currently available for order from AAMP of America™ – parent company of iSimple – or from authorized Pacific Accessory Corporation® representatives. For more information, please visit www.isimplesolutions.com.
iSimple offers consumers a wide variety of options for staying connected to their favorite music while in their car, at home or on the go. The iSimple® product line includes everything from in-car integration kits and FM modulators for mp3 players and smartphones, to docking stations, headphones, battery chargers and more. For more information, visit www.isimplesolutions.com.


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Technical Paper
Investigation on Premixed Charge Compression Ignition Combustion Control Using Multi Pulse Ultrahigh Pressure Injection
Compression ignition (CI) engines provide higher thermal efficiency compared to other internal combustion engines although large amounts of NOx and soot are produced during combustion. NOx and soot emissions can be reduced by using Premixed Charge Compression Ignition (PCCI) combustion. However, the problems of PCCI combustion include limited operating range, unstable start of combustion and an increase in combustion noise. The multi-pulse ultrahigh pressure injection allows fuel to be injected near TDC, improving mixture formation and enhancing the possibility to extend the operating range of PCCI combustion. The objective of this paper is to control and extend the operating range of PCCI combustion using multi-pulse ultrahigh pressure injection. This has not been studied before. Combustion characteristics were investigated using apparent rate of heat release analysis, heat balance analysis, exhaust emission measurement and soot concentration measurement.


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From Carnegie Hall to China, San Diego Symphony plans a monumental season
The 2013-14 season is a landmark for the San Diego Symphony, with the orchestra's debut in New York's Carnegie Hall and a weeklong tour of China that is its first venture outside North America.
Those concerts are of considerable significance, especially to music director Jahja Ling. The only conductor of Chinese descent leading a major American orchestra, he has frequently conducted in China and is excited about showing off "his orchestra" there.
Also important to Ling, who marks his 10th anniversary as music director with the 2013-14 season, is a concert he won't be conducting.
One of Ling's mentors, the veteran maestro Christoph von Dohnányi, will guest conduct the San Diego Symphony for the first time April 25 and 26, 2014. While music director of The Cleveland Orchestra, the revered maestro appointed Ling resident conductor and the two men had a close, productive working relationship for 18 years.
"I was his most trusted, right-hand man," said Ling in a recent interview in the orchestra's offices in Copley Symphony Hall. "That's why he's coming. He's 85 years old and he turned down Los Angeles and San Francisco. It's hard for him to travel and he said he doesn't conduct on the West Coast. But he wants to come here after he heard what we are building."
Fostering flexibility
One of the reasons Ling, now 61, prevailed a decade ago — when he was hired as the orchestra's music director after an intensive, international search — was his commitment to building an orchestra. In collaboration with the orchestra's principal players and audition committee members, Ling has personally hired nearly two-thirds of its current musicians, making it one of the youngest orchestras in the country. And by conducting most of the orchestra's Masterworks concerts (10 out of 13), he is certain to have a strong impact on those players.
But he professes little interest in developing a "San Diego sound," akin to the celebrated Cleveland sound or the Philadelphia sound.
"I think that's overrated," Ling said. Instead, he's looking for flexibility and creating an ensemble that can adapt itself to any repertoire.
"I feel an orchestra, a great orchestra, should be able to play according to what the composer asks you to play," Ling said. "Maybe if you are playing classical (Mozart and Haydn, for example), then you should be playing like the Cleveland Orchestra, with that transparent sound." But for Brahms and Beethoven, "perhaps the sound of the Vienna or Berlin" might be more appropriate.
Ling cites four primary influences on his musical approach: Otto-Werner Mueller (his teacher at Yale), Kurt Mazur (who mentored him in San Francisco), Dohnányi (his music director at Cleveland), and especially Leonard Bernstein (while Ling was a conducting fellow at Tanglewood and in Los Angeles).
"Lenny brought a completely different kind of approach than those Central European conductors," Ling said. While his other mentors represented an aspect of the classical tradition, Bernstein was an iconoclast, a highly individual, charismatic figure whose gestures on the podium were often incomprehensible in purely technical terms.
"If you try to do what Lenny does, it's not going to work," Ling said. "Because only Lenny with his personality can do that kind of thing. … He is one of a kind. You cannot imitate him. All you can do is learn the best of what he has to offer. …
"Christoph, Bernstein, Mueller, Mazur — all those people gave me something that I always treasure forever in different ways. One thing I always admire with those people is what? One word: integrity. Musical integrity. You don't compromise. … You may not be able to reach what you want, but you always try your best."
Feeling free
Edward "Ward" Gill, the orchestra's chief executive officer, said Ling has achieved "a level of consistent excellence" with the orchestra. When Ling's contract came up for renewal last year, Gill and the orchestra's board of directors gave him an open-ended contract that essentially allows him to stay as long as he wants.
Ling said he has no idea how long he's going to be here. But building a great orchestra is a long-term endeavor, and he's pleased with the progress so far.
"Over time, of course the orchestra gets to know you better," Ling said. "They know exactly my thinking, and I can be freer (on the podium)."
He points to the performance of the Nielsen Symphony No. 5 that opened the 2012-13 season.
"I was amazed at how they played that, because that's a very difficult piece," Ling said. "I don't do that piece when I guest conduct. And to meet that challenge, that level of intensity and relentlessness and to also have that depth of feeling, I feel that it is for them a great accomplishment, and for me, I feel so rewarded."
Still, he's hesitant, even "embarrassed," to say where the orchestra is in terms of its stature.
"People say, 'world class' or 'major,' but those terms are all relative," Ling said. "People talk about the 'big five' orchestras, but what does that mean?
"I think it's important we don't proclaim ourselves. We want to be out there, out in the world, and say, 'OK, this is what we do musically. You tell us what you feel.' "
They will give people that opportunity in Carnegie and on the China tour, but also in Copley Symphony Hall, particularly on that weekend in late April when Dohnányi visits.
"When Dohnányi comes, it will be something very special," Ling said. "Just his presence here, with that tradition (he embodies and represents), will make the orchestra will play differently."
San Diego Symphony 2013-14 Jacobs Masterworks season
All concerts conducted by music director Jahja Ling unless otherwise noted
Oct. 4-6: Augustin Hadelich, violin: Bruce, new work; Barber, Violin Concerto; Prokofiev, Symphony No. 5
Oct. 11-13: Harbison, "Remembering Gatsby: Foxtrot for Orchestra"; Bernstein, Symphonic Dances from "West Side Story" and Overture to "Candide"; Gershwin. "An American In Paris"
Nov. 22-24: Jon Kimura Parker, piano: Elgar, Serenade for Strings; Mendelssohn, Piano Concerto No. 1; Shostakovich, Symphony No. 15
Dec. 6-8: Ken-David Masur, guest conductor; San Diego Master Chorale: Brahms, Variations on a Theme of Joseph Haydn; Beethoven, Symphony No. 9
Dec. 13-15: Yefim Bronfman, piano: Humperdink, Prelude to "Hänsel und Gretel"; Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 4; Schumann, Symphony No. 2
Jan. 12: Itzhak Perlman, violin: Respighi, "Ancient Airs and Dances" (Suite III); Hindemith, "Symphonic Metamorphosis"; Beethoven, Violin Concerto
Feb. 7-9: Wu Man, pipa; San Diego Master Chorale: Zhao Jiping, Pipa Concerto (new commission); Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 2 ("Lobgesang")
Feb. 28, March 1-2: Martina Filjak, piano; Saint-Saëns, Piano Concerto No. 2; Wagner (arr. Maazel), "The Ring Without Words"
March 21-23: Gilbert Varga, guest conductor: Martucci, Notturno; Strauss, "Also Sprach Zarathustra"; Mozart, Symphony No. 40
April 25-26: Christoph Von Dohnányi, guest conductor; Emanuel Ax, piano: Brahms, Piano Concerto No. 1 (April 25) and Piano Concerto No. 2 (April 26); Beethoven, Symphony No. 5
May 2-4: Jeff Thayer, violin: Debussy, "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun"; Bartók, Violin Concerto No. 2; Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 3 ("Polish")
May 16-18: Kirill Gerstein, piano: Arensky, Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky; Stravinsky, Symphony in Three Movements; Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 3
May 23-25: Vadim Repin, violin: Weber, Overture to "Oberon"; Prokofiev, Violin Concerto No. 2; Brahms, Symphony No. 1
All concerts in Copley Symphony Hall. Friday and Saturday performances start at 8 p.m.; Sunday programs at 2 p.m.
Subscriptions are available in six- and 12-concert packages ranging from $102 to $1,152 (on sale now); single tickets are $20 to $96 (on sale Aug. 5).
Call (619) 235-0804 or go to sandiegosymphony.com.
The San Diego Symphony meets Megadeth
The San Diego Symphony has a number of classical "specials," but one particularly stands out:
Megadeth guitarist Dave Mustaine in April 2014, in a program that will include Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" from "Die Walküre," Vivaldi's "Winter" from "The Four Seasons" and Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 (the "New World" Symphony).
The orchestra's CEO Edward "Ward" Gill said it's all about reaching new audiences, while music director Jahja Ling said he had a good meeting with Mustaine, and he may conduct the concert himself (no conductor is listed at this point, and Mustaine's exact involvement is still being worked out).
Here is the complete list of classical "specials":
Oct. 26: Lang Lang Plays Rachmaninoff
Nov. 10 (7:30 p.m.): Irish Chamber Orchestra With James Galway (Joann Falletta conducts)
Jan. 11: Itzhak Perlman and San Diego Symphony
Jan. 24: Royal Philharmonic and San Diego Symphony
April 5: Pinchas Zukerman and Yefim Bronfman in Recital
April 12: "Symphony Interrupted:" Megadeth's Dave Mustaine With San Diego Symphony
Call (619) 235-0804 or visit
The San Diego Symphony goes to New York
The San Diego Symphony performs for the first time in Carnegie Hall on Oct. 29 with pianist Lang Lang.
The program includes a new commission from composer David Bruce, the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 (with Lang Lang) and the Prokofiev Symphony No. 5.
But the orchestra will be celebrating more than its inaugural Carnegie visit. Symphony patron Irwin Jacobs, who with his wife, Joan Jacobs, has given the orchestra well in excess of $100 million, will turn 80 in October. The orchestra will host a post-concert reception at Carnegie to celebrate Jacobs' birthday.
The orchestra is offering several travel packages for individuals who want to not only see the orchestra in New York but join Jacobs for the celebration. Contact Caitlin Finch at (619) 615-3906 for information. Tickets for the Carnegie concert will be available April 1 at
www.carnegiehall.org or (212) 247-7800.


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This engraved set of 4 colored bar glasses can feature your text, initials, logos, pictures, etc. Each custom engraved glass is deep engraved with close attention to detail, making your engraved art on your glass look realistic. See tabs below for details. Please contact us for pricing on quantities greater than 450 pieces.
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If you ever needed a good reason to despise religion(s) it's their whole attitude towards sex. Whether it be gay-bashing, pedophilia, or promoting the non-use of contraceptives. Here's a pastor who has come out against female use of Gravy Basters ;-)
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Product FAQs
General Information
What is intake?
Intake draws fresh air into the home.
The box of my fan states it includes a fused safety plug. what does this mean?
The safety plug is a safety feature that can be found on all of our residential fans. It is a safety device that is designed to cut off electric current to the fan if the device detects a potentially hazardous electrical fault in the fan's motor or power supply. The fuse is replaceable and replacement fuses can be purchased at any hardware store. For instructions on how to replace your fuse, please refer to your user manual [link to manual page].
What is electronically reversible airflow control?
This allows the fan to blow air inward or outward with a switch of a button or by remote.
What is exhaust?
Exhaust is the action of a fan blowing air out of the home.
Why is it beneficial to use a fan along with an air conditioner?
You can potentially save on cooling costs by turning up your whole-house thermostat and using the breeze from a fan to help you feel cooler.
What is a directional front grill?
This grill design has a slight pitch which focuses the air in a particular direction. Usually secondary to the front fan grill, the directional grill can be manipulated to focus the grill in your preferred direction. Some directional grills have the option to turn automatically.
What is manually reversible airflow control?
The fan must be manually turned around to change the air direction into the home (Intake) or out (Exhaust).
What are adjustable height settings?
This versatile feature allows you to set the fan head at multiple heights according to preference and range of motion provided by the fan. Adjustable heights vary by model.
What is exchange?
Only available with Twin Window Fans, this feature allows for one fan blade to bring in fresh cool air as the second blade blows warm air out.
What are the power requirements for a fan?
Your fan has to use 120 volts and 60 hertz. We do not recommend using any more or less as it will damage the unit.
What is an adjustable-tilt neck?
This fan neck allows the you to adjust the fan head up or down at different angles to focus and direct the air output to your preference.
Does the amount of blades a fan has make a difference in the output?
The quantity of blades does make a difference. The surface area and the angle or pitch of the blades can also affect the output of the fan.
What is a convertible pole system?
Several fan models come equipped with an additional pole or a removable pole, allowing a height adjustment. The adjustment may allow conversion to a shorter height or a table option (depending on the fan model).
What is oscillation?
This feature allows the fan head to mechanically turn side to side typically ranging from a 90 or 180-degree motion (depending on model). This feature disperses the air output over a larger area offering whole room comfort.
What are the differences between air intake, air exhaust, and air exchange on my window fan?
Air intake describes the fan pulling air from the outside into the room. Air exhaust describes the fan pushing air from the room to the outside. Air exchange describes one fan blade pulling air into the room, while the other fan blade pushes air out, simultaneously.
What is CFM?
CFM stands for Cubic Feet per Minute. This is a measurement of how much air the fan moves. Be careful of claims made by manufacturers, as there is no industry standard on how to test CFM. Testing can be done in a wind tunnel, a vacuum, or open area. Each provides a different resistance to the fan blades and cannot be directly compared
What is breeze mode?
If your fan has this option, when breeze mode is activated the fan will cycle through all speed settings randomly, recreating a natural outside breeze.


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ITA-24 for Shimano cranks
Product Details
This bottom bracket fits a Shimano crank on a classic Italian threaded road frame.
ITA threads are usually found on Italian steel and Pinarello frames.
For road bikes, choose road seals, for CX and commuter bikes, or if you frequently ride on wet roads, choose cross seals.
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Ball bearings are wear items, similar to the chain on your bicycle. While we went out of our way to present you with the best possible product, your Kogel Bearings do require some maintenance and a new seal kit from time to time. Please download this service document from our manuals section for a step by step on how to keep your bearings running smoothly.
Kogel Bearings strives for best-in-industry product support. Our hybrid and full ceramic bearings are covered under our 1+1 year warranty, which guarantees that we will keep you on the road for two years, pending on annual bearing service. Read more about our philosophy in this blog post.
Any Questions?
We always appreciate speaking to you. Our email address is firstname.lastname@example.com or you can call us at +1 915-777-5666. We will get back to you within 24 hours.


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The City of Vallejo is committed to the health and safety of our community. Public safety personnel are on duty at all times to react to any event requiring safety or medical personnel. Vallejo is well served by two award-winning hospitals. Citizen training is also available to ensure our community is prepared for natural disasters.
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This is an interesting filesystem comparison. If you are looking to build cheap storage for personal use file system decision is quite important:
This is my attempt to cut through the hype and uncertainty to find a storage subsystem that works. I compared XFS and EXT4 under Linux with ZFS under OpenSolaris. Aside from the different kernels and filesystems, I tested internal and external journal devices and software and hardware RAIDs. Software RAIDs are "raid-10 near2" with 6 disks on Linux. On Solaris the zpool is created with three mirrors of two disks each. Hardware RAIDs use the Areca's RAID-10 for both Linux and Solaris. Drive caches are disabled throughout, but the battery-backed cache on the controller is enabled when using hardware RAID.
=> ZFS, XFS, and EXT4 filesystems compared


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Organic Beef…It's a Growing Market
Published on Thu, 10/29/2009 - 12:21pm
Ranchers around the country are capitalizing on the trend by going organic.
When cattlemen meet the strict rules of USDA's Organic Marketing Program, they can use the government's "Certified Organic" logo and provide assurances to demanding consumers. In some cases, cattle producers are pursuing it as a local enterprise, marketing the beef to nearby restaurants and grocery stores. Lane Mc- Connell, who manages organic promotion programs for the Missouri Department of Agriculture, says, "Consumers are wanting those local products, and wanting these types of niche products; they're searching those out, and there's a lot of different places now for farmers to sell products like this."
Black Gate Farms
One of the local producers McConnell is working with is Danny Hull, who is part of a fledgling organic beef marketing venture in the southwest Missouri community of Vanzant. Hull manages Black Gate Farms for owner Carolyn Penner, with the assistance of Penner's son, Chris. "We've just really gotten started in this," explains Hull. "We've not marketed any yet. We're going to try to do that this coming year. We're going to hit some of these farmers' markets, and we've got a restaurant talking to us about it."
Asked why the farm is going organic, Hull simply says, "Health…we've just been reading what this chemical fertilizer's been doing, and what it's been doing to the cattle, and the way God intended for them to eat the grass. You put those chemicals on the ground, and it changes everything—the structure, and kills all your microorganisms; makes your soil all dead, you know. It doesn't let your worms and your tumblebugs and all that stuff work."
Black Gate Farm's herd of 230 mama cows is certified, and Hull has been using embryo transfers to impregnate them with Devon stock. One of the original English breeds, Devons are hardy and known as superior performers on grass; Hull's cattle will strictly be finished on grass. He says, "You know what's wrong with our cattle? They're about 10" too tall. We've crossed them out with these Continentals—you can't get these things fat on grass."
He expected to have the first batch of calves ready for slaughter by the end of
2008, and has made arrangements with a nearby organic butcher (who also has to be certified) to process the meat; he says, "We're just playing it by ear." And they haven't yet decided how much to charge for the beef. "That's the big question we're trying to decide," Hull says, laughing. "We just don't know yet. It's in big demand; I know that."
Processing and Marketing Organic
But some organic beef producers, instead of worrying about the marketing and pricing angles, are contracting with integrated processors who specialize in their product. Dakota Beef has been marketing organic beef since the start of the decade. Their plant in Howard, South Dakota, has the capacity to process more than 100 head of cattle daily into boneless primals, portion cut steaks and ground beef. They sell the ground beef nationwide through the Costco chain, and market through regional chains like HEB in Texas. Steve Hanley, vice president of the company's Live Division, says business is good. "Consumer demand appears to be high," he says, "primarily on the Coasts, and the South in the major cities, metropolitan areas. There's really not a market, I guess, here in the Upper Midwest."
Dakota Beef both finishes its own cattle, and procures finished cattle from ranchers. Hanley says they buy organically certified calves, raise them to 850-900 lbs on certified pastures in the summer months, and finish them to 1200-1250 lbs. in certified feeding facilities. He says they contract with cow/calf producers for one year's production, and also try to get a three-year option, "so that next year we would have the first right of refusal to go back in and purchase their calves and their yearlings." The price on subsequent years' cattle, he adds, would be renegotiated. Dakota offers a fixed price, on a grid based on 50 lb weight increments.
Premium Price
As of early October, Dakota's finished cattle on a carcass basis projected at $2.25-2.35/lb, roughly 60% above the price for conventional cattle. So, as Hanley says, "there's definitely a premium out there for the organic cattle." But the costs are much higher, too. He says organic grains are probably 2/3 higher than conventional grains. Also, whereas Hanley says there are plenty of organic cattle available from cow/calf and yearling producers right now, the conversion to organic grains have been going somewhat more slowly. Corn has become especially pricey. And while conventional feeders can procure byproducts from the ethanol industry, but organic producers don't have that option, and their corn has been running $12 or more per bushel.
There's also a shortage, he says, of both producers willing to finish out organic cattle, and grass to put calves on. Hanley's had his most luck finding new cow/calf producers in the Western states, from western South Dakota into the Nebraska Panhandle and Montana. "All of that country is virgin, native prairie grass," he says. "It probably has never seen any sprays, chemicals or fertilizers. All those cow/calf ranches are probably organic, and they don't even realize they're organic. So, the conversation for those types of producers is pretty quick and pretty easy." Dakota Beef also has a full-time nutritionist who can help producers when their cattle has a health problem; if organic treatments don't work, though, the animal has to be treated conventionally and removed from the program.
The money is better, but Hanley says that's not the only reason his ranchers participate. "I think all the producers believe in the organic program," he says. "They believe in providing a quality product, and also their belief system is that they're helping the environment and kind of helping the cause."
And many of them undoubtedly prefer their own product, too. As Danny Hull says, "I can't eat that store bought stuff anymore; it doesn't have any flavor to it!"


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Zach Gilford Gossip
Zach Gilford gossip, latest news, photos, and video.
An FNL weekend
Rick Kern/ Tasos Katopodis/ Getty Images
Friday Night Lights at the ATX Television Festival in Austin on Friday to celebrate the 10 year anniversary. Connie Britton was joined by Scott Porter, Stacey Oristano, Adriannne Palicki, Matt Lauria, Brad Leland, Jesse Plemons…and Smash, Gaius Charles. Full Story
The tears in Cobra's eyes
Do you remember that episode? If you don't remember that episode, that's your weekend homework. Because you obviously haven't memorised Friday Night Lights. I sat on this for a couple of days because, well, at first I felt maybe bad since he's not a famewhore or anything but, you know, since his wedding photographer posted these online, why not? And besides, a wedding is the perfect way to start your summer weekend. Full Story
And so it is...
Written by Duana Season 5, Episode 9 I have a terrible habit of singing just one line of a song that's stuck in my head over and over again. It makes my friends and coworkers crazy. But it usually happens because I've seen or heard something that makes me think of it, and then the song colours everything that happens in that situation afterwards. Full Story
How to Post Grad
Gilmore Girls + Friday Night Lights… I was never hooked on Rory and Lorelei. But I am terribly, terribly fond of Alexis Bledel. As you know, I'm also balls crazy about Friday Night Lights. Friday Night Lights actors are almost always ignored. So how about some love for Zach Gilford and his co-star Alexis Bledel at Teen Choice last night to promote Post Grad? It doesn't look super original. Full Story
Wednesday is Friday
Not sure about you but this week feels like forever. And it's only Wednesday. So here's a little Taylor Kitsch to ease the ride over the hump. Oh la. Taylor in TV Guide, a new interview promoting the criminally underrated Friday Night Lights and his upcoming role at Gambit in Wolverine. The most important question – does he have a girlfriend? Deep breath… NO. Full Story
Taylor, Tami, and the Kids
At the NBC Universal Experience yesterday when the network presented its 2008/2009 offering, a few cast members from the best show on television, Friday Night Lights, showed up to celebrate Ben Silverman's smart decision to bring it back for a third season. No, I won't shut my ass about FNL. Full Story
Friday Night Quiveration
Friday Night Lights – are you watching? I hope you're watching. Because after a slow start, this season is just as great as the last. Like all teams shaking off the off season rust. Still the most perfect show on television. With the most perfect cast of leading men. Damn! I prefer Kyle Chandler myself. Full Story