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That is All: John Hodgman's Transcendent Final Audiobook of Complete World Knowledge
Today marks the beginning of the end of audiobooks. But don't cry -- there is still time to buy the last audiobook you will need before the coming global superpocalypse. You see, John Hodgman has released his final audiobook of complete world knowledge: That is All. It is full of jokes, celebrity cameos, mostly fake trivia, two references to Kale City Kale Chips, and fond recollections of Hodgman's now-burned speed zeppelin Hubris. Some of the narration occurs while Hodgman travels aboard the HMS Hodgmanic: the HMS stands for "Hodg Man's Ship," and under international law all vessels are rechristened Hodgmanic while he's aboard. That's just one of the little perks of being a Deranged Millionaire.
As I wrote in my review of Hodgman's That is All print edition (which you should probably read in order to understand the rest of this review), I prefer the audiobook editions of his work -- their production value is absurdly high, with more star voiceover cameos each time. But it's not really about the stars, or the jokes -- it's about the delivery of this performance among friends. Hodgman can narrate the hell out of an audiobook by himself. But when you add in appearances by Dick Cavett, Jon Hamm, Patton Oswalt (including an extended Oswalt-as-Nick-Nolte segment), Rachel Maddow, Paul Rudd, Jonathan Coulton, John Roderick, Sarah Vowell, Wyatt Cenac, and others -- you're getting your money's worth. If I had to pick a single audiobook to be stranded with on a desert island, That is All would be my choice -- with its tone veering from jokey to sweet, and ending on a beautiful high note, this audiobook is greater than its printed companion, because it is performed with friends. It is a rumination on collapse, where by "rumination" I mean "celebration," and by "collapse" I mean something that is much less an end than a beginning. For it is in these end times, these final days of 2012, that we may huddle close around our audiobook players, listen together, and have a laugh together. Just a quick tip before you start: you're going to want to get one of those waterproof covers for the player, because of the coming Blood Wave. I'm not sure what you're going to do about the Omega Pulse.
Gaslighting Paul Rudd
A theme of That is All in audiobook form is Hodgman's gleeful gaslighting of Paul Rudd. As we begin Hodgman's audiobook recording session, Rudd is in the next room narrating the same audiobook into an empty cereal box -- which he believes to be a form of microphone due to the aforementioned gaslighting. Hodgman, in his Deranged Millionaire character, repeatedly subjects Rudd's gullible Paul Rudd character (sorry, Paul) to hilarious psychological abuse. (The phrase "hilarious psychological abuse," at the time of this writing, turns up just one result on Google -- I am pleased to break that streak.) Hodgman returns to Rudd throughout the book, checking on his progress and slowly destroying Rudd's ability to distinguish reality from fiction. And it is awesome.
But don't be fooled by this. In the structure of That is All, the gaslighting of Paul Rudd is what magicians would call the Pledge -- the construction of a situation. It is fun on its own...but wait for the Turn and the Prestige to find the emotional core of this book. (And yes, I preemptively apologize for referring to The Prestige in the context of emotions.)
The Company Fridge
Something unexpected happened eleven months ago. I wrote a review of Hodgman's print edition of That is All, and eventually he noticed it. And his noticing was so sweet that we put it on the company fridge (yes, really). And then Hodgman appeared in our magazine, as our cover model, back in May. How cool is that? (Note: my most recent company fridge moment involved Neil Patrick Harris. Look, Neil. We all know you want more print work. You can even sing a song or something -- we'll just write it down. We have that technology.)
Writing About Talking and Singing
This is the part of the review where I play some clips from the audiobook. I don't have embeddable audio samples from the audiobook, and am probably prohibited by some sort of so-called "copyright law" from posting any. So instead, I guess you should watch a few videos from Hodgman's book tour, to get a flavor for what Hodgman is like live. The audiobook is like this except better, because Hodgman gets punchy in key spots (most notably the $999,999 Ideas segment) and frequently cracks up when joking with people he enjoys (c.f. the off-book material in the Rachel Maddow segment). Also, to be clear, the audiobook doesn't have these fancy moving pictures.
John Hodgman - THAT IS ALL from Adam Pranica on Vimeo.
But how does this translate into an audiobook? Is the audiobook just a stage-style reading of the book? In short, no. The portions of the book that can be read as prose are often read as such. But extended portions (like that whole wine thing, and the following section in which Hodgman lists and describes various wines) are performed as discussions with friends. TV host Rachel Maddow drops by the audiobook studio (sorry, Hodgman's Panic Suite at the Chateau Marmont) to discuss types of wine and perform a wine tasting, and she's terrific. This technique transforms the list-driven portions of Hodgman's book into discussions. And, let's face it, discussions are more fun to listen to than lists -- especially in the car.
All the Little Ragnaroks That Happen Day By Day
I finished listening to the audiobook of That is All on my walk to work yesterday morning. And, listening to an audiobook, I cried a little. On a downtown Portland street. This is not something that happens to me -- I don't cry over audiobooks, certainly not in public. But when Hodgman concluded the book, after reading a powerful segment of the book that hints at his writing future, he sang a song with Cynthia Hopkins. And that song -- listen, that song is worth the price of admission. I was not prepared for it, and I am glad it happened, even though a hobo gave me a creepy look because of it.
Without giving too much away, you should know that That is All makes its crucial Turn when Hodgman stops writing as a familiar character, and begins writing as what we might guess is "himself," whatever that means for a writer who is so aware of his changing status and thus his changing voice. Taking on a new voice, one that is so unselfconscious, is surely a vulnerable place to be after so many years occupying jokey versions of himself -- we've heard Hodgman as a Former Professional Literary Agent, Resident Expert, Famous Minor Television Celebrity, and finally Deranged Millionaire (if you aren't familiar with these, read your history). Now we are hearing from the post-post Hodgman -- in other words, beyond the narrator-in-character writer there is a Hodgman voice we've been waiting to hear from again (I remember this voice from before his first book), and boy does it hit home. The book's brilliant conclusion, telling the story of the metafictional Anne Darling Egan, serves as a transition not just in the book, but in Hodgman's career -- it suggests what Hodgman will do next, after the end of this series of postmodern characters. I have no inside information, but listening to the long segment preceding the closing song, I couldn't help but think -- Hodgman has a novel in him.
What I conclude from That is All is that Hodgman's Deranged Millionaire character was gaslighting us the entire time. The truth, of course, is that Hodgman himself is a genuinely kind person who uses character as a way to express himself with a kind of wry, safe detachment. His recent Derangement is a fun side-note in the arc of his career, but careers aren't what matter. What matters is that we do what we love, that we are with the people we love, and that we do our work surrounded by friends -- that is what Hodgman has been doing by bringing in Paul Rudd and Jonathan Coulton and running gags that span dozens of hours of audio and years of work -- he's demonstrating to us what is most meaningful isn't the jokes, it's that those jokes are shared.
Hodgman's final audiobook of complete world knowledge ends with a surging, crying-in-the-street duet of "Resist the Tide" with Hopkins, just as his public readings have for years, and we are reminded that there is more to audiobooks than speech -- there is song; there is more to jokey books than jokes -- there is the sincerity of sharing; and there is more to the end than sadness -- there is hope. That is all.
Resist the Tide
Here at the end, let's look back at the beginning of that end -- from 11/1/11, when Hodgman and Hopkins performed "Resist the Tide" together at The Bell House, at the beginning of his That is All book tour. Smile about your mortality, and sing along, and know that it's okay to cry a little. I sure did.
Buying the Audiobook
The audiobook of That is All is not available on physical media -- it's digital only. It's about sixteen hours long including bonus features (like the audio-page-a-day calendar version of "Today in Ragnarok"), though the core book material is closer to eleven hours. Pick it up on iTunes, Amazon/Audible, or wherever fine audiobooks are sold digitally. You might also want to check out Hodgman's new boxed set of complete world knowledge if you like reading words rather than listening to them.
Blogger disclosure: I wasn't specially compensated for this review. I received an early version of the audiobook to listen to in my Portland End Times Bungalow.


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(visited by Dave Morrison, Steve Price and Tony Carlisle)
04-Dec-2004 -- We were having a look at getting 30N 28E via the scenic route from Matrūḥ to Cairo over the Qaṭṭāra scarp and into the depression. This raised the question of what are the lowest confluence points in the world, as the Qaṭṭāra depression goes as low as -133 m. Using the search engine on the Confluence web page, it was determined that 30N 28E at -35 m was the fourth lowest Confluence. We also found that the two lowest Confluences on the planet were both in Egypt, and these were 30N 27E at -60 m and 29N 27E at -75 m. Could we get 30N 27E and 30N 28E in one trip?
The access into 30N 28E is relatively easy as it lies only 1.2 km of a well defined track, but 30N 27E was guarded on one side by the formidable Qaṭṭāra escarpment, that guarded the Allies' flank at the battle of al-`Alamayn, and very nasty sabkha (salt flats) on the other. Commercial maps showed a track that ran alongside the bottom of the scarp but I have never met anyone that had driven it. Then a golden opportunity came up at work to scout the area that would bring us close to both Confluences, provided that these old maps that showed a crossing across the dreaded sabkha were accurate.
We set off from Ma`ādiy at 5:30, crossed the Nile as the fog started to come in, and it was thick enough to mask the pyramids as we passed through Gīza. Then out to 6th-October-City to fill up with diesel at the last available fuel stop, but this was a disappointment as the first 3 stations we tried all had run out of Diesel. By the time we found the fourth station and topped up we were well behind schedule. We then hit the road but soon encountered thick fog so we pulled over till the sun could burn it off. The sensible truckers had done the same but we watched in awe as one truck overtook another with visibility at about 50 m tooting his horn, presumably to warn oncoming traffic because they were surely not going to see him! We were glad we were parked up and waited till it cleared before heading down the Baḥariyya road now two hours behind schedule.
We reached the rest house halfway to Baḥariyya and were pleasantly surprised to find that the fuel station that had been closed for a long time had reopened. We happily topped up again before heading to the Abū Ġarādiq turnoff. There we turned west to follow an old track shown on most commercial maps and what we had used in our successful conquest of 29N 29E. This was a good track, difficult to follow in a couple of places, particularly as we headed west and surprisingly encountered quite a few areas of trees where there were lots of Bedouin tracks running between them. We carried on making good progress hoping to cross the sabkha before nightfall and get a sheltered campsite in the lee of the scarp. This was assuming the track across existed and it was with some trepidation we came down towards the crossing point as the sabkha looked nasty.
However, we picked out the track and discovered that the surface was hard and very rough. We bounced our way over in first until about the middle, where there was a clear change in color of the surface with a nasty looking schism between them, with bright white salt coming to the surface. However the track carried on and held as we crossed the schism and bounced our way over the remaining part of the sabkha. It was getting late now and we were worried would not make it the shelter of the scarp proper when a small scarp with a nice sheltered gully appeared. We gladly took the decision to stay there the night getting the tents up just before dark, followed by a nice barbeque. We had covered 530 km, 300 km off road, during the day and crossed the depression and retired very satisfied.
We were up and breakfasted before dawn, broke camp and headed north to intersect with the track shown on the maps. After the success the day before, we were confident of finding it but were getting worried until we came across it right at the bottom of the cliff. It was interesting to note that in addition to the well-defined vehicle tracks there was the well-defined ancient camel trail scuffed into the gravel by thousands of camel feet. We then headed north along the track and a spectacular track it is, the large impressive scarp with the banding of colors of the different layers, plus grove after grove of heavily laden date palms. The strange thing was that despite coming across lots of fresh tire, camel and even human footprints we had not seen a soul in 330 kilometers of off-road travel.
We came round a bend in the track and there was 30N 27E, only 900 m from the track. We headed out to it through a copse of bushes but the point was 200 m out on to the sabkha. We prudently walked out, but it seemed hard enough, and this was my fastest zero dance yet, as I switched from navigate mode to position screen the zeros were there. The elevation was reading -83 m, well below the -60 m estimated on the confluence page. Not sure what the elevation accuracy on the Garmins are but we had three plus a Trimble 4700SSE and all had a similar elevation. So we were lower than any other confluence hunter had ever been, so the team took the opportunity to look up at the thousands of other confluence visitors, confident we were the lowest of the low! It was then on to 30N 28E at the dizzy height of -35 m.

subset: commoncrawl


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The Session trad tune machine
Most pundits call it "the Internet of Things" but there's another phrase from Andy Huntington that I first heard from Russell Davies: "the Geocities of Things." I like that.
I've never had much exposure to this world of hacking electronics. I remember getting excited about the possibilities at a Brighton BarCamp back in 2008:
I now have my own little arduino kit, a bread board and a lucky bag of LEDs. Alas, know next to nothing about basic electronics so I'm really going to have to brush up on this stuff.
I never did do any brushing up. But that all changed last week.
Seb is doing a new two-day workshop. He doesn't call it Internet Of Things. He doesn't call it Geocities Of Things. He calls it Stuff That Talks To The Interwebs, or STTTTI, or ST4I. He needed some guinea pigs to test his workshop material on, so Clearleft volunteered as tribute.
In short, it was great! And this time, I didn't stop hacking when I got home.
First off, every workshop attendee gets a hand-picked box of goodies to play with and keep: an arduino mega, a wifi shield, sensors, screens, motors, lights, you name it. That's the hardware side of things. There are also code samples and libraries that Seb has prepared in advance.
Now, remember, I lack even the most basic knowledge of electronics, but after two days of fiddling with this stuff, it started to click.
On the first workshop day, we all did the same exercises, connected things up, getting them to talk to the internet, that kind of thing. For the second workshop day, Seb encouraged us to think about what we might each like to build.
I was quite taken with the ability of the piezo buzzer to play rudimentary music. I started to wonder if there was a way to hook it up to The Session and have it play the latest jigs, reels, and hornpipes that have been submitted to the site in ABC notation. A little bit of googling revealed that someone had already taken a stab at writing an ABC parser for arduino. I didn't end up using that code, but it convinced me that what I was trying to do wasn't crazy.
So I built a machine that plays Irish traditional music from the internet.
The hardware has a piezo buzzer, an "on" button, an "off" button, a knob for controlling the speed of the tune, and an obligatory LED.
The software has a countdown timer that polls a URL every minute or so. The URL is http://tune.adactio.com/. That in turn uses The Session's read-only API to grab the latest tune activity and then get the ABC notation for whichever tune is at the top of that list. Then it does some cleaning up—removing some of the more advanced ABC stuff—and outputs a single line of notes to be played. I'm fudging things a bit: the device has the range of a tin whistle, and expects tunes to be in the key of D or G, but seeing as that's at least 90% of Irish traditional music, it's good enough.
Whenever there's a new tune, it plays it. Or you can hit the satisfying "on" button to manually play back the latest tune (and yes, you can hit the equally satisfying "off" button to stop it). Being able to adjust the playback speed with a twiddly knob turns out to be particularly handy if you decide to learn the tune.
I added one more lo-fi modification. I rolled up a piece of paper and placed it over the piezo buzzer to amplify the sound. It works surprisingly well. It's loud!
I'll keep tinkering with it. It's fun. I realise I'm coming to this whole hardware-hacking thing very late, but I get it now: it really does feel similar to that feeling you would get when you first figured out how to make a web page back in the days of Geocities. I've built something that's completely pointless for most people, but has special meaning for me. It's ugly, and it's inefficient, but it works. And that's a great feeling.
(P.S. Seb will be running his workshop again on the 3rd and 4th of February, and there will a limited amount of early-bird tickets available for one hour, between 11am and midday this Thursday. I highly recommend you grab one.)


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This set of HTML features has been the starting point for the design of XHTML Basic. Since many content developers are familiar with these HTML features, they comprise a useful host language that may be combined with markup modules from other languages according to the methods described in " XHTML " [ XHTMLMOD ]. For example, XHTML Basic may be extended with module
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It is recommended that style sheets be used to create a presentation that is appropriate for the device.
Basic XHTML tables ([ XHTMLMOD ], section 5.6.1) are supported, but tables can be difficult to display on small devices. It is recommended that content developers follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 for creating accessible tables ([ WCAG10 ], Guideline 5). Note that in the Basic Tables Module, nesting of tables is prohibited.
Frames are not supported. Frames depend on a screen interface and may not be applicable to some small appliances like phones, pagers, and watches.
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A Conforming XHTML Basic document is a document that requires only the facilities described as mandatory in this specification. Such a document must meet all of the following criteria:
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Although XHTML Basic can be used as it is - a simple XHTML language with text, links, and images - the intention of its simple design is for use as a host language. A host language can contain a mix of vocabularies all rolled into one document type. It is natural that XHTML is the host language, since that is what most Web developers are used to.
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This section contains the driver for the XHTML Basic document type implementation as an XML DTD . It relies upon XHTML module implementations defined in [ XHTMLMOD ].
This is XHTML Basic, a proper subset of XHTML. The Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) All Rights Reserved. Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute the XHTML Basic DTD and its accompanying documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted in perpetuity, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph appear in all copies. The copyright holders make no representation about the suitability of the DTD for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without expressed or implied warranty. This DTD is identified by the PUBLIC and SYSTEM identifiers: <!-- Use this URI to identify the default namespace: "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" See the Qualified Names module for information on the use of namespace prefixes in the DTD. <!-- Reserved for use with the XLink namespace: <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ... <!-- Bidirectional Text features This feature-test entity is used to declare elements and attributes used for bidirectional text support. <!ENTITY % xhtml-model.mod <!ENTITY % xhtml-framework.mod PUBLIC "-//W3C//ENTITIES XHTML Modular Framework 1.0//EN" %xhtml-framework.mod; <!ENTITY % pre.content "( #PCDATA | %InlStruct.class; %InlPhras.class; %Anchor.class; %Inline.extra; )*" <!ENTITY % xhtml-text.mod PUBLIC "-//W3C//ELEMENTS XHTML Text 1.0//EN" %xhtml-text.mod; <!ENTITY % xhtml-hypertext.mod PUBLIC "-//W3C//ELEMENTS XHTML Hypertext 1.0//EN" %xhtml-hypertext.mod; <!ENTITY % xhtml-list.mod PUBLIC "-//W3C//ELEMENTS XHTML Lists 1.0//EN" %xhtml-list.mod; <![%xhtml-image.module;[ <!ENTITY % xhtml-image.mod PUBLIC "-//W3C//ELEMENTS XHTML Images 1.0//EN" %xhtml-image.mod;]]> <![%xhtml-table.module;[ <!ENTITY % xhtml-table.mod PUBLIC "-//W3C//ELEMENTS XHTML Basic Tables 1.0//EN" %xhtml-table.mod;]]> <![%xhtml-form.module;[ <!ENTITY % xhtml-form.mod %xhtml-form.mod;]]> <![%xhtml-link.module;[ <!ENTITY % xhtml-link.mod PUBLIC "-//W3C//ELEMENTS XHTML Link Element 1.0//EN" %xhtml-link.mod;]]> <![%xhtml-meta.module;[ <!ENTITY % xhtml-meta.mod PUBLIC "-//W3C//ELEMENTS XHTML Metainformation 1.0//EN" %xhtml-meta.mod;]]> <![%xhtml-base.module;[ <!ENTITY % xhtml-base.mod PUBLIC "-//W3C//ELEMENTS XHTML Base Element 1.0//EN" %xhtml-base.mod;]]> <![%xhtml-param.module;[ <!ENTITY % xhtml-param.mod PUBLIC "-//W3C//ELEMENTS XHTML Param Element 1.0//EN" %xhtml-param.mod;]]> <![%xhtml-object.module;[ <!ENTITY % xhtml-object.mod PUBLIC "-//W3C//ELEMENTS XHTML Embedded Object 1.0//EN" %xhtml-object.mod;]]> <!ENTITY % xhtml-struct.mod PUBLIC "-//W3C//ELEMENTS XHTML Document Structure 1.0//EN" %xhtml-struct.mod;
An XHTML Family Document Type (such as XHTML Basic) must define the content model that it uses. This is done through a separate content model module that is instantiated by the XHTML Modular Framework. The content model module and the XHTML Basic Driver (above) work together to customize the module implementations to the document type's specific requirements. The content model module for XHTML Basic is defined below:
This is XHTML Basic, a proper subset of XHTML. This DTD module is identified by the PUBLIC and SYSTEM identifiers: Revisions: (none) <!-- XHTML Basic Document Model This module describes the groupings of elements that make up common content models for XHTML elements. <!ENTITY % HeadOpts.mix <!ENTITY % InlPhras.class "| %em.qname; | %strong.qname; | %dfn.qname; | %code.qname; | %samp.qname; | %kbd.qname; | %var.qname; | %cite.qname; <!ENTITY % InlForm.class "| %input.qname; | %select.qname; | %textarea.qname; <!ENTITY % Inline.class "%InlStruct.class; %InlPhras.class; %Anchor.class; %InlSpecial.class; %InlForm.class; %Inline.extra;" <!ENTITY % InlNoAnchor.class "%InlStruct.class; %InlPhras.class; %InlSpecial.class; %InlForm.class; %Inline.extra;" <!ENTITY % InlNoAnchor.mix "%InlNoAnchor.class; %Misc.class;" <!ENTITY % Inline.mix "%Inline.class; %Misc.class;" <!ENTITY % Heading.class "%h1.qname; | %h2.qname; | %h3.qname; | %h4.qname; | %h5.qname; | %h6.qname;" <!ENTITY % BlkPhras.class "| %pre.qname; | %blockquote.qname; | %address.qname;" <!ENTITY % BlkSpecial.class "%Table.class; <!ENTITY % Block.class "%BlkStruct.class; %BlkPhras.class; %BlkSpecial.class; %Block.extra;" <!ENTITY % Block.mix "%Heading.class; | %List.class; | %Block.class; %Misc.class;" <!-- declares all content except tables <!ENTITY % FlowNoTable.mix "%Heading.class; | %List.class; | %BlkStruct.class; %BlkPhras.class; %Form.class; %Block.extra; | %Inline.class; %Misc.class;" <!ENTITY % Flow.mix "%Heading.class; | %List.class; | %Block.class; | %Inline.class; %Misc.class;"


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The digital world uses plenty of metaphors. For example, your computer's "desktop," "dock," "windows" and "tabs," or your iPhone's "lightning connector."
The "online catalog" is a metaphor for the print catalog. Though search tools and hyperlinked category menus and shopping carts make digital catalogs oh-so-awesome, today's ecommerce sites still reflect the Web of the late 90′s — even with the advancements in personalization, video, 360-degree views, customer reviews and social features.
This model ain't broke (yet) for catalogers like Land's End, Brookstone, Pottery Barn, Orvis or Ikea. (Though even catalog brands are realizing that today's technology offers new and contextual cross-channel experiences beyond the storefront).
Think about luxury's legacy of print and outdoor advertising that is brand rather than information-centric; Ads that are emotional, that convey a background story, sell an image, promise an experience. You stop to look at them. They make you feel something.
They're not a thumbnail image with a description and list of available sizes.
So why have so many luxury brands selling direct to customer online adopted the catalog look and feel? Is this approach on-brand? Is it the best way to deliver the emotional experience that the luxury customer is looking for and accustomed to in-store?
The rainmakers in luxury are looking beyond the online catalog model and embracing CMS-driven ecommerce, building content-rich web and mobile experiences that tell the brand story, while enabling commerce where it's needed within this content. Not just on the web, but in mobile apps, in-store experiences, and new and emerging touch points.
What does this look like in the wild?
In-content commerce
Luxury brands are not merely retailers — many of them are also sitting on heaps of digital content that is highly shareable and can be commerce-enabled.
Coach.com uses home page video to merchandise its collection, including shoppable hotspots. This video can easily be distributed to affiliate partners like style blogs, magazines, shared through Youtube and social networks, or repurposed in short chunks through Vine and Instagram. It can also live inside mobile apps and in-store digital signage.
Harrods is literally a tourist destination, but it's one-night-only Summer of Now virtual shopping event on its dot-com site brought the in-store experience online, with flash sales, giveaways and gifts with purchase and a Great Gatsby-esque experience complete with jazz and cocktail pop-up bar and of course — shoppable video.
While hotspots can link back to an online catalog – the best experience is a seamless one, where transactions can occur within media, wherever the customer consumes the content. This is a headache for traditional ecommerce platforms built for the catalog experience. To achieve, a brand needs to take a CMS-driven approach to commerce.
Socializing commerce
Neiman Marcus doesn't just ask for feedback on Facebook, it uses crowd sourced style tips from fans to merchandise its online magazine InSite and email campaigns.
Social content can also be pulled directly into product pages using APIs, or with tools like Ditto's image recognition to discover photos of your brand on social networks.
Coach's #COACHFROMABOVE page features crowd-contributed images.
A next step for #COACHFROMABOVE could be to identify which products are available for purchase and support a way to buy, or suggest "products like this." Emerging image recognition tools may be a solution here in the near future.
Augmented in-store experiences
Burberry's Beauty Box in London boasts an "exclusive collection of services, accessories, gifts and digital experiences."
The store is the first for the brand to exclusively use mobile checkout through iPads (carried by sales associates). Makeup looks from runway shows are available for purchase after watching video in-store. Customers can virtually try on nail polish by placing bottles on RFID-enabled platforms.
The holy grail of in-store luxury combines iBeacons with mobile and loyalty apps, bringing digital content to customers' mobile phones, whilst collecting data to improve in-store and online personalization and merchandising.
This is all possible today, but only with the right technology.
Interactive event marketing
Much of luxury is about lifestyle. In its fifth year, Hermes' popular show jumping event featuring its equestrian leatherware was live-streamed on the façade of a nearby hotel. What was missing was a shopping component. Companion apps and shoppable displays could tie commerce back into the physical experience.
Bergdorf Goodman hosted an interactive social media scavenger hunt at SXSW last week. Players were asked to hunt down BG's social media manager Cannon Hodge, and post her picture to Instagram. The prize pack included the wait-listed Monsur Gavriel bucket bag, with the winner judged on quality of the photo.
Hints were dropped across social networks on how to "play."
There's unlimited potential to how commerce can connect to live events, the key is to be nimble in creating customized content and experience tailored to the events, bringing the digital experience into the physical world, and bringing data back into the system to optimize shopping experiences across touch points for individual luxury customers.
Wearable tech
We've yet to see what will be done with Google Glass and other connected devices, though watchmaker Alpina Frederique Constant isn't wasting any time.
Alpina will use Google Glass internally, with consumers and channel partners. For example, creating how-to videos, tutorials and virtual tours of the brand's manufacturing headquarters for consumers and tutorials on merchandising and functionality for merchants. It will also be used in more than 2800 watch boutiques to ensure displays are in line with brand guidelines. Sales associates take photographs and upload them to a shared database via iPad or Android.
"Google Glass is going to have effects on a number of categories within our businesses. The most obvious is the recording functionality that allows you to capture and create customized content from a first person perspective. We'll be able to share out that content across our social media channels and web presence, but also with our retail partners and across their own social media channels."
Reinventing Digital Commerce
Whatever the digital innovation, the ecommerce experience is moving away from the "catalog" experience. Luxury brands selling direct to consumer have the opportunity to reinvent their ecommerce businesses to become truly omnichannel, immersive, content-driven and socially integrated, setting themselves apart from their retail channel partners.
But to get there demands CMS-driven commerce, the ability to plug transactional capabilities into any and all touch points, while collecting and feeding back the data generated by consumer activities across channels.


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In his first interview since going to prison, Bernard Madoff told the New York Times that others were complicit in the fraud that brought him down. Boston University law professor Tamar Frankel is an authority on securities law, corporate governance, and legal ethics. Her latest book, "Con Artists and their Victims (of the Ponzi Variety)" will […]
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The clock is ticking for CBS and Time Warner Cable.
The two companies have until 5 p.m. ET Friday to find a solution in their disagreement over the transmission fee that Time Warner Cable (TWC) pays to run CBS-owned stations, including network affiliates in major cities. A failure to resolve the dispute threatens millions of cable subscribers with a CBS blackout.
The deadline has already been extended on a number of occasions since the former contract expired on June 30. Time Warner Cable spokesman Eric Mangan said Friday that "negotiations are continuing," declining to comment further.
Spokespeople for CBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The 3 million customers affected by these talks are mostly in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas, but subscribers in Chicago, Boston, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Denver are also at risk. Those are the cities where CBS (CBS) owns the affiliates that carry the network. In other markets, CBS is carried on stations with other owners.
Related: The 6 longest TV blackout wars
Time Warner Cable customers nationwide also stand to lose access to the premium cable network Showtime, which is also owned by CBS.
Time Warner Cable has claimed that CBS is demanding too high a rate -- 600% more than what the cable provider has to pay for the network's programming in other parts of the country. In those areas, Time Warner Cable negotiates with local CBS affiliates that are not owned outright by the network.
CBS had been running TV commercials warning customers in the affected cities that "Time Warner Cable is threatening to hold your favorite shows hostage."
Time Warner Cable and CBS are very likely to reach a deal at some point -- especially if the dispute threatens NFL broadcasts scheduled to air on CBS later this year. The question is whether consumers will be forced to endure a blackout.
CNNMoney's James O'Toole contributed reporting.


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WWF Smackdown 9/27/2001
Credit: pwwew.net
Dayton, Ohio
September 27, 2001
The Undertaker and Kane defended their WCW Tag Team Championship against Booker T and Test as the Sept. 27 episode of SmackDown! kicked off from Dayton, Ohio! Kane looked to have the match won after a chokeslam on Test, but Shane McMahon pulled referee Nick Patrick out of the ring just as the ref was about to count to three. Undertaker gave Shane a right hand for his troubles! Moments later, Test and Kane battled into the crowd, while Booker and Taker fought it out in the ring, where Patrick was soon knocked out. Shane then handed Booker a chair, but Taker ducked and countered with a chokeslam! As Taker prepared for the Last Ride, Shane floored him with a vicious chairshot. But Taker recovered and hit Shane with the Last Ride! But right after hitting the Boy Wonder with the Last Ride, Booker smashed a chair over Taker's head and covered him, and Test and Booker T became WCW Tag Team Champions!
During the break, Shane McMahon left the arena in a limo along with Nick Patrick, Booker T and Test.
Lilian Garcia interviewed Commissioner William Regal, who said he had a big announcement to make. Regal said that since Shane was wielding his power as WCW owner, Regal would be exercising his power as World Wrestling Federation commissioner — so he made a match for SmackDown! with the Dudley Boyz defending the Federation Tag Team Championship against Kurt Angle and The Rock!
Hardcore Champion Rob Van Dam and U.S. Champion Rhyno were talking in the locker room about Stone Cold Steve Austin, when Kanyon came in and said he'd heard that the Rattlesnake had trashed his hotel room after Unforgiven! Kanyon then thanked RVD for his advice on Monday night and for being there.
In tag action, the Hardy Boyz — accompanied by Lita — took on Rhyno and Kanyon. Kanyon continued his flirtation with Lita during the match. At one point, he went to kiss her, but she hung him up on the top rope, and Matt then finished him off with a Twist of Fate to give the Hardys a pinfall win.
X-Pac barged into the commissioner's office and said he wanted a rematch against the commish, after Regal had defeated him on RAW. Regal said that X-Pac would instead be facing Big Show on SmackDown!
A limo pulled into the arena, and Paul Heyman questioned if it was Stone Cold … but it was actually Christian, the Intercontinental Champion! As he walked into the arena, a kid asked him for his autograph, and Christian said no way!
In a battle of David vs. Goliath, the Big Show took on X-Pac, who was accompanied to ringside by Albert. The Big Show used his 300-pound weight advantage to manhandle X-Pac, leading Albert to interfere on more than one occasion. Ultimately, Big Show caught X-Pac in midair and chokeslammed him for the pinfall win.
After the bout, Albert kicked attacked Show, and Spike Dudley ran down to the ring and gave Albert the Dudley Dogg! X-Pac then snuck up behind Spike and knocked him out cold with a title belt.
RVD was stretching in his locker room when Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley entered. RVD said that maybe she should knock next time! Stephanie said she had a philosophy that once just wasn't enough, and RVD said he had heard that about her! Stephanie said she had made a Hardcore Title rematch between RVD and Chris Jericho for SmackDown!, and that she would once again be in his corner. RVD said that after what happened on Monday, she shouldn't do him any favors — and Stephanie said she happened to be very good at doing favors!
The Rock and Kurt Angle talked in the locker room about their match against the Dudleys later in the night, saying it was the first time the Federation Champion and the WCW Champion had ever teamed up. Rock congratulated Angle on his title win at Unforgiven. Angle suggested that after they won the Tag Championship that they should go out for some strudel — and The Rock said that he didn't like strudel; he liked pie! Angle said that milk goes great with pie, and said he could really go for a couple of big jugs right now … of milk. In fact, Angle said he was going to head to the cafeteria and grab the first big jugs he could find!
Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley provided color commentary for the Hardcore Championship match between Rob Van Dam and Chris Jericho.
As RVD hit the ring, he questioned why Stephanie was at ringside, after he had asked her to stay in the back. The match was fast and furious, just like their first match at Unforgiven, and the fans chanted "RVD" and "Y2J" all the way through. RVD soon came off the top for a dropkick, but Jericho caught him and locked him in the Walls of Jericho. Stephanie then got in the ring and was about to nail Y2J with a chair, but Jericho caught the Billion-Dollar Princess and trapped her in the Walls of Jericho! That allowed RVD to nail Jericho with a savate kick. Y2J battled back, crushing Stephanie and the referee in the corner and hitting a bulldog onto a steel chair, and then nailing the Lionsault. But a groggy referee was unable to count the pinfall. Moments later, Jericho went for a flyinf forearm on RVD, but he ducked, and Y2J nailed Stephanie instead! RVD then snuck up behind Y2J and hit him with the Van Daminator, allowing him to score the pinfall win. After the match, a number of Alliance members ran to ringside to check on Stephanie, who seemed to be unconscious at ringside.
Moments later, Stephanie complained to the Alliance members backstage, sending some of them to get her water and then whining that she needed a specialist.
Edge arrived to the arena and said he wasn't leaving until he found Christian and made every inch of Christian's body look like the damage done to his eye at Unforgiven.
Elsewhere, a worried Christian watched the footage and ran out of his locker room.
Bradshaw was in the APA office when Christian entered and said he needed protection. Bradshaw pie-faced Christian to the floor, and said that he refused to protect someone who treated his brother like Christian did. He said he was going to go to Commissioner Regal and ask for an Intercontinental Championship match against Christian on SmackDown!
In women's action, Molly Holly took on Ivory. The two women bumped heads, and Molly was knocked out cold. That allowed Ivory to score an easy pinfall. After the match, the trainer headed to the ring to help Molly, as did The Hurricane. Hurricane carried Molly off to the back, and out to his Hurri-mobile, where the two of them drove off!
Kurt Angle returned to The Rock's dressing room and said he couldn't find any jugs, but he had something better — a copy of his new book, "It's True! It's True!" Angle said that the best chapter in the book is the one about him beating Rock for the Federation Championship last year at No Mercy! Rock said he assumed that the chapter — or the two or three chapters — about the Great One winning the title back from Angle at No Way Out were also interesting. But Angle said there was just a paragraph somewhere in the book about it. Rock then sang a version of "SmackDown! Hotel," and Angle improvised a song of his own about kicking Steve Austin's ass!
Next up, Christian defended the Intercontinental Championship against Bradshaw. The men battled into the backstage area, where Christian jumped into a waiting limo, which began to speed off. Suddenly, the limo stopped, and Christian tried to get out of the limo, but someone kept pulling him back in. Finally Christian got away, and Edge got out of the limo and watched as his brother ran off.
The main event on SmackDown! was history in the making, as for the first time ever, the World Wrestling Federation Champion teamed up with the WCW Champion! Indeed, Kurt Angle and The Rock stood side-by-side as they attempted to take the Federation Tag Team Championship from the Dudley Boyz. Prior to the bout, Angle said he was glad he won the Federation Championship, but the more he thought about it, the more something didn't seem right. He said that one of his three I's was integrity, and he said he realized that when Stone Cold tapped out at Unforgiven, the Rattlesnake's other hand was under the bottom rope. So he told Stone Cold that if he wanted him to give the title back — he could kiss Angle's red, white and blue ass!
Right before the match began, another limo pulled in to the arena. Rock and Angle looked to have the match won with a double submission — Angle had Bubba Ray in the ankle lock, while Rock had D-Von in the sharpshooter — until Shane, Booker and Test ran to the ring, ending the bout in a disqualification.The members of the Alliance pounded on Rock and Angle, using their five-on-two attack their advantage. As the fight wore on, the Dudleys got a couple of tables, and put Rock and Angle each through one with two devastating 3-D's! The Alliance celebrated their actions as SmackDown! went off the air.
Bob Colling Jr. View All
34-year-old currently living in Syracuse, New York. Long-time fan of the New York Mets, Chicago Bulls, and Minnesota Vikings. An avid fan of professional wrestling and write reviews/articles on the product. Usually focusing on old-school wrestling.


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Matchbook Art
These paintings are based on matchbook art from the 30's 40's and 50's. They were developed from a collection my father-in-law had had acquired as a young man and in his early years of marriage. I became fascinated with the concise imagery and the nostalgic flavor of the clip art used in advertising various products and services. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did creating them. All are done with acrylic paint and mostly all are done on masonite and a few on canvas and a few on canvas board. I have completed over 165 at this point and will continue to create more. All are for sale and most are about 10" x 13". Over 105 of these are 3-D as illustrated by the Portis Hats matchbook.Read More


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Testimony: U.S. soldier Staff Sgt. Robert Bales knew he killed Afghans
JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. (AP) -- Staff Sgt. Robert Bales made a mid-massacre confession, asked for help bleaching his blood-stained clothing and deliberately destroyed his laptop computer, fellow soldiers have testified - statements that prosecutors say show he knew what he was doing the night 16 civilians were slaughtered in two villages in southern Afghanistan.
The remarks, offered by soldiers testifying for the government Monday and Tuesday, could pose a high hurdle for defense lawyers who have indicated that Bales' mental health will be a big part of their case. Testimony continues with several more witnesses Wednesday in a preliminary hearing that is being held to help determine whether the case goes to a court martial.
Bales, a 39-year-old father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., faces 16 counts of premeditated murder and six counts of attempted murder in the March 11 attack on the villages of Balandi and Alkozai, which counted nine children among its victims.
One of the worst atrocities of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the attack prompted the U.S. to halt combat operations for days in the face of protests, and military investigators couldn't reach the crime scenes for a month.
A prosecutor, Lt. Col. Jay Morse, said Bales spent the evening before the massacre at his remote outpost of Camp Belambay with two other soldiers, watching a movie about revenge killings, sharing contraband whiskey from a plastic bottle and discussing an attack that cost one of their comrades his leg.
Within hours, a cape-wearing Bales slipped away from the post and embarked on a killing spree of his own, said the prosecutor, Lt. Col. Jay Morse. He attacked one village then returned to Belambay, where he woke up a colleague and reported what he'd done, Morse said. The colleague testified that he didn't believe Bales and went back to sleep.
Bales headed out again, Morse said, and attacked the second village before returning once again in the predawn darkness, bloody and incredulous that his comrades ordered him to surrender his weapons.
A medic, Sgt. 1st Class James Stillwell, said Tuesday he saw Bales covered in blood and knew from the pattern of the staining it wasn't his own. He asked where it came from and where he'd been.
Bales shrugged, Stillwell testified.
"If I tell you, you guys will have to testify against me," Stillwell quoted him as saying.
The statement was one of many attributed to Bales that suggest he knew what he was doing, prosecutors say.
Soldiers testified that after being taken into custody, Bales told them, "I thought I was doing the right thing."
"It's bad, it's really bad," he reportedly added.
And Stillwell said Bales told him that the soldiers at Camp Belambay would appreciate his actions once the fighting season ramped up: "You guys are going to thank me come June."
At another point, Bales remarked, "I guess four was too many" - an apparent reference to the number of family compounds in the attacked villages, Morse said Monday.
Bales was largely calm and compliant when he turned himself in following the massacre, several soldiers testified Tuesday. He followed orders and sometimes sat with his head in his hands, as though the magnitude of what he had done was sinking in, one said.
At one point, Bales made a joke - pointing his finger, in the shape of a gun, at two soldiers guarding him - in what they took as a failed effort to ease the tension.
But Bales also deliberately mangled his laptop, said two soldiers assigned to guard him as he gathered his things.
One of them, Sgt. Ross O'Rourke, testified that he removed the laptop from Bales' rucksack after the defendant told him he didn't want to take it with him. O'Rourke said Bales then grabbed the computer and folded the screen back, breaking it.
That didn't damage the hard drive, O'Rourke said, and investigators still could have retrieved information from the computer. O'Rourke didn't testify about what information might have been uncovered.
On Monday, Cpl. David Godwin testified that Bales asked him to bleach his blood-soaked clothes.
Two other soldiers, Pfcs. Derek Guinn and Damian Blodgett, testified Tuesday that they were on a guard shift early March 11 when they heard scattered gunfire coming from Alkozai, the first village attacked. They used thermal imaging and then shot up flares to illuminate the area, but couldn't make out what was going on.
Blodgett said he reported it to the operations center on base, and a specialist told them to monitor it and let him know if it came toward them.
The shooting lasted for 30 to 40 minutes, Blodgett said.
Guinn said he considered Bales to be bipolar: "Sometimes he was in a really good mood, and he seemed really angry sometimes, or easily annoyed."
Two other witnesses said that later, an interpreter arrived with two Afghan National Army soldiers who reported that they had seen an American come and go from the base. Guinn gave a slightly different account when he recalled that the interpreter said the soldiers had seen two Americans arrive on base, and one head back out.
After the shootings, some Afghan villagers questioned whether they could have been carried out by one soldier.
Bales has not entered a plea, and is not expected to testify. His attorneys, who did not give an opening statement, have not discussed the evidence, but say Bales has post-traumatic stress disorder and suffered a concussive head injury during a prior deployment to Iraq.
Bales has not participated in a medical evaluation known as a "sanity board," because his lawyers have objected to having him meet with Army doctors outside their presence.
Bales' lawyers called their first witness Tuesday, a soldier who bagged the blood-soaked clothes Bales had been wearing as evidence. The testimony focused primarily on how the evidence was handled.


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There may be a sort of main power switch that could be tripped suggests a three-dimensional image of one of the proteins that serves as an on-off switch as it binds to receptors on the surface of a cell. These surface receptors are responsible for helping cells discern light, set the heart racing, or detect pain.
The finding, published online April 21, 2013, in the journal Nature by a research collaboration involving this year's Nobel laureates in chemistry, could help in the development of more effective drugs to switch on or off the cell receptors that regulate nearly every bodily function. Already, up to half of all drugs engage these receptors, including antihistamines and beta blockers, but many of the intricacies of how these important proteins work remain unknown.
"It's important to understand how this extraordinary family of receptors work," said co-author Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D., James B. Duke Professor of Medicine and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. "This is the kind of finding that answers a basic curiosity, but can also be of benefit if we can develop new drugs or improve the ones we have."
In the current work, the researchers used X-ray crystallography to develop an atom-scale image of one of the principal signaling molecules that regulate GPCRs. This protein is called beta-arrestin1, which, among other things, works to dim a cell's response to hormones such as adrenalin.
The researchers were able to isolate and capture the beta-arrestin1 protein in an active state as it binds to a segment of the GPCR - a first. That snapshot, in high resolution, revealed that the structural conformation or shape of the protein in its active state is strikingly different than when it is inactive.
Such changes suggest there may be a general molecular mechanism that activates the beta-arrestin1 - a sort of main switch that controls the multi-functional signaling proteins.
"It's like there are brakes on in beta-arrestin1, and then when the beta-arrestin1 binds to a GPCR, the brakes are released, thereby activating beta-arrestin1," said Arun K. Shukla, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at Duke and co-lead author of the study.
The researchers are now pursuing additional structural imaging of the signaling complex consisting of beta-arrestin1 and the entire receptor protein.
Source: Eurekalert


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What you need:
*envelope templates or plain old envelopes
*a pencil
*glue stick
*artwork (you can use magazines and coloring book pages also)
scrumdilly-do it:
Cut out shape, fold, glue and you're done! Easy as pie. If you have a non-perfectionist as a wee one, have him or her cut do all the work. I would recommend this for kidlets 8 and up. Younger kidlets can do this of course but it can get frustrating with all the tracing and cutting. Make a set of envelopes to give family and friends or you can fill them up with letters and send them on their way.
Coming up next. Make tiny treasure envelopes using a giftcard envie as a template!
Envelope templates can be found at Paper Source. You can also download templates at Mirkwood Designs.


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Addictions Nursing
Ambulatory Care Nursing
Cardiac Catheterization Lab Nursing
Cardiac Nursing
Case Management
Certified Nurse Midwife
Certified Nursing Assistant
Clinical Nurse Specialist
Critical Care Nursing
Diabetes Management Nursing
Emergency Nursing
Emergency-Trauma Nursing
Flight-Transport Nursing
Forensic Nursing
Gastroenterology Nursing
Geriatric Nursing
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text:
Simmons makes bittersweet journey to Taiwan
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- After playing six innings of Saturday's 8-3 loss to the Yankees, Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons went to the Orlando International Airport to begin a 20-hour journey to Taiwan, where he and his Netherlands teammates will compete in this year's World Baseball Classic.
"I will try to get myself tired, and it will help me get through this," said Simmons, who was planning to watch multiple movies and make good use of his iPad while in the air.
Proving unselfish, Simmons traded his first-class ticket for two coach tickets. He will use one, and his mother will use the other when she flies from their native Curacao to Taiwan on Sunday.
"She's a good sleeper," Simmons said. "She taught me how to sleep."
Simmons is looking forward to spending the next few weeks competing with many of his friends from his native Curacao, a Dutch island that is now producing a tremendous wealth of baseball talent. But he was also somewhat reluctant to leave Braves' camp after playing just two exhibition games.
The Netherlands will practice this week and begin play in Pool B on March 2. Simmons could return to Braves' camp as early as March 7. If the team advances to the second round, he would stay in Asia until at least March 9.
Either way, he will be away from Braves' camp for most of the next two weeks and possibly longer.
"I don't want to leave here, to be honest," Simmons said. "The games just started, and you're going to start playing with new teammates. But I guess I need to go. I want to go. But at the same time I don't want to leave."


text:
SSR 90-5c
SSR 90-5c: SECTIONS 216(i)(1)(B) AND 223(c)(1) AND (d)(1)(B) OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT (42 U.S.C. 416(i)(1)(B) AND 423(c)(1) AND (d)(1)(B)) DISABILITY INSURANCE BENEFITS -- INTERPRETING THE STATUTORY BLINDNESS PROVISION
20 CFR 404.130(e) and 404.1581
Adams v. Bowen, 872 F.2d 926 (9th Cir. 1989), cert. denied, _____ U.S. _____, 110 S. Ct. 151 (1989)
- The claimant, a 56-year-old diabetic, applied for disability insurance benefits under title II of the Social Security Act (the Act), contending that she was unable to work because of impaired vision. Although she did not have 20 quarters of coverage in the 40-quarter period ending with the quarter of alleged disability, she was fully insured and would have met the disability insured status requirements under section 223(c)(1) of the Act and would have been entitled to disability insurance benefits, had she established that she was statutorily blind. Section 216(i)(1)(B) of the Act provides that a person is statutorily blind if he or she has either central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with the use of a correcting lens, or has a limitation in the fields of vision so that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees which is considered as having a central visual acuity of 20/200 or less. The evidence of record showed that the claimant's visual acuity in each eye was approximately 20/50 and her visual fields were intact. Because of a neurological impairment, however, the claimant had difficulty processing visual information when the environment around her was moving. She would trip and fall when she walked, and she could not see well enough to put a staple in the corner of a piece of paper. A neuropsychologist stated that, because of her condition, the claimant was in many ways worse off than someone who was blind. Moreover, three ophthalmologic specialists, including the claimant's attending physician, characterized her as being "functionally blind." The Secretary, nonetheless, denied the claimant's application because the evidence showed that she did not meet the statutory definition of blindness. The district court upheld the Secretary's denial, and the claimant appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She argued that, even though section 216(i)(1)(B) of the Act sets forth a specific definition of blindness for purposes of determining entitlement to disability insurance benefits, "Congress cannot have intended that disability benefits be awarded to those who are effectively blind because of damage to their eyes while denying benefits to those who suffer the same impairment because of damage to the brain." In essence, the claimant advocated the use of an equivalency requirement for the condition of blindness described in the statute. The court of appeals, however, rejected that argument and found that, because the language of the statute was clear, the definition of blindness should be read and applied literally. The court stated that there was nothing in the legislative history of the pertinent statutory provisions which suggested that Congress had intended anything but a narrow reading of the statute's unambiguous language. Finally, the court found that the Secretary's interpretation of the statute was entitled to due deference and that the Secretary had clearly interpreted it to require a strict application of the statutory definition. In upholding the district court's affirmation of the Secretary's decision, the court of appeals held that the Secretary's decision was supported by substantial evidence and that it was based on the application of a correct legal standard. The Supreme Court denied the claimant's request that it hear this case. CANBY, Circuit Judge:
CANBY, Circuit Judge:
Lucretia Adams appeals from the district court's decision upholding the determination of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the Secretary) that Adams is not entitled to social security disability benefits 683 F.Supp. 231. The Secretary's decision to deny benefits "`will be disturbed only if it is not supported by substantial evidence or it is based on legal error.'" Brawner v. Secretary of Health & Human Servs., 839 F.2d 432, 433 (9th Cir. 1988) (quoting Green v. Heckler, 803 F.2d 529, 529 (9th Circ. 1986)). See 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) (1982). We review the district court's conclusion de novo. Gamer v. Secretary of Health & Human Servs., 815 F.2d 1275, 1278 (9th Cir. 1987).
The relevant facts are undisputed. Adams, a 56-year-old diabetic with impaired vision, has 32 quarters of coverage since 1980 and is "fully" insured under the requirements of 20 C.F.R. § 404.130 (1988). However, Adams does not have 20 quarters of coverage in the 40-quarter period ending with the quarter of alleged disability; therefore, she is not "specially" insured. Because Adams is "fully," but not "specially," insured, she must be statutorily blind in order to be eligible for disability benefits based upon her visual deficiency. 20 C.F.R. § 404.130(e). The statute defines blindness as follows:
- [T]he term "blindness" means central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with the use of a correcting lens. An eye which is accompanied by a limitation in the fields of vision such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees shall be considered for purposes in this paragraph as having a central visual acuity of 20/200 or less.
- 42 U.S.C. § 416(i)(1)(B) (Supp. IV 1986).[1]
In December of 1980, Adams suffered a heart attack. During coronary bypass surgery several months later, Adams had a stroke leaving her totally blind with partial left-sided paralysis. Adams has recovered, largely successfully, from the effects of the stroke. She is no longer completely blind and has regained full use of all but her left hand.
Adams continues to suffer, however, from a neurological impairment affecting the "central processing of visual information." Although she has intact visual fields, and her visual acuity in each eye is approximately 20/50, Adams has difficulty processing visual information when the environment around her is moving. She cannot see well enough to put a staple in the corner of a piece of paper and must avoid brick sidewalks and escalators, which make her nauseous. She trips and falls while walking. The consulting neuropsychologist described her condition as follows:
- While her visual acuity may well be relatively intact, her ability to perceive and use that visual information in an efficient manner is highly compromised. She is severely impaired on all tasks involving visual scanning and visual planning and organization. In this regard, while she is not blind in the sense of having lost the sensation of vision, she is in many ways worse off than someone who is blind. That is because of her difficulty with visuoprattic function and her ability to use efficiently what information is available to her. At this time, she is vocationally disabled because of this lack of visual efficiency.
The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) noted that three opthalmologic specialists, including Adams' treating physician, agree that she is "functionally blind."
Despite Adams' functional blindness, the ALJ rejected her disability claim, reasoning that Adams does not strictly satisfy the highly specific statutory definition of blindness. The ALJ noted that Adams is clearly "visually disfunctional" and "would be found disabled if she were specially insured instead of only fully insured." The Appeals Council denied Adams' request fir review of the ALJ's decision.
Adams contends that, although 42 U.S.C. § 416(i)(1)(B) sets forth a specific definition of blindness for purposes of determining entitlement to disability benefits, "Congress cannot have intended that disability benefits be awarded to those who are effectively blind because of damage to their eyes while denying benefits to those who suffer the same impairment because of damage to the brain." In essence, Adams advocates the use of an equivalency requirement for the condition of blindness described in the statute. The Secretary, on the other hand, argues that there is nothing in the language of the statute or the legislative history "suggesting that Congress intended the Secretary to apply any standard other than the strict definition in the statute." Furthermore, the Secretary contends that the agency's interpretation of the statute and the implementing regulation are entitled to great deference. This is a case of first impression.
The basic rules of statutory construction are long-standing and well-settled:
- "In construing a statute in a case of first impression, we look to the traditional signposts of statutory construction: first, the language of the statute itself; second, its legislative history, and as an aid in interpreting Congress' intent, the interpretation given to it by its administering agency."
Funbus Systems, Inc. v. California Pub. Util. Comm'n, 801 F.2d 1120, 1125-26 (9th Cir. 1986) (citation omitted). See Washington State Dep't of Game v. I.C.C., 829 F.2d 877, 879 (9th Cir. 1987). 42 U.S.C. § 416(i)(1)(B) presents a clear definition of what blindness "means." "As a rule, `[a] definition which declares what a term "means" . . .excludes any meaning that is not stated.'" Colautti v. Franklin, 439 U.S. 379, 392-93 n. 10, 99 S.Ct. 675, 684 n. 10, 58 L.Ed.2d 596 (1979) (quoting 2A C. Sands, Statutes and Statutory Construction § 47.07 (4th ed. Supp.1978)). See, e.g., Johns-Manville Corp. v. United States, 855 F.2d 1556, 1559 (Fed.Cir.1988), cert. denied, _____ U.S. _____, 109 S.Ct. 1342, 103 L.Ed.2d 811 (1989)); Leber v. Pennsylvania Dep't of Envtl. Resources, 780 F.2d 372, 376 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 478 U.S. 1004, 106 S.Ct. 3294, 92 L.Ed.2d 710 (1986). Because the language of the statute is clear, the definition of blindness should be read and applied literally.
Nothing in the legislative history of the Social Security Amendments of 1967, including Section 416(i)(1)(B), suggests that Congress intended anything but a narrow reading of the statute's unambiguous language. See Escobar Ruiz v. INS, 838 F.2d 1020, 1023 (9th Cir. 1988) (en banc) (even if a statute is plain and unambiguous, courts may look to see if there is clearly expressed legislative intent contrary to the language); California v. Kleppe, 604 F.2d 1187, 1194 (9th Cir. 1979) ("`[E]ven the most basic general principles of statutory construction must yield to clear contrary evidence of legislative intent.'") (quoting National R.R. Passenger Corp. v. National Ass'n of R.R. Passengers Corp. v. National Ass'n of R.R. Passengers, 414 U.S. 453, 458, 94 S.Ct. 690, 693, 38 L.Ed.2d 646 (1974)). The Senate Report states only that "[i]n order to qualify for benefits a person would have to have vision of 20/200 or less." See 1967 U.S. Code Cong. & Adm. News 2834, 2842, 2886-87. Although the statute purposely "liberalized" the previous definition of blindness "[i]n recognition of the economic hardships faced by blind persons," id. at 2886, 3200, there is no indication that the equivalency requirement urged by Adams was intended or even contemplated by Congress.[2] Congress chose a certain and exact rule; we are reluctant to engraft upon it a more flexible standard that is inherently more difficult to administer.
Finally, the rules of statutory construction require us to consider the Secretary's interpretation of the statute. "The interpretation of statutes and regulations by an agency charged with their administration is entitled to due deference and should be accepted unless demonstrably irrational or clearly contrary to the plain meaning." Nevitt v. United States, 828 F.2d 1405, 1406-07 (9th Cir. 1987) (citing Udall v. Tallman, 380 U.S. 1, 85 S.Ct. 792, 13 L.Ed.2d 616 (1965)). See also Gardebring v. Jenkins, 485 U.S. 415, 108 S.Ct. 1306, 1314, 99 L.Ed.2d 515 (1988) (deference to Secretary's reading of agency's regulation). While, as Adams points out, this is not a case in which the Secretary has issued an interpretative regulation, we can evaluate the Secretary's interpretation as demonstrated by his position in this litigation and Section 26005.001 of the Secretary's Program Operations Manual System dealing with statutory blindness. The Secretary clearly interprets the statute to require a strict application of the statutory definition.
The Secretary's decision is supported by substantial evidence and is based on the application of a correct legal standard.
[1] The language of the corresponding regulation simply tracks the statute:
We will consider you blind under the law for a period of disability and for payment of disability insurance benefits if we determine that you are statutorily blind. Statutory blindness is defined in the law as central visual acuity of 20/200 or less. . . in the better eye with the use of correcting lens. An eye which has a limitation in the field of vision so that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no grater than 20 degrees is considered to have a central visual acuity of 20/200 or less. 20 C.F.R. § 404.1581 (1988).
[2] The Senate Report does note that "[t]his definition of blindness is the definition in the Internal Revenue Code and is used by a number of governmental and private agencies." 1967 U.S. Code Cong. & Admin. News 2886. See I.R.C. § 151(d)(3) (1982) (repealed in 1986; preceded by I.R.C. § 25(b)(1)(C)(iii) (1948) and I.R.C. § 25(y) (1944)). Prior interpretations of Section 151(d)(3) or its predecessors might therefore be indicative of congressional intent because "[i]t is always appropriate to assume that our elected representatives, like other citizens, know the law . . . ." Cannon v. University of Chicago, 441 U.S. 677, 696-97, 99 S.Ct. 1946, 1957-58, 60 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). See also Goodyear Atomic Corp. v. Miller, 486 U.S. 174, 108 S.Ct. 1704, 1711-12, 100 L.Ed.2d 158 (1988); Blitz v. Donovan, 740 F.2d 1241, 1245 (D.C.Cir. 1984).
However, the only case dealing with the application of Section 151(d)(3) or its predecessors to a visual impairment not meeting the strict statutory definition appears to be Hollman v. Commissioner, 38 T.C. 251 (1962). Although the holding in Hollman supports Adams' functional blindness interpretation generally, id. at 258, 262, it is not sufficient to provide a clear insight into legislative intent.


text:
During Microsoft's recent Smoked by Windows Phone challenge, Microsoft-based devices were almost always faster at completing everyday tasks compared to Android and iPhone handsets. But even the fastest Windows Phone can't run away from the fact that nobody's buying Microsoft-powered handsets.
Despite critical acclaim, cheap phones, and a novel take on the Pepsi Challenge, few people in the U.S. want a Windows Phones and its market share may be slipping faster than its predecessor, Windows Mobile.
Smoked, by the Numbers
Microsoft recently wrapped up the Smoked by Windows Phone promotion claiming Windows Phone devices beat out more than 50,000 challengers in 36 countries. During the challenge, your smartphone would participate in a head-to-head race against a Windows Phone to complete a basic task such as uploading a photo to Facebook, searching for movie times, or checking weather forecasts. If you won, you'd typically get $100, although Microsoft did offer a new laptop and $1,000 at one point. Microsoft only had to pay out 2 percent of the time, claiming a win rate of 98 percent. The software maker will now use its crushing victories to cover the Internet with video ads showing how awesome a Windows Phone can be.
The Fix is in
Smoked by Windows Phone was also accused of being an unfair challenge and Microsoft even tried to wrangle one crushing defeat against a Samsung Galaxy Nexus into a win, citing a technicality. Tech writer Sahas Katta took his Samsung Galaxy Nexus into a Santa Clara, Calif., Microsoft Store and was challenged to look up the weather in two different cities. Katta had two weather widgets on his Android home screen and had set up his phone to bypass the lock screen so all he had to do was turn on the phone and he'd win. That's exactly what happened, but Microsoft employees quickly tried to wrangle out of giving Katta the prize with several excuses such as he had to show the weather in two different states. After the rest of the tech media picked up the story, Microsoft apologized and offered Katta the prize.
Soon after Katta's experience, The Verge tried the challenge and claimed Microsoft stacked the deck in its favor by picking tasks that favored Windows Phone features such as social networking and search baked in to the OS.
No Escape
Despite Microsoft's best efforts, its new smartphone platform is not popular with consumers. In fact, Windows Phone appears to be less popular in the U.S. than Microsoft's aging Windows Mobile platform, according to Nielsen. The metrics firm issued a report Monday claiming that during the first three months of 2012, Windows Phone had a market share of just 1.7 percent, far behind fourth place Windows Mobile at 4.1 percent. The top smartphone operating systems in the U.S. are Android (48.5 percent), iOS (32 percent), and BlackBerry (11.6 percent).
Less than a week earlier, NPD Group said Windows Phone 7 had just 2 percent market share in the U.S. during the same period as Nielsen's report. But more recent numbers from metrics firm comScore recently claimed Microsoft has about 4 percent of the U.S. smartphone market; however, comScore did not differentiate between Windows Mobile and Windows Phone devices.
Meanwhile, Microsoft's biggest Windows Phone partner, Nokia, recently reported its smartphone sales declined more than 50 percent during the first quarter of 2012 compared to the year previous. And LG has said it does not plan to make new Windows Phones because no one is buying them, according to the Korea Herald. "The total unit of Windows Phone sold in the global market is not a meaningful figure," the company reportedly said.
Microsoft doesn't appear to be giving up on its new smartphone platform just yet. The next version of Windows Phone is expected to offer deep integration with Windows 8, Microsoft's upcoming touch-first OS for PCs and tablets, which could help popularize Windows Phone. Cheaply priced devices such as the $50 Samsung Focus 2 could also help the struggling smartphone OS battle back into relevance.
For the moment, however, no matter how you slice it, nobody is buying Windows Phone in the United States even with devices such as the Nokia Lumia 900 (one of PCWorld's top-rated smartphones) grabbing headlines.
Connect with Ian Paul (@ianpaul) on Twitter and Google+, and with Today@PCWorld on Twitter for the latest tech news and analysis.


text:
1. Many people are "short sleepers"
Fact: If you genuinely require less than 6 hours of sleep a night, you're a rarity. A just-discovered genetic mutation does enable some people to function okay on 20 to 25% less sleep than average, but—here's the catch—researchers estimate that fewer than 1% of people have the trait.
Energy fix: Two likely signs you're among the lucky short-sleeping crowd: You wake up regularly without an alarm clock, and at the same time every day—weekdays, weekends, vacations—says Emory University sleep expert David Schulman, MD. "But most of us need 7 to 8 hours of sleep to stay healthy."
2. Napping only makes you more tired
Fact: Some people swear that quick naps make them sleepier, but a snooze that's less than 20 minutes should perk most of us up.
"Just 10 to 20 minutes is all you need to get the benefits of napping, such as alertness, improved performance, and better mood," says Kimberly A. Cote, PhD, a sleep researcher at Brock University in Ontario. Here's why: During sleep, your brain produces different kinds of waves, which correspond to how deeply you sleep. After about 20 minutes, the sleeping brain may move into what's called slow-wave sleep, which is the deepest phase of sleep. If you nap too long, you may feel groggy and disoriented upon awakening instead of refreshed because long naps are more likely to contain deep slow-wave sleep.
When you nap also matters. "A power nap should be early in the day so it doesn't interfere with your ability to fall asleep at bedtime," says David Neubauer, MD, associate director of the Johns Hopkins Sleep Disorders Center. Most people's inner body clocks trigger drowsiness somewhere between 1 and 4 PM.
Energy fix: To make naps a daily ritual, doze off faster by using something you associate with sleep (a favorite pillow or lavender eye mask). Also, nap in a comfortable chair or couch instead of your bed to avoid the temptation to doze for too long, so you don't wake up with a sleep hangover.
3. Exercise too close to bed keeps you up
Fact: That's not true for everyone. In fact, research shows that even vigorous exercise right before bedtime doesn't cause trouble sleeping for many people (and in some cases it may help).
This is good news if your busy schedule gives you a short window of time after work to squeeze in some activity. Even people who have trouble sleeping can probably exercise about an hour before bed without problems. "But we don't have hard data, so people really have to do their own testing," says Michael Perlis, PhD, director of the University of Pennsylvania Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program.
Energy fix: Experiment. If you exercise at night and suspect that your workout may be keeping you up, reschedule it for earlier in the day for several days to see whether you sleep better. Keeping a sleep diary for those days—noting when you exercise and how well you sleep—can help. If you find you do sleep better when you exercise earlier, make the switch permanent.
4. It's normal to nod off during a meeting
Fact: It's normal to feel slightly less energetic in the afternoon because of your body's natural circadian rhythms.
But you shouldn't feel like your head's about to droop while your group VP is giving a 4 PM presentation or when your preschooler is explaining why Superman is better than Batman. If your eyelids feel heavy, you're too tired, says William C. Dement, MD, PhD, the Stanford University scientist known as the father of sleep medicine.
In fact, if you feel tired during the day, you may be running a significant "sleep debt"—the total hours of sleep you've lost, one sleep-deprived night after another. If you need 8 hours of sleep and get only 7, after a week you've lost the equivalent of almost one night's sleep. That's your sleep debt. After losing only the equivalent of one night's sleep over the course of a week, your body will respond as if you'd pulled an all-nighter: You may experience waves of extreme fatigue; itchy, burning eyes; mood swings; inability to focus; and even hunger as your body tries to find a way ("Aha! Chocolate-covered pretzels!") to grasp on to energy. Sleep debt is linked with chronic, serious health issues like high blood pressure and diabetes.
Energy fix: If your sleep is interrupted once in a while, one good night's sleep will help you feel refreshed. Chronic problems—stress, a snoring spouse, the snuggling pet—will require specific solutions (a visit to the doctor, a bed in the hallway for Spike). But if you're cheating yourself of sleep time "to get things done," or if you just don't realize how much sleep you need, you have to adjust your bedtime and hit the hay earlier (try this tip to get more sleep).
5. Go to sleep earlier if you have insomnia
Fact: Step away from the bed.
If you suffer from true insomnia, this could make your tossing and turning much worse, says Cote. Blame it on something called the sleep homeostat. A hardwired system controlled by brain chemicals, it's not unlike your appetite. The longer you go between meals and the more active you are, the hungrier you become. Likewise, your homeostat builds up a hunger for sleep based on how long you've been awake and how active you've been. The more sleep hungry you are, the faster you nod off and the more soundly you doze. But just as you're not eager for a big meal at night if you pig out all day or snack too close to dinner, you're not going to feel tired if you go to bed earlier or nap. When you have insomnia, experts recommend that you let your sleep homeostat adjust itself naturally, without trying to compensate with different bedtimes and catnaps.
Energy fix: Go to bed an hour later than usual (to make yourself more tired). If you feel anxious about falling asleep, get up and leave the bedroom. Try reading or some other low-key activity. Two other tips that can help bring on natural sleep: Dunk in a warm bath before bed. It temporarily spikes your body temperature, but lying down afterward makes it drop because your muscles relax and produce less heat. Sleep tends to follow a steep decline in body temperature. Also, exercise during the day. Research shows that a 30- to 45-minute bout helps insomniacs enjoy better and somewhat longer sleep.
6. Skipping a little sleep isn't that horrible
Fact: Missing even 90 minutes of sleep for just 1 night can reduce your daytime alertness by as much as 32%.
That's enough to impair your memory, your thinking ability, and your safety on the job and on the road. One Australian study found that volunteers who stayed awake just 6 hours past their normal bedtime for a single day performed as poorly on tests gauging attentiveness and reaction time as those who were legally drunk. The National Sleep Foundation's 2009 poll showed that as many as 1.9 million drivers have had a car crash or a near miss due to drowsiness in the past year.
What's worse, sleep deprivation also impairs your ability to recognize that you're not running on all cylinders. In other words, you really shouldn't be operating heavy machinery (or much else), but you don't realize it. "The ability to judge how well you're doing is probably one of the first things to go when you don't get enough sleep," says Cote. "That's why you need to take preventive measures."
Energy fix: If you miss several hours of sleep one night, consider calling in sick the next day or ask if you can work from home. (That way, you won't have to drive.) If you find yourself nodding off at your desk, take a brisk walk up and down the stairs or hall. Exercise helps you snap to, in part because the accompanying rise in body temperature appears to boost alertness for a time. If possible, set aside part of your lunch hour for a nap. Remember to set an alarm, or ask a buddy to wake you.
7. Just catch up on sleep on the weekend
Fact: Unless you have insomnia, it's theoretically possible to make up for some lost sleep by dozing longer on the weekend. But it's not realistic.
With kids' birthday parties, sports practices, and all those inevitable weekend errands, chances are you won't really be able to make up for the sleep you missed, says Dement. You'll end up finishing the week in the red, with an ever-bigger sleep debt.
Energy fix: Don't regularly skimp on weekday sleep with the expectation you'll bounce back over the weekend. If you do happen to rack up an occasional sleep debt during the workweek, try to sleep later on the weekend or take a nap so you can pay at least part of it down, Dement says. Invest in a white-noise machine to help snooze through the din of lawn mowers and your kids' afternoon games in the yard.
8. It doesn't matter when you go to sleep
Fact: Night owls are nearly 3 times more likely to experience symptoms of depression than early birds, one study found—even when they got the same total amount of sleep.
Experts aren't sure exactly why, but there may be an optimal time within the 24-hour clock to fall asleep and wake up, says Lisa Shives, MD, sleep expert and founder of North Shore Sleep Medicine. "This and other research shows that going to bed late can be bad for your mood and your overall health."
Energy fix: If you want to shift back your bedtime, start gradually: head to bed 15 to 30 minutes earlier every few days, and make sure the lights in your home are dim for about 2 hours before that time, says Shives. Then set your alarm to wake up 7 to 8 hours later.
9. You have to be in bad shape to take sleeping pills
Fact: Actually, sleeping pills are most helpful if you take them before insomnia becomes chronic, says Carl E. Hunt, MD, director of the National Institutes of Health National Center on Sleep Disorders Research. They can help correct your off-kilter sleep homeostat.
Today's popular pills like Ambien and Sonata, unlike older versions, help you drift off to sleep within minutes and stay asleep, thus breaking the cycle of sleeplessness and anxiety that can turn a few nights of insomnia into chronic sleeplessness. They also wear off faster than older meds, so you're not semi-comatose in the morning. Like all medicines, sleeping pills can cause side effects (dizziness, headache, agitation), and they're not meant for long-term use.
Energy fix: Ask your doctor about the pros and cons of sleeping meds for you. If you'd prefer a drug-free alternative, consider cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT); long-term, it can be more effective than pills at combating insomnia. CBT trains insomniacs to avoid bad habits and counterproductive worries about lost sleep. Usually the therapy runs from four to eight sessions, but some patients find relief with as few as two. The downside of CBT: It can cost hundreds per session and, unlike pills, may not be covered by insurance.


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The Game According to Twitter: Canucks 2 vs. Senators 4
Losers of 9 of 10, the Canucks went across the street to BC Place, hoping to get back on the winning track against the Ottawa Senators in the 2014 Heritage Classic. It started off great. There was a lively atmosphere, and even an early 2-0 lead for the good guys, but as has been the refrain the last couple of months, the Canucks blew the lead and ended up on the wrong end of a 4-2 final score. huh, and we thought the Olympic break would help up #TGATT — Jordan Carpanzano (@jordancarp79) March 2, 2014