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New Year's resolutions tend to fizzle out faster than an old bottle of champagne. Luckily, several great smartphone apps can help keep you on track with your 2013 resolutions. Here are a few that provide guidance and encourage you to persevere.
Resolution: Lose weight
App: MyFitnessPal Calorie Counter (Android, Blackberry, iOS, Windows)
In the battle against bulge, knowing how many calories you consume is key. But tracking how much you've eaten can be a chore. With MyFitnessPal's free Calorie Counter you keep a food diary that shows you how much you can eat and still lose weight, and you'll have it with you everywhere you go. You can also tap into the large community of users to find encouragement and inspiration.
Resolution: Exercise more
App: Fitness Buddy (Android, iOS)
A personal trainer can help guide your exercise routine to get the best results. But not everybody can afford pricey one-on-one sessions (especially if another resolution is to save money). Azumio's $1 Fitness Buddy app brings personal training programs to everyone. With more than 1,000 videos and even more illustrations, it shows you the right way to perform exercises. Enter your exercises into the diary to track your progress and get a detailed account of how you're doing. [See also: Air Force Reserve Wants an App for Basic Training]
Resolution: Quit smoking
App: Livestrong MyQuit Coach (iOS), QuitNow! Pro (Android)
If you're trying to quit smoking, you need all the assistance you can find to break the hold of nicotine. Livestrong's $4 MyQuit Coach for iOS helps you develop a plan for quitting and tracks your progress. FewLaps $3 QuitNow! Pro for Android is similar but also includes chat features to bolster your support network. It's worth spending a few dollars to get the extra boost an app can provide.
Resolution: Save money
App: Mint.com (Android, iOS)
Mint.com's free app helps you get a handle on how much money is coming in and how much goes out. With the app, you can enter purchases as you make them to keep an accurate account of spending. The app also creates budgets for categories like eating out and entertainment. The app works as an excellent extension to Mint.com's online finance-tracking service.
Resolution: Get organized
App: Astrid (Android, iOS)
Lists are your best friend when it comes keeping a resolution — and even more valuable if your resolution is to get organized. Todoroo's free Astrid app keeps track of your work and personal to-dos and syncs them across all the devices in your life (smartphone, tablet and computer). You can speak new entries instead of spending the time typing and even can make lists public to share with friends.
- Can a Fit Video Game Avatar Make You Healthier?
- The 10 Most Stunning Video Games
- 11 Tasty DNA Sequences
Copyright 2012 TechNewsDaily, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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It is each department's responsibility to prepare their mailings according to the bulk mail preparation standards of the US Postal Service. Mailings received at the BSU Mailroom, must be prepared correctly and be Post Office ready or the mailing will be returned to the department. This includes, but is not limited to, mail piece labeling and sorting, as well as mail tray/tub labeling and sorting. The Bemidji Post Office has very rigid acceptance standards for bulk mailings. If these standards are not followed, the mailing will be returned to BSU. If you need bulk mail training or have any questions about your mailing, please call ext. 3922 and the BSU mailroom will be happy to assist you. You may also view the USPS Quick Service Guide.
Design your bulk mail piece to not exceed the letter size, 6 1/8″ x 11 1/2″ and you will save at least four cents per piece. Anything larger will be classified as a flat and will be charged extra postage. If you are using bar coded labels generated by the software at the Mail Room, letter size bar coded mail does not have to be bundled or stickered, but postcards and flats will require this procedure. A bulk mailing with flats costs more per piece and takes a great deal more time preparing than letters, so you may want to redesign your mail piece to conform to the letter size, but larger than postcard size (4.5″ x 6″).
A bulk mailing must have at least 200 pieces or weigh at least 50 lbs. in total. Each piece may be different but they must weigh exactly the same. The subject matter of the mailing must be directly related to Bemidji State University.
Sorting and preparing a bulk mailing manually wastes money and is very inefficient. We have software that will barcode your addresses and print labels in bulk mail order. Bar-coded bulk mail saves 5 cents per piece over non-bar-coded mail and since address labels are printed in bulk mail order, no manual sorting is necessary, saving a lot of time. If you wish to manually sort your mailing, see the quick service guide above.
Assembling Your Bulk Mailing For You
We will completely assemble your bulk mailing for 5 cents per piece, plus the postage. This includes stuffing and labeling envelopes, sorting into trays and delivering to the Post Office.
Addresses must be sent to us electronically on an Excel spreadsheet. Attach the file to an e-mail message and send to: firstname.lastname@example.com. In the message tell us the size of the mail piece and what's inside. Also include your department cost center. We will process your list and print labels via the network on the printer in your office.

subset: commoncrawl


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Top Draw comes with integrated scripts with many preloaded image types, from Grid to Plasma to WavyGlow, for example.
The small viewer simply lets you select what Script type will run and how often it will refresh. For me, I have it running on randomly chosen scripts, every two minutes.
While not all the resulting images are postcard-perfect, a great deal of them surpass the bundled desktop patterns and pictures provided by Cupertino. A few examples are below:
It's one of those small products that piques the interest throughout the day. Also piquing the interest is wondering just what the Google Mac team is working on that would require this kind of engine, and if we'll soon get to see some serious Mac software and not just flashy toys that hearken back to decades-old screensavers.


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Outside Audit of House Finances Is Largely Positive
The numbers are in: An outside audit of the House's finances has given the chamber a clean bill of fiscal health for 2012.
It's the second consecutive year the House has received a largely positive audit after two prior years of shaky reviews during the tenure of Chief Administrative Officer Dan Beard.
"Thanks to Chief Administrative Officer Dan Strodel and his team, who over the past few years have successfully implemented a comprehensive internal controls program and a new financial management system, the House has seen considerable improvements over the 2009 and 2010 audits which reported adverse opinions on internal controls," House Administration Chairwoman Candice S. Miller, R-Mich., said in a letter to colleagues on Wednesday.
Strodel, whom Miller commended later in an official statement for "take[ing] the necessary actions to restore the House's good financial standing," was tapped to lead the equivalent of the House's human resources department in the summer of 2010, following Beard's abrupt departure.
Beard resigned on July 1, 2010, one day after an independent auditor informed committee members that the chamber would fail the internal controls portion of its financial audit for the first time in more than a decade.
The 2012 House financial audit made public on Wednesday revealed "an unqualified opinion on the House's financial statements" for the 15th consecutive year, which House Inspector General Theresa M. Grafenstine called "a noteworthy accomplishment." The auditors also did not identify any instances of noncompliance with the law throughout fiscal 2012.
In summarizing the findings by outside auditors Cotton & Co. LLP, however, Grafenstine also noted that while "the House continues to make significant progress in implementing a comprehensive internal controls program … auditors reported two significant deficiencies in internal control over … financial reporting processes and information technology."
"Significant deficiencies" is not as bad a category as "material weakness," which auditors define as that which indicates that "there is reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of an entity's financial statements will not be prevented, or detected and corrected on a timely basis."
A "significant deficiency," meanwhile, refers "a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control that is less severe than a material weakness, yet important enough to merit attention by those charged with governance."
In a Feb. 21, 2013, memo to Grafenstine, Strodel said that the CAO's team was committed to addressing these deficiencies but did not publicly elaborate on specific plans to combat the weaknesses.
Apart from the statement from Miller, the audit was released with little fanfare. It was an opportunity, though, for the communications officers for Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, to tout their boss's role in pushing for annual independent audits of House finances back in 1992, when he was a rising star in the Republican rank and file.
A release from Boehner's office also recalled that in 1999, as vice chairman of the House Administration Committee, Boehner joined with House leaders to unveil the chamber's very first clean audit.
In the weeks ahead, the release of the House audit also might compel Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., to re-articulate his interest in exploring whether the Senate should submit itself to an annual outside audit.
A former member of the House, Heller wrote in a March 4, 2013, letter to Senate Rules and Administration Chairman Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and ranking member Pat Roberts, R-Kan., that the House's first audit in 1995 showed that "accounting procedures were lacking and incomplete; House rules were inconsistently applied and contradicted; and various House support services were either wasteful or unnecessary."
Implementation of various suggestions, Heller continued, has resulted in approximately $20 million in savings for the House.
Yearly audits of Senate finances, he wrote, could give the chamber "a full understanding of how and where funding within the Senate is allocated" and "create accountability for U.S. taxpayer dollars."


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Availability date: 08/14/2014
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With this card, you can truly plan you dive and dive your plan!
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Why I Won't Watch THE TALK
By Tracie Powell
Guest Editorial
Networks claim that they are interested in family viewing. How can that be true when they are slowly destroying a much beloved genre - the soap opera? These shows have been passed down in families from one generation to the next for half a century, and are now being replaced with reality TV and talk shows.
I will not watch THE TALK, which premieres this month on CBS. And it's not just because I am still bitter that the network's CEO, Les Moonves, decided to make room for it by canceling a show I have watched and loved since before I could spell television.
Thanks to Moonves' decision to ax the 54-year-old beloved soap, AS THE WORLD TURNS, I joined an increasing number of Americans in firing my cable company, choosing instead to watch my favorite shows on the Internet. In truth I had contemplated canceling my cable subscription for months, but losing WORLD TURNS in September helped make that decision much easier.
This is the more immediate, but not the sole reason, I won't be watching THE TALK; talk shows aren't exactly destination spots on the World Wide Web for people looking to be entertained.
For millions of WORLD TURNS fans like me, that's what the show represented: entertainment, an escape, and in many cases, family. That's gone now, and in its place CBS is choosing to replicate ABC hit, THE VIEW. Not surprising considering network executives are known for being copycats.
The spin surrounding THE TALK is that it will cater to stay-at-home moms, which thoughtlessly dismisses all of us who aren't.
Contrary to popular belief, the daytime audience isn't just filled with home-bound mothers and the unemployed. We are millions of high school and college students, empty-nesters and baby boomers who represent the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population, as well as professional working men and women. And yes, even the childless.
These fans are angry. They are still reeling over the cancellation of WORLD TURNS, one of the oldest daytime dramas in television history and one with ratings that were comparable or better than other daytime and prime time shows. Fans are channeling their anger at the hosts of THE TALK because they can't attack the real decision makers.
I don't have anything against the slate of women hosting the show. I grew up with creator and co-host, Sara Gilbert who portrayed the acerbic Darlene Conner on ROSEANNE, watched Holly Robinson Peete on HANGIN' WITH MR. COOPER and I like rock star wife Sharon Osbourne. Most soap fans have nothing personal against these women; it is how this show was presented that many of us find offensive. Some of daytime's older fans, in particular, feel as if they are being pushed aside after years of loyalty to CBS as well as WORLD TURNS' parent company, Procter & Gamble (Telenext Media).
In addition to ROSEANNE and HANGIN' WITH MR. COOPER, I also watched another family sitcom in my youth, THE COSBY SHOW. In one particular episode one of the daughters brought home a fiance her parents had never met. Although the young man appeared nice enough on the surface, her father, portrayed by Bill Cosby, compared Vanessa's introduction of the fellow to being served a succulent prime-cut of meat atop a trash can lid.
That's exactly how soap fans feel about THE TALK. It's all in the presentation.
Les Moonves coolly and callously pronounced an end to the soap opera era when he announced that CBS no longer wanted WORLD TURNS.
The days of the soap operas have changed very much. GUIDING LIGHT left last year. AS THE WORLD TURNS will leave this year. They had long and distinguished runs. And they're day is over.He then promptly replaced it with a show featuring his wife, Julie Chen, which only rubbed salt in fans' wounds.
I wish the ladies of THE TALK success. But I, for one, won't be watching.


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Advanced planting technologies can reduce labor, seed and other input costs, and increase profits, says a University of Missouri Plant Sciences cereal crops specialist.
These technologies include automatic section control (ASC), as-planted maps, variable-rate seeding, precision seed metering, auto steering, yield monitoring, and on-farm research, said Brent Myers during the recent Crop Injury Diagnostic Clinic sponsored by MU Extension and the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.
A farm implement equipped with ASC knows where to plant and can sense where it has already planted, reducing skipped areas and overlap of planted areas. It can shut itself off when finished.
"There are good economic reasons to do this," Myers said, citing savings in seed costs and harvest time.
Know the Costs
There are costs associated with ASC, he said. A spreadsheet tool from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville lets producers compare lost revenue from reduced yield on overlaps to additional costs for seed, treatments and equipment. The Automatic Section Control for Planters Cost Calculator is available for download at economics.ag.utk.edu/asccc.html.
Assuming that producers already have some system components, such as a field computer and GPS system from a yield monitoring system, additional ASC component costs include compatible planters, software activation, planter controllers and row clutches. Based on a 12-row system, costs run $8,100 to $13,000.
Myers demonstrated the use of the UT software on a 1,000-acre farm planted equally in soybeans and corn to examine the years of repayment needed to recover costs of ASC. He concluded that it would take less than one year to recoup costs in a 1,000-acre farm with high overlap severity, and 2.6 years for medium overlap severity. A farm with a 25-50-25 mix of fields with low, medium and high overlap severity — a good estimate for many Missouri farms — would take about three years to pay for ASC. It would take 10.4 years to recoup costs in farms with low overlap severity, and probably would not be financially beneficial, Myers said.
An Easier and More Effective Workday?
There are intangible benefits for the farmer, including reduced fatigue, improved concentration, greater efficiency and simplicity. "Reduced stress at the end of every planter pass and not having to fight end rows during harvest is a paradigm shift," Myers said. "It makes both planting and harvesting a lot easier."
Myers said yield map analysis has become an important tool for farmers, and will be more so into the future. He warns that yield map analysis is hindered without important management data and recommends the collection and use of as-planted maps. As-planted maps provide important management details such as planting date, precipitation and temperature, hybrid, and areas planted. This can often change within a field boundary in ways that are difficult to recall.
"Producers will need to know the details of a planting operation five or 10 years down the road," Myers said. "Planting date, for instance, can have a larger influence on yield than many of the factors causing variability within a field."
Myers expects that the development of more advanced tools for produces will make as-planted data a necessity.
Data like this is also needed to use variable-rate seeding technology. Equipment is now capable of planting different amounts of seed in areas of the same field, based upon yield, soil or landscape variability.
Do the Research Before Committing
But Myers cautions that "the agronomy is behind the technology." Farmers should consider on-farm research as a key tool for making variable-rate seeding work. Local and multiyear data from check areas or test strips in contrasting parts of a field can help producers see if they are getting good variable-rate prescriptions.
"Seeding rate response in corn can vary a lot from year to year," Myers says. "A multiyear perspective is needed to dial in on the correct range of seeding rates." New technology and accurate record keeping will help producers make those decisions in the future.


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Listen to the CLC Gets Grizzly Tuesday, Aug. 25 for a Wrap-Up of the Liberty Ride
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Join us this Tuesday evening, August 25 at 7pm CDT / 8pm EDT / 6pm MDT / 5pm PDT
on the Constitutional Liberty Coalition Gets Grizzly!
on Blog Talk Radio
This week, we will have Liberty Rider Michael Maresco as our guest for the full hour to review his Ride for Honesty.
Michael spent over two months this summer riding a bike across the country, starting at the Statue of Liberty and ending at Alcatraz Prison to symbolize freedom to fascism.
But Michael's trip had other purposes, several of which he would like to see continued even though his ride is over.
To listen to the show, just click on the icon below.
If you have questions for Michael, the call in number for the show is 646-915-9997.


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The NFB's 42nd Oscar®-nominated film.
This dramatic film introduces us to Tommy, a World War II veteran who rooms alone, waiting for his pension cheque to arrive, passing the time in the evenings with his cronies in the Legion Hall. Lennie can claim only a third of Tommy's years, but he prowls the same area of town, and the two have more in common than either of them realizes. Both their lives lack a sense of place and purpose. The story occurs early in November and leads up to an event that provides one of Tommy's few remaining moments of glory, the annual veterans' Remembrance Day parade.
Pedagogical evaluations and study guides are only available to CAMPUS subscribers.
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Charlotte Hornets General Manager Rich Cho announced today that the team has added Steve Hetzel as an assistant coach on the staff of Head Coach Steve Clifford.
Hetzel joins the Hornets after spending last season as head coach of the Canton Charge in the NBA D-League. Under Hetzel's leadership, the Charge posted a 28-22 record, finishing second in the East Division and earning the seventh seed in the D-League playoffs.
Before moving to Canton, Hetzel spent four seasons with the Detroit Pistons as player development coach, where he was responsible for identifying the strengths and weaknesses of individual players and assisting with their growth throughout the season. Prior to joining the Pistons, Hetzel served as video coordinator for the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2006-09. He got his start in the NBA as assistant video coordinator with the San Antonio Spurs in 2005-06.


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Fitness #Celebrity
5,271 subscribers about
Fitness #Celebrity: Trending Now
Discover trending Fitness posts tagged with #Celebrity hashtag.
Recommended in Fitness
More About Fitness #Celebrity
The #Celebrity hashtag is a topic or interest in fitness channel. Sort #Celebrity hashtag by Trending Today, Trending in 2023, and Latest.
Discover trending Fitness photos, videos, and stories. The Fitness channel is for people who likes to keep themselves fit. A channel to share your gym session photos, videos, and stories. Share your exercise routines and meal plan. Just anything about getting fit.


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Tell the your elected officials to preserve and strengthen the estate tax. In the face of the fiscal cliff, raising more revenue from the estate tax is the best solution to avoid painful cuts. Preserving vital social programs (like Head Start, food stamps, and community development block grants) is more important than tax breaks for the top 0.15% of Americans.
But this isn't really just about the dollar figures. It's about our shared values as a society and the creation of equal opportunities for everyone.
Click here to take action now!
Read the statement and initial list of signers (PDF)


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County Departments S-Z
Soil & Water Conservation District
Conservation Programs
SWCD Programs
Agricultural Water Resources Assistance Program
Agricultural Water Resources Assistance Program
The Iredell Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) is pleased to announce that the sign-up period for the Agricultural Water Resources Assistance Program (AgWRAP) is underway. AgWRAP is a new state cost-share program that received $1 Million in non-recurring funding through State Appropriations for FY2011-2012.
Proposed Actions
AgWRAP will offer cost-share assistance for practices that increase water quantity for agricultural use. Approved practices include:
Agricultural pond restoration / repair
Conservation irrigation
Pond sediment removal
All of the applications received will be ranked locally.
To be eligible for the program, applicants will be responsible for proving their agricultural status. The state has identified the following 3 methods applicants may use to verify this status:
A copy of the farm owner or operator's federal tax Schedule F (form 1040) or an equivalent form for the most recent tax year showing the owner or operator's profit or loss from farming
A copy of the farm sales tax exemption certificate issued to the farm owner or operator by the Department of Revenue
A copy of the plan for forestland actively engaged in the commercial growing of trees under a sound management plan as defined in G.S. 105-277.2(6)
More Information
Iredell SWCD is currently holding an open sign-up for AgWRAP. If you are interested in participating in the program or would like additional information, please contact the Iredell SWCD at 704-873-6761, ext. 3, or stop by our office located at 444 Bristol Drive.
Additional information about AgWRAP can be found at the
NC Division of Soil and Water website
Agricultural Water Resources Assistance Program
North Carolina Agriculture Cost Share Program
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Said West Hollywood Mayor Lauren Meister.
"I understand the sentiment behind them and 1st Amendment rights, but it's a bad message.... I hope it's just people venting that they could do this, and I'm hoping their calmness will take over. It's our job to keep you safe.... I understand that people want to fight back after Orlando... But there are ways to do that without a gun."
Said Capt. Holly Perez of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department West Hollywood Station.
"[T]he best way to shoot back is to enact serious change to our gun policy.... We need an outright ban on all assault weapons and better protections to keep all guns away from bad people."
Said David Cooley, who owns the Abbey Food & Bar, which the L.A. Times calls "a well-known gay lounge" (and long-time readers of this blog may remember as the location of a meet-up with commenters in 2008).
I agree that it would be great to "keep all guns away from bad people," but where do you draw the good/bad line when it comes to human beings, how could the government figure out who goes on which side of that line, and how do you ensure that the government's process isn't an intrusion worse than any incremental improvement that could be achieved?
Here's the flag. Let's analyze it:
"Shoot back" refers to self-defense, and — despite Perez's "I'm hoping their calmness will take over" — it could be interpreted as already calm. The rattlesnake in the original Gadsden flag said "Don't tread on me." That is, I'm prepared to respond to an attack. Is there not calmness in knowing you are prepared?
Here's how the hashtag looks on Twitter. And that got me to this:
A street artist in Los Angeles who said he is a spokesman for the group responsible for the posters spoke exclusively to PJ Media on Thursday. Sabo, who was behind the tattooed "Blacklisted and Lovin' It" Ted Cruz posters that appeared in Hollywood back in 2014, said... "it's important that people know that this image came out of the gay community"... "Continuing to deny where the threat is coming from will not help keep this community safe.... The gay community needs to realize that the police are there to respond, not protect.... It is all of our responsibilities to be able to protect ourselves and our families. We can not do that if our elected officials disarm us"....


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Punk rock is a noble sport, and FfaF are its tooth slaying, media starlets. Burn them young and they will blossom into rock monsters capable of saving the sinking ship of AOL Time Warner. If only so they can bankroll the post-CD:UK revolution.
'Casually Dressed And Deep In Conversation' straddles the space between a smile breaking, zeitgeist destroying, heavy metal pop collection and the uber cool, Black Flag seeking, Jade Tree spewing, name dropping record of 2003. This is the ultimate extension of what we expected when we first drew blood to_ 'Between Order and Model'. This is what we wanted when we first heard the Fierce Panda pretending scabs of _'Juno' ('Juneau': don't confuse the kids; it's inhabiting the realms of Cat Deeley crack-age). This is what we needed when we found out Radio One sucked 'She Drove Me To Daytime Television''s guttural cock.
Like the cream of the post-hardcore crop being taken for a ride down simple street, left to sweat, before revealing that dark sense of morbid humour pasted to a soundtrack of you're-going-to-remember-this-fucking-melody-if-we-have-to-spoonfeed-you-early-'Tallica-records-all-day. Think Bill Hicks if his ghost wrote 'Dark Side of the Moon' for Maiden.
Token acoustic track: 'Your Revolution Is A Joke'. Your violins are healthy.
The wafts of melodies smoking Coalesce tubthumping make you want to search for the lazy comparisons and popbitch style tales of celebrity incest in the Welsh valleys of yonder. But you can?t. You want to say it sounds like Thursday. But you can?t. You want to hate *FfaF *for making you wretch outside the Concrete Jungle tent. But you can?t. You want to piss on their screaming flames of razzled prophecy for making you dance '=QueermO=' in a chalet at Pontins. But you can?t.
Fuck 'em...
So instead let's make the whiny, studded-belt factory fans hate us for turning their pride and joy, their band du jour, their reason to etch holes in their earlobes, into the most successful, corporate party playing, platinum selling, platinum smoking punks ever. 'Cos it's all about trust.
9's Score


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100% Cotton
Design by Heather Bailey
Westminster Fibers
Featherleaf - Green by Heather Bailey
PriceFrom C$7.49
As we have a permanent store front and stock that is ever changing, if an item you order is out of stock - we will contact you.
We strive to keep inventory numbers up to date. Thank you for understanding!


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The problem is that US health care costs too much. The solution could be telling people what they're paying for, if only the government would come clean.
We know that Americans spend more money on health care than anyone else:
Part of the reason is that most Americans don't pay for their health care directly. Insurers or the government pick up the tab, so consumers can't really compare prices or quality and competing providers don't really compete. Many consumers assume that paying more would be paying for the best, but studies show no correlation between the cost and quality of basic procedures, like childbirth. Indeed, some of the most expensive care is the worst, and vice versa:
That chart is from a young San Francisco company called Castlight, a big data firm that launched a service to help big employers, from companies like Safeway to the state of Indiana, cut health insurance costs. Castlight uses each employer's historical data on insurance claims and payments to develop price and quality comparisons for local health-care providers, from physicians to pharmacists. That data is provided to people on the insurance plan, who use web and mobile apps to find the best combination of cost and quality for their needs. That can mean big savings if the cost of a procedure like a colonoscopy varies by as much as a factor of seven:
Right now, 4 million people use Castlight's service, and the company is set to grow. But it can do better, according to its CEO and co-founder, Dr. Giovanni Colella, if it gets more data from the government.
The 2010 US health care reform, a.k.a. Obamacare, required the Department of Health and Human Services to make public certain data on how much people have paid for various medical procedures. The department is six months late in doing so. And only 12 states maintain their own public databases showing price comparisons. Most allow health-care providers to enter contracts with insurance companies to keep their costs secret.
Perhaps most importantly, though, Castlight wants access to the vast repository of data in Medicare, the government health-insurance program for senior citizens. Today, Colella told the lawmakers responsible for Medicare as much at a public hearing of the US Senate's finance committee. The committee chairman, Max Baucus, asked to hear the argument against Medicare releasing that data; no one had an answer.
"The providers don't want that," Colella told Quartz after the hearing. The cozy relationship between American physicians and Medicare administrators gives them "incredible influence" over what is released, he said. The reason for their resistance is obvious: More transparency about what medical care costs would mean lower billing.
The good news for American consumers and taxpayers is that the country's health-care inflation is already coming under control. Today, the government reported that health-care prices fell for the first time in decades, and PricewaterhouseCoopers released a report suggesting that the trend will continue. The main reason is that employers, in an attempt to keep down health insurance costs, have been passing more of the costs on to consumers (in the form of higher premiums and deductibles.) That's made consumers look for cheaper services. But to keep that trend going consumers will need a better idea of how to spend their money most efficiently—and companies like Castlight may be best positioned to do it.


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Derek McCrea is visual artist and a retired US Army Infantry Soldier. He has always loved to paint; it allows him to express emotions on paper and relax. Derek paints in a whimsical impressionistic style in plein air settings. He was born in Albany, Georgia on February 19, 1969. He presently resides with his wife Sheila, of 22 years and his two sons. He first started painting with oils in the summer of 1982. From 1982 to 1986 he painted under the instruction of Jimmy Peterson, a well known artist from Georgia. In 1986 he won 1st place in the Georgia Arts Exhibition. Derek joined the United States Army in 1987 and continued self study and painting on landscape subjects in France, Holland, Germany, Italy and Hungary, painting in the plein air style. He has completed over 20 commissions in the past year. His art can be found in galleries throughout the Southeastern United States and in private collections worldwide. He has consistently donated several works every year to charities and loves to give back to the community for a good cause. His works are published in over 50 international publications and he has received numerous awards and honors for his work.
Artists Statement
"Art adds a balance to my life. I am compelled by nature to emulate it's beauty through creation. When I am at my easel nothing else matters except the moment when I escape into the painting. When a work is going well I am filled with a sense of peace and I naturally apply with brush strokes to a magnificent completion."
Derek is a member of the following societies:
Phenix City AL Artists Guild
Columbus Artists Guild
Southern Rivers Guild, GA
North Carolina Watercolor Society
Fayetteville Arts Council
Plein Air Florida – Space Coast Plein Air Painters
Plein Air Georgia
For other artwork by Derek McCrea, visit his personal gallery athttp://www.derekmccrea.50megs.com


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I just posted The Open Source Force Behind the Obama Campaign over at Linux Journal. I wrote it in August for the November issue, which would come out in time for the election. But it was too long for the magazine, and too off-topic as well. So we shelved it, and planned to put it on the website after the election.
Originally I was going to update it; but after noodling around with that for awhile, and not quite getting it the way I wanted it, I realized it was more interesting as a piece of history: a snapshot in time. So that's what I just put up there, adding only an introduction.
In going through this process, one thing that surpised me was how much I wrote about the Dean Campaign back in '03-04. Since the Obama Campaign was what Britt Blaser calls "Dean done right", you could say I had started covering the Obama campaign more than four years ago.
And maybe I was unintentionally influencing it as well.
In digging around for old stuff, I ran across Gary Wolf's How the Internet Invented Howard Dean, in the January '04 issue of Wired. One sidebar is The Howard Dean Reading List: How a bunch of books about social networking rebooted the Democratic system. Among those six is The Cluetrain Manifesto. So perhaps by that thin thread I can claim grand-paternity to Obama's success.
Though not as credibly as, say, David Weinberger, who actually advised the Dean campaign. David, who is quoted in the Wired piece, not only co-wrote Cluetrain, but sole-authored Small Pieces Loosely Joined, which is another book on the Howard Dean reading list.


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NEW TOWER LAKES RESIDENTS, click here.
E-NEWS NOTIFICATIONS, click here to subscribe.
EPA WATER QUALITY REPORT, click here.
PAY WATER BILLS ONLINE with ILLINOIS ePAY
The Village of Tower Lakes, incorporated in 1966, is located in the southwest corner of Lake County, Illinois, USA. We are in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, 39 miles from Chicago's downtown Loop. The population is just over 1,300. Originally developed in the 1920's as a recreational summer-home community, the Village is centered around two scenic private lakes totaling over 85 acres.
Although all the homes are now year-round, the lakes and heavily wooded rolling hills continue to attract recreation oriented and nature-loving residents.
The Village occupies approximately 1.1 square miles and presently contains just over 430 single-family homes and no commercial business buildings, schools, churches or post office. The Village is within the award-winning Barrington Community Unit School District 220. Student test scores regularly rank near the top nationally and over 90% of the graduating seniors go on to attend college. Grade school children attend the North Barrington School, less than one mile south of Tower Lakes. Private schools for grades K-8 are also available in Barrington. The Village of Tower Lakes shares the post office and zip code with Barrington (60010). Home prices average a little over $450,000 with a range of approximately $250,000 to over $1,000,000. Residents commute to jobs in nearby suburbs as well as in Chicago. Frequent commuter rail service is available from the Barrington Metra Rail Station, 10 minutes south of the village and Fox River Grove Metra Rail Station, 11 minutes southwest of the village.
The Tower Lakes Police Department now has a link for residents to schedule vacation watches and arrange for overnight parking requests. To access this service, CLICK HERE.


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CALGARY, Alberta, July 22, 2013, Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (NYSE MKT: GTE; TSX: GTE) ("Gran Tierra Energy"), a company focused on oil and gas exploration and production in South America, today announced that it will host its second quarter 2013 earnings conference call on August 7, 2013 at 4 pm Eastern Time.
President and CEO, Dana Coffield, CFO, James Rozon and COO, Shane O'Leary will discuss Gran Tierra Energy's financial and operating results for the quarter and year end then take questions from securities analysts and institutional shareholders.
Interested parties may access the conference call by dialing 1 (866) 318-8615 (primary) or 1 (617) 399-5134 (secondary), passcode 27854553. The call will also be available via web cast at www.grantierra.com, www.streetevents.com, or www.fulldisclosure.com. The web cast will be available on Gran Tierra Energy's website until the next earnings call.
If you are unable to participate, an audio replay of the call will be available beginning two hours after the call until 11:59 p.m. on August 21, 2013. To access the replay dial 1 (888) 286-8010 (primary) or 1 (617) 801-6888 (secondary) pass code 38133878.
Please connect at least 15 minutes prior to the conference call to ensure adequate time for any software to download that may be required to join the webcast.
About Gran Tierra Energy Inc.
Gran Tierra Energy is an international oil and gas exploration and production company, headquartered in Calgary, Canada, incorporated in the United States, trading on the NYSE MKT (GTE) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (GTE), and operating in South America. Gran Tierra Energy holds interests in producing and prospective properties in Colombia, Argentina, Peru and Brazil. Gran Tierra Energy has a strategy that focuses on establishing a portfolio of producing properties, plus production enhancement and exploration opportunities to provide a base for future growth.
Gran Tierra Energy's Securities and Exchange Commission filings are available on a web site maintained by the Securities and Exchange Commission at http://www.sec.gov and on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com.
Contact Information:
For investor and media inquiries please contact:
Jason Crumley
Director, Investor Relations
403-265-3221 [email protected].


text:
A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)
View The Gallery || Zip File(s) Size: 1.24 GB
Iconoclastic, take-no-prisoners cop John McClane, for the first time, finds himself on foreign soil after traveling to Moscow to help his wayward son Jack – unaware that Jack is really a highly-trained CIA operative out to stop a nuclear weapons heist. With the Russian underworld in pursuit, and battling a countdown to war, the two McClanes discover that their opposing methods make them unstoppable heroes.
Download: 3-good-day-die-hard.zip


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GetOptions - extended processing of command line options
use Getopt::Long;
$result = GetOptions (...option-descriptions...);
The Getopt::Long module implements an extended getopt function called GetOptions(). This function adheres to the POSIX syntax for command line options, with GNU extensions. In general, this means that options have long names instead of single letters, and are introduced with a double dash "--". Support for bundling of command line options, as was the case with the more traditional single-letter approach, is provided but not enabled by default. For example, the UNIX "ps" command can be given the command line "option"
which means the combination of -v, -a and -x. With the new syntax --vax would be a single option, probably indicating a computer architecture.
Command line options can be used to set values. These values can be specified in one of two ways:
--size 24
GetOptions is called with a list of option-descriptions, each of which consists of two elements: the option specifier and the option linkage. The option specifier defines the name of the option and, optionally, the value it can take. The option linkage is usually a reference to a variable that will be set when the option is used. For example, the following call to GetOptions:
GetOptions("size=i" => \$offset);
will accept a command line option "size" that must have an integer value. With a command line of "--size 24" this will cause the variable $offset to get the value 24.
Alternatively, the first argument to GetOptions may be a reference to a HASH describing the linkage for the options, or an object whose class is based on a HASH. The following call is equivalent to the example above:
%optctl = ("size" => \$offset);
GetOptions(\%optctl, "size=i");
Linkage may be specified using either of the above methods, or both. Linkage specified in the argument list takes precedence over the linkage specified in the HASH.
The command line options are taken from array @ARGV. Upon completion of GetOptions, @ARGV will contain the rest (i.e. the non-options) of the command line.
Each option specifier designates the name of the option, optionally followed by an argument specifier. Values for argument specifiers are:
Option does not take an argument. The option variable will be set to 1.
Option does not take an argument and may be negated, i.e. prefixed by "no". E.g. "foo!" will allow --foo (with value 1) and -nofoo (with value 0). The option variable will be set to 1, or 0 if negated.
Option takes a mandatory string argument. This string will be assigned to the option variable. Note that even if the string argument starts with - or --, it will not be considered an option on itself.
Option takes an optional string argument. This string will be assigned to the option variable. If omitted, it will be assigned "" (an empty string). If the string argument starts with - or --, it will be considered an option on itself.
Option takes a mandatory integer argument. This value will be assigned to the option variable. Note that the value may start with - to indicate a negative value.
Option takes an optional integer argument. This value will be assigned to the option variable. If omitted, the value 0 will be assigned. Note that the value may start with - to indicate a negative value.
Option takes a mandatory real number argument. This value will be assigned to the option variable. Note that the value may start with - to indicate a negative value.
Option takes an optional real number argument. This value will be assigned to the option variable. If omitted, the value 0 will be assigned.
A lone dash - is considered an option, the corresponding option name is the empty string.
A double dash on itself -- signals end of the options list.
The linkage specifier is optional. If no linkage is explicitly specified but a ref HASH is passed, GetOptions will place the value in the HASH. For example:
%optctl = ();
GetOptions (\%optctl, "size=i");
will perform the equivalent of the assignment
$optctl{"size"} = 24;
For array options, a reference to an array is used, e.g.:
%optctl = ();
GetOptions (\%optctl, "sizes=i@");
with command line "-sizes 24 -sizes 48" will perform the equivalent of the assignment
$optctl{"sizes"} = [24, 48];
For hash options (an option whose argument looks like "name=value"), a reference to a hash is used, e.g.:
%optctl = ();
GetOptions (\%optctl, "define=s%");
with command line "--define foo=hello --define bar=world" will perform the equivalent of the assignment
$optctl{"define"} = {foo=>'hello', bar=>'world')
If no linkage is explicitly specified and no ref HASH is passed, GetOptions will put the value in a global variable named after the option, prefixed by "opt_". To yield a usable Perl variable, characters that are not part of the syntax for variables are translated to underscores. For example, "--fpp-struct-return" will set the variable $opt_fpp_struct_return. Note that this variable resides in the namespace of the calling program, not necessarily main. For example:
GetOptions ("size=i", "sizes=i@");
with command line "-size 10 -sizes 24 -sizes 48" will perform the equivalent of the assignments
$opt_size = 10;
@opt_sizes = (24, 48);
A lone dash - is considered an option, the corresponding Perl identifier is $opt_ .
The linkage specifier can be a reference to a scalar, a reference to an array, a reference to a hash or a reference to a subroutine.
If a REF SCALAR is supplied, the new value is stored in the referenced variable. If the option occurs more than once, the previous value is overwritten.
If a REF ARRAY is supplied, the new value is appended (pushed) to the referenced array.
If a REF HASH is supplied, the option value should look like "key" or "key=value" (if the "=value" is omitted then a value of 1 is implied). In this case, the element of the referenced hash with the key "key" is assigned "value".
If a REF CODE is supplied, the referenced subroutine is called with two arguments: the option name and the option value. The option name is always the true name, not an abbreviation or alias.
The option name may actually be a list of option names, separated by "|"s, e.g. "foo|bar|blech=s". In this example, "foo" is the true name of this option. If no linkage is specified, options "foo", "bar" and "blech" all will set $opt_foo. For convenience, the single character "?" is allowed as an alias, e.g. "help|?".
Option names may be abbreviated to uniqueness, depending on configuration option auto_abbrev.
A special option specifier, <>, can be used to designate a subroutine to handle non-option arguments. GetOptions will immediately call this subroutine for every non-option it encounters in the options list. This subroutine gets the name of the non-option passed. This feature requires configuration option permute, see section CONFIGURATION OPTIONS.
See also the examples.
On the command line, options can start with - (traditional), -- (POSIX) and + (GNU, now being phased out). The latter is not allowed if the environment variable POSIXLY_CORRECT has been defined.
Options that start with "--" may have an argument appended, separated with an "=", e.g. "--foo=bar".
A return status of 0 (false) indicates that the function detected one or more errors.
Getopt::Long::GetOptions() is the successor of newgetopt.pl that came with Perl 4. It is fully upward compatible. In fact, the Perl 5 version of newgetopt.pl is just a wrapper around the module.
If an "@" sign is appended to the argument specifier, the option is treated as an array. Value(s) are not set, but pushed into array @opt_name. If explicit linkage is supplied, this must be a reference to an ARRAY.
If an "%" sign is appended to the argument specifier, the option is treated as a hash. Value(s) of the form "name=value" are set by setting the element of the hash %opt_name with key "name" to "value" (if the "=value" portion is omitted it defaults to 1). If explicit linkage is supplied, this must be a reference to a HASH.
If configuration option getopt_compat is set (see section CONFIGURATION OPTIONS), options that start with "+" or "-" may also include their arguments, e.g. "+foo=bar". This is for compatiblity with older implementations of the GNU "getopt" routine.
If the first argument to GetOptions is a string consisting of only non-alphanumeric characters, it is taken to specify the option starter characters. Everything starting with one of these characters from the starter will be considered an option. Using a starter argument is strongly deprecated.
For convenience, option specifiers may have a leading - or --, so it is possible to write:
GetOptions qw(-foo=s --bar=i --ar=s);
If the option specifier is "one:i" (i.e. takes an optional integer argument), then the following situations are handled:
-one -two -> $opt_one = '', -two is next option
-one -2 -> $opt_one = -2
Also, assume specifiers "foo=s" and "bar:s" :
-bar -xxx -> $opt_bar = '', '-xxx' is next option
-foo -bar -> $opt_foo = '-bar'
-foo -- -> $opt_foo = '--'
In GNU or POSIX format, option names and values can be combined:
+foo=blech -> $opt_foo = 'blech'
--bar= -> $opt_bar = ''
--bar=-- -> $opt_bar = '--'
Example of using variable references:
$ret = GetOptions ('foo=s', \$foo, 'bar=i', 'ar=s', \@ar);
With command line options "-foo blech -bar 24 -ar xx -ar yy" this will result in:
$foo = 'blech'
$opt_bar = 24
@ar = ('xx','yy')
Example of using the <> option specifier:
@ARGV = qw(-foo 1 bar -foo 2 blech);
GetOptions("foo=i", \$myfoo, "<>", \&mysub);
mysub("bar") will be called (with $myfoo being 1)
mysub("blech") will be called (with $myfoo being 2)
Compare this with:
@ARGV = qw(-foo 1 bar -foo 2 blech);
GetOptions("foo=i", \$myfoo);
This will leave the non-options in @ARGV:
$myfoo -> 2
@ARGV -> qw(bar blech)
GetOptions can be configured by calling subroutine Getopt::Long::config. This subroutine takes a list of quoted strings, each specifying a configuration option to be set, e.g. ignore_case. Options can be reset by prefixing with no_, e.g. no_ignore_case. Case does not matter. Multiple calls to config are possible.
Previous versions of Getopt::Long used variables for the purpose of configuring. Although manipulating these variables still work, it is strongly encouraged to use the new config routine. Besides, it is much easier.
The following options are available:
This option causes all configuration options to be reset to their default values.
Allow option names to be abbreviated to uniqueness. Default is set unless environment variable POSIXLY_CORRECT has been set, in which case auto_abbrev is reset.
Allow '+' to start options. Default is set unless environment variable POSIXLY_CORRECT has been set, in which case getopt_compat is reset.
Whether non-options are allowed to be mixed with options. Default is set unless environment variable POSIXLY_CORRECT has been set, in which case b<require_order> is reset.
See also permute, which is the opposite of require_order.
Whether non-options are allowed to be mixed with options. Default is set unless environment variable POSIXLY_CORRECT has been set, in which case permute is reset. Note that permute is the opposite of require_order.
If permute is set, this means that
-foo arg1 -bar arg2 arg3
is equivalent to
-foo -bar arg1 arg2 arg3
If a non-option call-back routine is specified, @ARGV will always be empty upon succesful return of GetOptions since all options have been processed, except when -- is used:
-foo arg1 -bar arg2 -- arg3
will call the call-back routine for arg1 and arg2, and terminate leaving arg2 in @ARGV.
If require_order is set, options processing terminates when the first non-option is encountered.
-foo -- arg1 -bar arg2 arg3
Setting this variable to a non-zero value will allow single-character options to be bundled. To distinguish bundles from long option names, long options must be introduced with -- and single-character options (and bundles) with -. For example,
ps -vax --vax
would be equivalent to
ps -v -a -x --vax
provided "vax", "v", "a" and "x" have been defined to be valid options.
Bundled options can also include a value in the bundle; this value has to be the last part of the bundle, e.g.
scale -h24 -w80
scale -h 24 -w 80
Note: resetting bundling also resets bundling_override.
If bundling_override is set, bundling is enabled as with bundling but now long option names override option bundles. In the above example, -vax would be interpreted as the option "vax", not the bundle "v", "a", "x".
Note: resetting bundling_override also resets bundling.
Note: Using option bundling can easily lead to unexpected results, especially when mixing long options and bundles. Caveat emptor.
If set, case is ignored when matching options.
Note: resetting ignore_case also resets ignore_case_always.
When bundling is in effect, case is ignored on single-character options also.
Note: resetting ignore_case_always also resets ignore_case.
Unknown options are passed through in @ARGV instead of being flagged as errors. This makes it possible to write wrapper scripts that process only part of the user supplied options, and passes the remaining options to some other program.
This can be very confusing, especially when permute is also set.
Enable copious debugging output.
The version number of this Getopt::Long implementation in the format major.minor. This can be used to have Exporter check the version, e.g.
use Getopt::Long 3.00;
You can inspect $Getopt::Long::major_version and $Getopt::Long::minor_version for the individual components.
Internal error flag. May be incremented from a call-back routine to cause options parsing to fail.
To install IO, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm IO
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell
install IO
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.


text:
From the "let's include climate change is all our work so we'll keep getting funded" department, comes this admission in the form of a press release from The University of Kent.
Overshadowed by climate change
Kent research suggests that recent high levels of media coverage for climate change may have deflected attention and funding from biodiversity loss.
In a paper published by the journal Bioscience, Kent conservationists also recommend that, to prevent biodiversity from becoming a declining priority, conservationists need to leverage the importance of climate change to obtain more funds and draw attention to other research areas such as biodiversity conservation.
For the study, the team conducted a content analysis of newspaper coverage in four US broadsheets (The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today) and four UK broadsheets (the Guardian, The Independent, The Times, and the Financial Times). Academic peer-reviewed coverage and project funding by the World Bank and National Science Foundation were also examined.
Among their findings the team discovered that:
- Press attention devoted to biodiversity has remained stable since 1990, but the proportion of climate change reports rose before 2007 and has stayed substantially higher than biodiversity since 2005
- In scientific journals, papers on biodiversity loss and conservation have increased at a steady pace, but publication of papers on climate change accelerated markedly around 2006 and overtook them
- Funding by the World Bank shows no evident change over the past 20 years, with climate change projects funded at a much greater rate than biodiversity projects. The US National Science Foundation's investments directed toward climate change research have increased substantially since 1987, but biodiversity expenditures have increased much less and have held steady since 2004.
The researchers further recommend that, given that many human influences are driving both climate change and biodiversity loss, conservationists should aim for win-win solutions such as the United Nations program REDD+ (an extension of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation programme) – an initiative that protects forests while also creating benefits for local communities and biodiversity.
Dr Diogo Verissimo, a postdoctoral researcher at Kent's Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), said: 'Our findings suggest that while climate change could be deflecting attention from biodiversity loss in terms of funding, in other areas the sentiment shared by many conservationists that biodiversity loss is now a secondary issue could be a result of a comparatively quicker rise in prominence of climate change.'
Dr Zoe Davies, Senior Lecturer in Biodiversity Conservation at DICE, added: 'Conservationists must continue to be proactive, and use the growing interest in climate change as a flagship to leverage more support and action to prevent further biodiversity loss.'
'Has Climate Change Taken Prominence over Biodiversity Conservation?' (Diogo Verissimo, Zoe G. Davies, Robert J. Smith, Jennifer Crees, and Douglas C, Macmillan) was published in the June issue of Bioscience.


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Stetson Avenue Location – Chicago, IL
Uncontested Divorce Mediation
Once you've decided to file for a divorce, it is hard to figure out what comes next. You can spend endless hours Google searching divorce procedures, find hundreds of forms you may or may not need to fill out and read thousands of articles about what divorce looks like. But, how do you know if any of this applies to you? You don't. That's perfectly okay. The divorce mediators at Split Simple are here to help you.
What is Divorce Mediation
The divorce mediators at Split Simple act as an impartial third party to listen to each party's concerns, wants and needs, we review what challenges make your divorce unique and help produce an agreement that is best for your family. All of our divorce mediators are experienced attorneys who are well versed in Illinois divorce laws and Cook County Courts. So, we can help you and your partner maintain control of the outcome of your divorce as opposed to letting the courts decide. That's right, our process minimizes the time couples spend in court. Court proceedings are stressful for the entire family, especially your kids, and they are expensive. Our divorce mediators will meet with you and your spouse at any one of our four locations in the Chicago area to help you reach an uncontested divorce without the hassle of extensive court proceedings. Here is a brief list of issues we can help you resolve:
- Child custody and visitation
- Child support
- Alimony/Spousal support
- Property division
- Parenting plans
What Does Divorce Mediation Cost?
What sets us apart from other divorce lawyers is not only our dedication to mediation rather than settling divorces in court, but also our transparency in pricing. So, how much does divorce mediation cost? Our packages detail exactly what you are going to get for your money, and you can rest assured that your pricing will not change during the divorce mediation process. At all. Ever. That is our guarantee to you.
How Do I Know if Divorce Mediation is Right for Me?
We provide divorce mediation services to a wide array of clients from all different backgrounds, in different states with very unique situations. Our divorce mediation services in Chicago are tailored to the Chicago demographic and the needs of each individual client. All we ask is that our clients are willing to think outside the box and leave behind the idea of a courtroom divorce. From there, we will listen to all of your needs and wants and act as an impartial third party to help you and your spouse reach a mutual agreement. Divorce can be really messy. With the divorce mediators at Split Simple, it doesn't have to be.
Are You Ready to Speak With Our Divorce Mediators in Chicago?
If you're ready to speak with one of our divorce mediators located in Chicago or if you simply have more questions about how we can help you through your divorce, don't hesitate to contact us! We will pick up the phone to answer your questions, or to schedule your complimentary consultation. Contact Split Simple today so we can help you through this difficult process.
Here are driving directions to our Chicago location:
From Evanston:
- Take Ridge Avenue to Sheridan Road and US-41 South
- Continue on US-41 for 12.7 miles
- Take the Michigan Avenue exit
- Merge onto North Lake Shore Drive
- Turn left onto Lake Street
- Turn right onto North Stetson Avenue
From Oak Park:
- Take I-290 East
- Stay on I-290 for almost 7 miles
- Take the Wacker Drive Exit
- Turn right onto North Stetson Avenue
Split Simple
Two Prudential Plaza
180 North Stetson Avenue #3500
Chicago, IL 60601


text: In some ways, veteran CIO Sam Lamonica is an old dog learning new tricks.\n\n \n\nRosendin Electric CIO Sam Lamonica.\n\n\n\nAs the top technology strategist at Rosendin Electric, an electrical contractor in Silicon Valley, Lamonica has had to reverse his views on everything from the iPad to rogue mobile apps. He's had to place big bets on mobile device management (MDM) technology, quickly create a mobile environment for app development and support, and adopt emerging mobile platforms practically overnight.\n\n\n"We're starting to see convergence happening, and it's hard to keep up," Lamonica says.\n\n\nWinning in the brave new world of mobility sometimes means casting aside tried-and-true best practices. Mobility has turned companies, markets and people on their heads. There are huge opportunities and equally daunting challenges that demand new ways of thinking about employees, competitors and risk.\n\n\nIt's no wonder many companies' mobile strategies and execution fall flat. Only about two out of five companies have made good progress in their mobility efforts, according to a recent Accenture survey of nearly 1,500 C-level executives. The majority of mobile strategies fall short of expectations, while some outright fail.\n\n\n[Related: Why Mobile Strategies Are Stalling at Many Enterprises]\n\n\nLamonica, however, was able to avoid this fate -- in part, by embracing change.\n\n\nDeveloping iPad Apps Aren\u2019t So Crazy After All\n\n\nOnly a few years ago, Lamonica told one of his C-level peers that he thought developing iPad apps in the construction business was crazy. A few months later, he was doing it.\n\n\nIn the last 12 months, Lamonica has overseen the creation of three iPad apps that not only make life easier for the foreman, superintendent and electrician, but also helped Rosendin Electric win new business, including some of the biggest construction contracts in the valley.\n\n\nThe first app, called the QR Code app, solved one of the construction industry's longtime problems: getting the right equipment and supplies to the right job site.\n\n\n[Slideshow:\u00a0 10 BYOD Worker Types ]\n\n\nIn the past, equipment and supplies would arrive haphazardly to job sites, if at all. Now QR codes containing information such as when and where a piece of equipment is supposed to go are slapped on equipment and supplies.\n\n \n\nTyler Rost, a superintendent at Rosendin Electric using iPad at Stanford Project last December.\n\n\n\nWhen they arrive at a job site, the material handler scans the QR code using an iPad and learns that they go to, say, the third floor, east wing of the building under construction. There, the foreman scans the QR code using an iPad, which automatically tells the system that the supplies have arrived.\n\n\nAnother iPad app, called Material and Tool Management app, lets the foreman order equipment, supplies and tools on the spot while at the job site. Both QR Code app and Material and Tool Management app tie into construction management software BIM 360 Field from Autodesk.\n\n\nRosendin Electric employees were using these homegrown iPad apps for a few months when the company put in a bid to work on a high-profile construction project. The customer -- a well-known tech company -- required all contractors to use apps connecting to BIM 360 Field. Rosendin Electric was probably one of the few competing contractors that could claim such compliance.\n\n \n\nRosendin Electric's QR Code app lets workers track materials on their iPads.\n\n\n\n"That was dumb luck," Lamonica says. "If we didn't have these apps, we would have had to hustle to develop them."\n\n\nThe third iOS app is a customized version of AboutTime, which tracks hours and pay rates of hundreds of workers over multiple job sites. In the construction business, it's a little more complicated than clocking in and out. A worker might be asked throughout the day to take on various tasks with different pay rates.\n\n\n[Related: BYOD IT Skills in High Demand ]\n\n\nThe general foreman would typically spend a few hours over the weekend trying to remember who did what throughout the day, in order to record those hours on a time sheet. Now time and pay rate tracking happens instantaneously on the site over an iPad or iPhone.\n\n\nThe time-tracking app also has a neat side benefit: Rosendin Electric can dig into the data to find out how many man-hours it takes to complete a project or build a pre-fabricated piece of equipment.\n\n \n\nRosendin Electric foremen can use a mobile app to track hours and pay rates of hundreds of workers.\n\n\n\nThere's no question these apps have proven to be beneficial to the business, even firing up the IT team. Mobility is on the frontier of technology, and techies love to be working on the newest thing. Rosendin Electric's IT workers take a more proactive approach to mobility problems and offer up mobile app development suggestions at a rate far beyond those concerning ERP, says Anand Tamboli, senior director of business applications at Rosendin Electric.\n\n\nMobile Apps Rear Their Rogue Head\n\n\nNevertheless, Lamonica has had his share of challenges adapting to a mobile world -- namely, rogue apps.\n\n\nRosendin Electric's foremen wanted an iPad app to mark up plans and drawings at a job site. For example, if a foreman saw that drywall wasn't up yet, thus throwing the project behind schedule, he could call up the visual project plan via an app, draw a red circle around the area where the drywall should be, write "WTF?" and send it to the drywall team in 10 seconds.\n\n\nLamonica had a tool from Autodesk that would do the trick. There was just one problem: Some 200 Rosendin Electric workers were already using an off-the-shelf app from the App Store. Project layouts and updates were being stored and isolated in the rogue app's cloud service. A CAD designer had to hand-paddle the data from the rogue app into the Autodesk system, in order to make sure everything was in sync.\n\n\nIn the old days, Lamonica would have shut the rogue app down right away.\n\n\n"You can't do that anymore," Lamonica says. "We have other tools for free that are provided by Autodesk that basically does the same thing as [the rogue app], but because it hit the streets first and is covertly out there, now I can't wrench it out of their hands."\n\n\nInstead, Lamonica sat down with the rogue app maker, negotiated an enterprise agreement and got it contained. Then he formed an operations technology team to act as the go-between for IT and employees to ward off future rogue apps. The team is charged with researching, assessing, recommending and piloting new apps, and has the power to negotiate enterprise agreements.\n\n\nThat's not to say Rosendin Electric has gotten rid of rogue apps completely. Rosendin Electric often operates as a sub-contractor working under a general contractor. On one job, the general contract had 50 people using the rogue app, and so Rosendin Electric workers had to use it, too.\n\n\n"Sometimes, the very technology we don't want to use we're forced to use," Lamonica says. "The good news is that there aren't a lot of construction apps out there."\n\n\nIt's all about getting ahead of mobility before it swamps you.\n\n\nBuy Into MDM Before You Have Mobile Security Issues\n\n\nA year ago, Lamonica needed to decide on an MDM security solution before security problems spiraled out of control. It's a critical decision, because a CIO will have to rely heavily on a relatively new MDM vendor and its capability to navigate the changing mobile landscape. A slip-up in mobile security can be pretty grim for the CIO.\n\n\n"The last thing I want is the CEO calling me and asking why his salary is on the Internet," Lamonica says.\n\n\nLamonica decided to go with MobileIron, but the decision wasn't an easy one. Sure, MobileIron had all the features and functions Lamonica wanted to help manage his company-owned fleet of iPads and iPhones -- Rosendin Electric does not support BYOD -- but MobileIron still hadn't mastered an ease of deployment for the Android, Lamonica says.\n\n\nFor its part, MobileIron worked with Rosendin Electric on pilot projects to win its business. MobileIron also has made strides to support Android. Today, 70 percent of attendees at its recent user conference manage Android through MobileIron.\n\n\n"Android is a more challenging operating system to secure for the enterprise than iOS because of its fragmentation," says Ojas Rege, MobileIron's vice president of strategy, adding, "Deploying Android successfully requires us to make as much of the complexity and variability as possible invisible to our customer. We do expect that Google\u2019s increasing focus on enterprise Android combined with our engineering investments will continue to expand the business capabilities of Android and continue to make it easier to deploy.\u201d\n\n\nBetter support for Android is coming at a good time for Lamonica. He's seeing more Androids and Microsoft Windows Surface tablets making their way into the construction industry. In fact, Lamonica needed to add Surface tablets recently because certain testing apps only ran on Windows and, at one job site, it would have been politically awkward for Rosendin Electric workers to show up with iPads.\n\n\nMore Mobile Platforms, More Apps, More Challenges\n\n\nSo goes Lamonica's biggest concern: a tablet market that's becoming more diverse with more operating systems. It's going to be an ever-increasing challenge supporting all of the platforms, he says, especially as the number of mobile apps continues to grow. Rosendin Electric already has a dozen bonafide mobile apps, including the QR Code app, Material and Tool Management app and the customized AboutTime app.\n\n\nWhat happens if another new mobile -- or perhaps wearables -- platform takes off wreaking havoc in the enterprise?\n\n\n"Hopefully, I'll be retired by then," Lamonica says with a grin.


text:
Top Items:
Web users 'getting more selfish' — Web users are getting more ruthless and selfish when they go online, reveals research. — The annual report into web habits by usability guru Jakob Nielsen shows people are becoming much less patient when they go online.
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
FriendFeed Still Has a Lot of Killing to Do — With Twitter down all the time, the super-early adopters are getting frustrated and looking to FriendFeed as their salvation. Duncan (over at Inquisitr now) argues that it is time for FriendFeed to kill Twitter. And Jason Kaneshiro at Webomatica already has FriendFeed Fever.
Discussion: WinExtra and The Last Podcast
Steven Hodson / WinExtra: FriendFeed won't kill Twitter but Twitter might
Duncan Riley / The Inquisitr:
It's Time For FriendFeed To Kill Twitter — The big news today is that Twitter was up for short period, before once again going down. — So that was a little sarcastic, but news of Twitter being down simply isn't news anymore. There has been another round (seemingly never ending now) …
Discussion: notes, thoughts …, louisgray.com, Social Media Club and mathewingram.com/work
Julian Baldwin / notes, thoughts, ideas and responses: Nobody Dies On My Watch, FriendFeed And Twitter Will Both Survive
Chris Heuer / Social Media Club: Join our Friend Feed Room, kill a mailing list!
Jason Kaneshiro / Webomatica:
Keep Your Eyes On FriendFeed: It May Be The Google Of Social Networks
Keep Your Eyes On FriendFeed: It May Be The Google Of Social Networks
Discussion: Feedonomics, Mashable! and Micro Persuasion
Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins / Mashable!: FriendFeed Sewing Up Search Better than Google?
Ben Jones / TorrentFreak:
Proposed Treaty Turns Internet Into a Virtual Police State — Again, it's one of the few bastions of anti-corruption, Wikileaks, that has spilled the beans on this unsavory topic. Yesterday the site revealed a document proposing a treaty that will significantly limit the privacy and rights …
Discussion: Michael Geist Blog and Digg
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Facebook Platform, One Year Later — Today marks the one-year anniversary of the release of Facebook Platform. We figured it would be a fitting time to take a look at what the platform promised, what it's delivered, and where it's going in the future. The summary: Facebook Platform …
Discussion: HipMojo.com, Redeye VC, Mashable!, All Facebook and Inside Facebook
Ashkan Karbasfrooshan / HipMojo.com: Facebook Platform: Beginning of End or End of Beginning?
Paul Glazowski / Mashable!: Facebook Platform Turns One Year Young
Nick O'Neill / All Facebook: The One Year Anniversary of the Facebook Platform
Justin Smith / Inside Facebook: Facebook Platform Turns 1 - Revolution or Head Fake?
Theo Valich / TG Daily:
Photoshop to get GPU and physics acceleration — Santa Clara (CA) - GPU acceleration is one of the most significant trends in today hardware industry, opening the doors to an entirely class of software running desktop. What will be possible is fascinating to see on a monitor, nut it is not tangible, if you just hear about it.
Discussion: I4U News, 9 to 5 Mac, The Tech Report and Digg
Luigi Lugmayr / I4U News: CS Next Photoshop to get GPU Acceleration
Andy Space / 9 to 5 Mac: Adobe Creative Suite 4 for October release?
Cyril Kowaliski / The Tech Report: Next Photoshop to tap GPUs for extra computing power
Reliving the clone wars — Psystar's efforts have rekindled Mac clone talk—but don't expect Apple to join in — In April 1995, while lunching with reporters at San Francisco's trendy LuLu restaurant, Power Computing CEO Steve Kahng was asked how his company, which had just released …
Discussion: Technovia and CNET News.com
Ian Betteridge / Technovia: Why Mac cloning today wouldn't be like Mac cloning ten years ago
The Macalope / CNET News.com: Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.
Matt Richtel / New York Times:
Cable Prices Keep Rising, and Customers Keep Paying — Americans discouraged by higher gas prices and airline fares may decide to spend more vacation time at home, perhaps watching television. — But that, too, will cost them more than ever. — Cable prices have risen 77 percent since 1996 …
Discussion: DSLreports, CrunchGear, Lost Remote, WinExtra and Silicon Alley Insider
Nicholas Deleon / CrunchGear: Given Internet alternatives, why do people still pay for cable TV?
David Johnson / Lost Remote: Cable still strongarms customers who keep shelling out
Steven Hodson / WinExtra: Cable companies get more money for less
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
Inside Craigslist's Increasingly Complicated Battle Against Spammers — from the spam-fight dept — John Nagle writes in with a fascinating dissection of the ongoing battle between Craigslist and spammers. The back and forth nature of this battle is fascinating — and somewhat disturbing …
Matt Cutts / Gadgets, Google, and SEO:
Something is wrong on the internet! — xkcd recently posted a webcomic that is quickly becoming a classic cartoon: — That comic sums up the internet in one sentence: the scrum of jostling opinions on the web and the optimism that truth can still win out.
Mike Musgrove / Washington Post:
Blu-ray Awaits Its Spoils — Blu-ray may have won the format war, but it hasn't won over many consumers. — Now was supposed to be the boom time for the young video technology, pitched as a high-definition replacement for the DVD. In January, consumer electronics company Toshiba dropped support …
Discussion: DSLreports
Kevin McGhee / McAfee Avert Labs:
Beware of Spear Phishing by 'U.S. Tax Court' — A highly targeted spear phishing campaign is currently doing the rounds. Executives-including some of our own at McAfee-have received emails purportedly from the U.S. Tax Court. The emails are designed to look like a petition from the Tax Court …
Discussion: PC World and Security Watch
Gregg Keizer / PC World: Feds Warn of Fake Tax E-Mail
Larry Seltzer / Security Watch: Spear Phishing From US Tax Court


text:
Blog Archive
- Birthday Bash Frame & Tim Holtz Inspired Layout Kit
- Let the Week of Giveaways Begin!!!! Plus new "Par...
- Exciting Week!!! Plus Blog Candy Winner...
- Howdy! Guess where I'm going in 3 weeks!!
- Metal Butterfly Layout for Amaco
- Disney Cruise Layouts - Part 2. Plus a Question!!
- Disney Cruise Layouts - Part 1
- Best Friends Tea Party Layout - by Nana Susan & Bl...
- We've got a Winner...
- Gone Buggy Layout with New Cricut Everyday Cartridge!
- Cowgirl Layout with Old West
- Wall-E Valentine Card & More
- New Layout Kit - "Imagine". Plus new blog candy!
- Blog Candy Winner - Paisley Cart
- New Layout Kit - Natural Beauty
- Disneyland Trip
- Guest Designer - 6 Year Old Emily
- Valentine Purse & Cards for Amaco
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- Happy 5th Birthday, Cricut!
- Time with Tim & Blog Candy Winner!
- Back from CHA!!!
- ▼ February (22)
- ► 2010 (52)
- ► 2009 (60)
I realized tonight that I never did post pics of our Disneyland trip from a week ago. So here are a few pics, and a silly video that we took while on the Indiana Jones ride. Hmmmm, that was different. Don't forget to leave a comment again to be entered for this week's Paisley cart giveaway. And tomorrow I'll be posting a new layout kit by Nana Susan. It's a girly forest friends theme, and it's so happy and colorful - I think you'll really love it!
Just arriving at Disneyland...
Our crew with the Mouse himself...
Wendy and Minnie - two Girly Girls.
Pluto was hungry.
Goofy gets a smooch from Brenda.
Becca snuggles with the wildlife.
Group shot while stuck on the Indiana Jones ride.
Mom and me.
29 comments:
- Melissa said...
Oh this is what I've been waiting for!! Thanks for sharing! I see my Pluto was busy loving you up! I would be jealous if it was anybody else, but since it was you, it's okay! :)
How fun!
- February 10, 2011 at 4:09 AM
- Bobbi said...
What great pics, looks like you all had fun. TFS
- February 10, 2011 at 6:09 AM
- Tennille Scott said...
We leave for Disney in 2 months. Love your site, I love the ideas. I am trying to get back into scraping after two kids, lol!
- February 10, 2011 at 6:40 AM
- Amy Vandiver said...
Looks like you ladies had a blast!! I look forward to getting to take my kids someday!!
Amy V
silly_girl_823 at hotmail dot com
- February 10, 2011 at 7:22 AM
- Cindy@ Scrap-obsessed.blogspot.com said...
Looks like you had a great time at Disney, in spite of being stuck on the Indy ride. That's never any fun, but you guys made the best of it. Cindy
- February 10, 2011 at 7:31 AM
- Dee said...
Looks like everyone was having fun. I am sure that you have never heard before how much you look like your mother : )
- February 10, 2011 at 8:00 AM
- debbie susee said...
We're heading to Disneyland next month with our son's choir. Can't wait. Thanks for the preview.
- February 10, 2011 at 9:14 AM
- JennyKozar said...
Great pictures! You all look like you were having so much fun.
- February 10, 2011 at 9:33 AM
- Maquel said...
How FUN!!! I love Disney! Glad you had a great trip! Thanks for sharing another inside peek into your life!
- February 10, 2011 at 11:47 AM
- Kim M said...
Looks like you had a great time. I do recall you saying that you weren't too excited about going to Disney, but from the looks, you had a fun time! I thought the video was actually kind of funny. I like the part where you asked the attendant to take a picture for you and she said she couldn't as she walked out to safety! Pretty funny! Thanks for sharing! Have a wonderful day.
- February 10, 2011 at 12:16 PM
- Kristie Maynard said...
Great pictures! guess y'all got out of there safe and sound. Too bad Harrison wasn't there to rescue you!
- February 10, 2011 at 1:30 PM
- Kimberly Pate | KP Kre8tions said...
Oh this looks like it was so much fun. The Disney cartridge is one of the cartridges that I want to add to my inventory. What a great day of fellowship.
- February 10, 2011 at 2:31 PM
- Aman said...
Great pictures! It looks like you had a great time!
- February 10, 2011 at 2:47 PM
- josie said...
What a fun trip. Sharing it with friends must have made it even better.
- February 10, 2011 at 4:19 PM
- Unknown said...
Looks like a fun filled trip!! thanks for sharing!!!!
- February 10, 2011 at 5:12 PM
- Sukie said...
You girls look like you had a blast, can't wait to see your layouts with the disney pictures.
- February 10, 2011 at 5:57 PM
- Sukie said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- February 10, 2011 at 5:57 PM
- RAP said...
Looks like fun! Was Emily jealous she didn't get to go?
- February 10, 2011 at 7:39 PM
- Sharka said...
The Happiest Place on Earth is exactly that... glad you got to see Goofy. On our last trip we got to have our special photo w/Winnie the Pooh and Goofy and what a treat that was. TFS with us :)
- February 10, 2011 at 7:58 PM
- Dawnmarie said...
Disneyland is so much fun...you never outgrow it! Thanks for the pics!I'm glad you had so much fun!!!!
- February 10, 2011 at 8:09 PM
- Jen Muller said...
Looks like lots of fun :) Disney pictures are so FUN to scrap... I can't wait to see your layouts for those!
- February 10, 2011 at 8:54 PM
- Angela said...
Looks like good weather. How fun to go and be a kid without the kids. But how do you live it down? Hide the pics, maybe?
- February 11, 2011 at 12:01 AM
- AShu93 said...
Looks like a lot of fun! I've never been to Disneyland, but when I was at Disney World, I never got to see Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, or any of the big name characters, let alone get a pic with them. Great photos!
- February 11, 2011 at 5:17 AM
- Kathleen said...
Such great pics - looks like you all had fun (even on the Indiana Jones ride that got stuck!!!!) Did you have to hike out of there or what?
Kathleen in NJ
- February 11, 2011 at 1:16 PM
- Vickie said...
TFS I Love Disneyland and that is one of the things I miss about living in CA. Looked like you had a blast.
- February 11, 2011 at 3:51 PM
- Kelli said...
We got stuck on Buzz and Woody and it was awful because we couldn't talk to everyone.
- February 11, 2011 at 3:58 PM
- JANLYNN said...
Great pics. Went to Disneyland several years ago. We go to Disney World about every 3 years. It is a bit closer to Florida from Tennessee than to California.
- February 11, 2011 at 6:39 PM
- Sparkly Scrap Girl said...
I love Disneyland! It looks like you are having a great time! I know Wendy said it was so fun but exhausting.
- February 12, 2011 at 11:17 AM
- Anonymous said...
What fun for you girls...you've got great pics to scrap now! I had to lol at the video...sorry you had to go thru that one. It looks like you all survived it tho...TFS!
aka cyimbugbitten
bugbitten at hotmail dot com
- February 18, 2011 at 6:59 AM
About Me
- Monique Griffith
- Rocklin, CA, United States
- The Monique Griffith Design Team consists of 4 Cricut Designers: Monique, Wendy Lawrence, Susan Rees and Becca Rees. We specialize in making Cricut Project Kits that you can make on your own with your Cricut, learning more about your bug in the process. You just need your Cricut Expression, the required cartridge(s), and a few basic tools. The directions come with a Cricut Cut Chart that shows you line by line exactly what you'll need to cut on your machine, with all of the settings for each cut. There are also well-organized written instructions and color photographs. We pride ourselves on our detailed designs, and on teaching others how to most effectively design with the Cricut. Currently, we have have downloadable directions on sale for only $5, and there are over 50 projects to choose from.


text:
This is the front page of Woman's Day magazine featuring never before seen photos of Prince William and his Catherine on their honeymoon last year in the Seychelles. They were taken 15 months ago and only just published now...
And word is the royal family is freaking out.
At the time, there was apparently a press agreement in place that the newlyweds would be left alone. The photographer then had to sit on these shots until now. It's worth nothing that another Australian magazine, New Idea, revealed where Prince Harry was stationed during his tour of duty in 2008. As a result, he had to be sent home - something he's still really pissy about, and you really can't blame him.
We have been trained to suspect that these leaks come from celebrities themselves so the obvious question would be if Will and Kate planned this. Did they want us to see these photos?
Absolutely not.
You've seen Kate's wardrobe. By now you know her style. Catherine Cambridge does not walk around in a bikini. It's the antithesis of the image she's been working to promote. But then again...it doesn't hurt either. Especially now as the Royal Family enjoys this wave of popularity during Her Majesty's jubilee and right before the Olympics, when the young royals are expected to be rather visible. They are the picture of youth and vitality, and just in time too as Celebitchy reports today that Star Magazine is trying to sh-t out a story about how Kate is frigid and won't let Will mount her. I don't actually know how they stay in business.
PS. really love Will's shorts.


text:
Sometimes, you can glimpse an artist's entire aesthetic in the flash of a single line. That's true of Zandra Rhodes, the maverick, pink-haired British fashion designer who launched her first solo collection in 1969. It's there in the lightning-bolt swerve of the first letter in her signature. And it's there every step of the way through "Zandra Rhodes — A Lifelong Love Affair With Textiles," now up at the Sandra and David Bakalar Gallery at Massachusetts College of Art and Design: brash, exuberant, commanding.
The show was organized by London's Fashion and Textile Museum, an institution Rhodes founded. That may raise a few eyebrows about the potential for self-promotion. But this designer long ago proved herself worthy of an exhibition. Trained as a textile designer, she crafts her garments to display the patterned fabrics. The print is no longer a pretty backdrop for the cut; the two support one another.
This makes for bold results — clothing that stands up as a work of art. These are dresses and coats that must be worn with confidence. Otherwise, the wearer will disappear amid the strong lines, nervy patterns, and sometimes brazen colors.
Perhaps to remedy that, Rhodes created "The Dress," a style that would flatter any shape, with a V neckline, gathered waist, and a full skirt, several versions of which are on view. None could be called demure. One standout has layers of pink-edged crinoline flowing out below a wild, floral-inspired print on ivory silk chiffon with a rosebud-pink sash tied at the waist. It's gaudy, deliciously feminine, and exotic.
Rhodes finds inspirations for her prints everywhere — in the landscape, in her memories of childhood. Her sketchbooks are a marvel of energetic line and imagination. She has traveled the world, and many of her designs are inspired by what she has seen on her journeys — vernacular fashions and textiles, and also
cityscapes, banana leaves, and whatever else catches her fancy might show up in her prints.
She was among the first designers to appropriate hallmarks of British punk, tearing fabric and adorning garments with safety pins and chains. A wedding dress on view, torn at the knee, its scalloped hem edged with black stitches, might be perfect for the punk bride, although the collision of sensibilities is comical. Another punk dress — a black cocktail number — covers only one breast. Not to be worn on a cold night.
Rhodes's passionate attention to every detail, and her sheer brio, drive her design sense. They also make this show a sensory delight.
Contemporary sculpture
Upstairs in the Stephen D. Paine Gallery, Lisa Tung, Mass Art's director of Curatorial Programs and Professional Galleries, has curated "Earth & Alchemy," a survey of contemporary ceramic sculpture, with works by more than 20 artists. There are a hint too many goofy biomorphic and coy narrative works on view, crowd-pleasing but banal forms that are the curse of many ceramics exhibitions. Tung has otherwise pulled together a keen and handsome array.
Right in the center of the gallery sits Bean Finneran's fun, ridiculously obsessive "Floral Ring," a giant, fizzy wreath made out of thousands of bright clay rods, which curve when fired. This work of accumulation has a Tara Donovan spin. Finneran uses only the acrylic-capped clay rods, which nest together but have nothing else to adhere them.
Nearby hang Syd Carpenter's dark earthenware sculptures, inspired by images of African-American farms and gardens in the rural South. "Perry and Henrietta Royal" is abstracted, with a boxy little house in one corner and bulbous trees at the bottom, swelling like giant helium animals. Despite the cartoon shapes, Carpenter's works feel spare, grounded, and affectionate.
Yo Akiyama manipulates his clay with such intensity — throwing on the wheel, cutting, tearing, applying vinegar or iron filings — that the untitled works come out feeling like scorched earth, mute and primal. Then there's Takayuki Sakiyama's sublimely elegant "Listening to Waves," a stoneware piece, raked and folded in on itself so that it looks like eddying water made of stone.
There's terrific technique here, but also a 21st-century heightened conceptual approach. Kate MacDowell made her hollow "Clay Pigeons" from terra cotta, then took them outside and shot them like a skeet shooter. A pile of them, some in shards, lies beneath the photographs of that event. They're clay, yet they recall the remains of something living.
J.J. McCracken's "Hunger, Philadelphia — Banquet" is also what's left of a performance. McCracken filled a table with clay casts of fruit and vegetables, and she and other artists covered in clay did a performance around it. Then she used the recycled clay to build a bread oven for a Philadelphia shelter. Here, we have the rough-hewn table covered with crumbling clay food — a call back to Dutch still-life painting, but monochrome and barely edible.
The quietest piece here, Elizabeth Orleans's "Inner Spaces," is inset into recessed columns in the wall. One is just a simple gully. Others feature spikes jutting into one another, or overflowing pebbles. It, too, is monochrome, a subtle suggestion of what lies within.
"Earth & Alchemy" features a lot of smart work, and there will be a panel discussion with several artists on Nov. 14.
ZANDRA RHODES — A Lifelong Love Affair With Textiles
At: Sandra and David Bakalar Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, 621 Huntington Ave., through Dec. 1. 617-879-7333, www.massart.edu
At: Stephen D. Paine Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, 621 Huntington Ave., through Dec. 24. 617-879-7333, www.massart.edu
Cate McQuaid can be reached at


text:
Angry white men : American masculinity at the end of an era
One of the enduring legacies of the 2012 Presidential campaign was the demise of the white American male voter as a dominant force in the political landscape. On election night, after Obama was announced the winner, a distressed Bill O'Reilly lamented that he didn't live in a traditional America anymore. He was joined by others who bellowed their grief on the talk radio airwaves, the traditional redoubt of angry white men. Why were they so angry? Sociologist Michael Kimmel has spent hundreds of hours in the company of America's angry white men, from white supremacists to men's rights activists to young students in pursuit of an answer. Angry White Men presents a comprehensive diagnosis of their fears, anxieties, and rage. Kimmel locates this increase in anger in the seismic economic, social, and political shifts that have so transformed the American landscape. Downward mobility, increased racial and gender equality, and a tenacious clinging to an anachronistic ideology of masculinity has left many men feeling betrayed and bewildered. Raised to expect unparalleled social and economic privilege, white men are suffering today from what Kimmel calls "aggrieved entitlement": a sense that those benefits that white men believed were their due have been snatched away from them. Angry White Men discusses, among others, the sons of small town America, scarred by underemployment and wage stagnation. When America's white men feel they've lived their lives the 'right' way worked hard and stayed out of trouble and still do not get economic rewards, then they have to blame somebody else. Even more terrifying is the phenomenon of angry young boys. School shootings in the United States are not just the work of "misguided youth" or "troubled teens"--They're all committed by boys. These alienated young men are transformed into mass murderers by a sense that using violence against others is their right. The future of America is more inclusive and diverse. The choice for angry white men is not whether or not they can stem the tide of history: they cannot. Their choice is whether they will be dragged kicking and screaming into that inevitable future, or whether they will walk openly and honorably alongside those they've spent so long trying to exclude
Print Book, English, 2013
Nation Books, New York, 2013
xviii, 319 pages ; 24 cm
9781568586960, 9781568585130, 9781568589640, 1568586965, 1568585136, 1568589646
Preface: American masculinity at the end of an era
Introduction: America, the angry
Manufacturing rage: The cultural construction of aggrieved entitlement
Angry white boys
White men as victims: The men's rights movement
Angry white dads
Targeting women
Mad men: The rage(s) of the American working man
The white wing